Marc & Sara's wedding

Last Thursday evening we packed up the car and once again headed south...this time we went way south. We headed to Springfield, MO for my brother Marc's wedding.  It was a wonderful weekend, a beautiful wedding, and we are very excited that Sara has officially joined our family! 

Like I said, we left Thursday evening and stopped to see Nana on the way to my sister's in De Soto where we spent the night.  We didn't get there until close to midnight, and were up early and loaded in the RV by 6:45.  Yes, that's right, we took an RV to Marc & Sara's wedding.  Missouri may be the only place that I ever do that.  :)  It actually worked out really well.  Great Grandma, Aunt Lori, and Dave followed us down there.  We got to stop at a park for lunch and were in Springfield by the afternoon.  The kids loved playing together, and it was nice to have room to move around on such a long trip. 

Our first stop was Uncle Marc's fire station.  He took the kids up in the ladder truck (yeah, it goes up pretty high), gave them a ride around the block, and gave a tour of his fire house.  They had a great time.  We then went to their house, which we had not seen yet.  It had been taken over by beautiful flowers for the wedding, and lots of cupcakes that Sara made for the reception.  That evening we were back at the hotel for some pizza with our family and family friends. 

Saturday morning Grandma & Grandpa took all the grand kids (except Grant) to the Bass Pro shop and mini golfing while we went and set-up for the reception.  Ava was very excited when she got back.  She told me about the animals that she saw and informed us that she "worked on my grip" while golfing.  A quick nap and lunch and it was time for wedding festivities.  After a small world war in our room trying to get Ava ready we were back in the RV and off to the wedding site. 

They got married and had the reception all at the same site.  It was a beautiful venue, and Sara (& Marc ?) had a ton of little personal touches that made the wedding very special.  We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day for an outdoor wedding.  I think everybody had a wonderful time!

Sunday we had lunch with our family and Sara's parents and then loaded back up to head to De Soto.  We spent the night there and arrived back to the cities yesterday afternoon.  We had a wonderful weekend and are so happy for Marc & Sara.  Thanks for a great weekend everybody!

 

In the ladder truck that Uncle Marc took us up in

Grant & Aunt Lori

Uncle Marc took the kids (and Lisa) for a ride in the truck

Ava working out at the fire house

Ava & Jakob with the fire hose.  Ava didn't want to put the coat and helmet on

All the cousins at the fire station

Yeah, those are my two kids that aren't looking

Ava & Aunt Sara

Mommy & Grant.  I just love how happy he is!

Mommy & Daddy with our little G-man

Reece & Jakob carrying the sign down in front of Ava.  I Loved this sign (it says, "Uncle Marc, here comes your bride).

Ava coming down the aisle. 

Cheese

Our attempt at a family photo

Melissa, Sara, Lisa, Grandma, and me

Ava & Aunt Darlene doing "cheers" with their cupcakes

Ava out on the dance floor trying to catch the bouquet

Ava giving Aunt Lori some love

Grant was photo bombing a picture of Aunt Lori & Dave (and probably getting ready to drool on Dave's head).  Grant loves him!

Cool dude Ava

Single parent

Last week Nate left for his annual golf trip with the guys, which left me to be a single parent from Thursday to Sunday.  We stayed busy with little things like appointments, preschool, ECFE, and a few walks.  Before we knew it, Daddy was arriving home again (exhausted).

Thursday Ava had her last day of "preschool" for the year.  Next fall she will start "real preschool".  I dropped her off in morning and then headed to the pediatrician, as I felt as though Grant had another ear infection.  Sure enough, his right ear was inflamed again so off we went to the pharmacy for another Z-pack (we are now on Augmentin as of yesterday since he didn't appear to be getting better).  Then we went back for Ava's program and carnival.  When Ava got up on the "stage" she immediately saw me and started waving, smiling, and saying "hi mommy, that's my mom that's my mom".  Oh, if only I could bottle up that pride and love and bring it back out when she turns 16. :)  They sang a couple of songs, and I could of course hear Ava just belting out the song.  That girl loves to sing.  They had a carnival after the program where we accumulated a bunch of junk in a bag to bring home. 

