Halloween

As promised, here are some pictures of the in their Halloween costumes. Even though Kael had mentioned he wanted to be a pumpkin, he seemed to like his Viking football costume just fine. Kylee's cheerleading costume was a little short (she has such long legs for a two year old!) and Kent told me several times that in the future our daughter will not be allowed to leave the house in a skirt that short. Can't wait for the teenage years, ha!

Last Sunday we took the kids up to the Ledges in Boone. I was so impressed by how much they wanted to "hike". They were just climbing all over- of course, Kylee wanted to do it "all by herself". Kael wanted to make his own path so he and Kent climbed up pretty high. I only watched long enough to snap a picture- it definitely made me nervous seeing them up that high! We had taken Kent's car up to the Ledges instead of our van, so now the kids call Kent's car the "adventure car" and anytime they want to go somewhere fun they insist on taking Kent's car.

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

It seems that I start every blog with these words but it's so true! Time has been absolutely flying by lately and I can't believe it's been nearly two months since I've posted anything! Maybe my New Year's resolution can be to blog more often...

Kael started preschool in September at the same school he went to last year and seems to be enjoying it. He goes there 3 days a week and last week he started a new school 2 days a week so now he is gone at school every day from 12:00-2:30. It's crazy to me that I have a preschooler- especially one that is gone every day! He is so grown up. Funny story about when he started school- when I picked him up the first days of school I would ask him if he'd met some new friends and asked who he played with and several times he responded, "Mom, I played with no one at school." Naturally, as a mother my heart just broke. But I thought, it's ok, surely he is playing with someone, right? So I'd ask him again and he'd say, "Today I played with no one." I was nearly in tears when I finally asked the teacher one day if Kael ever played with any of the kids and she said, "Oh yeah, especially Nolen- they play trucks together every day!" Turns out Kael had been playing with "No-len" not "no-one". He honestly thought this kid's name was No one. It is adorable how innocently funny little kids are. However, I'm almost ashamed to admit just how very excited I was to hear that Kael did, in fact, have friends at school.

Kylee has been doing great too. We moved her into a big girl bed a couple weeks ago which she seems to like. She transitioned much easier than I thought because she looooved her crib but (besides having a little cold) has been sleeping all night in her big bed! What else can I say about Kylee? She truly leaves me speechless sometimes which I suppose is good because with as much as she talks I wouldn't have time to say anything anyways! One of the boys I babysit who is almost 3 can't quite say Kylee (it is quite a mouthful for little kids...) and it comes out sounding like Dotty. Without a moment's hesitation she declares, "It's KY-LEE, not Dotty!" She's not trying to be mean, just honest.

Kent and I went to St. Louis a couple weekends ago so the kids had an extended sleepover at my parents- 3 nights! I know it doesn't sound like that long but I'm pretty sure it was the longest we've left them anywhere without us! They had so much fun and we did too. Kent's cousin Ben works with the St. Louis Rams so we went to the game. There was so much going on in St. Louis that weekend- the Cardinals were in town, Rams (obviously) had a home game and there was a big Oktoberfest thing going on. Kent and I had so much fun living the big city life for a weekend but after a few days away from the kids and plenty of time spent in traffic and parking ramps we were happy to come back home sweet home. We also had fun this last weekend celebrating birthdays- my sister, Kent's dad and brother. For Mandy's we went out to Bass Pro shop which was so much fun and for Kent's family they came here to watch the Hawkeye game on Saturday night. Everyone was so nervous all game but when the Hawks finally pulled it off you would not believe the uproar at our house! I couldn't believe the kids slept through it. Kent is truly in heaven- his Hawks off to an 8-0 start! He couldn't be happier.

Halloween is right around the corner and, as always, I have put off the kids costumes. Kael has been telling me he wants to be a pumpkin which sounds easy, right? It's just that my mother-in-law had gotten him a Vikings football outfit this summer and my mom had given Kylee a Vikings cheerleader costume this summer too so I was thinking that would be perfect- how cute would they be as football player and cheerleader?! And super easy since I am creatively challenged. But Kael is sticking to his guns on this pumpkin thing....stay tuned for Halloween pictures and you'll find out who wins this battle. :)

Here is Kael riding his new jeep. I remember thinking when I grew up how cool power wheels were. Then as a new parent several years ago I remember finding out how pricey they are. This one is a garage sale find but for me these things are priceless. Kael has spent countless hours on his jeep and tractor and is just so darn happy driving around our yard!

