Since Lynnette and I both had the day off today, we decided to take the kids out on a picnic at Gray’s Lake. It was pretty smooth sailing most of the time, only your usual temper tantrum once and awhile.
Anyway, the kids had a blast and I was able to snap a couple quick portraits.
We also stopped by the “castle” (aka the Capital) for a short period of time.
Sophia was extra pleased when I put her up on top of this statue for a picture:
July 3rd, 2009 in
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Susan may recognize DJ’s shirt. You gave it to us years ago – Derek is now able to wear a 4T t-shirt.
July 1st, 2009 in
Derek,
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That about sums up our busy weekend. Saturday morning Kevin took Sophia on the fishing trip they’d been talking about for weeks. I hear they only fished for 15 minutes, but they had a great Father/daughter morning together. Derek went with me to a candle party and he didn’t even break anything. In fact he was a perfect little angel.
After lunch and naps (I slept for close to 3 hours…nice!), we took our normal Saturday afternoon trip to Target for a little supper and playing around in the toy aisle. It’s great entertainment!! The kids were pretty tired and went to bed pretty easily, so Kevin and I enjoyed a movie. Gran Torino, was actually a really great movie.
This morning the kids let us sleep in!! After breakfast a little dancing, Kevin blew up the new little pool we bought at Target and filled it up. We invited the neighbor girls over and the kids had a blast!
After lunch and baths, we headed down to Kevin’s cousins for their daughter’s baptism party. Grandma Robin, Dick showed up with Judy and Ralph. Derek took really well to Ralph and Sophia to Judy’s puppy named, Mini. I think Sophia wants a real purse puppy. Too bad Lexi can’t fit into a purse!! We stayed long enough for me to get a nice sunburn, then we headed for home.
Here is Sophia with Minnie:
On the way home, we passed the capital building. Sophia said, “Daddy, look at that castle”. So we decided to drive to the capital and walk around. We walked around and looked at all the monuments. At one point Sophia asked, “What does that do Daddy”. Kevin, not know what she was asking about started talking about Iowa legislation. He pretty quickly realized she was talking about the bar that kept the cars out of the parking lot. It won’t be long and Kevin will be able teach her everything he knows!
June 28th, 2009 in
Family |
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I can’t get enough of those pretty blue eyes:
June 28th, 2009 in
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Sophia |
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Rising from the deep dark (inflatable) pool:
June 28th, 2009 in
Derek,
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Derek was extra tickle-ish this morning, especially when Mommy was “wiping” him down after breakfast:
June 27th, 2009 in
Derek,
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Today is Denise’s Birthday and to celebrate, Lynnette and Sophia made cupcakes last night.
Sophia ate a lot of frosting:
Derek woke up a happy boy today:
How quickly a happy boy can get upset:
Practicing signing Happy Birthday:
Anyway, just a few quick pictures to share. We hope you have a great day Denise!
June 23rd, 2009 in
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Sophia |
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What a great day today. I was treated to a breakfast chosen by Sophia: waffles, the opportunity to lounge around on the couch and to Sophia not having a nap (you can just imagine).
Anyway, we headed down to my parents house for Turkey and spoiled ourselves with pizza for dinner.
Here are a ton of pictures from today:
Having strawberry dessert with Grandma:
Kirby:
Not sure what she was smiling for:
She was coming to tell me she loves me (not happy about the camera):
Derek helping with laundry:
Mr. Personality:
If you ever see the look, watch out:
MORE JUICE:
My Father’s Day present:
I buzzed Derek’s hair last night. He was very cooperative!! I wrote myself a little note for next time to remind myself that #2 is too short. It looks really cute, but he kind of looks like he’s bald, since he’s so blonde. I just hope he doesn’t get sun burnt.
I took Sophia to the movie “Up” the other night. It was the first theater she’s ever been in. It was a great movie and Sophia and I both loved it. She only looked away long enough to find her popcorn.
Last weekend we went to a giant furniture store to see the new renovations. We had a fun time in the kids area, then went down for some free cookies and lemonade. Next, we checked out the couches and living room furniture. At one point Derek and Sophia collided which left poor Derek with a nice shiner. Once we decided it was time to go and headed toward the front, Derek spotted something he really liked. He ran over to a coffee table, yelling “ball”, picked up the round vase and proceeded to bounce it on the floor. Too bad it didn’t bounce. I picked up the shattered pieced and took it to someone and said “i guess I just bought this”. He was nice enough to let us leave without our broken purchase.
