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Weekend Rewind



Hey, gals!  Can you believe today is the last day of August?!?  I'm so excited about how fast it went by!  July was so dang slow, I thought summer would never end.  Not normally a problem except for some reason I have been over summer since the beginning of July.  August FLEW by and we are knocking on the door of Fall!  The last week and a half we've been having Fall-like weather here in Iowa, it's been awesome!  This week all that changes - schools will be dismissing early due to the heat, I'm sure.  Not ours, though, we have air conditioning.  Luckily, according to the 10 day forecast, this hot, humid SUMMER weather should only last for this week.  Fingers crossed!  I popped a Fall scent into my Scentsy burners on Friday and dang, did it smell good!  Anxious for all that Fall brings.

This is a weekend rewind linkup but I don't really have much to report back from this weekend. And I definitely don't have any pictures to share from it, either.  Andy finished out the trim on the boy's windows, I painted that trim plus painted Tate's dresser because it had gotten worn looking.  When I put all of his clothes back in it I weeded out everything that was 18mo in size (insert sad face).  Then I organized his closet a little since it's overflowing with the Princess's things.  Feels good to do a little organizing every now and then, doesn't it?

Sunday morning I made up a couple lunches for the boys for the upcoming week.  They eat school lunch one day a week, the rest of the week they take their lunches.  They don't really love that, they'd both rather eat school lunch every day, which is awesome! But dang!  It's too pricey for me!  $3 each, every day, which totals $30 every week if they ate there every day.  The meals are healthy and good but they are breaking my bank, so lunch from home it is.  I made them homemade lunchables and grapes for one day.  Another day they will take tortilla rollups, a small bag of chips, a fruit cup and a baggie of broccoli.  Aiden's rollup has wing sauce (he's a nut!), turkey, lettuce and a slice of cheese in it.  Bren's has ranch, turkey and cheese.  He's the picky one.  In the past I have cut them up after keeping them refrigerated overnight (helps them stay together better) so they look like pinwheels but this time I'm keeping them together because I wrapped them in that Saran Wrap that sticks to anything (genious!) and wrote a little 'Hi, Brennan', 'Hi, Aiden' on them.  I would have kept going with the meals but I still had to get a roast going for Sunday Dinner, plus wash a million and one dishes (even though I said last week Andy's in charge of that now, I gave him a break and got them done myself).  I was so wiped out after that I laid on the couch and wasted the rest of my Sunday morning away.  :)

P.S. The roast was amazing! :)

Link up your weekend rewind, I'd love to read all about what you did, too!






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Baby Girl - Week 27

How far along: 27w4d

Sleep: Awesome!  I wake up about once a night to use the bathroom, and some nights I can convince myself to hold it til morning.  I usually wake up between 6:30 and 7, but over the weekend Tate was nice and let us sleep until almost 7:30!  Felt so good!  I'm not having any trouble getting comfortable in bed, I hope that continues for the next 3 months!

Best moment of this week: Brennan got to feel the baby kick!  He was so surprised and excited, it was fun!  I was laying on the couch and she was kicking.  I asked Bren if he wanted to feel her so he came over, placed his sweet little hand on my belly and she kicked right away!  He had the biggest smile on his face!  Now we need to get Aiden to catch her gymnastics.

Miss anything: I miss being able to flop down in bed.  Surprisingly I can still roll over fairly easily.  I have had a moment where I felt like a bug on it's back - I couldn't get up off the couch last weekend because it had sort of sucked me.  Luckily Andy was here to help.

Movement: This little princess is a mover and a shaker!  Especially at night!  She sleeps all day and parties all night.  That's exactly what the boys did, too.  Luckily that didn't translate to real life - none of them had their days and nights mixed up.  I love the first 20 minutes of laying in bed at night, she goes crazy!  One day she was practicing her toe touches, another day her Royal Horse kicks.  Sometimes she practices her pirouettes.  She's such a sweet little girl. <3

Food cravings: I just want junk all the time.  I wish I would crave fruit and veggies and water but I don't.  I try to keep the binging to a minimum.  
  
Gender: GIRL GIRL GIRL!!!    

Happy or moody most of the time: It's been an emotional week for me - lots of crying and sadness. Between worrying about the baby all the time and getting prepared for the boys to head back to school I've been all over the place emotionally.  

