My Family Came to Town

This past week was everything we'd anticipated it to be and more. While it was fun taking my mom, brother, and littlest sister around site seeing, the part I loved most was just having them see us in our life here. I love that they got to meet our neighbors and friends, watch the boys ball games, clean the house with me, and take that two hour drive to Minneapolis to do our "big city shopping;)."

Thanks so much Mom, Colton, and B for coming to visit us; 

We miss you already!!!

Thursday

Maddix had his last day at school! 

Aaron and I picked them up for the airport

Barely made it in time for the boys' ball games
Basketball night for Travis

Kindergarten Grad! 

Friday

Visited the library

Walked over Music Man Bridge

Drove around all the historic homes in town (including the Frank Lloyd wright hotel) 

Visited East Park (home to the train that delivered children from NY to Iowa during the Great Depression.... when we moved here last year Maddix said it's like how we left NY to come to Iowa and we were depressed ;)

Perkins Diner

BBQ at our friends' home, the Carters. 

Saturday

Crossed the Mississippi river (kids thought that was cool) and traveled to Nauvoo

Carthage jail (my favorite)

Old Nauvoo town

Ice cream at Annie's 

Making their own rope

Farm chores

Get 'em 'lil cowboy! 

Recreation of the American Gothic painting

Sunday

Visited the American Gothic House

Pella IA (a dutch town in Iowa)

Watched Music Man (our town is centered around this movie)

Pella, IA

(WW 2 Cannon from Japan)

Monday

Walked around Clear Lake

Ice-cream and cookies in the park

Went Antiquing 

Took a tour through the Winnebago factory

Maddix's baseball game

This RV cost a measly $460,000... Maddix said,
"my plan is to become rich and buy this someday."
Good plan little buddy... 

Tuesday
(Back to work for Trav after a 4-day weekend)

Played/Swam at Clear Lake

Toured Music Man Square

Aaron's ball game

Wednesday

Day in Minneapolis (Ikea and the Mall of America)

Dinner at the Cadillac Ranch

Stayed in "the fanciest hotel i've ever seen" -Maddix

Watched a movie all piled on one bed
(Travis had a cook-off YM vs. the YW for church)

His eyes lit up, the smile touched ear to ear, and he wouldn't
stop hugging Marshal once he met him; I thinkAaron's
first Bucket List item as just been checked off
(Marshal, from Paw Patrol)

Decided he did NOT like it ;)

Thursday

Sadly we said our goodbyes as they hopped on the shuttle.

We then swam in the hotel pool, and played in the "hot tub" in our room.

We drove to Costco and had an amazing time just me and the boys. We split a hot dog, they ate an ice cream while I loaded down the car, and Maddix drank all the lemonade before Aaron and I got any:) 

Finished our 2 hr. drive home, did more errands, and had baseball for both the boys.
(Basketball night for Trav)

Friday

Star wars birthday for our friend where we played at the park then went to their house for ultimate nerf gun wars and playing in the sprinklers. 

Movie night pick: Trolls. 

Saturday

House work
Yard work

Our Stay-Cation

This was such a fun and busy week. 

Prepare for a photo dump. 

Monday

Took a nice family walk

We bought our house!!!!!!!!!!!

It was one of those "should we? Should we not?

Oh! This is DEFINITELY what we're supposed to be doing"

situations. 

Tuesday

Our Maddix had his Kindergarten Music program, "Watch Me Grow."

It was so much fun (and a little tearful) watching him sing and act out the songs,

and just knowing how much he's grown from beginning to end of the year. 

He CRUSHED Kindergarten:)

Wednesday

Aaron made his debut as a little league ball player. 

He hit the ball each time up to bat, and although he first 

ran toward third before his little legs corrected him towards first,

he made it to the base each time... usually throwing his helmet off along the way.

Thursday

(Got my grades back for my two classes; I ended up getting a good grade on my Stat's final! This means I ended with an A-!!! I did well in my other class too, but THIS is was the most relieving feeling to know I'd survived it. And I DON'T have to repeat it)!

We decided with Travis home it was time he attended to the GIANT stack of papers,

which turned into de-junking multiple rooms, and then led to us finally having Aaron's new big boy delivered, and the boys room is underway for a transformation! During that time Aaron was supposed to be cleaning his messes; however, he thought he'd hide from us... and ended up cleaning haha. And after Maddix was out of school Travis and I got to see Guardian's of the Galaxy for a date and it was AMAZING!!

Friday

Mommy-Maddix class field trip day~ Daddy-Aaron Day together.

While Maddix, the kindergarten classes, and I made our way to Rockford for a day of fossil digging, hiking, nature walks, and a lesson about how Iowa used to be just a spot in the ocean, Aaron and Travis went to Lime Creek where they hiked, used binoculars to spot wild life, and explored. They had lunch at McDonalds, then played Lego Star wars and watched some Moana before coming to pick us up... and then check us for tics! 

(we found 5 just on the bus ride home; thankfully, we didn't have any)!

After school the boys played at Susan's while we made an early dinner then we prepped and headed out for more baseball games for the boys. Travis went to Maddix's, I went to A-A-Ron's, and then we caught the end of M's game before calling it a night! 

