Weekend Getaway in Wisconsin

We enjoyed a fabulous weekend in Wisconsin! It was so nice to get away from everything for a bit and relax without worrying about what needs to get done at home and other distractions. We stayed at George Williams College in Willams Bay where Kyle has been attending grad school in a lakefront cottage (no TV, no internet, and barely a shower)...it was great! Lauren, of course, kept us entertained the entire time. Kyle's mom and sister arrived late Friday night and spent the weekend with us too! We had a blast shopping, hanging out, and chatting about the lack of hot water. 

Lauren played for hours with model magic. Here she is pretending that she is sick (this is her posed sick face) with bandaids on her fingers. She told us that she was sick from eating a beetle and a mouse. 

Kyle graduated Saturday afternoon with his Master's in Recreation Administration. It was a nice and short (45 minutes) ceremony on the beautiful campus. It was a bit chilly outside but we found some nice seating huddled in the middle.

After the ceremony, in the warm reception hall.

We went Mini Golfing before heading out of Wisconsin. This was a first for Lauren. I don't know what we were expecting but Kyle and I just handed her the golf club and ball and told her to hit it down to the hole. She had NO IDEA what she was doing...it was quite comical. I nearly got a golf club to the head!

Daddy's first golf lesson to Lauren

28 weeks

We have hit 28 weeks...officially the 3rd trimester depending on who you ask (some say last week is). Things have been progressing smoothly I suppose. I started seeing a local chiropractor who specializes in expectant mothers. My tailbone has been bothering me lately and I am hoping to ensure that this baby flips into the right position eventually. We had an appt. last week and the midwives were right, I am a late weight gainer. I packed on 7 lbs. in the last 4 weeks putting me at 17 lbs. total this pregnancy. We had our glucose test and passed with flying colors. I am going to start taking an iron supplement, Floradix, to hopefully give me some more energy and decrease my dizziness per the midwife.

This glucose test was much different then the last. I had to eat no grains, fruit, or sugar for the entire day and then 1 hour before blood draw I drank a Naked Green Machine (anything with over 50 grams of sugar in it). Definitely tasted much better than the nasty Glucola drink.

Everyone at work is saying that I have grown a lot just this week, even Kyle made a comment tonight. No one is thinking I am going to make it to July 19th...might have a firecracker baby!

Don't mind Lauren trying to pinch my belly button with her doctor kit tweezers. 

Veggie Tales LIVE and 26.5 weeks

We got the pleasure of attending Veggie Tales LIVE the other night, Lauren's first big concert She was very curious about it all and asked tons of questions the way there...is it in a movie theater, is it a movie or a musical, is there a stage, will it be dark? We still aren't entirely sure what she thought of it but she seemed to enjoy herself. We are bad parents and didn't let her divulge in the mass amounts of souvenirs and that is one of the only things she keeps talking about.

We were in the absolute last row in the balcony! Haha! It actually worked out great though because Lauren could stand on our laps and we just climbed over our seats when we had to get out instead of climbing over everyone else.

(Veggie Tales: Junior, Jimmy, Mr. Lunt, and Bob)

This was her face when the concert started...??

I told Kyle to take a picture of us with the souvenirs in the background and this is what Lauren did. She said afterward, "I made a weird face, Mom!"

26.5 weeks, still going strong

We have another appt. coming up this week. I still need to make a pregnancy post and upload some of our ultrasound pictures...maybe this week!

2 year old Conversations about Heaven

Lauren: When I go to Heaven, I will die, and my Mommy and Daddy will not come and pick me up (as in picking her up from daycare).

Us: That's right, Lauren.

Lauren: Sounds kind of dangerous!

Us: What do you think you do in Heaven?

Lauren: Play with Jesus, play games, toys. He likes to go outside. He LOVES going outside.

Us: What does he do when he goes outside?

Lauren: play in the backyard, in the fence, He goes inside and has lunch.

Us: What does Heaven look like?

Lauren: Jesus

Us: What does Jesus look like?

Lauren: Heaven. When you die, you go to Heaven. Then I will be in Heaven with you and Mom. We stay there forever. They buried Jesus in the tomb.

"Pin"Spirations

Last day of Spring Break for me and we sure did pack a lot of action into it. I am really bummed about going back to work but in less than 2 months, I will be off for 5 months (maternity leave + summer break). My friend and I decided to try out some Pinterest crafts with the kids with our time off. Some were hits...others weren't quite appropriate for their age.

Taped crayons to race cars. Nobody was a fan of this one: adults, two year olds, and a 2nd grader. The crayons didn't really cooperate and overall was not very exciting. Didn't keep the attention-span of anyone either. We will not be doing this one again.

Lauren's Sewing Kit: pipe cleaners, ABC buttons, yarn, plastic needles, mini scissors, tape measure, spools of ribbon, and two things to sew on (plastic basket-weave and cupboard liner in a cross stitch hoop)

I left it in the middle of the living room while she napped and she was SO EXCITED to see it when she woke up!

Her own little "yo-yo" tape measure (what she calls it). Unfortunately, it didn't last long. I guess $1.47 only gets you so far at Wal-Mart.

Her very own sewing kit. She really does love this and stays entertained for awhile.

Putting pipe cleaners into a seasoning jar.

Gave her mini scissors from an adult sewing kit and she LOVES them.

Putting pipe cleaners into a colander. She enjoyed it but it must certainly did not keep her entertained for as long as I thought it would. She did enjoy throwing the pipe cleaners ALL over our living room floor though and covering me up with them. Mommy advice: do not let anyone cover you up in pipe cleaners, they scratch...hard!

Sandpaper T-Shirt: coloring their designs onto sandpaper to iron press onto t-shirts. Lauren was more interested in singing her beautiful made-up melodies about crayons and shirts.

As you can tell, Gabby is the only one that actually did her entire drawing and was super pumped about it being on her shirt! Definitely going to save this one for a few years down the road though, they were very easy and the image pressed perfectly on the shirts. We used a skinny dish rag between the shirt and iron.

Spa Day, Fun, and Visit to Iowa

We have been busy around here, I think I always say that! My mom came for the weekend while Kyle was gone and we had a mini Spa Day, we went to a birthday party, and then Lauren and I made the long trek back to Northwest Iowa for a bridal shower. This week we are "relaxing" while Kyle is gone again and me on Spring Break and getting ready for his parents to join us over Easter.

This was Lauren's "before" shot that we took before getting her hair cut and nails done. I asked her to make sad face and this is what she did. Afterward she told me, "I really made a MAD face Mom."

Lauren got her hair trimmed in the pink car again.

She did surprisingly well getting her nails done for the first time.

Check out this pretty puppies

Our best "after" shot we could get from her!

Daddy went to a high ropes training course and came back with some nice knot techniques. Lauren got all strapped up and Kyle swung her around. This girl is going to be a daredevil!

Lauren's friend, Gabby, had her b-day party at a bounce house! Lauren loves these places. Me...not so much (at least not while pregnant). It is difficult to maneuver through them and I got a nasty burn on my ankle from this particular slide!

On the bouncey balance beam

We didn't take any pictures at the Bridal Shower because one of Amanda's friends is a professional photographer and took care of it for us but we did get a nice picture of Lauren with her Great-Great-Grandma Cody. She will turn 100 in June!!