Give Thanks

We are very thankful to have family so close! Heather's folks are up in Ankeny and mine are in Indianola, so either way we have about a 30 min drive for Thanksgiving or Christmas or dinner...This Thanksgiving we went to Ankeny on Thursday and Indianola on Saturday.
Heather and Toby are excited for all the food!
Aaron and Addy found a cool hang out in these ottoman's, lined with a blanket they were pretty cozy!

Thursday night Heather, Doreen, Erin, Rob and the kiddo's went to Disney on Ice! Karys, Nathan and Gracie could hardly wait for the show to start!

Goofy, Micky and Mini on ice skates!

...making "silly" faces!

Toby, Erin and Doreen enjoying the show!

Belle and the cast of Beauty and the Beast performed...

...as did all of the Disney Princesses! From what I heard, it was an awesome show!

Toby's Baptism

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we headed up to Orange City for Toby's baptism! The whole crew was there and it was great to celebrate Toby's big day!
This was Trigg's first road trip and he did great...slept the whole way and hardly heard a peep from him.

Trigg, Rob and Toby...a similar picture was taken at Trigg's birth, the baby boys sure are growing quickly!

Dress for Success: Tip #2 Shoe Shine

Last week I started some Dress for Success Tips
Tip #1 - Socks and Shoes
Since I mentioned socks and shoes last week, I thought I would continue with the shoes. Even the sharpest suit can look shabby when worn with dirty and scuffed dress shoes. So this weeks tip is to shine those shoes!
For starters, I would recommend picking up a shoe shine kit, generally they come with one or two colors of polish, a foam application brush and a soft bristle brush.

Shining your shoes is easy! Let me break down the steps for you:

Step 1: Clean/Dust off your shoes, wipe them down with a damp cloth to remove dust and dirt.

Step 2: Pick your polish color that matches your shoes

Step 3: Use the foam applicator brush to apply a thin coat of polish to your shoe. I generally apply in small circles and make sure the polish gets in all the cracks and creases. Wait 10 to 15 minutes for the polish to dry, you applied enough polish when it dries to dull or hazy coating.

Step 4: Brush polish off with the soft bristle brush.

Step 5: Buff to a nice shine with a clean rag. I use an old cotton t-shirt.

Optional Step 6: For extra shine, use a spray bottle to apply a small amount of water while buffing.
If your shoes haven't been polished in a while, you can repeat steps 3 - 5 until your shoes are looking good!

A freshly shined dress shoe can put the finishing touch to any outfit!

11/11/11 Mustache Party

Last week was 11/11/11! To celebrate, we threw a Mustache themed party! We used this crazy squirrel for a "photo booth" backdrop...with mustache added, of course! Riley wasn't too sure about the giant squirrel hanging on the wall.
Andrea stopped by while we were getting everything set up, so we used her to test the photo booth!

Since it is "No Shave November" I had a pretty scruffy beard going...

...that turned into a pretty solid mustache!

Even Riley got to sport a 'stache!

The party got started and out came the mustaches! Derek brought over some stick on mustaches but since Aaron already had a 'stache going, he improvised...

We thought Jon's 'stache made him look like Ed Rooney from Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Trigg rockin' out the 'stache!

Brandt is looking good with his mustache too!

...and for the photo booth: The Siskow's

The Vocelka's

The Pine's (Joni wasn't feeling good, so Riley got to sub in for the photo)

The Comfort's

The gals

We had a ton of fun celebrating 11/11/11 and rockin the mustaches!

1 Month Already?!?

It's hard for us to believe but today Trigg is 1 month old! This past month has flown by! We feel so blessed by our great family and friends and the support that we have received this past month! Thank you so much!
1 month old just happens to land on Wednesday, so both Trigg and I were dressed up for "Dress Up Wednesday!" ...and thanks to Aunt Christa for the sweet baby ties!

Trigg and Mom!

The family (minus Riley, she was outside playing in the fresh snowfall!)

It has been so fun this past month to watch the little man grow and become more alert! He is such a content baby and for that we are very thankful! It has also been fun to watch Heather become a mom and she has done a fantastic job at being a mom!

