The Dill Boys

Random pictures from fall

2009-11-22T03:45:00.000-08:00

This has been one crazy busy fall season. I guess new babies will do that to you, huh? We have been adjusting to life with a newborn again, as well as shuttling the boys back and forth to school, not to mention way too many trips to doctors and dentists. Jorie has also been busy with Premier shows again and Mark is swamped with projects at work. We are doing good, though, we've just accepted that life is going to be crazy for a little while. I'm sure when Joel and Silas start both going to school all day we will look back on these days and realize these are the best times, the times when we get to spend so much time together with our boys.

Lately, we've really enjoyed having Uncle Jason, Aunt Roxanne, and cousin Annikah right down the street at Grandma's house. The boys have gotten in lots of cousin time, and Silas especially loves to play with his little friend Annikah.

First day of preschool for Silas!

Kissing cousin Claire

July & August pictures

2009-09-01T08:48:00.000-07:00

Here's poor little Joshua with his I.V. and oxygen (and various monitors) in the hospital.

Joel drew this drawing of his 2 brothers on the nurse's message board in Josh's room. Silas is trying to make Joshua feel better by holding his hand and Josh is crying because he doesn't feel well.

Some more pics of our smiley little guy. He is getting pretty huge. At 7 weeks old, he is too big for anything in the 3 month size. Only 6 month clothes fit him.

We had great fun at the Iowa corn festival a couple weeks ago. The boys loved all the rides and games. Unfortunately, they were out of corn by the time we got there!

Joel's moment of fame

2009-07-24T07:27:00.000-07:00

Having baby Joshua around has reminded me of when Joel was a baby and he shocked us all by doing this!

He appeared on both Oprah and Ellen in their amazing videos segments. How cool is that?

A beach in Iowa?!

2009-07-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

I took last week off work so that Jorie could get adjusted to life with a newborn. Mostly this meant that I got to go off and play with Joel and Silas while Jorie stayed home and tried to take care of Joshua and squeeze in some precious sleep.

Monday we were hanging out with our neighbors, Adam and Kylie, and we thought it would be fun to to the local pool for family swim. Then we found out that's only available on Tues and Thurs, so we hit the beach instead! Palo beach that is, which is about 20 minutes northwest of here. I was impressed! For an Iowa beach, this place rocked. They had a large sandy beach, nice warm water with a sandy bottom, a concession stand where the kids all enjoyed some humungous popsicles and perfect weather.

Adam and Kylie brought their tube so the boys could float around in the water, but they spent most of their time building sand castles and rivers and pools. Adam and Kylie and I tried to get a cool shot of running full speed into the water. This is about the best we could do:

Dill boy #3 is here!

2009-07-08T15:32:00.000-07:00

Welcome Joshua Mark, born at 4:49am on 7-8-09, at 9 lbs, 7 oz and 22 inches long. He's a big healthy boy! Here's the pictures!

This is the last belly shot, in the labor room, before all the action happens.

Silas's 3rd birthday (back in Feb - still catching up!)

2009-04-14T08:32:00.000-07:00

Silas chose the Dinosaurs theme so here are the boys, decked out in Dino safari gear, ready for the party to start.

The food spread included dino-shaped PBJ sandwiches and dino-jello-jigglers.

We tried to keep it small, with six kids, but it was still totally nuts having six toddlers running around the house, causing mayhem. The big hit of the party was the dinosaur egg hunt in the basement with the lights out and glowsticks.

The cake from Sam's was incredible. The plastic dinosaurs roared and lit up when you pushed their heads.

Ready for presents!

Yes, I know it is March

2009-03-11T23:32:00.001-07:00

So here are some pictures from Christmas time!

Joel was quite proud of this very impressive track he designed completely on his own.

Joel played the wise man in his preschool Christmas pageant.

His big line was "We'll follow the star!" His teacher said he was the best wise man they've ever had.

This picture is hilarious to me. Joel is 2nd from the left, having some kind of wardrobe malfunction.

Silas wanted to recreate his favorite Daddy picture from a previous blog post. Silas and I love being dramatic together!

Christmas morning is finally here! Yay!

Remember the pure unadulterated joy of being a kid on Christmas morning? One of the most fun things about parenting is getting to experience all of that again vicariously through your children.

Joel and Silas meet baby Claire for the first time!

Silas is truly adorable with Claire. He just loves babies so much, especially his little cousin. Yesterday, Claire visited for a while and then soon after she left, Silas was telling me, "Daddy, I'm missing baby Claire."

Important News for all Parents

2009-02-12T11:43:00.000-08:00

Link:

The link between the MMR vaccine and autism was based on fraudulent data.

This study, which has long been suspect and has now been proven to be completely bogus, is the source of ALL the hysteria and misinformation that is out there regarding vaccinating your children. Vaccines save lives.

Two great quotes from Joel yesterday:

Silas proudly showed Joel his colored dinosaur and Joel replied, "Wow, Silas. Usually your coloring is not very pretty, but that dinosaur is nice!" Already a master of the backhanded compliment!

As we were tucking him into bed, he told me, "Daddy, I love you and Mommy and Silas so much it wouldn't even fit in outer space."

The Dill Boy Singers

2008-12-24T13:18:00.000-08:00

Here is Joel singing his current favorite song, "Only a Boy Named David" including enthusiastic choreography.

Joel and Silas sing Happy Birthday to Mommy

We like to ask the boys questions about their little brother-or-sister who is on the way because their responses are always comedy gold. So far, Silas usually thinks the baby will be a boy, and Joel usually says girl, but neither of them is very consistent. We asked them to pick out names and they decided it's either going to be Batman or Annikah. Batman, of course, only makes sense if it's a boy.

Today Jorie was flipping through some U.S. state flash cards with Joel and she said, "Look, Joel, here's Iowa. And here's Illinois!" Joel replied, "Oh, let me know if you find Zanzibar."

Joel quotes are back

2008-12-21T08:08:00.000-08:00

Joel says hilarious things every day. Unfortunately, I am still not great at writing them down so they can make it to the blog. But here are a few I do remember.

Joel noticed that we were almost to the end of the 2008 calendar. He asked, "When we get to the end of the calendar, is that the end? Will we all go up to heaven then?" This idea really didn't seem to bother him at all, he was just honestly curious.

He must have been thinking about heaven a lot that day because he also asked, "Will there still be birthdays in heaven?" Interesting question, Joel!

I walked into Joel's room and he was busy stacking pillows up on his lower bunk bed. He said to me, "Daddy! Let me show you what I'm doing with these pillows, but it's not very safe!" (He was lowering himself down from the top bunk to the bottom bunk without the ladder -- it just cracked me up how he declared his own plan was "not very safe")

Ear tubes, take two

2008-12-20T06:27:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, Silas had ear tubes put in when he was just over a year old, because he had been so susceptible to ear infections as a baby. He's been sick a few times over the past couple months, and during a recent doctor visit, the doctor asked, "Did he get ear tubes put in both ears?" We assured him that he did. He replied, "Well, I only see one in one of his ears, so it looks like one of them has fallen out. I've never seen a permanent tube fall out before!" He also mentioned that it looked like the other one was no longer working properly, as there was quite a bit of fluid buildup. So we scheduled Silas for another surgery.

One week before his scheduled surgery, Silas came down with his second ear infection, after only being off the antibiotics for a week and a half, so we knew he desperately needed the surgery. Then after being on the second round of antibiotics for a couple days, his fever spiked and he had a seizure. (This happened once before, last summer) We were freaking out of course, and we called 911 and the paramedics came and checked him out. After talking to our doctor, he decided Silas was in no immediate danger and he would check him out during our regularly scheduled appointment the next evening. This time, the doctor said the ear infection was gone, but Silas must have picked up a virus for his fever to spike up so quickly like that. (he also explained that the seizures are not necessarily caused by high fever, but rather by a rapid change in body temperature) So the poor kid had gotten some kind of virus on top of his already troublesome ear infection. But as long as he was juiced up with Ibuprofen and Tylenol, he was still our happy little guy! He really has had a pretty good attitude about this whole thing, for the most part.

This past Monday, he went in to get the new ear tubes put in. He did an awesome job. The nurses said he would probably be really cranky and crying after he woke up from the surgery. Here he is, doesn't he look miserable?

We were very impressed by Mercy hospital here in Cedar. Back in the Chicago burbs, this was a 4+ hour ordeal. Here they were amazingly organized. We got there at 6:30am, filled out the paperwork, then at 7:00 they prepped him, did the procedure around 7:30, and he was his happy and awake self by 7:45. We walked out of the hospital around 8:15. You gotta love Iowa efficiency!

Lots of Winter Fun

2008-12-15T21:22:00.001-08:00

Joel and Silas get to help make special treats when they visit Grandma's. Yummy!

Hanging out at Great Grandma Leo's for Thanksgiving - lots of fun was had by all! (and lots of food was eaten by all too)

Joel and Silas had a blast playing in Great Grandma's big backyard.

Sure they're cute, but they are two wild and crazy guys too! The big activity at the Leo's was dropping stuffed animals down the laundry chute into the basement. This provided hours of entertainment.

Back at the hotel on Thanksgiving evening, we enjoyed a dip in the heated pool. I got a free night's stay since I had spent a week there on business. Thanks, Hewitt!

We stayed at Uncle John's and Aunt Ruth's house (Jorie's Mom's Sister) on Friday night and the boys loved Uncle John's totally restored classic Service Master truck.

We got to spend some time with Great Grandpa Lower at his home in Windsor Park Manor too.

We had a lot of snow a couple weeks ago (it's all melted now, but supposed to get 6 inches tomorrow!). Joel is ready to do battle with a shovel full of snow!

Silas isn't quite as into the cold and snow as Joel is, but he does love to eat it.

This kid needs to have his own line of Christmas cards, don't you think?

Silas is still a little ham, and he loves decorating. The boys have a 4-foot tree in their room too, and they put all their favorite ornaments ("all the fun ones" Joel says) on their upstairs tree.

Welcome to the world, beautiful baby Claire! This is our tiny new niece, who you probably know all about from reading Annie's blog, Shoeprint. She updates much more faithfully than I have been lately, so I hope if you have gotten bored waiting for my updates you have followed along with her blog, and of course Roxanne's, and our latest addition to the blogger family, Rho's Garden. Please click on Claire's blog if you want to read all about this tiny miracle. She decided to come five weeks early but she is healthy and growing and we are so glad she's here!

Here is a proud new Mama.

We celebrated Jorie's birthday last week! Grandma and Grandpa came over to watch the kids for a while so Jorie and I could go out, so we had an awesome dinner at Vito's, then came back home for cake, ice cream, and presents. Happy birthday Jorie!

And in case you haven't heard the news, yes, the rumors are true. Baby Dill #3 is on the way, due July 5th. We are trying to think pink, but we are still pretty much expecting another boy. Of course, as long as it is either one of those, we will be thrilled. ;-) After much debate on the issue, we have decided NOT to find out what we are having so we'll all have to wait until July to find out if this site's name will still work or if I'll have to update it to something like "dillboysandalittlelady.blogspot.com". Nah, this site will always be Dill boys. Jorie can start her own blog if she wants something girly. :-)

Fall pictures

2008-11-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

Yeah it's been a long time! It has been tough to make time for the blog lately. Work has been crazy. But I have bunches of pictures to share, so here we go.

