Outside

Still trying to play catchup....but a few pictures from last week.

First, all three of my little boys together! I took a few of these and no one was interested in looking at the camera...and Kevin was determined to hold the big stick he had found and was too busy digging in the dirt to even notice my antics. ;) But, still, they are together in the same picture and hence I love it. :)



One of the pages from a book Tyler is working on right now. He recently watched the Phineas and Ferb: The Second Dimension movie and has since been talking about it nonstop. Last week I printed some pictures of the characters from online and the boys colored them. And then Friday evening Tyler got the idea to write a book. He wants to color the pages so we are slowly making them on the computer. And he was THRILLED when we were able to put him into the story. :)




Tyler last week pretending to be a secret spy.

Kevin that day was intent on playing in the sandbox. He wanted no pictures taken and wanted no one else to play in the sandbox with him. He was determined to fill up that bucket with sand and wanted to make sure that no one else interrupted. Once he was done with that, he was off and trying to find more sticks.

Jacob had fun playing in the exersaucer. It was a VERY windy day and it hit me that he really hasn't been out in the wind very much.

Every time a big gust would happen and his hair would stand up, he would throw his hands in to the air and growl like a bear! I was busy taking pictures of Kevin when I heard the growling, and sure enough when I stopped to watch it was coming from Jacob and he was definitely shocked by the wind. Tyler and Kevin got a HUGE kick out of listening and watching to their brother. And they tried blowing on his hair to get him to growl (it was just so loud of a growl), but that it didn't work.

Here he is growling at the wind.

Jacob sits!!!

**So I am pretty behind on things I want to post like the rest of my OK trip, playing in the backyard, and Jacob's six month doctor's appointment. There are just a LOT of pictures to go through! Yet I also want to post something...so I am just going to post what pictures I took tonight, and will just have some things out of order as I still plan to catch up. :) **


The last two days Jacob has been practicing his sitting and actually staying up. Most of the time he spends with his hands down helping him balance, but tonight when we started cheering for him every time he lifted his hands up, he started doing it for a LONG time. He looked so pleased as we all (well, Kevin was already asleep and the dogs didn't really seem to care) cheered him on. :)

Tyler wanted a picture of him with Jacob and jumpd down to give Jacob a hug after announcing his desire. :)

Gramps and Gigi

We drove down to visit with Gramps and Gigi while we were in Oklahoma. The weather was UNBELIEVABLY hot with the high temps being over 110 while we were there...and one day it was 114! So most of our time was spent indoors having fun playing with Gramps and Gigi.

A picture of Gramps and Gigi with the boys on their golf cart. Both boys were beyond excited to ride in the golf cart and I wish I had been able to take a picture the first time we sat down and we took off. They were both screaming and laughing in excitement.



One day after visiting the awesome splash park across the street, we got Kevin relaxing in Gramps chair with his hat on while watching cartoons. :)

Bright and early one morning (before nine) we had already played at the park and were stopping by the splash park. Unfortunately, the water wouldn't turn on so we couldn't stay and play. Kevin was VERY sad about this and was refusing to come back to the golf cart and insisting that we play in the water.



After awhile I gave up and just told him that we were leaving and started slowly going away in the golf cart. Well, that got his attention and he is running at full speed to catch up, laughing as he ran. And so excited when he finally made it to the golf cart as he wasn't about to miss a ride! :)

Playing at the park. We got up one morning and tried to get there before 8:30 in hopes that it wouldn't be too hot. And we were wrong. Everything was already so hot as it was already over 100 and I don't think anything cooled down over night. This was the day that it got up to 114! Craziness!

Tyler had fun practicing his balancing but was always unsure what to do when he reached the end. Finally, he had a solution.

A LONG pause as he geared up for the jump.


And he jumps!



A perfect landing! :)


A picture from coming back from the park/splash park. They were trying so hard to get the golf cart going themselves as they didn't want to be done riding.

A "follow me mom" as he wanted help climbing up a pole.

