Another lost tooth

Caleb lost his 2nd tooth last week.  On Friday he was eating a gingerbread man at school and lost his other front bottom tooth.  He was pretty excited.  But, he didn't really get into the whole tooth fairy thing last night.  I even forgot to put out a dollar and he didn't even realize. 

First lost tooth!

Caleb lost his first tooth this fall.  I think it was early October.  We knew it would be soon, because at his last dentist appointment she said they were a tiny bit wiggly.  But, it kept getting wigglier and wigglier.  Finally he decided that it was time to take it out.  I thought he would want to take it out himself or have Daddy do it, but he chose Miss Kaurissa at Kids Club to pull it.  I watched and shuddered the whole time...  uck.  Grosses me out!  It was his bottom center left tooth.

Carter's Santa Message

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/gb7AVByFGTNYfg82jJqaaBA

Caleb's Santa message

Eeek.   Pretty harsh!  Caleb was on the naughty list.  I hope this can straighten him out a little.  Or he really won't be getting anything for Christmas!  Darn child.  He just cannot listen or keep his hands to himself!  Frustrating!!!

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/g2R2-UoxPu6pYfiZjVBnpFQ

Elf on the Shelf

We began a new faily tradition last night.  We watched a short movie called "An Elf's Story" which is a movie all about the Elf on the Shelf elves.  After the movie I got our elf on the shelf out and introduces our scout elf to the boys.  We had to name him first which was difficult.  Carter wanted to name him Santa, but Caleb had no clue.  I suggested Tinsle and that turned into Tut...  then Sparkle or Sprinkle, but that turned into Spot.  Spot stuck.  Yes, we have an elf named Spot.  lol  I put Spot in his box on the window sill and put the boys to bed.  Carter sat there in awe.  He listened to the story and was completely enthralled with the concept!  Caleb kept looking closely at the elf and was wondering how it could fly since it is soft.  He is fairly skeptical.  When I put him to bed I asked him what he thinks Spot will be doing in the morning and he said watching tv.  So I made sure I placed Spot on the shelf with the remote.  First thing this morning when I saw Caleb he mentioned that Spot was sitting on the shelf with the 'mote.  When I walked into the house this morning after work Carter was already talking about Spot and what he was doing, too. 

Carter is pushing the good choices limits today, so I think I am going to have to write a letter to Carter from Santa.  Hopefully that "scares" him enough to start making better choices.  His poor choices today have been sneaking cheese out of the fridge without asking, standing up on his chair while he was at the lunch table, and getting off the couch and playing while it was supposed to be rest time.  Not horrible choices, but hopefully Santa can make them better.  :0)

Long time- Long Post!

I feel awful that it has been so long since I have been on here.  Ugh. Where to begin...

Here is a super fast synopsis of what has been happening.  First, I never updated about football or grandma. 

Football- Caleb played flag football this year and LOVED every second of it.  He seemed to take direction well and actually scored a couple touchdowns this year as well.  It was a great time.

Grandma-my grandma, otherwise known as Oba moved back to Iowa, I think in August. It is great to have her at all of our family affairs again!  I am glad the boys can get to know her.

Right now we are keeping busy with Caleb's wrestling.  He goes Monday nights and is liking it.  Parents are not allowed in the gym during practice, so I have NO clue what he is doing and how, but he likes it.  He is also doing Basketball on Tuesday nights.  Carter is doing Basketball this year!  It is great fun watching him go through all the drills with his friends.  He was so excited the first night, he just bounded up to his group with this huge smile on his face.  He took one second to scan the room to make sure he knew where we were, then he focused on what he was supposed to do.  He did a great job.

Carter's 3rd birthday was Monday!  He was very excited for it to be his birthday.  We had 2 parties for him before his actual birthday, so the day of he was expecting another party!  lol.  The first party we had for him was a friend party.  I wanted to include some of his friends from daycare into his party, but didn't want them at our house, so I invited a couple boys from daycare to go to an indoor bouncy house place in Ankeny called the Playground for Kids.  I picked Silas up at daycare, then Isaac's mom brought him, and Erin brought Karlie and Hayden.  It was a great time.  We played for a couple hours and had a small lunch.  Carter's family birthday was at our house.  All of the Grandparents were in attendance as well as Uncle Jeff and his family, and Aunt Shell and Alex, and the Dammen family.  It was a fun day.  Carter loved all of his presents.

Chris ran the Living History Farms run again this year, I think this is his 5th time running!  He had a lot of fun!

I think one of the main reasons I have been slacking on this blog is my new found loven and addiction to Pinterest.  I have been on that website a lot, but I also have been doing a lot of the craft projects on there.  It is very inspiring.  I will try to post some pictures of what I have been working on.

This fall I also joined a book club.  It is primarily older women, but there are a few of women my age.  We have read Sing them Home and Sarah's Key so far.  I am reading The Room right now.  I am really enjoying the challenge of reading books I normally wouldn't have chosen and getting to interact with other adults abuot something that isn't related to children!

Halloween was great.  Carter dressed up as Pablo from Backyardigans.  Caleb was an Astronaut.  The main push for these costumes was because they were super cheap!  Chris and I went to a Halloween party, my first ever.  It was at Denise and Andy's house.  We dressed up as pirates, which was a terribly difficult decision.  I don't care to dress up, so it was a hard choice.  There was also a limited nuber of costumes that weren't overly slutty.

Side story- on the way to Carter's b-day party him and Silas were talking and Silas brought up that his Mommy is an Art teacher.  Carter replied- My mommy is... ummm, she is a....  My Mommy is a Pirate.  Just like my Daddy!  LOL! 

More updates later once I remember what I need to update you all about! 

Labor Day weekend

This was the weekend I chose to spend celebrating my birthday.  We had a mini-staycation.  On Saturday we ended up going to Perfect Games with Chris' brother's family.  We bowled, ate pizza, then played a ton of arcade games.  Chris had purchased a groupon a couple months ago that let us have 6 people bowl for 2 hours, 1 large specialty pizza and a $30 arcade card.  So, we chose to use that great deal.  Then we went out for ice cream.  On the way home Chris and I picked up a red box movie. 

On Sunday we got groceries, then headed to Des Moines to do a little shopping before we went to the I-Cubs game.  It was a lot of fun.  We had great seats and two of the tickets were free since I brought a group there this summer for work.  We splurged and got a never ending pop and pocorn, which was great until you wanted to refill either item and had to stand in line for 30 minutes.  Anyway, the seats were in the shade and the kids could see really well.  We all had a really fun time.

Monday we ended up heading to the dollar theatre and we watched Kung Fu Panda 2.  It was a pretty good movie.  I wasn't a huge fan of the first, but this one was better.