Looking forward to: My  next appointment, on Tuesday.  Except I'll be doing another 1 hour glucose test that day, ick. :)

Symptoms/Side effects:  Washing up a bunch of dishes is a thing of the past...at least until Baby's here in my arms.  It hurts so bad for me to stand at that sink anymore.  Aside from having to turn a funny angle to be able to belly up to the counter, literally, and that making my back hurt, if I do turn to face the counter head on it hits me right in the belly button, which is almost worse than nails on a chalkboard to me during pregnancy.  (I don't love having my belly button touched normally but during pregnancy it is pure torture for me!)  This is the 4th time I've gotten to this point in pregnancy, so it's not a surprise, just a pain.  Good news, Andy now has to wash dishes for me!  Ha ha!

Last weekend I felt a ton of pressure down low and Baby Girl wasn't moving.  I tried to get her moving but she wouldn't budge.  Of course I panicked, then about 10 minutes later she started moving again.  Just little kicks, not consistent, but at least I knew she was still moving in there.  It was so scary.  And it wasn't my first panic attack about her.  I am so scared I'm going to lose this little nugget that every little thing scares me.  I am so in love with her already, the thought of losing her scares me as bad as the thought of losing one of my boys.  I'm afraid I'm jinxing things by buying so many girly clothes and decorations for her room.  I pray many times a day for her health and well being.  Sweet little girl, I just can't wait to meet her.

In the last week or so I've hit the stage of my pregnancies where I don't want to eat a meal anymore.  I sit and look at my supper and gulp because it doesn't sound good to eat once it's in front of me.  I could snack on junk all day if I let myself, but to eat a full meal I've prepared? Doesn't appeal to me at all.  I have no problem eating a meal at a restaurant, though.  It's a strange side effect of my pregnancies.

For a couple of months I have had a little bit of pregnancy carpal tunnel.  Mostly my arms and hands go numb.  Lately I've been noticing I'm waking up to my arms being asleep, usually the one I was laying on or had under my pillow.  It takes a few minutes for that tingling to go away.

Name: Nope.  :(  I've stopped thinking about it, hoping something will just come to me.

This is the last week of my 2nd trimester already.  I have no idea how that happened.  It started with the beginning of summer and is ending with the ending of summer.  Which means summer flew by, even though it felt kind of long to me this year.  Fall always buzzes by so quickly so I guess that means our little Princess will be here sooner than we realize.  I am anxious to meet to her so not going to complain if it goes fast.
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First Day of School 2015



Look at these handsome guys!  Their first day of the new school year.  New backpacks, new supplies, new teachers, new things to learn.  It's so exciting!  I am trying to figure out how it is I have a 4th grader and 1st grader already.

I asked the boys some questions to help remember this time in their life.  First up, Brennan's answer:

What are you most excited about in 1st grade?  I know, rocket math! :)

What are you most scared about in 1st grade?  Nothing really.

What do you want to be when you are older?  Engineer

What is your favorite color?  Red

Who are you most excited to see today?  Chase

What is your favorite thing to eat for school lunch?  Chips and salsa. Well, it's like a chili with chips, but we call it chips and salsa.



I love that Brennan said he is most excited about rocket math because that is seriously what he is most excited about!  I'm not kidding! He's been talking about how excited he is about that since the last part of Kindergarten!  Ha ha, silly kid!  He cracks me up!  The other thing he told me that he is so excited about?  "Mom!  This year we get to sit in desks instead of tables!!!"  I love that he is excited about those little things because those were the things I was excited about, too!  In 3rd grade we had desks that opened on the top instead of having a cubby under the seat - talk about cool!  I was so stoked for those darn things!!!  That was the only class in our elementary school that had those so it was a big deal!



Aiden's answers:

What are you most excited about for 4th grade?  Everybody's in one class.  (not broken up in 2 like years past)

What are you most scared about in 4th grade?  Nothing.

What do you want to be when you are older?  A football player!

What is your favorite color?  Green

Who are you most excited to see today?  Conner

What is your favorite thing to eat for school lunch?  Pizza!

All Aiden says is that he's excited to see his friends.  He doesn't know much about the teacher's he's yet to have since he's the oldest kid in our family so each year is a big surprise to him.  And to me, too.  It's nice having a little heads up on what Brennan will be doing and bringing home since we've done that already.  I already know he'll be having a lot of reading and journaling homework this year, but luckily Bren likes to read and write so I think he'll handle it just fine.  Aiden, though, who knows what this year will bring in the homework department.  He'll handle his just fine, too, but this will possibly be the first year of real homework so that will be knew for both of us.  Time will tell!  There's something so exciting about all of that!

