Carnival!

Well, as you all know, yesterday we arrived in LeClaire, IA for Michael's family's annual get-together at Tugfest.  :)  Here's a little of how things went once we finally got into town...

We got to our hotel at 2:30.  We only added 15 minutes to our trip in stops.  I think that's pretty good considering we had a 10 month old and were traveling for over 6 hours!  :D  Thankfully the trip was fairly uneventful.  With the exception of a couple short naps and a diaper blowout, Avery did great!!

Even though check-in wasn't until 3, we asked and we were able to check in early.  The nice lady at the desk even gave us a larger room so there was room to set up Avery's pack and play.  We brought our stuff upstairs and got ourselves arranged.  Then, we set off for Grandma Jean's house.

There are a crazy number of kids this year!!  It is so good to see everyone again and see how all the kiddos are growing!  Avery had a great time playing with Zayden out on the back porch at Grandma Jean's house!  Zoe and Gracey love Avery and think that she and Madison are just the cutest little girls ever!

After some food (which is never-ending when the family gets together for Tugfest) and visiting with the family, we set off for the carnival.  :)  While there's not much for us there this year (with Avery being so small still) it won't be long before we're there with all the other parents, waiting in line for wristband night.  You see, on Thursday night of Tugfest, it's free to get into the carnival.  It's also wristband night where $20 gets you a wristband so you can ride as many rides as you want.  We go down on Thursday night because we don't do much down there, so we might as well go on the free night and not waste admission fees on a 20 minute walk.  We'll also pay to get in on Saturday so we can watch the Tug up close and personal, and so we can watch the bands on Saturday night (which is when the better bands play).

In our time walking around the carnival we watched Payden ride some rides, we talked with Stephen and Howard, and we got a funnel cake.  No surprise here, Avery loved it!  :P  But, there's not much food she turns down.  ;)

We ended the evening back at Grandma Jean's house talking with family, before it got late and we came back to the hotel to get Avery in bed.  She slept really well through the night!  We were very pleased.  But then again, we expected her to sleep well through the night since she took so few and short naps during the day yesterday.  ;)

This morning she woke up at 7.  She was happy and ready to go!  We gave her a bath and we got showered and ready.  We all went down for breakfast in the lobby.  It was delicious!  Then, we came back upstairs for a quick morning nap before we begin our day.  :)  I think I hear little Miss stirring now.  So I think I better be off!  I'll try to take some more pictures today!

Love you all!  Thanks for checking in!!
-Michael, Jen, and Avery

Work

I'm almost done with my work week before a week of vacation!!  This week I worked 28 hours at Beldens.  I know this isn't as much as all of you work and it isn't even as much as I was working through my entire pregnancy, but it's been exhausting none-the-less.  Last week was a rough week with Avery and Dayton, lots of fussiness.  So the 40 hours (plus) that I was watching them made me tired, and then I added Beldens into my evenings and weekends.  It just made for a long week.  But I only have tomorrow left, then a week off!  It's going to be awesome!!

I'm sooooo looking forward to our vacation!!  It's supposed to be a high of 79-81 the 4 days we'll be in LeClaire!  It's also only supposed to have a 10% chance of humidity!!  It's going to be such a perfect weekend for Tugfest!  I can't wait!  :) 

Not much else to say.  I haven't got as much cleaning done this last week as I wanted, and now I'm tired.  Hoping that I've got lots of motivation the next couple days to get the house spick and span before we leave.  *fingers crossed*

Hope you all have a great week!!  I'll probably not write again until we're in Iowa!  See you again then!  Love ya!!

Good Morning!!

Good Morning, Friends and Family!  I hope you're looking forward to a wonderful Saturday!  Not much going on around here.  I have to work today 11-7:30.  I like this shift because I don't have to get up early to open, but as you may have noticed by the timestamp on this post, it doesn't really matter, as I am awake before 8am anyway.  Oh well.  I do get a little time with my family before I leave for the day, and I'll get a little more time with them at the end of the day before bed, so all is well.

We are down to 5 days before Iowa!!!  I am soooooooooooo excited!!  Michael's family is already on the road on their way up!  We'll show up on Thursday, along with some other family member, and then the rest of the group will be joining us on Friday!  I can't wait!!!

It looks like Michael, Avery, and I will be driving up by ourselves!  I'm excited about this because I know we'll be able to make good time without having to stop much and by taking the major highways and interstates as our route there.  :)  We're planning on leaving Topeka no later than 8am and being in LeClaire by 3.  Maybe we'll be able to gain some time in there, but I figure if we plan for a little longer, I will be pleasantly surprised if we arrive early!  ;)

We are almost completely packed (which shouldn't be a surprise, as I've been packing for almost 2 weeks now).  We just have a few last minute items that we need on a daily basis to pack at the last minute.  We still need to buy snacks and drinks, which my mom has very generously offered to take us shopping for.  She's the greatest.  :)  She blesses my life over and over.  I am so thankful for her.  Then, we'll just need to put everything into the car (good thing I've been playing lots of tetris lately!!) and we'll be ready to go!

