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!