Iowa State Fair 2012

My favorite time of year has already come and gone.  The Iowa State Fair!  The fair gets more fun for the kids each year as they grow a year older.  Hannah was able to partake in all the events this year - compared to Last Year at the State Fair, or even more, The Year Before That.

We took the kids twice this year.  One time just our family, on a random, beautiful Tuesday night.  We rode the bus there, which I think sadly was the highlight for the kids. 

They each got their own big people seats.

This pic was on the way home - Hannah's Cheetos face.

The kids climbed on every.single.tractor.  This is on a life sized Gator.

Little Hands on the Farm!

This year the tractor rides had a wagon, hay bales, and gas tank to pull behind. 

Hannah could do the tractor ride this year - with daddy's help.

Milking the cow.

Sorting all of the foods at the end.  Hannah even took out the foods that didn't belong that other kids had misplaced and put them in the right bins!  She must take after her Papa.

They kids got all tatted up.  Showing off their Hawkeye tats. 

Then on Friday night we met my family at the fair after work. 

Round 2 of Little Hands on the Farm.  The kids each picked a rubber pig - which they ended up keeping at the end by mistake.  We thought they were to keep, and learned that the next day. 

Picking out his crops for his basket.

Friday night was a little busier than Tuesday night, so they had to wait for tractors to ride.

Tractor ride.

Henry did such a good job - those tractors were heavy!

Food time - Brio eating chicken on a stick.  

Showcasing my dad's awesome photography skills!  (Inside joke)

We love watching the big Clydesdale horses each year. 

And another favorite - the big Elk. 

The weather was absolutely perfect for the fair this year - such a nice surprise.  Now that the fair is over means fall is on the way - and with fall comes football!!  I know our house is excited about that - is yours??!!



Summer Fun 2012

What a great weekend we had!  Talk about packing an entire summers worth into just three days!  Friday night we left work early and met my family at the Iowa State Fair.  It was our family's second time going, but the kids loved it just as much as when they went on Tuesday night.  Then on Saturday morning, we packed up our cars and headed to Adventureland.  We got there right as the gates opened to try and beat some of the rush, which turned out to be a great idea since the weather was absolutely perfect, making Adventureland a popular destination on Saturday.  We stayed until a little after 1pm, which was the perfect amount of time for this family. 

We started with the balloon ride.  Both kids loved it.  The parents - not so much.  Spinning rides are just torture the older you get!!

Then we hit up the lady bugs.  The kids loved being able to drive it themselves.

Hannah, such a big girl.  She got to go on rides all by herself this year!

Driving in my car. 

Now that Henry is a few inches taller this year he got to come on some more rides with us!  After some coercing, I talked Danielle and my dad into coming on the ride with us.  At the very end with the waterfall my dad pushed off and saved Henry and me, but soaking Danielle.  She is such a trooper:)

Henry loving the big boy rides!  The other awesome thing was we got there so early that we only had to wait about 5 minutes to get on.  We all recalled coming in the past and having to wait at least an hour to get on this ride. 

Since we, well mainly Danielle, was already wet, we figured we'd attempt the log ride.  Surprisingly enough, Hannah could go on this ride too!  By her look in this picture she isn't so sure, but she loved it.  She also didn't get soaked like Henry and Danielle did...

Love this picture of Danielle covering Henry.  She definitely gets Aunt of the year award. 

Hannah LOVED it!!

The kids hit up one more ride and we took a break out at the car for a picnic lunch.  Luckily I had a dry shirt in the car that was in the Goodwill bag that Henry threw on.  Note to all - bring a dry set of clothes and shoes for your kids when going to Adventureland.

Hannah and Grandma Deaner in their matching purple shirts.

We went back in the park for about an hour, hit up the train, carousel, and a few other rides. 

Papa couldn't resist the Snickers ice cream bar. 

Another ride that I was shocked there was no height minimum (as long as accompanied by adult) was the Gallion. I made the mistake of taking Hannah....she kept her head on Danielle the entire time.  She didn't cry until after we got off - but I felt terrible!  Henry went on it last year, so I figured she would be ok...guess not....maybe we will try again next year. 

 

Check out that lip.  

We ended our Adventureland trip with some Infant Ocean, and of course, me, Danielle, and mom's favorite - Tilt a Whirl.  Henry came on the ride with us and laughed so hard, maybe not as loud as I was screaming though....  A family favorite. 

The kids fell asleep on the ride home and slept well that night.  I definitely recommend Adventureland for a fun family trip.  Though I would not recommend taking your 2 year old on the Gallion....and I would also suggest going during the week since the lines do get pretty long on the weekends. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend and got to enjoy the perfect weather!!

 

Baby Vorac

Andy's sister Heidi and her husband Nate are expecting their first baby in early November.  So of course, we had to throw Baby Vorac a party.  This past Sunday we hosted a baby shower for Baby Vorac.  Heidi and Nate had the most adorable announcement in Geneseo when we were there for Easter a few months ago.  Both sides of the family were at there house when Heidi came down the stairs wearing a shirt that read 'Future Hawkeye' with an arrow pointing to her belly.  Loved that!!  We were all so excited for them!

Here are a few pictures from the shower.  Baby Vorac's gender will be revealed in November, so luckily black and gold goes with boy or girl.  This baby will be ready to watch it's first Hawkeye games in true black and gold style.

I love the onesies on hanger look, and since the gender is not yet known, I just bought some of each!  Pink owl for girl, and blue dinosaur for boy.

We played two games, guess the old wives tale gender prediction questions, and baby pictionary!  Heidi scored 50% boy and 50% girl, so guess we still don't know....