Prairiefest/Party

On August 27th Huxley celebrated Prairifest- Of all the fests, ours is the prairiest!  I ended up not running the 5k this year.  For multiple reasons- I haven't ran in forever... okay, that is about it.  I walked in the parade for Kids Club again this year.  Had a decent turn out with kids.  Caleb got to walk with us this year since he attends.  After the parade we trudged down to the festivities.  Chris and his family headed straight to the mud volleyball courts and I went to sign up Caleb and Carter for the pedal-tractor pulls.  Caleb and Carter really enjoyed the pedal-tractor pulls.  Chris' team won 1st place this year in the mud volleyball tournament.  The first time at Prairifest!  While they were playing I walked around the display booths, saw people I knew, watched Taylor and Kale in the pizza eating contest, and checked out the bounce houses.  Not a lot.  It was a very eventful day.

After volleyball was over we came back to the house.  Several people stayed to help celebrate my birthday and a few more arrived too.  I ended up having a smidgen too much Margarita mix and didn't really get to enjoy my party the way I would have liked.  Let's just say I was pretty much stuck in my chair and not feeling to hot the next day.  :0(  Oh, well.  Who wants to remember turning 30 anyway right?

On Sunday while I wasn't feeling to great, Claeb woke up very late and wasn't feeling well either.  He was sweating like he had a temp, but when I checked it, it was 94 degrees.  Weird.  So we googled and called everyone we knew to find out what was up with him.  I think we figured out that he might have just been hungry.  We don't think he ate much on Saturday while we were running around all day, then slept in so late that he didn't get breakfast right away.  So he ate 6 pancakes and we noticed he perked up a little after that.

Things I need to blog about-

So I don't forget...  Here are the things I need to blog about!!

~ Prariefest/ party
~ Labor Day weekend
~ Football
~Grandma

Camping

We went on our first official family camping weekend last weekend!  We packed up on Friday and went to Jester park.  Chris' brother and sister and their families met us there.  We got there in time to cook supper and hangout all night.  Saturday morning my parents came and Chris' family left.  Chris took the neices and nephews fishing in the morning.  The afternoon we walked down to the beach and pikced up rocks and shells while we watched the boys play in the mud.  After supper we went to a small pond at the park and went fishing for a couple hours.  The boys were extra tired that night since Friday night they stayed up WAY too late.  It was a pretty fun time.  Despite all of the insect creatures.  We had daddy long legs everywhere!!  Plus, found a couple walking sticks and a crazy looking, very fat caterpillar.  Sunday we packed up and went home and spent the afternoon napping! 

First Day of School

Caleb started Kindergarten last week!  He has been pretty excited all summer that he will be starting Kindergarten and so have I.  He is so ready to be in a structured setting, learning and having fun with his peers.  Caleb takes the bus to school.  Chris drops him off about 7:40 and he gets to school right about the time I am leaving Kids Club to come home.  I get a quick minute to give him a hug and say good morning and we are off!  His teacher's name is Mrs. Jensen- Chris' and my Kindergarten teacher was also named Mrs. Jensen!  I asked Caleb on the way home the other night if Mrs. Jensen was nice and he said, "Yes, she is the BEST!  The best in the whole world!"  After school Caleb is able to come to Kids Club with me.  He has been having fun there.  He really tags along with the big kids more than anything.  The playground has a tic-tac-toe board and he challenged one of the older boys the other day and beat him, so now it is the challenge of all the 4th graders to beat Caleb in toc-tac-toe.  Caleb loves it! 

Maryville Trip

My friend Joanne and her baby girl Sadie came back from New York for the week at the beginning of August, so we decided to take a mini vacation and go to Missouri to visit her.  We left early Saturday morning August 6th.  Chris mapped out a route that would be a little more scenic and get us to Maryville (the first stop on our vacation) a little quicker.  This road (Hwy 46) was like a 30 mile long rollercoaster.  The hills were amazing and curvy.  Carter mentioned he wasn't feeling well so I told Chris to keep an eye on him and if he seems like he is going to puke to have a game plan.  Well, Chris blew it off and said Carter was fine.  Caleb started mentioning that his head hurt, so I told him to try to sit back and relax and when we get to Maryville we would get some tylenol.  About 5 minutes later I look back at Caleb to see his lap full of vomit.  I scrambled to find a place to pull over on this road with no shoulders so we could clean him up.  Ugh.  20 minutes later we were cleaned up the best we could and on our way to Maryville, again.  We stopped in Maryville and drove through the town to check out all the changes (the few there were), then we headed to campus to check out our old stomping grounds.  We walked around the center of campus by the Union and headed over to the football field.  The boys enjoyed running around on the field and playing with the tackling dummies.  After our tour of Maryville we headed to St. Joe and checked into our hotel. 

The hotel we stayed at had a water "park" with a huge slide, a small lazy river and a little play area for Carter.  It was pretty fun.  Caleb was in LOVE with the water slide!!  We played at the hotel for a little while then headed out for supper.  After supper we played a round of mini-golf.  I mostly helped Carter play, but Caleb did a pretty good job on his own.  At the last hole if you made it in the right spot you could win a free game.  Chris and Caleb didn't get the ball in the hole, but when Carter and I got up their we wond the prize!  :0)  Caleb said that wasn't "fair"!  lol

We went back to the hotel and tried to settle the boys down for the night.  That was quite the difficult task!  I think it was past 11:00 by the time Carter finally stayed in bed!  stinker.  We got up early the next morning to play at the pool before check-out.  Then, headed to lunch with Joanne at a local Mexican restauraunt.  After lunch we were able to go back to Joanne's dad's house to visit.  Our original plan was to have the boys play in his pool while we visited on the deck, but about the time we arrived, so did the storm.  So we visited downstairs while the boys played with Joanne's little brother and I held Baby Sadie!  :0)  A couple hours later we headed home!

Work Party

Chris had a co-worker from Hawaii come to Iowa this week to visit and learn about hwat corn really is here in the corn state.  He is native Hawaiian and this was his first time in Iowa.  Since he was in town the guys at work decided they would have a big get-together that wives were actually invited to!  So we went to Chris' bosses house last night.  I thought it was going to be pretty dull, but the night turned quite interesting towards the end.  At first all the boys were outside talking and grilling and drinking while the girls were inside chatting.  After we ate we heard the boys come in the house and go intot hte basement.  Then the bosses' daughter came upstairs and told us the boys were getting out 'Just Dance' on the Wii.  So, of course all of us girls went downstairs to watch!  At first everyone was pretty timid about taking their turn, but we actually got everyone out on the "dance floor" at least once!  The best part was when the 3 most unlikely men got out there and danced to "It's Raining Men!"  Haha!!  Totally awesome!  I loved playing the game and definitely want to get it for work, I think the kids will really like it!

