St. Louis

For Labor Day weekend we decided to get out of town for a couple days. It was exactly what I needed. A break from doing the basic's (laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc). We drove down Thursday and stayed with some friends, the Wilsons. It's a 5 hour drive from Des Moines and the kids did excellent. We waited till about 1/2 down until we showed Natali that we could watch movies in our CAR! She LOVED it, and lets be honest...so did Mom and Dad. We could actually talk to eachother without someone yelling at us. Isaac was just his precious little self, and as long as he had is binky he was a happy camper. We drove downtown and walked around the arch. It was AWESOME. Our family picture above is taken at the base of one of the sides of the arch. I thought about taking the ride up to the top, but decided that "tossing my cookies" in a small crowded little capsule was not and ideal experience. We saw Bush stadium from the freeway, a really highlight for Ben. We even went to the famous Ted Drew's for frozen custard. Ben thought it was every bit as good as Neilsons in Bountiful (another famous custard spot). We mainly just relaxed and ate a lot of Lion's Choice (a roastbeef sandwich place that makes Arby's look like dog food). It was a great weekend adventure.

This the focal point of this pictures is suppose to be Bush Stadium in the background

The American Gothic House...imagine two old farmers with pitch forks in the front!
If you look in the right corner you might see some spilled yogurt. Ben was helping Natali get the last little bit out of her go-gurt. He apparently squeezed too hard and it spilled all over the ground. (side note...they were sitting away from me at the time so I didn't hear this) But Natali looks at Ben and and then at me and says, "Moommmmmyyy....Ben spilled my YOGURT!" and then turns to Ben and says, "That is very naughyt Ben!"

We loved every moment! Thanks!

Natali

So I took Natali in for her 3 year old pictures. It was fun. We made a little mommy daughter date out of it. We had her pictures taken, then while we were waiting for the prints we went across the street to Costco. We walked around, enjoyed some samples and topped it all off by sharing a churro! Seriously...Costco is one of my favorite places. Both kids fit in the front of the cart, we get samples, Costco chicken, great kids clothes, fabulous prices on kid books, the people there practically know me by name, and to round it all off...hot dog, drink and churro...yes please (lunch for all of us)! Anyway. It was a fun outing with Natali. She is getting ready to start preschool in Sept. and I am not sure who is more excited (her or me). We'll call it a tie. Then I also have her enrolled in a dancing class at the YMCA. A friend of ours teaches it, and Natali is over the top excited for that. We have been watching the Olympics a lot out our house and Natali loves to watch the "dancing girls'. She says she wants to do gymnastics now. Yesterday she took some of my hair ties and put them around her ankles and walked around the house saying she was doing 'nastics". She is getting so big. We love the spunk she adds to our family...intense at times (most of the time)...but we love our little redhead.

Growing Boy

Isaac had his one year wellness check yester day and here are his current stats!
Height: 30 1/2 (70%)
Weight: 22lbs 15oz (50%)
Head: 18 1/2 (70%)
His a growing boy! This is his one year picture that we had taken last week. He had a REALLY hard time sitting still. As soon as I sat him he started to crawl away. It made for a very difficult photo op. but we made it work. He is getting closer and closer everyday to walking. And last night he actually slept till about 6:30 am with out waking up once! This is truly a miracle in the Fluhman family because Isaac has NEVER done this before. When I woke up at around 5ish I was so confused and wondered was it am or pm, and why hadn't Isaac woken my up multiple times yet. Then of course I thought, "is he okay!". Once I could hear his breathing over the monitor I quickly rolled over and went back to sleep. Let me just say, getting a solid chunck of sleep is AMAZING (totally not over rated)! Thanks Isaac. Lets do it again tonight!

Happy Birthday Isaac

I can't believe that it's been a year since our little Isaac joined our family. Oh he was such a little chunk...and so much dark hair. We've loved every minute watching him grow and develop his sweet personality. We are so blessed to have his happy easy going spirit in our family.

We had our trauma in the beginning, but it worked out perfectly and he left the hospital a week later in great shape!

Today we celebrated at home watching Isaac DESTROY his cake and open his present. The pictures below show the progression of destruction! He loved every second eating his mini John Deere Tractor (or at least that's the look I was going for). At the end he was taking fist fulls and just squeezing the cake through he chubby fingers and smearing it all over. All we could do was sit and laugh!



Isaac playing with his new instrument toys.
Happy Birthday chunky monkey! We love you!

12:01 AM

Somehow last night I found myself at Barnes & Noble with about 100 other girls waiting for the release of Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer. When I say other girls let me just paint you a picture! Ages: 12-15 and dressed up in PROM dresses! Yes as you entered the store there was a sign saying: Welcome to Prom. It was...interesting. How did I get there at 10:30 pm you ask? Well, I saw Mama Mia last night with some friends. I loved loved loved the movie, pretty similar to the Broadway version, but seriously how can you beat ABBA!!! I was honestly restraining myself from bursting out in song and getting up and dancing. I'm sure the other girls are greatful I didn't as well. Anyway, after the movie someone suggested stopping by the bookstore and seeing what it was like. Well , after popping our heads in and feeling TOTALLY out of place we entered a trivia contest and I won! My prize was a Godiva Chocolate Bar with something like "Bite Me" on it (in honor of the book) and I got a ticket to be first in line. So of course we had to stay. Now I am proud to say that I bought the first copy of Breaking Dawn from the West Des Moines Barnes & Noble! I haven't started reading it yet, but I can hardly wait. All I know is there better be some resolution at the end...and it BETTER envolve Edward! (we did take pictures to document the event..I think honestly more as blackmail for eachother so pictures will be posted later)

Slide Mania

So on one of the days out in Utah Ben's folks rented this mammoth of a slide and had it set up in their back yard as part of our family reunion weekend. And oh my gosh...it was SOOOOO fun! The kids and adults loved it. It was entertainment for hours on end. In the beginning we just slid down it dry but the sun quickly made it too hot for the little kids. So we had no other option but to turn the hose on it, and it became on huge slip and slide. It was so fun to watch the little kids just shoot down it. My favorite was our little nephew, Oliver, decided to strip down and take his diaper off and go down. I've never seen something so funny...he flew down that slide and would bounce off the back wall. What a funny kid! Some of the adults even got in on the action, which provided for even MORE entertainment!