Both boys found a STEEP dual slide to try.

I think about here it hit them how steep it was!

And off they go!

With Kevin's final approach being slightly off....

but he made it! Though he didn't attempt that slide again. ;)

One of the last runs down the slides. At this point they were just getting to be way too hot, so we called it a day.

And Tyler just gave up on it and walked the rest of the way down. Poor kids!

For some indoor play time they entertained themselves on the piano and had a lot of fun playing together.

And of course we had to practice climbing trees!!! Tyler managed to climb his very first tree all by himself and finally on the last day, Kevin let Gramps help him up into a tree for a little bit.

Gramps keeping an eye on Kevin.

He was content to stay there all day. :)

Grandma and Grandpa G's

We had a wonderful time at Grandma and Grandpa G's house! The kids enjoyed getting to visit and play, and I had fun getting to see them both. Kevin loved chasing around their cat (which he called "caty") and Tyler enjoyed playing secret spy as he ran their house finding places to hide and spy on us.

I didn't take many pictures because I wasn't feeling very well the first few days. I wish I would have taken more. But I did manage to take a few on one morning when the boys went out to play in their kiddie pool. The boys had a blast running around the pool and playing in the water.

And we all got to go up to Grandma's school to visit her. The boys had a BLAST being in a "real school" as Tyler put it and getting to look at everything. :)

Here are a few pictures from the pool morning.

A happy Tyler.




He loved going into the pool in silly ways.


Kevin's approach was hilarous. He would just THROW himself into the pool belly first. And if Tyler was in the pool he would scream "Tyler....SHARK". I have NO idea where he picked up the shark thing, but it was so funny to listen to and it actually got Tyler to move out of his way. :)

Jacob enjoyed having his brothers off playing in the pool too because he got to have special snuggle time with Grandma and Grandpa. :)

Road Trip

Saturday morning the boys and I loaded up into the van and began our journey to Oklahoma. I wasn't really looking forward to the drive, but was excited to be getting to go back home and see all of my family. Tyler was very excited to be sitting in the back of the van with all of his books, Leapster, remote control so he could operate the DVD player, and plenty of snacks. He definitely loved having everything around him and he was packed in as I knew that I wouldn't be able to reach him.





Kevin was also pretty excited as we started because he got a new Magna Doodle for the trip. I realized as I was packing the van Friday night that I hadn't brought toys for Kevin and given how much he loves to color I thought a Magna Doodle might excite him. Sure enough, the Magna Doodle was amazing. He spent most of the drive down coloring, stamping, and erasing. And when he wasn't doing that he was napping or watching a movie.





Jacob was also surrounded by lots of toys. One of my favorite baby finds when Kevin was an infant is the Car Mobile by Kicky Pants. It is a velcro strap covered by fabric that you string across the car. It lets you hang infant toys off of it so the baby can't drop things, and it entertains Kevin. It definitely served its purpose and kept toys within Jacob's reach and between it and Sophie, a giraffe teether, Jacob did amazingly well.

The trip took us a little over 11 hours to drive. I quickly pulled off a few times south of Des Moines to retrieve dropped toys and resettle everyone, before giving up and just making them wait until we stopped for lunch. So after that we continued on until we were through Kansas City and everyone was asking for lunch. We stopped and ate the picnic lunches I packed, and then ran around/played for about an hour.

Taking a longer stop here was definitely worthwhile...though when I called Adam and told him that I was in Bonner Springs he questioned my navigation. I explained that I was just following the GPS and he questioned that since really I just needed to go I-35 south the entire way. But having sat in lots of traffic and getting myself lost on my own before, I decided the GPS was the way to go. Little did I realize that it would take me off of I-35 and over to the start of the Kansas Turnpike. All the times we have travelled we have never taken this route, so I was unsure about continuing on, but Adam quickly checked my route and thought it would be better to continue on via the GPS. So a slightly different path, but ultimately I don't think it took more time...just meant more time on the Kansas Turnpike.

