Hooray for Tony!! Last night at his game he caught a huge pop fly. Will said it was amazing and all his coaches and all the parents were yelling and clapping for him!! I missed it of course cause I was home with the little guys since it was so cold. He was so excited. His coach gave him an extra treat ticket for doing so well. I asked him what he thought when he caught it and he said "I just knew it was coming right for me and when I caught it I knew that it worked...my coach told me to think like I was the best catcher on the field and I thought that as it was coming to me and I caught it!"

We had a very nice weekend. Saturday Tony had a baseball game and he got a hit!! This is a big deal for him because he usually never swings the bat. He has a hard time at that. So, when he swung and struck out the first time at bat I was so happy because he actually swung the bat. Then at his second time at bat he made contact with the ball 3 times!! He hit 2 fouls and then hit a line drive towards the shortstop. They got him out at first but it was still very exciting. I am sure I looked like a total nerd cause I was cheering and saying great job when he hit his foul balls, so you can imagine my excitement when he hit one to second!

Also, Saturday morning my SIL, Tony and Brodie and I went garage saling. We got some pretty good deals. The best thing was that Tony found a Palm Pilot (little electronic organizer deal) for $5! He was pretty excited about that. I keep telling him that I want it cause I think it would be super handy but he says the price went up to $25. Smart kid. For Brodie we found a Little Tikes car bed. I really didn't need a toddler bed because we already had one. But, it was awesome and I had always thought it would be cool to get one of those. I remember thinking that when Jake and Tony were little. So, with a little convincing from my SIL "do it Sara, do it" I talked the lady down $5 and decided to get it. We set it up Saturday night and he has no problem sleeping in it. So, we are going to take down the crib Drew was in and put Drew in Brodie's old crib. I was a little nervous moving him to a bed, but so far it has been ok! l The nice thing is the bed was so cheap I know I will be able to make a nice profit from it when I go to sell it. That is if it is still in good condition after my boys go through it.

Sunday we enjoyed a nice visit and lunch with my in laws and then headed to my sister Julies in laws for my nieces confirmation party. We has a good time. Will spent from 8am Sat till 6:30am Sunday preparing the meat that we had at the party. He smoked it and made his own sauces. It was worth all the hard work and tasted great. Looking forward to hopefully another good week with some good YMCA time since I ate so much food this weekend!

I hate getting a taste of warm weather and then having it be cold and rainy. It is like putting something really delicious in your mouth and having someone tell you you can't finish it. Sigh...I am bummed cause of the weather. I am tired of thinking of indoor activities.

Wednesday was family night and it was a nice evening. We went out to Saylorville and Jake and Tony rode their bikes all over the place and explored around the pond. Brodie was funny and he rode his little trike like 1/2 a mile. Will was trying to teach him to pedal but he thought it was much faster to just ride Flinstone style. Drew did great for having bilateral ear infection. He played on the playground for a while then was content with me pushing him in the stroller while we followed the kids on their bikes. As of yesterday he was still spiking pretty high fevers so I am hoping today is going to be better.

Last night we had a nice evening as well. We spent most of the evening outside. Brodie of course playing in the dirt, Drew wondering around all over as usual, Tony riding his bike up and down the neighbors driveway and Jake playing with his Nerf guns. Will cooked us a wonderful meal consisting of Panko breaded chicken with Parmasean, angel hair pasta with pesto and green beans. It was awesome. He is becoming quite the cook. It is nice for us to be trying so many new things. I made stir fry the other night for the first time and that was good too. We have made a huge list of new meals we want to incorporate into our old list. It's great.

So I guess I shouldn't complain about not being able to go outside today. At least we got a taste of the beautiful weather, I am just pouting about today :(

Today is beautiful outside!! I am so happy tonight is our family night and I am the one who gets to pick what to do. I am choosing to go to the park and go for a bike ride/walk! It should be perfect.