The boys were very excited to go on a convertible ride with Vicki.

Kylie found a snake in our yard

The next few pics are from the day we went to see Playhouse Disney Live.

Joel loved carving up the pumpkin

Here's Buzz Lightyear and Woody

This is what Silas misses the most about Chicago - no Dunkin Donuts in Cedar!

I just loved this Chewbacca costume on Cole Halverson

Fill in the Blank Park Zoo

2008-09-11T08:08:00.001-07:00

We journeyed to Des Moines on Labor Day weekend in order to take the kids to the zoo. The zoo in Des Moines is called "Blank Park Zoo" so we were amused enough by that name to come up with silly puns like the one above.

This turned out to be a really great zoo and the kids had a great time. Also, the weather could not have been more perfect. Mid-70's and sunny. For those of you familiar with Chicago-area zoos, this was closer in size to Lincoln Park than Brookfield. But they had some really great hands-on exhibits for kids, including a large petting zoo where you could pet the animals and feed the psycho Koi fish.

It was a little intimidating trying to pet this guy

The llama was a little more manageable

It's the eldest Billy Goat Gruff! (currently a favorite bedtime story)

Wow that is one hot mama!

The Psycho Fish!

They also had an australian outback area where the animals just roamed free all around you. There were wallaby's and Emu's that would come right up to us. I was tempted to try to ride the Emu, but Joel said he didn't think that was a very good idea.

Here's a wallaby

Here's the emu. See? I think I could have ridden that thing.

Can you spot the tortoises in this picture?

Here's what he looked like up close. I wonder if he can actually lift that shell off the ground. That would be pretty impressive. All they did was lay there while we were watching.

Silas reports that his favorite animal was the tiger (must be because of his sleeping situation) and Joel says his favorite were the jellyfish. All of us loved the aquarium area, as they had some incredibly unique sea creatures in there.

Joel loved the elephant misting machine. He got totally soaked.

This wobbly bridge in the tropical area was a big hit with Joel too.

Joel's jellyfish - I made the mistake of mentioning they had jellyfish when we first entered the zoo and all day Joel kept asking, "Can we go see the jellyfish now PLEASE?" Finally we made it.

Dill boys funnies

2008-09-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

The other night, Grandma Rhoda mentioned that she and Grandpa Jim were going to a wedding. Joel's eyes lit up and he gasped and exclaimed with glee, "You're getting MARRIED!?" So cute. I don't even know how he knows that getting married is such a huge deal, but he sure was delighted with the idea of Grandma and Grandpa finally tying the knot.

This morning, I got dressed in jeans and a polo shirt before I came downstairs to log on to work. Normally, I just wear a t-shirt and shorts but it was cool today, so I dressed a little warmer. When Silas saw me coming down he said, "Where you going, Daddy? Are you going to church?" I guess I've set the bar pretty low.

Lots of great pictures

2008-09-05T10:06:00.001-07:00

Here's some pictures from another Bever park visit.

After Bever Park, we tried to go on a bike ride/run on the prairie path, but unfortunately much of the path was still closed due to flood cleanup. We did manage to get a little exercise in, with our mixed configuration of Jorie and Joel on bikes, while I ran and pushed Silas in the jogging stroller.

We spotted this tree that got lodged under the bridge during the flood and is still hanging there. Crazy huh? This bridge was completely underwater, including the surface of the road at the top, can you imagine?

Some pictures of the boys on another park day:

Joel and Silas with their friends Hank and Ernie at a Splash pad.

Here's Joel and Hank on their first day of 4-year old preschool.

Silas had to say goodbye to his big brother.

Last, and most definitely least, Joel took this silly picture of his daddy:

Grandpa John comes to town

2008-09-05T08:25:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, my dad (now affectionately known as "Grandpa John" around here) came to visit for a bit and it was great to spend some quality time with him. He brought some new books for the boys, and they have instantly become the most-often requested stories at bedtime and naptime. My Dad also brought his friend Kay with on this trip, and it was great getting to spend some time with her and getting to know her better too. On Friday night, Grandma Rhoda and Grandpa Jim watched the boys for us (HUGE thanks!) so that we could go out for a nice dinner with my dad and Kay at Granite City, one of our favorite restaurants here in CR.

Then on Saturday morning, we brought Joel and Silas to Bever Park with my dad and Kay and it was an absolutely beautiful day. We were so glad to get to finally share some of our favorite CR places with my dad. The boys really seemed to like Kay a lot, and warmed up to her very quickly. She even helped Joel eat most of his burger (always a challenge) by creating a little "who can take a bite the fastest?" competition with him, which he totally loved. Eating time can be stressful for Joel, so it was great to see him loosen up and have fun with Kay while chomping on his burger.

Where Silas sleeps

2008-08-31T06:39:00.000-07:00

Silas was recently telling Grandpa about where he sleeps, and apparently the conversation went something like this: (this story comes from Joel, by the way)

Silas: "I seep in togger bud."

Grandpa Jim: "You sleep in a tiger butt?"

Silas: "No, I seep in togger bud!"

Joel was quite amused that Grandpa thought Silas was saying "Tiger butt". In fact, he had trouble even telling me the story without cracking up about it. Of course, what Silas was really trying to say was that he sleeps in a "toddler bed" instead of his crib now. But we are having fun joking around with the boys about Silas's tiger butt, thanks to Grandpa Jim.

Two chances

2008-08-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

I know I'm overdue for a post with any real substance, I just haven't had the time to commit to the blog lately, but in the meantime, here's another great quote from Joel.

Yesterday, Silas was asking for something at dinner time, and I wasn't sure what he was saying. It sounded like "Shocks". So Silas would say, "Daddy, shocks." I responded, "Shots? You want shots, what do you mean?" Silas smiled amiably and said, "No, shocks!" Joel then asked, "Socks?" I said, "Good idea, Joel, do you want socks, Silas?" Then Silas got very upset and said "NOOOOOO, Daddy, SHOCKS!" Joel then resignedly said, "I guess we only get two chances."

Later, Jorie cleared up the confusion by pointing out that Silas had brought home a "Shrek" toy from Grandma's house and that was what he was asking for. D'oh!

Another one Joel said a few days ago, "When I grow up, am I gonna have to marry Silas?" We made sure to clear that confusion right up! Although, I can see why a little kid would come to that conclusion. He thinks Mommy and Daddy are about the same age, they live together, they got married. The other two people living together here are Joel and Silas, so... yeah a lot of things wrong with that picture, but hey that's how kids sort through this stuff.

More Dillboy Quotes

2008-08-24T14:19:00.000-07:00

Joel overheard Jorie telling me about how lousy she used to feel when she got sinus infections. Joel asked, "How did you get a science collection?"

Joel is about to start preschool this coming week, and Silas said, "I don't want Joel to go to school." Joel replied, "Don't you want Daddy all to yourself?"

Joel came downstairs when I had a baseball game on, and he asked, "Is this the Cubs or the Bears?" He's still learning how to play the games, but he knows which teams I watch.

Enjoy some Gymnastics

2008-08-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

Tired of watching little 12-year old Chinese girls dominate the gymnastics competition? Here's something completely different. I'm proud to say he's an Illinois alum, too.

Link to Gymnast video

Also, I have to include a quick quote from Joel from last night:

"Mommy, I'll never outgrow hugs and kisses."

Olympic Commentary

2008-08-13T08:49:00.000-07:00

Is everybody enjoying the Olympics? We haven't had much time to watch a lot of the events, but I have managed to Tivo a few, and we did catch the Men's Swimming 4x100m relay, which was one of the best Olympic moments in history. Seriously, it's up there with Kerri Strug sticking a vault landing on a broken ankle. If you didn't see it (or even if you did) check out this video. I found this especially cool with the British announcers.

D'oh! The video link I posted is now broken, due to copyright violation. Try searching YouTube for "Mens Swimming 4x100 Beijing" if you want to see it.

So there's greatness in the Olympics but there's some real duds too. Is synchronized diving the lamest event ever or what? Why is that an event? Of all the things to synchronize, why diving? They're standing right next to each other, counting to 3, and jumping into a pool. Anyone can do that. Synchronized pole vaulting, now there's an event. One bar, two guys, two poles, go for it. That's what I want to see, now that would be impressive to me. And what's up with beach volleyball? How did that get past the Olympic committee? No matter how hard I try, I can't imagine ancient Greeks playing beach volleyball.

More updates on the boys coming soon.

Joel is serious about cleaning

2008-08-08T12:32:00.000-07:00

Lately, Joel is very intense about wanting to clean up after himself. It's really great, as I have picked up more toys in the past couple years than I ever thought possible. Last night, after cleaning up all the toys in the basement and putting them neatly away in their bins and on shelves, Joel proclaimed, "This is for display only. All of these toys here, this is only for display." I told him his friends that were coming to play the next day would be sad if they couldn't play with his toys and he said, "Well, we can let them play with the display, but only for tomorrow."

That's Joel's tough guy look

This is Kylie, from two doors down. She frequently helps Jorie out by watching the boys during the day, so Jorie can get things done. Joel and Silas LOVE when Kylie comes over and it is awesome having her live so close.

Mark's Random thoughts of the day: There are two phrases that need to go away. They drive me nuts every time I hear them.

"He needs to get untracked" -- if you've watched sports the past couple years, you've probably heard analysts say this far too often. I am convinced this started from a mistakenly heard "on track". Some moron started saying "untracked" and it somehow caught on and spread like a virus. I understand the logic, they're trying to say he needs to break out of his rut, but then say "rut". Being on track is a GOOD thing, so to get untracked means you're going off the rails, i.e. a BAD thing! Bob Brenley in the Cubs broadcast booth uses this all the time, unfortunately, but I'm sure I'll hear it even more during football season.

"We covet your prayers" -- ugh, this one really bothers me because a lot of people whom I respect actually use it, I guess because they have heard others use it and it's one of those Christian phrases that sounds good. But let's examine the word "covet" for a moment. Here's a listing of every use of "covet" in the Bible:

All verses with covet

Do you notice anything about that list? Every use of "covet" is a BAD thing. It is never used positively. The word, when literally translated, may mean "desire", but it definitely has a negative connotation in Scripture. So when people tell me "we covet your prayers" it sounds to me like they are saying, "We have an unhealthy compulsive desire for you to pray for us." And that just squicks me out.

Silas quotes

2008-08-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

Silas is talking more and more lately. He is a little hard to understand, but his grammar and sentence structure is amazing for a 2-year old. Here's some sentences he has said just in the last couple days.

"Whoah! That was the biggest wave I've ever seen in my whole life." (poor kid really needs to see the ocean, he said this in the bath tub)

"Here it is, Joel, I found it in your room."

He also is still our drama champ. If he's telling us about how something is cold, he does this little wide-eyed shiver that is hilarious. The other night, I noticed he was practicing his "BL" sound (this is how serious he is about speech, he goes around practicing specific sounds) and I said, "Good, Silas, can you say 'blue' for me?" He looked at me, grinned, and said as clear as day, "Bluetooth." No idea where he picked that up, I certainly don't go around saying "Bluetooth" very often.

