Happy Halloween!

We have been enjoying some amazing weather so it was a lot of fun for the kids to go out trick or treating! Trenton & Tyler went out Thursday night to Norwalk to trick or treat at my parent's house. They walked around the neighborhood with Caleb. Dustin came home sick with the flu that afternoon so we were happy to get out of the house. We decided to spend the night to try & keep everyone well. The 3 boys loved having a slumber party!
Well, it has been a huge issue on what Tyler was going to be for Halloween. I wanted to use Trenton's puppy dog costume and Tyler has been insistent for the past month that he did not want that. He has been saying "No puppy, I want to be Hulk or Batman!" Thursday night I added a cape to the dog costume and we called him Super Dog! He was an adorable puppy. Trenton picked out his costume a month ago as Iron Man. Friday night we had trick or treat night in Grimes and I finally caved with Tyler. We ran out in the afternoon and bought a green shirt, purple shorts and green face & hair paint. He was walking around the house walking like Hulk and screaming "Hulk Smash"! He is a natural Hulk! Tyler looked awesome all covered in green. Trenton & Tyler were the Marvel Super heroes!
Saturday the boys spent the day with daddy while I scrapbooked from 9 a.m. to midnight! Yes, can you believe that...I made it until 11 p.m. I am trying to get caught up on our family album.
Today we spent quite a bit of time outside. We took a walk to the park while Trenton rode his bike. We all enjoyed our time at the park playing football and baseball. Trenton's legs were tired on the way home. I wasn't sure we were going to make it home. We decided we probably shouldn't go as far the next time. We then took the boys to McDonalds.
Trenton is really enjoying school! The first few weeks we had an issue with him getting in trouble and moving his frog. Dustin & I reasoned, bribed, and took away privileges trying to get him to stop. He is now doing much better! He loves coming home and telling us what he has learned. He has been a big healthy kick and telling Dustin & I that we need to stop giving Tyler juice. "He wants Tyler to stay around for awhile." Boy, did that make us feel like negligent parents!

What a Busy Summer!!!!

I am finally getting back to our blog page and will try and catch everyone up on all of the fun things we did this summer!

JUNE.....
We started the summer with a busy schedule! Trenton played Bam Bam ball with the Grimes Park & Rec and Dustin was the coach. Trenton was really excited to have Dustin coaching and Dustin was great with all of the kids! He even had a couple of parents asking to request him as their coach for the next session. We took the boys to a I-Cubs game and a Barnstormer game. The boys loved the Barnstormer's game! We had seats in the 4th row, so we were right there with all of the action! We also found time to take a trip to the Blank Park Zoo. At the end of the month Mema and Papa came up to visit for a few days and then took the boys back to Oklahoma for a week long stay by themselves. Dustin & I had plans almost every night they were gone. We went out with friends for dinner a couple different nights and saw a few movies. We also caught up on some of our home projects. It was so quiet around the house without the boys I decided to paint the laundry room! Dustin had different ideas and wanted to relax so I was on my own with that project. The boys had a lot of fun in Oklahoma and I don't think they had time to miss us! Both of their aunts spoil them rotten so they had a long list of activities to do with them not to mention mema & papa!

JULY.....

Once again another busy month! Trenton turned 5 this month! We had his birthday party at Bacyard Adventures and had a baseball theme. All of the kids wore their favorite team shirt and we had black eye stickers for all of them. The kids had a great time playing on all of the swingsets and playing on the basketball court. That night we let Trenton have 2 of his friends, Caden & Brenen, come over for a sleepover. We took the boys to McDonalds and then the movie store to pick out a movie. They had a great time playing outside & in the basement and then slept in their sleeping bags in the basement. Trenton had swimming lessons at the Dallas Center pool for 2 weeks. He was able to go with his daycare. He enjoyed his time at school this summer, they spent a lot of time at the pool! We also went to Adventureland for a Consumer Credit day. The kids had a great time on all of the rides. Trenton was able to do a wrestling camp in Dallas Center for 5 days. He came home at night and told us the coach told him to stay low since he is small and also loved practicing his wrestling stance. We figured he must really enjoy for it to keep his attention for 2 hours. We might have a future wrestler! Dad is happy and I'm not too sure what to think. We made a trip to the Ozarks for a family reunion on my mom's side. My grandma and aunt & uncle from New Mexico were able to join all of us. We stayed at Tan-Tara Resort. It was a great trip....Trenton, Tyler & Caleb really had a lot of fun together. We spent our mornings at the pool and then went back to the room for naps in the afternoon and then back out for the evening. We took the kids to the indoor waterpark one evening and went to a fun restaraunt by the water another night with live music. We stayed there for several hours dancing! The kids even got to go up on stage for a song! There was also a great outlet mall that we shopped at a couple different times during the day. It was a great trip for everyone!

