Growing up with Tyler, Kevin, Jacob, and Baby!

The Mindstormers

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Feb 2014 16:48:00 +0000

Thursday night Ty spent some time at night building a robot that holds a pen with dad. While they were building they came up with their team name "the Mindstormers" (like transformers since they transform things).

They didn't get it completed so this morning they met up again, this time with New team member Kevin. They completed a robot that holds a marker and then after a basic lesson in geometry, Tyler was in charge of writing a program.

His goal was to get the robot to draw a circle. It took several attempts and he became dubbed the team "observer" since he was in charge of observing what was going wrong and troubleshooting. Eventually they got it pretty close!! And Ty wanted a video to share of their creation and his program.

YouTube Video

Ignore the mess please in the background!! We had a lazy Friday and this room is just a mess.

After seeing Ty's program, Kevin sat down with dad and wrote his first program complete with a roar and some karate sounds. :)

YouTube Video

Now he's brainstorming how to use the pen with his robot. We will see what he figures out. A fun lazy morning here as The Mindstormers work.

Thirty week belly pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 21:42:00 +0000

Adam took some thirty week belly pictures for me! Hard to believe that we are already at the 30 week mark!! Time is really moving quickly this time around as we try to keep up with the boys and work on getting ready for this little girl. Hard to believe that we are getting so close to meeting her!

Snow Day!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 21:38:00 +0000

Today was a snow day for T and K. They eventually convinced me to go outside and play even though it was super cold outside. I lasted about two whole minutes before retreating back inside. They worked hard moving some snow around and then decided that it was very cold too and they needed some hot chocolate!

The joy of a snow day besides getting to play in the snow and drink hot chocolate is that we treat it like a weekend day. This means video game time! This morning I listened to K and T try to turn on the t.v. to get started by shouting out spells. I thought it was cute that they had a wand and kept trying different ways to use the wand while shouting out spells. T eventually gave up and just asked me to help him turn on the tv.

Jacob's First Lost Tooth

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 00:10:00 +0000

About 18 months ago Jacob fell walking through the kitchen and hit his mouth on a dog bowl. His tooth bled a lot and the dentist told us that odds were high that his tooth would turn grey. He also gave us some things to look for to tell if he has an infection.

We took him to the dentist every six months after and the dentist was starting to feel very confident last August. Yes, his tooth was grey but no abscess or other sign of infection. Well, come January he had his next regular checkup and sure enough they found he had developed an abscess high up on his gum over his injured tooth.

Jacob let his dentist take some xrays and sure enough he had developed quite the infection. The advice was to take the tooth out as quickly as possible. So, the next day, Jacob went in to get his tooth pulled.

Before we went I took a few pictures of him because I wanted some last shots of him with all of his baby teeth.

Adam and I went to the appointment with Jacob. We figured that with as queasy as we both get at the dentist, we should work together to help soothe Jacob. When we got there though the dental assistant asked us to just let her take Jacob and wait in the lobby. He was not happy and left in her arms crying. We got a report back a little later that he was perfectly happy. They turned on cartoons and gave him some nitrous oxide and all was great.

Afterwards he was in some pain and was for a few days. But below is a picture of him waiting in the car at school pickup. He was excited to show off his missing tooth to Tyler. And Kevin and Tyler were anxious to see if the tooth fairy would come (the dentist gave us back his tooth in a small treasure chest). Sure enough, the tooth fairy did visit him. He didn't get money because he is to small (which Tyler thought made sense) and got two rolls of Smartie candies (which all three boys thought was awesome).

It's now been a week and he is doing much better. He had a few rough nights of pain but actually slept through the night the last two nights!! And he loves telling you about how he has lost a tooth and the tooth fairy came.

Pine Wood Derby

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 23:43:00 +0000

Tyler had his first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby the Saturday before Kevin's birthday. Adam was out of town, so Grandma Thimmesch and I got the fun of going for the two hours it lasted. He had a dad in his den help him cut his car at a workshop, and then he worked really hard to paint it himself. His car was Harry Potter versus Voldemort, which is pretty much perfect since he has become obsessed with Harry Potter.

