Happy Mother's Day!

The boys greeted me in bed at 6:30 wearing these cute shirts. They gave me this beautiful mother and child necklace. We went to Village Inn for breakfast, and I spent the afternoon at the mall. Then, Joel made supper and he and Grandpa Jim took Eli fishing. It was a fun and relaxing day. We probably won't have many more of those for a while! Back surgery is only two days away. Hope everyone had a great day!

riding bike

Aunt Jennifer was trying to teach Eli how to pedal his bike today. He stuck with it longer than he usually does. Aunt Jennifer can get the kids to do anything! Eli was pretty proud of himself! Now, if he could just figure out how to pedal and steer at the same time... I think this was about the age I sent Craig down the drive way on his two-wheel bike. Maybe he was 4, but I must've been a better teacher when I was 6!

My little helper

It's all coming back to me now! I remember the days when I wouldn't even attempt to do the dishes if Eli was awake.

Happy May Day!

Thanks for the May Basket Grandma Cathy!

family fishing trip

Yesterday, Joel and Chad took Eli and Jake fishing. Today, Eli said he wanted to go fishing and asked where his fishing rod was. Joel was working on something in the front yard and said they'd go later but told him the fishing pole was in the garage. Eli grabbed his rod and started walking down the sidewalk saying, "I'm going fishing". So, we packed a lunch and took a family trip to the park. Eli caught two fish and has not taken off his "fishing hat" for two days.

Was it fun?

So, Joel decided to take Eli to this program at an outdoor learning center tonight. The article in the paper said, "Learn how to identify frogs by sight and sound at 8:oopm. After the program, participants will walk to a wetland to try to catch frogs". Eli was so excited. He really liked the movie about the frog sounds and was having a lot of fun with his net looking for frogs. Unfortunately, they couldn't find any. Joel said they could hear them, but they didn't see any. Oh man- did we have one VERY disappointed little boy tonight. Even as he was falling asleep, he was still talking about the boy who caught the bull frog (Joel said nobody caught a bull frog) and the fact that he didn't catch one. He said he didn't have fun. When Joel asked him if he wanted to do something fun tomorrow, he said, "no, I want to stay inside my house".

Girls weekend

What do I have in common with Josh Duhamel????? We were both at Playmakers Bar in Fargo last night. I had a great weekend meeting up with friends I haven't seen in years. I'm pretty sure that back in the day we would not have left the bar without making an attempt to meet him. Oh- how we've grown up! Here's a recap of the weekend. Friday: Eli and I left here at 8:30am. We picked up my friend Tonya and chatted with a few people I used to work with in the cities, stopped in Alexandria to pick up my nephew, and met my mom in Fergus to drop off the boys for a fun weekend with Grandma. Tonya and I continued on to Moorhead. We met up with Ria, who I haven't seen in almost 10 years, and Erin, who I haven't seen in almost 5 years. The four of us went out to dinner. I must've had a lot of catching up to do and apparently had too much to say. I started losing my voice before 8:30pm. After dinner, we went back to Ria's for a few minutes, and then I went to Craig and Jen's for the rest of the night. I even got to put Katelynn to bed. Saturday morning, Tonya and I went to visit Andrea who we haven't seen for 6 years. It was fun to chat and meet her girls. Then, we went to Erin's, took a tour of their new house, went shopping, and checked into a hotel. Erin met us at the hotel, we went out for dinner, and then went to Playmakers. We left there at 2am, and we were sleeping soundly by 3:30am. Our wake up call came at 7:30am (Joel was calling to tell me that we were going to have storms in the afternoon). We left Fargo about 8:30, stopped at my parents to get the boys, dropped Zach off, dropped Tonya off, and Eli and I were home shortly after 5:00pm. Not bad for one weekend huh???? Thanks girls- I had so much fun! Thanks Grandma & Grandpa- Eli had fun too! You're probably as tired as I am!!

GOAL!!!!!

Thought I would take the opportunity to post while Heidi is away. (Which I am sure she loves!) My wonderful little lady hit her Weight Watchers goal she has been working so hard at for the last 6 months! We are so proud of her and want to say great job! It is not easy when she has to try and feed the rest of us boys while maintaining her points. (Not to mention a husband who makes malts and devours a multitude of other junk every night.) Great job wife/mom and we are all very proud of you! Have a great weekend with the girls!

