Thirty Eight Weeks - Frontier Days!

Jim and Brody enjoying a hot dog before the Frontier Days Parade starts.

We headed to my parents for the annual Frontier Days celebration! It was a bit rainy this year, but luckily the rain stopped right before the parade started. Brody was ready to collect some candy!

During the parade Brody decided to show off his dance moves!

Jim decided to try out the 5K race! He decided the morning off to participate, and to his amazement he came in 3rd in his age group and 10th overall! There were a little over 200 racers, so I think that is a great first showing! I think it has him thinking that 5Ks may be the way to go - which would be okay with me because that would require a lot less training :)

Addisen really enjoyed her first Frontier Days Parade - she was AMAZED by the bands! She watched them and clapped along! Must be the musical talent comes from Jim's side of the family!

Posing for Bobo's camera

The landscaping has brought on some of my worst enemies....butterflies! I knew that we were planting a butterfly bush, but I didn't really think this many butterflies would come! This afternoon when we got home there were about 30 yellow butterflies all lined up in front of the bush. Brody ran straight to them with his "gun" and started taking care of business for his mommy! You can barely see them to in the dirt on the left side of the picture - but look closely and you will see those scary little yellow guys!

Thirty Seven Weeks - Labor Day!

Addisen had her 8 month well child visit last Thursday. She continues to be in the 90th percentile for height and weight (28.25 inches long and 20lbs 11oz). It appears her weight gain has slowed down, but her head growth had increased! I guess Jim and I just make big headed kids!

Jim was excited to get the kids in their Penn State gear on Saturday! I now know what I have to look forward to for the next few months!

Addisen is getting so close to being on the move. She sits up really well on her own now, and you can tell that she is trying to figure out how to get crawling. It's funny to watch her as she attempts it, she is pretty much doing push ups instead of bending her knees!

Brody is starting to realize that Addisen enjoys his toys more than her own!

Addisen's other major development is her ability to clap on demand. She loves to sit there and just clap along or give you high fives! It is so fun to watch her develop - although I am often wishing she was just my little baby again when I am rocking her before bed. Time just goes by too fast!

My mom and dad came to visit this weekend - well actually work! I had asked my mom if she would watch Addisen while Jim and I worked on our landscaping - it turned more into Addisen watching us and my mom working hard in the yard!

I don't think the pictures truly show how much improvement we made in our yard. We had a landscape architect develop plans for our 2 acres and have just barely scratched the surface of changes!

I was a bit naive to how much work this would require. I thought that mom and dad would be able to head home on Sunday morning, but instead we were really just getting started! Saturday was so hot and humid I thought Jim was going to quit on me! Luckily my dad came after he got out of work Saturday night and offered to help with the rototiller.

Sunday morning we were up early to finish the project and luckily the weather got a bit cooler. We were done around 8:30pm on Sunday night and only had to finish with the mulch on Monday morning. We could have never completed it without all the help from my parents! I am guessing they will be thinking twice next time I ask them to come and "watch the kids!"

Brody was a big helper during the whole process. Saturday night when we were all dying from the humidity he was running around the house with the hose. I wish I would have gotten more pictures over the weekend - but honestly I was just too tired and sore to think about anything else!

I think his favorite part was riding in the trailer with Grandma (and Bobo, but I didn't get his picture!). Jim and Bobo would let Brody ride around in the trailers as they moved things around the yard. He really was a good boy during the whole thing!

Addisen was a trooper too - she took great naps on most days and on Saturday when she didn't want to nap, Bobo enjoyed some quiet time with her.

We hope everyone else had a much more relaxing Labor Day Weekend!

Thirty Six Weeks

Not too much new going on in our household this week - which is a welcomed thing! It has become a weekly event to go and eat downtown on Friday nights and feed the ducks. This week we were surprised to see horse drawn carriage rides through Rockford! Unfortunately I wasn't able to capture a picture during our ride, but Brody had a great time being pulled by Babe the horse!

Jim went a little crazy online at the Penn State Store! Brody ended up with a new Penn State wardrobe, Addisen hairbows and Jim more things than I probably know about!

We celebrated my dad's birthday this week....and yes he did have a Cars themed birthday cake (what is Bobo going to do when Addisen is old enough to know that was for Brody?). Addisen did share in the cupcakes and Brody enjoyed the multi color "lipstick" that the frosting gave!

Saturday we decided to freeze our own sweet corn, at first I thought we might be crazy to try to take on this task, but surprisingly it all went smoothly. We bought 100 ears of corn on Saturday and Sunday morning we were able to get all of it in bags and in the freezer! Hopefully it is as good as everyone has been telling us in February!

