New and Improved!

Before.

And after. These wire shelves were on sale at Target for $14.99 and the bins were on sale for $7.99. Why are bins so expensive? It wouldn't surprise me if these bins were trashed in a month or so and I have to buy new ones. They are pretty sturdy but toys are rough, as are my kids. Anyhow, I am very excited about the change! Next on my list, a new rug for the living room.

Eighteen Months!

That's right. Jacob's first day of school was also Emrick's half birthday! So, my baby girl is officially one and a half years old. One point five. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. She is ornery as ever and cries way more than I remember Jacob crying at this age and has an attitude the size of Texas. Of course I wouldn't change anything about her, but she is an armful sometimes! She refuses to keep shoes on her feet. Answers yes and no questions appropriately. Loves to eat fruit of any kind. But her favorite thing in the whole world is playing with Jacob and Daddy. And now that Jacob is in school she gets a little bored! As I'm typing, They are all chasing each other around our teeny little house screeching with joy and even though the noise is giving me a headache, it's seriously the sweetest thing I've ever seen in my entire life.

First Day!

Jacob's first day of school. Ever! He walked right into the classroom and was ready to go. I think I was the first mom to leave the classroom! I didn't want to linger and make him nervous... When we picked him up the teacher said he was a bit mouthy and sat in a time out but other than that he had a really good day. Walking home, he asked us when he was going to stop going to school...

Fun Weekend...

Now down to business. This morning we met Jacob's teacher. He got to make a hand print with paint and get his picture taken while Burger and I filled out papers and filled the teacher in about his strange skin/milk/cat issues. Super fun! Wednesday Burger and I will go to orientation, for what I'm not sure since we filled out (hopefully) all the papers today. Then Thursday Jacob goes to his first day. A half day, and Friday is a half day also. Then next Monday starts 8:33AM-1PM full days, every day. Wow. That is going to be such a big change for every one in this house!

The weekend was really fun. Jacob and Burger went fishing with Burger's dad and then we all stay out on their farm and camped out in the tent. Well, the kids and Burger and Dave camped out in the tent. I made it half the night then ended up on the couch in their living room! Thanks Dave and Sue for letting us stay the night and camp/sleep on your couch! Jacob and Emrick had a great time. In fact, later Sunday afternoon Emrick cried for almost an hour until we took her back outside. She was not done being outside for the day. She's going to be begging us to let her hang out on the farm all the time just as soon as she figures out how to form real words!

We also went to a birthday party on Sunday. More fun and food and awesome cake! I love cake. I mean, I REALLY love cake. So any kind of celebration with cake is my favorite! In fact, after the party I wasn't quite over the cake, so I made my own at home. Not nearly as good as what we had at the party. But still, cake is cake!

Before the Fair

On the way to the state fair, we stopped for some lunch and in the parking lot the kids found a dead butterfly. They thought it was amazing. I thought it made for some cute pictures!

Burger woke up this morning with a yucky cold. Gross, hope I don't catch it! Jacob's teacher called this morning and we will be meeting her on Monday. On Wednesday Burger and I are going to orientation, where kids aren't invited. The plan is to have my mom watch the kids so we can both go and meet the teachers and hear the 'rules' of bringing him to school. Then he starts on Thursday with a half day. I am way more nervous than Jacob is. In fact, nervous isn't even in his head. He's only excited! Which makes me happy, and a little less nervous!

On Saturday we are planning to go to Burger's dad's. They are going to go fishing then camping out over night. I haven't decided if Emrick and I will take part in these activities or not. I'm sure we will because I hate to be left behind! I will stock up on bug spray.

Jacob is a pro bike rider now. He caught on super fast once he decided he wanted to ride. But, his Diego bike has a broken chain that keeps breaking. So we got the extra bike from my mom's but it's a bit too small for him and the training wheels are funky. So we are thinking that we will be buying him a new bike soon. It's kind of exciting! I think we will take him and let him pick out whichever one he wants. He will be super excited!

Right now we are headed to the park, then maybe Kohl's. I'm thinking Starbucks is in order, too.

Iowa State Fair

I have been trying all day to upload pictures here but blogger won't let me. Why do I have so many problems with this? No one else ever seems to have problems with this. Do you use blogger? Do you have problems uploading your pictures? How do I fix it?

Moving on, as the title clearly states, we went to the Iowa State Fair. Yesterday. It was so super hot but the kids loved it and we did so many fun things! We didn't eat anything fun, which is kind of a bummer. But we weren't really hungry. We drank a ton. Water and lemonade and some Powerade. Jacob's favorite part was the little blue dog he won playing the Lucky Duck game. Emrick won a ball. That was handed to her then promptly thrown, then chased down by Daddy. But we did a lot of really fun things! The kids got to ride some ponies and pet a camel. They did spin art and Emrick loved it. We went to Little Hands one the Farm and got to pretend to plant and harvest crops and go through the whole 'farm' then sell the 'goods' at the Farmer's Market to use the 'money' to get a prize at the store. It was really fun! Emrick picked a banana as her prize and Jacob picked a Popsicle.

