August & September

Since I last blogged, we all went on a trip to Des Moines with Nana and Papa.  Our first day was spent at Blank Park Zoo (after I unsuccessfully tried to get us in free).  Both Mina and Charlotte went on camel rides this year.  Nana and Papa said that camels are not very comfortable.

We stayed the night at Drury Inn near Jordan Creek.  I highly recommend it.  We ate supper and breakfast there for free and had a blast.  You can see us enjoying some popcorn and watching the closing ceremonies of the summer olympics here.

 It was cold the next day, which was just fine by me. We went to Adventureland and had the perfect excuse to avoid the water park.  Both girls were tall enough for lots of rides. Mina even went on a couple of roller coasters and survived.

 Jon and the girls did a race on the next weekend.  It was Jon's first official 5k even though he's been running regularly for about the last year.  He ran his 5k in just under 19 minutes.  Fast!  No wonder I couldn't keep up with him (at all!) when we ran together in college.  He's looking forward to more races in the future and placed 2nd in his age group.

 The girls loved running on the football field while they waited for their race.

 There were only a handful of kids in the fun run, but Mina still took it seriously.

 They're off!

 Mina ran right through the tunnel, but Charlotte had to stop to pull up her pants.  Too bad I didn't get a picture of that!  It was hilarious.

 Both girls and Jon received medals for their outstanding running abilities.  We went and had a fun breakfast at Perkins afterwards and Charlotte pooped in the potty there.  I was so proud.  Charlotte has continued learning to use the potty since then and is now diaper free.  She wears a pull-up to bed at night and uses the potty the rest of the time.  Yay!

I just had to share this picture because Charlotte is so cute.  Mina spent a bunch of time coloring her new car seat's box with chalk.  She got another seat so that Jon could pick her up and bring her to school independently of me.  We've survived with two car seats for two kids up until the last month.

 I took a few pictures of Mina on her first day of school.  She was willing to strike a pose.  Funny girl!

 There's that sweet smile!

 This was the last picture I got to take of Mina before she went into her classroom.  Mrs. Vought didn't allow cameras in the actual room.  Foiled again.

 I bawled my eyes out on the way home after dropping her off.  I miss her so much when she's at school.

The girls' bunk bed and dressers came on Mina's first day of school.  We surprisingly haven't had any issues with putting them in the same room or moving Charlotte into a big girl bed.  Charlotte was ready and Mina is such a good big sister.  She taught Charlotte not to come and greet us in the morning until after 7 and also helps her get dressed.  It's amazing.  We're actually on time when we go places now that Charlotte doesn't sleep in and my life has gotten easier.

I've been a slacker with taking belly pictures, but here's what I looked like three weeks ago.  I'm still working out at least three times a week and feeling great.  I'm really moody though - poor kids and Jon!

 We've been making progress on the nursery. It's almost complete now (and I don't have any pictures of what it looks like currently).  The girls love to play in Simon's room.  Jon painted the walls and dresser.  Nana and Papa wallpapered and painted the accent wall (which hadn't been started yet in this picture).

We've gone to three Cyclones games and happily seen three Cyclones victories.  Both girls went along for the first game. It was really hot out and the game was during nap time.  I survived and the rest of the family had fun.

Jon and I got to sit on the 45 yard line at Kinnick to watch the Cyclones beat the Hawkeyes.  It was really fun.  Check out all the angry Hawkeye fans behind us.  This picture was snapped with about a minute left in the game and the outcome was decided.

 Our local apple orchard installed a brand new, awesome playground this year.  I brought the girls there last week and they had a good time.  There's a huge jumping pillow that Mina especially loved.

 Both girls climbed the tires pretty easily.

 Charlotte's favorite thing was the corn box.  She spent most of her time there.

Charlotte is getting so big!

 Mina asked what this was a picture of after she posed and then thought it was hilarious.

 Both girls enjoyed the duck race.  Basically you pump water to make plastic ducks move down the pipe.  I'd better keep Jon away or he'll pocket one of the ducks (family private joke from his childhood).

 Last weekend we brought Mina to the Cyclones game because kickoff wasn't until 7pm.  That's too late for Charlotte.  Mina got to go onto the field before the game. She thought that was cool.  Right before I snapped this picture, multiple people commented on how cute her sweatshirt was.  She was basking in their admiration.

