the pumpkin farm!

10/6 - Today I got to go with the Learn & Play group (and mom friends Jess & Kris) to the Pumpkin Farm!  We headed north to Pumpkin Paradise... just a bit north of Cedar Falls on Hwy 63.   Jacob, Boaz's new friend from preschool, got to ride in our car with us.  Boaz was just a tad bit excited about this!  They laughed, sang, and giggled all the way to the farm. 

Kris with some of the kiddos after the 'haunted forrest' trail that lasted about 1 minute!  :)   We let the big kids continue on with Jess and took all the little ones back out.  It was just inflatables- but it was a little too much for these guys! 

 Boaz checking out the pumpkins...

 They had all kinds of animals there for the kids to look at.  Boaz thought these chickens were funny. 

 And I thought this llama was funny!

 Austin & Jacob enjoying the haymound slide.

 They had a big sailboat filled with corn that you could jump in and steer.  Addelyn took the job very seriously. 

As did Boaz...

 Checking out the donkey with Miss Jess. 

 Boaz is still a bit scared of things these days, since the Menards incident- he's afraid that everything is going to jump out and talk to him.  This blow-up scene at the pumpkin farm freaked him out!  :)   It was a little comical. 

 I just love this picture.  It pretty much sums up the personalities of these two buddies.  Austin is pretty fearless and Boaz is pretty cautious.  :)

 Riding the tractors...

 Big brother Jaxon and friend Mason got to join us for the day, too!  All the kids really liked these two. 

 This sand is the coolest stuff I've seen- I think we need some if it for our house!!

 Snack time!  Jess made delicious muffins to go along with Boaz's too-big water bottle!  He loves this thing.

 Our sweet friend, Austin, on the hayrack ride!!

 Mommy & Boaz on the hayrack ride....

 Big bouncy ball pit!

 More serious sand time...

 Jungle gym

The best group shot that I could get...  Front- Addelyn, Austin, Boaz.  Back- Jada, Jaxon, Mason, Jacob.

 Saying goodbye to farmer Tim.  He was such a gracious host and opened the place up just for us that morning.  I'll definitely be taking our family back here... it's not as gruesome and scary as most places!!  A perfect day for a good bunch of friends. 

phones, doors, and dishes

10/2 - I remember this stage with Boaz... the hand to the ear pretend phone stage.  It's so funny to watch Cainan pretend to be on the phone.  He and Boaz will do this all day long. 

He's starting to try to say some words.  Here's a video of his version of  "Hello."

 It's really funny to see how many times you can say 'hello' in a conversation- to get him to put his hand to his ear. 

Luke and his dad tackled a big project today... they installed a storm door!  We have terrible drafts through our front door, so we hope this will help with some heating bills this winter.  Here's Luke with the 2-sided directions that came with the door! (looks a bit overwhelming!)  They worked hard all afternoon and wrapped it up just in time to watch some Hawkeye football.  The finished product looks great! 

10/5- Cainan... oh, Cainan.  You can be so frustrating sometimes!  Our kitchen counter is always full of dirty dishes.  This is why...

The second he hears the dishwasher door open, he squeals with excitement and RUNS into the kitchen to 'help.'  And obviously his help is not all that productive.  This picture was taken the first time he climbed up here without my knowledge.  Since then, he knows not to climb into the dishwasher, but still likes to help unload things... often what I have just put into the racks.  Argh!  I find myself opening the door for a split second to get 1-2 dishes in, then closing it really quickly all day long.  Then after he's finally in bed at night (or if daddy is playing with them after dinner) I get all the day's dishes in.   It really is funny how excited he gets about the dishwasher! 

Texas Roadhouse

1/11/11-  Luke's parents invited us out for dinner at Texas Roadhouse tonight.  We were happy to join them!!  Luke met us there after working in Cedar Rapids, so I drove the boys on my own.  On the way to the restaurant, I had a really funny conversation with Boaz that went something like this....

Boaz- I used to live in that red house right there when I was in college. 
Me- You did?  What house?
B- That red house right there.  I lived there when I was in college and I was workin'. 
M- What was your job?
B- Selling things.
M- What did you sell?
B- Oh, toys and bikes.... and soldiers.

Then- once at the restaurant, I was recapping the story of Boaz's college days for Luke's parents and they dug some more info out of him.  He did tell them about his job when he was in college- he enjoyed selling those things.  Then Grandpa told him he should work at the Roadhouse and he continued on...

Grandpa- You should work here at the Roadhouse.
Boaz- I just did a long time ago.  Yeah, but I don't anymore.  I just got distracted. 
Us- You were what?
B- Yeah, I got distracted by my dog.  My dog, Ozzie, was here once. 

By this time, Carol and I were in tears.  Did he seriously say he was distracted?  I'm laughing so hard I'm crying even writing this post.... I love the conversations we have with this little guy!!

