Oh Boy

Clearly, I have NOT been keeping up with this blog. I actually considered giving up on it altogether, but I thought I might as well keep it and just write whenever I write.

Harper is quickly approaching her second birthday. She is talking so much, sometimes it completely blows my mind. She says complete sentences now, although, sometimes they're hard to decipher if you don't speak Harper language :) She has been singing the abc's for a few weeks, and occassionally we'll even catch her counting...so far she has made it to 15! She can also say her whole name "Harper Grace Niebruegge". We definitely have to watch what we say around her now, because who knows what she'll choose to repeat. She loves to be independent and do things by herself. One of the funnies things she does right now is ask for "baby coffee" first thing in the morning. Little does she know, baby coffee is just warm milk with a tiny bit of chocolate sauce. We are also trying to explain to Harper that she has a little sister on the way. It's hard to tell how well she understands it, but I think she knows something big is going on!

Bret and I are really excited to take our kids to camp this summer. We'll be at Malibu Club from July 18-24 this year. About a week after we get home we'll head down to Washington Family Ranch in Oregon for our 20 day assignment. I'm really excited for this assignment. I think Harper is at a great age to hang out at a Young Life camp all day! We'll also have some great friends there, and some awesome work crew and summer staff kids who are coming from our area! The best part about the trip is that Bret's mom and sister and my parents will be coming as adult guests during the last week! I really can't wait!

harper language

I finally got a video of Harper talking. She's actually starting to put words together now, I think she might be getting close to sentences. Oh boy!

Hugo 'The Boss' Stiglets Niebruegge

We (or maybe just I) decided that since Murph was gone, Kona needed a new friend to keep her young. Bret, Jake and I searched far and wide for a puppy just after New Years. We found the perfect little pup and Jake named him Hugo 'The Boss' Stiglets. Hugo is now about 12 weeks old, and he is a terror. He's going to be a very big boy...he gained 6 lbs in the two weeks between his first and second vet visit! He terrorizes Harper and Kona to no end, but at the end of the day we all love him :)

A Rocky Start to a Lovely Christmas

A few days before we planned to leave for Christmas in Chicago, Murphy started acting a little weird. I took him to the vet, and they did some blood work, but none of us were too concerned...he just seemed a little off. I had an appointment to get x-rays done on the morning of the 18th, but on the evening of the 17th he unexpectedly took a turn for the worst and died on the way to the vet :( They think he potentially suffered a severe trauma and died of internal bleeding. We buried him that night, talked about memories and tried to process the whole sequence of events. Murphy was a great kitty, and he lived a very full, adventurous life. We loved him so much and memories of Murphy will be in our hearts forever. I wouldn't be surprised if he's up in heaven pouncing on Jesus' robe and causing trouble right this second.

Murphy being a trouble maker


The morning after we lost Murph, we jumped on a plane and headed to Chicago. Although I was very disappointed with the timing, it ended up being a blessing to be out of the house for a while. This might have been the most fun Bret and I have ever had in Chicago. Bret, Harper, Mitch, Addie and I loved playing in the snow and enjoying the real winter weather! We went ice skating, sledding, shopping, exploring, took pictures with Santa, ate tons of Chicago style food and celebrated Christmas Eve together! It was a trip jam packed with fun. On Christmas day, we made it home just in time to celebrate with Bret's family. It was all such a blast, I still feel in shock at the lack of action at home! I'll post pictures of our trip soon!

scowl

Harper's happy Halloween and our new ride!

This year, Halloween was much more eventful than last year. Last October Harper was just three months old and certainly couldn't appreciate what was going on around her! This year she dressed up like a little lady bug, and as she would say she looked "sooo toot"! We made our rounds and visited some Edmonds neighbors and friends, then we headed to downtown Edmonds for the big event down there. It was rainy and cold by the time we got there, and there were long lines just to get candy. Good thing Harper didn't really care if she got candy or not. Her two favorite parts of the event were the balloons and the doggies. She really couldn't have cared less about the candy or the fact that she was dressed up. After getting cold and wet in downtown Edmonds, we headed up to Lake Stevens to hang out with Kyle, Rachael and little Chase. Harper and Chase are finally getting old enough to play together a little bit. I think they will be great friends someday :)

Ladybug

First trick or treating experience

This is just after she knocked

Then she looks at Bret like "Okay Dad, nobody's coming!"

So she tried the door herself!

Making herself at home.

Harper and Peter Pan


Goodbye truck, hello Passat. In other Niebs family news, we finally sold the truck and got a family car! So far we are loving our Passat wagon!

August and September

Well, the summer is gone and fall is in the air in Edmonds. We are having beautiful fall weather so far, which makes the transition much easier. Our family had a great summer full of traveling, visitors and boating, however, we are all happy to be settling back into every day life. Now it's time to settle down, get some house projects finished and get ready for a new year of Edmonds Young Life!

When I look back over the past few months, I can't believe how much harper has changed. Soon after she took off walking towards the end of July, the words started coming! She can now repeat almost anything. Some of her favorite words and phrases are: apple, oh my, oh boy, oh no, up, hot, ouch, cool dude, so cute, egg, ball and shoe. She loves music and dancing, and she has even started to make some of her own jokes. Of course her silly faces are still coming, her newest addition is the grandpa face. We also taught Harper how to jump. It is hilarious to watch her doing what she thinks is jumping.

Earlier this month we had the opportunity to take a family vacation to the farm in Pennsylvania to visit my Mom's family. I had been dreading the plane ride for weeks, but to my surprise it was completely painless! In Pennsylvania we got to do so many fun things. We went to Hershey Theme Park on our first day with my cousins Amelia and Ethan. We had a great time and rode a total of 12 roller coasters! When we got home from the park the family celebrated Gramps' 98th Birthday! Whoa! In the next few days we saw cows, piglets, goats, chickens, horses and many other animals. Bret also got to ride in the combine while they harvested corn! A dream come true for him!!

We got to see piglets!

After five days in Pennsylvania we headed to my parents' house in Lagrange. Our time there was much more relaxing. We caught up with Katie and Carly, spending some time in the suburbs and some time in the city. One day we went to Lincoln Park Zoo with Katie, which was especially fun because it was free! Harper enjoyed all the little monkeys, probably because she is a little monkey herself. On our last day there, Bret and I went to New Buffalo Michigan where my family used to vacation. It was great to show him the place where I had so many memories!

We are now home and gearing up for our Young Life fall banquet on October 5th. This year we are going to have a silent auction for the first time. I am so excited about the items, I can't wait to see how it goes! Last Friday night, we had the first Kings Young Life club. I was thinking maybe we would have 25-30 kids...well, we ended up having 65!! Holy Cow! Praise God! I can't wait for more exciting things to happen this year!