October Arkansas Trip 2011

We decided that the when my grandparents came up for Joel's birthday that we would go down with them to Arkansas where they live along with my father for a fall vacation. Joel would miss a few days of school, but not too much because there was a work and and another day that the afternoon preschool class was not going to be in session. I talked to his teachers about it. I told her that our grandparents are in their mid 70's and everyday is a blessing that we get to be with them, and we had a chance to be with them, and they agreed. They sent Joel homework that we worked on everyday. He loves to learn so it was no problem for him. Plus my brother was going to be down there visiting for a few days. We really miss Matthew since he lives in California. I really miss my brother. Joel misses his Uncle. Joel is his mini version of him. Our grandparents took us down but my father brought us back. We didn't do too much while we were down there. But boy was it fun. 
  We decided to have our Green Thanksgiving in October since my brother, Joel, and I were down there. My dad did the Turkey, I did the stuffing, Grandma did the pies, and Matthew worked on the rest. It was so nice just to have a family get together. We didn't care that it was October or not we were having Thanksgiving together. We stuffed ourselves.

  One of the days while we were down there my brother, my dad, Joel, and I decided to go over to Hot Springs, Arkansas. We all had been there before, but we wanted to see other things. My brother Matthew knew of a trail that had several of the Hot Springs on it. Uncle Matt and Grandpa Rick just loved showing Joel all the different things. From the different springs, to the birds, and even the trees. I think the boys were having fun.

We wanted to go see a special garden but it was too much money for all of us, but we decided that we will go there another time, and hopefully our grandparents can go with us, because it is suppose to be very beautiful. We did go to this little place to eat right across from Bathhouse Row in Hot Springs, Arkansas called Granny's Cafe. Oh my goodness talked about down to earth Southern cooking. It was awesome. We all had something different to eat, but we all had to take ours back to our grandparents to eat because there was so much of it. I have had gumbo before, but not like authenic gumbo the stuff that takes 3 days to make. I finally got my taste buds to enjoy the really gumbo. It was so good. My son stole the shrimp out of my gumbo. Each of us was served homemade from scratch corn bread. I think my mouth is watering just talking about it.

We eventually had to leave the beautiful scenery of Arkansas, and come home. It has such beautiful areas to visit. I know that I could just sit on a mountain top and look over at the cascade of mountains and all the awe that God has bless us too see for hours and hours. Joel loves it too. Someday I hope to take him to the mountains in Tennessee as well as the Rockies in South Dakota and Colorado. So he can endure the beauty that God has created for all of us to enjoy and loves.

A Four Year Old!!!

Wow October we celebrated my little guy turning 4 years old. My little guy was changing so much. He had lost all his baby looks, and even starting to loose his toddler looks. He is becoming a young boy. I miss the looks, but he is still a really handsome boy.
  He also decided that he was no longer a little one either. He had been doing really good during the day wearing just underwear and going to the potty, but at night he was wearing pull-ups (which is a toddler version of a diaper but more expensive). He decided he was no longer going to do that he wanted to wear just underwear all the time. I was proud that he wanted to be a big boy on his own. Yes, I believe in letting a child make the choice when to get trained, but I did promote as much as I could. Thank you to my friend that told me how she did it with her boys. Joel wanted certain underwear, but I told him he had to master the "Whitie Tighties" first. It took no time. 

  Joel's birthday celebration lasted over a week. But the big celebration was on his birthday Oct.15th. Our first party for Joel was over in Indianola. Our friends threw him a party with them like they do every year. It is so hard for them because they work odd hours to be at the other one. It is okay we love being with them. They always get Joel a cake, and give presents. The cake was Lighting McQueen this year there. He loves Lighting. Yes he was spoiled with cake late at night and able to have some pepsi while we were there. Joel loved all his toys and clothes. Our friends in Indianola love to spoil him like crazy. None of them have children but they love to spoil little Joel. Has ever since he was in my belly. Barb, Theresa, Deb, George, and Brenda are the only ones that still stayed my friends after I had to leave Good Sam due to health, and like to inclued Joel and I in things.