1/12/11- Two Boaz highlights today involve talking, as well...  he sat at the breakfast table for a little over an hour (until we had to leave for learn & play) talking to TC and TK.  He shared his bagel and banana with them and they shared stories about life.   TC and TK went to preschool with him, too.  Then at naptime, he spent the entire hour and a half talking on a fake phone to people!!  90 minutes of nonstop talking!!  People have told us to get prepared for our girl to have more words than our boys- somehow I don't think that can happen.   :)

Championship game...

1/11/2011 - Boaz is a talker.  Most of you know this about him.  He is also a singer.  When he goes to bed at night, he is a talker AND a singer. (which could make the transition to sharing a room with Cainan an interesting one!)   Last night he laid in his bed talking and singing for 2 hours.  He went to bed at 7:30 and at 9:30 he was still at it.  Luke went back to check on him when we heard some unusual thuds (books hitting the wall) and Boaz told him that he just wasn't tired.  Luke told him it was time to go to bed and once the door was closed, Boaz started crying.  "I'm not very tired!"  I looked at Luke and told him that if I was a nice mom, I'd let him get up and watch the football game with daddy.  (It was however the BCS championship!)   But- I never want to start something that I'm going to regret later... will he want to get back up every night and stay up late? 

After another 10 minutes of crying, Luke asked if we should just get him up.  I reluctantly agreed and Luke went in and carried him out to the living room with us.  I was working on Papa Murphy's mailings, so he snuggled with luke in the recliner.  The first thing out of his sweet little mouth was, "Sorry, Daddy.  Sorry, Mommy.  Sorry I wasn't tired."   What a sweetheart!  I melted and was thankful that he got some snuggle time with daddy.  We let him stay up for an hour, and probably 6 different times during that hour I was near tears at how darn cute he is.  He had a blast watching the game with dad and immitating everything dad said and did.  They read a book, they did a puzzle, and I loved every minute of it.  I tucked him back in at 10:30 and he told me, "Ganks, Mom. Ganks (thanks) for letting me get up for awhile." 

I'm thankful to God for those precious moments of daddy/son time.  They've been rare lately with luke's work schedule.  I'm learning I need to let go of my 'rules' sometimes and just let life happen.  I'm glad that  Luke asked if we should just let him get up.  And while it may mess up our routine tonight... I think it was well worth it!!

Adam & Ave

9/28- This is the very first paper that Boaz brought home from Sunday School.  I love that our church has such a great kids' program.  On the way home from church, I was asking Boaz questions about what he learned.  He looked at his paper and asked "Why's this guy got no clothes?  Just underwear?"   Not sure how deep into the story they got with 2 year olds, but had fun explaining that one to him.   

Here's a video of Boaz's explanation of the story...  for several days, he called Eve "Ave."  I think because we have a little friend named Avery.  In this video he actually got it right...

9/29- Cainan is getting some teeth!  His bottom tooth popped through about a week ago, and his top two are just coming in.  The other bottom one is just about ready to break through, also!  They're coming in fast and furious!  (which is what I prefer!) 

A sweet video of our happy little man laughing... 

Here we go...

Okay... going to try to start catching up again!  Here we go....   9/27- Boaz has been real excited to dress himself lately.  Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn't.  :)

I couldn't resist a picture of these cute buns!! 

Cainan really wants to be a walker.  We take a lot of toys outside and let him walk the sidewalks.  This was the first time he tried to wear his panthers hat. 

A video of him in action...

Big News...

1/4/11- Some big news at our house today...   Bartlett Baby #3 is a GIRL!!  Luke and I are still in a bit of shock.  We really really thought this one was a boy also.  Good thing we have 5 months to change our thinking. 

I had an appointment this morning and was not anticipating an ultrasound.   My doctor wanted to check some things out to be sure everything looked okay (everything looks great!), so had me get scanned quick.  While in the ultrasound room, Tami (with whom I've become friends with over the last few years!) smiled and asked if I wanted to find out what it was today.  Of course, I said yes!!   It took her awhile to get a good glimpse because this baby was so active!!  Then she paused a screen and asked if I could tell by looking at it.  I didn't see anything that looked really 'boy-like', and instead saw dots... I've heard that dots mean girl.  I asked her if it was really true... I really didn't believe that this was a girl!!   We've been talking about our girl today and it still feels a bit strange saying it. 

Boaz, however, has been claiming that this baby is a girl for weeks.  "I choose a girl," he'd tell people.  Today we sat him down at the lunch table and told him we had exciting news.  When we told him the baby was a girl, he smiled real big and put his hands in the air-- I gave him big high fives.  Then he proceeded to ask if she was coming now.  Patience, buddy... patience!  :) 

So- time to start thinking about adding some pink to this house.  Bows, dresses, dolls, make-up, boyfriends, etc.  Wowzers....     
(we're pretty excited!!)