Easton's almost 3!!!

I can't believe that Easton is about a to turn 3 in 10 days! Time sure does fly. For his birthday he requested a skid loader party. Well that has proven to be a fairly impossible wish to grant so we are going with an overall construction theme instead. I made his invitations for his party last night and he thought they were "cute" this morning. Stay tuned, we told him when he turned 3 he had to give his pacifier away to baby Paige (my friend Lisa's baby), he keeps talking about it, but we will see if it works. I am working on his video timeline and will get that posted on his birthday. The birthday invite is above, and if you are in the area everyone is welcome to join! Be back to post later, I have a Mason post to make too :)

Summer time wrap up

Wow, summer sure is busy. I have about 8 different blog posts floating around in my head that haven't made it onto here yet. So today I decided I would just do one huge one and do a pic montage to catch up and start fresh. Now that semester is back in session I have a more distinct schedule and hopefully can get back to my weekly Tuesday blogging session... don't hold your breath!

August was our month of travels. First Jake and I went to Boston where I had a sociology conference. We did many fun things including a tour of Boston in a "duck" which is an old war vehicle that goes on land and water, went to Boston Commons, and had lunch with a friend of mine at the Cheers bar! It was nice to get away for a few days and thanks to our parents who took care of the wild ones!

Next up the State Fair. Jake came home from work one day and said, "we should go to the state fair." I asked if he had ever been there and he said, "no" he asked me the same and I hadn't either. We figured we might as well check it out. Sutton wasn't invited to come along because we figured he would have been a nightmare, so he stayed home with Grandma Rene and Grandpa Dean (what a treat for him!). When the older boys found out they were coming to babysit they soon decided they didn't want to go to the fair either because they wanted to stay with grandma and grandpa!

At the fair we saw the butter cow, and Shawn Johnson made of butter too. We went on the "ski lift" as we kept referring to it and climbed on many many tractors of all varieties. I wish I had a video of Mason when he first saw all the tractors parked, he was so excited and kept saying, "WOW LOOK AT THAT ONE..WOW.. MOM LOOK..WOW... THIS IS COOL." I don't think he has been that excited about anything for a very long time. We also went down this HUGE slide. Mason went alone, I went with Easton the first time and he went alone the second time. This slide was massive and you had to climb a million stairs while carrying a gunny sack. I can't believe Easton made it up there by himself, all 28lbs of him dragging the sack that was bigger than him. Overall we had a fun time and the boys enjoyed it.

A few weeks later it was off to St. Louis with Grandpa Bob and Grandma Patty. Once again Sutton got the privelege of staying behind, this time at Papa and Grandma Lana's house. We did many fun things. We went to the zoo and saw all kinds of neat animals. My favorite was a momma tiger that had 5 cubs and they kept wrestling with her, I could have watched them all day. We saw a sea lion show, zebras, giraffes (Mason's favorite), monkeys, chimps, gorillas, penguins...you name it we probably saw it.

We also went to the park that the arch is in, where Mason and Easton had fun chasing geese. The boys and daddy and Bob and Patty all went up into the arch... I couldn't bring myself to do it. I am terribly claustrophobic and chose to stay behind :) We then went to the Cardinal's game where the boys did ok until we had a rain delay in about the middle of the 9th inning. Then all of a sudden they had a blast because they were running and splashing in all the puddles. So much for our future athletes, might as well buy them a farm right now, LOL. The favorite part of the trip for Mason was the hotel swimming pool. I swear it was barely bigger than our bath tub but he sure had a blast jumping off the side and swimming around.

Those are the August travel highlights. Our other big change in August was new preschool and daycare for all the boys. Easton and Sutton go to an inhome provider, which I hesitate to even call her that because she has a whole wing on her house devoted to her daycare which has more learning stuff and stations and educational toys than they had at their former daycare center. It truly is amazing. The boys had a slight adjustment but have thrived there and Kathy has really helped Sutton start talking ALOT! He's starting to say so many words. They now go 5 days a week (used to only go MWF).

