Family Fun Night - April 2008

Last night was the monthly Family Fun Night at Valley West Mall! As usual... we headed over to enjoy the free festivities... and we ran into our daycare friend, Jadyn and her mom Shelly! :) We were very excited to get to play together... and here are a few photos from our night!

Bert and Ernie were there!!! :) Owen LOVED Ernie... but would not get near Bert??? hehe! Parker thought they both were pretty great!!!

There were tons of fun toys there this time... this was one of the best ones yet!!!

Afterwards we went to Pizza Ranch for dinner... and it was YUMMY!!! :)






























































Then... at Pizza Ranch!!!

Tubes for Owen!

Owen got tubes on Friday and is doing GREAT!!! He has had 13 ear infections since he was 7 months and is not quite 2 yet... it has been a TOUGH time for all of us!!! Thankfully though, he is "ALL BETTER"!! If you ask him if he got his ears fixed he says "Hah" - which is YEAH! :) He is too funny! Nick and I have already noticed a HUGE difference! He is not as fussy as he has been... poor boy has basically been living with fluid in his ears all of the time!! - but like I said, he is all better now!!! :)

We headed to Ida Grove for the weekend and I scrapbooked with Robyn and Michelle on Friday and Saturday and then we got to go out with friends Saturday night... all the while, the boys got to spend time with Nina and Papa Hamann!! THANK YOU again for watching them!!! We had a great weekend!!! - except we didn't really get to spend any time with my Mom, she is sick AGAIN... poor Mom! (Upper respiratory junk this time!) Aghh... my poor Mom has had an awful year with sickness!!! Hopefully you are feeling better Mom!

Sorry for the lack of photos... this is the only one we got this weekend! - a cute one of Parker and Ralph wearing hats!!! hehe!

Going to School...

This morning Parker had preschool... on Tuesdays our friends come to pick him up at our house and take him to school since I have a full-house at daycare! About 5 minutes before they came, I was telling Parker to get his shoes and I would get his coat because it was about time to leave... during this time, Owen decided he was going to school too!! hehe! He went to the closet asked for his jacket, grabbed his boots and headed for the door after grabbing Parker's school bag to take with him! He is soooo funny!! He even told all of his daycare friends "Ba" - which is BYE! :) He got to help Parker carry out his things for school... and of course he tried to get into Nicole's car!!! hehe... he's an eager one! Hopefully he is this way when it's his turn to go to school!

A Visit with Great Grandma & Great Papa!

Isn't that SWEET... :)

We had to take a picture... it just made us melt! Owen LOVES his big brother... even if he is mean to him when he is awake!!! :)

What a fun weekend!! We went to Missouri to visit my granparents (my dad's parents) for the weekend. It was such a nice visit... we got to see great grandma, great papa, uncle Merlin, uncle Michael, Shari, uncle Long and aunt Marlene... wow!!! :) So nice to get to visit with everyone!! Glad to have you back from Texas Grandma and Grandpa!

The boys had such a great time with everyone... and Parker was such a "Papa's Boy"!! He LOVES his Great Papa!!! He was loving up on him all weekend! :) It was so cute! Owen was all about "Papa" too, he didn't want him or "Daddy" out of his sight all weekend! :) - poor guys!

Last but not least... Grandpa has played the guitar for years and every visit we get to listen to his music and singing... he does a great job! This visit BOTH boys sat completely still and ENJOYED what they were hearing and seeing!! It was absolutley wonderful!!! Grandpa sings old hymns that will make you cry... and he even threw in "Jesus Loves the Little Children" and "Jesus Loves Me" for the boys! Parker was excited that Great Papa new HIS songs!!! :) What a great end to a great weekend... THANK YOU, Great Papa! - and THANK YOU Great Grandma and Great Papa for such a nice weekend! See you soon!

CHUCK-E CHEESE

Last night Parker's preschool had a fundraiser night at Chuck E Cheese!!! We invited the Peck family to come with us (Corbin will be attending preschool next year too with Parker :)) so the boys could play together. It was fun... busy, but fun. Amy came fully loaded with her hand sanitizer!! :) hehe - she cracks me up! We didn't stay too long... we decided to play for a bit and then go try out our new PIZZA RANCH in Waukee!! We had the buffet and it was AWESOME just as expected! :) - I took my camera, but it was too crazy chasing Owen to get any photos... sorry!

Our night ended not so fun... as we were leaving Pizza Ranch, Parker ran off and was headed into the parking lot... there was a car coming so Nick had to trip Parker so he wouldn't get hit by the car - ahhhh it was soooo scary!!! THANKFULLY Nick was a quick thinker and our little guy didn't get hit! Not even a scratch! Needless to say, we left right away and spent our drive home discussing (ok yelling) at Parker the importance of staying with us and not running off! It was very frightening - I even had trouble sleeping that night! I think we scared him enough so that it won't happen again - I hope!!!

Here are a couple pictures in the car on the way to Pizza Ranch. :)

6 Random Things...

Jodi has tagged me, so here are 6 random things right now...
1. We LOVE Pizza Ranch and got to eat there last night (it opened yesterday!) - and we are still talking about it!!! YUM!!! (Thanks for coming with us Peck Family!:))
2. I have been busy with Screen Art and need to get a few orders done tonight!!!!
3. We LOVE the SPRING weather and have been having fun playing outside!
4. We are going to visit my grandparents this weekend (my dad's parents) and are looking forward to it!
5. In May Owen will be 2!!!! WOW!!! And Ralph (our bassett hound) will be 7!!!! And Nick and I will have been married for 7 years!!! - where has the time gone???
6. I am addicted to fountain diet coke and ROLOS... (Nick blames you Nancy for the Rolos!!) :)


I tag Sarah and Meredith... everyone else I know with a blog has already been tagged! :)

Weekend fun...

