My Almost 4 Year Old

oh, this kid

he is such a joy

such a fiesty, independant boy

he can now draw stick people...or in this case it's a monkey...there is a tail!

He still adores his brother but does take EVERYTHING away from him all the time.

He loves preschool and says the darndest things

Mom, is it yesterday yet so I can go to preschool

My favorite lately was

mom, i can't eat my peas because my beeper's(heart) to tired and my hair cut is tired,

my blood is tired...

today I was trying to take a picture of him...

how was my smile mom?

to many teeth buddy

well, you can show some teeth

 

 just be natural...

 but smile

 thats not a smile..

How about I just do this mom

 

perfect buddy!

Sutliff Bridge

they rebuilt the first part of the bridge that washed away.

below you can see what it looked like after it washed away. on the left the bar and on the far right you can see the part of the bridge that stayed standing.

 they had a rededicating on friday afternoon that we went to with the kiddos

 the bridge washing away in the summer of 2008

hard to believe I was 5 months pregnant with chasen when we had the worst flood in 100's of years and now this summer Dashtyn was 6 month old and we had one of the worst droughts ever.

 we have always enjoyed coming to sutliff to enjoy a beer on the bridge and some food too.
it's a spot we take our family when they visit and friends.
And we are so excited that they rebuilt it! Chasen was very excited to walk over the river!

It Was Just So Weird

So going back to homecoming for Jackson was just so weird, surreal, strange, nostalgic...

My first thought was wow how many laps did I run around this track,

how many good memories I had here. And to think it all really is a moot point.

Those experiences I had in high school were important and helped shaped who I am today

But I just remember how it was all so SO important then.

and now it really seams kinda funny how heart broken I could get or how hurt by friends, or how a lost football game was the end of the world.

I think Ill have a hard time not telling my kids oh, he/she wont matter in the long run, that heart ache, hurt feeling, lost game wont last forever.

But at that age it feels like the end of the world!!

 

It was so weird to be taking my kids back to my old stompin' grounds.

I always think about the girl I was and the girl I am now, with 2 little boys, and I think

 "I don't even know if I would recognize my old self"

 But I suppose I'm not really that different than I was,

 just seems that way when I'm put back in that spot.

I also thought about how some day Ill be sitting in the stands of some high school watching my kids make memories, make friends, break hearts, get broken hearts, fail test, learn hard lessons, and it makes me a little sad because I don't want to go through all that again.

 I think it will be harder as a mom.

But I was excited about the thought of sitting in the stands together with Ean cheering on our boys as they run (hopefully) the 4x4 and 4x8 relay! I think that will be such a full filling thing no matter what sport/event they are doing. and I cant wait to experience that with Ean.

 

Then I got to thinking about jaxie.

How is it that he can be a senior in high school!?!

where does the time go?

Then he posted this

an acceptance letter to Doane College

how in the hell can this little guy be going to college

he will forever be 11 years old to me

sorry bubbah, but these photos just aren't real

Homecoming

I didnt get around to posting about homecoming....the whole reason I went home a couple weekends ago ALONE with the kids. Which was fine cause they were actually good.

It's just a lot of work!!

We went for Jackson's senior homecoming, he was up for homecoming king!

Lily made him a sign

Jackson AKA coon man singing the national anthem

and below Dashtyn sporting the blue and gold. It's always weird being back at my old high school with my kiddos, Never would I have imagined Id have 2 boys that Id be bringing back to my old stadium.

I mean, it was just 10 short years ago that i was attending my senior homecoming!

 teaching grandpa to fist bump and blow it up!

chasen ara and lily watching jackson walk out onto the field

some family photos!

we all came out to support Jackson.

That's one of the things I love about our family, EVERYONE comes for everything!!

I remember everyone being there when I was on homecoming court :)

Jackson dresses up like this for every football game! He used to play until he hurt his back a couple times and it didnt really get better.

They call him coon man

after the game they had the dance and we went back to my mom's.

Chasen DID NOT want to go to bed until Jaxie got home.

He did not want him out dancing :)

Last Day In Vegas

so after roller coaster riding and lots of walking I went to a sports book and placed my $10 bet on Nebraska!!! and of course lost it all :( I blame Martinez....

But we had reservations at a bar called blondies and had a ton of fun cheering with 2 bachelor parties from Nebraska and some really rude Ohio State fans. We were high fiving and cheering for a touch down we made and this girl flipped me off and told me to sit the F down. Just further proves that Nebraska has some of the most well behaved, classy, nice fans in the bizz :) None of the boys in the bachelor party acted like that. And they guys she was with were worse than her.

our reservation was at 4pm and our table wasn't ready right at 4 so they gave us a free bucket of beer!!

After the bad loss I changed my clothes and we went to the fountains and then back to our hotel and listened to a band at the indigo lounge before heading to bed around 11:30 since we had to leave the hotel at 5am

chasen FREAKED when he saw this pic lol

 

 

here are some videos of fremont street

so Im sure most of you heard about my AWFUL plane/traveling experience a month or so ago when I went to Syracuse......well Im cursed.

We took off from vegas were in the air 40min and the captain comes on and says a fire extinguisher accidentally went off and we had to turn back for safety reasons there MUST be 2 working fire extinguishers..... so back to vegas we went to board another plane.

meanwhile my mom was 30min from des moines w/the boys and we were still 2hr away:(

but they played at the mall and all was well when we got there!