WHAT A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!

I had an amazing birthday weekend spent with family and friends.  Friday was the actual ‘big day.’  After work, my co-workers and I went out for a quick drink to celebrate.  My mom came into town Friday afternoon and picked the boys up from Lindy’s house.  We grilled out steaks and veggies for my birthday dinner—it was delicious!  The best thing about the weekend was that I was able to have some one-on-one time with Tyler, Brady, Lee, and my mom at some point.  Each moment spent with them alone was very special and a great birthday present! My one-on-one time with Brady!

Brady “helped” me make my birthday cake.  He actually did a great job at mixing and pouring in ingredients, but he probably did the best at licking the batter off of the beaters!  :)  He lasted the whole time from beginning to end of making my birthday cake.  So special!  My one-on-one time with Tyler!

My time with Tyler was spent on the soccer field.  It was extra special since he scored a goal!  We had a great time celebrating his victory!  So proud!  Josh, Liz, my dad, and my mom were all there at Tyler’s soccer game to cheer him on.

After the soccer game we all went back to our house for an awesome birthday lunch out on the back deck. The boys helped me blow out my candles.  My one-on-one time with Lee!

Saturday night Lee and I got to spend a night out while my mom stayed home with the kids.  I walked down the stairs after getting ready to go out and both boys got huge smiles on their faces—it was the sweetest thing!  Tyler said, “Wow, Mom!”  And Brady said, “You’re beautiful, Mommy!”  I swear that I dress up pretty much every day to go to work, but I must have looked a little special that night.  :)

Lee and I enjoyed an awesome dinner at the Olive Garden and then a fun night at Blue Moon Piano Bar.  It was so nice to have a fun night out with Lee to celebrate my birthday!

And to top it off, I even got one-on-one time with my mom!

My mom and I spent all of Sunday in Des Moines shopping!  Awesome day!

I was so lucky to have all of those moments in just one weekend.  It was such a special birthday weekend!

BRAGGING ON BRADY

I just want to brag on our Brady for this post.  He is 3 years old and is awesomely smart! (Just like his brother!) Last week we had to take a movie back.  While in the parking lot, I heard him say ‘o. p. e. n.’  I looked out the van window and saw that he was looking out his window and saw the open sign above the door.  I had no idea that he was now recognizing letters out of sequence!  I was so happy and proud and gave him so much praise after he did this.  Since then, he continues to tell me letters and ‘spell’ out words that he is seeing everywhere!  This is extremely cool for me, because he doesn’t even  start preschool until this fall, so everything that he knows, he has learned here at home!  Well, Brady will be starting preschool this fall and will have a great start to his education!  I am so proud of how awesomely smart you are, Brady!

KINDERGARTEN READY

Tyler with his Kindergarten Placement Letter and his nametag that he wore at Round-Up.

After two days (2 hrs. each day) at Kindergarten Round-Up, Tyler received his official letter telling us that he is ready for Kindergarten this fall!

Kindergarten Round-Up went very well for Tyler.  He will be at my school this fall, so that is where he attended Round-Up as well.  His group was actually in my classroom, which kind of made me nervous.  I wasn’t sure if he would be too comfortable, since he and Brady play in my classroom often.  But, I was told by my Kindergarten team members that his behavior was great!

Grandma Mary and Brady dropped him off and picked him up both days.  He said that he had a lot of fun and even played with some new friends.  I took a little break on the second day from my group of kids to go into my classroom to check up on Tyler for a bit.  When I walked in he was playing with and putting together puzzles.  He looked so grown up in that Kindergarten setting and I am just so very proud of him!

I accepted a new position for next year, I will be teaching 2nd grade, so rather than me just being right down the hall from Tyler next year, I will be on the other side of the building.  But, I think that this will be better for the both of us!

I am so excited for him to grow and learn in Kindergarten this Fall!

I-CUBS GAME

We had won some free tickets to today’s I-Cubs Baseball Game at Principal Park in Des Moines.  The weather actually turned out to be great for the time that we spent at the Park.  The temperature was nice and the wind wasn’t so bad inside the park, so it was a pretty comfortable day to sit and watch baseball.  The boys lasted only an hour and then it was time to go home.  The game was at 1:00, which is their normal nap time, so it was a hard time to work with, but since they were free tickets, we gave it a shot.  We all enjoyed the hour that we were there and will look forward to our next visit!  The boys with Cubby Bear.

