Beautiful Days in Iowa

We have been keeping busy, playing out side since it has been beautiful, going to story time at the library, teaching Drew how to write his name, Tyson working on more teeth, watching Tyson roll from one end of the house to the other, and watching Tyson finally sit up without falling over every minute or two.

Here are some of our pictures for the past couple of days!


Ready for the PJ party at the library in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday.


The bird he made at the library.




I think probably the cutest outfit every!




Playing out side the last couple of days. The second day Tyson slept the whole time we were outside so there are no pictures of him on day two.






Us making a mud pie, we even cooked it on Daddy's grill. I told him that he could pretend eat it, but he didn't get the memo.






Working in the last owners garden.




Some other cute pictures of Tyson.

Some More

Just wanted to update everyone, Tyson is getting is fourth tooth. It is up top, not one of the middle teeth, but right next to one. I think it will only be a matter of time before the middle teeth do come in, his gums are extremely swollen...it looks like he has peas under his gums.

Poor baby!

February

Here we go, this month has been a little hectic for us.

The first weekend of February we were finally able to make it to Nebraska to see my family. The boys and I headed to Eldora Friday night and spent the night with Melissa and the girls. Saturday morning we got up and headed to Nebraska with four kids and two adults (yes, Melissa and I are crazy). I am thinking that Tyson will probably sleep all of the way, but I was completely wrong, I think he slept about 20 minutes of the 4 hour trip and the rest of it he fussed, Ally and Izzy fought over who was going to sit up front, and Drew, well, he was good. We finally get to Grandma's house, we are greeted by Grandma, and Rich and Carol (who have just moved back to NE). We sit down and have some lunch chat for a bit, and then rush to see the Mintken family before they head off for a wedding reception. Sunday morning we visit with Jim and Shelly some more then head back to Tekamah for some homemade sticky buns and then it is off to Iowa. On our way home Shelly calls to tell us we forgot something, she is nice enough to offer to meet us where we are at, but I tell her, not necessary, just mail it to me. The boys and I drop Melissa and the girls off in Eldora and off to Dyersville. We finally get home after 7 hours in the car...ugh.







After our trip to Nebraska the boys and I have been fighting off some horrible head colds. It has been almost two weeks and we are still fighting them, but they will soon go away...at least I hope.

Soon we will have another baby in the house...no I am not pregnant. I am going to start watching the grocery assistant's daughter Aubry, she was born February 10th, finally I will not be as out number as I am at the moment.

Last weekend Mom was nice enough to meet me in Dubuque to help me find a new sofa, we only went to two stores and the new sofa will be here on Monday. Jeremy also talked me into buying a new TV, he finally got his 42" and a new home theater. The TV and home theater caused so many problems, but I will spare you from my bitching, problem has been solved.

Drew has been busy painting, working on cutting, working on using his glue sticks, and working on writing his D and R. He does very well with them all, he won't cut a paper in half, but will cut triangles on the edges, his "D" looks a bit like a triangle, but come on he just turned 3.





Tyson, has growing up before my eyes, he has been rolling over for a couple of weeks now and has figured out that is how he can get from one end of the room to the other. He is also sitting up some, he hasn't figured out how to balance his self just yet, but he is still doing a good job. He loves his baby food and cereal, since I have been staying at home I have been making all of his food and his wet wipes, it is actually fun, gives me thing to do during the day and saves us a few bucks.

The month is also a sad month for me, most of you know why, it is hard to believe that that it has been 8 years. Dad is missed horribly and I didn't even imagine how difficult it would be to explain to Drew where Papa Dave is, but I think every time we talk about it, he understands alittle more.

These are our updates for now, wanted send out birthday wishes to Uncle Rich, Aunt Shelly, and Izzy. Also want to thank Rich and Carol again for moving back to NE, I appreciate that they are there if Grandma needs them...THANK YOU!

Doctors and Pre-school

On Wednesday both of the boys had check-ups, Drew for his 3 year and Tyson for his 4 month.
We prepared Drew for the doctors telling that he had to stand up straight so they could see how tall he was, and they were going to check his ears, his heart, his eyes, his nose, his heart, and his knees. So he made sure the doctor did everything we told him his was going to do. Drew is 37 pounds which puts him in the 90 percentile and he is 41 inches which put him off the charts.

Tyson, poor think had to get 3 shots in the legs, so he wasn't much of a happy camper. He is 16.4 pounds (my good little eater) which puts him in the 75 percentile and 26 inches which also puts him in 75 percentile.

