Birthday Bash

Well it has been quite the week. We made it though Aubries parties and had a great time! Friday night Kelly and Erin and the girls came to visit and work on the siding. The guys got a bunch done and we are one step closer to being DONE! Saturday we had Aubrie's party in Sheldon. Our plan was to eat pizza, open presents and then go swimming at the outdoor pool in Sheldon. Well for those of you who know me can rest assured that I called and double checked all our stops to make sure everything was in order... well....... little did I realize that when we were done eating and on our way to the pool we would pull in the parking lot only to read a sign that says "We are CLOSED.. --some kid pooped in the pool"!! Are you kidding me... Ok tricia don't panic lets just go to the indoor pool at the Holiday Inn a few blocks away... so our birthday "caravan" loads back up and heads there ... when we arrived the old hag who was working the front counter was a miserable old lady! AHH She was SO rude and unpleasent I couldnt give her our money SO you guessed it on to pool option #3 HOSPERS.. that was the end of our journey.. it cost us 1/2 as much to swim and we literally had the whole pool to ourselves! Fun was had by all.

Dance camp and basketball camp this week will keep us busy.

Someone is turning 7

So I seriously can not believe that we are going to have a 7 year old running around. Aubrie's bday is on Thursday the 23rd. This really makes me feel OLD! Seems like yesterday she suprised us and I remember it so vividly. We have lots of things planned for the week. Wednesday night we are meeting her dad in Rock Rapids for a mini bday party at the Pizza Ranch, then on Saturday afternoon/evening we will be heading to the pizza ranch again for supper and presents then off to the pool for some swimming. She is really excited!
We had a very difficult time this year shopping for a gift. This girl has it all and what she doesn't have is either not age appropriate or she has no interest in having it or its to spendy. So I told her to make me a list... well the one and ONLY item on this list was a CREDIT CARD!! Are you kidding me!??? Oh Aubrie you definately are your mothers daughter aren't you ;) We ended up getting her a pink Nintendo DS and hope she will love it just as much as a credit card. I will post pictures of her "beach Party" on sunday after all the festivities. Can not wait to see you guys there!

Summer BBQ

On July 11th we had a BBQ with our friends and neighbors. IT WAS A BLAST! We set up a "modified" version of a slip N slide, had mexican horseshoes, a frisbee game, jell-o shots and a little to much alcohol :) It was a great time for our friends and us to hang out and relax. We grilled burgers and our neighbor Brad put a pork loin on the rotisarrie-- it was AMAZING! We had plenty of food and fun and hope to do it again next year. Here are a few pics from it while the night was still young and we were not as wild :)

4th of July

We spent this 4th of July at Kelly and Erins trailer on the river in Ponca NE. The kids had a great time as well as the parents! It was a bummer that we had rain all day on Saturday, but we managed and did not let it ruin our fun. The girls enjoyed chasing the parachutes that we fired off, and also making sandcastles in the sand. At one point we were not sure if Jeremy or the kids were having more fun. Needless to say it was a muddy dirty mess and required LOTS of oxy clean when we came home to get the stains out :)

We are excited to go back again on August 8th.

FCM

Well it does appear I have not updated this blog in some time SUPRISE! Who didn't see that coming :) It seems that everytime I sit down to get caught up my mind is pulled into 5 other directions on things that need to be done. I will try and catch you up.

June was a fairly uneventful month, weekends were spent working on the house and chilling out where possible. We have since finished siding the house and 2 sides of the garage. We are waiting for the contractor to come and install out french doors and our deck. I also need to get paint for the foundation. We will be painting it black. We also went to California to attend a conference for Aavyn. It was amazing to meet new ppl and people we felt like we knew for years beings we communicate via email and facebook. We had a great time and got lots of usefull information. Aavyn got to stick his feet in the ocean and meet lots of new friends. If you would like more information on what we learned please visit Aavyn's caringbridge site at www.caringbridge.org/visit/aavynhoekstra

Our amazing Aavyn turns 2

Well we had a birthday party for Aavyn on sunday which was also mothers day and it was a great time! Thanks so family and friends who came and helped us celebrate! He got some fantastic gifts and it was great to hang out with family! Here are some pictures from his big day

All she wants to do is dance dance dance!

