Happy 5th Birthday

Hard to believe Libby is 5! Seems like yesterday when we brought her home and Maison tried to feed her Doritos! Since Libby is rather girlie, I decided to take her and a couple of her friends to the Beauty Shop to have their hair and nails done!

I was sure they would be so giggly and chatty, but I was completely wrong! I've never seen a group of girls so quiet in my entire life! There was NO talking or giggling! Just silence! It was the craziest thing I have ever witnessed!

After the girls were all dolled up, we went back home for some pizza, cake, ice cream, presents, and bouncy house fun! Everyone had a great time. We even continued the party the next morning with some card opening and cake and ice cream for breakfast!

Libby lovea all of her gifts and cards! She loves the Pet Shops, her Hello Kitty bike, and all of the sparkly cards. However, I think her favorite gift is her number 5 birthday girl from her Godmother Becky! She knows it's coming every year, but she is so excited to see it! Goofy girl. She combined some of her birthday money to buy the Hannah Montana movie which has been running nonstop in the van since the purchase!

Thanks again for all of the cards and gifts!

10 Months Old

This month will be quite busy for little Miss Squizzy! We will celebrate Libby's 5th birthday, the kids will both start school, and she will see her first ISU game!

She isn't walking yet but Jason thinks it will be soon! She will stand up on her own from a squat. She is very stable but only because her toes are digging into the carpet and hanging on for dear life! She likes to walk behind her little walker and play in the Tupperware cupboard.

She is definitely the most stubborn out of all the kids! She already "lets them have it" when she doesn't get her way! Temper Temper! She has a great GGGRRR face!

Looks like she could get 4 upper teeth any day now! I think I'm kidding myself when I say her temper will subside when her teeth come in. Thinking she's crabby because her teeth are coming in. One can only hope!

Swimming Lessons

This year swimming lessons seemed to be more difficult for some reason. Maison has taken level 3, three times before he passed and Libby has taken level 2, twice before she passed. They had a great time in swimming lessons this year, but there were a few days that the temp was so low, they had to take the kids in-doors! We definately DID NOT get our money's worth this year with our pool passes!

Fun in the Sun

Our neighbors Nichole and Jason invited us and the kids for a day at the beach. The kids had a blast playing in the sand and tubing! Iz loved being on the boat! Libby went tubing, but she wasn't too sure about the whole thing! Maison on the other hand would have tubed the entire day! He is quite the fish.

Of course it wouldn't be a trip with the Allen's without some sort of drama! My Jason sliced his toe on a broken prop. Nichole's Jason fixed him up pretty well, but I really thought it could have used a couple of stitches! Then when we went to leave, the boat wouldn't started so we had to have someone tow is in. To top it all off, our Jason got the remote to the van wet and we couldn't get in! GRRRR! I wonder if they will ever invite us out again?!

Click Play For Some Fun in The Sun!

(Bring your own first aid kit!)

Paddling For Hope: Dragonscapers

Click Play to See the Dragonscapers in Action

WARNING

Some of the Music in the video might not be appropriate for children (Clarence Carter: Strokin')

This year Daddy's company, Country Landscapes, Inc, participated in Paddling For Hope which is sponsored by My Angel Foundation. Country Landscapes was invited to participate in the Dragon Boat Races at Gray's Lake because of their work on the Chinese Cultural Center of America in Des Moines, IA.

The Dragonscapers made a strong showing in the time trials, but fizzled out in the actual race. One of the other teams challenged the Dragonscapers which proved to be successful for Country Landscapes. Everyone had a great time! It was quite an experience. We are already looking forward to next year!

Splash!

So we headed to Des Moines today because Country Landscapes has entered a Dragon Boat Race for tomorrow. More on that later. We decided to stay some place with a pool so the kids could swim. Everyone had a really great time. Our friends Curt and Jill met us there for some swimming too!

Click the Play Button to Get Wet!

Weird Weather

So this summer has been quite different. What's all this hoopla about global warming? We have had a total of one week where the temps reached into the 90's! It's hasn't been a great year for the pool, but it has been a great year for playing outside! However, when the storms do roll in, the clouds have been very weird looking!

Because of the nice weather, we have seen quite a few hotair balloons floating around North Liberty. Not too long ago we saw them being blown up in the lot behind our house.

No One Is Leaving Until...

