Vacation June 18th - July 4th

After ND, we went back to my parents for a couple of days. We were planning to come home Monday, but we kept extending our stay. It felt a little silly LEAVING the lake on the 4th!
The boys' must've missed their beds. They both fell asleep instantly tonight!

After the resort, we met Joel's sister and family at their Dad's in North Dakota for a few days.

Eli braving the slide during our four days at a resort with my mom's family.

Relaxing at Grandma and Grandpa's

We were not planning to go on vacation until June 22nd. Unfortunately, my Grandpa died on the 15th, so we went up North a little early. Here are the boys at Krista and Brent's the day of the funeral.

New Kicks

I took Noah to the mall on Saturday, and decided to get him some shoes while we were there. I knew I would have a hard time finding shoes to fit because his feet are very fat. Therefore, I went to Stride Rite where the lovely sales person talked me into these huge white shoes. I know they're kinda ugly, but where else would I find double extra wide shoes????? Yes, he is wearing size 6xxw.

Getting Dressed

Noah was trying to put on his pajama shirt last night.

Eli's latest

sad

angry

happy

confused

Eli has been so cute lately (when he's listening). He likes to make these faces. My favorite is his confused face. He says, "one eye up, and one eye down just like Lightning McQueen". He is also into counting (he went to 200 the other day). He got the leap frog game, 100 hoops, for Christmas, and he loves it. However, I don't think he has ever shot the basketball into the hoop. He just pushes the button to hear the counting, and now he can count to 100 by ones and tens. Grandma Connie was trying to teach him to tell time last week, but I think we still have a ways to go.

working on my golf swing

I'll be ready when Daddy is!

Grandma and Eli

I brought Grandma Connie back with me after Memorial Day Weekend, so she was my helper last week. She kept the big boys entertained! On Friday Grandma and Eli went to see Shrek The Third. After the movie and some McDonalds, Grandma was trying to get Eli to go for a walk with her, but he was much too busy playing with his new Shrek happy meal toys. This was the compromise.

Memorial Day Weekend

• Things I learned this weekend.
  
• *Buy a pacifier clip to use in the car.(I stopped 6 times to find pacifiers on the way to my sister's house)

*Taking fun Memorial Day Weekend pictures does not happen when you have a 10 month old attached to your hip.

*Accept help when offered. (Thank you to my family for helping take care of my boys this weekend, and Joel's family for taking care of my biggest boy this weekend).

*You should make a point to visit grandparents as often as possible.

*Parades do not always have candy, so you should not tell your children that they will get candy when you are going to a parade.

10 months old!

Happy 10 months to me! He hasn't been nearly as clingy today.

Brothers

Aunt Jennifer bought this train for Noah to walk behind. Of course Eli has kind of taken it over.

Joel is home!

Heidi's hospital is now open! Joel got home around 10:30 this morning. I had asked Eli if he would let Daddy use his bed for a while. He didn't really like that idea. Then, I told him he could get a new bed, and he said, "okay. I want a brown bed." Well- the green air matress that we will call his bed seems to be working just fine. Eli's bed fit perfectly in our room right in front of the TV. Thanks Rich and Don for getting Joel's "spot" set up. From the moment he got out of surgery, all Joel was concerned about was where he would go when he got home since our bed is kind of tall and not very firm. Thank you Jennifer for taking care of my children all week, and thank you Cathy for taking such good care of Joel and helping with the boys.

back surgery

I took a picture of Joel when he was in pre-op yesterday, but he wasn't too excited about me sharing it. I'm sure he REALLY wouldn't like me posting it now. His surgery lasted a little over two hours, and then he spent another two hours in recovery before he went to his room. Everything went well, so that's good! He is in a lot of pain, but he did get up and walk to the bathroom this morning. Eli went with me to see him. He was such a good boy while we were there. As we were walking to the car he started crying a little and said, "I want my daddy to get better". Thanks for all the prayers!

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!