We are thankful for.....

I decided to summarize our November events with a list of things we are thankful for......

#1: We are thankful for the many many leaves that fall onto our yard because it creates lots of leaf piles to jump into, allows us to get out of the house and burn our energy, and gives daddy a reason to take us back into the woods to explore the creek!!

#2: We are very thankful for Will's new potty that has a really high shield to stop him from spraying all over the floor!!!

#3: We really aren't super thankful for daddy's long trips to San Antonio for work. However, we are thankful for the cool cowboy gear he brought home so we can play cowboy and cowgirl in the garage and ride our "horses" around and around and around.

#4: We are thankful for the 4 Thanksgiving celebrations we attended this month. It gave us lots of opportunities to work on our baking skills and for Mommy and Daddy to practice their self control when it comes to all the wonderful food! YIKES!!! Since then I've been running & running & running trying to make up for all the poor self control I have!



#5: We are thankful for our great playdates with friends and the West Des Moines community center's free open gym on Wednesdays. We love it!!

#6: We are thankful for Grandma's birthday. We got to make her a delicious chocolate cake, some wonderful bday cards, sing, and help her blow out her 28 candles, right Grandma!!

#7: We are thankful for Uncle Johnny's visit to see us! We don't get to see him very often, so we got really really hiper and crazy when he came over for a sleepover. He let the kids scream and crawl all over him!

#8: We are thankful that Nana and Papa are on the ball this year and already had their xmas tree up at Thanksgiving. The enormous tree provided a great hiding spot and lots of fun!!

#9: Finally, we are thankful for busy busy days and naptime together!

We hope everyone had a great holiday!!

Halloween Fun!!

Once again Halloween was a hit this year. Brett decided to get crafty this year and make these light up pumpkins for the front porch. The neighbors thought they were pretty cool!! If you can't tell, Kate was a spider again this year and Will was Elmo. NO I didn't persuade Kate to be a spider again to save a little money!! She really wanted to be a spider again. So I went with it.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho off for candy we go!

Smiles continued past the first street this year!! Every year they get a little older a little farther we go!!!

We also went to a family Halloween party in the neighborhood this year. Kate decided to switch things up a bit and be Abby off of Sesame Street to compliment Elmo. Oh, what a sweet big sister!!

Kate and her friend Avery had a blast together in the Jump house and running around eating nothing but sugar. As you can see, they're definitely on a sugar high for this shot!!

Will chilled out in the living room with his friend Jordyn for a lot of the night.



Brett and I decided to get a really great book on face painting and give it a try this year. I did a mascarade theme. My friend Julie was a cute ladybug.

And Brett did 1/2 skeleton 1/2 Pirate. Here he is with the "Dead Nurse" A.K.A our friend Lisa.

Another great Halloween for the record books!

Birthdays and Racing

Brett and I got to get away to celebrate our birthdays and one of our great college buddy's wedding a few weeks ago. It was so nice going on a date again and sleeping in in the morning!! Brett is struggling a bit with the BIG 3-0! But slowly is getting use to the idea. Here we are at the wedding reception having a blast!

And the architects meet again!! These boys pulled so many all nighters together during architecture school trying to meet those project deadlines. I sometimes am so amazed they got through it. They had so much fun goofing off again like they always did!

It is too bad we can't find more time to get together like we use to. Instead we all keep having babies!! We tried to plan a gathering for next summer at the Lake. Let's hope we can all keep it on our calendar. I'll cross my fingers!
After our St. Louis trip we came back to the Burg for a family birthday party. Pizza Haus pizza, cheesecake, and chocolate zuchini cake, can't get much better than that!! YUMMY!!

The following week I ran Race for a Cure with my great running buddies Lori and Shelly. Wow!! How inspiring! The race went great and I was really happy with my time! I'm really getting addicted to this running thing. Lori has done 2 marathons so she's a great trainer for me. The Des Moines 1/2 marathon is our goal for next year....... one mile at a time.

Wish me Luck!!!

Pumpkin Patch 2010

We kicked off October with our annual trip to Center Grove Orchard with Grandma and Grandpa. Every year the orchard adds new fun activities to do. This year this little train was a hit. Unfortunately there wasn't really a bar for Will to hang on to for the ride and he nearly fell off a few times. This made Brett really nervous, so we had to remove him from the dangerous situation. Poor Will!