Have you ever had one of those weeks? It's just been a strange week. Jason woke up Friday morning complaining about being stiff and sore. He hardly complains about anything so I knew something was up. I suggested he go to the doctor and he actually agreed. (Translation: It must have been really really bad for him to make an appointment.) They ran all sort of tests on and off for most of the week and the only conclusion was that it was some strain of the mono virus!

One night I went down to the gym for my second workout for the day. As I was leaving the gym the lady at the desk says, "oh shoot, your husband called and I told him you had left already." I take off for the van because Jason never calls me and for him to call me at the gym means he went to alot of work to find the number so it must be serious. I call him back on my cell phone to find out that Maison was running through the grass, tripped and chipped his front left permanent tooth in the driveway! I race home and as I'm driving Jason is telling me it is only maybe a third of his tooth. So I'm thinking it won't be too bad. Maybe they can just file the other tooth down to match! Imagine my surprise when I got home to find that more like half of Maison's tooth was missing!

Earlier in the week, the kids were over at Grama Shari and Papa Ed's house and Izzy was giving the kitty more love than he could handle, so naturally, he "put the tooth on her". (Translation: he bit her arm).

Then there's Libby. She was next door playing with the boys on their swing set/fort. I hear a bunch of commotion and Libby comes home screaming. I asked her what happened and all I heard was... I was whaaaaa, sniff sniff sniff, sob sob, then whaaaaaaaaa, I told whaaaaaaaa, but I don't want to play anymore sob sob. I was never able to get the whole story from her and of course each kid had their version of the truth but some how Libby was going to slid down the slide when all of a sudden the rock climbing rope got wrapped around her neck. It's amazing that no one saw anyone put the rope around her neck! I'm sure when she's 30 we'll hear what really happened.

The story wouldn't be complete without Gracie! Our neighbor Carey thought it would be a great idea to have Gracie come over and meet their new dog Jack. I was hesitant in saying that she gets nervous around dogs that are bigger than she is. Against my better judgement I went and got her. Jack took one sniff of her butt and she snapped at him. He didn't like that and snapped back puncturing Gracie's ear. Gracie doesn't get mad, she gets even. After Jack lost interest in her, she took off and went up on Carey's deck and left a Cleveland Steamer right by their sliding glass door! I'm sure that really showed him!

At that point I made the executive decision to keep everyone in the house for a couple of days just because I could hear the cash register dinging in my head!

Summer '09

So I finally got my new camera; the Nikon 5000D. I absolutely love it! If I could only figure out all of the cool things it does by yesterday!!! Here are some pictures of the kids. Maison's 8, Libby's 5, and Squiz is 9 months. Maison says to me the other day, "hey mom, when I'm 11 Libby will be 8." I gave him my best "you're crazy" look and he says, "I did the math." Some days it's so hard to believe just how old they are getting!

9 Months Old

It is really hard to believe our Squizz is 9 months old! She is still a little peanut! Only about 15lbs still and a little over 28in long! She is traveling a little better now, mostly in town driving but you definitely know when it's time to head home!

She loves to eat, eat, and eat! She is drinking less and less formula as Papa Ed gave her strawberry milk in her bottle! At least the strawberry milk was whole milk! Squizz also loves playing with her Sissy's dollies. Unfortunately Squizz always has to be the Daddy because he is the only doll with hard plastic hair! Libby doesn't want her dollies' hair to be ruin as she spends hours and hours fixing and brushing their hair!

Squizz has been to the pool a few times and loves to swim! She loves just floating on her back! Next year she will be much more fun at the pool!

4th of July

Jason took all of the kids up to Vermillion, SD to visit their cousins for the 4th of July weekend so Mama could get some well deserved R & R! I was sad to see them all leave, but mentally my brain gave a huge sigh of relief. Maybe technically that would be considered a brain fart?!

The kids had a great time with their cousins as always!

8 Months Old

Little Izzy McSquizzy. She is still a little peanut only weighing in at 15.5 lbs which puts her in the 5% for weight! Her head and height are in the 50%, You can really see her to bottom teeth in this picture. She is definately not affraid to use them and when I say use them I really mean USE THEM! Iz is definately an eating machine! She will eat anything that is put infront of her.

