The Littlest Biggers'

Playing Catch Up... Again!

2012-09-05T16:16:00.000-05:00

Seriously. I should be banned from Blog World. They should take away my password and never let me have another blog as long as I live. I'm not making any promises to blog more regularly until AFTER I graduate, but I will attempt to catch everyone up on our past year of fun! I'll try to go from most recent to least, but we have a year to cover, folks. This could take a while. :) Sit down and get a cup of coffee... get comfortable!

Fall 2012

Palmer & Harrison started the 2nd grade. I still can't believe how big they are. They are also playing baseball this fall on the same team as they played on this summer.

Annabelle goes to daycare full time (which she loves and I feel guilty about). I am finished with my doctoral coursework (hooray!) and am writing full time on my dissertation. I am teaching elementary science methods again and am applying for jobs.

Carter is also finished with coursework. He isn't an official TA with the marching band this year, but has filled his time with three part time jobs. He is teaching beginner band lessons to 5th and 6th graders, substitute TA'ing for a maternity leave situation, and teaching an undergraduate conducting class. He is incredibly busy, and is also sneaking time in to write his paper. We both hope to graduate in May!

Summer 2012

I worked all summer while Carter stayed home with the boys. Annabelle kept her daycare routine (hooray!) and loves going to school. She "graduated" to the big kid class this summer. This is the same class Palmer & Harrison started in when we moved to Iowa City. That was a full-circle moment for me! We love her teacher, all of the staff, and her friends. I don't have any pictures of her at school, though. Must work on that.

Palmer & Harrison played their first season of "big boy baseball" which is the pitching machine league. They were on the Astros, and their team won the Iowa City league tournament! I could write an entire blog post about their team. We have loved getting to know the other families and boys on their team. They both love baseball, and I love being a baseball mom. :)

We did get to take a trip to Lubbock to see Aunt Cecilee graduate with her Masters degree in Math. On our way, we met Uncle Jay, Julia, Mimi, & Papa in Dallas for 24 hours. Oh yeah... and Carter shaved his head. :)

Harrison & Uncle Jay goofing off in the pool

Miss Priss sitting by the pool

Mimi & Miss Priss

Harrison & Mimi

dipping her toes in Gran & Big Daddy's pool

Girls' day of pedicures!

she got in the pool completely clothed!

Potts cousins (the 2nd generation!)

Potts cousins part 2

playing on the patio at Mimi's

this girl loves a sandbox!

Nana-Boo

Aunt Cecilee's graduation!!

Whew... that's all I can handle for now. I'll have to work on this updating in chunks. :)

Eleven

2011-07-01T07:00:00.025-05:00

** This post was meant for July 1st, our anniversary. I thought I set it to post that day but it obviously didn't happen. How sad that it took me over 2 months to realize this???**

11 years ago today I married my very best friend. Here is a look back at life in the year 2000...

Clinton was president, but the closest election in American history happened in November
unemployment was 4%
a stamp cost 34 cents
Kathie Lee announced she was leaving her show with Regis
Oprah debuted "O" magazine
the cast of Friends signed a 2-year contract for $750,000 an episode. Each.
Hit movies this year included Erin Brockovich, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Gladiator
The Human Genome is deciphered
The summer Olympics were in Sydney, Australia
Elian Gonzales (the six year old cuban boy) was reunited with his family
the 4th Harry Potter book was out but none of the movies were yet
digital music broke onto the scene (wow... that one seems pretty amazing)

Our wedding was held before digital pictures were the norm (seriously), so I have spent a little time using an old-fashioned scanner to bring a few of our wedding pictures into the digital age. :)

Our wedding was on July 1st at First United Methodist Church in Lubbock, TX with our dear friends from the chancel choir singing as well as music that Carter arranged. Choir is where we met, and also where Carter proposed to me.

I have always loved this picture, even though I have teased Carter about where he is looking... :)

Except for the registration pads in the pews, I love this picture.

The smiles on our faces during our first dance (to Frank Sinatra's "All the Way") say it all. Our lives were so full of hope and excitement. We were so blissfully happy... and 11 years later, as sappy as it sounds, we still are.

