von Niederhausern Family

On Sunday, January 18th, our precious baby, William Hawkes von Niederhausern, took us by surprise and decided to enter the world three weeks early. The labor was very peaceful and the birth was shockingly fast. He weighed 5 1/2 lbs. and was 17 1/2 inches short. After losing some newborn weight he now comes in at a whopping 4 lbs. 13 oz. He is just a tiny guy but is a strong-willed warrior, just like his name implies. He did everything right at the hospital so that we could come home after only 24 hours. He is such a delight to have in our family. Ava and Lauren adore him and are adjusting well…and asking a lot of questions about newborns. Lauren wanted to name him Joseph and in the hospital when we told her his name would be William she said “I will call him Joseph if I want to.” I am so happy to be able to breath easier and see my toes…and I am hopeful the walking zombie phase will end soon!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the vons! What a crazy and wonderful year it has been for us. Each year we think life will slow down, but we are realizing it probably never really does! We have loved keeping in touch and reconnecting with so many people this year. We love you all and feel so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing and generous people. Here is a brief summary of our happenings in 2008:

Steve graduated with his master’s degree a year ago and got a job with Shelf Reliance. We packed our bags and headed to Provo for a very brief stint (four months to be exact). We then moved back to Logan where Steve got a great job back at Utah State University with The Shingo Prize in the Huntsman School of Business. He directs their marketing and communication efforts and feels like he has found his dream job.

Rachel is expecting a baby boy in February and did her first sprint triathlon in July. Moving two times, keeping up with the girls, managing the rental and development properties, organizing a non-profit, and being pregnant have filled her year completely to the brim!

Ava is four and has loved taking dance, violin, swimming lessons, and learning how to read. She is growing up so fast and enjoys to draw, sing, and do art projects. Ava is our sweetheart and peacemaker.

Lauren is two going on 30. The other night Ava wanted her to pretend like she was a lamb in the nativity scene. Lauren said “I am not a lamb, I am a woman.” And that sums up Lauren. She loves to dance, play with barbies, babies, wear skirts, put on lip-gloss, read books, and do everything herself.

And how could we forget the annual von video tradition. To compliment last year’s duet jingle and the Christmas video jingle from ’06, the girls wanted to do something special. This year Ava worked on releasing her first Christmas single, while Lauren cut the rug with a Christmas jive.

We express our gratitude for the abundance of life that we are blessed with. Thank you for your friendship and support. May the year ahead be filled with happiness and peace for you and your family.

Here is the mommy-mobile we went with. A Toyota Sienna. I am still loving it by-the-way. It is so family friendly and I can fit so many groceries in the back!

Ava had her first dance review on Friday. It was so adorable to see her up there tapping her toes. At this age the little girls are just a big mass of red glitter with each girl pretty much making up their own dance as they go. I was proud of Ava though because she actually remembered a lot of the moves and she wasn’t even scared! We only had one costume mishap when her shorts fell off during the first dance! Of course I am to blame because I knew with her skinny condition these days from being sick for the past four weeks she needed a safety pin. I swear I am the worst mom because I never remember essential things like safety pins. Oh well, I’ll get it right eventually. And it gave the audience a good chuckle!

I have been in a quandary about what to do with the MILLIONS of papers and craft projects Ava and Lauren color, bring home from preschool, bring home from church, etc., etc. So, when I saw this idea in a magazine I had to give it a try. Our Creativity Corner will be a work in progress, but at least I can recycle about  10 forests after the photoshoot! Does anyone else have any ideas about what to do with their children’s plethora of papers?

You can see from these photos how dark our apartment is. I had every light on and every window and door open and it was the middle of the day!

My joys today…

(Popcorn Popper)…a little piece of Heaven I ordered on Ebay. We popped some last night and it brought back so many childhood memories. It even looks like the one we had growing up with the yellow and black base.

