a secret hidout

The boys have a special secret hideout that they have LOVED these beautiful fall days.  We have a screened in porch on the back of our house with a wooden walkway to the door.  Whoever designed this must have had kids (or knew that you may need to get under it for some reason) because there is a small door that opens and you call fit all the way under the porch.  This spring the boys played underneath a little bit, but then the weather got really, really hot and it was just too much to be under it.  This fall as the weather has been beautiful and the boys have rediscovered how amazing and fun it is under there.  They have spent hours playing - they mainly play with their outside dump trucks and monster trucks - they have some big ones and then matchbox car sized ones.  The favorite game I hear them playing is daddy and son trucks - a big monster truck is the daddy and a little monster truck is the son.  :)  The pictures below also show them playing with shovels which they like too.  As you can see it's definitely a dirty activity - but that's what being a little boy is all about!

This is so much fun for them, but also a great benefit for me - they are completely contained underneath the porch except for the one small door that I must keep an eye on - it's been a great way for me to get yard work done or take a minute to just sit and enjoy the beauty of the day!

An afternoon with grandpa & grandma

A few Fridays back the boys and I went to my parents house to spend the afternoon (while Mark was working).  We really didn't intend to spend all afternoon and evening there, but there was so much fun to be had that's how it worked out!  

I have childhood memories of having popcorn parties with my family and neighbors - my dad is a big popcorn lover and he's passed that on to me!  What's a popcorn party?  Well, my dad would make a huge bowl of popcorn (or sometimes two or a big grocery sack full) and then we'd all sit together and eat popcorn - and that's that.  To this day popcorn is one of my favorite foods - probably because of these parties!  My dad hosted a popcorn party this afternoon for me and the boys.  The boys do like popcorn, Levi more than Isaiah, but they are no where near popcorn lovers --- yet!

 After the party my dad went back to work - raking up some of the millions of leaves in their yard.  He had a huge pile in the back of the driveway that the boys were excited to play in.  Both my parents also jumped in a time or two to play with the boys (not me! haha).  They both also enjoyed sweeping and shoveling the leaves back into the pile. 

A little later on, my dad got out his lawn tractor/mower and took the boys on a long ride around their yard.  They loved the ride!  I thought they looked pretty sweet with their grandpa.

What a fun fall afternoon!  

sharing a bed?

Our house has 3 bedrooms so the plan is to move Isaiah and Levi into one room and sleep on the bunk bed that's in Isaiah's current room.  It's a HUGE bunk bed with a full bed on the bottom and a full bed on the top.  The boys love to play on it and Isaiah loves to sleep in it.  We figured that Levi would be excited to sleep on it too, but we were wrong!  He has absolutely no desire to move out of his crib.  We've been mentioning it for months and he still refuses to entertain the idea of sleeping in Isaiah's room at all.  Since the beginning of this summer the boys decided that Transformers are really cool - not sure why - we had one Transformers book and they had never seen the movies/shows at the time (we've since rented the 1980s Transformers cartoon and they each got one Transformer toy for their birthday), but we were hoping that putting Transformers sheets on the bed would be enough to entice Levi into wanting to at least try sleeping on the bunk bed.  We gave them to the boys a couple weeks back...

and....no luck.  Levi still has absolutely no interest in sleeping in the bunk bed.  He wants his crib and that's that.  I'm not sure what we are going to do as baby's arrival is quickly approaching - but if he's anything like the older two, he'll be sleeping in our room for quite awhile anyway.  Levi has slept in my friend LeAnna's crib all along (because we had two cribs set up when he was born), so the plan is to get our crib out so at least the new baby isn't taking over his crib -- but we simply do not have the room for 2 cribs set up.  If anyone has any good suggestions as to how to interest Levi into the big boy bed let me know!!  I know in time it will work itself out, I just wonder when that time will be!

