New Room

It was a bittersweet day at the Weldon household. The room that has been the nursery for almost 9 years started the conversion to a bedroom for a big boy. My brother and his wife are expecting their first baby in November so I offered up our crib and dresser/changing table. I figured it was about time to move Patrick out of the crib. So Grandma planned a trip out here to deliver some beer for a contest and to bring back the furniture. It only took an afternoon to take apart the crib and load it and the dresser into her car. 

Right now Patrick is sleeping on the mattress on the floor (poor kid). Eventually, there will be a loft bed in here for either Josh or Daniel (Josh is still deciding if he wants his own room or not). Step one of the transformation was to get the furniture to Iowa. It was a little sad giving it away but we know it's going to a good home and we hope it will give our new niece or nephew some great memories just like it did for us and all our babies. 

1st Day of School

Can you believe we have two kids in elementary school in our house? Today was the 1st day of school for our third grader and kindergartener. 

Because of his surprise visit, Dad was able to see the boys off to school. They were pretty excited.

Look how much he has changed over the years.

The whole family walked the boys to school.

Here's to a great year!

Side note: Daniel is enrolled in the afternoon kindergarten class so I made him bring his backpack when we dropped Josh off in the morning so he could take pictures too.

Happy Anniversary to Me!

With Joe in Alabama, I knew I would be spending our anniversary without him. We have only missed two in our eleven years. I think that's a pretty good record. 

After we got home (finally) from Alabama, we met Shelley and Alex for dinner out. Before we separated Shelley offered to babysit for the weekend so I could have some much needed time alone. I called up my friend and we made plans to get pedicures and go to dinner. I was super excited. 

On Saturday, I dropped the kids off at Tom and Shelley's for an overnight and headed out with my friend. It was a great evening. We got our toes done and were enjoying some nice drinks and yummy appetizers when in walks my husband! I guess he had orchestrated this whole thing. I had no idea. 

He took me out to dinner at the Melting Pot (Yum) and then surprised me even more by not taking me home and instead taking me here. 

It was a wonderful surprise. The kids were even surprised when Dad showed up to pick them up the next day. What a great anniversary present. I am such a lucky girl. Happy 11 years babe! I love you!

Monster mini-golf

As an end of the summer activity, I decided to take the boys to Monster Mini Golf. The big boys love this place and it is always where Daniel wants to go on his Mommy/Daddy date nights. I figured Patrick had been golfing and seemed to enjoy himself so after nap, we all headed out. The boys loved it! Well, most of the time. Patrick was doing a great job,

until we came across these guys....

The Frankinstien's monster and creepy tree both moved and made noises. When we got to those things and Patrick saw them moved, he didn't want to play anymore and made me carry him the rest of the way.

The other boys had a blast thought (all 20 minutes it took us to get through 18 holes).

Daniel also started putting left handed. I'm not sure what to make of this.

It was a fun way to end the summer.

Daniel's hair

Daniel and I got our hair cut in Des Moines. I really like a hair dresser there so I try and schedule her to cut my hair when I am in town. Daniel has been complaining about his hair in his eyes for a long time so I wanted her to try and cut his hair and find a style that would both keep the long, curls in the back but out of his eyes in the front (without it looking like a mullet). It didn't really work. So when we got back to Colorado, I took all three boys to get their hair cut. The other two really needed a trim so I thought I would cut Daniel's hair as well. Plus, it was getting crazy. 

This is what it looked like that morning when he woke up.

I wanted her to give him a boy cut. I figured we would cut it shorter and then let it grow out some more thinking maybe when he got older he would be able to keep it out of his eyes better. I was busy helping Patrick get his hair cut so I wasn't watching her cut Daniel's hair and this is what the end result was.....

It's all gone! Oh well. It's just hair (I have to keep reminding myself) and it will grow. It's still hard to get used to.

Burt County Fair

Last year while Joe and I were in Hawaii, Grandma and Grandpa Weldon took the boys to the Burt County Fair in Oakland, NE. They talked about it all year. So, when planning out the summer, I decided to make the drive back from Alabama work out so we could make it to the fair. 

We drove over Friday morning and made it by lunch time. It is a short (relatively speaking)  2 1/2 hour drive to Oakland from Des Moines. At one point, Josh asked how much longer and I said 45 minutes. He replied "Wow. This is a short drive." I guess when you make them drive 12 hours a few days before, 2 1/2 hours is nothing.

We made it before the official start of the fair but that meant the boys got to help out with the animals. Some of the cousins are members of 4H and had a few animals to show at the fair. The boys loved seeing the pigs and cows. Patrick would walk up and down the isles saying "so cute". 

Another thing they loved to do was play in the Kid Zone. It was a fenced in area with toys and activities for the kids. 

The big boys loved the tractor trikes....

...while the little guy enjoyed scooping up the corn.

One thing the boys kept talking about from last year was the chance to hold baby chicks and bunnies. This was the first thing they wanted to do when we got there. 

And they kept coming back every time we walked by the building. Daniel stopped holding bunnies after one of them got a good scratch on his cheek.

There was also a magic show for the kids. It was pretty good. I am still wondering how he did a lot of his tricks.

Some of the third cousins

And of course, the rides. Grandma pre-purchased tickets for everyone and the boys loved running around from ride to ride. 

One downside of the carnival was that the fun house was broken. This was the one ride the boys talked about all year. They told me all the different things that happened in the fun house and were really excited to show me. Unfortunately, it wasn't working when we went on the rides. Sorry!

All the cousins with Grandma and Grandpa. 

The boys had a great weekend. Maybe a trip in 2015 is in our future.

Fun in Iowa

After an uneventful drive (thankfully) on Tuesday, we made it back to Iowa. We had a lazy morning around the house on Wednesday. The boys enjoyed picking tomatoes out of Grandmas garden and helping her water them. I think they each ate about half a dozen tomatoes while we were there. It was their snack, lunch, and dinner. They loved them!

That afternoon we took them to a nearby park to run off some energy. It is a pretty cool park.

It had a maze the big boys loved running through.

It had two separate playgrounds for big and little kids.

And it had a splash pad. 

The boys loved sliding and climbing. 

Thursday morning Grandma took the two big boys on her daily morning walk. While on the walk, they got to go through a tunnel under the street. They both thought that was pretty neat. They also met one of Grandma's neighbors who had a bunch of magician tricks at her house and let the boys borrow some. They spent the rest of the day practicing their tricks to show Grandpa when he got home.

On Thursday afternoon we had some visitors. My sister, Becca, and her two kids had planned on coming to town for the weekend and came out a day early when they found out we would still be in town. The kids enjoyed some cousin time.

They picked more tomatoes and helped Grandma clean the corn for dinner. Even though these boys were born in Colorado, they love their Iowa sweet corn.

Friday morning we headed out to Nebraska to visit the other grandparents and cousins. But not before the boys got to see Grandpa off to work. This is usually how our mornings went.

It was a great visit and a nice stop on our way back home.