Another sad day

We have had another loss in our lives. This time it was our beloved dog Aspen. She suddenly became ill Saturday morning. Late in the morning she tried to move and fell back down, so we knew something was wrong. I called the emergency vet clinic and we took her right away. The vet called at 4:30, just as Kurt was walking in the door from work and told us that Aspen went into cardiac arrest and they were unable to save her. It has been such a shock for us all. Aspen was perfectly fine just that morning, playing fetch. I suppose maybe she knew her time was short as she has been very affectionate lately and always wanting attention. She brought a lot of happiness to our lives and will be missed dearly. Our home is surely not a welcoming now. It was always nice to come home and have that big, sweet girl waiting by the door to say hello and give sloppy kisses.

On another note, today was a bad ice storm. School was cancelled, so Bode and Emma got to stay home and play. We are getting ready for Christmas. The house is decorated inside and out. We actually have two trees this year! I never dreamed we would have room enough for that! Kurt is working dillegently on several projects in the house. He is finishing the basement for a craft/play room and is painting our bedroom. He takes on too much, but I think he enjoys having so much to do sometimes.

December 2007 already!

Wow, where does the time go? It seems like just a few days ago, the school year started and now here it is December already. Lots of news from the Hantelmanns! We bought a new house in October! We never imagined being able to have a home like this, but God certainly blessed us! We are now in Altoona and Brianna will be able to go to Southeast Polk High School like she has been hoping for!

Brianna is doing well in school. She keeps working hard. She played volleyball in the fall and is now playing basketball. She seems to enjoy it.

Bode is now one! His party was fun. He sure loved his cake! He is crawling all around and into everything, so we are extra watchful!

We have all gotten settled in to the new house. Brianna loves her room with its huge walk-in closet. Aspen loves our big back yard and all her new furry neighbors. Our house is twice as big as our old one, but somehow we have managed to fill it up quite nicely!

Winter is definitely here now. We had a lovely ice storm over the weekend. I only say lovely because everything looks so pretty when it is covered in ice. The temps have been in the 20s and even teens at night, so our fireplace is sure nice in the evenings!

Bode is home today with a fever (102.1). He had is 12 month check-up yesterday and so we think the fever is just from all 5 shots he received! Poor baby. He was pretty fussy, but seems glad to be home with mama (as he says) and loves when dah gets home. He says anna a lot, and I am not sure if that is Brianna, but he adores her! He also barks at Aspen (even with her!) or pretty much any furry four-legged creature.

Thanksgiving was tough this year. We have always spent Thanksgiving with Kurt's dad. We sure felt the void this day especially. I know Christmas will be tough, but Brianna gets to be with us and Bode is old enough to enjoy it, too. We will be spending the afternoon at Emma's parents' house with much of the rest of the family.

We hope everyone is doing well and wish you all a happy holiday season.

Pictures are: new house, Bode checking out the stairs, Bode enjoying his birthday cake, Bode with Grandma, Brianna, and his cousin Asher on Bode's birthday, and our aluminum tree!

Iowa vs. Iowa State

Well,

today was the Iowa vs. Iowa State Game! Enjoyed the game at Lane Anderson's house with some of the All9Yards teammates and wives. Too bad Iowa lost by 2 points!

No big news. We have just put our house on the market so we can get into the Southeast Polk district. We have a lot to do, but it is all coming together. Sunday is our first open house.

The summer racing season is winding down. Kurt is hoping to do a lot of cyclocross this fall. He did not do as much as he was hoping to do this summer as far as racing is concerned. I think he had a good year, but I know he was wanting to do a lot more than he did. Some of the photos are from the St. Louis weekend (Labor Day weekend). Kurt raced Sat. and Sun. This race was by far his biggest. There were 140 racers in the Pro/1/2 race. It was neat to see so many racers! He worked hard and Sunday's race went well for him.

The other photo is from the other night. Bode is now pulling himself up to sit and doing the army crawl, so he is into everything. He was trying to decide which book to "read" next (or rather chew on). He is growing so fast!

Brianna is having a good year so far. She is playing volleyball again this year. Her team is doing pretty good. They have won more games than they have lost! Monday they play Norwalk, who has like 60 girls on the team, so they will be playing 12 games to allow all of Norwalk's team to play! Brianna will get a good workout that day!

Hope all is well with everyone.

Our Hearts are Heavy for the Vande Lune family

This is a sad message to be posting today. Our friends Chad and Dorothy Vande Lune are dealing with something that no parent should ever have to deal with. They lost their sweet baby boy, Price, 6 months, to SIDS last week. They have been so strong for each other, but today must have been the most difficult for they had to say goodbye for the last time. We want them to know our thoughts and prayers are with them. Price will be missed. He and Bode were buddies at daycare and we were so looking forward to the two boys growing up together. We are sure they would have been the next fastest bike team ever!

We hope the pain subsides and is replaced by all the warm memories Price left behind.

Europe

Well, for those of you who would love to hear about our trip, call us! I will say that Brianna loved it and our fear of her not quite fitting in was silly. She fit right in with the high school kids. We had a wonderful time and saw a lot of exciting things. I think my favorite was seeing Brianna get so excited about all the things she has learned about in school! She loved the British Museum and all the Egyptian artifacts. We saw the musical Wicked in London and both loved it. She loved the Eiffel Tower (I have already been!) Switzerland was relaxing and beautiful. My mom would love all the Swiss cows! (Although I know she is ready to be finished with their own!) Italy was fun. Venice was neat to see and Rome was fascinating! It is truly amazing that these massive structure were built by men without machines! It is even more amazing that they have withstood so much!

