Hello?

Anyone there? You've probably quit checking to see if I've had any new posts. So I haven't been the best at posting lately, I'm sorry! My friends at work are even telling me I need to update my blog. I have found my self going in all different directions. We've been busy lately with activities and work. I am off work today because I have lost my voice and thought maybe I should give a little update.

Mason started out the wrestling season after Thanksgiving but gave it up a few weeks into it. Jasper decided he wasn't going to wrestle this year. After a few weeks he changed his mind and we started to going practice again. He has only done a few tournaments and has really improved! He seems to really enjoy it more this year than in years past. Ben wrestles around with him and says he is pretty strong! The season is winding down and they are both getting excited to start baseball!

Around Christmas, we were greeted with the stomach flu. Allegra and Mason had it come and go for about three weeks. Ben and I spent our time off at Christmas with it. Japser never did get it. Lucky him!

Allegra is getting to be such a big girl! She is on the verge of walking by herself. She is always into everything now that she can crawl and walk along things. She loves playing with the boys. They make her laugh a lot by making different noises and funny faces. I love to listen to her giggle! She has recenlty started going to a new daycare building. It is still part of the YWCA, it is just a north campus. It actually is just a block from our house, the old Horace Mann school for those of you who know Clinton. I absolutely love it there! I'm excited for the really nice weather when we can walk over there to get her in the afternoon. They did a big remodel to have the daycare there. Some of the teachers from the south campus are there so they are not comletely new to her. We do seem to have difficulty with Allegra going to other people lately. She is in the stranger faze. She doesn't like it when Ben or I have to go somewhere. I'm hoping this faze doesn't last long!

Ben is looking forward to going to Texas in March for work. They will be going to Texas A & M for some sort of training and will be gone for several days. We are both taking the Financial Peace University class that mom and dad took last year too. Mom and dad are actually our group facilitators. We have learned a lot and are excited to start saving and investing!

Special Trip Part 2

While we were in Indianapolis, we were able to visit my dad's foster brother Chad and his family. Chad lived with my dad for about nine months when he was a kid.

Chad lives with his parents Chuck and Janell just outside of Indianapolis. We took the short drive in the rain to their BEAUTIFUL house. Yes, I am very jealous! We ate pizza and were able to chat a while. Chad's sister Rhonda was there with her two kids as well. Tyler and Mason are the same age. Mason calls him his new best buddy. Lilly is four and just loved Allegra. She liked having her picture taken with her and holding her.

The kids played a lot in their game room with the dart board and shuffle board while the adults got the chance to catch up. We all had a great time!

Special Trip Part 1

Last year Ben and I decided to go to our first NFL game. Since we are Colts fans, we went to Indianapolis. We decided we wanted to go again this year and we wanted to take the boys. Since the boys had the Monday after Thanksgiving off, we decided to go that Sunday game. I didn't really want to be away from Allegra for the weekend so we asked Mom and Dad if they wanted to come with us. Dad said he would go to the game with us and Mom said she would stay at the hotel and watch Allegra.

We left Saturday and made the long trip to Indianapolis. We made more stops than we wanted too, but we made it. Of course we had to stop in Brownsburg and shop for Colts stuff since there isn't much of that around here. Brownsburg is only 20 minutes from Indianapolis.

We made it to our hotel that was in walking distance to pretty much everywhere! The best part was that is was a skywalk! We walked to the mall that night to work out a lot of kept up energy and get an idea of where we needed to go for the game.

Sunday was the game! We sat in the lower bowl and had a great time! Once again the Colts lost. They aren't having the best season as Peyton Manning isn't playing. Mason did get a little bored after a while but was pretty well behaved while we were there.

We came back Monday early enough for Dad's banjo lesson and Mason's wrestling practice. It's always good to be home but we had a great time! I think Mom and Dad did too. We have talked about making it a yearly trip, depending on when the games are.

Proud

We recently had conferences for Jasper and Mason. I can't express to them enough how proud I am for their good reports! Jasper has become a math master after learning his math facts. His goal was to become a master by Christmas. He smashed his goal by Thanksgiving! He loves his teacher and works hard. I couldn't be prouder! Mason has really changed since school has started. He has matured a little more and really likes his teacher and school in general. We still have a small problem with chatting, but that is something I can deal with. He has adjusted to school well and I am proud of him for that!

Allegra is almost seven months old and it has flown by fast! She now has two of her bottom teeth! It took a long time for them to finally pull thru. She is now almost crawling too! Right now she gets everywhere by either rolling around or scooting! She will be crawling by Christmas, I gurantee it! I'm thinking about putting baby gates all around the tree so she can't get into it.

It can be challanging to raise three kids sometimes, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!

Happy Halloween!

It has been a busy weekend full of Halloween activities. Saturday night the kids and I went trick-or-treating in Ben's brother's neighborhood. Our church held a Halloween party Sunday afternoon followed by more trick-or-treating in Miles. We only went a few blocks in Miles since they got a lot of candy the night before. After that, we went to mom and dad's house for dinner and they could see their costumes too.

Today the boys had their Halloween parties at school. They get to parade around the school and outside so they can show off their costumes. We went to the annual Mardi Gras parade tonight. There were some pretty cool floats and once again, the boys got a lot of candy!

Jasper was a scary phantom.

Mason was Thor, the God of Thunder.

Allegra was a sweet little cupcake.

Football

Football season has finally come to an end for us. Jasper was able to play tackle football this year instead of flag football. Normally the tackle teams are for fifth and sixth graders, but they do allow some fourth graders to play. Jasper loved playing! He did quite well for it being his first year. He did get discouraged a few times because some of the kids we bigger than him. He just had to be reminded that he was playing against sixth graders.

Jasper played number 10 for the Chiefs. He would wear a red and yellow sock so we knew which one he was since they all look the same in their helmets.

Ben's favorite sport is football so he helped coach as much as he could.

We were lucky to have some pretty nice weather. The last few games he had were really cold. We only have a few weeks without practices or games until we start wrestling season!

Fun City

Since Ben worked a lot this summer and we had a new baby, we didn't really get to take a family vacation. The boys didn't have school last Friday and Ben had the week off so we decided a few months ago we were going to take a mini vacation to Fun City in Burlington, Iowa. They have a waterpark, arcade, bowling and go carts!

We invited Ben's mom to go with us. She had been wanting to go to Fun City with the kids for a while and she helped take care of Allegra so we both could play with the boys. We left Thursday night after Jasper's football game and got there around nine. It only took two hours to get there. Friday morning we got up and were able to spend a lot of the day playing and swimming. Allegra loved the water!

We were able to go bowling twice. Ben won both games and I did terrible so I was last. Mason got second in both games! The boys used the gutters. With my score I should have too. Mason was so proud of himself!

Jasper thought he was hot stuff too.

We did go carts as well. The boys were too little to drive so Mason rode with me in an Iowa State car. We beat Ben and Jasper! He laughed the whole time.

We came back Saturday morning since Nancy had to go to work Saturday night. It was a nice quick trip and we had a lot of fun! We will definitely be going back again!