Vacation

I am finally getting around to posting some pictures from our little weekend getaway to the Wisconsin Dells. We had a great time staying at the Wilderness Lodge resort with my parents, sister, Dawn, and her family and my niece and two of her friends. The indoor waterparks are so much fun, even for the adults, and the guys enjoyed watching some of the NCAA games on television. It worked out great for me because I love to swim and Mike loves to watch college basketball, so when it was nap time, he was happy to stay in the room with the kids while I went with the others to the water parks! I didn't take any pictures at the parks because I didn't want to lug the camera around all day and have to worry about it when I was in the water also. Guess I need to get a water camera next time! :)

Shelby wasn't wanting to get up one morning, so Mike decided to give her a little "help"!

We weren't sure how the kids would deal with the giant moose because they tend to freak out when they see big people dressed in costumes, but both did okay. However, Bree wasn't going to take her eyes off of the moose!

Mike thought that Brady needed a sword (to torture his mother and sister with at home), and this is were Brady stowed it when we were walking back to the room! :)

Bree trying on some of Shelby's shoes. Shelby always says that Bree doesn't like her, but I think Bree had a change of heart this weekend! She wanted Shelby most of the time and didn't let her get too far away from her!

And so it begins...

Brady has officially started playing sports. While many of you may already know this, soccer is not a huge hit in our house, but Brady is playing this spring (it took some real convincing on my part to get Mike to allow it). I think I had a pretty good argument though. This will be a great opportunity to meet other kids his age in our community and a great way for us to meet other parents in the community. So, his first practice was last night so I made Mike take pictures since I had to be home with Bree, who is doing much better now. He was sure to let me know that he was the ONLY parent taking pictures! :) He already has his first game on Monday evening. Could be interesting! We ventured out today to try to find some shin guards and shoes and a ball (since it has been banned up to this point) that would actually fit our little man. So far, we haven't had any luck finding any shoes that are small enough, and most of the socks with the padding in them are WAY too big, so we ended up buying some shin guards and a ball.

Sickies!

April Fool's Day has never been a holiday that I have cared for, especially after teaching and dealing with students pulling pranks all day long. Now, it is even worse. We thought we had missed the flu this year because when all of our friends and their kids were getting it, we didn't. WRONG! Last night on our way to meet Steph for supper and go to D6, Bree puked all over herself in the car. That was pleasant! I brought her home and gave her a bath and hosed off the clothes before putting them straight in the washer. I even got it on my clothes, so I was struggling not to gag myself. Anyway, hopefully it was an isolated incodent because she hasn't gotten sick since the car. (Maybe it was my driving) :) This morning, we have spent a lot of time snuggling, but below is a picture of her snuggling with one of Mike's old "guys" as she calls them. You can tell she doesn't really feel that great when she is just laying around all morning.

Don't eat the baby, Hollie!

Here is the conversation that I had the pleasure of witnessing yesterday! Remember this is between two 3-year-olds! I am allowed to share now that Hollie has officially spread the news! :)

Gabe: Remember what is in my mommy's tummy?

Brady: What? (probably thinking Gabe is going to say something about whatever she ate that morning)

Gabe (in his cute little excited voice): A baby. She has a baby in her tummy!

Brady (with an extremely priceless confused look on his face): What?! Did she eat it?

Gabe: No. It is just in there.

Poor Brady is so confused that his friend's mommy has a baby in her stomach and why in the world would she eat a baby! Gotta love a 3-year-olds mind and how it processes things!

The excitement of a 3-year-old (and a 31-year-old)

This is what an excited 3-year-old looks like when he is trying to go to sleep the night before going on vacation (and to see Nana, Papa, Shelby, Aunt Dawn, Uncle Greg, Zach, Alex, Noah, Layne and Emily)! The poor thing had so much trouble getting to sleep!

This is what an excited 3-year-old looks like when he gets up early the morning that he gets to go on vacation!

The problem is, he said "Mom, I am ready to go see Nana now." (not in a yucky tone, but a subtle one that is just letting us know). The only problem is, he says this at 7:30 in the morning and we aren't leaving until Mike gets home from work at lunchtime! He is so excited that he can't stop talking! On Monday, he called Nana to tell her that there were 5 days until he saw her. She called him on Tuesday and he has called her every day since. I am not sure which one is more excited! Mike has taken half the day off and we are headed up to the Wisconsin Dells for the weekend, so it should be a good time!

He also got some new shoes for the trip, which as you can see above, he is so excited about them that he wore them to bed last night, causing a little bit of a blister on his heal. When he was showing them to his dad this morning, he said, "Dad, look at these shoes that Mom got me. They are so cool!" What a sweet little boy! I had the same problem he did. I couldn't get to sleep last night and was up by 6 am getting started on my "to do list" before we leave!

Has Spring Sprung?

We have been having SO much fun outside this week! The weather has been great, so great, that we only have come inside to eat and take naps and go to bed! Strangely, Brady has decided that he doesn't need a nap anymore. Funny thing is, when we don't go outside, he takes a nap, but when we spend a lot of time outside, he just has trouble falling asleep until he crashes at about 8 pm! I thought it was supposed to be the other way around! Oh well.

He recently was given a bike from my sister, who used it with my nephew. It is the prefect size for him and he loves to ride it. He has been riding it so much that I thought he was ready to take the training wheels off. However, one try at that and he was done. The bike was no longer steady enough for him! So, for now, the training wheels are still on. When Daddy has a free day, we plan to try again. For now, the extra support will have to work.

I have also been meeting with a Conversational English Partner who I met through a Thanksgiving dinner with our connection group (will explain in a different post). This week she brought her daugher with her since she is on spring break. We were meeting to go over some stuff for her interview with a university to be a professor, which was this week, so we really needed to work on some stuff. Her daughter was playing and all the sudden got really quiet. Below you will see why. I just can't imagine she was very comfortable!

Pictures, Pictures and MORE Pictures

I must be a streaky blogger (not one who runs around naked, just one who will do it for a few days and then not do it for awhile!) I didn't realize it had been so long since I had last posted. Time really does fly when you are having fun! We have been having too much fun playing and I forget to update the blog! The weather has been so nice that we have been trying to get outside as much as possible. However, it is the nicest day so far and Brady and Bree are staying with Nana and Papa, so I don't get to enjoy it with them. Instead, I am enjoying some time to catch up and do some things that I don't normally get to do. I have spent a LOT of time in Des Moines this week watching girls state basketball games, which has been SOOO much fun! Monday, my dad decided to come up and spend a few days with us and go to a few games and when he went home, he took the kids with him! It is awfully quiet around here!

No, I don't want you to take a picture of my cute hair do!

Having fun with the pillows and blankent.

When I came home Friday night, (it was late) Mike was in bed and Brady was asleep on the couch. Apparently he had come out of his room and climbed up on the couch and fallen back to sleep!

Sneaking up on Papa while he is sleeping!

The kids love to play with Papa!