We had another eventful weekend this past weekend... we had Nick's parents come for a visit (it has been awhile - and was so good to spend some time together)... they watched the boys so we could attend a wedding on Saturday. THANK YOU, Nina and Papa!!!
The wedding was a 2pm wedding in Altoona with the reception in Pleasant Hill immediately following, so it was a long day... but VERY fun!


After the reception Nick and I were going to go to a movie... since it has been forever but decided to give Jonny and Mere a call instead... and BOY we were glad we did!!! hehe!
We went bowling at Waukee's Warrior Lanes and had a GREAT time! They even had beer bottles shaped like bowling pins!!! How fun is that??? - as usual, I was the loser with a GREAT score of 86! :) I know, I know I am awful, but I always have fun playing!!! :) Nick was the bowling winner!!! :) We will definitely have to do this again... it was lots of fun and SMOKE FREE!!! :) LOVE THAT!!!










The beer bottles were VERY neat... as you can see I was excited about them!!! :)







After bowling we went to Rookies for a little Karaoke fun! I must say Jonny is quite the performer/singer at these events!! hehe! We had lots of fun... Nick even got up and sang too! We sang a duet... JACKSON by Johnny Cash and June Carter... very fun (not good) but fun! :) Mere and I sang our hit by the Dixie Chics - Earl! And of course, Jonny stole the stage with his outrageous performances and voice overs!!!! Hehe! Seriously, soooo funny!






















Then on Sunday, after church Dan and Kim and the girls came over for lunch... so the whole family got to spend some time together! We had KFC at our house and got a few pictures of the kids... they were quite messy!!! hehe!

I love my daddy...

Today was a busy day at our house... I watched 5 kids for daycare and Parker had school today as well. It was Parker's turn at school to be the "leader" which means he gets to bring snack for everyone, lead the class when they go to and from activities and of course bring something "special" for show-and-tell. :)

Parker was having trouble deciding what he should take for show-and-tell, so I asked him what he was thinking about today and he said, "Daddy, because I love him." So - I mention the idea of taking his "JETCO" shirt that Daddy had "SPECIALLY" made for him. It is a navy blue polo shirt with "Jetco, Inc. Controls Division" written on it! He was SOOOO excited and said YES, that was what he wanted to take for show-and-tell!! It was so cute! I asked him what he would tell his class about his shirt? He said, "that Daddy got it for me." - Then of course I asked him what his Daddy does at work so he could tell his class... and he said "PLAY" - hehe! I bet some days Daddy wishes he could "PLAY!" :) It was very sweet... he couldn't wait to tell Daddy what he was taking for his "big" day, so we called him right away!

Back at home, the other 4 kids and I had a fun day playing! I am including a few photos of Owen from the day! (I haven't asked the daycare mom's yet about posting their kids - so may add more later!) Owen LOVES getting to use markers, so today they all got to color with markers on the easel... it was VERY fun... and a little messy - I think more time was spent scrubbing their hands to get the markers off!!! :)

And last but not least... I got my plate today from Jodi (check out more of her items at http://vinylexpressionsbyjodi.blogspot.com/) and I LOVE it! Had to add a photo... you can see one on her blog too! She does SUCH a GREAT job!!! - THANK YOU, Jodi!!!

D.M. BUCS - HOCKEY!

What a FUN night!!! We went to the D.M. Bucs game tonight... and although they lost by 1 point in double overtime... they played an AWESOME game!!! (it was their last of the season too! :( Bummer!)

We went with Nicole, Cooper and Lilly (Brad too - although he was busy working most of the time). We had such a GREAT time!!! The kids were VERY lucky... they got to ride the Zamboni, take a picture with Bucky and help pick up pucks after the "chuck a puck" - how lucky are they??? Owen was too small to do all of the above, but he was such a good boy sitting on Daddy's lap through out the game... well, that is until he decided to pull Cooper's hair towards the end of the game - soooo sorry Cooper!!! Owen LOVES music, so he had a blast dancing/clapping all night! He did manage to take a little nap too in Daddy's arms?!?! :)

Parker LOVES hockey... he calls the oponents the "BAD GUYS"! hehe! He really has fun... but tonight I think it was more fun getting to hang out with Lilly and Cooper... I am not sure he watched much of the game!

Not only did the kids score... but we did as well!!! The Chiafos' (Brad and Nicole) took care of us too... we joked on the way home that we were livin' the high life tonight!!! hehe! We got GREAT seats, got to be in the "lounge"... and got free tickets, free mugs, and beer too... what a riot! THANK YOU guys soooo much... we really had a GREAT time!!

Sorry for Nick losing Lilly at the bathrooms... guess he didn't think about how girls ALWAYS have to wait in line... he was VERY worried!!! :) - and then of course relieved to know she was right there all the time!! hehe!

All in All... a GREAT Friday night!!! - again, THANK YOU!!!! :)












































Riding the ZAMBONI!!!!