Jeremy and I after a fun day at Adventureland - picture taken by Nile
Hayden soaking wet on the raging river
Jeremy and Nile
Aubrey all ready for church
Aubrey climbing on our dining set - Go Hawks!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Adventureland pics and some of Sis
Jeremy and I after a fun day at Adventureland - picture taken by Nile
Hayden soaking wet on the raging river
Jeremy and Nile
Aubrey all ready for church
Aubrey climbing on our dining set - Go Hawks!
Adventureland
Yesterday we decided to use our Adventureland tickets from work. We were hoping that it would be less busy on a week day. We headed down to the water park area right away since it has a tendency to fill up in the afternoon. Nile enjoyed the area you could climb through and go on some smaller slides and Jeremy and Hayden checked out the bigger slides. The four of us went up to a tube slide but Nile chickened out and Jeremy had to walk back down with him.
After the water park we rode the outlaw a few times and saw mill splash and then headed out to the car for a picnic lunch. The boys and I took some motion sickness meds and headed back into the park to rides lots of rides. Hayden and I tackled the gallion but I don't think the medicine had fully kicked in because it took a little while for my tummy to clam down after that! Then we decided to ride the sky glider and the raging river. The lines so far had been really short but the raging river was terrible - I bet we were in line easily over 30 mins. At least they had a fan in the line area! The rest of the afternoon we all had a chance to ride the rides we wanted to and then we headed out around 5 PM or so for some supper at Burger King.
Next we ran through Targetto get school supplies for both of the boys. I can hardly believe they will both be "in school" this fall. Nile we only go two afternoons a week but it will be good for him to socialize with some other kids his age. After we checked almost everything off their lists we headed back to Pella. The boys were asleep in the car after just a few minutes and we all enjoyed the air conditioned ride home. We also had the annual Van Wyk reunion at West Market park when we got home so we headed over there to meet my parents and Aubrey for coffee time.
All in all it was a fun, hot day and the boys behaved unbelievably well so it was a fun day of memories for all. God Bless!!
After the water park we rode the outlaw a few times and saw mill splash and then headed out to the car for a picnic lunch. The boys and I took some motion sickness meds and headed back into the park to rides lots of rides. Hayden and I tackled the gallion but I don't think the medicine had fully kicked in because it took a little while for my tummy to clam down after that! Then we decided to ride the sky glider and the raging river. The lines so far had been really short but the raging river was terrible - I bet we were in line easily over 30 mins. At least they had a fan in the line area! The rest of the afternoon we all had a chance to ride the rides we wanted to and then we headed out around 5 PM or so for some supper at Burger King.
Next we ran through Targetto get school supplies for both of the boys. I can hardly believe they will both be "in school" this fall. Nile we only go two afternoons a week but it will be good for him to socialize with some other kids his age. After we checked almost everything off their lists we headed back to Pella. The boys were asleep in the car after just a few minutes and we all enjoyed the air conditioned ride home. We also had the annual Van Wyk reunion at West Market park when we got home so we headed over there to meet my parents and Aubrey for coffee time.
All in all it was a fun, hot day and the boys behaved unbelievably well so it was a fun day of memories for all. God Bless!!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
a few more!
All tuckered out after a fun time at the pool
Aubrey "driving"
Hayden's new smile ~ Nile had to get in the picture too, Middle Child Syndrome!!
