Racing shoes

Jed is training for the half marathon, Dam to Dam, coming up at the end of May and has been logging lots of running time.  Some of his co-workers are also training and decided to run a 5K in Johnston at ChildServe a few weeks before their big race.  Our good friend Tim joined in too so it was another Johnson and Laehn family excursion.

Lainey and Penelope got to ride along for the 5K!

While the moms and the boys ate pancakes.  Sounds about right.

Jed pushed the girls for the first half and Tim took over for the second half.  Jed's competitive side came out in full force at the very end of the race as he kicked it into high gear to pass his co-workers.

Jed's co-worker Matt and Tim with the jogging stroller were close behind!

Pancakes for everyone!

Then it was time for the kids races!  The girls got to decorate their own race labels!

Here's their warm up before the big race.

At the starting line!

Lainey's competitive streak also came out as she totally left her best friend in the dust.  Sorry, P.  And I'm also sorry for my annoying voice and laugh.  It was just about the funniest thing ever.  Half of the kids had no idea what was going on.

So proud of their hard earned medals!

It was a really fun family morning and good to be supporting a great cause that helps the special needs population of the community so well!

Tulip Time 2014

Mid April I asked Jed if he would, once again, take the first Friday in May off so we could take a family day trip to Pella for Tulip Time!  Last year, we got snow in central Iowa during Tulip Time so we didn't make it.  The forecast for the festivities this year was a little iffy but ended up being great.

First thing we did was pick up a couple plates of poffertjes.  Mmmmm.

Then we met up with some of my family and found a fabulous spot to enjoy the afternoon parade!

Mom packed tons o' snacks to keep everyone happy all day long.

Here's Lainey waving to my Aunt Barb, cousin Lauren and cousin's wife Jenny during the baby parade.

After the parade, we had some time to kill before we met up with friends from our Bible study who would join us later on.  We walked around town a bit and then headed over to Central's campus.  I've mentioned a few times recently some things about "friends from college..."  For example she knows that HER friends' Trigg's and Izzy's mommies are my "friends from college."  She has even been pretending and talking about going to college.  This is hilarious because she has no concept of what that means, but anyway...

We walked around campus a little and snapped this photo.

Once our friends' arrived we pretty much just paraded the kids around and made them sit for pictures in a million different places.

The TULIPS!  That is after all, what it's all about.  There were many beautiful blooms to enjoy though I bet there are tons more THIS weekend after a few warm days this week.

Our most important goal of the day was to recreate this photo that we took 2 years ago.

Looking at this picture, I just CANNOT believe how quickly 2 years passes.  I remember that day 2 years ago like it was yesterday.  I love sharing life with our community group and raising our kids together.

The boys first Klompen pic!

These two thoroughly enjoyed Tulip Time!

Proud to say that my kids lasted a whopping 8.5 hours at Tulip Time and we stayed through almost the entire evening parade too.  I thought ahead and packed their PJs and changed them when we got to the car.  Wyatt fell asleep on the walk back to the car and slept through his entire outfit and diaper change and Lainey was definitely asleep before we left town.

Love Pella, Love Tulip Time, Love family days!

Mom Milestones

I'm blogging about this for my own memory and maybe for Wyatt too since this is my ongoing baby/family book...

Monday night I got to experience one of those "mom milestones" ... one of those events you know is most likely coming eventually some day but you're never quite prepared for.  In almost 3 years of being a mom, I'm INCREDIBLY thankful that our kids have been relatively healthy.  A few colds, ear infections, etc. but nothing serious.  

Monday night I put Wyatt to bed around 8:30 and almost 11 I heard a really funny (what I assumed to be) cry coming from his room.  He's usually a really sound sleeper so after listening for a few moments, I thought it sounded odd so I went up to check on him.  I went in to pick him up and he was extremely upset and between the crying, I could hear a sharp, barking cough and he was having a hard time inhaling to breathe.  I knew right away that this was not good, it's extremely frightening when your child can't breathe.  I brought him downstairs and pretty much immediately we decided I needed to take him to the ER (hence the mom milestone).  

I drove as safely and quickly as I could, trying to keep an eye on him in the back seat.  He settled down quite a bit in the car but I could still tell his breathing was labored when he'd try to make noise, the sharp barking sound would come out again.  We got checked in and seen really quickly.  Both the nurse and the doctor were confident right away that Wyatt had croup.  

Sweet boy.  I didn't even put shoes or socks on the poor kid, we just left the house so quickly!

I got nervous at first because when I had croup when I was young, I was hospitalized for a few days.  They gave him an oral steroid which seemed to help so they let us go home relatively soon after and told me some things to watch for over the next few days.  What was so crazy to me was that he was just FINE all day Monday.  Totally fine.  No symptoms, nothing!  It hit the poor guy so quickly.

I could NOT keep him contained in that exam room for very long.

After being out and about until after 1 AM, my little sleepy head slept in until 10:30 the next morning.  We've spent the past few days hanging out at home while he gets better.

Lainey had all kinds of sweet snuggles, hugs and kisses for her brother.  

"Lay off Sis, let me watch Frozen in peace!"

I want to also add that I felt like we were really taken care of at the Mercy ER.  The pediatric ER department even called me a few days later to see how Wyatt was doing.  I'm sure this is standard protocol, but I thought that was really above and beyond their job!

Wyatt has been recovering well and he's feeling much better  I'm thankful God was really protecting him and that it wasn't something more serious!  As "pleasant" as our visit to the ER was, I am hoping I won't need to make another trip there any time soon!

