Summerfest

Eli had a lot of fun at the carnival this weekend. Thanks Grandma!

I'm ready Daddy!

Noah is pretty much just walking these days. He still falls over all the time, but he gets right back up. The big birthday is a week from today. Does anybody have any "must have" ideas for one year olds????

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

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".