This morning the boys were up bright and early.  The first day is always so exciting!  I was in the bathroom putting my makeup up when they popped their heads around the corner with big smiles on their faces, all dressed and ready to go! That was 6:45, ha ha!  They hurried up and ate their breakfast, brushed their teeth, then had an hour to sit and wait.  About 15 minutes later Bren tells me his tummy hurts.  Darn nerves!  They didn't last long, though!  There was a lot of playing with Tate, I think they were both worried about leaving him and not getting to play with him all day long.  Sweet boys.


We got to school just after 8:00 and walked Brennan to his classroom first.  I took the obligatory 'desk' picture, then the boys looked at the job wall to see what Brennan would be doing first.  He got 'paper passer' which he is very excited about!



Then we all walked down to Aiden's room.  That was a long walk! He's clear at the opposite end of the building!  We walked in at the same time as his teacher, Mrs. Draisey.  She is very sweet, I already like her a lot.  I told Aiden to find his desk so I could take his picture, then gave him a little pep talk/talking to (mind your manners, don't talk to your neighbor while doing work, have fun, be good, etc).  He got a quick hug so I didn't embarrass him, then quickly left the room. Guys - he's in a big kid room this year!  It's not cutesy little kid stuff anymore.  It's learning, get down to business kind of stuff.  That got to me more than anything else. That's what I called Andy crying about.  Sniff sniff, he's a big kid now. :(


And now it's just me and Tate at home.  I'm happy to get to spend so much time with him again.  Since getting home from taking the boys to school I have been enjoying listening to his motor sounds he makes when playing with his tractors.  We've snuggled on the couch (for about 10 seconds) and then he was off to play again.  I'm glad I get my little buddy all to myself again and I'm glad the big boys get to be with their buddies again, learning all kinds of new things.  School is so good for them, I'm lucky that they boy enjoy it.

Here's to a happy, fun, learning filled school year!

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Randomness


It's been awhile since I've scared readers away with one of my random posts.  Thought I'd work one up for you today. :)

First off - Bachelor in Paradise.  I haven't watched a full season before because, until this year, I didn't have DVR so I could record the shows.  They are way too grown up for my boys to be watching so I just sat those seasons out.  Not this one though!  And OH MY!  Is this season bizarre!  I love it!!!  It's craziness like no other, totally makes me laugh!  Except when Joe, the scumbag, is on. He is just disgusting to me.  Not just the way he acts -- have you seen the way he kisses??  It's like it's his last meal and he's going to devour it!  Ew!!!  Less attacking of the other girl's mouth, please.

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Today is our last day of summer vacation.  I'm having bittersweet feelings about it.  That part's nothing new.  What is new is the reason why I'm feeling that way.  This has been one of the most trying summers for me.  I am going to chalk half of it up to pregnancy hormones.  The other half, though, is I forgot one important thing.  I read this somewhere once and whoever said it was so smart (and I have not been).  "Remember, it's their day, too."  I have been extremely selfish all summer and have not remembered this at all.  Those two older boys have heard my yelling voice more than my fun, loving one.  And I'm so sorry for that.  Always "quiet down! Tate's sleeping!"  Or, "stop running in the house!"  "No more wrestling!"  "Stop fighting!"  Seriously, *I'm* sick of me!  They are probably dying to get back to school just to get away from me.  I feel so sad about all of it.  There have been a few fun times for them, times that were just for them, but mostly I forgot that it was their summer vacation, not mine, and I should have tried harder and been less mean and hormonal.

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Can I just say, the best song out this year HAS to be 'Wrecking Ball' by Eric Church.  Holy moly, whew!  That song does it for me!  Eric Church can hit me with his wrecking ball any time he wants! Hey, Eric - let's knock some 'pitchers' off the wall!  Ha ha!  (Yes, I've told that to Andy, he knows. :) )