One more…
Sophia was having a hard time trying to find a story to read. We kept telling her she was running out of time, since it was passed her bedtime. She turned the page looking for her story and said, DAMN. Kevin and I tried to ignore it, but I had to leave the room to laugh. How in the world did she pick that up.
Tonight we hooked the buggy up to Kevin’s bike and went for a nice bike ride. What a busy summer!
June 21st, 2009 in
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Saturday Kevin had a wedding to shoot, so the kids and I hang out for most of the day. After Derek’s nap, Sophia talked me into taking them to McDs playland to play. I said if they were good at McD and the grocery store they could have ice cream. Sure enough they were perfect angels both places, so we picked up ice cream and headed home. After ice cream a ton of playing, quick baths, the kids were finally exhausted and passed out at 9:30, wow they day just flew by.
Sunday we hurried through breakfast and got ready to go to Quinton’s 2nd birthday party. The kids had a ton of fun. I think Derek amazed everyone at how big he is and Sophia was very helpful with Quinton’s presents. We couldn’t leave without cake and ice cream.
As we had hoped, the kids both fell asleep on the way home. Kevin and I took turns going into the house to get things ready for our picnic, so the kids could continue their naps. After we got everything packed, we headed to Big Creek for our picnic.
Once we finally found our picnic spot, we met up with all our friends. Sophia and Derek were very happy to see Abigail and Amelia and a couple of new friends too, Isabella and Junior. Paul & Caitlyn brought the newest member of their family, a baby boxer named Wylan.
Toward the end of the picnic, the kids found the water spout…who new a water spout could be so fun. Words can’t even describe how much fun the kids had splashing around in the freezing cold water. I’ve never seen Derek laugh so hard. Sophia ended up in her swimsuit and all the rest of the kids were in their unders or diaper. That was sooo much fun to watch the kids be that carefree!!
The kids were both amazing this weekend, and it made these last couple of days fly by so fast. Here’s to wonderful weekends like this!!
June 14th, 2009 in
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We obviously don’t feed him enough:
Update: I added a tilt-shift effect to the image, that I believe gives it a more three-dimensional look. It also makes the subject matter (DJ) stand out a little better. 
June 10th, 2009 in
Derek,
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June 7th, 2009 in
Derek,
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I snuck around the corner and snapped this picture, while they were “resting” on the couch this morning. I just love the look on Sophia’s face:
And here is my usual “Derek in the high chair” picture:
If there was ever a picture that could describe our boy, this would be it:
A bruiser, biker, a bulldog and one overall tough dude (despite his affinity for things pink and purple).
I converted the image to B+W, because I think it gives a stronger impact…
June 2nd, 2009 in
Derek,
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Grandma Robin and Grandpa Dick have been wanting to take the kids to the Omaha Zoo for awhile now. We finally got to go on Saturday and it was a great day.
Grandpa Dick, he’s not a fan of paparazzi:
We got there around 11:00 and checked out the petting zoo first, next we walked up the hill to the small aviary tent. The kids both loved it. The little parakeets would fly right in front of you or land right in your path. Derek and Sophia got very excited. What a way to start out a great day. Next we walked out the hill and saw a few more animals, including the baby monkey.
Derek licking his hand, after touching the otter tank:
After a quick bite to eat, we hit the big aviary tent, then to the desert dome. At this point Derek made it very apparent that he had missed his nap. However, once he got in the aquarium he was pretty amazed. The look on Sophia’s face in the aquarium was priceless. I think we could have stayed in there all day long! Next was the butterfly pavilion and the giraffe complex. We were only in the butterfly pavilion for 2 minutes, when we realized that a cranky, tired and strong willed Derek did not belong!
The desert dome:
Sophia checking out one of the lizards:
Derek and Sophia checking out the fish:
Sophia and Grandma Robin looking at fish overhead:
After we visited the giraffes, Sophia and Kevin took a train ride to the Carousel, while the rest of us walked in an effort to get Derek to fall asleep. At last, around 4 he finally slipped into a peaceful 45 minutes nap. Meanwhile, Sophia, Grandma Robin and I got to ride the carousel a few times. Just outside the carousel we got to see an awesome display by a male peacock. Not to mention the X rated action when the female peacock strolled into his path. Thank goodness Sophia didn’t even ask what they were doing, we were too stunned to know what to say,
After Derek woke up he got a ride on the carousel, then Grandma Robin bought Derek a monkey and Sophia a flamingo at the gift shop. We had a wonderful day. We weren’t in the car 5 minutes before Sophia passed out cold (the whole way home). Thanks so much for the wonderful day Grandma Robin and Grandpa Dick!!
