Another day stuck home with the sickies - yuck! Fortuntately, we have plenty of Children's Motrin in stock to keep fevers down and little boys comfortable. But what would we do all day stuck home again?

We decided to do some exploration with apples today. First we cut our apples in half so they could see the star pattern the apple seeds make. Then I started chopping so we could make apple crisp (saving the star middles for later).

The boys thought the apple pieces were quite tasty (love Honeycrisps!). Good thing the apples were big because Jack and Max kept stealing pieces. They also were quite excited to lick the spoon from the crisp mixture. And sorry, we won't be sharing the apple crisp with anyone because I guarantee you there are swine flu germs baked right into this one.

Anyway, back to the "star cores" saved earlier. Jack used them to make stamps. He chose yellow paint on yellow paper. Once he realized that wasn't the best visual choice, he added red and purple.

It's official - Trystin is growing up and entering puberty. He had his first zit. Curtis is so proud!

I've been trying to take the little boys to the library once a week for storytime, and afterwards we check out 3-4 books. This week I discovered Pancakes, Pancakes by Eric Carle.

After reading the story today, we made homemade pancakes with chocolate chips.

Max LOVES pancakes - he ate 3.

Unfortunately, I think the swine flu has decided to attack our house. Jack came down with a fever of 103 last night, and today Max crossed the 100 mark. They do okay as long as I keep them pumped full of motrin, but still achy and croupy. Jack took refuge in his "tent" in our room.

Gotta love AmEx reward points! We used a bunch of our points on Home Depot gift cards, which allowed us to buy more boards this weekend and put up more trim work on the house. Now Curtis and I are EXHAUSTED from all the painting, climbing ladders, and hollering at little "helpers" to stay out of the way :)

Curtis always puts the radio in the back door so we have tunes to listen to while we work. Jack and Max really enjoyed groovng to "Guitar Hero" weekend on the classic rock station.

Diego yogurts were on sale today at HyVee. Jack has asked for them before, but I never bought them until this time. And now I think I know why....

Trystin is officially a 5th grader! This will be his last year at Four Mile Elementary as next year he will go to the new 6th grade center which is the old Southeast Polk Junior High.

Max was really excited for Trystin's "first day of school" pictures and really wanted to be included. And we actually got all the boys to sit together! Max kept saying "Cheese!" and Jack was saying "Pickles!"

Jack has had an interest in bears lately (usually polar bears, but any bear will do when we go on a bear hunt!). After Trystin left for school, Jack wanted to draw with chalk and told me to draw a bear. So I drew one. When I asked him where do bears live, he answered "in the ground." When I asked him what do bears eat (because he told me the bear needed food), he said "grass." I drew some grass and reminded him that sometimes bears eat berries. Jack responded, "On BIG trees!" So we drew a BIG tree. Later in the day we went to the library and checked out a couple stories about bears.

Max also enjoyed drawing with chalk. And amazingly, he didn't eat that much of it today.

While playing outside this afternoon, we discovered the biggest spider I have ever seen at our place. We're talking tarantula size - creepy! It had spun a web on one of boys' climber slides. I didn't let the boys get too close because even though I'm pretty sure it wasn't poisonous, it did look awfully hungry considering it had 2 huge bugs it was trying to spin up (you can see one of the bugs in the bottom right corner).

Trystin came home very excited about music class (which is amazing that he WENT to music class at all!). He said he HAD to have a trumpet and a guitar for class TOMORROW. Well, actually he just needed a trumpet and not until next week, but can't blame the kid for trying! Anyway, we packed everyone up after supper and headed to Rieman Music to figure out their rental policy. An hour later we came home with a rented used trumpet for Trystin and a kazoo for Jack. Curtis was disappointed we had to say no to the drum set....

My dad is a ROCK STAR! He wasn't too sure if he wanted to play, but we convinced him to give the guitar on RockBand on a shot. And he did great! By the third song, he was keeping right up with Curtis and I. And of course, Jack had to join in on vocals. He ended each song saying, "Thank you, thank you!"

It's fair time! Grandpa Den and Grandma Elaine took the boys and me to the Iowa State Fair this morning. We got there about 7:30am to get an early start and avoid the crowd and heat as much as possible.