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Have you heard about that poor meteorologist from Pennsylvania who is pregnant with twin girls? She has been getting deluged with hate mail and nasty grams because she is pregnant and on TV. Who the hell are these people???  I cannot understand how anyone can be so mean as to say such awful things to someone who is growing a little baby (or 2, in this case) inside of them!  That she "looks like a sausage in casing" is just so wrong to say.  Why?  People, stop!!!  What would your mom, dad, grandparent, child say if they knew you spoke to people like that?  The anonymity of the internet is not a good thing these days.  I am raising my boys to be kind to others and understanding of their differences.  I think there are so many other mother's trying to do the same thing, so I just can't understand how there are so many people out there willing to blatantly hurt some stranger's feelings.  Why is it your duty to try and humiliate them?  Like she isn't having some of these same thoughts about herself anyway?  It's part of pregnancy, looking in the mirror and thinking bad thoughts about how you look.  Not just with that belly, but with everything - your hair, your face, how your ankles look, how big your thighs seem to have gotten, and on and on and on.  The last thing someone needs is that outsider telling them they think you look horrible, like a 'sausage in casing'. Erg!  Stop the madness (and meanness), people!!!

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You guys, I cannot get enough of this awesome weather we are having!  Low 70's, no humidity, a nice cool breeze blowing in the windows.  Last night we had a low temp in the low 50's - talk about awesome sleeping weather!  I only wish it was here to stay.  Sounds like this weekend we'll be back in the 80's again.  Not complaining, just ready for Fall.  I keep telling myself 'it's still August' because I keep forgetting that fact. 6 days left in the month, then it's unofficially officially Fall. :)  Hey, if I was that pretty pregnant meteorologist I'd be able to say it was Fall September 1st, right?!?  They go by months, not dates, to set the starts and ends of seasons. So, September 1st will be Fall by their standards.  A-ok with me!

Hope I didn't lose too many of you!  Be back tomorrow with a First Day of School post!  It'll be posted a little later so I can take their pictures outside and take them to their classrooms.  See you then!



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Weekend Rewind




Hey, hey!  How was everyone's weekend?  We had a fairly quiet one, which is something rare for us as of late.

Friday late afternoon we made a run to Menards to grab the outlets, switches and cover plates for the bedrooms in the basement.  We hit up everyone's favorite store, WalMart (gag), for a couple of supplies then made our way uptown where the college students were back after moving in all last week.  We love going down there to see the hustle and bustle.  It always makes me a little sad for the Freshmen and their parents - I'm sure the Freshmen are excited to be there but they have to have a little bit of homesickness kicking in. And you know the parents are back home worrying and wondering what their kids are up to, hoping and praying they don't get into any trouble of any kind.  I already know I'll be a nervous wreck when we leave our kids at college.

We came back home and hung out here for the night.  The garden was a mess so we dug and pulled the giant horse weeds that had taken over.  The boys picked all of the Roma tomatoes that were on the vine and we pulled that plant because it was all done. Tate sat in the dirt and played.

Saturday morning we hit the ground running.  First up, we went outside and sprayed weed and grass killer on the dirt patch where we dug the windows for the basement.  The weeds really took off in that dirt patch so we had to kill them before we can seed with grass in about a month.  While Andy did that the boys and I trimmed the raspberry canes that were growing through the fence into the neighbor's yard.  Those things are super pokie and aren't any fun to mow by, so we snipped those back.  Once Andy was done spraying we loaded the truck with those canes and the horse weeds from the night before and hauled them to the dump. We are very lucky to have a place just outside of town where we can haul and dump our yard waste.

After that we came back to the house to work in the basement.  While Andy put in all the outlets, switches and plates the boys and I worked on washing everything down in the main room. The dust was super thick from all of the cuts Andy made down there on the 2x4's.  We were lucky that the drywall dust was kept to a minimum since we used the low dust variety.

Andy got the suspended ceiling hung in Aiden's room.  About 2/3 of his room's ceiling is drywall, but we need the rest to have suspended ceiling so we would have access to the pipes running through there if necessary.  While he worked on that I painted the bathroom.  We are hanging beadboard on the bottom section so it was pretty quick since I only had to paint halfway down the wall.  Plus there isn't a ceiling in there because we'll be hanging a suspended ceiling in their, too, so nothing to trim around except the shower.  It was a fast paint job!

After that we got showered and dressed to go to a surprise 40th birthday party for a sweet friend of ours.  It was a fun party, held on the back patio of a local restaurant.  Angie was very surprised - I think she knew something was going on but not to the extent that her husband pulled off.  There were about 50 of us there!  It was a gorgeous night to be sitting outside, too, so that made it an even better night out!  The boys stayed with Andy's folks for a couple hours while we went to celebrate.