He was pretty excited to go the day of, but after registration the night before he was upset and worried. Looking at everyone else's cars and hearing that his was underweight (and I didn't know what to do to fix it) he felt as if he would have the worst car ever.

Thankfully, the day of he was full of excitement and once there was super excited to be with his friends. His car managed six different rounds and placed anywhere from 3rd to 6th in each round. We were very shocked and he was very excited that he wasn't always last. After the race when he got his car back we discovered that someone had glued quarters to the bottom of his car!!

He was super shocked and I couldn't have been more grateful to whatever kind soul did this. I tried asking around but no one would fess up, so I couldn't thank the awesome person that helped give our son such a great first experience. Hopefully word got back to them about how much fun Tyler had and how much we appreciated their kindness!

Tyler and Kevin were pretty much on their own for the two hours. There are no pictures of Kevin because once he was allowed to sit with the cub scouts and watch the races close up, he never moved. Jacob ran around and hence some silly pictures as Grandma and I worked to keep him entertained.

Kevin's Fifth Birthday!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 23:35:00 +0000

It was really hard accepting that our baby boy Kevin is turning five! I think this hit us harder as parents than having our oldest turn seven. Something about turning five just seems old. Like he's really a kid now rather than a toddler or preschooler.

Kevin could absolutely not wait for his birthday. He wanted a Minecraft birthday cake with lots of spiders and bad guys. This is a video game that he plays with Tyler on the Xbox. He just loves making buildings or other things and then filling those buildings with spiders or bad guys to do karate on them. So, for his birthday, this is what we attempted.

Adam was in Arizona for a work conference so Grandma Thimmesch came out to help keep us company and have some fun. She was also a lifesaver when it came to designing his cake and helping me get a bunch of craft projects done for various school events coming up.

The day he turned five, we took a few quick pictures. He wanted pictures of lots of different faces. So, we took a lot of pictures and he made all the faces he could. Here are a few that we took.

He really had a rough day as much as I didn't want him to, but he was tired and exhausted from a couple of late nights and early mornings. We started off with chocolate chip pancakes in the shapes of "K" and "5" and Grandma found some candles so we could all sing him happy birthday.

Around lunch time we all headed out to the airport to go get daddy. Kevin was melting at this point, so he earned a special walk with me into the airport so we could talk about behavior. That time alone seemed to help him a lot, and the excitement of getting to see daddy come down the escalators was great. Especially when he realized that they matched with red sweaters!

Everyone was hungry and tired, so daddy took us out to lunch before heading home for naps and quiet time. We went to Red Robin because Kevin's lunch request was french fries and ice cream. Since it was his birthday, we figured why not and off we went. His brothers were pretty excited because they scored some ice cream too since it was Kevin's requested lunch.

His present requests this year cracked me up. He really wanted a roll of easel paper, 72 pencils from Office Depot that he saw a couple of weeks before, and some crayons. For weeks all I heard about was whether I had already purchased or would be purchasing his pencils. I really thought this kid was losing it but we got him the pencils he kept asking for. It turns out that they are his new best toy. Every day he plays with them like they are action figures and refuses to let us sharpen them.

He hasn't done much with the easel paper as he keeps unrolling and then rerolling it, but he tells me he is just thinking up his plan. So time will tell what he comes up with. But for now, he is thrilled with his pencils and it was such an oddball request I thought I would write about it.

For dinner we had pizza and cake! He didn't have a party per se this year but we did invite two of his friends over so they could play. It had been ages since we had seen them and he really wanted to play with them. All of us adults were just exhausted but thankfully the kids were able to entertain themselves for the most part. All five of them just play so well together!

And now pictures of his cake lighting and his cake. He loved it and I am glad he got the theme he wanted. And lots of creepy spiders. :)

Hogwarts Party for Tyler's 7th Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 18 Jan 2014 22:38:00 +0000

For Tyler's 7th birthday we threw his first classmate party, a Harry Potter Hogwarts party. In the excitement, and thank goodness that Uncle AJ and Aunt Christi drove up from Oklahoma City to come celebrate with us! We ultimately had 19 kids in the house and it was crazy. But Tyler said he had an absolute blast. So, in no particular order here are the pictures that a friend so graciously took for us while we were busy running classes!!!!

