Weekend at Thunderhead

This weekend we decided to get away and go to my Aunt Joi and Uncle Roger's lake house at Thunderhead.  Even though I was busy most of the weekend working my Master's work, it was relaxing and Beau had a great time.  He buddied up to Uncle Roger as soon as he saw Roger's "go-kart" (golf-cart).  He kept asking Roger to give him a ride on his "go-kart".  Beau went riding on the jet ski, went for boat rides and even drove the boat, TRIED saying he wanted to go tubing---but I don't think I was ready for that :)---and then he did one BRAVE thing, he jumped off the diving board on the dock.  While jumping off diving boards isn't a big deal for Beau anymore since he loves Nana's diving board, this diving board is about 8 feet up from the water.  And my brave little peanut jumped off all by himself!

Playing trains with Clint before we left for the lake

Going off the diving board!

 

 

Here is the video of Beau going off the diving board.  I might have seemed a little more shocked than I realized, and I think Beau was too!  He cried when he got in the water, but then wanted to do it again and again :)

Weekend with Papa and She-She

Since Joe and I had a very busy Friday and Saturday night with his class reunion, my dad and Shari wanted Beau to themselves those two days.  Beau absolutely loves going to his Papa and She-She's house and I'm sure it's not because they spoil him or anything!  Beau loves telling me how he helps Papa on the farm, rides the bulldozer, played with kitties, or whatever it is they do together.  He had a special treat last weekend by going to the Eddyville drags for the first time.  Thanks Dad, now he thinks he needs one of his own! :)

Congrats, Brookie!

Before the "partying" began for Joe's class reunion and the Pierson family reunion, we traveled to Waterloo to watch Brook receive her amazing honor of being president of the Iowa Court Reporter's Association.  I am so incredibly proud of her and know she will do a fabulous job!  Of course, we made a mini-vacation out of it and stayed at a hotel the night before.  Beau was fascinated with the waterfall in the main entrance and throwing in "lucky coins".  My TWO YEAR OLD SON made a wish saying "I wish to see Mickey's boat!".  For those of you that don't know, Beau keeps asking and ASKING for us to see Mickey's castle, aka Disney World, and to see Mickey's boat, aka the Disney cruise ship.  I suppose one of these days we might just make his wish come true :)  After a long trip of swimming in the hotel pool, riding the escalator about thirty times, and helping Brookie celebrate, it was time to head home.  Congrats Brookie, we are so proud of you!

Riding the escalator all night and day!

Anxious to swim!

Pierson Family Reunion

Last Sunday, we traveled to Mason City for the Pierson family reunion.  Royce and Connie flew up from Florida to attend, and I know Joe was unbelievably anxious to see them!  All of the great-grand kids had a wonderful time playing at the park, indulging in water balloon fights, and playing on the merry-go-round.  Royce and "Shorty" shared many stories of their childhood and younger years with everyone which was incredible to hear.  They have had incredible experiences in their lives that I never knew about.  I feel so honored to be a part of the Pierson family and love them all as my own!  Cheers until the next family reunion!

 

Joe wanted to take a "selfie"with his grandparents while dropping the off at the airport!

Joe's 10 Year Reunion

Last weekend, Joe had his 10 year high school reunion in town.  He had a wonderful time seeing all of his high school friends, most he is still very close with, but some that he hadn't seen or talked to in years.  While I wish I could have "let loose" like everyone else, I was sort of the party pooper, if you will, all weekend and was in bed early both nights.  Maybe at the next reunion I will be able to partake in the festivities :)  Even though they started out as Joe's friends, I feel so fortunate and blessed to have come so close to his friends and consider them life-long friends. 

