Photo Friday

Just some pictures from the last couple of weeks.

We went to the park awhile ago with Heather and Steph and ventured down to the pond where all the kids were amused by a turtle(the adults were all hoping no one would fall in)

Notice Heather's kids looking so nicely at the camera in this picture...
I went with Gabe's preschool class on a field trip to the orchard this past week. It was fun but unfortunately it rained and was really muddy while we were there. Gabe loved playing in the corn pool and getting to see the big refrigerator where they store the apples(my child really looks like he is paying attention). It was an interesting experience riding with four 4 year old boys to and from the orchard. Makes me glad I don't have quads. While we were there they orchard also gave them a little bag to take home with 2 apples in it and a free admission coupon. Gabe has been enjoying eating his apples for snack.
On a random note my last doctors appointment was today. Everything checked out great and we are still on schedule for our c-section next Friday.

A Monkey for Baby

I have been thinking about taking the boys to Build a Bear so they could make the baby a stuffed animal for awhile now but never have had the chance to get down to Jordan Creek to do it. Friday my mom asked if we wanted to go with her while she picked up some work from a bank down by the mall so I jumped on the chance to go and do Build a Bear as well. Gabe was very excited about making the baby a stuffed animal. He was determined that he was going to make it a monkey(which is his favorite stuffy) and I told him we would have to see if they had one. We walked in the door and immediately Gabe spotted a monkey. I encouraged him to look at everything(they had some super cute bears that were so soft) but he was just sure the baby would want a monkey and nothing else. So we picked up the monkey and went over to the sounds. I told him I thought the lullaby one would be nice for the new baby but he didn't think a monkey should play a lullaby it should sound like a monkey so the monkey sound it was. After we picked out its sound we went to have him stuffed. Gabe was very helpful pushing the pedal down to add the stuffing and asking a million questions about the process and what everything was for. Right after he was stuffed he was able to pick a heart and give it a kiss to put inside the monkey. When he was done being stuffed and sewn back up we took him over the air showers to clean him off and brush him up. Ty liked to help with this part too. He didn't quite understand what we were doing and was more interested in seeing what he could take off the shelves but he did enjoy brushing the monkey with the brushes. Once he was clean we had to pick out the monkey's clothes. Since we don't know if monkey is a boy or girl we had slim pickings but decided since this is a fall baby we would dress the monkey up as a pumpkin. It did turn out pretty cute. The last thing we did was decide on a name for the monkey and Gabe decided its name had to be George. I asked him what if the monkey is for a girl? He said no it's a boy and even if its a girl it can still be George. So George is the monkeys name. Gabe was a very proud big brother and is very excited to give the monkey to the baby when he/she arrives:) It was fun to watch him selflessly do something for the baby and be so proud of his accomplishment.

Happy Birthday Auntie Em!

The boys wanted to send a special birthday message to their Aunt Em on her birthday today!

I Love Long Weekends!

Long weekends are the best. Especially long weekends that start off with an ISU football game(and win, thank goodness) We had the JCorp crew over to tailgate at our house before the first ISU football game of the season this past week(and I forgot to take any pictures..oops) it was a great time. We then all walked down to the stadium for the big game, we even took Ty, who hadn't been to a game since he was around 3 weeks old. He did pretty well but he and I left at halftime since he was getting pretty tired and squirmy. I probably shouldn't have walked home carrying a 25 lb. 2 year old the whole way being 35 weeks pregnant but I thought of that after the fact:) Friday I had a check-up and everything is going well with baby #3 so far so good to stay on schedule and have the baby on October 2nd. I had an ultrasound and baby was already measuring 5 lbs. 15 oz. slightly above average for its gestational age and everything else looked great so that was great news. Saturday we took it easy and Carl worked on his car at a friends house. He replaced his breaks, which desperately needed to be done and changed his oil. He came home looking like a real grease monkey and he loved every minute of it. Saturday night we went to church and had some friends over to help us eat the pork loin we had left from Thursday's tailgate. Sunday we headed out to Andrea and Alans to watch grandpa Matt use his new toy. This tree spade, Gabe thought it was pretty cool to watch the tree come out of the ground but the coolest part was probably the big hole it left, which seemed to be more entertaining to all the boys who liked to throw things down it. While we were out there we also worked in the garden. Carl dug up the rest of the potatoes and Andrea and I picked our bumper crop of tomatoes(to see pics of our crop click here) The boys loved to drink out of the thermos. After we were done we came home and ordered pizza and crashed as we were all exhausted. Monday Carl finished working on our storm windows, getting them painted and glazed and besides 3 very minor trim details the house is done! I worked on making food for Monday night as Grandma, Grandpa and Bone were staying at Mom and Dads on their way back from Missouri for the weekend. We got to have a fire after supper and Gabe was very excited. Mom and Dad found giant marshmallows at Hy-Vee in Algona when they were up for the weekend and the boys both loved them. It was a busy weekend but so much fun to be able to spend time together as a family, we have to enjoy our last few weeks being a family of 4! I end this very long post(sorry) with some pics of our little rock starts jamming out to Switchfoots new song(music courtesy of Daddy)

1 Month from Today....

we will welcome a brand new baby into our family once again via scheduled c-section. It is exciting and scary all at the same time. We don't know what gender baby #3 is so I thought it would be fun to hear your predictions. Since I have been known to have babies earlier then expected I decided to post this now just in case Baby #3 makes his/her appearance earlier then anticipated like its brothers. So leave me a comment what do you think... boy/girl and how much will he/she weigh. A little background for those who are curious with the weight thing Gabe weighed in at 7 lbs. 15 oz. and was born at 37 weeks. Ty was 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was born at 38 weeks. This baby if it stays on schedule will arrive at 39 weeks. We will use the winners name for the babies middle name(just kidding we won't but I'll think of something fun for the winner) so lets hear your predictions!

Gabe's prediction Boy-5 lbs.

Carl's prediction Boy-8 lbs.

Ty's prediction-Ty nods his head yes when you ask him if he things the baby is a girl, but he also nods his head yes when you ask him if he thinks the baby is a boy so I guess he doesn't really have a prediction:)

Mom is remaining mum on the subject.