Apple Orchard

We got to spend a BEAUTIFUL Saturday morning at the Berry Patch Farms near Ames a few weeks ago.  It was seriously the most beautiful day and even better, I got to spend it with so many of my favorite people.  I HIGHLY recommend this place and we plan to go back next year and do the blueberry and strawberry picking seasons too!  It didn't hurt that we were near Ames and therefore hit up Hickory Park for lunch too.  YUM!

 Good thing we had Jed there to grab some of the best apples way at the top of the trees!

 We had extra special visitors that weekend, Jed's uncle Mike and aunt Carol from Wisconsin who were in town visiting.  It was so much fun to spend time with them as we hadn't seen them since our wedding over 3 years ago!

 Lainey and Claire chomped on apples all the way through the orchard!

 This Momma LOVES an opportunity to snap a picture with her family and her sweet kids.  Definitely rare and so treasured!

 Will was there too... just hangin out!

 I always slice Lainey's apples... she had never eaten an apple whole.  Needless to say, she figured it out quickly and worked on the same apple during our whole trip.  She munched right to the core!

Someone loves his Auntie Em.

 

We left with 3 giant bags of honeycrisp apples.  I've never tasted a more delicious apple in my entire life!  So far, we've made 4 jars of apple sauce, apple crisp, 4 bags of apple pie filling and 2 loaves of apple bread.  And we still have apples left.  And we ate several whole and raw.  I'd say that was a morning well spent!

Weekend fun, visitors and projects

Sheesh, it's already Wednesday and I'm just now posting this... such is life!  We had a really great and busy weekend last weekend and it gives a good picture into our family life right now...

It started with this little Miss sleeping until 7am, which if you've talked to me recently, you know that that is very good.  Much, much better than 5:08 AM, which is her earliest to date :)

These two are LOVING playing together.  Wyatt is obsessed with this Little People zoo.  The zoo animals often wander over the castle next door and we always find a princess or two going down the zoo slide.

Jed was home from work on Friday so I got to take my favorite little girl on a Target date.  We even got to enjoy a bag of popcorn.  She was in heaven.

Buuut too much excitement from that great Target trip lead to her not taking a nap, which then lead to her falling asleep on the couch at 4 pm.  Mommy always wins Lainey... you WILL nap!

We rounded out our day with a family trip to Home Depot.  Been hitting that place a lot lately with lots of house projects to get our house ready to put on the market.  Lainey obviously looks like she knows her way around.

Lainey's beloved "Ma" and "Papa" came down to help us with projects and watching the kiddos.  They always have great surprises in store!

My hard working husband spent the majority of both Saturday and Sunday working on the bathroom floor.  Not having a completely functional bathroom is sure interesting... especially when it's your only one!

Luckily, we were able to take advantage of my parents visiting and we got to go out and celebrate our anniversary Saturday night.  We ate at Sam and Gabe's (YUM!) and really enjoyed our time together.  It was so nice to relax and eat a real meal (and a really, really good one at that!  I'm not kidding, I haven't stopped thinking about the chicken lasagna I had that night.  It was amazing) alone after we've been working so hard for several weeks.

My hard working DAD spent the majority of Saturday and Sunday outside doing what he loves, yard work.  He cleaned up and layed a TON of mulch for us, we are so grateful!

Lainey had big hugs for her Papa on their way out.

Enjoying Papa's yard work!

It was a great weekend!

Weekend Recap

There was nothing particularly exceptional about this weekend, it was pretty normal, but we had a great weekend as a family.  Busyness so often gets in the way of taking time to enjoy family moments. 

Every once in awhile I start thinking about how quickly time is passing and how fast kids grow up.  It's one of those cliche's everyone says but you don't really understand until you're experiencing it for yourself.  I think with the nice weather we're FINALLY getting, we're finally getting outside more, and it made me think about the last time we had nice weather and played outside, which was before Wyatt was born.  Lainey was just slowly and carefully toddling around the yard last fall with me waddling after her :)  Now, she's talking like crazy, running, pointing out a million things and exploring every inch of the yard and sidewalk.  And Wyatt... he was just hanging out in my belly, kicking my insides like crazy.  Now, he's smiling, babbling, grabbing his toes, giggling and growing like a weed!

We started out the weekend with a quick visit to Jed's work to say hello and bring some treats.

Like she owns the place...

Enjoying some snacks on the porch Saturday morning.

Such a fun and silly girl!  Mom's new shoes are Lainey approved!

Lainey has to check on "her" flowers at least once per day!

My little stud.  He was a rock star with some nap (re)training this weekend.  With being sick last month and then having a slight fever and general sadness with teething (I think) last week, we had some regression in his sleeping but we are back on track.  He even out-napped his big sis today.

We did a bunch of cleaning and rearranging on Saturday so now Lainey's little table is in the kitchen.  I had to document her bedhead Sunday morning.  It was particularly amazing.

