Two more??

Since Lane LOVES cats and especially kittens, I decided we needed more! I'm tired of calling Whisky every time we go outside (it always ends up with me and Lane out by the bins!), so I decided to get some cats from my parents! I don't think Curtis is real thrilled with the idea of two more cats, but, he'll learn to like them. These two are siblings of Yukon and Cornelius and are about 12 weeks old.

We just got them this afternoon and Lane is already so excited about them! He actually looked in the carrier to see if there were more than two. The striped one is named Tigger, and I haven't thought of a name for the white one yet. Maybe Snowball? I need something that is easy for a toddler to say. I'll let you know when we figure it out!

Whisky doesn't like them at all! She has been hissing and swatting at them. I hope that she eventually decides they're not worth her trouble and just ignores them. Right now, she's sleeping on our bed....

Aren't they cute?!?!

Slip n Slide fun!

Since Curtis' sister, Rachelle, and her husband, Brent were back at his parent's house this weekend, everyone got together Sunday afternoon. Of course the slip 'n slide came out! We hooked three of them together so it'd actually be long enough for the adults. I also brought along Lane's little pool thinking that he wouldn't like the slip 'n slide. Uhhh....he loved it! He loved to run along, laughing, and he never did wipe out! Curtis also pushed him along on a raft. So cute to see him laugh like that! Of course, Chad and Curtis had to try all sorts of crazy things, like catching a football while surfing on the slide. I think Curtis wiped out exactly 2 seconds after I took this picture.

Somehow, all my pictures are of Lane! Curtis managed to sneak into a couple of them :)

Is getting there half the fun?

On a family trip, you're either....

Poking your eyes out.....

Or asleep....

At Casey and Blake's House

Here are just some random photos from hanging out at Casey and Blake's house. It's a really cute house, by the way! I can't wait to see how they decorate it!

Lane looking up to Bret....

Looks like Bret was trying to keep Lane from crawling into the kitty cage....

Casey and Denali....

Casey and Blake wanted a couple of cats, so they chose Yukon and Cornelius from my parents' house. Such cute little kittens, we'll sure miss them around here! Lane loves to play with them! Notice their cute little collars....

Living History Farm

On Day 2 of our Des Moines trip, we were planning to go to Adventureland. I thought Lane would have a great time at the water park! However, it was only about 70 degrees the whole time we were there....just a little chilly for a day in the water! Casey suggested the Living History Farm - great idea. It was pretty cool and Lane really had a fun time. We didn't get to see part of it since we got there too late, but we did get to go through a farm from the 1900s and the town that was set in the 1870s. It was alot bigger than I expected but also alot more fun!

Lane was fascinated by all the animals. His eyes were huge when he first saw the horse. His first pet was pretty tentative, but he really liked touching the horsie's nose! We also saw cows and chickens. Lane also loved running through the houses...maybe he was tired of his stroller? :)

Here Lane got to see the cows...looks like a little farmer, doesn't he??

This is the barn from the 1900s (it actually looked alot like the old elevator that used to be at my parent's house!). Lane was checking out the corn harvest :)

To get around the place, we rode on a wagon hooked to a tractor. There was a little spot right up front for strollers. I think this was Lane's favorite part of the whole day! He got a front row view of the tractor and it was a nice slow ride. He cried every time we had to get off!

This is a huge barn that was part of the 1870s town. I think mom would like this to be her next house!

Thanks, Casey, for suggesting the Living History Farm - it was fun!

This has nothing to do with our vacation....

Even though I'm right in the middle of talking about our vacation, I have to write down some of the cute things Lane has done recently! I'm worried I'll forget about them if I put it off too much longer!

Lane loves to give kisses. He'll give me a kiss whenever I ask for one and he loves to give his stuffed kitty a kiss before every nap and bedtime. He puts kitty's whole nose in his mouth, it's so cute! The other day, I asked Lane if he would give Daddy a kiss. Lane leaned in all nice towards Curtis. At the last second, he reached up and grabbed Curtis' nose. (He's very into the "got your nose game!) Lane laughed and laughed like it was the funniest thing he's ever seen.