Friday and Saturday are kind of a blur.  We had our ECFE class, which I've really come to enjoy.  It's great to get that time with Ava, and also have that time to discuss issues with other parents.  We went and got Ava's hair cut, went to the park, and did a lot of playing.  Saturday I had a "mommy of year" moment.  We were heading out on our walk to Target.  I buckled Grant into the back of the stroller and Ava crawled into the front.  I was obviously preoccupied with Grant, and once we was buckled in we took off.  We got to the end of the block and before I know it, Ava is tumbling out of the front of the stroller and I almost ran her over.  Yep, this mommy forgot to buckle BOTH children into the stroller.  I felt horrible!  At least it was the stroller and not the car I guess.  A few scrapes on her arms and legs, a couple kisses, and we were on our way. :) 

Grant had his appointment with the ENT doctor today.  We have scheduled his surgery to have tubes placed for Monday June 10th.  I'm hoping and praying that the surgery goes well and that it is as successful as Ava's was.  I'm also hoping that now that he's on the Augmentin that he doesn't start having horrible diarrhea for our road trip to Missouri.  This is the third antibiotic this month.  That is not good for his poor little body. 

Wishing you all a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend!  

 

Ava randomly asks to hold Grant and then wants her picture taken with him.  She will also randomly just go up and kiss his head.  I just love it!

 

All clean!   Here's a little shout out to Norwex (as you can see, the brand of towel that he's using).  My Aunt Virginia gave us this for a baby gift.  It is the most amazing towel ever.  I highly recommend it for any child (it dries him on contact)

Our trip to the park

 

One happy and excited man!

Happy Mother's Day

Let me start by saying Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!  Being a mom has to be the hardest, most frustrating, and exhausting job in the world (or at least a good mom), but it is also most most amazing job.  You never know what your day will hold, or even the hour.  One minute is tantrums and diaper blowouts, while the next minute is filled with giggles, smiles, kisses, and hugs.  I feel so blessed to have the amazing family that I do, and am blessed that I am able to work part time so that I can stay home and spend more time with these two precious gifts that are growing so quickly.  My mother's day was pretty low key.  We got up, went to church, met Nate's family for brunch, and then came home where we went for a walk, played games, did laundry, and just finished having a 20 minute conversation with Ava as to why she needs to sleep in her bed and not on the floor.  I'm sure that we'll be repeating the conversation in the next few minutes as she sits in her bed crying. 

Ah Ava (sigh)!  She has been a force to be reckoned with this past week.  I'm not sure what happened to her this week, but she has been a little monster.  I got a text from Nate on Wednesday morning saying, "it was a rough morning, Ava went to daycare in her pajamas.  hope your day is going better".  I guess Ava decided she didn't want to get dressed and refused to put her clothes on.  After 20 minutes Nate gave up and took her in her pjs.  Then there was the fit that she threw in the shower, throwing herself on the floor and yelling for 20 minutes.  Yes, that was a fun night.  :)  I thought that kids were supposed to be naughty when they were two.  I used to think to myself, "wow, we must be pretty good at this parenting thing because Ava was an awesome 2 yr old".  Now everybody tells me that the 3s are the worst.  Maybe they are telling me this to make me feel better about my parenting, I don't know.  I hope that it doesn't get worse than this though (at least until she is 16).  Right now it's a battle of the wills.  I'm pretty stubborn, and I think that she may get a little of that from me.  :)  I've been trying to step back and ask myself if some of these things are worth fighting over.  Most of the time they are not, I just don't want bad habits to be formed.  Hopefully this "stage" will not last long. 

As for Grant, he continues to be a happy little man.  Last Friday evening I put him down to bed and he fussed for quite some time.  I knew right away that he had to have an ear infection and told Nate that he would have to take him to the pediatrician Saturday morning since I had to work.  So Nate made his first solo trip to the peds office Saturday morning with both kids, and then walked over to the hospital (it's next door to our peds clinic) to see me.  Sure enough, Grant had an infection in his right ear.  That makes four infections in 5 months so he will be going to see the ENT on the 21st. 

That's all the excitement here.  We're been enjoying the  nice weather and have made it to the park a few times.  Ava has become quite the dare devil and loves to climb all over the playground.  Grant tried out the swings this past week and squealed with delight.  He just loved it!  Ava has her last "preschool" class this upcoming Thursday.  I'm looking forward to the little program that they will be putting on Thursday afternoon. 

Thanks for checking in.  Sorry for the lack of pictures.  Sadly enough, all of these came off of my phone. 

 

Grant tried a "mum mum" for the first time last week.  He loved it until he started to choke after biting off a huge piece.  I haven't let him try them again since. 

