A Rainbow Birthday Party

We took way too many pictures. More to see here.

I'm catching up...

Hello there. Yes, I am still alive. I have not blogged for a while because in the last couple of months I had a baby, have been adjusting to two children, we moved (just across town), and mostly because we have not had Internet. :) So I have some major catching up to do...

My kids are growing so fast! Karlie is now just over two months old. She is healthy and happy all the time! She has just started reaching toward objects in front of her.

Karlie sleeping at 1 month

IMG_5776">

Smiling at Papa

IMG_5791">

IMG_5813">

And my little boy is now 3!!!

IMG_5751">

More pictures of Will's birthday here.

We have had visitors: my grandparents and friends from the Quad Cities.

Will/Buzz-Hudson-Lincoln

IMG_0536">

We went to Stillwater to visit family for my nephew's birthday party and baptism.

Cousin Jaya pulling Will on a sled through the pile of leaves. :)

IMG_5842">

...and of course carving a pumpkin is an autumn necessity. Will thought that putting the candle in and watching it glow in the dark was the coolest thing ever! (I liked roasting the seeds) :)

IMG_5847">

We also made some yummy Halloween treats! Waffle pretzels+ Hershey's chocolate Hugs (melted for a few min. in the oven)+ candy corn=deliciously addictive.

IMG_5846">

I also had a birthday. It was my GOLDEN birthday this year. I remember thinking when I was little that turning 28 on the 28th seemed like forever away...and my hubby and friends were very thoughtful and threw me a surprise costume party. It was amazing!!! Since it was a surprise I was not prepared with my camera so I don't have any pictures. Thad and I went as Gnomeo and Juliet. :) He is so sneaky...but I did get a picture of the beautiful fall bouquet that he got me. Fresh flowers make me happy. :)

IMG_5850">

And for the night of gathering too much sugar...we have a darling daisy and Buzz Lightyear!!

IMG_0569">

The last two months have been a whirlwind! Thad has been busy at work, and loving it more everyday. We are finally feeling settled in our new place and the kids are growing like crazy. Will surprises me everyday with how smart he is and makes me laugh with the funniest things he says. I need to start writing them down. :) I have also re-opened up my etsy store now that we have Internet. Yay for getting things back to normal again..whatever normal is. :)

Oh-Omaha

On Sunday, Will and I ventured out to Omaha to visit our dear friend Libby while Thad was at a seminar. Libby and I are due with in a week of each other. It is such a blessing to be going through times like this with someone you are close to. It was a quick day trip, but we tried to make the best of it...even with a tired child who did not get a nap. :) We went to McFoster's Natural Kind Cafe for brunch where we had amazing delishiousness, and then shopped a bit and headed to the Omaha Children's Museum! Will loved it! I think he could have stayed there for a whole week. :) It was perfect for his age and actually an overwhelming amount of stuff to do. He would get stuck at one thing for a while and he would not want to leave. He did not realize how much more of the museum there was to explore. We rode on the carousel (a.k.a the ride in Mary Poppins), explored the science and mechanical gadgets with tons and tons of balls, performed (ran around) on stage as a tiger and with whimsical ribbons, hung out in the creative arts room and imagination playground. I was really impressed with the imagination playground...there was a large fire house with a huge climbing structure and slide and a big fire truck to sit on and pretend drive and you could try on the fire hat and boots. There was a play market, and farmhouse that you could climb in with life-sized animals and plants to harvest. But Will's favorite part of all that I think he stayed at for well over an hour was the water table where he got soaked! It was hard to pull him away from there. :) Below are a few pictures to show you just how cool it was...

...and so many more here.

Congrats Dr. Fever!

This weekend was a big weekend for us. Thad graduated!!!Wahoo! We are so proud of him for not only his accomplishments at Palmer Chiropractic, but also his dedication to his family while being a full time student in a very time consuming and prestigious program...the best chiropractic program in the world. Congratulations Dr. Fever!!!! We love you. :)

For those of you in the Des Moines area, or those willing to travel, there will be a grand opening welcome week for Thad in his new office at Hassel Family Chiropractic this week Feb. 28th-March 4th. For any new patients he is offering an initial consultation, exam, and x-rays ($200 value) for no charge!! Please come in and visit, ask questions, learn about chiropractic, get adjusted, and see the new doc at work. Call 515-270-6222 to make an appointment.

click here to see pictures of our weekend.