And so, 11 years later... here we are. I never could have imagined our lives today in my wildest dreams. We are truly living this adventure one day at a time and loving it. There are rough times, sure, but we really are still blissfully happy. We still look at each other like we did in the picture above. And now we have three more reasons to be blissfully happy...

Thank you, sweetheart, for the last 11 years. (Really the past 15 years if you count back to our first date!) I know that we've packed a lot of living into those years, moved more times than I care to mention, and have added three tiny hilarious reasons to keep us laughing, loving, and living for the next 11 years and beyond.

Just think... in 11 more years the boys will be almost 17, about to be seniors in high school. Annabelle will be close to 13... fun teenage girl time ahead! I'm sure you'll be there to referee just like my dad was. :) We will be in our mid-40's and there is no telling where we'll live or what jobs we'll have, but I know whatever happens, we'll be together. Thanks for sharing this adventure with me.

Always & Forever,
Me

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T02:45:00.001-05:00

Carter -- Don't look at this blog post until after Father's Day! :)

Alphabet Blocks Father's Day 5x7 folded card

Shutterfly offers custom St. Patrick's Day cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Hello? Poison Control?

2011-06-08T08:02:00.000-05:00

Oh what a night.

We were straightening up the house getting ready for bed when Annabelle decided she needed to try Excedrin. I caught her in the bathroom with a bottle open in her hand with chalky white stuff in her mouth and on her hands. My first thought was how in the world could she open a child-proof bottle? It was an old bottle and I had no idea how many had been in there to begin with. It is never fun to call Poison Control, but I panicked because Excedrin has both acetaminophen and aspirin in it (not to mention caffeine!). All I could think of was that my dad never let us take aspirin because it could cause Reye's Syndrome. Since we had no idea how many she had actually ingested, they suggested we take her to the ER.

I grabbed the diaper bag and headed out the door with her. We got there about 8:00... right at her bedtime. They actually got us in quicker than I imagined when I saw how full the waiting room was. The nurses and doctors were FABULOUS with us. We've been to the ER before with her for spiking high fevers because of ear infections, but this ended up being our longest visit so far. The doctor explained to me that they would have to draw blood twice to measure that the aspirin and acetaminophen levels were dropping over a 4-hour timespan. In order to only have one needle stick, they actually decided to do an IV on her to do both blood draws. THAT was a fun experience. It was hard for me to hear her scream that loud but she really did great, all things considered. The part she hated the most (after the needle!) was having her arm splinted so she wouldn't bend her elbow or pull out the IV. She kept saying "Arm... Out... Arm... Out".

They brought us a rolling TV cart with a DVD player attached and a stack of Sesame Street videos. That was all Annabelle needed to be happy. :) She loves Elmo, and can name all of the characters on Sesame Street (except Grover... still working on him!) which I think I mentioned in a previous post. We got a warm blanket and they also brought her some juice and we just hung out in the hospital bed together watching Elmo. She finally fell asleep at about 11:10 (hello... caffeine!). They came in to do the second blood draw at 11:45 and of course, that woke her up... but it wasn't nearly as bad as the first one. The results finally came back about 12:30 and the levels were both well within the "safe" range. They said as long as the acetaminophen levels were under 40 we could go home... her level was 2.5. Whew.

We got home and she had trouble getting back to sleep. She wanted to be held constantly. Every time I tried to lay her down she woke up screaming. At one point I was humming our lullabye that we always sing and she put her hand over my mouth and shushed me. I wonder how long she's wanted to do that??? It made me laugh, but as soon as I quit singing she fell asleep. Thanks for the vote of confidence in mom's singing voice, babe. I asked Carter to help me and he had the same thing happen, so she ended up sleeping with us. I crashed. It had been a really long day.

This morning at 6:30 Carter's cell phone rang and I was sure it was my mom calling to check on her... but it was her daycare calling to say they didn't have any water and wouldn't be opening until later in the day. I usually leave with her by 7:00 to drop her off and get to work, but we were both grateful to sleep late this morning.

The story ended with me waking up with a headache and... taking Excedrin to get rid of it. :) Poetic ending.

