Dahms Family: 2013

Monday, September 2, 2013

Summer: PACKED

Heading back to school this week, I was given the task to come up with an acronym to describe my summer (It is the year of new acronyms in my district) With lack of creativity I came up with SOC- Summer of Celebrations-Ryan's 5th birthday celebrations- kid party, DisneyWorld , family party, our anniversary, my birthday, Joe's birthday...That night, Joe suggested I could have used the word PACKED to represent our super busy (packed) and fun summer and our summer highlight- our Trip to Disney (packed suitcases). Here's what I would have shared with this acronym:

Parks

Active- swim, T-ball, dance

Car trips- (Lambeau and Madison)

K4 endings and new beginnings

Everything LEGO- Ryan's birthday theme

Disney

For Kate is was the summer of swimming and swinging- this kid loved swimming on her own with her life vest, jumping into the pool and going down the BIG, tunnel water slides. One woman had to bring her husband over to see her go down a slide because she was so amazed at Kate's fearlessness. She said "you must have a pool" Actually, this was her first time in a life vest- maybe I need to get this girl into more swimming activities! She was also swinging fool! We spent so many hours at our neighborhood and other parks this summer. I think Kate could have sat in the swing all day!

*It has been such a blessing to watch Kate blossom this summer- Joe and I are amazed how she has really come into her own. She is a combination of sass and sweet. Such an independent ("I do it myself), loving Her verbal communication has grown immensely. Joe calls her a chatter box when they go on their morning runs with Kate in the jogger. In Disney, we had the opportunity to spend time with Kate, while Ryan had birthday fun with Grandma and Grandpa. We were both in awe of her confidence, sweetness and communication skills that we do not get to see fully with our attention divided as parents with multiple children. We made a promise to make more time to spend with each kid individually.

For Ryan it was the summer of reading and wheeling- while Ryan has always loved books, this summer we entered the world of short novels and chapter books. Since I had a list of books to read for school this summer, I thought I might as well enjoy them with Ryan. We started with Gooseberry Park- I read a couple chapters and I asked him if he would like me to keep reading- after EVERY chapter he said yes. An hour and 15 minutes later, we had finished the entire book. It was absolutely amazing. We continued this summer reading Charlotte's Web and the we started the Magic Tree House series. I am loving seeing his love for reading grow! In addition to reading, he was also on the move! He scoots around like a pro and now bikes everywhere. He shocked Joe and I in early June when pedaled away after 1 "non training wheels!" lesson- he took off pedaling on two wheels and has never looked back- it still amazes me. I thought it would be a summer project, but 20 minutes...boom..he's a bike rider!

Recent quote: After talking about Uncle Tom putting the swing set together: "Mom I think I want to be a carpenter and then I'll do America Ninja Warrior at night." His summer hobby has been training to be an American Ninja Warrior- so cute!

As his world grows bigger, the more I realize how truly precious time is. Right now he is mostly just ours-

ours on Friday nights,
ours on weekends,
ours to snuggle with,
ours to read to,
ours to take with us anywhere and everywhere,
ours to tell stories to,
ours to watch grow and play,
ours to always remind us how much he loves us!
Soon some of "our" time will gradually be replaced with friend time, sleepovers, sports practices, school activities...
I know he will always be "ours", but I also know "It won't be like this for long".
While I'm not ready to share him, I know that if I could keep him forever, I would be withholding from the world a leader, a kind heart, an independent thinker, a positive example...an amazingly compassionate, creative, energetic, loving soul...a little boy who I am SO very proud to call my son. So as our relationship grows and changes, I will cherish the memories we have made and cherish the now, making new memories to hold - so when the time comes to gift him to the world, he will always know that he is and will always be OUR pride and joy.

Other Summer Highlights:

Cave of Stars

New Lawn!

Kansasville Fire Department Pancake Breakfast

Trip to Madison

State Fair

Fun at the Pool

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Goodbye Winter (I hope!)

Our family had a busy winter- packing, moving, unpacking a little, packing back up the little we unpacked, moving and unpacking- whew...it was a lot of moving. But I am so happy to say that we are settled in our new home and loving every minute we spend in it together. Here are some winter highlights:

Cousin Nate was born in March-

Our other cousin Emmai was born in February

Seeing the Easter Bunny (mom and dad are a little worried about Kate in DisneyWorld this summer)

Loving the snow (back in January:)

Dying Easter Eggs

FINALLY! Sold!

Valentine's Heart Pizzas

Moving in

Making Chocolate Bunnies

Fun with Shaving Cream (good thing Daddy wasn't home- it was a mess!)

Fun at our new neighboorhood park!

Extra highlights:

Ryan had an indoor soccer clinic and basketball class

The kids LOVE watching the train by our house : "Goodbye train, have a nice day" everytime

Ryan officially was passed the torch at Easter from cousin Ashley- he now gets to lead the prayer:)

Kate is talking up a storm now: she mumbles the prayer with Ryan, insists on certain clothes, like PJ's and shoes "Wear my crocs".

She puts on her own jacket- "I do Momma!"

We have two beautiful, energetic, ever growing kids. I am trying to ground myself in the now as I can now see for myself how time truly flies. Until Ryan turned 4 1/2 on Valentine's Day, I had embraced every milestone Ryan had reached with pride and angst to see what is around the next bend. However, 4 1/2 hit me hard, making me realize that he is growing up so quickly...my baby will be 5 this summer! As Joe and I now realize our children are closer to entering high school than we are leaving it, we realize as our kids have grown in an instant, so have we. Love this caption from Pinterest:

While Joe and I feel like we just met (almost 14 years ago), feel like we were just at Madison, feel like we just got married and bought our first home, feel like we just had our first baby...we realize that we are beyond those years/stages in life and agree that we woudln't trade anything for the world. The wisdom gained with experience, the comfort in our careers, the confidence in our decisions, the family we built, the growth as a parent (really as a human being), the memories created along the way...while older in age than we sometimes feel, we are so happy with where we are (maybe we could just stay here a little longer!).

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Happy Endings and New Beginnings

As 2012 leaves just memories behind, we hold on to those memories tightly and make room new ones, anticipating the New Year.
2012 brought many wonderful memories and Happy Endings
I said goodbye to my 20's and welcomed the 30's (as well as coffee and wine:)
Ryan said goodbye to daycare and welcomed preschool
Kate said goodbye to being a "baby" and welcomed being toddler
Joe said goodbye to his fear of being on a boat and welcomed Cruisin' (he didn't even wear his life vest the whole time like he planned!)
Our family will be saying goodbye to our first home- the home where we welcomed my first job, our dog, our baby boy and our baby girl- and we will welcome our new home in 2013 (after we welcome living with my in-laws for 2 months in between:)

2013 will be full of New Beginnings for our family.
We will move into our new home in March!
Joe and I will be an official Uncle and Aunt and Ryan and Kate will have official cousins- our sisters are both expecting their first babies!
Ryan will begin 4K in our new school district and baseball in summer
Kate will begin dance class this summer
Our family will take our first trip to Disney as a family of 4 (with Gramma and Grampa of course!)

Along with new beginnings, we will continue to grow in love and traditions we have already built.
Kate and Ryan will continue swimming lessons and classes at the zoo
Ryan will continue soccer, football and basketball
I will continue to teach Ryan's Sunday School class and build my Thrity-One business
Joe and I will take our annual couple trip- this is a family vacation year, so we will continue our tradition of spending a weekend in Chicago.

Joe and I vow to cherish everyday, dreaming of the future while keeping our feet planted in the now. Our family celebrates the Happy Endings of 2012 and welcomes the New Beginnings of 2013. Best Wishes to all in the New Year!