Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Levi loves the sandbox!

Levi has discovered his newest favorite toy - and he did it all on his own! When we play outside, I have been putting Levi on the grass to do his own thing. Sometimes he'll crawl or walk to the house or on the small slides that we have, but for the last week or two, he's taken himself to the sandbox. He crawls right in and plays with the sand! Surprisingly he doesn't even put it in his mouth! He loves it, and looks so cute!

One fun game we've played in the sandbox recently is hide the golf ball. The kids think it is so funny to hide it and then find it. :) I guess it's one of those simple things in life. What a fun summer activity!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Goofy Golf.

A week or so ago, Mark decided to pick up Isaiah from Laura's and take him to the driving range. Mark thought Isaiah would enjoy trying to shoot the ball too or at least have fun watching, but really all Isaiah cared about was the goofy golfing that was going on in the background. So after Mark finished his bucket of balls, he and Isaiah went goofy golfing for Isaiah's very first time. Levi and I came to meet them just as they were finishing up.

Isaiah had a blast. He really didn't understand the concept of going from one hole to the next and I'm not sure he even got what the point of the game was, but he had a great time none the less. Such innocence :)
Levi wanted in on the action too, so daddy shared his ball and club.
Time to go home...
What fun. I love watching Mark and Isaiah being "boys" together. Isaiah really loves his daddy - and wants to be just like him. So sweet.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

what a busy weekend!!

We had lots and lots of fun this weekend! We were busy from the minute we woke up Friday morning until just now when I put both boys to bed Sunday night. Whew! What a weekend!

The fun started Friday morning when Kammy and Austin came over to play. Isaiah and Austin are such good friends - and the older Isaiah gets, the more fun they have! Austin is already 6 1/2 so it's crazy to think that he can have so much fun with an almost 3 year old - but I guess that's how it works when he's known Isaiah since he was a few days old! What a sweet friendship!
Not only was the playdate wild because they are two wild little boys - but it was also crazy because we had a cat stuck up in our tree. This cat showed up at our house Thursday night - he was running around our yard and even made it on our porch. Krypto chased it around and so we figured he'd be gone by morning. Well, he wasn't and he managed to get himself stuck in a big tree in our yard and just cried and cried. Mark called the Animal Rescue place and they told him that it's a cat and he'd eventually come down. Well, he didn't come down for hours and hours and we couldn't let Krypto outside, so Kammy called them again and asked them to come out this time... so they did and an hour or more later, between the Rescue workers, Kammy and I we were able to get the cat out of the tree.

Isaiah and Austin were excited to help at first, but got a little bored with it...Here's Isaiah watching and Austin talking on the toy phone.
We had lunch and then it was time to nap -- so we'd have enough energy to make it to Jonah's Birthday Party!!

And what a fun party it was! Thankfully the weather held out so we could enjoy the party outside! I'm so glad we got to help Jonah celebrate his first birthday!

Levi LOVED the bouquet of balloons.
And Isaiah and Jayda found some food to eat together - go figure! :)
And Mark found some guys who wanted to play football - go figure again! :)
After the thrill of the balloons, Levi found his buddy.
But then his buddy got busy, so he had to make a new friend...
Isaiah wanted to meet him too.
What a cute little puppy! It sounds like she doesn't have a name yet - but Macy (?? I think that's who it was) said that her name was Princess Laya and Isaiah thought her name should be Tootie - just like he named the really BIG bug that he and Jayda found at Laura's this past week.

Next it was cake time! It was a delicious cake - angel food with strawberries and whipped cream. YUMMY! Isaiah got to help give Jonah the first piece.
Jonah thought it was pretty good - and shoved the entire piece in his mouth at once!
Levi came over to get some, but he was too late!
What a great party! Hopefully Levi's will be just as fun in just a FEW WEEKS! I still can't believe it's that soon!

Then Saturday came...and it was time for Mark and I to head to Williamsburg for the wedding of a good friend of Mark's from college. THANK YOU MOM for watching both boys ALL DAY long on Saturday until early Sunday morning!!!

