Tough Mudder

Last weekend Sean and I became "Tough Mudders" 11.5 miles and 30+ obstacles completed! It was an amazing experience to do and conquer together, I still find myself in disbelief that we actually did this when I look at the course pictures online. It all started in February when Sean went on his annual skiing trip with his college roommate Mike Migely. Mike was telling Sean about this race that he and his wife Jodelle were doing in May. Sean was intrigued and without questions, said "Sign us up!" He came home from Steamboat and informed me that we were going to be doing the Tough Mudder May 19th. I had no idea what this race entailed, or better yet, how on earth was I going to finish it!? So after browsing http://www.toughmudder.com/, and checking out the various obstacles, I immediately became super intimidated. I was reluctant to agree, but knew Sean really wanted to do this and thought it would be a lot of fun for us to do together. So our journey began...The weekend arrived...and it was AMAZING!!!!! We will definitely be doing another one! The terrain was intense, the obstacles were a challenge, but the teamwork on the course was indescribable. Perfect strangers grabbing your hand to pull you over the Berlin Walls, random people cheering you...it was one of the most rewarding and challenging things we have undergone and we are so proud to have completed this course with great friends and new friends!

Sean and I with Mike & Jodelle Migely

Team Dirty Rascals

So happy that Sean talked me into doing this race with him, it was an adventure that I am glad we got to do together!

making it through the last obstacle without getting zapped by the live electrical wires...I think reason to celebrate!

We have completed the TOUGH MUDDER 2012!

This was the cleanest we were the entire race after jumping nearly 20 feet into 10 feet of cold water to clean us off!

Thank you Mike and Jodelle for organizing this team and sharing this amazing experience with us!

Fun on the Lake & Brothers

Mothers Day we enjoyed the afternoon on the Coralville Lake with our good friends and neighbors, the Collins Family. Luke loves to play with and hang around Christian, Emily, and Ben! The kids had so much fun on the boat, swimming in the lake, and playing football on the beach.

 happy to be on the boat!

 Daddy and Ben

 Luke and (big) Ben enjoying the scenery. These two little boys are just a week apart and have the best time together!

 Mommy & Ben on the ride back into the marina

 Love my little guys, and so blessed to be their mommy

 It is so fun watching Luke & Ben these days. Every day I feel like they play more and more together and Luke is wanting to include Ben in a lot more of his activities. This was Friday morning, and Luke wanted to ride the horse with Ben!

Ben is always right by Luke's side, watching his every move. They both love to look out the window in the morning to watch the neighbor kids walk to the school bus and all the construction two houses down.

Mothers Day 2012

This has been one of the most wonderful weekends! The weather has been better than you could ask for, we were able to spend part of the weekend at my parents, enjoy the beauty of the farm, and see some special friends while in Waukon. I hosted a baby shower for my dear friend Dana on Saturday, which was so special to celebrate her and her little girl Hattie on Mothers Day weekend. The boys and I enjoyed the beautiful afternoon with my mom while Sean and my dad were in the field. It is a very busy time of year for farming so we didn't get to see much of my dad. Sean enjoyed getting out in the tractor and putting in some hours in the field to help out. We grilled out Saturday night for dinner, celebrated my amazing mom a day early, and then headed home after the boys bathed and were in their pj's. Sean and I enjoyed the quiet and actually had great conversation, uninterrupted.

Today could not have been more beautiful! The boys are early risers so there was no sleeping in, but that is ok...it was a great day to get up and going! Sean cooked an amazing breakfast of scrambled eggs and apple cinnamon french toast, even Ben enjoyed the french toast! During Ben's morning nap, Luke and I went to pick out flowers so we could plant our flower pots. We took off on a family run, by my request! It was a perfect mid morning run, and the boys did a great job during our trek. While my "3" boys napped, I enjoyed a quiet couple of hours in the front yard planting my flower pots and weeding my flower beds. We received an invite to join our friends on their boat after naps, so we jumped at the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the afternoon and early evening on the Lake with our good friends. Luke experienced jumping (or falling) in the lake off the back of the boat while we were anchored, not once, but twice! He was a little scared the first time, but recovered nicely!

