Minnesota Vacation, Part 2

The second leg of our Minnesota vacation was a visit to Mountain Lake during Pow Wow, the annual town celebration.

Right after we got to Mountain Lake, the boys wanted to head out to Grandpa's garden to pick raspberries. I think most of them went straight into their mouths! 

Sunday morning, we went to a church service in the city park. After the service, we went home and rested up for the big road race. 

Jonah has been talking about running in the road race ever since he watched the races last year. Mike and Jonah went out running a few times before our vacation so he would be ready for the 1/2 mile race. Mike was able to run the race with him.

Here he is coming into the finish line. Grandpa is the official at the race reading off times for everyone. So, Jonah was excited to run up to him at the end. He finished with a time of 6:59 - not bad for a 1/2 mile for a 3 1/2 year old! I think Jonah was the last one in, but I am guessing that he was also one of the youngest runners. We are just so glad that he wanted to run the race and that he had a great time doing it!

The Rue family after our races. Mike and I walked the fitness walk.

After the road race, we quickly headed back to Grandma & Grandpa's to get ready for the Kiddie Parade. Thankfully, these Minnesota Twins shirts from Grandma & Grandpa Rue made for a great theme for the parade.

Sunday evening after the kiddie parade, we enjoyed supper in the city park. We ate Laotian egg rolls and Pow Wow Pups (corn dogs) - our 2 Pow Wow favorites! Also, we got to catch up with some old friends and visit with people we hadn't seen for quite some time. Jonah loved playing on the playground and would have stayed there all night if he could have!

Monday morning we relaxed at my parents' house and rested up for the busy afternoon/evening. We again went up to the park for the boys to ride a few of the midway rides. Both boys LOVED the rides. In fact, Silas cried every time a ride ended. It made him so sad to have to be done! 

Jonah and Grandma rode the Ferris Wheel

Monday evening was the Grand Parade. Silas loved all of the trucks and tractors.

This small drum corps asked for a volunteer when they stopped to do a little routine in the area we were sitting. Since Jonah loves drums, he hopped up! One of the drummers gave up his drum for Jonah to play for a bit. It was so fun to watch him have a blast!

After the parade, we visited the park again as our favorite drum corps, SuFuDu, was performing there. Jonah was wiped out and sat most of the time, but Silas managed to get up and dance for most of it. 

By the time the evening was over, we had two TIRED boys! 

Minnesota Vacation, Part 1

Our summer vacation to Minnesota was split into 3 segments. First, we traveled to the Twin Cities for a few days with Mike's parents. Along the way, we stopped in Mankato to visit our friends, the Petits, who just had their first baby a few weeks earlier. The first full day we were in the Cities, it was pouring rain pretty much all day. So, we took the boys to an indoor playground in the morning and visited the Mall of America in the evening.

Our second day in the cities, Mike's mom and brother joined us for visits to the Minnesota Children's Museum and Como Zoo. 

The Children's Museum currently has a Curious George exhibit. Silas LOVES "George," as he calls him and was excited to play with all of the Curious George activities.

Jonah thought this turtle was pretty cool.

We enjoyed seeing the giraffes and the other African hooved animals outside. Jonah was quick to tell us that the giraffes "kind of stink."

Before leaving the Cities, we enjoyed lunch with my Grandma Kapusta. She loves seeing the boys. And, we love getting to visit with her!

Before Our Vacation

Yep, behind on the blogging again! Priorities change, and right now blogging is near the bottom of my priority list (although my other task to tackle today was cleaning the bathrooms, guess blogging is taking priority over that chore!). Days are busy and full between caring for our two busy boys and our home, helping Mike with tasks, working usually 1 day a week, and organizing our church's VBS program. Oh, and growing this little baby slows me down a bit, too! :) So, I am going to attempt to get some pictures up from the end of May/beginning of June and then blog on our vacation to Minnesota last week. We'll see how far I get! 

All the cousins were home at the end of May to celebrate Grandpa's birthday

Happy 60th Birthday, Grandpa!

And, my friend Kelley and her daughter Evie were home visiting from Northern Ireland. The boys loved seeing this baby girl! And, I enjoyed catching up in person with Kelley.

