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: