State Fair

We weren't going to go to the state fair this year but when we found out Aunt Em would be there for the evening and since it was a nice night and she had not gotten to meet Ezra yet we ventured to Des Moines.  The kids were excited to get to see some of the same animals that we saw at the county fair earlier in the month.  They especially liked these that they could put their heads in and have their pictures taken.

They also liked getting to pet this baby calf.

and of course no trip to the state fair is complete without state fair food.  The kids wanted cotton candy.

and Carl wanted to try the new double bacon corn dog, which we decided wasn't worth the extra cost:(  but we did still get our favorites mini-donuts, cheese curds and fried oreos so all was not lost:)   We also had to check out the Iowa State booth in the varied industries building.  The kids had their picture taken with the Cy-Hawk and Big 12 Championship Cross country Trophies.

and of course had to get their Cyclone tattoos.

Shortly after this Ezra needed to eat and Aunt Em was almost done with her meetings so we went to find a bench and wait and feed the baby.  Look at that double chin:)

Em with the kiddos.

Em also spoiled them and took them down the Giant Slide.  They loved it.  Here they are climbing to the top.

and coming down, it was starting to get dark but Em has Callie in front and then the boys are right behind them.

They liked it so much they begged to go again and Em took them again.  They then talked her into buying them a root beer float

and a lemonade.

It was great to see Em(and Grandpa Matt too, who was down for the tractor pull) even for a little bit.  We didn't get to everything but I think the kids had fun at the fair.

You Make Me Smile

Nothing beats a new babies first smiles. We've been trying to get Ezra to smile at us for the last few weeks to not much avail but he has been flashing us a few here and there the past few days.  So cute.

Despite the getting up at night thing which I won't miss:)  I feel like he is already growing way too fast.  I told Carl I kind of feel like we are going to blink and we will be sending him off to school.  Crazy how quickly they get big and start to do new things.

Fantastic Five!

Ty turned 5 on the 14th!  Once again I'm not sure how that happened but our red head was super excited for his birthday this year.  We started celebrating on Sunday with a small family party.  Ty's favorite part of course was opening his presents.

He got some great gifts including a squirt gun, a new wii game, an angry birds game, and avengers backpack and these.

yep boxing gloves to go with his new punching bag

  He has been wanting a real punching bag for awhile so he was loving the gloves and bag.  So far they haven't hit too many things they shouldn't.
After presents we did cake and ice cream.  We went super easy this year with the cake and did a sprinkle cake.  Ty didn't seem to mind.

The entertainment though came from one of Gabe's birthday presents.  A zip line that Carl got installed this past week right before Ty's party.  I never did get a good picture of Ty going down it but here is Callie testing it out.

Despite the cool, rainy weather they still had fun playing outside and Ty was blessed to have family come celebrate with us. 
Ty's actual birthday was the Tuesday after the party.  That day we celebrated with balloons on his chair at breakfast and gift to open.

 The kids get to request what they would like to have for their birthday breakfast and like big brother before him Ty requested cinnamon roll waffles.  Here he is with his 5 candles lit and showing us how old he is.

After breakfast we ventured to Des Moines with our friends to Union Park so the kids could play on the Rocket Slide.  They loved it!  There was also a carousel there but for some reason it didn't open for the day.  The kids didn't seem to mind though as they thought the slide was great on its own.  All was going great and we were all prepared to go eat lunch at Zombie Burger which is where Ty had said he wanted to go the whole morning until it was time to actually go.  Then this happened.

yep all our fit because at the last minute Ty wanted to go to McDonalds instead of Zombie Burger.  Me being the mean Mommy that I am said no he had said he wanted to go to Zombie Burger all day and since we didn't have one of those in Ames we were going to go to Zombie Burger because it was more special then McDonalds since we have one of those in Ames.  He was unhappy for awhile but we did manage to get a half way good picture of all the kiddos in front of the rocket slide.

 We did convince the birthday boy to do Zombie Burger and he really wasn't a fan so I am guessing that he won't request it again:)  They did kind of get a kick out of the decor though, he said not to take him there again though cause it was scary.

After lunch we drove back home and then headed out again shortly after for supper at Hickory Park with Grandma and Grandpa.  Ty was pretty excited about his birthday sundae.

We had a few busy days around Ty's birthday and I forgot to get his chair picture until a few days later but here is his 5 year chair picture.