Side note: please don't wear your bluetooth earpiece when you are not on the phone. I have seen this at the gym, at church, at restaurants, at parks, etc. Please, just don't. Are you really going to take a call during the morning sermon? If so, you have issues. The ONLY acceptable places for wearing one of these borg implant-looking devices are working at your desk or driving a car. Anywhere else and you just look like a HUGE DORK.

Here's Silas being dramatic

I know Joel has said a million funny things lately, but the problem is he talks so much, I can't remember the few particular hilarious things that he says. I need to get better about writing stuff down that Joel says so that they can survive long enough in my head to make it onto the blog. Joel still frequently says, "Put that down on the blog!" whenever something funny comes up -- now I just have to start listening to him.

Flashback - May travels

2008-07-31T07:03:00.000-07:00

OK so I admit I am not a very consistent blogger. I will try to improve! Since I work on the computer all day supporting Hewitt web apps, I don't often feel like signing on after hours to post to my blog, unfortunately. But I will try to get better about squeezing in blogging sessions here and there.

During one of my blogging hiatuses (hiatii?), we went on a whole bunch of weekend trips during the month of May. So I thought I'd back up a bit and post some quick pics and videos from back then.

Our first weekend trip was a visit back to the Chicago area for Jorie to help lead a Premier training session. We stayed in Deerfield at the Hyatt thanks to an awesome deal we got on Hotwire. I think it was about $50/night - at the Hyatt! Anyway, we also met up with Jason and Roxanne and Annikah for our very last Chicago visit with them. :(

The kids had a great time at the Kohl's children's museum. Silas and Annikah were, as usual, extremely cute together. After the museum, we went to JayRox's place for some hanging out at the beach and park, some Chicago pizza, a little Mario Kart Wii, and watching the kids chase each other around their condo like wild animals. It was hard to imagine that things would never quite be like that again, since JayRox are heading off to Africa. If you're not already following along with their journey on their blog, I highly recommend you check it out. Jason's got a great story about going to see the new Batman movie in Kenya in one of their recent posts too.

Funny quote from Silas during this trip: Joel and Silas met a boy at a park and Joel asked what his name was. The boy said, "Mark, M-A-R-K." Joel and Silas looked at each other with shocked expressions and then Silas looked at us and shouted, "His name is Daddy!"

After Joel bought this macaroni and was "checking out" at the little cash registers, Silas started piling Joel's macaroni back into the cart. Joel shouted, "Hey! I already paid for that!"

The next weekend, we drove down to Nashville for the Lauer cousins reunion. It was a great time of reconnecting, sharing goofy stories, swimming, and eating way too much. Jim and Rhoda graciously watched the kids all weekend so that made traveling, especially the loooong drive from Cedar Rapids to Nashville, much more manageable.

Everyone enjoying their "Five Guys" burgers

Tessa and Evan, Jorie's youngest cousins. Evan is the same age as Joel.

Then, the weekend after that, we headed to Des Moines for the Dam to Dam half marathon. I ran it, along with Jim (father-in-law), Justin (bro-in-law), and Roxanne (sis-in-law). Also, several other friends from our church ran in it as well. Although I didn't do as well as I had hoped, I think it was overall a positive experience for me and I hope to train and run in another half marathon someday and run a much steadier pace. Here's the changes I'll be making for my next run: (these are good tips for all you aspiring runners out there)

1. Sleeping pills - I was a bundle of nervous energy the night before the race. Add that to the strange bed, noise of the city outside, and snoring Silas in the same room, and I only got about 3 hours of sleep before the race. Ugh.

2. Better prep for training runs - I planned very carefully what sort of things I wanted to eat and what sort of things I should avoid eating in the days leading up to the race. I put no such thought into the days before my long training runs, and as a result, my training was not as effective as it should have been. Particularly my final training run, which I ran while in Nashville. I had spicy Jerk chicken the night before at this awesome little Caribbean restaurant. Unfortunately, my digestive system did not think it was so awesome, and it pretty much ruined my final training run. It was supposed to be a breeze of a 10-miler and it ended up being an 8 mile struggle with many pit stops throughout.

3. Train on hills - All my training runs were flat, with the exception of one time I went out and purposefully ran in a hilly area. I should have been doing that once a week. Just before I got to mile 10, I was feeling great and I felt like I could run the rest of the race at a good pace. Then I hit mile 10, and there was a steady uphill climb from mile 10 to mile 11 and it totally drained me.

4. Don't start out at your fastest training pace - Justin specifically warned me about this, but I messed it up anyway. He said, "Run the first half of the race at a very comfortable pace, then if you are feeling strong, you can pick it up and go a little faster in the second half." This is GOOD advice and I recognized at the time that it was good advice, but I still didn't follow it. I tried to run at my fastest pace I had ever gone on one of my long training runs, (about 8:40 per mile) and hold it for the whole race. With better training, and more sleep, I might have been able to do it. But on race day, all it meant was that I had a great first half of the race, and a horrible struggle for the second half. I had to take several walking breaks throughout the second half of the race and even when I ran, it was probably no faster than a 10 minute pace.

So, hopefully, I'll follow my own advice and have a much better run next time. I definitely want to run another half marathon, and I know I am NOT ready to attempt a full marathon yet until I can feel great about how I finish a half.

Animals Invade our Yard

2008-07-03T13:46:00.000-07:00

We have had all kinds of crazy wildlife sightings around here lately, right in our yard. We have some kind of berry trees that dropped all their berries in mid-June, both in our front yard and back yard and we have been seeing all kinds of animals hanging out and enjoying the free food.

I first spotted a raccoon while mowing the lawn one night. I was shocked it actually came out into the open while I was mowing, and only about 25 feet away. It must have really wanted those berries. Raccoons aren't all that unusual around here, but this was just the beginning.

The oddest thing that we've seen in our yard, and he's been back several times, is this large wild turkey. We got to see him take off and fly for a short distance right down the middle of our street too. Who knew turkeys could fly? (I guess Les Nessman was right after all -- see if anybody catches that reference, leave a comment if you know what I'm talking about) It didn't look like it could keep it up very long though, looked like hard work.

A few days later, we spotted a good-sized deer. It was a buck with medium-sized antlers. He seems to be a bit of a loner though, as we haven't seen him with any herd. He is actually our most frequent visitor, but we haven't managed to get any pictures of him, as he always decided to dash off just as we pull out the camera.

UPDATE: Got pics and a video of our deer friend, who we have nicknamed "Bucky". Or sometimes, "Bucky the Vampire Slayer". And he does indeed always come out at dusk.

Our last visitor likes to hang out in our yard for hours and just sit and munch away. It's this guy:
He really makes me want to start constructing little animals out of C-4. (that's an easier one, I think -- it's not just a blog, it's a pop-culture quiz!)

Joel is 4!

2008-07-02T08:06:00.000-07:00

Joel turned 4 on June 25th and we enjoyed several birthday celebrations throughout the week. The first party was at Grandpa John's house, with my extended families. My dad went all out with great food from the grill and a Thomas cake for Joel with a little train that actually chugged around on top of the cake. The cake was a big hit with Joel and Silas, as were the presents he got from Grandpa and Uncle Tim and his great Grandmas and Grandpa. When Joel opened a card that had a dollar bill inside, he was really excited to be receiving actual paper money. After that, whenever he opened a card, he'd say "No dollar" then immediately close it back up. At first, I thought, "Oh great, he has the wrong attitude about birthday cards already." But then I realized that if you can't READ yet, opening your own birthday cards isn't too exciting, and really, that dollar bill is the best hope you got for something interesting. So I cut him some slack.

Silas and Great Grandpa Leo were very cute together

We had a mini-celebration at Jorie's Aunt and Uncle's house for Joel, where we broke open a "Cars" pinata. The kids loved it, but the pinata proved a bit too tough to break for the little guys, so Uncle Jason finally destroyed it with one powerful blow. Unfortunately, our camera was out of batteries at this point, but if I get some pictures or videos from others who were there (hint hint) I will post them later.

On Wednesday night, Joel's actual birthday, we brought the boys to their favorite destination, the Iowa City Mall and Children's Museum. When we got there, we were disappointed to learn that the museum closes at 6pm on weekdays and it was already 5:55! Ouch! But we took the kids inside and let them play for about 10 minutes, and then we went to the food court to have dinner. The kids ended up having a blast doing other things at the mall, like riding the carousel and playing at the kids' climbing area they have there, so it wasn't a huge deal that the museum closed early. We promised we'd come back another time when we could have more time to check out the museum. They have a new dinosaur exhibit which looked very cool and which I'm sure the boys will have a great time exploring in more depth.

Digging for fossils at the Dinosaur exhibit

Silas loved riding with Stuart Little

Joel is piloting the helicopter

After the mall, we picked up a special birthday cookie treat and came back home and Joel got to open some presents from us.

Finally, on Friday Joel had his first real kids' birthday party, (this is birthday celebration number 4, if you're keeping track) where he invited a bunch of his friends and they got to play at the PlayStation here in Cedar Rapids for a couple hours. The PlayStation is like a McDonald's playplace on steroids and the kids all totally loved running around inside of it, jumping in the balls, sliding down the slides, and basically bouncing off the walls the entire time. Grandpa Jim, Grandma Rhoda, and Aunt Annie and Uncle Justin also came to this party and they enjoyed seeing Joel and Silas and their friends interacting. Annie and Justin will soon be joining us in the land of little kids, with baby Schumacher on the way! We are very excited for them! Annie has also started a blog, so please check it out if you want to follow along with baby Shoe's progress.

The room is all set up, and the boys are anxiously waiting for the party to begin

Joel chose "Cars" as the party theme this year and we got this great cake at Hyvee

The ball pit was one of the highlights of the PlayStation for the kids. These things are pretty rare, nowadays, and I know why! I used to clean the ball pit weekly at Great Odyssey in Carol Stream when I worked there and it was a major pain! We had a huge vacuum that would suck up all the balls into bags made of netting, and then the bags had to be run through another machine that would clean them. It sounds pretty automated, but there were always problems with jams, and the whole process took several hours.

Present opening time was pretty much complete chaos. I think it always is at this age.

And finally, the big present of the week for Joel:

The Neuzils come to town

2008-05-30T09:32:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago, our friends from our old church in Libertyville were in Iowa, and we got to spend a couple of fun days catching up with them. On Friday we went to the children's museum in Coralville and met Dale and Alissa, along with their son Jake, who is about Joel's age, and their twin girls Amy and Mya.

The kids had a blast playing together of course, and the museum (and the mall) is always fun for them. On Saturday, they came over to our house and the boys played together all afternoon. It was a beautiful day, so we got to take them outside for a while too, and we all went exploring in the little bit of woods by our house.

Here we are in the Lego room. See what Joel has chosen to play with? That's me, trying not to worry. Heh, just kidding around of course.

Jake has chosen to play with a more masculine toy. Joel doesn't care, he wants the princess castle. (more pictures that Joel will love when he gets older -- "DAD, why did you let me play with THAT?")

