Lena Kay Busch arrives!

It is probably about time to share a few pictures of Lena, now that today is her 12 week birthday!  As most know, Lena Kay Busch arrived on February 22, 2014.  Our world changed forever that day, and we couldn't be happier with our family of four!  She is happy, beautiful, and such a curious bundle of joy!

 

 

 

The day started out with a trip to Trowbridge Livestock arena in Columbia for an Angus show, and I decided around noon that we should probably head home.  Contractions weren't too strong, but I could tell they were starting to become a little regular.  We got home, ate lunch picked up some dog poop in the yard, made the necessary calls to Nana and Papa and the Clooten family (to watch Clay - HUGE thanks to them!), and headed to the hospital.  Clay was safely tucked away and napping at Eli Clooten's house, waiting for Nana and Papa to come into town.

 

We arrived at the hospital and had a long afternoon of waiting.  Finally, around 9:20 p.m. the nurses said I could start pushing, and she was born at 9:28 p.m.  She weighed a whopping 9 pounds and 13 ounces, was 21" long and perfect. She has been growing like a weed ever since!

 

Big brother Clay is as happy as can be with his little sister.  He had been anxious for her arrival well before Thanksgiving, after we explained he had to wait for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Valentine's Day before she would be here.  Thankfully it wasn't too long after Valentine's Day!  He is so sweet with her, and so proud of his "Lena Beena" AKA "Little Missy."  We are so blessed that he has been such a loving big brother!



 

 

Another HUGE thank you to Nana and Papa for coming to visit upon Lena's arrival.  They took care of Clay and brought him for his first visit.  All went well, with the exception of Clay trying to convince Nana and Papa they were only allowed to hold "my sister" for a short time.  He is quite protective of that little girl!

And we are finally ready to go home!  Look out world, here comes Lena!

More to follow soon (hopefully!)... 

Creative and entertaining Clay

After church today, we asked Clay what he learned about. His response was, "John and Peter Pan."  After realizing he meant the disciples John the Baptist and Peter and sharing his interesting take on the Bible with my mom, she suggested we track all of the crazy and funny sayings he is CONSTANTLY coming up with.  There are probably hundreds that we can't remember, but here are just a few from the last several months (in no particular order):

• "You can call me King Handsome, and you are the beautiful princess" - while telling me a "story" at naptime.
• While telling Dan about his new Hot Wheel car from target, Dan said he could put it with his other Hot Wheels at home.  Clay's response: "But those aren't 'hot' anymore, they are just warm wheels."
• Clay is often telling me how pretty he thinks I am, and he has decided the only girls who are prettier than me are the Mizzou Golden Girls and cheerleaders.  Much to my embarassment in the grocery store one day, I saw him eyeing a couple cute teenage girls who were in the same aisle near us.  All of a sudden he said, loud and clear to them, "You are pretty, but you aren't as pretty as my mom!"  Thankfully, the girls just started laughing.  I tried to tell him that wasn't very nice to say and he responded, "But YOU are the prettiest."  Oh my!
• "You get your big hiney in your big bed!" to Dan, after Dan told him to, "Get your little hiney in bed right now!"  Clay doesn't backtalk often, but when he does, it is just too funny!
• See above about Clay's love for his mom for the background....We hung mistletoe this year and I explained to Clay that if he is under it with a girl, he can kiss the girl.  Several times throughout the Christmas season, Clay would run under the mistletoe and exclaim, "Who wants to kiss me under the mistletoe?"  Of course, I was usually willing to oblige :)
• He has told Dan and both, "You will be a good mom/dad to Lena."  We sure hope so!
• He likes to say prayers at mealtimes and thank God for various blessings in his life.  Those prayers generally include some combination of "Mom and Dad, Annie (our dog), cows, rope, cheerleaders, Golden Girls, Santa, snow," and whatever is on his mind at the time.
• We love our church and how well he learns important Bible stories.  Sometimes I wonder how his little mind works though.  After learning about "mean King Herod's" role in the story of Jesus' birth (how King Herod wanted to kill baby Jesus), Clay would frequently relate the story of Jesus birth, complete with Joseph, Mary, wise men, angels, etc. and conclude with "I will get that mean old King Herod. If I see him, I will push him in the cow poop!"
• Along the same lines, we often talk about how Jesus will protect him anywhere he goes.  Sometimes, Clay will agree and add "and Spiderman is Jesus' helper - he will protect me too!"
• Finally, for now, I will leave you with this recent gem:  After giving him the option of doing something or getting in trouble, Clay's response was simply, "Cowboys don't get in trouble."  Unfotunately for Clay, they do :)