2011-05-27T11:43:00.000-05:00

It was sad to say goodbye to Oprah on Wednesday. I had a few friends over for the finale. We toasted with Moscow Mules and enjoyed listening to Oprah's advice and lessons from her 25 years. Several things she said struck a chord with me at this place in my life. Here are a few of my favorite things she said:

Everybody has a calling, and your real job in life is to figure out what that is and get about the business of doing it.
Because that is what a calling is. It lights you up and it lets you know that you are exactly where you're supposed to be, doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing. And that is what I want for all of you and hope that you will take from this show. To live from the heart of yourself. You have to make a living; I understand that. But you also have to know what sparks the light in you so that you, in your own way, can illuminate the world.
Wherever you are, that is your platform, your stage, your circle of influence. That is your talk show, and that is where your power lies. In every way, in every day, you are showing people exactly who you are. You're letting your life speak for you. And when you do that, you will receive in direct proportion to how you give in whatever platform you have.
Start embracing the life that is calling you and use your life to serve the world.
Nobody but you is responsible for your life.
You are responsible for the energy that you create for yourself, and you're responsible for the energy that you bring to others
Remember physics class? Did you pay attention to Newton's third law of motion? Let me tell you, that thing is real. It says for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That is the abiding law that I live by, articulated to perfection by Miss Celie in The Color Purple when she finally gets the courage to leave her abusive husband, Mister. ... 'Everything you done to me already done to you.' It is the Golden Rule to the 10th power.
There is a difference, you know, between thinking you deserve to be happy and knowing you are worthy of happiness.
every single person you will ever meet shares that common desire. They want to know: 'Do you see me? Do you hear me? Does what I say mean anything to you?... Try it with your children, your husband, your wife, your boss, your friends. Validate them. 'I see you. I hear you. And what you say matters to me
.'"
Your life is speaking to you. What is it saying?
what I hope is that you all will be that safe harbor for somebody else—their safe place to fall. Do for them what you all are telling me the show has done for you. Connect. Embrace. Liberate. Love somebody. Just one person. And then spread that to two. And as many as you can. You'll see the difference it makes.

I wish I had time to write about what each of those means to me... maybe a post for another day.

Catching up...

2011-05-14T21:01:00.000-05:00

Hello again, blog friends. :) Another semester is over for me and I figured it was time to update my antiquated blog. :) Things are going really smoothly these days in the Biggers' household. Kindergarten is almost over (13 more school days!) and we are starting to have spring weather, although today was cold and rainy again. I only have 2 more semesters of coursework left (and Carter only has one!) so there is light at the end of the tunnel for both of us. The big "D" word (dissertation) is looming, but not a topic for today. :)

Annabelle is 18 months old as of yesterday, and she lives up to her middle name, Joy. This girl is hilarious and sweet, adores her big brothers (as they do her) and keeps us all smiling. After a rough few months, she had ear tubes put in both ears this winter and that has really seemed to help her stay well. She had 5 ear infections over the course of about 7 months and even through all of that (with teething mixed in here and there) she was still a happy girl most of the time. She is still a great napper (2 a day!) and sleeps through the night unless a tooth is breaking through. She has a ridiculously huge vocabulary, too. People are amazed at how much she talks, but I think part of that is that she is so tiny they don't expect her to be 18 months old either. She loves shoes, jewelry, purses, and bows, and also has a serious fetish with gadgets. She loves to play with cell phones, keys, calculators, or anything that makes noise. Her favorite show without a doubt is Sesame Street and she recognizes and names Elmo, Zoie, Abby, Ernie, Oscar, The Count (she calls him Ahh-Ahh) and Big Bird. We're still working on Grover, Bert, and Snuffleupagus (who was one of my favorites but sadly doesn't appear very often and I have no idea how to spell his name!).

Palmer and Harrison have had a great year in Kindergarten. They were in separate classes (by our request) and have made their own friends and really developed their own interests. Harrison has dearly loved playing keyboards in music class and Palmer is really blooming as an artist. We have one kid who is an absolute rule follower and one who is more free-spirited. I'll let you guess who's who. :) It will be fun to watch their talents grow and change with them. It has also been really fun to watch them learn how to read, do math, get along with others, and get into a serious daily routine. We have been reading Harry Potter at night as our bedtime stories and they love it. This was one of those things I dreamed about doing as a parent "some day" and can't believe it is finally happening. Carter has also introduced them to Star Wars, so that is another big theme at our house these days. His mom and dad brought his old Star Wars toys from their attic and he and the boys have gotten a lot of fun play time with them. Another big deal with them lately is Legos. I love that they love legos... we are having so much fun building with them. Uncle Jay would be so proud! We also started "Friday Night Family Movie Nights" this year and have watched a new film every Friday night that we were all home.

