Enjoying The Weather

 Oh man did Iowa have some amazing weather last Saturday.  We decided to take as much of an advantage of it as we could.  Rob went to a friends house after work to help with some stuff so the kids and I ate dinner on the deck and played outside.

Henry is still pretty unsure of the grass so Paige thought she would help me learn to walk in it.  It was pretty funny to watch.

That little buddy was so pooped out that night.  I changed his diaper and got his pj pants on, but he decided he wanted to just lay down before I could even get his shirt off.

Saturday Rob decided that it was time to start prepping the garden.  Paigey of course had to be outside and helping.  This only means one thing, Henry pounding on the sliding glass door needing to be outside with Daddy and Paigey too.  So I put out a blanket and some toys.  The best part is because he's still unsure of the grass he wont leave the blanket.  It's the best playpen ever invented!!!

I thought her outfit was so funny so I took a picture.  Doesn't every girl wear shorts, a hoodie, her new hat, and rain boots to work in the garden?  She's the best!

We then ate some lunch outside and it was off to nap time.  Mama was working on 9 loads of laundry and cleaning out house.  Needless to say I'm one pooped out girl.  Also don't you guys love my kids new hats!  Henry is a typical Hartz boy and looks so good in hats!

Henry Update

I just wanted to give a quick update on Henry.  Our little man is quickly moving forward in his mission to start walking.  I picked him up from daycare on Friday.  When I got there they put him down and he took about 7 steps to get to me.  This Mama almost cried.  He continues to take more and more steps.  He's starting to choose to walk over sitting down and crawling.  I know it's just a matter of time before he's off and running all over the place.  I can't believe he's 10 1/2 months and we're already going down this road.  We're getting his 9 month pictures taken this weekend, yeah we're a little late.  But I just can't wait!

Another thing we have discovered about our little boy is he is allergic to eggs.  I was home with the kids one night alone and made breakfast for dinner.  I gave Henry some scrambled eggs and noticed he started getting hives.  So I instantly took all of them off of his tray.  I asked our pediatrician about it when we went to Paige's 4 year appointment.  He told me he would feel a lot better if we went to an allergist.  I of course being the person I am went to all worst case scenarios.  I assumed they would test him for all foods, they would tell me he's allergic to everything.  Our life as we know it would completely have to change.  However on Monday we went to the allergist.  He is an amazing guy and told us he's not here to make our life any harder.  Since Henry already drinks milk, eats yogurt, eats toast, etc and tolerates it all well he told us no need to test for those.  So we only tested for egg yolk and egg white.  The doctor was very happy that Rob and I did not cut him off from things made with eggs in them because he doesn't have a reaction to those.  So where we stand right now is we can't give him any eggs in whole form (scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, etc).  But we can give him things like pancakes, muffins, cookies, etc that have eggs in them.  So that's amazing!  I don't have to read packages and worry every time he eats.  We'll go back and get him tested again in a year.  The doctor was pretty certain that Henry will grow out of this especially because he can tolerate eggs in things and only had a mild reaction when he had eggs.  It's a best case scenario of what could have happened.

But our baby is no longer a baby it seems.  He keeps getting taller and taller, he's still gaining weight but is thinning out.  I actually put pants on them the other day that were too big in the waist.  I don't think that has ever happened.  Paigey still loves him more then anything.  She loves that he's learning to do so many cool new things.  She's loving taking him outside finally and showing him everything he can do.  She is the best big sister to this little boy.  Lets hope it continues into the later years of life HA!

We hope everyone is doing well.  Our life is starting to get busier and busier.  This is how we know spring and summer are coming.  We have stuff almost every weekend.  However this weekend we are home and I couldn't be more excited.  I'm ready to clean up our house, finally get caught up on laundry and just enjoy the outdoors with Rob and our amazing kids!

Love you all!

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was a busy one for us.  Shocking I know!  So my sister Heather was in town for the weekend.  My family packed up and went to Newton to let Paige have some cousin time.  We went to Grandma Greta's on Saturday and had a whole day of fun planned.  When we got there we picked up some lunch and headed to the park to have a picnic and play.  It was so much fun to watch them all run around.  Henry wanted to get out of the stroller and go with them so badly.  Once we were done there we were back to Grandma's for some bike riding!

Left to Right: Carly (Heather's oldest), Paigey, Elise (Heather's middle)

After struggling to get them all to sleep for naps.  When everyone woke up it was time to hunt Easter eggs.  The girls had so much fun, but Colin was the best to watch.  He got so proud every time he found an egg.

