Little Eastern Iowa Adventure

Last Friday we headed over to Lisbon, Iowa for Danielle's (the pretty gal in the picture) grand opening of her business, Iron Leaf Press.  She recently won a prize of this beautiful building...RENT FREE for two years.  It is awesome way to get her business jump started.  Danielle used to be an intern in Michael's office and she also did Bare Root's branding...it is so neat to see her opening her own business!  Not only is she a super nice lady, she makes some pretty amazing stuff.  She has done a couple of custom projects for us.  She is a print maker, everything in her studio is just so neat to look at and so much work goes into one piece...it is really an amazing art.  Check out Iron Leaf Press ! 

Sweet Dee's is a little beignet company that Danielle's boyfriend started and it is tasty!  The trailer says, Like a donut but tastier.  We couldn't agree more.  They are hard to describe but if you see Sweet Dee's around...try it.  You won't regret it!  

Hutchinson wanted one more....please!

Or maybe he was just telling us he is going to be two!

Of course, we had to walk around the main street in Lisbon.  The boys found the perfect place to hide.  Fi Fi was cracking Hutchinson up.  I love the way he can make him giggle!

LOVE!

I love the top picture.  I can't get the boys to take a picture when we are all looking...so at least this is real life.  The bottom picture is in anticipation of a train.  This bridge in Mt. Vernon is crazy.  The trains go RIGHT under you.  You can see the engineers and everything. The first train was slow and steady.  The boys loved it.  The second train came hauling down the track.  It was quite the adrenaline rush since you are standing about 10 feet about the top of the train.  Finnean's hair was standing on end.  He thought the second train was a little too loud, if you could imagine.  :)



TRAIN!

Hutchinson loves to spy things!

We ended our night by heading to a little park for a picnic.  It was very muggy and buggy, so we didn't stay long.  Michael and I split a pizza from The Lincoln Wine Bar and it was superb.  I would totally recommend it and Michael says The Lincoln Café (same owners) has some of the best food around.  It is actually in Mt. Vernon but is right next to Lisbon.  We headed back to DSM but stopped to check out the Community of Flags, Brooklyn.  I posted the best picture ever a few posts back.  We had a great time and we just love going on adventures together.  It is definitely one of my favorite things about our family.

Truth

• We are addicted to Blues Clues.  I always thought it was dumb, I mean I guy that talks to everything around him?!  Come on.  Finnean loves it!!  He said he loves all the songs.  It is pretty cute.  I get desperate when I am trying to cut Finnean's hair and we found Blue Clues.
• Hi.  My name is Courtney and I am an emotional eater.  Yesterday, I ate an ice cream cone in the bathroom just to get away from my children.  You know the kind with nuts on top and the chocolate at the bottom of the waffle cone.  SO GOOD!  At least it was a mini :)  Bring on the eat disorder diagnosis...hiding while eating...that can't be a good thing!  It is AMAZING how quickly they know that you are getting a snack!  Little scavengers.
• My kids have watched more TV this week than they have watched all summer.  That is what happens when I have to work.  We have a trunk show this week and there is just not enough time to get everything done when they are asleep (not if I want to get some sleep), so TV gets watched.  They are going to be fine, right? Sure, I think so.  I hope so anyway.
• I miss the pool!!! We have not been to the pool all week and all I want to do is sit and splash with my kids...SOON.

I think that concludes my stay work-at-home mom truth update.  Somebody out there has to have these same thoughts, right!? 

I should add that today is one of my favorite days.  I love being at the Farmer's Market.  I get to be a small business owner.  I get to talk to people that I only see a couple times a year and I get to hang with some of my favorite people while doing "work."  I feel very blessed that I have two jobs that I love. 

a whole week?

I have no idea how a week passes so quickly.  I went to update the blog yesterday and was shocked that I haven't updated for a whole week!  Then I got distracted (if you can imagine) and it didn't get updated again.  So what have we been up too?  Adventuring.  That is what we do.  We headed to eastern Iowa on Friday and that trip deserves a whole blog post.  We squeezed in a date night! WHOOP! Love date night.  Some people say that they aren't important and that they aren't a priority for them...they are for us.  We need to be adults.  I can't think of what else we have been up too but I have to write down the following...