We started little chore charts with our boys in June. Everyday they have chores to do. At the end of the day, they get a star on their chart for each one completed. On Sundays, we add up the number of stars and exchange them for nickels. The boys then divide them equally into their "banks" - Spend, Save, or Give.

At the beginning of June, our college friends, The Batys, were driving through Wahoo on their way out west. Thankfully, they were able to stop in for a short visit. Our families are growing!

This is the best picture that I have gotten of our boys in ages! They are both looking at the camera and smiling! :) Grandpas and Daddy got this picture for Father's Day.

Our Family Lately

It's been a good few weeks in our family. We've had lots of time to hang out and to enjoy each other and the place and stage of life that we are in. What a blessing! 

For Mother's Day, Mike and the boys got me a Kindle Fire (totally unexpected!). Jonah and Mike brought me a beautiful bouquet of pink roses they picked from our bushes outside. And, we enjoyed a meal out to Cheddar's in Omaha. It was a wonderful weekend, and the family made me feel especially loved and appreciated even though they do an amazing job at that year round!

The boys and me on Mother's Day

We have had some hot May days this year, so this past week I pulled out the sprinkler for the boys to enjoy. Jonah thought it was great. Sy didn't like it so much. He fake-whined each time the water touched him. We will have to work on that! :)

Sy preferred to watch the sprinkler

"Water touched me!"

Two happy boys - one wet, one dry :)

Yesterday, we went strawberry picking at an orchard nearby. Just Jonah and I went last year, but we went as a whole family this year. It is early for strawberries in Nebraska. The man at the strawberry patch said that this was the earliest opening they had ever had. The boys had a great time. However, more of the strawberries they picked went into their mouths rather than their buckets! We ended up with 4 ice cream pails full of berries - about 18 pounds. Mike and the boys had a fun time hanging out yesterday afternoon while I took care of the strawberries. I ended up with 21 half-pint jars of jam, one super-yummy strawberry pie, a huge bag full of flash frozen berries, and a small container in the fridge left for us to eat. 

The little one and I are continuing to grow at 22 weeks along. I think we are close to settling on a name for our girl. We will let you know soon!

Introducing...

...our little GIRL!

We found out Monday morning that a little girl will be joining our family in September. I can say with all honesty that I would have been just as happy with another little boy, but we are thrilled to have a girl! It wasn't a surprise to us due to the intensity of my morning (really all day and night) sickness. Also, I have noticed that I am also much more emotional this time than with my other pregnancies...even commercials on the tv and radio can bring tears to my eyes! We haven't decided on a name yet, but we do have a few possibilities that we are thinking about.

So far, she has been quite active. I was surprised when Mike was able to feel her moving at just 18 weeks along. I think the ultrasound tech was a little annoyed by our active little girl as she kept commenting on how she was moving so much and was struggling to get the views that she wanted. In that half-hour ultrasound, the ultrasound tech said she was face-up, face-down, breech, head-down, and transverse each a few times.

We were thankful to hear the report from the doctor that everything looked good. "Nothing interesting" as the doctor put it.

Here are a few pics of our gymnast:

Hand on the face, leg up in the air was a common pose

Family Day

It is rare for our family to get a whole day, from start to finish, to spend together without something on the schedule, something to get done for church, or one of us having an appointment or work. Today was one of those rare days. On top of being completely free today, I have been feeling much better recently which makes life so much more enjoyable. So, we took full advantage of our day together.

We started off at the Lincoln Zoo. We hadn't been there since last summer. Jonah loved it like usual. It was like a new experience for Silas as he was so much younger the last time we were at a zoo. One thing we love about the Lincoln Zoo is that it is fairly small. We can make it through the whole zoo in just under 2 hours which is perfect for our little ones. Also, we rode the train around the zoo today. We had not done that before.

This is Silas super-excited about the monkeys

Jonah wasn't so sure about feeling the giant millipede

At the end of our time at the zoo, Jonah said that his favorite things about the zoo were the peacocks and the train. Silas said his favorites were the monkeys and the train.

