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Sunday, September 21, 2014

Brodie's First Football Game

 Brodie played his first football game of the season this last Saturday.  He did great.  It took him a little while to warm up but then it all clicked and he was doing awesome.

Will made a You Tube video of  his game and you can watch it HERE.
 He got 2 touchdowns, an interception and pulled off a few flags.  We had a dilemma this year regarding football for him.  Our school district went straight into tackle football for the 3rd graders. We didn't feel comfortable just placing him into tackle without any prior football experience.

He still really wanted to play so we took him away from his all his buddies who were playing tackle and enrolled him in the Huxley Park and Rec where they offered flag football.  (We were originally going to play for Des Moines Park and Rec but they cancelled due to low numbers of kids.)

He has been doing really well and having a lot of fun.

He has his own cheerleader!
Of course Emily found a "puppy" that took her attention away from the game for a while.


Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Meet Dino

We had a Vet clinic set up in our living room for awhile.  This was Drew's dinosaur, Dino.  Doctor Drew reported that Dino had a broken foot and a ruptured ear drum.  See...he's holding the cotton up to his ear to stop the drainage.

Poor Drew. He had a a rough couple months.  He had ear infection in one or both ears for half of the summer.  His ears ruptured twice or maybe it was 3 times I can't even remember now.  We went to see his ENT doctor who discovered that his nose was very unhealthy looking and thought the problems with his ears was stemming from his nose.  We tried some different medications and nose sprays and he ordered some allergy testing.

The allergy testing was more traumatic than I thought it would be.  He ended up getting 15 injections of different allergens.  We discovered that he is allergic to pollen, trees, grass, but his most severe allergy is to dust mites (shudder).

We initially thought we were going to do allergy shots or maybe surgical treatment to place tubes back in his ears but this week we went in and it looks like his ears and his nose are looking better.  We made some changes around the house and that, along with his new medicines seem to be working.  We bought him a dust mite and allergy proof pillow, pillow cover, and mattress cover.  I am no longer line drying his clothes and bedding.  We also have an air purifier in his bedroom.

 I am crossing my fingers that he continues to improve.

Friday, September 5, 2014

Princess Emily


Like most 3 year old little girls, Emily loves the movie Frozen!  Even before she saw that movie she would love to dress up in her princess dress and dance around the house.
Now she dresses up and wants me to braid her hair like Queen Elsa.  She keeps telling me "it needs to be longer".
I just like the fact that now at almost 4 years old, she is finally letting me play with her hair!!

Iowa State University Fan Fest

On August 24th, while Miss Emily and I were spending some time with friends in Nebraska, Will took the 3 younger boys to the Iowa State Fan Fest.  Here are a few pictures he snapped while at the event.




I think all 3 boys faces are just as red as their shirts!




 
I can only imagine how excited Brodie was.  He LOVES football.  The players were there giving autographs.  This was the best part for Brodie.  



They got their hats signed as well as posters.



 They even got head coach Paul Rhoads autograph!

Mini Makers Faire at the Science Center of Iowa

 On Labor Day we attended the Mini Makers Faire at the Science Center in Des Moines.  It was awesome.

Going into the Faire I had no idea what to expect.  Here's a little background on the Maker Faire...

Maker Faire is a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity and resourcefulness. It's a community-based learning event that inspires everyone to become a maker and connect to people and projects in their local community. At Maker Faire, you'll find arts and crafts, science and engineering, food and music, fire and water - but what makes this event special is that all these interesting projects and smart, creative people come together.


Makers range from tech enthusiasts to crafters to homesteaders to scientists to garage tinkerers. They are of all ages and backgrounds. The aim of Maker Faire is to entertain, inform, connect and grow this community.

The first thing we saw when we walked up were gas powered cars that had been transformed into electric cars.


The kids (and Will) got to test their skills with virtual reality welding.



Who doesn't love R2 D2?
The robots below were able to move around and pick up and toss the blue ball.  The robot went around tossing the ball to kids who were standing there paying attention.  It was really cool.


 What event isn't made better with some balloon art!




This was one of the coolest things I saw.  A 3D printer.  I think it is just totally amazing.  I could have just sat and watched it all day.

 The kids had a great time creating different sounds, pitches, and music using circuits, plugs and switches.


 We had a great time and saw lots of really, really cool stuff.  The kids said we absolutely HAVE to go to another one.

Preschool

Letter A
Apples
Red

I started preschool with Emily this week.  She is old enough to go to public preschool but since she won't be 4 years old till November she would end up taking 2 years of preschool.  I decided to do her first year at home and then I will probably send her next year.  This is what I did with both Brodie and Drew.  It's been fun and she is really excited. 
  
I have spent a lot of time looking online and finding wonderful preschool material.  The world wide web is full of awesome, FREE material!  

My plan is to do a letter each week.  I have a theme and focus on a color each week as well.  
 Emily is super excited and after each activity she says "now what mom?"  I hope her enthusiasm continues throughout the year and I don't disappoint her.




So far we've had a great start.