When we eventually stopped at a rest stop on the Turnpike, I suddenly realized how hot our trip was going to be. When we left Des Moines it was 74 and now the car told me it was 102. And poor Kevin was NOT happy when I pulled him out and the warmth hit him. He kept telling me that his legs were hurt and we all rushed (as fast as one adult can put the baby in the stroller holding a two year old and waiting for a four year old on his own schedule to move) as fast as we could. Once inside we took our time once again as I was not ready to go back outside.

Eventually we had to though and continued on our way. Kevin was hysterical to listen to as we continued on. He was very distraught by the dwindling trees along the highway and kept asking "where did the tree's go?" over and over and over. While he kept a lookout for the missing trees he was delighted to find cows and horses grazing in the pastures. Unlike the tree comments, he decided to let me know EVERY time he saw a cow or horse not by using words, but my shrieking at the top of his lungs in excitement and eventually then yelling "mama, look found them cows". This approach continued through our entire trip to OK and back, and it would always catch me by surprise even as I tried to prepare myself for his scream.

Tyler was in the back and did a great job of entertaining himself. We did talk a little bit when Kevin's cow screaming began as he was fascinated about the hay bales he was seeing out in the fields and wanted to know what they are. Apparently, he had never seen them before and was trying to figure it all out. And he also took to yelling when he would spot a truck (we saw a few) transporting hay and would get quite mad when we would pass the truck as he just wanted to stay by it and look.

Tyler did stay awake almost the entire trip down while his brothers took turns napping. He enjoyed seeing every new state sign and yelling out the name of the state as we entered and saying goodbye to the old state. He was very distraught when he fell asleep right as we entered Oklahoma and I felt for him since he wanted to see all of the state welcome signs.

We made one more big stop after entering Oklahoma. Jacob was pretty much done with his car seat, and as I was to learn, so were Tyler and Kevin. We stopped in Perry at a Braum's as I was hoping to get a drink and continue on our way. I got the kids out of the car and into the restaurant and at that point everyone just melted. It was seriously the worst melting I have had to deal with to date by all three. They were all just crying and refusing to walk. So, with Jacob in the stroller, I picked up Tyler and Kevin and in what had to the most silly sight, pushed Jacob's stroller right back out the door.

Getting the kids into their car seats was an event. And strangers came to help. They were all screaming and crying and I couldn't get a true word out of Tyler or Kevin. I was definitely frazzled by this point and they were too. Once they were buckled, a kind worker gave me a Cherry Limeaid and with white knuckles I tired to finish our trip. Tyler screamed for about twenty minutes and not once used any sort of recognizable word before falling asleep. Jacob screamed for about another five minutes and then he fell asleep. And Kevin made it another ten minutes after that before he fell asleep. I was definitely frazzled at this point and just feeling so badly for them.

Not too long after they all fell asleep we got off the highway to venture to Grandma and Grandpa G's house. At that point Tyler woke up and explained how tired he is and how long the drive has been. And I agreed. It was a long drive. But we were finally in Oklahoma! This is only the second time I have made this trip by myself with kids (last time it was Tyler, Kevin, and Ellie) so I still feel like it is quite the accomplishment to get us down here.

Everyone immediately woke up once we pulled into Grandpa and Grandma's driveway...and all had smiles as Grandma and Grandpa unbuckled them and got them inside for lots of hugs, kisses, and playing. And thankfully it wasn't too hard to get us all down early for bed.

Our First Week

We all drove down to Iowa on Tuesday. We got to spend a lot of time with all of Adam's family while we were there, and of course Tyler and Kevin ran around silly with all of their cousin's. One of the big things we did one day was we all loaded up and went to the local splash park. The kids all had a wonderful time playing in the water and right as the splash park was closing it started to rain (so perfect timing). Here are a few pictures from that morning.

Tyler and Kevin running through the water.


Jacob in his frog suit snuggling with Grandma.