Scene: Hutchinson is waking up and I go into his room.
Hutchinson: (lifting his hands like he is saying "where?""  FI-FI!?!?! (Translation: Where's Finnean?)
Me: Finnean is upstairs.
Hutchinson: Cars?!?!
Me: You want a car?
Hutchinson: shakes head yes.

You can see where I rank.  I finally did get a hug but it took some convincing.  He is just keeping me grounded.  Hutchinson saying Fi-Fi is probably one of the cutest things I have ever heard. Ever.

I will leave you with one of the best faces we have ever captured.  I love this picture.  A little back story...Hutchinson is OBSESSED with flags.  All kinds.   Doesn't matter to him at all, he just loves them and loves to see them flapping in the wind.  We were on our way home from eastern Iowa and Michael mentioned that we could stop in Brooklyn, the community of flags, we couldn't pass it up.  It was late and we should have just kept going but it was totally worth...as you can see.


He just kept saying "WHOA!  WOW!  FLAG. FLAG. FLAG!"

Monday FUN!

We were beat after all of that running we have done in the past two weeks.  Swimming lessons wore me out!  SO...we just hung out inside most of the day.  We did a little "school" work and I gave Finnean an assignment and then of course, he gave me one.  We practiced our cutting, gluing and writing of names.  Finnean then came up with an idea to have a puppet show (bottom picture)!  I LOVE when he is creative.  He made all the people in our family and then I made a couple of dinosaurs and we taped them to spatulas.  The boys loved it and Finnean came up with all kinds of stories.  My favorite was he wanted to go sledding with the dinosaur. :)  Hutchinson did less puppets and more drumming but our skits needed music!  Then I lunch with Finnean the watermelon eating dinosaur.  Can't you see how scary he was!?  Great little Monday.

 

Oh my!!  This boy just cracks me up!  I think Hutchinson was just a little bit exited about his popsicle!

Silly boy stealing a drink of my water.  You should see his face after he actually gets some water in his mouth! 

 

Happy Father's Day!

 

 We started the morning off right by making some homemade cinnamon rolls and yummy breakfast casserole together.  You should probably make the casserole right now and eat it up all week.  It is SO tasty!  Thanks, Erin for the great recipe!  The cinnamon rolls are so tasty too and SO easy!  I recommend checking out Iowa Girl Eats!  We had sweets for breakfast and then the savory for lunch.  It was perfect and SO tasty!  We headed off to church.  Our pastor is retiring in a couple weeks so it is bittersweet each time we got to church. (Hi Kevin and Patty!)  We know that churches change pastors but why does OURS have to change!  Can you tell I am a little reluctant to this change? :)  Anyway...after church we all crashed for naps and then headed to the pool!  Finnean the fish had to show off his skills to his dad! 

Could you tell they were having fun!?  I love Finnean's face in this one.  I am sure that Michael made him laugh:)
After swimming we headed to the Saylorville Marina.  We got to eat outside and watch boats pull in and out...can't get much better than that!  The food is good but the view makes it ever better! 
(Hutch is spying the moon in the top right picture...looking old as ever!)



After dinner we came home for some family football!  Doesn't Finnean look like a hunk!  He can really throw it and last night we taught him what a "duck" was.  So he kept asking, "was that a duck or a spiral?"  I love that boy.  I love that he loves football but I hate the fact that he is most likely going to want to play actual football someday.  Michael thinks I am crazy but the whole head injury thing makes me hope for a solid career in the marching band!   He is getting better at catching the ball but still love to fall down more than anything.  Poor guy woke up with TONS of HUGE bug bites this morning.  I am pretty sure he scratched them the whole night! :( 

Hutchy loves to play football too but spends more time saying "fooooballlll" than really playing!  Finnean likes that because he staying out of his way and he doesn't have to take turns!  I am loving the bottom right picture of Hutchinson.  That smile just gets me!

