Fun City

Wow what a week and weekend we had! Besides getting ready to move we headed to Burlington to the Catfish Bend Resort on Wednesday with Carl's work. Just the adults went Wednesday through Friday afternoon and then the kids joined us. The first few nights we stayed in the very nice resort hotel and then moved over to the Best Western on Friday and Saturday, the place was completely adjoined so we never had to go outside, which was nice. There was a bowling alley, arcade, indoor go-karts, laser tag, indoor water park, several restaurants, casino and spa all in one place. We had a blast spending some quality time together before the kids arrived, we went to Martini Grill, probably one of the best restaurants I have ever been to, so if you ever get to Burlington give it a try(but be prepared to spend quite a bit). Carl and I were able to try out our mad air hockey skills as well as several games of bowling(who knew you could have sore muscles from bowling:) We were glad to see Gabe when he arrived on Friday though! He was a little overwhelmed at everything, but had a blast. The pool was his favorite, I think he could have spent all day in there if we would have let him. He has no fear of the water and loved to go down the slides, he would also get around the pool with his body in the water and use his hands to move and say he was being a fishy. He also got to try out bowling and played several games at the arcade, even though he had no idea what he was doing, we did end up with lots of tickets and several cheap little toys from the ticket counter. He also got to ride in a go-kart with Daddy and tried out his own driving skills on several of the games(thank goodness we have awhile until he gets his license) Ty stayed home with Grandma Mel and Grandpa Tim as he is a little too small to do much of anything at Fun City yet. I did find a super cute pair of little Nike's at the mall as his souvenir(and the hat he is wearing in the picture too). We are so grateful to the Jensen's for taking us on this trip, it was a great time and we really appreciate everything. Also thanks to Steph, Kate and Mom and Dad for watching the kids while we were gone, it was much easier to have a relaxing, fun time knowing they were well taken care of. We are hot and heavy into packing this week as we make the first step of our big move this weekend. We will load a trailer and keep things in storage for about 3 weeks while we work on the house and we will stay at Mom and Dad's during that time. I'm sure it will be a crazy few weeks but well worth it when the house is ready to move into. Posts will most like be few and far between for the next few weeks, so bear with me.

Professional Pics

These are a few of the pictures we had taken today. Ty is usually pretty easy with the smiles but was rather sober for most of the photo shoot today. He did crack a few cute ones though.

Just for Auntie Em

We were upstairs this morning and Gabe kept talking about riding the train with Auntie Em when we go see her(I don't know when that will be but he is excited none the less) anyway he wanted to record her a message so here it is!

Happy 1/2 Birthday (and Valentines Day)

Wow 6 months, a half a year old, hard to believe we have had Ty that long already. He has had an eventful month with learning to sit on his own(he does pretty well), getting 2 colds, going to the Dr and finally rolling from his tummy to his back. At his appointment yesterday he weighed in at 16 lbs. 12 oz. and was 26 inches long. Gabe at the same age was 20 lbs. so Ty is definately our little peanut or juju bee as Carl calls him. He was just under the 50th percentile for both height and weight so he is pretty average. Dr. said everything looked great and we have a healthy baby boy, minus the colds he always seems to catch. He is always pretty fussy after shots and this time has been no exception, we have his 6 month pictures tomorrow so hopefully he will be a little better by then. I leave with some then and now pictures of our sweet baby boy(and his goofy big brother)

Sweet

Potatoes! That is what Ty tried today for this first time! We took a video of it because he has never had anything but formula and rice cereal so I'm sure this was a shock to the taste buds. Isn't it funny how when you have kids you get excited about the funniest things, like first time eating sweet potatoes. On another food note Gabe has picked up a few of Daddy's habits at the table such as drinking his milk from his cereal bowl when he is done. Like father like son I guess!

I Heard It's Your Birthday

Pete is starting his new job today with orientation in Des Moines so he came up a day early, which happened to be his birthday. We were able to go celebrate with him at Hickory Park and then have a cake that Gabe helped me make, complete with sprinkles at Mom and Dad's after. Gabe loves birthdays and was thrilled to have someone's birthday to celebrate, even if it wasn't his own. He made Uncle Pete a card and drew Mr. Incredible and Dash on it and put some stickers on it as well. When we were getting done I asked what else he wanted to put on the card, his response "I don't know something amazing" quote from his favorite movie of the month The Incredibles. Gabe loved helping Pete blow out his candles and even got into the spirit of things with party hats left over from his first birthday. I think we will have fun celebrating his birthday this June! Ty missed most of the fun as he slept the whole time, oh-well he can't have cake anyway:)

On the Road Again

We have had a busy weekend around here. My brother moved to Iowa City(well actually North Liberty) this past weekend so we decided to take a little mini trip over to see his new place. We got a cheap hotel room at the Downtown Sheraton thanks to priceline.com and we were able to get away for awhile, which I really needed after both boys being sick for so long and all the cold, yucky weather. The hotel had a pool and that is all Gabe could talk about for the entire day before we left and the drive over there. My plan was to keep him up until we left so he would nap in the car. Obviously that didn't work out very well, oh well the excitement of getting to go swimming must have worn him out. I forgot our camera in the Jeep when we went to the hotel so I don't have pictures of him swimming but he had a good time, even though the water was cold and he was shaking pretty hard when he got out. We went back up to the room and ordered pizza when we were done swimming. Gabe had a blast sitting on the bed eating pizza and watching his favorite movie at the moment, The Incredibles, which just happened to be on the Disney Channel that night. Hopefully he doesn't think that he can always sit on beds and eat pizza as he isn't the tidiest eater in the world. Speaking of the Incredibles it is funny to listen to Gabe talk about the movie. Many times I hear him talking to himself and he is quoting a lines. He likes Dash and many times will say "Dash, Run" and will take off running around our kitchen table. Saturday morning we woke up to some unexpected snow. We made our way through to the IHOP for breakfast and then to visit Uncle Pete. Gabe loved the steps in his new place and made several trips up and down them. Ty made sure the carpet was nice and plush. Gabe was also a very good "helper" for Grandpa Tim as he was installing new hardware on the kitchen cabinets and blinds in the office. Gabe was cleaning up after Grandpa in the picture. At one point he helped so much he dropped a drill bit down the heat register, luckily Grandpa had a magnet to get it out. After we saw Pete's place we headed to the mall on a mission to get Gabe a new pair of shoes as his old ones have bit the dust. He loved watching the ice skaters at the ice rink. Once we got his shoes he was able ride on Scoop from Bob the Builder and a dump truck and then he got to go on the carousel. He rode an elephant who he said was Horton, from Horton Hears a Who and Horton Hatches an Egg(can you tell we read a lot of Dr. Seuss at our house?) Ty experienced his first night in a hotel and he got to sleep in the bathroom. His car seat fit nicely underneath the bathroom counter, you may wonder why Ty slept in the bathroom, mostly because he is the noisiest sleeper I have ever heard, he grunts and snorts and "talks" in his sleep all the time. As least in the bathroom we had walls blocking his noises and we could just leave the door open a crack. He woke us all up bright and early in the morning. Staying at a hotel always makes you glad to be home(at least for us with the kids) It is fun to get away but it is also nice to be home. Sometimes it takes a night away without the conveniences of home to make you appreciate it again! I need to take time and appreciate it as this is our last month in this house, we are extremely excited to move and have more room but we love this house too and have many fond memories here.