Weeding and weddings

John has been in awar against our weeds (mostly thistles) all summer. And we think he is finally winning. Caleb has spent quite a few nights with his dad pulling weeds around the landscaping and in the garden. Although he usually pulls weeds out of the bucket instead of putting them in, they still have lots of fun father-son time outside. :)

I have also gotten to go to two weddings of girls I played volleyball with in college. They both had beautiful ceremonies and it was so fun to have a reunion with girls I played with!

Strawberries

IIt has kind of become a yearly tradition to go and pick strawberries in the middle of June. There is a patch in Iowa and another one in beaver creek that we have tried out, and we absolutely love the strawberries! The picking is fun because I go with a group of women and we just get to chat while we work. Those of us with kids get a babysitter, and this year we even went out for ice cream after all our hard work. :) A big thanks to my Grandms VW who watched Caleb for me while I picked! The hard part comes when we get back home. The next few days after picking I spend most of my time washing, cutting, and freezing strawberries. It is kind of a pain, but it is so worth it to have delicious strawberries all year long! 

       Hard at work...or hardly working. :)

       The group with our strawberries. 

Graduation & Sate Softball

It seems like it has been a whirlwind since school ended and summer began. Between graduation, state softball, and vacation, we had lots to do. But, I really can't complain when most of my time was spend preparing for a week and a half vacation. :)

Tianna graduated from high school a few weeks ago, and the whole family got together to celebrate that day and during her party. It was so nice to have her at SW my first two years teaching there. It will definitely be different not getting to catch up with her everyday at school, but we are both excited that we just got to be sisters again. :)

  Caleb with his Auntie T. 

 With our sister the graduate.

The whole family..and everyone is smiling!

Although her days at SW were done, Tianna still got to enjoy some high school memories at the state softball tournament. She is the pitcher and mowed down a lot of batters this year. They had a disappointing loss first round at state which only allowed them to get 5th place at best. But they recovered and won their next two games to get 5th. Grandma VZ came up Wednesday night through Friday afternoon to watch Caleb for us, and John and I got to celebrate our two year anniversary by spending the weekend away and watching softball. It was my first time leaving Caleb overnight and I definitely enjoyed it. He has been having some early mornings so it was nice to just go to the hotel and not worry about him. We really appreciated Grandma coming to baby-sit so we could enjoy the softball games and do some shopping and go out to eat!

 Can't believe it has been 2 years of marriage already!

 Beautiful weather for softball!

 The team with their trophy.

So glad we got to watch her last high school game!

A great weekend with family!

Tulip Time

Last weekend Caleb, my brother, and I traveled down to Pella for Tulip Time. We met my sister and her family down there and all stayed together at my parents' house. The weather was absolutely perfect, and we all had so much fun together! Lots of walking around, lots of eating, lots of parades, and lots of catching up with family and friends. I got to see a ton of my high school friends and my grandparents which was great! Caleb hardly slept the whole weekend because there was so much excitement, but he was happy as every and loving being outside in the stroller! I think Tulip Time will definitely have to be a yearly tradition. :)

 So fun dressing up and being together on Mother's Day!

 All of us before walking in the baby parade.

 Caleb loved the parade! He got to sit in the stroller and jabber at all the people watching.

 All smiles even after the warm walk.

 Cousin love...these three are so cute together!

 Erin loved to hold Caleb for all the pictures...not sure how he felt. :)

 Such an adorable blue-eyed, blonde-haired dutch girl.

 And we think Caleb made a pretty cute Dutch boy as well. :)

 Everyone watching the Saturday afternoon parde.

 Loving our Dutch roots. :)

 A little photo shoot in front of the tulips.

 All three with grandpa and grandma...and no one crying!

The siblings in front of the tulips. So excited we will all be within and hour of each other in one more month!

9 Months

Caleb is now 9 1/2 months, so I thought I better put up some info about him at 9 months. I think I say this every month, but I am really enjoy this age! He can crawl all over the place and is pretty good at entertaining himself. Although, he usually gets into everything he shouldn't, so I can't really let him play alone for too long of a time. :)

He now has at least 3 teeth that have popped through and more that just seem to be popping up. He went through a week of being sick and then a week of being crabby, but he is doing much better now that the teeth have come through. With teeth, we can also start trying more food. The problem is that Caleb doesn't really like food. He likes to chew on apple slices and crackers, but that's about it. I have tried apple sauce, pureed carrots, squash, green beans, pears, and bananas. I have also tried chunks of bananas, carrots, bread, and cheerios. At first I tried really hard to get him to eat vegetables, and now I try really hard just to get anything in his mouth. :) Thankfully he still drinks and takes a bottle really well, so that will have to be good enough for now. :) We just keep trying a few times every day and hopefully one of these days he will decide he likes to eat!

