Tuesday, July 31, 2012

10th (and a half) Month Birthday!



Evan and Jaden turned 10 months old while in South Dakota in early July. Their 10th month was full of summer fun! Jaden perfected the army crawl and scooted wherever he wanted around the house. I became thankful to the extra doors we have on rooms like the office, mudroom, and of course bathrooms. Evan is so flexible and will stretch his arms out, role sideways, stretch again, and eventually reach the toys he wants. They love swimming and we have spent many summer evenings at the pool. Evan likes to ‘jump’ off the side of the pool and Jaden will ‘kick-kick’ as he floats around.

Evan





Jaden




11th month pics to come soon:)

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Summer Roadtrip Part 4: Fun in Watertown!

After a week of having the full attention of Grandma Pam and Grandpa Al, Evan had made himself at home in Watertown. Evan continued to improve his ball handling skills with Grandpa and Grandma taught him how to patty-cake.



Evan and Jaden enjoyed each other’s company in their new backyard pool. For all of those hot-hot days, it was nice for them to cool off in the afternoons splashing each other. Evan warmed up to the pooltime fun, while Jaden learned early on how to escape to pick grass instead of swim!



The 4th of July was celebrated in Watertown and the boys sat very well for the parade- considering it was right during naptime. However, the clowns and loud sirens scared Jaden. He puts on a tough look, but truly, he is Mr. Sensitive. Great-Aunt Bondell came to celebrate the 4th and play with the boys.






Jaden earned his name- The Destroyer- after not only knocking down block towers, but taking apart the bottom of the refrigerator---over and over again.


Aunt Laurie took off two weekends from her marathon running to spoil the boys! She was always waiting in the morning for a baby to wake up! Come to think of it, I think she was the one in charge at the time the picture above was taken!






 So much fun with blocks, and learning to spin-balance tires on the big truck!




The boys had a great time in Watertown with Grandma and Grandpa and enjoyed their mornings at the farm as well!



Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Part 3: Fun in Volga with G&G Schumacher

Luckily, Grandma & Grandpa Schumacher only live about 50 minutes from Grandma & Grandpa Raeder. I drove the boys back and forth several days so they could play in Volga and each got to have a sleep over as well. Uncle Kyle and Aunt Rachel wanted to be fair and have Jaden stay over night since Evan had his one-on-one time on the drive to SD. Both boys did great sleeping through the night in new places and enjoyed playing with their new toys, knocking down more block towers, and singing fun songs.



Grandma Linda made beans for the boys from her garden- good thing she has such a large garden- 
they ate and ate these green veggies!

Grandpa Chris saying 'Hey!'            Mr. Sensitive responding!     


 Bedtime stories


 The boys were SO tired after their long day of fun.


Singing bedtime songs before the drive back to Watertown. 


When the boys and I left South Dakota, we went with Grandma Linda to Redwood Falls, MN to see Great-Grandma Remmele. We took Great-Grandma out for lunch. The boys enjoyed eating some 'real' foods off of my plate and the extra time with Grandma!

Great-Grandma Eileen Remmele - Happy 90th Birthday!!

Monday, July 16, 2012

And on the farm...........

There was a tractor! 
Jaden enjoyed his ride on the tractor!

 Evan wasn't too sure about this thing......

E-I-E-I-O!


There were some cows!
Evan checking out his cow #26 and his brother's #075

The boys were clearly more interested in the cows than the camera!


E-I-E-I-O!

There were some hay bales! 



E-I-E-I-O!

There was a 4-wheeler!


 They were ready to take off.....if only Jaden's legs were longer!

E-I-E-I-O!

There was a cat!


 Evan and I visited Becca, and Evan got a little worried about this animal that was bigger than he was on all-fours!

E-I-E-I-O!

There was a dog!

Jaden just LOVED Heather's dog, Bella. He followed Bella around everywhere- it was like this giant stuffed animal that moved! Thankfully Bella is such a calm dog and used to babies!

E-I-E-I-O!

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Midsummer’s Road Trip Part 1: By the Numbers


For several years, our youth pastor has asked Nathan to chaperone a high school mission trip (Work Camp) and Nathan answered, ‘yes, when we have a baby in diapers, I will chaperone!’ Being the responsible youth pastor, I was asked first if it was okay for Nathan to go, since there were two babies in diapers! Nathan kept his word and went along on the 9-day trip while I took the boys back to South Dakota. The next series of blog posts describe our adventures!

By the Numbers

2114 – Miles driven during the two week adventure (we won’t calculate the gallons of gas this took!!)

21 – days Evan was gone from home

284 – diapers packed and used

1 – tooth the boys left Illinois with

3 – teeth the boys returned with

40 – minutes for a roadside stop complete with diaper change, gas in the vehicle, bathroom break, caffeine purchase, boys fed.

3 – number of stops needed between Illinois and South Dakota

7 – times swimming in their new mini backyard pool

158 – block towers destroyed by Jaden

5 – clowns the boys saw in the 4th of July parade

5 – clowns that scared Jaden to tears

1 – quart of yogurt consumed (their first)

8 – containers of puffs consumed

3 – summer birthdays celebrated: Grandma Pam, Aunt Laurie, Aunt Rachel

Not to sound cliché, but in the words of Grandpa Al: the time with family & friends = priceless. 



 Evan eating puffs with Aunt Rachel 


The boys swimming in their new pool. 

The boys at the start of the 4th of July parade.