Mason is at 2 different preschools. One is called Creation Kids and he goes all day MWF, it is a preschool readiness program and he loves it, brings home worksheets he has done everyday. And this week he started his second preschool Kinderfarm on Tu/Th afternoons. It is a preschool on a farm, they go and help take care of animals and also focus on preparation for kindergarten as well. He of course thinks this is the coolest thing ever. So for the first time since I started having kids I actually have days where they are at school and I am not teaching!!! I have visions of getting a lot accomplished (you know like that dissertation that is moving at turtle speed) but Tues I had meetings all afternoon and today I found myself wandering around aimlessly wondering where to start. Guess a list is in order so I can actually make use of this time I have!

Guess that is it for now. Do have another post to make, will do that soon. Mason learned to ride with no training wheels and we have video. He's so proud and I feel like he is getting too old! Easton turns 3 in a few weeks which I also just can't believe. Time flies... but it sure is fun.

Hope you are all well... here is the slide show with many pics. Dont' miss the really dark one, I walked in after having given the boys icecream and see them with their bowls on their faces licking the bowls clean...monkey see monkey do. The pic is bad but hilarious so I had to add it.

Happy end of summer! Yay for football season, boo for little kids at Hawk games (yet another blog post to come)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Mason's famous last words

Although it is sad when they grow, it's also funny I guess. Jake and I went to Boston for 4 days last week without the kids! When we got home I noticed things that happen all the time but that seemed to stand out more. One thing I noticed a lot is Mason's dialog. He says some pretty funny things.

Yesterday he was mad at me and I told him to do something and he said, NO. I told him no talking back. He went and did what I told him but promptly looked at me and said, "Well I am going to be bad for the rest of my life." I just had to laugh, he's so dramatic at times.

He also has taken a liking to the phrase, "what the heck?" I need to post a video of him saying it because the inflection in his voice is priceless.

One final funny that occurred tonight, we were in the car wash and Jake said to Mason, "say roast 5 times." So Mason repeats, "roast, roast, roast, roast, roast." Then Jake says, "what do you put in the toaster?" And Mason states, "waffles." I just about died laughing. Jake then said, "a child's mind is such a wonderous thing."

Even better, when we got home I had Mason call Lana and Papa and do it to them. First was grandma Lana, she said roast 5 times and after he asked her what she puts in the toaster, she said huh? What are you talking about? (or something to that effect) and Mason said, "never mind, you don't get it." Then it was papa's turn... after papa said roast 5 times, Mason asked what he puts in the toaster and Papa said, "toast, toast, toast, toast, toast." Yet another crash and burn... so those of you keeping score it's 3 for the 4 year old and 0 for the adults. The answer is BREAD. :)

A day with 2 of our favorite things: Papa and Tractors

Apparently there is something hereditary about liking tractors and other construction equipment. All 3 of my boys have been obsessed with them from an early age and so far it hasn't faded. All 3 of them also have said tractor as one of their first 10 words. Sutton is now saying it, just like Easton did... it sounds something like teh-teh. He points out the window and goes crazy if we pass a tractor when we are driving.

One of our other favorite things is Papa. And this is also one of our first 10 words. There is something about papa that my boys just can't get enough of. Not sure if it is the excessive tractor rides, the fact he thinks it is necessary that all of the boys have some motorized vehicle to ride on as soon as they turn 18 months (and in his words, "of course they need their own, they can't share, that's no fun.), or my own personal theory that he sneaks them pop and candy when
I am not looking so they think he's the coolest. Although we may never figure it out, they sure do love him. So when the opportunity arises to have 2 favorite things at the same time we never pass it up. The summer days are slowly coming to an end so we are enjoying as much outside time as possible.

Oh and by the way I am sure as Papa is reading this, he would tell you that the boys think he is the coolest because he is the coolest and he's so great. Well let me be the first to tell you that he must have changed because I remember clearly some serious spankings when I was younger :)

Good Hygiene and Doors.

