Gavin Hospital Pictures...

Sorry these are a little late, as we've been busy adjusting to our new season in life. Isn't he just a doll... we all love him SO MUCH!!!

Gavin Pictures...

He's Here...

Gavin Wesley Klaus
September 5, 2006
10:51 a.m.
6 lbs 6 oz
18 inches long

TONS of dark hair!

No Baby yet...

Well today's the 29th and Baby Gavin and I are still hanging out. Everyone is doing well, and the anticipation is on the rise. Supposedly we still have 4 weeks left to go. Our next goal was to make it to my grandfather's birthday the 31st so we're fast approaching this day. Our next set of goals is Labor Day, Next Dr Appointment the 7th, and then my work's application deployment on the 16th Also my Great Aunt Jane's birthday.
After yesterday's weekly doctor's appointment I'm 2cm dilated, and 40% effaced. This was also what I was when with Morgan when we had her 2 days later. My OB even gave me his on-call schedule telling me when he'd rotating in this next week at the hospital (I'm not sure what he was or was not telling me by this). It would be marvelous if it would work out, but all the doctor's I've seen have been great! Jon and I would be blessed with any of them, but especially Dr. Bedia.
I'm the typical uncomfortable, and feeling huge, but am overall happy and extremely excited. Morgan is about the same, and is now asking when Baby Gavin can come out to play. Jon and I are both ready at any time, but as we all know this is between God and Gavin right now :o)
I'm tempted to take a few belly shots just to see what we can come up with, however that's still quite daring and I'm not sure if I'll accomplish it.
Until the next post....

May everyone be blessed!
Best Wishes,
Shannon

Snapple "Real Fact" #187

Did you know that God has blessed us with over 61,000 pizzerias in the U.S.
Life is so wonderful!

Rock 'n Reconstruct

Check it out www.rocknreconstruct.com !!! My brother's girlfriend Sarah is living it up as a vintage fashion designer in L.A. This picture is of my sister and her, at one of her show's debuing her latest and greatest! Amanda is actually wearing one of her dresses.

August Birthday Wishes...

August 10th...Grandma Moore
August 18th...Morgan "The big #4!"
August 23rd...Aunt Margo
August 26th...Kirk Stevens
August 31st...Grandpa Krenz

Wishing you all the best on your special day!

Temporarily Signing Off ...

My sister is officially moving on from WOI Channel 5 news as of last night. Her final night anchoring with the ABC network. She's happily accepted another position locally, and due to contractual obligations will be unable to appear to her fellow fans until 6 months down the road. I'll keep you posted as more details surface. Drop her a note if you'd like...her blog is www.amandakrenz.blogspot.com
Wishing her the Best!!!

Love ya'Sister!

Grandma, Grandpa & Morgan at the Lake Wapello Beach...

Grandma is of course taking the picture...

Queen for a day...

Out of Commision...

Sorry about the lack of postings...I've unfortunately been on modified bedrest since then end of July. I'm just today getting back to work. For some unknown reason Gavin is ready to make his entrance into this world earlier than what he should. He weighed in at a hefty 4lbs 12oz at 31 weeks determined by an ultrasound. So with Morgan only being 5lbs 15oz full-term this little guy will far surpass her if he goes full-term. Plus I was given steroids for his lung development just in case he did come earlier. With that being said he'll probably be born with a full beard :o)
I'm officially now at 34 weeks, and am setting goals week by week to shoot for. Morgan will be turning 4 at the end of the week so we'd like for him to wait until after her birthday. The following week I have a Doctor's appointment, and then there's my Aunt Margo's Birthday following, and my Grandpa Krenz's birthday after that. All sound like pretty good dates to work with. Gavin is due the end of September (the 29th) so we've still got a little time on our hands (hopefully).
We also flipped our house while I was on bedrest. It was a great opportunity for me to let everyone in and watch them work away piece by piece on things. My mother-in-law Sharon and father-in-law Steve were the key pieces to getting things accomplished over the past several weeks. We're pretty much done, and have two major tasks left...windows/doors and the deck.

