New website!

I think I may have finally found a new home for our blog. I was previously using MSN Live, which I really liked, but I got a notification that it was going to be going away after the first of the year. So, I had the option to transfer mostly everything to a new platform. I did that, and didn't like the options or functionality of that one. So, now I am going to try Blogger. So please make sure and replace any links or bookmarks you may have to this new one. Sorry about that, I know it is a pain in the behind!
I had contemplated whether I should keep the blog going or not, but I decided that I like it mostly for myself. If other people read it, great, but if not, that is okay! It is a way for me to record moments in our life, like a diary of sorts. So I periodically look back and reminisce about moments in our life.
It make take me a little while to get things where I want them, but bear with me. Time has not been my friend lately!

October 2010

I can’t believe that Halloween is almost here!  Time goes way to fast!

Two weekends ago, Justin and I were able to head up to Iowa for the homecoming game!  I was able to get tickets through the Alumni Association since it was my 10 year reunion.  This time we left the boys at my moms house for the night.  This was the first time we had ever left Easton over night.  I knew they would do great, but I still hate leaving them. They had a great time with Grandma Joy and spent a lot of time playing outside and at parks.   We like it that she can play and have fun with them, without having to get them all hyper and riled up.  I am not sure who enjoyed the time more, the boys, or Grandma! 

Justin and I had a lot of fun at the game.  We drove up early Saturday morning and pretty much went straight to the tailgate where we met our good friends Erin and Ryan.  I forgot how much fun taigating in Iowa City is!!  Then the game was at night and it was so much fun!  I love night games!  After the game we were so exhausted we just went back to the hotel and then drove home on Sunday.  So, it was a quick trip, but so worth it!

This past weekend the weather was so beautiful that we took full advantage of it!  The city has completed these great new bike trails near our house, so we went on two separate walks and Payton rode his bike.  It was wonderful to be outside all day!  On Sunday we went to the Deanna Rose Farmstead and went to their pumpkin patch.   They boys got to pet baby goats, Payton went on a pony ride and we all went on a hayrack ride to get the pumpkins. 

We had Paytons parent-teacher conferences this week and he is doing outstanding at school.  He has had some attitude issues at home, but luckily at school he is wonderful.  The teacher is going to get with some of the other teachers to find things to keep him challenged as the year goes on.  She told us to be very proud because we have a very bright special boy on our hands!  Which is easy, because we are always so proud of him!

 

(I added pictures to the Fall 2010 and Hawkeye Football albums)

September 2010

I have been a little behind on updates! Two weeks ago we took Payton to his first Iowa game!  We went up to Iowa City on Friday for FryFest with both boys and my mom.  Thank goodness for my mom.  It was great to have another set of hands because we were reminded on the way home how much Easton dislikes the car!  The next trip Justin and I are going by ourselves, so it will be a much quieter and faster car ride! But we had a GREAT time while we were there.  On Friday we went to the pep rally and both boys were just in awe of everything going on around them.  Payton even got a high five and a quick hug from Herky, so now he is obsessed with him!  Saturday morning we took the Hawkeye Express to the game.  Payton has always loved trains, so how could we not take it?!  We had great seats for the game and we really enjoyed ourselves. Payton thought the game was pretty cool!  The boys were both great the entire trip. 

This past week/weekend Justins brother came for a visit!  It was great to see him and Payton did not want him to leave.  Easton just kind of stared at Jeremy, with a look like you kind of look like my daddy, but you are not, so I am not so sure.   On Saturday we headed to two festivals.  One was a hot air balloon festival.  We tried to go to one over Memorial Day, but the balloon launch was canceled due to the weather.  So we thought we would try it again, but this one was cancelled too!  I think we are jinxed!  Hopefully next time we can actually see the balloons go up! Then we headed to the plaza for a waterfire event.  It was really neat experience. 

The boys are both doing great.  Payton is doing fantastic in school!  He really enjoys it and seems to have grown up so much in the past month.  He was picked as a student of the month for the first month of school, so we have an assembly to go to this Friday to recognize the students from each class.  I have also gotten an email from the teacher telling me that he works really well with others and that he is very respectful to all of the teachers and other students. The first few weeks of school he was so very tired when we got home.  Sometimes to the point of meltdown.   But, from what I hear from other parents, this is normal and I have already seen it get better.    

Easton is getting the sweetest and funniest personality.  I wish he would stay this age forever!  He just cracks us up.  He is really starting to communicate with people.  Not necessarily with words, but with some signs and gestures and the beginnings of some words.  He really likes giving kisses and high fives, and he is still obsessed with the cats!  He will just sit there and yell at them and follow them around the house.  They are not nearly as amused as he is!  He is also a huge flirt.  Which I remember Payton was at this age as well.  If we are out and about, he just waves at people and gives them a huge grin!

Back to School!!

