Good bye, July!

I feel like I start every blogpost by saying “I can’t believe it’s ______ already!” Or “Time continues to fly by”, or “How can it be ______ already?!” But seriously, people. Summer is flying and July is just about done! Soon we’ll be looking at school supplies and talking about the first day of school. 😢 Summer always goes too fast!

July has been fun and busy for our family! 

Happy Independence Day! 🇺🇸

On the 4th we went to Clinton’s 4th of July parade. We went down there a bit early and had Holly’s Dog’s for lunch on the river front (Yum! 🌭 They even had red, white, and blue hotdog buns for the occasion). Then we found a spot on the parade route and waited in the 1 million degree heat for it to start. It was SO HOT!! ☀️ There was hardly any shade on the route, so the kids made do by sitting in Adam’s shade. 😬 (Can I just say here how nice it is that Adam works somewhere where he gets these kinds of holidays off of work?! It’s very nice.)

After the parade, we were all so stinkin’ hot, we didn’t stick around for any of the other activities. We did go down and got free snow cones, though. 😃 Then home to the AC!

I took Hope to get her hair trimmed before our vacation (I thought a hair cut might help with brushing out her long locks after swimming, etc.)

I think we need to cut off a little bit more in order to make a difference or be easier to brush out! 💇🏼‍♀️

July 8 was the beginning of our week at the lake house in McHenry, IL with my family. Unfortunately Adam could not join us because he had to work, and then left mid-week for his first work trip (to Texas).

But, he did drive over for the day on Sunday to hang out and see the fam!

The cousins were SO happy to see each other! They wasted no time getting into swim suits and into the water and sand that evening.

Monday was our first full day there, and we spent lots of time out in the water, playing in the sand, kayak rides, jet ski rides, and ice cream!

Don’t worry, Uncle Matt was on the other side of Hope’s kayak 😬

Tuesday Day 2!

More playing in the lake!

Hope and Josie decided to have matching hair-do’s

Norah spent some time outside, too. She actually pretty much hated the water (She was also under the weather most of the week....). ☹️ But she did have fun sitting in the grass with cousin Duncan!

Don’t even think about touching my toys.

A beautiful sunset that night! 🌅

Wednesday Day 3!

More playing in the lake, Josie (and Uncle Matt) made a scavenger hunt for the kids, and in the evening we did s’mores!

Grandpa, the baby entertainer!

Thursday Day 4!

Our “day away” to the Lego Discovery Center in Schaumburg! We also considered for a few seconds going to the Build-a-Bear madness 🤣, but after seeing the lines wrapping around the mall we turned ourselves right around and said NO WAY. The kids had a great time at the Lego place!

Friday Day 5!

Playing in the lake, crabby Norah read books with Grandpa, and an evening boat ride!

I love boats.

Saturday Day 6!

More playing in the lake, and another boat ride!

AAAANND trying to get a pic of Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids! Fun times.

And Sunday Day 7. Clean up and say good bye.

😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

The kids and I headed home to Iowa for about a week and a half. Jeremiah did another VBS (this one was a science camp, so J loved it!).

We spent lots of time FaceTiming with Adam out in TX. And thanks to J, I have photo evidence of this!

Sorry, Adam 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

And yes there are more where these came from. 🤣

With N still under the weather, things were a bit tough for me with the kids by myself. One time-saver I discovered? Throw both girls in the bath together! (Don’t even ask why it took me so long to do this.... in my mind, N is like a newborn so obviously MUCH too young!)

Turns out, she’s actually not too young. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Norah actually turned 13 months on July 21! What?!?!

She’s not walking. But she’s an expert at pushing stuff around.

On July 25, I took the kids to my parents in Wisconsin for a few days. Matt, Josie, and Evan were there before heading back to CA so we overlapped for 1 day. The cousins were so happy to see each other again! And Grandpa, Matt, Josie, Evan, and Jeremiah went to a Milwaukee Brewer’s game in the afternoon. That evening the CA people had to head home. 😢 J and H were so sad!!

