Corn

Fun photos of us in Iowa corn, just after Max returned from Alaska...thus the very large beard.

The beard left in stages, luckily this stage only lasted a few hours.

Milestones

Jonah missed the deadline for kindergarten by 4 days. I felt he needed a little more than a two-day a week mom's preschool like we did last year so I got up very early the morning of President Obama's inauguration back in January to get him registered at a great preschool. I'd heard that there was always a line to get the registrations in so if I wanted in, I'd better get there early. I did. I was first in line...got to listen to 45 minutes of NPR's coverage of the inauguration preparations before another parent even showed up...and can mothers go to extreme lengths to get what they want for their children? Yes, we can!

Here he is on his first day.

Wyatt still has this year and next before starting kindergarten so I decided to do a mom's group this year with him and hopefully a preschool next year wherever we move.

This is at our first field trip to a local petting zoo.

And this is our second field trip to a local apple orchard.

Wyatt loves his preschool friends and talks about them a lot. Just the other day he thought for a moment and told me, "There isn't anyone in my preschool whose name starts with an E." Which reminds me that I should record for my own memory that Wyatt is already reading! I started a Hooked on Phonics book with Jonah during the summer because it seemed he was really ready. Since I don't feel there is any pressing need for him to be able to read before he starts school we worked on it every once in a while, only for as long as he wanted, which some days meant about 2 minutes. He's now started the next grade level and is doing really well. Just when he was about to finish the first workbook, I realized that Wyatt was sounding out the word "mop" in a little game we have, so I started the workbook with him and he is about 1/3 of the way through. Wyatt often surprises me like this. I don't know if it is because I'm more focused on the developmental steps of Jonah because they are all firsts for me as a mother or because Wyatt is often so silly and goofy that I don't expect it, but he is one smart cookie mixed with a lot of playfulness.

Here's a cute photo of Emmett taken around the same time the boys started preschool. His milestone was rolling over just before he turned 3 months old. This is much earlier than either of his brothers and it made me nervous because the doctors always tell you to put your baby on his back. Emmett became a stomach sleeper on his own at 3 months and there was nothing I could do about it. And yes, I kiss those lips as often as I can.

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.