Sunday, May 30, 2010

Gone Fishin'

This evening we all headed out to Lake Iowa (a state park about 3-4 miles west of our house) to do a little fishin'.

On the second cast Doug (and Dallas) threw, they reeled in this whopper!
We finally convinced Dallas to touch it
I even got in on the action and caught this guy...
Reba wasn't impressed
We had a lot of fun catching about a dozen bluegills...unfortunately, they were too small to keep.

Until next time...

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Big Bud

We started the long weekend by going to see Big Bud! In case you don't know Big Bud 747 is the world's largest tractor, and it is currently on display at Heartland Acres in Independence, IA.

We had a lot of fun walking around and admiring the size of this giant machine. Enjoy the pictures!
Yes, that's a camera on the back of the tractor...there is a "1977's" TV inside the cab (We were joking with the Q&A guy that if this was built again today, it would be a flat screen monitor and the camera would only be a couple inches big!)
You know you are special when your name is made into the tire
We didn't spend our entire time looking at Big Bud, we went to visit the animals...
pumped some water...
and sat on some antique tractors...
Until next time...

Friday, May 28, 2010

Fun Friday Fotos

Rub-a-dub-dub! Dallas and Reba's first bath together...

At first - Dallas: "Yea! Reba's here to splash too!"
A few minutes later - Dallas: "Hey?!? What's she doing in here?"
And, a little later - Dallas: "Reba, who?"
Until next time...

Monday, May 24, 2010

Our Special Purchase

Have I kept you all in suspense long enough over our weekend "special purchase"? Well, here is the big reveal!A new grill has made it's home at our house. :) Doug and I spent Sunday afternoon (while the kiddos napped) assembling it. We are very satisfied with it thus far. We even gave it a test run last night with steaks and asparagus...yumm-o!

Some of the highlights of the grill:

4 different burners (with electronic ignition) + side burner + storage shelf/drawer
We are really excited about the side burner cover...because, well we just don't really use the side burner that often, but this space can now be utilized for other purposes (i.e. holding plates, grilling accessories, etc.)!
Look at all that grill space!
Until next time...

Saturday, May 22, 2010

UN-invited Guest

This afternoon, Doug, the kiddos and I went to Coralville to make a special purchase (I'll keep you in suspense on that until another post). When we got home, Doug was carrying Dallas and opened the back door to find this:
Doug nearly dropped Dallas and nearly pooped his pants! If it would have been me...there wouldn't be any "nearly" about the latter...I would just plain have.
It was about 3 feet in length.
I'm still getting the chills writing this...ughhh.

Until next time...

Friday, May 21, 2010

Fun Friday Foto

Reba's first cart ride at 6 months 4 days!

...and a Flasback Foto
Dallas' first cart ride at 6 months 16 days old

Until next time...

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Visitors

Wow...here it is Thursday, and I'm finally posting about last weekend! The weather this week has been A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. There has been lots of sunshine and little wind; therefore, we have been spending lots of time enjoying it!

Last weekend, Grandpa, Gram and Aunt Josie came for a visit!
We didn't do anything too special beside enjoy each other's company. Doug did borrow the neighbor's skid loader to finish smoothing out the new gravel in the driveway on Saturday.
We also mowed the yard Saturday afternoon...a job that hadn't been done in almost 2 weeks because of rain. (Thanks to Grandpa and Dallas for picking up the grass cuttings)
Dallas played with his chickens
Sunday started with church. After church, Doug and I went to a pancake breakfast honoring the seniors and first communicants (we were invited because I taught the high school class this year). Grandpa, Gram and Aunt Josie took the kiddos back to the house for us. We then spent the rest of the day playing games and taking tractor rides.

So that was our weekend in a nutshell...Thanks again for coming to visit!
Until next time...

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Reba ~ 6 month Check-up

As promised, here is the update from Reba's 6 month check-up...

Weight: 16 lb 8 oz ~ 65th percentile
Height: 26 3/8 inches ~ 75th percentile
Head Circumference: 17 1/4 inches ~ 93rd percentile

Of course, there were shots today, but she handled them fairly well. Once we got home from the doctor's office, Reba took a nap, and she is now playing in her jump swing and smiling!

Dallas went along today. The little guy got terribly upset when it was our turn to go "behind the door". I kept trying to explain that he was not there to see Dr. Nancy, but Reba was. He finally calmed down and was very interested in the nurse taking Reba's measurements. By the time Dr. Nancy came in, Dallas was keeping busy playing with his tractors. Then, Reba became a little fussy during the check-up (it was lunch time for her). This in turn caused Dallas to enter "Big Brother/Big Protector" mode. He didn't like Dr. Nancy touching his sister with the various instruments. He didn't get as upset as before, but he wanted to be right beside Reba, and he tried to push Dr. Nancy's hand away a few times. Made me proud that he was watching out for Reba!

Then came time for shots. One nurse distracted Dallas in the hallway with stickers, while the others gave Reba the shots. As soon as Reba let out the cry, Dallas came running back into the room to see what was the matter. I finished dressing Reba, and then let Dallas give her a kiss, and everything was back to perfect in our world.

Until next time...

Monday, May 17, 2010

Reba ~ 6 Months Old

My little girl is half a year old!

Where does the time go?
We go to the doctor for her check-up on Wednesday...I'll give you the complete update then.

Until next time...

Friday, May 14, 2010

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Thursday Tales

So this little hodge-podge post is just to catch you up on the happenings these past few days (week)...

Aunt Katie generously brought us some rhubarb from her patch this past weekend!
If you can believe - it tastes even better than it looks
Dallas loves carrots - typically we cut his carrots into smaller pieces, but he grabbed the whole thing and went to town as soon as Doug was finished peeling it! (yes, he ate the entire thing)
Our big news of the week!!! This little lady can sit on her own! Reba started sitting up about a week and a half ago. It is amazing how fast she went from the little "tri-pod" sit to fully supporting herself. Of course, she still looses her balance after a couple minutes, but it won't be long before she is a complete pro at it.
Until next time...

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Swing Set (updated)

On Sunday, while we had lots of help, we tackled the swing set Dallas (and Reba) got for his birthday! The instructions stated that it would take 1 adult and 1 adult helper 6-12 hours to complete the project. Doug and I thought it would take the 2 of us and 2 kids about 6-12 weeks to put together! So, Mam-maw, Aunt Katie and GG watched the kiddos while Pap-paw, Aunt Lisa, Doug and I worked on the swing set. (So far, I'd say we have around 5 hours of labor into the project. We still have some of it to finish though).

First: lay out materials to check that you have all the needed pieces
We were a few pieces short, so we decided to skip those steps until the new pieces arrived.
Come to find out, those pieces are no longer needed for assembly - they just didn't include the updated insert on how to finish the project!


The slide was the first thing to assemble.
The "fort" is starting to take shape
Attaching the arm for the swings and trapeze bar
Dallas giving the swing a test
It was the biggest smile he gave all day ~ too bad his boot got in the way of it!

no- that swing didn't come with the set, it was one we already had...we didn't think Dallas was ready for the sling seat swing yet

Climbing in the fort
There is a rock wall that will lead up to the fort deck and the slide will come off the other side. We didn't think we had the pieces to complete the rock wall, and we still need to water seal the set before attaching the slide.

Dallas going down the slide
Pap-paw and Aunt Katie held the slide so he could give it a real test ride
Reba loved the swing too
Both kiddos swinging together
On a bit of a sad note: Last night we had very high winds and the swing set blew over! I guess that's why they send stakes... One board cracked, so I'm hoping that I can get a new one from the company (free)...we will see.

Until next time...