A day in jasper county

On Sunday we did a little Jasper County tour.  First stop was to Colfax to visit my dad and brother.  All five of us went on a Gator ride (AKA – papa’s little car).  This was Olivia’s first time and she loved it!  All smiles and she was even trying to drive. 

Next stop was to Newton to visit my grandma.  Sometimes the boys amaze me at the memories and the detail they recall.  Sadly, it’s been near a year since I have had the boys there to see my grandma, but then on the way there Dylan said something about the last time we were there and how we ate brought breadsticks and ate them in Grandma’s room and then started talking about a guy that came in to help take grandma’s roommate to the bathroom.  How do they remember these types of things?  Especially from about a year ago.  Grandma seemed thrilled to see us, so I was happy we stopped. 

Next destination would be to visit my sister and her family and my mom in Baxter.  The boys had a blast playing with Cade and Alec.  Olivia was loving hanging out with my sister.  Unfortunately we couldn’t stay too long since we still had to stop in Ankeny for groceries. 

I guess we need to work on properly holding kittens. 

 

Shopping with my boys

The boys’ soccer game on Saturday was cancelled due to weather.  I’m bummed about this because it was moved to Tuesday and I am in Grand Rapids this week for work, so I will be missing their game.  Plus that will be a bit of a chaotic night for Keith.  My mom had come over to go to the game, so instead we took the boys shopping so they could pick out their own clothes.  I’ve never done this with them and it was really fun.  They were having fun and actually picked out some things they really liked.  Dylan found some rocket underwear and some socks he just had to have.  Carter found this funny “No. 1 Brother” shirt.  He really liked it and wanted it.  I decided we could get one for D too.  They each picked out one outfit that was the very own, so they were excited about that too!  Overall, it was a lot of fun shopping with that.  I’m sure mother / son shopping trips are limited, so I will enjoy them while I can. 

 

Soccer

We recently started playing soccer.  And I am happy to report so far it's going pretty well.  If you ask the boys they will probably tell you they don't like it, but they seem to be having fun and we even have some games in our front yard.  I'm finding it to be going far better than baseball, much less confusion.  One downside, the games are around 2:00 every Saturday, so so much for ISU tailgating.  The teams are coed and three play at one time.  Dylan is number 3 - yellow cleats, Carter is number 5 - blue cleats.  The kids and coaches have a hard time telling them apart.  I've just been thrilled they have been wearing uniforms, cleats and shin guards.  That is major progress my friends!  I never did get Carter's cleats on him for baseball - or his cap!  So I am calling this a big win in my book!

I love this picture because they are lined up exactly the same.

 

IF the boys are paying attention and focus, they do pretty well.  If they are pulling up piles of grass - they may as well not be playing.  Especially since they really haven't ever played soccer before.  They both did really well at our last game, Dylan had 4 goals and Carter had 1.  But Carter was working so hard out there most the game.  By the end you could tell he was beat and out of energy.  Here is one thing that is tough with twins and will probably come up often with them - what if one does better than the other?  I can tell you I have had my fingers crossed at every game that each will get a goal (so far they have), but I imagine as they get older this will get harder.  We have been pretty lucky for the most part that they are very similar with ability - like crawled the same day, walked the same day, learned to ride bikes without training wheels the same day, so that has made things easier for us.  So if anyone has any good tips with that - please share! 

Watch out for the little kid in green, he was a little soccer stud, he scored about every time he touched the ball.

 

I'm not sure wh the girl is on the far left, but I'm thinking she might be a track star when she gets older.  

 

 

This was funny - Carter got to kick it in, so he really backed it up!

Are you wondering what happened to my little boys - look how big they look!!!!

I guess this post officially makes me a soccer mom!  No worries, no mini van, no soccer stickers on the car:)  I've never been a soccer play, nor have I watched it much, so i am surprised how much I am enjoying it with the boys.  

Olivia talking about Mia

Olivia spent a few days at my parents house and she got to spend some extra special time with my mom's dog.  At first she would really tense up around her and freak out a bit.  But I guess as time passed she really enjoyed taking her out to go potty and demanded to hold the leash.  But the funny part is, I guess Mia got really attached to Olivia and was really sad when Olivia was in bed and she would just sit on her coat.  This video she keeps saying "down".  I didn't get it on video but she will shake her finger and say, "no Mia".