A bum deal...

Poor Morgan had a pretty bum deal going for her the week of Father's Day: Sunday/Father's Day...she fell from a bed and got a semi-black eye, the next Day Monday she was kicked accidentally by a teacher at Daycare as she was trying to help another child, Tuesday we were at the doctor's office nursing her lip, as she tripped and fell and split it open along with giving herself a bloody nose. We were close, but luckily no stitches were needed. I had to get a picture of Morgan's expression, which is exactly how she felt. She looks like she's been through a war, but just like Morgan she bounced back and healed quicker than either Jon or I would of ever done :o)

New Favorite Picture...

Nothing less than Inspirational!!!

"People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives, be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies, succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat on you. Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you've got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway."

Mother Teresa

Shortcuts...

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” ~Beverly Sills

First "Pishing" Experience...

My mom and dad took Morgan for her first fishing/"pishing" experience a couple weeks ago. It was a little cold, but it didn't stop the fun from occurring. I guess she's a natural, and loved reeling in the line, as she didn't want to wait for the fish to bite. In addition she has a new found love of night crawlers!

Fish Lips...

Morgan at her best... :o) Sharon got this "classic" picture of Morgan during her Grandma Wednesday Swim Lessons. I'm framing this one!

Down at the Levee...

Picture off the Levee:

Morgan enjoying her Porkchop on a Bun...without the bun:

Morgan going down the HUGE inflated slide by herself:

Jon, Shannon & Morgan picked Fulton Farm Strawberries:

Strawberry Festival Pictures...Troy, OH

Kathy & Terry's Historic District Float:


Morgan & Jakob watching the parade:

Troy, OH Strawberry Festival Pictures

The beginning of the Festival:

Morgan watching the Bed Races by uncle Terry:

Morgan and cousin Jakob eating Strawberry Snowcones:

The Infamous "Strawberry Doughnut"

Posting Out of Order...

I'll be posting some of our vacation pictures out of sequence, as I haven't had the time to get our film camera developed yet.
The last part of our vacation was spent in Troy, OH. Why Troy, OH? Well, Jon has family that live there, and they have the best Strawberry Festival in the nation (my opinion)! Anyone that knows my family, knows that the love of strawberries is a genetic string, that doesn't follow everyone, but many. I was one of those lucky people. Three festival famous items include their: strawberry salsa, strawberry doughnuts (which people will stand in line for HOURS, and HOURS for, and normally order between 3-6 dozen at a time), and Fulton Farm Strawberries.
They start off the festival on their town square Friday night. They have corporate "Bed Races," live music, and a food vendors everywhere. Everyone has some sort of strawberry concation...Smoothies, Pie, Ice Cream, Icees, and much more. I started off with a smoothy, and hot dogs, and finished up with the boyscouts homemade strawberry pie, which by the way sold out very early. We finished up the evening by a firepit with his aunt, uncle and cousins having great talk and cigars (I just enjoyed the company and conversaion by the way).
Saturday morning there's a huge parade in Troy, which leads to most of the festivities located off the levee. Jon's Aunt Kathy, and Uncle Terry had a float for the historic district, which won "Queen's Choice."
We ventured towards the levee that evening, where you will encounter tons of craft vendors, and again food. Every year they choose one vendor with best strawberry concation, last year's was Heavenly Strawberries...sugar cookie botton, cream cheese mixture, strawberries, and whipped cream. This year, I'm sure the doughberry would of won. This stand was sponsored by Krispy Kreme. Soo hold on to your blood sugar...This is a glazed cream filled Krispy Kreme, with whipped cream, strawberries, and then another layer of whipped cream. I didn't even try it, for the sake of my body. One of my favorites was the strawberry lemonade shakeup, it was extremely smooth and tickled all of my tastebuds. In addition, the famous porkchop on a bun. We had a wonderful time, and had a hard time heading back west... knowing we only had one more relaxing stop in Priceton, IL, before getting back into the city life again.