We have really slacked off on taking pictures this year. With cell phone cameras, I hardly ever think to carry our "real" camera with us anywhere, so Easter pictures are really all I have since the Chicago trip. I always swore I wouldn't be that parent who didn't take pictures of the third child. We have a ton of pictures of Annabelle, but most of them are on our phones. (Note to self: download pictures from phones!)

Mama and her ducklings on Easter morning

Hooray for automatic camera timers :)

The twins battle it out in the annual cascarones battle

Annabelle's first Easter egg hunt... sorry I forgot to rotate this one

We are looking forward to a busy summer. Carter will be at home with the boys during June. In hopes of maintaining her routine, Annabelle will stay in day care full time for June and part-time for July and August. I'm working full time all summer on a research grant which will (hopefully) be the data for my dissertation. We start T-ball in a few weeks and are seriously looking forward to our Biggers' family trip to Destin. Thanks for keeping in touch!

Chicago Day 1

2011-03-17T16:05:00.000-05:00

Chicago!

We took the kids to Chicago for the first time over the first weekend of Spring Break. Carter and I have been several times together, but this was our first experience with kiddos. It is just over a 3 hour drive from Iowa City... and we had a blast. The Saturday before St. Patty's is always the dying of the Chicago river and the parade, so we did both of those.

Before

During
(interestingly the "mystery" powder they use starts out orange and turns bright kelly green as it mixes with the water... supposedly a Leprechaun makes this magic happen!)

After
Yes... we all look like nerds :)
Everyone around us did, too

At the parade (Annabelle is asleep in her stroller)

Children's museum on Navy Pier
Harrison's favorite room was the fire engine

They even had 3 rooms for kids AJ's size... she really enjoyed being out of her stroller for a while!

The Great Groundhog Day Blizzard of 2011

2011-02-02T09:30:00.000-06:00

FUN TIMES IN IOWA!

We got 12" of snow last night... the most we've gotten at once since moving here. The boys' school is canceled, and we were just notified within the last hour that the University canceled all classes today, too!

The snow really started picking up while I was in an afternoon class and was really coming down as I rode the bus home around 4:30. It snowed all night long and the winds caused amazing snow drifts.

Here are some before/after shots which still don't do justice to what we are experiencing!

The backyard as the snow was coming down last night...

The drifts around the grill this morning...

Our front yard last night when I got home

Same view of the front yard this morning!

When Carter opened the garage door the snow was drifted up against it about 15" and climbed upwards from there.

Here is my dear, sweet husband attempting to shovel our driveway! Annabelle was scheduled to have ear tube surgery this morning, and we were supposed to be at the hospital at 6:00 am. Carter started shoveling at 4:30... and a few minutes after 6:00 the clinic called to cancel because our doctor couldn't get to the hospital!

The Buick parked in the driveway got a huge pile-up on the hood!

Another view from the backyard last night of the boys' basketball goal

The drift there this morning (you really can't tell from this picture, though)

Mommy and Annabelle in front of Mt. Biggers!

Carter's handiwork (it took him over 2 hours to get this side of the driveway done... what a guy!)

Snowbunny Annabelle wearing Aunt Cecilee's snowsuit and a big smile!

Thanksgiving!

2010-12-05T19:19:00.000-06:00

This year we spent Thanksgiving with the Ratcliffs. Mom and Dad picked a place in Tennessee that none of us had ever been to and we all met there for the entire week. It was a great place, but it took us 2 days to drive there. We spent the first night in St. Louis, which neither Carter nor I had ever been to before. We stopped at the famous arch on our way out of town and had a great time! Carter took some great pictures.

Here we are at the top of the arch!

Thanksgiving week was great. Mom and Dad loved spending time with the kiddos, and I got some much needed work time in while they babysat. Annabelle took her first few steps, but hasn't repeated it since. We all freaked out and yelled which scared her to death... maybe by Christmas she'll decide to walk again!

