Levi's birthday.

Levi James turned 3 on August 12!  We had fun celebrating him all day long Friday and again on Saturday!  I've made several collages of pictures because I had so much to share!  (click on the collage to enlarge it)

On Thursday night before his birthday the boys helped me make his birthday cupcakes for his party the next morning.  They had fun licking the extra batter and frosting, check out the middle picture of Levi - this is what he looked like by the time he was done with the batter bowl!  I had the plan to make little batman symbols on each cupcake but it just wasn't happening and I didn't get started with them until after the boys were in bed and I just didn't feel like staying up until all hours of the night making batman symbols for them to be devoured in the morning!  So I came up with little paper symbols instead - I think they looked really cute - I was pleased!   For his birthday party with his friends, we invited kids over for cupcakes first (not ideal, but it worked fine!).  The boys had fun playing crashing combines with the batman balloons.  Levi did open his gifts from his friends beforehand too.  I thought he was super cute exclaiming, "oh my goodness!!" after many of the presents and then a sweet little "tank you."

After cupcakes and presents we went straight to the party - KT Inflatables - a fairly new bouncy house place in town.  The kids all LOVED it.  It was definitely a perfect spot for a young one with lots of energy!  There were 5 or 6 jumpy things set up included a huge slide that the kids loved climbing up and going down over and over again!  It was fun for the adults too as the kids were occupied so we could chat!  I'd definitely recommend this place if your kids have some extra energy to burn!  Attending the party (as seen in the lower left corner) was Shiloh, Levi, Silas, Jayda, Isaiah, Jonah, Ava and not pictured in the group photo is Caiden along with parents of the kids (or grandma in Shiloh's case!) and my parents joined in the fun too.  It was a nice size for us!  It was also fun to get a belly shot with Ava's mommy Andrea - She's due about 10 weeks ahead of me with her second daughter.  

After our two hours of jumping the kids were hungry so we went to Pizza Ranch for a yummy lunch!  LeAnna, Caiden, Grandpa and Grandma came to eat with us.  Then it was time to head home for presents from mommy & daddy and Grandma Michele.  After Grandma & Grandpa's Special Agent Oso boat and our Hot Wheels bathtub racetrack, the boys wanted to take a bath!  So of course they did!  Naptime was in there somewhere too.

Unfortunately Mark had to head into work shortly after naptime, but the boys and I joined up with Grandpa and Grandma to visit the petting zoo.  Levi LOVED it and was so excited to see all of the animals.  He had no fear of petting them and chasing after them (unlike his big brother who was a little more timid!). Levi loved the turtle in the baby pool and kept trying to make him swim.  He also had a fun time chasing around the chickens!  Isaiah had a good time too.

It was a very fun day celebrating Levi!  After bedtime, I spent a little time making the cake for the next morning - I was even more happy with how that turned out!  The next morning we woke up to play with a few new presents from the birthday party and then get ready for the next party - a family pizza party!  It was fun to watch Isaiah and Levi playing with their 4 cousins (Dakota-6, Khia-3 1/2, Liahna 3 in November and Elise 5 months).  Outside play would not be the same without that big blue Jeep (Thanks Grandma Michele!!).   Check out cute little Liahna in her princess dress driving the Jeep.  It was also fun to catch up with Uncle Justin & Aunt Kim and Uncle Matthew, Uncle Jay & Aunt Nichole along with my parents and Mark's dad and step-mom. After the party we had naptime and then we went out geocaching and Levi found his very first geocach!  He found it all by himself!  It was really fun - you'll see a picture of Mark and Levi holding it on the right side.

Happy Birthday Levi James!  

my birthday get-a-way!

My birthday is the last day of August, normally I don't really care how we celebrate as long as I am with my family and friends, but this year is a big one (thirty!!!!) and I just really wanted to do something memorable.  I decided on what I wanted to do and was sure of it - it would be very memorable and a once in a lifetime thing.  I wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride.  I started looking into it and every company within reason did not allow pregnant women to ride - go figure!  So, that will have to wait until next year - which works great as it's my golden birthday!  Instead I came up with a few ideas that I thought would be fun and Mark surprised me and had arrangements all figured out for a weekend get-a-way just me and him --including a babysitter!  (minus the hotel room which he left up to me!:)

We left first thing Saturday morning to go to Chicago.  We made it across the Mississippi by around 10.

and to downtown Chicago by 1.  We were surprised to see all of the Hawkeye flags everywhere!

and found our first destination by 1:30...

But our show didn't start until 4 so we got the truck parked and went to find a late lunch - my one food request while we were there - a good slice of Chicago style pizza.  We walked by one pizza restaurant and decided it didn't look "Chicagoish" enough so we kept searching.   We found a place called Chicago's Pizza and bought pizza by the slice.  It was good- but not exactly what we were thinking...