football

Over the past few months Isaiah has really developed a love for playing football - especially with his daddy - it's just not quite the same playing with 8 months pregnant mommy - haha.  Mark has been so good about playing with him and teaching him lots of rules and basics of the game.  He really seems to be grasping the concepts and improving.  Mark bought the Nerf flag football set which has been a lot of fun for the boys to play too and a much safer option as tackling isn't involved.  Levi likes it too, but thinks he should have the ball at all times so makes playtime a little less enjoyable for Isaiah.  Mark has worked hard to make sure that Isaiah gets one-on-one football time - and then later on Levi gets to join in.  It will be fun to watch Isaiah keep improving and see if his love for the game continues.

 

UNI Homecoming

We had talked about going to the UNI homecoming football game, but never really made a decision.  On the Saturday of UNI homecoming we had a laser tag party in the morning and then came home to nap time.  Mark turned on some other college football and Isaiah said, "I want to go to a real football game."  So we said, "okay" and we put on our Panther gear and off we went to the dome.  We made it just as half time was starting which meant awesome parking and free tickets!  It really worked out perfectly because half a game was about all the boys were up for anyway.  Levi insisted that he needed his ear protectors to go to the game so he wore them for most of it.  He looked cute -- and silly -- but he was happy and that's what matters, right?  We called LeAnna and Caiden when we got to the game because we knew they were there - they had tickets on the VERY far side and just happened to have a room to sit by them!  Being on the very edge we got to watch the band and cheerleaders walk right by us.  Levi was impressed with the pom poms.  The boys were also very excited to pick out whatever snack they wanted - Isaiah picked carmal corn (which he ate very little of) and Levi picked regular popcorn, but as soon as we got back to our seats he insisted that he said he wanted cotton candy - so back to the stand went Mark and Levi with a big bag of cotton candy and a blue lemonade for the parents! (it was really yummy!).  Levi devoured just about all of the cotton candy while Isaiah ate about 1/4 of the bag.  Nothing like a sugar high, haha.  

 After the game they announced that fans could come down to the football field, it was getting late and we didn't really know for sure what was going on so Mark and Isaiah were already outside when Levi spotted lots of people on the field.  He really wanted to go too, so Mark and Isaiah came back in and we went and had a BLAST on the field - I'm really glad we went -- good idea Levi!  Isaiah and Mark ran all over the field pretending to play football - I think they made it down and back at least 5 times!  Levi played a little football too until the drummers came out to put their drums away.  Levi was amazed.  One drummer was so very nice and let Levi try out his drum .  After about 20 minutes the drummer really needed to get his stuff put away and Levi was so sad he had to be done.  He sure loved every minute he got to beat on the drum!  

It was a really fun afternoon and evening -- both boys had great ideas!! 

field trip to Hartman Reserve

Last week Isaiah's class took their first official field trip to Hartman Reserve Nature Center.  Parents were invited to come along and luckily both Mark and I are off work while Isaiah is at school so we both were able to go!  (Thanks mom for coming to stay with Levi!).  Mark took Isaiah to school and rode the bus with him to Hartman and I met them there.  They got preschool t-shirts this year and asked all the kids to wear them on the field trip.  Isaiah was excited!

 Sounds like they had a fun ride on the bus! 

 It was a nice day - a little chilly, but not too cold to be outside in just sweatshirts and dry! The kids gathered around while the Hartman Reserve naturalist (I think that's what they are called?) talked about apples - the different colors/kinds and how they grow.  The kids did a good job listening and were then very excited to make apple cider.

 Each classmate was to bring two apples to share and they got to use an apple grinder to make fresh cider out of all of these apples.  They all got a turn cranking the grinder.

 and then got a glass of cider to drink.  There was plenty so the parents got to try it too - it was VERY yummy - much better than store bought cider full of sugars and things - this was just pure apples.  Isaiah and the rest of his class seemed to really enjoy it.