The top picture is as good as we could get of them town of them together!  They are rolling on top of each other if they are too close!  The giggles are abundant but I am not a fan of the wrestling...I know, I know.  I need to loosen up a bit but I don't want them crashing all over my house!  Did you remember that we have a dog?  Old Jerry, hanging in there will the wild boys.  He turns eight next week.  Hard to believe that we have had him that long.  He is still up to the same things: barking at neighbors, napping and licking (he has allergies and it about drives us crazy!). 

I forgot to mention that it was my birthday yesterday too.  I couldn't have asked for a better day.  Perfect weather and plenty of time with my three boys.  I think this last year in the 20s will be A-Okay as long as I get to spend time with these cuties!  I am also so blessed by my friends who made me feel special on my birthday.  Michael and I are celebrating our summer birthdays by heading to California in just ONE MONTH from today!  We are so excited!  

I had no idea how awesome of a Dad Michael would be.  I know he would be great but he continues to amaze me everyday.  This picture was taken just a few minutes after he became a Dad for the first time.  He had no idea what it would really be like (I don't think) but I don't think he would change it for anything (I think). :) 

This was taken just after Hutchinson was born.  These last two are some of my favorite pictures ever.  Thanks, Michael Wagler for taken sure good care of us and working so hard for our family.  We love you and Happy Father's Day! 

Saturday fun!

 

 

I snapped some pictures for a friend on Saturday morning and all the boys tagged along!  Of course I don't have any pictures of Finnean, he was too busy zooming around on his bike!  Hutchinson on the other hand was just my speed to get some great shots.  I love that sweet, chubby face.  The top small picture on the right is him trying to "smell" the flowers...he doesn't quite now how to do that yet and it is so stinky cute. 

 

Even thought it looked like it was going to storm we headed down to the Downtown Famer's Market.  I do not enjoy it as much as the one in Valley Junction but it was still fun!  They have some different things and we checked out some grass-fed beef places.  We are considering getting some "healthy" beef.  You know, locally raised in a respectful way and without all kinds of nasty chemicals...if anyone has any suggestion for local people...let me know!  Anyway, the rain stayed away besides a few sprinkles and we got to see Cubbie Bear!  Michael and I had our first breakfast burrito from the market ever and boy was it tasty!  I kinda wish I had one right now!  There is always a huge line for them, so you know they are good!

After the market, we headed to Costco.  Yes, we did all this before 1 pm.  It was perfect because we had samples from the store of lunch and the boys were happy as could be!  I can't get over how adorable they are in this picture!   I just want to squeeze them!

They even make snack time look cute!  What do you think...do they look alike?  Somedays I just can't tell!?

After we took some naps we headed to a friend's house for a grill out.  It was SUPER successful!  8 kids under the age of 8(we were missing Dax, the youngest, who had a fever)!  You just never know how things are going to work out!  Tonya and Dana have an amazing backyard.  It is basically a park with a trampoline!  The boys LOVED it!  We are missing a couple from this picture but can you get over how cute these boys are!  They were devouring their ice cream...best. idea. ever.  They loved it! The top picture is of the "club" ladies.  Stephanie's mom had a club growing up and it basically a group of ladies that get together regularly.  We decided to take on the name as well.  It was a lot easier than saying I am going out with Tonya, Stephanie and Kelcee or we are meeting up with all of the following...so now when we say we have "club" our husbands know exactly what we are talking about!  Sometimes we even have family club.  I mentioned before that it can be crazy but it is fun!

Cowboy up.

These cowboys are just killing me.  The love to run around and pretend to be cowboys.  I almost always have to be the mommy cowboy.  The love to yell "YEEEEEE-HAWWWW!"

Fish!

The weather was super nice today, so we decided to head to the pool this afternoon.  We are now official pool pass holders!!  The boys had to get their pictures taken and everything.  Finnean is PUMPED and Hutchinson loved it too.  I was a lot more nervous than I thought I would be taking them.  I don't want them to drown but I don't want my anxiety to be transferred to them.  So I will be working on letting Finnean safely explore.  That is my job for the summer :)  We found out quickly that we were not prepared for the pool.  We didn't have anything to dive after or throw into the pool and no goggles.  So we are on a mission to get those things and soak up some sun this summer! I can't wait to see how much they have changed by the end of the summer!  Our neighbors came too, so it was perfect for all the boys to play along and nice for the moms to have another person to help keep eyes on the boys!