AUGUST....

Well, we are only half way through August. The State Fair has just ended. I spent 2 Saturdays working at the Consumer Credit booth. We also had Lindsey, Devin, Aiden,and Brooke & Michael come visit us from Oklahoma. We all went out to the State Fair Saturday night. The girls have been making an annual trip here for the fair for the last 3 years. The first year they came they only had one or 2 things to eat. We tried to tell them all of the different foods is the best part of the fair. It is so funny...they now get it! They came this year ready to eat fried food on a stick! It was also Aiden's first trip. It ended up being a really nice night so we didn't have to worry about the heat. Last weekend I had finally had enough of my screeching dryer so I left the house while Dustin stayed home with the boys and made a trip to Sears. I now have a new washer & dryer that I love! Wow, I am really getting old when I get excited about doing laundry. We also had a busy week last week with the both Trenton & Tyler's private swim lessons in Norwalk. They both really enjoyed it and made a lot of progress. Trenton is swimming under water and Tyler is dipping his head under the water. Last week Trenton had orientation at school to meet his teacher and see his room! He has been so excited for Kindergarten! He is asking if a Kindergartner gets dressed on his own then he will do it...do they brush their own teeth...do they go to bed at 8:00. We still haven't accomplished the 8:00 bedtime. Lucky for us he is in the afternoon kindergarten class so we don't have to change our morning routine. We decided to send him to optional kindergarten because of the summer birthday and his size. We knew we would not regret holding him for a year but knew we could have regrets sending him early. I think he is going to love it! He has 3 neighborhood friends in his class. We have also made a change to daycare this fall. He will now be going with Tyler to Heather's house in the morning before school and then after school for a few hours. I am excited to cut the extra drive to Dallas Center and I think Tyler will enjoy having him there!
Today was his first day of school. He has a class of 13 boys and no girls!

I have created a montage of pictures of the highlights of our summer. I hope you enjoy!

Big Events in May

Trenton's preschool graduation

Seasame Street Live

Tyler's 2nd Birthday

Okoboji Trip

May has been a very busy and eventful month for our family. Trenton graduated from preschool, Tyler celebrated his 2nd birthday, and Dustin & I went on a mini vacation with Troy & Paige to Okoboji. It seems like we always have something planned...looking at our calendar our summer is already filled up!

Trenton has been enjoying the nice weather and playing outside with all of the neighbor kids every chance he gets. We have already had the pools, slides, & sprinklers out quite a few times. He has been practicing with dad on catching, throwing and hitting the baseball off his tee. We have already noticed a big improvement. Dad has told him he needs to practice every night if he wants to be a good baseball player. We went to his preschool graduation at the elementary school where the kids sang their songs and showed us a display of their art work. He was very excited for the graduation. When he was walking out to the bleachers in his cap he stopped in the middle to look for us, and then once he spotted us he kept waving & smiling through the ceremony. Dustin & I keep commenting on what a great big brother he is with Tyler! Most of the time he is very patient & willing to share in what he is doing because of course Tyler wants to do everything that big brother is doing!

