creamed spinach

For some strange reason, Eli has been asking for spinach (never had it before), so yesterday Joel found a recipe for creamed spinach. The two of them went to the grocery store to get everything they needed, and Joel went to work in the kitchen. Eli took one big bite, and I really wish I would've taken another picture as he was trying to choke it down. He made some of the best faces I've ever seen, and when he finally got the bite down, he said he liked it. Of course he did not want anymore. For the record, the rest of us liked it.

This is Stupid

View from the the living room window and out the front door, respectively (after I just shoveled 4 foot snowdrifts). Some of you may think this is a humorous post, but the patriarch of this family is not very happy about this situation whatsoever. Forecast for Ankeny, IA: 56* and sunny. Enough said.

The boys' favorite part of the house

2 weeks later, and we are still loving the laundry chute. A close second would be the huge crawl space. Where I'm sure someone will get hurt very soon!

Eli's question today

"Mom, when will I get to watch Playhouse Disney?' I guess we're waiting until Joel gets his new TV before we get any type of cable (could be a long wait). I spent 2 hours at the gym on Monday night just so I could watch Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill.

For Jennifer

I still have a lot of boxes to empty before I can post pictures of the house. This is the playroom. Originally, this was going to be Eli's room, but when we moved in, he picked the other room. I think it worked out better anyway because this room is much bigger, and it is further away from Joel's office.
Eventhough I have unpacking to do, we are ready for visitors! Noah was pretty sure that Gracie and Feffer (Jennifer) were coming to the park with us today, and Eli is requesting a sleepover from Jake. Eli also made a sad comment last night about how long it would take Jennifer to drive to our house. Thanks for the fun cards Jennifer, Grace and Grandma Cathy! The boys have been having fun opening their mail!

Let the tour of parks begin!

yellow fish bridge
Craig and I have decided that we are going to spend the summer going to every park in the area. Yesterday he met us at a park near our houses, and today Eli was requesting the park with a yellow fish that is a bridge. He must've noticed it when we were driving around looking at houses one day because we've never been to this one before. Katelynn got to stay home from daycare today, so she could come with us.

Day #7 brings....

a trip to urgent care. I was putting one more pile of laundry away before putting Noah to bed, and the boys ran past me into Noah's room (they were running from a zombie). Noah tripped and hit his forehead on the corner of one of the legs of his crib. The good news... #1 -Auntie Jen got us to urgent care at 8:27 (they close at 8:30), so we didn't have to go to the ER. #2 -We got our new insurance cards in the mail yesterday. #3- Although the doctor thought he might have to do stitches because it was such a wide cut, he decided that glue would do the trick. #4- We got there at 8:30 and were home before 9:30. #5- Noah was so good- almost like he knows we could be there again in the future. #6- no blood on the new carpet.

We're here!

Moving went pretty smoothly (I can say that because I didn't lift anything). We are missing a few items that got left behind when we ran out of room in the truck and left in a hurry Thursday morning. We did however miss the snowstorm, so that was good! Thanks to everyone who helped on both ends. Eli is now ready to move to Texas!

cousins

Noah loves Austin!!!

my boys

Jake, Luke and Eli

I thought I better do one more post before I lose my computer for a few days. My friend Kelly came down on Saturday to help me pack. We did a lot more talking than packing (at least I did), but we (Kelly) still got a lot done. Thanks Kel! Today I said goodbye to my boys. I'm going to miss them a lot, but it still hasn't really hit me that I won't see them tomorrow!!!! Thanks for pizza Chad and Erica.

Grandma Day

I have been spoiled over the past 4 years by Cathy coming over every week so I can get out to run some errands. For our last "Grandma Day", she treated the boys to a morning at Recess. They had sooooo much fun! Thanks Grandma Cathy. These boys are going to miss you!!!!!!

Make room on the couch Uncle Craig and Uncle Brent!

We've got another calculator junkie on our hands. Eli spent half the weekend adding numbers with the calculator on Joel's phone.

the first sign of spring

Last week Joel pointed out a robin to Eli and said "seeing a robin is the first sign of spring". Tonight as we were heading outside, Eli was looking at the birds and said, "Mom I just saw the 70th sign of spring".

Easter weekend

What do two 4 year old boys do after they declare "not hungry" during dinner and the popcorn comes out???? They decide eating a little dinner to get some popcorn isn't such a bad idea. I heated up a plate of food and told them to eat a few bites before they could eat the popcorn. They sat their bottoms on the counter and ate all of it. Eli and I made a trip to Krista's over the weekend so we could finally meet Brady. We got there on Thursday night just as it started to snow. We didn't do much over the weekend, but with 4 little boys we managed to keep busy and have fun. After church yesterday, we went to my Grandma's for Easter dinner. The kids enjoyed an Easter egg hunt, and then we left around 2:00. I wanted to get home before Noah went to bed.

birthday party

We had Eli's birthday party at Grandma Cathy's tonight. Eli chose frogs and lizards as a theme and wanted steak to eat. When I asked him last night if he was excited about having steak for his birthday dinner he suggested that we bring our steak sauce because sometimes Grandma and Jennifer don't have steak sauce. The meal was delicious, and Grandma had steak sauce. When it came time to blow out the candles, Eli insisted that he have all the frog candles that came in the package. Therefore, he got to blow out 6 candles instead of 4. In the spirit of the frogs and lizard theme party, I pulled out this old frog t-shirt for Noah to wear. Eli was pretty sure he was going to wear the shirt instead of Noah, so I suggested that we take a trip to Kohls to look for a different frog shirt. We found one, but Eli picked a bug shirt instead. (Noah ate this whole plate of cake and ice cream and washed it down with Eli's sprite). Thanks for the fun party Grandma!!!!

Thanks Aunt Jennifer...

for the yummy birthday doughnuts!

Birthday Boy

Today was Eli's 4th birthday; I can't believe it! We had a little snack party with Luke, Jake and Chase today, and he will have another party on Saturday at Grandma Cathy's. We were going to take him out to eat tonight, but he decided that we should just pick up food and bring it home so we could keep playing outside. What did he pick for his birthday dinner???? Long John Silvers of course. I went to Arby's for the rest of us. Luckily he told Grandma that steak is his favorite food, so we have that to look forward to on Saturday.

Finally

some spring weather!

WHAT A TREAT!

Grandma Cathy came armed with ice cream, cones, and sprinkles today!

Wave the White Flag

So here we are in day 4 of "daddy in charge". You can see by the picture that I have lost all control. Noah seemingly decided to wear just socks and shoes of his choosing, while foregoing the rest of the ensemble. The toy of choice is a case of water where they hide cars in the hole and take them out. Loads of fun. I have even reinstated the gate on the stairs to keep them contained to one level. Wonderful Aunt Jennifer volunteered to take the boys for the morning and saved what's left of my sanity. Full-time parenting is much more exhausting than I ever imagined. Thankfully mommy is feeling much better and will resume control tomorrow.