Baby got a TON of good stuff.  Toys, carseat, clothes, you name it. 

And of course, Hawkeye gear!

Love this one!! 

Heidi's good friends Leah, Amy and Brigit all came into town. 

And my favorite part was Nate packing up all of the stuff.  Heidi took some of our baby stuff we have in our basement - the famous Sleep Sheep Swing, that Hannah lived in for her first 3 months, and the tummy time mat that both of our kids used and loved. 

Can't wait to meet Baby Vorac in just over 2 months!!

Hannah and her Letters

About 6 months ago Hannah's teachers in the Little 1's room kept telling us how Hannah was the only one in the class that could identify all of the kids names on the back of each picture.  Then when they would point to the first letter of their name, and she knew what the letter was.  And they told us she was the only one in the class that knew all of them.  I was amazed too, for a little girl at the age of 1 to know all of that.  Well now she has gotten so much better, that ANY letter you point to, she knows it.  I finally got her to do it on video.  See below. 

VBS

I attended and volunteered at Vacation Bible School each year growing up.  Now that Henry is almost 4 he is old enough to attend VBS at our church.  I signed him up and I volunteered as a Shepherd for his class.  I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into, but overall it was a great experience.  The kids had so much fun, listened so well, and danced and sang about Jesus love for them like crazy. 

We are members at a large church, and know that a lot of kids come to VBS.  Over 5,500 attended the 3 different sessions, so a huge turnout.  The 3 year olds had one choice of attending the night session from 6pm - 8pm, which works great for us full time working parents.  There were 8 different classes of 3 year olds, ranging from 14-18 kids.  We had 7 Shepherds in our class, so plenty of help.  The first night was a little chaotic, no one knew where they were going, how to check in, some kids cried the entire night worried their parents were dropping them off forever, and slow people like me could not figure out the silly wristbands...etc.  But by the 2nd or 3rd night we had it down and were on time to each class.  

The kids started out in their assigned drop off rooms.  They got wristbands to make sure the right adult picked up the right kid, and then we played until it was time to move to Story Time.  We had a red rope that all of the kids would hang onto for our what seemed like a very long journey from class to class.

After story time we headed to music time.  The kids loved this and danced all over the place!

After music time we headed to the gym for skit time, and then the kids had rec time - which was a favorite. 

After rec time we headed outside for snack time, and then back to the gym for more songs and parent pick up. 

Henry was lucky to have 2 girls from his daycare attending, and Audrey was actually in our class.  They were attached at the hip all week.  All 3 of them got to play together during rec time, which was super fun for them.

All of the 3 year olds - Kindergarten.  Quite overwhelming...

Tomorrow at church we have our annual Taste of Hope Festival.  It will be our first time attending.  During church tomorrow night all of the VBS kids are invited up to the front to sing some of the songs they learned.  We will see if Henry is brave enough to go up there!

The kids did awesome, but were very tired by the end of the session.  At around 7:30 the past two nights Henry told me he was tired and he wanted to go home and straight to bed.  This kid never has told me he was tired and wants to go to bed, so I knew he had to be tired.  Henry is asleep now, and he will hopefully sleep in late tomorrow morning and take good naps this weekend!

Henry the Pirate

Henry LOVES pirates.  So when we got the July preschool calendar and saw that there was a pirate day, we (mostly me) was so excited to prepare for the big day. 

Our kids have just recently started watching TV the last few months, not because we haven't let them, they just have not been interested and would rather play in our playroom.  So when I discovered the show Jake and the Neverland Pirates, I knew Henry would be in love.  At Target the other day, I couldn't pass up the little Jake pirate doll.  So for pirate day, we made an outfit from stuff we found around the house and tried to make Henry look like Jake. 

Time got away from us, and we were scrambling at the last minute to get his outfit together.  So we cut the sleeves on a white undershirt and colored an 'X' on it, cut a red onesie to make his headband, and pulled out his black vest from Danielle's wedding.  He also got to bring his sword.  He loved the outfit and was so excited to tell his teachers all about it. 

Our Pirate Henry.

The actual Jake the Pirate:

What an easy project at home that made Henry so happy and excited to show off to his friends.  And not too bad for mommy at 7am on a Monday morning. 

Potty Time!!

Now that Hannah is in the Lil' 2's room they take her to the potty every 2 hours.  We can already see how much more interested she is in the potty over the past two weeks.  Usually she just sits on the potty for about a second and will say 'Hannah Done!', and she tells us every 10 minutes or so that she has to go, but we are all for the trying.  Last night, right around the time she usually goes number two I saw her sneak away to her little corner.  I was running around the house getting stuff ready for VBS, so just quickly asked her if she had to go poopy.  She said yes, so I told her to sit on the potty.  She did, and guess what - she pooped!!  

I am not sure what it is about my kids getting the pooping on the potty down before the pee, but I am all about it since that is usually what parents struggle with.  

Best news is, today when I picked her up from school, she had gone on the potty for them too!  So we are getting there, almost a diaper free house!!

I had to take a picture of Hannah on the potty yesterday.  We brought Henry's Cars potty chair out from storage to our downstairs bathroom and she just loves it.  Last night I gave her a book to read while she was pooping and she sat there for a good five minutes.  And tonight when she sat on the potty all of a sudden I heard the toilet flush.  I get downstairs and she had gotten down all by herself, pulled up her pants, flushed the toilet, put the potty chair back on the potty hook and put the green stool back in the corner where it goes.  I was shocked!!  She needed a little help adjusting her diaper, but that was it!  Can we say big girl???

I will keep everyone posted on her progress!