New Do!

Well, I did it. I cut off my hair. Funny thing is that Amber just did the same thing! I read her blog yesterday and had my appt that night. I wasn't sure if it would be long enough to donate to Locks of Love. I had decided if it was close, I'd wait otherwise I was still getting it cut. It was long enough! I'll post some pictures tonight.

We are going camping tomorrow for two nights. Jake is pretty excited. The only bad part is that now I'll be reminded everyday that he wants a camper. We are going to Canary Beach with Mike and Jolene and their kids. If the weather is good it should be a great time.

We spent a little time fishing off the dock on Sunday night at my parent's. Jake was having a blast. We caught a bass, 2 rock bass, and 4 sunnies. Bad part was that his silly mom didn't have the basket quite right and they escaped! Jake wasn't too upset and it made the decision of keeping them a lot easier.

Ben is as busy as ever. He can clap his hands now and wave bye bye. He has been waving for a long time but last night was the first time he waved when I said bye bye. It was pretty cute. He can stand on his own and go from squatting into standing without holding onto anything. No steps yet. I'll post again after the camping adventure.

A few new pictures...

Yet another friend for Jake.

The boys 'wrestling'. (Jake is learning how to have fun and not hurt Ben)

Toad Heaven... 3 new friends in one night!

It was a great 4th of July weekend for us. We had a chance to do a little bit of everything. Friday we went to the Ward Spring's parade and visited with the Bergmann relatives at Dave's afterward. After a 3 hour nap for most of the house we went out to Lake Maria to visit with the camping crew. The biggest hit and probably most exciting event of the weekend was that Jake went tubing! Carly went in the tube with him but he did awesome and loved it.

Saturday was windy and hot so Curt decided to get some work done and Jake rode with in the truck. It made for a nice afternoon at home with Ben for me. We actually had some quiet play time. That night we went to Feldewerd's for supper and some more visiting.

Sunday was the annual Feldewerd get together at the JC park in Melrose. It was nice - lots of food like normal. Jake was having a blast playing in the water from the spigot there - anyone who has had a school outing at the JC park knows which one I am talking about. After that party we went to a pool party. Ben almost slept the entire time in the truck, which was nice since he's a handful to keep after these days.

After all that visiting it was early to bed on Sunday night and back to 'normal' on Monday.

Tomorrow night I am going out with some friends and Ben and Jake are visiting with Pam and company. I'm sure it will be well enjoyed by all.

That's all for now - oh one more thing - we caught a turtle to add to the list of creatures visiting our house. Curt has seen some baby deer tracks in the backyard so we're hoping to get a glance of that as well. Jake was already asking if we could catch it!

Creepy Crawlers

Since the bunny appeared in our garage we've had lots of other temporary family members. There's been June bugs, May flies, snakes, toads, worms and Jake really would have liked to have a Dragon fly. Good thing this mom isn't too squeamish about any of them. Jake's favorite, by far, are toads. Today he hit the jackpot! Look at the size of this toad. I wish I would have had him on video tape when he came running in the garage with it. He was so excited. We kept it for most of the day in a 5 gallon pail and then he let him loose. At first I had a hard time convincing him to release his new found friends but he is starting to understand that they to be let go in order to survive.

Ben is our busy bee. He's into everything these days. Being outside is a little challenging because he isn't content in his stroller anymore and there are just too many things for him to eat while he's crawling on the ground. In the house he's into all the cupboards, up on anything he can climb on, standing next to everything, and even taking a few guided steps between things. If things continue this way he'll be our athlete and Jake will be our politician.

Tomorrow we are going to spend a few hours at the NICU 20 year anniversary party. I thought it might be interesting so we are going to try to go. It will just be me and the boys so we probably won't stay too long.

I spent a little time weeding my garden last night - it is doing quite well despite the fact that the weeds have taken over. I would have finished but the mosquitoes decided that I was their bedtime snack. I was pretty much fully clothed, sprayed with repellent and I still had about 25 bites. Yikes! I guess next time I'll have to do it in the heat of the day. Apparently radishes are quite strong when they are small. Jake wanted to try one and so we picked one and cleaned it up. He made quite the face when he bit into it. I tried it and made the same face! It was more like eating a hot pepper.

