More Pictures of Those Kiddos....

Kid Pics...

It has been a while since we posted some pictures of the kids, so.....here they are:

Nom de Pen

So I was thinking about what my pen name would be if I had one, when it hit me: Lemony Snicket.  Kim ruined my joy, though, she claims that one is already taken.  So I decided to brainstorm on some other potential pen names, see what you think:

Orangeny Smiket

Cherry-ey Likit

Banana-ey Rickets

Coconuteny Wicket

Apple-ey Cricket

Hmmm...much to consider....

My Meatless Month

So, at about 2:43 pm on February 17, I made up my mind to accept the challenge that had been brewing inside me for several weeks: No meat for one month.  Why do such a thing, you might ask? Have I always dreamed of the special privileges of the vegetarian diet, such as being able to give a half smile and say, "actually, I don't eat meat"? 

No.  

Have I reached a crucial point in my not-quite-as-young-as-I-used-to-be life in which I needed a drastic change? 

Nope.  

Is it a condition? 

No.  

Does the mental image of a fluffy young lamb frolicking in a flowery meadow cause my appetite to shrivel? 

Nope, lamb is delicious.  

The truth is that I came to the realization that somehow, someway I had developed a 'foody' bias towards vegetarians, or more precisely the vegetarian diet.  But when I asked myself what my reasons for thinking vegetarian fare to be lesser, the only real answers I could muster were that it doesn't contain meat, and is probably bland.  Neither of which is substantial reasoning; the first is part of the definition of vegetarian, and the second is more of an hypothesis...one that I decided should be put to the test.  So to sum it all up, I challenged myself to a meatless month to face my prejudice head on and to find out in a real way once and for all if vegetarian is as horrid as I thought.

Here are my rules: No meat (duh!), dairy products and eggs do not count as meat, fish and shellfish do.

"Hmmm...", you say, "and what did you learn, strange person?"  

Actually I did make several important realizations during the past month.

First, the way 'pasta' is pronounced in a British accent sounds eerily like the way 'pastor' is pronounced by New Yorkers or Bostonians. (I am not exactly sure the implications of this, but it certainly has deep meaning).

Also,  there are many ways to cook both zucchini and red peppers.  In fact, going meatless wasn't nearly as hard or complicated as I had expected.  Some of our recent favorite dishes, such as Nasi Goreng, Pasta with polenta, and even fajitas actually lend themselves quite well to vegetarian versions.  Additionally, taking lunches to work didn't end up being much more of a chore either.  Peanut butter and honey sandwich, Cheese and crackers, trail mix,  none of these require any real change.  So did we make any changes, then? (I say we, because Kim actually was super supportive and went along with me for meatless dinners).  Yes, we did try out Lentilloaf in place of Meatloaf, Curried Chickpeas with Veggies in place of Curried Chicken, Roasted Veggies with Hummus, and also Tofu in place of Shrimp in the Nasi Goreng.  And the honest truth is that the vegetarian fare did not lack in flavor.  An added bonus  is that while I wasn't really planning on this being a weight loss type of effort, when I started eating meat again I noticed that my stomach had gotten used to much smaller portions, and I am not eating less at a single sitting than before.  A very interesting side effect, don't you think?

So to wrap this whole thing up, I learned over my meatless month that a vegetarian diet can be just as satisfying as a meat-filled diet, and that it doesn't require buying special, expensive food or living off of lettuce.  In addition, there is some sort of connection between eating veggie meals and portion control, although I am not sure what since I only noticed this after I started eating meat again.  

Phew, that was quite a post, time for a steak or maybe a grilled mushroom...oh the choices! :) 

February, Cold but Damp

January and February have been quite eventful so far, several birthdays (Roger McKnight, Landon Queen, Nimajneb Naak) , a few tests of the ol' immune system, the Superbowl,  the pastor at our church actually using a 'Highlander' analogy in his sermon (still trying to figure that one out), and maybe biggest of all, Stella has realized that she adores whipped cream.

She is also fond of chocolate cake, but the whipped cream is like more favorite.  (Brian Regan reference #1)

Elijah has also found out a little about himself...he has discovered that he distinctly enjoys playing video games...mario games to be exact.  He does what every normal 4-year-old should when controlling the mario, he leans and jumps and moves around the room as if he is actually jumping on giant bird-turtle things and such.  It is pretty funny, he needs like a 10' x 10' area to be able to play (which wouldn't be odd if we were talking a Wii game here, but the truth is that we only have a Gamecube!  I know, I know, like sooooo 2005,  but we are willing to shoulder the shame :)

Oh look, the little guy managed to find a Mario sculpture at the 'Canstruction' display at the train station, its like Mario follows us these days.

