32!

Today, my best friend, husband and father to my children turns 32!

Happy Birthday, Nate! I feel so thankful to be able to celebrate another birthday with you and look forward to celebrating in at least 32 more. You are such a blessing to me and I love you with all my heart. Thank you for all you do and I hope you have a wonderful and memorable day.

photo taken by HeidiMcDowellPhotography

Dada's Attacks & Kisses

Nate and Caleb right before Caleb's bath. Priceless laughs and love.

Big Helper

Elyse has spent much of her time yesterday and today outside helping her Dada fix the yard. She really does do a great job and I don't think Nate minds the help.
For those curious what Nate is doing, he is putting underground pipes in the yard so the water doesn't keep settling by the sidewalk and house. He is one amazing man who does some crazy and great things to make our house so perfect. I am forever grateful.

Proud to Represent

Elyse was super proud and happy tonight running around in her CATERPILLAR sweatshirt. It's not yellow, but she still knows what the CAT logo is and what it represents, her Dada. In her words, "Yeah, Dada makes those!"

Happy Father's Day

I love you Dada! Thank you for being silly, gentle, and my Dada.
Hope you have a Happy Father's Day.
love you always, Elyse

Below is Elyse's special Father's Day gift to Nate:


Hope all Dads reading this have a great and blessed Father's Day too.

Belated Birthday Gift

Last night Nate finally received his birthday gift (December birthday) from Elyse and I. Since we have moved into this house that has only two garages, Nate has always wanted a shed for storage and getting things out of the garage that are dangerous for Elyse. Well it finally arrived and the joy, smiles and the look in Nate's eyes were worth every penny.

5 Years!

Today marks Nate and my five year anniversary! (Happy Anniversary, my love!)

I can't believe five years has already come and gone. I had the opportunity to marry my best friend and everyday grow to love him more and more. God has not made our path the last five years always easy, but I wouldn't trade them for anything. I am so blessed to have such a magnificent husband, and wonderful marriage. I just look forward to the many more blessed years I have with my man.

There are so many reasons I am thankful for Nate being my husband, but since it's our five year, I thought I would try to condense it down to the top five things I love most about my husband (in no particular order).
1. His love and servant hood for Christ
2. He's an amazing father with such a heart to instantly and joyfully parent adopted children
3. His honesty, patience and compassion with me
4. He's such an incredible protector and provider
5. His dedication to constantly fill or try to fill my cup daily
I know my list could keep going and going, but I guess you'll have to wait another five years to see five more :)

From Elyse

Nothing seems more perfect than having three of my top favorite things all at one time, eating (snack in hand), being outside and playing with Dada! ~Elyse

A Great Find

One thing Nate is really good at is finding amazing deals on Craig's List. Most of the time, they are stuff people are giving away for free, like this past weekend where Nate got Elyse a lot of great things. One such thing is shown in the picture below. Elyse got her own set of washer and dryer. How fun for a little girl, right?! I remember getting my brand new set last year and being so excited; and by the facial expression from Elyse when she saw her set, I know she had the same feeling.

The Big 3-0

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY, NATE!

Today is a very special day in the Klauser home, and that's because Nate turns 30. I love celebrating birthdays, especially when parties are involved and this one was a lot of fun for me. See on Sunday nights, Nate and I attend a bible study and it was suppose to be our annual Christmas party (hence the red and green decorations). However, I threw Nate a surprise party with our bible study friends, college friends, family and neighbors instead. Overall, it was a very packed house and a very successful party. That's right, a surprise party that actually was a surprise party. Nate had NO idea. Therefore, I want to thank everyone who attended for keeping it a surprise for as long as you did, you did great!
30 must also mean 2 cakes :) because Nate got the opportunity to have a small birthday party with his side of the family when they visited last week too.
Now to Nate...I love you so much. I feel so blessed to have you as my husband and the father to Elyse. Everyday I thank God for bringing you into this world 30 years ago. You really are a man of God and I love you so much! Happy 30th Birthday My Love!!! I hope you have a wonderful day.

Absolutely Wonderful

Ever since I started dating Nate, I have gotten spoiled many times and today was no exception and here's the reason why:
I woke up this morning to find all these envelops full of poems for me. The first one was a heads up to enjoy my day and get ready for a day of relaxation and being pampered. At 10:20 I discovered that my mom is in on it and comes up to babysit Elyse all day. Babysitting Elyse all day is a gift for mom too :)
Then the 10:30 envelop informs me I need to follow the directions to an unknown appointment I have at 11:30. I get there and find out I get a pedicure and 1 1/2 hour stone rock massage. Oh my goodness, amazing!!!
After I finish being pampered I read the last note and go home to shower and get ready to go out again with Nate.
Now it's 5:00 and Nate and I are off to a beautiful, romantic dinner and finishing the night with shopping.
Seriously, I have an an absolutely wonderful husband! Thank you so much Nate for such a perfect day. I love you so much and will treasure this day always. (A special thanks also to my mom for watching Elyse.)