Joel has always loved sports, but really started after he played Blastball over the summer. He decided he wanted a Sport themed party with our friends and Family at the church. His godmother made him a football cake, and we also made baseball cupcakes as you can see in the picture. All the food dealt around what people ate while watching sports from pizza, veggie tray, snack mix, and popcorn. This year I told Joel that he could invite two of his buddies to come for his birthday party. He was so excited that he could. He chose his buddy Kaden and Will. They were able to come and enjoy the fun with him on his big day. It is also one of his church grandma's birthday as well. She turned 80 that day. We celebrated it the next day at church, because she wanted her birthday wish to see Joel enjoy his birthday and have fun. We still sang happy birthday to both of them like we always do. 

  His buddy Kaden who was at Joel's birthday is a year and 2 days older than Joel, but he was going to celebrate his birthday the same day as Joel but in the afternoon at a bowling alley where they live. Joel got invited so we went up there. It was Joel's first bowling experience ever. He actually did very well, even with those bumper pads they use for children. Little turkey almost beat me and a few adults. As you can see the picture here they are good buddies.
  Having Joel turn four was so much fun, and still is a lot of fun. Now time to work on his 5th birthday. He wants Star Wars so we will have to see when it gets a little closer.

October 2011 Fun Times

 October also brought in good fun memories. Between Cover Bridge Festival, Joel's Birthday, Going to Arkansas again, and Halloween. Each was a blast. Some I will talk in a different blog.

  Cover Bridge Festival in Winterset's annual festival every year. It is the first full weekend in October goes from Friday night through Sunday afternoon. The whole square is blocked off for the event. Between the traffic detouring, and all the visitors into town it sucks to get some things done in town. We usually go up town an walk around the square and the vendors, and eat while we are up there. Sometimes listening to shows are whatever is going on at the Courthouse steps. We went with some friends, and met up with Joel's godparents. We all had a blast. We also watch the gymnastics and dancers. Joel's favorite things was playing in a sandbox filled with corn and watching the skateboarders (which he wants to learn how to do). On Sunday we go to church as usually, but then in the afternoon we go to the parade. Joel loves it. We all like to go to support our friends and family that is in the parade. Plus get candy of course.

   Later in October after we got back from being on vacation in Arkansas Joel and I carved a pumpkin for outside. It was so much fun. Specially with Joel because he has a texture issue, and did not like to touch the guts of the pumpkin, but it was a blast. I let Joel paint some baby pumpkins to put beside the big one. I think he had more fun with that.

  For trick or treating Joel was Herky the Hawkeye (mascot for Iowa Hawkeyes). He was so darn cute too. We went up town and walked around the square getting candy from all the buisnesses. Then we went to Care Center North and Care Center South to show off his costumes to the residents there. Then we headed to some friends house to help hand out candy to other children. Joel has so much fun doing that. He gets to see other kids and their costumes, and I get to rest and chat with our friends. I don't know how much more Joel will want to hand out candy before he will want to go house to house like other kids. I am not going to push it, but to make it his choice to or not.

  Joel even wanted to try to ride his bike without his training wheels. Needless to say he didn't last long, and he wanted them back on again. He just learned how to ride a bike just earlier in the summer. He just saw others without the training wheels so he wanted to try with them off. Hopefully by next summer they can officially come off. It will take a lot of hard work on both sides his and mine, but it will get done.

Sept. 2011 Fun

  September 2011 was an eventful month for Joel and I. I found out early in the month that I would be one of the Iowa Heart Ambassadors for 2012 along with two others. My dad/ Joel's grandpa and our grandma came up for a few days. We even enjoyed listening to the Cy/Hawk game on the radios. For those who do not know what the Cy/Hawk game is: It is a very important football game in Iowa evry Year. It is when Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclones play one another.
  One of the days in September with went with some friends to the Iowa Capital building in DesMoines to tour, and plus I had a photo shoot for the American Heart Association with the other heart ambassadors. Joel was very good. I think he enjoyed it just as much as the rest of us. It was nice to see how much it had changed since I went there when I was in school. It is so funny that Gov. Branstand is gov both times that I have been there. I love history in some ways. I don't remember going into the library the last time that I was there, but we went into it this time. WOW! Joel was amazed at all the books, but he loves book.