Amy and Mya are very cute and also very GOOD, which I'm sure is a major blessing to Dale and Alissa, given that there are TWO of them. I can't even imagine having two Silas's running around here -- total mayhem. The girls took good naps on both days we visited with Dale and Alissa and they seemed to be fairly in sync with their sleeping/eating schedules, but still, we could tell Dale and Alissa always have their hands full.

More pics and vids with Annikah

2008-05-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

Here is some more entertainment from Annikah's visit to Iowa. (This is going back several weeks now - as usual I have some catching up to do)

I'm sure the kids are just gonna LOVE all these pictures of them kissing their cousin when they get older. (note: sarcasm)

I love Anni's expression here. I imagine her saying, with a sing-song voice, "You'll never guess what I did!"

Happy May Day

2008-05-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

Hola! This site is long overdue for an update, so here goes!

We've finished another busy month here in Iowa. Jorie had 11 jewelry shows in April, so things have been a bit crazy around here. So much for a PART-time job with Premier, but it is a good thing that business is booming, since summer is often a slower time. Fortunately for us, Silas has been getting over his ultra-dramatic stage the last couple weeks. It looks like he just got some huge molars that came in on top, so I think the teething was contributing to his lousy mood and oh-so-frequent tantrums. I've been busy too, with training for a half marathon. I am running the Dam-to-Dam in Des Moines the first Saturday in June. I've been steadily increasing the distance of my runs for the past 2 months or so. This weekend, I'll be running 9 miles!

Here's Joel and Silas playing at the playplace in Iowa City Mall. This is currently the most requested destination around here. Mainly because the Children's museum is there, but they do have lots of other cool stuff like a Carousel, an Ice Rink, and this kids' Play Area.

Cousin Annikah has been visiting us frequently this week, since she is staying with Grandma & Grandpa while Jason & Roxanne are on vacation. A week in the Caribbean with no kids - yes, we are jealous. Watching Annikah and Silas interact is always a blast. Silas loves to give hugs and kisses - Anni puts up with him for a while, but eventually she's like "Enough is enough, man!" We are sad that Anni will soon be moving to Africa for so long, since Jason and Roxanne will be going to the mission field. It is really hard to imagine her growing up through the toddler years and missing out on it. But hopefully we can do some online chats so the kids will still feel like they have a relationship.

Silas has been amusing lately with some cute antics. One thing we discovered is that he really is quite the little thespian. We tell him to do "Poor Silas" and he makes this pitiful face and says "Poor Silas" in a mournful tone, and then he can immediately switch back to laughing hysterically. One night around the dinner table we were all trying to do "Poor Silas" but we were laughing so much none of the rest of us could do it without cracking up. But Silas can throw a switch and go from laughing to pretend-crying and back again very convincingly and it is quite hilarious. He also likes to suddenly shout, "Oh no! A monster!" while he and Joel are playing and then he goes racing around the room waving his hands over his head and laughing like a loon. Pure silliness.

The boys showing off their new shark raincoats
A few weeks ago, the boys got to meet Bob and Larry at the local Christian bookstore. Silas was terrified, as you can see him clutching me in the picture, but Joel was cautiously interested. He said Larry made him nervous though, because he was "even bigger than Daddy".

Hot tubbin' with Grandma Rho

Put that on the blog!

2008-04-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

That's what Joel has been telling me over and over lately, so I guess I'd better do it, before all this stuff falls out of my head. In Joel's own words, "Whenever something is funny or cool, you need to put that on the blog." This comes up even with fairly mundane things that I would never include, for fear of boring all 3 of my faithful readers to death. For example, I pointed out one of Joel's baby carrots he was munching on and said, "Look at that one, Joel, now that is a fat baby carrot." He laughed and said, "Fat baby carrot?! You should put that on the blog!"

Joel actually told a pretty funny joke the other night, although I guess it was more of an impression. We were all munching on popsicles for a treat, and Joel and I were joking around about how the popsicles make you feel cold, but being near the fireplace or wearing socks makes you feel hot. (Joel is always taking off his socks and saying, "I was hot") Silas was listening in too, and he piped up and said, "Silas, hot!" We chuckled and then Joel imitated Silas's intonation and said, "Joel, cold!" (Silas refers to himself in 3rd person, typical for a two-year-old, but Joel has long since grown out of that phase) Hey, for a 3-year-old, that is pretty sophisticated humor. I laughed a lot, anyway, and so did the boys.

Here's Silas with his kitty that he now carries almost everywhere. (This was a gift from Great Grandma Leo from a while back) He calls her meow-meow and she goes with him to the gym, the mall, the park, on car rides, etc.

Joel loves knock-knock jokes, but he doesn't understand what makes them funny. He enjoys the ones Jorie and I tell, where the words actually make a new and unexpected phrase, but he also enjoys completely nonsensical ones. Example of a Joel knock-knock joke:
Knock-knock.
Who's there?
Candle.
Candle who?
Candle refrigerator! Haha-haha-ha!

My favorite knock knock joke: (I think it's from South Park?)
Knock-knock.
Who's there?
Interrupting cow.
Interrupting co--
MOOOOOOO! (Trust me, it's hilarious out loud)

A really cute thing I have noticed about Silas is that he is extremely polite. (When he's not having a tantrum, that is) He will say "thank-you" for anything you give him, even if it is intangible, like information or even a diaper change. After a diaper change, he says, "Thank you, Mommy!" And often he'll find me and ask me, "Jo-jo!?" (translation: "Where's Joel?") I'll say, "Joel is in the kitchen." Silas will respond, "Thank-you, Daddy!"

Cedar Rapids held an Easter Egg hunt at the mall and the boys had a blast. This was taken just before the doors opened.

Gotta brag about Joel's genius here for a minute, so please excuse me for going into bragging-Dad mode. The other night, Joel and I were working on puzzles, which is one of Joel's favorite new activities. These are little 35-piece puzzles which we can assemble quickly, so Joel likes to do a few before bedtime most nights. He likes to "race" me where we each work on a puzzle and see who is faster. Even if I work my fastest, he is often about 80% done when I finish. Anyway, the other night, I thought I'd show him how we could make the puzzle a lot harder. I disassembled it and turned over all the pieces, so we could not see the picture. I started explaining to Joel how we could solve it by finding the corners and the edges and figuring out which pieces fit together. While I was talking, I was finding some pieces that fit together. After a minute or so, I had about eight pieces connected, in several clumps, and I looked over at Joel to see what he was doing. I was shocked to see a perfect rectangle of 6 pieces (all middle pieces - no edges) that he had assembled without looking at the pictures. I'm still not sure how he did that.

Some other random quotes:

Joel recently asked this question: "Why don't Grandma and Grandpa have a baby?"

I was asking Silas about his doctor visit, and I asked him if the doctor listened to his tummy with a stethoscope. Joel suddenly piped up, "I'm listening to my tummy with a golden graham!" Sure enough, he was holding a golden graham against his tummy with one finger.

The other night, Jorie was telling Joel about how the shamrock plants (she got one somewhere around St. Patrick's day) close up at night and she said, "They know how to go to sleep." Joel replied, "They go to sleep without any stories?" Awww, poor plants, no bedtime stories for them.

Our family on Easter morning. We enjoyed an excellent brunch at Grandma Rhoda's after the morning church service.

New word for Silas

2008-03-06T08:57:00.001-08:00

Silas is talking a lot more these days. Not quite sentences, but 3-4 word combos are not too uncommon for him. Here's a funny little exchange I had with him this morning.

Me: Silas, is that a monkey?

Silas: No, Daddy, chimp!

And the other day he found some black crumbs on the floor in the living room. He picked a few up, brought them to show to Jorie, and said, "Mouse! Mouse poop!" He must have been paying attention when we first moved in. (for those who were not aware, yes, we had a mouse - I captured it in a garbage can and chucked it into the woods)

Meltdown Day

2008-03-06T07:55:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we had temps in the 60's, so we had a good time in the afternoon getting out and enjoying the warm weather. The snow and ice was melting into rivers and streams flowing down our street. I chopped away the ice from around our driveway so that the river of melting ice could flow past our house and on into the storm drain. Silas loved splashing in the puddles and throwing leaves into the streams to watch them flow down the street. Joel loved throwing big ice chunks into the street, where'd they break up, and eventually melt.

However, this was NOT why I called this post "Meltdown Day". You see, Silas is taking this "terrible two's" thing quite seriously. We've been seeing this face a lot around here:

So this past Sunday, we headed off to New Covenant for church and as soon as Jorie walked in with Silas, he started screaming. He was completely inconsolable. This is very strange for him, as both he and Joel have always been very good about going and playing in church nursery, or at the gym, or preschool, or anywhere really. We've been blessed to have no real struggles with separation anxiety. But Silas had made up his mind, he was not going in there without a fight. Jorie had an idea - let's try putting him in Joel's class. The teachers were OK with this, so we decided to try it, and at first it seemed to work as Silas was happily playing with the 3-year-olds. But as soon as he looked over his shoulder and got the idea that we were leaving it was back to the screaming. So we didn't know what to do. We couldn't leave him in the nursery screaming (even if we'd wanted to, it was clear from the workers' attitude that it was not an option). So we admitted defeat, had to pull Joel out of his class, and headed home. Such a bummer. But Silas has good days, too, and we know this phase of temper tantrums will pass.

Here are some pics of the boys enjoying the nice weather.

It's snow fun in Iowa!

2008-03-04T12:56:00.000-08:00

Hope you enjoyed that terrible pun, I couldn't resist. Just some more pics and vids of the boys enjoying the arctic state of Iowa. That reminds me, there was a day during the week last week when the sun was shining and it felt warm and pleasant. I was driving around town with my sunroof open and it felt so nice. When I got home, I checked the temperature - 20 degrees! I fear my internal thermostat has been irreparably damaged by this Iowa winter. It seriously felt nice and warm to me.

The shoveling discharge piles (well, what do YOU call 'em?) at the ends of our driveway have gotten so huge, we were able to make a mini sled run out of it.

I also had fun building this:

These next pictures are from this past Friday. See, told you I'd catch up!

Since the snow was packing better now, we decided to build a more respectable snowman. Unfortunately, we were unable to locate an eye and the hat, so we ended up with this.

Back in Grayslake

2008-03-03T13:06:00.000-08:00

OK, so I'm falling behind in my blogging a bit, as what I'm about to post happened 3 weeks ago, but I promise I'll try to catch up. The weekend after Silas's birthday, we went back to Grayslake to visit our friends and the boys' friends too. James and Amy Tanner were very gracious hosts, letting us crash at their place and even letting Joel and Silas use Elizabeth's room. We even ended up staying a day longer than planned as Iowa got hit with a huge snow/ice storm and I-80 and I-380 were basically shut down on Sunday.

Here's Elizabeth, Joel, and Silas having fun building with KAPLA blocks. Check out Joel's outfit - Pajamas, tennis shoes, and a burger king crown. You gotta love it. Don't you wish you could still dress this way and get away with it?

Silas is hangin' with the ladies here, Elizabeth and Ella.

