Thanksgiving and Christmas Round 1

We spent the long Thanksgiving weekend in Sioux City with Adam's family!  We left Ankeny about 4:30 pm on Tuesday, and arrived in Sioux City about 7:45 pm (that included a dinner stop at "Suvway," one of Jeremiah's favorite places.  We made great time!).  We squeezed in Thanksgiving AND Christmas in this visit.

Breakfast on a barstool at Grandpa and Meema's-- he thinks he is pretty cool sitting up there!

On Wednesday, we just did some hanging around in Sioux City.  Jeremiah has good ears, and could hear every. single. train that went by near Grandpa and Meema's house (don't hear many trains in Ankeny).  Every time he would hear one, he would say, "(GASP)!  Can we go see it?????"  Well, no we could not go see one every time we heard one.  But we did take J on a little driving tour of the railyard in Sioux City.  He even got to see a train engine with its headlights on!  He was pretty excited.

We also stopped and visited Meema at work at Chik-Fil-A, and J was able to check out the brand new play area!  He approves.

Look closely at the tire. :)

 And we paid a visit to the mall as well.  And wouldn't you know it, they had a TRAIN that drives around the mall!  We could not pass up a train ride!  Plus, it was not very busy at all, so we were the only passengers.

Buying our tickets from the little engineer-- J is scoping out which car to ride on.

Pretty excited!

A little claustrophobic!

So so proud of his train ticket-- he carried it around most of the day!

Later in the afternoon, we drove the hour north to Adam's hometown of Hull to visit his Grandma Wissink.

Jeremiah and Giraffey gave Great-Grandma a nice big hug!

Pretty sky driving south from Hull.

 On Thanksgiving, we headed up to Orange City to Uncle Kelly and Aunt Rachel's house to have dinner with Meema's side of the family.  J was in heaven with all the trucks/cranes/tractors to play with inside AND the trucks/snowmobiles/campers to see in the shed outside!  It was a very relaxing day full of good food and family.

This cool dude needed a Starbucks stop before we hit the road!

Playing Lego's with Avery!

"Yep, I'm big enough to ride this."

"Daddy, can I touch this button?  Can I touch this?  How 'bout this???"

 J (and Mommy) even got to go for a ride on Uncle Kelly's Ranger!  By this time, the temps had dropped from yesterday's warm high 60s to VERY chilly and windy!  So Mommy did not last long, but Adam, J, Kyan, and Kobe rode for a long time!

"Let's go, daddy!"

It's not just the angle of the camera-- his cheeks really ARE that chubby and kissable.

Happy (and cold) guys at the end of the ride!

 On Friday, I got to go out for a morning of coffee and visiting with my best friends who live in Sioux Center!  We met half-way in LeMars at a super cute place called Habitue (accent on the "e", I don't know how to type that).  We exchanged Christmas gifts, since we won't be back to this area at Christmas time.  Such a fun time!  Drinking coffee, chatting with friends, catching up, LAUGHING a lot-- there's nothing better! :)

We occupied this booth for several hours. :)

 Don't worry, J was busy having "guy time" with Grandpa and Daddy.  They ran errands, visited Meema at work again, and went shopping at Bomgaar's.  Pretty sure J would live at Bomgaar's if he could.

Friday afternoon we took J on his very first bowling excursion!  He was a little overwhelmed by it all, I think.

Rockin' the bowling shoes.

 But he soon figured out that after Grandpa bowled, then it was his turn.  He and Daddy would go get the bowling ball while Mommy put the ramp in place.  Since he has the attention span of a gnat (as Adam likes to say), it was a long wait for the ball to roll down the alley and knock down the pins!

Ready to bowl for the first time!

The one second he paused to watch his ball...

He broke 100!

We grabbed dinner afterwards at the House of Q, where Jeremiah did some after dinner dancing to a little Johnny Cash.  He really has some moves, don't you think? :)

Saturday was Christmas!  Well, for us it was Christmas Round 1, with Adam's family. :)  J made out like a bandit, of course!

