Spring Break, Iowa Style

This week, we've been at my parents' for spring break! The kids were beyond excited to come up. I even had to make a count down for Anna so she would stop asking "Are we going to Papa's house tomorrow?!?!" :) We picked up a few hitch hikers along the way. hehe Aunt Cara, Cassie & Hudson came with us!!! It was a full van, but we had fun (well, Cassie might not have...she's the skinny one so she got stuck in the back seat between Anna & Hudson! Sorry Cassie!).
The last two days the weather has been perfect! Yesterday, we headed to the park...

Wait for me Jakie!!!

What kind of trouble can I cause???

Oh Hudson. He is so inquisitive! He wants to know what everything is! Papa told him that big wheel thing behind him is a piston. :)

Jacob hates having crumbs (or sand) on his hands. Which is odd because he will sit and dig in the dirt and sand for hours. Anyway, every time he got sand on his hands at the park he would stand up and hold his hands out, waiting for someone to come brush the sand off! So Aunt Cara showed him how to just wipe them off on his pants. :)

Anna loved playing on the digger.

Hudson enjoying the sand, too.

You talkin' ta ME, Mama?!

Da Boys

Jacob wasn't big enough to run the digger, but he didn't want any help either! :)

Aaron earns reward points for all his hotel stays with all his travels for his job. He had enough for a free night's stay, so I talked him into using it for a night this week! Our room is on the top floor of a new Holiday Inn!

After last night (when we were invaded by BOTH kids!) and how little sleep we got, I can't wait to get plenty of uninterrupted sleep!!!

Catching Up

We're still alive, just busy. With what...I'm not sure! Life with little ones, I guess. And so, while said little ones empty the toy box and lick the Ranch bottle, I'll catch up on blogging! ha



Valentine's weekend found my love and I at a marriage retreat. It was great...great learning, great fellowship, great night away from life! Grace Bible Church puts this on every year and invites our church. This is the second time we've gone. There were quite a few couples from our church this year. We had a prime rib buffet again Friday night. I was lucky enough to be next in line when they brought another roast out, so I got a well done piece! It was so delicious. I never know if it's the food that makes it so good, or the fact that I actually get to eat a hot meal...not a cold one after I've gotten up to get something for the kids 29 times! :) I have lots to share from the weekend, but that will have to wait...better move on before the kids decide to empty something else!

Speaking of the kids...

Good grief. That's all I've got to say about this picture!!

While we were at the retreat, Papa & Binga came down Friday to keep the kids (THANK YOU!!!!). They even kept Hudson, too...on his first night away from Mommy! He did great. Jamie & Cassie came Saturday & spent the night, too.

Hudson & Jacob "blowing" bubbles. I think they probably ended up with more in their mouths than not...

Poor kid...his feet are flat as pancakes just like his Mama's.

Jacob & Hudson would stand at the curtain and one of us would say "On your marks, get set...GO!" and off they would run. Every time, into my bedroom to the closet mirror doors. And then back out they would gallop, grinning.

I gave him another haircut the other night. He hated it this time. I just buzzed it mostly. He didn't like it to begin with, then he started rubbing his face with his arm (covered in hair because he refuses to leave a cape or towel on). Which meant he got hair in his mouth. But he wouldn't quit doing it! So it's not a perfect haircut, but it'll last a while! :)

Hudson giving us a show:)

Papa started it! Jacob loves being thrown up in the air!!

When Hudson wanted a turn, I told Papa "be careful you don't throw him through the ceiling!" Hudson is probably at least 10 pounds lighter than Jacob.

I think Anna & Jacob weigh pretty much the same, but Anna is so much longer--that makes it hard to throw her up very high!

Aunt Cara came to visit Saturday and Jacob would NOT let her out of his sight! The second he saw her, he ran over and wanted up. When she went to put her jacket on to leave, Jacob ran right over and wanted up. I told him to tell Aunt Cara bye bye and he looked right at me and waved and said "Bye bye!" then started blowing every BUT Cara kisses! :) Then when Binga left and wouldn't take him...you'd have thought the poor kid was an orphan the way he looked. So sad. So today there was no school and we're on a bit of company let-down!

Lights, lights, everywhere!

Missed a few pics and I'm not going to take the time to redo the whole post!!

On the front porch--another new project. This one Mom did mostly on her own. Cheap decorations! You can buy the glass blocks at a hardware store for a couple bucks, drill a hole, stuff in lights and add ribbon!

New lights along the fence, too. The grandkid trees and Dad added rope lights around the crosses this year.

More cute blocks! We found different shapes and sizes. And a cute teddy bear:)

Dad carved these crosses from a dead tree. They're awesome and look really cool with the lights.

Jamie putting lights on the last tree.

It took quite a while to get all the holes drilled and then the lights on, but they turned out great.