Jorie went to visit our friend Alissa, who had just given birth to identical twin girls. Silas loved the babies and he couldn't resist trying out the bouncer and sticking both fingers up his nose. Lovely pose, Silas!

We couldn't resist driving by the old homestead a few times while in town, but safe to say, we are very happy to be in our new Iowa home.

On the way home from our trip, Monday night, we were amazed to see how many cars were in the ditches and in the median along the highways in Iowa. We started trying to count, but quickly lost track when we started passing 10+ car pileups. It was seriously insane. We'd pass a slick spot and then a little hill and then we'd see a spot on the side of the road where tons of cars had gone off and just slammed into one another over and over. I'm very glad we made the decision to stay in Grayslake Sunday night.

As it turned out, we didn't make it all the way home Monday either. The roads were getting a little icy and Silas woke up near the I-80 truckstop and did NOT want to go back in his car seat. So our choices were either strap him in and try to drive through the icy conditions at midnight with a screaming 2-year-old, or we could stay in a hotel. Being of the masculine persuasion, of course I wanted to press on at first, but eventually I consented and decided it was worth it to leave in the morning. And HOLY COW the roads were still really bad on I-380 (between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids) so it's a good thing we waited. The ice was so thick and bumpy on the highway, we had to slow down to 20 mph for long stretches. That would have been tougher to do safely at night and with no other traffic on the roads. But in the morning, it was no problem. And there were STILL cars going off the road, even that Tuesday morning we saw people getting stuck in the median. But we made it, safe and sound! Hopefully spring will come soon, as I have had it with snow and ice and shoveling and cold and BLEH!

A very veggie birthday!

2008-02-25T13:32:00.000-08:00

Silas is now 2! And we had a very nice family birthday party for him. It was great that Grandpa John and Uncle Tim got to come out and visit for a couple days and be here for Silas's birthday, too.

As you'll see from the pictures, the theme was VeggieTales and Jorie went all out, with a VeggieTales cake, VeggieTales invitations, VeggieTales party favors, VeggieTales gifts, Veggie-colored plates and balloons, and even a Veggie Tray. Ha! The boys even got Larry and Bob shirts, which we bought off E-bay. Silas has been asking for a "Bob" birthday party for months now, and I think all his wildest dreams have came true with the actual event.

While Grandpa John and Uncle Tim were here, they helped Joel and Silas build a snowman in the front yard. Unfortunately, the snow wasn't packing too well, so it ended up being a midget alien snowman. Still very cute!

Pictures from the latest blizzard

2008-02-07T14:13:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from the most recent snowstorm, since I talked about it in my last post, but didn't include any actual pictures. Turns out we got 17 inches of snow in about 24 hours.

I included these last two to show off the height of my snow shoveling accumulation piles. That's gotta be some kinda record.

Enough with the snow already!

2008-02-06T08:10:00.000-08:00

I think we picked the wrong winter to move to Iowa. This has been one crazy season of snow. I'm sure we're breaking records for snowfall. We got another FOOT last night. Yeah, I said FOOT. See pictures below.

These pictures are actually from January - we have even more snow now.
The kids like to ride their trikes in the driveway despite the cold and snow. I guess they are looking forward to spring.

So, I hope everybody enjoyed that Superbowl. I loved seeing the mighty Patriots go down. I've never liked Belicheck and I can't stand how the media constantly labels him a genius, when all he is is a grumpy sourpuss cheater. Congrats to the Giants and to the NFC for finally producing a Superbowl champ! (5 years since the Tampa Bay Bucs won - wow) Hopefully the Bears can get back on track next year. They still have a lot of talent on their team - too much to miss the playoffs again. They just need a little O-line help and oh, yeah, some consistent QB play. Is that too much to ask?

We actually almost missed the Superbowl, due to an adventure we had on the way to our friend's Superbowl party. We got a lot of snow the afternoon before the Superbowl and we were considering just staying home instead of going to the party, but I thought it would be fun to go, so we loaded up in the car and set off through the unplowed snow. And the roads didn't really seem all that bad, as long as you stayed in the grooves the other cars had made. But I guess the roads got a little worse as we got farther away from the city and I didn't really notice. Suddenly I found my right side tires were in about two inches of snow, and as I tried to steer back to the left to get back in the grooves, the car wasn't moving left. So I steered a little more, still plowing snow, getting a little worried now. So I steered a little more and suddenly it found a little traction and jerked to the left. A little too far to the left because next thing I knew, we went into a spin. All I could think of as the car spun around at about 45 mph was those two little boys in the back seat. I thought about what could happen after we left the road - would we hit something? would we flip? All I could do was pray the boys would be OK. Fortunately, God was protecting us, because we went off in a very safe spot - a shallow ditch with a big drift of nice soft snow. We came to a pretty soft stop, actually. Silas immediately started crying, as he knew something had gone wrong, but Joel just asked, "Why did we stop? Why did you drive off the road, Daddy?"

Another huge blessing was that Delane, the host of our Superbowl party, has a big truck and towing chains so he was able to come pull us out of the ditch, and we didn't have to pay a tow truck to do it. The car was mostly OK, but since we went off the road facing backwards, the snow piled up underneath the front bumper and popped it right off the car. So there is some repair work to be done for that, and I think we're going to need snow tires on at least one of our vehicles. These all-season tires are a joke if you're in serious snow. Maybe before next winter.

The kids hanging out at the Superbowl party. Joel proudly wore his Urlacher jersey. Silas proudly picked his nose.

So, besides all the snow and sliding into a ditch, what else have we been up to? Jorie and I had a nice little getaway weekend at a Premier Designs rally in January. The boys did very well staying at Grandma's house for a couple nights. We also recently became members at the Children's Museum, which is at Coralville mall. (about 20 minutes south) This allows us to bring the boys as often as we want, for free! The great thing is, the membership is good for Children's museums across the entire country AND we can bring two guests for free too, so we can visist Children's museums whenever we travel for free, and bring our friends. Naperville and Chicago both have Children's museums that we hope to visit soon! Come with us and get in for free! Free is always good.

Joel says his favorite room at the museum is the construction room, which is really designed for older kids, but he loves working with the tools and bolting pieces of wood onto the house frame. Both Silas and Joel of course love the room with the giant train table and all the Thomas trains. Actually, we haven't even been to every room of the museum yet, since we have the membership, we don't feel the need to rush through everything and squeeze it all into one day, so we let the boys decide how long to stay in each area.

We've gotten a little more plugged into a church here, called "New Covenant". We went to an ABF class this past Sunday for couple with small children and it was excellent, so we are excited to feel like we might have found our church home. They have very good children's programs at this church too, which was important to us. Plus, we feel like we've made some friends, from the New Year's party we attended. Jorie has hung out with some of the girls and their kids a few times (the first trip to the Children's museum was a mom's day out) and we are planning to start up a Bible study group with a few couples too, so that will be a great time to get to know some people here better.

Joel's new bunkbed has a double bed on the bottom, so of course all the boys had to try it out.

Play-doh time! One of our favorite activities.

Christmas festivities

2008-01-16T09:17:00.000-08:00

Joel's Pre-school did a very cute Christmas program. It was amazing how many songs these 3 year old kids were able to learn. And Joel did a great job with the songs and the motions. He was one of the few kids actually singing and doing the right motions to nearly every song. I skipped out of work for an hour (vacation time) to go see the program and it was well worth it. Just another benefit of working from home, as that would never have worked without my arrangement.

We had a family reunion scheduled with Jorie's Mom's family in Lake Geneva, WI, the weekend before Christmas. With the kids continuing to be sick, we weren't sure if we were going to make it. Silas was really the one who was sick the week before the trip, but he seemed to be getting better and it looked like the timing was going to be perfect for the reunion. Then, just as Silas got better, Joel came down with the same stomach flu bug that Silas had just gotten over. So we decided that we weren't going to make it to the reunion. This was extremely frustrating to me, as it seemed that our lives had been put on hold for nearly two months, since the the kids had been sick pretty much non-stop since the beginning of November. And now we weren't going to be able to attend a huge family event. Total bummer.

So then on Saturday, Joel seemed to be feeling a little better, and Annie called us and said that everyone really wanted us to try to come to the reunion, even if Joel was still a little under the weather. So, at the spur of the moment, we decided to go for it. We threw together our stuff in about an hour, got everyone bundled into the van and took off around 4:30pm on Saturday. Just one problem - a snowstorm had started at about 3:00 pm and now we were in the thick of it. And it was BAD driving conditions, about as bad as it can get - lots of snow and some freezing rain too. But we made it to Dubuque, IA, and after that it was just rain throughout Wisconsin.

So we made it to the reunion, 1 day late, and had a good time catching up with family and joining in on games and the variety show and the kids had a blast playing with their extended-family cousins. Joel especially liked playing with the older boys, Jack and Grayson, and Silas loved playing with the littler ones, Annikah and Trevor.

Joel was hilarious at the variety show. We wanted him to go up and recite a few poems he had learned, but he was shy at first. But once he heard his voice in the microphone, he turned into a little performance artist! He didn't want to give up the mic. He loved entertaining the crowd, and he even added an extra poem that we hadn't planned on him reciting, just because he wanted to keep going.

So the reunion was fun and we were very glad we made it. Unfortunately, it was freezing outside and there was hardly any snow in Lake Geneva, so we couldn't really do any outdoor activities. On Monday, we headed back to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Christmas morning, Joel and Silas were very excited to open lots of presents. They received plenty of Thomas the Train toys, some new movies, pajamas, and books too.
Later during the day on Christmas, we put together a Gingerbread house, which Joel really enjoyed. He was very proud of his decorating job.

The Dillmii's

2008-01-03T11:47:00.000-08:00

On the Nintendo Wii, you can make these cool little cartoon characters by choosing different facial features, face shapes, colors, etc. It's a heck of a lot of fun. Here's our little family pic, Wii-style.

Aaaand, here's the cast of Seinfeld. Yeah, I have too much fun with these things.

More Sledding

2008-01-02T09:06:00.000-08:00

I am shamelessly stealing this from Roxanne's blog. This is a video of several of us sledding in Grandpa's backyard.

Yes, I broke the sled. Luckily, the store took it back and replaced it with a new one - yay Hyvee! I love Jason's comment after his crash: "It didn't work."

Roxanne has been a huge help with helping me figure out how to post videos on the blog, but the hangup right now is that our camera records in a format that is not supported by Windows Movie Maker (quicktime - bleh), so I have to figure out if I can record in something else so I can edit the videos before posting them. Wish me luck, I know videos are the best.

Videos!!

2007-12-31T06:55:00.001-08:00

Silas sings Jingle Bells with Grandpa.

This was Joel's intro to sledding, in Grandpa's backyard, where Uncles Jason and Justin sculpted out a nice toboggan run.

Some quickie quotes from Joel

2007-12-31T06:45:00.001-08:00

OK, I know I have tons of blog stuff to catch up on, (preschool Christmas program, JIMIL reunion, Christmas in Iowa, etc) but for now I just have a few quick Joel quotes to share with you.