Speaking of kids, they stayed home with a babysitter, Anna.  The kids said they had a good time.  They got to go to the park and play at the baseball field. 

Adventures in Babysitting!

Last night I got to watch one of Chris' co-workers baby.  Her name is Kiera and she is 3 months old.  It was pretty crazy when she first got here, one of my co-workers had just stopped by, we were eating supper and the boys were showing off for everyone in our house.  We had Keira on the floor for a short time.  Caleb was sitting next to her oogling her and Carter kept swooping in giving her kisses.  :0)  She started to fuss a little, so I figured she was getting hungry.  When I mentioned that Caleb went straight for the diaper bag and dug out the bottle and Carter came into the room with a piece of his leftover pizza off his plate.  LOL!  I tried to feed her the bottle, but she was still fussing, so I thought I would change her diaper.  Now, since we have been having "weinie" discussions lately I made sure Caleb was "watching" this process.  I pulled off her diaper right in front of the boys and proceeded to change her.  Caleb looked down and started to giggle, and said "She doesn't have a weinie!!"  It was pretty funny!!  After we got her dressed I attempted to feed her again and she didn't really want any of that, so I started bouncing, rocking, patting, burping, walking, etc.  Anything I could do to get this little girl to calm down.  She let out a few burps and she would seem better for a little while.  After awhile of this I started searching her diaper bag for some gas drops.  I ended up finding a pacifier and attempted using this.  Carter got really excited then!  He was digging through the bag looking for more!  He foud a pocket with about 4 pacis in there and he was trying to give her all of them!  I finally got her speeing a little bit, but she was still hiccup burping, poor baby.  Carter decided to go through the bag more and found some little onsies.  He wanted to change her into her jammies, even though she was already wearing the exact same thing.  I ended up needing to put Caleb to bed and had to put Kiera down, crying or not, to get him there.  So I stuck her in her car seat quick and put Caleb to bed figuring when i got back she would be very upset since I left her.  I could hear Carter talking to her in the living room and when I walked in she was the happiest baby ever!  Totally different from the baby I was dealing with for the past hour and a half!  She was talking up a storm to Carter and he was loving it!  :0)  But, the happy baby came just in time for Daddy to come pick her up!  This was definitely a good experience.  One of the comments Caleb made whiel watching her, besides- "Turn the TV up I can't hear it over her crying!" was, "Is that our baby?" No, we are just watching her.  "Can we have one like it?"  Maybe someday.  "But, with no crying"  HAHA!  It was a fun night!!

Funeral

Chris' aunt Elaine passed away Friday, so we left Monday afternoon for home.  After Chris got off work we packed up and went straight to my parents house.  We dropped off the kids, changed quick and headed to the prayer service.  Chris' mom is pretty emotional about losing her sister, who wouldn't be, so we decided to all go back to Jeff's house and enjoy some conversation and cocktails.  After about, oh I don't know 6 margaritas, I was feeling pretty good.  Chris' mom seemed to be in better spirits laughing at all of us.  Chris was pretty tipsy himself, too.  We eventually ran out of pop, so Chris and our two neices rode bikes up to Casey's to buy more pop.  Riding bikes for a mission then turned into bike races on the street at 11:00 at night.  It was a pretty crazy and fun night.  I was feeling it about 4am, though.  :0( 

The funeral was Tuesday morning.  Everyone seemed in pretty decent shape considering...  We decided to keep Caleb and Carter at my parents house during the prayer service and fineral.  I think if they would have know Elaine better I would have brought them, but since they didn't really know who she was I didn't feel like trying to keep them entertained at these functions.  I was up front with Caleb though about where we were going and why.  I am trying really hard to be honest with him about death, but not in a scary way.  When my Grandpa died a couple years ago I explained to Caleb that when people grow old eventually their bodies stop working.  I also explained that a funeral is a way to celebrate that person and to remember all the great things that person did.  I think he "gets it", but I am not entirely sure at this young of an age that he will totally get it.  But, that is okay...  I don't need him to get any other lessons anytime soon.

From the mouths of babes.

Oh, jeez...  Well, Caleb has been asking a lot of "potty" questions lately.  The other day while I was using the toilet Caleb exclaimed "See, you pee!  You have a weinie!!!"  Sorry, Caleb no. I am a mommy and mommy's don't have weinies.  "Well, what do you have?"  Ummm, uhhhhh.  Don't worry about it.  That has been an on going conversation the last couple months.  So, out of no where today Caleb walks out of the bathroom and asked if I have a weinie.  No, Caleb.  "What do you have?"  ummmmm....  What do you think I have?  "A butt?" Yup. 

Oh, jeez.  Then for some reason he asks Chris if he had a wallet in his butt.  "Nope, my wallet is on the couch."  Caleb then asked daddy if he had a weinie.  Chris replies with "Yes, what does mommy have?"  ARGH!  Caleb answers "a purse in butt." (several times)  Well, coming from Caleb's mouth that has quite the speech-impediment it sounded a little like something else.  Haha!!  I am not quite sure where the purse comment came from , but the only thing that we can figure out is that he asked Chris if he has a wallet, so I must have a purse if daddy has a wallet.  ??  I dunno.  Still not quite sure on how to educate my child about the fact that mommies don't have weinies.  The difficulties of raising boys. 

Fun day!

It was Carroll County Fair weekend this weekend, so we ended up going back to Coon Rapids for the mud volleyball tournament that Chris has played in the last 4 years.  Last year they brought home 1st place and this year they got 4th!  Of course my more competitive better half feels a little disappointed that they didn't get 1st or 2nd.   But, I am still proud of him none-the-less.  :0)  While Chris was playing mud volleyball I was free to actually watch him play mud volleyball.  (Thanks to Grandma Mac for watching the boys all afternoon!!)  There were a couple close games and I was definitely getting worked up watching them. Which kind of gave me an insight into what I am going to feel like when Caleb and Carter start playing "real" sports in JH/HS. 

After mud volleyball was over we met up with my parents and the boys at the Figure 8 races.  Caleb was VERY into the races.  He would pick out a car to root for and he yelled and screamed and cheered on his car till the very end.  It was great!  When his car wouldn't win his response was "But, I was yelling for them!"  Then when I asked him what car he would cheer for he asked "which one is going to win??" 

All in all it was a very good day.  Long and hot, but full of fun!  So much fun that Caleb is still sleeping right now at 10 in the morning.  :0)  (Carter of course was up at 6:30, but I forced him to go back to bed.) 

