Zoo Brew

Being zoo members really pays off!! We have wanted to try zoo brew for quite awhile and finally decided to do it last week with Dave's sister and brother. Since we get in to the zoo free it was a pretty cheap date. It was a warm night but a little breeze helped and it cooled off as the sun went down. It is weird to walk around the zoo and not have a stroller, or be dodging strollers, or get hit on the heels by a wayward stroller. You get the idea! And I have also never had so many privledges being a designated driver. As most of you know I am not a drinker. As in never have... and at this point can say probably never will. At zoo brew you get a fancy paper bracelet, free pop, and a chance to win a zoo membership just for not drinking! My kind of event...  I must have put the wrong phone number down though because I never got the call that I won. Bummer! 

We walked around the zoo to look at all the animals. By the end of the evening most of the animals were put in their areas to sleep or eat but we still got to see many of them. The giraffes were being cute for the camera. We will definitely go again!!

Grown Up

Two weeks ago or so we finally phased out nursing for Asher at night. I did just the same with him as I did for Jaxson, weaning out one feeding a month. It worked just as good this time as it did last time. It is still sad for me though. Nursing was our time to snuggle. He doesn't want to sit on my lap and talk to me for 5 minutes let alone 20 minutes now that he isn't nursing but I guess that is how it goes. He really loves to read books though, so he has enjoyed it. And I have seen him really take to it even more now that it is his routine. He will climb in his chair with several books throughout the day and look at all the pictures. He is much more interested in stories than Jax was at his age. I think it is becasue he has been around reading ever since ever since he was inlcluded into Jax's storytimes forever. I wasn't as good with Jax about reading to him as a baby so it took him longer to enjoy sitting for storytime. I am happy to say they both love it now.

I still let Jaxson and Asher have their bedtime stories separate since that is their time with one of us. They do all kinds of stuff together and the individual stuff is just as, if not more, important so we want to keep that a priority.

New Friends

Jaxson and Fisher, a friend he met at preschool last year, hit it off well both being a little shy and quiet in the class. They ended being walking partners alot and at the end of the school year he asked to invite Fisher to his birthday party. He was able to come and last week we met at a spash park and let the kids play. It might be the perfect playdate partner since Fisher and Jaxson are only months apart in age, and she has a little girl that is just a few months older than Asher. Both sets of kids went off and played together while we sat in the edge of the water and chatted. It was a really nice time and it was so fun to have all four kids occupied and watching them laugh and splash in the water. All four of the kids also took a snack break every 5 minutes it seemed. Something about the water or having snacks just sitting on the towel made them hard to resist.

I learned a lesson that Casey already knew. Don't bring any toys you want to bring home with you to the splash park. Kids were grabbing any toys that floated by, whether it was theirs or not. We brought a couple balls, one Dave specifically told me to make sure we brought home. (It's a good play basketball in the water ball) The kids were playing with them, and we look away for a minute and the green "special" ball was no where! We both walked around and even crept up on peoples blankets looking for this darn ball. Turns out the sweet boys had finished playing with it and actually put them both away. The green one was put in our bag and I didn't find it until I had given up and went to dry off. I guess we should have known we had such good kids they would put stuff away! :D

He played hard and passed out on the way home. On a side note, I LOVE having a phone with a good camera. How did I exist without this before?! :)

On the way home we stopped and got milkshakes. Mostly because I wanted one really bad! I just let Asher go for it since I wasn't giving him bites fast enough for his liking. He really, really liked it.

Old Stomping Grounds

Last week we headed to the Science center with Anne and Ava for a play date. Jaxson was eager to go to all his favorite spots he loved when going to preschool there. He wanted to go see his teachers but we didn't make our way down there. Of course he wanted to go to the Star Theater and make rockets. Anne was on Asher's team, and I was on Jaxson's when making rockets. I think dads are alot better in the engineering department because neither of our rockets really went that far. We look forward to going again soon. That really is a fun place, even for adults!!

Jaxson wouldn't join the other kids on tv for the newscast but they hopped up there during an off time.

Setting off their rockets!

Jaxson is in the picture somewhere... can you find him?!?!?!

Corned

 With the sweet corn making its way into the stores we have been having a fair share of it for dinner. We have grilled it, boiled it, even had it in a shrimp boil the other day!! I decided to give Asher the whole cob and see if he could figure it out. It took him a few tries and I had to help him hold it at first, but he soon got the hang of it.

We started him with a small one. Then when that was cleaned completely in no time flat we gave him a whole one. Which was also polished clean. He is a typewriter corn cobber. I go around in circles. Jaxson just takes random bites (like his Aunt Anne B.)

And a whole ear and a half he was done. He is now an official corn loving Iowan. :)

Marshmallow Tears

I can't count how many times I have fallen for those big, sad brown eyes with tears falling on his cheeks. He could want almost anything and I would give him twenty with just one glance. I am trying to get better about this. I mean, I shouldn't let my one year old have anything just because he is super cute right?! (Just kidding.. he really doesn't get anything!) I decided that I have so  many photos of him being smiley and laughing, I will want to remember the puppy dog eyes with tears too. He wasn't a huge fan of me photographing him while sad since as soon as he noticed my camera he went into complete meltdown mode.

What was I denying my adorable child?? Marshmallows of course. Elaine, my mother-in-law and super Grandma has made marshmallows a treat of choice for my little guys. She always has several varieties on hand for them to choose depending on their marshmallow mood. There are plenty of worse things so they can have a few from time to time. It makes them smile.. so it is worth it. This night we were in process of making dinner so I declined his oh so cute request for a marshmallow. And the waterworks started instantly.

