Rummel Family

Photo shoot

2012-02-07T15:22:00.002-05:00

So we had a friend of ours take some pictures of the kids this weekend. Instead of posting some of the pics on my blog, I'll just put the link to his blog for you to see them. Brian Powell is who did them and I love how some of them turned out! So check it out.
http://brianpowell.info/?p=7070

Christmas 2011

2012-01-07T14:25:00.011-05:00

These first few pictures aren't Christmas, but I threw them in anyway. In these first two pictures Erin is a month old. Alex has a birthday just a few days before Christmas, so we had an icecream cake to celebrate (thanks Nana and Papa!). Some of his favorite presents were a magnifying glass and binoculars.

Alex asked to hold Erin, and this Kodak moment was the result!

(Erin is 6 wks old in this photo)

We did Christmas with the boys on Christmas Eve morning. The boys woke up and had a couple big presents! We didnt' get them too many other things since the trucks are so big. Good thing too, because Alex ignored the other little gifts and just used them to put in his front loader! They did get a couple green dump trucks that will come in handy out in the sand box. They're pretty heavy duty, so they should take a beating and last a while. For the moment, Alex uses them to put loads into with the backhoe on his tractor. Adam has a trailer on the back of his tractor, but somehow it manages to get hitched to the back of Alex's. :)

This tshirt has a picture of Pop's tractor!

Erin slept through the whole thing. She got some shoes anyway.

6 wks old

Christmas at the new Jackson house. Adam and Alex had fun making a pile of presents for each person. Adam had a tendency to just make one pile though---right by Erin's chair. :)

Presents are done and now it's time to eat, or at least Adam thinks so!

From the back of the house you can see cars go by. The boys enjoyed watching cars and trucks drive by. They really enjoyed seeing the feed trucks. We even had to go watch them be filled when we went to the office to see Papa. Dad got out the old train set. The boys really enjoyed getting to "drive" it and change the tracks it went on.

Erin is 7 wks old

We gave Dad money for skis this Christmas. They came in the mail before we left and so he got to try them out. He bought Mom a set too, so now they go out together.

Me and the kids stayed up north while Andy went back home to work between the two holidays. So when we got to the Rummel's, we had more gifts to open! One of which is this: a baby quilt from Andy's Aunt Elaine. As usual, it's always a delight!

The boys made gingerbread houses while they were at Mimi's house.

This is Adams----see all the yellow!?

This one is Alex's.

We were given this cute little Christmas dress, so we had to get a quick picture of Erin in it!

It just about killed the boys to be at Mimi's house for 3 full days and see all those presents under the tree and NOT be able to open them! We had to wait for everyone to get there before we opened them, but it was worth the wait. :)

Jeremy, Natalie, Peter, Kelli

Andy's day off

2011-12-10T12:55:00.004-05:00

Andy took this friday and monday off for a long weekend. The boys have really enjoyed him being home. We took the boys to Jump It! on Friday morning. It's just like Monkey Joe's with all the big blown up slides and bouncy equipment. Their friend Gunnar and his mom met us there, so the 3 boys had a blast running around. Especially since they had the whole place to themselves! In the picture below, my boys are in red tshirts, Gunnar is in orange.
This first picture is a little something that we've been working on this week. Yellow is Adam, purple is Erin, and red is Alex. :)

Jackson Thanksgiving

2011-12-09T14:03:00.006-05:00

These are some of Dad's pictures that he took from Thanksgiving at their house. The boys loved having the big boys to play with. :) Looking forward to the same fun time at Christmas!

Phil and Chelsey have picked May 25 for their wedding day! Can't wait!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-30T18:38:00.005-05:00

These first few pictures are of Erin when she's a week old. Andy took the boys up to Nappanee for Thanksgiving, and I stayed home with Erin. Andy came back to work the day after Thanksgiving, but left the boys up north. It was a nice break for all of us. :) Then after Andy got off work, Erin and I went back up north with Andy. We picked up the boys and spent the weekend at Mom and Dad's new house. It was so nice to finally get to be in the house we've been watching be built all summer! The boys started playing in the basement and never really left. :) Unfortunately, I dont have many pictures of that weekend (I was a little busy). The bath picture is the only one from the new Jackson house.

First bath!

We had a little snow this week! And Andy happened to get home early that day. So the boys wanted to go out and get to work! It melted the next day, so it was good they got to play in it a little!

Erin's about 3 weeks old in these next pictures

New family photo

2011-11-15T12:43:00.003-05:00

We're not dressed in our Sunday best, but at least everyone is smiling!

Erin's here!

2011-11-12T21:13:00.006-05:00

Erin Louise was born on Wednesday (11/9/11) at 9:42pm. She weighed 7lb 6oz and 19.25 in long. As you can see from the pictures, she has the same complexion that Alex had when he was born----dark! The boys are quite taken with their new sister. But we'll see how long that lasts. :) Otherwise, not much to say. I'm sure I'll have more pictures to post in the next week or so.