We couldn't be more proud of our cowboy, but he sure has an imagination!  

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, and this year was certainly no different.  It's a busy time, but we love getting together with all of our family!  This year, Kevin, Susan, Alex, Ella (and dog Gracie) made the trek from Madison, WI to spend some time with us.  We enjoyed lots of turkey, "wibble wobble" (more later), green bean casserole, and all the trimmings! 

Unfortunately I didn't get my camera out much, with the exception of Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Although I am still a little sad about it, this year the Blossom and Busch families traded our annual 5K  on Thanksgiving morning for an evening of bowling and laser tag on "black Friday."  Considering the cold temps, this was probably a smart move this year.  We certainly had a lot of fun!  Kudos to Dan, who had to work on Friday during this VERY busy time of year for cow breeding...

 Three cousins - Clay, Alex and Ella.  I can't believe how grown up Alex and Ella are getting! 

 After letting me help him out with the ball and "slide" (no idea what those contraptions are called!), Papa Blossom stepped in to help his little buddy.  Too cute!

 Although I don't think I captured the moment, Clay would return each time quite excited about knocking the pins over.  He was very serious when it was time to roll the ball, but he got a good kick out of the accomplishment.

 Photo-bomb by Clay, but a fun shot of my brother and his kids!  Poor Ella must be getting terrorized by the boys!

 Grandparents with all the grandkids!  I hope there is room on the bench for Lena next year....

 Bowling buddies....

 Although we didn't have many pictures, the Saturday after Thanksgiving was spent in Columbia for the Mizzou-Texas A&M football game.  A lot of people claim this was the biggest game to be played at Faurot Field ever, or at least since 1960.  Although it was pretty cold, we just knew we couldn't miss it.  Before the game, we all took a cruise through campus.  Although Susan and the kids came for Homecoming, Kevin hadn't been to a Mizzou football game in nearly 20 years (since he was in school)!  For those of you who know the outcome, this was certainly one of the best in 20 years!

It was pretty cold and windy, so before the game we took the easy route of tailgating with Shakespeare's pizza, "wibble wobble" and yummy desserts.  Wibble wobble was Clay's request: at preschool, the teachers asked the kids to tell what would be on their Thanksgiving plates.  Clay decided he would have "Turkey, mased potatoes, corn, and wibble wobble."  The rule with the Blossom Thanksgiving is that everyone is responsible for something, so Clay was responsible for wibble wobble.  As it turns out, that became mini hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls for the football game.  Yum!  I am pretty sure he had at least 7 or 8 that day!

Again, no pictures, but the Busch family celebrated Thanksgiving at the Brinker's house on Sunday.  It was a wonderful time, and as always, the 13 cousins had a blast playing together.  It is so much fun to see Clay playing and interacting with all his grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles.  He has so much love to give, and he certainly gets a lot in return!  This time, while the younger girls were doing crafts in the basement, Clay enjoyed rolling pool balls across the pool table for a LONG time.  He was probably worn out from keeping up with the boys and playing outside before dinner.  When it was time to go, he learned a valuable life lesson: never wake a sleeping dog who doesn't know you.  He tried getting close to Scruff the dog, and Scruff wasn't very fond of that gesture.  He is ordinarily a great dog, but after we knew Clay was fine, we were able to talk about the short lesson learned.

We hope our friends and family were able to enjoy Thanksgiving as much as we did this year.  We certainly have a lot to be thankful for!