Loving Nate's Bed Rest

Since Nate had surgery he will have to be on bed rest for 6 weeks. This means he is allowed to lay on the floor, couch, bed, walk for no more than 6 times a day for about 20 minutes, and sit for only 30 minutes at a time. It's been just about 2 weeks now and I love having him home, it's super nice! However, I think Elyse loves having him home more because, she gets to
read books in Dada and Mama's bed every morning
get kisses from Dada all day long
play with Dada whenever she wants (can't hold her until 6 weeks)
cuddle with Dada all day long
Overall, I don't know who it is going to be harder on, Nate, Elyse or I when Nate goes back to work everyday.

Successfully Home

Nate was dismissed from the hospital earlier this afternoon. He is successfully home and doing great. Up walking and moving around as much as possible. He only walks for about 5 minutes and sits up for no more than 30. He can only lift a gallon of milk for at least 3 weeks. We are learning how to adapt and Elyse loves that he is home. She can't get enough of him. Constantly saying, "Dada" and reaching her arms for him to hold her. Unfortunately he can't unless he is sitting. Overall, I am so glad everything went so smooth and even more glad he is home. Thanks again for your prayers, now to a quick 6 weeks of recovery.
A special thanks to my mom for watching Elyse and helping out around the house and for my stepdad, Gary for letting us have mom for the weekend.

Successful Surgery

Nate's surgery went really well. He did great and everything went very smooth the doctor said. So, thank you for your prayers today! If you want to talk to Nate or see him here is his information:
-He will have his cell phone with him so you can always try that first
-Room Telephone #612-775-3778
-Abbott Northwestern in Minneapolis.
-Located in the Heart Hospital Section. (Take the heart hospital elevators to the 7th floor)
-Room #H7078

Prayer Request for Nate

Today at 1:00 p.m. Nate will be going in to have back surgery. Please pray that everything goes well, wisdom and good hands for the doctors and it to be an overall successful operation.

A few questions some people have asked us...
1. When did Nate break his back? Do not know, it's been hurting for a long time
2. How long is the surgery? 4 hours
3. Where is he having it done? Abbot Northwestern in Minneapolis
4. How long will he be in the hospital? 3-4 days
5. Does he want visitors? If you can come, he'd love to see you Sat or Sun
6. How long will his recovery take? approximately 6 weeks

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me anytime. God has his hands in this today and I am just trusting in Him that He will bring my husband home feeling like a brand new man.

Happy Father's Day

So I have heard many times from many different people that Father's Day is everyday. Even if that were true I still think fathers deserve a day to celebrate being dads to our children. Nate really is an amazing father! He is loving, gentle, fun, thoughtful, honest, a provider, and a very Godly man. I was super excited today to wake up to spend the day focused on him being Elyse's dad. The weather wasn't the greatest today but we did spend a lot of quality time. Elyse got to wake up Nate this morning, then we all went to church, spent the day playing, did a little shopping, ate some good food from Famous Dave's (Nate's request) and opened some gifts from Elyse to Nate. She got him the flash for his Nikon camera he wanted and a photo block so he could see her in many ways while at work. I hope Nate had a wonderful and relaxing Father's day. I love him with all my heart and I know for a fact his daughter does too! Happy 1st Father's Day Nate!!!

I also want to take a moment and wish my dad and Nate's dad a very Happy Father's Day too. We miss you both and hope you had a wonderful day.

Brought A Tear To My Eye

I have always had a few favorite pictures of me with my parents as a baby. One such picture is one my mom took of me sitting on my dad's lap watching sports together. I have always loved this picture, because it's me spending time with my dad doing the exact same thing. Well yesterday I took a very short nap and when I woke up I went downstairs to find Nate and Elyse watching basketball in the exact same position. (I am not a fan of having Elyse watch television, but I was totally okay with it at this point). Therefore, I grabbed the camera to quickly take a picture. After putting it away my only reaction besides telling Nate the meaning behind the picture was to praise God!

Our Little Musician

One thing Elyse loves is music! Whether it's cooing (her singing) with the radio, kicking and swinging her arms during church worship or preferring to play with toys that play annoying music (chicken dance). Therefore, for the past couple of nights Nate has been playing his guitar to Elyse. She'll sit there for about thirty minutes watching Nate play or trying to play with him. As for me, I can't get enough of it; it's way too cute how she smiles and stares at him.