After we got home we put the boys to bed, then went back to the basement to finish the ceiling in Aiden's room and to put a second coat of paint on the bathroom walls.  We were ready for bed that night!

Sunday morning we got up and got right to it.  I made a batch of waffles for breakfast, we got that mess cleaned up, then it was time to hit the basement.  We messed around in the basement for a bit then headed out for some errands.  We ran out to my parent's house to drop a couple things off, chatted with them for a few minutes, then headed to town for a quick errand.  After that we dropped a box off at my sister's for her to use to pack for their big move next month, then headed back home.  After a quick lunch of tacos we started in on the basement again.

By days end we had cut and rehung the doors in the boys' rooms, cut and hung the storage room door, sanded and painted the trim, installed the knobs on the doors, cleaned up the bathroom and removed the plastic that was covering it when the drywall was being finished and started the finishing trim for the windows.  A little fun was thrown in there, too. :)


To finish the day off we enjoyed our first 'fall' batch of chili!  Sunday was a nice, cool, Fall-like day! Temps in the low 70's, a cool breeze - it was perfection!  Glad I had that trim to paint in the garage so I could be outside enjoying some of it.  There was a breeze blowing through the house all day, keeping it cool.  Couldn't ask for a better day in late August!

Coming up this week: the boy's FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!  They also have their first football game that night.  It's going to be an exciting week for the boys!  I can't believe we made it to the end of summer, I was questioning whether I'd survive a few times!  I'll be bringing you the back to school post later this week!

Please link up your weekend rewind post!






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Baby Girl - Week 26


Another week, another update. :)


How far along: 26w4d

Total weight gain: 16lbs!!!  But my doctor saw that and was all a-ok about it, so I guess I am too.

Maternity clothes: I'm irritated with my Pink Blush Maternity shirts.  I bought 5 of them at the beginning of my pregnancy - 2 tank tops, 1 short sleeve, 2 3/4 sleeve - and the 3 I've been wearing this summer are starting to pill.  I thought they'd be better quality than this!  I don't dry them, they all get dried on my drying rack.  Not super happy about it.  Word of warning to all you out there buying new maternity clothes. 

Sleep: It's been pretty darn good as of late.  I have a nasty cold, my first of the summer so not going to complain too loudly, and that has messed with my sleep, but otherwise I'm doing good with it.

Best moment of this week: My baby appointment.  I just love my dr., she's so great and we get along so well.  She makes me feel super at ease and when I told her I have major anxiety about losing this baby she totally got it and reassured me.  Love her!  My other 'best moment of the week' was receiving a gift in the mail from my sweet friend.  She just had a baby girl and while bow shopping snagged some for me, too.  She even got us Hawkeye Black and Gold headbands!  That's a big deal considering she's a State fan!  Thanks again, Des!

Miss anything: Being able to breath. It's not pregnancy related, just cold related, but it totally stinks and I want it back!

Movement: YES!  During the night when I was awake most of it due to my cold Baby Girl was quite active.  The boys have all been very active at night while I sleep, too.  (I know this because Andy has told me.)  That night in particular she was doing a lot of rolling and stretching and pushing.  Not so much kicking, although she does lots of that too!  And the other night I was poking at her as she was moving around, I think I felt a foot, and so I had Andy feel her.  He pushed in and about 3 seconds later she kicked him back!  So fun!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Riding in the truck.  It's a tad bouncy and every time we get it in for a Menards run I feel icky.  Once we get to the store and stop moving as much I get better.  That stinks.

Gender: GIRL GIRL GIRL!!!    

Labor signs: No Braxton Hicks that I noticed this week.  At my appointment we talked about when my Dr. would be on call in November and about possible dates for induction if I have gestational diabetes again.  It was kind of fun to discuss dates already!  She said that sometime between 32 and 36 weeks I'd have another ultrasound to check on baby and her size and we could nail things down more then.  The good news is the other Dr. will be gone from November 16th on so I shouldn't have any problems not getting my Dr. for delivery.  Yay! Such a load off this mind!

Happy or moody most of the time: I've been happy this week.  Between getting the boys moved down to the basement, the trips to the Fair and Kinnick, and being with friends a couple different times, it's been a really great week.  

Looking forward to: Completely getting the boys moved out of their room so I can start painting it for Baby Girl!

Symptoms/Side effects: Just growing.  I keep getting bigger, obviously.  