Here's Kylee who couldn't be happier about the cookie and the amount of frosting on it (that ended up all over her face)

Here we are in Pella visiting Aunt Tammy for Homecoming. Kael thinks it's pretty funny that bikes get thrown in that pond during the infamous Lemming Race. Funny unless it's your bike I guess.

I will continue posting pictures of Kylee in her Hawkeye "pretty" mostly because I think it's cute. :) I have said it before and I will say it again, every mother should have a little girl!!!

Kael loves riding Grandpa's tractor.

Kael loved his green party hat for Aunt Mandy's birthday. Kylee loved the cupcake she "helped" Aunt Mandy eat.

Have you ever seen 3 girls that look so much alike (but are all soooo different?!)

Kylee's birthday

I'm willing to bet there has never been an (almost) two year old so excited for her birthday as Kylee was. She has been telling people about her birthday pretty much since she's been able to talk. Everywhere we went she would tell people, "I'm gonna be two on my August 9!" Not only is she making sure that everyone is aware of her birthday, but she's also going to go ahead and take complete ownership of August 9. I hope I love her assertiveness as much in future years as I do now. She is so fun- developing such a personality and so capable...of anything really. From carrying on a full conversation with me to keeping all the kids around here in line she is absolutely my little helper. One of my friends commented the other day, "She's really just like a miniature teenager, isn't she?!"

When Kylee woke up on her birthday, Kent and I went into her room to get her and tell her Happy Birthday and she looked up at us, smiled so sweetly with sleepy eyes and said, "Thank you so much!" We took her downstairs where we had set up her Disney Princess tent in the playroom. She was sooo excited. She and Kael played "camping" for quite awhile and anyone who came over in the next few weeks got asked, "Wanna come downstairs and see my new birthday tent?" Kael really wanted to "help" Kylee open the rest of her presents and she was happy to let him. That afternoon all the family came over for her party. She was in such a great mood partly because she had just woken up from a nap, but mostly because she was happy to have a party dress on. Kael helped her open most of the presents (everyone has Kylee pretty well figured out- I think everything she got was either pink or sparkly!) then it was time for cake. So here's the story on the cake: Tammy and I had attempted to make this pink purse cake I had found online. Oh brother. Thank goodness Tam was around to help because I would have thrown the cake out the window. She drove all around town for me to find a giant tootsie roll for the purse handle. Then when we went to decorate it, it just kept tipping over and it was so humid that day that the frosting was literally sliding right off the cake...finally we got it figured out and I have to admit it turned out pretty good. If teaching doesn't work out Tam, I think you could definitely have a future in fancy cakes. Most importantly, Kylee seemed to really like the cake. She said, "It's got a "K" for me!"

Shortly after Kylee's birthday we went to the State Fair. Here are a couple pictures from that. The first one is of Kent and Kylee climbing in the tractors.

Wow. The following picture needs so much explanation that I'm not sure where to start. As we were leaving the fair, Kael heard music and was drawn in. He is shirtless because he'd spilled nearly a full bottle of water down his shirt much earlier in the evening. Yes, we let him walk around the fair without a shirt. He fit right in and probably added a little something to the "people-watching" element of the fair. He's so happy to be rockin' out here that he couldn't care less about his shirtlessness. Kylee, however, is not quite sure of the guy next to her who's trying to get her to clap along with him. I am in the background trying desperately not to laugh at the whole situation.

On a final note, here are a few family pictures we got taken recently (right in time for football season!). Go Hawks!