Carly and Paige racing to an egg

Colin telling Aunt Nik all about it

He's so happy about his eggs!

Sorting out all the money and candy

Paige got a little tired and decided to watch Wizard of Oz

We then had dinner at Grandma's.  We grilled out hot dogs and brats.  Henry was a bottomless pit as he has FINALLY found his love for table food.  But now he wont stop HA!  Colin thinks its so fun just to be with Henry.  He kept telling me all weekend ,"Henny needs me!".  I love those boys with all my heart.

We spent the night at Hartz's.  They are out of town currently on an amazing warm vacation (JEALOUS).  So we tried to not completely take over their house.  But the Easter bunny came to visit while the kids were sleeping!

Someone is standing on his own now

We then took all 5 kids and went to church at my Mom's church.  That was an adventure.  Rob took care of Henry and all of the exploring he wanted to do.  Heather and I tried to man the other four.  That was a task for sure.  It was so exciting for my mom though to have all 5 of her grandkids in church.  After church it was off to my Dad and Pat's for lunch and another egg hunt.  They had 6 of their 8 grandkids there.  Pat was very smart and color coded the eggs.  So each kid had their own color to look for.  That saved so much drama on who had more eggs, etc.

So in this picture left to right: Elise (Heather's), Carly (Heather), Paigey, Chase (Chantelle), and Colin (Heather)

Once again Colin was so pumped!

We got back to Ankeny and it was so nice outside.  Paige wanted to go out and play so bad.  So we put out a blanket and had some fun.  Paige wanted to get out the water table.  This was Henry's first time playing in it.  He had a BLAST!  But we did end up in swim suits eventually because they were soaked.  We enjoyed dinner on the deck which is our favorite thing to do when it's nice.  We also found out that Henry LOVES avocados.  This kid will eat about anything.  We're so lucky.

Mama and Daddy Go To Vegas

Did you like the title?  That's what Paige calls us, Mama and Daddy.  I now realize that she sounds like a Southern girl and it's my favorite.

Ok so Rob and I went to Vegas!  We went to celebrate my best friend Pat turning 30.  His wife and my bestest friend planned the whole thing and boy did we have a good time.  This is the 2nd time this group has gone to Vegas and we brought some newbies with us.  So get ready for a lot of random pictures of a lot of crazy 30 year olds and a couple non 30s.

Here is Rob's beautiful picture of us flying over the mountains.

After we got there Graham and I did a little shopping at an outlet mall.  Well the fellas all seemed to have found a happy hour while we were gone.  Rob seemed to think it was a great idea to take a selfie with everyone on the trip.  I can explain who everyone is..

This is Sean (Pat's younger brother), Robert, and Craig

This is Pat (Birthday boy) Robert, and Chris

Corbin and Rob

Of course it's us!  I'm drinking a margarita in a blender that Graham bought.

Graham, Rob, and Bobbi (Sean's girlfriend)

I had to have a picture with Pat of course!

And then Graham and I!!

 We then all went out to dinner at an amazing restaurant.  This is our entire group while we wait for our table.  These people are some of the best friends a girl could ever ask for.  I love each of them and would do anything for them.  So great to go on vacation and get away from our usual day to day life for a bit.

The next day we all walked around and took in the sights.  There was a group from our bunch that would go to the pool everyday and a group of us who would just explore the city and go shopping.  We then got ready to go out for dinner.  We ate at a restaurant some of us ate at last time called KGB.  It's a gourmet burger place that is so good!

Graham and I doing what we do best having fun while getting ready!

Here we are ready for the night!

This is our friend Chris.  He's known for taking the longest out of all the boys to get ready...he's also been known to take longer then Graham and I.  So we thought we should take a picture of us all hanging out while he gets ready!

Here we all are dressed and ready!

The Ladies!  Bobbi, Graham and I

Graham and Pat

Robby and I

This is us hanging out by the fountains at our hotel later that night.

Our last day there was Pat's actual birthday!!  We had a fun day of gambling and wondering.  We then got ready to go to dinner at Pat's favorite restaurant in Vegas, Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill.  Unfortunately Robby wasn't feeling very well so he ended up back at the hotel before dinner.  At least I got a picture of us before that happened.

I'm so thankful to have these friends.  But it was so much fun to go to Vegas and just cut loose.  We all try and not take things so seriously.  We'll put each other in check when we do.  I've grown up with most of this group since at least junior high and I wouldn't change it at all!!

Love you guys!!