After the fair we drove to Toys'R'Us and Emrick picked a baby doll in a backpack on wheels off the shelf. She pushed it all around the store and was so in love with it. When it was time to go, she couldn't bear to part with it, so Daddy bought it for her. Spoiled rotten little girl. Since Emrick got to buy something, Jacob got to buy a train. He was really happy.

Today we have been hanging out at home and not doing anything. I cleaned the kitchen up, but that's about it. Emrick's been pushing her baby all around the house. And Jacob rode his bike to the park with Burger. For the first time ever. He never was very interested in riding bikes but today he said he wanted to. And he did. On the way home the chain fell off his bike and Burger can't figure out how to fix it because it just keeps falling off. So, now that he wants to ride his bike, he can't. Because it's broken. Go figure.

Oops

I was uploading more picture of our trip to the petting zoo, but blogger doesn't want to cooperate. So you only get the one of Emrick and a goat looking at something that must be fairly entertaining.

Here, I would like to say that I struggle with titling my posts. Everything seems so boring but if I add more, then I feel like I'm giving away the story! Now you know why my titles always suck. On to bigger and better topics. I feel like we have been the busiest, craziest people that ever lived. And we haven't even been doing anything. Well, nothing useful. Certainly not cleaning... But we did go to the petting zoo! And today we went to Barnes and Noble to play with trains and then when Burger went to work I took the kids to the pool with some friends. Had fun, wore the kids out. The end. This weekend we are planning on going to the Iowa State Fair! Jacob's teacher is going to call before next Wednesday and set up a meeting to meet him then orientation (just for parents) is on the 25th and he starts with a half day on the 26th. Omigod, omigod, omigod... Too close for comfort. I hope we fall into the new 'school' schedule easily. Somehow, I don't really see that happening. I have been staying up far too late at night and have to drag myself (literally) out of bed at 8:20 to rushrushrush to be to the Y by 9 on the days I work. Which will be drastically cut to Tuesday and Thursdays starting next Tuesday. Anyhow, I have to go wash my dishes immediately or I won't be able to stay awake long enough. And if I don't wash them tonight then I won't be able to make breakfast in the morning. Because breakfast requires dishes. And I have none that are clean. Putting them all on the floor overnight for the dog to lick doesn't actually constitute clean? Then I better get busy!

P.S. Do you love when I write in one big gigantic run-on paragraph? Because I think it adds some flare to my style. And maybe it gives you an idea of what actually goes on in my head... Also, we went to the pool in Waverly then ate at BK where Burger's sister Cheryl works. Hi Cheryl! Thanks for making a dinner that filled our bellies and satisfied our taste buds!

A video

Today is Jacob's fourth birthday. I can't believe I've had this amazing little person in my life for four whole years. We had his actual party last Sunday but today we went to McDonald's playplace with my parents and my Grandma and our dear family friend, Bonny. Jacob got surprised with more birthday presents. And he made a cake with Burger before Burger had to leave for work. We had a really great day!

My Kids

Amazing. We always 'joke' that Jacob is a mini Burger and Emrick is a mini me. And it's always entertaining because Emrick tends to gravitate towards Burger and Jacob is kind of my buddy. Not on purpose, not 'playing favorites' but that's just kind of the way it usually turns out. Emrick responds to Burger in a totally (and most times much better) way than she responds to me and vise verse with Jacob.

Which brings me to my next point. Jacob starts preschool in just a few short weeks. Every time I think of it I have to hold back the tears. The tears of joy, because he is growing into such an amazing and happy young boy. He is so excited for every new thing to happen and goes with the flow so well. Anyone who knows me knows for sure that he did not learn that from hanging around me! And tears of sadness because they're stealing my little baby boy from me. He will make friends that I don't know (and pre-approve) and have conversations that I don't hear. He will cut with scissors, glue with glue sticks, color, make cool crafts. He will surely write his name for the first time and I won't be there to witness it. They will feed him foods that I don't know the nutrition facts of and hopefully they will always remember that he has a doctor's note and give him water instead of milk.

I am looking forward to spending some alone time with Emrick. And the chores I will be able to get done with only one kid at home!! I know that him going to pre-k is the right and healthy choice for all of us. But it's such a big change. He is too excited to go to school. Can't wait to meet his teacher and new friends. I thank my lucky stars that he is happy about this change because if he wasn't, then it would be a million times harder for me to let him go.

Jacob's Birthday Party!

Emrick ate sand.

Jacob blew out the candles.

He opened his presents.

The kids all played and enjoyed themselves.

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We all had a good time and Jacob had a ton of fun. Thanks Dave and Sue for letting us have it at your farm! Thursday is his actual birthday and he keeps telling me that yesterday was his unbirthday. I think he has been watching Alice in Wonderland too much!