First one is my favorite: "When I wash my hands, it feels like I have to go to the bathroom. That doesn't make any sense!" That's just the way it is, kid, no one knows why.

After the boys slept over at Grandma's, (Mommy and Daddy got to go to a grownup party - whoop!) not realizing Aunties and Uncles were sleeping over there too, Aunt Roxanne emerged from the basement in the morning and Joel said with shock, "Hey, where'd you come from?"

Jorie found a game that Joel wanted to play, but it required marbles, which we don't have. Jorie explained to Joel the plans for the morning, "Daddy has to work and I'm going to bring you over to Grandma's house to play." Joel replied with exasperation, "But who will go to the marble store?!"

Thanksgiving in Iowa

2007-12-06T06:44:00.001-08:00

We had a very nice Thanksgiving. Grandpa John and Uncle Tim came out to visit us at our new house, their first visit since the initial moving day. We all joined Jorie's parents for Thanksgiving dinner at their house just down the block. Jorie's Grandma and Grandpa Engstrom were able to come out from Milwaukee and join us too, so it was a nice full table for Thanksgiving at the Engstrom house.

It couldn't have worked out better with the kids. We went over to Jim and Rhoda's around 1 and after playing for a little bit there, Joel and Silas were both ready to take a nap, just in time for us to have dinner. Now, I'm sure some of you (maybe those without kids or those who have forgotten how crazy toddlers can be at the dinner table) are thinking, "Oh, that's too bad, Joel and Silas didn't get to enjoy the Thanksgiving meal?" Let me tell you, this worked out best for everyone involved. Joel wouldn't touch any of that food, as he can be a picky eater, and Silas would have made a HUGE mess, and probably not eaten much either. They were much happier eating their normal lunches, taking their naps, and then later they got to join in and enjoy the Thansgiving desserts. Joel loved Grandma Rhoda's pumpkin ice cream pie (ok, I loved it too - YUM).

So we had a nice time of fellowship and food at Jim and Rhoda's and then my dad, Tim, and our fam came back to our house where we hung out and played some Wii games for a while, and then later watched Evan Almighty after Joel and Silas were in bed. I wasn't expecting much from Evan Almighty, but even though it was pretty cornball, it was definitely entertaining, and had many laugh-out-loud moments.

Grandpa John and Tim headed back home on Friday, and we spent the rest of the weekend decorating and shopping for Christmas. Joel and Silas loved decorating the tree and playing in the huge Christmas tree box. It was a hilarious sight after we were done decorating the tree, that 80% of our ornaments were on the bottom 2 feet of branches. They were busy boys for sure!

Cold season sets in

2007-11-21T07:54:00.000-08:00

And I am hoping we are through the worst of it. The kids have both been sick with bad coughs and colds for about a week. Seems like when our kids get sick, they get SICK, no messing around. Fevers of 102+ degrees, coughing fits so bad it makes them spit up, bucketfuls of snot and chest congestion, you name it, they've got it. Poor little guys. And of course for Silas, this means extreme fussiness at his age, but Joel has been a real trooper. He just keeps asking in this sad voice, "When will my cold be gone?" (or sometimes, "When will my boogers be gone?") and it just breaks your heart because he's been a rock throughout this whole thing. His little face is chapped and dry from the constant mucus/nose-blowing but he never complains or cries about feeling lousy.

Silas, on the other hand, has regressed to more baby-ish behavior, which is understandable for his age and dealing with feeling very sick, difficulty breathing comfortably, coughing, etc. Last night was a major victory because he actually stayed in his crib all night. For most of this illness, it has been impossible to put him down at all during sleep times. This means that when Silas goes to bed, Jorie sleeps with him. At nap times, too, one of us has to sleep with him (usually Jorie, but I took care of him Sunday). I don't mean to complain about parenthood, I know this is part of having small kids, I just want to communicate what our daily life has been like lately. That is the point of a blog, right? :-)

So it's been a bit rough, but I think they're through the worst of it at this point. We've been doing plenty of Nebulizer treatments (it's a breathing mist-machine thing that lets you breathe in medicine to open your lungs) and going through lots and lots of Kleenex. (the tissue plus lotion stuff is one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century, I am convinced) Jorie is taking them to the doctor's today to make sure they aren't developing sinus infections, which has happened before when they are stuffed up for an extended period of time.

Jorie's had the cough/cold as well, so please keep us in your prayers, that this indeed is the end of it. Somehow I have been spared from this bug - I think I have some sort of freaky immune system. I do get sick at times, but the bugs that everyone seems to catch have no effect on me.

Some cute quotes from Joel to end a dreary post on a lighter note:

While refusing to stay in his bed at nap time: "Why aren't you guys going down for your naps?" "You really need a nap, daddy."

With a "no-fair" tone, "Daddy, why are YOU the only one who doesn't have a cold?"

While playing Wii Golf with Joel (he loves hitting the ball all over the place, especially in the water, but doesn't care so much about getting it in the hole), I said, "The wind is at our backs, that's good." I was more just talking to myself, I didn't expect Joel to comprehend that. But Joel responded, "The wind will help push the ball over the water." I was floored that a 3-year old would grasp that concept.

Trick or Treat!

2007-11-09T12:40:00.000-08:00

We took the kids trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood last week and had a great time. It was cool out, but comfortable enough to not need coats, which was great. We enjoyed getting to meet some more people in our neighborhood and the kids loved getting all the candy, of course. Joel didn't really understand the idea of moderation. When offered the candy dish, he would continually grab pieces of candy and drop them in his bucket until the dish was pulled away. And if the person held onto the dish and only offered one piece of candy, Joel would reach up for more. Quite embarassing, but hilarious at the same time. We tried to explain to him to take only what is offered, but of course ideas of proper decorum are easily ignored by a 3-year old.

Joel came up with his costume idea. We started asking him a few weeks before Halloween what he wanted to be and he would always reply, "Bananas." We weren't sure exactly how to make a banana costume, but Jorie got a great suggestion from a friend, Ashley, and with Rhoda's help we were able to create this simple yet effective banana costume. Silas was a bear, but since Joel was dressed as a banana, several people made the mistake of thinking Silas was a monkey. That would have definitely made for a more creative costume combo, so we didn't correct them. Here are some pics!

Joel's 911 calls

2007-11-02T13:11:00.000-07:00

We have been practicing calling 911 in case of an emergency with Joel. Rhoda suggested this idea, since they do this with her first graders. He is very good at dialing 911 (on a disconnected phone, of course) telling them what is wrong and giving his name and address. Last night, Jorie and Joel practiced a call where he told them Mommy was hurt. Then Joel wanted to practice calling for Daddy and Silas too. His second call went like this:

Jorie: "911 Emergency, how may I assist you?"

Joel: "No, Mommy, you have to wait until I finish dialing."

Jorie: "Oh, sorry. OK." (waits) "911 Emergency, how may I assist you?"

Joel: "This time it's Daddy."

Jorie: "What happened to your daddy?"

Joel: "Daddy fell down the stairs and it was very bumpy."

Jorie: "Can you give me your address so we can send help?"

Joel: (provides address)

After this, Joel insisted on having Jorie making a 911 call as if Joel was hurt. So he lied down on the floor and didn't move a muscle. Jorie shook his arm and said, "Joel? Joel? Are you OK?" (all acting) and Joel continued to lie there, perfectly still. Only after Jorie completed the call to 911 did Joel come back to life. What a little ham!

Weekend with Engstrom fam

2007-11-02T12:25:00.000-07:00

Once again, I apologize for the lack of new posts on the blog, I've been seriously slacking. So here's some pictures from a few weekends ago when Jorie's sister, Annie, and her brother, Jason, along with his wife Roxanne and daughter Annikah (thus the nickname JayRoxikah) were in town.

We had lots of fun hanging out, enjoying great home-cooked meals from Rhoda, eating pizza at our house, watching football, and we spent Sunday morning in the Amana Colonies, the quaint little German village near Cedar Rapids. We had a scrumptious breakfast, with amazing quantities of eggs, pancakes, fruit, hashbrows, bacon and sausage. All very greasy and all very yummy. I had to wolf it all down quickly, since the boys were not going to tolerate sitting down in one place in a restaurant for more than 15 minutes, but it was still some mmmm-good eatin'. Maybe someday we'll be able to enjoy restaurants with the boys, but that day is not yet here.

After breakfast, we sampled some locally brewed root beers and then just walked around enjoying the beautiful morning and the little shops. (well, that was more for the ladies of course - they shop, we watch the kids, I guess those are the rules, but we have more fun with the kids anyway!)

Joel and Mark playing on the swing

Hugging cousins are way too cute!

Annie is very loved by her niece and nephews

The whole gang (minus Justin, gotta photoshop him in here somehow)

There we go :-)

Our little gang

Jorie and her Dill boys

The Engstrom sibs

Silas James and Grandpa James

The boys loved playing in all the leaves

A Gorgeous Fall Day

2007-10-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

Joel and Silas love their new backyard

Our little lippy man

They're both shouting "Iowa!" for the camera

Good buddies

Ring around the rosy!

More Moving Day Pics

2007-10-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

Celebration after a successful closing! But there's still more work to do.

Our first family photo on our new front porch

Here it is! The new homestead on move-in day.

So much extra space in the garage! Perfect place to stash baby gear.

The living room is starting to come together.

The kitchen has a long way to go. (but you should see it now!)

A job well done!

Already blaming his brother

2007-10-12T04:39:00.000-07:00

The other day, Silas very obviously and loudly passed gas. (we call 'em "toots" around here) Jorie said, "Silas, did you toot?" Silas said, very seriously, "No. Jo-Joel."

Joel has a new phrase. We were at the toy store last night and Joel was looking at all the new trains they had and he kept saying, "This is too cool!" "This is too cool, Daddy, they have Salty!" "This is too cool, Daddy, they have the carnival!" I guess Joel is just too cool. No idea where he picked that up, maybe I say it once in a while.

This morning, I was playing a little Mario Party and Joel asked, "Is the dinosaur bad, daddy, is he the bad guy?" I said, "Yep, that's Bowser, he's the bad guy." Joel then asked, "Does he run away from his daddy all the time?"

Had to share this video

2007-10-12T04:35:00.000-07:00

Despite reminding me slightly of the "happy hands club" scene from Napolean Dynamite, this video is awesome.

Wildlife sightings!

2007-10-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

On our last night in the Grayslake townhouse, Jorie saw two deer, one of them a huge buck, right by the side of the road near our house. That isn't all that unusual, but it can be startling when you're driving. But what was unusual was when she pulled into our neighborhood and she spotted a coyote sauntering down the sidewalk right outside our house! Crazy!

Then on our first full day in Cedar Rapids, I was driving with Joel to pick up some stuff at the hardware store. On the way back, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye, and I turned my head just as we were driving by and saw some bizarre looking animals ambling around right beside the road. At first I thought they were some type of large pheasant, but I wasn't really sure. It was definitely something I had never seen in the wild before. I told Joel we were turning around and going back for another look. We looped around and parked right next to this flock of about 7 gigantic birds that were pecking around in the dry grass. They were huge wild turkeys! I've heard they can be quite temperamental (my cousin Lisa has a hilarious story on her blog about getting chased by a wild turkey during a run in Champaign, IL), so Joel and I stayed near the car and watched them for a bit. I keep looking for them every time I drive by, but I haven't seen them since.