Mom and Dad's House

2011-11-01T14:11:00.007-04:00

When we drove up to get the boys we also stopped at Mom and Dad's. I couldn't wait to see the new house! Mom and Dad are moving in this weekend, so there's just a few finishing touches that need to be done. It was so nice to see it all cleaned up (most of it) and finished. They had just poured the concrete in front of the garage and made the steps out front this past weekend. In fact, it wasn't completely dry when we visited. But here's a few pics of the pretty well finished house!

back door in garage and deck

garage with all the appliances in it

back door into the kitchen from garage

same general area, just different view

pantry on the left, washer and dry will be on right

kitchen cabinets, counter and tile ---so nice!

basement

The boys will be disappointed when the basement is filled with stuff!

storage under the stairs

Halloween

2011-11-01T14:00:00.004-04:00

We carved 3 pumpkins this year, all of which are called "Jack" by the boys. :) The first one we did earlier and it went bad pretty quick. These two turned out better since it's a cooler now. Alex dressed up as a firefighter and Adam was a construction worker. We went to a friend's house and trick-or-treated in their neighborhood. The boys had a lot of fun and really enjoyed playing with Gunnar (the crow) and Anna (Ripunzel).

We shipped the boys to the Rummel's this weekend (they came back in time for trick-or-treating). They were suppose to ride and watch the combine, but they've had way too much rain to be in the fields. So Pop just took them on a tractor ride in the lane (which is all Adam wanted to do anyway!) and let Alex drive the skid loader--thus the donuts in the driveway! But not being outside didn't phase the boys one bit. They were bouncing off the walls all week ready to go to Mimi's house and the excitement didn't wear off once they got there. So they had a great weekend.

I'd like to say Andy and I got to relax and rest a bit while they were gone, but we didn't. As soon as the boys left on Friday morning, I headed to town for some shopping. I did a little Christmas and birthday shopping, but mostly went to look at minivans. We recently figured out that Mom and Dad's Yukon (which they were going to give us) didnt' fit in our garage. So I went shopping all Friday afternoon and evening. And then when Andy got off work, he met me and test drove a couple that I had picked out. Saturday morning we got up and headed to the car lot again with a better idea of what we wanted, but not sure which van to choose so did more test driving. At lunch we decided on a van and after a couple hours we said goodbye to the Explorer and drove home with our new purchase! Technically it's used, however it only has 3700 miles on it, so it wasn't used very much! It's a green 2011 Toyota Sienna and we love it. Everytime we ride in it, Alex tells us he really likes this van and that we should keep it. :) We drove it up on Sunday afternoon to pick up the boys. On the ride home they got to test out the DVD player in it. It was the quietest car ride EVER! Although now they think everytime we get in the van they get to watch something! So I had to explain they only get to watch dvds on long trips. But anyway, we plan to have this one for a long time, so it's good that we all like it. :)

Road and Leaves

2011-11-01T13:47:00.008-04:00

A few weeks ago they closed our road to tear it up and move it so it can intersect with the new highway. Our house was on the last section of road not tore up, so we saw alot of construction vehicles park or work close by. They happened to unload the asphalt paver right in front of us one day. And since the road was closed, I'd take the boys down by the mailbox and we'd watch them dig up the old road, dump rocks or dirt into and out of dump trucks, and eventually pave the asphalt.

The stick in the bottom right of the picture is about where our property line is...so that would be our front corner of the woods.

They just opened the road this weekend. Here's a couple picks of our country road intersecting the highway. The highway is paved in concrete.

The boys like helping rake leaves. And of course playing in them!

CAT Family Day

2011-09-30T14:57:00.008-04:00

Two weeks ago we drove to Peoria, IL and visited Pete and Kelli. The proving grounds that Pete works at had their family day and so we, along with Andy's parents, made the trip out. We got to tour the buildings, walk around the yards, and get pretty close to some big equipment. The boys were in awe. CAT had all sorts of machines out for viewing and even had a demo show for guests to watch. Adam really liked the show--he was full of "oh's" "ah's" and "ooo's" that had most of the crowd around us chuckling. Since we have all the construction around us, the boys know their equipment, so they had a blast getting to get in and around some of the equipment they watch on a daily basis. Interestingly, the thing that kept grabbing Alex's attention was a video they showed in one of the sheds. CAT was testing a wheel loader by pushing it over down a slope to make it tumble over and over. The cab is meant to protect the driver for a roll or two, but not to the extent this test went. The dummy driver didn't make it. But Alex was completely captivated by it tumbling over and over and eventually mangled at the bottom of the hill. We had to pull him away! We had a great time and the boys really enjoyed being at Pete and Kelli's house too. We look forward to next year and another CAT family day!

You got a prize if you could hit a golf ball into the back of a dump truck. I didn't put Andy's picture on here....his form is horrible!

Alex and Pete are "bowling" in a mini excavator.

Adam's birthday

2011-09-30T14:50:00.003-04:00

We hosted our sunday school classes fall retreat at our house on the weekend of Adam's birthday, so we shipped the boys off to the Jackson's for the weekend. We drove up on Sunday, which was Adam's actually birthday, and had a little party at the lake. The Rummel's met us there and we had a picnic lunch, opened presents, and toured the house.

Mom brought apple gourds the other day. You paint them red and they're suppose to look like apples. I dont know how realistic they look, but the boys sure had fun!

They closed our road this week. Since there wasn't much traffic we stood out in the middle of the road and watch the bulldozer, excavator and the dump trucks. Our road will swing out and meet the new SR 25 at an intersection. So this is the beginning of our road's makeover.