Payton has now completed three days of kindergarten!  He started school on Tuesday and has said that Kindergarten is awesome!  Monday night he went to bed early and was so excited.  Then, Tuesday we woke up to rain, but that did not dampen his mood.  He was just beaming all morning.  We got to school and Justin and I took him in and you could tell he got a little nervous, but did wonderful.  I held the tears for when we were leaving so he wouldn’t see them.  I am just so proud of him.  That night when we got home we celebrated his first day with a cake and some candies that I made for him.  Then the next morning, I was going to walk him in and he told me that he was a big boy now and I didn’t need to.  He wanted to just get dropped off out front and walk in.  So he did, and never even looked back!  He is such a big boy.  Last night he was already drawing pictures for his teacher, so he seems to like her and I'm sure will be a teachers pet in no time!! 

 

On back to school night, along with our paper work we got was this story.   It really stuck out to me and is so very true:  (Be prepared, it may make you cry!!)

               

Thoughts from the Bottom of the Beanstalk

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Jack who was about to climb his very first beanstalk. He had a fresh haircut and a brand-new book bag. 
     Even though his friends in the neighborhood had climbed this same beanstalk almost every day last year, this was Jack's first day and he was a little nervous. So was his mother. 
     Early in the morning she brought him to the foot of the beanstalk. She talked encouragingly to Jack about all the fun he would have that day and how nice his giant would be. She reassured him that she would be back to pick him up at the end of the day. For a moment they stood together, silently holding hands, gazing up at the beanstalk. To Jack it seemed much bigger than it had when his mother had pointed it out on the way to the store last week. His mother thought it looked big, too. She swallowed. Maybe she should have held Jack out a year... 
      Jack's mother straightened his shirt one last time, patted his shoulder and smiled down at him. She promised to stay and wave while he started climbing. Jack didn't say a word. 
     He walked forward, grabbed a low-growing stem and slowly pulled himself up to the first leaf. He balanced there for a moment and then climbed more eagerly to the second leaf, then to the third and soon he had vanished into a high tangle of leaves and stems with never a backward glance at his mother. 
     She stood alone at the bottom of the beanstalk, gazing up at the spot where Jack had disappeared. There was no rustle, no movement, no sound to indicate that he was anywhere inside. 
     "Sometimes," she thought, "it's harder to be the one who waves good-bye than it is to be the one who climbs the beanstalk." 
     She wondered how Jack would do. Would he miss her? How would he behave? Did his giant understand that little boys sometimes acted silly when they felt unsure? She fought down an urge to spring up the stalk after Jack and maybe duck behind a bean to take a peek at how he was doing. 
     "I'd better not. What if he saw me?" She knew Jack was really old enough to handle this on his own. She reminded herself that, after all this was thought to be an excellent beanstalk and that everyone said his giant was not only kind but had outstanding qualifications. 
     "It's not so much that I'm worried about him," she thought, rubbing the back of her neck. "It's just that he's growing up and I'm going to miss him." 
    Jack's mother turned to leave. "Jack's going to have lots of bigger beanstalks to climb in his life," she told herself. 
     "Today's the day he starts practicing for them...

And today's the day I start practicing something too: Cheering him on and waving good-bye."

 

August 2010

Last week we finally got the insurance company to come out and meet the roofers and decide that we get a new roof from the storm damage that we got almost a month ago.  As of now we have these nice pretty blue tarps on our roof to prevent any more inside damage then we already got.  A few houses on the block have the same blue tarps, so at least we all match!  We are glad that we are finally getting a new roof because we were needing a new one.  Although, we are not happy because since we live in a high tornado zone we have separate and much higher deductibles on wind/hail damage then we do on the rest of the homeowner’s policy.  So even though insurance is paying for the bulk of it, we still have to fork out over $2,000!  But, hopefully it will help us when we try and sell this place!

On top of meeting with roofers and insurance adjusters, both boys also had a stomach bug that seemed to also wipe out a lot of kiddos from day care.  It didn’t last long for either, but they were miserable for those days.  So that meant a lot of missed work and working from home for me!  It wouldn’t have been so bad, but Justin has been gone a lot working overnights at work because they are remodeling his store and they have to do a lot at night and my mom was in Florida visiting Grandma, so I had no relief from anyone!  But that’s okay, we managed! 

 

Payton was such a big help while Easton was sick and his pretty much a big help all of the time.  He has really grown up a lot lately.  I am so proud of the boy he is and is becoming.  He has also though started acting like he is 15, instead of 5!  The other day, we were in the car and Justin yawned.  Payton said, “Save it for the pillow dad!”  He has also really been into singing lately, so I will try and get a video of him this weekend to post.  We finished his last Tball game last week.  This season was night and day from last year.  He really seemed to get the concept and really enjoyed it.  Although, I asked him afterwards if he wanted to play next year and he said that no, he wants to play Tennis!  So, who knows what he will want to do next year!   He will be starting flag football soon!  It is a good thing we have connections at a sporting goods store for all of the stuff we need for these sports!   I got him enrolled for school last week and we went shopping over the weekend for supplies and everything that was on his required list.  We even got him the cutest alarm clock that is shaped like a red Lego block!  He was so excited to get an alarm clock!  I am sure the excitement will wear off really quick!  He starts school in less then two weeks!!  Next week we have a back to school night and will get to meet his teacher and such.