The weather was perfect and the wedding was beautiful! Mark was a part of the wedding party as an usher, so I got to tag along and watch all the pre-wedding pictures...and run after the forgotten black socks-for some reason the bride didn't want the usher to have white athletic socks on with his tux??? :)
Doesn't Mark look handsome??? And so does the groom, of course!
What a sweet couple.
And so are we, right?? :)
The reception was lots of fun - and it was such a relief to not have our boys with us. We wouldn't have been able to really enjoy the wedding or the dance - so thank you again Mom!

Congratulations Matt and Anna!

We got up on Sunday morning and had to get ready in a hurry to leave for Ames to visit my cousin and her family who are visiting from California! We were meeting my cousin and her family along with grandma, my Aunt Sharon, my sister and her family. We were hoping the weather would be good because we were meeting at my mom's favorite park - one that she played at as a little girl, and one that my sister and I played at when we were little - Brookside Park.
It has been a long time since I have seen my cousin Jennifer! She was back in Iowa last summer - but she came a day or two after Levi was born so we weren't able to see her. I was so glad it worked to see her this year and I even got to meet her son Joseph for the first time. He's a sweet little boy! He will be 2 in just a few weeks!

Brookside has a little wading pool/splash pad for the little ones. Thankfully Isaiah's swim trucks were still in the diaper bag, so Isaiah and Joseph got to play in the water together. It was pretty cute!
Liahna even dipped her feet in for a few minutes!
We couldn't have asked for better weather! It was BEAUTIFUL!
The park has a "real" fire truck that kids can play on...I remember playing on it when I was little. Isaiah had a good time driving it. He drove us to a fire so we could put it out. :)
We all left around 2 with VERY tired little ones! :) So Isaiah and Levi slept all of the way home...

Once we got home we went for a family bike ride - my parents, Mark, Isaiah, Levi and me. It was my first ride with Isaiah riding on the back of my bike in a little seat. It made bike riding a lot harder! But we had a good ride - to Dairy Queen:) and the back home. I'd say we rode 5 or 6 miles total...and everyone had a great time. But no pictures were taken!

Then the fun weekend ended with a late dinner that left Levi looking like this:
I told you - it was a fun and busy weekend! I love summer!!

Friday, July 24, 2009

Happy Birthday Jonah Raymond!


Wow. Today is Jonah's first birthday! What a big day!

Jonah's not a part of my family, he isn't my son, nephew, or cousin. But if I had to describe him to you, I would tell you that I love him like he's my own. I've been so lucky to be a part of Jonah's life since the day he was born! I met him on his birthday one year ago today. I anticipated his birth with his mommy for the entire 9 months she carried him. Both his family and my family knew that he would be a part of our lives.

I've gotten to watch him grow from a tiny newborn baby to a funny little toddler. He has grown so much in this past year. I am so lucky to be a party of it. I am so excited to see what the next year brings!

Our family is so blessed to be such a part of little Jonah's life!

Happy Birthday Jonah Raymond!

(If you don't know the story - Laura, Jonah's mommy, and I work together, we got pregnant at the EXACT same time - our due dates were 1 day apart, and from the very beginning we planned to both work part time and watch each others' kids part time. We ended up having our babies 3 weeks apart - Jonah was early! and have spent the last 10 months watching each others kids 2-3 days a week. Our kids are like siblings.)

Sunday, July 19, 2009

a visit from the great-aunts.

My mom's sister who lives in California was in Iowa for a week to visit. She was nice enough to come up the Cedar Falls to visit us! Thanks Aunt Deb!
My mom's twin sister, Sharon, came along with her for the visit.
It was a short - but sweet visit. :) It was nice to see you - hope to see you again soon!

At the park with Abby and Erika!

Thursday evening the boys and I had a playdate with my co-worker (and friend) Abby and her daughter Erika. Erika was born just 2 days after Isaiah so they are the exact same age and make good playmates! Last summer we had several playdates together, but this was our first one of the year... Hopefully we'll have lots more!!

We met at Castle Hill School Park and the kids had a blast! They loved all of the sandboxes - Abby brought a bucket and shovels to play with - smart thinking!
Levi wanted to join in the fun, too, but unfortunately he is littlier than he wants to be, so most of the park was too "big" for him. But he did get to play in the tunnel with the big kids!
We are so lucky to have so many great parks around and so many good friends to play with at them! Who's up for another playdate at the park??? We' re ready for you!!

PS This was our first trip to a park without a potty - and we made it through the entire time without an accident! We were there over an hour! Isaiah is doing so great!