During the day we had a trip to Diagon Alley to get outfitted for classes and look like a student. Then we used a portkey to get to Hogwarts where Professor Snape and Professor Dumbledore ran potions and spells classes. And professor Trewlany entertained the kids with some fortunes. Throw in some cupcakes, butterbetter, a magical creature treasure hunt, a trip to Honeydukes, and a rousing game of Dumbledore says and we hope that the kids had fun!

Hulk Smash

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 15:57:00 +0000

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful few weeks of holidays! We sure did! I have some pictures to share and stories to write, but for now I thought I would share the game that Tyler spent a lot of his break working on. It is called Hulk Smash and he created it in a program called Scratch from MIT. He is pretty excited about it, and I am in shock with how long he stuck with learning to program it and getting it just how he wanted it.

You can click on the rules to view what you need to do. Then use the arrow keys on your computer when you hit play to see if you can defeat the Sorcerer. :) At the end you can type in "yes" or "no" if you want to try again.

November

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 29 Dec 2013 14:59:00 +0000

Talk about a month flying by! We seemed very busy this month but had a lot of fun. First up is K's preschool turkey that the kids made to hang on their door. Super cute and I melted when I read what K was thankful for. It's also how he broke the news to his teacher that he was getting another sibling as he kept insisting that e wasn't talking about Jacob when she wanted to write "Jacob" instead of "other baby". Love it!

Unfortunately my Great Aunt Margie passed away this month. Although I hadn't seen her much as an adult he made quite the impression on me as a kid. So I loaded up K and J and we headed to Oklahoma to celebrate her life with my family. While we were there we enjoyed catching up with all of the wonderful family that was there, and had the joy of getting to finally meet our newest nephew B! Talk about such a sweet snuggler and quite the talker already!!

We also got to visit with Gramps and Gigi, and then worked in a trip to Tulsa to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Wallace....were they made the boys month with three ice cream comes each after lunch!! Grandparents rock K says.

K and J showing off a scary spider and vampire teeth they picked out at chuckie cheeses with Grandma G.

Once back home J enjoyed being a robot with some shipping materials.

It looked like so much fun that the other two had to join in too!

We managed to complete a 400 piece family puzzle one cold day. It was fun as everyone had their own role and we all worked hard on it.

Anymore Mr. K spends a lot of time at his desk writing and coloring. Such a change this year and likely due to how much he loves preschool! He is always working on something ... just like Ty. Though Ty's creations tend to be secret anymore where as K prefers to give his drawings away.

We found out right before Thanksgiving that our newest baby will be a girl! Talk about a shock as I really thought we were having boy #4. Ty was the only one predicting a girl, so he was thrilled to be right. Now we are all just getting ready for her arrival this spring.

Adam surprised me after our ultrasound with a coffee I had been wanting and a pink rose to celebrate our coming daughter. So sweet and had me tearing up.

While at Grandma and Grandpa Thimmesch's K had fun building Legos with his cousin J and wrestling with any and every cousin who was game.

A Thanksgiving day picture of my four boys as they pause from wrestling.

Our family Thanksgiving picture.

A trip to see Santa. K and T were so excited to go. T requested a video game for the Xbox...Lego Harry Potter years 5-7. K asked that Santa surprise him. And J was just terrified.

All the cousins together!!

All the boys watching a show.

When we got home I made three blankets. One for K, one for Adam, and one for the new baby.

The boys zoned out to Pilar Express one night. They love all the Christmas movies on television!

Comic Strip Program

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 23:30:00 +0000

Today Tyler discovered a comic book app for the Ipad. He spent some of his morning making three stories. Had to share them.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 14:43:00 +0000

This morning we started off bright and early with a new soccer program Kevin is in this fall. It is indoors and is a continuation of what he played outdoors in the fall. He was super excited to get to keep playing and had a blast this morning!

While I was off watching Kevin play soccer, Tyler and Jacob stayed home with daddy. They played a lot and Tyler apparently started his own version of Willy Wonka chocolate bars as there were homemade candy bar wrappers EVERYWHERE with one golden ticket in the lot of them.