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-05T15:24:00.007-04:00

We've had a busy weekend! Phil came for a visit and brought his girlfriend, Chelsey. Nana, Papa, and Stu came too. We got a swingset. And Mimi and Pop came for a visit. We had record breaking heat on Saturday, which is the same day the boys (ie. men) went and moved the swingset. One of Andy's coworkers was looking to get rid of theirs and we gladly paid the price. The boys love their new play set. I think I will be spending the week (or 2...or 3..) monitoring the ladder and slide. :) But nothing compares to the "house" in the bottom of the playset. Alex was all over it the minute we got the thing upright!
We had a very nice visit with the Jackson family and got to finally meet Chelsey. She fits right into the family and the boys were thrilled with their new playmate. Too bad it'll be Christmas before we see them again.
Mimi and Pop came on Monday for a short visit. I dont really have any pictures, but most of the time was spent on the playset and in the sand. It's 40 degrees cooler than it was 2 days ago, so it actually feels good to be in the sunshine!

our kittens

The boys like to make this their "drive thru windows". You can order food and they'll run and get it!

Happy Birthday Stu! (He wont be around when we actually celebrate his and Adam's bday) As you can see, Adam just wants to eat it (although he didn't). Alex already has his finger in the frosting.

Chelsey riding the horse at Mom and Dad's

Putting the swing set together

Dad sent me a couple pics of the house. It looks so good in red!

Lake house update

2011-08-30T14:36:00.012-04:00

Here's some pics of mom and dad's house. These were taken a week or two ago. We got lucky and a bulldozer and skid loader were moving dirt around the house that day. I didn't take a good picture of their view of the lake from the house. I will have to do that next time. But truthfully, you can't see much of it because of the trees.

This is a picture of the back of the house

The basement windows are all below ground, so they all have little window wells like this. These are the windows under the kitchen.

In the basement, this is the circle in the back of the house.The light you see is a bedroom door.

This is a pic from the bedroom door (see above pic).The bathroom door is on the left, circle under the kitchen in the middle.

Stairs and other bedroom door

Storeroom/utility room with the insulation

This picture is upstairs and I'm standing right inside the front door, stairs are to my left.Ahead you see the back circle and mom and dad's bedroom door. The fireplace is the dark thing on the right.

Front door and porch. The boys loved playing in the sandy dirt.

And of course they thought the machines were way cool!

This picture is taken from the sliding doors in back. There will be a deck out here eventually.

Upstairs guest bedroom. You can see the sliding glass doors to the left.

Fireplace (two sided) and front door. You can see the dormer windows at the top of the picture

Picture taken from the living/family room. Kitchen on the left, front door and stairs to the right

Adam didn't care so much about the house....just the dirt. :)

Another fun suprise! They're installing part of the geothermal heating/cooling system. (that's the big concrete circle thing)

Kitchen. There will be an island where the red and blue wires/tubes are coming out of the floor.

I'm standing at the front door looking toward the kitchen/pantry.The door to the garage is slightly right of center and the guest bathroom is the little sliver you see. The pantry is far left.

I didn't get a picture, but the last day we were here, they had framed the porch so they could pour concrete so it wont just be dirt. :)

After they got the big circle thing into the ground, they dug a trench to the house.

They were in the middle of painting the siding. This is the color it will be (kind of a barn red). Mom recently told me they starting putting it on the house.

The other great thing about the lake is it has lots of room to ride bikes!

Chicago

2011-08-22T14:47:00.002-04:00

A week ago we went and visited Andy's sister and her hubby. They live up near Chicago so we took the opportunity to go to the Lincoln Park Zoo. The boys had a great time playing with Jeremy and Natalie. But their favorite toy was a couple of boxes full of packaging peanuts. We coudn't keep them out of them! But they did spend time playing in the sandbox and with the other toys the house contained (mostly Jeremy).
We really liked the zoo. Andy and I were amazed at how close you could get to the animals. And they had areas to see the animals indoors as well as outside (like the cats). It's hard to take good pictures of the boys with the animals at the zoo, but I managed a few. :)

New Road and Riding Trikes

2011-08-22T14:34:00.004-04:00

Alex learned to ride his trike in the last couple weeks. It's mostly due to the fact he finally grew enough to reach the pedals. :) Every day the boys just go out on the new concrete slab and ride their bikes. Adam rides his bike Flinstone-style and is just as fast as Alex. Actually, Adam can turn better than Alex. He rides around one handed and looking off to one side or another, yet he always turns at the last second and never hits anything. We use chalk and draw roads on the concrete for the boys to follow. Alex does a good job of staying in the lines. Adam just doesn't care and rides wherever he wants. Alex likes to put some tools in his orange basket and put in on his handles. That way he has his tools with him whenever something "breaks."

Fixing my washer and dryer

This past week they started paving the new road behind our house. They still have a ways to go, but it was exciting to see them working so close again. From what I can tell, they only did half of one side of the road. So I'm thinking they'll be back there again 3 more times in the future...

I dont really know what this thing did.

As far as I can tell, it just moved down the road and made a long hill of fine dirt.

View of road from the bridge.

These aren't in order, but the next few pics are of the paving train.This is the last of 3 machines. I think it puts the final finish on the concrete.

The first machine. The dump trucks were lining up to dump their fresh concrete into it.

Machine #2. Smoothed the concrete? So did all the guys standing around behind it.

The first machine again.