We went out to the pumpkin patch right away in the beginning so we could get the pumpkins picked and back to the car. We had so many pumpkins between Grandma, Grandpa, Teagan, Tate, Becca and the Van Zee clan, that we had to pass on 3 different hay rack rides back to the farm because there wasn't enough room for us all! So we sat on the ground and sang lots of songs, basically making fools of ourselves to keep the kids entertained.

The corn pool is always a hit! I learned my lesson last year that corn can make its way into every little seam, pocket, and hole of each my children. So they were stripped down and shaken before dressed again and strapped in the car for the ride home.

Jumping, jumping and more jumping with Teagan.

This is the deer in the headlights look we had at the end of the day. You can't tell here, but when we got home we realized the kiddos were sunburned pretty bad on their faces. A quick little couple hr. trip actually ended up being a 5 hour full day event. The mommy award was not given to me that day as I for some reason didn't think you could get sunburned in October! The next day at preschool, Kate's teacher kept taking her temperature, thinking she had a fever because her cheeks were so red. Kate just responded with, "I feel good! My mommy just forgot to put sunscreen on me yesterday." Bless her little honest heart!!!

Kate's first day of preschool at Greenwood!

Kate started the 4 yr old preschool at Greenwood Elementary in September. We were so excited she got into this great program! Here are the other children from her Children's Garden class who also attend Greenwood in the afternoon. They were so excited to start that first day!!

We walked over to Greenwood from the Children's Garden and the first thing we had to do was find her locker. She was a little nervous because she had a hard time opening and closing it on her own. But with a few trials together, we finally got her comfortable with it. Don't you remember having those bad dreams of forgetting your locker combination in highschool!! Well, this is the preschool version of that! But we got through it.

She got the door open and hung up her backpack. Thanks Oma and Opa for the cutest preschool backpack in the whole world!! She gets lots of compliments on it and it fits her little frame just perfect!!

Right before her class started, the BIG Kindergarteners came walking by. As you can see, Kate is standing up as straight and tall as she possibly can to let those big kids know she's brave and really cool!

And we finally go in.... Here Ms. Mindy is greeting all of her class. Kate did AWESOME!! No tears, all smiles. That was the same story for me until I left the building and got into the privacy of my own car!! Then the tears flowed. Brett told me it's just a warm up for next year! 365 days to toughen up I guess!

Kate's 4th and Will's 2nd Birthday Bash!

Once again we had the kiddos family bday party on Labor Day Weekend, and once again we were blessed with great weather for the day. The Great Grandmas were able to come help us celebrate the big day!
Parties are always a great way to get a few family pics, that always seem to somewhat turn out.

Obviously the kids are sick of CHEEZ!!!!

I decided to do cookies this yr instead of cake because Kate and Will really don' t like cake. I made these, YES I MADE THESE big chocolate chip cookies. They actually turned out so well the family asked if I bought them, and then about dropped dead when they found out I made them. Then I had to let the cat out of the bag and tell the truth which was that I had to make 3 cookies. Not because I have 3 kids, but instead because I obviously can't multitask as well as I thought and left 1 of the cookies in the oven 30 minutes too long while I gave the kids a bath the night before the big day!!!! WHOOPS!!

No eyebrows on fire!! Yea!

Will loves Elmo right now, hence the Sesame Street shirt and themed party. Thanks Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Shane for the great Chicken Dance Elmo! He goes on and on and on, over and over again at out house!!

The pull string pinatas are a much safer option for little kids, although it takes quite a bit of pull to get those strings loose. I think Brett finally got the candy loose.

Will hit his head on his head board of his big boy bed the night before. Nothing like a goose egg for the big day!

Happy Birthday was sung and no one threw a fit!!! 2 years ago I was 40+ wks pregnant for Kate's 2nd bday bash. I came out with the hot pink cupcakes.....the crowd started to sing..... and the little princess turned into the little she-devil....screaming and kicking almost throwing herself off the deck as a reaction to the sudden attention!! Cupcakes toppled and Mommy was dumbfounded!! Bless her little heart!!!

