Cyclone Country!

Today we went to Cyclone Country to cheer our team to victory! This was Stella and Porter's first time attending an ISU football game and I think they had a lot of fun. They were really into the game the first half, but the second half they got a little antsy towards the end. It was a great game and the 'Clones won so we were happy!!!
Stella and Mike at the beginning of the game. Stella and Porter both loved yelling for the Cyclones. It was really funny listening to them! :)

The Cyclones getting ready to take the field! Porter rockin' his knit baseball hat at the game!

Me rockin' Porter's knit hat at the game! :)

Blank Park Zoo

We headed to the zoo this morning. Mom has been up here a few days this week helping paint at Sara's house, so today we invited Haydn to come along and play with us so she wouldn't be stuck at her house in all the mess! :) Dad happened to be up also so he came along with Stella, Porter, Haydn and I to the zoo. It was a great morning for the zoo and the animals were pretty active.

Crossing the swinging bridge.
Checking out the jelly fish.

Getting a pic of them from the other side of the jellyfish tank.

Checking out the flamingos.

Feeding the animals at the petting zoo. Haydn wouldn't feed them! Stella and Porter love the petting zoo.

This photo cracks me up of Haydn! The tiger kept coming RIGHT up to the glass and the kids would scream in glee! It was hysterical!

Stella and Haydn had so much fun with the hand dryer in the bathroom! It doesn't take much to entertain them!!!! :)

And the BIGGEST and BEST news of the day!!!! Porter went #2 on the potty---FINALLY! He is now TOTALLY potty trained!!!!! He's been doing great the last 6 weeks, apart from going #2 on the potty but today he did it and there is no looking back! I've had these whistle suckers tucked away as his "surprise" for going on the potty. They all thought they were very cool! Luckily they came in a pack of 4 since Haydn was here for the BIG DAY! :) So glad that my little boy is potty trained! Can I get a "woot, woot"!!!!!! Here they are playing some tunes on their whistle suckers!

Stella and Haydn all dressed up with no place to go since Porter is napping now we are stuck at home! :)

Jumpin' The Gun.......

The weather was super nice today that we decided to put up our Christmas lights!! We've never ever put them up this early and our neighbors were teasing us, but we figure it's better than doing it in the snow! We had our windows open today, a treat for us in November! :) The kids were excited to see the lights on, don't worry we just had them on to make sure they worked, we won't turn them on again until after Thanksgiving. I haven't put up any other Christmas stuff, although the kids already have their snowflake window clings in the windows! The kids spent the weekend in MA with mom and dad, they got home later this afternoon. I know they had a great time with Nana and Papa!

Mike waving from his perch on top of the house!

Trick or Treat!

Our town had their trick-or-treating last night, of course today it is nice and sunny outside. Last night it was drizzly, windy and chilly! But that is what you get when you live in Iowa, you never know what the weather will be. The kiddos and parents still had a lot of fun, tho!
Stella in her purple witch costume next to her pumpkin. Porter as Batman next to his pumpkin.

Each year we head to Mark and Ken's house to T-O-T there! The kids were so excited in the car on the way there. Batman was ready for some candy!

So was the friendly witch!

Last year we were in short sleeves and pulled the kids in a wagon. This year we were in coats and the kids didn't want to wear coats over their costumes, so they were in the double stroller with a blanket over them. They'd hop out of the stroller, run to a door, fight over who got to ring the doorbell, go their tricks, grab some candy, say Thank-You, run back to the stroller and get covered back up.....repeat at the next house! :)

Jack-O-Lanterns

Sunday evening the kids (Mike & I) carved pumpkins. They had a lot of fun and I was once again reminded that carving pumpkins is my least favorite holiday tradition out of ALL holiday traditions!! LOL! Not sure why, but I just don't dig carving pumpkins.....but that's okay! :) Porter insisted that he have a spider on his pumpkin, which he and Mike worked on. Stella wanted a scary pumpkin and designed her own face again this year. She thought the zig-zag mouth was extra spooky!!!
Mike and P hard at work.

Stella enjoyed taking out the guts!

We took the pumpkins up to Stella's room afterwards so they could see them in the dark. Here they are with their finished pumpkins. Oh and the lines on the top of Stella's pumpkin are the pumpkins' forehead! She insisted the pumpkin needed a forehead--hey, it's her design! :)

Spoooookkkyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!

Booooooo!!!

This afternoon we made homemade Halloween decorations. The kids had a lot of fun making their ghosts! We have them now scattered around the house, I hope our house isn't too scary for people!! :)

A few weeks ago Porter started to refuse to sit in his booster, so now it resides in the basement storage room and Porter is sitting at the table like a big boy! Although we keep a towel over the back of the chair b/c he is famous for wiping his mouth on the chair (or his sleeve......or anything that isn't his napkin!).

Fun Weekend!

We visited the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, NE this past Saturday, one of the best zoos in the country. I've lived in Iowa almost my entire life and have never been to this zoo! We have season passes the DM zoo, but it was worth the drive to see the HD Zoo, and we didn't even see all of it after being there for over 6 hours. We stayed with some good friends on Friday night in Council Bluffs and Saturday night we stayed in a hotel in downtown Omaha .
Stella and Porter in the HUGE indoor jungle. The weather was not that great on Saturday, but luckily there was a TON of indoor exhibits to see. In the desert.

Porter getting up close and personal with the fishies.

Porter is obsessed with tigers lately, he was asking about the tigers ALL week long. He was beyond excited to see the tigers on Saturday.

We walked into the Gorilla House and this gorilla was *RIGHT* there to greet us! Too funny!

This is hard to see, but it was Stella favorite part of the zoo, so I had to include it. It was an infant gorilla being rocked by a zoo keeper. The baby gorilla was wearing a diaper, which Stella thought was really funny. :) The zoo keeper was even wearing a vest that resembled an ape so that the baby felt like it was cuddled up to his mommy.

Sunday morning we got up and headed from Omaha to MA. We had a wedding shower to attend in the afternoon then that evening was the yearly Beggars Bash at Judge Lewis Park. The kids were excited to start off Halloween season! Stella is a purple witch (not a witch, but a purple witch....lol!), Hannah was clown and super cute and Haydn a monkey!

Sheriff Mike Sobotka was hanging out goodies, so we had to get a picture with him! :) Porter is Batman in case you couldn't tell.

Mike, Batman, and Wes.

Now a few random photos. Stella and sometimes need to find ways to entertain ourselves while Porter is napping. The other day we did each others hair. She thought hers was pretty funny!

Last night playing with the magnatiles and books.

Tonight after bath time.