They were having a lot of fun playing together.

Kevin is no longer shy about water...and had a blast trying to keep up with Josh and Tyler and then playing in a water fountain with Jay. Here he paused for a moment in all of his craziness to hang on this water toy, so I snapped a picture. :)

And a quick picture of all of the kids at the end of the day.

We also managed to celebrate our ninth wedding anniversary while in Iowa. Adam's family was nice enough to babysit the kids so Adam and I could go out to a nice dinner. We had a lot of fun and were just amazed that we got to get out by ourselves and on the actual day. It was a lot of fun and the kids all had so much fun, I doubt that they even noticed we weren't there. :)

The week passed quickly as we all were having lots of fun and Friday night Adam drove home with Carlie on Friday night. We were sad to see him leave but knew that he had to get home to do some things around the house over the weekend. Saturday morning the boys and I said goodbye to Grandma, Grandpa, and Ellie and headed on our way towards Oklahoma.

Thank you to my amazing three sons

Before I start posting pictures and stories about our three weeks away from our home, your toys, and any sort of routine, I want to tell you how amazing you three were on this trip if and when you look at our blog books. I doubt you will remember me telling you all of this now (as I do every time we talk about the fun we had visiting family and friends) and want you to know how absolutely amazed I am with each and everyone of you as I sit here and reflect on the trip.

I never would have thought that a 4 1/2 year old, 2 1/2 year old, and a 5 month old would tolerate the long miles, frequent location changes, and varying people so well! In fact, I had geared myself up for constant tantrums, crying, and meltdowns while away from home and without daddy. Yet, even despite being exhausted by the end (likely from the sheer number of miles driven, excitement, and frequent location changes) this didn't happen. Yes, there were moments, but nothing like I would have thought.

Tyler and Kevin, you both were amazing listeners, helpers, and incredibly patient. You remembered to use your manners most of the time and did well practicing your sharing with your cousins. While driving in the car you did a great job entertaining yourselves.
And Jacob, you handled the lack of any sort of routine and teething with lots of smiles and laughing. You loved watching all of the people as they took turns holding you or playing around you, and didn't mind the constant interruptions to your naps. I can't tell you incredibly exhausted you three were during our travels and yet you all continued to go with the flow.

I hope someday if you ever read this or we read it to you, you know how impressed I am by how you all did on our journey and how lucky I feel to be your mom. Thanks for being such amazing kids!!!

Three Weeks

It has been three weeks since I have last posted. I am going to attempt to catch you up with pictures and stories, but I have taken over 680 pictures in the last three weeks and so things will be slow going. We publish our blog into annual blog books so I want to make sure that I write and post as much as I can about all of the things we did to make everything as complete as possible.

The short version however of what we have been up to is that the day after I last posted we all started a three week stint of traveling. Unfortunately, not all of the traveling was together as a family because Adam needed to work. We spent our first week at Adam's parents house while he worked from the Des Moines office. We celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary by getting to go out to dinner by ourselves and on the actual day (both a rarity anymore)! And we had a fun time getting to visit with everyone. But on Friday Adam headed back to Minnesota with Carlie, and on Saturday I headed out with the boys to Oklahoma. Ellie skipped out on both trips and stayed in Iowa to get some needed attention and training from Grandpa.

We then spent two weeks in Oklahoma traveling around while Adam worked in Minnesota and made another work trip to Iowa. We all had an amazing time despite the incredibly hot weather and Tyler is still not thrilled that we had to come back home (as he keeps reminding me that it is more fun to go to our family's houses and play with cousins). Eventually, it was time to come home though and so we headed north, breaking the trip into three days.

Everyone is very glad to be home (or maybe just out of the car), even though the house now looks like it could be a small luggage store. I would guess that between working on getting things put away and getting the boys settled down and back into a routine, the pictures and stories might be slow to post. But I do have a lot of great pictures and stories to share, so definitely keep checking. :)