Christmas Vacation – Mason City

We headed for Iowa a day earlier than planned, so we could beat the snow coming in. We didn’t make it back to Iowa last year because of the weather, so we were not going to miss it again!!! We got to Rick’s parents on the 23rd and the kids traveled great!!!! We stopped in Des Moines to eat and to let Noah run around for a little bit. I think Faith was just as excited to get out of her car seat because she crawled all over the place when we stopped! We opened presents that same night. Here are the presents the kids received:

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 Grandparents

While we were back in Iowa last week, we tried to take some pictures with the great grandparents. We are so lucky to have such good grandparents for Noah and Faith!!!!

Great Grandma Schultz

	Great Grandma Krull & Faith
	Great Grandma Krull & Noah

Great Grandpa Timmerman & Noah

Great Grandma Timmerman & Noah

Great Grandma Timmerman & Faith

4th of July Weekend

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.

Generations

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!!!

Happy Birthday Kahle

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!!!