Funny kid!

Carter has just been talking up a storm lately!!  Okay, the kid is NEVER quiet!!  But, most of the time what he says is pretty funny!

At Wal-Mart the other day I asked him to remove his finger from his nose and he responded with "I'm fining my boogers!"

He was dressed completely this morning and he went back to his room and found a different shirt to wear.  When I asked him why he was changing his shirt he said "This shirt not cool".

At lunch today Carter says "Look at me!"  So of course we look.  He closes his eyes then slowly opens them revealing his eyes crossed!  Caleb about spit out his milk laughing!! 

Carter repeats EVERYTHING!  And it frustrates Caleb so much!  So Caleb will of course ask him to "Stop copying me!"  Carter just simply repeats that too!  I think he knows it frustrates Caleb, so he keeps doing it! 

Unfortunately I can never remember the funnies for very long, but I will try to write them down so I can share them!

This weekend

It was just the boys and I on Saturday while Chris was at work, so we decided to beat the heat by going to the beach!  It was prety fun.  The second we got there it started raining!!  But, it was short lasting, so we headed to the sand!  We started building sand castles first, but the boys wanted in the water.  I wish I would have some type of flotation device for them, but they do a pretty good job of staying in the shallower water. (I was still standing as close as possible!)  They were in and out of the water playing in the sand for about an hour or so, then we cleaned up the toys and headed to the picnic tables for lunch.  The boys did a good job of actually sitting and eating.  When they got done eating their picnic lunch they ran off to play on the playground.  They have a super cool playground at Big Creek it is an all wood castle.  The funniest thing was Caleb and Carter were on the tire swing so I gave them a good push and a minute later they were both looking down and a little peaked.  I stopped the swing and helped them off.  Carter started walking away immediately and started to sway and fell!  He was dizzy and couldn't even walk!!  I couldn't stop laughing!  I must have looked like the worst mom laughing at my child falling, but I couldn't help it!  LOL 

When we got home we had naptime and then hung around the house waiting for daddy to come home.  Chris had a really long hot day at work, so we went to Ames and picked up pizza for supper.

Sunday we decided to beat the heat again by going to the movies!  The dollar theatre had Rio in 3D.  So we watched that and had popcorn for lunch!  Ran some errands then, came home for an afternoon in the A/C. 

Supposed to be 110 degree heat index all week!  Gonna be a hot one!!

Sitter Issues

Ugh!  Can we ever find a sitter that we LOVE??  The first year of us hiring a highschooler for summer we hired our neighbor girl Stephanie.  She was really good with the kids, just kind of quiet with us.  The next summer we hired a girl named Cassandra, she fell asleep, called in sick mulitiple times, etc.  So we fired her about 2-3 weeks into summer.  Thankfully Stephanie hadn't founda job yet, so we hired her again for the summer.  This Spring we started our search for a highschooler and settled on Chelsie, who had been a Kids Clubber at my work so I felt I knew her pretty well.  The first couple weeks went well.  The kids were pretty naughty for her according to Chelsie, but that isn't anything out of the ordinary!  But, then we noticed she was on her phone almost all the time texting, even while we were standing there talking to her about the boys' day, plus seeing that she was on facebook most of the day as well.  Very frustrating.  So, we bought a tracphone to leave at the house and asked her not to bring her phone with her anymore.  So far, so good.  The kids have been well behaved and have been receiving the attention they deserve.  We still have minor things that we would love to be better, but I don't know if it is worth being super nit-picky over or not. 

Well, Friday afternoon I was trying to find a babysitter for Saturday night and I asked Chelsie out of desperation.  I didn't want her to have to watch the boys on the weekend since she watches them all week, but there was no one else to ask.  So when I asked her if she wanted to babysit, she said yes she could.  I told her to go home and ask her mom to be sure.  So I texted her a couple hours later to double check that she could babysit and she said yes.  Woohoo!  Date night for Chris and I.  Well, Saturday morning I get a text from her saying that her mom said she wanted to do something with her Saturday night, so she wouldn't be able to babysit!!!  UGH!  What a pain!  Thankfully Chris wasn't up for a date since he didn't get homne from work until almost 7pm anyway, but come on!!  How frustrating!!! 

Our neighbor girl Stephanie has a little sister that is 13, so I think I am going to start "training" her for our babysitter!  She is a little young, but I know she comes from a good family and that she is going to be honest and trustworthy. 

Oh, Jeez! Potty Mouth!!!

So, I have a potty mouth.  I know it, I have always known it and I really should try to kick tht habit.  When I would swear around Caleb if he ever said the naughty word back I would explain to him that it is a "Mommy/Daddy" word and he wouldn't say it again.  Well.  Carter is a TOTALLY different type of child.  He has started out small by sneaking in a "poopy-head" or "stupid" here or there.  Whenever he would say something naughtier I tried to ignore it and explain that it wasn't allowed.  Since he has been pushing the limits more and more I have been using lemon juice when he says a naughty word.  He does NOT like this, so I am hoping it will deter him from using naughty words.  Well...  Just a couple minutes ago I yelled down the stairs for Caleb to turn the TV down (I did not swear while doing this!!) and Carter repeats "Turn the F'ing TV down!".  A couple times in a row.  I asked him calmly to come upstairs and he instantly says "Don't spank my butt!".  I asked him why I would spank his butt and he said because he said a naughty word.  I told him that he better not say it again!  "But you say it."  *sigh*  I say it because I am a Mommy and I am allowed, kids shouldn't say that word.  Why?!  I told him that I shouldn't say it either so next time he hears me say it to tell me to stop. 

This child might be a little harder to tame!!  Stinker!

Long Day

I woke up in the middle of the night last night to thunder and noises on our roof.  When I looked outside it was crazy windy and I could barely see anything, because the lightning was like a strobe light right in my eyes.  It was wierd how often it was lightning(ing)  :0)  I ended up going back to bed after giving Chris his phone since the power was out. 

When Chris got up this morning I was woke up to- "Well, I don't even see the swingset and the yard is full of debris!"  Awesome.  I headed out there in my jammies to assess the damage and sure enough the swingset was toppled over the opposite direction of last year's tumble.  There were several large branches down in the yard as well.  We figured that even if the swingset didn't take a tumble that it would have been crushed by one of the branches.  Luckily, the swingset didn't tumble one more time into our neighbors vehicle and that none of the branches landed on our house, car or shed. 

Carter joined us in the yard in his jammies shortly and we began clean-up.  We were still without power at this point.  Chris ran to Ames and bought a chainsaw.  So Carter and I rolled the wheelbarrow over to the side yard and we began clean up.  About halfway through the front yard Carter exclaims "This game is over!"  Haha!  I told him it isn't over until the yard is done.  "AaAaWw".  heehee.  He is too funny! 