Ben getting ready!

Dad/Grandpa getting some words of encouragement

Natali prefering to watch from a distance

Dad finally got her to go. Cute thing covered her eyes with her hands at the top until they actually went. Next year she will be ready to do it on her own!

Roadtrip

While mom was here we also went on a mini road trip down to Madison County to see the covered bridges and the birthplace of John Wayne. We found several of the bridges and made it into Winterset to see the house of John Wayne. We even found this tower which was tucked away in a grove of trees. When we drove up to it Natali shouted with an audible gasp..."oh my goodness...it's a princess castle." She could have stayed there for hours. It was great driving down these old dirt roads and through farm fields to find the bridges. My mom loved. Quite the different scene and pace of life from busy San Diego. It was only about a 40 minute drive from our house so it was perfect with the kids. They did great.

Grandma Gerry in Iowa

My mom was able to come out the week before Ben took boards. We had SO much fun. No matter what we do I always have a blast with my mom. Whether it is organizing kids clothes, finishing sewing projects, eating McDonald's breakfast, or going on mini road trips. I loved having my mom and the kids LOVED having Grandma. We crammed as much as we possibly could in the 5 days she was here. We discovered a place called The Machine Shed and I am pretty sure it will be come a staple in places we go when family is visiting. It is always sad to say goodbye and it never helps when your 3 yr. old starts crying in the backseat saying, "no...don't take Grandma to the planes...Grandma...come back to my house and play with me!" Oh how the tears flowed!

Life

Life in the Fluhman household is moving forward as always. Ben is putting in long days preparing to take his first set of boards for podiatry school. Let's just say that all parties involved will be happy when it is over. I do have to say that I am glad that it is him and not me!!! Isaac is still our happy little bubba. He pulls himself up on EVERYTHING and is walking along the furniture to get to anything that we might have left behind or dropped out of our pockets. He LOVES our cell phones (it seems like most babies do...why is that?)! We recently took his pacifier away for sleeping at naps and bedtime. I was getting up many times a night to find it for him and I finally had enough. So there have been a few more tears but is getting the hang of and I am getting a little more sleep. Natali is progressing with the whole pottery training thing. I am glad that I stuck it out. I called Ben one day crying and feeling like screaming a stream of profanity (I didn't...I just really really felt like it). I had had enough of it, but I stuck with it though and I think she has it down. We had two whole days with out any accidents. I still put a pull up on when we leave for running errands and such, just because I don't know that I could handle accidents in public places. Life is good. We feel very blessed to not have been immediately affected by the floods. Here is Isaac being himself, and Natali playing dress up with one of her cute little friends.

Double Take

Okay, so in a rash moment I decided we needed to cut Isaac's hair. It was long...over the ears, bangs, mullet, the whole shebang! So how do you cut a 10 month olds hair when he is moving all over the place like a spaz! The answer, buzz it! So our thick brown haired little boy is now practically BALD! Not really, but his hair is so light down by the roots he looks like a little blond baby! WHAT HAVE I DONE!!! Seriously I started crying (just a little) because my baby looks so different. Even later when I went into his room after he was asleepto put something away I had to do a double take. Is that my baby in that crib? See for your self. (It's hair...it will grow back. RIGHT!?!?!?) These pictures are only a couple days apart. I, as his mother, still think he is just as cute as can be. But I do miss his hair already.

Summer Fun

Today was a crazy day. I am trying to toilet train Natali....3 "wetties" accidents and 1 "poopy" accident has just about sent me over the edge! So I am trying to get the kids ready for bed and trying to keep myself from bursting into tears when I look at Isaac all fresh and clean with this cute little smile on his face. It was just melted me. I love my little guy. Seeing his sweet little face and smile helped put things into persepctive. Thanks Isaac!!!

I got a little wadding pool thinking the kids would love to sit in it and splash. Especially since Isaac loves his bath and goes crazy splashing the water all over. Natali loved it but Isaac not so much! Granted it was his first non bath water experience, hopefully he will warm up to it.

Number 3

At 6:42 am three years ago at beautiful little girl was born, 9.9lbs and with a full head of thick red hair! Our little girl is now no longer so little. Today we took much joy in celebrating Natali's third birthday. It is amazing how much she has grown and the joy that she has added to our life. Natali said she wanted a Bee birthday (based off of the Bee movie, which she loves). I put up a few decorations and we spent the day as a family having fun. I think her favorite parts were opening her gifts, her Bee balloon, and her Bee cupcakes. Happy Birthday Natali....hugs and kisses we love you!

Vintage

My mom sent me her old smock from when she was in Kindergarten. It is so sweet with little pockets in the front, a button in the back at the neck, and her name embroidered in the front. I wasn't going to let Natali use it but my mom insisted. Apparently that was the whole reason why she sent it :)! Anyway, here is Natali creating some finger painting works of art. All while wearing something authentically vintage! Thanks Mom!