Lane recently discovered that he can run in place. He thinks it's hilarious to stand in one place and act like he's running. So cute!

Screaming is not very cute, but Lane has started doing "happy" screams. He'll turn on his ball popper and scream and scream. It is actually funny, but I hope that he doesn't do it too often!

We were driving to church last Sunday...south of our house the road crosses the river and it's pretty curvy with lots of trees. As we drove through the curves, Lane says, "Wheeee! Wheeee!" Maybe Daddy is driving too fast???

At the baseball game Friday night, my mom gave Lane some yogurt covered raisins. Lane didn't know what they were (and was probably full from the pizza) so he just held them. My dad wanted to show him that they were food so he ate one. Lane promptly turned around in his seat and fed two of them to dad. At least he shares!

Saturday in Des Moines

We originally wanted to go to Adventureland while we were on vacation. The weather had different ideas! Since we wanted to spend most of the time at the water park area, 70 degree weather and water did not sound like a good time! Casey suggested going to the Farmer's Market downtown. Wow! It was amazing! There was so much good-looking produce and yummy food. I could've bought alot, but chasing after a walking toddler was good for my wallet. I didn't have much time to look at stuff! We ended up getting a couple of pastries, a carton of fresh blueberries, and a half-gallon of root beer. Yum!

The photo above pretty much sums up what Lane thought of the Farmer's Market. He was tired and didn't want to be confined to his stroller. Since there were so many people we couldn't let him walk much. We could distract him for a little bit when dogs would walk by, but soon it was back to grumpiness. Finally, about 15 minutes before we decided to leave, he fell asleep. Luckily, he slept for over an hour in the car as we drove around and stopped at Hy-Vee to pick up lunch. A nap makes everything better!

Vacation in Des Moines

We just spent a fun-filled weekend in Des Moines, where Casey and Blake live. Since they recently moved into a new house (sadly, I don't think I took any pictures of the house!), they wanted mom and dad to bring a bunch of their stuff to them. Bret, Curtis, Lane and I tagged along for our vacation. I'm always a little nervous about going somewhere overnight with Lane, but he was such a trooper (especially since he was teething).

The four-hour trip there wasn't too bad, Lane slept until Omaha and then kept busy with all the new-to-him toys that I brought along to entertain him. We went to an Iowa Cubs baseball game that night.

While waiting in line to get our tickets, we saw David and Shannon and Maddie! Shannon is my dad's first cousin and they live in Des Moines. Quite funny to just run into them like that, especially since there were 11,000 people at the game.

Lane actually watched the game! He liked watching the ball and all the people. He would often point at the scoreboard and watch the big screen. Very cute!

Of course, the food is one of the highlights of any baseball game! I shared my pizza with Lane and he really enjoyed it. He got tired of the little bites I was handing him and grabbed the slice. He's so cute eating like a "big boy"!

Blake and Bret can make any situation funny! Notice Blake's creepy grin and Bret giving him the "side eye". What's in those nachos, anyway?

The Cubs lost (I was just thankful they didn't go into extra innings!). We stayed after the game to watch the fireworks. Lane did alright...he was scared and cried a little, but I think he also enjoyed looking at the pretty colors. He was also super tired and fell asleep soon after we got to the car!

Not sure I'm ready for this!

I always thought that I wouldn't have to worry about potty training for a long time. At least a year or two. But....suddenly Lane is showing a little bit of interest. I know the earliest you can really train them is at 15 or 16 months (Lane's actually almost there!) so I know that he's not quite ready. There's been a couple situations in the past few weeks that made me realize that Lane really does understand things...here's what happened....

A few weeks ago, I got Lane in his swimsuit so he could go outside and play in his pool. I had to do a couple of things before we could go out, so I let him play in the kitchen. Suddenly, Lane came back to the bedroom, kinda whimpering, and motioning that he wanted me to go to the kitchen. We get in there and he points to a puddle on the floor and made a "sad" noise. He was embarassed that he had gone on the floor and wanted to let me know what happened!