We were thrilled that Uncle Jay was able to make it for the week, too! This is the longest we've spent with him maybe since we got married... the boys adore him, of course. He paid them quarters to fetch him things or do marine training exercises (Palmer loved working for quarters and would do just about anything!) I had to draw the line at bringing Uncle Jay a beer even though it made me laugh. Carter and Jay also had Wii time to themselves after bedtime.

Carter cooked most of the Thanksgiving meal... with much coaching over the phone with his mom :) It was delicious! Harrison wanted to help cook everything... here he is having a turkey lesson and below breaking the wishbone. Palmer was scared of breaking the wishbone... not sure why. You never know with that kid.

A tradition in our house is to watch the Macy's parade... so here is a picture of me, Mom, and the kids in our PJs on the foldout couch watching. Carter's parents were actually in New York for the parade, so we watched for them on TV. Of course, we didn't pick them out of the millions of parade-goers, but they sure had some great pictures for the boys to see!

I think this is the only picture of my Dad from my camera. Most of the pictures are on my Mom's camera and I forgot to download them before we all drove home. This picture cracks me up. I still can't believe my dad smokes cigars... but it is a favorite hobby he has picked up in his retirement days :) He was in mid-sentence when I snapped this. The socks remind me of his dad, my Papa. :)

Annabelle's Baptism

2010-11-10T09:45:00.000-06:00

Annabelle was baptized on Halloween. (Is it spooky that she was born on Friday the 13th and weighed 6 lbs 6.6 ounces when she was born, too?)

All of the grandparents got to come for the weekend, and it turned out to be the football game where Carter wrote all the music and arranged the drill for the band's halftime show.

She wore her Aunt Cecilee's dress and was precious. We also celebrated her birthday while everyone was here, but that will have to be a different post. :)

Aunt Cecilee's dress

Daddy's girl

The fam

Mimi and Papa

Gran & Big Daddy

Family visit!

2010-09-18T19:18:00.000-05:00

Last weekend the Echols came for their first Hawkeye football game! They came to visit us last Thanksgiving right after Annabelle was born, but there was no game that weekend. Gran & Big Daddy came, too... but this was not their first Hawkeye game. :) The boys had been counting the days until their cousins' arrival! We all had a great time... the weather was nice (and gave our Lubbock family a taste of fall!) and the kids had a blast. Here are a few pictures of our weekend...

Sitting on the hood of the car watching the band rehearse on Friday

Annabelle loves being outside! (What a diva pose!)

Isaac and Harrison sporting the "Iowa Cornfed" pom poms they handed out at the game

The Echols Family

All five Biggers' Cousins decked out in Black & Gold

Harrison in his "Game Bibs" he asked for (and was SOOOO proud of!)

Carter conducting during the 4th quarter

We had a picnic after church on Sunday before everyone flew back home... I guess Isaac needed a face wipe from Big Daddy :) Annabelle and Isaac were so cute all weekend... she is crazy about him!

Harrison, Cecilee, and Luke were on the TV coverage of the game (so I recorded it on the video camera... lame)

First Day of Kindergarten!

2010-08-20T12:13:00.000-05:00

My little boys started kindergarten yesterday. We had a smooth morning (once we got to school!) and when we picked them up Palmer said "This was the best day EVER!" and Harrison immediately wanted a pet because they have a hamster in their classroom. :) We requested separate classes for them this year, and I feel like it was the right choice. They were still excited about school when they woke up this morning for day 2... a good sign!

Ready to get in the car

Walking up to school with Gran and Daddy

Eating breakfast

Palmer standing on his "line-up" number

Harrison waiting in line

The sun was really bright... but this picture needs more explanation. On MY first day of kindergarten, I found my desk with my name and noticed that sitting right next to me was "Jesus." I was thrilled that he would be in kindergarten with me! My mom had to explain that my desk-mate's name was pronounced "Hay-Seuss" (forgive my phonetics!) and in fact, Jesus would not be joining me. :) I couldn't help but laugh when the boy standing next to Palmer in line was also named Jesus yesterday. Awesome.

Boys' Trip to Texas Part 2

2010-08-01T10:36:00.001-05:00

Here are the pictures from Gran's camera! Something strange keeps happening with the first few pictures... sorry for the repeats.