I took Drew into the doctor today. He started not sleeping well Monday night and then ran a fever off and on yesterday. This morning he was miserable. He didn't eat breakfast so I knew something was up. In fact we thought that Monday night he might be getting ear infection since he didn't sleep well. Sure enough, the Dr. this morning said both of his ears were infected and his right ear had ruptured. This is the 4th rupture this year. So, he is off to see ENT on May 8th to schedule surgery for ear tubes. I am sure it will be worth it but it is always a little scary since they will have to put him under general anesthesia. For now, he got a shot this morning and is now on oral antibiotics and ear drops. Kind of puts the kibosh on swim lessons I guess.

Other than that things are going good around here. Tony won his baseball game last night. Jake has spent most of his spare time outside in his fort in the gully. Everyone is in a little better mood when the weather is so nice.

Yesterday Tony had a baseball game. It was absolutely ridiculously cold. Tony and cold weather do not mix well and he was convinced he had frostbite so he spent most of the game huddled under a blanket on the bench. When he did go out in the last inning he stood covering second base and I don't think he moved the whole time he was out there. He came home and spent an hour in the bathtub warming up.

Jake and Will went to the Iowa State Spring clinic and football game. They left the game early due to the weather. Jake spent the morning doing drills and such with the player and coach of the Cyclones. This is the 3rd year they have gone. Jake seems to really like it. Football is his sport you know.

Last night we ate dinner at IHOP with my step brother Jeff. We had a nice quiet evening and Wills parents stopped by. It was a pretty good day. Today should be good too. The high is suppose to be 72!!! I am off to get some work done in the garage and basement.

Well the last 2 days we have been stuck indoors due to the rain. We did however manage to make it to the Y each morning. The boys are really getting use to going and seem to really enjoy having that hour to play with some other toys and kids.

We made a fort in the livingroom on Thursday. The kids had fun playing under there and we cooked and read books and did our puzzles there! Then when Drew took his morning nap Brodie and I baked cookies. He loves to cook anything and always wants to "help". While I baked he stood on a chair at the sink and played in the dish water for almost an hour. It was awesome to see how much fun he had with a few bowls, spoons and 5 inches of water!

I am looking forward to the nicer weather this weekend. Hopefully we will spend lots of time outside. My goal for this weekend is to get some work done in the garage to get ready for my sale. I am shooting for May 30th and 31st for those of you interested. I might have to push it into June but I am really hoping to have it ready so I can get started on Jakes room before summer is here and I am bombarded with all his buddies coming over.

Good Day

We got great news on Tony today. The lesion on his head that my Pediatrician was concerned about appears to be just a normal mole. We don't need to do anything with it at the present time. What a relief. I had visions of something worse and felt much relief after his apt. Thank you to everyone who sent emails and called us. We are so very lucky to have awesome family and friends.

How beautiful was today? This evening the kids, Will and I and Will's sister all played outside. It was perfect. I love these kinds of evenings. Of course it is back to rain and yuckiness tomorrow, we couldn't get too spoiled could we?

Brodie started his swim lessons this morning. The instructor ran late and never did make it for our class so we just splashed around in the water for a bit. He seemed to like it but that water is just so chilly it is hard to get adjusted. Hopefully it will get better.

Drew is terribly croupy again. As I type I can hear him in his crib coughing away. Poor guy. I suppose it will be another trip to the Doctor if that doesn't stop. I think he has had it like 4 times. He always gets steroids and they seem to help, but seriously can't a guy get a break? Ok, I am off to bed...

Our computer is fixed!! Yeah, now I can upload photos again. I posted some new pictures on the bottom and 2 pictures here. The first one is of Drew eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and wiping it all over his hair. Needless to say he went directly into the bathtub after he was finished having fun. The second picture is of Will and I and the older boys at the Rainforest Cafe in Minnesota. We ate dinner there the night before we came home and it was awesome.