Oh, and I got a fun text while we were gone from Adam. Tyler lost his fifth tooth!! You can sort of see the gap in his tree climbing picture below. Kevin was excited for Tyler and when we got home Jacob kept coming to show us where he lost a tooth too (he didn't lose one, but wanted to share in the excitement too).

We all finally settled in to watch some Iowa football, and when the game ended we went outside to clean the garage and rake leaves. Of course the boys got distracted with their bikes and soon enough I did too with my camera. So I took some pictures of them riding, climbing a tree, and then practicing their super hero jumps into a small leaf pile Adam made.

Fall Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 02:12:00 +0000

Today after school we stopped to take a few fall pictures without Halloween shirts or costumes on. The boys had fun and it didn't take long at all to get a few fun pictures. When we were done we loaded up and went to get some frozen yogurt and had a mom and sons date. A fun afternoon and a great way to mix up our normal routine!

October 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 18:04:00 +0000

This month has also just flown by! I swear with the kids in school and activities the days just go by. Jacob has adjusted to having his brothers gone a lot and I realize how chatty he has gotten since they started school! At first he refused to talk while they were gone, but now he chats my ear off. So no quiet in the house anymore, but its okay because he is a lot of fun to chat with, even if he does get a bit bossy at times. But even that I have to smile at because with two big brothers always telling you what to do, he needs some time to be the boss.

One fun activity from this month was the Pumpkin Run in Lincoln. There were over 3700 kids running this year so you can imagine how packed the park was, but overall I was very impressed with how well organized everything was. The kids had to each run a mile. Tyler ran alone with his friend Liam. They were a hoot to watch (Jacob and I snuck over to the halfway mark to take pictures of them). They had a blast talking and when it was over told me that they ran through Lincoln, over the Kansas desert, and to Missouri. Apparently, the race felt like forever to them!

Kevin ran with his friend Maggie and her mom Angela was kind enough to get them through it. We all snuck over to watch them pass the halfway mark and I felt for Angela! Neither kid would run at the same time and everyone was falling. But bless their hearts these guys completed their mile and got their Gatorade and granola bars with huge smiles on their faces!

This month also saw a lot of spooky Halloween decorations go up around the neighborhood and our house. Kevin is just in awe this year at all of the inflatable decorations. He keeps asking if Santa can make him some Spooky Halloween decorations for next year. Since I wasn't going to go buy some big decorations, we agreed that we could put spider webs on the house and make some spiders. Kevin had a blast using pipe cleaners one afternoon and decorating the front.

Tyler helped me on a day off make some light up ghosts for our front porch. And one Saturday I worked on making a fabric wreath for the door. Once we get our pumpkins carved up, we will be ready to go. Kevin loves how spooky everything seems.

One Saturday we drove out to a orchard/pumpkin patch to meet friends and find some pumpkins. The kids picked HUGE ones and thankfully daddy could carry them back to the tractor to take home. They all had fun looking for a perfect pumpkin, and I just had to laugh as Kevin kept trying to run through the pumpkin patch and kept tripping on the vines. He has no walk mode and wasn't letting the constant falling slow him down!

Before we left the pumpkin patch we took a quick picture of the boys in their spooky Halloween shirts.

And they had fun riding with their friends on a tractor ride!

The day following the pumpkin patch we finalized Halloween costumes. The boys went out and tried them of and took pictures before going to Boo at the Zoo later that night. Tyler is Harry Potter, Kevin a Minecraft Creeper that daddy made himself, and Jacob is Buzz Lightyear!

Of course, when you get two good guys and a bad guy all together you know there is going to be a big battle! After lots of flying around, magical spells being uttered, and several explosions from the Creeper the battle ended. Given how often Harry and Buzz were knocked off their feet and defeated, I think it is safe to say that the Creeper won the first round.

I was looking around on Facebook one morning and went to look at the Lincoln Children's Zoo website. I was shocked to see that they were using a picture of Tyler and Kevin in last year's costumes for their advertisement for this year's photo contest. I didn't remember this picture being taken, so I really enjoyed getting to see it! I forgot how much they loved being a Ninja Tiger and a Spy Cheetah!