Stockings first!

"Hold this Daddy, I've got more stuff to check out."

He is a pretty fast present opener!

A boy in love.

 This was funny.  J opened a present, I said to him, "Hey buddy, do you know what these are?  They're big boy underwear!!!!"  His response: "But I don't like underwear!"

Cheese!  I got puzzles!

J with his "brand new bicycle" as he calls it.

On Sunday morning, we packed the Nitro to the gills, and headed home.  That "brand new bicycle" that J got took up quite a bit of room! :)  It was good to be home and get unpacked, laundry done,  and get prepared to head back to reality Monday morning.

This evening J and I got out the Christmas decorations!  I had wanted to get the stuff up before we left for Thanksgiving, so we wouldn't have to worry about it when we got home.... well, obviously that didn't happen.  But when J got to daycare this morning and said, "Wow, Shell, I like all your Christmas stuff!"  I decided it was time to get our Christmas stuff out!  J was a big help.

He decorated the bottom half of the tree.

He cleaned up all the tissue paper with his excavator.

No, our ornaments don't match or coordinate, but every single one has a story!

Trick or Treat!

Just as I promised-- the cutest dragon ever!

I am really annoyed by the term "Beggar's Night."  Seems to somehow cheapen the already cheap Halloween/Trick-or-Treating.  However, every year I think it's weird, and every year they still do it.  Maybe next year I'll be used to it and embrace "Beggar's Night" to the fullest?

Regardless of my feelings about "Beggar's Night," Jeremiah was pumped to go Trick-or-Treating tonight!  We enjoyed a yummy Jack-'o-lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's for dinner (such a cute idea-- J thought it was so funny!  Plus, easy cooking night!  I'm thinking this is our new Halloween, er, "Beggar's Night" tradition), and then it was time to get the dragon ready for Trick-or-Treating. 

Sitting nicely for the obligatory pictures.

And then finally 6:00 pm arrived and we could go!  Mommy and Jeremiah did the Trick-or-Treating while Daddy stayed home to greet the masses at our own door (FYI, we bought 2 bags of 100 pieces of candy..... and we have none left).

I apologize in advance for any blurry photos to follow.  The dragon was moving fast!

And he's off!

Hey, Mommy!  This is fun!

Jeremiah quickly understood that we could only go to the houses with their lights on.  But that did not stop him from asking, "Should we go to THIS house?" "Should we go to THAT house?" "What about THAT house?" etc etc.... 

I love that tail!

He did a good job of just taking 1 (or 3) at the houses that had their candy sitting outside.  Saw several people with pumpkins like this with suckers stuck in it.... am thinking maybe it was a Pinterest thing?

Patient dragon waiting his turn.

So fast you can barely see him!

We successfully made it around the block, and even hit a couple extra houses (because, "Should we go to THAT house, Mommy?"  Yes, of course we should.)

Ha ha!  We tricked Daddy and Trick or Treated at our own house!  Hilarious!

We arrived home, and J promptly dumped his bucket out.  Of all the candy he got, he was in search of a specific Tootsie Roll (because "I like Tootsie Rolls SO much, Mommy.)  Thankfully he found it!  And after a few treats from his bag, a nice warm bath, and some stories, our dragon was snoozing away about 7:30 pm.  He had so much fun!  And of course, since tomorrow is actually Halloween, there is more fun to be had at his daycare party. 

Well, I should really take a look in the candy bucket to make sure none of the candy is poisoned.  And I'll have to pick out anything that J doesn't like..... Happy Halloween! :)

Pumpkin Carving!

Wow, blog posts 2 days in a row!  Go, me!

This afternoon we carved our pumpkins!  Jeremiah did not seem to remember our pumpkin carving adventures from last year or the year before (careful if you look at those 2 links... you will be reminded of just how BIG Jeremiah is getting!), so this was all "new" to him.  Adam is the expert pumpkin carver in our house, and Jeremiah was quite excited to help daddy "scoop the yucky stuff out" of the pumpkins.  Well, he was excited until he actually started scooping the stuff out. :)  HERE is a video of it.