 We then went in the nature center to see the corn snake.  The kids were all very interested.

 and most of them were excited to touch it too.  (not me!!)

 And then it was time to go.  Mark rode back to school on the bus - he said it was another fun ride.

What a great way to spend the afternoon! 

28, 29, 30

28 weeks

This picture is posted because I love my husband! haha.  He was helping me take 28 week pictures and managed to get me in this pose -- a bit silly, but at least it shows off the bump, right?  Another pretty good week for me.  Baby continues to move all the time and likes to remind me that he's there!  I monitored my glucose levels carefully this week as I failed the test and was finally able to get my machine and test strips (silly insurance took forever to approve it).  I tested myself each morning when I woke up and 2 hours after every meal.  My levels were to be under 140 to be considered normal - if they were above that, then I knew I was eating something that I need to cut back or out of my diet.  Just like when I was pregnant with Levi, my levels were well under the 140 mark every.single.time.  Mostly in the 80s and 90s but the highest it got was 123.  Otherwise, the week went by with little to report.

29 weeks

I didn't get any good just me pictures this week to show off my belly, but we did have this one taken in my "regular" size medium t-shirt - as you can see it barely fits, but I made it work!  I continued to check my blood levels this week for a few days until my doctor's appointment - he saw my numbers and told me I really didn't need to check them often except after a meal with a lot of carbs - he saw that I had pizza during my testing period and said if I can get by with pizza then I will probably get by with just about anything -- and so far he's been right!  (Thank goodness!).  Things continue to be easy going this week, but I can really tell I get worn out much easier than the past few months.  I've realized I need to slow it down just a little bit. The boys continue to show little interest in my belly, but know that baby is growing inside.  I did develop a good cold this week which other than having to blow my nose often has really made me sleep harder at night which is nice - I tend to have really involved dreams when I don't sleep as hard - which is okay - but leave me feeling less rested when I wake up.  I

30 weeks

Another good week for me - still only testing my blood occasionally (okay - like once this week!) and it was normal.  My cold is still here, but at least that's all it is.  Baby continues to move, move, move!  He likes to hang out on my right side and do what feels like flip flops.  It's crazy to feel and Mark has been amazed more than a couple times when I've put his hand on my belly to all the movement that happens over and over and over again!  Otherwise, nothing major to report this week - It's crazy to think I'm on the downhill count - I made it past the 20s - just 10 (or 9 or 8) weeks to go!

drummer boy

Levi really is our little drummer boy.  For quite some time now he's been very interested in drumming.  We have had a few toy drums that he enjoys, we have real drum sticks from Grandma Michele that both boys love, but Levi is just as much in love with playing with baking pans and wooden spoons.  Set out the pans and give him the spoons and he is entertained for quite some time.  Sometimes he will even get out his little toy boom box (see blue thing in pictures below) to help set up a beat for himself - this toy plays a song and lets you decide which instruments play (drums, piano, horn or all - i think!).  

Anyone know how young is too young to start drum lessons - anyone know how to play the drums and want to teach Levi?  

It is so much fun to see Levi's personality continue to develop and see what his own interests are - some are very similar to Isaiah's - others are much different! 

bike ride

Both boys really grew this summer with their biking skills.  Isaiah can really ride fast and has complete control over his bike.  He has gone without the training wheels, but still prefers them on.  I have no doubts about him when he is riding his bike!  Levi started the summer without a bike - just a trike.  He could ride it well, but had no sense of steering.  This summer he has learned to ride a bike (with training wheels) and can easily steer it where he wants to go.  They have spent hours and hours riding their bikes around our driveway and garage - although the driveway really needs to be replaced - we have a great area for them to ride around in right at home.  We've also gone out a few times to the bike trails - not nearly as much as I would have liked to, but the times we have gone, both boys have really enjoyed it.  Here are some pictures of our last trip in September to the Prairie Lakes Trail. 

