Valentine's Day

A bit late, but that shouldn't be a surprise.

On Thursdays, brynlee and I go to library story-time while fletcher is at school. The lady had a fun project for the littles to do after she read to them and sang a few songs. So cute and so fun.

All week, fletcher and I worked on his valentines for school. I saw a Pinterest idea that was pretty cheap and didn't involve candy. Simple to make-my kind of project. The awful part...having fletcher write his name on twenty of them, by request if his teacher. He made out like a bandit from his party at school.

Keeping with tradition, I made a heart meal for supper. This year, heart pancakes. And they were pink. A crowd pleaser, so I was pleased.

Adam and I had a day date that in saying was our valentines treat. On the Sunday before, we took the kids to Dsm so my dad could watch them and we went to the home and garden show at the iowa events center. It was probably the worst 22$ we spent, as we were there for less than an hour. We really didn't spend enough time looking at the vendors. After we did a walk through, we went across the street to buzzard billy's for a late lunch. It wasn't a thrilling day, but we had a few hours, kid free which was nice.

Wordless Wednesday-Dr visit

Wordless Wednesday-feeding the birds

Wordless Wednesday-my babies

Visiting Santa

As the second week of January is upon us, I feel like I should post about our December happenings. Here goes...

Our zoo does a meet Santa thing each year. Since there was going to be a REAL reindeer there, I thought I'd take the kids. The day I was going, I was picking the kids up from my parents' house, which mean they are off MY schedule. I didn't even think about early naptimes, long lines and uncooperative toddlers when I had this great idea.

As we pulled in the parking lot, I didn't think there where very many cars, until I saw the lines. As we got in line and proceeded to wait for over thirty minutes, I was asking myself, 'why the heck did I do this by myself?'. It was awful. Brynlee was so tired and whiny that I just wanted to leave, but I knew that Fletcher would be disappointed.

At least the reindeer kept Fletcher amused for our wait and the annoying kids behind me were entertaining. Their dad did a great job of coming up with ridiculous responses to their questions and I just smiled as I thought of what my response would be. I may or may not have mumbled a few times. I was that annoyed with the situation.

We finally got to Santa and Fletcher went up to him without hesitation. Brynlee on the other hand clung to me like a baby monkey holding on for dear life. I at least got a picture of him. The missing sister will explain how the year went when we look at Santa pictures in the future.

As we were leaving u really tried to avoid the reindeer picture line but I got the whiny 3 year old that time. The line was much shorter and the guy with the reindeer seemed to be moving the kids through quickly. I went for it, after all, it couldn't be much worse than the Santa experience. The wait was less Han 10 minutes and the pictures I got where worth it. The reactions made my day better, however, I was still mad I ha to do it all by myself.

The End.

the last five months-august

august was packed full of fun. we had to make sure we did all the last 'summer-ish' things before school started for flether and our days weren't so open. 

one day in early august, adam's dad was up doing some things to the house (we were still moving at this point) and he heard some music in the distance. when he caught sight of what it was, he came inside to see if the kids could have ice cream. this is a very rare occasion so all three of us joined him outside to get a treat. 

in the middle of the month, my parents had my niece and nephew (brother's kids) for a few weeks. they decided to make a trip to the omaha zoo and the kids and i were asked if we wanted to tag along. since adam was out of town (big surprise), we did. we were only gone for one 30 hours, but we were on the go. we headed to the air and space museum to check out all the old planes...four kids and two adult females were bored out of our minds, but my dad sure enjoyed it. 

when we left the museum, we drove next door to mahoney state park where we were staying at the lodge, checked in and then thought we would go to the water park for a bit. this was a major hit. 

checking out the map of the grounds. there is so much to do that they want to come back. 

the following morning, we got the crew ready for a day at the zoo. 

the iowa state fair starts the second thursday and goes for the next 10 days. it's kind of tradition for us to go and do certain things every year. the kids are getting older and having more fun seeing the animals and doing  some of the activities 

camping at camp pops and nana's

my grandpa's 89th birthday. we had a family party for him and all of his kids, grandkids and greats were in attendance. 

grandma and grandpa with the greats. seven kids, nine and under...oh, the joys. 

the last five months-july

in july, we did stuff. some memorable, some not so much. 

july 3rd at prairie meadows waiting for the firework display. someone also discovered her nostrils. 

introducing the littles to 'snakes'. 

we celebrated adam's niece's wedding, two days after we celebrated our 4th anniversary. 

the daughters of four of the original neighbor girls. these four are all within four months of each other. 

ellie, nov. mckenna, dec.  brynlee, feb. zoey, march

the kids took swim lessons. they loved it. the bottom picture is distorted if i make it bigger, but im sure you get it. 

we met some friends at the pool one afternoon and then headed to have froyo afterwards. 

we attended camryn's first annual christmas in july toy drive. 

practicing for saturday night live. an old tradition that my parents and their neighbors did when i was young. now when all the 'kids' are in town, we all partake as our littles run and play like we used to. 

the last five months-june

i was looking forward to june. the sun. the trips to the pool and zoo. staying up late. grilling and having summertime beverages. weekend adventures. our summer started out great, but by the end of the month, our summer took a major turn from fun to stressful.

the beginning of the month, i wanted to get the kids pictures taken. and because i'm am 'tight' with my money (in certain areas), i decided to play photographer mommy. with the help of my helpful assistant (my mom), we headed to the neighbors backyard to try and get a few decent pictures. fletcher was a ham. brynlee, not so much. i did end up getting a headache, and few that were frame-able. 

back in april for fletcher's birthday, he received a fishing pole from his pops and nana. ever since, he has really been into fishing. adam took him a few times. they also went to uncle dave's pond and did some fishing. fletcher is very impatient (inherited trait), and not quiet, so there was little catching going on.

on june 23rd, adam played in the alumni football game again. this year, he was joined by his step-brother nate, his friend iffy, and the oldest player on the team, his dad. this years game was not enjoyable at all. after the first three minutes of play, it started pouring. so hard. there was no rain in the forecast, and for the games entirety, it rained. stopping right as the clock ticked to 00:00. i have a lot of pictures of the game, but it didn't really get to watch any of it. albia lost again this year, but it was closer during the whole game. he's already signed up to play next year.

 {fletcher and cousin kate}

after the game weekend, we stayed in albia until monday morning and then left from there for our family getaway to kansas city. we were headed to great wolf lodge for a few days to relax. we did a lot of swimming, arcade game playing and cub club crafting. one afternoon, we escaped to crown center and explored a bit. we went to fritz's, a dinosaur exhibit and the crayola store. 

     

                  

              

and this happened. this was a big decision for us to make. at the time, it was the right thing to do but as time went on, we realized that by moving away from everything we have and the things that were currently happening with our family, that we would stay put and deal with the consequences. at this point, things are going well with the final decision to stay. there may be more to share about this in the next few weeks.