This was taken around 5:30 in the evening.  She obviously didn't take a long enough nap that day.

Ava enjoying a strawberry shake.  This is her favorite dessert that she and her daddy make

This would be Ava throwing a fit one morning.  I sent Nate this text picture of her "our not so happy child"...

"Our happy child"

She can be happy when she wants to be.

Grant's 6 month pictures

Spring has finally sprung and we couldn't be more excited! We will try to block out the 5 day forecast which is projecting a rain/snow mixture later this week. In the meantime, we soaked up the sun this weekend. I had Friday off work so we started our day with a walk to the park.  We have a park in our development which is probably 1/2 a mile away (across the street from our development's pool).  I have a feeling we will be making that walk frequently this summer.  Ava had a great time climbing, swinging, and sliding down the slides.  We then took a walk down to the lake and watched the ducks.  It was so nice to feel the sunshine.  Our afternoon was spent with sidewalk chalk on our driveway. 

Saturday morning we were out the door before 9:00 to get to the zoo when they opened.  We are only 4 miles from the zoo so decided to get a family membership.  We will definitely get our money's worth.  We had a good time, however it was definitely a learning experience.  We figured that Ava wouldn't want to be in a stroller and it may be a pain to get her in and out at each animal exhibit so we left the stroller at home and I just carried Grant in our Boba carrier which is very comfortable even after a couple of hours.  We didn't realize how far it is between the exhibits though.  We walked over 3 miles (part of that carrying a 40 lb little girl who was tired).  Next time we will be taking the stroller, water, and snacks.  :)  Ava had a great time, and Grant seemed to enjoy it while he was awake (which wasn't for that long).  We will definitely go back soon...both kids took almost 3 hr naps!

Mema and Boppa came over after nap to play and for dinner.  Ava and Mema were covered in sidewalk chalk in no time.  Grant hung out with the guys in the garage as Daddy was putting some shelves up in the garage.  I had to run to the MOA.  Nate and I have been debating for quite some time now about getting a new bed.  We need one but couldn't decide on what we wanted.  We finally made the big decision and went with a Sleep Number bed so I ran to the mall to order it.  I'm hoping that we'll be happy with it and that it will somehow live up to its promise of providing better sleep.  By the time I got home Ava had already eaten and Grant was in the process.  Well, he was trying to eat.  It was quite the sight.  Boppa was holding him while Mema was trying to feed the little turkey.  He had food on his face, up his right nostril, and in his right eye.  I should have taken a picture.  After he was down the rest of us got to enjoy dinner (grilled burgers).  There are few things better than grilled summer food!

This morning we were out the door early again.  We went to get Grant's 6 month pictures taken.  I told myself before leaving the house that I wasn't going to spend that much money on them.  Well, 3 hrs later and a lot of money later we came home with lots of pictures.  :)  Grant did a great job.  Ava even got in on some of them and had a couple taken of herself.  After nap time we went to Home Depot and got some ceiling fans for the spare bedroom as well as Ava and Grant's room.  Daddy gets the privilege of installing those.  We also had to check out storm doors.  With the weather getting nicer it would be nice to be able to have our front door open and just a storm door there for some ventilation.  There's always stuff to spend money on even with a new house!

We hope that you enjoyed this beautiful weekend and were able to soak up some sun.  Wishing you a wonderful start to your week!


 

Grant's first trip to the MN zoo (yes he is sleeping under that hat)

This was supposed to be a fall jacket for the football games since it is an 18 month jacket.  Well, it is now a spring jacket since it fits him perfectly

Whoever said this is a 12-24 month old hat has never seen the size of a Veldman head

Sadly enough the "youth" size fits my 6 month old much better

The kids's Porterhouse Nation shirts arrived today.  Some of you may not know about Porterhouse (I don't know how you couldn't).  My good friends Erin and Kevin have a bulldog named Porterhouse.  He is not just any bulldog.  He won the Drake most beautiful bulldog contest a few years ago, and for the past couple of years he has been Drake's official live mascot.  He is also a foster brother, a therapy dog, and a huge spokesperson (spokesdog maybe) for the Illinois English Bulldog Rescue. (IEBR).  A woman in Des Moines is making these shirts and selling them, all profits go to IEBR.  If you're interested you can find them on etsy by typing in Porterhouse Nation. 

Grant was super pumped about his Porterhouse t-shirt arriving.  Look at that smile!

Below are Grant's 6 month pictures

This is Grant's gangster pose