New Car

Just in time for a very BIG birthday present, we brought home our Nissan Versa. While we were shopping for a new car, we were using the following criteria:

In color "Polished Moonbeam Opal" or something like that. Or silver.

1) Had to be able to fit two carseats in the backseat
2) Good highway gas mileage as John drives on the highway a longish distance everyday
3) Air conditioning
4) In a price range that would sink us financially and could be paid off by the end of this year

We had our eye on a few hybrids including the Prius. However, criteria number 4 just didn't allow us to fully pursue this one at this time.

So far we are liking the car. The engine is smaller than the Grand Prix John was driving, so that is something we are still getting used to while driving down the highway. Surprisingly, the interior of the car has more room of it than the Grand Prix, but the overall size is smaller. Strange.

The biggest bummer overall is that I helped John wash the Grand Prix three days before the accident. Big waste of my time!


In other news, William suddenly appears to be a whole head taller. Overnight it feels like he is now able to reach things on shelves and counters that were previously "safe zones" (as in, "Where did you get that sucker?"). So, we pulled out the trusty yard stick to get some hard numbers on the situation. In January, he was 39 inches tall. It is hard to see in this picture, but he is now just over 40 inches tall when he is standing up straight (which he is NOT in this picture). I guess all it takes is an extra inch to put you at counter height in our house...

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday Daddy! William was so excited for it to be "Daddy's special DAY!" We talked aobut it and talked about it and talked about it ALL DAY LONG. Thank goodness John gets home on the early side. I'm not sure how much longer I could take it!

Daddy and his kiddos - William looking like a model posing

Cute of everyone

Apparently my son has squeezed in some modeling classes recently....

We've been furiously car shopping the last few days. I can only tell you that car shopping with a non stop talking 3 1/2 year old and a very active 15 month old is nothing but joy. It looks like I will be spending my date night budget for the next few months on hiring a sitter so we can car shop. Alone. Together. Without children in tow. It will be worth every penny.

The beautiful birthday cake William helped me to make
Singing happy birthday under the Happy Birthday Banner

Amelia enjoyed the cake very muchVery, very, very much!

William would hand John a present and say: "Here dad! This one is a beautiful NEW shirt! It's BLUE!" We're going to try and work on that before Christmas. I promise.

Here Dad! This one is new grilling tools!


After a yummy dinner of grilled hamburgers, we went out to test drive some new vehicles sans kiddos. So exciting and I'm sure it was just what John wanted!

Daddy's Exciting day

John was in a car accident on his way to work this morning. Our family was so lucky in many ways today, which we are trying to remember as we wade through the insurance red tape. First and foremost, John is 100% okay without any injury or muscle soreness.

In short, John was merging onto a highway from another major highway several miles away from our house (From I70 to I370 for you locals). This interchange is a very busy area, but John was going to work early in the morning (roughly 5:00am) as is his normal routine. John had merged over and was driving when he heard a loud bang in the back end of his car. His car spun around and ran into a concrete divider between the two major interstates. After taking a few moments to recover, he called the police and reports were filed, etc.

After calling the police, John called me. Not the best news I've ever received first thing in the morning. After all the paperwork was cleared up, I roused the kids out of bed and went to pick him up. We spent the day together beginning our journey through the red tape*.


*Update: John's car is totaled due to the extent of the damage and the age of the vehicle. Looks like we'll be spending the next few night car shopping together.....


Front driver side corner of the car, which impacted the concrete wall.

Front passenger side. The bumper was pushed out.



Showing rear passenger wheel. The rear panel was undamaged but the wheel now rubs up against the wheel well. The axle was probably bent. There was some damage on the rear passenger door and on the wheel itself.

14 Months

Amelia was 14 months old on 5/30/10! We were in Des Moines, so I didn't take a special picture of her. I meant to, but it didn't happen. Probably because my children decided to not sleep while we were there.


Amelia has quite the personality lately (or, maybe always?). Whatever mood she is in, she gives 100000% of her energy in displaying it. She is:

Curious and determined! Here she wouldn't leave the flowers alone on Jim and Kendra's porch. We moved them, put them up, I hid them and even just held them on my lap. I finally had to take her inside because she just couldn't leave them alone! She was bound and determined to pull the pretty flowers off the plant and then upend the planter.