Enjoy the pictures!

(At the DSM International Airport, Easter Island Statue at the British Museum, Eiffel Tower, at the top of Mt. Pilatus in Switzerland, and Brianna buried in sand on the beach in Jeselo, Italy near Venice.)

July already!

Where is the summer going? Brianna's birthday is in two days. She will be 13! She is turning into quite the young lady. She is almost as tall as Emma!

It has been a busy summer. Brianna and Emma have been busy getting ready to go on their trip to Europe. They leave on Monday, July 9 and will be gone through Monday, July 23. Emma is nervous to be leaving Bode. Not because she thinks he won't be okay, but because she doesn't know if she will! She's going to miss him!

Bode is growing fast and rolling all over the house. He is thinking about crawling, but only thinking. He doesn't sit up much on his own, either, but that's because it means he has to sit still for a while and he loves to be on the go! (Wonder where he got that?)

Kurt is doing well. He just raced the state team time trial Sunday and his team placed 2nd. He has been doing well. His last Elkhart time trial, he had the fastest time! His next Elkhart time trial is Thursday. The Iowa Games are next weekend, so he has a time trial and a road race.

The pictures are (I forgot to edit the first one!) Bode's first day at the pool--he liked the water, Bode and Bugs, Bouncy seat--sucking those darn fingers, and 7 months old!

Hope all is going well and thank you for viewing. Sorry we aren't updating so often!

Well, April has come and gone. Where does the time go? Kurt has had several big races so far this season. Brianna has raced in several, too. Bode attended his first bike race on April 22 in Dubuque. There was a race at Eagle Point Park. We went to Dubuque Saturday and were able to visit the family. It was a tough visit. We drove by the house and it looks the same. All that was missing was Dad sitting in his chair waiting for us to stop.

Kurt raced last night in Elkhart, the Elkhart time trial. He put in a great time of 16 min. 13 sec. There were several who were faster, so he knows he needs to work harder if he is going to catch their times. He has improved so much over the past several years. At one time he was riding in the 18 min. range and now he is one of the faster time trialists. This year he is racing with guys he only dreamed of competing against, but this has brought new challenges for him. He has to work twice as hard to keep up with these guys!

Bode and Brianna are both growing up so quickly. Brianna is nearly as tall as Emma now and they are sharing clothes! Bode is rolling all over the place, laughing at everything and starting to recognize things. He seems to know who Aspen is and he smiles when he hears the word Daddy. A couple of weeks ago, on a weekend without Brianna, he was staring at her picture. It was like he was wondering why she wasn't talking to him. Our friend Jane visited a few days ago and asked how we get anything done because it is so easy to just sit and watch him! I guess we need to realize that he will grow up so quickly that it is okay to sit and just watch him! We so often times forget these things. We are reminded of this every weekend when we have our nearly teenager hanging around the house!

Hope this wonderful weather brings good things for you all! Mother's Day is Sunday, so moms, enjoy.

Easter

Haven't had much time to update lately, so thought I'd take a few minutes and put some pictures up for all to see.

Things are going fine, just very busy. Kurt is training a lot. Racing season is underway. He has had several races so far. The next three weekends have races. This Sunday is the Finchford Road Race. Next weekend is the Eagle Point Criterium in Dubuque. And the last weekend in April is the Iowa City criterium (Old Capitol Crit).

Easter was spent at Emma's family's. The kids were all there, but no Brianna this year. It was her Mom's holiday. She is looking forward to next year when she can take Bode Easter egg hunting.

Bode is getting bigger! He was 17.5 pounds at his 4 month check-up. He is eating cereal now and we think he may be teething since he gums everything he can get his hands on.

Hope all is well for everyone!

Photos are : Brianna and Bode and the Easter Bunny, Bode eating cereal for the first time, Easter at the Anderson house, Easter with Great Grandma and Grandpa Anderson.

Well back to letting friends and family know what's going on at the Hantelmann house.

Sometimes it's very hard to look at the pics on the blog and other times it gives me peace of mind knowing that Dad got a chance to see Bode before he passed.

One of my sayings is life happens and usually to me and family in weird ways! We always find a way to move on with more strength from the bad and enlightenment from the good. Well any way, more pics to come for all to enjoy !

Bode is growing fast as you can see in the pics. Brianna is giving it her all in school and she is making a great big sister with out any effort. As for Emma, well she's back to school and is looking as hot as ever which has taken very little effort and me, well back playing with bikes. Racing in the cat 1/2 pro races this year is going to be lots of fun. One race down and a good third place showing. The race was only 60 miles (30 miles gravel 30 road). With both Mom and Dad helping now watch the world, they won't let this family ever quit. Well got to get ready for bed hope you enjoy the pics. Drop a note or just pick up the phone and call!

Pictures are: Brianna and Bode(3 months), Aspen in the jungle, sleeping angel, Kurt after his first race of the season (sorry it's sideways I forgot to change the settings first) and finally Bode last weekend playing.

Getting Ready For Christmas

Pictures are: Bode at 3 weeks, Brianna's band concert, Bode and Brianna in front of our Christmas tree, Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's house, Christmas at Grandpa Bob's (Bode 4 weeks).

Well how lucky can one person be ?Well just look at this family I couldnt ask for any more !!!