Isaac's day in the snow...

We bought Isaac a sled and snowpants for Christmas. Aunt Lacy got him some boots so we decided to try them out in Austin. Zach pulled Isaac around in the sled for a while and then they sat in the snow and threw snowballs at mommy. Isaac found that hilarious! In the end, Isaac wanted to help daddy shovel Grandma's walkway. I guess we'll have to buy him a small shovel so he can officially help!

Isaac is so happy to be walking around in his new boots.

All dressed and ready to go outside. "Mommy, do I have to wear these gloves?"

Getting a ride from daddy

Making snowballs to throw at mommy!

Laughing after daddy threw the snowball.

Back from traveling...

We are back from our travels and trying to recuperate while also getting back to real life. Zach and I both went back to work yesterday and are glad to have a 3 day weekend so quickly!

Here are some pictures from our holiday. Isaac did really well opening presents although if he opened a toy...well the rest of his presents had to wait until he played with that toy! He had a ton of presents to open too! You might say he is spoiled! We got a good mix of toys, books, and clothes though!

Santa brought Isaac a basketball hoop and ball Christmas morning.

Santa brought Isaac a tricycle Christmas eve. His feet aren't long enough to reach the pedals but he really enjoyed daddy pushing him around.

Isaac got a couple of really cool hats from Aunt Lacy.

Isaac helped mommy open a few presents at Grandpa & Grandma Beerends'

When we got home Isaac wanted to use his new crayons to color in the bay window.

Merry Christmas...

Merry Christmas! We hope that everyone is staying safe on the roads this holiday as my "friend" winter is trying to arrive again. We are headed to Austin this afternoon, a day earlier than planned due to the pending snow storm. We'll be there until Sunday when we travel back to my parents for a short Christmas celebration.

Some exciting news to share with everyone...we are expecting baby #2! We are due May 25th and are currently 18 weeks along. Everything is going well so far, I feel good although I'm usually pretty tired. But that could be from chasing around a 20 month old! We go back to the doctor after the first of the year to have an ultrasound...this will be our 3rd of the pregnancy! It will be nice to have one that is scheduled before we get to the doctor!

Enjoy the holiday!

teeth brushing!

Isaac is learning how to brush his teeth with toddler toothpaste! He loves it and wants to brush all the time but I have put the limit at twice a day. Once with mommy in the morning and just before bedtime. He tries to brush but mostly just sucks on the toothbrush with toothpaste. Good thing you can swallow this toothpaste! I let him go a while and then step in for proper cleaning! He loves to stand on the toilet and "spit". Nothing ever comes out but he's at least trying!

My little climber...

Isaac has been climbing on everything lately. He started with the kitchen chairs and from there he climbed into the middle of the table! Then he climbed up on our bed, which he loves because he has learned to turn my radio alarm clock on. He loves to listen to the music and dance. Last week he climbed into his toy box, which requires emptying the toy box first. What a mess! He uses the bay window to get in but is very close to climbing in from the front. Lastly, he is obsessed with climbing on his crib from the outside. I'm sure it won't be long and he will be climbing out of his crib in the morning. So much for my laying around until I feel like getting him!

Christmas Preparations

We are in full swing of getting ready for Christmas. We've had our tree up for a little over a week. Isaac helped to decorate...it was fun/a pain! He is doing pretty well at "don't touch" but things got a little trickier last night when Zach wrapped a few presents and put them under the tree. He left all the wrapping material out and now Isaac thinks he can play with it.

We finished our Christmas shopping this past weekend. I vow to shop online from now on! Toys R Us was crazy and we didn't find a line anywhere that was less than 3 people deep. Luckily we left Isaac with Grandpa & Grandma. Zach and I enjoyed spending the day together despite the crowds. I was tired when we got back home!

I just finished my Christmas cards and now I need to finish wrapping presents. That will probably have to wait until tomorrow though as I am exhausted! Here is our family picture in front of our tree:

Snow! :(

The first snow of the season and it was a whomper! I vote we've had our quota and no more snow until next December. The news says we had 15 inches but the drifts say 4 feet! Zach decided to take a vacation day so at least we were all home safe and warm. Isaac wants so bad to go outside and play but with a blizzard warning and wind chills below zero, I think he'll have to wait a day. For all you who are from southern states and miss the snow, here are some pictures. I wish you'd take your turn of snow next time!

The most annoying toy ever....

...and we bought it for him. Yes, Zach and I found this guitar in Toys R Us and thought Isaac would love it. Which he did...but we didn't realize just how annoying it would be. This little guitar plays five songs: Love Shack, Crazy little thing called Love, Allstar, Wild Thing, and another song that I don't actually know. But that song is my favorite because it's softer and not as hard on the ears! We have a little video of our little man rockin' out. Next time we will leave the annoying toys to relatives to buy. At least we would have someone to blame for our agony!

Thanksgiving

We had a fun Thanksgiving with my family. We spent the four day weekend at my parents. My brother and his kids came over Friday and Isaac loved playing with his cousins! The best part of Friday was Isaac getting a tractor ride from Grandpa!

Isaac was obsessed with seeing the tractor each day and also the cows. He spent a lot of time at the window, especially when Grandpa went outside! We went shopping on Saturday to get some ideas for Christmas lists. That definitely tired everyone out! Isaac fell asleep on the way home so we drove around Des Moines looking at all the projects Zach has been working on for the city. Very interesting to see what my husband does everyday at work!

Now we are trying to catch up on our sleep and recuperate from being away. I guess we'll have to put up our Christmas tree next and get to Christmas shopping!

catching up...

It's been a while! I can't believe it's already December and Christmas is only a few weeks away! Here is an update of what we've been doing the past month.