more summer pics
my 3 babies with the hot rod
Aubrey enjoying a grilled cheese sandwich
fun at the pool
a new way to eat sweet corn
looking cool for the car show
Buyers remorse
So I have had my new front load washer and dryer set for just shy of two weeks and there is absolutely no buyers remorse here! I LOVE IT! It seems like I hardly ever do laundry anymore and I am very excited to get my next city bill and see how much our water use has gone down. I almost wish we had gotten a new set earlier but I am glad we went ahead and waited until our died to justify the expense.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Aubrey update
Well it is hard to believe but our beautiful baby girl is 15 months old already!! Man the times flies even faster with the third one. She had her well child check up yesterday morning and to say she was not cooperative would be an understatement! She has been developing quite the little personality lately. If she doesnt want to do something she is fight you on it. We have already seen stomping feet and screaming on more than one occasion! But we did make it through the check up and didnt get shots since we need to go somewhere else to get those so at least we didnt have to deal with that - yet. She started out a 7# 11.6 oz and 21" long. Now she is 24# 8 oz and 32" long! She is at 80% for weight and 90% for height- I think all of the kids are going to be tall like me if their stats mean much in the long run!
Aubrey has been walking quite well since her first birthday and now she runs after her brother often and like to walk outside when we will let her. She say "mama" and "mom" A LOT! And every male is our house is "dada". She has been waving bye bye for a while and looks absolutely adorable doing it. Now she is learning to blow kisses - she has the kiss down just forgets to blow it now but that is ok, it is still super cute!! She claps her hands a lot and loves to dance to any music she hears. She is also a very girly girl. She loves her purse, her babies, shoes and being the center of our attention most of the time. She also loves her big brother - unless Nile is trying to carry her around and she doesnt want to be carried. I guess that is part of being the youngest with two big brother around.
I am so grateful that I have been able to be a stay at home mom with my kids for the last 7 months. It is such a joy to be home with them and see them learn new things every day. There have certainly been days where I probably yelled too much or the boys watched too much TV but I try my best to keep things in line. In a little over a month Hayden will be back to school full time and Nile will start preschool so we will have to readjust at that time. We are having lots of fun going to the pool a lot and the library and staying cool at home.
Aubrey has been walking quite well since her first birthday and now she runs after her brother often and like to walk outside when we will let her. She say "mama" and "mom" A LOT! And every male is our house is "dada". She has been waving bye bye for a while and looks absolutely adorable doing it. Now she is learning to blow kisses - she has the kiss down just forgets to blow it now but that is ok, it is still super cute!! She claps her hands a lot and loves to dance to any music she hears. She is also a very girly girl. She loves her purse, her babies, shoes and being the center of our attention most of the time. She also loves her big brother - unless Nile is trying to carry her around and she doesnt want to be carried. I guess that is part of being the youngest with two big brother around.
I am so grateful that I have been able to be a stay at home mom with my kids for the last 7 months. It is such a joy to be home with them and see them learn new things every day. There have certainly been days where I probably yelled too much or the boys watched too much TV but I try my best to keep things in line. In a little over a month Hayden will be back to school full time and Nile will start preschool so we will have to readjust at that time. We are having lots of fun going to the pool a lot and the library and staying cool at home.
Hayden's exciting day
Well yesterday was a big day for Hayden. It good ways and bad. In the afternoon while he was munching on a snack and watching a little TV his very wiggly front tooth came out! Yay! I am not a fan of the whole loosing teeth process and I can still remember hating it as a kid so I am not real "hands on" in this process. Luckily it doesn't seem to bother Hayden too much. This front tooth has been really loose ever since the first front tooth came out on the 4th of July so I am glad to see it go. He looks like a little vampire to me now missing both his top teeth - I need to take a picture and after I do I will get it put on here.
Then later in the afternoon when we were all getting ready to head to the pool since it was scorching outside I was taking care of Aubrey and Hayden tried to dive into Nile's bed. If you don't already know the boys have bunk beds and Nile sleeps on the bottom bunk. Hayden misjudged his heigth and ended up smacking his head on the bottom of the top bunk. It was a really loud bang and he started crying and holding his head right away. I took a look and saw blood and started to freak out - which I know you shouldnt do as the parent but I dont handle blood very well. Then Hayden started to freak out and I was yelling for Jeremy. Thank God that Jeremy was home or this whole incident could have been traumatic for us all!! Jeremy put Hayden in the shower to see how bad the cut was while I quickly changed back into my clothes to take him to the doctor if necessary. Once we all settled down Hayden seemed OK. The cut was mostly a small puncture with a scratch and he wasnt complaining of a headache of dizziness but we decided it would be best to take him in to make sure he didnt need stitches or anything like that.
