Stormy weather is on the way

Happy Saturday. Today started out with everyone sleeping in but by the way my children are acting you would not know it. They are so cranky today. Maddie and Carter have been fighting all day long! Maybe it's the weather? There are storms headed our way. We have been watching the radar all afternoon. Adam took Maddie and Carter to Algona earlier today and they got some groceries. Kinnick stayed home and napped and I did some typing for Ernie. He was here for about 2 1/2 hours working on stuff with me. He was just leaving as Adam and the kids got home. It worked out perfectly! We are having lasagna for supper. Adam prepped all the ingredients and I put it together in the pan. It should be ready to eat in about half an hour or so. YEAH! We are going to boil easter eggs tonight so that the kids can dye them tomorrow. I am sure they will have fun with that! I will try and post more tonight after we get the kids to bed. I gotta go for now! Love, Steph

Friday is here

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you all have a good weekend. We do not have much planned. But that is normal for us. I need to go get groceries but will most likely wait and go when Adam is here with the kids so I do not have to take them with me. It just goes so much quicker if I go alone. Maddie has a birthday party to go to on Sunday and it is a pool party. She is pretty excited about that. Adam will probably work on machinery most of the weekend. He took Kinnick to get pictures taken at 11 this morning and then took Carter at 1 this afternoon. Bless his heart. He is such a good hubby! Carter did awesome getting his pictures taken, but Kinnick did not want anything to do with it. He would not hold still. He wanted to run and run and run! It is hard to believe that next weekend is Easter already. I need to get the goodies for the kids' baskets yet. Easter just snuck up on me! I have not even brought my Easter decorations up from the basement. Maybe the kids can dye Easter eggs this weekend. I think Maddie and Carter will enjoy that. I will take some pictures of them dying the eggs and post so you can see them. I need to go upstairs and get Kinnick. He is letting me know that he is awake. Love, Steph

Warm weather

Well, the weather is wonderful here. Yesterday it was so warm that I let the kids play outside in shorts and t-shirts. We put the trampoline up for them and got their little ride on toys out too. They had a blast. Kinnick and Carter screamed when it was time to come inside for supper. Seems crazy to have warm weather like this in Mach. You never know what can happen in Iowa. I took some pictures of them playing outside. I am going to try to upload them here before the boys wake up from their naps. I just got home from Algona. I had to go get my teeth cleaned at 1. My mouth is really sore now. I have never hurt after a cleaning before. I had to get x-rays this time (we get them once a year). I HATE those things! They set off my gag reflex. I did pretty good this time and was rather proud of myself. No cavities so that was good. I do however have to go back in a few weeks for a crown. I had a root canal done quite some time ago and never got the crown done. They are so expensive, but I guess it is better than shattering the tooth. Enough about my teeth, not much else happening here. Getting caught back up from vacation. We have all been dragging this week. Well, I here the boys yelling for me so I better go get them now. Love, Steph

My baby is 2 years old!

I cannot believe that my baby is 2 years old today! Where does the time go? He was really not very interested in opening his present this morning. He just does not like that type of thing yet. Carter and Maddie had fun helping him open his gift! I hope to get some birthday pictures on the BLOG later today.

Group picture taken at Seaworld

Time to come home!

Tuesday morning came way too quickly for Adam and I. We had to get up and get the van loaded and the kids ready to go. We had a few errands to run and then it was off to the airport. We were a bit more prepared this time and packed our bags a little bit more airline friendly. It helps when you know what to expect. I think we were all ready to come back home. Maddie was a little resistant to getting on the plane to come home, but once we were in the air she was fine. She was looking out the window and could see the gulf of mexico. That was really neat. Our flights were on time and were smooth compared to our trip down. I sat next to Carter on the plane and he just chatted my ear off. I took allot of pictures out the window of the plane on the way home. I was proud of myself because I conquered my fear of flying by going on this trip. I did not even need the medication the doctor gave me to calm my nerves. I only needed Dramamine to fight motion sickness. We got into Omaha at 5:30 pm and by the time we got our luggage and drove through for supper it was 7 pm. The kids and I slept on the drive home. We were all exhausted. Maddie did not go back to school until Thursday. She needed Wednesday to catch back up on sleep and to do her homework. We went to get groceries when Adam got back from attending planter school and picking up Wrigley. Three carts of groceries and $363 later we were on our way home. We did not have much to eat and so now our cupboards are stocked back up. I have spent the last 2 days doing laundry. I am almost caught up! The boys seem to be happy to be back at home and in their routines.