  Also that same day our friends and us went to Spagetti Works to eat. It still has great food, but the manager is something else. I wont go into that long story. But man the food still makes my mouth water thinking of it. We also decided to let Joel run some steam off since he had been so good. We went to Union Park (another place I hadn't been since I was little). It had changed but it still has the awesome slide that it is so well known for. It was so awesome to watch Joel enjoy and play there, because I was able to share with him a little bit more of my past with him that when I was little I played there a time or too.
  In September they had a family circus event out at the Madison County Fair Grounds in Winterset. I decided to take Joel to the first show, because we had church that night. Really truthfully it was a waste of time and of money (even though Joel got in free), but Joel enjoyed it a little. He enjoyed some of the parts. I thought that they needed to do it in a different area since it was nice out. Each act didn't do so hot, but like I said it was fun for Joel, and that is what counted.

Starting Headstart Preschool

   Joel started a new preschool September 2011. Yes, at first I didn't want him to go to Winterset Headstart because I had heard so much about what had been going on since I worked there, and even then I didn't like how some things were done. I decided to give it a chance, and if I didn't like it I would just pull him out. But after I met his teachers I was okay with it. They are two wonderful teachers.

  He first started in the morning class that went from 8am to 11:30am. Awe so sweet for me to have 3 1/2 hours four days a week to myself. Which most of the time I spent at one of the care centers volunteering in the activity department. Then I noticed Joel wasn't like going in the morning. I talk to his teachers about it. We figured out that Joel didn't like the morning class because they were first timers, they were rambunkious, and he already knew what all of them were just learning. After our talk we decided to switch him to the afternoon class which is the Pretend Kindergarten class. He loves it a lot. He even has little girlfriends, and a good buddy that he has bonded with. When one of them are gone the other is sad and worries about the other. I just think that is so neat. 

  At first I took and picked up Joel from preschool every day he went. Because of winter he would  be switched to riding the trolley to and from school. Which he just loves to do. It was so hard to see him get on for the first time by himself and leave, but I managed. He is now on winter break and going back Monday. He has missed it tremendously. Don't get me wrong it was nice to have him home, but man I miss my quiet time. He is excited to go back to be with his friends, and learn. Joel just loves to learn.

  We also found out this month that my little buddy needed glasses as well. In one of the pictures is his first pair that eventually got broke, but he loves his new pair.

Fair, Festival, Parade, Camping August 2011

  Wow August came with such a bang. It was such a great way to spend the end of the summer with Joel having fun. So many memories were made. We enjoyed not only time with just Joel and I, but we also enjoyed time with our family and friends.
  First, came the Iowa State Fair. It is a family tradition to go no matter what just to see the animals, get that famous Iowa State Fair hot dog or corn dog (cheapest thing there), fresh squeezed lemonade, oh and funnel cake, and seeing many neat things. Joel loves to go through the Lil Farmer Hands area. It is so nice because at the end he gets something for free considering it was hot that day he elected for a bomb pop (I hate them but Joel loves them). Then we go through the buildings and animal areas. This year I took Joel through the Cultural Center (I hate that it is on the hill, but took several breaks going up). Joel loves anything that deals with art. He is just like his Uncle Matthew (I think anyway). My favorite area is the photography since I am getting into that stuff. Maybe some day I will get the guts to put my pictures in. They have an area there for kids to be creative with art things like painting, clay, ect.. Joel did a beautiful picture it had pink, purple, blue, red, yellow in it. I asked Joel what it was. He said, "Mom it is the sunset Duh!" After I took a second look sure enough it did. Too bad that the picture got ruined because it got wet later in the day, but I have a picture of Joel painting it to prove.
  After we did the the Iowa State Fair we went to Adel's Sweet Corn Festival and parade. It was Joel's first time. No, I didn't eat any sweet corn Joel doesn't deal with lines very well and big crowds. It was where Joel got his first Green Bay Packers Jersey (little guy traded teams on me). We hung out with our friends at the parade. Joel got so much candy there it was more than we knew what to do with. Then we went to our friends house to celebrate their daughters birthday. 

