February Happenings

Before March gets away from me, I better get to our activities of February!

We did lots of our normal weekly stuff:

Library time

Play-doh time

Also, don't be jealous, but my son gave me a whole bowl-full of diamonds (found in the gutter)! We're rich!!

Of course the MAIN EVENT in February for us is Jeremiah's birthday!! It's basically a month-long party over here!

 

Somehow, on February 18, this baby turned 7 years old!!

Waaaah!!! His little baby face!

The celebration began on the 16th, when J got to bring his birthday treat to school (J's birthday usually falls around President's Day, so this year that got him a 4-day weekend! So treats went to school on Thursday.)

Class of 11 children = very nice for baking treats.

We had to arrange our birthday celebrating around Adam's work schedule and our surprise trip to Chicago. So Friday morning before work, J and Daddy went out for a special birthday breakfast at McDonald's.

Then when they got home, it was present time!

I put this note in J's card to reveal our surprise about going to Shedd Aquarium- he was pretty excited!! (I tried to get a video of him reading the note, but it's too hard to hear him over Hope crying because she wanted presents, too. So, nope.)

 

Then we even did cupcakes for a mid-morning snack before Daddy left for work.

 

Watching someone else open presents = bad. Eating cupcakes = GOOD!!

We lucked out with awesome spring weather over J's birthday. It was amazing!!

I just had to document this for our family out in CA, because this NEVER happens!

We had to play a few rounds of Mousetrap, too. FYI, it's MUCH easier now to build and play than the Moustrap of my youth.

Saturday (J's actual birthday!) we ran some errands and did FaceTime with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Matt, Aunt Cheryl, Josie, Evan, and Uncle Ben out in CA. They even sang to him! 

When Adam got home from work, we jumped in the car for our trip to Chicago! We stopped in Naperville for a birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse- J was sung to and got to sit on the saddle!

We went back and forth about where to stay (downtown vs suburbs) and ultimately decided the downtown experience would be fun for J and would save time with not having to drive into the city for the day on Sunday. And thanks to Priceline (Hyatt Regency Chicago right on Wacker for $79 a night!) and SpotHero (for parking) I think we did pretty well staying downtown without breaking the bank. Yes, we did a bit more walking than J would have liked, AND saw some interesting sights down underneath the city when finding our parking garages (FYI if you thought Lower Wacker was as low as you could go, you'd be wrong. There are streets way under there. And homeless people. Also, GPS is useless down there.) But that's what made it an adventure! :)

The kids thought our hotel and the view were SO cool! One whole wall was windows, and we were on the 18th floor! I'm not gonna lie, I might be turning into my mother- it made me really nervous when the kids would go right up to the windows! So ridiculous. But after I snapped the picture and they looked around a bit, I closed the curtains.

Sunday was a gorgeous day!! And definitely made it easier to walk around the city when we weren't freezing our bottoms off.

I love this city so much!!

We spent all of Sunday morning at Shedd Aquarium and got there soon after it opened (good thing, too, because the line was like 3x as long when we left!). I had pre-purchased our tickets, so it didn't take us long to get in.

Jeremiah is really interested in ocean animals, specifically sharks, so he was in heaven!

He wanted me to take pictures of every animal we saw, but I had to put a limit on that. Here are a few of his favorites:

And J touched a sturgeon!

 

Watching dolphins jump and swim.

Hope found Dory! And later Nemo, too.
 

Of course we had to get a pic of J by the sharks!!

We covered the whole place by about noon, then on our walk back to our parking spot (SpotHero!) we stopped for lunch at Aurelio's pizza. YUM.

Then we headed up to Logan Square to see Auntie Abby and Uncle Neil. From their place we walked to a park to let the kids play and have ice cream (thanks to Uncle Neil). WHEN can you do that in Chicago in February?!?!?!

Then it was back downtown to find our next parking garage, and then we walked up Michigan Ave and found a Potbelly for dinner (I just love that place!!).

The sculpture called "Return Visit." J listened in as Abe and "contemporary man" discuss the Gettysburg Address.

It was quite a long, tiring day for all of us (especially for Hope, who skipped her nap), so we called it a day and walked back to our hotel for early bedtime!

We were up bright and early on Monday to head back to Iowa so Adam could get to work. 

And the beautiful weather continued! 

But we weren't done celebrating! The next weekend we had all the Middendorps over to celebrate with cake and ice cream.

No, I did not make this cake. I totally could have, I'm sure, but we just couldn't pass it up when we saw an ocean cake at Hy-vee's bakery!