Is that where you live?

2007-10-07T19:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a recent conversation I had with a Best Buy security guy, while waiting for a manager to approve my pickup of a large TV stand.

I looked at the size of the box and said, "Man, that thing's not gonna be fun to haul down to the basement."

Best Buy guy looked me over and said, "Is that where you live?"

With a bemused grin, I replied, "No, I live in the whole house."

He said, "Oh! You look like you're still in college or something."

I laughed and said, "Man, I've got two kids. I'm 31."

Then he raised his eyebrows and nodded and said, "Heh, well I know how you feel. I'm 36." (he looked about my age)

I said, "Really, I would have guessed about 46."

Just kidding, I didn't say that last part. I just had to share this little random conversation because I thought, "Is that where you live?" was a hilariously bizarre response. Not that there's anything wrong with living in the basement, if that's what you gotta do, but it seemed like a strange thing to assume, just because I want to put a TV stand down there.

The boys are hard at work, helping Daddy assemble the stand.

Joel made these himself out of the styrofoam that came with the stand. On the left is a house, on the right is a bird.

Moving is CRAZY!

2007-10-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

In order to accurately capture the chaos of moving day, I decided to write some new lyrics to the song "End of the World" by R.E.M.

It's the End of Grayslake

Six A.M., wake up time, hurry, movers come at nine!
Gotta pack, gotta run, so much stuff we haven't done!
Get huge truck, drive it down, babysitter's car broke down!
She can't stay long, what to do, look who's here, the moving crew.
Disassemble furniture, so much still to pack.
Movers grabbing everything and we're... a... wreck.
Uh oh, overflow, too much stuff for just one truck.
Hope they have another one, they do, so we're in luck.
New plan, Dad can drive, Accord will now get towed behind.
Piano going down the hall, OOPS right through the drywall!
Pack it up, pack it tight, so much stuff is still inside.
Very stressed, about to lose it, time to load the storage unit.
Jor's inside, so much to do, Mark is with the moving crew.
Dad and Tim arrive to help, or else we'd never make it!
Moving crew has finished up, got stuff to still cram on the truck.
Craziness and melting brain, mental overload.
Stressed out, feeling like we'll never hit the road.

It's the end of Grayslake as we know it,
It's the end of rush hour traffic as we know it,
It's the end of crazy-high property taxes as we know it,
and we FEEL FINE.

Five o'clock, almost packed, Accord is loaded on the rack,
Kids need dinner, house needs cleaning, Dad and Tim need to get going.
Buyer's walkthrough is at seven, not much time, still hurrying.
Jorie is a rockstar cleaner, Mark takes kids to Burger King.
Finally finished, leave the key! There's our buyer, time to flee!
Too late to leave, can't arrive at one! Instead we'll stay with Halversons.
Go to bed, try to sleep, oh no here comes Mark's allergy.
Eyes water, can't breathe, go outside, try not to freeze.
Finally come back in at three, Joel dreams his room is full of bees!
Joel and Mark lay on the couch and finally get... some... sleep.

It's the end of Grayslake as we know it,
It's the end of townhouse living as we know it,
It's the end of screaming neighbors as we know it,
and we FEEL FINE.

Six A.M., shake those legs, Dani makes some yummy eggs.
On the road, feelin' fine, no traffic so we make good time.
Jorie drives with fussy boys, Silas still sick and making noise.
Got a call from my lawyer, piano damage stinks.
Gotta leave a big deposit, my lawyer thinks.
Uh oh, without the funds, we can't buy our place.
Get on the phone, make some calls, gotta win this race.
Headin' down the highway, talking on my phone,
driving the second moving truck with my car in tow.
Good news! Buyer agrees to a reasonable deposit!
We can write a check at close and leave with key in pocket!
Grayslake closes, 2:30, and now the Dills are homeless.
3:00, time to go, and hope no trouble at this close.
Oh no, who knew, wiring cash takes time.
Good chance we will not make it, before 4:30 deadline.
Backup plan, bigger loan, close without the funds.
Empty out our bank account, to make this deal get done.
4:30, look who's here, the wire has arrived!
Sigh of relief, now it's easy, and we are still alive.
Celebration, champagne, now everybody's happy!
We did it! We did it! Time to take a nappy.

It's the end of Grayslake as we know it,
It's the end of tiny bedrooms as we know it,
It's the end of fast-paced Chicago life as we know it,
and we FEEL FINE. This truck could only hold about 2/3 of our stuff, believe it or not Heh, I hope you enjoyed reading that as much as I enjoyed writing it. I know I didn't stick to the format of the song too closely, but meh, most of it sorta works. Moving in was not nearly as chaotic, so I don't need to write a song about that part. But we did have a lot of people here all at once. We had the moving crew (a different one, from Cedar Rapids this time), Best Buy appliance delivery guys, and a Mediacom cable/internet/phone installer all here at once. Fun fun fun! We got the trucks returned and now all that's left is unpacking. I think it is safe to say Joel and Silas are loving living here so far. They seemed totally comfortable in this house right away and Silas loves to say "Iowa!" at every given opportunity.

Ah, that reminds me of one funny story from when I took the kids to Burger King. Joel knew we were planning to go to the Halverson's and he kept begging "Can we go to Luke's now, please please!" And I was telling him, "Well there's a couple stops we have to make first, we have to go to eat, then the store, then home, and THEN do you know where we'll go?" Silas then chimed in and shouted "Iowa!"

Silas the singer

2007-09-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

Silas has impressed us with his singing ability lately. He has actually gotten quite good at carrying a tune, better even than Joel, and Joel's not bad for a preschool aged kid. Silas loves to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Most of the words are substituted with "Bah-buh-bah-buh" but he sings it right on pitch. His favorite part of the song is the part where he actually CAN sound out the words correctly and it is the cutest thing to hear him sing this. (I really have to start posting videos, as I can tell describing the singing is not doing it justice) He sings the part, "Up above the world so high" but he says "Up above the high", but he sings it very clearly and on pitch!

Social interactions at 3

2007-09-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

We have been quite proud of Joel for trying to reach out and make friends lately. We encourage him to approach kids in his preschool class and on the playground and strike up conversations. Joel has been trying, but it seems other three-year-olds aren't quite ready for him yet.

The other day at preschool, Joel was putting his things in his cubby (like a mini-locker) and another boy was doing the same at the cubby next to him. Joel said, "Hi, I like Thomas the train, do you like trains?" The other boy looked at Joel's Thomas backpack and said, "My backpack is way cooler than yours." Now what kind of 3-year old talks like that? "Way cooler"? Come on, I really hope he's not getting that attitude from mom and dad. Joel didn't seem bothered by it though, thankfully.
Then at the park the next day, Joel saw a boy with a "Cars" shirt on (a recent Pixar movie) so he decided to try to make a friend. This boy was a little older, maybe 4 or 5 years old. Joel said, "Hi, I'm Joel. Do you like trains? Because I really like trains." The boy just stood there and stared at Joel with his mouth hanging open. Joel then said, "Why aren't you saying anything?" Then he walked back to Jorie and said, "Mommy, why isn't that boy saying anything?"

At least Joel should have no problem making new friends in Iowa! Here's a recent tower that Joel built with legos. He said he was building "Chicago".

We're moving!!

2007-09-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since I have updated. I apologize to all my faithful readers. (both of you) This is a random collection of quotes and stories that I have been trying to remember until I got a chance to sit and write a blog post about it. I hope it doesn't seem too disjointed.
On the day when we sold our house, we were so excited and Joel and Silas definitely caught the excitement bug from mommy and daddy. First of all, we were all shouting "Yay! The house is sold!" in the car after we got the good news from our realtor. Then we pulled into our driveway and Joel said "What's this? This is not the brown house." He thought we were moving in right then and there. If only it could be that easy!
Once we were inside, the boys were still very excited (mom was too) and Jorie was saying "Woohoo!" Silas copied her by raising his hand in the air and saying "Wooo!" Now whenever Silas is excited, this is his new celebration. He still does the clapping for little things but now for big excitement he raises his arm and says, "Wooo!" Joel's response to Jorie's cheering was to say, "Mommy, we do not yell in the house."
Silas also loves to do animal noises. He will respond with the appropriate noise for just about any animal you can think of. His lion roar is the cutest one. Lately he has been very into jumping off things. Today, he just got daring enough to jump off the second stair. He seems to be quite the little athlete. Recently, Joel and Silas came home from a friend's birthday party with a couple balloons. Bopping the balloons up in the air and trying to catch them was an endless source of entertainment, especially for Silas. He'd try to jump and toss it at the same time for maximum effect, but he could rarely get the timing right and it was hilarious to watch him. Silas is talking a lot more just in the last week. He'll try to say almost anything, really. He loves to try to pop out and surprise you and say "HI!" He also loves calling his brother "Jo-Joel".
Joel understands that we have to keep the house neat for our buyer. The other day, Silas spit some carrots out on the carpet, making a little mess, and Joel said, "Oh no now we cannot get the brown house!"
We recently had a memorial for my mom to remember the 1-year anniversary of her passing away and entering into her eternal life in heaven. It was difficult, but I think it was good to take time out to think about her and reflect on this past year. We've been trying to make sure that Joel always remembers Grandma Donna. He definitely still thinks about her and remembers very specific things about her. One time, he spotted an airplane way up high and he said, "That airplane is bringing Grandma Donna back from heaven." Joel gets sad when he thinks about heaven because the main thing it means to him is that once you go, you can never come back.
I banged my foot on the leg of the loveseat a few nights ago and Joel was so sweet, he came up with the idea of saying a prayer for me. He said, "Please help Daddy's foot heal and make Daddy feel better."
Joel has been going to preschool since the beginning of this month and he LOVES it. He has NO PROBLEM whatsoever saying goodbye to Mommy and running off to play in his classroom. In fact, after coming home and having lunch after his first day of preschool he asked if he could go back and got very upset when he was told that preschool was over for the day. Preschool is only twice a week, but Joel wishes it was every day.

Joel's expanding vocabulary and a prayer

2007-09-03T14:26:00.000-07:00

Here are four sentences I've heard Joel use, with some new 4-syllable words. I am pretty impressed with him, for a 3-year old. I have no idea what is expected at this point, but this seems pretty good to me.

"I was looking for it on the high table, but it was on the original table." (high table = kitchen island, original table = kitchen table)

"This juice box will not cooperate with me." (this is after getting squirted in the face while squeezing the juice box too hard)

"Me and Silas are organizing the leaves." (Actually, they were throwing them off a bridge)

"Stop it, Silas! I'm concentrating on building a sand castle!" (Joel was piling toys into a big pile and pretending to build a sand castle, but Silas kept trying to take the toys to play with)

Joel also frequently uses the words actually and accidentally.
Our Library had been closed for a few days this past week and we had no idea what was going on. There has been some flooding recently, but it was hard to imagine that the library would have been affected by that. But we wondered, because we hadn't seen any signs, it was just suddenly closed all the time. Yesterday, I decided to try to take the boys to the library again, and hope it was opened now. When we pulled up to the library, I said, "Look, Joel, it's open! Yay!" Joel said, "Did they get all the water out?" I replied, "I don't know if there was water in there, Joel." He thought about it and said, "Hmmmm... was there poop?"I prayed with Joel last night, as usual, and he added this to my prayer. This is as close to word-to-word as I could remember: "Thank you for all the babies who are living right now and growing up, and thank you for the mommies who are living. I pray that they will keep on living and that they will not be dead." You gotta love kids. They love everybody and they cut right to point.