Then today, I told Lane that "mommy is going to the bathroom." Lane raced me to the bathroom, lifted up the lid on his potty, and then sat down. Of course he still had his clothes on, but it was very cute! He sat there for awhile looking proud of himself :)

So....he's probably not ready yet, but it has sure got me thinking about it. This is one area where I am just about clueless...maybe our cat can help...she's litter trained!

Free Starbucks Ice Cream!

Nothing is better than getting something for free. Not much is better than ice cream. Getting free Starbucks ice cream is great! I've been trying for a few days now to get a coupon and finally succeeded. If you have a facebook account, go here to add Starbucks as an app on your account. There will be something like "share this with a friend". Try to click on it as close to the top of the hour as you can - they only give out 800 coupons each hour. I've tried at 15 minutes past the hour and didn't get one. It'll say to enter your friends name and address, but yes, I'm greedy about ice cream so I sent it to myself :)

Now...just have to wait for my coupon and then try to find it in a store. I'm definitely going to get the Mocha Frappucino flavor...sooooo good!

Baby jail

I finally got tired of not being able to keep Lane out of the kitchen. I can't sweep, load the dishwasher, or somedays, even make supper while he is awake. Since the opening between the kitchen and family room is quite large, we couldn't use a typical baby gate there. Curtis offered to make me one. At first I was a little hesitant. I thought it would be a huge ugly thing. But no! It turned out great!

Todd came over on Saturday to help Curtis build it. The best part of all, the gate was practically free. We still had lumber left over from way back when Curtis worked at Barkman Honey and got a bunch of free 1x4s. And of course, we have tons of screws and nails left over from remodeling our Louisville house.

Here's what the guys came up with:



There are boards screwed to the wall on either side where the gate can slide in and out. So far Lane hasn't been able to get through and I think he'll have to be much taller to lift it out of the slots! I've only had it up once when Curtis wasn't around to play with Lane. Lane wasn't too thrilled about it, but I figure he'll get used to it eventually! Here's some more pictures of Lane just being goofy:

Finally - a good batch of cookies!

I finally made a decent batch of cookies! On Saturday, Curtis and Todd Held were busy making a baby gate for the kitchen (more on that in another post). I felt bad that I didn't have anything for them to eat, so I decided to try making cookies again. They actually turned out good! Curtis really likes them and I don't think they're too bad. I accidently left them out all night and they were much better the next day since they softened up a little bit. Don't they look yummy?

Here's the recipe in case any of you want to try them.

Amish Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

3/4 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 ounces chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat sugars, butter, and peanut butter until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, then stir in the remaining ingredients. Drop by rounded teaspoon on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely.

Tough transitions

Up until now, I've been really lucky that Lane has been pretty predictable when it comes to napping. He typically took a morning nap two hours after he woke up, and then an afternoon nap about 3 hours after he woke up from his morning nap. Made it easy to schedule errands and playdates! Now....it's a different story....

Ever since Lane was sick with pneumonia, he has been very erratic in taking naps. I think it's his transition phase to only 1 nap. (Side note - he must like to make changes after he's been sick. When he was sick in January with an ear infection and a cold, he started refusing baby food.) I'm actually looking forward to only 1 nap a day (that's hopefully at least 2-3 hours long) because we'll have more time in the morning to play and run errands. But, right now, I just have no idea what's going to happen each day! Sometimes he falls asleep in the morning...sometimes (most of the time) it's right around 11 or 11:30, and sometimes it's not until 1:00 that he falls asleep! Sometimes naps last 45 minutes and sometimes it's 3 1/2 hours. Sometimes there's only 1 nap a day and sometimes there's 2. It makes it really hard to plan anything!

The other day I tried putting Lane down for his morning nap about 10:00. Didn't work. He was very cranky and nothing was making him happy. Finally, about 11:15, he wanted to be pulled around in his wagon. I happily pulled him (since it usually makes him quiet) for about 20 minutes. I noticed his head starting to droop and his eyes closing. I quickly grabbed a pillow and put it behind him. He immediately fell asleep. It was so cute that I just had to take a picture (or 3)!

In the pictures you can see the stuffed leopard in the wagon with him. What you can't see is the ball, two tractors, and a disk in there with him. He's like a little bag lady - we have to stop to pick up everything we see!