Pudding Pops, ABC's, and Tailgating...what more could you ask for?

I remember pudding pops from when I was a kid...so when I saw them in the store I had to get them. Now...for some reason to me they aren't quite as outstanding as I remember...but it must be a kid thing because Natalie and Justin inhaled them! Now...I didn't think Justin was quite ready for a popsicle type item...but during a trip to Grandma and Grandpa Curtis's house he was offered a Dora popsicle and he quite enjoyed it so I figured...put a bib on him...put him outside...let him go to town...and the result...a choco-fied toddler:

As for Natalie...her pudding pop made her a bit goofy but she stayed much cleaner then her brother:

Natalie is also really into performing for the camera...so when you have a minute you'll have to view her ABC's song and dance because I'm sure you'll see it again in about 20 years when she's super famous and her biography can say that she began her singing career when she was just 3 years old!

And finally....ISU tailgating has officially started. We had really nice weather and the kids ran wild. Here are a few pictures from that day:

End of Summer...Beginning of School

So...it's that time of year now...summer has come to an end and Natalie has started preschool again. We ended the summer with a few little adventures which included a night at the ISU Fan Fair, a road trip to the Lincoln Balloon Festival, a trip to the zoo with cousin Sydney, a day at Make-A-Mess, and an adventure to the Fondulac Farm Park. So summer went out with a bang! Here's a few pictures of these little adventures.

Today Natalie headed off to her new classroom for 3 year olds. She did awesome and I had to chase her down to give her a kiss good-bye. This year she'll be going three mornings a week and from the way things went today I think she's going to really enjoy her time there. I'm looking forward to having a little one-on-one time with Justin while she's in school...of course today he spent the entire time taking a nap...but don't worry we had plenty of bonding time last night around 2 am! Here's some school pics:

Let's just hope she stays out of the "Try Again" chair while at school!!!

How many candles on the cake?

Ok...so I guess you officially stop counting birthdays after what....21, 30, 35, 40? All I know is that I had to stop and think...for what is an embarrasing amount of time...to determine how old I turned yesterday. Of course once Natalie told me I was 43 I was able to snap out of denial and realize that I'm still quite young!

I do not have a growing old phobia but it is amazing that as you get older you reach numbers that seem to be old (especially in a college town) but you don't feel old. I look at my kids and realize that this is a great time in my life and I'm just happy to be able to run around after them.

For my birthday bash, Natalie and Aaron made me a cake. Natalie said I had three choices for my cake: Dora, Cinderella, or Max and Ruby. I chose Cinderella and then had to choose between pink or yellow frosting, and I picked pink. So...they delivered me a home-made pink Cinderella cake. I was quite impressed with their decorating abilities. The cinderella portion came off and revealed a Happy Birthday Mom message and it was delicious! I received lots of nice cards...but the cutest on was from Natalie in which she recorded a message for me on the card. I hope it lasts forever because it's the cutest thing ever. We went out for dinner and despite lots of rain had a nice little birthday.

Here's a picture:

Thank you to everyone that sent me a card and/or called me yesterday. It's nice to have such wonderful family and friends that love me.

And for those counting....I'm proud to say that I'm officially 32 years old!!!!

Ozarks Meet The Curtis Family

We packed up the van and headed to the Lake of the Ozarks for our family vacation this summer. Aaron had a work conference so we just tagged along and then extended the trip by a few days.

We had a really good time and I'll give you the highlights. We left on Saturday after Justin's morning nap and after a few stops we made it to our resort, Tan-Tar-A, around 5:00 pm or so. We checked in, had some dinner, checked out the area and then hit the pool. The best decision we made was to get two adjoining rooms...one for the kids and one for us. Therefore, we didn't have to go to bed at the same time the kids did or sit in the dark during nap times!

Aaron was off to golf on Sunday so the kids and I decided to check out the outlet malls...my car registered a cool 116 degrees...so we only hit a few stores, then headed to McDonald's for lunch, and then back to the room so Justin could take a nap. Natalie boycotted her nap that day but enjoyed watching a movie and then having some quiet time in bed. When Aaron got home we got cleaned up and then went to an indoor "cookout" with his work and then it was back to bed for everyone.

Aaron had meetings on Monday and Tuesday mornings so while he was "working" the kids and I hit the pool and it was hot enough that the pool was the place to be! Monday evening we had another dinner with his work and they had some entertainment and on Tuesday evening we headed to Miner Mike's and Busters which was a fun place for the kids. They had a huge maze with ballpits and such for Natalie (and Aaron) and then a smaller area for Justin. They also had some rides, of which Natalie would only try the bumper cars but she went by herself and got the hang of it after awhile. They also had a ton of video games and ride-on machines so the kids had fun and it wore them out which made bedtime easier for everyone!

Wednesday we had Aaron all to ourselves so we saved that day for the indoor water park. We hit that in the morning after Justin's nap and stayed until the kids afternoon naptime and then went back again after dinner. There weren't more then 15 people in the entire park so we had our run of things. The kids really enjoyed the lazy river and some of the water features. Aaron and I took turns watching the kids while the other could go down the big water slides....which we enjoyed. You forget how much fun it is to be a "kid" until you're sliding down that slide going like a hundred miles an hour in the pitch dark and you twist and turn and then take a huge drop just before you hit the water....we each must of hit that slide a dozen times. They also had some smaller water slides that we would take Justin down in our laps which he seemed to enjoy. Natalie wouldn't go down for the longest time...then she would go down with one of us....and by the last hour we were there she went down by herself and then I couldn't get her off them! It was a really fun day.