Pretty excited.

After all of Adam's hard work, I think the pumpkins turned out very well (he says these ones are his best yet-- if you look at the above 2 links from previous years, you can judge for yourselves)!

Not bad, huh? :) (FYI, he did not "free hand" those carvings-- we buy the handy dandy little carving kit from Hy-Vee that comes with patterns and all the needed tools).  But they do look great!

The pumpkin carving process was a little too long and boring for Jeremiah, so HERE is another video of what he did while Daddy carved (before he got REALLY bored and went to play with the iPad).

Our little pumpkin with his pumpkins. :)  Next up, Trick-or-Treating on Tuesday night!

Jeremiah-isms Part 2

Well, not much going on here lately besides school/work/daycare.  But, I started thinking about all the funny things that J is saying lately, and wanted to get them written down so I don't forget!  Plus, his current "Jeremiah-isms" are so much more advanced that his previous ones!

1.  As Adam was clipping J's fingernails, J was feeling Daddy's ear.  He said, "Daddy, is your ear made of Play-doh?"

2.  On the way to daycare one morning I was asking J what he wants to be when he grows up.  He said, "A farmer. (long pause). And I will have animals-- pigs and chickens and cows.  And daddy will drive the combine harvester, and me and mommy will drive the plow tractor.  And I will push the pedals."  Just Jeremiah, Mommy, and Daddy living and working on a farm-- sounds good to this Mommy! :)

3.  Some of the words that I know he says incorrectly, but I think it is just so cute so I don't correct him (Bad Mommy!)... he thinks "swings" are called "sqwinks," "backpack" is "packpack," the people who live next-door are the "nayvers," which means we also live in a "nayverhood," a knife is a "knive."

4.  One night at dinner he kept lifting his shirt and looking down at his tummy after he would take a bite.  We asked him what he was doing-- his reply: "I'm looking at my belly button to see if the food is coming out."

5.  A daily conversation we have in the car concerning his stuffed giraffe:
J: "Mommy, Giraffey is eating the trees outside."
Me: "Okay."
J: "Mommy, say 'No no, Giraffey!'"
Me: "No no, Giraffey!"
J: "She's still doing it, Mommy!  Say 'No no' again!"
Me: "No no Giraffey!"
J: "Giraffey needs a time-out."
Me: "Okay, Giraffey, go to time-out."
J: "She got out of time-out!"
Me: "No no, Giraffey, go back to time-out."
J: "She got out of time-out AGAIN!"
Me: "Well, did she give you a hug  and say 'Sorry'?"
J: (in a Giraffe voice) "Sowwy Jewemiah!" "Yes, she did."
Me: "Okay, good."
(silence for a few minutes)
J: "Now Giraffey is hitting me, Mommy!"
And the conversation repeats.  Is this the proper way to discipline an unruly Giraffe?  We are at a loss...

Oh, this face. This boy brings us so much joy!

 In other news, Halloween is coming soon!  Last night we enjoyed "Trunk or Treat" at Mommy's school, and believe me, Jeremiah is the cutest dragon/dinosaur you have ever seen.  No pictures yet, though-- he only had the costume on for about 20 minutes!  But don't worry, "Beggar's Night" is Tuesday night (yes, I know, so weird that we do not "Trick or Treat" on Halloween....) so he'll be ready for pictures then.  Stay tuned (also we'll be hopefully carving pumpkins soon, too)!

"Mommy, watch this face I can make!"

We're Still Here!

