Gameday!!

It's gameday, people!!  The game starts at 6:00pm!  Get excited!!  This will be Avery's first football game (out of the womb)!  ;)  We are soooooo excited!!  Will (try to) post more later!  :D  Have an awesome day!

September

Sorry I haven't posted much lately.  When we don't have a lot of new qnd exciting things going on, I don't know what to say...  But here is q little of what's been going on and what's coming up in our family.  :)

As always, we go to the zoo several times a month.  Last weekend the zoo had their "Zoobilee".  We didn't attend, as the cost is $125/person, but we want to someday.  Seems like it would be fun to go to.  :)  We love the zoo and supporting it that way is something we look forward to doing at some point.  :)

We are working on getting things ready for Avery's birthday party!  I'm having so much fun!!  :)  It stinks that we can't have the party on her actual birthday (especially since it falls on a Saturday).  But we have a wedding to attend, so that plan is out.  I'm looking forward to having people over to celebrate my favorite little girl!  One nice thing is that on a Sunday her nap schedule should work perfectly with the time of her party.  :)  Glad things work out sometimes.  :)  I just hope she has fun!  I love her so much!!

As most of you probably know, Avery is walking now.  She took her first steps at 9 months, and by the time she hit 10 months it had clicked in her brain and she's been walking ever since!  :)  We've been sooooo spoiled with her!!  She is such an amazing baby!!  The rest of this paragraph I will brag on my awesome daughter.  :D  At 1 month old she was sleeping through the night.  When she turned 6 months old I started her on solid food, and she loves everything.  She never spits things out and always eats lots.  I never worry about her not eatting enough.  She has nursed beautifully for 11+ months.  We went through a small biting phase, but it was short-lived and she's done great ever since.  She loves to talk and uses a couple of signs to help communicate with us.  She gave up her pacifier on her own at about 7 months and hasn't looked back.  She uses a sippy cup like a champ and I don't forsee having any problems when I take her bottles away in the next month.  She began walking at 9 months and had it mastered by 10 months, most babies aren't walking until around a year!!  She has been the dream baby!!  :)  I'm sure we won't get so lucky with the next one, but I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that someday we have one just as perfect as beautiful Miss Avery!!  :D

This weekend we're going to Manhattan for the K-State football game.  One of the girls I work with, Melissa, and her boyfriend have season tickets.  So we're going to trade a football game for a few basketball games.  :)  We're going to tailgate with them as well!!  I'm very excited to take Avery to Manhattan and share it and K-State with her.  We love it so much!  I hope she does too.  :)

Well, this post has gotten plenty long.  Maybe I'll come back and write some more tomorrow.  :)  Have a great day, friends!

Roast Dinner

As Fall approaches I'm getting more and more excited!  One thing I LOVE about the Fall is the food!  Michael and I were talking the other day about vegetable soup.  I freeze broth from when I make turkey, but I realized I don't have beef broth.  This is what led me to making tonights dinner.  In an effort to get beef broth for my soup in another month, tonight I made roast and veggies!!  It was soooo easy!  I just love my crockpot!  I'm not sure if this app is going to keep my pictures in order, but here's the steps I took to make our AMAZING Sunday dinner!!

Peel and cube 6 potatoes, add to crockpot.

Peel and cut 4 carrots, add to crockpot.

Cut and cube 2 onions, add to crockpot.

Put raw roast over veggies.

Fill crockpot halfway full of water.

Turn crockpot on low.

Leave on low for 8 hours.

Serve hot with bread and butter!

Yum!!  It was delicious!  Michael, Avery, and I each had our fill for dinner and we still had a TON left over!  With the broth I'm going to add 2 bullion cubes (for a little extra flavor) and then I'll pour the broth into bags and save it for soups!  Yum!  I love how easy my crockpot makes cooking!  Maybe I'll use it more frequently and post more successful recipes here!  For now, this is all!  ;)  Have a wonderful Sunday, friends!  Love ya!

End of Vacation, Back to Life

I realized I hadn't finished blogging about our vacation yet.  There's truly not much to tell about Sunday, but I thought I'd write a little anyways.  The trip from LeClaire to Wichita is 8.5 hours.  We knew we would take it slower on the way home, but didn't know exactly how much time we would end up adding to our trip.

Avery slept in until 8, which was nice because we were all pretty exhausted.  When she got up we all got around and went downstairs for breakfast.  Avery loves orange juice!  She will drink and drink and drink from her sippy cup until the stuff is running down all over her.  ;)  After breakfast we packed things up and hit the road.  We had noticed the day before that Nathan and Chelsey had packed Avery's hat into their toy bag, so along the way we stopped at a gas station for gas, coffee, and to get the hat back.  That stop added about half an hour to our trip.  Nathan and Chelsey couldn't find the hat once they finally caught up with us, so we ended up sitting around for a while.

