The trouble with flip flops...

Sunday Family Day

It seemed like it had been a while since our family did something fun together.  So today we decided to head to Dubuque to the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium.  This is a place that Karsten and I have gone to for many years.  Jackson has been there once but was too little to remember it and Tristan has never been.  We thoroughly enjoy this place, there's so much to see and do. 

Jackson driving the boat, I think he ran into the shore.

Tristan checking out one of the aquariums. 

This is Tristan's "normal" pose, especially when he's getting tired or hungry.  It's always the left thumb in the mouth and the right hand behind his head, he used to play with his hair but that's more difficult now that he got his hair cut.  This picture is on the deck of the big dredge ship William Black, Karsten and Jackson went in while we waited outside.

The museum had a new (at least to us) exhibit called River Works Discovery.  It was really neat!  Jackson and Tristan loved it.  They had little boats and kids can run them thru a river, make it rain, make it flood, etc. 

We had a really great day!

Bandaids

So Jackson fell on the sidewalk probably almost a week ago and scraped his knee.  It really never bled much but of course we washed it up and applied a bandaid.  Jackson dearly loves bandaids, he is pretty sure that you have to have a bandaid on constantly and it makes it not hurt.  So tonight after he had gone potty I took the bandaid off, it was getting pretty gross having survived a few baths in between the actual accident and now.  Holy cow!  He lost it!  Screaming and crying about how much his knee hurts now that the bandaid was off, he was also trying to convince me that it was bleeding everywhere (which of course it wasn't).  He really wanted a new bandaid applied and I refused him to do this insisting that if he did get his own bandaid he would go straight to bed with no story.  **Warning: the following image contains graphic matter not suitable for all viewers**

This is how I found him in the bathroom, screaming and crying about getting a new bandaid.  Don't worry, we ended up putting some medicine (triple antibiotic ointment) on it and all was good.  He did not however get another bandaid.

15 months!

Tristan turned 15 months old today!  Sometimes I can't believe he's as old as he is.  I know it's cliche but time goes by so fast!  I seems like just a few months ago I was uncomfortably pregnant wishing he'd be born.  Tristan has been such a joy to our family.  He's such a happy guy who loves to smile, he's starting to give us this really cheesy smile that cracks me up every time.  Tristan is also a very good eater.  He never really cared for the "baby food" and has been on table food since he was around 9 months old.  He almost always cleans his plate, unlike his older brother who is a VERY picky eater.  He's been using a sippy cup proficiently since around 10 months old and stopped using bottles at that time as well.  As for sleeping, he is a dream!  He's always puts himself to sleep after just a little cuddling, naps and bedtime.  Lately we have discovered that Tristan loves to color!  Give him a crayon and some paper and he's a happy guy.  I think he will be the more "artistic" son out of our 2.  He likes to dance and listen to music as well.

 Happy 15 months Tristan!  Aka T-man, Tristanmeister, Babycakes!

Mighty Machines

There was an event called Mighty Machines today in Prairie du Chien.  We saw it in the paper and thought it looked like something that the boys (especially Jackson) would love.  I unfortunately had to work this day but Karsten decided to take the boys out in the slightly cold weather to check it out.  It sounds like it was awesome!  Heaven for Jackson!  The best part was they ran into Wes, Jackson's really good friend.  Check out some of the pictures...

There were machines everywhere, and the kids got to sit on them and play on them.  

Firetruck!  One of Jackson's favorites!

Lots of different military vehicles.

Really hoping we don't see this anytime in the future....  Wes is also in there, I've always said that those 2 boys will be trouble some day....

Here's one of all 3 of them!

Karsten said there was pretty much anything you could imagine.  Firetrucks, police cars, DNR boats, military vehicles, buses, road grater and other other maintenance vehicles, a hearse, tractors, semis, etc....  I guess the only one that couldn't make it was the helicopter due to the weather.  Hopefully this event happens again and I don't have to work.

Mother's Day Weekend Part 2

The weather was absolutely gorgeous on Sunday.  It's been a long wait for this kind of weather around here.  I tried to sleep in as I often do but as usual I was up before 7:00.  The boys are always up early.  We had french toast for breakfast then just lounged around until it was closer to noon.  We had invited our families over for a grill out lunch for Mother's Day.  Karsten's mom Shirley came with her good friend Gwen.  They were planning on at concert at the Elkader Opera House that afternoon so it worked out great for them to come for lunch before.  My dad and mom came along with my brother Mike.  We didn't know if Dad would make it since he's been working hard planting corn but he took a break long enough for some lunch.  Karsten did all of the work, he cut up the watermelon and pineapple, he made the burgers and hot dogs and he set everything up for us.  It was delicious!

