Noah got to celebrate his 3rd birthday a little early with the family. We got together at my Mom’s house on Sunday to have a little party for the soon-to-be 3 year old! The boys, of course, loved digging in mom’s back yard and jumping in the bounce house.

It was time to open presents and Noah got lots of great gifts! A Cars scooter, Moon Dough, water gun, truck, tractor and wagon, sidewalk chalk and bubbles, money, a Cars 2 car and some clothes! Thank you to everyone!!!!

Then it was time to eat the train cake!!!

Driving/Chasing

Climbing

Digging

Chick Watching

Eating

But there wasn’t enough down time…these boys had so much to do in such a short amount of time!!!! We went to the park one day to have a picnic and play. The next day we went to the beach to swim. Renae and I need to remember to put sunscreen on ourselves!! But at least the kids were fine…I think Renae got burnt the worst!

I think my kids are still re-cooperating…they’ve been sleeping until about 9 am since we’ve been back!!!!

Thanks again for having us stay at your house Webers!!! We had such a great time!!!

One of his friends owns a bowling alley, so we went to visit them before they opened one afternoon. Noah wanted to play with every color ball they had. The balls got to be pretty heavy, but they had a ramp that he could just push them down, so it worked out pretty good!

Noah and Izzy kept me pretty busy. They wanted to play outside a lot, go to the park and walk down to the train tracks. One of the parks was only about 3 blocks away, but it was at a school, so we had to do that one in the late afternoon and evening. The train tracks where about 6 blocks the other way, so we walked down there about every time a train went past – at least it seemed like it! Faith was a little crabby and very clingy while we were gone…I finally looked in her mouth and seen that she had some molars coming in…yeah, I guess that would make her crabby!

On May 5th, Rick and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. We didn’t actually do any celebrating, but we did help cut down a big tree…does that count??? Paul & Marie have a tree that is brushing up next to the garage, so it needed to come down.

Even the kids helped!

We also had to get a picture with Grandma – okay, so it was my idea to take pictures…the boys wouldn’t think of that!!

While we were gone, we headed up to Rochester to visit my aunt and uncle one night!!! I can’t remember the last time I was there, so it was great to get to see them!

After the boys were all cleaned up, it was coloring time! I had everyone color a picture for Faith that I will put in her scrapbook. I was pretty impressed with everyones coloring abilities!!! We have some pretty good talent in our family!

Then it was time for presents!!! Faith received many great presents! Toys, clothes, books, no-spill bowl, money – everything was great!!!!

CAKE TIME!!! As soon as she seen the cake, she was trying to get it. We couldn’t even get thru Happy Birthday before she had frosting in her mouth!

Now, it was time for the rest of us to have our cupcakes! I had everything ready so the kids could decorate their own cupcake if they wanted to.

It was a great day to celebrate with family and friends and we had a great time. Although we could have done without the kids getting car sick. At least we were a little more prepared for it on the way back to Kansas. Now I just need to do a little more research to see what we can do to prevent it all together!

The 28th we headed to Ryan & Dee’s farm to go sledding!!! Noah was actually more interested in seeing the cows, so after a couple of trips down the hill, Rick and Noah went to look at the cows. A few days before we came back to Iowa, he said he wanted to see Reid and Ryan’s cows and that it was cold so we needed to cover the cows up with blankets. So maybe he was concerned about them! Here’s a picture of Renae and Noah coming down the hill…Renae said she was trying to be dramatic for Noah’s sake!!

That night we had Christmas with my Mom’s side. Mom vetoed my vote to not dress Faith in her Christmas dress. So Faith got to wear it one more time! The grandkids sang “Jingle Bells” for everyone…at least they attempted it!!! It was pretty cute. Noah got a game and Faith got a sippy cup with her name on it.

The 29th was spent as a little more relaxing day, but I did get my hair cut…7 inches cut off!!!! It really needed to be cut…I haven’t had a haircut since a month before Faith was born (and she’s now 9 months old)! That night, we had our family Christmas!!! Noah got a Thomas match game and a bath towel and toy. Faith got a pink tea set and a glow worm (this brought back memories for Renae and I because we each had one when we were growing up).

That night, Noah didn’t really seem to be himself and after everyone was getting ready for bed and leaving, Noah threw up all over me – I’m not good at handling puke!! We thought it was too much junk food over the last week mixed with being on the go so much. Well, after throwing up a few times, we figured it was probably the flu. Needless to say, we didn’t get much sleep that night. Faith also got sick during the night, but we figured that they’d be better by the morning for our trip back to Kansas. They seemed to be fine for the first 4.5 hours, but then it all went down hill after that. First Noah was sick a couple of times…and we only were 1/2 successful at getting the bucket to him soon enough. We pulled over at a gas station to “get cleaned up” and to empty the bucket. Once we were back on the road, he’d do it again and then Faith decided she wanted to join in a few rounds. I’m just surprised I didn’t join in…it took about everything in me to keep from throwing up.

As soon as we got him, I started the bath and just let them soak for awhile while Rick cleaned out the car. I’m just glad that Rick can handle it!!! I’m not sure what kind of bug Noah picked up, but he’s still throwing up every once in a while and now we can add diarrhea to the list! They both seem to have that right now. I’m really hoping that they get over this bug pretty soon…I think I’m doing laundry non-stop right now.