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Harrison loves to Jump on the trampoline!

Lemonade stand

Palmer wearing Aunt Cecilee's sunglasses

At Steak 'N Shake in Dallas

Cousins making rice krispie treats

Boys' Trip to Texas Part 1

2010-08-01T10:15:00.000-05:00

The boys had such a great trip to see both sets of grandparents and their cousins! They were gone for two weeks. I have put together a few pictures from their adventure. These are from my mom's camera... I'll do another post from Carter's mom's camera soon.

Swimming without floaties!!!

Palmer bowling

Joyland with the cousins

Making mosaic stones for Mimi's yard

Harrison on the slip-n-slide

Playing miniature golf at Main Event with cousins

10 Years Together!!!

2010-07-30T17:28:00.000-05:00

I just noticed that this entry was still listed as a draft... sorry it is a month late!

We have had a fun few days! After the boys finished preschool we took them to Chuck E. Cheese's in Cedar Rapids to celebrate. We closed the place down. Someone in our family couldn't stop playing "Deal or No Deal." Seriously. Carter was obsessed. It didn't help the situation when I played and WON. :) He smoked me in Skee-ball, though. (I know what you're thinking... Chuck E. Cheese is for KIDS, right??? Ha. They put up the pretense of it being for kids just to sucker men-of-a-certain-age to spend all of their cash beating their wives at goofy games!)

We also got a piano this week. A very huge, heavy piano! It took 4 guys, a trailer, and a few adult beverages to get it moved into our house. It was given to us for FREE, though, so how do you complain??? Look out piano lessons... here we come!

The weather has been beautiful this week, so after the boys' tee-ball game yesterday (I couldn't resist this video of Harrison in the outfield... hilarious!)

we had a picnic at the park/splash pad. It was a great way to celebrate our 10 year Anniversary!

We also watched our wedding video last night. Palmer fell asleep but Harrison asked us a million questions about weddings and getting married. He was too funny. He was also surprised to find out his Uncle Daniel is a pastor... I wonder what he thought he was doing all those Sundays at church??? It was fun to see how much has changed in 10 years. As the camera panned across the crowd it made me cry to see both of my grandfathers there. I never would have predicted that 10 years later we would live in Iowa with three kids... but we both love where we are and wouldn't change a single thing about our life adventure!

2 Weeks without the boys!

2010-07-23T16:15:00.000-05:00

Our house sure has been quiet lately. The boys went to Texas with the grandparents for two whole weeks! Carter and I have never had just one child to take care of... it was a new experience. :) Annabelle has been spoiled rotten with attention for two weeks, and after speaking to the grandparents, so have the boys apparently! I will put a post together with their trip photos later. Carter and I took a trip to Wisconsin last weekend for a wedding. It was fun to travel with just ONE kiddo. We are lucky that all three kids are excellent travelers, so we took our time getting there and getting back. It was about a 700 mile trip. Here is a map of our entire route:

We drove to the Twin Cities and stayed in St. Paul the first night. The drive was really pretty, and my goofy husband wanted to stop and have his picture made with corn to show how tall it is getting. :)

Carter wanted to eat at this place called "Mickey's Diner" in St. Paul which was made famous in the Mighty Duck movies as well as several Food Network specials.

From here we drove to Amery, WI to stay in a cabin near Lake Balsam for the wedding. Thursday's festivities included a hike and a campfire (both firsts for Annabelle!). Here is a picture of us on the hike...

And the group of us hiking along the St. Croix river...

Friday we went with a fun group of new friends to the Chateau St. Croix Winery for a tour and tasting (YUM!) and lunch in town before attending the rehearsal dinner. Saturday was the wedding, and we had an amazing time. It was supposed to be an outdoor ceremony, but just as the bride was about to walk down the aisle the sky opened up with rain so they quickly moved the ceremony into the church. At the reception Annabelle slept through dinner but woke up in time to dance! She looked adorable.

On our way home we drove a little bit out of the way to Chippewa Falls, WI to tour the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewery which is home to our favorite midwest beer. The tour was free and included three tasting coupons! I wish we had taken a picture at the Leine Lodge. Darn... we'll have to go back there to get one! Seriously, though... they have 7 brews available year-round and 4 that are seasonal. I have yet to try one I didn't love and I'm really not a beer drinker.