Finally, we got on the road again and made pretty good time.  We only stopped 2 other times on our way home.  Once for lunch where we actually went into Panera in Des Moines, sat down, and ate, and once again to get gas.  Avery did pretty well on the ride.  It was had for her to sleep in the car, so when nap time came around she got extra fussy.  She was a much happier camper when Michael or I was in the back seat with her feeding her or playing with her.  Overall, the trip home went really well.  We ended up adding an hour to our trip and made it home in 9.5 hours.

When we got back home, life started again.  Dayton came over on Monday, Michael went to work, and I went back to work Monday evening.  It was good to be home again.  It felt like we were gone much longer than 4 days.

So now our attention turns to Avery.  In just a month and a half she'll be turning 1!!  Unfortunately, we'll be in Manhattan for a wedding on her birthday, so we'll have her party on Sunday, the day after.  I have invitations bought and a few things planned, but now that Tugfest is over I'll be in full party planning mode!  :)  Can't wait to celebrate my little girl!!

Then, after the cake is gone and the house has been cleaned, Michael and I will prepare to head to Vegas!  At the end of October Michael has a conference in Vegas for 4 days and I get to go with him!!  It will be the first time there for both of us.  We're very excited!!  Then, when we get back we'll have entered my favorite time of the year!  October to January, fall and just a hint of winter, 4 great holidays in 3 short months.  :)  I can't wait!  Lots of exciting stuff coming up!  Stay tuned, especially as fall approaches for many of my excited updates.  :)  Happy Tuesday, everyone!!

Saturday

I still haven't finished telling you all about our vacation!  And since the babies are down for their morning naps and technically I should be cleaning the house, this seems like the perfect opportunity to waste some time talking about our vacation!  ;)

Saturday morning Avery was up bright and early again, right around 7am.  Again, like the morning before, she woke up happy, smiling, talking, and playing.  And while, no, I didn't want to get up and around quite yet, when she was so happy, it made it easier to get up.  We have been soooo blessed by Avery's sleeping habits!!  Not only does she wake up happy and a complete delight to be around, but she sleeps through the night and has been doing so since she was a month old!!  She is sooooo amazing!!

Like Friday we went down and had breakfast in the lobby of the hotel.  Nothing super special, but waffles and coffee made my morning pretty good, and we cut up some toast and put orange juice in Avery's sippy cup, so she was self-sufficient through breakfast, which she loved.  We met a couple of really nice guys down at breakfast.  They were in town to see the American Pickers, and just happened to come to LeClaire on the weekend of Tugfest!  We advised them to go down and see the tug, as well as the distillery and the winery.

After breakfast and showers we were off to Grandma Jean's house again.  The kids played, the adults sat around, talked, ate, and watched country music video.  It was very relaxing.  The weather was beautiful and we spent a lot of time out on the back porch talking and enjoying the sunshine and weather.  The porch is entirely fenced in, so Avery could crawl around and play and still be safe.  She enjoyed that very much!!

In the middle of the day we took Avery with us downtown to do some shopping.  The stores in LeClaire are mostly novelty shops and it makes me wonder how they stay in business the rest of the year.  We stopped by the canning store and got some salsa, we stopped in a novelty store and got a Christmas present for Sis, we stopped at the quilting store and got fabric for the back of Avery's quilt, and we stopped in the popcorn store for some homemade popcorn and truffles.  On our way back we stopped to watch a bit of the Tug. 

Last year we went inside and sat on the benches to watch the Tug.  This year they had built up the pit, so we could see it from up on the sidewalk.  So, since we had Avery with us, we just stopped up top and watched for a few minutes.  When we got there they were waiting for the results from the 4th tug (the winner is the team that wins the best out of 11, 6 tugs wins).  Finally, we heard the train whistle blow and knew that LeClaire had won that round!  We were excited and clapped!  Avery was happily eating popcorn, observing all the chaos around her.  The announcer told us that that tug tied everything up.  We asked the lady next to us the score and she said that it was tied 2-2.  We watched 2 more tugs, both of which LeClaire won!!  We felt pretty good heading back to Grandma Jean's with Iowa up 4-2.  We went back to the house and were about to put Avery down for a nap when we realized the rest of the family was getting ready to leave for Kris and Dave's.  So we packed our stuff up and headed over there.

Glenn's brother, Dave, and his wife, Kris, live just outside of LeClaire in the country on a farm surrounded by corn.  It's right next door to where Dave and Glenn grew up.  The family farm is owned by those 2 brothers, and their brother and sister, Ronny and Kathy.  I've never met either of them and it's been a long time since Michael's seen them.  Their family isn't as close as Linda's.  We went out to visit with Kris and Dave for a little bit.  Last summer when we saw them, Chelsey and I had both been pregnant.  It was fun to take the babies back this year and introduce them to the family.  Unfortunately, we couldn't stay long.  Avery was tired when we got home from the tug an hour before, so we needed to get her back for a nap.  Fortunately, everyone brought their own cars to Iowa this year, so we could leave early while Glenn and Linda stayed to catch up with Kris and Dave.