Not quite as much fun today, but Kevin got some really great pictures. After we made a quick trip to Target, and after naps the kids got to play in their new sprinkler they named “ollie”. Sophia loves it!!
And for cousin Login:
I recently posted a picture of Logan in a basket, Derek decided to pull off a similar trick today…
May 31st, 2009 in
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Wednesday Karissa and Devin came down to hang out with Derek and Sophia while I put in a few extra hours at work and Kevin got some work done around the house. She helped us out again on Thursday night too!!
On Friday Grandma Marilyn and Grandpa Steve stopped by too. Sophia, Grandma Marilyn had a fun girls night shopping and eating out, while Derek, Daddy and Grandpa Steve ate pizza and hung out around the house.
On Saturday we all packed up and headed to Iowa Falls for Cousin Trevor’s wedding. We met up with all the rest of the family, Kim, Logan and Emily, Great Grandma & Grandpa Goodburn, Uncle Lee and EVERYONE else from my mom’s side of the family. Between the wedding and the reception we had some extra time, so we took the kids swimming. That’s the first time Derek’s really been swimming. Him and Logan had the most fun jumping into the pool from the side, while Sophia enjoyed lounging in the water floaty!
After swimming, we all got ready again and headed to the reception. We’d only been there for about 30 minutes, when Derek slammed his face against the table. I grabbed him and hugged him and took him into the other room so he wouldn’t scream too loud during the wedding speeches. I leaned down to look at him and saw blood everywhere. He had cut his lip pretty bad. However, after a little TLC, a bunch of napkins and some ice, he was already to go.
Sophia and Trevor (the Groom):
Sophia cutting the rug:
I captured this image, a split second before he ran in to me:
All the kids had such a great time at the reception. We dressed Derek, Logan and Devin in the same red shirts and everyone thought they were adorable. Sophia made a lot of new friends on the dance floor. She is such a serious dancer!! It was hard to get all the kids out of there and to bed, but I’m sure they all dreamt of dancing!!
Derek the doorman:
On Sunday Grandma Marilyn, Grandpa Steve and Emily headed back with us for a couple of days of relaxing. Sophia had her very first sleepover…her and Cousin Emily giggled way past 10:00 pm. I’m not sure what time they finally went to sleep, but sure enough, they were the first ones up this morning.
He thought going across the grass was a shortcut:
She really does prefer this big wheel:
After a little more playing it was time to head home. We said our goodbye’s to Grandma Marilyn, Grandpa Steve and Emily.
It has been a wonderful weekend for our family. We all had such a great time together!!
May 25th, 2009 in
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Sophia popping bubbles:
Tired little boy:
My work had a company event at InPlay last night and since Sophia has gymnastics on Tuesday, I took Derek solo.
He was pretty good for the most part. I think the environment and people were definitely over-stimulating for him, since he spent a lot of time covering his face – particularly when people were talking to us.
The best part was just how much he got in to the mini-bowling they had:
Towards the end, he was throwing the balls down the lane as fast as possible – there were several instances where the even went on to adjoining ones.
All in all, he had a blast!
Saturday we headed to Cherokee for Emily’s birthday party. The 3 hr ride there took nearly 5 hours. The kids were great the whole way, but road construction and very large vehicles made it a great day to check out detours around northwest Iowa.
The boys (Derek, Devin and Logan):
The kids all had a wonderful time playing. Sophia thought it was pretty great to hang out with the big girls!! We learned that Derek doesn’t have the best social skills, as all he would do is bully the other boys by taking their toys. Those 3 boys are going to be trouble together when they get older!! Derek has also figured out how to get out of his pack’n play, which made bed time a bit difficult.
Sophia being her cute self:
Derek and cousin Devin:
Sunday we were able to spend some time at my Grandparent’s house before we left town. It was another great family weekend. Even Lexi got to vacation at Grandma Robins house…she loved it!
Who are these kids:
Derek with Great Grandma:
Only missing one great grand-kiddo:
How is this even possible (Logan sitting in the smallest basket ever):
May 18th, 2009 in
Family,
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