Monster Jam

Max and my dad have bonded over monster trucks. My parents have a movie that is quite possibly the dumbest movie in the history of movies about monster trucks and all kinds of other modes of transportation, but Max loves it and he knows he can get Grandpa to sit through the entire thing each and every time we go to Decorah! I've seen parts of it once and will never watch it again...it's that dumb.

Anyway...for the past year or so my dad has been searching for a monster truck show in the area to take Max to. He found one in the Quad Cities and it worked out to go last Saturday! I didn't even tell Max until Saturday morning. I was so worried he would get sick and I couldn't bear to see the disappointment if he couldn't go. When I told him, he was thrilled and could not wait to go! He got out all of his monster trucks and his books and patiently waited for Grandpa Roger to arrive!

The original plan was going to be to take Max to Camanche (a town halfway between here and the Quad Cities) to watch my cousin Kylie play tennis, but since the weather was so crummy, it got cancelled. Back-up plan was to take Max to Chuck E. Cheese in Davenport! He had never been to one, but has seen many commercials so he was in heaven there and according to my dad, did not want to leave!

My dad bought passes to the pit before the show so they were able to get right up close to the trucks and meet some of the drivers! They were also able to spend a fortune on all of the monster truck souvenirs. Among other things, my dad paid $15 for a snow-cone and some plastic cup to go with it!!

The show itself was great, but a little bit scary at times according to Max. Apparently at one point a truck turned into an alien or something like that. He was exhausted and fell asleep less than a mile from the event center! They drove in at 10:30 and Max went right to sleep face paint and all:) What a wonderful memory for him...so glad he got to go and spend some quality one-on-one time with his Gramps:) Now Mya thinks she's going to a princess show with Grandma. Guess you better start looking for tickets Mom!

Bikes, Bikes and more bikes!

Max and Mya have been biking fools since learning how to ride without training wheels. They can now both start and stop on their own so it's a lot less work for Chris and I! It's really quite amazing how far they've come in just a couple of weeks. They are now riding on grass, on rocks, on gravel and making some really sharp turns that they avoided at first. Max can get his helmet off by himself, but cannot put it on. Mya can't do either so we find ourselves putting helmets on and taking them off quite a few times a day! Mya has just decided lately to stop taking it off and just leaves it on when she goes about her other business:)

Here are a couple of other recent pictures of the kids on their bikes and Ivy sitting in her new stroller enjoying looking out at everyone!

This is Max's best attempt to open his eyes while looking in the sun so I could take a picture:)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is Chris's 34th birthday! I asked the kids to tell me some of the their favorite things about their daddy and this is what they came up with!

"I love that Daddy takes slivers out of my fingers." -Max

"I love giving Daddy hugs when he comes home from work." -Mya

"I love that my Daddy always finds clothes that have tags on before getting me dressed and usually he doesn't even look at the size!" -Ivy

"I love that he gets me out of the van when he gets home from work." -Chloe (more on that in an upcoming post:)

"I love that he plays football with me and teaches me how to throw it so it spirals." -Max

"I love riding in Daddy's car." -Mya

"I love that he puts lotion on my head after he gives me a bath." -Ivy

"I love that he lets me jump on him when we're playing in the backyard." -Chloe

"I love that he helps build toys, put together legos, and puts batteries in all of my toys." -Max

"I love that he holds my hand for a couple minutes when he is putting me to bed and lets me have a flashlight in my bed." -Mya

50% of those quotes came directly out of their mouths! I had to coax them out of Chloe and Ivy:) We're so lucky to have such a great Daddy at our house! The list could go on and on. Happy Birthday to one of the best around!

5 months!

Man, the grandparents have to be loving this week! 3 posts in 3 days is a new record!

Anyway...Ivy turned 5 months old today! I'm running out of energy as it's 9:50pm and I'm sitting down to do this so it will be a short one! 5 fun facts about our little Ivster:)

1. She has no personal space issues when it comes to her sister. She absolutely lights up when Mya gets right.in.her.face. She even laughs...sometimes it's a belly laugh. Chris and I were initially telling Mya to back up...no one wants someone to be that close, but now we just look at each other and laugh because Ivy actually loves it. Mya can get her to laugh more than anyone...in fact I'm not even sure I've ever gotten her to laugh.

2. She does have personal space issues when it comes to eating and to Chris and I cuddling her at night. She puts up an "arm-bar" when she's nursing. Basically she gets as close to me as she has to in order to get food, but not close enough to be snuggling me. She's pretty much the stark opposite of our other two when it comes to cuddling before bed. She wants nothing of it. When she's done eating and I want to just rock her for a few minutes, she's really fussy and turning her face back and forth into me and crying/whining. When we lay her down, she's perfectly content. 90% of the time this works out just fine because we have two other hooligans to deal with, but there are times I really wish she would just cuddle up with me!

3. She has discovered her toes and her voice this month. Both of which are adorable.

4. She is very into toys and loves more than anything to pull the toys off of her bouncy seat. Max and Mya are still in the stage where they think it's fun to put them all back on for her, but I'm guessing it will get old here soon.