Addisen will be going to the doctor for her 8 month check up on Thursday. I will make sure to update everyone with her stats - I think my girl may have slowed down in her growth - but we will see :)

Thirty Five Weeks

Addisen is going to be a good eater! She is the complete opposite of Brody when it comes to food. Of course she isn't eating this apple, but this represents her perfectly - she will try anything that looks like it could go in her mouth! We will have to be careful with Brody's toys once she is on the move!

We went camping this past weekend with my brother and Jenny. The campground was only about 20 minutes from our house, so it was nice to not have to travel too far. On Saturday we decided to head in to Greenville for the Danish Festival. We have lived here 6 years and we have never made it to the annual event. I was under the impression that it would be similar to the activities held in Rockford, but I was wrong! We arrived at the parade and there were hundreds of people!

The kids were worn out after we got back the camper, but did not want to take naps. So they both ended up in unusual napping areas!

We ended up getting a storm on Saturday afternoon that left our campsite under water! While it may have been a mother's nightmare, it made Brody's camp adventure even better!

Although Brody does not enjoy taking serious pictures, he loves goofing around! In this picture Brody is trying to blow out the "candle".

The major excitement this week for me was the earthquake! I was sitting at work today and could feel the building starting to sway, then all at once everyone figured out that it wasn't just them feeling the floor move! It was pretty crazy to watch my door sway back and forth. It turns out that it was the earthquake that originated on the East Coast. There has been too much other excitement around our house this week. Addisen and Brody both seem to be going through some sleeping issues. It seems like Addisen is starting to have withdrawal issues with us leaving the room at night and Brody is having staying in bed issues :) Hopefully these phases will pass quickly.

8 Month Portraits

Here are the 8 month portraits I promised in the last post. We had about 15 minute before Brody and Addisen lost patience with us tonight! I am pretty proud of the results!

Thirty Four Weeks - Rainy Day Fun

One of Addisen's teachers makes headbands, bows and flowers - and I just couldn't resist any longer! My plan is to get Addisen's 8 month pictures taken tomorrow with the headbands, so hopefully there will be some more pictures to share.

This morning we woke up to thunderstorms but were still able to get quite a bit of fun in. This morning we headed to the Sticky Bun Place (one of Brody's favorites), the Farmer's Market and even played outside on the swing set and with the hoses before another storm came thru. While Jim and I worked on cleaning the garage Brody took some time to play in the rain!

I've finally figured out how to get Brody to look at the camera - ask him not to!

Tonight when the weather cleared up we headed in to Rockford for some ice cream and to feed the ducks. Addisen was begging for ice cream this trip - she would whine between every bite!

She definitely has a sweet tooth like her mommy and big brother!

Brody requested a much needed haircut last night - it is pretty bad when your 3 year old is asking to get his haircut! I can't believe how much older he looks now.

We fed the ducks for a new location this week - luckily this was enough to keep the mean geese away!

Brody wanted to walk down to see the "waterfall".

He was amazed by all of the moving water at the dam.

This week Addisen has started getting up on all fours! I can't believe that we may have a crawler on our hands soon. She is definitely eager to reach for all of her brother's toys - once she is on the go I have a feeling we are going to have a whiny big brother!

Thirty Three Weeks - Christmas in August?

You know the saying - All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth? Well, Addisen is celebrating Christmas in August! Her new favorite hobby is grinding her two top and bottom teeth together! I vividly remember this stage when Brody was an infant - it lasted way too long! Hopefully the novelty will wear off quicker with Addisen.

Last weekend we made another appearance at the go-cart track! Addisen was excited to try out her new sun hat and take in the scenery.

Jim and Brody started the races off with a tandem ride against the high school boys that were working. Then it was on to race each other - They were nice enough to drive a go-cart for Jim to ride over to Brody's side of the track. Brody enjoyed winning the race!

Jim hooked up the infant swing this week - Addisen had a GREAT time swinging with her big brother!

I know I am probably bias, but it seems like there is never a bad picture of this little girl! Her brother on the other hand - he rarely allows me to take a picture of him! Here are some of the better ones...

I have to settle for a cheesy smile...or nothing at all!

Nothing too new in our household this week. Addisen's breathing fluctuates quite a bit - overall I guess I would say she is sounding better. She is almost sitting up consistently on her own. I still surround her by a pillow in case she loses interest and falls over. It doesn't look like she will be too interested in crawling anytime soon, she can get about anywhere she wants to be by rolling there. Everyday on her notes from daycare is a comment of how she rolled around the room and the other babies waved hi as she rolled by!

I hope the weather cools off this week and the humidity drops. Jim will be traveling for the first part of the week, so the ability to be outside will help entertain Brody! His bestfriend at day care, Mackenzie, is going to a new school starting this week. It was rough last week on her last day, Brody was really out of his sorts and very sad that his best buddy wasn't coming back. I am dreading tomorrow because it will be the first official day that she is missing - I hope he is able to transition well. Between his dad and his best friend being gone I may be in for a rough Monday!