Adrenaline X Laser Tag - Open for business!

On November 16, 2011 Adrenaline X Laser Tag officially opened for business in front of the College Square Mall in Cedar Falls!  This has been such an exciting project for Mark (and me!).  I am so very proud of Mark for going for his dream of owning his own business (which he started last March as Adrenaline X Mobile Laser Tag) and continuing to pursue the dream by moving into a physical location too.  It's incredible the amount of things that he's had to think about before the doors could open - the obvious stuff like what equipment to have, how to decorate, pricing, etc but the not so obvious stuff too like getting the okay from the fire marshal & having things set to code for all of the inspectors, knowing how to balance the books, determining what hours to be open, the signage and marketing that we should do, becoming an LLC, designing t-shirts, and the list goes on and on and on.  But he did it!!  

I'm excited to say that he's stayed very busy the past 2 1/2 weeks that he's been open with both continuing to get things the way he wants them, but more importantly with customers!  He's had lots of kids (both young and old) come in and play (one set of kids has already been in 3 times!) and he has 6 birthday parties booked from this Saturday to next Saturday!  It's definitely a place people are interested in coming and we can't wait to see what the future holds.  

For all of you who have supported us in this process, we thank you THANK YOU thank you!  We've had so many friends and family stretch out their arms to help Mark make this dream become a reality - from watching our boys-sometimes at a moments notice, to giving their advice, to physically tearing heavy, old wood off walls and moving heavy bunkers, to suggesting different contact people for all kinds of services we need, to delivering things to us, to helping us join the Chamber (which included free food -- yep, that's you Molly!), to calling or stopping by to simply see how we are doing and being a listening ear when things seemed so overwhelming, to helping hang decorations & thread speaker wire through the ceiling, to sending balloons on opening day, to cooking for us, to coming in and being customers themselves, and most importantly praying for us in this exciting, stressful and life-changing time.  So once again, THANK YOU friends.  

In case you are wondering, Mark is continuing the mobile business as well and plans to work it in along with the store being open and good thing too because he has 2 lock-ins booked in the next month, 4 post proms booked for April, and several other events in the works (fairs and such for this summer).  

If you want more info about the business check out his website: www.adrenalineXparty.com or stop by the store to check it out - he's located in the front of the mall next to KT's Inflatable's and MasterCuts just down from HuHot. 

It's hard to tell but the picture on the right in the middle is him turning the sign to "open" for the first time :)

Congratulations Honey -- you did it!  I am so proud of you!

Nutcracker Ballet

The boys, my mom and I went to see the Minnesota Ballet perform the Nutcracker ballet at the Gallagher Bluedorn on November 20.  When the Gallagher first announced the schedule of shows back in July (I think) I was excited to see this one coming and thought it would be neat to take Isaiah, but when kid tickets were only $1 I figured I'd buy one for Levi too and decide closer to the time if we were going to take him and I decided to.  I was a bit worried that they would get restless or loud, but I was happily surprised that they were very interested for most of the ballet.  After about an hour and fifteen minutes there was an intermission and both boys were upset because they thought that it was over!  Then about 30 minutes after the intermission Levi was done - very restless - luckily there was only about 10 minutes left of the show.  He really, really wanted the mice to come back on stage - in one scene several mice danced around the stage and he loved them.  I got him through the last bit of the show telling him to watch for the mice, but unfortunately when they came back on stage to bow they had their masks off so that you could see who the dancers were.  Levi was so bummed.  He still talks about it :)  Both boys were so excited when it was over and glad to have gone.  It was definitely worth the money and I hope we can make it an annual tradition.  Thanks mom for coming with us!  

Photography wasn't allowed while the play was going on - I wish it was so I could have taken a picture of those mice!  But I did get a few cute ones before the show and found a few online of scenes from the production we saw (at least I think).  

Although it can be a lot of work, money and stress to take the kids out and about to do things like this, it is soooo worth it!  I'm hoping we can still make things like this happen when Baby #3 arrives!! :)

another trip to the dentist

Now I don't really think I need to take pictures every time my children go to the dentist, however, we just got a new camera and it was only Levi's second time ever at the dentist so I just couldn't resist this time.  :)  Isaiah did a great job and sat nice and still for the hygienist to clean his teeth and then let the dentist look at them and brush the fluoride on them so well!  What a big boy!  Levi on the other hand was just not happy about it.  The hygienist let him sit on my lap and she brushed his teeth with a new toothbrush and he finally warmed up to her, but wasn't happy.  He was a little more cooperative with the dentist and she was able to get a good look at all of his teeth and apply the fluoride.   The good news is that both kids have beautiful teeth! :)  

the first snow

Oh how the boys were so excited to wake up and find snow on the ground the morning of the first snow!  They could hardly contain their excitement.  Unfortunately we had a lot going on that morning (a doctor's appointment and meetings and more to get the laser tag store open!!) so we really didn't get a chance to play in it, but Levi's main concern was that he got to make snowballs and he sure did!  By the time we actually had a chance to get outside to play in it, most of it was already melted.  But here's some cute pictures of the boys playing in the snow first thing in the morning.  

