june

Having been through the infant stage once already, I've been trying to enjoy it as much as I can with Lucy. How very quickly these little beans grow into toddlers who shout, "Go away, Mommy! Go away!". (I still love you, Soph.)
In an effort to save on gas, Jason has been riding his bike a lot more around town. My brother Mike, who is extremely into biking, just built him this one out of parts he'd been collecting over the past year or so. Jason loves it!

What do you do when your city is flooded and your toddler hasn't been out to play in a few days? If you're Jason, you head down to the basement and open up a new case of paper towels and introduce them as building blocks. Sophi had a blast.

Can't get enough of this . . .

Father's Day

flood of '08

I am very happy to say that we weathered last week's flood without so much as any water in our basement. The rest of the city was not as fortunate.

Over on the west side of town (where this video is from) the city officials had been proposing a new water capture/wetland area where there is currently a golf course. Up until last week most of the community was against the idea... I'm guessing most Oshkoshinites (is that the term?) have uhm, been swept over to the other side of the issue.

This biker is my new hero...

more photos . . .

sisters
lucy - 1 month old

watering flowers
learning to ride

recent photos . . .

jason with the girls (on mother's day, interestingly enough)
soph . . .

our generous neighbor gave us this swing set that his son had outgrown - a great addition to the backyard.

lucy can't go down the slide yet, but she likes to come outside just the same. :)

jason has also been introducing sophi to the incredible underground world of worms. surprisingly, she's thrilled to "pet"them and pick them up.

podcasting 2.0

The other day we (WaterCityChurch) blogged about our new podcasting service... and then decided to pull it because the podcast hosting service was to glitchy. So now it's on to version 2.0.

Our hope is that this will be a way to connect more folks with what's going on at Water City. Whereas most church podcasts are simply the weekend's message... we are planning to use this as a chance to connect even on the off weeks. We'll do this by offering short thoughts that will continue the faith discussion that is taking place at our gatherings.

Who knows, maybe we'll even grow a real life discussion/coffee group from this little project. This would make for a very interesting and unique way to check out Christian faith in a new way.

I'm guessing that we'll have a laugh or two along the way. We even made it on iTunes! First a listing on Oxfam. Now iTunes. We may be beginning to tip the "cool" scale back from all those awkward high school years.

Lucy . . .the first days

Sorry it's taken awhile to get some new photos up.
More to come, we promise. :)


Lucy . . . just a few minutes old, staring intently at Mommy.


Like we tell Sophi, "Sometimes babies cry."

Lucy and I were so lucky to have my brother's wife, Wendy, as our nurse for labor and delivery.


Sophi meeting Lucy for the first time.
"Dat's baby Sucy!" - Sophi


Lucy . . . one day old.

Famous Last Words

"It's probably not..."
~ Amy

6 1/2 hours later...


Welcome little Lucy Jean Fiedler (5/6/08)

belly shots with big sister . . .

With the new baby only a couple weeks from arriving, we decided to take a few belly photos with Sophi - a very anxious big sister!

add paparazzi to the resume

I had to wait to post these photos...didn't want to steal the thunder from Sophi's new room and everything. But now that the shine has begun to fade I bring you one Mr. Johnny Depp.

You will notice that he was looking directly at my camera the whole time. Apparently screaming, "Say cheese!" at the top of my lungs threw Johnny off.

sophi grows up . . .

baking cookies . . .

piggy tails . . .
sophi's new "big girl" room

good stuff

In my never ending quest to find new music... I stumbled on this Canadian band. If you're into Sufjan, Great Lake Swimmers may just scratch the itch until his next work comes out. Their previous album was recorded in a grain silo... you gotta love the creativity.

Enjoy.

not even 15 seconds

I wonder if this counts toward my collective fifteen minutes of fame? Obviously I had more to say about the changes to downtown Oshkosh... apparently I waxed too eloquent.

Fox11News.


I think this means I am both balanced as well as fair.

March . . .

A few pictures from March, so far . . .


We've been working on restoring some furniture for Sophi so that we can move her out of the nursery and make room for Fiedler child #2 - slated to arrive in 8 weeks!

My sister-in-law, Wendy (furniture restoration expert), my middle brother, Mike, and Jason.

Does anyone else see orbs????? Okay, maybe it was just dust from the sanding.

We dyed eggs with Sophi this year and she loved it - although not quite as much as Jason, judging from this photo.

Soph got a tea set for Easter. Jason and I get invited to "tea potty's" several times a day lately.


Sophi and her cousin, Liam on Easter.

Sophi with her cousins, Jack and Liam (my brother Steve's kids) and three of her uncles - Mike, Aaron, and Bubba.

not to worry...

In the summer of '99, Barry Sanders unexpectedly announced his retirement from the Detroit Lions. It was a dark time for Michigan and all football fans. Yesterday, news broke of Brett Favre's retirement. After 17 years in the NFL - Favre is done.

Let me just say Wisconsinites... although things seems dark today, the Packers will be just fine. Just look at how Detroit has risen to the challenge since Barry's departure. So, chin up. If Rogers doesn't work out, I think Andre Ware is available.

February . . .

Making valentines . . .
"Explaining" the valentine to Daddy . . .

Our icicles of death . . .nearly 6 ft. long. Oscar could have been killed.

Our team working on the door hangers we're planning to distribute in a couple weeks to invite people to Water City Church.
Step 1 - coffee labels stuck on 1000 little bags

Jason corrupting Sophi . . .

Sophi Turns 2

Sophi turned two back on January 15. Although that was nearly two months ago, here are a few pictures . . .


This was taken on her actual birthday, January 15, hours after we landed from our trip to Ireland. Hence . . .the Twinkie with candles. Sorry, Soph.
This was taken at her birthday celebration a couple weeks later with my family. Obviously this was a big let down, compared to the previous "Twinkie celebration", judging by the look on her face.


We took her sledding that afternoon. She hated it.

Two of her 2 year pictures that I took a few weeks back. We love you, Sophi!

Sesame Street Epiphany

While sitting with Sophi on my lap watching classic Sesame Street on Youtube it hit me... this is a strange show. And that they just don't make television like this anymore. Can you dig it?

(un)official National David Gray Day

In case you haven't heard (and if so where have you been?) I have declared this day, February 17th, 2008 National David Gray Day.

Enjoy.

WARNING: sophi video approaching

i'm sorry, but it doesn't get much cuter than this.

video from water city

This is just a short video that we are using as a first impression for Water City. Who doesn't have a bit of anxiety walking into an unfamiliar setting? Hopefully this will help with that.