Summerfest, Vacation (again!), and Adventureland

While I can't believe that summer is drawing to an end, I am so happy about all the fun we managed to fit into these ten or so weeks. I'll start babysitting in a couple weeks and although not every day is easy; I feel so incredibly blessed that I can stay home with my kids. And having extra kids around here during the school year makes me appreciate the summer even more. I think I used to like fall best. Football season, cooler weather, even our wedding was in the fall. But there is something so special about the summer- catching a glimpse of that absolutely awestruck look in the kids' eyes as they watch fireworks, seeing a parade through their eyes, having them react to Adventureland as if it were Disneyworld- it's all just so much fun. And even more than all the "big" things, I hope I will forever remember the little things that made our summer so amazing. Spontaneous backyard picnics, bike rides to the park, swimming at the pool, catching up with friends, icee pops on the front steps...I could go on but I'll stop before I start sounding like a country song. I could never find enough time to write all the cute stories and funny things from the last couple weeks so this time I'll do lots of pictures....

Here we are at Summerfest doing the "all you can ride" wristband deal. Kael was excited. Kylee has no idea what she's in for, but clearly excited as well. She is supposed to be 36 inches to ride all these things and she's like, just barely over 35. So I had a ponytail on top of her head and the carnival guys let her pass. We'd already paid for the wristband and I don't think Kent was willing to take no for an answer. I'm so glad because Kylee loved the rides as much as Kael.

Here we are at fireworks. This is the look of awe in Kael's eyes I was talking about earlier...

Kylee loves her babies. End of story.


We went up to the cabin in Grey Eagle, Minnesota for five days and had the coldest weather we've ever had!! We still had so much fun but had to stay bundled up. We had such a great time but as you can tell from this picture we were all a bit chilly!

Since we didn't spend as much time on the boat as usual, we played lots of games. Here's Kael, strategizing his next bocce ball move.

He's clearly happy with his decision.

We spent a lot of time fishing off the dock. Kent got the original Barbie crown weight from Kylee's fishing pole stuck in a tree so he tied on a plastic turtle at the end of the pole instead. Every time she cast, she'd say, "I caught a turtle!!!"

The kids loved this hammock swing. Kael would hop in and say, "Come on Kylee, I will hold you! You can sit on my lap!" and they would swing together. Kylee also is quite comfy here with Aunt Tammy.

Kael is helping Kent drive the boat. They've been especially good buddies all summer long.

I looooove American processed cheese. Squirt cheese, Easy cheese, I've even heard it called Spray cheese and I love it just the same. I am pleased to report that Kylee shares my true appreciation of this wonder food.

All four of us are tubing!

The boys and their walleye.

Yep, it's still cold- how cute is she all wrapped up in her "blankilee"? (Kael loves to correct her and say, "Kylee it's BLANKET, not blankilee.")

Group shot- Kylee can't seem to figure out what I am doing all the way up there.

This is right before we go to Adventureland. The kids truly have no idea the adventure that waits on the other side of the gates. I went with the kids and my mom in the morning then Kent, me and the kids all went back in the evening. All said and done we probably spent about 8 hours there. Kael even rode the Outlaw roller coaster!

The ladybugs- a classic. We also did the teacups, hot air balloons, tilt-a-whirl, waterslide, and a whole bunch more. We went home for naps in the afternoon but truly could have stayed all day.

The boats. Kael and Kylee refer to them as the "fishing boats" and Kylee proclaimed this her favorite ride of the day. Kael's was the tilt-a-whirl.

Here we are, about to board the train.

In other news, Kylee's second birthday is around the corner. She has been teling people about her birthday for probably the last 9 months. To say she's excited would be the understatement of the year.
Wedding plans for my sisters seem to be going well. I've been dress shopping a couple times with them and I think they both have found "the dress"!
I think that's all the news for now, I'll post some more after Kylee's birthday!

Big news, vacation, etc.

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated! We've kind of gotten wrapped up in the wonderful world of summer. We do, however, have some big news! Both of my sisters are getting married!!!! Yes, I said BOTH!!! Tammy got engaged on July 1 and Mandy got engaged on July 3. My first thought was that I am absolutely so excited for both of them. They both have amazing fiancees who I know will fit right into our family. My second thought was, "Oh my poor mother!" Being the mother of one bride is busy, but two is almost unthinkable. I have no doubt in my mind she will be able to handle it. Lastly, in true middle child fashion, my thought was, "They (Mandy and Tammy) will get to do everything together and I'll be totally left out!!!". That sentiment quickly passed and now I am absolutely relishing my role(s) as Matron of Honor. I've never gotten to be a bridesmaid before! So congratulations girls; I could not be more happy for you and am so thankful you guys live close so I share it all with you.