While we were all outside this morning Caleb was still in bed sleeping.  Carter and I were coming in the house for a potty break and I told Carter to be quiet so we wouldn't wake up Caleb (at 9:45) and I hear Caleb say "I already and awake and I can't get dressed" as he walks over to the stairs naked.  He said taht he tried to turn on the lights and he can't get them to work, so he can't get dressed!  haha!  He even had to show me that the light switch in his room wouldn't work by flipping it on and off repeatedly!  haha! 

We finally got power about 5pm, but lost it at 6:30.  Then got it again about 8:45.  Hopefully now for good!!  Let's hope for no more crazy storms!!  You would think we had a tornado as much damage that occured, but the whistle never even went off! 

Vacation...

I took this week off from work so I would use up some vacation time at work.  So, from last Friday until this Friday I am off work.  So, Friday morning we packed up and went to Omaha to see the Dammen family.  Friday night we took the kids to the Amazing Pizza Machine.  Then Saturday we went to the zoo, ate at Quaker Steak and Lube, then back to the house to relax and enjoy sparklers.  Sunday we hung around the house for a short time, then after lunch we left to come home. 

Sunday afternoon/evening was spent getting groceries, then we went to Slater to watch the fireworks!  The boys loved them.  I told them to tell me which one was their favorite and after awhile I had to ask them to shoosh, because they kept saying, "I like that one, no that one, no- that one it my favorite"...

Monday was supposed to be a productive day- I wanted to organize toys, paint the laundry room and clean, but instead I was battling a horrible headache all day.  Even a nap didn't get rid of it!  Not fun.  I was able to get the laundry room painted though, so that is good! 

Today I spent most of the day at home since we were supposed to have our new washer/dryer delivered this morning.  I worked on cleaning the toy room and guest bedroom.  I was planning on running errands shortly after the delivery, but my morning delivery ended up becoming a late afternoon delivery.  :0(  not happy.  But, I now at least have a washer/dryer so I don't have to visit the laundromat again. 

Tomorrow we will be going to Caleb's friend Donovan's house.  He has a little brother a little older than Carter and a baby sister Amelia.  After our playdate we will be running some errands in Ames, getting Carter's haircut and buying a birthday present for Caleb's friend Kiley.

Thursday we will be having a playdate with my friend Erin and her two kiddos Karlie and Hayden.  We will be visiting the zoo! 

Then Friday it is back at work- for a field trip to---  you guessed it- the ZOO!!  Yes, I think I am going to tbe zoo'ed out!

Saturday Caleb has a birthday party for his "girlfriend" Kiley and then we will be heading back to Coon Rapids for my brother-in-law Chris' 40th birthday party. 

Next weekend we will hopefully be going camping with some friends, the weekend after that (23rd) is the Carroll County Fair Mud Volleyball tourney.  Then hopefully it is quiet for awhile.  :0)  The summer is definitely flyng by!!

Pacifiers- Good Bye?!

Carter has seemed more and more attached to his paci lately.  Even when we are in the car he asked for one so he can close his eyes.  haha.  So, tonight when we were on the way to Ankeny we decided that tonight would be the night to get rid of the pacis.  We spent the weekend in Omaha and Carter got to spend time with Baby Sage, so we told him we would pack up the pacis and give them to baby Sage.  I wanted it to be more momentous for him, so we actually are going to give them to Baby Amelia tomorrow at our playdate.  We went on a paci hunt tonight for all of the pacifiers and put them in a baggie.  Tomorrow we will give them to Amelia as a final step into Big Boyhood! 

I thought we would hear a lot of crying tonight for the paci, but after we bagged them up I had him put them straight into the car, so he would know they weren't even in the house.  I thinked that helped.  He got up a couple times to go "potty", but he is sleeping and quiet now.  Good news!! 

Potty update!!-- Carter is pooping in the potty just about everyday now.  For the last 3 mornings he has gone straight to the potty to do his deed!!  And, yes, he then ate "N M's" for breakfast!!  :0)

I am never on our personal computer to upload pictures, so when I finally get the time and motivation you get lots of randoms!  :0)  Maybe eventually I will categorize them by theme and not have snowy pictures with baseball, but then again- I think it might have snowed this year during baseball!!  haha!  What a strange Spring it has been weather-wise. 

Carter reading to Buzz in bed.

Playing on the four-wheeler at daddy's work.

Learning how to trike!  Helmet for safety!

February swinging!

My big-boy Carter!

Caleb!

Carter watching his big brother play DS.

They were watching something outside- if memory serves me right I believe it was a bird, but could have been daddy or a garbage truck as well!  lol

Waiting for supper.  :0)

Cheese- Easter eggs

T-ball 2011

Taking a break after a tough Easter hunt.  Carter and his cousins- Kale and Justin.

Pop and Caleb building blocks

Carter, Alex and Caleb egg hunt 2011

Caleb's preschool graduation

At Aunt Karen's surprise 40th party!  He had to find a "quiet" place to play his DS!  haha!

Daddy and his boys on the train at the zoo.

Feeding the parakeets.  Carter loved it!  Caleb was a little timid, but that might run in the blood- if you notice the pictures are taken behind the cage!! 

Carter lounging on the end of Uncle Jeff's chair.

Congratulations Snapp Family!!

Happy Birthday Sadie Beth

June 23, 2011

8lb, 10 oz.

Father's Day

It is so hard for me to buy Chris anything for Father's day.  Well, for any present giving time anyway.  He isn't in to getting little knick-knack trinkets even if it follows a favorite team/sport.  He buys what he needs when he needs it.  And he will return anything he feels you wasted money on or that he won't use.  Ugh!  Get's frustrating at times.  So when Father's day came this year I bought him a card.  That's it.  I told him I would buy him something he picked out when we went shopping.  He mentioned he wanted a new camp chair, so we went to KMart to look at the sales.  While at KMart we snuck a peek at tents that were on sale next to the camp chairs.  There were some really good deals and Chris said that he was interested in buying one so that we could camp as a family sometime.  So, we are now officially tent owners.  We ended up getting a steal of a deal on it!  It was originally $180, on sale we thought for $130, then when we rang it up it was only $90!!  Wahoo!  We are going to attempt camping out in our yard this weekend to try it out and to see what else we need to do/get/buy before we can camp for real.  Should be fun!  I just hope it doesn't end up like every other time I have ever camped in a tent, with my head in a puddle. 

Caleb is 5!!