Original Post

Papa had most of the Christmas lights out already, but there were a few new projects Binga had for him to do! He said it's funny how she comes up with all the ideas and he has to do all the work! :) I told him we know how to work things. hehe

Anna helped Papa drill some holes. He's got an ingenious way of putting up lights...he staples them to these boards, then screws the boards onto the house/fence. They go up fast, come down fast and store easily! He's so smart!

The front porch. The blue lights/trees are new this year.

Whole front view. He made the 18' tree and star. Pretty cool.

One of Mom's new projects this year: little trees for each of the grandkids! Made from a wooden rod and dowels. We wrapped them in lights and painted some wooden stars gold and put the kids' names on them!

I couldn't get him to look at the camera.

Until I said "Jacob...I've got ice cream!" HA!!!

No troubles getting Anna to look at the camera!

Or this one! Hudson is a complete and total ham! And a darn cute one, too!!

SC Homecoming!

Last weekend (or was it the one before?!) was Sterling's homecoming. My brother Jamie and his family came to town, as well as our good friends Kreg & Graci and their girls! The kids loved the parade...

This was actually before the parade. Jacob and Hudson were excited to just watch the cars drive by!

Hudson, Jacob, Addison, Anna and Elise waiting for the parade to start (or continue, depending on who you ask!). It was a bit chilly in the morning but quickly turned into a pretty nice day.

Waiting for what's next (before the parade started, of course!)

Collecting candy and staying away from the loud fire engine!

Hedrick's had a mini petting zoo at the college, which the kids loved! Hudson wanted to feed the animals rocks!

There were also inflatables. Jacob, again, wouldn't go all the way in!

He LOVED the animals. For some weird reason, the big fat pot-bellied pig was his favorite!

Notice Anna is poised and ready to run in case that pesky calf (or whatever...I know it's not actually a calf calf) decides to try something funny!!

------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday night was the alumni banquet. Now, Aaron & I have been alumnus (is that the plural for alumni??) for 6 and 8 years and have never attended. Whoops! :) But this year was very special because my cousin Scott was presented with the Alumni Award!! It was pretty fun and it was awesome to see him recognized in such a special way by our Alma mater!

I love this picture. THAT is my Grandpa. He loves to laugh and I love to see him smile that great, big smile! The two things he loves the most in this life are his Lord and his family.

Scott and Amy...her name should be on that award too (even though she's not alum!). They both work so hard to follow God's calling on their lives!

I was going to take these artsy pictures of each course.....eh, I was hungry and forgot! The dinner did get started late. It was a delicious meal.

Scott accepting the award.

"From 1958 the Alumni Awards was given to alumni who have revealed outstanding contributions in developing careers, service to society and loyalty to SC. In 1975 the award was broken into two pieces, the Alumni Citation is given to Alumni who graduated more than 15 years prior to the year given and the Alumni Award is reserved for younger alumni."
www.sterling.edu/node/1490

It was a fun weekend! And THANK YOU to Bruce, Shirley, and Addie for babysitting the kids for us so we could enjoy the banquet!

Catch Up

I've got a bunch of pictures that I haven't edited yet and a bunch I haven't posted. I guess I'm catching up from a couple weeks ago when I didn't take any pictures! :)

Here are some pictures from a park trip. Anna loves the horse swing and climbing up the dome. Jacob loves the swing and the swing!

She figured out how to "push" herself and also how to stop! :)

At both of the parks that have "baby" swings, they have this bar across that is just in a really bad spot. I mean, Jacob is a big boy--much bigger than most 2 yr. olds--and these bars are way too high for him even. In this picture, he's lifting himself up a bit to see over the bar. It's weird. He still loves to swing, though!

Climbing, climbing, climbing!

At the top with Daddy!

---------------------------------------------

This past weekend, we celebrated Hudson's 1st birthday!! The kids had a lot of fun playing and really enjoyed Hudson's toys:)

Jacob LOVED this toy. It blows the balls up through the top and Jacob quickly discovered that he could stuff a bunch of balls in at once and then they'd come flying out the top!

He played with this for hours (literally)!

The Birthday Boy! He wasn't so sure about the whole "dig into the cake" thing. He did end up with cake ALL over him, but it took a while :)

Anna and my cousin had fun coloring. I was 16 when Heather was born and I well remember having lots of fun with her (and her older brother and sister!) and babysitting:) It was so nice to not be worrying about where Jacob had run off to, because Heather and Raylinn were taking care of both of them! :):):)

----------------------------

Then the kids and I came home with Mom & Dad. Anna got sick right before we left (sorry Jamie & Cassie!!!!) and stayed sick almost the whole way home. About halfway she finally quit throwing up and slept the rest of the way. Poor girl. She is all back to normal today! I sure hope Jacob doesn't get it. I've got a bunch of other pictures from today to edit and really cute (to the mother!) video to post. Better sleep though :)