Then a group picture of this years Boo to the Zoo. Miss Hazel and Miss Annie were both pirates and so cute! The boys had fun getting to go to the event with them again this year. Kevin didn't make it very far into the event before he gave up walking in his costume. He just couldn't walk fast enough to get through every tent to get candy. :) Everyone loved his costume though.

Jacob had a blast walking through the event. You could tell he wasn't sure what was happening but as people started dropping candy into his bag, he was sold.

Tyler had a blast too. He ran into Professor Mcgonagell as we were getting into line and she told him to get back to class! Then as we walked in there was a grand old wizard directing us where to start. Tyler was thrilled because the wizard called him Harry and said he was glad to meet him. We took a picture as he was so excited that this wizard knew him. He also loved listening to the Harry Potter theme music that played off and on while we walked through the zoo.

September 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 17:41:00 +0000

September 2013 was a busy month for our family! With Adam, Tyler, and Kevin busy with school and all the coming and going again the month just seemed to fly by! Highlights of our month include:

Playing in the rain!

The start of cub scouts for Tyler!

Building a tower taller than mommy!

Kevin's first show and tell. He took a piece of road he found this summer in Iowa.

Playing at the park after school.

Jacob discovered the joy of Buzz Lightyear and loves his wings.

Silliness at car pickup for Tyler.

Wearing costumes out to eat lunch with Grandma and mom.

Kevin insisted on wearing another warm outfit on a very hot day as we went to pick Tyler up from school.

Sitting on one of the big red balls at Target. As a fan of Wipeout, he loves these balls.

A fun night with friends at Kloefkorn's Family Fun Night!

Kevin's first field trip. They went to a pumpkin patch/apple orchard.

Tyler got his acceptance letter to Hogwarts. He is thrilled.

After Jacob participated in a voluntary sleep study with UNL, Kevin and Tyler wanted to do one too. We found Kevin one this month to go and play games so they could study attention span. His reward was to pick a prize out of the prize bucket. He picked a package of eight snakes. He was thrilled to come home and sneak them under Tyler, daddy's, and mommy's pillows to try and scare us. Jacob got a pass because he knows Jacob is too little to be scared.

We announced that we are expecting kid number #4 on Facebook! We are all super excited!

Kevin participated in both an outdoor soccer league and an indoor soccer training series. He is in love with soccer and any time his soccer ball is in the house and not in the car, he is known to be dribbling it around the house.

First Days of School (First Grade and Preschool)!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 17:26:00 +0000

August 13, 2013: Tyler started first grade! He was very excited to be going back to school as he said he missed his friends over the summer. He has been doing great so far this year. He loves his teacher, thinks she is the funniest teacher ever, and has a lot of great friends in his class. We couldn't have asked for better with how things are going for him this year!

August 21, 2013: A week after Tyler started school, Kevin started preschool! He was very excited and couldn't wait for his first day to arrive. All summer he had been asking for Grandma and Grandpa to come out and drive him to his first day of school ever. And low and behold they made the 3 1/2 hour drive to take him the two miles it takes to get to school. Melted my heart, and his excitement for their arrival was even better!

He has been doing great in preschool. His teacher is fantastic and he loves going to school. He no longer holds on to my hand or asks for me to come into his classroom. He now RUNS into his classroom from the parking lot as he can't wait to go see his friends. He has also developed quite the game of good guys versus bad guys on recess. The days he stays home (he goes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) he talks about missing his friends.

Overall, he is learning a lot, has really grown up a lot, and is having a blast!

More pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 25 Aug 2013 11:16:00 +0000

Kevin helped me make
Pasta one day.

He insisted in safety first.

I made this Cub Scout banner one day for Tyler to hang in his room.

Kevin and jake enjoyed some water time.

And some puzzle time.

Selfie!

Zoo with friends!

Playground with daddy!

Pictures of Tyler while he was gone. Someone loved his 3D glasses because it made him feel like Harry Potter.

We finally got to go get Tyler!

Then we drove to Davenport to surprise grandma Thimmesch for her retirement.

Family picture.

Bowling!