I love capturing these sweet moments with these two!

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson stopped for a quick visit and spent Sunday afternoon and evening with us.  They always have fun surprises in tow and this visit was no exception.

Dad's old Lincoln Logs.  I'm pretty sure Jed was more excited about it than Lainey was.  He built a giant tower and of course, Lainey got to knock it down.

First time playing in the sandbox!  We were given this turtle sandbox by our neighbors who moved last summer.  Lainey was still in the "put everything in my mouth" stage last fall so we hadn't tried it yet.  She had a blast and was totally filthy.  I have a feeling we'll be needing more frequent baths during the summer... :)

My wild haired girl.  She loves peeking in and out of the windows and doors of the play house.

Children are such a blessing!  Family is such a blessing!

Visitors!

In early December, we were lucky enough to have my sister Emily and our niece Claire visit Iowa to see us and meet Mr .Wyatt!  It was such a wonderful extra long weekend.  Just like when they visited us last year, we were all crammed into our tiny house but it was SO much fun. 

It is really amazing the difference a few months makes with little kids.  The last time we saw Miss Claire was in August for Lainey's birthday.  She has grown up so much in just 4 months!

The girls played really well together - they share many loves...  babies, tea parties, goldfish, milk, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and their Grandma and Grandpa (who visited over the weekend as well!).  Here are some pictures from our weekend... 

Claire absolutely fell in love with her "baby Wy" ... She hardly left him alone.  Good thing she'll have one of her own to dote on later this winter!

 

Love a little cousin bath time!

Christmas jammies!

Lovely chaos!

Morning jump around!

This is what we were dealing with when Emily and Claire were getting ready to leave!  Lots of tears!

We were sad to see Emily and Claire leave but the next time we see them this spring, we'll get to meet our new nephew/cousin!  Yeah babies!  Wyatt is pumped to have a little buddy!

Another great weekend...

We were lucky enough to enjoy two weekends in a row with visitors. This weekend Grandma and Grandpa Wilson came to town from Minnesota! We had a great, great time! Lucky for Lainey, there is a Carter's store at the outlet mall in Minnesota on the way down so Lainey's spring/summer wardrobe has expanded greatly in the past 2 weekends. Both of our parents are so generous towards us. Up until Friday, Lainey had been wearing the same pair of capris all week due to the warm weather - they were the only ones we had and we were TOO busy enjoying the great outdoors to make it to the store to buy anything else!

Here is one of Lainey's cute new outfits (sorry, the only pics I got this weekend were from mine or my parent's phones!)

My parents got in late Friday and we visited and enjoyed some cake (more on that cake later!). Saturday morning, Lainey was excited to see 2 new faces to play with all day! We ate a big breakfast and played all morning. After Jed got done with his last Upwards game of the season, we headed to my aunt and uncles in Pella to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. We walked to the bakery for some treats, watched a ton of basketball and grilled out. Lainey was really pooped by the end of the day - she was a little more cranky than normal and I think I've concluded that her teeth/gums are bothering her. She sprouted her first tooth about 2 or 3 weeks ago and I think the others are on their way. Her sleep has been really inconsistent, fingers in her mouth constantly, etc.

Sunday morning my parents met us at church and then we headed to Panera downtown for lunch. YUM! Lainey loved sitting in a high chair like a big girl and getting to munch on an apple slice for the first time...
Will someone please cut and peel this thing for me?!
Much better! Yum yum!
Lainey gave us lots of goofy smiles and funny faces during our lunch. She's such a joy!

We can't wait to see Grandma and Grandpa Wilson again in a few weeks when we go to Minnesota for Easter. Lainey is SUCH a blessed little girl to have 2 sets of Grandparents who love her SO much!

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's visit!

We were lucky enough to have Jed's parents here for part of this past weekend. It is always a treat for them to come since they live a good 8 hours away. We love their company and they always come bearing lots of fun gifts and treats, not to mention their fine handywork services. We are so blessed by their generosity. This weekend was no exception! Lainey was quite a ham and really loved all of the attention and extra people to play with and show off to.
Lainey got to show off all of her fun toys and new tricks.
There is just something about a grandpa and his granddaughter. Grandpa Paul adores Lainey!


This was HILARIOUS. He was trying to get her to take steps to the bathtub and she was practically running her feet were moving so fast. She's going to be a little speedy gonzales!
The big project of the weekend was taking out our old nasty ceiling fan and replacing it with a new light fixture. Much more complicated of a task than I would have imagined. Good thing I wasn't the one in charge and Grandpa Paul is such a knowledgeable handyman!
Naturally, Lainey supervised while sporting her new fun summer hat in honor of the gorgeous weather outside today.




Here's the final product of the new light fixture! It's SO bright and it looks great.
(Excuse the messy table :)


We were sad to see them leave but since we have another sweet niece on the way in June, it won't be TOO terribly long until we see them again!