Well, hello.  Huh, it has been over a month and a half since I have blogged.  You all probably thought we were still relaxing and enjoying vacation!  Nope.  The lack of blogging is probably due to 1.) Nothing exciting has been going on (although Jeremiah is still cute and saying funny things, and the highlight of his life lately is usually when Daddy mows and trims.  Exciting?  Yes.  Blogworthy?  Probably not). 2)  We are back to work/school/daycare and life is busy.  and 3) I got a new Macbook Pro from school, and have found that uploading pics to this blog (or Facebook, or anything else) is now an extremely frustrating process.  Boo.  Who would have thought that a new computer would be less efficient?  For some reason I can't just "browse" and find my pictures anymore, unless I put the pics on my desktop.... can't for the life of me "browse" and find them in my iPhoto library (although they are there!).  So moving them to the desktop is annoying.  And I am sure there is a way to do this without having to do that step.... but why did it have to change from the way I did it on my old Macbook?  Anyone?

Well, I am willing to overlook this new computer glitch in order to tell you about our fun weekend!  Grandpa and Meema came to visit from 'Asconsin (as J says) to enjoy a lovely fall weekend with us!  They arrived on Thursday afternoon, and we promptly put them to work babysitting so we could go to Bible Study.  I would say that neither they, nor Jeremiah, were disappointed about that at all.  J barely said good-bye as we left-- he was much too busy helping Grandpa role their suitcases to their room. :)

Friday, Jeremiah got to spend the day at home with Grandpa and Meema!  I got this pictured texted to me during the day:

It's kind of dark, but you can plainly see that Jeremiah is holding up a brand new sticker book about diggers.  So he was thoroughly spoiled rotten!

Saturday morning we were up bright and early and off to the Farmer's Market!

Nothing better than an apple cider doughnut at the Farmer's Market!  It was a nice cool morning, and not too busy at the market, so it was a perfect morning!

J even got to ride on the train!

 In the afternoon, we met up with some friends at Center Grove Orchard.  What a fun place!  We will definitely be back-- Jeremiah had a blast!

First up was the corn pool, and both J and Mommy were able to go for a "swim."

Then we all piled on the hayrack for a ride out to the pumpkin patch and corn maze.  We opted for the pumpkin patch!  Oh, and by this time of the day it was HOT!

We say, "Jeremiah, look at the camera!"  He hears, "Jeremiah, say 'cheese' and look away!"

Of course, we picked out some pumpkins and gourds and then J was ready to hop right back on that hayrack for another ride.  Pretty sure he could have ridden that thing all day!

The fall scenery was gorgeous!

After the hayrack ride, we headed over to the giant inflatable jumping pillow!

Hard to tell who's having more fun, the kids or adults!

From there, Jeremiah wanted to head to the sandbox, and that was pretty much our last stop.  He spent a looooong time digging and working at his "'struction site."

We need to buy one of these.

No time for fun when there is work to be done!

Mommy took J for one last ride....

and J thought he needed to try it himself, of course.

Hot, sweaty, dirty, tired boy.

And then it was time to head home.  We made a stop at Culver's for dinner, and then it was home for a bath and bed!  Quite a tiring day for Jeremiah!

Sunday was church, and Jeremiah, Mommy, and Daddy went to 2 1/2 year old Sunday School while Grandpa and Meema went to church.  Then we had a nice lunch at Olive Garden!

By the tomato sauce on Jeremiah's face, you can see that it was delicious!

And then it was time for Grandpa and Meema to head back to Wisconsin. :(  Here is the traditional pic of J with Grandpa and Meema before they left.  J was nice enough to make sure that he and Grandpa and Meema all had gourds to hold for the picture.  He's so thoughtful.

A few great Jeremiah quotes from the weekend:
"I am having fun with you, Grandma!"
"Grandma, do you have a tail?"
"Why do you call Grandpa 'Bob'????"
"Why?"
"Well, why?"
"But why?"

And then as Grandpa and Meema were pulling away, he said, "My Grandpa and Meema have to go back to 'asconsin" in a sad little voice. :(

Thanks so much for everything, Mom and Dad!  We miss you already!!!!

 P.S. While putting together this blog post, I did figure out how to upload my pictures similar the the "old" way on my other computer.  Now the only annoying thing is that my side scroll bar disappears all the time.....