This is my third mother's day of being a mom and I can't help but be humbled by the presence of these two sweet boys I have been chosen to mother. It truly is the most amazing experience and each day it just continues to grow with so much love and joy these two little guys bring to our lives, they make me smile just sitting here thinking of them. There isn't a night that we lay in bed and tell our funny Luke stories, or watch Ben in pure amazement of all his recent developments. I am thankful. I am blessed.

This post would not be complete without honoring my amazing mother! My mom has taught me so much and continues to teach me as I watch her love our two little boys unconditionally and with all her heart. My mom is so patient with me, even when I make it difficult. She is one of the most generous, kind-hearted people I have ever known, and I could not be more proud to be her daughter. Thank you mom for everything you do for our family.

 BLESSED...my two little loves

 Happy Mothers Day to our loving Nannie

 Luke was so excited to give me his gift he made at school

 trying to get a picture of these two isn't always easy...Luke really wasn't having it

 Love my hugs from the boys

1st Mother's day with Ben:) The greatest addition to our family

 We celebrated Ms. Judi on Friday! She loves our boys unconditionally and they love her just as much. She is amazing and we are so thankful to have her watch over our boys when we are not able

 Ben decided he wanted to use the walker...on the go trying to keep up with his big brother at Nannie and Bops

 trying something new...bear crawl

 One of Ben's favorite spots at Nannie and Bops...watching all the action outside

 Luke wanted to help Nannie mow her lawn

Sean enjoying farm life. He helped my parents out so much logging quite a few hours in the tractor

Celebrating Dana and Hattie

Picking up Chickens

***Photoless post***I always feel bad if I can't post a photo each day I blog, but I have a couple of funny Luke stories that I have to share without having time to upload pictures from my camera.
This Saturday afternoon/early evening we were invited to friends of ours in Solon for a cookout. It was a gorgeous day and perfect early evening for a bbq and let the kiddos run wild in the backyard playing football, driving cars, and anything else that consists of running in circles! Luke's friend Maddox Kelley, who is 6 months older, the son of one of our good friends and Sean's co-worker, were taking turns driving Jerzey's 'pink cadillac'. Sean and Cody, Maddox's dad, were joking around and asking them if they were going to pick up chicks! So after a few rounds of driving around the driveway, Luke stops the car, hops out, takes off running towards the grass, and hollers back "Come on Maggots, get your chickens!" He proceeds to 'grab his chickens' and puts them in the back of the car. Of course Maddox (aka as Maggots to Luke), follows along and picks up his chickens. LOL! I hope this makes you chuckle a little:)
Tonight as we were saying our prayers before bed, Luke goes on to thank God for his friends and starts naming all of his friends, when he gets to Jerzey (which is where the bbq was), he said "Maggots and I drive Jerzey car, we so much fun mom, we picked up chickens!"
Tonight after coaxing Luke in the house from playing outside, which is a chore in itself, we got him ready for bed, and he wanted to watch Curious George. I told him that when we play outside late we just read books and go to bed. He put his head down and said "mommy, you make me sad, I am so sad." I asked him why he was so sad and he told me that I make him sad. He then looked up at me and said "Curious George makes Luke so happy! Mommy wants Luke to be happy!" Boy, does this little guy have it figured out, look out!!! We have been working on doing things that make people happy, and when we do things that aren't nice, that makes people sad...so I guess he does listen after all!
My last story...tonight after dinner we were going to make an ice cream run to Ghurties (local frozen yogurt shop), and Luke needed to change his clothes so we were walking back downstairs from getting him dressed and he was horsing around with the baby gate, he kept trying to open it and he couldn't get it opened, so he said "dammit"! Sean and I both looked at him, Sean asked 'what did you say,' he replied "nothing, Luke said nothing". I told him that was not nice to say and that we don't say that word. He said "mom, Luke said nothing, nope me didn't". What a little character...oh, Luke...you bring so much laughter to our house, there truly never  is a dull moment and we love you for that!