This is a little late in coming, but better late than never!  :0)  Caleb turned 5 years old on May 30th. It couldn't have come any sooner as he was itchin' to be 5!  His birthday was over the Memorial Day weekend again, so we had some quality family time.  We went to the zoo, then to Incrediable Pizza Company for some games and pizza.  He had a blast!  Even made a couple hole-in-ones at Mini Golf! 

The next weekend we had his birthday parties.  After his t-ball game we had family come over for a small BBQ.  Caleb really enjoyed playing with his cousins.  Caleb had his first friend party!  We invited everyone from Caleb's preschool class, along with a couple other friends.  We had a pretty good turn out for his party.  He had 10 friends come to his party.  It was Phineas and Ferb themed.  I found several games online that we could play at his party.  The kids really liked them.  Although I was hoping the games would last the entire hour and a half, and they only last 30 minutes!!  aaah!  :0)  Caleb didn't want cake for his party, so we make ice cream sundaes.  Caleb opened presents and since he received so many water guns, we ended up having a water fight to fill in the time!  All the kids left with a great goodie bag, a smile and wet clothes! 

Caleb had a great day!

funnies

Carter has been quite the little comedian lately.  He has started saying "That makes sense" or That doesn't make sense" a lot.  But, he says it with this little scrunched up look on his face that just kills me!!  He will ask what's for supper, so I will tell him mac and cheese and hot dogs.  His response will be- "Hot dogs... that makes sense!"  Haha! 

Tonight at supper Caleb was doing something with his spoon that I wouldn't have thought twice about until Carter did it.  When we asked Carter to stop he listened and stopped.  Caleb did it again and told him that he already heard us tell Carter not to do it and he is only doing it again so Carter will do again, you are just trying to get him in trouble...(yada, yada, yada)  Carter's reaction- "You're trying to get me in trouble?!"  Total shock and awe in his voice- LOL!!

Potty Training Update

Carter has been doing pretty well with potty training.  An accident here or there.  He is starting to get the hang of pooping in the potty too.  Which is always great!  :0)  Things are looking up!

Busy-ness

It has been crazy busy here the last few weeks.  With Chris on the road planting and me gearing up for summer at work, it has been non-stop go, go, go.  I am ready for some down time!

But, in the meantime since Chris is done planting and he is slow at work he decided to start tackling our bathroom remodel.  Yay!  :0)  On Sunday he started demo, on Monday he finished demo, my bathroom is completely down to the studs.  We decided to take out the drywall since it had mold in some places and paint drips, and other lumps and bumps everywhere else.  Yesterday Chris was able to get the plumbing done for the shower, it took him longer than expected since he didn't have a helper to hold things.  And today, Chris has to be at work, so hopefully Thursday we will get drywall hung.

While Chris has been busy in the bathroom I have been busy with the kids and work!  Monday morning Caleb adn I left for Des Moines right away to get the oil changed in the van and get his 5 year old pictures taken!!  His pictures turned out pretty good, he did a very nice job listening and smiling.  After pictures I took Caleb out for a very special mommy date- he chose McDonald's with the playplace.  ugh.  Then, with a little bribe, he allowed me to stop at Kohl's on the way home!  :0)  Tuesday I had summer training all day and today I will have training again all day.  Then at night after I put the kids to bed and help Chris with whatever he need in the bathroom I am on the computer writing lesson plans and getting things ready for summer. 

Then, in the midst of all of this I still need to plan a birthday party for Caleb!  Which I just realized I haven't passed out invitations for yet, okay, I haven't even BOUGHT invitations for yet.  Poor kid.  He got a crap-deal having his birthday at my busiest time of year. 

Rockstar!

So Caleb has been quite the Rockstar lately!!  He learned to snap a couple weeks ago and he was so proud when he did.  He was very concerned about not learning until he was five, but when I told him that if he kept practicing that he may learn when he was four, he was more determined than ever to learn!

Caleb learned just yesterday how to tie his shoes!!  He is soooo excited!  :0)  I was praising him on the way to daycare yesterday afternoon and I could just tell how proud he was of himself.  I kept telling him how awesome he was and how rockin' he was that he learned all that even before he was 5!

This week has also been a really good week at daycare, too.  He has kept his apple this whole week so far!  He only has 1 week left of preschool!!  He has his preschool graduation next Friday!  :0)  I am very excited to buy him a new pair of tennis shoes that won't get ruined by the tire chips on his day care playground!    He is growing up soo fast!  Very BITTERSWEET!!

Potty Update

So, Carter's potty training is going really well.  He has an occasional accident here or there, but for the most part has been doing great!!  He still hasn't pooped on the potty, choosing to sit under his swingset or in the shed instead.  :0/  Oh, well.  But, the best thing is that he has been dry the last 2 nights!!  We put a diaper on him at nap and bedtime and the last couple days we have gotten to reuse the diapers! 

Great job Buddy!!

Bathroom Remodel!!

We are planning on redoing our bathroom this Spring!  It is official, because we bought the vanity!!!  Wahoo!!  That piece was very difficult for us to find!  It was hard for Chris and I to find something we liked, but then to agree!  ugh!  When we did find the vanity we talked to a sales guy at Lowe's about vanity tops and he suggested we look into Onyx.  It is a manmade stone type surface.  We were able to pick out the bowl shape, counter color, etc.  Chris picked out the color of the counter right away and we both agreed and ordered it!  :0)

The next weekend we stopped at Kohl's to look at shower curtains, found one we both liked, figured out all the pretties we wanted and needed.  Plus, it was all at least 45% off!  Then I had another 20% coupon on top of that.  We got a really good deal on our pretties.  :0)

We have a tub picked out and faucets for sink and tub chosen at Home Depot.  The flooring is basically chosen.  All that is left is actually tearing stuff out!!  I am so excited!!  We are actually under budget right now too!

Planting season

It is offically planting season again.  2 weeks later than usual, but it is here!  Chris left yesterday morning and won't be back until it rains or he is done.  They are even thinking about working Sunday since they are so far behind.  Which means Chris won't be home for Mother's day.  So, we celebrated Mother's day this past weekend.  With my mom, too!  Mom was able to come watch Caleb play t-ball on Saturday so we took her out to Olive Garden for Mother's Day.  She was able to do some bathroom remodeling shopping with us and helped us pick out quite a good chunk of our stuff.  More to come in a different post about the bathroom.  Anyway, so the boys too me out to brunch the next morning for my Mother's day treat.  It was nice getting dressed up and going. 