Camping

2011-08-01T16:59:00.005-04:00

We went to the Elkhart Co Fair last week to watch the tractor pull and see the animals. We only got to see a little of the farm stock tractor pull, but Adam was captivated. We couldn't get close enough! Alex really enjoyed it too, but wasn't quite as awestruck as Adam since he'd seen it before. The boys weren't too thrilled with the animal barns, but they loved looking at the tractors, mowers, etc that the vendors had all over. Here's the only picture I have of the fair. By the time I got my camera the moment had passed (go figure) and Alex was the only one willing to give me a look.
After a couple days at the Rummel's, we drove up to Potato Creek State park and camped out with Andy's cousin, Neil and Crista. Their son, Cameron, is close to Alex's age and so the 3 boys had a blast playing together. It was hot and we spent one morning playing at the beach. We got their pretty early, so no one was there. They had a great time playing in the sand and water. Alex even got in up to his shoulders! Cameron's part fish, so maybe his fearlessness of the water helped Alex get over his fear. It helps that this beach was very nice and sandy in the water (not mucky or rocky like alot of lakes). Otherwise the boys just played around our campsite in the gravel under the shade of the trees and camper. Alex and Adam also thought it was pretty cool to be able to sleep in our tent. They got to use their sleeping bags for the first time. We will have to go camping again, just hopefully not in 90 degree weather! (But it's better than freezing rain and snow. Yes, I've been camping in snow and dont care to do it ever again!)

Cameron's sister, Cailin, took a nap at the beach

Lake house

2011-08-01T16:28:00.004-04:00

About two weeks ago, I took the boys to mom and dad's for a couple days during the week. We planned to check out the new house being built and swim in the lake. It was hot, but the lake felt great. We also got to play with Colton and Kenley, the Crabb children, who's family is going to buy mom and dad's old house and presently their neighbors.

basement--two bedrooms and stairs to the left

basement--stairs to right, bathroom back left

front of house; boys' backs are to the front porch

We were able to watch the workers put some of the rafters on the house.

The boys played in a dirt pile while we watched the work.

This picture was taken yesterday, so about 2 weeks after the ones above.

Windows, door, and roof added--maybe more?

The Bodle's had their slip'n'slide up while we were there.

The boys had a great time and often ask to go back to the lake.

Alex and Colton

Indiana Dunes

2011-07-17T15:35:00.008-04:00

This weekend we got up early and drove north to the Indiana Dunes State Park. We were like the 4th car in the parking lot, so we got a good spot. :) The boys had a really great time. God blessed us with clouds so the day was warm, but not too hot. Nat, Jeremy, Mimi, and Pop met us up there and the boys just played in the sand and water for 5 hours. Alex kept his eye on Jeremy the whole time and made sure he was within playing reach. Adam was content to play in the sand the whole time. Alex suprised us though and got into the water up to his ribs! Adam just went in the water to look for rocks. Over all it was a great day and we will have to do it again soon.

Adam refused to let anyone help him carry his stuff

The first trip up the sand dune

Adam is saying "vvvvvrr" (sound effects for his trucks)

We found water in this hole!

Eventually we had to make this hole bigger so both boys could fit

Looking for rocks

Look at me, Mom!

Second trip up the dune

Oh yes, it took a serious bath to get all the sand out of Adam. He thought it was great though.

Adam is also talking alot more these days. He's picking up the first sounds of words alot. His latest sayings are "I do!" "Up!" "yeyyo" (yellow) and "blu". Mostly "I do!" Like that first picture up there, pretend there's and "I do!" going along with it. :)

Summer fun

2011-07-14T15:34:00.004-04:00

Here's just a few pictures of the past couple weeks at home. Mimi brought some fresh corn and we went blueberry picking! I didn't take my camera with us blueberry picking since it was their first time, and I wasn't sure how they would do. But next time I will. They stuffed their faces with blueberries the whole time. It didn't take Adam long to figure out he could just grab handfulls of blueberries from our buckets and put them in his cup to eat. :) Alex was actually getting the hang of picking them by the time we left. It was handy having them to go under the bushes to get the berries.

I love this picture. After we husk the corn, Alex likes to put the bowl on his head and take them to the compost pile. He reminds me of the girl at the end of Jungle Book. :)

Boys playing with toy tractors

Ah, so peaceful. If only it would last. Not long after I captured this moment, Adam snapped (over who knows what) and threw a tractor at Alex which squarely hit him and left a nice bloody lip. Temper, temper. At least I have this picture to remind me that they can and do play nicely!

This week Adam moved into a big bed in Alex's room. So now the boys are roommates! Adam's pretty stubborn, so once Mimi brought the bed and it was ready for him, he assured us he was sleeping in it! No more crib for him! Unfortunetly the stubborness also refuses to give up the pacifier. (sigh) However I wont allow him to reach his second birthday and still have it. So we are going to have a battle of the wills in the near future. Ah, the joys of parenthood. :)

4th of July

2011-07-14T15:14:00.009-04:00

Forth of July was spent at some friends of ours, the Hodson's. They live way out in the country and so have a perfect spot for some fireworks. Alex also likes the fact they live amoung the big windmills. We had a great time eating, hanging out with friends, and eventually seeing fire works. (Because of daylight savings, our area experiences daylight pretty late into the evening/night. Fireworks can't begin until well after 10pm. Makes for a late night!) This fourth of July was probably the coolest I can remember. We'd had a string of really hot days, but a cold front came through and it was the least-humid, most pleasant holiday I can remember! I was glad I brought jackets for me and the boys because the evening was cool. But it was so nice!

Here's some pictures of the kids playing.

Gunnar Berger

(He was the only one who would pose for the camera at the time!)

Gunnar, Anna Hodson, Alex, and Adam in the treehouse

Adam watching Daddy play volleyball.

Alex couldn't wait for the sprinklers to come out!

