It takes a miracle!

So, I guess it takes a miracle some times for me to update the blog! Well, a miracle we have had. Welcome to our family Tyler!!!This is Tyler and he is the reason the blog is being updated...finally. He was born on the 15th of June at 7:43 am and weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces. We adopted him in North Carolina from the same birth mother and father. How lucky are we? SUPER LUCKY!!!

A lot has gone on since I last updated - 1 1/2 years ago. I graduated from nursing school and was hired at a hospital downtown - St. Joseph's Medical Center. Interestingly enough, it is where my grandmother was born, but we won't say when that was because that would be the end of my life I am sure. I have been there for almost one year and love nursing. I am also in the process of switching to the ER. A little more excitement - like our lives need that!

Heather is still selling electricity, and doing very well. Her company was recently sold and she was fortunate enough to make the move. She is quite the asset to her company so of course she made the move. But, she is doing great there too.

The girls are doing great, of course, and love life.

We also made a move earlier this year and took advantage of the bad market. So, now we have a pool in the back yard, or a "POOOOO!" as Elizabeth calls it. The girls love to get in, daily, and are learning to "kick-kick-kick." Our house is great and you are all welcome to come over and bask in the sun in our back yard to beat the heat this summer. Just call ahead b/c I am gonna be teaching swim lessons like crazy after leaving NC.

In addition to the fun stuff in our lives, Ansley has decided to make life "Un-Fun" a few times recently. Most recently she fell out of the grocery cart and landed on her head. Thanks to all of the prayers we received on her behalf, she has come out just fine...other than the goose egg that was on her head for a few days. But don't worry, she is back to her crazy self.

Lastly, we recently had Beau's wedding. Here is a picture of the girls at the wedding. I know that their faces don't look to happy, but their dresses looked awesome, so that is why this picture. The one below is included because you can see that Ansley and I have the same personality. FUN!!!

Anyway, we are stuck here in NC for a while, but wanted to say thanks to all of you for the well wishes, the prayers, and the offers to take care of our kids to give us a break (that one is more hopeful than already received :)...But thanks again and thanks for all you have all done to help us in this journey we call life.

Can't wait to see you all soon!

PS - what shall our sign off be? TEACH Knies, CHEAT Knies, or any others?

Bye for now - formerly EACH Knies - now plus 1...

Merry Christmas

Just thought we would give you an update of our family up until and wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS. Sorry, but our cards went out a little late. Better late than never, but they are late. But I figured that these pics would make up for it. These are my happy babies!!!

Winter Wonderland in Texas. Not that you haven't already seen all of the pics of snow here, but I figured the girls looked delicious.Here are the 3 Musketeers ready to go for a ride in th wagon. Not quite dressed the same as they would be in Texas, but it was still fun (contrary to what facial expressions say!)



Gifts are fun to give (but not when you are sick).
This is a happy face!!!
Apparently, Heather wanted to hatch an egg. Elizabeth did not think it was as funny!
This is my model in training. She loves to "Strike a Pose!"
Did you know you could bury yourself in snow the same as in sand? Ansley found out that it is pretty "Cool!"
I had to post this b/c she is just so pretty. Look at those eye lashes.
She also found out you can slide without a sled! She is the snow bunny - Elizabeth, not so much.
THIS IS AWESOME!!!
Can you eat it?
This is what you do if you are REALLY smart! Forget trying to climb the hill, just let someone drag you up it. This is how you relax on a long climb and then just enjoy the ride down!
She did love to sled. Down a hill or across the road. Either way, she had a blast.

Do you think they are too big?
Did you know a box could make someone so happy?


Cowboy Ansley!!!

We love you all and hope 2010 is the greatest year ever for you and your family. Love always -
EACH Knies

HI

Hello everyone. We are wanting to show you a picture of our Halloween outfits and some other happy days we have had.
This is our little lady bug. How do you like the antennae?

This is our little bumble bee. Yeah, she stole that pumpkin from someone because she learned the preceeding week that all you have to do is walk around and people will put candy in your bucket. She did love that. Of course, we found other stuff in the pumpkin at the end of the night too. Like these glasses...But some of our favorite stuff to do is to play with each other. Here we are driving the tractor together. It's fun to do together, but Ansley prefers to do the harvesting solo because she can get it done so fast. Elizabeth tends to slow down the process.