T-Ball

Caleb started T-Ball this year!  He is LOVING it!  We bought him a tee to practice with at home and a mitt, etc.  At the first practice I was excited and concerned to see that Caleb's good friend from daycare was on his team!  I was excited because Caleb would at least know one kid, but concerned because Caleb tends to mess around and not listen well when he has friends with him.  But, things are going really well!  He has been listening well to his coaches, paying attention to the games and watching the ball!  :0)  Chris has been working on some "techniques" with him at home and it is fun to see Caleb take those lessons to the field.  He has had 2 games so far.  He plays short stop and third base a lot.  I mentioned once to him to try to get on the pitcher mound and he really liked all the action at that position.  All the kids are doing really well!  It is a fun atmosphere to be apart of!  (Even though games have been cold!!!)

Potty Training!

Last Thursday I decided to stop being lazy and start potty training Carter.  I figured I was just going to do it!  :0)  So, when he woke up that morning Chris put him in big biy undies!  He had an accident when we were up at the gym that morning while he was with the babysitters, did really well at home, then ended up having a couple more accidents at day care that afternoon.  Since he was at daycare all day on Friday, I just sent him in a diaper (mainly because I didn't have enough clean clothes to send with him!)  Saturday we were out and about all day so he was in a pull-up.  He wet in it a lot, but I also didn't take him potty very much since we were running all over the place.  That afternoon, evening he did really well though.  Sunday he was in undies all day, even when we were out and about shopping, etc.  He did great!  He had one accident all day and that was late afternoon when we were outside playing.  Monday he was in undies all day again and he did awesome!  We were in Ames all morning and I think I saw the Wal-Mart bathrooms way more than I wanted to!  But, he stayed dry.  His first accident was at day care.  He had a poo accident, I knew he needed to go, but he wasn't able to push it out on the potty- darnit.  Today, he was really good again!  He had a small accident at the gym, stayed dry all day for me- even at nap, and then had a small accident in the afternoon at day care.  I am really impressed with as well as he is doing.  I am hoping he will get the hang of pooping soon, but we are taking it a day at a time!

Pacifier

I have been trying to wean Carter off his paci lately.  We have been doing a good job of keeping it only in his bed, but bedtimes whether it is at nap or night time are hard to remove the paci.  The other night he was getting sleepy on the couch and he was sucking his thumb!!!  *sigh*  So, I have given up the paci fight for awhile.  This kid oviously needs oral stimulation of some type and I am totally okay with that being in the form of a pacifier.  I feel if I get rid of the paci he will start sucking his thumb permanently and I do NOT want that happening! 

Darn Apples

When Caleb went back to daycare after Christmas break and our Hawaii vacation he was doing a great job listening and following directions!  In February when we had parent/teacher conferences reports were great!  Not even a week later he is losing his apple everyday, sometimes twice a day for pushing, poking, etc, etc...  ugh.  So right before Spring Break I spoke with day care about doing something different.  Not sure what, but something!  All Spring Break he was PERFECT!  I don't know if it was because there was less kids or what...  So for the last couple weeks he has been doing a pretty good job.  Until last week.  Again he is losing his apple for doing things he knows he shouldn't be.  I started an apple chart at home that he can mark off an apple everyday he keeps it at school.  If he marks off 10 his first "prize" he earns (that he chose) is to go out to lunch with Daddy by himself.  Well, I was really hoping that this week he would earn that prize, but he has only kept his apple once so far.  I don't know what to do with this child!  He knows better when he does the actions he loses his apple for...  Who knows?!  Maybe once he has a change in setting. 

A lot of Nothing

We haven't been up to too much here lately, but it seems like we are crazy busy all the time!  I don't get it.  Spring break was several weeks ago and it was beautiful weather.  It started my love of running again!  I ran 3 times that week to prepare for a race.  April 2nd Chris and I ran in the ISU doughnut 5k.  We ran with 3 other couples.  It was a blast!  It was a 5k that had 8 donut stops.  Every donut you ate took time off your running time.  I ate 7 donuts and "ran" my race in 43 minutes so my time was 37:30.  Chris ended up eating 15, so his adjust time ended up being 12:30.  One of the boys we ran with ate 17 donuts!!  My goal next year is definitely more!! :0)  But, that race sparked my interested in running again and has definitely motivated me to start training for my 10k I want to run in July. 

On that note, weight loss has been pretty steady.  If you agree that 0 every week is steady.  Okay, it has been non-existent.  But, I am at least maintianing.  So, that is good. 

Caleb has Kindergarten roundup this week.  He is very excited!  He has been talking about some of the kids that went this morning and asking if they will be there.  I will take pictures of his first day! Otherwise Claeb has been Caleb.  Ornery and pushing buttons like usual.  But, we wouldn't have it any other way! 

Carter has been growing up so much!  He is getting so tall he doesn't look like a baby anymore.  Makes me sad.  He is pretty ornery himself.  And quite the parrot.  Mommy has to really watch what she says in front of him!! 

Chris has been playing Volleyball with his sister in Marshalltown the past couple months.  Their team ended up winning their 'C' division and went on to play in a tournament against the 'B' division and won the whole thing!  Although Chris about broke his foot in the process.  He went to jump to spike the ball and landed on another lady's foot.  He heard a couple pops when it happened and could barely walk.  This happened in the very first game!  He ended up playing 5 more matches on his very sore foot and still won.  That is dedication!  Or stupidity, however you want to phrase it.  This happened on Sunday and he is still hobbling around.  Got x-rays taken so we know it isn't broken at least.

Caleb starts t-ball this week.  He has his first practice Friday night.  Chris will be starting in the field soon.  I get to go to Florida next weekend for work!  I was invited to attend the National Afterschool Conference.  I am pretty excited that I actually get to travel for work!  It is very rare that I have to go further than Ames!  :0)  I son't get to do much besides go to the conference, but it should be fun nonetheless.

I am hoping to start keeping up on this blog a little better.  :0)  Maybe once a week rather than once a month!! 

Paint!

After 6 1/2 years I have finally repainted my ugly pink kitchen!!  Thank goodness!  It looks so good I am sad I didn't do it sooner.  We also took the time to repaint the cupboards.  I chose a color called Timber Dust for the walls and Du Jour for the cupboards.  Chris likes to call Du Jour- Primer White!  Haha!  Not much of an off-white!!  But, that is okay.  So far we have the timber dust paint completely done.  We also have the upper cupboard shells done.  The doors are going to need a good sanding before I can paint those.  Then I will tackle the lower cupboards.  It is looking really good though.  I am excited to buy artwork and frames to hang in the hall and dining room. 

Next project in early summer will hopefully be the bathroom if gas doesn't deplete our savings!  ugh.  I only wanted to paint, but we have such a mold problem around the tub we need to remove the shower wall to see if it goes all the way behind.  So we figured we would just replace the tub.  Then, if we are going to do that we might as well do it right and get a new vanity.  I am not quite sure what colors I want to paint it yet though.  The colors on a shower curtain I liked are colors I would like for our living room too.  So I may try to go a nice light blue.  Who knows.  That is a couple months off! 