Name:  Still not settled on one.  After hearing about how meaningful Jenna Bush Hagar's daughter's name is I am on a crusade to find something that is meaningful to us, too.  It won't be Poppy, I promise, but hopefully something special will show it's face.  


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Iowa State Fair 2015


The State Fair is something I look forward to all year long.  It's a tradition we started in our family when it was just me and Andy, and now it's something the boys look forward to, too.

About a week prior to the fair I started paying attention to the weather. We always go the first Friday, part of the tradition.  Initially it was forecasted to be 82 degrees.  Totally doable.  A couple days later, 84 degrees.  Ok, warm but I could still hack it. The next day they added in humidity.  Oh no.  And the day before we were to go it was forecasted to be near 90 with humidity and sunshine.  Deadly.  I started dreading going to the fair.

Friday morning we woke up bright up and early. Well, not as early as I had planned because Andy shut the alarm clock off on me!  We still were able to get out of the house by 7:00 a.m., which put us at the fairgrounds right before 9 when it opened.  We got rock star parking and made our way into the fairgrounds after loading everyone up with sunscreen.

Our first stop, every.single.year, is the poultry barn right inside the east gate of the grounds.  You might have heard a few months back how Iowa was having a bird flu epidemic.  Thousands of turkeys and chickens had to be put down because of this disease.  To help stop the spread of the disease they cancelled all bird shows in all 99 counties across the state, which included the Great Iowa State Fair.  Needless to say the barn was empty.  Except for the main reason we stop there first every year -- the bathroom!  Ha ha! Been using that bathroom since I went with my parents as a kid! :)

As we started walking down Main Street ISF we commented on how nice the weather was.  I knew that was going to be short lived.

First up, the big boys and Andy took a cruise on Ye Old Mill.  It's a tradition!  Tate and I sat it out.


After that we walked over to the live animal birthing barn.  I can't tell you any stats, but over the course of the fair there are baby cows, goats, sheep and pigs born in this air conditioned, state of the art barn.  They also have bucket bottle calves to pet.  All other years they've had ducks, chickens and ostriches there, too.  If you aren't one of the lucky few to be there to actually witness the births, no problem! They record them and play them over and over on the 10 or so TV's they have hanging throughout the barn. :)  Probably not the smartest thing for an almost 7 month pregnant woman to watch.  You know, sort of a preview of what's to come in a couple shorts months.  Gulp!


Tate was such a brave boy, he pet a bottle calf!


Next up, Little Hands on the Farm.  It's a super popular area for families with kids ages 2-10.  We might have cheated and let our little 18month old go through, too.  But come on, look how cute he was in his little apron!!!


As you go through the 'farm' the kids pretend plant and harvest vegetables, milk a cow, grow corn to feed their chickens, harvest eggs, drive a pedal tractor, shear their sheep and a few other things.  It's super fun and teaches the kids some of the basics of where their food comes from, how things work on a farm.  The line was SOOO long, and slow moving, so we bailed after the second activity.  #parentfail  But Tate had a great time playing in the dirt, 'planting' his seed.


We moved on from the farm to see what else the fair had to offer us.  The ISF is a huge draw for politician, particularly Presidential ones.  Look who we found!


Rick Santorum!

So he probably won't even get the Republican nomination (and he's not The Donald), but it's neat to see someone so close to you that has the potential to be President! And who knows, maybe someone will add him to their ticket as their running mate!

We went in to the building with the 'sellers' trying to get to you buy this, that and the other.  Some miracle machine or whatever.  It also holds the fire and police department areas.  The boys all had fun driving the 'fire truck'.  And then Tate stood in front of the talking dalmatian fire dog, wondering what in the heck it was and why it was talking to him.  Ha ha!




Tate also liked the dalmatian dog statue, kept petting it like it was real.  Cutie. :)


As we were walking out of this building I saw a celebrity -- Chuck Todd from NBC news and Meet The Press!!!  He walked by us, and just as he was going by it dawned on me who he was.  I turned to Andy to say "That was CHUCK TODD!" when he recognized him at the same time.  I may have maybe screamed just a little bit.  Ok, I lied.  I full on screached "CHUCK TODD!!! CHUCK TODD!!!"  Ha ha, not my coolest moment but holy smokes was I excited!  Not quite as good as seeing Matt Lauer in person, but still, exciting!!!  Now if I could have seen Kelly O'Donnell from NBC! :)  Chuck wasn't super friendly, he didn't smile at me or even acknowledge I was screaming at him, he just kept chatting on his phone.  But I did snap this picture!