~Good Hygiene is Important~

I noticed that I hadn't been taking many pictures lately of the boys because we haven't really gone anywhere or done anything, we've just been too busy "living." So last night I thought it was kind of cute how when I said it's time for bed they all went up like little ducklings and headed straight for the bathroom to brush.

Sutton probably is the most excited to brush his teeth and Mason is starting to not want to do it. I snapped this picture last night. They moved a little right before I snapped it, they were in perfect alignment and it really showed their stair step ages but it's kind of cute nonetheless. Sutton's getting pretty good at actually brushing now and not just chewing on the toothbrush.

And he couldn't resist not chewing on it :)

~Opening doors is FUN!~

Sutton has a new obsession with opening doors. All the doors. I didn't realize he could do it until the other night when I went in to put him to bed (and remember this is the child that you take up, lay down and he goes right to sleep with no problem). He threw a fit when I put him in his bed, so I sat in the rocker to rock him and he wanted down, he immediately ran to the door and opened it. I was shocked, I had no idea he could even do it. Then he proceeded into Easton's room and wanted to sleep with him. I have yet to give into that request (although both of the other boys were in big boy beds at this age since their crib was being passed down). So this obsession has now continued and he opens bathroom doors, pantry doors (and gets out food), and now even the door that goes outside (thankfully he can't unlock it or we would be in trouble!

Just as I sat down to write this post I could hear him digging in the pantry. He came running by with an armful of granola bars (7 to be exact). This is his other new obsession, let's see how many things I can put in my hands at once. It's really funny watching him, I will try to get a video of it soon to post. So he runs by with his granola bars and opens the front door and out he goes. Not sure if he is planning to cater afternoon snack for the neighborhood or if he's hiding them to store up for winter. Regardless it was funny enough I had to take his picture.

In order of occurrence:

1. Head outside... oops mom caught me

2. Turn around to go down the stairs, say uh oh as you drop them (one of his new words and one of my all time favorite words that kids learn to say!)

3. Run from mom as fast as I can so she doesn't take my granola bars.

4. Go look for friends to share with.

More post flood

We decided that while we must rebuild Lucky Pawz due to flood damage we would do some extra renovations we had been planning to do eventually. Nothing like a catastrophic flood to light a fire under you huh? So here is phase 1: operation make the outside look better. I will post more as we continue the progress.

Post flood update

Hey there, sorry I abandoned ship again. Life has been very busy these last few weeks. We were able to get back into our building on Friday June 20th (well we went into our building without permission and drove through 3 feet of water to get there, but we were in nonetheless).

We have 3 different buildings connected by fenced in yards/playareas that make up our facility. 2 of the 3 buildings had all the water out and one still had less than a foot. Looking at the pictures you can see where the water line ended up, some spots it was 4 or 5' and others about 3'. We sustained a significant amount of damage to the facility and as many of you have asked we don't have flood insurance so none of it is covered sadly. We do rent our buildings so our landlord has some responsibility to get them back up and inhabitable, but any upgrades or construction we have done is our resposibility and that is probably 90%.

We worked hard the past week and half gutting the buildings, cleaning sludge and mud off of everything, bleaching, powerwashing and doing some demolition, and hauling out all the stuff that was ruined by the water. As of last Friday (just a week after we got in) we were able to get the city to allow us to open up one of our buildings. So we are running at a very small capacity but running is running so we are thrilled. The other 2 buildings have a bunch of drywall so it will be weeks before we can get them all rebuilt.

Here are some pictures post flood and during demolition stage. Thanks for all your thoughts and well wishes, we are looking forward to some normalcy which hopefully will come soon. Jake should be back in his Cedar Rapids office mid July if all goes as planned, we are looking forward to a nice calm August :)

Here are some pics, I will make sure I post more pics when we are finally done!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hjvfbtb.68psizej&x=0&y=5tcvqw&localeid=en_US