That was officially the end of the birthday celebrating. Whew! Good thing, too, because the next day J proceeded to get sick with some crazy virus that kept him home from school for the whole week. :( Just when we'd think he was fever-free and on the mend, the fever would come back and he'd be sick in bed again. Strangest virus ever. Poor guy! I'm so glad that somehow the rest of us avoided it!

Our beautiful weather did come to an end, although 50s still aren't too bad. Along with the warm weather, comes thunderstorms, though. And so far we've already had 2 different times with tornado sirens going off. 

Watching the rain, wind, hail, etc!

It could be an interesting spring! The weather is supposed to get back in the 30s for the next while,  which is a bummer. But we know spring will be here soon because barges are going up and down the Mississippi again (always exciting for J to see!), and our poor little confused tulips are already popping out of the ground!

 

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 
 

 

 

Baby #3 Update

We had our 20 week ultrasound last Wednesday, and it was so fun seeing little baby in there! Because of my age, my Dr wanted me to have the Panorama and quad screen blood tests to test for chromosomal abnormalities. I didn't really see the need for these, as our baby is our baby and we love her no matter what! But, it seemed to be the protocol at this Dr (side note: I was over 35 when I had Hope, too, and nothing was ever said about my age. I kinda miss my Dr in Holland!), so I went with it. Both those tests came back "normal" or "low risk" so that was good, that was also how we found out baby's gender earlier than 20 weeks (they take the baby's DNA from my blood! Crazy!). So anyway, yet again because of my age, my Dr wanted me to have a more detailed Level 2 ultrasound rather than a regular one done in their office. So we actually had our ultrasound at the University of Iowa clinic in the Quad Cities (not super convenient, especially since the time they gave me was in the afternoon. But, Grandpa and Grandma to the rescue! They came for the day to stay with Hope and let her nap, and also ended up hanging with Jeremiah too since he was home from school with Strep AGAIN!).

Not a super clear profile shot, but Adam and I both think she looks like Hope. :) She was moving ALL over and being quite the stinker while the tech was trying to take measurements (also similar to Hope!). 

Who doesn't love tiny baby feet?!?!

So after the ultrasound, a U of I Dr came in and the tech scanned some more for her and then she talked about what they saw. She said everything looks pretty good and normal, and baby is weighing about 1 lb 8 oz. However, they did see something with her kidneys that I guess is a bit of a concern, enough of a concern that we'll go back at 32 weeks to re-check. What she said was that baby has a back-up of fluid in her kidneys, and they measured 5 mm, and the cut off for "normal" is 4 mm. So, of course there are a whole host of things that could be causing this (ranging from my own hormones to a less common chromosomal abnormality that wasn't tested for with those blood tests), and it could very well resolve on its own by 32 weeks or by the time she's born. Of course, my friend/enemy google has me worried. :( And I also can't help but think it's something I've done that caused this (which is obviously not the case). But, there is really nothing that we can do between now and the 32 week ultrasound. If things look better, then YAY everything is fine! If things look worse, then apparently that means the baby could be at risk for kidney infections which is not good in a newborn and can cause them to be very sick. So then we would be referred to Iowa City to a pediatric kidney Dr. SO, it totally could be nothing at all, BUT it also could be something. So we're just praying that by 32 weeks it will have resolved itself and that re-check ultrasound will just be another fun glimpse at baby girl. In the meantime, I'm trying to steer clear of google.

In other news:

Princess Rapunzel is doing well.

And so is toothless J!

We had a super nice Saturday, sunny and up to the 50s. So we just had to get the bike and scooter out!

You better believe I consider this my own personal parking spot at Hy-Vee!

January 25 was J's 100th day of school!

This was one of my favorite activities when I was teaching, so I'm glad J got to do it, too. The answers can be so funny!

FYI if he's anything like his father, he'll be snoring WELL before he's 100. :)

Homework time (usually spelling and math for J, coloring for H)

Hope's picky-eating is reminiscent of a little girl named Rachel, apparently. Check out that masterpiece, though! Frito's standing in a corn muffin, and a scowl on her face because I made her try the taco soup.

While my parents were here helping with the kids on Wednesday, we also had a little early birthday celebration for this almost 7 year old (since my parents will be in CA over his real b-day)!!

Can't believe he's almost 7!!!

That's about it from here- February will be full and fun, with J's b-day coming up and we're hoping to take a little trip for his b-day to Chicago to go to Shedd Aquarium (sshhh, he doesn't know yet! He's going to be so excited!!). :)

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Christmas, Adam's Birthday, Christmas again, Etc!

This is ridiculously late to be finally re-capping Christmas! Sheesh! I hope I remember everything!

