Shelly's 30th!

Wow, am I behind on blogging. I have been traveling for work the past two weeks..so I am using that as an excuse!

On the 6th of September we celebrated Shelly's 30th birthday. Her sisters schemed and got most of her family and friends together under the guise that they were going to take her to dinner. She was very surprised and maybe a little irritated :)

--note the glowing "30" button--

--entering with Nolan--

--kenna LOVED the party favors--

--after swimming, playing with the party favors AGAIN--

Remember this was back when it was nice out...Shelly's sisters did a great job of surprising her and planning enough food and swimming to keep everyone happy!

HAPPY 30TH SHELLY!

Budding Artist

I had to work Sunday night, and while Gona and Baca gave Kenna a bath, she drew this picture for me! She told me that she saved it so I could see it. If any parents out there have not discovered bath tub crayons...you are missing out!

--notice how the teletubbies are perfectly alligned on left...sorry for my ocd kenna--

Rylee is on the right, and daddy is yellow. Zachary is the small purple person above daddy--

--this is our house and two cars, orange murano on the right (murry) --

--kenna is pink, her dance shoes and dance bag are next to her, and I am blue with yellow hair--

She was SO excited to tell me all about her drawings. She spends HOURS at Eski's doing art projects everyday. Eski says she is pretty advanced for her age (but sure she tells all her parents this!) We just love that she is so artistic!

Happiest Baby Ever

Zachary really is the happiest baby I have ever met. He had 3 shots today, just cut a tooth and he is content just playing in his exersaucer....what a good boy!

6 Month Checkup

Zachary is quite the big boy! We had his 6 month checkup today!

17 inch head (50th percentile)
18.5 lbs (75th percentile)
26.5 inches long (75th percentile)

Also - his first tooth (bottom right) popped up last night! He has been chewing on everything like a mad man, so we knew it was coming!!!

He is as healthy as can be! We also retested Kenna's iron level in her blood, and the new vitamins are working because her iron level is right where it should be!
Two healthy kids, we are so lucky!!

Two Hungry Tots

As I have been loving to do - here are the two kids - both eating cereal for the first time :)

I think Zachary enjoyed the experience much more than Kenna did!

Some Major Milestones

So, aside from the fact that Zachary is now a big fan of rice cereal, we also have some other major milestones to announce!

This weekend was the first weekend we let Kenna go outside and play with her friends unsupervised. She has TOTALLY latched on to the neighbor girl Megan. Megan is 6, almost 7 and the coolest kid Kenna has ever met. Megan plays with her really well, and invited her over to her house to play in her room. Reluctantly, I let her go...they also played outside on our driveway and Megan's. My little girl is so grown up! I am sure John and Annette (megan's parents) kept an eye on her at Megan's house, but I couldn't believe she just went out and played!

I am also excited to announce that our kids now nap at the same time. Zachary was sort of on his own rhythm for a while, but they are now both sawing logs at 1pm. So 1-3pm are two very productive hours in my house!

Look Who's Hungry!

There has been a common theme throughout Zachary's life, he's always Hungry :) We were doing our best to hold off giving him solid foods until 6 months, like we did with Kenna. But, breastmilk and formula isn't doing the trick, so today was the day we started rice cereal. For a minute he didn't quite get it, but after about 4 bites he chomped down the whole bowl, then was crying for more when he was done! I better start saving now for when this kid is a teenager...won't be able to keep food in the house!

--sporting his Huskie bib in honor of college football weekend!--

--Mom...yuck!--

--hmmm, nevermind this stuff is pretty good!--

--kenna thought it was so funny that he kept spitting it out--

--by the end of breakfast he was COVERED in cereal. I would call it a success overall!--

Worst Mother Ever

This blog is for my children later in life - so they can blame whatever problems they have on a moment that happened today. Josh worked basically until midnight or one in the morning every day this last week. So, I was single parenting it every morning and evening. Again, today, he had to go in, which hasn't actually been nearly as stressful as I thought. McKenna has been an angel with no whining and being very helpful. Zachary has been his jolly self, and we really have had a lot of fun...until today....