Well, it is forcasted to be 63 degrees tomorrow, which will feel like a heat wave compared to the recent frigidity, so I am gonna go dig some shorts and a tank top out of my closet.

Have a great Week! (You too! .....and there is Brian Regan reference #2)

Life Without Cable

Happy Post-Labor Day to everyone! I hope there was much joy and merriment for all. We had a short, but wonderful Labor Day weekend. On our way to Chillicothe, my little brother Dan called to tell us that he got Engaged to Breeann!...very exciting! We also got to watch a very tiny parade in Wheeling, and Stella entered a baby contest. Jules entered last year and won, so we had to give it a go. Stella didn't win, but she did get second, and she really enjoyed getting to chew on her red ribbon. :) This week has been pretty exciting as well. Elijah started preschool! He had his first day on Wednesday, and he met his teacher, Mrs. Manning. It was raining, so he got to wear his raincoat (which he loves), and he got to wear his brand new Speedracer backpack that he picked out himself. I gotta say that it was fairly frightening to just leave him at preschool for three hours. I can't imagine how I would've felt if he was in all-day preschool. I worried about whether he'd listen to his teacher, I worried about him being able to make it to the bathroom on time since it's all the way down the hall, I worried about him being able to make friends because sometimes he's a little too "in your face", I worried about him not being able to count high enough...pretty much I worried about him the whole time he was gone. Then I picked him up from school and his teacher didn't say anything...and I waited a little just to make sure, but the verdict was in...there was nothing worth mentioning. No major catastrophies. Whew. I asked him how his first day at Preschool went and all I could get out of him was that he "played and played" and that he didn't get to turn the spinny thing on the weather thing, so he cried. Did I mention that I missed him. I'm pretty sure Stella missed him too. Stella didn't have anyone (besides me) to play her favorite games of Peekaboo, Put things on My Head, Pretzel Stick Dangle, and Hold onto the Stationary Laundry Basket. So that was our week, oh, and Ben worked A LOT! We miss you, Benjamin!

Moved and Settled (well partially at least)...

July was potentially the busiest month that we have experienced in a long time. We moved from Lawrence, KS to Kansas City, MO (but still Broncos fans mind you), celebrated several birthdays (Elijah, 4; Grampy, 50; Will, 27), and worked like crazy to finish up my thesis (but still just not quite finished). Hopefully, things will slow down to a slow gallop in August! Our new apartment is quite nice, and it is fairly close to my work to boot, so we are happy with all of that. Check it out: www.provincekc.com
Elijah and Stella are doing well, although they seem to have decided to drives us crazy some days (and by us I mean Kim)! Last weekend Kim and Stella and Elijah got to ride the miniature working train at the line creek community center Kansas City Northern Railroad which they said was quite fun (well Stella just made a spitting noise, but surely it was intended to convey her enjoyment remembered). I, alas, was again working on my thesis...I am now officially so so so so ready to just be done with it! Soon, very soon. 

Check out more pictures on the flickr bar to the left!  That is all for now. Hope all of you have a chance to enjoy the final days of summer, before you know it will be snowing! (Consider yourself warned)

The Days of Summer...

We haven't written in a while, which is usually an indication that our schedule has been filled to almost overflowing! May was a very eventful month. I finished up my classes and participated in the graduation ceremony for my masters degree (I will officially graduate when I defend my thesis).




My mom and ALL of my brothers and sisters (and Kyle) came to visit, which was slightly chaotic but very fun, and we even managed a trip to Chillicothe for some Memorial weekend fun. My sister, Jessica, graduated from med school (scary, huh?) and is working on her residency in Portland, OR. And Elijah found some rocks to climb on!




In June, I started work at my new job in Kansas City. The company name is Thornton Tomasetti (www.thorntontomasetti.com), a large structural engineering firm. We are looking for our next place of residence, and may have found it. We are planning to rent a house in northern Kansas City for the time being. Check out more pictures on the flickr bar to the left.

...down in my heart Tuesday

It's funny how songs you sing as a child get forgotten and then somehow get remembered again when you have children. I keep having dreams that remind me of these songs I used to sing. There's one that goes...'my God is so BIG, so strong, and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do'. Then I forget parts and make up some new words. Elijah is a fan of 'I've got the Joy'. He ends the song by singing 'I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, down in my heart Tuesday'. cute kid, that one. I still cannot believe how fast Elijah is growing. He'll be 4 years old this year!