Tyler is changing every day! He has been slow at talking but we are noticing that he is using his words more every day. His favorite word is "NO"! I guess that is part of the "terrible two's". He definitely has an attitude! He is always giving you some type of look with his eyes. If he is upset or embarrassed he will turn his head away from you and will just shout No at anything you ask him. It is hard not to laugh because his looks & expressions are so cute right now! I recently got a call from Heather telling me that Tyler had a cooked carrot stuck in his nose. She said he had put a carrot, green bean & corn up there and the carrot was too far up. I had to leave work to take him to the Dr. It was not a fun Dr. visit for Tyler....I am hoping he has learned his lesson! Now that Tyler is 2 we are thinking we should take the pacie away from him. He is only using it when he sleeps but he does have some spares hidden and we will catch him getting a few extra sucks in the corner. One day he was asking Dustin to open the freezer and once he did he pulled out a pacie that was hidden in a frosty mug! I am thinking this is going to be a hard habit to break. We had a Curious George birthday party at our house on Memorial Day with friends & family. Tyler had gotten a bounce house for his birthday so we had that blown up in the basement for all of the kids. Unfortunately, Steph fell out & had to get 9 stitches on her ear. We were laughing that the adult was the one that made the visit to the ER and all of the kids were fine. Tyler really got the hang of singing Happy Birthday and now when he hears of someones birthday or was eating a cupcake he started singing "Happy Birthday to me"!

Dustin & I enjoyed a weekend trip to Okoboji with Troy & Paige. The guys had a fishing tournament on Sunday. We were all able to go out in the boat on Saturday and then out to a nice restaraunt in our hotel that night. Sunday the guys got up early for their tournament and Paige & I stayed around the area to shop. We had a great time! Now the guys didn't have as much luck in their tournament as we did shopping. We were hoping they would have won some money to pay for our shopping.

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Mother's Day

We had a great Mother's Day! The boys woke me up with flowers they had bought at Target. Trenton had told Dustin earlier in the week that he wanted to surprise me with flowers. I felt very special that day! That afternoon we went over to my mom's house for lunch. We had a fun day playing outside and watching Trenton, Tyler & Caleb play hide and seek with Papo. Trenton has been talking about flowers & gardening at school so he asked Grandma Dee to help him plant a tomato plant that day. He asked many questions and is now anxiously waiting for a tomato to grow!

Papa's Little Fireman

On Wednesday, April 30th the family decided to make a trip to Oklahoma to surprise PaPa at his retirement party given by his fellow firefighters at the Tulsa Fire Department. We left on Tuesday night around 8:00 and decided to stop at a hotel in Kansas City so we would be well rested when we got to Oklahoma. Our first stop was at the hospital to visit Lindsey. She was on bed rest for high blood pressure during her pregnancy. Then we went to the fire station to surprise Rick. He had no idea we were coming and was definitely surprised to see Trenton & Tyler! The boys had so much fun playing on the fire trucks and having Papa show them around. They even got to eat dinner with the firemen and spray the firehose. Trenton was very concerned about Rick's retirment. He asked several times "PaPa what will you do for work now? Maybe you can go to work with MeMa?" It was a very exciting trip, one they will never forget. We were so glad that we were able to be there!

Click on the video below to see pictures from our trip

Oklahoma Trip

Welcome, Aiden Cole Barnes

While we were on our exciting trip to see PaPa for his retirement, we had an unexpected surprise. Aiden Cole Barnes decided he wanted to join the party. On Friday, May 2nd, after we spent a long day or two in the hospital we were introduced to the newest member of the family, Aiden Cole. He weighed 6 lbs. 110z. Everyone is doing well and it will be no time at all before he is running, jumping, kicking and screaming with the likes of Trenton and Tyler. We are so excited for him to come and visit all of us in Iowa.

Oklahoma Trip

Fishin' Buddy

Today was Trenton's first day of fishing this season with Daddy. Trent decided that he became a "real fisherman" because he casted his pole, set the hook, and landed his own bass for the first time without daddy's help. The first question he asked after throwing the fish back out in the water was "Dad, in 2 or 3 more years can I fish a tournament with you?"