Choo Choo!!

Mom thought the girls would love to go on a real train ride. She booked tickets for her, Hannah, Haydn, Stella and Sara (Sara had to go b/c there has to an adult per every 2 children). They trekked to Creston early this morning, the train was to leave at 8AM, but mom said it was an hour late. From what I hear everyone had a great time! I think they will (should!) all take great naps this afternoon! The first 3 are from the train ride and the last is from Hannah and Stella sleeping together--SPOONING!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mom or Dad snapped that this morning before waking them up to get ready for the train. They rode the train from Creston to Osceola. These pics are ones that mom emailed me. :)
We are headed to MA tomorrow sometime, Wes, Dad and Mike are in a golf tournament on Sunday.

Memorial Day Weekend

Hope everyone had a wonderful MDW. We headed to Okoboji late Friday afternoon. The kids did really well on the 3.5 hour car ride. I packed a dinner for us so we wouldn't have to stop to eat. I forgot my camera so no pics of Boji. :( Saturday was cold, but Stella and Porter had a great time playing with all the toys at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Stella doesn't remember the lake at all from last summer, she was SO excited when we got there. All she wanted to do was go swimming in the lake, which didn't happen since it is only 50 degrees right now! But she did get to go swimming in the hot tub and dip her toes in the lake. She loved her life jacket so much that she wore it around the house most of the time we were there. Too funny! We went on a boat ride on Sunday, it was gorgeous outside. Saturday afternoon Linda and I went shopping for outfits for the 40th anniversary party we are hosting (along with Mike's brothers) for Steve and Linda this summer. Mike and Steve went fishing on Sunday morning with a guide, they caught tons of fish (they threw them all back). Stella stayed at the lake, this is her first time that she has stayed over night with Grandma and Grandpa, I'm sure she is having a ball and not getting spoiled at all!!! Oh and Steve also bought a brand spanking new Jeep. It was lots of fun to take it riding around the lake. Mike, Stella and I took an hour long ride around the lake Sunday afternoon while Porter was at home napping, Stella actually fell asleep. And how can I forget--Mike and I went out on a date. Whoa! Steve and Linda stayed in with the kiddos, so we went out for dinner and drinks. Fun!
I'm putting a random pic with this post just b/c it was on my memory card! Mike must of taken this of the kids last week, Stella likes to get on pbskids.org and play computer games....Porter just likes to pound on the keyboard!

Look-A-Like

Mom bought a P. Buckley Moss print for Stella last spring. It's a painting of a little brown haired girl wearing pink footed jammies, holding her teddy bear. It reminded us of Stella so much b/c she has pink footed jammied and the teddy bears look almost identical. I took a pic of Stella a few weeks ago in her pink jammies holding Bear. :)

Porter's 1st Birthday Party!

We had Porter's first birthday party yesterday. It was so much fun. Lots of family and friends were able to attend. Porter finally got his first pair of shoes!!! No more walking around in his socks when we are out and about. :) We ordered pizza and I made him a puppy cake. He didn't really dig into the cake much, guess he doesn't like to get messy! ha ha. The weather was nice and we were able to play outside in the little pool, on the swing set and with all the other outside toys we have.

Sesame Stree Live

We took the kids to Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music on Friday. It was a great show. Stella really enjoyed it, Porter did great, but got a little antsy towards the end. We had 5th row seats on the floor, so we were super close to all the action. :) Stella even conned her daddy into buying her an $8 Elmo balloon that is already deflated and laying on our family room floor!!!

