December 2010

Whew. The holidays have come and gone in a whirlwind as usual. It was a crazy month, but fun as always. We did some fun things. We saw Peter Pan at The Rose. We also took the boys ice skating for the first time. Doug was at work, so my friend Sherry went along with us. She took one boy and I took the other. We tried going to the Con Agra rink on a nice warm day, but the line was really long. Instead, we headed over to Moylan Ice Rink. We had a great time. At first, I didn't think it was going to go so well. Jack didn't even get a quarter of the way around the rink before declaring, in true Jack style, that he wanted to go home. That's what he does. Charlie went around the first few laps with Sherry. He was pretty shaky, but seemed to like it. After Jack said he wanted to go home, he decided that he would give it another try. I still had to hold on to him with a death grip, but he loved it. We renamed it "ice falling" and he loved to fall. Good thing, because he did a lot of it! Every time he did it, he would smile. After skating for a couple of hours and having hot cocoa, it was time to go. Jack refused to get off the ice, without going around a few more times. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera on our skating adventure. So no photos! Next time, I guess.

Christmas this year was really nice. We celebrated with the Whitney family at Pizza King on the 23rd. A santa came to see the kids and deliver gifts and of course, we ate lots of good pizza. My mom had a health scare and got the all clear that night before the party, so that was a relief.

Christmas Eve morning, Julie, the boys and I had lunch with my Grandma Gwen. I spent Christmas Eve with Doug and the boys. It was pretty low key. I made a good meal and then we had popcorn, cocoa and played Monopoly. It was a great night.

Christmas day was fantastic this year. I don't know if it's because they boys are getting older or if the stars aligned or what, but it was relaxing for once. The boys didn't get any gifts that required assembly or batteries, so there were no pleas of, "put it together now!" etc. It was great. They played with their toys and art supplies and we had breakfast and watched a few movies. Later that day, my Mom, Bob, Nate and Julie came over. We ate a TON of appetizers and ended up not hungry for the dinner we had made.

The other big event of December for us is Charlie's birthday. He turned 7 this year! I can't believe his little boys years are over! For his birthday, we had a lazy morning. He requested that I make pancakes for breakfast. We watched some movies and played in the newly organized basement! That afternoon we went to The Rose to see Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Then we met our family out for dinner at Red Robin. Charlie was so excited to open his gifts and eat his Steelers football cake. Mom and Bob gave him more coins for his collection. (one of his favorite Christmas gifts was the coin collecting book from them). Julie gave him a science experiment kit. He loved that! He got a Lego computer game and some gift cards to Scheels. He was thrilled. That night we also celebrated my mom's birthday, since hers is just a few days after Charlie's. Julie and I got her a Coach purse and some of the perfume she loves.

The big chore we completed over Christmas break was to clean out the basement. It was a lot of work, but we got it done and now our basement is livable! I am so happy we spent the time and got it done. We bought a red sectional to put down there. Doug, reluctantly (sarcasm), bought a new big screen tv for the new set up. We've spent a ton of time down there. It's cozy and fun and the boys love that we donated many of their old toys. Their toy area is completely organized and it's amazing!

New Year's Eve was spent with the Bells at their house for our third annual NYE bash. We had a great time and spent quite a lot of time laughing until we cried. The kids played well together and we were exhausted when the night was done!

November 2010

It's already December. It's almost Christmas break. I can't wait. I am not feeling well and am tired, so here is the recap for November. It was busy and now it's over. The end. Here are some photos. We did have a great Thanksgiving break!

The above photo is from Thanksgiving. My parents came over for dinner.

This above photo was taken at the Durham Museum. We usually visit here the day after Thanksgiving to see Santa, the tree, and the trains. The boys always love it. Afterwards, we take a carriage ride around the Old Market area to see all of the holiday lights. We then have dinner downtown. We have done this for a couple of years now. This year after dinner, we visited Tannenbaum, which is a Christmas shop in the Old Market. The boys each picked out an ornament for the tree. Last, but not least, we stopped at the Candy Shoppe. The boys love picking out a little sack of candy.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we get out all of the decorations. This year we added this snowman. The boys thought that our house was too boring....so now we have this guy and Doug put up lights. The boys were really excited!

October 2010

October was even busier than September.

At the very beginning of the month, we made our first trip to Vala's Pumpkin Patch. I had always refused to take the boys here because it would cost $50 for the entire family to go. I had no idea that it was way more than a pumpkin patch. We went this year and had an amazing time. We went in the late afternoon, with the intentions of staying until it closed. We wanted to do the hayrack ride at night and enjoy the evening. There was so much to do there and we had a blast. We will definitely be going back.