Dad decided to try on Tristan's sunglasses.  Just a little small....

Shirley opening her Mother's Day present.

My 2 favorite boys in the whole world!!

At the advice of someone I know who lost their mom last year, "because we could" we took a mother daughter picture.  I love this lady dearly, she's done so much for me!  (Notice my beautiful corsage that Shirley had secretly dropped off the day before, it was very pretty!)

After everybody went home the boys went down for a late much needed nap.  I ended up falling asleep on the couch for a short time too.  After supper we went to the park and played a little more.  It was pretty much the best Mother's Day!! 

Mother's Day Weekend Part 1

I had an absolutely awesome Mother's Day weekend.  First of all, I didn't have to work which makes it awesome right there.  Saturday morning started out with Karsten working, so my mom came over and us and the boys headed over to Prairie to get some garden stuff.  Mom has had a small garden for a few years now and this year I asked if we could add a few rows of veggies for ourselves.  I've tried a garden in the past and never really followed thru so I figured we'd try Mom's this year to see how it goes.  I'm excited for the boys to experience this and help with the entire process. 

Here's the before.  Mom had actually already put some onions and potatoes in before we got there but you get the idea.

Jackson was actually pretty good help.  He enjoyed putting in the green bean seeds and covering them up with dirt.  He REALLY enjoyed watering the broccoli, kohlrabi, tomato and pepper plants after they were planted. 

Tristan was really no help at all.  And because he was no help, I was no help since I was constantly trying to "corral" him.  He kept walking across the plants and trying to pull on the leaves.  He's 1, what can you expect. 

After we got done at Mom's with the garden we headed home for some lunch.  Tristan then took his afternoon nap.  Our neighbor Carol had her son and great grandson at her house.  Braydon is about the same age as Jackson, give or take a couple months.  They played ALL afternoon.  They were in the sandbox, in the boat, hitting baseballs, hitting golf balls, you name it.  They had so much fun!  Carol and her son Steve even took the boys up to Monona for some ice cream.  We ended our Saturday with supper at "Old MacDonalds" and grocery shopping at WalMart.  We had 2 very tired boys that night.

Goofy boy

Just had to share a few pictures of the Tman.  He's quite the goof sometimes!  Jackson was napping while I took these pictures.  He's such a happy baby!

Tristan makes this face a lot but I've never been able to catch it on camera until now.  This picture makes me laugh every time I see it!

Goodbye mullet!

Today was a big day for little Mr. Tristan.  He got his very first haircut!  I'd been putting it off for a while now, waiting for the hair on the top of his head to grow in a little more.  Plus little boys just look so "grown up" after the first haircut.  But, it was time for the mullet to go...

Here's the before....

And here's a couple from after!

There's no mistaking it, my baby is growing up!  He did pretty good, wouldn't sit in the chair himself so I held him.  Thanks again to Kristin Miller from Aquarius Salon for the first haircut!

Shopping trip

Last Saturday the Foels' Family went to Dubuque on a shopping trip.  We were in desperate need of a Sam's run as we were almost out of diapers.  It will be very strange someday to not buy diapers, we've been doing so for going on 4 years now without a break.  We also wanted to stop at Menards (can't go to Dubuque without stopping there) to get a new grill!  This is something we've wanted for a while now and decided to finally do it.  Our old grill was a hand me down from Karsten's mom, it works just not real well.  Our house doesn't have central air so in the summer we hate cooking inside so therefore we grill a lot.

Here's it is!  It's nothing too special but we were very excited.  I think it looks pretty darn good on our deck.

Shopping trips are not too much fun for children.  If they aren't cooped up in the carseat they are cooped up in the shopping cart.  So on the way home we stopped in Garnavillo and played at the park.  They have a very nice park there, the boys had fun.

Sandbox

My children love the sandbox.  We borrowed a turtle sandbox from my friend/coworker a couple years ago and Jackson just loved it!  He also quickly grew out of it!  We added our deck to our back door in 2007 and had a hard time deciding what to do to the underneath of it.  Last year we decided to make a large sandbox in that space.  Great idea!  My boys spend hours playing in the sandbox.

And as you can see, they have plenty of toys to play with in their sandbox!