We didn't dress Isaac up for Halloween, it was too cold and I wouldn't have let him eat the candy anyway. Instead we stayed in our warm house. If we would have been thinking, I would have put Isaac in his costume and let him hand out candy at the door but we didn't even do that. We did take Isaac to a pumpkin patch Halloween morning. We went to the one over in Cumming and it had a lot of neat stuff including a playground where Isaac could ride a pedal tractor and dig in the corn. He seemed to have fun on the wagon ride too. There weren't a lot of pumkins left but it didn't matter. We walked around in the corn maze and then left. Here are some pictures of our adventure:

Isaac scooping corn with daddy

Isaac loved the horse swing

He couldn't reach the pedals so daddy pushed him!

Only a few pumpkins to choose from

Isaac & daddy on the big tractor

Our family

We've also been playing in the leaves this fall. Isaac loves them much more than he did last year. He really loves to walk through them and throw them in the air. We got some video and a few pictures:

18 month pictures

We got Isaac's 18 month pictures take last Friday. Isaac's never been a good professional photography child but I thought since he likes the camera at home so much that he had grown out of his crying and throwing a fit stage. I was wrong...however, we managed to get a few good pictures of our little guy:

After pictures we went to a bookstore and then lunch. Isaac ate almost all of his meal from Chik-fil-a! We were surprised but he seems to be eating more these days. Perhaps a growth spurt is coming! We have finally gotten rid of the sinus infection and everyone is sleeping peacefully again. Hopefully we'll stay healthy for a while now!

Too young to drive????

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day so we spent the evening outside while Zach tried to fix our blinker in the car. Isaac decided to help and had a lot of fun driving while daddy was testing the blinkers. Isaac was working the blinkers, turning on the wipers, and changing the radio station and rocking out! It was good for some laughs!

Last night was a terrible sleeping night for the little man. He's had a sinus infection for the last 3-4 weeks and we've been on antibiotics, which seem to help the nose but Isaac can't fight off this cough that usually comes at 1 a.m. I get up and give him a drink and that has been working but last night we were up for almost 2 hours. Isaac slept until 9 this morning but it still doesn't seem like we got enough sleep. Poor daddy had to get up and go to work this morning.

I leave you with Isaac's cheesy smile. He's really good at giving these to the camera. We plan on getting his 18 month pictures taken in the next few weeks, we'll see if he'll give it to that camera!

Hours of entertainment

Isaac discovered the pool table has all sorts of balls in it this morning and I just had to show him that there are holes for him to put them in. He's been trying to get them all in ever since!

We are heading to Austin, MN tonight to see Zach's family. Zach and his dad are going to go hunting tomorrow with 2 pretty young puppies, Molly being one of them. Zach's really looking forward to it. Isaac and I will hang out with Grandma while they are gone...lucky grandma! I have lots to do before we leave, including all of our laundry! Isaac's been awake since 6:30 so I've gotten a lot done already and it's not even 10!

pictures...finally!

One of our friends dropped off a little car today for Isaac to play with outside. I couldn't resist and even though it's cold outside, we had to test it out! Isaac loves it! It took him a while but he finally realized he could go backward. He sort of knows how to go forward but he's better at backward.

Typical kid...finds the radio first!

We've been taking pictures lately but we finally got the software on our new computer so we could put pictures on the blog. Here's a few of the things you've missed in the past month:


We bought Isaac his first Iowa State jersey! We know, the Cyclones are 3-3 but they are competitive and there is hope! Isaac wears his jersey proud!

We got out the bath crayons a few weeks ago and Isaac loves to color in the bathtub. We can't get him out of the tub anymore! He is a true artist!

We bought Isaac an aquadoodle after the success of the bathtub crayons. He loves to carry the pen around with him and he does quiet well with drawing!

An update...without pictures!

Sorry it has been such a long time! We bought a new computer, two actually, and haven't had time to put the software on it to download our pictures! So I thought I'd get on and just give a short update...but there will be no pictures.

We have had a busy September! Nothing special, just busy. Isaac continues to keep us on our toes and makes us laugh everyday! He now knows how to climb into the bay window and he is so proud of himself. He is working hard on climbing onto the couch but it's still a little tall for him. He seems to like to sit on it and lay under my blanket! He's not a very good sharer!

Isaac's going to be 18 months in October! Can't believe how fast time is flying by! The last few days have been colder so we've been trying to find warmer clothes. I think we may need a small shopping trip. I went to put Isaac's tennis shoes on the other day and they didn't fit! I just bought them last winter! Not only that but when I did find a pair of tennis shoes that fit, they were a size six! He skipped size five!

I have really cute pictures of Isaac playing in the bath tub with his new crayons. He could now spend hours in his bath playing and coloring on the walls. The colors are supposed to wipe off easy but we haven't had that much luck. I guess we will just have to scrub!

I will get on and post pictures as soon as the software is loaded on the new computer!

the finished product...

The remodel is finished! We have a few small, very minor things to finish but we are enjoying our new house! Here are some of the pictures:

We've been very busy the last few weeks. I wanted to get these pictures up a long time ago but it seems we've been running here and there and I never had time! What have we been doing? I hosted my college roommates bridal shower two weekends ago and then last weekend we traveled to Orange City, IA for her wedding. That was definitely an experience. We stayed in a hotel Friday and Saturday night. I was in the wedding so I had to be at rehearsal Friday and at the church early on Saturday. So Zach and Isaac spent Saturday in the hotel together. Isaac took one nap but that was pretty much it the entire weekend. He is so TIRED this week. I'm afraid his grumpy face is going to be permanent! We've been working on getting him the naps he needs but getting to bed early has been a challenge!