After this it was HOT outside.  We checked out the DNR building, with all of the fish aquariums and various hunting things.


We walked out of here to check out the old car show, my favorite part about going on Friday, but it was so stinking hot already, the sun was beating down and Baby and I just couldn't handle it, so I didn't get a single picture of a car and we didn't look at all of them because I just needed some shade.

We walked into the Varied Industries Building, which is the big air conditioned building where all of the booths are set up with various groups, businesses and colleges in it.  Since having the kids, thus having a stroller, we only hit up two booths - the PBS booth and the University of Iowa booth.  It's just too nuts in there to see anything and try to navigate with a stroller.  We picked up some coloring sheets and crayons at the PBS booth, and some Hawkeye football posters and tattoos at the U of I booth.  


This is our second bathroom stop of the day, then we usually head out the backdoor to play on the John Deere tractors and equipment.  We bi-passed the JD stuff and headed straight for lunch at the Cattleman's booth. Again, too hot to mess with all that.  For lunch the boys each got a cheeseburger, Andy got a bacon double cheeseburger and I got (surprise, surprise) a Hot Beef Sundae.  This is the only picture I took of it, and it was soooo delicious once again!


We headed into the air conditioned horse arena where all the girls were riding and warming up their horses.  It was a nice chance to sit and cool down and relax for a bit after stuffing ourselves.  From there we headed over to the 4-H building to see all the cool projects the 4-Her's had made and submitted.  Then my bump started aching.  I had been walking and holding it up all morning but that 20 minutes of sitting in the horse building had relaxed me just enough that I could feel all the stretching and pulling on my belly.  It was horrible.  So the rest of the day kind of stunk.  I stopped taking pictures and we buzzed through the rest of the buildings we normally go through at break neck speed.  We saw the big ram and big boar, briefly, then stopped to say hello to the big bull.  He was laying down when we got there but then decided it was a good time to stand up, so that was fun to see that big ol guy figure out how to get himself upright.


We then went over and hit up the Big Slide.  Tate and I stood at the bottom and watched - it was HOT!  I did manage to get a couple of pictures of the other 3 going down, they did it twice and had so much fun!


From there we hit up the Agriculture Building to see the butter cow.  This year's display also included Mr. Moneybags and the Monopoly Board.




We can't go to the fair without Andy and the big boys riding the sky lift.  They rode to the top of the hill but Tater and I huffed and puffed up it.  Pushing a stroller with a 30 pound toddler and a basket full of 'goodies' is hard work!  Add the baby in belly and holy cow, was that a workout in the heat!  We found a patch of shade to sit in while we waited for the riders.

At this point we'd all had it and were done.  We made the trek back to the car and loaded ourselves to head out.  I snapped a picture of the clock in the car to document how early we were leaving this year.


I'm bummed it was so hot and miserable for me.  I popped 2 Tylenol for my headache and cranked the AC the whole way home.  We  made it home about 4:00 and I headed straight for the couch and a nap.  That 15 minutes of sleep felt so good.  I'm hoping next year the weather is cooler (and less sunny) so we can really enjoy the fair again.


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Weekend Rewind


Here we are, another week!  Man, August is flying by!  I'm excited, seemed like July was slow as molasses.  I hate wishing time away but I'm ready to move on from this summer and start the next phase.  Up for this week: Aiden is staying the night with my folk's tonight - meeting my mom in town at 9:30 this morning and won't get him until tomorrow afternoon about 4:30.  Tuesday is a baby check up, and that night Tate gets Papa and Grandma Jean time while the rest of us go to a friend's house for a fantasy football draft.  Wednesday, Mom, the boys and I are heading to the quilt shops to pick out material for blankets for Baby Girl.  That just leaves us with Thursday and Friday to fill!

Now for my weekend rewind.

Our weekend started on Friday with the one, the only, Iowa State Fair. I'll have a full post update on that tomorrow but for now here's a quick pic from the day.