And Stella, oh she's so much fun! She has the best smile I have ever seen (I am completely biased here, but many people agree with me), and she's generally very happy. She has started eating rice cereal, and she can roll over when she really wants to. She's also gotten into a napping routine, which makes life easier for me. She's still not sleeping all the way through the night yet, but we're working on it. Having two kids share a bedroom is definitely a challenge at bedtime.

We're going to be having some crazy months ahead. Ben's still doing research and finishing up grad school, but he's graduating in May! Wow, it's less than a month away. And then he starts his new job in June, and then sometime in July we'll be moving. Time is going by so fast. Stella will be six months old next month!

Some of you may have heard that KU won the national basketball championship, and since Stella is our little Kansas baby, we had to get the kids some shirts to mark the occasion. Oh, and today is Fred's birthday, so Happy Birthday Opa Fred!

The World of a 3-year-old...

Welcome, I hope you are having an enjoyable day so far. I invite you to take a few minutes, and journey with me into a strange and enchanted realm filled with mystery and intrigue, the world of a 3-year-old...

"Elijah, stop picking your nose."
"I did, and I got a booger."
"Eww, honey, don't touch anything!"
"It's ok, I put it back."



"Whatcha drawing Elijah?"
"This is the Erf of China. And it has green parts where there is water, and blue parts where there is houses and grass and trees."
"I think the green parts are the land, buddy."
"Oh, right, haha, I already knew that! Can you show me how to draw Saturn?"

"Elijah, do you know why we celebrate Easter?"
"Yes."
"Oh, ok, why?"
"Umm, I dunno."
"Haha, well, we are celebrating what Jesus did for us, He loved us so much that He paid for our sins on the cross, and then rose from the dead after three days! Isn't that amazing?"
"Oh, yeah...can I eat a marshmallow?"

Elijah to the man walking by our aisle in Target:
"Red light...green light....hey, red light!"

At Wendy's:
"Elijah, what do you want for lunch, chicken nuggets? a hamburger?"
"They have the ' Spicy Baconator' here!"
"Ha, that is true, do you want one?"
"No, I want some chicken nuggets."

"Goodnight Elijah, sleep well buddy."
"Yesterday at Sarah's, Momma said that I don't sleep anymore...you can go to sleep if you want to."
"Um, I don't think Momma said that, buddy. Go to sleep, ok?"
"Ok, can you sing me a song about piddy-tigs?"
"Those aren't even real words, Elijah, it is time to go to sleep, ok?"
"Haha, ok. Goodnight."



"That girl has pink hair, see Elijah?"
"Oh, yeah, she shouldn't do that."
"Do you have pink hair, buddy?"
"No, I have Elijah hair."
"Does Grammy have pink hair?"
"Nooo, she had yellow hair."
"What about Aunt Noodle, does she have pink hair?"
"No."
"Maybe Gramma Pam, is her hair pink?"
"Ummm...yeah, that's right, you figured it out daddy! Gramma Pam has pink hair, right."

Elijah's thoughts on Superman:
"Superman flies cuz of that flag he keeps on his back."

Elijah's thoughts on pooping:
"The big ones are fast, but the little ones are the coolest ones everrr!"

On the Road...

"I think that I will always be partly a country girl," said Kim. "What about you? Are you in any way country?"
"I don't know, maybe a little," Ben replied.
"I think you are a little; but it's undiscovered."
"Haha, did you just call me a little, undiscovered country?"
"Heehee, yep."
"I think my country's name would be Bensylvania."
"What about Benswana, or Benmark."
"Hmmm...Benland...Papua New Benny...Bendia...Benezuela?"
"Hey, that's how it's supposed to be pronounced anyway."
"Your right, how funny."
"Haha, maybe NetherBends or Benegal."
"Ooh, good one. And you would be MonaKim!"
"Nope, Kimbodia, haha."
"Yep, or maybe AntarctiKim or Kimdonesia."
"MorroKim"
"The United Kimdom. Ooh, how about Benkino Fasso...no, wait, BenKimo Fasso!"
"Nice, you got both in one, that was good."
"How about Tushy Land!" interjected Elijah.