Ok so Friday night was dance picture night, and I must say I was a little nervous about the whole situation. Jeremy decided he wanted to go fishing which meant I had to juggle costume changes and Aavyn while doing it. We made it through w/o any major issues, but would not choose to do it like that again :) I should have brought his stroller down to the studio, however there are like 3o steps and I had my hands full enough :)

Aubrie smiled beautifully like always as she loves to be the "shining star!" This year I finally came to realize the independent side of her doing things (well i knew about her b/f but thought I was still on top of things) well she failed to tell ME her tap and jazz shoes were 1.5 sizes TOO SMALL! She had been dancing w/o them in practice for many weeks. She told Miss Megan (one of her teachers) that I ordered her new ones and they were coming soon..... i had no idea about this! haha oh kids! So needless to say I was online first thing Saturday morning ordering new tights, tap shoes, ballet shoes, and jazz shoes. Lets hope these last her into next season a little bit. :)

Auntie Kris gets Married!

Well we are back from a couple weeks w/o blogging. The wedding last weekend went perfect and my sister looks AMAZING! I think when you see a picture of her you will all agree. I will be honest I did shed a tear..... or 2! The kids did an awesome job with their duties as well.

Easter... Is spring FINALLY in the air!?

It has again been a couple busy week/weekends and we have busy ones ahead as well. We are busy making final plans and preps for my sisters wedding next weekend! AHHH after all kinds of planning the day is finally close. This weekend we will celebrate easter with my family and also my extended family. We are excited to see everyone we love 2 weekends in a row!

I took the kids to see the Easter bunny at the bank yesterday and of course they loved it. Aavyn wasn't sure what to think as he was silent, but Aubrie was all over the egg hunts there and managed to sit for a moment so I could get a picture :)

Nothing really exciting otherwise. Aavyn popped thru a couple more teeth, and Aubrie is awaiting her turn to lose another one. We have a dentist appt in the morning so I am anxious to see her xrays.

Here are a couple pictures from the past week. I will have more to post next time as we will have weddig pics, 2yr pics for Aavyn and easter pics PHEW!

YAH a video!

Well its been another eventful couple of weeks! Last weekend Erin and Kelly took the kids for a sleep over, and Jeremy and I enjoyed a night alone with dinner at Bev's on the River and then home for some more alone time. Saturday we spent the day together shopping (what a joy that was! haha) but it was a great time - something we NEED to do more of but never do. We went to get the kids and came home for some grilling as it was a BEAUTIFUL DAY! Sunday of course was crappy... its what you come to expect in NW Iowa! Jeremy went fishing and the kids and I cleaned! Always something to do around here

Aubrie is still loving the fact she has lost a tooth... this week has kept her very busy with the weather we have had. Needless to say she is ready for bed at 8 each night.

Aavyn is still as silly as he has been these past few weeks. Nothing brightens a persons day more than going to get him up and there he is in his crib with at big smile and some chattering at you. He totally knows what he wants to say! Now if only we could understand it :)



Here is the video I tried to post last time. Lets hope it comes up! ENJOY he is a chatterbox!

Two added and one subtracted! (Teeth that is)

Hi everyone! Its been a little while... AGAIN... but we have just been all over the place. I will write a little to get everyone up to speed. (well just with in the past week or so)

Aubrie FINALLY lost her first tooth last week sunday March 8. She was SO proud! I think she was relieved she was finally losing a tooth since most of her friends are on to tooth number 3-6! I kept telling her they would come out when they wanted to... and it did. No signs of any lose ones again yet.

Aavyn has gained 2 teeth with in the past week. The first one came thru on sunday and then sometime last week he managed to sneak in a molar! That thing was a total suprise! I put my fingers in his mouth last night and was suprised to say the least! His gums are still pretty white so we know more are coming soon.