Days 4-6...Destination Sevierville/Gatlinburg, TN

We were up and ready to go on Monday and traveled through the our resort in Sevierville, just outside of Gatlinburg. One of our first conclusions as we were leaving Nashville was the numerous Cracker Barrels in the area. Some located just miles within each other. So there was no way for us to miss any good southern home cookin'.
As soon as we arrived, again the temps were in the mid 90's and humidity was hovering around the 90% range. Once checked in, Jon decided it was time to nap, and Morgan and I headed for the pool.
Our evening was very simple, as we experienced our first Chick Fil 'A (we haven't stopped in at the one in Jordan Creek yet) and had various supplies to pick up at the Walmart.
The next morning we jumped into the car ready to take on Gatlinburg...temps and humidity still high. We immediately went to the Ripley's Aquarium, and were amazed at what we saw. Definitely worth our money! It's a must see if you're in the area... This place had a spot to touch and pet Sting Rays, and a place for the kids to touch and see horseshoe crabs. These crabs look like something from prehistoric times. The underwater aquarium was amazing...the sharks were absolutely HUGE! They had one spot on the plexi-glass marked above some scratches where a shark attacked the people walking by last year. No one was hurt, but I can't how scary that could of been to experience.

Just had to Share...

Even on the most exalted throne in the world we are only sitting on our own bottom.

~ Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

Day 3...May 28th Recouperating in Nashville...

After a long drive the day before we decided to just relax, and soak up some time in Nashville. We didn't pull into the hotel until about 11:45 the night before and didn't feel like doing a whole lot that next day. This was our only day we left open, just in case we wanted to actually make the drive towards Gatlinburg.
The topology of the environment changed almost instantly. This was very noticable when we went for breakfast first thing the next morning, not a cloud in the sky, and about 85 degrees. Then while getting juiced up...a thunderstorm broke loose. Almost seaming as though it came from no where.
Again we had no concrete plans for the day, so we napped, played in the pool, and then headed towards downtown to take in more than just the hotel in Nashville. We had a great time too! This could be a could good place to possibly vacation in the future.
In addition to the topology changing, it was also a time for the food to change. Not my first exposure, but immediately we were introduced to: Sweet Tea, Gravy & French Fries, Biscuits and Gravy for every meal (which is fine with me it's one of my favorites), Gravy over pancakes, and then gravy over everything on the plate. The irony with this is that as soon as I saw some people dip their french fries in gravy, I over heard them talking about loosing weight. Hmmm...

Downtown Nashville:

May 27th Day 2...Destination St Louis and Nashville, TN

More Pictures:

Who says cats don't like water...

May 27th Day 2...Destination St Louis and Nashville, TN

This had to be one of our most grueling days. We drove for approximately 10 hours total. We left Bloomfield about 10:30 in the morning, and headed to St Louis, to visit the Zoo. This was a spot I remember my parents taking my family when we were on one of our summer family vacations. We arrived in St Louis about 2:00, and were welcomed with 95 degree temps and 75% humidity. It was a rather short trip as we headed out of town towards Nashville about 5:00, but we got some great pictures.

Our Vaca...Day 1, May 26th...Destination Bloomfield, IA

Not much to report...I was serenaded first thing in the morning at work by Jimmy Buffett and a nice plate of sausage biscuits and gravy. Jon and I both worked all day, Morgan and I went for haircuts, Jon dropped Dory off to his mom Kathy. Thank you so much!!!

Dory (aka Ki Ki)...


And then we packed up the car and headed to our first stop, a relaxing evening to my parents house in Bloomfield, IA.

This was also our drop off for our dog Sassy-Sue. Thanks Mom & Dad!

Birthday Celebrations...

June 2nd... Dad Krenz
June 3rd...Mom2 (Sharon) Klaus
June 7th...Aunt Kathy Smith
June 8th...Little Issac Cutwright??? (new nephew, Only Issac and God know if this will be true.)Issac came today at 10:00 in the morning. Congratulations Sara & Caleb!