On Thursday we checked out a cool park near my parents house, and the kids had so much fun there!

Friday morning we (along with Grandma and Grandpa), made the trip around the lake to Grand Haven, MI for a gathering of the Waanders family. It was a long drive, but a stop at Sherman’s made things better! 😬

And once we arrived in GH, dinner that evening was at Fricano’s! Yum 🍕

The kids LOVED staying at Uncle Tony and Aunt Jeane’s house on Lake Michigan!

On Saturday morning, my mom and I took the kids in to GR to see the Sinke’s and they just so happened to get the train out for some train rides. Best day ever, for both J and H (they both got to drive, too!!!!). 🚂

N loved the train ride, too. She probably would have fallen asleep!

Saturday afternoon, back in GH, we headed down to the beach. J and H had SO much fun!! 

J went out to the sand bar!

Half-way up the stairs, we all needed a break.

Saturday afternoon and evening was the Waanders gathering, and it was so nice seeing everyone again! Wouldn’t you know it, I got 0 pictures. 😢 Probably because guess who was either STILL under the weather, or under the weather AGAIN. 🤒

Duncan was happy though.

Oh, I do have 1 pic! Me, Abby, and our short sister Melissa 🤣

There was a beautiful sunset that night! 🌅

Sunday we packed up and made the trek back to Iowa. Another long drive! If anyone wants to take Norah on a road trip please let me know. It’s SO SO fun!!! 😫

So now we are home and eagerly awaiting Adam’s arrival home this week. And saying good bye to July! We had so much fun, it will be hard to top this month!

Summer!!

I can’t believe we’re about 1 month into summer vacation already! The days seem to be flying by, with the exception of the days when the kids fight and drive each other crazy. Those days drag. But for the most part, they are flying! 😬

In late May, Jeremiah’s school had a night at a Clinton Lumberkings game, which was lots of fun! The students even sang the national anthem, and J was asked to do a throwing game on the field between innings. It was a fun time! Extra fun that Adam could actually join us, too.

J had a field trip to the Niabi Zoo the last week of school, and I decided to take the girls and meet up with them there. Unfortunately our summer weather decided to take a break that day, and it was cool and rainy. But the kids still had fun!

May 25- goodbye 2nd grade!

First day, last day- I can’t believe we have a 3rd grader!

This girl is loving summer time and playing outside ☀️

Big deal over here— bunk beds for J and H!!!

New sleeping g arrangements for all- J in the top bunk, H in the bottom bunk (first time in a big girl bed for her!), and N finally moved to the crib in H’s room. Sleeping is going fairly well. N still wakes in the night, but she goes back to sleep pretty well now that she knows mommy isn’t right next to her.  Bedtime with the big kids is a new adventure now that they share a room, but things are improving. It really goes well if H falls asleep before J goes to bed. But if she naps during the day, then that doesn’t happen. She’s just at that age when sometimes she needs a nap, sometimes she doesn’t. Sad to see regular nap time go away. 😢 Also by the way, we got these sturdy metal bunk beds at a garage sale for $25! Woohoo!

I set up a “mud kitchen” in a corner of the backyard for the kids (hoping to encourage outside play and siblings playing nicely together!). The clean up after they play out there isn’t always my favorite, but if it means they played nicely together outside then I’ll take it.

We signed J up for Enviro Kids again this year. He missed the first one (at the dump!) because it was the day we picked up the bunk beds, but the next week it was at the Izaak Walton League, so we all went along to enjoy the morning there.

J had been dying to catch a fish since he went last year, so he wasn’t too thrilled that he did not even get a nibble but Hope (and Daddy) caught a fish! 🎣

Just me and my BFF cooking dinner.

Library- We try to go every week!

J did a 3 day Art Camp with his Art teacher at school. He loved it, and came home with such great stuff that he made!

