Kindergarten School Pics

oh man, they look big.  i kinda miss the sweet preschool pics with cute backgrounds and little bodies.  There's not too much little about these 2 anymore. 

So Long, September.

and everything else that happened 2 months ago....in September :) 

the blood moon.  and my terrible picture of it. 

Macky and Daddy on his birthday

a couple more pictures from our MI trip 

Chopstick Practice

Almost crawling...we thought....

 

Haircuts

Snuggles, Snuggles and more Snuggles.  

Bro Time

 

silly nights with Daddy 

another Burns boy likes Captain America

Davis is ALWAYS silly in the car

 

Elsa facepaint

Davis holding Macky's paci in for him, while cleaning up his toys.  Everyone chips in around here! 

and no better way to end than some happy baby pictures! 

The Willis Files and the Welcoming of Darth Vader

So having reptiles/amphibians as pets comes with some turnover....i mean they don't live forever.  Ya know, the frogs we catch outside, whatever lizard looks cool in the petshop but doesn't cost too much.  For us, it's just something fun to watch.  We are however quite attached to the turtles, and Linus has been a great turtle for us.  We've had him i mean her, for over 2 years.  She's great.  Then we got Willis this summer.  This turtle, also caught saved from the wild was meant for Davis' cage.  He'd been wanting one in his room for a while.  It was obvious from the beginning that Willis was a bit more aggressive than Linus.  He ate his food vigorously, would snap at you if your hand got too close, and he just looked a little rough, ya know?  like maybe he'd been in one too many riverbank fights?  well, we still loved him.  And by we, i mean Davis.  Davis talked to Willis every day and all was well for a while.  Then we noticed one lizard was gone.  A few weeks later we noticed another lizard had a gaping wound and missing tail, and then the last straw was the gruesome murder of our beloved frog, Kitty.  I will spare you the details but it wasn't pretty, and i swear the stench of a violent death permeated the room.   We then removed all other lifeforms from Willis' cage and had a heart to heart with our young Davis.   We gave Davis a choice, keeping Willis, but not having any other pets in his cage, or letting him go and getting a new baby turtle.  There were some emotions involved, but in the end, Davis decided putting Willis in the Mississippi was the right thing to do. 

We did make sure first that our eastern box turtle could survive the winter conditions around here--we found out there were turtles of the same species as far west as Michigan...well, it's cold there.  And now we know there are Eastern Box Turtles a little bit farther west ;)  and listen, if any turtle could make it...Willis can.  He's a fighter at heart.  

Here he is, on our porch, awaiting his freedom. 

The didn't actually end up taking Willis all the way to the Mississippi River cause it seemed like overkill really when we have a perfectly good park/creek not to far from the house.  So they went out and set him free.    Willis did not hesitate at all. 

So with the exit of Willis, we did a little researching and settled on a new species of turtle.  A water species that wouldn't get too big.  Please meet our new Razorback Musk Turtle, Darth Vader.  He arrived to us a few days old and about the size of a quarter. 

a little shy at first, he hid in the holes for a few days.  But now, about 2 months later, he's always swimming around and in a constant territory fight with our goldfish, Chewy. 

and this is Luke Skywalker, formerly known as Leo.  Davis wanted to rename him :) 

He's a leopard gecko and surprisingly friendly.  He loves to be held. 

and here's Rocco.  The Lizard who lost his tail.  It's growing back nicely now though.  Don't worry, and he has since been moved to the twins cage where he has made friends with our other little lizards. 

Life without Daddy

So Mike got to take a vacation--ah hem, i mean business trip a couple of months ago.  To our once home, Hawaii.  To say I was jealous would be an understatement. 

I hate to bore you with his paradise pictures....i mean who wants to see beautiful sunsets, teal blue waters and rainbows? 

 

 

He says he worked....I think we need proof. 

 Meanwhile we were over here in good 'ole Iowa, suffering ;) 

But for real.  i know i've done the single mom thing, but this 10 day stint rocked my world.  I don't know if it was 4 kids, living somewhere where we didn't have a huge support system, still just getting used to our new busy fall schedules, or just the stage of life we are currently in.  but geez.  this one was rough.   

You can't tell by this picture, but this day was especially rough.  I failed as a mom at least once an hour and i think Macky fussed/cried the majority of the day. After finally getting the baby to bed, there was no other acceptable way to end the day than to crawl into the bed with my littles and snuggle a while.  A good reminder that a lot of love and a little forgiveness can go a long way. 

The days may have been rough, but there always sweet moments if we'll just look for them.  Like these: 

brothers playing in the bath together for the first time

snuggles in the midst of a fussy baby stage

sibling love and seeing your 'once little ones' step up and really help out when I don't have enough hands 

and then of course, McDonalds drive thru run for breakfast in PJ's/undies and bare feet. 

we made it though.  obviously.  and were SO HAPPY to see daddy walk through the door.  

Quad Cities Balloon Festival

The QC Balloon fest is nothing in comparison to the Carolina one--it was smaller, the balloons didn't actually fly, they just tethered, and there were only about 11 balloons instead of 50+ i'd guess were at the Carolina Fest, but there were definitely some positives of this one too. 

1. Instead of a 3 hour drive it was just a 15 min drive across the river (not a lot of time invested in an event that could be called off because of weather conditions at a minutes notice) 

2. It was free (we paid quite a bit for our family of 5 plus grandparents to go to the Carolina Balloon Fest last year to not even get to see the balloons go up)

3. Easy In and Easy Out. (Don't get me started about the parking at the Carolina one) 

We arrived at the grounds right before dark settled in so we could watch the Balloon Glow.  It's sweet seeing Davis at this one--so amazed at everything.  The first balloon fest we ever went to was when he was 4 weeks old. Check that out here. 

my silly people

Balloons at night are def on my list of coolest things ever!