Kenna was eating lunch and announced that she was done and wanted to "be excuzed." I told her to get down and go wash her hands in the bathroom. I hear a thud and look over to her on the floor. She had pushed her chair too hard and tipped it over. So I set Zachary down to go help my screaming child. She was just scared and had no major damage. Seconds later I hear another small thud and look over. Zachary has rolled off the couch and (luckily) onto a huge pile of blankets and pillows. I run with kenna over to him and scoop him up, inspecting for any bumps or bruises. He giggles and I sit there feeling like the worst mother ever! I have NEVER had either one of my kids fall off of any bed, table, couch, chair and in a split second BOTH did! AHHH.

I spent a good portion of the rest of the day checking for bumps, searching for redness, checking reflexes, making them follow my finger with their eyes...I think I really over reacted...but still, what a crappy occurrence!

Summer BBQ

So the theme of our parties seems to be - bring a jacket. We had planned a pool party 6 weeks ago thinking, hey its august, its gonna be hot! Well, once again we were wrong. So we scrapped the pool idea and got out all of our outside games, toys, sandboxes, firepit and any other fun kid things. We made grilled pizzas, hot dogs, burgers and other yummy BBQ treats including s'mores!

--kenna and kevin (kevy) hugging goodbye --

--we had the party on the back patio--


--kids eating s'mores. Chloe and Kenna with Megan in the background--

--nolan playing on the slide--

--Avi and Sashank toasting marshmallows--

--boys playing ladder golf--

--kevy uber sticky, covered in marshmallows--

--andersens--

Again, thanks to all that came, and thanks for bringing your jackets! 22 people came and we are so lucky to have such great friends! Thanks to the Andersen, Stone, Dietz, Ganti, and Gentry familes for the wonderful sunday afternoon!

The Fam Visits Iowa!

Before we knew that Chelsey was getting married in September my mom thought it would be nice to get everyone together for a visit! Brandon hasn't seen McKenna since she was 7 months old, and both my siblings and Grandpa Rue have never met Zachary.

They all came in late Thursday night, and thank goodness there wasn't one more person, because our vehicles could not have accommodated it! We chatted figured out where everyone was going to sleep and called it a night.

On Friday Josh took the day off work and we headed to the Iowa State Fair! What a fun time! I could not believe the weather, it was actually chilly, and Kenna wore a coat the whole time!

--first stop was the petting zoo--

--kenna feeding the baby goats--

--gramma rue helping--

--the camel really liked Chelsey....such strange animals (the camel, not chelsey)--

--Grandpa Rue was taking pictures too, but managed to squeeze everyone else into this silly thing--

--these pumpkins were ridiculous 1100 lbs!--

--eating some deep fried goodness for lunch!--

--zachary was such a good boy, just slept or played most of the time!--

--in between small rain showers kenna played on the wooden train--

--after a downpoor, and about 10 minutes of hiding under an awning, we got to ride some rides too!--

--much to my dismay, daddy took kenna on the GIANT ferris wheel!--

--looks like she enjoyed it!--

--and she got to see clifford in the varied industries building--

On Saturday the girls headed to the farmers market downtown. I just love going down there, always so much happening with yummy treats to buy! That evening was our annual block party. They close the street down, everyone brings food, and this year they had a bouncy house and water balloon fight!

--as you can see, quite the turnout! Kenna liked the bouncy house/slide so much she never got out!--

--kenna in the bouncy house--

Sunday we spent the morning at Salisbury House - another fav Des Moines attraction. We went on a tour and learned all about the history, then headed home. That evening Josh and I went back to the fair for dinner and to see Heart/Journey concert! I was so pumped, but left a little disappointed. Heart was AMAZING! But Jounrey was not nearly as good as they were with their previous lead singer. We saw them a few years ago and had 2nd row seats to them and Def Leppard....no comparison really. They found the new lead singer on YouTube and although he sounded incredible, he didn't look or act the part. So, a little disappointing, but still fun to get out of the house sans kids!

--view of the fair from our seats--

--same view, but dark now :) --

--kinda crappy picture of stage--

Monday we all went to Reimen Gardens in Ames. Got to see the butterfly enclosure and walk the grounds looking at all the water features, ponds and flowers. Not quite as pretty as in the spring, but still fun! Then we went to Hickory Park for lunch.

--mom, chels and brandon--

--chelsey blowing out candles at hickory park, happy 20th sis!--

--this is take two that evening with a strawberry cream cake that I made for her--

As all trips go, this one was too short, but really loved having my family come out and visit! Seems like time flies while they are here, but still great to see everyone!