June 2014

June is our first time to experience a summer break being out of school. We all have had to adjust being around each other every day again. However aside from the rainy, humid rain forest type weather we have been keeping busy playing with the water table, riding bikes, going to the park, hanging out with friends, printing off paper movie characters, and much more in between popsicles.

We have spent more time at the park this summer as we walk over to nearby Legion Park. Judah likes to spin with his friends at the park when they join us for play dates. Krissy loves everything about the park especially swinging as a big girl on the swing, going down (or climbing back up) the big slide, and water. When Krissy climbed all the way to the top of the rope at the park just out of reach of mommy's hands, it was pretty clear that she is not afraid of heights.

We allow for bike riding each day. Judah rode his bike on the trail to Colby Park for the first time (June 3) and biking a total of almost 5 miles alongside mommy with Krissy and the trailer. If he was not tired yet, we played at the park too. Unfortunately the bike chain came off on the way home and Judah had to ride with Krissy in the trailer while we towed the bike in the back of the trailer. Needless to say, we ended up walking the last leg home together after several people stopped to help. Each day Judah improves his skills without using training wheels except for stopping. Krissy also is so fast on her little car pushing with her feet and keeps going all the way to the mailbox save for stopping to put something in her car or see a "lady bug." Other times she is on her tricycle practicing her pedaling.

Water and sand have become an almost daily occurrence around the house. Krissy in fact likes to do both at the same time ending the day in the bath tub upstairs. With all the rain we have had, Judah prefers the mud puddles as his medium to make mud soup. We also kick the ball around, color with chalk, and play games.

Indoors, we play a lot of angry bird star wars. Judah likes to print, cut out, and color the characters so that later we can set them up for a battle. The birds beat the pigs every time and Luke Skywalker beats Darth Vader. Krissy on the other hand rocks and reads to her babies or makes sure they are fed from her specialty ice cream dish from her kitchen.

We have fit in some summer activities to see the zoo for a day. The sea lion show made an impression on Krissy. Judah then attended morning VBS for a week with the neighbor girl at Shepherd's Flock. The jungle safari was an adventure indeed eating cool snacks, making crafts, and finding clues about God along the journey. Krissy also showed her delight in the gymnastic bars when we went to a class at the Little Gym. Several times we went to the fountains or the splash pad playing in the water. Other times we go to the library to check out the computers and a load of books to read. Judah also moved up to red group in Sunday school at church.

Krissy has been practicing taking off and putting on her clothes. She now removes all her clothes several times at quiet time in the crib rather than napping. Obviously she is giving up naps. Alas though we figured out her two year molars are coming in (the bottom left). Now she is back to napping again but with her chew toy and her favorite Baby Anna.

Mom painted Krissy's nails for the first time while the boys went to buy fishing poles. I should say she painted her nails just like a pro, holding the brush and not knocking over the paint. Still mom cleaned her up to finish her nails and toe nails. Afterwards, she bragged to dad how we painted our nails.

We had family and friends over for several get together at our house.  Nana came down to spend a Monday evening walking with us on the trail to Dairy Queen. Philip joined us for supper and Aunt Sara even surprised us by coming over to say hi. The next day, we took Nana to our first visit to Ashby splash park on the most beautiful summer day in the low 80's. Tuesday night we had all our neighbors over to celebrate birthdays and kick off Okoboji 2014 Bike Ride. Another weekend we actually went out of town to visit Uncle Matt and Aunt Hilary in their new house in Forest City. In spite the rain, we had a good time playing with Liddy, going to the park, and to see the church.

Judah also celebrated his fifth birthday this month. Our house was filled with 17 kids and 12 adults the first rainy Saturday. His dinosaur dig though was a great success as all discovered dinosaur skeletons in the sand. Then we filled our omnivorous appetites up on dinosaur eggs, carrion on a stick (kabobs), and dirt cake. Friends visited with us into the evening staying for pizza and enjoying the sand box.