Dress for Success: Tip #1 - Socks and Pants

I am not a fashion expert by any means but I do know a little bit about a little bit, so I am going to try and share what I know with the dudes out there.
If your like me and I think most of the corporate world, you work in a "business casual" environment. Unfortunately, I think most men lean more towards the casual and less towards the business. There are a few things that catch my eye and I am going to address them.
Tip #1: Socks are an extension of the pants. A general rule of thumb, your socks should match your pants. If you have khaki pants, go with matching socks. Navy pants, navy socks...I think you get the picture.
White socks are not for work, period. Sure, if you are wearing jeans, fine, put on those white socks, but if you have on "business casual" pants, go with socks to match! I have seen this combo more times than I like...
Trust me...people notice! Stick to this rule of thumb: Socks are an extension of the pants!

Book Review: Unbroken

I just finished reading Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, subtitled A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption and was it ever! This book grabbed me from the beginning and didn’t let go.
This is the story of Louis Zamperini – growing up as a rebellious boy he funneled his energy into running and became a high school and college standout in the 1930’s. He was such an accomplished runner he competed in the Berlin Olympics in the 5k, although his bread and butter race with the mile and many people speculated that he would be the first to break the 4 minute mile barrier. Then WWII rolled around and Louie enlisted in the US Air Force and became a bombardier. Stationed in Hawaii his plane crashed on a search mission for another plane that had gone down. Surviving on a life raft for over 40 days in the Pacific Ocean only to be picked up by a Japanese ship and sent to a POW camp. Barely surviving in the POW camp until the end of the war, he finally makes it back home to his life!
This book was fantastic, very well written and it amazed me the details of the events that took place some 65 years ago. I’m not a history buff by any means, I knew a little about Pearl Harbor and the war that was fought in Europe but I learned a lot more about the battle that took place on the Pacific theater. My eyes were really opened to the harsh and terrible conditions that the POW’s suffered in Japan and it amazed me to read about the will to survive!
Hillenbrand does a fantastic job of telling Zamperini’s story, the book reads like a thriller and the 450+ pages fly by and you get caught up in the story. I would highly recommend this book and I can see why it is on the New York Times bestseller list.

Tummy Time

Who doesn't love tummy time! I know I do...and Trigg does too!
Just chillin' on his tummy, working on his neck strength!

Heather thinks that Trigg has my hair...I can kind of see that.

Trigg also like to snuggle on his tummy...

...and the little man can fall asleep anywhere!

Visitors!

Trigg loves having company over to our house...although he usually sleeps through it, he loves to see his family and friends! The Pella VL's stopped by one night!

Nathan was so excited to hold Trigg! Not much longer and he will have a new baby sibling to hold!

Since Trigg was sleeping and not wanting to play...Nathan asked if we could go downstairs for a guitar jam session!

Grandma Great stopped by to see the little man!

...and Grandpa Great was in town and stopped by with my folks!

Morgan was super excited to meet her new cousin, so Christa and Morgan stopped by!

We have been so blessed by our great family and friends! Thanks so much for all the gifts and for the meals! God has given us a wonderful community of support and love! We appreciate it!

Trigg Update

So our little man is almost 4 weeks old...and the time is flying by. It feels like he is getting bigger each day. He is doing all the things newborns should do: eat, sleep, poop, pee and grow! I took a week off of work to be at home with Heather and Trigg. It was the best week of my life! Grandma Doreen came to hang out the Heather and Trigg for the second week and then Grandma Keri came for the third week! We have felt very blessed by all the support of our friends and family!
Trigg working on his hand and arm strength!
This is the outfit he wore home from the hospital...the mighty lion! When we came home he weighted 5lbs 10oz. At our first appointment he was 5 days old, he weighted 5lbs 12oz, and then at our 2 week appointment he was up to 6lbs 11oz! Needless to say, this outfit is now fitting him a little on the snug side!

Trigg and Mom!

Lots of people have been asking us how Riley is doing with the new family member. So far, she isn't too interested in the little man. She has sniffed him once or twice. I think she is more upset about the interruptions to her sleeping schedule, she doesn't like that we get up in the night to feed the little man...and lately she has been giving us the cold shoulder!