The week before the 4th of July we headed down to Lake Rathbun with Kent's side of the family. We stayed at a gorgeous cabin at the Honey Creek resort and my dad graciously let us borrow his boat. We had such a nice relaxing time, boating, fishing, playing at the waterpark- I could have easily stayed another week and I'm sure the kids and Kent would have agreed with me! One of Kael and Kylee's favorite things of all was that they got to sleep in bunk beds. Kylee slept on the bottom which was kind of a big deal because she still sleeps in a crib at home. I was so proud of her- she stayed in her big girl bed and slept so well! Kael slept on the top bunk and thought that was the coolest thing ever. He was so excited to tell everyone that he got to sleep on the top bunk since he was a big boy and Kylee could sleep under since she was still kinda little. Here are some pictures of the highlights of the trip.

The first morning we were there, Kylee woke up early so Kent and I took her down to the dock and went fishing. We had heard rumors of a guy catching a huge catfish using hot dogs as bait so we tried it too. No catfish for us, but we sure did catch 5 sunfish that morning. They're cuter anyways!

Here's Kael reeling in a fish with Grandpa Keith. Once the fish is off the hook Kael loves throwing it back into the water all by himself. He just grabs it with both hands and says, "See ya later fishy!" He caught 3 fish that morning!

Kylee loved playing at the waterpark. By the end of the trip she was going down the slides all by herself! As an aside, she has also mastered going down the slide at the Ankeny pool all by herself. Only those who have gone down the slide can truly appreciate what a feat this is. It is so adorable- she holds Kael's hand all the way up the stairs then when they get to the top he zooms right down and she is not far behind. Literally she was drawing a crowd the last time we were there. I heard one mom say, "I have never seen such a little thing be so fearless!" Later Kael and Kylee were jumping in the deep end to me and there was a lady right beside me trying to get her (this is a guess) 4 year old to jump in. She pointed at Kylee and said, "Oh come on- look how little she is and she can do it! Just JUMP!" I laughed, knowing that in a different situation, I would be pushing my kids to do something if I saw someone half their age doing it. Us moms can be a little crazy sometimes.

Kael could not have loved these lily pads more. One day he actually stayed at the waterpark for three and a half hours and I know he spent the majority of the time jumping across these. He has been eyeing the ones at the Ankeny pool for quite sometime but he's about a foot and a half too short to be allowed on them. He hopped right across the ones at Honey Creek like he'd done it a million times before. I'm so thankful my kids love to be in and around the water as much as I do. They just have so much fun jumping, splashing, sliding- they are so confident in the water it makes my job a little easier when I take them both to the pool by myself.

We tried to get Kael to go tubing last year in Minnesota but he didn't enjoy it at all. This year he was willing to give it a shot and he did so well! We were probably on the tube for about 15 or 20 minutes. He kept saying, "Mom we can't catch the boat!" It seemed we were always about a rope's length behind the boat, thus making it quite difficult for us to catch it. He was all smiles the whole time.

It's been so long that I've written even Kael's Blastball season already come to an end. For anyone who's not familiar, it's like T-ball but a little bit easier. There are 6 kids on the team. Everyone bats every inning. There are no outs. Once you succesfully hit the ball past a ten yard line, you run to a base that squeaks when you jump on it, then back to the end of the batting line. When your team is in the field, you chase after the ball and if you're the first one to get it (no glove needed) you yell, "Blast!" and throw it back to the coach of the batting team. Kent was the coach and the kids played on Saturdays for 6 weeks. Kael had a pretty good time with it and stayed in the game even though one of his favorite parks in town was within eyesight of their fields. That's a lot to ask of a four year old!

We had a block party in early June that turned out to be quite a big deal! One of the girls down the street was super excited about this block party thing and rounded up tons of donations from local businesses, prizes for the kids, and even a fire truck entrance to kick off the party. I could not help but post this picture of Kylee in fireman's boots. Too cute.

