She's Here!!

Grace Esther joined our family at 4:04 pm on October 17th!!  She weighed 6 lbs 6.8 oz and was 19.25 inches long.  We think she looks just like Kyler. :)

All clean!

Hello world :)

Getting weighed

Snuggling with mom :)

Meeting Kyler and Norah

Big Sister :)

Big Brother :)

Aunt Leah!

Family of 5 :)

First bath at the hospital

All snuggled in :)

Grace's birth story to follow :)

September and October

After we got back from Minnesota at the beginning of September, I didn't really get out the camera for the rest of the month. :)  We got back in a routine with Kyler at preschool three mornings a week, and enjoyed lots of time outside when it was nice.  If Kyler wasn't at preschool, the kids would be outside in the morning and then again after lunch before they took a nap, and then again before and after dinner.  There were some days we hardly played inside, which was great.  Both kids spent tons of time in the sandbox and playing in the yard.  Kyler loved playing baseball this summer, and would prefer if you pitch to him instead of hitting it off the tee, and he got really good at hitting the ball.  Towards the end of the summer, he also mastered the art of throwing up the ball in the air to himself and then hitting it.  He also became quite good at this and often hit it over the fence into the neighbor's yard.  Norah spent lots of time in the swings.  She would ride in the swing all day long if you let her.  She loved to be pushed in the blue "toddler" swing, as well as the two-person red swing that her and Kyler sit in facing each other.  Both kids also loved our garden this summer.  We grew tomatoes and peppers.  We planted melons and cucumbers as well; the melons came up but never grew anything.  We had tons of tomatoes and the kids loved to help pick them and watch them to see if they were ready. :)  Here are a couple pictures we took at the beginning of October one evening outside.  Kyler found a worm and so he wanted me to take a picture of it :).

The worm :)

Kyler, almost 4 1/2

Miss Norah, 2 1/2

Cheeeeese :)

36 Weeks!

September 29th, here we are at 36 weeks!  Can't believe we are already this far along! :)

I've been feeling pretty good for the most part, just some of the normal "uncomfortableness" that is normal being this far along.  Our little lady will be here before we know it!

First Day of Preschool

Kyler had his first day of preschool (his 2nd year) on the Wednesday after we got back from Minnesota.  Preschool had really started the week before, but since we were gone, he missed the first 3 days.  Kyler is going to preschool on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings.  He has the same teachers that he did last year, so I think it will be an easy beginning for him.  He really struggled with going to preschool for the first month or so last year, but since everything is familiar to him, I think this year will be better.  A few days after Kyler started preschool, one of his teachers told me that, "it was like he never left!" because he came right in and knew just what to do. :)

Kyler-We hope you have a great 2nd year of preschool and can't wait to see and hear about all the fun things you will do and learn!

Labor Day at the Lake 2013

We headed back up to Minnesota to my parent's cabin the week before Labor Day weekend.  The Reisetter family was able to join us for the week, and then head home on Friday; while my parents weren't coming until Thursday night for the Labor Day weekend.  We left on Sunday, the 25th as soon as Erik was done at church.  We only stopped once, and were able to make it to the cabin by about 8:30 in the evening.  Reisetters weren't there quite yet, so we were able to get a few things settled before they arrived.  As soon as they got there, the first thing Jentry said when she walked in the door was, "We are going to have a slumber party" with this dead serious look on her face, I just started laughing and replied, "yes, yes, we are!". :)

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were beautiful days.  It was hot and humid, so we spent lots of time at the beach digging and playing in the water.  The kids enjoyed taking the paddle boat out for a spin, as well as the kayaks.  Tuesday we even got the big boat out, as Mason wanted to go for a tube ride.  The other four kids decided that riding the tube behind the fishing boat was enough for them. :)  Wednesday the Dads got brave and took 4 of the 5 kids in the canoe and kayaks down the channel.  It was so nice to just hang out, relax, and do whatever we wanted while enjoying time with each other's families.  Here are some pictures from the beginning of the week:

Monday:

Mason, Jentry, and Norah playing in the sand

Norah and Mason on the tube :)

All five kids paddling out to sea :) (We joked about the fact that next year we'll have two more to fit on there!) :)

Taking a paddle boat ride

Monday was Erik's birthday....posing with his cake :)

Happy Birthday Erik!

Tuesday:

Good Morning everyone!

Kyler ready for the beach!

Norah and Mason digging away

Mason riding the tube

Wednesday:

Kyler and Norah ready to ride the canoe :)

Ready to go...

The whole gang :)

Kyler and Mason in a water fight :)

Thursday it was supposed to cool off so we decided that it would be the day to head over to Itasca State Park where the headwaters of the Mississippi are located.  We got up and got ready to go after breakfast.  We all got in our vans and headed off.  About five minutes into the drive, it just started down pouring, Erik said to me, "I can't hardly even see the road!", because it was raining so hard, but we kept going. :)  After a few minutes the rain started to let up a bit and actually stopped for a little while on our way there.  We arrived and the rain had started coming down again, so we made a stop in the gift ship for about 10 or 15 min.  Soon the rain stopped and we could see the sun starting to come out, so we went down to check out the headwaters of the Mississippi.  After the headwaters, we loaded up and drove to the other part of the park to have some malts at the grand lodge before heading back to the cabin.  Here are some pictures from the headwaters of the Mississippi.