Once back at Grandma Jean's, Avery was down for her nap and completely exhausted.  We asked Nick and Maggie to keep an eye on her and we went to Sneaky Pete's for a late lunch.  It was nice having an hour to ourselves to cuddle in a booth and talk.  I love my husband so much.  I used to take for granted those small moments when we were together and in our own little bubble, oblivious to the world around us.  Now I try to soak them in and enjoy every second, because life is happening fast around us and when those opportunities come along to slow down and just enjoy being with one another I enjoy them!  :)

Avery slept for 2.5 hours on Saturday!!  When we got back from lunch she was still out for the count, and continued to be for another hour and a half!!  It was nice that she finally got a good nap.  It was basically her only really good nap while we were gone.  I think there was just too much going on and she was just too excited to sleep.

Saturday evening came and we spent the last few hours of the day with Michael's family.  We began packing things up towards the evening and getting things in the car to head back to our hotel for the night.  After everything was in the car, Michael, Avery, and I took one last walk downtown.  It was cool out after the sun went down.  We walked past the carnival and stopped to listen to the band for a little bit.  We kept walking until we were almost as close to our hotel as we were to Grandma Jean's.  :P  Then we turned around and went back to the car.

Back at the hotel Avery was happy and energized from our walk and her long nap.  The 3 of us played together there in the hotel room for quite a while until Avery started rubbing her eyes.  We put her to bed and she slept soundly again for our last night there in Iowa.

There!  The story of one more day, told!  Here are a few pictures too!  Note that Avery and I are sitting just on the edge of the water, and how close Michael's grandma's house is!  It's literally RIGHT on the river!  :)

Friday

I know I didn't post much towards the end of our vacation.  I'll try to catch up in the next couple of days.  Here's how Friday went...

Avery woke up bright and early Friday morning at 7am.  She slept great in the pack and play and in the hotel.  It must have felt more like home to her, because naps in Dayton's pack and play at Grandma Jean's house did not go as well.  She never behaved badly, but she also didn't sleep as well.  I guess she didn't want to miss out on the fun.  ;)

We had toast, waffles, yogurt, coffee, eggs, and juice for breakfast.  Not too bad for a free hotel breakfast if you ask me.  ;)  After breakfast we went back to our room and Avery had a nap.  She slept well, like I said, in her pack and play in our hotel room, she did just fine.

Later we got up and went to Grandma Jean's house to see the family.  Avery loved seeing and playing with all the kids!!  Zoe (Michael's Cousin's daughter) kept saying that Avery was the cutest baby she'd ever seen.  Zoe and Payden (Our nephew) would hold Avery's hands and help her walk around the house.  She LOVED all the attention from the older kids!  They loved helping out and playing with the baby.

Michael and I had a great time chatting with all the family.  The people who were at the house most of the time were Grandma Jean, Steve (Michael's Uncle), Kim (Michael's Aunt), Stephen (Michael's Cousin), Sara (Michael's Cousin), Kyle (Kim's brother), Howard (Michael's Uncle) and the kids.  Michael's brothers, their spouses, their kids, and his parents were also there.  Then, of course, there were miscelanious (sp) family members and friends who were constantly in and out.  We definitely had a houseful again this year.

On Friday while Avery took a nap, Michael and I took an opportunity to go downtown.  We went to the distillery and took a tour and to the winery and did a tasting.  We came back with a bottle of liquor and a bottle of wine.  It was fun getting some of the local products that are all made with ingredients within a 25 mile radius of LeClaire.

For lunch on Friday the family made Tacos.  The fixings fed a bunch of people for the rest of the weekend!  There was sooooo much food!!  I think they bought and cooked over 20 pounds of ground beef.  We certainly ate well while we were there in town!! 

Friday evening we always go and watch the parade downtown.  The kids love getting candy and seeing the floats.  Avery did a great job sitting on the blanket and watching things go by.  There was a Hawaiian theme to the parade this year, so the kids got lots of plastic lei's.  The babies even got a sucker.  This was Avery's first time to have candy, and she loved it!  We'll have to keep an eye on that as she gets older.  ;)  We ended up leaving the parade just a little bit early to get Avery back to Grandma Jean's and down for a nap.  We needed her rested up because there were fireworks that evening and we'd be up well past bedtime.  ;)

On Friday night we watched the firework show.  Avery did a great job of keeping her headphones on, but she still prefered to watch them from inside the best.  It was a great show, as always.  We enjoyed sharing it with our little girl.

It's amazing how exhausting vacation can be!  We got back to our hotel around 11 and were completely beat!  Avery did great and went to sleep right away, as she was pretty exhausted as well, from both the day and the lack of naps.  ;)

That was more or less how our Friday went.  Enjoy the pictures and I'll try to post about our Saturday and Sunday in the next few days.  :)  All I can say now is that it's good to be home.  :)