The last week of the month, mom and Judah came down with the stomach flu knocking us out for a several days cooped up in the house. Tim was a saint to care for the kids all weekend taking them to the Des Moines Arts Festival and the library.

Jan 2014

Our New Years Day was spent with family this year. Both Uncle Philip and Uncle Charlie came over for wieners and sour kraut, some board games, and some Ohio State Football. New Year's Eve we had Aunt Rachel with us too, spending the night. We spent some time with her at the Des Moines Botanical Center. Judah participated in the scavenger hunt and both kids enjoyed digging in the dirt. Afterwards we picked up daddy to join us at Tumea's for some Italian cuisine. Later New Year's Eve night, Philip came over to enjoy some Graziano's and to bring in the New Year with a movie.

We ended the month having only one full week of school and routine. The polar vortex kept bringing minus 30 degree wind chills and below zero temperatures causing us to spend lots of days at home indoors. We the passed the time by playing play dough or water beads, having (toilet paper) snowball fights, dancing to Hawaiian music every night, putting on puppet or acting shows, riding trains, baking, making bracelets, and reading lots of books.

On our one nice day, Tim took Judah outside to build a big fort in the nearby snowbank. Even mommy and Krissy came out to play in the tunnels and compartments they pushed out. The fresh air was a nice treat since most days this winter have been below freezing.

Almost as an after thought after Christmas (as we were putting all the Christmas decorations away), Krissy discovered Frosty the Snowman. Her obsession with Frosty is no longer an after thought now. The teachers at Judah's school put up a large snowman. Krissy talked about going to see it everyday this month. Every time we arrived to pick up Judah, she excitingly started singing "Frost the Snowman" in her sweet little voice. Then we would have to say goodbye to Frosty and you could hear her scream his name as we would walk out the door. At the end of the month, Krissy helped the teachers take down Frosty after school. They were kind to let us keep his hat, nose, and arms to make another snowman at home. Mom told her tell the teachers thank you but instead she grabbed mom's hand saying, "Mama, come here! Where did Frosty go?" At home we would watch the old Frosty classic several times a day, sing the song, and read the book all to her delight.

Judah had Martin King Jr Day off from school. So mom took the kids to the Des Moines Science Center for the day to join a friend. Both kids joyously ran around to all the stations, building and exploring science. Krissy enjoyed the Lego car race track as much as Judah. She would get up on a little stool among kids twice her age, racing her car that mommy built her. Judah thoughtfully built his cars to make them go fast, always wanting to be the winner.

Daddy had the holiday off too and spent his free time painting the toy room walls blue. In one day he had all the prep, painting, and clean-up done adding a brand new look in the toy room. Even Judah helped with some of the painting. He has also has finished some other projects around the house this month like scrub and clean the tile grout in the kitchen.

Judah has traveled around the globe at school going to China, Mexico, and then Europe. His school times are filled with Mexican hat dances and building a Colosseum. He even showed us at home how to act "Three Billy Goats Gruff." He continues to enjoy school very much always coming home with crafts and papers. His skills continue to grow as he counts higher and higher now by tens and colors perfectly within the lines. He likes to recite books and even tries any chance he can to read or spell something. Daddy and Judah continue to explore Geronimo Stilton books before bed each night.

Krissy loves her baby dolls (especially Jessie her cabbage patch doll) and even mommy's old baby dolls (mommy's tiny tears). Often you will hear her carrying on a conversation with them. She even likes to make sure they are fed and have water to drink (more like soaking them). She reads them books. She puts them on the potty (to mommy's horror). The babies take tractor rides and stroll around the house. One day I even found her on the stool next to the changing table trying to change their diaper. She then puts them to bed after a bath together. She is a good little mommy (except for naked baby). Krissy has developed the skill of slicing up her food. She uses Judah's tool saw instead of a knife. At any rate though, she practices cutting up her Velcro wooden food and feeds it to us or her dolls for dinner.