The weekend of December 17 (Adam's birthday!) Adam's family came to Clinton for the weekend so we could celebrate an early Christmas and Adam's birthday together. 

Saturday the 17th, we had breakfast at our house and then it was time for presents!! The kids were so excited!!

Hope is such a great present-opener. So expressive!

Ask Adam how long it took to put that dinosaur together, hee hee! :)

J loves the TV show "Battlebots" so he was thrilled to get his own Battlebot Arena!

 After the present extravaganza, we headed over to Matt and Lorayne's house. The kids/men played in the snow, gave sled rides behind the 4 wheeler (!!!!!!), and the ladies went out for coffee.

Remember when we had snow??? I barely do.

Hope takes after her momma- why do people think this is fun?!?!

She only lasted a couple minutes!

Then that evening we all gathered back at Matt and Lorayne's house again to enjoy a nice Christmas dinner and to celebrate this guy!

This was not just any old birthday- it was the BIG 4-0!!!

40 looks good on him, right? :) We all had such a fun time!

December 22 was J's last day (a 1/2 day) of school before Christmas break. His teacher invited parents and siblings to join the Christmas party, so Hope and I did just that! Hope had a blast! The kids made Christmas trees out of plastic cups, decorated and ate yummy cookies, and played a couple other games.

Jeremiah was SO excited to give us the Christmas present he made at school! So it did not go under the tree, he had us open it as soon as Daddy got home from work.

So cute!
 

Adam was able to have Christmas Eve off, and the Ranch is closed Christmas Day so it was so nice to have him home and be together for 2 days!

On Saturday, Christmas Eve, we went over to Mike and Heidi's house to decorate cookies and have a birthday party for Jesus.

That's a lot of cookies!!!

We had chili and cinnamon rolls for dinner at home (possible new tradition- we liked it!), and then let the kids open one gift after dinner (Christmas jammies!). Then we went to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at our church.

Is my brother smiling? Cause then I'll smile, too.

Twinsies in our scarves :)

I love candlight church services!!

After church, it was time for Christmas jammies and presents!

We got the kids their first sleds! I know, how did we ever live in snowy MI and not own sleds?!?! I don't know.

Unfortunately this is all the sledding they've done, since our snow is long gone. Maybe someday they'll really get to use them! Also, Hope could not be bothered for a picture. She was much too busy playing with her "Hy-Vee" (her new cash register)!

That night J insisted that we put out cookies and milk for Santa (even though I reminded him several times that we already opened presents....). I have no idea what he thinks about Santa, but it was important to him, so we did it. Cookies and milk for Santa plus a cookie for Rudolf because we didn't have carrots.

Christmas Day was a nice relaxing day. In the morning we opened stockings!

Sit still, Hope!

The kids spent time playing with their new toys,

and Adam and J went to see the movie "Sing!" In the afternoon. We even made a Christmas dinner- turkey breast, stuffing, veggies and cheese sauce, mashed potatoes..... yum!!!

We spent New Year's Eve at Mike and Heidi's house eating yummy food, playing games, and having fun! But we left at 11:00, just after seeing the ball dropped in New York. So we celebrated on eastern time, I guess!

J was off of school till January 5. Unfortunately we didn't really do much exciting over his break(that I can remember....). We did decorate more cookies, though, because why not??

In more recent news, J lost his top tooth while eating dinner last week! Thankfully he did not faint, but he did go lie down because he "felt weird."

Hope is trying to streamline the whole potty-training process.

And regarding Baby #3- we found out that she is a girl!!

J was pretty disappointed. :( Right away he said, "Aw man! Now I'll have another little sister to keep out of my room!" Plus he really wanted bunk beds. But, I think he's coming to terms with it. He does think it will be cool for just him and a Daddy to go do "guy stuff" together. And Hope is clueless right now, but hopefully she and her sister will be great friends!

Already baby #3 is being neglected as I have done no baby bump pictures or really any documenting of the pregnancy. Probably because it hasn't felt real to me! Crazy, I know, but it felt like I was just sick with a stomach bug for like 12+ weeks. Fun times! But, I think in the last week or so I've started showing more, and I've been feeling her move around in there, AND I've been feeling better (YAY!!) so it is starting to feel more real. I am just about 18 weeks along right now, and my Dr had me do a blood test to test for all kinds of genetic things (basically because I'm old). So that is how we also found out the gender (and everything else looked good, too, thankfully). I don't have my 20 week ultrasound until February 1st, and that will be a Level 2 ultrasound with a University of Iowa doctor (with an office in Davenport)....  again I'm assuming because I'm old. Everything so far has gone well with baby, so I'm assuming the level 2 ultrasound will too. I'll be sure to update when I have some pics of little girly to share! 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 
 

Christmas Fun!

