Not a good sign...

Bob and I were sitting at the dinner table last night, waiting for everyone to finish up. Kalin had to take a restroom break which meant that Andrew needed to take a restroom break too. I instructed Kalin to go the the kids' bathroom and Andrew to use ours. Well Kalin comes into the living room saying, "Mom this is not good!" She is carrying the towel rod that was in the kids' bathroom. Andrew was not far behind with drywall pieces in his hair...hence not a good sign.

Apparently Andrew decided that it would be a good idea to climb on the ledge of the bathtub and then jump and hang on the towel rod bar...it didn't work so hot. We now have another thing to add to Bob's "honeydo" list. (Andrew got a 45 minute time out).

Until Andrew strikes again...have a great day!

Not until we are married

Kalin and Andrew were playing last night while I was working on our computer. At first they were spies and kept sneaking up on me, but since I wasn't doing a whole lot they switched and decided they were going to get married. I could hear Kalin planning the wedding and the dance...then both her and Andrew would start giggling. They sounded like a couple of giggle boxes (I love that sound.) Anyway about 5 minutes later Kalin turns to Andrew and says, "Do not yell at me now, you have to wait until we are married before you yell at me." Now there are a lot of things that I want to tell Kalin to wait until she gets married to do, but that was not one of them. It just cracked me up.

First day of Kindergarten

Kalin started kindergarten Monday at Herirage Christian School, and she loved it. Actually her words were, "It is AWESOME." This is such a relief....last year when she started Pre-K we had two weeks of tears from both Kalin and myself....what a difference a year makes. I'm so proud of her.

Andrew's Birthday

While back in Marshalltown attending Todd and Sara's wedding, we decided to celebrate Andrew's birthday. Luckily, my camera came and we have proof of at least one of the birthday parties. Again, we did the Mickey Mouse thing.

Aunt Melissa, always seems to find the most unique gifts possible.

Thanks to everyone who helped Andrew celebrate his numerous birthdays!

Wedding

My cousin Todd got married to Sara in August. Sara is a very nice girl. Her and her son, Cody, will be a great addition to our family. The kids did okay at the wedding, but LOVED the dance. The Chicken Dance and the Hokey Pokey were their favorites...and who doesn't like the Chicken Dance...seriously? Anyway it was a fun day.

Dress up

The Prince and Princess dancing with each other.
My kids like to play dress up...it kind of comes and goes. Lately they have been on a dress up kick. This is Andrew dressed up as a Prince and Kalin dressed up as a Princess. (I'm not quite sure which Prince likes to wear dresses but I'm sure there is one out there somewhere!) Anyone looking to get rid of a Prince costume please send it our way.

Kalin dressed her little brother up as a fireman...again we are a little confused. Aunt Beth does the skirt look familiar? Again anyone with an extra fireman costume please send it our way! ;)

Summer Fun

Andrew and Kalin having a squirt gun fight. The kids would fill up their squirt guns in the swimming pool and then they had to stand there until I counted to three...then it was time to get each other. This is our first set of squirt guns and the kids had a lot of fun.

Andrew turned 3 on August 1st. We had an early birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese with Grandpa Dick, Grandma Pat, Uncle Randy, Aunt Becky, Ben, and Nick. The kids loved playing all the games and then we celebrated with Mickey Mouse cupcakes. Then on Andrew's acutal birthday we had a party with just Dad, Kalin and myself. We had Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast and Andrew got to open his gifts. Kalin got him the Slip and Slide and two squirt guns...then later that day we headed out for a short family vacation in Kansas City. Unfortunately you will just have to imagine all the fun we had at the above events, because Andrew broke our digital camera...but as you can see it has been replaced and I'm getting the hang of the new camera.

Father's Day

So I am pretty much way behind in posting pictures from the summer...my goal is to get caught up this weekend so I can post first day of school pictures next week. Anyway we did celebrate Father's Day...I took the kids shopping and we looked and looked for the perfect gift for such an awesome Dad and we came up with a tent. Unfortunately, the only time it has been set up is in our basement....it seemed like everytime we were going to attempt an outing (our backyard) it rained. We still have a couple of weeks left so Bob may get to try out his gift. The kids and I also made Bob is favorite, a big M & M cookie. Bob is a terrific Dad who loves his kids and is a true leader for our family, and for that I am truely grateful.

Janet's Graduation

In June, we made a trip up to Milwaukee to see Janet (Bob's cousin) graduate from high school. Janet is a wonderful young lady, and is a terrific role model for Kalin and Andrew. We also got to take in a Brewer's game, and the kids got their first opportunity to tailgate. It was a great weekend spent with family!