I'm excited to see what next year brings - no training wheels for one or both boys??  

must be a boy thing

Over the last several months both boys, Levi especially, have decided that they like to go shirtless.  It started when they would pretend to be professional wrestlers, but now it's just about all the time.  Levi will often try to take his shirt off while we are in public (like at story time at the library!) and loves to run around the house and yard in just his shorts.  I must say the look pretty cute!  When the shirts come off, the wrestlers do come out - they will wrestle each other with real wrestling moves.  Mark has taught them some wrestling rules and moves and I must say they both do pretty good!  I think it's only a matter of time that Levi will out do his big brother!  At least when it comes to wrestling!  So if you are up for a good wrestling match, just come by our house!

baseball cap

I think little boys look so cute in baseball caps.  I always tried to get Isaiah to wear one when he was 2ish (always meaning a few times here and there), but he just was never interested and rarely left it on for more than a few minutes.  Levi has recently found Isaiah's hat and enjoys wearing it often.  I think he looks so cute!  One day I took a few pictures - don't mind the mess on his shirt -- by the way this is one of our last pictures of him with a binky - but more to come on that!  I'm curious to see if this trend will continue.  It's fun to watch how similar and just how different our two boys are! 

color week

Isaiah had a color week last week at preschool - every day they were to wear a different color and then did activities to go along with the color.  Both Isaiah and Caiden were pretty excited about their colors each day.  Levi even participated most days by wearing the color of the day too.

Monday - green

 Tuesday - red

 Wednesday - blue

 Thursday - orange

 Friday - yellow

Isaiah has already said several times that they need to have color days again.  On Thursday night before yellow day Isaiah says, "we really need to have green day, I have lots of green shirts."  I reminded him that Monday was green day and he said, "oh yeah, well we need to have another green day!" :)  It's the simple things that make him happy. 

five years old.

Isaiah is five, practically 5 and one month - these months just keep flying by!  I wanted to write out a little bit about who he is now just like I did at four and  three and a half.

* Isaiah continues to be such a boy.  If it's rough and tough, dirty, wild, crazy, daring or dangerous he is all in!  He couldn't love playing in the dirt more; his favorite toys are superheros, monster trucks, dinosaurs, race cars, but his very favorite thing right now is Transformers - he's never seen the movies, but we have rented the 1980s  Transformers show from the movie store.

* But as boy as he is, he also continues to be gentle at heart.  He's gentle with babies and little ones at the park, he makes sure to watch out for the little ones around him and he truly cares about his friends.  He will often put his arm around or stroke your arm when talking to you - it's just natural to him.

* However, the side that comes out more than the gentle one is the rough one.  It's not uncommon to see him push his brother over or bump into him hard enough to knock him over just because he can.  He likes to play rough, wrestle hard, and show off his strength.  He, like most of us, wants things to go his way and if they don't - watch out - this side comes out!  And I think he knows (most of the time) when he does things hastily out of anger and does feel (at least some) regret.  So we continue to work on his response when things don't go your way.

* Isaiah continues to be a very good eater and will eat a large variety of things.  His favorites include: strawberries, broccoli, oranges, pizza, waffles/pancakes, sausage, hot dogs, ramen noodles.  He drinks milk during meals, but typically prefers water otherwise throughout the day.  If you ask him his favorite food he will always say McDonald's (what is it about that place??)

* He also continues to be a social little boy.  He enjoys playing with friends, having people over to play and going just about anywhere.  He quickly makes friends at the park or other play places, but plays very well with his brother too.

* He also loves company at bedtime.  In his perfect world, I would lay with him every night until he fell asleep, but in reality this just doesn't happen!  He asks every night for me to lay with him and many nights I will for a few minutes, but then I have to get up to get things done (unfortunately our dishes and laundry just don't do themselves!).  He does understand this now and doesn't usually get up to come check on what I'm doing, but sometimes he will get up to make sure I am doing what I say (and believe me if he catches me on the computer he questions it! haha).  Thankfully he is pretty quick to fall asleep.  Bedtime is still 8:30 and our routine has stayed the same for a long, long time - vitamin, brush teeth, 3 stories, Bible story, pray, bed.  If we skip a step Isaiah (or Levi) will say something.