  Like I said, the reason we left was because they were so tired.  Both of them passed out the second we got onto the interstate.

SPRING SOCCER BEGINS!

The soccer season has started and the Tiger Sharks are ready to play!  Tyler had his first game yesterday and did awesome!  He does a great job on scrappin’ for the ball and getting it down the field.  He needs to practice on getting control of the ball once he gets near the goal in order to actually get the ball into the goal.  But, I was very proud of him and the progress that he has made since the Fall soccer season!  I was a very proud Coach and Mom yesterday!  Mandy and I are coaching this season and giving Chad and Lee some time off.  :)  Tyler, a teammate, and I (Coach) are waiting for the ball to be thrown in.

WONDERFUL SUNDAY AFTERNOON!

Last Sunday was a beautiful day, which we enjoyed and spent plenty of time outside soaking in the sunshine and spring warmth.  It was such perfect spring weather that we even enjoyed our dinner out on the back deck!My baby girls love my lap!  And yes, Lucy needs a haircut so bad!  We have to wait a little bit longer, until she’s received a couple more shots, for her to get her haircut.  At the moment, she’s just a little fur ball! Brady and Lee ran out to Wal-Mart to pick up a couple things, while Tyler and I stayed back home and practiced some “school things” to get him more prepared for Kindergarten Round-Up.  While Tyler and I were on the floor of the living room, practicing our school stuff, Lee and Brady walked in with these “fart cans”!  Just a glimpse into the future.  :)  Although, I do gotta say that these fart cans are pretty hilarious!  Brady won’t touch his, he doesn’t like the feel of it, but Tyler, on the other hand (who also used to hate strange things on his hands) loves his!

EASTER 2013

HAPPY EASTER!

After coming home from my mom’s house Thursday night, we enjoyed Friday and Saturday at home and then went back to Iowa City on Easter Sunday after church in Newton.  The boys woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had left them some Spring gifts and had also hid Easter Eggs all over the house.  They were filled with excitement all day and it was so much fun to watch!

From the Easter Bunny, they got new squirt guns, a new swimming pool for the back yard, a new water sprinkler, gatorade, candy, candy, and more candy, and an Angry Birds ‘flyer.’  Lee wonders why we needed the new swimming pool, as we will probably be getting a family pass to the pool this summer.  My answer back to him was, ‘the pool doesn’t open at 8:00 in the morning, when these kids are ready to swim!  :)

6:30 a.m. on Easter morning.  Happy as can be!  Good thing I woke up earlier so that I could get some coffee in me before the craziness began!

Searching for the eggs all over the house.Brady Joseph.Tyler Thomas.Riding their new Easter bikes at Grandma’s house.My cousin Rachel, Imron, and their son Kellan joined us for the day, along with my cousin Val and her daughter, Ava, my Grandma Kriz, and Josh and Liz.  We did another Easter Egg hunt in the field behind my mom’s house and just had a great day playing outside.  The boys had been riding their bikes before the Easter Egg hunt, so when it was time to search for eggs, they just took off their bike helmets and used them as their baskets.

Happy Easter!Brady, Tyler, Kellan, and Ava.Brady relaxin’ on the back deck.

SPRING BREAK 2013 PART 2—IOWA CITY

It was a busy spring break!  We got home from Kansas City Monday afternoon.  I took the kids to Lindy’s house on Tuesday so that I could have one day to get caught up on laundry and to get our bags packed up again to go to my mom’s house.  My mom kept the dogs at her house while we were in Kansas City, so we decided to go stay with her for a couple of days and then bring the dogs back home.  Tuesday was nice, but it was strangely quiet with no dogs and no kids! 

I picked the boys up from Lindy’s after my Dr. appt. Tuesday afternoon.  We took off from there and headed to Iowa City.  Katie, Taylor, and Bennett came over on Tuesday night to hang out for a bit. 

Wednesday morning my mom and the boys dyed some Easter eggs.  Wednesday afternoon my mom and I took the kids to the 3-D movie of The Croods.  They loved it!  My mom also decided that she wanted to buy the boys some bikes for Easter that they would be able to keep at her house.  I put the bikes together as good as I could, but we had to take them over to Rita and Tim’s house for Tim to finish them up for me. 