It's now been awhile since the snow so I'm sure we will have this same excitement again whenever it decides to snow again!  

Halloween - Trick-or-Treating

Halloween was on a Monday this year which meant we had our ordinary stuff going on before the excitement began - I had to work in the morning, Isaiah had school in the afternoon and Mark got the keys to his laser tag spot at the mall!  But we tuned out all the craziness of our every day life for just a few hours on Halloween night.  The boys were so excited to dress up in their costumes and go trick-or-treating!  We've gone door to door trick-or-treating the past couple years, but Isaiah hasn't been extremely interested and Levi's been pretty little so we didn't make it too long, but this year I had a feeling we'd go longer -- and we did!  But first we made a stop to see Grandma. 

Then we stopped by Kammy's house and then off we went.  The boys lasted about an hour and then they were done - but we still had about a 10 minute walk back so we stopped at a few more on the way.  I think it was a lot of fun for all 4 of us!  After we got home, the boys dumped all of their candy out to see what they got!  This is something I remember doing as a kid - maybe the best part of Halloween!?!  They definitely got more than enough candy and enjoyed more than they probably should have that night - but we figured you are only 3 & 5 once so why not?  Since then the candy has sat up in the cupboard and they've only eaten a few pieces here and there.  Out of sight out of mind!  

What a fun Halloween!  The boys are already talking about what they are going to be next year!

Go Panthers!

Mark loves to go to sporting events, Isaiah loves to go to sporting events, and Levi loves to go to sporting events and I enjoy them too so we've made it to several UNI games this fall.  We've been to a few volleyball, the first basketball and even a football game.  In the excitement of it all I don't get the greatest pictures, but that's okay I'd rather enjoy it while I'm there!  Here's a collage of the fun we've had at a few different events.  We ran into our buddy Carson which the boys loved!  We always have to look for TC too - Levi loves to spot him, but then gets timid when he gets close - Isaiah gave him a HUGE hug one day.  They also got to go out on the court to dance with the cheerleaders at one event and at another we got to sit in the front row!  

GOOOOOOOOOOOO PANTHERS! :)

35 weeks!

Week 35

How'd we make it to week 35 already?  Looking back it really has gone faster than it feels day-to-day.  This was a good week for us and a stressful week for us and an exciting week for us!  Adrenaline X Laser Tag opened it's doors at the College Square Mall!  Needless to say we were busy busy busy getting things ready!  I'm thankful that I still have lots of energy to do this, but definitely not as much energy as I had a month ago (or 9 months ago!).  Other than the excitement of laser tag, it was a fun week of baby movement and baby hiccups!  I'd felt him have the hiccups (or at least I think I did) a few times before, but this week (and actually week 34 and 6 days) I really felt them and am positive they were hiccups.  They lasted for a long time - at least a half hour - and Mark got to feel them too!  He had them the next day too!  Even more of my maternity clothes are getting too short for me so my wardrobe choices are getting even smaller, oh well, and the tops of the maternity pants are starting to be really low too - so I'm guessing a few people have gotten a peak at my belly by accident :)  This was also my last week before baby that I won't see the doctor - looking forward to what he has to say next week!

Spooky Pancakes

The Friday before Halloween Ihop was offering free spooky pancakes for kids.  I happened to notice this advertised somewhere and I knew the boys would love it.  If I haven't mentioned it before, all three boys around here would eat pancakes for just about every meal and could probably eat an entire package of sausage on their own.  So after naptime the boys and I went for pancakes - luckily Caiden was able to go along with us so he joined in the fun too.  (You'll notice from the pictures that the party was the same day as the fall party at preschool.)   The waitress brought the kids each a big pancake with whipped cream eyes and mouth, a strawberry nose and a side of candy corn and mini oreos to finish the face.  The kids had fun making their faces and then asked me to wipe off ALL of the toppings (except Isaiah gladly ate his strawberries and the other strawberries) so they enjoyed their plain pancakes. :)  I figured this was better for them anyway - they didn't need the sugar of the whipped cream or the oreos! 

I love how it's the simple things that make the boys so excited! 