That's all for now. Enjoy your weekend.

What we've been doing...

Summer has brought about a few changes and lots of fun at our house. First of all we decided to have someone come into our house for child care for the summer. I was soooo excited. It would allow me to leave earlier and get home earlier and the kids to sleep in. Needless to say - Jake isn't found of it. It has been a bit of a struggle since Amanda started. He is fine when he's at home with her but wants to call me and cries if I talk to him. He has admitted a few times that they did have fun. :) I'm sure by the end of summer he'll be loving it and then it will be time to switch back to daycare mode. Oh well.

We've been spending some time at the park, visiting grandparents, visiting with my brothers (they were both home for week), we've gone to a parade, played outside, broke out the pool, tended the garden, played with friends and cousins and lots of other stuff. I'm posting more pictures - I think they tell the story the best.

Hope you are all well.

Bunny in the Loader?

I was a little surprised when I walked into the garage tonight to help Jake with bubbles. He was standing next to his loader with a giant grin on his face. I was startled until I realized it was a bunny and not some other creature. Jake just said "I won't dump it." Alley was sitting patiently by the step waiting to get her catch back. Jake said when he walked into the garage it was just sitting by Alley so he put it in his loader. This was my first lesson in what little boys (and their cats) will bring home. He put it in the long grass - seemed better than just letting the cat have it back.

Crawler

Ben is an official crawler. He started last Wednesday, worked on it Thursday and Friday, by Saturday was almost a master. Today he was crawling around the house to find me. It sure makes him happy - not sure how it makes Mom feel!

We had a nice weekend. Friday night I was able to enjoy some time out with Michelle and Lori. We went for supper at Fisher's in Avon. It was a beautiful night and the company was great (however the waiter wasn't). While I was out Curt and Cory finished plowing in the water lines for our new trees. Curt did an awesome job - it will make watering so much easier.

Saturday we started our yard project. My mom came to watch the boys while Curt and I planted 15 small evergreens along our property line. It really went quite well. In the afternoon Brian and Jen came and helped us plant 4 of 6 large trees in the yard. It is quite a project but boy do they look nice. We had supper and visited the rest of the evening. They are coming back on Monday to help plant the last 2 and Jen is going to finish up on our landscaping in the front.

Today we got a few inside projects completed and spent a little time out at Lake Maria. Jake was so tired that he fell asleep at 6:30 on the drive home from New Munich. He loved the swings out there -- they have really long chains and swing long and slow. They aren't new but they're great.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

Boat Ride

Yesterday was a big day. Jake took a boat ride out at Grandpa Ken's. Might not sound like a big deal to most of you but it sure was for Jake. We spent all summer last summer at the lake and Jake would not ride in the boat. He was going to when we first moved there, took one step in and got right back out. He wouldn't try it again all summer long. Through the winter we'd talk about the boat and Jake always said, "But I don't like the boat, I'll try it when I'm big like you."

We went with Grandpa to the landing and the closer we got the more excited Jake got. It was so much fun. His plan was to go back in the van and have Grandpa pick him up at the dock. By the time we had the boat landed he was ready to get right in and take a ride. He loved it! We went back to my parents to wait for Grandpa and Jake kept asking to go for another ride. After Curt and Grandpa go the canopy on the lift, Grandma, Curt and Jake went out for another ride. Ben thought he'd like to go too but I thought we'd better wait for a warmer night.

I mentioned to Jake that Curt would pull him and I in a tube when it got warm out. He laughed and said, "Dad and I will pull you in the tube!" Not likely -- I only trust getting pulled in the tube if I have a young one with me to guarantee no rowdiness! I don't really like tubing.

So it looks like we'll be spending lots of time at the lake this summer. I'd like to teach Jake how to swim but now that he likes the boat, swimming will probably take the back burner. I'm not sure what we are going to do with Ben - he is so near crawling and boy look out then! I'm fairly certain I'll have to retrieve him out of the water because I won't be able to keep up!