After that in mid-October, I went to Denver with my friend Sherry. We went to visit my sister, but also to run the Denver marathon. I ran the half this year and really enjoyed it. The weather while we were there was perfect. We did a ton of shopping, relaxing and eating. I can't wait to go back to visit again. We spent a lot of time at the Coach store, where I got a purse and some more for my birthday! Love that store.

Charlie lost another tooth this month...this one was a big one. It was his top front tooth! The other front tooth is now loose and will be falling out soon. So he will officially be able to say he wants his two front teeth for Christmas.

Next, was something we weren't planning for. Jack had an allergic reaction to penicillin towards the end of the month. It started out as hives and a horrible rash that began on his legs and stomach. The next day it had spread all over his entire body. His feet, hands and knees hurt and were all swollen. He had a fever of 102 for days and a few days after it had started things weren't any better. They just kept getting worse. His eyes and face were even swollen. The poor guy was itchy and miserable. The Friday night after Jack had the allergic reaction, I went to the store. While there, Doug called to say Charlie had stuck his hand in an ice chip maker. I rushed home and we took him to the ER. He was hysterical and Doug and I were both nervous wrecks. He cut his hand up pretty badly. He received many stitches and to make a long story short, he is healing pretty well and is on the mend. It was a learning experience for him!

At the end of the month was Halloween. Charlie dressed as a Shadow Trooper from Star Wars and Jack dressed as Darth Vader. We had a laid back day---carving pumpkins, some baking and dinner. My mom and Bob came to eat with us and held down the fort while we took the boys trick-or-treating. It was a chilly night, but we had a great time. Halloween was on a Sunday, so we had to call it a night fairly early to head to bed.

September 2010

So, once again, I am behind in my monthly blogging. Only once a month and somehow I still can't manage it!

September started a busy time for us. Doug's work really picked up, both the boys started school, I was back to work and my two grad classes started. Plus, I started teaching 2 classes at Metro. Needless to say, the past couple of months have been crazy.

The main things that happened in September were that Jack turned 5! and Doug turned 41!

Jack chose to have his party at the zoo. We had a nice time and most everyone was able to attend. Jack was pretty shy and not too certain about being the center of attention. There was a little girl there from his preschool who seemed a little fond of him, so that was cute. Jack insisted that she was not his girlfriend (thank goodness), but that didn't stop him from pointing her out to us.

Julie was in town during the time of Jack's birthday. My mom had a stroke a few days before, so we spent part of Jack's birthday up at the hospital where my mom was staying for rehab. The boys thought it was fun to ride around in her wheelchair.

Doug's birthday falls at the end of September. We got him some gifts and the boys decided he needed a cookie cake. They love cookie cakes. Not sure if Doug does or not.

Doug went on a work trip over a weekend in Sept. The boys and I enjoyed the house to ourselves for three or four days. We watched some movies, hung out and went to the apple orchard. Charlie really loved picking apples and picked way more than we could use or want! Jack enjoyed the apple picking, but wasn't quite as into it. Either way, it was a beautiful fall morning and we had a great time.

August 2010

This is getting done a little late. I guess taking two grad. classes, working full time and teaching part-time online will make you a little busy...oh and those two kids. August was the end of summer for us. We only had a few days free the whole month before school started. Since I got moved to reading, I had three days of training in Red Oak, Ia. It was good and I enjoyed it. I am also really enjoying teaching reading.

At the beginning of August we went to helicopter days at the Air and Space Museum. We watched helicopters land and take off and then toured the museum. The boys were excited to see the Star Wars exhibit there.

Charlie started school first. He was beginning first grade. I couldn't believe he was in first grade, but he was pretty excited to go back to Ackerman and see his friends. Charlie is really good at math and spelling and making friends!

Then Jack started his first day of preschool at St. Albert over in Council Bluffs. We decided to send him there, since it's right by AL, where I teach. It's gone much better than I thought it would. He cries a little bit some days when I drop him off, but it's getting better and last week, he even played ball with a boy in his class at drop off. He's acting so much older and learning so much. He's good with numbers.

Later in the month, we went to Rosenblatt for a Royal's game with Star Wars as the theme. The boys loved it and had their pictures taken with everyone.

At the end of the month was the Millard Days parade. Charlie is now in cub scouts, so he wanted to walk with his pack and their float. Doug got suckered into being the tiger on the float. This meant that he had to wear an inflatable tiger costume on a float on a windy and hot day. He said he almost blew over a few times. Quite funny!

