Raccoon River Nature Lodge

Gwen went to her friend Maddi's 5th birthday at the Raccoon River Nature Lodge this past weekend. She was in hog heaven when she saw all the different animals there.

She held onto that turtle the entire birthday party
Listening to the lady read a story to them
Enjoying her capri sun while waiting patiently for some yummy birthday cake

our bathing beauties...

Fun pics of Addison

Happy Valentine's Day!

5 months

Look who turned 5 months yesterday! Our little Addison weighs in at 14 lbs 8 oz. We just love our little chunky monkey. She smiles all the time, but we are still waiting for her to giggle. She is extremely vocal though. She definitely tells you what she wants and when she wants it. We're not sure if her eye color is going to stay blue or if they're going to change to brown like Gwen's did. Either way we just love her to pieces.

a taste of Iowa winter

Today was the day! Yes, the day we finally got a taste of Iowa's winter. It started snowing early this morning and didn't stop until 5pm. We estimated about 6-8 inches of snow. Jayson was so excited to use his new toy again, but this time for a lot of snow. He was also better prepared with his attire. He actually got his snow pants out! He was also soooooooo excited to use this magnificent machine, he forgot the whole intent of me getting out there was to learn how use the darn thing. When he got back into the house he then thought of it. Hmmm I wasn't out there for my looks and to help shovel what you missed!!

The beginning of the snow fall from our front yard
Towards the end of the day from the backyard

Making a snowman out on the back deck. Magnum was very interested in the carrot and candies we were using.

Introducing... Frosty!

The snow is already starting to melt, but here is a picture of our house this evening. Job well done on the driveway.

sledding

After the snow blowing experience, Jayson took Gwen sledding. We have the perfect little hill for her to go down and climb back up. Magnum seems to enjoy this activity as well. Mommy has to stay inside with Addison and of course take the pictures. ummm that's why mommy isn't in many of the pictures lately... daddy!

snow blower

Jayson has been pretty anxious to use his new toy this winter, but mother nature has had other ideas. We got a couple of inches one night and he called me that morning and told me not to shovel it because he wanted to use his snow blower when he got home. By the time he got home, it was already starting to melt.

As you can see from the picture he was dressed well for the event. ha. He def. got some looks when people drove by. I'm not sure if it was because of his attire or because he was using his snow blower for very little snow. hmmm from California are we! ha



Daddys helpers. ha

pictures of the kids

Yes, Gwen wanted a picture of her eating her breakfast the other morning. Lovely.
Our happy baby.

And our old man.

cereal anyone

It's so funny to see a baby try solids for the first time. Their tongue is all over the place. Addison is going on 2 weeks eating rice cereal and I can official say she is doing great with it. I think we are going to start on some sweet potatoes next week. So stay tuned for more pictures.

"Daddy what in the world is mommy feeding me?"

"hmm let me try another bite."
"This is not so bad, I think I'll go for some more."

new toys

A few weeks ago we pulled out the jumperoo and exersaucer for Addison to try out. After a month or so she is just now starting to move her feet and get a bit of exercise with the jumperoo. She seems to get more enthusiastic about it when Gwen cheers her on. As for the exersaucer, she has just figured out that some of the toys actually make noise when you hit them.

Our artist.

A couple weeks ago it was soooooooooooooo cold.... (we had a high of 2 along with a windchill of -11) we had to stay inside and do different activites that mommy doesn't allow Gwen to do everyday. Of course she LOVED every minute of these activites. We started off with some Valentine projects and then we got the paint out and I let her go at it. Notice the only colors she chose out of all the paints.... her favorite purple and pink (with a little bit of white).