Friday, August 31, 2018

May 2018


May!
Beautiful, sunny, warm May!

I took Ellory to a lot of parks
which resulted in her
doing this while waiting for Kale
to get out of school:




We ended up being at my parents' house
on May 4th,
so we celebrated Star Wars day
by watching Kale's Lego Star Wars movie.


And the next day,
the kids and I ate lunch outside:


One of Kale's soccer practices
involved any siblings or parents
getting out there and 
scrimmaging with Kale's team.
Tyler carried Ellory around
so she could join in the fun





At one of his soccer practices,
Kale took a ball to the face.
At first he was FREAKING out,
but then I told him that he 
now had his first loose tooth,
and he thought that was awesome and stopped crying.
About a week later,
I noticed that where his loose tooth was,
his adult tooth was already growing in behind it.
Like a little shark:


More beautiful soccer days!


Little Miss Ellory,
enjoying the soccer match:



I had been feeling pretty good,
and then one weekend I suddenly felt awful again.
Tyler was traveling and had texted me
to ask me how I was doing.
This was my response:



The kids and I then went to my parents house
to surprise my mom for Mother's Day!
I didn't tell either of them we were coming.
It was so fun to see the look 
on her face when she answered the door.
And since it was Sunday,
my dad made me a delicious omlette


I don't remember what movie we watched...


But the kids were certainly entertained!
Maybe it was The Greatest Showman?


That night there was a huge thunderstorm,
and Ellory came into bed with me:


More beautiful days full of 
me trying to tire her out:


Kale lost his first tooth!!


Tyler took the kids outside to
play some kickball...







And then the neighbors 
wanted to join in.



Sometimes, I just like to take
pictures of her sleeping:


She built that magnet castle all by herself:


Ellory asked if she could have a 
pajama party with her friends.
Duh. Yes:


They watched Chicken Little 
and giggled the whole way through
in their cute pajamas.

Oh and Ellory requested a large
breakfast that morning,
which I made for her:


The poptart was the only thing she actually ate, though.

Another thing she built
all by herself:


For a while there,
she was obsessed with this movie:


And one night I really wanted to eat
something yummy but I also
really, really didn't want to cook it
or clean up the mess.
So we went to Hickory Park.
And Kale's ice cream turned his tongue blue:


Ellory put this on and she's cute,
so I don't need any other reason
to take a picture:


Hot day at Nana's calls for
ice cream and Popsicle breaks:


Oh, and all this while we were house hunting.
Saw some good ones.
Saw some awful ones.
We started to get extremely discouraged.
I was truly on the edge of giving up.
And then we saw this one:






And we were like,
"Um, yes, please."
Someone else put an offer on it,
but we won!
It was a huge relief to have
that done,
and so exciting anticipating moving in!

Kale had some fun days
for his last week of school.
One of them was silly string your teacher:



We took the side off Ellory's crib:


She fell off that night.
Eventually, she got used to it.

Kale had a field day at school.
Tyler, Ellory and I helped
in the morning with the Limbo station:


That was  HOT day,
and very buggy.

We were really happy with
how Kale's Kindergarten year went.
His teacher was the best we could have asked for,
and he loved going every day.
She sometimes would text
me pictures of what he was doing
during the day,
and was more than willing to give him
extra things to do.
His favorite days were when he was chosen
to be the "Star Helper."
But he found ways to get to be
her helper pretty much every day.
We are really glad he got to participate
in the E.L.P. group, too.
He always came home excited to
tell me about the brainteaser!
 
And then May was over and summer began!

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

April 2018



We've made it to April!
Thinking back on it,
most of what I remember was
that it was colder than I would have liked,
and that I finally made it far enough
into my pregnancy to get my hands
on some blessed Zofran.
My mom teased me and told me
I sound like a drug addict when I talk about it,
but I DON'T CARE.
That stuff transforms me from
and unrecognizable blob in the fetal position 
on the couch,
into a functioning human being.
No more puking.
Do I feel 100%? 
No.
But I feel well enough to actually 
eat some food,
and to drive the kids places,
and to carry out a conversation
with my husband that isn't
just grunts.
So, to whomever invented Zofran,
I bless you and thank you.

Anyway,
on to the picture recap.

The first day of April we spent
watching General Conference
and celebrating Easter with my parents.

They, of course, were required
to entertain the kids:



It was a really nice day.
Best part?
I was able to eat the ribs
AND
keep them down.
#winning.

Also in April,
Kale started soccer!!!


The above picture was after his first day.
It was a little cold...
The beginning of his soccer season was rough.
Lots of cancellations because
it was cold and raining.
He was really nervous about his first day.
I mean, REALLY nervous.
But he made it through.
We had some rough bumps
along the way getting him used
to listening to his coach
and not throwing tantrums when he lost.
No idea where he gets his competitiveness from.......