Love, your boys

Going pro

Do you think Chase will remember me when he's in the NBA? Seriously, the kid can't walk, but he'll crawl and get the ball, pull himself up on the chair, and shoot away. This will keep him occupied for a good 15 minutes straight!

a glimpse into our future

Eli is saying "Stop. Be gentle with me."

Easter

What a fun weekend! My mom and dad got here Thursday night. On Friday they watched the boys so Joel and I could go out to eat for my birthday (We also got to go to Joel's doctor to schedule back surgery- not so fun! It looks like that will probably happen on May 8th). Craig, Jen, and Katelynn got here around 9:00 Friday night. On Saturday, the girls went shopping while the boys stayed with the kids. Easter Sunday started with church followed by a meal at our house. The kids took naps, and then we went over to Grandma Cathy's house for an egg hunt, egg coloring , and pie. My parents left Sunday night, and Jen and Craig left Monday morning. I hope everyone made it home safely, and thanks for coming down!!!

Noah and the elephant take 2

He sure loves this thing!

bye-bye purple wall

I have spent the past two weekends painting. Two weekends ago I painted the boys' bathroom green to match the new dinosaur theme. It turned out so cute. I'd post a picture but I don't have a "before", so I didn't think anyone would be able to appreciate the "after". Last weekend I painted the bathroom on the main floor, and got rid of the purple wall (Eli really wanted to help). After buying a bright blue couch and bright green chair, I have decided that I am not really a contemporary person. Therefore, I am trying to tame down the look of the front room.

Noah and the elephant

Noah is so much more fun now that he can get around on his own! He still does most of his crawling on his tummy, but he can get himself back to the sitting position. He just crawls around and laughs at himself.

enjoying another beautiful day!

Noah does not like the grass. He kept lifting up his feet when I tried to get him to stand on it. He is army crawling all over the place and is a much happier baby!

fat guy on a little slide

Those big thighs just wanted to stick to the slide!

Noah

I just thought this picture was so cute; I had to post it.
Grandma Cathy always takes the grandkids out for lunch for their birthdays, so today was Eli's birthday lunch. What a special thing! They went to Applebees, and he was still talking about it when he went to bed. Thanks Grandma!

Spaghetti

At least one of my family members appreciates my cooking.

frustrated

This is how Noah spends much of his day- pissed off because he can't crawl. He has started army crawling a little bit, and he can crawl on his knees two times before he falls on his tummy.

Day 5

No pictures! Mom, Krista and the boys left around 11:00 this morning. I haven't heard how the dreaded car ride went (Drew is not always the best traveler). I hope it wasn't too bad. Last year after Mom got home from this trip she wasn't sure she was coming back for another spring break. I hope you're not feeling the same way now!!! Thanks for coming down. We had a lot of fun!!!!! LOVE YOU!

Day 4

Did we not get enough to eat for supper??? After we ate, the boys had a sucker and a popcicle. 5 minutes later, they had the step stool from the bathroom and were helping themselves to a snack.

Back to the real world. Mom and Krista got to see what my day is like with a house full of boys. Grandma was tired out after taking the 5 big boys outside by herself. She was rewarded with a little nap, and then treated us to a wonderful dinner!

Day 3

Everyone enjoyed our near 80 degree weather.

Mom and Krista visit day 2

What a wonderful day for a birthday party! We had pizza, Eli opened presents, we had cake, and everyone played outside. Eli has been having fun playing with all of his new presents. He even got to try out his new bike today after spending the morning in his pj's playing leapster.

Mom and Sister visit

Mom, Krista, and the boys got here around 4:00 on Sunday afternoon, and brought beautiful weather. As soon as they got here, we went straight to the park. Yesterday we spent the morning at an indoor park, and the afternoon outside again. Noah LOVED swinging! Then it was time for Eli's birthday party.

Noah napping

He looks so cute and comfy. One might think he could take a nap that lasts longer than 45 minutes!

Noah's Happy Places

The kitchen and the discovery dome are the two places Noah will actually sit and play by himself. The whole teething thing, stuffy nose, snotty nose, and frustration from not being able to crawl, are turning this once happy baby into quite a crab!! He sure does know how to turn it on for the camera! He was crying right before I took the picture of him by the kitchen.