Something else we have enjoyed doing is getting some R&R while watching Ratatouille. They love those rats! In fact, Ansley, who can't stay focused for more than 2 minutes at a time, can watch it almost to completion. Yeah I know, bad parents for letting our kids watch so much TV. But what are you gonna do if they it so much? I mean it. How many kids get this comfortable while watching TV?
But my favorite was just this week. We woke up early b/c of time change and were not quite ready to get going. So I brought their blankets in to the living room and let them watch Little Mermaid for a bit. This was the result.
Tell me they don't love each other!!!
And Last but Not Least is for my brother. Matthew loves Mylie Cyrus. Yeah, kind of strange, but he really loves Party in the USA. We found it for him at Wal-Mart the other day and got it for him. He listens to it all the time, so I figured the girls might like it. Well, they do. Especially Elizabeth. If she hears it, she starts looking at the computer and then starts her little dance. This isn't the best one we have seen, but it is pretty good and the only one we have caught her doing. If I see one that is better, you will get that one updated.
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So, that is what is up with us for now. We love you all and can't wait to see you all whenever we can. And, as the Holidays approach, we again want to say Thanks to all of you for all of your prayers. These 2 little girls are the best thing that we have ever received from our Heavenly Father and we are thankful to each of you for your pleas on our behalf. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to be parents of the best, cutest and most fun kids every.
Love You All -
EACH Knies

Update...Finally

Here are lots of fun pics that I have at the bottom of this post. We have had a fun-filled past couple of months. What Happened?
We went to Florida. It was the first time the girls got to go to the ocean. They liked it, a little, but did decide that the sand was fun. The bummer, stomach virus. That's right - everyone of the adults except Graham, and our two girls got SUPER sick. We were laid up for about 24 hours and just passed it around the house. Not fun, but the beach was awesome. You can see us here as we were dressed up and ready to go to the beach. There are some other pics below in the slide-show if you didn't get enough.Also, while in Florida, we celebrated the girls 1st birthday. It was one of about 4 birthday parties and about 10 birthday cakes. The girls are SO lucky! They have the best grandparent, aunts, uncles and cousins. We are so grateful to all of them, and all of you, for the prayers that helped to bring them to us one year ago.So, we rushed back from Florida and right into the birthday. We had a lot of our friends there (but missed many of them). I think that one of the coolest thing was the cake. How cool is this cake. Our friend did it and I think she did an awesome job. She came up with the monkey idea all by herself, and I think it fits perfectly! The girls made a pretty big mess of the cake, but in true Elizabeth style, she got mad b/c she got some of it on her. She hates to be dirty - except when she eats! If she is in her high-chair, all bets are off. If she isn't, she thinks she has to be a prim and proper princess. I know, I am in for it!So, after the birthday party, we decided to go and have another birthday party in Colorado. We went up to CO and spent a few days at Heather's sister's house with their cousin. They are too delicious together. Elizabeth and her have learned to crawl in a most peculiar method. One leg crawls, the other leg bear crawls. It is funny to watch, but at least Elizabeth is mobile. We also got to work on the ranch, ride the four-wheeler and catch some fish. Though it wasn't Ansley's favorite, we did catch some big fish. (a 4lb 4 oz rainbow trout!)


From there, we came back home I got to go offshore fishing. WHAT A BLAST!!! We caught some kingfish, shark, and some other fish (unmentionable). It was a "manly bonding" thing with all of the guys off of Galveston. We also brought home about 30-40 lbs of kingfish, so if you want some fish, come and get it! Here we are with our catch (at least those we could hold). You will al see some of the Blue Water off of the Galveston Coast if you look at the slide show.Now we are back at home and starting all sorts of new stuff. I have a new job which means no more Mr. Mom. Super bummer! I liked staying at home with my girls. We had so much fun together and I can't tell you how great that the first year was for me. Ansley has learned to run all over the house and Elizabeth is a dancin' machine. Just put on some music, and there she goes. Heather is doing great at work (of course) and is working hard to keep it up. We now are the family that eats meals at 6 pm at the table instead of take-out on the carpet. It is a new way of life, but I know that neither I, nor Heather, would trade it for ANYTHING!
Anyway, love you all.
EACH Knies

11 Months and Growing like CRAZY!!!

So I know that it has been a long time, but better late than never... Right? So we are doing great and loving life. Heather and I sit back some times and wonder how we ever lived before now. It is so much fun having the girls in our home. Every day is a new adventure. Of course every parent thinks that their kid is the best and cutest, but look at these pics and tell me mine aren't!
So, sorry but I think that we win!!!
Additionally, we have put Ansley in classes to be a model and this is the result.Money well spent, Right? But not to leave Elizabeth out, we enrolled her in rodeo training. So here is her most recent picture.In addition to rodeo lessons and modeling classes, we also managed to go to CO for a vacation. It was awesome with a capital awesome. I got to fish like crazy and you can even catch me online at http://beaumeyer.com/node/43 (that is my bro-in-laws website if you are looking to buy a home in CO). Oh yeah, and we also took the girls! Aren't they cute with their little cousin? Oh yeah, so cute. We also did a hot dog cook out up in the mountains. As you can see, the marshmellows were so good, Elizabeth decided to save some for later.But it has been a great 11 months. We are looking sadly at next month. I say sadly mostly because they are getting older. The girls are so much fun that we want the time to slow down. Unfortunately, it is going about as fast as Ansley is getting around the house. We wish it would slow down as much as Elizabeth. Just be happy with life and slow it down would be great. But, that is not how our life is now. It is just crazy. But, I think that we are having fun. What do you think?

Love you all - EACH Knies