 

Pool Day at Nana's

Yesterday I took the kids to Nana's to have a picnic and go swimming.  Luckily, Bond is such a good baby and loves to nap, that he napped the whole time in the house while the kids and I went swimming.  After having a picnic on Nana's front porch, and a long debated nap-time, we had a wonderful afternoon swimming!  Beau and Banx are such good swimmers already.  As long as they both have their floaters on, neither of them need any help swimming, getting out of the pool, going down the slide, or even off of the diving board!  Next step is to teach them how to float on their backs :)

Progress of Baby P #2

Joe and I had our official ultrasound a couple of weeks ago.  It is so crazy to me that we are already 24 weeks along!  Only 16 more weeks to go!  However, I keep having these dreams that this baby is coming EARLY.  As anxious as I am to meet this baby, I can't wait until October 10 :).  At our ultrasound, the baby was kicking and moving like crazy...no wonder why I can't sleep anymore.  Baby P is measuring right on schedule and making great progress.  When our doctor was measuring me, he said that I am measuring two weeks farther along than I am---he thinks this is going to be a bigger baby.  PLEASE NO!  Pushing an 8 lb. baby was about at my limit!  Although we did not find out the sex of this baby again, I am just CONVINCED that it is another boy, and I am so excited for that!  I always have said that I want to have 3-4 boys, NO GIRLS!  But obviously, I would be thrilled and blessed with a boy or a girl.  Beau and Joe really think this baby is a girl, so we will just have to wait and see.

Here is a 3-D picture of Baby P #2.  He/She already looks like Beau!  The lips and cheekbones are identical to Beau and his ultrasound pictures.  That is just amazing to me!

Our precious babe sucking his/her thumb :)

Lake Time at Thunderhead

Saturday, my mom kept Beau for a sleepover while we were in Des Moines.  They ended up going to Thunderhead to spend time with my Aunt Joi and Uncle Roger.  My mom said Beau had his eyes on one main thing, can you guess from my last post??  Their red wave runner!  So my mom and Aunt Joi went for a ride on the wave runners with Beau.  They said he was talking the whole time and kept saying "this is awesome!".  Thanks Nana, now Beau is really going to be insisting on having one! :)  Thank you so much Nana and Den-Den for keeping Beau!  He had such a fun filled day with helping Dustin drive the quad-track to wash it, moving tractors with Den-Den in the shop, and then a day at the lake.  Beau has such a rough life right now :)

Father's Day 2014

This year we celebrated Father's Day for Joe with a BANG!  Friday, we spent the day at the lake with Scott and Michelle, and it was a perfect day for boating!  Beau also found a new love....wave runners! He kept asking me if he could have the "little green boat".  As I am looking around the dock, there are no green boats so I had no idea what he was talking about.  Beau went and showed me what he wanted, and it was a green wave runner.  He's going to have to wait awhile before he can have one :)

Saturday morning we took off for Des Moines with Brook and Austin.  My mom had found us AMAZING tickets for "We Will Rock You" at the Civic Center.  Joe loves that kind of music, so this play was just his taste!  We all had a great time in Des Moines together at the play, then eating Oysters at Splash, then dining for an amazing course of Sushi!  We ended the night by heading back to the campground (Brook and Austin borrowed Tim and Kim's RV for us to stay in overnight).  Grant and Alexa stopped by to visit for awhile, then Brook and Joe ended the night by having a dance off to "Tricky".  Needless to say, this pregnant lady did not make it as late as the other night owls.  I was not surprised to hear the next morning that the park ranger knew Joe and Austin by name by the end of the night...honestly, can they ever behave?! :)

Sunday was a nice, relaxing day for Joe---I hope!  While him and Beau took a nap, I mowed, worked on Master's homework and cleaned house.  Then we went to Tim and Kim's for a wonderful Father's Day Dinner and had my dad and Shari there too.  Beau and Banx stayed entertained by having a water gun fight :)...great idea Aunt Brookie!  Before we called it a day, we headed to Scott and Michelle's.  Beau was sure to tell everyone that his Grandma Chelle had a movie for him at her house.   He just always assumes his Chelle will watch a movie with him...can you say spoiled?! :)

I hope Joe, my dad and Scott all had a wonderful Father's Day.  I can't believe next year Joe will be a father of two!  I cannot wait for this little peanut to arrive :)

Our OCD Child

Lately, Beau has been infatuated with lining his toys up in a straight line.  He absolutely hates it when you move one or push it back a little bit.  Beau has to have all of his toys in a perfectly straight line, or he FREAKS out!  Here is what we discovered he had done the other night....

Future Rocker

One of Beau's favorite "toys" to play with, are the guitars from our Guitar Hero set.  Beau really loves music, so when music is playing in the house, he will grab a guitar and pretend to play.  I think he's ready to start a band!

