Pudding...

Dirt...

Indoor waterpark

While Lincoln & I enjoyed some (quiet!) time with my parents, Emily had the opportunity to go overnight to King's Pointe with Auntie Abbie & Uncle Wade.  King's Pointe is a waterpark resort in Storm Lake, Iowa.  Abbie won a free hotel stay and four passes to the indoor waterpark in a Valentine's drawing.  They left Friday after Abbie & Wade were done teaching school.  Then Lincoln & I picked Emily up on our way back to Waverly Saturday morning while Abbie & Wade watched Wade's sister play in an AAU volleyball tournament.  Emily had a great time.  They called us after 9:00pm to announce that they were swimmed out and Emily had gone down the big slide.  Emily slept in until after 9:00am.  Thanks Abbie & Wade for a fun outing!

Trip to Hull

While Austin was gone this week, the kids & I headed to my parents' house.  We haven't seen them since Christmas and it was my dad's birthday.  Here are some picture highlights:

Lincoln thought it was great fun to try and jump off this booster seat.  He had mixed results.

Emily got her nails painted and thought she was pretty cool.

Aunt Courtney brought a present from work--the world's largest lollipop.  Emily decided it would make a "good breakfast dessert."  After a little coaxing Emily agreed to share with Lincoln and Great Grandpa Vander Kooi.

 

Cousin Ryan was around for two days, so Emily & Lincoln got a lot of cousin time.  Ryan & Lincoln are 4.5 months apart and quite the pair.  Emily fondly referred to them as "the little guys."  Ryan is talking a lot more than Lincoln and calls them "Em-knee" and "Linky."  Ryan & Lincoln are almost the same height (Lincoln is on his toes in the picture below), but Ryan has 5 lbs. on Lincoln.
Can't you just hear their conversation?

"Where do you think corn futures are headed?"

"Depends how wet the spring is..." 

Grandma Boote and her boys...

Grandpa Boote and the two little monkeys...

Emily got to play a lot of games this week, too.  They included Chutes & Ladders, Rings on Your Fingers, and Hungry Hungry Hippos.

 

For more fun pictures check out my sister's blog post here.

New cousin/niece

We are excited to welcome a new cousin and our first niece!  

Macy Jean Moss was born on 3/23/11 and was 7 lbs. 14 oz.

DIRECTV commercial

So there's a new commercial out for DIRECTV featuring a rich Russian dude and his entourage--including a miniature giraffe.  It's a sequel to one they had last year.  For some reason Austin thinks this is the funniest commercial ever made (see it below).  It's the only one I know of that he not only stops to watch, but has actually rewound to watch again (and again).  He laughs out loud every time.  It's the giraffe that gets him.  Did you notice his gold-plated treadmill and that the giraffe starts running when the giraffes on TV start running (which he is watching for motivation)? 

Ready for rain

Emily is definitely dressed for the weather with her rain coat, rain boots and umbrella.  They even talked about "U for Umbrella" at preschool today. :o)

22 months old

Lincoln is 22 months old today.  Quite a few things about him were mentioned in the Stinker-pot post earlier this month.  Lincoln has added some new words lately.  He distinctly says bird, more and down.  He can also repeat some words after you say them, but only if he's in the mood.

Lincoln still pretty much has two food groups: fruit & dairy.  Once in awhile he'll eat some noodles or even some diced ham, but only if he's in the mood.  He hardly eats any kind of cereal but will sometimes eat some crackers.  He does seem to like the Nacho Cheese Doritos, though. :op  He likes cinnamon rolls, but he only eats the bottom half of muffins.  I don't quite understand that one.  He could work at Panera Bread and help them make their "muffies." ;o)  Lincoln's favorite thing about eating is holding hands during the prayer.  He holds his hands out expectantly as soon as he sits down.

Lincoln hasn't completely stopped drooling, but I've pretty much given up on drool bibs.  I haven't checked his mouth lately, but I think he has poked through almost all of his baby teeth.  Maybe we can celebrate his second birthday without any drool at all!

Spring break

Waverly does not have a week-long spring break, but Austin's mom does, so I packed up the kids and we headed to Grandpa & Grandma Lorenzen's house for a couple days.  We had a great time!  Emily enjoyed learning several new games, including Checkers and Yahtzee.

Lincoln loved playing trucks.

We all enjoyed some time outside with the beautiful weather.  We went to three different playgrounds and played bean bags.

I had one near-adventure while we were there.  The dash lights have been flickering and the gauges jumping in the van every once in awhile for the last couple weeks.  They really started doing it while I was coming back from a shopping trip.  Then the van died while I was sitting at a stoplight by the Jordan Creek Mall.  I was able to start it again right away, but it almost died again on University Avenue.  After a couple phone calls I was able to find a repair place nearby and have the worn-out battery replaced along with an oil change the van needed anyway.  Thank goodness it didn't happen somewhere on the interstate on the way home!

Tree trimmers

We had some fun entertainment during breakfast this morning.  A city crew came by with a bucket truck to trim the trees on the south side of the house.  There is no sidewalk on that side, and the trees are technically the city's responsibility because they are in the city easement.  I found out that also means that when it's time to take them down, the city will pay for it.  Yay!  Unfortunately, that might come sooner than we want.  Two of the trees are 60-year-old Ash trees that have seen better days.  Between that and the Emerald Ash Borer that just entered the most northeastern county in Iowa, it might only be another couple years.  In the meantime, it was nice to get some of the droopy branches cut off and a large one that was touching the house.  The crew also trimmed off an annoying low branch from the locust tree while they were at it. (The only downside is now we have a full view of the redneck neighbors' house across the street :op)  They put all the branches through a wood chipper and even raked the yard afterwards.  Plus they took away the pile of branches that had collected over the winter.  All for free!