Missing the QC...

Last weekend we had the privilege of visiting some lovely friends in the Quad Cities. I have realized how much I missed them all and I think Will realized how much he missed being around all his little buddies again. Don't get me wrong we do love living in Des Moines again, but of course anytime you leave a place behind there are things that are missed. :( We are so very thankful to have each of these in our lives. Here are my top 10...

10. Leaves and acorns! Living in a really old neighborhood with really large trees makes for lots of leaf and acorn collecting. Will would fill a whole jar and sort them out when we got home.

9. the Family Museum in Bettendorf. Will LOVED this place! So much to do and explore!

8.Vintage Baby; the best consignment store I have found yet. It is huge and has everything from baby clothes to maternity and women's and men's clothes, to toys and home and furniture. We would always bring our unwanted items and always seemed to have a little store credit. love it.

7. Troxel Intern Program- although it made Thad super busy and was not home all the time I do miss all the people involved who made it feel like one big family...and free adjustments by an awesome doc.

6.Watching the seasons in our neighborhood as we walked the block everyday. Seeing and learning which flowers die out at which part of the season and watching the new ones bloom.

5. the local Hy-Vee; we would be greeted by the same faces every time we went and they always had everything we needed. :)

4. My La Leche League gals; sharing common interests, struggles, and joys.

3. Vanderveer Park that we walked to every week at least once to feed the ducks and look at it's beautifulness.

2. Heritage Church and Heartstrings...I can not say enough great things about this place. :)

1. All the cute little guys in that top picture and their parents. (and other friends not pictured.) We are so thankful to have such wonderful friends, going through the same stage of life together, having babies....all you guys are truly missed.

To see more pics of our day visiting click here.

We had so much fun Libby!

Will and I had a great week last week. A good friend of mine that I met while living in the Quad Cities (now lives in Albequerque) was staying in Cedar Falls for a couple weeks...actually at my sister's house. :) how nice. So Will and I decided that we wanted to visit her for a couple days. We had a blast! Laughing, preparing food, eating, dancing, shopping, playing trucks, talking a lot, learning to crochet and so much more. You know you have a good friend when you haven't seen each other in over a year and you can just pick back up where you left off. "We miss you already Wibby."-Will...Here are a few pics of our good ol' time.

blending it up...

dip! Chai+balls=chaiballs :)

laughing it up.

doing research.

Libby's beautiful dish rag...almost done.

my beautiful yarn..(only got a couple rows done.) ha! :)

yummy lemon coconut bars (except we made them into balls)- recipe by Ani

...more pictures to be seen here.

Love you Libbs!..and thanks sis for letting us stay at your place while you were away. :)

{this moment}

{this moment} - I am joining Soulemama for a Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

p.s. I may be absent from this blog for a while since we are moving next week. :) Have a fabulous weekend!

more photos of Will's b-day- click here.

Photo Update...

There has been lots of stuff going on around here lately since we are moving in a couple of weeks. Lot's of packing and organizing and spending time with friends. Our place is starting to look a little different with boxes starting to pile up and bits of furniture starting to disappear.(sold on craigslist! yes!...less to move. ) Will seems too busy with life to seem to really care too much. For all he knows he has more room to run around. We visited our new nephew a couple weeks ago, went to apple orchards, Will had his first sucker (oh it killed me to see him eat that much sugar) ha!, learned to hit the ball the right way...kind of, made play dough, sidewalk chalk galore!, and spent lots of time with friends. Here are a few photos to share...

the sucker...oh my.

flour+salt+water=play dough

stacking

we make a creative team :)

Will and Lincoln- we will miss you Linc!

I tried to teach him to walk like a chicken. It was pretty hilarious. :)

...and Thad teaching him to hit the ball. Wow, he just seems so big in this video! Almost two!!

Happy Wednesday to you. :)