This was a day when
I was not feeling great,
(no Zofran yet)
so we stayed in our pajamas
and watched TV all day:


 Because of the circumstances
under which we found out we were pregnant,
my doctor had to guess how far along I was.
So, at what she guess was my 12 week point,
she had me come in for a check up
and also for an ultrasound so they could
measure the little one and determine
how far along I was:


And doc was right!
I was measuring right at 12 weeks.

A lot of times when we went to Kale's
soccer practice,
Ellory would fall asleep on the way there.
 


Most of the time I was glad she did this,
because then I had to stay in the
car with her.
It was still really cold, and although
I had my medicine now,
I still wasn't feeling that good.
But I was always able to get a parking 
spot where I could see Kale's practice.

Not long after we got the ultrasound,
we texted our siblings
to let them know the happy news.
When we were at Dain's reception,
I had had a conversation
with Heather (Kyle's wife)
about what was going on with me,
and I had said the words to her,
"I've come to terms with the fact
that I probably won't have any more kids."

She was so happy for me
when I told her I was pregnant.
And just a few days later,
I got this from her in the mail:


It was the sweetest thing.
And she was the one dealing with
having her husband shipping off to Afghanistan
for 9 months,
but she took time to think of me
and send me a little something.
She really is the best!

Oh look,
Ellory fell asleep again:



One day, after church,
Kale was just too cool for anything:


Look!
I actually watched soccer
from the sidelines!
 



Slowly but surely,
the weather was trying to warm up.

One day Kale went to a friend's house
after school to play.
When I picked him up,
his eye looked like this:




No, he didn't get in a fight with his friend.
That is what happens when he 
comes in contact with peanuts.
The friend's mom had no idea
how that had happened.
I gave him some Benadryl,
and he couldn't help but fall asleep.
Which was weird because
Benadryl has never had that effect on him before. 
Anyway, I thought it would be good to 
let him sleep it off,
and it didn't seem like it was getting any worse.
Well, when Tyler got home,
he looked at it and it had gotten worse.
Off to the ER we went!
Long story short,
they decided to prescribe him a steroid,
and that knocked it right out.
Poor guy!

We got some coupons in the mail
for free pizza at a place in Ames called
Smokin Oak Pizza.
So ya, we went and checked that place out!


And brought McDonald's for Ellory:



It was delicious.


Nana and Pop-Pop came over
to celebrate Pop-Pop's birthday.
But first, 
Nana gave the kids some presents.
Like this Yo-Yo:


It took Kale 23 seconds to break his yo-yo.
I think it took Ellory about 8 minutes.

Kale made Pop-Pop a birthday card:


Ellory helped unwrap the present:


Which was a puzzle!
The kids picked it out themselves.


The plan was to go to a park and have a picnic:



But, per the theme of this April,
it was COLD and WINDY.


And then we went to Perfect Games
to dink around:





And do some bowling:


Ellory didn't like bowling.
When I told her too bad,
guess who she went crying to?...





Ya, she has him wrapped around 
her adorable little finger.
And we all know it.
Other than Ellory not enjoying bowling,
we had a really fun time!
And I was grateful that 
Mom and Dad were willing to 
come to us since
driving still was really difficult for me.

At about this time,
Tyler and I embarked on a crazy adventure...
house hunting!
Boy that was stressful.
One day, while Tyler was traveling,
there were a couple open houses we were interested in.
So I took the kids to them,
and I promised there would be a visit
to a park if they were good.

Well, they were good enough:


At Kale's school,
they did this thing called "Mileage Club."
One recess a day the kids could
choose to run laps around
the school and rack up miles and earn different rewards.
Kale loved it!
And Ellory and I went to help 
with keeping track of the kids'
earned tokens.
Which meant....
picnics!


We didn't start volunteering to help
until the weather got nice.
Ha!

Also in April,
we made our happy news public knowledge!


I don't remember what's happing
in these pictures,
but she's cute:



Ellory had her friend, Thea,
come with us to Mileage club one day:




I can't remember why we took this picture:


I would bet Kale was excited 
about something he had accomplished.
And possibly wanted to have the picture
sent to Tyler.
But I'm not sure.

Ellory and her cheetah,
just swingin life away:


Then it was time for Dain and Heidi's Open House!
We went to my parents' house for a few days
so that we could spend time with them,
and so I could try and be
somewhat helpful.
It was so fun!
Jake surprised everyone but me by showing up,
(he told me he was coming),
but then Caree (Jake's fiance)
surprised me by coming with him!
It was an awesome surprise
and we had so much fun together that weekend.





Also, Tyler surprised me by showing up
at the Open House!
He had to work that morning
at the Drake Relays,
and when we were texting it didn't sound
like he was going to come.
I was pretty bummed.
But then he showed up
and I couldn't have been happier!
All in all,
it was a really great weekend.

The weather took a turn for 
the gorgeous,
so we could start walking to and from school again.
Which was great because driving
still was making me carsick.
Kale was a sweet boy and
offered to push the stroller for me:




And that was April!
By the end,
Spring had actually sprung,
and we were getting ready to count
down the days until summer!!!!!