 She was just awesome during the game.  It's fun to have one on one time sometimes.  We didn't even have to bring along any entertainment for her. She watched the game and learned some of the rules, then played with the other kids and tickled one of the daddies.  She also ate a ton of red licorice.

 Soon enough we'll have the nursery all the way done so I'll share pictures of that.  Hopefully I'll remember to do another blog entry before Simon arrives!  I expect he'll be here in about four weeks. Oh my.

Big Fun!

I've been feeling sad the last few days because summer is almost at its end.  I'm going to miss my Mina when she goes back to school.  She's advanced so much this summer.  Just the other day she got up the nerve to ride her bike on her own - no training wheels and with pedals.  It's the real deal!  Now all she wants to do is ride her bike and it's incredibly fun to watch.  Those of you on Facebook have probably seen the video.

 Mina started softball last night.  She insists on calling it baseball - maybe softball isn't tough enough for her?  Anyway, Jon got out there on the field with her and seemed to be having a great time too.

 That's Mina on 3rd base and her cousin Leif about to bat.  He had a nice hit and she made it home.

 Mina obviously wasn't going to slide into home wearing white shorts.

 A couple of weekends ago we went to Ames to pick up the Jr. Cyclone Club packets with the girls.  They were thrilled and Charlotte has been saying "Go Cyclones!" ever since and pumping her arm in the air.  She's pretty well ready for football season.  I have high hopes that the girls will be able to make it to more than one game (and that I might get to stay home and relax).

 The girls both loved Cy and they weren't scared of him at all.  Charlotte grinned like this the whole time.

 They opened up the arcade to the kids.  Mina was pretty good with the motorcycle game.  Maybe that's why Jon agreed to take her on a motorcycle ride around the block the other day.  She loved the real motorcycle too.

 The girls also got some cool necklaces in their packets and have been sporting Cyclone spirit ever since.

 Air hockey is serious business. I love that Mina really gets into whatever she's doing.  She's not one to do things half-heartedly.

 We've been to some parks on the days that it hasn't been 100 degrees outside.  Both girls love the aquatic center park and the large spinning apparatus.

 I've been Charlotte's favorite for the last few weeks. She snuggles me like crazy.  I'm very thankful that she's being nice to her daddy again though.  For a while there she gave me all the loving and he didn't get any.

 We're in a serious drought so the girls ran around in the sprinkles one day when we got a little tease of rain.

 The girls have been absolutely delightful buddies.  They're so excited to have a little brother too.

We still don't have the bunk bed for the girls so the nursery decorating is on hold.  School starts in a little over a week.  I've started spray painting pumpkins and getting ready for the foundation banquet in October.  Simon is going to be here before we know it!

Spoiled

I've been spoiled my entire life.  I'm the youngest of three girls.  I'm sure that explains a lot.  Yes, we've had our difficulties.  Jon's dental school and residency weren't a walk in the park.  Our struggle with infertility certainly was character building.  However, I do generally get what I want.  My biggest wish came true.

 I was even blessed with some icing....

 ...and a cherry on top.

 I definitely have something to smile about every day.

I have so many helpers and my girls are incredibly cute.  Maybe there's a connection?

I recently was treated to a spa day and shopping with my friend Lisa.  It was Jon's birthday gift to me.  Just last night, Nana and Papa kept the girls overnight so Jon and I could go to a movie and so I could get to the gym on time for my workout this morning.  My parents are always willing to pitch in and take the girls too.  I'm so blessed and thankful for all of the support we have.  That's a big reason why we decided to have a third kid.  I love to be with my girls, but the occasional breaks make me enjoy my time with the girls to the fullest.  I wish everyone was as spoiled as me because the world would be a happier place.  Less stress is definitely a good thing!

Last week Charlotte was in a bit of a naughty phase.  She ran away from me at the grocery store.  I think I had steam coming out of my ears.  She repeatedly refused to behave in the car.  She was grumpy with me when I got her out of bed.  She was basically testing my patience.  I decided to have a snuggle-in day with her.  I wasn't really in the mood to snuggle her so I knew it was necessary.  She got to sleep in (rather than getting dragged to the gym at 8:30 so I could go to my cardio class).  We kept the TV watching to a minimum.  I intentionally stayed off the computer and away from my phone.  We spent most of the day snuggling and playing dress up.  I focused on both girls and I was greatly rewarded.  Charlotte has been in an awesome phase ever since - lots of kisses on the lips, lots of snuggling invitations, and lots of eye contact and earnest conversation with me.  Now if only she would give her daddy a break.  Mina is in a good phase, of course.  Her naughtiness is usually very short-lived.  I'm very lucky to have such easy girls.  There's no such thing as spoiling them with attention and I need to remember that!  