Swimming!

Then off to Oklahoma to see everyone!!

Making some spell charts.

Some cousin pictures.

Some Yoda time.

And climbing time.

Golf cart time.

More climbing.

More golf cart.

Puzzles to push around.

And games to play.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 25 Aug 2013 11:03:00 +0000

My three bike riding kiddos.

Kevin on a daddy date with Adam to Lost in Fun, a fun indoor play place.

Jake and me!

Starting to make my first quilt.

While Adam was out of town he funded Tyler's wallet and told him to take us out for ice cream. He had a blast treating and we all enjoyed the surprise.

Our tball player on the last game!

Jake and Kevin painting a treasure box. Tyler has one too but he was spending his first week alone with grandma and grandpa in Iowa. So he painted his there.

Jake and Kevin having a pillow fight with Adam.

Puzzle

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 23 Jul 2013 12:42:00 +0000

Thanks to the early morning storm we are already playing hard. The boys are working on puzzles this morning. Pretty sure this is Jakes first puzzle to do almost by himself.

Spy university

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 21:38:00 +0000

The dog food was delivered in a box four times to big. So the boys had fun thinking of what to do with it. They loves Tyler's idea of a spy university.

Everyone got spy names to put on top. Tyler and Kevin thought them up and then Jake and I wrote and colored them.

Then we cut some doors and windows while Tyler designed the flag, mascot (a red ant), and Kevin found the air purifier to make the flag wave.

Then we played around with our theme song before setting off on missions. Fun!!

YouTube Video

Park Trip and Jake's First Big Bike Ride

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 19:49:00 +0000

This morning Adam worked from home while the boys and I rode our bicycles to the park. A few weeks ago it hit me that Jake doesn't always have to ride in the bike trailer to get to the park. He has a balance bike he loves, and the park is close enough that he can ride there on it without his big brother's getting upset by the slowness.

It turns out that Jake can ride much quicker than I ever gave him credit for as he is getting good on his bike. And the boys are much more tolerant of the pace because they are so excited for him that he is riding.

While we were at the park, Kevin discovered that he too has a climbing bug. And thrilled Tyler with this discovery because Tyler has now decided to train Kevin in the art of climbing. This too thrills Kevin because he has "missions" now. They had a blast this morning playing together in their newly discovered game.

Here they climbed up onto a tunnel together. This was their "home base" and they had so much fun just climbing up here and talking. I think its cute how one has a Nebraska hat and the other an Iowa hat.

While the big two were up on the tunnel, Jacob like to slide down the closest slide and keep an eye on them. I am getting a stink eye face here. Too bad he doesn't have an OSU hat on today. That would have been great! At least it is an orange one. :)

Snapped a picture as Kevin climbed up on the slide Jacob had been playing on this morning. He was so proud he figured this one out as it was one of the missions Tyler had given him.

Eventually we decided it was time to bike home, but as we got on our bikes the boys started chanting about riding to the tunnels. I gave in as Jacob was going strong. So we grabbed a "before" picture and headed out on our adventure together. Jacob had never ridden further than to the park, so this would be an adventure for his legs for sure. But he was awfully excited and that was cool!

They were all being so cute, I decided to take video of our trip! We managed to ride through two under-the-street tunnels and then all the way back....almost to home. When we got about three or four blocks out, Jacob told me he was done riding because he was so tired. So I quickly texted Adam who was home and he met us at the neighborhood entrance to give the kids a lift home.

Here is the video.

Camping

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 20:41:00 +0000

I have more posts from our last camp trip and the fourth I want to post. But I am currently killing time while J and the dogs nap/cool off in the car, Adam works a bit, and Tyler and Kevin play at a playground. So I thought I would blog a bit from this trip.

We drove up to Mahoney in Nebraska. We were supposed to come with friends but their plans changed last minute and we decided to make it a family trip and bring the dogs too.

Everyone rested on the drive up.

Our tent site.

My roommates. We did a boys tent where Adam had all the kids, and then a girls tent where I slept with the dogs. My tent was so quiet. :)

Our picnic table / Adams work area if we are ever quiet. ;)

A trip to year closest playground.