This is how he requests marshmallows. He reaches up and grunts. 

He thought hitting me was a great way to get his way. Umm... don't think so little man!! 

Don't let his tears pull your heartstrings. I know it's hard. After dinner he was rewarded with a few marshmallows to enjoy. And it only took him a few minutes to forget all about it. All it took was giving him a box to wear as a hat.

Relax With Some Crafts

On Friday night we had an overnight guest, Lauren! We spent tons of time together growing up but not as often since she moved to Marshaltown. She is an elementary art teacher there and although we would love her to come back to see her all the time, she has a job she loves. Anywho... something we used to do all the time together is go get facials or massages or any other spa treatment. So Saturday we got up first thing and that is exactly what we did!!! We chatted through our facials... as usual. Our lovely spa ladies probably think we are slightly batty. Oh well. Then we stopped at a bakery for breakfast. We loaded up on several pastries, lattes, and a vegetable quiche to share. We brought a few home for the boys, Asher being the only one who ate it up. So I had to finish off the pear pastry I picked out for Jax. It was soooo good. :)

Since she is an art teacher her heart began to flutter when she saw a jar full of art supplies to create whatever your imagination can imagine. She decided on making puppets. Jaxson wasn't interested in helping but Asher loved it!! I didn't do too good getting Jaxson interested in arts and crafts. I need to include more artistic things at home. I will do better with Asher and Jaxson will have to tap into his creative side once preschool starts. :)

In progress! Her finished product was really cute. Mine, not so much. Go figure....

Jaxson loved showing her all of his toys and how good he is a Mario Kart Wii. He was disappointed when she wasn't there on Sunday morning again. Hopefully we can make some more dates before school starts back up for her in the fall. (And us with Jax in preschool... tear)

Progress

 I wanted to post an update on Asher's burn. If you need a refresher on what happened several months ago you can read all about it HERE.  That was such a day.. not one of my favorites. But we have come very far from that day. I am feeling awesome since my surgery. I have almost forgot what it feels like to be scared to eat. :D I don't miss my gall bladder one bit. And for Asher's arm, he is doing great as well.

After it healed we started the Mederma to try to get rid of the scarring. I was nervous because his arm completely healed didn't looked very healed. It was red and looked raw still. I was wishing for the Mederma to help it. Even a little bit. You can see when we started it HERE.

Now, over four months later we have seen major improvements. MAJOR!! It almost doesn't look like really anything happened. I have to almost point it out to people that ask how his arm is doing. It is pretty remarkable. We are still using it at night. I do believe it has done all it will do now that it has been well over the 8 weeks it says for new scars. We will likely finish our current tube and see what we think. We couldn't be happier with what it did for his arm. I recommend it to everyone I know!! Have a scar?!?! Get Mederma!!

Here is a side by side of how it looks now on the left and where it started on the right.

Brotherly Love

I know I write about this alot. I just can't help myself. I can't imagine my boys not having each other. They really are becoming the best of friends. I can't wait to see them become even closer as they grow. As I was snapping photos at the winery the other evening I captured a photo that didn't seem special that evening, but at second look was an instant favorite of mine.

Jaxson is looking up at his brother with such love. It is a look I see often. He dotes on him, tells him he loves him often. He shares with him and always sits in his crib with him and reads him book while I shower so he doesn't cry. Sometimes, I think they are bummed when I am done. They really enjoy being together. You can see Jaxson just beaming at his little brother. And I know that if a picture of Asher was taken, you would see that same look right back to Jax.

Summer Concert Series

Yes it is hot. But we don't want to waste our summer complaining about the heat!! Before we know it it will be a blizzard outside and we will regret sitting inside during this time of year. We may not stay as long or seek shade rather than sun but we have had a great summer so far. Last Thursday the four of us set up shop at Jasper winery to enjoy some live music and cool beverages. We had such a perfect spot!! The music was loud enough we could hear but have a normal conversation. No screaming required. The boys had tons of room to run and play. It was under the shade with a nice breeze. (With all this said, we are definitely going again tomorrow!) I debated bringing my camera but glad I did. Dave's sister and brother-in-law joined us for the evening and his brother Dan made an appearance as the band was wrapping up. It made for plenty of photo opportunities.

Dave was teasing Michelle that she should shower more. So she really let him have it. haha

This photo here was Jaxson taking a picture with my big, heavy camera. He held it up and snapped the photo. He did several and although not quite in focus, he managed to center us both times. I was impressed and kind of proud of my potential little photographer. :)

Men At Work

Dave had a day last week that wasn't very busy so he surprised Jaxson with a whole day at work with him. Jaxson loves to do big boy things and he loves going off with dad. He felt pretty special. He woke up with a smile and got ready as quickly as he could. They weren't allowed to leave before a photoshoot on the way to the car of course. :)

They stopped at the office and did fun things like print off paychecks for people and shredded some documents. They made some copies then were off to check on some properties and have lunch. Jaxson checked several times with Dave that it was just them going to lunch. Not Asher and mommy too right???? I had actually asked Dave if we should meet them and he said that he didn't think it was a good idea. So Asher and I grabbed lunch ourselves as we were out and about. It was refreshing and odd being out with only child. It will be the norm once Jaxson starts preschool in just over a month.

When Jaxson walked into the door he had the biggest, bright orange, Slushie. He was smiling and so excited!! See, he had earned a whole dollar an hour and purchased his Slushie with his hard earned cash. What melted my heart more than that was when he walked in and continued to share with his brother until the very last drop. I love how they love each other.