Besides getting the flu, it was great to be back with family over Christmas! It was nice to get back to a little warmer weather and not see any snow!!! I’m pretty sure we decided on the way home that Christmas needs to be at our house next year! I’m sure we’ll change our mind and forget about the car ride back…eventually!!!

Here is also what Faith accomplished while we were in Iowa. Rick seen her climb a couple of stairs while we were still at home, but when we were at his parents, she climbed all the way to the top! Once she got to the top, she would pull herself up at the windows and look outside. I think this is the favorite place in the house for the kids. Noah loves looking out the window, watching the cars go by.

On Christmas Day we played outside for a little while in the snow. Okay, so it was mainly Rick and Noah outside! They went for a sled ride down the sidewalk and played in the piles. We also got to meet up with Renae and her family as they were headed to her in-laws for Christmas. We met up at a hotel and the kids could run around. I think Noah liked playing with his cousins because all he talked about after leaving them, was Kahle and Bodee. We couldn’t see them soon enough again!

The 26th, we spent just relaxing. Rick was in bed most of the day, but not really relaxing. He had the flu, so he was pretty miserable. He was in Noah’s bed, so at nap time, Noah didn’t have his bed to go to. I tried to tell him that he could sleep in my bed, but he decided that he was going to sleep on the floor outside his room. I guess whatever works!!

Great Grandma Schultz

	Great Grandma Krull & Faith
	Great Grandma Krull & Noah

Great Grandpa Timmerman & Noah

Great Grandma Timmerman & Noah

Great Grandma Timmerman & Faith

We headed up to Iowa for the 4th of July weekend. We stayed at my sisters house on Friday night. I think Noah loved playing with his two cousins!! Saturday morning we got up and headed to Inwood to their parade. Noah didn’t like the parade too much and wanted to go back to the truck. We were surprised that how much he loves trucks and tractors that he was scared of them when they went past. Maybe they were too loud or just too big. I guess he is used to playing with the miniature version or seeing them in a book. We decided we have to come back to Iowa more often so he can be around that kind of stuff!!

Sunday we got up and headed to church and then we celebrated Noah’s 2nd birthday. I can’t believe he’s going to be two already! As Rick was grilling, Mom thought she would fill up the kiddie pool so the water could start warming up. Well, she just turned off the water and there stood Noah in the pool…shoes and all! I guess I shouldn’t have to worry about how warm his bath water is from now on! The four boys (Jack, Kahle, Noah, Bodee) played with the tractors, wagons, trucks and cars about the whole time. Faith and Nicholas got passed around alot…everyone wanted to hold a baby!!

That night we (Rick, Rachel, Noah, Faith, Janice, Renae, Micah, Kahle, Bodee) piled into our vehicle and drove around to look at the tornado damage. I can’t believe all the damage that can be done in a short amount of time. We stopped at my uncle and aunts house to see the damage down there and the boys loved looking at the machinery on the yard. I guess Noah just doesn’t like it when the machinery is moving!

Monday morning, Rick was up and out the door by 7 am to run in the George 5K!! It was his first 5K and he did great!!! The rest of us were waiting for him at the finish line…we’re not crazy enough to want to run for fun! He says he wants to do it again next year…I’m sure he’ll still be doing it alone!

The parade was early that afternoon and Noah did much better this time around! Aunt Renae held Faith pretty much the whole time and I don’t remember hearing a peep out of her…guess she must like her aunt (probably because Renae’s the one who keeps getting her the girly clothes!)

We were debating if we were going to go down to the school grounds to watch the fireworks or if we should go out to the farm…we decided the farm might be better – the boys were pretty wound up! We could still see the fireworks that they were shooting off in town and then we lit some of our own.

Noah’s favorite thing of the night was when we looked at the cows when we first got to the farm and one of the cows was farting…so now Noah keeps saying “Reids cow toot”. It makes Rick so proud that Noah is fascinated with farts…I, on the other hand, wish he would have just liked that the cow went moo.

You can see more pictures from the weekend, here.

4 Generations – Rachel, Faith, Gusta, Janice

Great Grandma Timmerman

Great Grandma Krull

Great Grandpa Timmerman

Faith is so lucky to have such wonderful Great Grandparents that love her!!!

My nephew, Kahle turned 3!!! Happy Birthday Buddy!!

Renae & Micah threw him a birthday party at Mom’s house…and the kids and I were there to help celebrate!!! Rick brought us to Omaha to met Mom on Wednesday. Then we headed to George. We got to Mom’s house and unpacked the car and got everything put on place and then Renae, Micah and boys drove up. They got ready for the birthday party and then the rest of the family started showing up!

The four boy cousins all played together very well!! They went downstairs and played with all the farm machinery. I think Noah was in heaven–new toys and boys to play with!! He didn’t even want to come up to eat…at first! The boys all sat at the kids table that Mom has.

After eating, presents and some play time…it was time to cut the cake!!! Renae did a great job on the cake, it looked good and tasted even better!! Then it was playtime again! After everyone left, it was time to get the kids to bed…but Noah still didn’t want to go to bed. He didn’t have much of a nap on the ride to George and it was now about 10 o’clock and he was wide awake. After a few tears and some rocking, he finally went to sleep! My Mom took Faith in her bedroom so I could get some sleep and Faith only woke up once during the night to eat!!! I was pretty excited about that!!!