Ben is 8 months old

Yesterday Ben turned 8 months old and has a lot of milestones to celebrate! This little guy has gone from a little scooter to an full on mobile machine! He spent the majority of the past month dealing with teeth and seasonal allergies, poor little guy couldn't catch a break! I am happy to say, I think he is doing well and appreciates his allergy medication! It amazes me how quickely milestones happen and how much changes in such a short period of time. I was just telling one of my friends today, I feel like I was just pregnant...where has the time gone. I love my snuggle time with Ben before naps and bedtime, and all of his sloppy kisses. Tonight we were working on giving kisses and when I would say to give mommy kisses he would lunge at my face with an open mouth, it was to die for! So Mr. B what are you up to at 8 months old:

-you are mobile, mobile, mobile. You are full on crawling and quite fast!

-you are pulling yourself up on everything you possibly can, crawling up stairs, and so proud to stand up in your crib

-you are drinking water out of a sippy cup

-you are feeding yourself little snacks of yogurt bites, mum mum crackers, and cut up fruit

-you are eating 3 meals of solids a day

-eating 5-6 times a day (6 oz bottles)

-you are taking two naps a day, usually 1 1/2 hours in the morning and afternoon

-you are sleeping 10-11 hours at night

-wearing size 3 diapers

-mostly 6-9 and 6-12 month clothing

-you love to hold our hands and walk with us

-you are into everything and love to play with whatever Luke is playing with

-you love to be by Luke all the time and he makes you laugh so hard when he says "no no no"

-you are getting better in the car, some days are better than others, but do well for the most part. Luke will talk to you and make you laugh when you start to get upset

-you love to be out and about

-you now have 3 top teeth and two bottom

-you love the outside just like Luke

-you are quite the mommy's boy:)

Little Ben we are enjoying you so much and love all the joy you bring to our lives. You are a very patient little boy, easy to laugh, and have the most heart warming smile. I find myself spending a little extra time each night cuddling with you before I put you to bed and I love that time with you. Ben, mommy, daddy, and Luke love you so much! We look forward to watching you learn and grow this next month sweet boy!

 "such a big boy"

 "coming after mommy"

 Ben keeps a close eye on Luke all the time

 Our two sweeties...all serious! I couldn't get them to crack a smile

 Love this one...Ben is thinking "stop choking me!"

Happy Little Ben

8 months old

May 3, 2012

Under the weather...

All my boys have been under the weather and it hasn't been a fun couple of weeks! Sean, Luke, and Ben all came down with some nasty bug that resulted in high fever, stomach bug, and cold/flu like symptoms.  Sean ended up taking Luke in late last week because he couldn't kick the fever and he ended up coming home with an antibiotic for ear infection and claritin for allergies. I took Ben in Wednesday because he just wasn't shaking whatever it was that he had. Although, we thought we got better, then got worse again. These two little guys were coughing so much and so hard they would end up vomiting from coughing so hard. Our washer and dryer were begging for a break we were washing bedding and clothes hourly! I had to be out of town Thursday and today and just didn't feel good about leaving Ben in the shape that he was in, so I called Wednesday morning to inquire about the possibility of Ben having allergies. They wanted to see him to rule out pneumonia.  The chest xray came back normal, thank goodness. So we are trying claritin for a week, after just a couple of days Ben is doing much better! We are finally getting a good night sleep again! Between the coughing and high fevers it was a rough couple of weeks.  It was nice to hear that even with all of Ben's drainage/runny nose, his ears looked great! Tubes are amazing:)
Needless to say, these boys didn't stop, even when they are sick! Luke was begging to go outside and Ben learned a few new tricks, crawling up the entire flight of steps (with me right behind him), and pulling himself up on everything!

 Ben starting his venture up the stairs (note: towel always within arms length in case of a coughing spell)

 Ben's other new trick! Ironically, as he stands proudly in his crib he is calling "dadada"!

Here is a picture of Luke taking a little break at the farm to do a little reading