Silas says funny things too!

2007-08-30T06:59:00.000-07:00

Silas has been doing a couple different things lately that are just too cute. First of all, he claps for himself after accomplishing anything and it cracks me up every time. Put a movie in the DVD player, clap clap. Put a toy away in the toy box, clap clap. Eat a piece of a donut, clap clap. Climb up on the bed, clap clap. I have no idea why I can never get enough of it, but it always makes me smile.

One of his first words that he uses consistently is "thank you". He first learned this word from one of Joel's Thomas movies, where a tuba player with a deep sing-songy voice would say "THANK YOU" in a silly way, and Silas would imitate the intonation perfectly and say "Dank-oo". Well, the "dank-oo" has slowly evolved into "Ditta". So now every time we give Silas anything he replies "Ditta" and we say, "You're welcome, Silas!" Strangers observing us must think we are nuts.
A few weeks ago, I was watching the boys while Jorie was out doing a jewelry show. She called to chat on her way to the show and as I hung up with her I said, "Love ya, bye!" Joel then asked me, "Who was that, daddy?" I said, "Hmmm let's see. Well I said "Love ya" when I hung up the phone so who could that be?" Joel still wasn't sure. Silas was intently following this exchange. So I said, "Well, I love the people in my family. I love you guys, but you're both here. Who else from our family do I love?" Joel was still pondering, but I could see from the gleam in his eye that he knew the answer. But before he could respond, Silas gleefully shouted, "Mama!!!"

Random conversations with Joel

2007-08-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I had to bring Joel to the hospital for a blood test. He was running a high fever, so our doctor wanted him to be checked for an infection. He was a very brave boy and did a good job getting his blood drawn. As we were pulling out of the driveway, we were talking about how people had come to look at our house today and how they might want to buy it. He looked up at our townhouse and said, "They will have to cut it." I said, "Huh? What do you mean, Joel?" He replied, "They will only want our house, so they will have to cut it off." I suddenly realized Joel associated buying something with taking it home, so he was picturing the buyers of our house cutting our townhouse off from the rest of the building and bringing it home with them. I tried to explain how they would come and live here instead of moving the house, but his next question was, "How will they bring it home, daddy? How will they move it?" I explained again, and this time I think he got it. Once he understood they would come to live HERE, he said, "But they will play with my trains, Daddy! I don't want them to have all my trains!"

We drove past some train tracks on the way to the hospital and Joel said, "Look, I see a port-o-potty, Daddy! Do you see it? If the people on the train have to go pee pee, the train can pull right up to it, Daddy. And then the people can go and they won't have to pee in their pants!" (that is honestly verbatim Joel-speak right there) I chuckled to myself as I imagined a train full of morning commuters and the conductor announcing, "OK everyone, we're coming up to the port-o-potty now, so who has to go pee pee? Come on now, we don't want you to pee your pants."

After Joel had his blood drawn, he was upset about the bandages on his arms. But afterwards, I gave him a "special treat" to help calm him down and make him forget the trauma. It was a Thomas toy/movie combo, and he was very excited about it. He even said, "I already like my band-aids, Daddy, at first I didn't like them, but now I like them." Here's a picture of Joel's new Thomas toy (which is actually a bulldozer named "Jack") and you can see the bandage on his arm, from where his blood was drawn.

Grandpa and Uncle Tim save the day!

2007-08-24T07:45:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday, Jorie and I were planning to attend a friend's wedding, but we were having major problems finding a babysitter during the weeks leading up to the wedding. So we gave my dad a call and he said he could do it! This was a huge relief for us, but we also knew it would be quite a challenge for my dad, as dealing with both boys all day can be pretty crazy even when you know their routines. Dinner time and bedtime can be especially challenging, and Grandpa would have to handle both. Fortunately, my brother, Tim, agreed to come along too so that they could handle the boys with a man-on-man defense instead of Grandpa playing zone.

I am happy to report they did an AWESOME JOB with the boys. When we came home, Joel and Silas were tucked in their beds successfully, sound asleep. We called to check in after the ceremony. We knew my dad had hoped to take the boys to the park, but since it was rainy, we were curious what activities they had planned. Turns out they took Joel and Silas to McDonald's playplace - great idea, Dad, as I know I have done the same thing several times when the weather is crummy and the boys need to get out of the house for a while.
So a huge THANK YOU to my dad and Tim for driving ALL the way up to Grayslake to spend some time with the boys. Joel and Silas both loved it and we look forward to doing it again sometime.

Great Silas picture

2007-08-22T09:40:00.001-07:00

It's almost impossible to get a really good picture of a 1 year old's face where they're actually looking at the camera and smiling, so I just had to share this awesome picture that Jorie took.

The Bean Farmers

2007-08-22T08:56:00.000-07:00

We got a great recommendation from a friend for a cheap and easy toy that you can make at home and toddlers love playing with it: a rice and bean bin. You buy bags of dried rice and dried beans from the grocery store and dump them in a bin and throw some other sand-type toys in there too and voila - instant entertainment. Joel and Silas love the rice and bean bin.

This toy is not without it's downside, however. When the kids play with it, of course rice and beans get everywhere. We tried to solve this problem by putting a blanket down under the bin, and that helped a lot. But it was still messy, especially when Silas could not resist chucking the beans across the room. So the rice and bean bin is now an outside toy. And that's where the fun really began!

We now have a nice little bean garden growing in our yard! Here is a picture of our two proud farmers, standing in their garden. I figured if a few dried out beans got in the grass, it would provide a little more food for the chipmunks and no harm done. I had no idea it was so easy to grow bean plants. Apparently you throw a dried out bean in the grass, add rain and presto, you've got bean plants. I've actually been clearing out tons of the bean plants to try to keep the grass healthy, but when I saw this latest patch, I couldn't resist taking a picture of my farmer boys.

Faith like a child

2007-08-19T07:52:00.000-07:00

The other night I was reading Joel a story from a great new book Jorie picked up for him called "How Dinosaurs Go to Bed" and Joel noticed that one of the dinosaurs was playing with a little wooden train. Lately Joel has come to the realization that it is within Mommy and Daddy's power to buy pretty much whatever he wants, he just has to convince us that what he wants is SOOOO important. So we hear a lot of, "I don't have a train like THAT, Daddy, can I get a train like THAT?" and "But I really want one, Daddy, I really need a train like that!" We try to talk to him about how it's important to be content with the things we have, but I think those lofty ideas go right over the head of a 3-year old.

Anyways, so Joel saw the wooden train the dinosaur had and decided he wanted a train just like THAT because he didn't have a train just like THAT and we were going through the usual rigamarole. Then the story ended and I said, "Now it's time to say our prayer." Joel's eyes lit up with an idea. "Daddy, I want to pray to God for a train like that!" I said, "OK, Joel, we can do that, but I've gotta tell you, God doesn't usually work that way. He always hears and answers our prayers, but He knows what's best for us. So sometimes the answer is 'No' and sometimes the answer is 'Yes, but not until you're ready'."

So Joel closed his eyes, made himself stiff as a board in his bed, pointed his chin up towards the heavens and shouted, "I'm ready, God! I'm ready for my train!!" as if he expected the ceiling to open up and the train to come falling down right into his bed. I had to crack up at this point, and then of course I explained how God decides when we are ready.

The Heron Song

2007-08-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

We went to the park tonight and Joel spotted a huge Heron by the lake. This is probably the biggest bird I have ever seen in the wild. This thing was at least 3 feet tall. Joel was so inspired by the sight of the huge bird, he said, "I'm going to sing a song about the Heron." And he made up this song on the spot, which had a tune and everything:

I'm a big Heron
I'm standing quiet
Looking for fish

I'm a big Heron
I'm not a blue Heron
like the Heron at home

I'm a big Heron
Now I'm climbing up the slide
And playing at the park

That's the end of the song
About the Heron and me!

Thank you! Thank you!

After the song I asked him how he knew about saying "Thank you! Thank you!" after performing a song and he said, "From Elmo, daddy." I'm pretty impressed with his first composition. I think he got a little confused about who he was singing about during the 3rd stanza, but then he tied it all together nicely with the final line, "About the Heron and me!" OK, so it's not quite Mozart, but I enjoyed it.

First Leafblad Reunion for Joel and Silas

2007-08-12T17:22:00.000-07:00

We just got back from the boys' first Leafblad reunion at Green Lake Conference Center in Green Lake, WI and Joel and Silas both had so much fun. The Leafblads are Jorie's paternal grandmother's family. The original family had 11 siblings and has grown explosively over 4 generations. The family is now over 400 people and continues to rapidly expand. Every five years, we get together for a huge reunion and it's always a great time. Some stats from this reunion: 6 of the original 11 siblings are still living and the youngest is 78. Jorie's grandmother, Linnea, is the eldest remaining from the first generation, at 91. Jorie's dad, Jim, has 51 first cousins. (can you imagine Christmas with that family?) At this reunion, there were 70 kids under age 5. They expect to exceed 500 people at the next reunion in 2012.

This was our first reunion at the Green Lake Conference Center. The facilities were awesome and the food was great - a big step up from previous reunions. We hope to spend many future reunions in Green Lake. Joel especially liked playing at the beach, pushing a plastic truck through the sand and out into the water. He also loved the train passenger car that you could go inside, the kiddie buffet line, the goldfish in the lobby garden, and the "rolly ball game". Silas loved running around in the big open spaces, digging in the sand, and kissing his baby cousin Annikah. Both boys loved spending time with their aunts and uncles, cousins, and Grandpa and Grandma too.

Saturday at the reunions is always group photo day, and each family wears a color to signify which Leafblad sibling they are descended from. This year, our family wore orange. When Joel saw all of us dressed alike in orange shirts, he announced, "We are the goldfish family!" When we first put his orange shirt on him, Jorie told him, "Now you're officially a Leafblad." Joel replied, "Now I can officially be-bad."

Silas and cousin Anni's kissing is incredibly cute. Whenever they see each other, they immediately move in for a kiss. Unfortunately, they are not too coordinated about it, and they usually end up bonking heads a few times before successfully landing a kiss. One of the most memorable events from this reunion was skit night, where we presented a musical rendition of the story of Jorie's grandparents, Bert and Linnea, honoring their recent 70th wedding anniversary, to the tune of "Oklahoma!". (written and choreographed by Jorie's cousin Erica and her new husband Mike Cali - married 1 month ago!) If I ever figure out how to post videos on this thing, I'll post the performance on the blog. It was a huge surprise to Grandma and Grandpa Engstrom and we could tell it was very special to them.