One Very Full Month

There has been so much going on in the month since we last posted. We sold our big puffy chair so that we'd have room for our Christmas tree. We visited Chillicothe for Christmas, which was a lot of fun. The day we drove out, it started to snow, and it ended up taking us four hours to get there instead of two. Stella slept through most of the trip, thank goodness! While we were there, Stella got to meet lots of extended family. We also really enjoyed getting to spend lots of time with Grammy and Grampy and Uncle Will, Aunt Noodle (Kristen :)), and Julienne, who's growing so fast and is so much fun.

As always Elijah thoroughly enjoyed everything about Christmas and asked everyone if they had a present for him... our mail lady, any friends that visited, random strangers. He was also very sad that we had to take down our Christmas tree, and almost every other day, he asks if we can put it back up.

Stella and Elijah both got a lot of presents. Ben's family sent presents from Colorado, which was fun. We didn't get to go to Colorado this year since Ben's still in school and Stella's so little, but hopefully we'll get to visit next year.

In non-Christmas news, Ben accepted a job to work at a structural engineering firm in Kansas City starting at the end of May. What a huge blessing and answer to prayer! It means a lot of work for him this semester though because he's got classes, he's being a teacher's assistant for two professors, and he has to try and finish his research and write his thesis. He's a busy man! Yet somehow he manages to help out a lot with Elijah and Stella.

I've been spending my time taking care of Elijah and Stella. I've also been officially diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, which means I'll be on insulin for the rest of my life, but God has been good in giving us the means and resources to take care of me thus far, and all of my lab work has come back looking very good. Between Stella's doctor appointments, my post-partum appointments, and diabetic appointments it felt like my new job was going to appointments. Thank goodness things are finally starting to slow down!

Stella is two months old today! She's still eating and sleeping a lot. The last couple of days have been wonderful because she hasn't been as fussy, and she's been sleeping better. She's such a sweet baby, and she makes lots faces. Ben and I have been calling her our "little drama queen" because she can make the saddest faces at the drop of a hat. She's also quite the little diva. Enjoy the new pictures! Oh, and be sure to check out the flickr photos on the left to see more Christmas and more Stella pics.

A Few Moments with Elijah

"Daddy, who is this present from?"
"That is from your Nanna, she sent it in the mail for you."
"No...its not from a banana, that's silly!"

*****

"Elijah, what is your full name?"
"I'm Elijah Ethan Kaan."
"And what is Stella's full name?"
"Her name is Stella Wyoming Kaan."

*****

"Elijah, buddy, it is sleepy time, ok?"
"No! I don't want to go sleepy right now."
"Buddy, come on, we go to sleep every night."
"I can't go to sleep right now, the christmas tree is too beautiful."

*****

A song for the Season, by Elijah (kinda to the tune of 'Have a Holly Jolly Christmas')

"Have a Merry Merry Christmas,
There are presents under that Christmas Tree
I better not open them because
Momma said 'No! You better not open them!'
Thank you, thank you
Don't bite your friends"

*****

Three Weeks Old

Stella is three weeks old! She had a doctors appointment this week and is now weighing in at 6 pounds 6 ounces. So far she's been a very easy baby. She loves to eat and sleep. It's amazing how different kids can be. Elijah hated getting his diaper changed, loved pacifiers, and only wanted to sleep in someone's arms. Stella likes getting her diaper changed, pacifiers make her gag, and she'll sleep anywhere as long as she's full, burped, and changed. Crazy kids.

Ben and I have definitely been trying to get used to having two kids. The hardest thing so far has been that right now they both have colds. So poor Elijah and Stella have runny noses and coughs...it's really sad. I think Elijah got his cold from a combination of going to MOPs and then playing in the snow all day on Thursday (he had a lot of fun). Then Stella got a cold from him.


You'll have to excuse my bad transitions and mild confusion in this blog, but I can't think very well right now. Anyhoo, I was looking through some pictures and found the ones of Elijah from Halloween, so I thought I'd throw a couple of those in too. Enjoy.

Stella! :)

This past week has been quite an adventure for us. On Wednesday we went to Kim's weekly doctor's appointment, only to find out that the doctors had decided that the best thing for Kim and Stella would be to induce labor early, like the next day. So we rushed around for a few hours (thanks to Andy and Larissa for the short notice babysitting), got the t's crossed and i's dotted with the doctors, and then that evening, Kim and I went to the hospital.