* Isaiah is definitely a snuggler - but only when the time is right - when he's tired, not feeling the best or when grandma's around.  He loves to hug, but again, only when he's in the mood.  A lot of times his mood is rough and tough over the snuggle, so we take in the snuggles when we can!!

* At his 5 year appointment he weighed in at 46 pounds and 47 inches which puts him at the 57th and 54th percentile.  Right in the middle!  He has been in  the lower half for his height since he was a baby - so he has done some growing thing year!  The doctor had no health concerns at his appointment but his hemoglobin level did come back slightly low (10.6 and normal is 11-16), but the doctor just had us switch his multivitamin to include iron hoping that will bring it up - we've also been working to encourage him to eat more meat at each meal.

* He also had to get his 5 year shots at this doctor's appointment - this was quite the experience.  I decided not to warn Isaiah of the shots before going to the appointment as I didn't want to worry him or have a fit getting him to the doctor.  He did ask before we left if he would have to get shots and I said that he would if the doctor thought he needed them (not exactly a lie, right??).  We got through his appointment and then the doctor says, "I'll have the nurses come in with your shots."  He immediately started SCREAMING.  We tried to calm him down, Mark even offered Angry Birds on his phone (one of Isaiah's favorite things that he next to never gets to do unless we are with my sister and her Ipad), but nothing worked, he continued to scream and cry.  The nurses finally come in at least 5 minutes later with his three shots.  Levi, by this point is upset that Isaiah is still crying and seeing the needles, Caiden was holding his hands to his ears saying, "Isaiah you are too loud." and Mark and I are just trying to figure out what in the world we should do.  The 2 nurses  have us try to hold him down while they get his legs ready for the shots.  He kept pushing with his hands and kicking with his legs that they couldn't get him in the right spot so the one nurse leaves to get a third nurse!  They come back quickly and Mark, the nurse and I hold him down as hard as we can while the other 2 nurses give him the shots.  He starts SCREAMING and crying even louder!!  The shots were in, the bandaids were on and I thought we had made it through.  Just as the 5 of us were leaving the room the nurse says, "don't forget to stop at the lab to have his finger pricked."  Isaiah immediately starts in even louder, but we make it to the lab.  The tech has Isaiah sit in a chair and Levi gets even more upset and starts sobbing, "don't do it to Zay-ya, don't hurt my brother."  Caiden is sitting in the hallway with his hands still on his ears and practically yelling himself, "Isaiah you are being too loud."  And Mark and I couldn't really do anything but laugh.   The lab lady isn't the most kid friendly and took about 2 minutes trying to ask Isaiah which finger he wants pricked and we finally had to tell her to just pick one so we could get this over with.  She finally gets the blood she needs and out the door we flew.  It was quite the appointment.  My friend Gretchen just happened to be waiting for an appointment in another patient room and said she could hear the whole thing -- I'm sure the entire building did.  Thank goodness he doesn't need shots for several years!  Unfortunately Levi will be getting these shots at his 4 year appointment in less than a year, we will see how that goes!!

I asked Isaiah to name his favorite --

Food - McDonald's
Color - Yellow ... and red and blue...that's all.
Animal - ummmm lion and tiger and cheetah
Thing to play -games and to play with Caiden
Place to go - the jumpy house
Shape - uhh I don't know
Song -Kickin' It Old School
Toy - the trucks.

What are you thankful for?
A long pause, I'm thankful for everything I have.

Isaiah's 5th birthday!