We've been trying to prepare Avery for the trip.  She's been sleeping in the pack and play for her naps and bedtime for the past week and a half.  I figure this will acclimate (sp?) her to sleeping in there, and hopefully she won't have any trouble napping and sleeping while we're in Iowa.  As for the drive, well, that's something we might have to just suffer through.  I have packed a bag of toys for her to play with.  Hopefully she'll stay entertained and won't get too grumpy on the car ride.  She can run pretty hot and cold on the car.  Hopefully everything goes smoothly.  :)  If she does get irritable, I can always hop in the back seat and settle her down.  She's such a good baby, I'm sure she'll do great!

The only prep we need to do now before our trip is getting the house cleaned.  I love coming home after a trip to a nice clean house.  It's nice to not have to worry about picking up more than our trip stuff when we get home.  So that's what I've been working on, and will continue to be working on until we leave.  I've gotten things pretty well taken care of, and Michael's helped a bunch too when he's home, so I know things will be all ready soon.

Alrighty, I'm going to head out and get my family some breakfast now.  I love you all!  Have a wonderful Saturday!!  Enjoy these adorable pictures of my sweet girl until I post again more about our exciting vacation coming up!  :D  Have a good one!!

Tugfest is coming!!!!

For those of you not on facebook, Tugfest is coming!!  For those of you who are really not in the know, allow me to explain Tugfest...

Tugfest is a tug-of-war over the Mississippi River between the states of Iowa and Illinois.  LeClaire, Iowa and Port Byron, Illinois play host to this festival.  The tug is just a part of the 4 day long celebration in these 2 towns.  Each day and night is filled with activities!  From carnival rides and food to bands, 5k run to pancake feed, parade to fireworks, Tugfest is the event of the year (In LeClaire, anyway).

We are headed to LeClaire on Thursday, August 8th where we will stay, enjoy the festivities, and get to spend lots of good quality family time with all of Michael's extended family.  This is the one time each year when the family is sure to get together.  We'll head home on Sunday, August 11th.

I look forward to Tugfest every year!  I love having all the family together and getting to chat, eat, play games with, and generally hang out with everyone!  There are always lots of kiddos there and I'm looking forward to introducing Avery to the family.  This will also be Avery's first vacation and her first extended car trip (beyond the 2 hour drives to Manhattan or Topeka).  So I'm preparing well in advance for every possible contengency we might face along the way.  I know I'll look like a new, novice mom when I show up to Iowa with anything and everything Avery could possibly need or want on the trip.  But hey, if you can't do it when your only baby's under a year old, when can you?  ;)

Here are just a few of the things I'm looking forward to (in no particular order): checking in with Grandma Jean before going anywhere, seeing Grandma Judy after her extended trip to India, playing games and cards with Kim, hopefully chatting with Kyle if he comes again this year, introducing Avery to all of the family(!!!!), enjoying Howards homemade popcorn while watching the fireworks, going wine tasting with Michael, walking up and down the main stretch of LeClaire and shopping, enjoying truffles from the chocolate shop, eating carnie food, listening to bands, dancing with my hubby, watching Michael take Avery down the big carnival slide, drinking southern-style sweet tea, touring the distillery, seeing friends and family we haven't seen in a year or more, and enjoying my first vacation as a family of 3!  It's going to be so great!  I can't wait!!

I'm sure people on facebook will get tired of seeing and hearing about it, so I'll try to post the more detailed summary of our trip here!  Stay tuned as it gets closer and I talk more and more about the exciting time to be had and all the preparations I'm making for our trip.  :)

Happy Wednsday, everyone!!  Hope you're having a great day!!

Life Updates

Not much new going on in our lives, but I figured I needed to post more pictures of Avery, so here's a short life update to go with it...

Michael is doing well and working a lot, as usual, to keep us in our beautiful home.  He's been working on the yard and sprinkler system to try to keep the grass green.  We have 2 trouble spots, but otherwise it looks great!  He helped me with my flowerbed the other day.  :)  He's awesome like that.  He's going to training at the end of October in Vegas.  I might be able to go with him!!  We will see...

I worked a lot last week.  With a few of our regulars out of town on vacation, my boss needed me a little extra.  It's hard to believe I used to work 70+ hours/week.  I worked 25 at the jewelry store this last week and I still feel like I'm recovering, lol!  My projects are at a standstill for the moment.  I need some more paint to work on the fram decor for Avery's new room.  I need the dresser and paint to work on for her new room.  I need the chair to get started on reupholstering.  So for the most part I've just been trying to keep the house clean and the babies fed.  My life can be kind of boring at times, lol.

Avery took her first step the other day!!  She took one step before she realized what was happening and sat down, lol!  She did this 5 times!!  (So I know it wasn't a fluke)  She took one step for me yesterday, but that's all I could get out of her.  Today she's taken one step so far, but I'll keep working on more.  We practiced walking today with me only holding one of her hands instead of both.  She did REALLY well!  I think we both were surprised!

We're going to Iowa in less than a month!  I'm pumped!!  I look forward to this trip every year!  It's so much fun!  I look forward to having Avery there this year and introducing her to the extended family.  :)  I've already made plenty of lists of what we need to pack and bring.  I've even begun packing a few things!!  Can't wait!!