  Also August was Joel's first time Camping. It was such a fun adventure. We went with Joel's godparents. It was only one night but it was so much fun. Can't wait to do it again now we know how much Joel loves it. We ate, played games, talked, laughed, and even went fishing (yes I fished and even got a fish). Joel only lasted so long fishing but he still doesn't understand the whole thing of fishing yet, but I really wanted to see his look if he did. The enjoyment of the night in a way was Joel got a hold of Hillbilly Holler (off brand of Mt. Dew) needless to say he got wired. Thank goodness there was a charged DVD player. So can not wait for the next camping adventure when the weather is good for it.

June through July 2011

  Well, June and July was so busy for us in so many ways. We were enjoying our beautiful summer weather. Many times we went to the pool with friends. Thank you to some special friends that got us passes. I enjoyed my tan. Joel has so much fun this year at the Winterset Aquatic Center. We had got him a swim jacket. Which was so nice, because he could float really easy. He loved jumping in the water, and going down slides. He still wishes he was bigger so he can go down the big twisty slide. Someday came out of my mouth a lot.
  In June we also enjoyed many days at the park on days that were not so hot. It was fun watching him just run and play while I got to sit on the bench and watch him. Except for when he wanted me to slide down the slide with him.
  In July got really busy. The 4th we spent the day hanging out, and even went to Frosties for lunch and slushies. Joel rode his bike (wearing him out so he will take a nap so we could see fireworks). That night we went and saw fireworks with Joel's godparents and their family in Norwalk. Okay I did more watching the fireworks as Joel played with the other kids.

  Later in July was the Madison County Fair. For two of the days Joel went to daycare (with one day them coming out to the fair) while I helped in a booth for our church at the horse arena while the 4-H showed their horses. Then at the last couple of days I took Joel to see the Mud Races since some of our friends were going to be there. Joel had a blast watching the races. He also loved that 4-wheeler races. So, much that he told me that he wants to get one to race. Several several year from now.

Blastball 2011

  In early May I signed Joel up to play blastball once a week in June 2011. I thought it would be good for him to do.  It was something different, and plus my son loves baseball. I even went and got him a little glove. The cool thing is Joel got to see his buddy from school once a week. 
  Blastball is fun to watch the kids try, but really I thought it was a waste of money because they really didn't do much. Hit off the tee and run to a special base that honked at them when they jumped on it. Like I said it was fun to watch all children have fun. So, in a way it was well worth it. Joel did really well. He hated to take turns but by the end of the month he was doing so well. I really wished they would of done something for the parents and other family that could not make it to the practices just to see them do things just once. 
  Joel and his buddy were never on the same team, and even one week they played against each other. That time it was hard to keep those two boys apart. The one that headed up the blastball was rude to the boys. I told her if the two boys rather played together let them. I told her that they were buddies from school. Nice thing is the daycare lady that brought Joel's buddy stuck up for me and the boys, because since Joel had been with his buddy at the daycare while I was sick she knew how hard it was to keep them apart.

  The whole blastball was fun for Joel. Nice thing is that at times it would tire him out where he would eat his lunch and take a nap. I took so many pictures it wasn't funny. My parents got to come and watch him play a couple of times. Joel's grandpa just loved to be part of Joel experience of being part of a sport. Hope he can be part of more and more. I think I am going to have to invest in mommy sport mobile one of these days. Hoping that maybe he will want to, and be old enough to maybe play soccer, because he loves kicking balls around. Really wished that they had a hockey around here too because he loves hockey. Who knows he may want to play blastball again.

