February 2011

I never take any photos in February. I don't know why. I just don't. Things that happened this month include: the Superbowl. The Steelers played and lost. We were sad. We went bowling a couple of times and had fun! My mom and I took the boys to see Mary Poppins the Musical. They liked it. Finally, Doug and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary! Ten years seems like such a long time. I can't believe how fast it has flown by. A lot has happened in our ten years of marriage. We had two kids, made several moves, changed jobs, gotten masters degrees, run marathons, gone back to school again and had a lot of fun. More fun than I can tell about here. We've had bad times, too, of course. But we always seem to make time for ourselves, each other and the boys. Things are good and we have a lot to be thankful for. I can't wait to see what the next ten years will bring.

January 2011

Not much went on in January. At the beginning of the month, we had Charlie's birthday party with his friends from school and Cub Scouts. We had it at Zzzap Laser Tag. Charlie had fun and so did the kids, but to be honest, it was the most chaotic party we've had yet. Not sure we will have another one there, or maybe we will wait until they are a little older!

We had another fun NYE with the Bell family this year. It was us, the Bells and another family. The third family had twin girls who had plotted with the Bell girl to kiss Jack and Charlie. When I told the boys of this plan, they immediately started writing up escape plans. It was really funny and entertaining. I will never forget them hiding under the dining room table to write the list of what they would do to deal with the girls. We ended up having an awesome time...lots of food, good people and laughs. I think I laughed until I cried that night.

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!