We started in the animal barns. Jack really wanted to see cows, but he enjoyed the other animals as well. Max loved the chickens and was cock-a-doodle-dooing right along with them. They got to pet a horse, and while we were walking outside, Max found the saddles. So Jack and Max each got to test out a couple saddles. Max tried to make the saddle go as if he was on a horse, giggling the whole time!


After a couple hours the boys were already getting fatigued and found some rocks to rest on while Grandpa got drinks for everyone. Mmm....fresh lemonade!




Next we hit the petting zoo. Max thought the goats were absolutely hilarious! Grandma Elaine bought a cup of food so the boys could feed the animal. Unfortunately, one goat stole Jack's food cup. Fortunately, Jack thought it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen! Trystin got a big surprise when a camel and a goat tried to lick him at the same time!

After feeding the animals, it was time to feed the boys. Trystin got cotton candy. Max got a bucket of chips. And Jack got a corndog. That boy LOVES hot dogs. So much so that he devoured the first corndog and promptly asked for another. For the second one, I broke down and got him the footlong corndog. He ate the WHOLE thing!!!

After eating the boys were exhausted. So we decided to hit Pella Plaza on our way out. Unfortunately, Jack almost fell asleep in the wagon before we got there, so he was no longer in the mood for playing in the water. And Trystin decided to work on his cotton candy. So only Max played, but boy did he play! He got right in middle and did anything the big kids did. Of course, he always had to make sure mom was watching him, but would never get too close to me for fear I'd make him stop playing!

So before I get another nasty gram from Alex for not keeping the blog updated, I figured I would surprise her with a TON of pictures. At last, I managed to document the crazy life we've been living this summer!

Curtis has been working on cleaning up the lockers we bought at the school auction. Max figured out how to get the doors open and had so much fun pretending to shut himself in that all the boys joined in the fun. Trystin also helped Curtis finish putting up the last patches of drywall in the garage.


I found the most amazing deal on craigslist - this Little Tykes truck to match daddy's truck! I have never seen these listed for less than $20, but I managed to get this one for just $8!!!! Jack's eyes were HUGE when he saw it and realized he got to take it home. Max can fit in the back end, so the boys can ride together.



Jack has also taken an interest in dressing up and pretending to be various superheroes. When I found this Batman underoo set, I couldn't resist. Jack wore his little boxer briefs and t-shirt for 2 days straight. He ran around the house saying, "I Batman Jack. No, it's me, Jack!" I also got him a set of Spiderman underoos to go with his Spiderman mask ("I Spiderman Jack").





Trystin was a big birthday winner. We let him open presents as soon as he woke up Friday morning. He was pretty happy with his Ironman shirt and Transformer toy, but a little confused by the fancy helmet we got him - at least until we tricked him into going outside and he saw his big present! He spent the rest of the day learning to ride safely.

Trystin and Mikelle helped me make Trystin's birthday cake Saturday morning....mmm, mmm....ice cream cake! Unfortunately we ran out of time to decorate it, but all the kids thought it still tasted REALLY good.

Yes, Max agreed the cake was good stuff. Not only did he let me feed him while he was sitting in his chair (he never lets anyone feed him anymore unless it's really good), but once he got down, he managed to find an uneaten piece and started helping himself. Amazingly, he didn't make any mess - he devoured each spoonful.

After presents and cake, the boys (Trystin and his friends Graham and Brock) took turns testing the 4-wheeler. Brock was already a little pro, but Graham took some time getting over his nerves. The boys were very good about taking turns.

Next came the girls (Mikelle and her friend Emma) turn. The girls had just as much fun as the boys. However, I think Curtis may have actually had the most fun. He enjoyed getting to hang out and hearing all kinds of kid wisdom (like copper comes from pennies and sunscreen).

Later that night Curtis and the kids gathered up wood for a bonfire. Curtis taught them how to make a perfect marshmallow, and the kids got their fill of smores. Some more smores, please!

Monday morning I took the kids to the zoo....

We got to see a wallaby REALLY up close....

And the ducks kept mooning us....

Zoo members get free train rides on Mondays....all aboard!

I think the turtles at the zoo aren't happy. This is the second time we've seen the turtles trying to escape...