From here we drove along the Mississippi river for one of the most beautiful drives we've ever taken. It was slower but absolutely worth the time. We kept seeing these gorgeous churches in several of the small towns, so we finally stopped and took a few pictures. This is the St. Boniface Catholic church in New Vienna, Iowa. Folks... we're talking a population of 400 people and a church like this. Amazing.

Once we crossed back into Iowa we stopped at the Field of Dreams movie site which about an hour from where we live.

It was a really fun getaway... one we probably wouldn't have attempted with all three kids. Carter does want to take the boys back to the Field of Dreams site, but I want to make sure they have seen the movie first. My favorite quote from the movie... "Is this Heaven? No... It's Iowa."

8 months old

2010-07-13T16:52:00.000-05:00

Annabelle is 8 months old today. The time is going by WAY, WAY, WAY too fast! She is growing and changing so much that it makes me laugh and cry at the same time. Joy was definitely the perfect choice of a middle name for her... she is definitely that. She looks just like my baby pictures and is hilarious. She is enjoying her time alone with Mommy and Daddy right now while the boys are vacationing in Texas with the grandparents. I think she must miss them, though. We played in their room yesterday so I could pull out some of their old toys for her to play with. Her favorite by far was the old classic stacking rings... she was entertained for quite a while! Here are a few pictures of our girl over the past few weeks...

* Annabelle and Harrison (who adores her, by the way... Palmer does too, but she and Harrison have this crazy precious bond)

At at picnic at the park feeling the grass

Swinging at the park (love this pic!)

Standing up holding her crib rail...

Humiliatingly... here is the proof that she looks like me. :) I was 9 months old in this picture. Yes, my cheeks are much chubbier. No comments please.

And just to go along with humiliation... here I am with my mom :) Love you, Mimi! Hee hee!

And we'll spread the humiliation around to include my handsome Daddy, too! What a jacket and glasses!

Here's what I hope Annabelle looks like when she's this old... this cuteness can't count as humilation for my mom!!!

Last day of preschool!

2010-06-30T12:27:00.005-05:00

Today ends a chapter in our lives as the boys go to their very last day of preschool. They have been attending a smaller preschool here in town which Carter found when he came to find us a house. (Remember... I didn't get to come on that trip because I was pregnant with Annabelle! Carter's mom came to help him... hooray for Gran!) I have mixed emotions about today. I am super excited for the boys to start Kindergarten in August, but am so sad to see this part of their lives end. We have been through the last day at a preschool before, but this one has a whole new meaning since it is truly their LAST day of preschool EVER. How did these boys grow up so fast??? They have made such great friends and none of them will be attending our kindergarten. We will try to stay in touch over the next few years, though. Here are some pictures from our day...

** standing on the front porch of their school
** with their sweet teacher, Miss Julia
** a few friends from school
** brotherly love before leaving the house
** the rice krispie treates they made (they say P + H... maybe I should have taken the picture before we put the saran wrap on!!!)

Swinging

2010-06-23T11:08:00.002-05:00

Annabelle had fun swinging at the park while the boys played tee-ball yesterday. Precious!

How times change!

2010-06-22T11:57:00.000-05:00

Carter and I had a minor flood in our basement last week. My heroic husband cleared all of the boxes and tubs out of our storage room before anything was damaged, but the repairman just came yesterday to fix the problem... so we have had a basement (a.k.a. the boys' room!) full of crap for over a week. It gave us a great excuse to go through some old boxes of stuff! We emptied over 6 large tubs and have a TON to give away... and I'm not finished yet. In going through our stuff, we found some interesting treasures.

*** A box full of beanie babies which makes Carter shake and convulse with memories of driving around from McDonald's to McDonald's when they had Teenie Beanie Baby toys with Happy Meals. His mom and I couldn't bear to miss out the entire collection... but we ate way too many chicken nuggets that summer.

*** Way too many boxes of artwork from Palmer & Harrison. I threw away a trash bag full of coloring pages and old valentines from preschool. (Don't worry, Gran, I kept a lot too!)