Easter

We had a fabulous time celebrating Easter this year.  I loved that it was later this year.  It doesn't feel much like Easter when you're practically wearing winter coats like we were last year.

We started our celebrating this year with making resurrection rolls!

We just dipped marshmallows in melted butter, then a cinnamon/sugar/brown sugar mixture then wrapped them in crescent rolls and then dipped and rolled them the same way.  They turned out perfect and Lainey was in awe of the empty tomb!

Saturday we went to an Easter Egg Hunt at Walnut Creek in Windsor Heights.

They did a nice job putting the event together.  Older kids were outside and kids 3 and under were inside.

Wyatt was slow and meticulous about his egg gathering.  He examined each egg he put in his basket.

They had face painting and a bounce house too!  Way fun!

That afternoon, we headed to my Grandma Charlotte's in Knoxville for some fam time!

My Grandma lives next to a farm pasture and they have horses.  We have to search for the horses every time we go there and most of the time, they come down to the fence, which is always a hit.

Easter Sunday we went to church and then had brunch at my house with my parents after.

After naps, it was too beautiful to stay inside.  Jed is training for Dam to Dam so he needed to get a long run in.  He ran to Gray's Lake, we drove and walked one lap while he ran one lap then we played for awhile at the playground.

I can hardly believe it's getting to be tank tops and shorts weather!

We finished off the day with a trip to Orange Leaf for dinner for a snack, naturally.

We had a great weekend celebrating our risen Savior!

Walking in Memphis

Jed and I haven't traveled anywhere, just the two of us, since our honeymoon almost four years ago.  It's not that we don't like traveling, it's just not something we do much of and when you have two little kids, that makes it a bit tougher too.  A few months ago Jed forwarded me an email from his boss with a nomination form filled out for an award at work.  He felt pretty honored to be nominated for as he would say, "just doing his job."

A few weeks later, he called me with awesome news that he was one of the winners!  Jed does not get overly excited about much, but I could hear in his voice that he was really thrilled.  The best perk of the award?  A trip to Memphis for both of us for the awards ceremony!

I blog about this not to brag that we went on a trip, but to brag about my husband.  That's different and okay, right? :)

I, for one, was not surprised at all that he won.  Out of 11,500 employees, 40 were honored with this award.  The nomination that his boss wrote him was full of praise and explanation of the hard work that he does every day.  I can't even tell you much about his company or specific job, but I do know that leaving Nationwide for Sedgwick was a great fit for him and he really enjoys working there.

So, once we got the dates and travel itinerary, we secured someone to watch the kids (thanks a million again Mom!), we packed and off we went.

We had some trouble with flights and spent waaaay too much time in airports on our way out but it was still fun just to be together!

The awards ceremony was really nice.  I learned a lot about the company listening to the CEO talk and do a question and answer session.  He had a lot of great things to say about the award winners.

We stayed at the Peabody in Memphis, which is a really historic hotel.  It was beautiful!

The Peabody is known for the Peabody Ducks.  They have a Duckmaster who trains the ducks.  They live in their Duck Palace on the roof and each day at 11 AM, the Duckmaster leads them from their palace, to the elevator, and down to the lobby.  The walk an actual red carpet from the elevator to the fountain in the middle of the lobby.  They swim there all day and then do the same thing at 5 PM to return to their Duck Palace.  People from all over come in to the lobby each day to listen to the Duckmaster and watch the "show."  It was quite a sight!

Maybe one of the biggest highlights for me, besides honoring my husband, was the food.  First, I didn't have to share.  Second, I didn't have to cut anything up into little pieces.  And it was GOOD!  Really good!

They had all kinds of things planned for us to do to enjoy some sights in Memphis.

We toured Sun Studio which is where Elvis was discovered and many other famous musicians, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc. have recorded.

We ate dinner on Beale Street one night, too.

Then, we got to tour Graceland.  Whoa.

I can't say that I'm a huge Elvis fan in so many words, but it was still really neat.  I do appreciate his music and how he changed music history.  When I think of Elvis, I think of younger Elvis, "Blue Suede Shoes," and "Heartbreak Hotel," not so much sequin jumpsuit Elvis.  But, let me tell you.... Elvis wore a lot of sequin jumpsuits.  Actually, it was really cool.  They've preserved the house just like it was when he lived there and it was neat to see his airplane, fancy cars and all of the memioribilia too.

Thankfully, our flights home went smoothly.  I was more than ready to see my babies.  This greeted us when we got home! :) :) :)

Overall it was a great trip.  I could not be more proud of my husband and we had a great time celebrating for a few days.  Thankful that he's such a hard worker and a good example to our family!

The Great Outdoors

What a funny Spring it has been here in Iowa!  There have been a handful of beautiful teaser days amidst mostly miserable, chilly, windy ones.  On those nice days, we just couldn't justify staying inside!

How glorious to be out on the deck again!  It's so nice to let the kids out there while I make dinner.

Just shooting some hoops!

The windy days have been good for flying kites at least!

She's NEVER liked swinging until recently.  I'm trying to teach her how to pump.  Isn't it funny to teach kids something that seems so innate and natural?

We found a really great and fun park on the East side that is a natural playscape.  Lainey had a blast climbing and being super brave.  Wyatt was a little more cautious, which SO isn't like him!  It was funny to see them swap roles.

He did enjoy our picnic lunch of course :)

Just running free on a beautiful day!

Even though we woke up to snow one day this week, I am confident that it will really feel like actual spring here soon.  Looking forward to enjoying the great outdoors this spring and summer with my favorite little explorers!