goodbye.

When Mark found out he was leaving for Iraq he told me I had to get a gun or a dog. It is not hard to guess which I chose. We searched hard to find just the dog for us -- and we found him on May 30, 2005. We named him Krypto Nite (after Superman's dog, of course) and he was our baby. While Mark was gone, he was my everything - he slept in my bed, went where ever I went, he got me through the two years until Mark came home.

He was a fearless dog. He loved to be free and he loved to explore. And he could play catch for hours and hours. He was such a smart dog, too smart for his own good.

Last night, like many times before, he found a way to escape, but this time he doesn't get to come back. He was hit by a car and was killed.

We will miss you Krypto.

Krypto Nite
April 1, 2005 - September 29, 2009

happy birthday Anna B!

Our friend Anna turned 2 this past week and she had a party to celebrate on Saturday night. The party was at Pumpkinville, a farm that has a pumpkin patch and several other fun fall activities set up for families to enjoy the season. What a great idea, Shannon!

The boys had lots of fun playing in the hay loft! Levi LOVED to see all of the animals, especially the ducks. He even SAID the word duck!
And of course the ride out to the pumpkin patch was lots of fun too! -- Levi is getting so independent too, on the ride he wanted to stand by himself and watch out the side. If I put my hand on him at all, he would push it away! silly boy.
We each picked out a pumpkin to take home - Isaiah picked out the smallest one, I was expecting him to pick out a HUGE one...guess I was wrong! :) I can't wait until we get to carve them together as a family!
What a fun birthday party! Thanks for inviting us Anna!

so tired.

Isaiah is in a phase (I hope!) right now where he is just ridiculasly hard to get to sleep. He fights it in every way he can think of for both naps and bedtime. We've had the same routine for a long time and he used to go to bed so easily and all of a sudden it's a huge stress for everyone! He thinks up every excuse there is and takes hours (literally) to fall asleep. I think it stems back from our trip to Clear Lake in August when we were all in the same room to sleep, and Mark or I laid in the bedroom until he fell asleep. We know he's tired because (not only how he's acting--cranky, etc), but if we lay in his room with him, he will fall asleep and take a good nap or sleep through the night (usually).

Oh well. Really, I'm so often reminded by so many things that this stage - his little years - fly by so fast. I can't complain that he doesn't get to sleep... but I can show you just how tired he was tonight! He didn't get a nap again today (they seem to be few and far between for me anymore - he does a little better with Mark, and Laura can almost always get him to nap at least an hour). After fighting with him for an hour and a half, I just gave up again... he was up a couple hours in the night last night because of a horrible cough he had (which already seems to be gone, Thank Goodness!), so I knew he was incredibly tired.

So as I peak in his room one last time tonight before I was going to bed, this is what I found:
My guess is he woke up to go potty and just didn't make it...and that there is probably a wet spot underneath him that will have to be shampooed, but doesn't he just look so sweet? My super tired little boy.

Sorry the picture is so dark, but there was no way I was risking it with the flash! :)

on the way home.

Here's what happened on the way home from the park this morning...

so sweet.

Isaiah's first football game!

On Saturday Mark took Isaiah to his first ever football game at the UNI dome! They had a blast! The Panthers played against South Dakota and WON with a score of 66-7!! What a great daddy son activity! I'm sure they will do it again this fall!

A few pictures before the game started ... Watching the Panthers!
Football games are tiring!! Especially when you refuse to take your nap before the game!! :)
After 3 quarters of the game, all the fun was had and it was time to go home!
By the way -- Mark brought the camera all on his own and took all these great pictures! I'm so proud of him!! :)

future golfers? I think so! :)

The weather was so beautiful today that we just could not stay inside. The big kids even took their naps late today because we lost track of time being outside! We had all kinds of toys and games going on outside, but my favorite to watch was the golfing! What a hilarious site! :) Thank You Uncle Matthew!! :)

--FYI - Uncle Matthew bought Isaiah the adorable Mickey Mouse golf set that you see in the pictures for his birthday!!

My next favorite activity today was when Isaiah grabbed Jayda's hand and said, "we have to hold hands because we are friends." And off they ran across the yard together like two little peas in a pod as happy as can be.

And when they were bored of all (8 million) outside toys, they found one more thing to do... silly kids! :)

Isaiah's 3rd Birthday!