Grammy (Vicki) came down from Missouri to watch Elijah. At 7:30-ish on Thursday morning, the doctor broke Kim's water. A few hours later, however, it was becoming apparent that the labor and contractions were putting more stress on Stella than she could handle, and Kim was having some issues with the effects of the epidural. So, the doctor made the decision (with Kim's consent of course) to do a C-section, and things became a blur of motion. I suddenly found myself in full scrubs sitting in the operating room next to Kim while the doctors began the operation. I have to admit that I purposely didn't look while they made the incisions, but a few minutes later, we heard a new voice crying, and Stella Naomi Kaan was born! (10:59, Nov. 15, 5 lb. 4 oz., 18 in. long) I followed the nurse to the scale and snapped this photo, a little blurry, but that is exactly how I remember it.

After all was said and done, things turned out just fine, and both Kim and Stella are doing fine. The doctors and nurses took good care of them (although the hospital cafeteria seems to think that a 'diabetic meal' means 'no seasonings').

Thank you to all the visitors who traveled to come and celebrate with us, it was fun to have so many people here (even if you all did take over our house, haha). Kim and Stella were cleared to come home today, which is really good, because Kim was starting to go a little stir crazy in her hospital room. :)
Check out the flickr bar for more photos.

Pumpkin Patch Fun and Congrats to Shawna and Jeff

My cousin, Shawna and her man, Jeff got married last Saturday in a very fabulous wedding, so Congratulations! Happy marriage time to you two. :)















This past weekend Ben and I didn't have anything going on, so we got to take Elijah to our favorite pumpkin patch in Lawrence (it's our favorite 'cause we haven't been to any others). We went last year and had a good time, and this year turned out to be an equally good time. The weather was fabulous (not rainy), and there were lots of families running around. Elijah really enjoyed the hay bale maze and the pumpkin slingshot game. We also got to take a tractor ride out to the actual pumpkin patch and see "stinky" cows on the way. My favorite part about the pumpkin patch is the gift shop in the barn. We usually don't get a pumpkin from the patch because then we have to carry it around with us everywhere and stand in a really long line to get it weighed, so instead, we buy little pumpkins in the gift shop for Elijah to paint when we get home. He loves it. :) And Ben and I buy some jalapeno jelly that they sell in there too. Made in Kansas. woohoo. My favorite part of the whole thing though is that you can pretty much let your kid do every fun thing there, and it only takes about an hour and a half...just the right amount of time before everyone starts getting grumpy and tired. We even had time to drink apple cider slushes, eat popcorn, and let Elijah get his face painted (he picked out a spider). It was a good time.

Fall is here

Well, it has finally started to get colder here in eastern Kansas, and it also is very rainy here that last week or so. Kim and I planted some grass seed a few weeks ago in the scant 50 square feet of earth we are renting along with our townhome, and it has sprouted and is growing quite nicely. We have taken to calling it our 'lawn', even though it is only a 2 foot-wide strip surrounding the concrete on our patio. Haha. School is keeping my mighty busy, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I will be done with my classes next May. It looks like I will end up getting a job in Kansas City, unless something completely surprising happens (you never know, right). Kim and Stella are doing just fine, and we are starting to realize how close we are getting to the due date. Before you know it, there is gonna be another little Kaan in the world!

Good Times

I think I forgot how busy the end of summer/beginning of fall can be. Lots of fun has been happening since we last posted so I thought I'd do a little recap with pictures to fill you in on the fun. So I'm 28 weeks along now in my pregnancy, and I wanted to show you how big I'm getting. The first picture is from August 20th and the second picture is from tonight. I'm gonna be so huge by the end of November! But anyhoo, things with the baby are going pretty well as far as we know. She moves like crazy; she's always sticking her legs out. Realization is starting to hit that we're actually going to have two children soon...yeah, we're a little slow.









Elijah and I went to Chillicothe last weekend for the crafty fair called Chatauqua (I really don't know how to spell this). It is a very good time. I bought a stuffed animal llama, and Elijah had a good time and called it the "party park". Elijah especially enjoyed all of the inflatable things they had there for kids. He got to ride the giant inflatable slide with Uncle Will. Yay for Uncle Will!





This picture was actually taken about a month ago, but it's so darn cute I had to add it. This is my niece, Julienne at about 5 months old with my cousin Sarah's daughter, Ainsley. That would make them third cousins or something. Very cute!










That's a little updating. Things are going to be very busy this fall. Ben's still working really hard on all of his school stuff, Elijah and I joined, MOPs (a mom group called 'mothers of preschoolers) and that starts this Tuesday, I've got a ton of doctors appointments for the baby, and Elijah is still working on potty training, which I think I've finally convinced him does not actually involve a train. If anybody has potty training advice feel free to share. :) Have a lovely week! Oh, and Happy 28th Anniversary to my parents, Mark and Vicki!