Spring Trip to Arkansas 2011

  May 2011 we left on a spring trip to Arkansas with our grandparents, and spend some time with my father. Joel was really good on the way down. We left right after Sunday School at church. We drove basically straight through all the way. The only time we stopped was to go potty, and grab something to eat. Joel did really well all the way down. He even told us when he had to go potty. Once there was no place to really stop. We just pulled off at an excite and drove a little off the road, and let Joel pee in the bushes (he really had to pee). Then towards evening when he was getting sleepy I just put a pull up on him just in case he would fall asleep and have an accident. Well, He didn't fall asleep all the way down there. 
  About 10-20 miles outside of Mena, Arkansas (where our grandparents, and my dad lived) my grandpa hit a small deer (the deer down there are small anyway compared to Iowa deer). Praise the Lord there was no accident on the mountain, and no damage to the car. Grandpa was going slow anyway because it was only 40 miles per hour in that area plus it was dark. The deer kept going. It sure startled all of us though big time. A guy that was behind us stopped to make sure we were all okay. Which we all were. What was so funny was Joel, because you never knew what he would say. Joel said, "Papa Bob you hit a big goat." we tried telling him it was a small deer. Then as we were leaving Joel said, "Papa go back, you need to find the goat he is hurt, he needs me to take care of him. You meany you hurt his back." All our grandparents and I wanted to do was laugh, but we didn't. We just told Joel that the deer would be fine.
  We most hung out around Mena that week. We went to the park, took walks, even went up to Iron Mountain again. We also went and visited one of our grandparent's neighbors Lavern. Who we have know for many years. She is such a dear Christian lady. She is 90+ years and lives on her own. She never had any children of her own, but she loves children. She use to be a school teacher many many years ago. It is so nice to go over and listen to her talk. She really loves Joel. We also went uptown to Mena's Lum and Abner Day parade. Which was short, but Joel loved it.
  One of the days while we were down in Arkansas our grandparents and my dad decided it would be fun to drive over to Hot Springs, Arkansas. Which is about a 2hr drive from Mena. Joel loved the seeing the country side. So, did I. We went to Bathhouse Row. Which is part of the historical part and downtown of Hot Springs. It was so nice to touch the warm water that was coming out of the springs. I can not believe at first that people fill jugs of water from those springs or drinks right out of it. Later I found out that the water from those springs are actually good for you because of the minerals that are in them. Some of the bathhouses in Hot Springs are still functioning while many has been turned into museums. One of the bathhouses is actually a museum of what it use to be like in the older days. It was so nice to tour and see. They even have an old fashion somewhat elevator. I hope to someday be able to go into one of the other bathhouses and actually enjoy a spa and everything that comes with it.
  When we were on Iron Mountain Joel, Grandpa, Grandma, my Dad, and Me road the little train around the top of the mountain. Joel was so thrilled that he got to ride the train. He even was good to get off. We had a fun experience while up there and on the little train. Joel's hat flew off because of the wind. Luckily it flew off where we could go back and get it. Phew, we found it and got it back. I did not need to buy another hat, or have a very upset boy. 
  Then as we were coming back down from the mountain we saw something along side of the road. My youngest brother had found a turtle along the mountain down there before. I thought if I ever found a turtle I would get it for Joel to have as a pet. Sure enough what we saw was a small turtle. We picked it up. Joel was so thrilled to get him/her (don't know for sure which).  Joel named him Joc and we even brought him home to live with us. Which was fun to bring on the trip home.
   My dad drove us home. I told him to just take it easy that we wanted to have fun on the way home. Which we did. I really did not care about money, I just took out what I needed for bills and things, and just bugetted around what I wanted to spend site seeing. On the way down it took us 7 hours. On the way home it took us 15 hours so you know we took it slow and had fun site seeing.
  Our first stop on the way home was the National Air Museum in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Both my dad and Joel loves airplanes. They were like kids in a candy store. Those two were so happy. Even my dad was so amazed. They had all sorts of planes and automobiles. They had old planes and even a few newer planes. The had old buggies and very old cars. Outside they had some planes you could get close to, touch, or even went inside. My son got to sit in an old cockpit of a fighter plane. My dad, and my favorite part, but Joel liked to was the old war planes and things from all the wars. Okay I was a kid in a candy store too. It was so nice to teach my son about things there. I love some all war things, but not a buff about them. It was nice to learn as I was teaching him about the planes and wars. Joel said that people need to quit being mean to one another so there would be no wars. Okay my son was three at the time, and he spoke from his heart.
  Our next stop was War Eagle Cavern in northern Arkansas. Yes it was a little way a was but so much fun. It is a small cave, but there is so much learning there. I prayed though that Joel would be really good. Which he was. It was a big walk for us but it was okay. Thank goodness it was a small cave. There were a couple of other boys and their mom in the group that were older than Joel. Joel was more well behaved than them. Joel listened to our tour guide. He loved the cave. He was excited when he got to see bats and salamanders. He even touched a red salamander. After we got done Joel had a melt down on the way to the car because he did not want to leave. I told him that someday I would take him to other caves as he got older. 
  We stopped right before the Arkansas/ Missouri border at Bella Vista, Arkansas for supper. We went to Gusanos which is an Chicago style pizza place. Oh my goodness that places rocked. The food was so good. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water like crazy. So, if you are ever in that area and you want some good pizza stop there. I hope that someday I can go back there again. One day I want to take my mom and step dad down there to eat and then see my mom's brother and sister-in-law.