I drove him over to Convenient Care at the hospital and we got checked in quickly and then waiting to see the doctor. While we were waiting I was asking how he was feeling and he said he was fine. We looked through a few magazines together and then the doctor came it and took a quick look and said it looked like it would be fine on its own. Now swimming for at least 24 hours and he could shower and wash his hair normally. So we headed back home to tell everyone else the news. After supper Hayden showered with Jeremy helping in case he needed anything and his puncture wound was still oozing a little some hopefully that will be done this morning and he will start to scab so we can be back at the pool after Jeremy gets off work this afternoon.
I have been very lucky with all three of my kids being healthy and very few emergency visits so far. We hadn't been to the doctor for months and we had Aubrey's 15 month check up yesterday morning and then Hayden to Convenient Care in the afternoon. I am sure the insurance will look at that twice! Thankfully we are all OK and I think I was as traumatized as Hayden was!! Praise God for a happy ending!!
Then later in the afternoon when we were all getting ready to head to the pool since it was scorching outside I was taking care of Aubrey and Hayden tried to dive into Nile's bed. If you don't already know the boys have bunk beds and Nile sleeps on the bottom bunk. Hayden misjudged his heigth and ended up smacking his head on the bottom of the top bunk. It was a really loud bang and he started crying and holding his head right away. I took a look and saw blood and started to freak out - which I know you shouldnt do as the parent but I dont handle blood very well. Then Hayden started to freak out and I was yelling for Jeremy. Thank God that Jeremy was home or this whole incident could have been traumatic for us all!! Jeremy put Hayden in the shower to see how bad the cut was while I quickly changed back into my clothes to take him to the doctor if necessary. Once we all settled down Hayden seemed OK. The cut was mostly a small puncture with a scratch and he wasnt complaining of a headache of dizziness but we decided it would be best to take him in to make sure he didnt need stitches or anything like that.
I drove him over to Convenient Care at the hospital and we got checked in quickly and then waiting to see the doctor. While we were waiting I was asking how he was feeling and he said he was fine. We looked through a few magazines together and then the doctor came it and took a quick look and said it looked like it would be fine on its own. Now swimming for at least 24 hours and he could shower and wash his hair normally. So we headed back home to tell everyone else the news. After supper Hayden showered with Jeremy helping in case he needed anything and his puncture wound was still oozing a little some hopefully that will be done this morning and he will start to scab so we can be back at the pool after Jeremy gets off work this afternoon.
I have been very lucky with all three of my kids being healthy and very few emergency visits so far. We hadn't been to the doctor for months and we had Aubrey's 15 month check up yesterday morning and then Hayden to Convenient Care in the afternoon. I am sure the insurance will look at that twice! Thankfully we are all OK and I think I was as traumatized as Hayden was!! Praise God for a happy ending!!
Home remodeling - ideas anyways
So we had our cute little house for sale for about a year and a half and decided to take it off the market shortly after I started staying home. At that time I considered the main floor pretty much done. I guess when you spend as many hours looking at the same rooms as I do you find things to change!!
We are currently in the process of ordering new Pella windows for the whole house. This is something we considered several years ago and decided against. At the time we just replaced the entry doors and storm doors with some from Menards and called it good. Now we are starting with the three kitchen windows and will slowly work our way around the house this summer/fall. The last window will be our large living room window. It is currently one giant fixed window and we are going to change it to a composite unit that will have a double hung window on each side of a fixed unit. This will give us the ability to let some fresh air into the living room in the spring and fall so we are very excited about this process.