On September 11 Isaiah turned 5 years old!  It seems so old to me - 5!  We celebrated Isaiah all day long! His birthday happened to be on a Sunday so we got up and I made cinnamon rolls to eat while we watched a show before church.  After church we let Isaiah pick out anything he wanted for lunch and it was no surprise that he wanted to go to McDonald's!  So we went and ate at McDonald's.  The boys were both very happy to find out that the kids meals had Ben Ten characters as the toys.  Ben Ten is a cartoon character that can turn into superhero type guys.  I'm not sure I really understand it, but they love it.  The McDonald's cashier was very nice and let the boys pick out whichever one they wanted.  Then a couple girls who had kids meals at the table beside us asked the cashier for girl toys for their Happy Meals (since they were given boy toys) and she informed them they were out of girl toys so the girls let our boys have them.  The cashier was nice enough again to let them switch for different characters - the boys couldn't have been happier going home with 4 new Ben Ten toys!  

(picture to come)

Then on the way home we ran into a car show so of course we stopped for a bit.  Isaiah enjoyed all of the cars and was especially excited about the green Camaro which we like to call Ben Ten cars -- after the car that the cartoon character Ben Ten has (or someone in the show has).  All I know is it is in the one Ben Ten book that we have.  The owner of this car found out it was Isaiah's birthday and let him sit in the driver's seat!  Isaiah was very excited about this! Levi also wanted his picture by the Ben Ten motorcycle that we saw.  (can you tell they like Ben Ten??)  The car show happened to be near the big Army helicopter that we can see from the highway so we made another stop to see that.  

 

By the time we got home it was naptime for Levi so Isaiah had some alone time with Mark and me.  We gave him the gifts from Grandma Michele and Great Grandma Mary.  He was soooo excited and happy to open a Batman Batcave and Riddler Car.  He played this this while watching some professional football with daddy and eating some of the cheeseballs out of the huge bucket he picked out as his special birthday football treat!  

As the afternoon went by we got everything ready for the birthday party!  Isaiah invited several friends and family members over to help him celebrate with a pirate birthday party.

Isaiah was so excited and couldn't wait to get into his pirate costume - Levi, on the other hand, all out refused to put on his costume - but I made him anyway.  (And then didn't want to take it off that night and has talked many times since about wanting to have another pirate party and dress up like pirates!:) As the friends arrived they picked out a few pirate tatoos to put on and were given their eye patches.

Once (almost) everyone had arrived it was time to say the pirate pledge to become official pirates!  The kids did a pretty good job repeating after Mark and saying the pirate sayings.  Each new pirate received a pirate certificate.

Then it was time for the treasure hunt.  Mark had created a clues that he hid all around the yard and a couple in the house for the kids to find.  At many of the clues there was a game to play too - including Captain Says, a pirate ship pinata and pin the treasure box on the map.  At the very end of the treasure hunt was a big treasure chest full of, well, treasure of course -- candy, gold dabloons and treasure necklaces.  I think all of the kids were amazed by the treasure box and loved the treasure hunt!

After the hunt it was time for food and cake.  I was pleased with the treasure box cake that I made the night before and Isaiah loved it too - which is what really mattered!  Then the kids had fun playing together outside in the beautiful weather!  The party was a whirl-wind for me - it seemed to fly by!  Thanks everyone for coming!!

Isaiah had a few more gifts to open after the party - the gifts from us and Levi.  Levi gave him a airplane and we gave him a Discovery Toys game called ABC junior and Motor Works toy (a racecar, motorcycle and airplane that are put together with screws that can be taken apart and put back together).  Below are a few pictures from opening these gifts and then pictures from the birthday hats that Isaiah and Caiden, who share the same birthday, made at school to celebrate their birthday the Friday before.  A local business also will post happy birthday if you call and ask them to so I had Isaiah's name put up for that too.  It was full for his birthday so they put it up the following Tuesday - he thought it was pretty cool!

I think Isaiah had a great birthday and had lots of fun celebrating!  I still cannot believe that he is five -- but he sure can, he is already talking about when he turns 6!!