Our visit to SeaWorld

We decided to spend our final day in Florida visiting SeaWorld. We decided to take the kids to see the dolphins. We all got to pet them and feed them. It was amazing. They are such neat animals. We made our way around the park and came to see the Budweiser Clydesdale horses. We got to walk through their stable and see each one. We watched workers shining and polishing the saddles for the horses. Those horses are treated as royalty. They are so beautiful. The grounds at SeaWorld are breathtaking. Everything is so pretty. The flowers are just gorgeous. They have a place where you can dive for your own oyster and then crack it open to get your pearl out. They clean it for you and you get to keep it. We did not do it but enjoyed watching others. There was also an underground area to view Shamu the whale. Wow! What an awesome thing to see! The kids were quite stunned! We got to see penguins, polar bears, sea lions, manatees, sea turtles and all kinds of neat animals. It started to rain about 8 pm right when the park closed, so that worked out well. We headed back to the house and ordered Applebees for supper. After supper we had an early birthday party for Kinnick. He had a blast eating his cake. It was quite messy. We all had a fun time. After we got the kids all cleaned up and ready for bed we could not find Carter's blanket. We looked everywhere. We could not find it. we managed to get Carter to sleep without it. By this time it was midnight and we had not even started to pack our bags yet. In the process of packing and drinking beer we found Carter's blanket. Yes, he put it in the fridge. We do not know why. We were so happy to find it!!!! After 2 hours of packing Adam and I were ready for bed. We had to be up at 6 am in order to get things loaded up and get to the airport in the morning.

Our day at Epcot

We decided to spend one of our days at Epcot. There was a Finding Nemo ride that I wanted to take Carter and Kinnick on. We did that first thing when we got to the park. Kinnick screamed the whole time. He did not like it at all! Carter loved it. I think Maddie liked it too! As we made our way through Epcot the kids got to meet Tigger. It was by accident that we stumbled across him. There was an imagination center that Adam took Carter to and it must have been really neat because he did not want to leave when it was over. There was a purple dragon called Figment and he talked about using your imagination. Epcot goes around a really large lagoon and as you walk around you go through lots of different countries. Each country has people from that country who have come to work there. The foods and shops are really neat. It is interesting to learn so many things. Maddie decided to use some of her own money to buy a kimono. I was suprised that she wanted one. It looks so cute on her! Adam enjoyed sampling the beer from other countries. When we got to Norway I went into a shop and got some lefse to eat. I have not had that since Grandma Helen was alive. It was sooooo yummy! When we went through the Arabian countries the kids got to meet Alladin. They got their picture taken with him (and so did I). At dark Epcot puts on an incredible show with fireworks, water and fire. It is absolutely spectacular. It is over the lagoon so you can be almost in any part of the park and see the show. The kids were really impressed with it!

Another day at Magic Kingdom

We decided that since we had not gotten to see all of the Magic Kingdom the first day we were there that we would go back for a second day. We met up with some of our relatives that were at Disney for a cheerleading competition. Aunt JoJo, from DesMoines, and Aunt Betty and cousin Kate, from West Lafayette Indiana. We went on rides for the kids and stayed until the light parade they have at night. It was so awesome! A princess came right up to Carter and said hello to him. It was cute! Adam and I went on a roller coaster with Betty and Kate. That was fun. I cannot remember the last time I went on a ride like that! We decided to take Kinnick on the tea cups and see how he did. He really seemed to like it. I felt so bad for him just riding in his stroller day after day.

Started out as a rainy day

Well, it was rainy off and on Friday morning so we decided to take a day and just relax. We did a little bit of shopping. We took the kids into the Harley Davidson shop in Orlando and Carter was quite impressed with the motorcycles. We went to an orange stand and bought some Florida oranges and tangerines. YUMMY! When we got done with our shopping the sun decided to come out. We went to a place called Old Town. It was really neat. We walked around and looked in some of the shops they had there. I think you could find something for just about everyone there. Grandma Jayne had a caricature done of the 3 kids. It is cute. I will get a frame and hang it up in the house somewhere. We made it to the midway and found that they had quite a bit of stuff to little kids to ride on. Grandma bought tickets so that Maddie and Carter could go on rides. They even had "tea cups" to ride on. Carter was in heaven! He did not have to wait in lines like at Disney. We walked around and did some more shopping and then Carter asked if he could ride the go-carts. He was tall enough to ride with Adam so they decided to go. Papa Doug took Maddie with him. They all seemed to enjoy the go-carts. The look on Carter's face was priceless. He has no fear. They had allot of big rides by the go-carts and he wanted to ride them too. We decided to leave Old Town and go find somewhere to eat supper. We decided to try the Colorado House of Beef. The prime rib was spectacular. The kids ordered virgin strawberry margaritas. It was late when we got done with supper. We were the last people in the restaurant. When we got back to the house and got ready for bed we could not find Carter's blanket. This is the blanket that goes everywhere with him. He sleeps with it every night. We looked all over the place. We assumed that we had lost it somewhere at Old Town. By this time at night everything was closed and we could not do anything until the next morning. We called Old Town the next morning to see if anyone had turned in the blanket to the lost and found but had no luck. We decided to go there and Adam got out and retraced our steps. No luck. None of the stores had it. Although we were certain that we had not taken the blanket into the Colorado House of Beef I thought maybe there was a chance that it had fallen out in the parking lot. We called the restaurant and sure enough, they had the blanket. WE WERE SO HAPPY!