Caleb can also pull himself up on things and shuffle around things. He is a lot better on his feet and getting more balance. He is mr. curious and is fascinated by anything new or anything that doesn't seem like a toy. He loves to go on walks, play with his stand up music toy, play hide and seek with his dad, play in the fridge, pull the dishes out of the dishwasher, try to get into the trash and the bathtub, and chew on everything except food.

He is still taking three naps a day but I kind of think it is time to transition him to two. We have tried off and on, so we will see what happens. I'm hoping to drop a feeding with a drop of a nap as well. He has also been waking up earlier and more during the night than he really ever has, so I am hoping that phase ends with the teeth! Despite the teeth, he is still extremely happy and gives us lots of smiles. He can be a little shy around people, but he does pretty good at showing off for whoever he is by. His new thing is clapping and squealing and he thinks he is pretty big stuff. :) We are really having a lot of fun watching him grow and change this last month!

 Playing with the frame was much more entertaining than taking pictures...

 Playing the bowl as a drum to distract from the frame...

 Took the bowl away...this is no fun!

 There's his adorable smile...

 So happy!

Pulling himself up and getting into everything!

Some Laughs

Caleb is starting to feel better, but we also think that he is teething. So his nose is still running and he coughs and just isn't extremely happy. He is much more clingy and a little whiny..which isn't normal for him at all. Yes, we know we are spoiled. :)

It seems like he hasn't quite had as many of his big smiles and adorable laughs lately, so I found some videos of a few weeks ago when we were getting him to giggle by saying "achoo."

Our attempt to sneakily give him baby food..I put pureed pears on the end of the apple..he was not impressed. :)

Sick boys

I have two pretty sick boys in the house. I have been a little behind on updating because of all the sickness around here.

Caleb started wheezing and coughing really bad a week ago. So we took him in and he had bronchitis.y mom thankfully drove up for the week to take care of him so john and I could both go to work. What a huge blessing to have her around. By mid-week caleb was back to his normal self. 

Then on Sunday John started feeling sick and by Tuesday morning caleb was sick too. Since then there has been lots of coughing and lots of nap taking. They are both pretty miserable and I feel so bad for them! I'm praying some rest this weekend will put them both over the hump. 

And until they are better, I'm getting in lots of cuddle time.

The Park

This is a little late, but last Saturday we met Scott in Luverne to have lunch and play at the park with Caleb. Caleb loved the swing, watching the guys play catch, and being outside. He did not however, love the slide. A few tears and a very scared face, but he recovered by sitting by uncle Scott on the swing. :)

 John loving the slide, Caleb not loving the slide.

 Much more fun on the swing with Uncle Scott.

Loving the sunshine and family time!

Moving Weekend

My brother moved into his condo in Sioux Falls this weekend, so we went up all day Saturday to help out. Thankfully all of my grandparents and uncles and aunts were there to help, and to help take care of Caleb. We had a lot of fun and even got in some pizza and basketball at night. Then on Sunday my parents, brother, and Grandpa & Grandma VZ came over for Sunday lunch. It was great to see them and have all of them get to play with Caleb. We took Caleb to the park in the afternoon and then headed to Luverne to spend Sunday night with John's family. It was a great Easter weekend spent enjoying family time and reflecting on Christ's death and resurrection.

 So happy by Uncle Scott.

 Caleb loving time with his uncle.

 Hugs from grandpa.

 Caleb learning football at the park.

 Giving high-fives on the swing.

 He loves the swing and being outside!

Caleb enjoying the park with grandpa and grandma.

Fun on the Farm

John's aunt and uncle live on a farm a few miles outside of Edgerton. Last year they invited us to come have supper with them and see their baby chicks. We got to hold those cute little yellow bundles and learn about how they care for them on the farm. Then a few months later they invited us back to chop off their heads, pluck their feathers, and pull out their inner parts...needless to say I preferred the first visit. :) Although I felt like I was in some crazy form of family initiation, I did very much enjoy having a bunch of very delicious chickens in our freezer by the end of the night.

So, this year they invited us and Caleb to come out and see the chicks. We thought we would let him get used to them before he comes back in May and sees us kill them all. :) We imaged he would want to grab the chicks and eat them...like he does everything else he sees...but he actually could have cared less about the chicks. He was more interested in the containers where their food was sitting. We had fun watching his facial expressions and then took him on a ranger ride around the farm to see the cows. He was pretty wide eyed through the whole evening, but seemed to have a good time. Hopefully this is the first of many of his adventures on farms in the area.

 A little hesitant with the kitty.

"I don't think this is very fun mom and dad."

 "please take me out of here."

 "I don't get why everyone is so interested in these yellow fuzz balls."

 "hmm....what's crawling on dad's shoulder?"

 Ranger ride.

Checking out the cows.