Good times

It was a great weekend. I had the wonderful opportunity to go antiquing with my mom and aunt on Saturday morning. That is one of my favorite things to do and it actually worked for me to go with them! First we stopped at an auction in Hillsboro, then we went on to Marion to Bearly Makin It Antiques. It's a good shop. I didn't take my camera but I bought a fantastic old fan (that actually works!), a piece of scroll metal that is already on the wall in our living room and a couple of old bumper stickers. I love how you just never know what you'll find at an antique store.

Saturday night we went over to Mike and Mandi's house for awesome food, good conversation and a good dose of football.

Mike gave Noah a lesson on how you put a helmet on

and it worked!

Sunday night was birthday party night for Noah and our niece Rylee. She turned 2 on Monday.

We had a fondue supper, something most of us hadn't had for many years. It worked out great. We all had fun dipping bread, carrots, celery, apples and bananas in the cheesy fondue.

My sister worked hard to create a rainbow cake - which would have tied in so well with our colorful party theme...but, somehow after it was put together and iced this happened...

She had pictures of it put together and it looked amazing! But, it wasn't meant to be. So, a DQ ice cream cake sat in its place.

Happy birthday Noah and Rylee!

Sunday night, Ben and I both came down with strep throat. Good times. Thankfully, neither of us had it very bad and we both got on antibiotics Monday afternoon.

Noah's 5th birthday

I have a lot of emotions, feelings and memories that occupy me on my children's birthdays. Yesterday was no exception. I can't think of any bigger physical challenge then birthing Noah. There is something miraculous about the entire process of growing and birthing a child that simply brings tears to my eyes - especially on their birthdays.

Monday evening, I worked with Noah to make birthday treats for preschool. After the boys went to bed I had some major cleaning up to do in the kitchen (there's nothing messier than rice krispie treats!). Then I decided to make a coffee cake so Noah could have "cake" with a candle in it for breakfast. After baking the coffee cake it was late enough that I didn't get his gifts wrapped. I figured I'd have time on his birthday at some point to do that.

So, on the morning of his birthday I asked excitedly asked him if he wanted a piece of coffee cake for breakfast?! He said, "No, I want a dip egg." (Dip egg is a runny egg to dip toast in.) So, he got a candle in his toast and we sang Happy Birthday to him.

I spent the morning with Noah at preschool. He wore his new John Deere cap and overalls (thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Schrag).

It was fascinating to be a preschool and watch Noah and the other children. They're all such neat kids!

We typed an "email" to me. It said, "Dear Mom, I love you. From, Noah". It was the best pretend email I've ever gotten.

We made Valentines

The proud birthday boy

He handed out his birthday treats at snack time.

And then, everybody got their Valentine sack, sat down on the floor and checked out all the goodies. It was fun to listen to them thank each other for their valentines.

When preschool was over I took Noah to Debbie's house and went to work.

After work, we ate supper at a restaurant (Noah's choice) and then we went bowling (which was a surprise for both the boys).

With bumpers on, Noah nearly beat me. I bet it took a full minute for Levi's ball to travel down the entire lane.

Watching.....Levi's.....ball....slowly.....roll....down....the....lane....

After bowling Noah got to open his presents from us. I never did get around to wrapping them...2 new header trailers (for his combine headers) and an Atlas book. Another gift is being shipped to us...but I'll need to paint it and what not before it'll be ready...

Happy birthday Noah, we love you.

Valentine's Day

Chocolates from grandparents near and far,

cards and candy,

make-your-own strawberry shortcakes for dessert,

and finishing touches on Valentine's for preschool friends.

I thought I could get Noah to help me make Valentine's this year. It turns out, I could barely get him to sign his name on the back of the darn things. Oh well, I had a great time with paper, scissors, glue and markers!

Tuesday, Noah turns 5. Treats for preschool are waiting on the counter, a coffee cake for breakfast just came out of the oven. Gifts from Grandpa and Grandma Schrag have already been opened - once the box came out of the mailbox there was no turning back! I'll post pictures of that later. :-)

Snow...no more...

Shoveling and shoveling and shoveling...that's what we've been up to.

It snowed nearly 20" yesterday. That is A LOT of snow for us. So, yesterday it was snowing and blowing when I went to work, but since I was in denial about this snow storm I thought I would be able to stay at work all day and get home in the evening with the boys. However, by noon my boss advised me to go home and it seemed like a smart move. Thankfully, the roads didn't give me any problems and we made it home safe and sound. After naps Ben and I got the crazy notion to go spend the night at the farm. So, when mom and dad thought we could probably make it to the farm we packed up and took off!

It was a lovely drive...actually it was a decent drive. We happened upon a lucky break when we met up with my uncle (driving his pick-up) just as we were ready to turn off the paved road and onto the country road my parents live on. Ben is certain we would have made it without his help, but he drove in front of us all the way to the farm. I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread because I was quite nervous about that final 2 1/4 miles of our drive. He drove out of his way to get us there and it was great to have a path to follow through the drifting snow. Granted, I never would have done this without knowing that my dad (and a tractor) was a phone call away. But, we made it and enjoyed an evening with my parents and a good night of sleep.

We woke up to a world covered in white powder this morning. This snow was so light and fluffy that shoveling was pretty easy - except that there was so much to shovel!

We got the 4-wheeler out, got it stuck twice, and then broke the rope to the sled...today wasn't the day for sledding. There were quite a few snow "mountains" on the farm from dad clearing off the yard but the snow was so fluffy that we couldn't climb the "mountains".

It was a beautiful snow. I keep finding myself surprised at the amount of snow I see around me.

We got home late this afternoon, just in time to shovel our own driveway. Generally, I like to shovel snow (I know, call me crazy) but I think I'm done with it for this winter...I'm ready for spring.

Sunny Snow Play

Friday we spent about 3 hours outside playing in the snow. It was pretty cold out, but we had just enough protection from the wind that we could stay warm enough to enjoy the snow.

The snow that blew in on Tuesday came with such a force that part of yard had 2' tall drifts and a lot of our yard had a mere dusting.

We tried to play in the sandbox, but it was pretty much frozen solid. Levi was able to scoop out a little bit of icy sand...but we quickly moved on...

to golf. Levi insisted on using a tee (a white one at that) and we had some trouble making that work in the snow...

Noah however, just stood on the snow "mountain" to hit his.

We also "painted" the snow! This was one of those RARE but happy/successful/creative parenting moments. I had seen this idea long ago in a magazine and somehow actually remembered it so we could put it to use.

I rounded up a couple spray bottles, filled them with water and added food coloring. The boys had a good time with it! Since I only had 2 bottles, I had to go inside a number of times to switch out the colors. We used red, yellow, green, blue, purple and brown.

We even got to do a little sledding with our neighbor Kaitlyn before we were all COLD and ready to warm up inside.