Halloween 2013

This year we were able to celebrate Halloween twice: once at Aunt Patty's house with the Busch family, and at home on Halloween night.  Of course, Clay wanted to dress up like a cowboy.  He wore his cowboy boots, vest and chaps (althought the chaps came off for part of the time), blue jeans, cowboy shirt and hat.  It was a pretty easy costume, considering he wears most of those pieces on a daily basis!

We started out with the Pumpkin Harvest Party at Aunt Patty's house.  It was lots of fun to pick out pumpkins in the field!  Clay seemed to like the green ones best...who are we to judge?

 One of my favorites of the Busch family!

 All 13 cousins ready for Halloween and the hayride!  I think this annual party has got to be one of my favorites!

 A few of the sweet girl cousins...

 

 Barb and cousin Lillian.  We are so excited that Lillian and her big sister Eleanor will be big sisters about a week after Clay becomes a big brother!  Congratulations, Schweich family!

 The Beckers...Rick, Sarah and Natalie...

  The Busch's...Terry, Julie, TJ and Sam...

 And the Whited's...Mel, Sandy, and Addison.  I wish we had more pictures of everyone from the day, but thanks again to the Brinkers (Keith, Patty, Eric, Joette and Brian) for hosting such a great evening!

Ready to go trick-or-treating!  Clay makes a pretty cute cowboy, doesn't he?  He really got into the spirit of knocking on doors and saying "trick-or-treat" and "Happy Halloween!"  After the first house or two, we convinced him to wait to say anything until the door actually opened.  He was quite polite, saying "thank-you" (sometimes after a reminder), and we are STILL eating candy from Halloween!  After a few houses, he agreed and said "I got the hang of this!"  Silly boy! 

Of course, no fall season is complete without raking and jumping in leaves!  I didn't get a picture of Clay and I throwing leaves at each other - I didn't want to get the camera full of leaves!  But we sure had fun!  (And thanks to Dad for staying inside to paint Clay's room while we played!)

Fall Fun!

As many know, fall and winter is my favorite time of year!  I'm not a huge fan of hot weather (unless we are swimming), but I LOVE the crisp, cool air and holidays in the fall.  This year is no exception, and we were able to enjoy a lot of fun times outside together.  You may notice a recurring theme of a  little cowboy in a few pictures - Clay generally has at least some part of his cowboy gear on wherever we go (boots, hat, blue jeans, etc.).  We will get to Halloween later, but yes, he wanted to dress up like a cowboy this year.  Surprise, surprise!

 We went to visit Great-Grandma in Lake St. Louis.  They were having a country-western day, so of course, Clay wanted to wear his cowboy gear!  It was great to visit and enjoy the day! 

 In mid-September, my Aunt Marleen passed away and went to heaven.  We miss her very much, and she was so loved by so many friends and family.  To give my cousins Jason and Becky and Uncle Bob some time alone, we brought cousin Jack (black shirt) to visit the farm one Sunday.  Clay idolizes Jack, so he was beside himself with excitement.  Jack seemed to enjoy the day working cows and playing in the hay barn with the other cousins who came over - Andrew, Sam and TJ (not pictured).  The boys were extremely dirty and sweaty, but I think everyone had a lot of fun!  The uncles certainly had plenty of help that day!

 I asked for a silly face...

 We have had so much fun going to Mizzou football games this year!  The first game was the Gold Rush game, and I had a hard time remembering a game as hot as that day.  We started out strong, but only made it through halftime.  Papa and Clay were both ready to go (as were the rest of us), but we enjoyed watching the Tiger victory!  We have actually had pretty good success staying through at least the third quarter or later during the rest of the games.  It's tough to really watch and keep a 3-year old entertained, but he loves cheering on his Missouri Tigers!  He knows the M I Z Z O U chant pretty well, and breaks down cheering at random times away from the football games.  Most recently, he started in the middle of the grocery store.  Good thing we live in Columbia where people can appreciate a true fan!