  We finally reached back to our home at 1am. Which gave me time to catch a little rest before I had to get back up for a meeting. I can't wait to take Joel to see more fun places, and more fun adventures.

May To Remember

  May 2011 was such a busy time for us. It was all enjoyable though. My parents were still living with us. Which at times was so helpful. At times it was a hard burden trying to support four people on what little I had, but God saw us through. If I had to do it all over again I would, because family mean so much to us. I think Joel was liking all the attention. It did help that my mom started her new job at caseys in Winteset.
First part of my we had the privaledge of Joel graduating from Wee Toddlers preschool. His grandparents, godparents, and I got to celebrate with him on the special occasion. It was held at the city park, and it was not organized, but it was okay because the children had fun. Of course Joel and his buddy were having so much fun together it was hard to pull them apart.
The following week my brother Matthew and his boyfriend Gabriel came to Iowa for a visit from California. It was so nice to have them, and meet Gabriel for the first time. Joel really bonded with them. I had fun making meals for everyone. Of course I had to spoil my brother while he was here. Matthew was excited to show Gabriel around. We went to Cedar Bridge, Clarks Tower, and the park to have fun. We even took Gabriel to Pammel Park as well as North Side Cafe (where Clint Eastwood and Oprah had been in). It was so hard to see them leave back to California. The visit was so short, but we had so much fun.
Joel and I were still enjoying trips to the park, and playing outside on warm days. There was even a day when we went to the ice cream shop to enjoy slushies. We took some trips to DSM to hang with friends as well as Stuart to other friends house. 
The last week in May our grandparents from Arkansas came up for memorial weekend. So, they could go to the cemeteries, as well as spend time with us. I cooked some awesome meals to spoil them of course from grilling to a pot roast dinner. I think by the time they left Grandpa had to use the extra button holes on his belt (LOL). 

Joel and I went with our Grandparents on walks, to the park, and more while they were here. It was fun to just spend time with them. We also went with them to the cemeteries. Which was so hilarious with Joel. He cracked us up at times.  One time he wanted a drink of water so Grandma gave him some. He said, "That was good stuff on a hot day." (which it was very chilly). Then one time we were telling him that people that die live here. In return he said "Well, what color is their houses?". Grandpa was lost for words. Got to love the humor of a child.