After the pizza, Mark needed to make a phone call that I couldn't hear so I had wait for him...hmmmmm what more did he have up his sleeve?? :)

We still had time before our show so we walked the streets of Chicago near the theater.  We both had fun looking at all the close together houses and guessing which ones we thought would be nice inside.

We then ran into a ---- yard sale!!  If you know me, you know I'm always up for a good garage sale, so of course we went.  We found two pair of binoculars that we thought the boys would like - especially Isaiah while geocaching and a book about good vs bad foods for kids.  The binoculars were $.75 & $.50 and the book was $.50 so when she said I'll take $2.00 for everything I was like okay thinking it was a good deal - but after I told Mark what she charged me he was quick to inform me that not only did I go to my first Chicago garage sale, but I also got ripped off at a Chicago garage sale!  haha, it was only a quarter and the book alone was worth $2 of entertainment for the drive home.

It was then time for our show -

Neither of us knew what to expect, but we were both VERY excited about it.  Mark was able to get us front row seats which was very cool too!  (The first 5 rows were poncho seating because you could get stuff on you - which we did just a little bit).  The show was amazing!  During the show a couple of the blue men painted pictures and Mark was lucky enough to have one handed to him - definitely a fun souvenir!   Pictures were not allowed during the show, but here we are in the lobby waiting room area - you can see the black piping behind us - the entire theater was set up with that look to it.

After the show we had just a short time to make it across Chicago to Schumburg where our dinner and evening entertainment was to be held...

We've wanted to go to Medieval Times for years but have never made it.  It was a lot of fun and really neat!  I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to do something different but neat!  Mark surprised me by having them say my name in the list of celebrations!

After the show we went through their little museum and then got our pictures with a knight and the king and princess.

We headed back to our hotel which was in Schumburg and were excited to sleep in as late as we wanted, but 7:30 came and we were both awake!  We ate the hotels breakfast and then drove back into Chicago to the Sky Deck.  Once again we parked the truck and walked towards our destination and as soon as we walked into the Willis Tower (AKA Sears Tower) I saw a special sign posted on the wall...

Our 9 year anniversary was August 3 so the weekend away was a little bit of a celebration for that too.  The Sky Deck was really really neat.  It was a bit scary to go into the observation areas, but we were brave!  We actually went into several of the areas (I think there were 5 or 6), I just couldn't get enough! haha.

Then we went on a mission for Chicago hot dogs - Mark's one food request for the trip - and we found them! But in the restaurant they also had more Chicago pizza and Mark decided that looked better.  There was a famous Chicago Pizza restaurant right next to the hot dog shop that he decided looked even better...and it was!  We opted for half sausage and mushnroom and half spinach.  yummmmmy!

All of our Chicago adventures were over so we walked around for just a little while and then decided to go to Ikea on our way home.  It was our second trip to Ikea and we had fun looking around, but were definitely very overwhelmed!  We did buy curtains for our computer room - which was great!  I've been looking and looking for the perfect ones and couldn't find them and thought I was going to have to make some - but we found ones we both liked - and a great price!  

It was a wonderful, much-needed get-away for us!  The perfect way to celebrate the big 3-0! 

Bremer County Fair

When we found out the Bremer County Fair was having Monster Truck Monday we knew we had to go!  The boys were so excited to go see real monster trucks!  We got to the fair before as the trucks were unloading and we got a close up look at several monster trucks and even got to watch them put them together!  From a distance both boys were shouting with happiness and were so very excited.  As we started walking towards the trucks they got more and more timid.  Mark and I tried to get them pumped up to go ride one and both boys stayed back.  We finally convinced them to at least get close, but they really did NOT want to ride.  Isaiah finally agreed to it even though he really didn't want to and we pretty much just forced Levi to do it (knowing he'd love it and be so sad if he didn't ride it).  Throughout the ride both boys looked really nervous and I couldn't tell if they were enjoying it, but as soon as the ride came to an end Isaiah shouts, "that was awesome!!!!!" and Levi was so excited that he wanted to do it again right away!

Here we are before the ride began:

and afterwards in front of the monster we rode on.

Here's one of the monster trucks we saw being put back together.

Checking out the blue Dragon Fly

And the boys' absolute favorite - the Corvette Monster Truck!!

We then found our friends Jill and Lily and had a sweet treat to cool off

and then it was back for a second monster truck ride.  This time Isaiah got to ride in the front passengers seat!  He was soooooooo excited about this!

We did go to check out the animals, but they had not arrived at the fair yet, except this one lonely bird.

We opted to head home for dinner and bathes since we had spent several hours in the hot sun rather than stay for the monster truck show that started at 7:30.  

The next two days Adrenaline X Mobile Laser Tag was offering laser tag at the fair.  Mark and I (and our helper Austin) had lots of fun helping kids of all ages (adults included) enjoy playing laser tag together.  LeAnna had the boys for us both days and brought the boys and Caiden up to the Crashing Combine Derby and the play laser tag.  I'm not sure which they enjoyed more.  They still play crashing combines and talk about the show regularly, but also had a blast playing laser tag. 