Preschool Fall Party

Isaiah's preschool class had a fall party the end of October to celebrate the fall season with their classmates and a few family members.  Isaiah's class has 4 parties this year and each parent could sign up for one.  We decided to each pick a different party this year so that one of us could be home with Levi (and the new baby soon!) and we wouldn't have to worry about them.  Mark picked the fall party.  Mark had a lot of fun spending an hour in Isaiah's classroom and helping with some fun games.  Isaiah's teacher Mrs. Blough has mentioned many times how the kids LOVED Mark and his bingo calling skills :)  But who's surprised about that, we all know he's great with kids and making things fun! 

I did send the camera along with him hoping he'd take some fun pictures and he did!  Take a look at the fun of the fall preschool party! (click on the collage to make it bigger!)

YMCA Halloween party

This was the third year in a row that the boys and I have met my friend Abby and her daughter Erika at the YMCA Halloween party.  Erika was born September 13 so she is just a couple days younger than Isaiah.  My mom came last year to enjoy the fun and help me take on a wild activity with two little boys and she came again this year.  Before the party we got all dressed up and took a few pictures outside.

 And then we went to the party.  This year they had a huge bouncy slide that the boys LOVED.  Good thing we got there early so they got several trips down the slide before the line got VERY long.  They also enjoyed several other Halloween activities before sneaking off to the racquetball court to burn some additional energy.  We've gone to the courts all 3 years that we've been there and the boys and Erika remembered because they all 3 asked to go after they were done with the party.  

And here's a picturing looking back to last year.

carving pumpkins

The Monday after we went to the pumpkin patch we carved our pumpkins as a family.  In previous years Isaiah has been excited to carve his pumpkin but quickly lost interest, but this year he scooped out all of his own pumpkin guts and enjoyed it!  He did a really good job! 

Levi, on the other hand, quickly got tired of scooping and decided to switch gears and color his pumpkin with markers.  He made his pumpkin look beautiful and he did a great job coloring.  Mark carved both pumpkins - it was a fun time! 

After the pumpkins were carved we ate the caramel apples we made before we started carving.  Note to self - don't try to speed up the process of letting the caramel harden by putting them in the freezer - our apples were very hard to eat as the caramel was very, very hard....but still yummy! 

What a fun fall family party! 

grandpa & the tree

One late October day my dad stopped by to visit and the boys convinced him to climb up in the tree with them.  You may remember that the rule at our house is if you can climb the tree then you can play in it, but mommy won't help you up!  Well, Levi sweet talked Grandpa into getting him up in the tree too.  He was pretty excited and I got a sweet picture of grandpa and the boys. 

Levi still thinks he should be able to get up in the tree whenever he wants, but I'm holding my ground on the rule that he has to do it himself.  I'm hoping this spring he will be tall enough to do it!  (or maybe not, knowing Levi haha).

Zoe's Costume Birthday Party

Isaiah's classmate Zoe turned 5 on October 24 and to celebrate she had a costume birthday party.  She invited all of her preschool classmates to come!  Of course the party happened to be on one of the few Saturdays that I do have to work so Caiden's mom LeAnna took Isaiah with her while Mark stayed home with napping Levi.  Luckily it was a slow day at my work so I was able to get away for an hour to join in on some of the fun!  All of the kids looked really cute!  It was fun to see what the other kids dressed up as - the birthday girl was Supergirl and both Isaiah and Caiden were Superman.  

 They had plenty of activities planned for the kids, but also gave them lots of down time to run around and enjoy each other.  I think the kids thought it was fun to see their classmates outside of school - at least 10 of their 16 kids were there - a great turn out!  The kids each got to color/sticker a pumpkin, have a few whacks at the pinata and a mummy game (? I wasn't there for that one).  The other neat thing about the party was the birthday request was each kid bring a donation for the Northeast Iowa Foodbank rather than a birthday gift.  It was fun to show the kids they can make a difference in someone else's life!

What a fun birthday idea - I'm sure glad that Isaiah and I were able to go!  

Pumpkin Patch

We decided to take the boys to a little pumpkin patch outside of Cedar Falls on the way to Janesville & Waverly to pick out pumpkins this year.  We had a great time at the bigger pumpkin patch last year, but the kids mainly were interested in jumping in the bouncy house, so we thought the little pumpkin patch might make it more about pumpkins -- and we were right.  The boys were so excited all the way there and LOVED to look at all the options of pumpkins.  We have a couple books about pumpkins, one that talks about all the different shapes and sizes of pumpkins - Isaiah was happy to find some that looked "ghoulish" with all the little bumps on them, just like the book.  Isaiah went into the search saying he was going to pick the biggest one he could find -- and he did -- it was so big and awkward shaped that it doesn't even stand up!  Levi, on the other hand, wanted a little one which is what he got.  Mark and I each picked a pumpkin too.   