Norah in the Mississippi for the first time!

In the Mississippi :)

All the kids

The Reisetters

Our family

The two preggos :)

Shakes at the lodge :)

After we had our shakes, we headed back to the cabin for lunch and naps.  After naps we got ready to head into town for pizza at one of the local places there.  When we were done with dinner, we headed back to the cabin to re-arrange things, as my parents were arriving later that evening.  We enjoyed one last night together as the Reisetters would be heading out the next morning. 

Friday morning we got up and got breakfast and then the Reisetters got ready to head home.  Here's is one last picture of our time with them!

We had so much fun spending the week together.  We didn't have a lot planned, but we enjoy it that way! :)  It had been two years since we had done this, and it was fun to see how the kids had grown and changed since the last time.  Hard to believe next year there will be two more kiddos to add to the mix!  :)

After Reisetters left we enjoyed some time playing on the beach and hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa.  The kids had been asking to go fishing, so Friday evening Grandpa and Daddy took Kyler and Norah out in the boat to fish. :)

Getting ready to go!

Heading out!

Saturday and Sunday were spent hanging out and doing some odd jobs around the cabin.  It cooled off a lot, and even rained a bit on Saturday, so we got creative and did some things inside.  Sunday we started getting ready to pack up some things since we had to help close down the cabin on Monday before my parents headed home.  Monday we enjoyed out annual Labor Day breakfast at the pot over at the neighbors, just like we do for the 4th of July, and then it was time to get to work!  Erik helped my  parents take the boat out of the lake and into town, take the fishing boat out of the water, and take the dock out of the lake.  They also packed up some of the outside furniture and deflated all the tubes.  Late afternoon, mom and dad headed for home since they had to work on Tuesday.  We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon, a pizza, and a fire with s'mores for our last night at the lake for the summer.  Here are a couple pictures from our final evening. :)

Making s'mores :)

Enjoying their treat!

Hard to leave this!

Tuesday morning we packed up and headed for home.  It's always sad to leave Labor Day weekend knowing we won't be back till next summer!  

Iowa State Fair 2013

We took our annual trip to the Iowa State Fair on the Thursday of the fair this year.  We got up and left shortly after 9:00 to head down to Des Moines.  We were a little worried we were going to be spending the day in the rain when we left, but it held off and went south and turned out to be a really nice day!  When we arrived at the fair it was time for lunch so we made our annual stop at the Iowa Pork Tent, which is always so yummy!

Daddy and Norah eating lunch

Norah enjoying her applesauce :)

Kyler at lunch :)

After lunch we headed over to the birthing center to check out all of the baby animals.  This is one of my favorite things to do because all of the baby animals are there together.

Checking out the baby ducks

A calf

Some baby sheep

Kyler and Norah by a momma cow

After the birthing center, we went to the "Little Hands on The Farm" exhibit.  This is also one of my favorite things to do as the kids get to get out, walk around and see where our food comes from!  It's so fun for them to get to do something instead of just look at everything. :)

All ready to go with their aprons!

Norah planting her seeds

Kyler picking an apple

Norah gathering eggs

Kyler driving his tractor

Norah on her tractor :)

Kyler milking the cow

Showing me his money :)

Norah with her money :)

After the little hands on the farm, we headed over to see some of the animals.  We went through the cow barn first to see the big bull, then through the horse barn, sheep barn, pig barn to see the big boar, and then the avenue of the breeds.  

Checking out the cows

the BIG BULL :)

The horses

The sheep :)

A pig :)

The BIG BOAR

After the animal barns we headed over to the Varied Industries Building to see if we could get the kids-or at least Norah-to take a little nap. :)  Well that obviously didn't happen, but we did stroll through all the booths and Kyler obtained a few tattoos on his arms. :)  After the Varied Industries Building, we went to check out the butter cow in the Ag Building.  Here are is a picture from this year's butter cow.

Abe Lincoln out of butter was the other sculpture this year

The cow!  It was all cleaned up from being vandalized earlier in the week.

Next, we headed over to the DNR building to see the fish and the swans.  We then tried to stroll around a little longer to get Norah to go to sleep, but no such luck. :)  After a while we just gave up and headed to the 4H building to see all of the different things that kids had made.  We then decided to go to the open arena because they were showing Angus Cows.  This was really cool to watch and we were able to get right up close to the fence where they were prepping the cows to show.  At one point Norah was standing right next to the fence and a cow came over and then moooooed really loud next to her, and she jumped back and scrambled as fast as she could back to the stroller which was about 3 feet behind her. :)  

The different cows that were being shown.

We always have a fun time at the fair.  Norah kept asking to see more animals, I think she could have looked at those all day. :)  It was so nice it wasn't too hot this year either, I'm sure we will be back next year!