After the zoo, we grabbed some lunch before heading to the Lincoln Children's Museum - one of our boys' favorite places to be. I think our boys could be there all day. Silas loved the police car, the semi truck, and the airplane luggage carrier (see a pattern?!). Jonah enjoyed the semi truck the most.

Sy pointing out himself and Mommy on the TV screen

We have never visited both the zoo and the children's museum in the same day. We figured it would completely wear the boys out, especially since we cut into Silas' nap time. And, it did. Silas was asleep within about 5 minutes of being in the car. Jonah, our non-napper, was out in about 10 minutes. Since we had the freedom of having nothing to be home for we decided that instead of heading home (a 30 minute drive) we would take a detour and head into Omaha to run a few errands (a 45+ minute drive) and let our tired boys sleep a little longer.

Our last stop before heading home was at a consignment sale I was hoping to check out. I have been in need of some more maternity clothes. During my last two pregnancies, I worked 4-5 days a week wearing mostly uniform-type clothing. So, when I pulled out my box of maternity clothes, I realized that I have very little casual maternity wear. I hoped to find some more jeans and summer shirts. At the sale, I was able to find 2 nice pairs of jeans and a maternity swimsuit that looks brand new. Thankfully, the boys were both kept very entertained with all of the toys for sale while I shopped.

We got home just in time to get the boys some supper and get ready for bed. We were all worn out by the end of the day - but worn out in a good way. It was a great day to be together and enjoy some of our favorite things to do. The boys both fell asleep quickly. We are hoping they sleep in tomorrow!

Nap Time

Yes, I know that it has been months since I have posted anything. I'm sure most of our blog readers already know that we are expecting baby #3. It has been a rough 4-5 months at our house. But, I am finally feeling better overall and am starting to finally feel recovered from living in "survival mode." The house is being cleaned up on a somewhat regular basis. Most meals are being cooked rather than heated up. And, I am maybe starting to have a little time to do some of the "extras," which includes blogging.

Nap times at our house have been going through a bit of a transition over the past few months as Jonah, now 3 1/2, is not napping much anymore. It has been a struggle for me. We can so easily see that his body needs to nap - the circles under his eyes, his short-temper, his emotional lability. But, he seems to simply not let himself quiet down and rest. So, we often let him have quiet time in his room which is usually not too quiet. Some days are better than others. Yesterday was a bad day. Today was a much better day. All that being said, Jonah's bright, imaginative mind is such a blessing and encouragement to us. These days he is constantly asking questions. It gets wearing after awhile, but he is doing it because he is curious. He wants to learn. He wants to know about life. Today after his quiet time was over Jonah came to me to tell me that he was working at his computer. He ran back to his room for a few minutes and came back again to talk about his computer. I asked him what his computer was and his only response was "letters and numbers." Later in the afternoon, I went up to his bedroom and immediately saw that he had taken his bedrail off his bed and had it on his floor. My first response was to be upset because he did something he knew he wasn't supposed to do. Then, I saw that he had the frame of a wooden alphabet/number puzzle on the floor in front of the bedrail. I got it! The bedrail was a computer monitor and the puzzle frame was the keyboard (we have a Mac desktop). His little mind amazes me!

Something that I am trying to work really hard on in myself is allowing Jonah to be and grow into the little guy that he was created to be. He thinks in amazing ways, and I need to be allowing him and encouraging him to continue thinking, imagining, and creating. Instead of being frustrated at the extra work that he may be causing me to have to do (like putting a bedrail back on his bed), I am trying to shift my focus onto figuring out how his mind works, who God created him to be, and to be in prayer about and excited for how God is going to use him as he grows.

This is Silas. So far he is pretty simple to figure out. He is sneaky. He is funny. He has a kind and generous heart. He loves life. He recently learned to yell, "No, mine!" He loves nap time. And, this is what we get to see every morning and every afternoon when we get him up.

More to come about our growing family! Next Monday (May 7) is the big 20-week ultrasound. We are excited to find out if we are having boy #3 or girl #1. Jonah is convinced it is a girl...I think it is mostly because he loves the Berenstain Bears and would live life in Bear Country if he could. He needs to have a Sister if he is going to be just like them.