Swamp Hole

I'm going to preface the above title, "Swamp Hole" with a little story. One day we were all in the kitchen and I look over and Maison's scratching his backside. From the angle I a was at, it looked like he was in it up to his elbow! I said, "Dude, what are you doin'?" He looked at me like I was completely stupid and says in all seriousness, "I got swamp hole." I couldn't help but laugh and asked, "what is swamp hole?" He said, "you know, when your butt gets all sweaty and itchy." Now, I can honestly say I've never heard that expression in quite that way. I think the reason why I laughed was because it made me think of "swamp a-double snakes", ("snakes" is code for the letter S, and double obviously meaning two.) which I hadn't heard in years! So I think we can all agree that swamp hole is not fun.

So with that said, let's discover one way a person can get major swamp hole. Papa Ed was home for the week and the kids wanted to go over and help in the yard. (So far, so good) I agreed and took the kids over. Later that afternoon, Papa called and said, "you might want to bring a change of clothes when you come over. The kids got a little dirty today." I really didn't think much of it because kids get dirty when working in the yard. "A little dirty", was putting it WAY TOO MILDLY! I packed up some clothes and headed over to my folk's house. When Squizzy and I got out of the van, I could hear the kids playing on the side of the house. I walked over and am greeted with the sights below!

What the h-e-double hockey sticks (double hockey sticks is code for 2 L's) happened? My Dad said, the kids might have gotten a little muddy! I know for a fact that when Ryan and I were little there was no way in H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS that would have ever happened!

This whole week Jason was in Canada. When I showed him these pictures he said..."So, how did you handle that?!" He knows me all too well! Surprisingly I didn't freak or even really care. However, if that had been in our yard, well those kids would be burried in their swamp hole! My mom was a little more vocal. I hope for my sake, my mom laid into my dad after we left.

Mind you, it wasn't too warm out and there was no way I was taking the kids in the house until they were hosed off. We hosed them off nude in the front yard infront of God and everyone!

Last Dance Show

Click Play to Rock Around The Clock

Libby's dance class had their last performance tonight. They were the pregame entertainment at the Cedar Rapids Kernels game. They did great and it was a perfect night! See you next dance season!

Pack Graduation

Maison's den graduated tonight. They all went from Wolves to Bears. Congratulations Mase! Now if Mommy would get on the ball and get all of your patches sewn on! Way to go Dude!

Adventure Land

Maison's school went on their annual Adventure Land trip today. We drove down the day before and stayed and the Adventure Land Inn. The hotel was awesome. The kids loved the pool! They swam all afternoon and most of the evening.

The next morning we met the other kids and their families at Adventure Land. This was the first time for the kids and my second time. (Jason took me on a date there once before we got married.) Daddy and the kids rode a few rides together. We ended up taking a break and watched a magic show because the kids looked pretty green! Too many rides that went round and round! There wasn't anything they wouldn't ride, even the rollercoasters! Some of the rides they would only ride once, like the rollercoasters, but at least they tried everything once. Daddy even managed to win each kid a stuffed puppy with his awesome skeeball skills!

Grab Your Barf Bucket and Press Play

Spring Show

Click Play to See Some Fabulous Dancing

Libby had her Spring Show tonight at Clear Creek Amana High School. They always do such a great job. Libby really really loves her dance class. Unfortunately this is the last year Miss Maggie will be her instructor. She wants to continue, so hopfully Miss Andrea will keep up the great work.

7 Months Old

My oh my! May is always such a busy month for us! There are lots of trips and school activities! Squiz participated in everything. She was our little drag around dolly!

She took her first swim when we went to Adventure Land! She was in the pool for over an hour! She loved it! The kids love doing more with her because she responds to them! Maison is such a great big brother. He takes her all over and loves walking her in her stroller!

She took her first major trip to Indy with us and Grammy! It was a good thing Grammy was with us because she does not travel well! The 5 hour trip took much longer than 5 hours! Whoa! I've never seen I child become more awake while in the car!

We are looking forward to the summer! The kids will have a great time together.

The Niabi Zoo

Click Play to Go on a Walkabout

Maison's school took a trip today to the Niabi Zoo over in the Quad Cities. We have never been there before and man were we missing out. It's a fabulous little zoo! A zoo employee did a presentation on the "Big Cats" for about an hour. Man was it interesting! Did you know that a Jaguar is basically a black Cheetah? If you look at one of the pictures closely in the video, you can actually see it's spots! Let's see...did you know that cats of that size can't be declawed? Their nails help to relive the pressure of their weight off of their paws! If you want to know more, just ask Maison! He's a pro!

We ate lunch at the zoo and finished with a zoo scavenger hunt. The kids had a great time, saw some really amazing things, and learned a ton!