MGM Studios at DisneyWorld

The day we went to MGM Studios was allot of fun! We had made reservations prior to the trip so that we could dine at a restaurant called Play-n-Dine at Hollywood-n-Vine. This restaurant is centered around Playhouse Disney. The boys and I watch Playhouse Disney every morning together. There were life size characters in the restaurant that walked around and sang and danced with the kids. We got to see JoJo and Goliath from the show JoJo's Circus. We also got to see Leo and June from Little Einsteins. All 3 of the kids seemed to really have fun. Carter got up and danced to the songs and stuff. Kinnick is obsessed with the Little Einstein characters so this was really special for him. After lunch we went and found a seat to watch a parade. As we were waiting for the parade there were several "actors" and "actresses" that came by and talked with us. Maddie really liked one lady who talked to her. We got a cute picture of the two of them posing together. By the time the parade started Carter was asleep in his stroller. We got to see the characters from Toy Story, The Muppets, Monsters Inc, Bear in the Big Blue House, and lots of others. At supper time we went to see Playhouse Disney Live on Stage. Carter loved it. JoJo was there. Stanley was there. Bear in the Big Blue House was there and finally the characters from Winnie the Pooh were there. Carter danced and had a ball. Kinnick screamed the entire time. When we were done with that we decided to head back to the house because the boys were tired and getting really crabby. We timed it just right because as we were driving back to the house it started to rain. We got them in the bath tub and then got their PJ's on them. Adam, Jayne and Doug wanted to go and eat at Joe's Crab Shack so I offered to stay at the house with the kids. I do not like crab. The kids and I all zonked out by 9:30 pm.

Magic Kingdom in DisneyWorld

We spent our first full day in Orlando at the Magic Kingdom inside Disney World. WOW! It is so beautiful! The first thing you see when you walk through the front gate is Cinderella's castle. It is huge. We got there just in time to watch a parade. Carter was standing up in the stroller watching the parade when he fell face forward onto the cement. Adam tried to catch him and so did Jayne. She ended up hitting Adam in the sternum and knocked the wind out of him. Carter ended up with a scratch on the top of his head. I think Adam hurt more than Carter did! The parade was really neat. The Disney characters were all there. We saw Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Snow White, the 7 dwarfs, Cinderella, Aladdin, the list goes on and on! We walked around until Carter spotted the Dumbo ride. Of course he could not go on it alone and I did not feel comfortable letting Maddie take him alone. The line to ride was long and all the 2 of them did was argue. FUN! They liked the ride allot! We took the kids on the "It's a small world" ride and it was so neat. Carter was just mesmerized. It was cool and I took allot of pictures while we were going through it. If I remember correctly I think this was my Grandpa Simonson's favorite ride in Disney Land. I now know why. Maddie and Carter talked Grandma Jayne into letting them get their faces painted. They got to pick the design they wanted. Adam and I went around and saw some shops while the kids were getting their faces done. Carter sat like a good boy just like they asked him to. I was shocked! He looked so adorable. Maddie looked cute too! After we got done with face painting we went to ride on the tea cups. This was Carter's FAVORITE ride. The faster we would spin the louder he would giggle. He is not afraid of rides. When it got dark we found a place to stand so that we could watch the fireworks program. They shoot them off above Cinderella's castle. I watched the expressions on the kid's faces and it was a moment I will never forget. I got teary eyed. That moment made the entire trip worthwhile. I just cannot put it into words. AWESOME.