Thursday morning, we went out to the mall.  My mom let the kids play at the playground while I did some Easter shopping.  After the mall, we picked up the bikes at Rita and Tim’s.  The boys are so excited for their new bikes at Grandma’s house and I’m just as excited because it means that I don’t have to pack ours from home anytime that we decide to go to Iowa City for the weekend!  The boys, the dogs, and I came back home Thursday night.  It was a fun couple days in Iowa City! The boys dying Easter Eggs. Their clothes came off pretty quickly, as Brady kept splashing the dye everywhere.      The new bikes!  Brady taking a break from his bike to hang out with the dogs and Grandma.

SPRING BREAK 2013 Part 1—KANSAS CITY

With my Spring Break beginning on Friday, March 22, Lee took that Friday off work and we took off that morning for Kansas City!  We planned to stay in Kansas City at Cocoa Keys/Holiday Inn Water Park for both Friday and Saturday nights.  It was a great and much needed weekend away with just the four of us!  The boys had a blast and enjoyed every second of it.  And because a snow storm came through Saturday night and into Sunday morning, we decided to stay an extra night at the Hotel/Water Park.  So instead of leaving Sunday morning in the snow, we relaxed another day and drove home Monday morning.  It actually turned out extremely well, because most of the crowd from the Hotel did decide to leave Sunday morning, which gave us the whole day at the Water Park with only a few other families!  It was so nice and relaxing to be able to stay an extra day on vacation!  (I even found time to make it to the Hotel exercise room while the kids were up in the room with Lee resting on Sunday.)  This was an amazing way to kick off our Spring Break!  Here’s many pictures to show our wonderful 3 days in Kansas City. Tyler and Brady watched movies and enjoyed a banana snack on the 3 1/2 hr. trip.  Our hotel was right across the interstate from the Kansas City Royals and the Chiefs stadiums. After time in the water park, they enjoyed resting and having I-Pad time in our room. Our hotel also had an arcade which we we were in on Friday night.  The boys loved it!    After ‘Arcade Time’ on Friday night, we went to dinner in the restaurant in our hotel.  Sarah and Brian, who now live in Kansas City, met us at the bar to hang out, have dinner, and watch basketball.  Great night! Since the Water Park didn’t open until 10:00 a.m. and our kids are up by 6:30, after we were done with breakfast we went down to enjoy the hotel swimming pool.  The boys loved to swim around, jump off the side, and be thrown up in the air by Lee.   Tyler coming down a slide in the Water Park. Brady coming down a slide in the Water Park. Both of the boys climbing up the net to get to the slides. You can tell by those smiles just how happy they are and how much fun they were having!    These slides were in the “toddler area.”  Brady could have gone down this slide, played in the warm water, climbed up the stairs to go back down the slide, the whole day!  Brady loved this area!  This picture shows Tyler and Brady going down the slide together.   Saturday afternoon, we took the kids to T-Rex Cafe.  Inside T-Rex Cafe there is a restaurant/bar and many, many awesome dinosaurs!  We didn’t take the kids there to eat, but did take them there for what was in the back of the restaurant—Build-A-Dino!  As much as the kids love their Build-A-Bear and loved their Build-A-Bear experience, I knew that they would love to ‘build’ their own Dino.  They were amazed by all the dinosaurs inside the restaurant and then were surprised and so happy to know that they were going to be able to ‘build’ their own Dino at Build-A-Dino.  This huge T-Rex was at the front of the Restaurant.  Both boys were actually terrified of this dinosaur, even after we told them that it was not real.  But it did move and make noise, so when Lee put them up close to the Dino’s mouth, they both wanted down immediately! A small aquarium inside the restaurant. Time to choose which Dino/Animal they wanted. Giving their animal’s heart their brains, strength, love, etc.  They love this so much! Build-A-Dino Workshop in Kansas City.  Brady walked out with a Saber Tooth Tiger named ‘Baby Tooth’ and Tyler walked out with a red T-Rex named ‘Chomper.’  Both were very excited to take them over to Sarah and Brian’s house! We spent the evening at Sarah and Brian’s house Saturday night for dinner.  After the boys’ dinner, they cuddled up on the couch with their new animals and watched a movie while we ate our dinner. Tyler took this picture of us with Sarah and Brian (and Brady). Myself and Sarah. When we got back to the hotel Saturday night, it had been snowing and the fire place in the lobby felt amazing while we waited for Lee to park the car. Giving cuddles to their new animals. Brady wanted to take a picture, so I let him take a picture of Tyler and I.

This was our first hotel experience where the kids actually slept in the same bed as each other!  :)

WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL, FAMILY VACATION!