December so far has been full of fun! 

We put our Christmas tree up, and after some light issues, got it sufficiently decorated. And we decided that this year will be the last year for this crappy Meijer tree. (Side note: WHY do lighted trees and strands of lights come with those stupid extra light bulbs? Has anyone really ever made a strand or part of a strand work again by magically putting the new bulb in the right spot?!?! Please explain.)

But who doesn't love snuggling by a Christmas tree??

The first weekend in Dec was especially fun! Friday, we went to Fulton to enjoy their downtown "Christmas Walk."  Jeremiah's school was in charge of the warming area, where they had cocoa and cookies, a craft, and the choir singing Christmas carols. So we made sure to stop there first! Then there was free kettle corn, different displays in store windows (one store even had dancers dancing scenes from "The Nutcracker"!), horse-drawn wagon rides, lots of festive Christmas decorations, Santa, and also Sinterklaas by the big windmill! I think J might start liking Sinterklaas over Santa- Sinterklaas gave him a whole little sack of chocolate coins!

Saturday afternoon we went to see the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train, which stopped right here in Clinton! It was pretty impressive! After it pulls to a stop, one car opens up and they perform a short (I don't remember who the musicians were) concert, then there were fireworks, and then off the train goes to its next stop.

Adam came with us for a bit, but then had to work. The concert was hard to see (since Mommy can't hold J on her shoulders!), so we walked down by the train to see it up close. Then watched the fireworks from the warm car. :)

Sunday morning we awoke to our first snow! J is such a snow lover, so he was so excited and ready to get out there and play!

I don't get it.

I do have snow pants for Hope, but she has to wait for Christmas to open up her new snow boots (that's what both kids are getting for their "something you need" gift). She hasn't shown too much interest in going out to play with J, so I doubt she will last very long when she does. We'll see! I think J has gone out to play in the snow every single day since we got that first snow, even when most of it melted! Now we have a fresh new batch of snow, so he's so happy. Unfortunately our temps are taking a nosedive, so I won't be sending him out for an hour when it's barely above 0! 

Sunday afternoon we met up with friends and went to see "Disney on Ice"! It was so fun! J really had no idea what it was (he told me afterwards that he thought it was a movie. Ha!), and he really enjoyed it. Hope also loved it and stayed entertained the majority of the time (because PRINCESSES). The last part was about Rapunzel, so of course that was the favorite!

This must be documented:

I tried pigtail braids in Hope's hair! She hated them and cried until I put a ponytail in. :(

This past Saturday, J and Adam worked on decorating a (pre-assembled) gingerbread house.

It turned out so cute! And our little 2 year old snitch only snagged a couple M&M's and finger licks of frosting, before we moved it up higher.

Saturday night Adam was working, it was snowy outside- made for the perfect cozy pizza and movie night for me and the kids!

Monday night we did jammies early, made a stop a Starbucks, and then headed out to see some Christmas lights!

I was surprised how excited Hope was by the lights! We heard lots of "Lookit dat, Daddy!" And "Its so byoo-ful!!"

We went to the "Symphony of Lights" where you drive through Eagle Point Park and see all the lights. Very cool! Then on our way home, we discovered like 3 blocks away from our house (where we went trick-or-treating, actually) there is a street that decorates all the houses and calls it a "Neighborhood Noel." That was fun to see, too. 

And last night we took care of visiting Santa! He just so happened to be hanging out at the Pizza Ranch, so that just made it so easy and convenient! I wasn't sure how Hope would do since she doesn't know anything at all about Santa, and last year she cried so hard! But she heard J talking about telling Santa about something he wanted for Christmas, and she quickly decided she needed to "talka Santa" too. As you can see, she wasn't super eager to get near Santa, but from my arms she was able to tell him that she wants princesses (surprise!). J wants a conveyor belt and working excavator, by the way.

One more fun thing about December- sickness! Woohoo! Had to pick J up early from school today- sore throat (which he did complain about this morning- oops) and fever (which he did NOT have this morning). And it's Strep! Hooray. Hopefully once he gets his antibiotics, he'll be feeling much better. That also means he probably has to miss his school Christmas concert tomorrow night, since he can't go to school yet tomorrow. Such a bummer- I was really looking forward to it! :( But 'tis the season, I suppose. Now hopefully the rest of us don't get it so we can enjoy our next Christmas (and Adam's 40th birthday!!!!!) this weekend!