Friday, August 10, 2012

Iowa State Fair

We took a very last minute and quick trip up to Des Moines with Nana for the Iowa State Fair and had a great time. What a perfect way to end the summer before school starts next week. 

We started the night out with cheese dip from a mexican restaurant across the hotel. 




After dinner we checked out the hotel pool and they had so much fun swimming with Nana. 



Rooms with two beds were sold out so we camped out in a king size bed! Hudson ate some grapes before bed and Jack ate my favorite dark chocolate almonds that Nana brought me and called them "Nana's new grapes!". Guess I will have to start sharing those amazing things. 

Jack rode his first horse and Nana didn't mind helping him at all! 

Feeding animals at the petting zoo. Jack and Nana were in love with the animals. Hudson and I mostly watched:). 
We met Clifford and Jack gave him a huge hug. 


Jack loved all of the animals. 

Hudson saw this wall storage unit that would hold cars and thought it was pretty cool and wanted me to take a picture of it so Daddy could make one. Ha. 

Petting a brand new baby cow. 

Being little helpers on the farm in the children's area where they could pretend they were farmers. They got rewarded at the end and thought it was pretty cool to buy an orange drink at the end with the money they had "earned" on the farm. 





Jack fell asleep in the stroller in the afternoon and Hudson and I got to ride some rides. He had waited all day to do the rides. Such a fun trip! 

July randoms

We have had a fun, but HOT July as temps were in the 100's most days. We have spent lots of time at the pool where Hudson has become a great swimmer. He dives for toys over and over, jumps, does somersaults and swims all around. It is hard to believe six weeks ago he didn't like getting his face wet!   Jack is catching up and going under water a bit in his floaties as well. Here are a few updates on the boys:

Hudson loves the game Temple Run on the iPad and had his dad and uncle beat for about a week till they got determined to find new ways to beat him! He is starting to do some basic math, telling time and counting money. He still asks a million questions a day, most of which we don't know the answer to! He loves to teach and talk to Jack about everything. Yesterday he told him not to be afraid of monsters because they don't live in Kansas City. He seems excited to start kindergarten although he told me yesterday he didn't need to go to Kindergarten to learn to read because he could just watch  WordWorld on PBS. It is hard to believe he starts real school next week but we are all excited for him!

Jack spends most of his time being a lion or Buzz Lightyear. He won't go up stairs without his arms up like he is an airplane. He is starting to show an interest in potty training but not completely there yet. He is counting great, can sing ABC's but hasn't shown much interest in letters yet. He has at least 10 bedtime books memorized like "Goodnight Moon", "Go Dog Go", "Moo, Baa, La La La", "Very Hungry Caterpillar", and "Brown Bear" and wants to read to you at night ("I do it!"). He is very independent and likes to dress himself, get his seatbelt on in the car and put his own shoes it. If you ask him how old he is he will say "I am 5 and I am going to Kindergarten". He is pretty happy each morning when he wakes up and it is usually with a giggle. Last week he ran into our room when he woke up and shouted "Guess who is awake!" He sure keeps us laughing!

fell asleep watching a movie on the iPad

bath time fun with shaving cream

their favorite dinner: homemade pizzas and smoothies

They were playing "babies" then mixed it with cars and then diapered all of their cars.....

their new stomp rocket toy - a big hit!

Jack with all of his friends from Madagascar

Hudson still plays with Cars toys constantly!


Hudson and Ainsley at swim lessons

I ordered a kale salad for lunch and Jack traded me for his cheeseburger and ate  my whole salad. I am pretty sure he got the better deal!

We went to Zonkers to celebrate Aiden's birthday and they had a blast.



The little boys started swim lessons.

Watching the Olympics

some back to school shopping

Mommy, do these fit?

Fun at Wonderscope

Water bottle turned rocket ship


Watching the Clifford movie

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Mommy's birthday

On July 26th, I celebrated my 33rd birthday and had a wonderful day. Nana kept the boys while I met a friend for lunch and they went all out in decorating for a party at her house after dinner. 

Jack and Hudson's cards. 



My requested ice cream cake



Hudson helping me open gifts. I got very spoiled with a beautiful bracelet from Nana, and wallet and necklace from John and the boys. 


Helping Nana cut the cake


Jack stuck when he flipped the rocking chair. Crazy boy!