 

Easton is growing so much and changing every day.  He is becoming very dramatic!  He will protest A LOT if you take away something he wants or tell him no.  He is really into throwing things as well.  It could be from his high chair, stroller, shopping cart, whatever!  He will usually give you this dirty look first, and then throw something!  We think he seems to be growing quite a bit.  He looks like he is getting really tall.  He eats like crazy! I am going to have to get a second job just to feed these boys!  He had a cardiology appointment last week and we found out that his device is still in place and it is doing its job.  We knew it probably was, but it is still always nerve wracking.  We also found out that the part of his heart that was enlarged is now within the normal range!  We do not have to go back for 2 years!  The cardiologist always sends our pediatrician a follow-up letter and sends us a copy as well.  Whenever we get them it makes me realize how lucky we were to have found his defect when we did.  The doctor always makes us feel at ease, but when you read the letters with the words like ‘generous sized defect’ and all of the medical jargon, it kind of takes your breath away for a moment.

Easton is pretty much all over the place now a days and gets into EVERYTHING!  He also really likes to dance to anything that sounds remotely like music!  I can’t even sing him lullabys at night because he perks his head up and starts rocking back and forth!  I will try and get a video of that this weekend as well.

 

We have been trying to do lots of fun summer stuff, but it has been unbelievably hot, so we haven’t been able to do as much outside as we would like.  Our actual temp on Monday is supposed to be 100 degrees!

And BTW, only 30 days until football season starts!  Go Hawks!

 

(added a few pictures a couple of days ago to the Summer 2010 album)

Summer Fun

The last two weekends have been filled with lots of summer fun!  Two weekends ago we went swimming on Saturday after TBall and then tried to go to a park that is about 20 minutes away on Sunday for a bike ride and to play on the playground.  It was raining off and on, but was supposed to stop.  So we loaded up the kids, food, and the bikes and thought we could get some fun in.  Well, apparently not!  We sat in the car in the parking lot at the park to wait out the torrential downpours!  After we got what seemed like a break, we thought we would still try and play a bit.  Well, we learned that a wet slide = a ridiculously fast slide!  Payton went down a few slides and literally flew about 10 feet off of the end!  So, he became a muddy mess.  Then the skys opened up again and we decided to just head home.  Any of you that have kids, know that cleaning the car seat is one of the worst tasks ever.  So we did the only thing we could think of and stripped the pour kiddo down to his underwear and made a quick run for the car!

This past Sunday, Justin had to work and it was way to hot to do anything outside, so my mom and I took the boys to Crown Center and Union Station to go to a dinosaur exhibit and Science City.  Payton was beside himself the entire day!  We ate at Fritz’s, where trains bring you your food.  Then we got to see some amazing life size dinosaurs.  Then we saw lots and lots of model trains and then we went to Science City.  Finally, we got some ice cream and headed outside to the huge splash park.  It was a great day and per Payton it was the ‘awesomest day ever!’

The boys are both growing way to fast.  Next week we have enrollment to get Payton signed up for school and we will find a time soon to go school shopping!  How exciting!  Easton is walking almost all of the time now.  He prefers to carry something with him when he walks.  He also can go up stairs really fast!  He hasn’t figured out how to come down yet.  He tries to walk down, which doesn’t work with his little legs!

 

(Added pictures to the Summer 2010 album)

4th of July

This past weekend we went up to Iowa for our annual 4^th of July trip.  We had a wonderful time as always!  The boys and I headed up on Friday night so they could rest a little on Saturday before fireworks.  Then on Saturday morning Justin came up with my mom because he had to work Friday night.  Saturday was the festivities in Dixon and we got to see tons of family and very old friends.  It is such a great chance to see everyone.  We had a lot of great company and the boys had a blast.  They just love playing with other kids and our cousins.  The boys were both up WAY past their bedtimes so on Sunday we all took a nap because we were so tired!   We then headed to my friends house and saw some old friends and the kids got to play together.  On Monday we went and saw my dad and he was pretty surprised at how much Easton had changed since he saw him last back in February.   Then we headed back to Kansas!  The weekend was great and we had wonderful weather the entire time.  There was a ton of traffic and construction though, so the drives were a bit longer then usual.  We did learn however that Easton is NOT a fan of traveling!  He did okay, but you could tell he was just miserable being confined to his car seat.  Part of it is just his age, (I remember this stage a bit with Payton), part of it is his personality and part of it is due to the fact that we don’t travel as much as we did when Payton was little.  It is a good thing we have no trips planned for a while, because I think Easton needs a break from the car!

 

Also, Easton decided this weekend at the hotel that he can walk across rooms! He prefers to crawl if he is in a hurry, or excited, or frustrated.  But, other then that he likes to walk now!