Adam and the windmill

Yeah, I think Alex and Anna are fighting over the flower sprinkler.

Anna's little brother, Nathaniel, loooves the water!

Brrr! It's a little chilly, Mom!

Ok, so Alex looks like he's picking on the little kid, right?

However, Nathaniel loved it! It's water!

Throwing snaps on the ground.

No pictures of fireworks, sorry. Adam is scared of the booms. We bought a little pack of fireworks and did them at home a couple nights before the holiday, just to see if he would get used to them. But each time he made me take him in the house. And the fourth was no different. Adam and I spent our time playing in Anna's play kitchen while everyone else enjoyed the show. And eventually Gunnar joined us. So at least he had a playmate. :)

It's a...

2011-07-06T20:15:00.003-04:00

We had our ultrasound this week and it's a girl! Sorry no pictures to go with this post. I just wanted to let people know who haven't seen it on Facebook. The baby didn't give us a real great view of her bottom, so the ultrasound tech said she wouldn't go pink crazy until after the birth. However, we did get one decent look that showed it would probably be a girl. I've been thinking it was a girl anyway, so I'm going with it. What's the worst that can happen...it comes out a boy? I think I've got that covered----done it a couple times! :)

Thomas the Train

2011-06-26T20:22:00.005-04:00

This past Saturday, we drove two hours to Connorsville, IN to see Thomas the Train. Adam's starting to really get into Thomas, and Alex is on his way out with Thomas. So we decided now would be the time to go. For those of you not familar with Thomas, he's a blue steam engine in a kids' tv series. We watch him mostly on PBS or Netflix, but also have many books about Thomas and his friends (more steam engines or machines).

So anyway, Thomas was going to be in Connorsville and we had tickets for a train ride! Alex was so excited, he kept waking up the night before asking, "Is it time to go ride Thomas?" When we finally got there, they had games, activities, rides, and story times in addition to the train ride, all which was included in the ticket price. Suprisingly, the boys really just wanted to go on the train ride and weren't really into too much of the other activities. Altough they did like the gift shop alot. They had all sorts of characters to go on the wooden train track set then I've ever seen in a store---even Toysrus! We had a hard time getting them out of that one. But we did finally make it to the train ride. Thomas was in front, but Andy and I noticed a real engine in the back of the train that was doing the real pulling and pushing. I guess Thomas was just for looks. :)

an old engine for picture taking

Adam always smiles good when I say "cheese",

but that day, he kept closing his eyes and squinting!

On the real train (really old train cars)!

Waiting at the "train station" for Thomas

here he comes!

I just threw this picture in. We had the gokart out and cleaned it up a bit today.

We'll need a friend to come help us get it started. It doesn't get much use, so it takes some fiddling to get it going at first. But once you get it going it wants to take off! So we always need two people to do it, especially with the boys around. But Alex still likes to "drive". :)

Wedding

2011-06-26T19:29:00.008-04:00

Natalie (Andy's sister) and Jeremy Lederhouse were married on June 18th in Wakarusa (same place Andy and I tied the knot). We went up a few days early to help with preparations. I didn't get a good chance to take too many pictures since I had to watch the boys most of the time. But here's a few of the ones I did manage to snap.

The rehersal

Pete's wife, Kelli, played the piano for the wedding

Wayne and Nat

The guitarist and celloist

The Wedding Day

Alex and Adam's outfits
Alex was the ringbearer, and we got him into his outfit.
We just thought Adam would look cute if he matched, but the tie and vest wasn't happening!

Playing in one of the classrooms---where the boys spent most of the morning

Alex and Pete

so cute with his flower and tie!

Sorry, no pics of the wedding. We were all in it except Adam, who thankfully slept through the ceremony. So we were a little busy to be taking pictures! But I will tell you a few of the highlights of the wedding. Alex did pretty good going down the isle, but it was a difficult one. It had two turns, and he made it almost to the second turn when he made eye contact with a stranger. Then he dropped the pillow and did a silent scream/cry. Thankfully, Andy was quick to get him so the half of the audience who couldn't see his face, thought it was all part of the plan! The other notable happening was how Andy performed duties of matron of honor. :) They had the bridal party line up according to family, not boy-girl. So Andy and Pete were on Nat's side instead of the girls being on her side. After the lighting of the candles, Nat's dress needed...a little straightening. Jeremy's sister gave Andy the evil eye and at first he woulnd't do it. But then he swallowed his pride and bent down and straightened out his little sister's dress. It wasn't a perfect job, but I've never been so proud of my man! :)

At the reception...

The wedding party just consisted of Nat and Jeremy's siblings.

It worked out well since she has two brothers and he has two sisters :)

Alex was pretty well wiped out by reception time. Adam was pretty cheery, considering he'd just had a nap. But even though Alex isn't taking naps anymore, it had been a marathon of long days and it was catching up to him. After getting some food into him, he livened up a bit, but he was still a bit cranky. :)

VBS

2011-06-14T19:20:00.003-04:00

Well, I've been consumed with preparations for VBS the past couple weeks. I was in charge of the decorations this year. The story line is the wanderings in the Sinai desert. There's not much to work with in a desert, but there are oasis! So the past couple months I've been cutting leaves (just short of 400) and in the last couple weeks straightening wire hangers (for the leaves...so almost 400 also). We made about 25 palm trees from carpet tubes, wire hangers and green paper. We didn't get a lot of help setting up, but the few who came got it done! Thanks so much for those of you who helped!