Well, Jakes dance seemed to go ok on Friday. I didn't get very many details. Maybe that is a good thing. Tony's game was cancelled on Saturday due to the weather. He plays tonight. Our weekend was pretty good. We watched some shows and got some things accomplished around the house. It always feels good to get things done. Drew started swim lessons this morning. It went really well. I was the only one there! So, it was just one on one with the instructor. By the time we left Drew was kicking his legs and waving his arms in the water! It is pretty much just to get them use to the water. Official swim lessons don't start till he is 3 years old. Brodie starts his beginner class on Wednesday. Hopefully he does as good as Drew did.

So I am really getting sick of this weather. It makes it really hard for me to get motivated to do anything. On a happier note, it is nice to see the grass getting greener. I have a TON of work to do outside. I am ready to dig the deck furniture out of the shed!

Jake has his first school dance tonight. He is pretty excited, I am not so much! Last night I had to teach him how to dance with a female. He thought that was totally awkward.

Tony has been doing pretty well. He battled some pretty bad headaches this week but seems to be feeling better. His apt with the Derm doctor is next Wed at 2:30. Will is going to go with me.

Brodie and Drew are doing well. Crazy as usual. They both have a little bit of sniffles going on but that seems to be the norm around here.

Hoping to be productive this weekend. Will is suppose to hopefully fix our computer and then I can start posting some pictures again!

We're Home!

We had a great time in Minnesota. We left Friday about 9am. We dropped the boys off with Jen and headed north. We stopped at the outlet mall in Medford and found a few things. We got into Bloomington about 3:30 and found our hotel. It was VERY nice. Much better then where we stayed in Omaha. After checking in and scoping out the ammenities we headed to St. Paul to the Science Center. That place was awesome! It makes our Science Center in Des Moines look pathetic. The boys loved it. We stayed there till 9 pm when it closed. After making a few wrong turns leaving the center, Will somehow managed to head the right direction and found our hotel again. We went swimming that night and then all layed in our King bed and fell asleep watching TV!

Saturday we ate breakfast at the hotel which was surprisingly nice. We walked over to the Mall of America. WOW~new it was large but didn't expect it to be that large. It is .57 miles around one level and there was 3 1/2 levels. We spent the entire day walking and eating and walking some more. The highlights were the Lego store and Ride Makerz where Tony made his own race car. That was pretty cool. We ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. For me, that was the best part of the trip. I think everyone else would agree. We left about 8:30 or so and went home and sat in the jacuzzi and rested our feet! Our room had a mini fridge and microwave so we made popcorn and rented a movie. The only one to make it through the entire movie was Jake!

Sunday we headed back over to the mall and played a round of mini golf at Moose Mountain. That was also really fun. Will won of course. We headed out around 1:30 and started home. We were all so exhasted and full that we drove straight to moms with only 1 restroom break. Brodie and Drew were really excited to see us. I think I was probably a little more excited then they were. They had a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa and Jenny.

It's Thursday, yeah!! Today is Will's last day of the work week. We are leaving in the morning for Minnesota. We are so excited!

This has been an extremely busy week for us. We have had things going on every day/night. We got insulation in our attic the other day. That is a project I am glad to have gotten done and hopefully will save us a little money in the future. Tony has had baseball. We have had our van in twice for repairs. Once for an oil change and tire rotation and now it has been there since yesterday to get our brakes fixed. Jake's trumpet broke so that is in the repair shop. It is a good thing we are rich since EVERYONE wants our money...NOT. I guess there is always something that has to be fixed. Sigh...someday big expenses won't be such a big deal.

On a happier note. I said before Will and I joined the YMCA in January. Will has now lost 30 pounds. He looks like he did when I met him! I am so proud of him and he has done agreat job eating less and healther. I am doing pretty well also. Pounds don't peel off me like they do him. I am enjoying getting to the gym almost every day though, if for nothing else, just getting out of the house is nice.

Well, I will update everyone on our trip when we get back. Will is still working on our computer. Thankfully it is still under warrenty and Dell is great at sending us new parts. Once that is up and running good I will post some new pictures. I know sometimes it is boring to read without something fun to look at.

Have great weekend everyone. I know we will. If you live around here, get out and enjoy the weather. It is suppose to be beautiful!!