Kalin's dance recital

Kalin took dance lessons this year with Janet Long. Miss Janet was a wonderful teacher not only because she is extremely patient, kind and loving to the girls, but also because she got Kalin to go on stage. I truely gave it a 50/50 chance as to whether she would actually make it on stage. I was so proud of her, she did a wonderful job. This picture is of her and her best friend Addi who was in Kalin's class.

It was a very special night because Grandpa Dick, Grandma Pat, Grandpma Peggy and cousin Hannah all came to watch Kalin perform.

Andrew's first fish.

We went down to my parent's place on the lake over Memorial Day, and Andrew fell in love with fishing. He is so funny, one morning as we were walking down to the dock he was holding his fishing pole chanting out loud, "I just love fishin', I just love fishing". He has his own Superman pole that we tied a rubber fish to the end of, usually he just casts his pole reels it in and gets excited about the rubber fish. Well he wanted to fish like a big boy, so we let him use Kalin's pole (she doesn't like fishing too much) and sure enough he caught a little bass!

Great Grandparents

Our kids are very lucky, because they have three Great Grandparents who love them very much. The kids love spending time with them, and entertaining them. It has taken Andrew a while but we now have all the Grandparents names down and who is who. Grandpa and Grandma Allen are always fun to visit because Grandpa keeps their apartment stocked with fun toys and there are always new ones to play with. Grandma Allen uses a cane and it is always a contest to find where she left it so the kids can give it to her! Grandma Kelly is also a very special grandparent. I am thankful because she gave Andrew a new bunny that he now sleeps with every night, it have replaced an old stinky one. All and all they have always been the best Grandparents to me and they continue to be the best Great Grandparents...we love you!

Happy Birthday Grandma Pat!

Hi Grandma Pat...the kids wanted to give you a special birthday message, since we couldn't be there in person. It says, "Happy Birthday Grandma Pat!"

I asked the kids what makes Grandma so special, here are there answers:

*she makes good food

*we like to go to her house

*she plays with us

*she reads us books, and

*she comes to visit us and watches our recitals.

All in all she is a very special Grandma who we love very much.

Spring Break - Home again.

On our last day in Florida, we took the kids swimming at our hotel pool in the morning and then we were off to the airport.

The basketball freak. For his souvenir Andrew picked out a Mickey Mouse basketball, which I got a chance to sleep with as Andrew was my bed buddy and he refused to sleep without the ball.

Spring Break - Sea World!

Our third day in Florida was spent at Sea World. The highlights were Shamu, of course. We also got to feed the sea lions. I was very impressed that she actually touched the fish. (We didn't get a picture because I was helping Kalin and Bob was videotaping.)

The other highlight was the dolphins. They had a large dolphin pool that you could stand by and as the dolphins swam by you could try and pet them. Kalin was dying to pet a dolphin until it came up to us and she freaked, so I touched it instead and then she was mad at me because she didn't get to touch it!! The dolphins were so funny because they also had a basketball which they would "throw" to the crowd and then you could throw it back to them. After about an hour wait, the dolphin finally threw us the basketball, which totally made Andrew's day (he is turning into a basketball freak.) So while Andrew threw the ball, Kalin got to pet it and all was well.

Bob and I felt like the sea lion on its' side around this time.

Spring Break - Beach!

We spent our second day in Florida at the beach. The kids loved the sand and waves. We collected sea shells, jumped waves, built sandcastles, buried legs...but Andrew's favorite was to chase the seagulls and throw sand at them!

Spring Break - Disneyworld!

We decided to make the trip short and sweet, as we didn't know how much the kids could handle. The first day we went to Disneyworld, Magic Kingdom! We decided just to stick to the basics since the kids are still pretty young, and it was perfect. The kids loved meeting all of the characters. In fact we spent over half of the day waiting in lines to meet the Princesses, Pooh, and Minnie and Mickey, but it was worth every minute to see their little faces light up.

Spring Break - Airplane ride

I was suppose to have training in Dever, Colorado for work and we thought that we would take the kids with us and make it a family vacation. However, training got cancelled at the last minute, so we decided to take the kids to Florida! We flew out of Rockford, Illinois because we found some really cheap airfare and it is less than two hours from Iowa City. This was the kids first time on an airplane. Andrew was very brave until it was time to board, and then the tears came. He kept saying, "I don't want plane, I don't want plane." I kept saying, "It isn't scary, it is like a big car." After the long walk down the tunnel we entered the plane the tears dried up and Andrew said, "This not scary, this is like car...I not cry!"