Silly. This face here is nothing but trouble. She makes this particular face (enlarge for the full effect) ALL the time. It usually means she isn't happy with the current situation and getting ready to complain. Or retaliate. Either way, get out of her way!
A ham! She recently started saying "CHEESE" when you pull the camera out. Even if you are taking pictures of someone else. Or are trying to get video of her doing something cute. You know, besides saying "CHEESE" at the top of her lungs.
Dramatic! When things aren't going your way, you aren't afraid to let it all hang out. You scream, you wail, you hit/pinch/bite/kick, and you are not easily distracted.


This age is so fun with Amelia. She is so full of curiosity about the world around her and she doesn't ever stop until she is sleeping. This age is also totally exhausting because she doesn't EVER stop. Not for one minute. Not until she wails herself to sleep at night because she IS! NOT! DONE!

Des Moines

With the kids getting older, we are finally feeling like we are able to pick up some of our old traveling ways. We haven't been to see some family in a long time! We hadn't been to visit John's brother Jim and his family since I was pregnant with William (August 2006). It was high time to fix that problem!

So, we packed the car and drove the seven hours to exotic Des Moines for our Memorial Day Weekend 2010!

When we got there, it was time to walk over and pick up Ben and Becca at school.
Mikey and William were fast friends
Then it was time for some playing in the sprinkler!
Amelia couldn't decide if she was a fan...What she really liked was watching the other kids.Preferably from a lawn chairThe kids also enjoyed painting the driveway. Or in Amelia's case, licking the driveway.
The next day we hit up the science center to blow some HUGE bubbles,
went fishing,Play with gears,
dry our hair,
Drive a digger (did you hear him scream when I physically removed him? 'Cause it was LOUD.),
built some rockets,
tested some rockets,
and played with our cousins.

One of William's favorite things is being part of a big group. He loved having all the extra people around to hold hands with, play with and laugh with. He totally ate up all the attention he got from the bigger kids! As you can see here, he's reaching for Uncle Jim's hand before walking further.The little boys
The bigger boys
William also loved the big kid toys around - he spent HOURS playing with the train sets! Not that Amelia was neglected! She loved the attention too! Here she is getting a piano lesson from Aunt Kendra!I am also a huge fan of the cousins! Becca read to William everywhere we went! He was super happy - except when we had to get out of the car! We also went to a local sculpture garden - with a riverwalk nearby. William enjoyed the water very much. Amelia was VERY crabby that we (I) didn't let her out of the stroller to play.The kiddosThe kiddos copying the sculpture's pose
And hugging Mikey!If you look carefully, you can see Amelia is being a stinker here. It's written all over her face. Becca rolled up behind Amelia for one of her hugs and Amelia thought it would be funny just to hug Mikey. She hugged him over and over and over again, delighting not only in the attention she was getting from Mikey, but the rise she was getting out of Becca by NOT hugging her. You think "Oh, she is just a little baby..." I've got news for you! She knows EXACTLY what she is doing!
Hugs!
This is the closest thing poor Becca got!
Until Ben took pity on her and joined in the huggingThen Amelia changed her mind!
Even Uncle Jim got in on the hugs - he had her GIGGLING like crazy! I think we might have some video to post? Not sure.William gave himself a little music lessonSo sweet! The cousins all holding hands (L-R: Becca, William, Mikey, Ben & Amelia)! We tried to put her in the middle, but William was not having it. He kept tripping her and pulling her down - turns out he wasn't happy about not being able to hold hands with Mikey.
William eating his ice cream and talking to Mikey. He was so excited about having an older kid to talk to (and LISTEN!), he didn't hardly eat a bite.
I could do an entire post about "How to eat ice cream" by William.
All the kids helped Uncle Jim wash his car
Don't mess with Amelia's sponge!
After some ice cream - it was time for more sprinkler fun. Amelia would rather play in a bucket full of water...There really isn't room for two....although, I suppose for a kiss...William loved watching the big kids run through the sprinkler and all their different jumpsUncle Jim wasn't about to miss out on the fun either! I think we have video of this also...hmmm...For dinner that night, Amelia had corn on the cob for the first time. YUMMY!
She LOVED it!
William insisted on having his own big cob...

As we expected, he wasn't exactly a fan - sorry Aunt Kendra!
William's elaborate train set up on the morning we were getting ready to leave


Thanks for hosting us Jim, Kendra and family! I know we are a lot of work - but we had so much FUN! Hopefully we'll work it out to do it again - a little sooner this time!