Valentine's

Chris and I had a real date the other night.  We have been going out with other couples or to parties lately, but haven't actually been on a real date just the two of us for awhile.  So I went shopping on Friday with one of my assistants from work to get a new outfit.  I was able to find a dress and a super cute top and black pants.  Then Saturday a friend and I got manis/pedis.  We also had a new babysitter.  Her name was Anna and she seemed really good. Her mom is the library lady that leads the kids' programs.  The boys LOVE her, so I figured they would love Anna as well.  We ended up going to a newish Italian restaurant in Ames called Pazzesco.  It was pretty good.  The bread could have been better, but the rest of the food was good.  Then we went to the mall for a little jewelry browsing and watched The Dilemma at the dollar theatre.  One last stop at Cold Stone for some ice cream!  A great night! 

Long time

I can't believe I haven't posted for a month!  It has been a busy month.  Chris got home from Hawaii and we have been running ever since. I can't actually remember what we have been doing, but every weekend seems to have something going on.

I have been hitting hard with the diet again.  I had gained a little bit in Hawaii, but have lost that weight and a couple more pounds within the last month.  It is a slow journey this time.  Getting frustrating.  I have a doctor's appointment this week to see if there is a reason it is slower, amongst other things. 

Our neighbors have welcomed a new baby girl- Janie Lee into their home last week.  So they now have 2 boys and a girl!  Hope is still there!  ;0)

Caleb has been very wel-behaved at preschool lately.  Since coming back from Christmas break he has only lost 1 or 2 apples a week instead of 1 or 2 apples a day.  Impressive.  He is really showing his intelligence lately too!  Catching on so quick to what they are teaching.  Chris was writing letters and numbers and having Caleb tell his the names- he was saying them all correctly.  I new they had been working on sight words, so I wrote the word 'can' on the board, and he read it!  Then I wrote 'blue' and he knew that too.  I walked off and told Chris to write 'and' and Claeb said he didn't know how to spell A-N-D.  haha!  Smart little cookie!  :0) 

Carter has been growing like a weed!  I was looking at old pictures the other day adn realized how much he looking more and more like a preschooler than a baby or toddler.  Makes me sad to think that he is growing up so fast.  He is still a little stinker, copying everything Caleb does and says.  We haven't started potty training yet.  More a lack of motivation on my part than him not being ready.  He still pees and poops on the potty randomly.  He talks about being a big boy a lot and not wanting to be a baby.  Of course he is a complete chatter bug!  He mimicks what we say a lot!  Often times he will be heard telling Caleb to "Knock-it-off" or "Shoosh his mouth".  haha!  He loves to wrestle and play with Caleb, but is kind of a whiner when Caleb tries to get him back.  Especially doesn't like it when Caleb tries to give him hugs and kisses. 

Chris has also been hitting the diet hard again this month.  We are both hoping to be down to our goal weight by summer or so.  Chris started doing some of the P90x exercise videos.  I have been enjoying and LOVING zumba lately!  I go Tuesday/Thursday mornings and then on the other days I do a video or treadmill.  I haven't been running too much, but am hoping to start again.  My goal for the next week is to run a mile everyday.  Then maybe I will bump it up from there.

That is about it right now.

Caleb-isms

I had to document some of the things Caleb has been saying the last couple days. 

** While asking Caleb if he was good at Aunt Karen's while we were gone he said yes, there was just one problem.  Ready to pounce on his naughtiness, I asked him what he did.  He said the problem was he missed us!  aaaw.  Cutey patooty.

** While getting groceries the other day I went to buy a magazine and Caleb saw a MotoCross magazine that he HAD to have.  I scanned through the pics super fast and saw that it was mostly just dirt bikes.  This afternoon he was looking through the magazine and said Eew.  I looked up and asked him what.  he showed me a picture of a girl on a bike in basically a bikini and a leather jacket.  He said "That goyl (girl) isn't wearing any pants.  That's gross, huh mom.  Eew."  LOL!!!!

** At lunch today I asked how he was and he said he was feeling kind of sad.  I asked him if it was because he missed Daddy and said "No, I want to go back to Grandma's house".  Sitnker.  :0)

**  I was drilling him on what he did while he was at Aunt Karen's and I asked him if he went to Tot Town (knowing he had) and he said yes.  But, then he finished up with Rod and Theron and Sydni didn't go though.  Karen didn't either...  Oh, so how did you get there?  I drove.  Really? By yourself?  Yup, Karen showed me and I drove Carter.  Hmmm, interesting!  haha! 

Hawaii

Chris and I leave for Hawaii Monday morning.  We will be dropping the boys off at Chris' sister's house in Marshalltown tomorrow afternoon.  I have very mixed feeling about leaving them.  On one hand I NEED some mommy/daddy time.  I am very ready to have an entire week of NO kids- not at work or home.  But, on the other hand I am going to miss them like CRAZY!  It is hard for me to get excited about leaving when I know how much I will miss them.  But, the tickets are bought and I have to go, so I might as well get over it.  :0)  I know they will be in good hands, so I am certainly not worried about them.  I am mostly going to miss their personalities and funniness.  More to come about Hawaii at a later time! 

Christmas

We had Christmas last weekend.  Thursday night we left to go to Coon Rapids so we could beat the storm.  Then Friday we had Christmas with Chris' mom.  We got her a curio cabinet for Christmas this year.  Caleb got a most annoying robot toy (very loud!!) and Carter got some cute Elmo toys.  Then that night we headed to my parents house we ended up getting there in time to meet them at church for the candle light service.  Caleb and Carter were pretty impressed.  Since it was Christmas Eve we had candles and the kids really liked it!  Then we had Christmas Saturday morning with everyone in my family.  We opened presents and ate breakfast then hung out and played with our new toys.  After awhile we ended up going into the bar in Glidden to have Christmas dinner with Uncle Roger and my cousins.  We left at a decent time so we could get home to prepare for Santa.  When we got home we decorated our cookies for Santa and set out some milk and then found some carrots for the reindeer.  Caleb was VERY excited.  I showed him the video from Santa right before bed and it was precious!!  In the video Santa asked Caleb if he was being good- and mentioned something about daycare- and Caleb would answer him.  It was great!  Christmas morning we got up and opened presents.  Caleb and Carter were both very excited when they saw the presents Santa left!  Carter got a dump truck and Caleb got a Lightening McQueen Car Wash.  We ended up going to brunch at Prairie Meadows after that, then came back home and played with our new toys.