The stage in the sanctuary

The foyer

The weather turned from hot and humid to cool and dry this weekend. What a relief!

We decided to have a little campfire and cook hotdogs and make s'mores.

The boys just ate chocolate though. :)

Birthday Party

2011-06-14T18:59:00.003-04:00

Grandma Doll turned 85 and what better way to celebrate then have a party! We all met at Prairie Moon and had some good food and family time. The kids enjoyed getting together and playing with one another. It was a beautiful evening and can't wait to for the 100 yr-old birthday party! :)

The birthday girl

Alex just ate the frosting.

All the great-grandkids

Indy Zoo

2011-05-21T18:39:00.004-04:00

We took the boys to the zoo this morning and it was a perfect day. It was warm with a nice breeze and not too hot. The park was not too busy either! The highlight of the trip was the train ride. Once we got on the train, Adam's mouth was in the shape of a "o" for quite a while! He was in awe. They really liked the dome under the dolphin tank too--the dolphins just swim all around you! But Adam really enjoyed the ducks. Yes, the ducks. There were ring-tailed lemers and flamingoes at the same pond, but they really enjoyed the ducks! They had a really nice cheetah exhibit, but they just kinda laid around. We just missed seeing the tigers though, it comes in a few weeks. The boys enjoyed the penguins alot too. They could swim under you and pop up on both sides of you. So it was fun to try and keep track of them.

Overall, it's a very nice zoo. But our little one here in Lafayette (which is free!) does a pretty good job actually. Alex wanted to know where the playground was when we left the zoo today. The one here is right next to a park that has some very nice playground equipment. :)

Adam in awe of being on the train.

at the elephants

rhino's

Sharks!

The ducks :)

Alex loved following this turtle. And yes, it actually moved all over!

Meerkats

More scrapers

2011-05-21T18:25:00.004-04:00

For those of you who could care less about construction equipment, you should probably just skip this post. :) Here's more pictures of scrapers. They were really close the other day.

Here's some fun tid-bits of info about the ones we saw: They are CAT 637E's. They run about $600, 000 each. The "E" means that it's a nicer model---kinda like going from a Ford to a Mercury--it just adds money to the price tag. On any given day, there's about 20 of these sitting 3 houses down (among other equipment). And all of this info I got from Pete (Andy's bropther) who works for CAT and works on scrapers such as these. He works with the motors and their emissions. Thanks Pete, hopefully I got everything right!

This is a picture of the scrapers from our swing set.

Scrapers have the unique ability to attach and "train" together.

We got to witness it first hand. It was kinda fun to watch one of them get stuck and the other pull it out. Sometimes a bulldozer helped push. :)

Here's another picture of them hooked together.

Big dump trucks--something else to watch.

Scrapers!

2011-05-17T19:10:00.002-04:00

I feel like we've been waiting all winter for some real road work behind the house. The concrete drain was a nice suprise, however not the dirt moving we'd been expecting. But today, we finally got to see some work on the road bed. Three scrapers, two bulldozers, and an excavator were moving tons of dirt all day. The scrapers moved dirt from one area and dumped it on top of the concrete drain and gravel. The excavator moved dirt all day too, but I'm not really sure of it's purpose yet. It just moved a pile of dirt and made another pile right next to the old pile. Hmmm. However, it was very close and he waved at the boys. :)

These first couple are the boys trying to fill Daddy's shoes. :)

This picture is on the back patio.

You can barely see the yellow of a scraper between the two trees and behind the pines.

Just gives you a perspective of how close/far the work is. :)

New Door

2011-05-05T15:16:00.002-04:00

Our new door got installed today! The boys were very excited to watch the construction. Alex asked "What are they doing?" hundreds of times. You think I'm exagerating, but I dont think I am. :) We'll probably paint the white brick molding on the outside, but I'm just not sure what color yet. Alex keeps saying, "It's so pretty!" We still have to put the trim back on on the inside, but that will get done eventually. :)

Oh, and for those of you who haven't seen it on facebook, Rummel #3 is one the way and expected in November. We're hoping for a girl, but 3 boys would be ok too. :)

Trees

2011-04-25T16:19:00.003-04:00

On Tuesday night last week, we had a pretty strong storm go through. It didn't last long, but it sure did some damage. Nothing on the house was damaged, but it took out about 10 trees. All the trees were on our south pine tree line. One of our large maple trees up by the house lost a good sized branch (last picture). We'll have to figure a way to get that off. Actually, we'll be working on cleaning this up all year I think. We have 3 or 4 trees that didn't break, just fell over with the roots sticking up in the air. So here's a few pictures. Most of these pictures I walked behind the tree line and took from the south side.

April pictures

2011-04-25T16:05:00.002-04:00

So April has flown by but I dont have too many pictures to show for it. I took the boys up north for a few days since Andy had to work for 2 or 3 days straight it seemed. We stayed with Mom and Dad but did visit Andy's parents briefly for dinner one night. We kept busy with coloring eggs, hunting them, and building a fort (as you can see below). Alex carried every one of those pieces of wood from the pine trees in the background. Alex still talks about his fort and the flag Papa gave him. :)

Our other adventure was taking the boys rollerskating for the first time. It's been a long time for me too! Andy's cousin rented out a rink in Logansport for their daughter's birthday and family and friends were invited. It took some doing to get Alex out there, but Adam was more than willing to shuffle along with the crowd! Afterward though, Alex talked alot about how fun it was to skate. :)

Construction!