Isaiah turned 3 on Friday! We had a GREAT day together and celebrated all day long!

He woke up and wanted to "watch a show downstairs" as he calls it. Isaiah and daddy watch some show together on the big TV downstairs, I'm not too sure what the show is, a cartoon about a little boy who turns into a superhero of some kind. Whatever it is, they enjoy it together.

Here he is watching the show at EXACTLY 3 years old, 8:10AM.

While they enjoyed the show, I made cinnamon rolls. I thought Isaiah would really like them, and I was kind of right -- he liked the frosting! :) and just picked at the rest. Oh well.Then Jayda and Jonah came over and we walked to the park. It was a beautiful morning for the park! On the way to the park is this house with beautiful flowers all across the front yard. The big kids wanted to stop and look at them, so I made them pose on a rock for a picture! :) Too bad I didn't notice that my camera lens was smudged!All five of us had a fun time at the park! The big kids were laughing while I swang them and the babies had fun watching. Levi of course made it to the merry-go-round to keep himself busy! :) Jonah was challenging himself by walking on the mulch and grass with his shoes on.

I knew we had a full day ahead of us, so we had to cut our park play to about an hour. I wanted to make sure the babies got their morning nap in before it was time to head to Chuck E Cheese's House (as Isaiah calls it).

We had a surprise waiting for us when we got home -- Grandpa had brought Isaiah donuts for his birthday breakfast. Isaiah picked a plain white one--I ran into the other room and came back and he had taken a few bites out of the white one and was eating a different one. Jayda on the other hand was LOVING the cream filled one that she picked out. She ate every last bite! :)

After the babies woke up and Mark got home from class, we headed to Chuck E Cheese to play!!

Aunt Nikki surprised us and came to see us! All four kids were a little intimidated by Chuck E, I tried to get them to go up to him, but had no luck. Somehow Aunt Nikki got Isaiah to not only get up by him, but HUG him!!

We had so much fun playing that time got away from me and we had to hurry home to get the big kids to bed before it got too late! Luckily they both went down okay and were asleep by 2ish. While they napped, we got everything packed up and ready to head to the PARTY!

We had a party planned for 5:30 for friends and family to come help us celebrate. We rented the shelter at Look Out Park. Thanks to my sister and Jay, the shelter was decorated with streamers -- thanks you two!

and Thanks to my parents and Mark's dad balloons were blown up--but Isaiah was having too much fun jumping on them, that very few were actually hung up. It was too cute to watch him get excited about popping them.

The birthday boy waiting for his friends to come, smiling the classic Isaiah smile.

Once everyone arrived, the kids played on the playground for a little while and then it was time to eat. Mark grilled hot dogs for us--thank you honey!

Next was the pinata. When I found the big 3 pinata I knew we had to have that for our party! :) Of course Isaiah got to try first. He was able to hit it several times.

All the kids got a turn, we let Austin go last - he was the oldest there and we knew he'd get a good hit at it. He was able to knock it down and broke the string off, but it didn't open up.

Mark took a hit at it and it popped right open, and almost hit a few people, too! Oops! Luckily no one was hurt! :) And the kids went wild at the candy and treats inside! I filled it with nerds, a few chocolates, and little bags of teddy grahms and peanutbutter crackers (the halloween mini bags).

Then it was time for cake! Yummy.

And last it was time for presents! Isaiah had so many gifts to open thanks to all of our wonderful family and friends that came to the party or sent gifts ahead of time!

After the last package was opened, Mark asked Isaiah what the one thing he really wanted for his birthday was. With a little prompting, Isaiah said, "a bike." Mark asked him if he thought he got one, and Isaiah got a really said face and said, "I didn't get one." Mark told him to turn around...and there it was! The big boy bike that we got for him!! :) He was so excited!!!
Levi likes it too :)
The seat wasn't adjusted to fit his size, so we got everything cleaned up at the park and hurried home to "fix" his bike so that he could ride it. After a few adjustments, it was good to go!

Finally it was too dark to be outside, so we came in to check out the rest of his presents again! Thank you everyone!!

We had two tired little boys by then end of the night!

But we had just enough time and energy to take a much needed bath before bed.

Whew! What a day!! But a perfect first day of being 3!