Departure day, March 13th

We were scheduled to fly out of Omaha at 3:15pm on Tuesday. We had spent the night before in Council Bluffs to ensure that we would be on time for our flight. We met up with Jayne (Adam's mom) and Doug (her husband) for lunch at Perkins and then headed for the airport. The airport in Omaha is quite small so we really did not have to wait in any long lines. We got checked in and took care of all our baggage. What a catastrophe! We were lugging around 2 car seats, 5 carry on bags, my purse, and my laptop. Plus the kids! We boarded the plane on schedule and departed for Dallas/Fort Worth. Our flight time was approximately 1 1/2 hours. We ran into some stormy weather as we approached Texas and so there was turbulence. Maddie did not like it and started crying for me. She was sitting with Grandma and Papa and I was across the plane next to Kinnick. When we got to Dallas/Fort Worth we were supposed to have a 1 hour layover, but it ended up being 2 hours because of the storms. We all grabbed something to eat for supper and then it was time to find our gate for our next flight. The Dallas/Fort Worth airport is HUGE! It is not even all in one building. You have to take a tram to get from one to another. We got on the plane and this time I sat between Maddie and Kinnick. We once again ran into turbulence from the storms and Maddie did not want to be on the plane. She wanted off. I could not calm her down no matter what I tried. Adam and Carter were across the aisle and the lady sitting next to Adam offered to change places with Maddie so that she could sit by Adam. That helped. It was almost 11 pm when we landed in Orlando. The flight was just over 2 hours long. We claimed our baggage and went to the rental car place to get a vehicle. We had a full size van reserved and it was perfect! It felt like we were driving a bus! We were all comfy though so that was great! We got all of our luggage loaded and headed to the house where we were going to stay. It was a 4 bedroom luxury home. It was beautiful! I have pictures that I will upload to Kodak this weekend so you can see them. We took lots of pictures on the trip!

Good morning

Good Morning! Well, here it is 6:50 am and we have been up since 5:30 am. The boys decided that they needed to get up really early today. It was almost midnight before we got them to sleep last night. We are in Council Bluffs at the hotel. We got into town last night about 9:30 pm. We made pretty good time driving here. Looks like there are storms down by Dallas and we fly there and have a layover before heading to Orlando later today. Should be interesting to say the least. Kinnick seems to like the hotel quite a bit. He just runs from one end of the room to the other and keeps going back and forth. Guess that is a good way to burn some of his energy before we get on the plane. Talk to you all later!

Crabby kids

It has been a really long day. For some reason Carter decided that he did not want to sleep last night. He was just being a stinker. Adam and I did not know what to do because he would not talk to us. He just screamed and cried. So, this kept Kinnick up too. Now I have 2 cranky boys on my hands. Neither of them napped well today either. Even Kinnick's session with his teacher was a struggle. I guess I will hope for early bedtime tonight. Could I be so lucky???? Each day that goes by makes me realize how much all of us need this vacation. I have alot to do between now and when we leave. I really need to start packing. Not much else to report today. Pretty boring. Maddie just got home from school and it seems she is crabby too. What fun! Love, Steph

new pictures

Check out the new pictures I added to myspace:

www.myspace.com/bighawkeyefans

Surgery is over

Grandpa's surgery is over and it went well. He will be in the hospital through the end of this week for sure. We wish him a SPEEDY recovery!

Pray for Grandpa Adkins

Please pray for Grandpa Adkins. He fell and broke his hip today. He is in the hospital and will be having hip replacement surgery tomorrow. Thanks! Steph

New week

March 5th already? Just does not seem possible that spring is right around the corner. The past few weeks of ice and snow and wind have made me more than ready for spring to arrive. The kids are getting cabin fever and are looking forward to getting outdoors to play. We are counting down the days until we leave for Florida. Grandma Jayne and Papa Doug are taking our family to Orlando for a week. Carter wakes up each morning and asks if we are leaving for Florida. He wants to meet Goofy and Mickey. We will be spending 4 days at DisneyWorld and 1 day at SeaWorld. We fly out of Omaha on the 13th and fly back in on the 20th. We will be able to meet at the airport so we can all fly together. That will give us extra help with the kids on the plane. Not much else going on with us. Just starting to pack and get organized for the trip. Have a good week.

The wild weather

Hello! I know that you have not read a post from me in the past few days but that is because we had another blizzard. The cruddy weather started Wednesday night. By Thursday morning our power went out. We called our power company and they told us that they had pulled all of their repairmen off the roads because of the weather. Not knowing how long it would be before our power was restored we called my mom and dad to see if we could crash at their house to wait out the storm. We packed up our stuff (and our puppy) and headed to town in Adam's pickup. The drifts were huge on the roads and we just plowed on through them. If I had been driving we would have gotten stuck for sure! The kids were happy to play at my mom and dad's house. Mom made us roast and potatoes and scalloped corn for supper. It was YUMMY! The blizzard shut down pretty much everything. The electric company called us on Friday morning to let us know that our power had been restored. Adam came home with his pickup to clean out the yard and he got stuck in the backyard. The drifts were 7 to 8 feet tall back there. Once he got everything cleared he came back to town and picked us up. The trip home was bumpy, alot of snow drifts to get through. Today the roads were still yucky. Adam had to go to Algona and said that he would not have gone out if he did not have to. The winds were still causing drifting on the roads. So we have survived two big blizzards in less than 2 weeks. Hope that you are all enjoying your weekend! Love, Steph