The little one on the way is on the road to getting spoiled too.  I've bought him lots of cute cloth diapers and clothes.  His nursery bedding is currently being custom made.  I spend lots of time looking on Pinterest for ideas on how I'd like to decorate his room.  My mom said that I'm ruining all of her and Nana's fun by buying everything for him.  Oops!

He's not the only one getting a new bedroom.  Mina and Charlotte will be sharing a room so they can have a bunk bed together.  That'll make it so we can still have an upstairs play room.  If it doesn't go well, then the play room will disappear and Charlotte will get a completely new bedroom (and the bunk bed will be separated).  We're hoping to make that transition before school starts.  I hope my next blog post isn't full of stories of Charlotte climbing the ladder at night!  It's probably too much to ask that the transition will go completely smoothly - even for a spoiled mom like myself.

Pictures Galore

It turns out that I haven't shared pictures on the blog since April so there's a lot to look at.  See the post below for Chicago pictures. This blog post is a random journey of pictures.  And when I say random, I mean random!  I could tell you the story behind the picture below, but I think it's more fun to just show it to you and have you wonder.

 We had a fun night with friends a while back. Jon snapped a picture of the twins - Charlotte and her buddy have the same 'do!

Mina came home with a sword, which she spent some time decorating the next morning.  It's the prettiest sword ever!  Mina has really been into coloring this summer.

 We had a robin's nest to peek at for a while.  It was pretty neat when one of the eggs hatched.

 We've spent a lot of time playing outside at various parks and in our backyard.

We celebrated Frontier Days on the first weekend of June. Our family went to the fort on Friday night and then did the parade on Saturday morning.  Jon decorated his jeep to make everyone happy in MOMs group.

 Now that it's hot outside, we've been going to the pool.  I discovered that Charlotte's new swim bottoms are a little large for her.  At one point her entire bottom was revealed to the world.

Charlotte is now wearing a one-piece!  Mina has started to swim under water and isn't being such a chicken with water.  It's making supervision even more important.

 Jon made the mistake of sending me this picture when he was away for work and I was home alone with the kids.  I had macaroni and cheese that night.  Apparently he did too...with ahi tuna and his macaroni was a little more gourmet.  He won't be making that mistake again!  He's away for work again as I type this. I asked him about his dinner when he called and he didn't say much.  Smart(er) man!

 My pregnancy has been going really well lately. I'm not feeling sick at all and I'm feeling pretty good physically, except for some back pain on the days I work out.  Here's my number one craving.

The girls have been Cute.  They love to snuggle me and they love to hug each other. Charlotte is always asking me to sit on the couch with her for a snuggle.  Mina is always helping Charlotte and loving on her.

 We've really slacked off with taking official belly pictures, but a couple have been snapped recently.  I'm starting to round out a bit. I've gained 16 pounds from my lowest weight during this pregnancy.

 I snapped this one at the gym last week.  My cardio class just about did me in so I thought I'd better get one last picture in.  Seriously. You should have seen me sprinting and jumping around. It was ridiculous.

I really wish my kickboxing class was held during the summer.  I miss hitting the standing bag hard enough (with gloves on) to do this to my hands. It beat running stairs!

 Mina and Charlotte played with Hailey while Jon and I went for dinner on my 33rd birthday. Mina's hair looked like this when we got home. It was her first braid. Pretty!

 We went to Market on Central and Blanden's 80th Anniversary Party this past weekend. It rained, but we were still able to make the most of it.  Both girls had their faces painted. Charlotte stayed amazingly still.

 Mina's rainbow was so gorgeous!  The girls did spin art, tie-dye, paint wash, and decorative pin making also.  Their favorite part was getting to see the puppet show. This year it was Hansel and Gretel.

 Jon bought a cheesecake for our anniversary. Charlotte kind of liked it.

We spent our tenth wedding anniversary in Iowa City.

 T

The girls stayed at my parents' house and they sent me this picture.  They didn't have any fun at all.  Mina told on them when she got home though and said that she stayed up past her bed time.  She's just not very sneaky.  She always tells on herself.

 And if you need a laugh, check out Charlotte's faces.  She makes me smile every day!