(Spacious Driving with automatic windows)…we have crossed over into two car kingdom as of yesterday. We purchased a mommy-mobile to prepare for our third child. I must it admit it’s like driving in the lap of luxury. Soooo many perks that the little Kia does not have. I am in driving HEAVEN!

(Candles)…just comforting and nice.

(Talking)…with Steve. It is so fun to just chat and visit about life. I love our times together.

Here are some photos Steve took and I couldn’t resist posting them because I thought they were so adorable!

Here are some photos from the week of Halloween. Of course I’m posting them a month later! That tells you how much I love Halloween. I read about the holiday and it seems pretty pointless. I guess it is fun to dress up and kids love getting bagfuls of sugar, so I’ll enjoy it because they enjoy it. I’m just not creative and I don’t like all the sugar. So I’m the scrooge for Halloween. Don’t tell! Overall the week was fun. It started with the Aggie Parade on Saturday and the famous Pumpkin Launch in College Ward. That there is some good redneck fun. Three guys in College Ward built these gigantic pumpkin launchers and tried to hit an old car and a target with the pumpkins. You have to see it to believe it. And don’t forget the Pumpkin Walk in Hyde Park. It’s all the rage at Halloween. Another night we carved pumpkins with our little family. On Halloween we ate at Dave and Laura’s house and went trick-or-treating with Sarah and Jake von. Lauren was a witch and Ava had two costumes. For a few of her many parties she was Snow White. Then on Halloween when we were getting ready she had a surge of creativity and wanted to be the dancing version of Strawberry Shortcake. So she wore a black skirt over her pants. It was a fun filled night!

Aggie Parade

Pumpkin Launch

Pumpkin Walk

Carving Pumpkins

Halloween

At the beginning of October my mom, my sister Emily, Ava, Lauren and I took a trip to visit the Buxtons in New Mexico. They live close to the indian reservation, and they said the people lovingly call it “the rez.” We had such a blast. Here are a few highlights…

          * Lily’s Fancy Nancy Party…It was truly FANCY! We all dressed up in dresses and boas and earings and painted our nails and had our hair done by Ruthie and ate parfaits. It was fabulous!

          * Pumpkin Fun…We went to a big pumpkin farm where the girls rode a train, went through a corn maze, played in a huge playground of corn kernels, and picked their own pumpkins. It was good fall fun!

I have been thinking since I went to Time Out for Women that I need to notice the joys in my life more. I have so many, but when I’m honest with myself, sometimes the days blur together and I am not too joyful. The routine of my days and the sheer exhaustion that comes with having small children cloud my view of how joyful my life is. So I am going to periodically write down the joys in my life so they won’t pass me by. I hope my cousin Jo will forgive me for using her creative formatting style for this post.

(Yellow Leaves)…I love the crisp autumn air and the beautiful fall leaves in Cache Valley right now. Today Ava and I walked home from church and it was joyful to see the beauty all around us.

(My Mom)…lets me do my laundry every week at her house right now because we don’t have laundry hook-ups at our apartment. I HATE this apartment situation with a passion, but my mom is a joy in the midst of this dark hole that I get to look forward to every week! Hopefully we’ll be in the house before the baby is due!

(Ava)…taught me the power of prayer the other day and it was a joy hear. She had a headache and said she needed to say her personal prayer “right now so my Heavenly Father can take away my headache.” She proceeded to go in the other room and ask Heavenly Father to make her head better. When she was done I asked if her prayer worked, and she said “yes.” It was a very tender and joyful moment in my mothering book.

(Lauren)…watching her dance makes me laugh every time. She especially loves to dance in front of any mirror she can find so she can see herself. She throws her arms and legs around and flips her hair in the most spontaneous manner. It is truly joyful to watch.

(Running Shoes)…when I put them on in the morning and exercise I feel like I can conquer the day. I feel invigorated and joyful. If I can run or swim in the morning I feel like I can actually move. It’s a great feeling.

OK, more to come later…