Ok, now for the part you've all been waiting for:

Pictures of Avery!!!!  :D

Enjoy!

Blessed

I have written a lot about how I'm blessed by Michael.  Lately I've been blogging and thinking a great deal about how Avery is a blessing to my life.  Today I'm writing about my parents, who blessed me in a big and powerful way yesterday.

I am so thankful for my loving, caring parents.  They keep no record of wrong or list of things owed, and for that I am extremely grateful.  They want what's best for me and my family and they take care of us when we struggle.  Even when we don't ask for help, or say we don't need it, they are there generously giving, expecting nothing in return.

I am so thankful, and extremely blessed.

4th of July Weekend

Looks like it's been a few days since I posted.  Here's what our 4th of July weekend looked like:

Wednesday, took Avery to the doctor for her 9 month check up.  She's a healthy, happy baby girl!  Doctor said we were doing everything right.  :)  She is up to 27 inches long and 17 pounds!  No wonder it's getting harder to carry her around for long periods of time!  I'm glad she's growing so well!  :)  We talked about switching to milk and a sippy cup at 1 year.  She already uses a sippy cup some.  The doctor also said that studies have shown advantages to nursing up to 9 months, though a year is recommended.  She commended me for keeping it up to the 9 month point.  I told her the plan is up to a year.  The doctor was also impressed that Avery is practically walking.  She's getting so big!!  Love her!!!

Thursday, Happy 4th of July!  Michael had the day off and Dayton was with his family, so we got a nice quiet day with just the 3 of us.  We went to the dogpark so Harlee could enjoy part of the day, because she hates fireworks, so we thought she'd enjoy the dogpark for a while.  Avery tried to eat rocks before being confined to her stroller.  It was fun!  :)  We went shopping and got stuff to grill for dinner.  Beth came over for dinner and fireworks.  We only shot off a few things because the neighbors were keeping the skies well lit, so we mostly watched their stuff.  ;)  We turned the radio on and watched the sky as everything went dark.  Michael and I danced in the driveway.  It was perfect.

Friday Avery and I went to visit Michael at work.  He decided to save his floating holiday vacation day for our trip to Iowa, so he went to work on Friday.  Sis and Adam had the day off, so Dayton was at home again.  Avery and I went and had lunch with Michael.  It was a nice quiet day otherwise.

Saturday, I worked.  Michael was home with Avery and got TONS of housework done!!  I love him so much.  The help that he gives me with the house means so much to me.  We both work and are both tired in the evenings and on the weekends, so for him to spend a good chunk of his Saturday cleaning and making the house look beautiful, it just means the world to me.  He's so amazing.  I love you, Michael.  Work went well Saturday, I sold a $1,200 diamond.  Not much, but enough to more than make my day.  Saturday night Michael, Avery, and I went out to the farm to meet up with Sis, Adam, and Dayton.  We shot off more fireworks and put the babies to bed.  The adults stayed up late hanging out and playing games.  It's not often that we get to do this anymore since both families have babies who each need to be in their own beds by 9pm.  So this was a special treat for all of us!  :)

Sunday, we came home and I went to work.  It was a GREAT day at work because Danielle, Alia, and I were working together when Danielle sold a $9,400 diamond!!  We all ended up with over $3000!!  That was stellar!!  Then, in the evening Michael worked on the sprinklers, I worked on the garden, and Avery played in the sprinklers.  It was a great evening.

My life is basically a fairytale.  :)  I like that.  :)

Hope your 4th of July weekend was good too!  :D

Friday!!

Yes, I'm aware that it's only Wednesday.  But today is my Friday!  No work or Dayton tomorrow for the 4th of July, and then no Dayton on Friday (although I do have to work in the evening on Friday).  Looking forward to a nice 4th of July with my family!  I think we're going to stay here at home (maybe invite Sis and Adam over if they don't have plans).  Maybe we'll grill for dinner!  And then we'll probably spend the evening shooting off a few fireworks (before coming inside and reassuring Harlee that everything is ok).  Friday Avery and I will go visit Michael at work (we're saving his floating holiday for Tugfest).  Then I'll work through the weekend.  I'm tired and already ready for morning naps.  Looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.  Happy Wednesday!

Why is Dayton crying?

On the internet and on facebook there are sites and pages called "Why is my son crying".  The idea of these pages is that parents are doing the right thing and what their children want, and the kids end up crying.  The kids are crying because they got what they wanted, were given things they've always liked, were reminded of a family or social rule, or simply because things were not exactly the way they wanted it at that particular moment in time.  Usually the children are between 1 and 4.  Well, Dayton is getting to that age and starting to cry about silly things, so I've decided I'm going to start my own segment, Why is Dayton crying?  I'm going to do it here on the blog because it's less public and I don't want people thinking I'm picking on him.  Believe me, when Avery gets to this stage, I will do the same thing with her, lol!  It's just too silly not to share.  ;)  This will be the only blog where I explain everything.  From now on I'll just post the picture and one or two sentences explaining why Dayton is crying.  ;)  Enjoy!!

Episode 1:
I read him the Puppies book he brought to me.