Jeremy and I are keeping busy as well as normal. Here are a couple pictures of the kids and a video of Aavyn telling all kinds of stories! (ok so the video wouldnt upload... ill need tech support :)

Aavyn is full of it!

These past couple days Aavyn has been so funny! It seems as soon as we grab the camera he is done and sober faced as ever! Here are a couple pictures from last night while we were getting him to giggle! It was hillarious and so much fun!

Aavyn's new bath chair

Here is a picture of Aavyns new bath chair. He LOVES it. There is also an extension and head and leg support that we took off as he is still to little to really need it yet. I am glad we were able to get this ordered and now its HERE!

Cookies & Chaos!

Hey everyone!

This past weekend was alot of fun and fly by the seat of our pants attitude in which we have not done in a long time. Friday night Jeremy and I went on a Date (dont tell jeremy thats what it was cuz he will say im set for a year then!) we dropped the kids off at my parents and headed to Sioux City for supper. We also stopped at WalMart for a laptop purchase so now I feel as though I am not stuck in the 1900's with my desktop thats not working well. It was alot of fun and we both had a great time.

Saturday we spent hanging out as a family and then it was Jeremys birthday so he went out with friends. The kids and I were in bed by 830! It was great!

Sunday my nieces and BIL and SIL came- Jeremy and Kelly went fishing, and Erin, me and the kids made and decorated valentines cookies. Boy was it chaos! Im not sure what was enjoyed more eating the dough, frosting, or the finished product. Thank goodness we are family and can pass around eachothers germs haha. They were YUMMY though. Here are a couple pics. Notice the dance costumes since its always a dress up session when the girls get together ;)

This one is for Jen ;)

Well everyone I typed this big long blog entry, and pushed save, only for my computer to "crash" so I will update more later this week. Today is a busy day :)

A week that was not so good...

Well this past week started out great- back on schedule, Aubrie in school, Jeremy back to work and all my daycare kids back on track. That is until Tuesday when it all went down hill. Started out that our TV in our main living room died- now this tv wasnt the greatest and yes I did want it to die, but not til like March -- so we hauled the big 13" one from the bedroom down to the main floor. Then later on that day our light bulbs in our kitchen decided to all burn out and of course no bulbs in the house for that light- so a trip to Sheldon to get light bulbs and I cooked supper in the dark! (was hoping jeremy would say to just go out to eat but that didn't happen) and then a picture fell off the wall and shattered. MAN could my week get any worse! You all probably said no way, but it did- on Wednesday my computer monitor decided it wanted to start acting funny and now it shorts out to a black screen, and then that night I got a speeding ticket! AHHH - Thank goodness Thursday and Friday were better days :)
Enough about my bad luck. On to the family. Nothing really exciting this week with them. Aavyn continues to have spells we will call the doc on monday, and Aubrie has loved this snow we have and found a new friend.... the snow pile in the backyard!
Thats it for this week.... Stay warm!

New Year, new focus!?

Ok ok so I know all of you are thinking- this is the 3rd time Tricia has attempted to keep this thing up to date, but I promise I have a great excuse! haha not really but its the same phrase "life is just moving to fast!" These past few months have been a blast but also busy as can be. In December we went on our cruise to Cozumel and to Belize City with some friends Nick and Boo. We had alot of fun even though the weather didnt really like us! Some day in the next few years we hope to go away again - although a week was WAY to long for us to be away from the kids! Soon after we got back we had an appointment for Aavyn up in St Paul. Things went well and they were pleased with his progress. Now we are to the point we need to decide what we need to do with his meds as they are not working as well as they did.

As for the "now" Jeremy and I continue to be all over the place. Me with EMT classes now 2 nights a week, and Aubrie's dance one night a week we still strive to find that family time we got to "enjoy" this past week with jeremy off work and aubrie home on christmas break. We hope soon we will find a schedule that works for us to maximize our time together.

Here are some pics of fun things we have done over the past few months. Again check back weekly as I will try really hard to update more frequently!