I still am not computer savvy enough to move my photos to the correct places, so they are staying where they are!

July 2010

We had a busy month of July. This post will be all out of order, because I still can't figure out how to move the photos around. Ugh. The above photo was taken at Fontenelle Forest at their bug exhibit. There were 9 different bugs on a roughly 1-mile trail around the forest. At each bug there was a sign telling facts about the bug and asking a question at the end. You had to write the answer to the question for all nine bugs to get a prize at the end. The boys enjoyed doing this. It was a hot muggy day when we went and therefore, wasn't very busy. The first half of the walk went well. After that, we were all hot and sweaty and ready to be done. The mosquitoes were horrible on the walk, but I had brought bug spray, so that helped.

The day before Fontenelle Forest we had been to the Omaha Children's Museum. It was really crowded that day. Probably the most crowded it had been on one of our visits. It hampered the boys' desire to play, but we still had fun. After the Children's Museum, we headed down to another favorite place, which is the Durham Museum. We looked at all the trains, etc and then went to lunch.

The above photo is from our only trip this summer to the zoo. Last summer we made it to the zoo several times. This summer, however, we have only gone once. I don't know if that is due to us being so busy or the weather being so hot! This photo was taken in the rain forest. We only made it through half the zoo, and still need to see the new Madagascar exhibit. So now we have to go back!

This next photo is of the boys and their cousin, Kiley. Doug took them to Cedar Rapids to visit his family. Since I had just spent a week with the boys alone in Colorado, I stayed home. While they were gone, I used the time paint the boys' room and redecorate it. We did a Star Wars theme and it looks really good! The boys were super excited to have a new big boy room!



The two above photos are from our trip to Colorado. The top one is from one of our days in Estes Park. Julie and I went to Snowy Peaks Winery for a tasting. They claimed to be family friendly and they were! They had a play room where the boys played nicely for nearly two hours while Julie and I tasted and shopped. It was really nice....especially following the horrible morning we had just had. Jack threw a huge fit in our long mountain car drive. It lasted over an hour and was nearly unbearable.
The other photo above is the boys and me at the Alluvial Fan in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a nice area to visit, which was practically right off the main road. The boys enjoyed walking in the cold water and hiking up all the rocks.

The first week of July Charlie took private swim lessons. His instructor, Megan, was great with him and taught him a lot just during five lessons. Charlie seemed to enjoy them, but when we told him we were going to sign him up for another week of lessons, he said, "If you do, I will run away and never come back!" So, luckily for him, the summer got busy and we plan to continue them next summer.
The day after we got back from Colorado, we drove out to my aunt and uncle's lake in Glenwood, IA for a postponed 4th of July celebration. This time the weather was beautiful and there were a lot of us there. We had some good food and fireworks. This photo is of Jack, Charlie, Abby and Anna following Bruce around. They were his fireworks posse. They were so anxious to get the fireworks started that they followed him around until it was time.
On our first full day in Colorado we were in Denver staying with my sister. We drove up to Georgetown, CO to ride on the train. It was a beautiful day and a great ride. The boys loved it.
On Monday, July 5th we drove up to Estes Park, CO to stay for four days. The day we got into town, we went to RMNP for our first couple of hikes. We walked around Bear Lake, which is the photo below. The above photo is on the hike on the way up to Alberta Falls. It was a great walk. The boys practically ran there. The way back was a little slower. We started the hike around 7pm, and by the time we finished it was getting dark. It was perfect timing, though, because the trail wasn't crowded at all.

The above photo is on the 4th of July. We spent the day in Denver and went to a Colorado Rapids soccer game. We didn't get to see much of the game because a huge rainstorm blew in and it poured and poured. We waited patiently up on the covered concourse waiting for the rain to end, so we could see the fireworks. It never did end, so we walked our way back to the car getting soaking wet in the process. They still let off the fireworks and we watched them from the car.
This photo is of Alberta Falls. We had a really good time in Estes Park and Denver and will hopefully go back again next summer.

June Misc.

A few more things we did this month....we went out to my Aunt Marcia's land. It's out past Wahoo, NE. She has a little cabin, tractors, sand and four wheelers. The boys had a great time checking it all out.

Charlie just turned 6 1/2 as well! He asked for me to make him a lemon-blueberry bundt cake. This is his favorite.The above photo is of me, Sherry and Susan. We took our families to the Aksarben Ice Cream Extravaganza in Stinson Park. Beautiful night and lots of fun!