Can't believe he's 5 already. God truly blessed us when he gave us Ty.  Life wouldn't be the same without our funny, fiery, loving, crazy, smart, mischievous red head! 

Kossuth County Fair

Carl and I grew up going to the Kossuth County Fair but we hadn't been back for years so this year we decided to go check it out again and take the family(especially since I'm not up for taking 4 kiddos to the state fair, especially this year)  When we got there I made them pose in front of the gate.  This is the first picture I got.

Yep finger up the nose, not looking at the camera, blabbing to dad, keeping it real here:)
This one is a little better.

We went and checked out the open class building and 4-H buildings.  The kids thought the big vegetables were cool and we saw Grandma Nancy's blue ribbon zucchini and peppers.  I was surprised at how few things were entered in open class.  I used to help my great aunt with open class ribbons (bear with me the first letter of this word _uice is completely gone from my computer so I'm trying to avoid words with that letter like -udging and pro-ect but if you see it thats what's going on:) and there were so many entries, tons of canned goods and baked items this year a maybe 2 shelves of canned goods and 2 cases of baked items.  Anyway I digress.  The kids also liked the to see some of the 4-H things.  Especially ones that involved Legos.  These tractors were also a favorite from the 4-H building.  Especially when Gabe discovered the kid whose pro-ect it was was named Gabe:)

We also went through the FFA barn.  Callie was a little scared of the miniature horses so I was a little aprehensive to her reaction to the livestock barns but she warmed up to the animals.  Those puffy things in the cage in the back are a type of chicken.  They looked like puffs of fluff as you couldn't see their faces or legs even.

We headed down to the livestock barns where we saw the bucket calves and sheep first.  Callie requested her picture be taken by many animals in many different barns so the following are all from our livestock barn tour with most of them featuring our picture happy princess.

and sometimes she even allowed Daddy and the boys to pose for a few pictures with the animals:)

We also went through the Floral Hall(kinda like Varied Industries at the State Fair but much smaller).  The kids got balloon animals.  The boys a sword like this one.

and Callie got a balloon dog.  Before we left Gabe requested we take each of their picture in the combine's tire.

that blue thing in Callie's mouth would be what was left of her balloon animal dog.  No worries we threw it away shortly after and she did not choke on the deflated balloon.

This is what Ezra did for the entire fair.

oh-well he will hopefully like it more the next time we go(look at those cheeks and chin!)  We had a good time and were glad the kids has fun at the fair.

1 Month

Hard to believe Ezra turned one month old yesterday and time to take the traditional month birthday picture in the big chair:)  If you don't know what I'm talking about you can see Callie's here and one of Ty's here and Gabe's here:).  He is a strong little guy and loves to try and hold his head up and look around at everything.  He also likes to fight sleep and has to be wrapped up tight and cuddled close to drift off for nap.  He eats around 4 oz. every 3 hours except at night where usually he gets up once between 2 and 3 and then is up for the day between 6 and 7.  He likes to be cuddled and he likes to move.  He tolerates the bouncy seat a little bit but only if someone is bouncing it for him.  He has a big audience most of the time who think that everything he does is the cutest and funniest thing in the world, no matter if its burping, sneezing, yawning or tooting:)  He continues to look most like Ty in the face and still has lots of dark hair(although it seems to be picking up hints of auburn here and there)  We are eagerly anticipating getting out first real(not gassy) smiles soon!

Summer Days

Our summer has been somewhat different this year because of this little guy.

But we are finding our new normal and Ezra is beginning to fit in with our family.  He always has an admiring crowd around him even when he is hanging out in his bouncy seat.

He's also never short on people who want to hold him either.  Some of them do a better job then others:)

Even with all the excitement of the new baby we have managed to squeeze in a few normal summer activities.  Our favorite being the aquatic center.  When I was pregnant I loved to go so I could be less heavy:)  Now the big kids and Carl have gone and I've stayed home with the baby but one night we all went and hung out since it wasn't so unbearably hot.  Since I wasn't swimming this time I managed to get a few pictures of our little fishies.  Here's my princess fish ready to hop in the water.

and her biggest brother giving us the thumbs up.

and Ty doing his absolute favorite thing at the pool. 

We love the pool!

Hopefully someday Ezra will love it as much as his big sister and brothers but for now this is what he was up to the whole time we were there.

Nothing better then lounging by the pool on a beautiful summer evening.