My babies

What is it about balloons anyway????

24 hours later

Here's the snow!!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

Joel and I were supposed to go to a concert and stay in a hotel tonight while the boys stayed home with Aunt Jennifer. Waking up to freezing rain and conditions only getting worse as the day went on, made us decide to stay put. I don't know why I plan to go anywhere in the winter that doesn't involve an airplane and warm weather. This is the second time in a month that I have changed plans due to weather, and trust me. I don't make many plans!!!!

Noah

7 months old already. Can you believe it????? He has started giving 5's and kisses and loves any real people food he can get someone to feed him (notice how he is busting out of another 12 month outfit). I took him to the doctor before we went out of town last weekend to see what we could do about this cold that he's had for 2 months. Turns out he had an ear infection. It's amazing what a little antibiotic can do!

family fun

We spent the weekend with my family at a hotel in Roseville. We arrived at the hotel around 3:00 on Saturday, and went right to the pool. I couldn't believe how much Eli loved swimming. He wanted to do it all by himself, and he could've spent hours going back and forth in the pool. In fact, it seemed to take him an hour just to get from one side to the other. Grandma got a lot of swim time with him! Noah didn't really care for the swimming pool, but he liked the hot tub. On Sunday morning we went to Edinbourough Park which was fun for everyone! The adults had as much fun on the slides as the kids did! Sunday afternoon was spent in the pool for most. Eli took a marathon nap, but it was much needed. Our friends Sean and Tonya stopped to see us, and my aunt Cindy and her two kids got a room for Sunday night to join the fun. Cindy made us a delicious dinner. We did a little more swimming before we left this morning. Everyone had a great time. Things we'll remember or hopefully forget: -Noah getting woken up both nights as his loud brother was supposed to be going to sleep. Joel spent most of the weekend with Noah in his arms, -Katelynn falling off her bed and rolling under Craig and Jen's bed -Drew crawling around the bed all night, so Krista and Brent did not sleep Saturday night, -me getting locked out of our room and having to call Craig's cell phone at 2:00 am to let me back in.

Valentine's Shmalentine's

I'm reading about everyone's Valentines Day, and I thought I would write a little something about mine (okay- a lot of something). I left the house for an hour on Tuesday night, and when I got home, Eli said "where's mom's card?" Needless to say, I ended up getting my card and present that night. I decided to give Joel his present later that night, and he said, "Why are you giving this to me now?" I said, "Because we don't really see each other in the mornings". Well- here's how the day went. I always get up at least a half hour before Joel (someone has to stay in the bed with Noah). I knew Joel was going into work a little early, but he got out of the shower and said, "I have to go", to which I replied, "I don't even get to take a shower?" He said, "Hurry up!" During my 5 second shower, Eli joined Noah in the bed, and as soon as I got out, Joel said, "Eli's with Noah; they're fine", and he left. As we're walking down the stairs, Grandma Cathy and Don are at the door with our Valentine's (which we loved very much). As I was giving Noah his bottle and changing his clothes, Eli ate a sucker and a KitKat. The next hour was a blur. Mom calling, kids coming, breakfast.... and yeah! Jennifer comes. I ran to Target to get our family pictures that were supposed to be in; found out they wouldn't be there until 3:00. Stopped at Walgreens to pick up pictures I had taken for parent Valentines; realized the pictures were too big for the frames. The boys all took pretty good naps which means I had a pretty good afternoon. When Joel got home from work, I went back to Target to get my pictures. They didn't come in which I was told never happens, so I left and got our fabulous Valentine dinner at Taco John's. Joel had basketball practice from 7-8. When he got home, I relaxed and watched One Tree Hill. I stayed up late to watch American Idol because it wasn't going to be on until 10:30- after the Iowa basketball game. I turned it to Fox at 10:30- no American Idol. Joel informs me that the basketball game wasn't on, so I missed American Idol. I went to bed with a headache, and it was still there when I woke up this morning.

Suns shirts

Here are the boys in their new Phoenix Suns shirts that Grandpa Jim sent. I decided they better wear them before Noah does his Hulk move. Who would've known that he'd be busting out of a 12 month t-shirt? His name is no longer Bubba. Now, we just call him "the fat kid". Thanks for the shirts Grandpa!!!!

Do they need a new mini cheerleader?