We are also working on some updates to the kitchen. On fathers day we went to Jeremy's cousins house for lunch and she had recently painted her kitchen counters with a kit from online. They looked amazing so I decided this would be a good option for us too. Over four days you paint different colors on your counters and in the end they look like granite!! But first will come the painting of the walls - this doesnt sound like much but when we redid the kitchen after we first moved in six years ago I didnt get the wallpaper glue washed off very well so our paint never stuck the greatest and looks kind of crappy in some places. Trying to figure out now what to do to make sure they look nicer this time around. Hopefully we can get that decided soon so we can paint at soon at the new windows are put in. We are also getting new flooring in the kitchen. We used the peel and stick floor squares the first time and they have not worn well for us at all. Now we are looking at a one piece laminate flooring with a wood design. We got our bathroom flooring from Boats and have loved it! It never looks dirty and had worn wonderfully. The kitchen will be the same type of thing with just a different style/design. After these things are all done we are just going to look at some new cabinet handles and should be done with the kitchen!! I am very excited for that day already!!
Another "idea" I have right now is some landscaping around the front and side of the house. We already have some nice bushes on the alley side that just need a little work and some landscaping trim and mulch and they should be good to go. That just leaves us with the front of the house since you cant really see much of the other side with the neighbor's house and the backyard has the privacy fence.
At some point if we plan to stay in the house long term we will have to make a bedroom in the basement for either Hayden or both the boys to share. This will mean added an egress window which will most likely be the biggest project - at least I hope! We would also do a little work in the bathroom downstairs to make it more "kid" friendly.
Lots of ideas running around my head these days - just wish the money and work came as easily as the ideas do!!
We are currently in the process of ordering new Pella windows for the whole house. This is something we considered several years ago and decided against. At the time we just replaced the entry doors and storm doors with some from Menards and called it good. Now we are starting with the three kitchen windows and will slowly work our way around the house this summer/fall. The last window will be our large living room window. It is currently one giant fixed window and we are going to change it to a composite unit that will have a double hung window on each side of a fixed unit. This will give us the ability to let some fresh air into the living room in the spring and fall so we are very excited about this process.
We are also working on some updates to the kitchen. On fathers day we went to Jeremy's cousins house for lunch and she had recently painted her kitchen counters with a kit from online. They looked amazing so I decided this would be a good option for us too. Over four days you paint different colors on your counters and in the end they look like granite!! But first will come the painting of the walls - this doesnt sound like much but when we redid the kitchen after we first moved in six years ago I didnt get the wallpaper glue washed off very well so our paint never stuck the greatest and looks kind of crappy in some places. Trying to figure out now what to do to make sure they look nicer this time around. Hopefully we can get that decided soon so we can paint at soon at the new windows are put in. We are also getting new flooring in the kitchen. We used the peel and stick floor squares the first time and they have not worn well for us at all. Now we are looking at a one piece laminate flooring with a wood design. We got our bathroom flooring from Boats and have loved it! It never looks dirty and had worn wonderfully. The kitchen will be the same type of thing with just a different style/design. After these things are all done we are just going to look at some new cabinet handles and should be done with the kitchen!! I am very excited for that day already!!
Another "idea" I have right now is some landscaping around the front and side of the house. We already have some nice bushes on the alley side that just need a little work and some landscaping trim and mulch and they should be good to go. That just leaves us with the front of the house since you cant really see much of the other side with the neighbor's house and the backyard has the privacy fence.
At some point if we plan to stay in the house long term we will have to make a bedroom in the basement for either Hayden or both the boys to share. This will mean added an egress window which will most likely be the biggest project - at least I hope! We would also do a little work in the bathroom downstairs to make it more "kid" friendly.
Lots of ideas running around my head these days - just wish the money and work came as easily as the ideas do!!
Schools out for summer!!