Cookies for Breakfast

Last weekend, Joe and I tried to start the morning off early by getting some yard work done while Beau was still sleeping---he loves to sleep in :).  Joe noticed the front door open, and then our sleepyhead-son walking out with a box of Oreos.  He asked Joe, "Daddy will you open the cookies for me to have?"  It was so cute!  I guess Beau gets his taste for sweets from his mama! 

Beau's First Bottle Feed

Last week we went to go see Clint's progress on his new house he is building.  It is going to be so amazing when it is done!  It just amazes me that Clint, Caleb and Uncle Roger are able to build something to amazing from the ground up!  While at Clint's farm, Beau noticed the baby cows.  Clint asked him if he wanted to feed the baby, and Beau wanted to!  I couldn't believe that Beau wasn't scared or anything.  He walked right up to the calf and helped Clint hold the bottle.  It was the priceless :)

First Week of "Summer"

Well last week was my first full week home for the summer, except it hasn't seemed like summer at all!  Other than the weather being dreary and not warm, I have been SWAMPED with my Master's classes.  Joe has been such a great help with Beau at night and coming home at lunch everyday to watch the kids so I can work on homework too.  I keep stressing myself out about how much work I have to do and all of the research/papers I have, but whenever I look at all the kids playing, all my stress diminishes!

People keep asking me if it's too much watching three kids under the age of three, by myself all week.    Definitely not!  Beau and Banx do fight quite often and get on each other's nerves, but they are best of friends and truly do play well together.  And Bond, well he is just a cuddle bug who loves to eat and sleep right now, so I'm not complaining at all on my end! :)  So to answer everyone who has asked me, yes I do still want four kids.  I know having toys everywhere and a messy house can drive some people crazy, but I don't mind it during the day when the kids are all here.  They are making memories :)

Beau and Banx needed baths everyday last week from getting all muddy outside

I truly love looking out of my living room and seeing the view of Beau and Banx playing on the fort.  They love it! :)

Decorating Cupcakes

Last night, Beau wanted to go see his Papa and She-She.  When we got there, Banx was there too making cupcakes!  Beau decided he wanted to stay with Banx and help She-She decorate cupcakes.  I must say, they were adorable and delicious! :)

New Teacher Tradition!

This year I became very close with a few of the teachers from OMS.  We decided to start a tradition of celebrating the year being over, by going to Des Moines and stay overnight.  We had a great time shopping, eating out, sharing stories in the hotel room, and little dancing/celebrating at night time of course :)  I can't wait to do it again next year!

Since I was gone all day Thursday and Friday, my mom had Beau all day and a sleepover with Beau at night.  Beau truly loves going to his Nana's to ride the tractors and gator.  It is all he ever talks about when he knows he is going to his Nana and Den-Den's!  Since he had gotten sick the night before, he wanted extra cuddle time with Nana.  My mom had texted me while I was in Des Moines saying that she had went swimming with Beau and he fell asleep on her shoulder in the pool---he was wiped out! 

Helping Nana pay bills :)

End of 2013-2014 School Year

Well, school is over and it's another one in the books!  This year was a great year and I absolutely loved my students!  When I finally told my students I was pregnant, I had kiddos bringing me homemade treats on a weekly basis--it doesn't get much better than that!  I am excited for summer and to be home with Beau all summer, but a part of me is going to miss my students so much.  I'm sure I'll be anxious to see them come August :)

It is tradition in my classroom that on the last day, my students get to write on my board any goodbye wishes they want me to read.  Some of the notes are so sweet and I want to remember them forever!

Sick Little Guy

The other night, Beau kept telling me that he wanted to sleep in bed with us.  For those of you that don't know, we do not allow this at all!  However, I was going to be gone from Beau the next night so I caved in and let him climb into bed with us.  He kept telling me his tummy hurt so he needed to watch Mickey in bed with mommy and daddy.  I thought he was just trying to "con" his way into our bed.  Little did I know, that he was actually not feeling well!  In the middle of the night, Beau woke us up and was sick all night.  We didn't want to put him back in his room, so we made him a little bed on the floor in our room.  When I kept getting up to check on Beau, I noticed he had 1-2 doggies watching over him---it just proves how protective Butters and Macee are of Beau :)