One of my boys favorite things

The boys absolutely love running around places like this!  And it is practically in our backyard.  I wish we lived a bit closer to Baxter, but other than that I love our location.  So many beautiful outdoor activities so close.  Unfortunately, we barely take advantage of it, but hope to as it gets easier and easier to to things with three kiddos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bormann Family Reunion

Early this August a majority of Keith's family gathered for a Bormann Family reunion.  A good chunk lives all around the country, so it is always great to have so many families there.  Plus there are 24 great-grandchildren, most of which are within a few years of the boys so it's really fun to get all the kids together.

We spent a few hours at the West Bend pool.  Olivia really wanted to get in, unfortunately that didn't work out so well for her.  

 

The boys took many trips on this train. 

 

Carter is into doing these really creepy eyes - see above and below.

 

Olivia made it on the train for one round.

This is the boys' cousin Mason - and they REALLY like Mason.  Too bad they didn't live closer.

 

And a little movie time to quiet everyone down.

I'll have to do another post later, but Keith's grandfather passed away just a week after the reunion.  We are very lucky to have gotten one more family picture with him. 

Silly twins

Every now and then i get a weird "twin" thing with these guys.  The boys were gone all week and their teacher sent an email that the kids are learning compound words this week.  So tonight, separately, I was trying to explain it to them and tell them examples.  So first I was with Carter and about the third one he came up with was Polk City.  Close:)  Then same thing with Dylan, about the third one he said was Polk City too. They had a few other similar ones on their lists too.  

Helloooooo out thereeeeee…..Anyone still reading this blog

Oh My friends, what has happened???  I have really fallen of the blogging wagon these days?  The good news is I am not alone, check out the feed on the side - many of my blogging friends are no longer daily posters anymore either.  Maybe it's summer and spending too much time outside and away from the computer.  Oh- and I have yet to share that "WE" - yet again, broke another freakin camera!  I think this blog has outlived 4 cameras.  So some news, we have a new camera!  And this camera, we paid for the3 warranty!  So I have a bunch of pics on my phone that I need to upload.

And blogging friends- please start blogging again, I've been have keep up with KCCI far more than I would like due to a shortage of blogs.  I have been enjoying the young house love - house #3 renovation though.  You might want to check that one you if you haven't read that blog, it's a good one!

 

 

Who do you see???

 

Olivia Update

 

 

 

I am super- overdue on an Olivia updated.  At this age I really need to do this more frequently as she seems to pick up on something new every day.  So she is officially 14 months as of Monday! 

·         First off, I’m happy to report that I have won her back and I think it’s fair to say she is a momma’s girl right now.  So much that I seem to have to carry her around – all.the.time!

·         She is funny when she is in bed with us because she can’t decide who she wants to be by.  She will roll to Keith, then see me and want to roll back. Then see him – and you can see how that goes. 

·         Still loves her pacifier and so do we.

·         She has a ton of teeth!  Front top and bottom four, four molars and she is working on her eye teeth.

·         She is very observant – just watches EVERYTHING you do and copies!  I was holding her in the laundry room and started to put my flip flops on – she wanted down and grabbed both her blue shoes and start trying to put them on. 

·         She loves when I sing to her, so we have been singing a lot lately.  She is really funny singing bringing home my baby bumble bee – she somewhat keeps up with the motions and then always yells at each part.

·         She is getting lots of words:  mommy, daddy, Stella, papa – she always says papa papa papa papa, rah-rah (daycare teacher, up (which she also thinks is down), hi, bye, she will try and say Jenny – sounds more like yenny, uh oh, help, and no- this one is a new one and she has been using it!

·         She loves wrestling with Carter and Dylan and is always trying to play with them acting like a big kid.

·         Unfortunately, she is becoming a pickier eaterL

·         I have her give Stella treats now, then she always claps!

·         She is getting a bit sassy – I was giving Carter a hug and she came over and tried to wedge herself between us and had some sassy words! 

·         She is wearing 2T clothes pretty easy!  I have no idea what size we will be for next summer

·         Her hair is finally starting to grow and we can do a little ponytail.  The back is getting curly too.

·         She gets plenty messy at dinner, especially when I let her feed herself yogurt

·         She loves reading books!

·         She is to an age where she is hard because she has no interest in just sitting

·         Big fan of the pantry

·         She is now getting into everything! Still not as bad as the boys – but still digging stuff out of drawers and cupboards

·         She doesn’t really have any toys she just loves to sit and play with???   Maybe my phone, which she always puts up to her ear

·         She still takes two naps at home, just one at daycare.  I have no idea how she makes it until 11:30because she gets pretty crabby at home. 

·         We have a water baby, she loves the water!

·         When she feels good, she is a really happy baby and is very sweet!