2011-04-05T13:47:00.005-04:00

A month ago (has it been that long? whew!) Pete helped us install a new water softener. Alex did a good job of staying out of the way, but asked repeatedly, "Daddy, my turn to help?" Adam was just happy to be able to play in the basement. :)

The other construction that has been going on since we got back from Florida is behind our house. It's warmed up a bit and they sure have been busy. The new SR 25 has to go over a low spot and they were installing the draining system that runs under the new road. In the spring we can get some pretty serious flooding by our house, so they put in a good sized drain (I dont know what the word really is for this thing, so "drain" will have to do!). Semi after semi came by our house and took it back for a crane to lower it into place. Only one of those concrete pieces per semi. Yeah, they're pretty big.

After they finished the concrete, they spent a few days dumping gravel around the "drain". Dump truck after dump truck... A few dump trucks brought some large rocks/boulders to place on either end of the "drain". Probably so the dirt wont wash out? But an excavator scooped up the big rocks and placed them where they needed to go. And occationally, a train would go by. Adam loooves trains. He will stop crying, eating, drinking, playing, etc just to watch them or let you know he hears one. Needless to say when he's having a bad day/moment, I'm praying for a train. :)

2011-04-04T08:56:00.011-04:00

So Florida was just what we needed. The boys were driving me crazy at home being cooped up in the house. They needed to just get out and run! And thankfully, we had perfect weather and went to the beach twice a day most days. So they got lots of sun and sand-playing. We even made a trip to Sanibel Island one day. The beach is totally shells and little sand. So Alex had a great time looking for shells (he's not picky). :) Adam still played in the sand, which is what he liked to do best.

We found these on the beach...

looks like an aligator skull and a crab arm.

Ft. Myers Beach

Alex decided he needed a break.

Alex thought it was his job to keep the birds away.

They didn't bother us at all, but it was fun to watch him chase them!

Yea! Mimi's here!

Andy's mom got to come for part of the week we were there.

So nice to have an extra pair of hands around.

Ok so Alex is afraid of pools, and Adam is not.

So while Adam played in the pool Alex was reading up on the instructions to Adam's pool toy.

Alex is going to be a runner. He loved to just run on the beach.

Boat ride!

This time the boat was not scary to the boys; they loved it!

Dolphins!

Wait. Is this Alex in the pool? It is!!

After see how much fun Adam was having, we eventually got Alex in the pool!

And more than one day too. :)

So these last few are just of the boys all wet from the hose.

Eddie was watering the plants at the house and they thought it was great fun to run under (and through) the water.

2011-02-26T16:18:00.002-05:00

February has been pretty quiet, yet we've kept busy. A week ago or more we decided to tear up the tile that was our front door entrance. It's been falling apart ever since we installed it (we had no idea what we were doing and did it incorrectly). Alex decided to jump start the project for us one day while I was at work. Andy took a shower and Alex informed him that they were 'working'. Andy came out after his shower to find all the grout around one tile out and all over the living room while the boys were working their hardest to pry up a tile. Since it was done inproperly, it really was quite easy to pry up all the tiles and grout. Dad came one day and helped screw down some underlayment so I could finish it a later day. As you can imagine, Alex was all too willing to help. :)

Finished floor!

One of my many other projects is a quilt. I started it...hmm...either the spring or summer last year. I can't quite remember. But anyway, it's a scrap quilt that is mostly applique and embroidery. So here's a preview of what it will kinda look like. I haven't done any of the embroidery part yet, and this isn't even half of the blocks I need to make. Soooo....it'll be a few years 'til it's done. :)

Answer to prayer

2011-02-03T14:53:00.003-05:00

If you haven't heard, the midwest got a little snow and ice this week. In fact, not many people went to work the past couple days. Andy, however, did have to work. So our Explorer was parked at the bottom of our driveway (which is a hill) so he could get to and from work without getting stuck in our driveway. Since the wind stopped, today during nap time would be the first chance we (I) have had to shovel the driveway. So during my quiet time (which is as soon as both boys are down for nap) one of my prayer requests was "Lord, Please help me get the driveway cleared before Sunday!? Not only do I want Andy to be able to get up to the garage, but we're having a superbowl party on Sunday at our house. So naturally, the driveway is a concern. So after I prayed for awhile, I bundled up and went to work. Using a snow shovel and a regular shovel, I could chip apart large sections of extremely hard snow. They were too big to throw with a shovel (up to my shoulders if I stood them up), so I bend down and picked them up and tossed them to the side. Now don't get me wrong, I would break them into managable sizes. But it was going to take forever and it was hard work. My back is still killing me. But God decided to answer this particular prayer quickly. A backhoe happened to be driving by and I didnt think much of it. They are building a new road near us and large equipment is going by all the time. The boys love it. :) But this one turned around and drove up our drive and plowed the whole thing right out! Now we still have some work to do, but he saved me days of labor! I'm am so thankful right now I could dance, and I dont even know the guy's name! God is so awesome! The only regret is I wish the boys could have seen it.....they would have loooved it! :)

California in January

2011-01-19T16:42:00.006-05:00

Mom and I took the boys to California for a week to visit my grandparents. We didnt' do anything special....just spent time playing inside and going for wagon rides to the playground, weather permitting. It was probably the coldest I've ever seen Redwood City, but it's still warmer than Indiana! :) The boys enjoyed getting to go outside and run around---although they did a lot of running around in the house too. :) Uncle Johnie even made the trip to us (thanks again!) on Sunday and spent a couple hours playing. It was almost like having Papa there to play!