Hutchinson spent most of his time holding on to these little rockets that our friend brought along.  He would barely stick his nose in if he had too but mostly just walked around and splashed.  He did try to go down the slide but then decided that he was a bit too nervous.  He laughed and played hard and I bet he will sleep hard tonight!

Finnean spent most of his time "diving" under the water.  He puts his hands out in front of him and then "dives" in.  I wish I could describe it better but it is hilarious.  He comes up with the biggest smile and says "Did you see THAT!?"  He is really loved the water and we are trying to figure out what the boundaries should be for him.  He loved going down the kiddie slide (he was terrified of it last year) and spent a lot of time doing that.  He is getting more social and even asked a little girl to play with him.  That consisted of her following him around for a few minutes before she got bored. :)  He liked playing with Austin, the neighbor boy, and even tried on a pair of his goggles.  I think he will sleep well tonight too! 

Today's Adventure: High Trestle Bridge

This bridge is amazing.  It is located right between Madrid and Woodward, so it is about 30 minutes from our house.  We headed out about 11 and packed a lunch.  Finnean was pumped to ride his bike and we were excited to get moving.  It is about a 3 mile trip from where we parked, across the bridge and back.  It was a nice day for a walk but the wind made it almost a chilly.  I told Finnean that it was really windy on the bridge and he just said, "I like the way it feels on my skin!" So we just let it just push us along!  Michael brought the tripod (good thinking, M!) so we were able to snap some photos of all of us.  The bridge wasn't that busy today, so it made for perfect picture taking.  Here are a few photos from our adventure.

My heart is so full.  I am so thankful that I get to call these boys my family.



Just when you thought we looked so normal...

These boys love to make this face.  I asked them to show me their teeth and this is what I got...
"TEEEEETHHHHH!!"

Ugh.  Again, he is looking so old.

I love this shot of the boys exploring. Looks like Hutchinson is spying something!

We took a little break along the way...you know to rest and dig in the mud.

Hutchinson had to have a stick too!  Can you see the beautiful scenery behind the boys?  It is just awesome and would be so nice to check out during the fall.

More funny faces!

Momma's boy.

:)

I just want to squeeze him!!

Love him!

He put in 3 miles today and I think he is darn proud.  He did great staying on the right side of the trail and we are working on him saying "on your left!" like all of the other bikers say when they pass you.  :)

 

Garage sale fun!

We swore we would never have a garage sale...but we had one Saturday.  It was super nice day, so I didn't mind sitting outside trying to sell our stuff!  It went well and we have some extra spending money for Cali too!  This is how we passed the not so busy times!

{This just might be my new favorite picture!}
photo credit: Finnean Wagler

Fun Friday

Finnean has been LOVING swimming lessons.  On Friday he got right after it and had his head under the water within minutes!  He has been so brave, which I am shocked (but thankful) about!  He is usually a little timid, so I hope that he keeps it up this week! 
 

We had dinner with the Darrington's on Thursday night and Abby asked Finnean if he wanted a cookie to take home for after swimming lessons...you can bet that he didn't forget about that!  They both loved having a cookie for morning snack!

We picked Carter up for a little park time after lessons on Friday.  They big boys LOVE to bicker.  So we are working on  and hopefully as they spend more time together, it won't be so bad!  Hutchinson just loves Carter---it is so nice to have him back in the area!
(Left picture: H giving out some hugs...he is just a loving guy Doesn't he just melt your heart!!)

Finnean!

This kid ROCKED his first day of swimming lessons!  He got right in, bobbed around, used his hands to move some water and even put his face in!  He was so brave (despite the two other boys FREAKING OUT) and had a lot of fun!  He said that he wants to go back tomorrow, so that is a plus :)

Most of the day was rather dreary but this evening the sun was shining in all his glory.  It was perfect!

This kid cracks me up.  He looks tough, doesn't he?  Or maybe eclectic is the right word!