Weaned

Well, I'd say Porter is officially weaned. I haven't nursed him since Sunday evening (his birthday). It's gone great so far, he hasn't seemed to miss nursing. I cried the last time I nursed him. Who knew I'd turn into such a sap!! But we were down to one session a day and I was ready to be done, so here we are. :)
Cheryl (neighbor) stopped by a little bit ago to take Stella on a walk! She's so great. Stella and Porter just love her and Keith. I swept out the garage and got the planters out on the front steps and back deck. We'll go get some flowers to plant in them once Porter is up from his nap and Stella returns home from her walk.
Starting to get geared up for P's party this weekend. I feel like there's so much to do and I just wait until the last minute to do it all!! The kids and I don't have anything planned for tomorrow, so hopefully I can get a lot accomplished then. We are headed downtown to Jeff and Lucy's for dinner tonight. Stella loves going to their loft b/c you can see the train go by, she LOVES trains!
And I also want to send a shout out to my WONDERFUL mother-in-law: Happy Birthday, Linda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Porter & Happy Mother's Day!

Oh, I can't believe my baby is ONE!!!!!!!!! It just doesn't seem possible. Wah!!! He is such a blessing to us and Mike and I are so lucky to have him. It was extra special to share Mother's day with my baby's first birthday. Last year when he was born, we came home from the hospital on Mother's day. Anyhoo, Mike made me breaky in bed today-YUM! Chocolate chip pancakes, strawberries and the Iced Starbucks coffee drink that I lurve!!!!! Whatta guy. :) Porter was SO funny eating the choc chip pancakes, he was going crazy trying to get them. Mike and I were cracking up. It was really the first time the little guy had ever had chocolate, guess he has a sweet tooth like his mama. We went to the mall later in the day and got some ice cream at Cold Stone, again Porter couldn't get enough of it! Stella got her own little cone and thought she was pretty big stuff, she did a great job eating it without making a big mess! I made cupcakes for the kids to have tonight so we could sing P happy birthday (yes, it sounds like they had enough sweets today!!). Porter wasn't sure what to do with his cupcake at first but did enjoy the frosting. His birthday party this coming Saturday so we'll do a cake all that jazz then. He did open his 2 gifts from us this morning, with Stella's help of course. :)

Tampax

The kids and I spent a few days in Mt. Ayr this past week. It worked out well b/c I ended up becoming sick and mom and dad were a huge help with the kids. I seriously do not know how I would of managed them without their help!! The morning we were getting ready to come home, Porter walked out of the guest bathroom with a box of Tampax (he must of been playing under the sink!!), he even had one in his mouth. It was too funny. I had to get the camera before I took the box away from him. Mean, I know!!

Sorry for the horrible picture quality the camera battery was pretty much dead so they didn't turn out the best.

Found some old photos!

Our camera started to die last year while in the hospital when Porter was born. Talk about perfect timing! We just got out the old memory card from the old camera and found some great pictures from the first few days of Porter being home from the hospital. They are just too cute!! I can't believe my little guy is going to be one on Sunday! The picture of Stella and Porter on the bed was from our friend Jay's wedding, it was 8 days after Porter was born. We all traveled to Omaha and stayed in a hotel! :)

Cinco De Mayo

Yesterday was Cinco De Mayo and Lucy had a play date at her house. It was so much fun. Stella loved the pinata, it was huge and would not break!! The kids had a hay day gathering up the candy that fell out.

Wow! I'm finally blogging! :)

I finally started a blog, wow! Sara has had one for quite a while now and since Brittany has one too, I thought now was a great time to join in. :)

It was finally nice in Iowa today, not super windy like yesterday. Porter loves his swing in the backyard, looks like is taking after Stella in that department. She would spend hours on end in the swing if we would let her. I snapped a few pics of both of them in the swing today. I also got some cute pics of Porter walking outside. I had the phone with me as I was talking on the phone with Sara (go figure!), he picked up the phone after I was done talking and started "talking" on the phone too----CUTE!

We went shopping for Porter's first pair of shoes and came home empty handed. I was so bummed. I found exactly what I wanted at Dillards the other day and went back to get them, but they didn't have the wide width left in his side and Mr. Chubby Feet definitely needs a wide shoe. I think I'm going to order them online tomorrow. He's walking all over like a mad man, so the little guy needs some shoes!!