Our Little Fish and Happy Birthday Grandpa

Gabe started swimming lessons the middle of October at the indoor pool by the high school. I was pretty sure he would like them since he loved being in the water this summer and I was right. Gabe jumps right in with no hesitation and loves every minute of it. We remind him each time that he needs to obey his teacher as he tends to like to do his own thing every once in awhile(like climb up the ladder) but for the most part he does really well. There are only 3 kids in his class including him so he gets plenty of teacher time. He always comes home with red eyes from going under the water with his eyes open so much but he has so much fun he doesn't care. Last night Grandma Mel and Grandpa Tim came with us to his swimming lesson to see Gabe and then we out to Hickory Park for Grandpa Tim's birthday. Ty was mesmerized by the singing when they brought out the birthday sundae. Gabe just wanted to help blow out the candle. If anyone ever needs help blowing out birthday candles Gabe will gladly be at your service:)

C is for Cookie

P is for pumpkin and M is for mess. All things we experienced this weekend. As you can see Ty really really enjoys chocolate chip cookies. I think more of the cookie ended up on his face rather then his mouth but he enjoyed it all the same. Gabe usually loves cookies as well but this night he didn't want to eat his cookie or anything else for that matter. He pretty much just made faces at me over his sandwich. Ty doesn't like food but anything else he loves to put in his mouth. A good example is this pumpkin we had on the table. He wouldn't eat his dinner but loved the pumpkin. Ty is also really good at making messes. This morning he got the pantry door open found this box of cereal and this is what happened. I threw out my back on Tuesday and have been hurting ever since so this is a great help to have to sweep up a whole box of wheat chex. Oh the joys of little boys:)

Wide Open Spaces

The older I have gotten and the older my kids have become I have learned to appreciate wide open spaces more and more. Growing up in rural Iowa by the farm I took for granted the wide open spaces we had to play in, the large groves of trees that served as my play house, the endless combine and tractor rides that I never really appreciated until I had kids of my own, a huge yard where I could run around and ride my bike and not have to worry about the neighbors or traffic. This past weekend we drove up to the farm on Sunday to visit my Grandparents and uncle. It is now watching my kids run around the farm and the look in their eyes when they see where we are that I truly appreciate growing up where I did. Gabe loves to run around the farm, to explore new things. He was able to explore the wagons more closely this trip(don't worry Dad was up there too, just well hidden in the first picture) as well as a few of the tractors. He also got to go on a combine ride even though they were done with beans and the corn was not quite ready Uncle Bone got the combine out just for Gabe to have a ride. Ty loves to explore as well but he is just as happy to explore the new toys inside the house with Great Grandma. It was a fun day for the boys. That evening the boys went on their first hay ride with our connection group from church. All the kids enjoyed themselves and the night was beautiful.

Ledges

Friday afternoon we went over to Ledges with the boys. They had a great time running around and looking at all the beautiful scenery(warning lots of pics:)

T is for Titus and Trouble

and trouble is one thing that happens pretty much every day at our house epsecially lately. Ty loves to get into things, dump things, take things down, tear things up and touch things he is not supposed to.
Example #1
Example #2(with his partner in crime for the day-Brenna)
Example #3 stealing Bree's crackers(notice hands in both bowls)I think he gets it from his Daddy:)

Keep Walkin

Some exciting news around our house is that Ty started walking a few weeks ago. He still doesn't walk the majority of the time but now he will walk between things and will quite a ways when he is walking to someone. He is pretty proud of his new accomplishment. He hasn't quite mastered the whole standing up on his own with no support yet though but he works on it every day! Gabe found a new friend outside our house this weekend. A rusty colored fuzzy caterpillar was crawling along beside our pumpkins the other day so I showed it to him. Gabe loved touching him and even tried to pick him up at one point but the caterpillar curled up in a ball and Gabe was not crazy about that. He kept asking if the caterpillar was ours and if it was going to live by our pumpkins now. I told him the caterpillar could go where it wants to so if it wants to stay by our pumpkins it can. After he put the visibly terrified caterpillar back down it stayed in a ball for awhile and hasn't been seen since:) On Sunday we drove to Ft. Dodge to meet Carl's family for lunch at Applebee's since Grandpa Matt's birthday was on Saturday and he had the day off Sunday. It was good to see everyone even if that was the slowest restaurant ever. When we finally got outside the boys were able to release some pent up energy. Gabe by driving the jeep and Ty by climbing up Andrea and Alan's hood and then sliding down. He loves slides and apparently the hood of a car is just as good. Both boys fell asleep on the ride home and stayed down once we got home, big bonus in our world:)