April & Roel's blog

The summer is coming to an end... I am certain I can smell autumn in the air. The nights are cool and the days are pleasant. I am not certain I am ready to start classes again in just two weeks. I have to keep reminding myself that these will be my last two classes EVER!

Kiefer has been having a great time walking all over the place. We bought him his first real pair of shoes two weeks ago. We went to Target, and found a cute brown pair. We put them on his feet and put him down to see how he did walking in them and he just took off. He didn't care that the shoes were attached together with an elastic string. He was thrilled!

I do have to complain a little, though. There were two huge racks filled with adorable toddler girls shoes and one 1/2 stocked rack of so-so boys shoes with only a couple pairs that I considered cute. Why don't they make more cute stuff for boys?

The same day he got his shoes, we went to Laura & Deana's to hang out with them Bonnie, Cindy, their significant others and babies. We had a lot of fun catching up and Kiefer and Vivi kept us all busy as they were into everything. Vivi was happy to see her friend Kiefer again and she was so cute giving baby Catherine and baby Bennie kisses.

While Kiefer is very good at walking/running now, there has been a mishap or two. On Friday, Aug 8, he got his first goose egg. He was RUNNING around the housewith his truck, took a corner too quickly and hit his head on the bottom stair. I didn't know where exactly he hit his head until about a minute later when I saw the giant goose egg! I put a couple of ice cubes it while he watched Thomas the Tank Engine (I needed some distraction or he wouldn't let me near his head with ice). I thought it was going to turn everyshade of the rainbow, but I could barely even see it the next day! Whew! Kids are so resilient.

We have been visiting our favorite orchard, Clarkdale Fruit Farm every weekend now. They started selling peaches a couple of weeks ago and we have all been enjoying them. Kiefer will eat a whole peach in one sitting. I usually cut them up for him and he likes to use a fork to eat them. I am convinced that he inherited Roel's aversion to dirty hands. Since we now let him have a fork some meals, we're now fairly certain that he is right-handed! Hurray! So while he still looks so much like Roel, he does have my brown eyes and is probably right-handed like me.


Oh! We now have neighbors living in the other side of our duplex/condo. We had gotten so used to it being empty that it was a little strange at first to hear some movement through the walls, but our new neighbors are quiet. She's a nurse at a local assisted care facility and she had a grown son and a daughter who is a senior in high school. We have more new neighbors down the road and they have 3 kittens. One is rather brave and runs right over to Kiefer if he sees us outdoors. Kiefer is very gentle with the kitty. I think he learned to be gentle with Holly's (our day care provider) dogs. Mr. Oliver never really lets Kiefer get close enough to pet him.

We received some exciting news last Friday (August 8th). Roel's sister, Paula is engaged. Frank arranged for a limo to pick her up from work. It took her to a house he rented for the weekend. After a wonderful dinner, he got down on his knee, took out a ring and proposed. They plan to marry in September 2009! Congratulations! We're very happy for them!

Love,
April (& Roel & Super Kiefer)