YouTube Video

A group picture on our morning hike.

Another shot from a long bridge.

After our hike we went back to camp to get Adam and have him take the boys paddle boating.

First out was a very excited Tyler!

J and K patiently waited their turn and were so excited when it was time to
get their life jackets on.

Adam and Tyler headed back to the dock.

Tyler had a blast!!

Off go Adam with J and K!! Jake is sitting in the middle.

After paddle boats, Adam treated everyone to ice cream. We ate it in the car so J and the dogs could cool off. J fell asleep and so we drove over to an observation tower.

We took turns going up so the dogs and Jake Could keep resting. We had fun going up and then dad took the big boys in a small hike.

Now we are off at yet another playground so Jake can continue his much needed nap in the car. It is super hot outside and he has been pretty grumpy all day. So hopefully the nap will help! :)

Vaughn Cousins!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 19:25:00 +0000

The boys bonding over some Minecraft this afternoon...

And then LOTS of pictures from our family waterfight...

Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 23 Jun 2013 23:25:00 +0000

This morning one of the boys found a pair of my shoes and before long all three were fighting over whose turn it was to try to walk in them. I couldn't resist and had them pause for a picture. They are too cute!

In the afternoon we went on our first family movie! I had never been to a movie with any of the kids so I was super excited. And this was Jakes first time to a movie theatre.

We told the boys last night that we had a surprise for today. Kevin was most intrigued and kept trying to guess or get a hint. As we pulled into the park lot everyone got exited for ice cream because one of our favorite ice cream places is next door. They were excited. But as we passed by the shoppe Tyler figured out that we were going to see a movie. He was thrilled and had the family walking in behind us as he restated all the clues they had collected over the last few hours.

We went and saw Monsters University. All the boys had a blast, an Jacob was just in shock and kept getting up to dance. He had a hard time keeping his seat down so giggled every time it closed up with him in it.

After the movie, Kevin wanted a picture.

And Tyler wanted to show us his scarey face so we did a monster picture.

When we got home I sewed a bit. I quickly made this hanger pocket. Tyler is a new Tiger cub and everyone told me we would lose the book and neckerchief tie. So I went online looking for ideas and found the hanger pocket to hold the book and any unattached patches/accessories. It was a super easy project and hopefully it helps keep us a bit more organized.

Saturday Tball

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 17:38:00 +0000

Excited for the game. Insisted on taking a water gun.

Driving there. Someone was more intent on reading his book than getting out of the car for the game!

Car silliness!

Getting ready to watch Tyler play!

After the game treats and snacks. Their team
managed four outs this game and Tyler got two singles...granted they are only allowed to run one base...but he didn't get out at first and that is exciting!

Biking to Childrens Zoo

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 02:55:00 +0000

This week Tyler is in an all day Cub Scout camp. And so Kevin and Jacob and I have been back to entertaining ourselves while Adam works and Tyler is gone.

Tuesday I decided to put the boys in the bike trailer and bike to the zoo. I wasn't
totally convinced it was a good idea because we had to deal with a lake (and the hilly dam) on the way. There was a bike path though the entire way there so that was on our side.

Ultimately we decided to try it. Getting there was super easy because we got to ride down the dam and the weather was cool. Once there we had fun doing a quick tour.

Kevin holding a butterfly.

Hiding in a secret path/tunnel from me.

Playing in a spiderweb.

A picture of me!

More climbing.

Group shot.

A camel. Dad had Kevin promise that he would feed
the camels for him so we
did and had a blast!

YouTube Video

Then a trip to the beehive to see reptiles and pet a python.

A necessary ice cream break.

Decisions. . .

Playing in the big eggs.

Seeing the reindeer to make sure Santa wasn't there. Since we came to the zoo to visit with Santa last year Kevin is now convinced Santa lives there sometimes.

We headed out as it was really warming up. We made it about a forth mile
away and stopped at a park
To play. It was huge and I figured a few more minutes playing was much better than an hour of them being upset that we didn't.

Once they tried what they wanted at the playground. The trip home was harder. Going back up the backside of the dam was hard!! But once past that the trip home wasn't too much and the kids enjoyed the big adventure.