Well I did it!! I completed my first online class at Iowa by taking my last test last week. I am feeling very proud of myself for this accomplishment and thankful that I was able to buckle down and read/study when needed. I was very nervous to start out this class since I had never taken an online class, it had been several years & kids since I took any college class, and this was an upper level psych class at it has been almost 10 years since my last psych class. But the Lord helped me pull through and I really enjoyed it!! Now I am off until Aug. 22. Coincidentally that is when Hayden will start first grade!! Big day for all of us I guess. I will be taking three classes this fall since the summer one went so well and I have much longer to get my work done in the fall and spring semesters as compared to the summer one. I am taking Elementary Latin I - to start fulfilling my 4 semesters of a foreign language requirement, Classic Mythology, and Into to Islamic Civilizations. These classes will all help me complete core requirements. I just got my books in the mail this week - it is crazy that I paid a little less for books for three classes than I did for my one book for my first class! Hopefully things will go well and I can continue to take three classes in the spring/fall and one in the summer to complete my degree sometime around 2014.
I may be starting to watch a few kids just a few days a weeks too so we will just have to see how all that shakes out. It is in God's hands and I know that he is more than capable!! Just waiting for his answers in his time right now.
Hard to believe that we me back in class and Hayden going to first grade and Nile in preschool two afternoons a week how much our lives have changed over the last year!! God is truly an awesome god and we thank him daily for all of our many blessings!!
I may be starting to watch a few kids just a few days a weeks too so we will just have to see how all that shakes out. It is in God's hands and I know that he is more than capable!! Just waiting for his answers in his time right now.
Hard to believe that we me back in class and Hayden going to first grade and Nile in preschool two afternoons a week how much our lives have changed over the last year!! God is truly an awesome god and we thank him daily for all of our many blessings!!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
newer summer pics
my dad, Aubrey & Nile waiting for the Pella parade to start
now missing two teeth!
annual family picture
the kids at Good Guys with cousin Treyson
Fourth of July
The 4th of July has to be one of my favorite holidays - mostly because my birthday is two days later! ;-) We had a very busy weekend and I can only see things getting busier as the boys get older. Generally we would head up to the Iowa State Fairgrounds on Thursday for the start of the Good Guys car show. This year it was so hot so we decided to just go shopping instead. My mom, myself and the three kids headed up to DSM to go to the mall, Costco, Sams and a few other places. It was so hot! The temp was up to 101 in DSM!! We shuffled the kiddos around and got most of our shopping done before heading back to Pella - all three kids fell asleep on the car ride. Jeremy had been out moving in Tracy and at our house so we were all hot and tired. I made some breakfast for supper and we all enjoyed the air conditioning and a little TV.
Friday morning my parents headed up to the car show and we had lots to do here at home. Hayden had a birthday party in the morning and his last t-ball game that night. It was a really hot day again so we headed to the pool for a few hours that afternoon. Hayden had a great ball season and enjoyed having Jeremy help out as the assistant coach. Nile is very excited to play next year and we are excited to see Hayden move up to rookies.
Saturday morning Jeremy had to work for a few hours so the kids and I tried to get everything ready to head up to the car show before he came home. Unfortunately we slept a little too late and were busy running around and packing. The morning didn't start out to great since Nile wet his bed - which he never does - and then Hayden woke up wet too! Then I had Aubrey in the bath and the phone rang to I pulled her out and dried her off. She was playing in her room a little while I was on the phone and the next thing I knew she was squatting on the floor pooping! At the same time Nile was playing downstairs and had to go potty - while he was standing and going he decided he needed to sit but it was too late! After 4 accidents I considered not leaving the house at all!! We finally got everyone cleaned up and the car loaded and headed over to pick up my cousins son to take him with us up to the car show. The weather Saturday was beautiful and we enjoyed our time at the car show. The fireworks Saturday night were awesome - sleeping in a fold down camper with 7 people was not so awesome.