Thursday morning we got up and headed out after breakfast and stopped at Grant's Farm in St. Louis for a few hours. It was a really neat place and I wish we had planned a little better because our time was cut a little short because of naps and crankiness and such. But Natalie did feed some goats with a bottle and fed a camel and saw some other various animals. I think we'll head back that way the next time we are in the St. Louis area. We made it home Thursday night and we were all happy to be sleeping in our own beds.

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Unemployed one day; Blueberry picking the next

Ok....so it official....I'm unemployed. Little Vincent's last day with me was last Thursday. His mom and dad found someone to rent their house so my guess is that they are moving even as I type this post. Saying good-bye was hard on all of us. Although I've known that this day was coming and in a way was looking forward to having time with just my kids, it was hard to see the little guy go. I think what's hard is after a year of taking care of him I know that in another year he won't remember any of us but hopefully he'll know that he was loved by the Curtis family. It was pretty cute when Lacy and Vince got in the car to leave Natalie climbed in too and wouldn't get out. Of course when you have two grown women crying their eyes out it didn't help the situation. We are thrilled for Vince and his family and wish them all the best. Here's a picture of us on Vince's last day:

Ok....so on our first Monday without Vince we hit the road bright and early and headed to Aaron's parents to pick up his mom and go blueberry picking. What an experience! Natalie had gone last year with Grandma and Grandpa Curtis, but this was the first time for Justin and me. We got to the blueberry farm and got our buckets and climbed up on the hayrack and they took us to a section of the blueberry farm and we worked our way down the row and found a nice little place and went to town picking blueberries. Natalie helped pick, however, Justin spent most of his time eating the blueberries. It was super hot out so after about 45 minutes we headed back and paid for the berries and got back in a nice air conditioned car and went back to the house and got cleaned up. Grandpa came home and took us out to lunch and then it was back on the road. Justin didn't make it out of town before he was asleep. It was fun, and the kids enjoyed themselves and I have a feeling that this will be a yearly tradition. Here are a few pictures:

So anyone that visits this house in the next few days will be eating blueberry cobbler, blueberry muffins, blueberry crisp, or just plain blueberries!!!!

Summer of Fun

So when I looked through the Parks and Rec Summer Guide there were like a hundred things I wanted to sign Natalie up for...but my level headed husband advised me not to over book Natalie so we let her pick two things and she chose gymnastics and swimming. We decided to go ahead and sign Justin up for swimming during the same time just so he could have some fun in the water even though he technically isn't really learning how to swim just yet. Both have been a lot of fun.

Natalie has loved gymnastics and just had her last lesson today. She's just so cute out there doing bridges, somersaults, walking on the balance beam and swinging on the bar. I think she was a little sad that this was her last day but daddy surprised her by showing up for her last lesson so she was full of smiles all day because of that.

As for swim lessons, we are in week two and as much fun as the kids have mom and dad are glad this is the last week. We meet nightly Monday through Thursday so by Thursday we are pretty worn out. It also takes up the night so we haven't had much chance for anything else. However, Natalie is a "duck" and is doing quite well. We'll find out on Thursday if she will continue to be a duck or move onto becoming a "goose" when we resume lessons next summer. Justin is fairly indifferent about the pool experience. He doesn't hate it...and on occasion he smiles and even gives us a giggle...so I would say he enjoys it for the most part. I'm sure next year he'll do better because he'll be able to participate a little more.

The kids should now be ready to the hit the pool hard when we go on vacation in a few weeks! I'll keep you posted!

Roadtrip to St. Louis

So the Curtis Family headed down to St. Louis for a whirlwind weekend and had an absolute blast. We went down with some friends and packed a lot into about 24 hours.

We started out at the City Museum, which is an amazing place. There are a bazillion little mazes and things to crawl on and through and you can crawl from one floor to another. Natalie had a blast...and with dad following close behind I think they both got a pretty good workout. Since I never knew where they would end up, I let the two of them take off and Justin and I did some exploring on our own. We hit a few caves, climbed onto a big whale, and got up close and personal with a few swimming turtles. We met up with the other two in the toddler room which meant that the two kiddos could run wild. Justin loved the ball pit and the slides. He even liked playing hide and seek with me among the pillars. Natalie liked that she could interact with Justin and play together. The huge pile of blocks was a huge hit and Natalie rode the little train. We were there for about 3 hours and still didn't hit all the attractions, so I think we'll be headed back there again. Here are a few pictures of that part of our adventure:

We headed back to our hotel to attempt some naps for the kids which went ok..but not great..and an hour later we were off to the America's Incredible Pizza Company where we met up with our friends. I haven't personally been to the local Chucky Cheese yet, but from what I've heard this was about 3 times as large with miniature golf, go-carts, games, a toddler area, and was a big hit with the kids. We played there for several hours and then hit the pizza buffet and it was back to the hotel for some late night swimming. We all hit the pool and everyone had fun splashing around. Then it was off to bed for a good night sleep. We got up bright and early...at least by Curtis standards...and while the kids were waking up I went down and got some breakfast and brought it back to the room for everyone. After eating we got cleaned up and headed to the zoo and again met up with our friends.

The zoo was really nice and the kids enjoyed seeing all of the animals. There was a lot of walking so we had to let the kids take turns in the stroller. Natalie really liked the giraffes. Justin liked anything as long as he was out walking around. He wore himself out and fell asleep in the stroller around the camels. Natalie liked riding the huge carousel and chose to ride the rhino. I liked the hippos...it was kind of neat to watch them swimming around among all the fish. It's a nice zoo and the right price...free!!! So we had lunch and hit the road home. The kids did awesome during the trip but I think everything caught up with them by the time we got home....it was a chaotic night...but slowly but surely we are recuperating. A few zoo pics...