In the next two pictures you'll see our boys playing next to our friend Lily and Caiden in the background.

What a fun county fair!  Everyone had a great time - can't wait for next year!!

five.

It's official - we will become a family of five in December! 

and to be a little more specific it will be a family of...

1 girl and 4 boys!

In April we found out we were expecting!  We kept the news to ourselves until Mother's Day we shared the news with our parents and siblings.  We left the rest of the world clueless for many weeks, but by now it's more than obvious (by the growing baby belly) so I figured I'd make it my blog official as well!

I've tried to keep a short journal of my pregnancy this time around and I'll post it here in case you're wondering how I've been feeling - but mainly for me so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle of the rest of my files!

Weeks 4 & 5

Feeling good with normal energy.

Week 6

Starting to feel very tired and anxious 

Week 7

Very tired - went to see Dr P and he did an ultrasound to check on baby - heart was beating very strong.  Dr P thought it was as strong as an 8 1/2 or 9 week old baby!  Shared the news with parents & siblings on Mother's Day.

Weeks 8 & 9

Still very tired and starting to become very sensitive to smells - a busy week 9 as Grandma Michele was staying with us in Florida

Week 10

I could hardly stay awake! I would be sound asleep by 9 or 10 and even fell asleep on the couch at 6 or 7 a few times!  We went back to Dr P this week and he tried to find the heartbeat with a Doppler, but after a few minutes switched to another ultrasound.  Baby looked great with a strong heartbeat in the 140s!

Weeks 11  & 12

Still tired and even more sensitive to smells - gagged at lots of things - especially raw chicken!  Feeling very sick after eating - I would rather not eat than feel yucky afterwards.

Week 13

A little less tired, but still very sensitive to smells and feeling yucky after eating.

Week 14

Same as week 13 - went back to Dr P.  Found heartbeat with Doppler beating at 156bpm and baby was sitting very low.  No weight gain since 10 week appointment.

Week 15

Still a little tired, but much better.  Smells still bother me and my shirts are definitely getting tight!  Eating seems to be a good thing again!

Week 16

Another very tired week - but mainly because I worked a full time work week.Started to feel little flutters of baby kicking - could definitely tell it was baby by the end of the week.  Usually felt the movement when lying in bed between 9 and 11 at night.  Shared the news with our church small group and other friends.

Week 17

Much less tired, still sensitive to smells and find myself gagging at least daily.  Smells like raw chicken, dirty diapers, dirty dishes among many things make me feel sick!  Wore my first maternity shirt to a Mom's Night Out dinner.  Feeling baby move often - still little flutters, mostly in the evening, but sometimes during the daytime

Week 18

Feeling good!  Went back to Dr P this week and he found the heartbeat quickly with the Doppler beating 148bpm.  He said my uteris was sitting in just the right spot and things were looking good.  Up 1 pound since last appointment at week 14.  Feeling baby move a lot more and at all different times.  Movements feel more like little nudges rather than flutters.

Week 19

Still feeling good!  In maternity shirts about half the time, but can still make other shirts work too and haven't dared to try on the maternity pants! 

Week 20

Another good week - feeling good and still well rested - and good thing too for this week - we had 2 full days of laser tag events and my birthday get-away with Mark in Chicago.  Definitely into maternity tops most of the time and I am very noticeably pregnant. 

Week 21

The big ultrasound week!  I was very nervous during the ultrasound and worried that the technician would have a concern - but everything looked great.  We were able to see all of HIS organs and see that they appeared to be functioning as they should be.  The technician was an older lady who had been doing this for years, she was very confident that it was a boy (but of course no guarantees!).  Based on his measurements in the ultrasound he would be due December 22 which is a few days after my calculated due date of December 19.  We celebrated Levi's 3rd birthday this week.  I wore a pair of maternity pants one day this week!

Week 22

Still feeling good, but feel very uncomfortable after eating this week.  I ate half a bowl of cereal and felt like I ate the entire box and another day I ate 2 toaster waffles and felt so full that I ate an entire turkey.  Definitely having to cut back on portions so that I'm not miserably full, but not feeling the need to eat more often.  Went back to Dr P this week, he found the heartbeat quickly (I forgot to ask how fast!!), he had no concerns about the ultrasound or my pregnancy and said the eating thing was nothing to be worried about.  Gained 5 pounds since last appointment!  Baby is still sitting low, but is getting closer to the "regular" range.

I'm now officially 23 weeks and 1 day - I'm going to try to record a weekly review with a picture and updates - but it may not get posted that often! 

jonah

Our little buddy Jonah turned 3 the end of July!  Unfortunately we missed out on his birthday party, but we went to celebrate a few days later.

I think they all 4 had a good time playing, it was hard to get them to stop for a picture!

Happy Birthday Jonah!