Nana and Papa gave Kate and Will this stuffed black lab for their bday. This is the closest thing they will get to a real puppy and they are loving her!! Her name is Rosey Bob. Kate wanted Rosey, Will wanted Bob, hence how she received such a special name. She is our watch dog. She wears her Hawkeye Bandana and sits and looks out our front glass door all day and night.

The Stomp Rocket was the best gift ever!! Not only do the kids love it, but Brett and I find ourselves competing over who can make the rocket go the highest. As of now, I am the current champion in our house!

Happy 4 th Birthday Kate!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Will!

We Love You So Much!!!

No More Paci's!!!

I know I posted this pic on my last blog, however I just wanted to take note that this was the last day Will had his pacifier, EVER!!!! Brett and I said after our vacations this summer the paci was gone. Brett really keeps me in check with keeping the same milestones for the 2 kiddos. Example.... move to the big boy/girl bed: 21 months, drop the paci... 23 months.
So this is how we did it for both kids. Will came home on August 9th to find all of his pacifiers (that's 12 to be exact!!! Hey you always want lots of spares for those crazy nights!!) lying on top of his bed with the nipple cut in half!!!! Here he is discovering that they all "broke."

Okay, I don't know how to rotate photos and my hubby is busy studying for his board exams so we'll have to deal with it. Here Will is repeatedly stating "Paci broke...Paci broke!"

Finally, he took each paci 1 at a time and threw them away in the trash. This obviously took a while with 12 reps, however I think I've heard you have to do something 12 times to make it a habit. And it must have worked!! He cried for 30 minutes the first night after I put him in his bed. The next night.... no crying. Occasionally every once in a while he would ask "Paci?" and we'd reinforce that it broke. Eventually training led to a little brainwashing as now he tells everyone he sees " No paci, BIG BOY!!!"

Yea for Will! Next on the list..... drinking from a big boy cup at meals without spilling all over the table!!!

Annual Von Ahsen Lake Getaway!

A week after the Schaefer lake vacation we turned around and went down to Osage Beach again for the 13th annual Von Ahsen Lake getaway. It's hard to believe that I took my first vacation to that Lake the summer before my senior yr. of high school. Brett and I were just starting to date ( and I think we were the same height! ) and my kids were just a twinkle in my eye!!!
Go Carting has always been part of the big event. This year Will got to ride along. I couldn't believe the operators of the track let a 1 yr. old with a pacifier ride, but when they gave Brett the nod...... he was all about it!!

And here they are at the gate waiting for the ready set go!! Kate is in the M&M car with Papa G. You just can't see her. But if you ask her.... she was driving!

We spent a few of the days at Frankie and Louie's thanks to a great recommendation from our Yearian friends. Will loved this pirate!

Kate once again loved to fish off the dock with Daddy! She is so not my daughter in many ways. She loves to rip the worms in half and hand them to Brett to help bait the hooks! GROSS!!! But it works, she always seems to catch some fish.

This little man tried the fishing thing for about 2 minutes. His idea of fishing was shoving his pole down into the water to try and stab a fish swimming by. Then proceed to wisk the pole out sharply into the air with a hook flying and everyone else ducking!

This was Kate and Will's first experience on the beach this yr. Will loved walking into the water without a life jacket on. The poor little guy only weighs 24 lbs. and his life jacket's minimum weight is 30 lbs. Consequently it is more of a hazard than a life saving device as it topples him over into the water face down!

Of course we had to make a trip to Andy's Frozen Custard. Brett and I had many dates in college that led us to Andy's for a turtle brownie sundae! So bad for you but so worth it!

This yr's trip was a total blast! Unfortunately, we don't get to see my 2 brothers very often since they moved to Phoenix a few yrs ago, so we are so thrilled when they join us each summer. And even better, my aunt Cindy also came along. She is always such a spark plug and always has us laughing!!

Finally, I took this pic maybe 10 minutes after we pulled away for the long trip back to West Des Moines. The kids usually don't sleep very well in the car, but the vacation was so exhausting that they passed out for the first 2 hrs home! Brett and I got a little P & Q before the unpacking and jump back into reality began. Until next year......