Also he made a cute little campfire with a real flickering light.

June 16- Felix Adler Day 2018. It was SO HOT and I was SO glad to not be 9 months pregnant this year!!

June 17- Happy Fathers Day to Adam, the best Daddy ever!

We are so enjoying having him around in the evenings and on weekends! ❤️ His new job at John Deere is going great- it is a perfect fit for him and such an awesome company. We are so thankful for the opportunities he has there!

June 21, 2018- Happy 1st birthday to Norah! 

How was this just 365 days ago??? 😭

We had a fun day celebrating our sweet girl! We had a play date with friends in the morning, then in the afternoon Grandma and Grandpa Wiers came from WI. We did presents, had dinner at Steam Anchor, and came home for cupcakes.

She’s ONE! 

Her brother and sister even let her help open her own presents. 🤣

She got a new car! (From G & G Wiers)

I think she would ride in this thing all day if we let her.

Cupcakes by mommy, sprinkles by brother and sister 

Turns out she actually hated eating the cake and frosting! But she did enjoy playing in it. 😊

We love you so much, Norah Lynn!

This week we are busy with VBS at our church. Both J and H are going, and they love it! The theme is “Polar Blast” ❄️❄️❄️

I’m helping with the snow making activity, so I got some pics when they were at my station. My son 🤦🏼‍♀️

She has enough hair for a little ponytail, and how cute are those overalls?! 😍

This afternoon Norah had her 1 year check up and vaccinations. She weighs 21 lbs 14.5 oz which is about 78%ile (comparison time! At age 1, J was 25 lbs 2 oz and H was 21 lbs 15 oz). So N and H are very close to the same! J was in a league of his own. 😂 Norah is 29.75 inches long which is again about 78%ile (J was 31.5 inches and H was 30.25 inches). Still no walking for our sweet baby, and that was the only issue the Dr thought might be concerning, but seeing how much progress she’s made in the last couple weeks with pulling up, walking along furniture, and walking behind a push toy, I have no doubt she’ll be walking soon. Yikes! She says a few words too- “uh-oh” when she drops something, “mah mah mah mah mah” (repeatedly!) when she wants more food, “goggy”(doggy), and my personal favorite- “MOM!” Yeah she doesn’t say mama, or mommy, or anything like that. I think she has been learning from her older siblings and just yells out “MOM! “MOM!” “MOM!”

So this is my life 🤣

We have lots to look forward to in July! Independence Day 🇺🇸, then a week at the lake house with the Wiers side of the family! Happy summer! ☀️

We Made It!

Wow, just a little more than a month ago it was still winter!! We are SO thankful that the spring/summer weather has finally arrived! 🙌🏻 That was a loooooong winter, but we made it through. And hopefully 🤞🏻 we’ve also made it through that terrible germ season- we’ve all been healthy and happy 🤣 since my last post.

In mid-April Jeremiah’s class did their Talent Chapel, where each child displays one of the talents that God has given them. It’s not always easy for J to figure out which talent to go with, but this year he really wanted to do scooter riding. But when he started talking about balance beams and ramps, I knew we weren’t going to be able to make that happen. (Also, he’s never ridden his scooter on a ramp or balance beam, so I’m assuming it would not have turned out well!) So on to a Plan B, which was making (with help from Dad) and flying different types of paper airplanes.

Cutest photo-bomber ever back there!

Norah continued to be the most difficult baby food eater EVER. What the heck. So after getting the spoon batted out of our hands constantly, we gave up. Baby won that battle! 😑 We moved on to table food and she has not looked back! Her first favorite was baby cheese puffs- so healthy.

Not surprisingly, she’ll eat any kind of bread. 😬 But also likes shredded cheese, blueberries, freeze-dried fruit..... we keep working on expanding what she eats, but this girl is a tough one. I’m sure I get the blame for that.

One more freezing cold miserable soccer practice in April!