Tyson also is getting ready to pop two more teeth through and is extremely close to rolling over. He will get up on his side, but goes back to his back.

Thursday night we registered Drew for pre-school. He will start on August 25 and go for two and a half hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He was very excited, but upset that he couldn't start right away.

Drew Turns 3

On Saturday my Little Man turned 3. This was a hard day for me, I can't believe he is 3 already. I know everyone says this, but it seems like just yesterday Jeremy and I were on our way to the hospital.
Anyways, on with the party. Sunday we had family and friends over to celebrate the big day with. Drew's one request was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cake, which I wasn't sure I would find, but lucky me, Hy-Vee had them. And, to make things even better we had good weather, which, I am pretty sure was the first weekend since before Christmas.

Our Friends Mark and Lisa came over around 11:00 so Mark and Jeremy could sneak off and play a round of frisbee golf before everyone else showed up. Later came Melissa and the girls, Melissa brought the scooter that Jeremy and I were going to give Drew, so Lisa and I went to the basement to try and put it together, however, we weren't so lucky, thank goodness Bill and Mom showed up so we could utilize Bill. After they showed Bob and Deb came, followed by Todd (a co-worker of Jeremy's) and my best-friend Sherri and her oldest daughter Kayleigh.

Next was present time, he received a remote control car and remote control helicopter, a little skate park with a little skate board that folds up into a van, a scooter with helmet and knee and elbow pads, a big wheels, an army tank, and lots of color books, and some games.

After presents was cake and ice cream. Drew was happy to see that the turtles come off and have magnets on the back of them. I made homemade ice cream, thanks to the Pingel's (great Christmas present).

Afterwards some left and the rest of us sat around and watched the kids play.

It makes me cry a little just thinking of the fact that he starts pre-school in the fall.

Pickles

We were blessed some more snow today/yesterday and our trip to Nebraska has been postponed yet again...keep your fingers crossed that this Sunday is nice for Drew's birthday party.

Anyways, this week has thrown us several pickles, so I am thankful that a new week has begun.

Tuesday morning I woke up and went straight to the sink to start my pot of coffee, as I was filling up the coffee pot I glanced out the window and notice a bright yellow piece of paper on my windshield. I tossed on my coat and ran outside to find a $25.00 parking ticket, I am thinking to myself we have parked here all winter with no problem, but apparently we were in a snow emergency and can't park on the street during snow emergencies. Later that day they issued another snow emergency, and since our driveway is only long and wide enough to fit one vehicle and our garage is full of our landlords junk (oh the joys of renting) Jeremy spent about 45 minutes outside shoveling the sides of our driveway so we both had room to park.

After the minor pickle, but a waste of $25.00, we thought the worst of the week was over, but oh no, little to our surprise, Thursday morning we woke up to find that it was only 57 degrees in the house. So my not so handy handyman husband decides to look at the heater, he reads something, unscrews something, and then says "I don't know call the landlord" (on of the joys of renting...not our problem). But, with our luck he doesn't answer, so I think "father-in-law, he knows the answer to every problem". After speaking to Bob for a minute he is sure he knows exactly what the problem is...the PBC pipe on the outside of the house is clogged with snow...easy fix. Just as Bob suspects the PBS pipe is clogged with snow, so I pulled it off the house, beat it on the sidewalk, put it back on, turned the heater switch off and then on, and felt the heat instantly.

So, here I am thinking "this is it, nothing else can happen this week...right?" Oh no no no no no...I was WRONG!

That leads us to Friday morning...Jeremy had to close Friday night and didn't have to go into work until 12:00. It has taken me some time to get use to the fact that Jeremy has to close again (never closed a single night the four years we were in North Liberty), but it is the perfect time for me to grocery shopping with no kids. I run out to start my car and it won't start and I think to myself "my fault for not starting it yesterday, but not problem I can drive Jeremy's car". I run over to his car and it won't start..."WHAT"!!! "Two cars and neither of them will start?" "You've got to be kidding me" At 4:00 Jeremy came home and got my car started and his car started at 9:30 that night.

Iowa Winters with Iowa Pickles...only 61 more days until Spring, now lets just hope that we don't get snow until April.

Well...

Tyson has been eating his hands for about a week today, me thinking that he was too young for teeth didn't think much of it. I checked in his mouth today and he has both his bottom teeth.

Thought I would share with you all.