5. She hates the sun being in her eyes more than anything. She violently thrashes her head around whenever she gets the sun in her eyes. I'm hoping that improves a bit as we will be outside a lot these next few months! I'm not asking her to look straight into the sun for hours on end, but just for a few seconds as I turn the stroller!

She has definitely fit into this family very well. While it has just been 5 months, it feels like she has been here forever:)

Bikers!

Last Friday I was getting a pedicure and Chris texted me saying "Someone can ride their bike!" I was super excited to get this text, but I wrote back, "Max or Mya?" I never heard back from him, so I assumed it was probably Max, but knew Mya was not going to be far behind! When I got home Max was super excited to show me and I was a very proud mama:) Here's a video!

This afternoon the kids and I went to the bike shop to get a new helmet for Max. I figured that he would be probably be taking some more falls on the bike now that he didn't have training wheels and his old helmet was a cheap-o we bought a few years ago when he started toddling around with his trike. Not sure why I thought I could get away with buying a new helmet for Max and not Mya, but I couldn't so we ended up with 2 new helmets, a kick stand and away we went!

The kids wanted their helmets on immediately when we got home so we went outside to ride bikes and I just casually asked Mya if she wanted to ride without training wheels. She was a little hesitant at first, but then decided to give it a whirl. I gave her one little push and away she went all the way down the sidewalk with me running next to her hanging onto the hood of her coat! She was so excited to show Chris when he came home and pretty much rode her bike up and down the sidewalk for the rest of the night! The only bad part is that she can't get started on her own and will need to grow another inch or so before she'll be able to do it. It could be awhile before that happens at the rate she's growing, but it just might be enough of a reason for her to start eating a little better! Here's a video of her on the bike.

Easter Weekend in Review!

We had a wonderful Easter weekend! Here are some of the highlights!

Chris had Friday off so I took advantage and got a pedicure! While I was sitting there, I got a text message from Chris that said "Someone can ride without training wheels!" I was so excited to get home and see Max on his big boy bike! (more on that in another post) Later in the afternoon we had a neighborhood Easter Egg hunt. Here's a picture of the kiddos minus Ivy (who looked too cozy in her car seat to take her out for a picture) and Maggie (who was throwing up:()



Saturday's trip to Decorah was a breeze. We made it in record time and Ivy was a total champ. Max and Mya are starting to get better at the game "See who can be quiet for the longest".

Easter Egg Hunt #2 had to be moved indoors because of some rain on Saturday afternoon. Max, Mya, Olivia and Grace had a blast finding the eggs in Brian and Amanda's basement and I have to say I probably had equally as much fun hiding them!

We had a delicious meal at Brian and Amanda's on Saturday night and the kids were exhausted enough to go right to bed with no complaints! My dad and I spent our Saturday night whooping up on Chris and my mom in 500! I think we'll have to split up next time because it's just too unfair:)

Church Sunday morning was a huge success. We didn't have a reserved pew this time so we had to go 30 minutes early with 5 kids 5 and under and they did wonderful! It helped that my cousins Kylie and Kelsey entertained them from the row in front of us:) We gave them all an "A+" because nobody had to leave church and no one had to have a snack!







The last minute Easter dress shopping I did actually worked out! I went shopping Thursday hoping to find 4 matching dresses in 3 different sizes. I ended up with 4 matching dresses in the right size for $40! Max wore a suit my sister bought him 2 years ago at Target. I took the tags off Sunday morning and she paid $6.40 for the entire suit! All 5 kids were dressed for less than $50! I love me a good deal:) The picture below was the best one we could get of the 4 girls...maybe someday we will be able to get a decent picture of the 5 of them together!



My mom made a fabulous Easter dinner that we all enjoyed. Ivy was such a champ and got passed around to so many people the entire weekend and never complained! She didn't take a nap longer than 45 minutes all weekend, but you never would have known. She was a total rock star.



Easter Egg #3 was the best one. My aunt Kathy brought my Grandma over to my parents house from the nursing home and also brought my Great-Aunt Katie along. Katie had never met my kids so it was wonderful to see her, and my Grandma got to see the kids running all over the yard hunting for eggs. She had a smile on her face the entire time she was there.



Below are a couple of my other favorites from yesterday!

April Madness!

Last night we got the basketball hoop up! And by "we" I mean Chris, Jeff and our neighbors:) We let the kids stay up way too late playing ball and it was so much fun! I have such fond memories of playing driveway basketball growing up. We bounced the ball at all hours of the day that some of the neighbors down the street went to the city council about it! My only hope is that our kids bouncing the ball too late at night is the biggest problem we have as they get older:)

Max was outside shooting baskets this morning before 8:00! Mya likes it, but can't quite get the ball to the hoop, so I have a feeling she will perfect her dribbling skills:) Tonight I ran some errands and when I came home, the cones were out and the kids had been practicing their dribbling around cones!

The next thing on the list to purchase will be a driveway net to keep the ball from rolling in the street. It won't stop every ball, but hopefully would stop a majority of them. And with our soon-to-be-mobile Ivy, I figure a baracade to the street won't hurt!

Here are a couple of youtube videos of Mya dribbling and Max shooting!