 As we were checking out we had fun looking at the little "baby" pumpkins and Levi thought they were "so cute" (he is so cute and funny when he says "so cute" haha) and so they each picked out a baby pumpkin and also picked a baby pumpkin for our new baby.  We got home and put them right out on the front step.  I thought it would be fun to get a nice picture of the boys together with our pumpkins - Isaiah was actually completely cooperating (a very rare thing when it comes to Isaiah and pictures) and Levi just was not interested, but I did get some cute ones trying.  

What a fun fall family activity!  

31, 32, 33, 34

Week 31
Nothing special to report this week.  Feeling good and baby is staying active.  I am starting to really be able to feel specific moves he makes.  I'm starting to feel really big this week, but know that I've still got a lot of growing to do!  I can still eat normally (except a few specific things that I've mentioned before that make me feel sooooo full - like cereal).  Blood sugars remain in the normal range so I've started checking my blood fewer and fewer times.  Glad things are going as they should be this week!



Week 32

Another good week - definitely slowing down even more and feeling oh so ready for this baby to join our family, but as the doctor confirmed at my appointment this week - he's just not done cooking yet!  Both baby and I checked out well at the appointment and I'm happy to report I only gained 2 pounds in 3 weeks.  Baby's heart was beating fast for him - between 148 and 152.  I was measuring 2 weeks big again this week, but the doctor wasn't worried - especially since it was consistent with my last measurement.  The weather has been beautiful and spending this time with the boys outside has been wonderful - it's weeks like this that I wish we could just freeze time for a little bit!  We carved our pumpkins this week and realized that my pumpkin and my belly were just about the same size! :)  LOVE the pose the boys are in in the background of this picture, don't you?

Week 33
Halloween was a fun way to start this week - I ran across a cute Halloween maternity shirt online and was so tempted to buy it - this was my first time ever being pregnant on Halloween and thought it would be fun, but after searching and searching the cheapest I could find it was $28 and I just couldn't justify a maternity shirt that I'd wear once for that price so I created my own - not quite as cute, but still equally fun for me and the family.  We had no time for rest this week as Mark officially signed a lease with the College Square Mall to open Adrenaline X at the mall - lots and lots to do and prepare for the opening in just 3 short weeks!  Thankfully I'm still feeling very good and have been able to help in any way that I can with this.  Baby  continues to move all the time!  I can really feel him on the outside of my tummy - it's easy to feel where he is - almost always on my very right side - I can usually tell it's his bottom or foot.  It is fun and usually not too uncomfortable yet!  I'm trying to enjoy every minute of this pregnancy that I can because I know before long it will be over!

Week 34

I can tell I am in the last stretch of my pregnancy as my feet are getting harder to reach, especially to tie my shoes and getting up (especially off the floor or the couch) is a big task in itself! haha.  If Mark is around I will have him push me up!  I still feel good and have had the energy to make it through the days of preparing and planning for Mark's store to open.  I had a doctor's appointment the middle of this week and things were good.  I was measuring right at 34 weeks - I'm glad to be measuring right on!  Baby's heartbeat was 140 which was good - right on with what my other 2 were at this point in the pregnancy.  I gained half a pound these past 2 weeks which continues to make this pregnancy the lowest weight gain for me yet - I think I'm at 17 pounds now.  I still don't have any swelling in my hands or ankles!  And I enjoyed my first ever prenatal massage this week - that was amazing - I'd highly recommend one for any pregnant (or not pregnant) person!  I'd say the best part was getting to lay on my tummy for a full hour - I think that may be one of the things I miss most.  My belly is starting to feel (and look, I think) humongous which is all in the fun, right?

a walk in hartman

On a nice day in October my mom and I took the kids on a walk in Hartman Reserve.  It was a beautiful day, the kids had fun exploring and of course I couldn't resist taking a few pictures.  

before I forget

Intro to the story - if you've never been to our house there is a door that closes the bedroom side of the house to the living room that we typically close when anyone is sleeping so things are quieter in the bedrooms.

We were tucking Levi in for the night and he looks up at Mark and says, "Can you please close that door (pointing out his room towards the door I mention above) so that I can sneak out?"

At nap time, we've been catching Levi playing in Isaiah's room or our bedroom instead of napping.  He's able to do this by sneaking out of his room and we don't notice because the door to the bedrooms is closed.  Now he's thinking of doing this at bedtime too??

His little question made Mark and my night.  I am guessing however that after this time change day and no nap, he'll be too tired to try it tonight - but I have a feeling tomorrow might be another story!