 The helmet car is pretty cool!

 We like to dress up and have fun at home!  I think this was a serenade to the tune of "ABC's."

 We went to a field day at one of the University Farms (South Farm) to enjoy a day of agriculture.  It came as no surprise to us that Clay was excited to put on the big, long glove and check out the cow's insides.  Eww!

 

 He is also getting the hang of milking cows (and goats).  Clay likes to take advantage of any opportunity to work with animals.  We love our little farm boy!

 

All that agriculture and fresh air sure wears a cowboy out!

 Yes, that is my son riding his bike with a Spiderman costume and cowboy boots!  Who says Spiderman can't wear boots?  The best part was walking down the sidewalk with Clay while he was wearing this costume.  The neighbors can't help but smile and laugh!

"Mom and Dad, look how strong I am!"

 Clay and Annie are still pretty great buddies...

..but as Dan and Clay both agree, they are "the best buddies ever!"  It is so much fun to watch these two giggle, play, and wrestle together!  Sometimes  I'm not sure who is having more fun.  Don't worry, I get lots of time to do the same.  If only we can convince Clay that I'm not really his "wife."  Love these boys to pieces!

Birthday Boy!

Yes, I realize I am two months behind on this, but again...better late than never!  We had a wonderful birthday celebration this year, and we were so blessed that Nana and Papa Blossom, Grandma and Papa Busch, Aunt Sandy, cousin Addison, and Uncles Tim, Rick and Jerry could all come to Columbia to celebrate the big day!  Of course, all Clay could talk about leading up to the party was that "Rick is coming to my house!"  He loves all of his family, but certainly seems to have an extra-special attachment to Uncle Rick.  Too funny!  I will let most of the photos tell the story...

 Getting ready to blow out the candles on his "Buzz and Woody" cake (Toy Story).  Of course, Uncle Rick is sitting right next to him!

 Clay and cousin Addison wanted to wear cowboy gear, and they were both getting in the spirit!  Addison makes such a cute cowgirl!

Hamming it up some more!

 Clay had fun scoping out the party hats!  Such a fun time!

 New cowboy boots!  Jackpot!  Thanks, Nana and Papa!  His old boots were getting pretty tight and small, so it was good timing for a new pair.  He wears them nearly every day, and I think it's the only pair of shoes he has actually worn out.  Love my little cowboy!

 A Buzz Lightyear!  Thanks, Aunt Sandy and Addison!  I know I didn't get pictures of all the gifts, but he loved every one of them.  Thank you to everyone!

 A "real" horse that is now named "Orb" (after the most recent Kentucky Derby winner).  Apparently it will only make noises 800-something times, but I'm pretty confident we have beat that record.  He often sleeps with it in his bed at night, and as he is going to sleep, we hear random horse noises.  Precious!

 Here is the sweetest cowgirl ever!

 Clay was pretty pumped about his guitar - he likes to sing and play, generally to the tune of "ABC's" or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."  I didn't realize he would be quite as excited about the guitar, but he sure is.  He gets a very serious face while playing - no goofing off while making music!

Woody!!  Woo hoo!  Thanks again to everyone who helped us celebrate - it was a wonderful day and so much fun to have family over.

Clay also got to celebrate at his preschool, First Discoveries, with Matt and Annette Bloomfield.  We feel incredibly fortunate to have found such wonderful people to take care of, love, and teach our little boy.  We are constantly amazed at the things he learns and the good habits he develops there.  We also enjoy lots of photos from his time there!  Here are just a few from his birthday:

 

 Clay got to wear the special birthday hat, and sat next to best buddy, Eli!  These two seem inseparable at times!

I know this is hard for most everyone to believe, but he was very excited about showing off lots of emotion.  Annette told me he just kept having fun showing his different faces.  

 Angry...

 Happy...

 Mad...

Silly...

And thinking.  This boy is certainly a thinker!  I just love seeing his many sides and emotions - he is quite good at expressing them :)  I hope this gives you a glimpse into the adorable 3-year old character we get to share our lives with!