While we were at the block party, Kent was up fishing at Red Lake. He caught some nice fish and had a great time hanging out with the guys. He has turned Kael and Kylee into little fishermen, too. They both have their fishing poles and nets and love to go fishing with him as often as possible. Kent and Kael especially have become quite the fishing buddies.

Another milestone- Kylee got her first haircut! You can't tell too much from this picture but she just needed a little trim. Don't worry, I didn't let them cut her curls off!

I'm sure there are tons of things I've forgotten to write about and will try to write more often so I don't overload you all with pictures and stories. On a final note, here's one of my favorite pictures of Kael. I truly believe that in this moment, he's the happiest 4 year old boy in the world.

Celebrations

We have had a very exciting last couple of weeks- Easter, Kael's birthday, my birthday were all within a week of each other this year. So we've been keeping busy with all of that. Easter was so fun- this was one of the first years that Kael has really gotten the idea of the Easter Bunny thing so naturally that made Kylee excited, too. We went to the mall and saw the Easter Bunny, went to the Ankeny Easter Egg Hunt, and the Easter Bunny came to our house. The kids were so excited about the Easter Bunny coming to our house they opened the first egg they found and started eating the candy out of it. Kent and I were like, "But there are more eggs! Go pick them up and put them in your baskets!!!". No deal. They were insistent on eating the candy as they found it. I later asked them what their favorite thing the Easter Bunny brought was and out of all the toys, books, and candy, Kael's favorite was a red starburst and Kylee's was a bouncy ball. Ahhh if they could only be this easy to please forever!

The day after Easter was Kael's birthday. 4 years old, can you believe it? I sure can't. I feel like I blinked and he grew up. Kael and Kylee are so sweet and still so innocent; I wish I could just freeze time. I know there are so many great moments ahead of us but if these years could just last a little bit longer I wouldn't complain at all. Anyways, we had a great time celebrating his birthday. 4 is a fun age. They're old enough to get really excited about their birthday, but not old enough that they only want to hang out with friends. We are so lucky to have grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, and uncles who live close and who want to celebrate the kids birthdays. So we did quite a few little family celebrations. Here's Kael with his requested chocolate strawberry birthday cake. (I actually didn't burn it or anything!!! Even Kent was marginally impressed.) I think Kael's favorite part of his birthday was when eveyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

Above is Kael enjoying (simultaneously) some of his birthday presents. When Kael opened up his rollerskates, Kylee looked me right in the eyes and said, "Mom, where are pink rollerskates for me?" Ahh that's my Kylee.

After all the birthday craziness, we decided on one last celebration at Adventureland Inn. Kent used to work there so we got quite a discount. And it was really nice because there is a pool with zero depth entry so Kylee really had fun playing too. Kael absolutely loved all the waterslides and was so proud of himself when he realized he's tall enough to jump in the pool all by himself and reach the bottom! We had so much fun.

Each year I get less and less excited about my birthday. And not because I'm getting older; it's just so much more fun to play a child's birthday party than my own! But I was not forgotten. My favorite part was when the kids and Kent took me out breakfast. Actually, Kylee had gotten up early so Kent let me stay in bed and was just going to take her with him to pick breakfast up but Kael woke up while they were getting ready to go. So Kael wanted to go along. Then Kael looks at me and said, "Mom aren't you going to come?" so we all ended up at Daylight Donuts in our jammies. Such fun memories. I got lots of wonderful presents- here is a picture of me in my new Italian apron. Yes, I said Italian. As in, straight from Italy! Mom, Dad and Tam picked that up for me when they were there. If you can't tell, I'm super excited!

Clearly I should do this blogging thing more often because this one has gotten way too long! I will close with a couple more pictures of the kids. First if of Kylee in her little pigtails trying to ride a scooter. She also is growing up way too fast. She looks so grown up in this picture! Next is of Kael on a preschool field trip to the farm where he got to ride a horse. Yes all 24 kids in his class took turns riding a horse and every last one of them loved it. Including Kael, as you can see by his huge smile.