Never thought I'd see Aiden as a buxom blonde! ;)

Saturday was HOT, so why not go to Kid's Day at Kinnick?  The Hawkeyes put on this fun morning for the kids and end it with watching the players practice and scrimmage.  We went solely for the autograph session and the practice -- the kids don't even know they have bounce houses and other fun activities.  We arrived as the gates to the stadium opened, at 11.  We hung around outside for a bit hoping to see the players make their way into the stadium from their practice facility but I was too impatient so we headed in about 11:15.  We found seats about halfway down to the field, got me and Tate settled in, then Andy and the big boys went down to the front row to wait for the players to come out to autograph their items.  Aiden took a book that was given to him at one of his baby showers over NINE YEARS AGO!  We had it autographed when he was 1 but haven't made it back for kids day since.  And Brennan took a mini helmet that was Andy's uncle's (he passed away last month and the family was nice enough to let the kids have a heyday going through his Hawkeye memorabilia).







As we waited for the players to come out I started noticing Tate's nose was running, then he was sneezing, then his eyes started to water -- all in a matter of 5 minutes.  Poor bubby, he looked miserable!  It was hotter than blue blazes, 90 degrees +, and high humidity.  I kept shoving his ba of water in his face, he'd take a tiny sip but it wasn't helping at all.  After about 30 minutes Andy and the boys came back up so Tate and I left to go up to the concourse where is was shaded and cool(er).  I think his teeth are giving him a tough time, thus the cold symptoms.



We tried to be as patient as possible but after about 20 minutes of that I finally texted Andy and begged him to come.  We left and went to one of our favorite pizza places that is close to the stadium, and more importantly, AIR CONDITIONED!  Ha ha!  The Flying Tomato pizza and Bruschetta was top notch, totally hit the spot!

A quick trip to Menards and we were heading home.  Tate fell asleep before we pulled out of the parking lot from lunch so he and I stayed in the truck while the boys went in for supplies.

We booked it home just to clean the house like mad and prepare food because we were having some of our sweet friends over for supper.  They arrived a little after 5:30 and we ate at 6.  Becca brought chicken lips dip (ah-mazing!), Little Smokies, and a taco dip.  I made cheesey hamburger dip, meatballs in BBQ sauce, bacon wrapped chicken bites, peanut butter pie and smores bars.  Yea, we had plenty of food for their crew of 5 and our crew of 5.  Jake and Becca's boys are super cute, fun kids ranging from a 1st grader down to a 2 year old.  All of our boys played together really well and had a fun night!  Andy and I enjoy spending time with Jake and Becca so it was a great night for all of us!

Sunday was another super hot day but luckily we had to be inside. Andy filled the holes in the baseboards and trim, and after that dried I painted a final coat on all of it, plus painted 2 coats on side of the doors and 1 coat on the other. I'll finish those up today. The carpet comes tomorrow (yippee yiy yay!!) so we had a deadline we had to hit.  We ended up missing my family reunion picnic at noon but it was going to be so dang hot anyway that I think I would have been pretty miserable. Spending the 2 days prior in the heat, I had had it.

To end the day we moved the boys' mattresses to the basement.  We thought it'd be fun to let them sleep down there in the main room until their carpet comes tomorrow.  They were so darn excited! First I had them fold up their blankets to haul down there - look how good of a job they did!



Then we hauled down their mattresses.  I helped with Brennan's but then Aiden said he could carry one so he helped with his own.  Strong muscles!



Then Andy gave them "The Talk".  That consisted of breaking down all the weird and different noises they'll hear down there from now on.  Totally cracked me up but such a good idea otherwise they'd have run upstairs every 5 minutes asking what that noise way.  Look at those serious faces, ha ha!


Then it was time to say goodnight.  They snuzzled down, all excited.  We came upstairs to do dishes, then the bittersweet feelings hit.  It was weird to know they were 'down there' and we were 'up here'.  Hard to let them grow up.  And then I panicked because we hadn't gone over how to get out of the windows in case of a fire again.  The last time we talked about it was when the windows went in, clear back in April!  So Andy went down for a quick tutorial.  When he came back he said the nerves and fears were kicking in.  Brennan's eyes were big as saucers he said, ha ha! Poor boy!  Brennan asked, "Dad, what if a deer came in here?"  What?!?  Ha ha, silly boy! So Andy had to reassure him there are no deer in our town, there isn't any timber around it so the deer don't like it here.  I'm sure he was worried about a million other things but that was the one he verbalized. We're guessing he'll be sleeping in his sleeping bag upstairs tonight when Aiden's gone to Papa and Grandma Jean's.  :)

That was our weekend, let's hear all about yours!

Have a great week and don't forget to link up!






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