Sunday after breakfast at McDonald's we headed back to the show to get a free model and look around a little more. About lunch time Jeremy, Aubrey and I headed back to Pella and the boys stayed at the car show with my parents. Jeremy headed to Kville after a quick sandwich to watch some friends play in the sole survivor golf competition, Aubrey napped after some lunch and I worked on unpacking, cleaning up the house and homework. The boys came home a few hours later and I discovered my dryer was no longer working!! My dad and Jeremy looked at the dryer but couldn't see anything wrong with the electrical board. So now we are looking at a new washer and dryer set. The ones we have are around 8 1/2 year old and they were the cheapest I could buy so they have worked pretty well for me. We are looking at buying new Pella windows for the house and also new flooring and paint in the kitchen. I guess if we are spending money we just as well get it all at once huh!?
Monday we enjoyed the parade and lunch in Bussey and Hayden finally lost his first top tooth that he had been wiggling all weekend. We headed back to Pella to wait for the parade here in the afternoon. We enjoyed the parade and then headed home for Aubrey to take a nap. That night we had my parents and Jeremy's parents over for supper. We had lots of fun grilling out, attempting to make homemade ice cream, playing baseball & cards and then we all headed over to the high school to watch the fireworks.
This week we don't have too much planed other then our car show in town this weekend and my birthday tomorrow. I am working to get my summer class finished up hopefully next week and then have a month off till fall classes start. Hopefully we can spend lot of time at the pool and just enjoy the time together before school starts for everyone this August!
Friday morning my parents headed up to the car show and we had lots to do here at home. Hayden had a birthday party in the morning and his last t-ball game that night. It was a really hot day again so we headed to the pool for a few hours that afternoon. Hayden had a great ball season and enjoyed having Jeremy help out as the assistant coach. Nile is very excited to play next year and we are excited to see Hayden move up to rookies.
Saturday morning Jeremy had to work for a few hours so the kids and I tried to get everything ready to head up to the car show before he came home. Unfortunately we slept a little too late and were busy running around and packing. The morning didn't start out to great since Nile wet his bed - which he never does - and then Hayden woke up wet too! Then I had Aubrey in the bath and the phone rang to I pulled her out and dried her off. She was playing in her room a little while I was on the phone and the next thing I knew she was squatting on the floor pooping! At the same time Nile was playing downstairs and had to go potty - while he was standing and going he decided he needed to sit but it was too late! After 4 accidents I considered not leaving the house at all!! We finally got everyone cleaned up and the car loaded and headed over to pick up my cousins son to take him with us up to the car show. The weather Saturday was beautiful and we enjoyed our time at the car show. The fireworks Saturday night were awesome - sleeping in a fold down camper with 7 people was not so awesome.
Sunday after breakfast at McDonald's we headed back to the show to get a free model and look around a little more. About lunch time Jeremy, Aubrey and I headed back to Pella and the boys stayed at the car show with my parents. Jeremy headed to Kville after a quick sandwich to watch some friends play in the sole survivor golf competition, Aubrey napped after some lunch and I worked on unpacking, cleaning up the house and homework. The boys came home a few hours later and I discovered my dryer was no longer working!! My dad and Jeremy looked at the dryer but couldn't see anything wrong with the electrical board. So now we are looking at a new washer and dryer set. The ones we have are around 8 1/2 year old and they were the cheapest I could buy so they have worked pretty well for me. We are looking at buying new Pella windows for the house and also new flooring and paint in the kitchen. I guess if we are spending money we just as well get it all at once huh!?
Monday we enjoyed the parade and lunch in Bussey and Hayden finally lost his first top tooth that he had been wiggling all weekend. We headed back to Pella to wait for the parade here in the afternoon. We enjoyed the parade and then headed home for Aubrey to take a nap. That night we had my parents and Jeremy's parents over for supper. We had lots of fun grilling out, attempting to make homemade ice cream, playing baseball & cards and then we all headed over to the high school to watch the fireworks.
This week we don't have too much planed other then our car show in town this weekend and my birthday tomorrow. I am working to get my summer class finished up hopefully next week and then have a month off till fall classes start. Hopefully we can spend lot of time at the pool and just enjoy the time together before school starts for everyone this August!
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