Because who wouldn’t want to play soccer all bundled up in your winter coat? Why do we even live here?!?!

And then spring arrived. 🌷🌳🌼

And we all crawled out of our winter hibernation to rejoice and enjoy the sunshine and warmth!! Norah had her first swing ride, which she obviously loved. 😄

Some time after Easter (I don’t remember exactly when, because she’s the 3rd child and all), Norah went from army crawling to all 4’s crawling. Very fast.

This is our view, a lot. This was her 10 month picture on April 21! Next week she’ll be 11 months (WHAT!) and I’m sure that picture will be SO much better. 

She has been pulling up on low things on her knees (dishwasher, laundry basket) for awhile, but hasn’t really done much pulling up on her feet. Just this last week she pulled up to stand by the coffee table a couple times and that’s about it.

Let’s keep talking about Norah! She’s so darn cute, and apparently she’s the one I take pictures of the most right now. Sorry other kids.

She started making this funny face, then she laughs at herself! Seriously so cute.

Our tulips finally decided it was safe to come up (well, one bunch did. We planted 3 different groups, and 1 group came up, 1 group is stalled half-way up, and the last group never came up at all! ☹️ Sad, but can’t really blame them when winter lasts forever).

So some pretty big news for us is that as of April 27, Adam is done working as the GM for the Pizza Ranch. It was becoming more and more clear to both of us that him working there was just not what was right for him or for our family, and he felt it was time to be done there. We know God has big plans for him, but the Pizza Ranch just was not the right fit for his gifts and talents. And as of May 14, he is now an Engineer Tech at John Deere! We were so happy this opportunity came along and definitely feel that Adam will do great things there, with lots of opportunities for him to move up within the company in the future. He really has enjoyed it so far!

We are all pretty proud of this guy. The kids (and I!) are so happy to have daddy home in the evenings and on weekends again! He can come to programs and soccer games, and be the awesome involved Daddy that he is and wants to be. ❤️

Oh hey! More Norah pictures!

Check out this beach bod 💪🏻

The first weekend in May was Dutch Days! 🌷So on Saturday J walked in the parade with his class, and then we walked around downtown Fulton for a bit. It was a beautiful day! ☀️

J has been involved in Cadets at the CRC in Fulton, and he has LOVED it so much! The big finale was the Pinewood Derby race and it was really fun for us to see him race his car!

Unfortunately, no trophies this year, and I know he already has big plans for how he’s going to design next year’s car. I don’t think he had any idea he was building the car for a race, I think he thought he just got to build a vehicle, because he had all kinds of great ideas for how he was going to make his race car into an army tank! But that probably would not have been very fast. 🤣

Let us not forget about Hope! She has been doing so much “pretend play” and it’s so fun to see her use her imagination and creativity. Often she likes to “be the mom” and then “daddy you can be the dad, and mommy you can be the sweetie.” 😂😂😂 I don’t mind being the sweetie, because sweetie has to take a nap sometimes. 😬

And then sometimes she plays with her dolls and puts them down for a nap and/or gives them screen time. 😂

This past weekend we took a quick trip to WI and Chicago! We drove to WI after Jeremiah’s soccer game, and arrived in the afternoon. My parents watched the kids for us that evening so that Adam and I could go on a date- It was so nice!! (Thank you Mom and Dad!)

We were able to have conversations without being interrupted 5 million times. It was nice. 🤗

We spent the night at my parents house and then were up bright and early (thanks, NORAH) to head down to Chicago for my nephew Duncan’s baptism! 

It was a lovely Mother’s Day- made even better by spending time with my family! And it brought back memories of Jeremiah’s baptism which was also on Mother’s Day 8 years ago.

We are starting to get into a groove now with Adam at his new job and working regular day hours, and then next week Friday is Jeremiah’s last day of 2nd grade (how is this possible??). So then we’ll be getting into a summer routine- yay! Lots of fun and good things to look forward to! 😊