Tiny Tots Soccer

This year, when my mom asked what she could give my boys for birthdays, I asked that she send money, which we took to the rec center, all the while talking about what a great present this was from Grandma and Grandpa, and used to sign up for soccer. Jonah and Wyatt got to be on the same team--the 3 and 4 year olds--even though Jonah turned 5 four days after the season started. It was either that or go to soccer 2 nights a week for 6 weeks and I'm not that committed yet. There were some very cold games, and sometimes a lot of whining, but the boys liked it. It was definitely a hoot to watch because it is basically 10 kids all chasing after the ball, often interfering with their own teammates. Two little boys on our team would just stand in the center of the field as their parents yelled on the sidelines for them to "Get the ball!"

Jonah and Wyatt have very different personalities and soccer made some of their differing traits even more pronounced. Jonah is very social. He loved the team huddles, playing on the sidelines with his new friends, and the good-game high-fives at the end. He was more interested in the people than the ball. Wyatt gets very nervous when he realizes people are watching him and sometimes this keeps him from participating in things, but as soon as he noticed the ball, he usually forgot all about that and was totally focused on the game.

I had a huge crush on the assistant coach, who usually looked like he was having at least as much fun if not more than the kids.

August

While Max was in Alaska for the month of August (yes the whole month of August) living here...

and looking for bears...
and shooting guns...
and working in a clinic...
Jonah and Wyatt went to Kinderfarm two mornings a week (which helped me with my sanity)...
and Emmett had his first trips to the pool...
with his older brothers...

and we went to the Johnson County Fair with the Olsons and saw big tractors...

and I participated in a rubber chicken throwing contest...
and so did Tiffany, even with a baby strapped to her...
(and if you look close you can see the rubber chicken flailing through the air)
and Wyatt tried to figure out the slip and slide...
and Jonah did figure out the slip and slide...
and we went to the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines with the Gurgels...
and did Iowa State Fair stuff (if you didn't know, the Iowa State Fair is the fair to end all fairs) like ride John Deeres...
and eat popsicles...
and look at giant pigs...
and a gargantuan bull...
and a butter cow...
and Jonah and Wyatt even showed me how brave they were by going on a ride all by themselves...

and last but not least, I collapsed into a heap on my bed every night.

How I Spent My Summer (and Fall)--at least Tuesday and Wednesday Nights

This is me watching my favorite show, So You Think You Can Dance. Loved season 5 and 6, although I still think Jakob should have won season 6. I never vote, though. I prefer to see who other people vote for and then get annoyed when I think it should be a different way. Luckily, I don't maintain this same practice in matters of politics.

This is what I did during commercial breaks.

The Sleepy Second Child

Wyatt stopped taking naps much earlier than Jonah because it is way more fun to stay awake and play with Jonah. Sometimes though, it gets to him.

And I should note that Wyatt stopped stuffing his blue blankies in his mouth about mid-summer, just before his birthday. I didn't know how we were going to get him to stop, but after we went to the dentist, who said that his mouth was starting to be affected by all his blanket sucking, we talked to Wyatt about it. I told him the dentist said that if he keeps sucking his blanket it was going to make his teeth stick out and that would make it harder to chew and talk. I gave him the choice: keep the blanket and don't suck on it or let mom put the blankets away. He chose to keep them and amazingly stopped sucking them that day. I guess I didn't expect so much self-discipline out of nearly 3-year-old, but then he often surprises me (like when he showed me that he could read the Hooked on Phonics workbook we have 2 or 3 months ago). Lately he doesn't have much use for the blankets. Usually they reside in the closet, but every once in a while he likes to get them out if he notices them up on the shelf in there. He still never sucks on them, though. Just the other day he even gave one to Emmett because, of course, every baby needs a blue blankie.

Solon Beef Days

Yet another small town Iowa fair. This time we headed to Solon for Beef Days. These fairs are seriously one of my favorite parts about Iowa. At this one, the boys got to participate in big wheel races--and got a can of pop and a ribbon for participating, and they couldn't have been happier. We watched a magician, who reminded us of Michael from The Office--kind of awkward, trying to get the crowd to laugh but no one did--pretend to cut off a little girl's hand, which really upset Wyatt and we had to walk away. Then this time, I got to ride a fair ride with the boys. My dad used to go on all the rides with us at Lagoon and now I realize how impressive this is because by the end of this one tilt-a-whirl ride I wasn't feeling so hot. I don't know if he just never felt motion sickness or if he just pushed through it to be a good dad. Probably the later, and hopefully I can do the same.

Our Soaking Wet July 4th

It rained like crazy this year on the morning of the 4th of July. There is a fun parade in Coralville and we decided to brave it, thinking it might be easier to find a spot on the parade route. It was still really busy though much to our surprise. Some of the parade entries had to change things up--the saddest to me was the Shriners who usually ride around on these awesome three wheelers. They just waved from a bus instead.

Here is a photo of our boys picking up candy that was streaming down the gutter. They ate soggy tootsie rolls for weeks.

Later that afternoon we had our first (and hopefully annual) July 4th barbeque at our house and then went to a fireworks show once it was dark. Fourth of July has treated us well in Iowa.

Riverside Iowa--Future Birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk

Back in June we attended Trek Fest in Riverside, Iowa--the future birthplace of Captain Kirk. We're not Trekkies, but we are fans of unique and unusual fairs so we had to go. Trek Fest was definitely unique, to say the least. We missed the morning parade (guess we'll have to go back next year), but we did get to mingle with Trekkies, keep our kids from touching the very expensive Starship Enterprise models, let the boys participate in a tractor pull and ride a carnival ride all in one stop. All in all it was a pretty good day.

Apparently this was neutral territory for the often contentious Star Wars vs. Star Trek crowd. I guess all sci-fi geeks...er, I mean....enthusiasts were welcome. For some good Star Wars vs. Star Trek fun watch this edgy clip.