*** Carter's ZIT hat from Tech Drumline days... I think there was stuff growing inside it. Gross. Nasty. Ewwwww!!! He was ecstatic and started googling how to wash a baseball cap without ruining it.

*** Speaking of Carter's stuff... we found these two lovely items which I had to share. He and I laughed so hard when we found this t-shirt among his collection. My how times have changed!

And this collector's item also made us laugh... considering the events of the past few weeks. This was from the inagural game of the Big 12 (Tech vs. K State I think) which Carter attended with the band.

Father's Day Weekend

2010-06-21T08:16:00.001-05:00

We had a great Father's Day Weekend! Here are a few highlights...

Annabelle slept until 7:00 Sunday morning and started babbling "Mama" (oops... forgot to tell her it was Father's Day!) She has also started grinding her teeth, now that she has enough to grind. :) It sounds awful. Carter's wish was to watch the U.S. Open, so I tried to keep the kids occupied and away from him. Palmer curled up on the chair next to him and fell asleep.

The boys had a birthday party to attend Saturday, so Annabelle and I had some girl time. We read books...

And practiced standing up!

Friday was a super fun day as we went to the long awaited Toy Story 3 movie! The boys dressed in costume (although neither one wanted to be Woody... they usually fight over him!) I cried at least twice during the movie... it was great. Can you tell how small the Buzz costume is on Harrison? We have been counting down this day on our calendar for a very long time. It was precious to see it with our Buzz and Woody fans... definitely a day to remember!

Tee-ball!

2010-06-18T12:39:00.001-05:00

After a rain cancellation on Tuesday, the boys were excited to meet their new tee-ball teammates yesterday! Carter has gallantly volunteered to coach our team (the Phillies) and it was almost as much fun watching him as it was watching the kiddos! We have 10 kids on our team... a good mixture of boys and girls. Our first game is next Thursday. It was the hottest day we've had in Iowa City this year... of course. :) (upper 80's, Texas friends!!!! Ha!) Love it!

7 months old

2010-06-17T09:25:00.000-05:00

Annabelle Joy is 7 months old... where does the time go? Here are some things I want to remember about her at this age.

her ear to ear grin
how crazy she is about Palmer & Harrison
her belly laugh when she plays Peek-A-Boo with Palmer
how hard she arches her back
her "vampire" teeth
how soft her skin is
what a great eater she is
how content she is (most of the time!)
how much she loves bathtime
our precious "mom and me" time between 5:30 and 7:00 on my mornings to get up with her
the smile on her face when she sees me
her ability to sleep through the night (hallelujah!)
watching her develop a very special relationship with her Daddy (some days I think she likes him more than me...)
the sound she makes when I am preparing her food (she reminds me of how our cat, Roxie, used to act when we opened a can of tuna!)
the sound she makes when you are bringing a bottle toward her mouth (Hurry, Mom... faster!)
listening to everyone who sits behind us at church ooh and aah over how cute she is each Sunday
her early love of jewelry (mine, that is)

Summer Haircuts!

2010-05-31T13:38:00.000-05:00

Just call me the barber of Seville I mean, Iowa City. I cut three heads of hair this morning! Here are the before and after shots.

Carter...

Palmer...

(I think he looks just like his cousin, Luke!)

Harrison...

(I think he looks just like Uncle Jay here!)

And a gross picture of all the hair we cut!!!!!

Welcome, Summer!

Videos of AJ eating her first cereal

2010-04-07T10:37:00.000-05:00

** Mimi / Gran -- you can't see these videos through FaceBook... you need to click on the blog to watch them!**

Annabelle is eating rice cereal! This is such a silly thing to take a video of... but I think almost every parent remembers the mushy white goo that dribbles down chins and onto an endless stream of bibs. It was amazing to me to watch how fast she caught on to "eating". In one week she went from this...

To this...

Harrison loves to feed her, too. He is such a big helper most of the time! Palmer is too, but Harrison is especially fond of his baby sister. He hugs and kisses her all the time. She is the first person he wants to see each morning and she grins from ear to ear each time he appears. He can make her smile and squeal already... I look forward to watching their sweet sibling relationship develop through the years.

Are you tired of cereal videos yet? Here is a final one of Harrison feeding her...