Saturday

BEST. DAY. EVER. 

We hit the road bright and early and drove to the Como Zoo, just outside Minneapolis and met up with our cousins, Vance, Alison, Max and May to celebrate Max's 5th bday. 

~zoo

~lunch

~riding surrey bikes around the lake (our favorite)

~Hyland-Bush Lakes Park (The mother of all nightmare parks for any parent who doesn't want to lose their child in that chaotic, child packed playground)! 

~Mall of America: Boys got to ride two of the Amusement park rides inside the mall,

then we met up for dinner at the Cadillac Ranch.

~Watched Moana on the way home, rolled in late, and hit our head's to the pillow! 

This has been a much needed rest-recharge-and accomplish Week and it really helps that it didn't rain everyday either! I needed this week. Travis needed it. Our family had such an awesome time. 

Now next week Maddix will finish school, My mom and two siblings will fly into town, and Travis will have a four-day weekend... so I think it's safe to say 

"Let the Good Times Roll...."

Good things, Good things

Good things are starting to happen around here.
~Aaron graduated from our friend's little preschool she held this year; she put so much effort into it and it was so well done.
~This past Friday I finished my dreaded final and I feel an immense weight gone from my shoulders; this semester has been the most brutal semester of my entire program (only two more semesters to go).
~Tomorrow we will be signing the papers to officially own our home.
~On Tuesday Travis starts his 7 days off work and we have lots of fun plans
~ Maddix starts his last two weeks of kindergarten tomorrow and I'm excited to go with him on his upcoming field trips.
~Aaron... is testing his independence and voice of opinion... not a real great thing for us, but for him I know it's an important step in learning and growing (and I can't complain, he was an angel two year old, pretty easy three year old, BUT it looks like we're going to have some ferocious fours 'round here)

Okay, other updates
-We had a huge storm roll through town that struck lighting in our neighborhood three times; one of those times struck the tree in our backyard, sending a giant branch onto my neighbors roof and snapping her rain gutters. All over town there are massive trees that have been uprooted and thrown into ponds and lakes. The homes across from us lost power for almost a day; it was pretty crazy. I here May and June are pretty intense as they're the highest months for tornados.
- Maddix finished soccer season on a high note of scoring 2 or 3 goals, and playing wonderful defense. And now his first baseball game is this Tues. And same for Aaron's first game.
-I'm going back to the gym and meal planning now that school is over... AND my giant mountain of laundry is finally gone and we have an office back; I'm so glad school is over.

This was random, and probably could've been more eloquently written, but I'm still burned out from finals this week, and this is all the update I can think to recall.

so cute!

The night I finished finals I took her for
a walk; I think she took the most neglect
this semester 

May... may just be my favorite:)

One Week into May and it's already living up to all I'd hoped for! 

And I'm not even done with school yet... and Travis still has 7 days off coming,

So imagine how much fun is yet to come? 

Travis: 

His hair has reached another point where we can't believe how long it's getting

(his end goal is a man bun for our family reunion at the beach in August).

He is at the diabetes clinic this month and has been riding the bike when we're unavailable to pick him up with the car; his hours are 8:30-4:40 most days and you can see how much energy he has now.

He comes home and helps me with dinner, cleans up the house, and best of all plays baseball and soccer out front with the boys. He goes to basketball with the guys on Thursday nights. And he really enjoys watching baseball clips on youtube with me once the boys are in bed; we are in full baseball mode! 

Lacey: 

Finals... They start tomorrow and I'm nervous, but so ready to be done. 

I recently began reading Emma, by Jane Austen, got really bored and then gave up:) I'm currently listening to The Source Code, by Dan Brown and it is so much more interesting; i'm hooked. 

Also, have I mentioned how much I love this weather? I even got a bit of a sun burn yesterday from sitting at Maddix's soccer game, then meeting up with all our friends at the park and playing for hours. And the other night I thoroughly enjoyed playing catch out front with Travis after the boys were in bed:) 

Maddix:

Their soccer team finally won a game 2:1, and Maddix did such a good job as goalie. As a forward I was impressed with the way he really hustled and kept a good attitude the whole game. 

At school they held a walk-a-thon to raise money where the kids went out in grades and walked the track for 30 mins, with a DJ playing music the whole time. Well 10 mins into the Maddix and Aaron were done... bored, I guess. But he pushed through it and made the WHOLE distance ;)

Aaron:

Gave up and made me carry him most of the Walk-a-thon and then wanted me to run and play tag as soon as it was over. 

He also learned some new letters at school this week and as well as learned to climbed our tree out front! 

He really is our little goof! Such an actor and so animated. His eyes are so big and expressive. He gets away with murder because the moment he pushes us too far he instantly does something that is SO adorable we can't handle it. He insists on being independent, but absolutely loves to cuddle and is a bit of home body. 

Nala:

Had her birthday on April 24th, and we celebrated it a little late with Puppy and Bone pancakes. She is now 8yrs old. 

Maddix was snuggled with Travis while we watched
Father of the Bride; let's just say I cried tons.

Hoover Walk-a-thon