Adam enjoyed being so close to the road to watch traffic go by the house. But the highlight of the week was garabage day. We have garbage trucks in Indiana, too. But not like these! For one, you can't see ours from the house very well. But their garbage man doesn't even have to get out of the fancy trucks. He just uses a robotic arm that reaches out and grabs the garbage cans and dumps them in his truck! So yes, we followed one poor fellow for a good 45 minutes. The boys were facinated. He was slow because people put their trash cans too close so the guy had to keep getting out and moving them apart before he could grab them with his truck. Otherwise we wouldn't have been able to keep up with him. :)

Johnie and the boys

Grandma and Adam

Adam and the cast-iron play kitchen

Uncle Bruce and Alex

Alex watching TV

watching for trucks

driving Grandpa's old truck

Birthday and Christmas

2011-01-01T12:41:00.003-05:00

Alex turned 3 a few days before Christmas. It's quite a fun week for the boys since they both get to open presents (Mimi makes sure Adam gets a present or two for Alex's bday). Alex got Lincoln Logs for his birthday, and he loves playing with them. He even hurried to take a bath one night so he could build a house with out little brother ruining it. :)

We drove up to Nappanee for Christmas. The boys opened gifts on Christmas Eve morning (they dont know the difference from one day to the next!) so that Andy's family could all be there. They did pretty good about keeping on task and opening gift after gift. However, when Adam got to a particular present that was a Thomas the Train toy and book, he ignored every other gift. So that was his show stopper. Alex, on the other hand, would have opened everybody's gifts it we'd let him. The things he uses the most are his vacuum, the Nerf guns, kitchen stuff, and tools. I made the boys matching aprons and oven mits. Alex wont cook unless he's wearing the apron. And he calls himself a "cooker" instead of a chef. Alex always wants Adam to wear his apron too, so I put an apron on Adam to humor Alex. But usually Adam just plays with his trucks instead of cooking. :)

On Christmas Eve evening, the Rummel side always has their family get-together.

Adam was just taken with Cailin, who is 3 months old.

He was very interested in the baby and would stare and grin at her for quite a while.

On Christmas day, we made the short trip from Nappanee to Mentone.

At home using the new food and aprons.

The boys were so happy to get home! They really enjoyed their time at both grandparent's, but there's no place like home. :)

Lately, Alex has been saying things like: "I snorted, Mom!" "Dad snorted loud." "I just had little snort." It didn't take too long before I realized his "snort" was really breaking wind. :)

2010-12-28T12:29:00.002-05:00

Alex likes to read books to the kittens and dog. Here's a quick clip of him reading to the cats.

Florida

2010-11-15T18:49:00.016-05:00

We just returned from a much needed vacation in Florida. Eddie and Louise Creighton have a beautiful house on Fort Myers Beach and graciously let us crash at their place for the week. (And hopefully again in March?!) The boys know this as the "warm beach" because the California coast is all they know. There the water is in the mid to low 50s while the gulf is around 78 degrees. So Fort Myers Beach makes for a much more comfortable temperature to play in the sand----and it has shells! Alex spent most of his time digging in the sand and collecting shells. He would only go in the water if it served a purpose. Like looking for shells or getting water for the sand "volcano." Adam, on the other hand, loves water. So he didnt have a problem getting wet, or sandy.

The boys were a hoot to watch. Alex takes shell hunting and sand building very seriously. Adam is just tickled pink that his big brother is letting him help. He's adorable to watch from the backside----his little bottom wiggles back and forth as he walks and carries a bucket of water. :)

Mom came with us so it was really nice to have the extra hands. And then during nap time, Andy and I could go for bike rides on the beach. Dad was able to come about half way through, so at least they got to play with Papa for a few days.

Eddie's boat was broken for the first half of our week there, but it was fixed eventually. They boys really liked the boat ride, but loved watching boats go by the house. You could see the boats go by out the back windows. Adam especially was facinated.

Our days usually consisted of beach in the morning, swim in the pool (not Alex though), lunch, nap, boat ride or beach again, then dinner, bath and bed! Whew! What a day. Wish I was still doing that routine. When we got home, Adam found a shovel and ran to the door, pointed and expected to go out and play. We do have a lot of sand, but it's a bit cold. No beach here.

A picnic on the beach!

Sunrise

Beach patrol

Copy cat

Louise

sunset

Eddie and Dad

To see a video of the boys, click on 'Older Posts'.

It should give you a chuckle!

Funny Video

2010-11-15T14:27:00.003-05:00

So we just got back from Florida and I can't resisit putting this on the blog. I will have pictures in the near future, but you'll get a kick out of this.

Poor Adam. He didn't cry too long. Which is good because Andy and I were laughing so hard it took some time for us to get to him! :)

Trick-or-Treat

2010-11-03T14:41:00.002-04:00

This was the first year we took the boys trick-or-treating. Alex wanted to be a constuction worker, so Daddy dressed up as one too. We made Adam the foreman. :) First stop was the neighbor's house. Then we went to West Lafayette to the Berger's subdivision and trick-or-treated with them. Their son, Gunnar, is the same age as Alex. He dressed up as Curious George and his daddy was the Man in the Yellow Hat!

Alex and Gunnar were a hoot to watch. It took Alex a few times to get over being shy at first, but Gunnar knew what he was doing. He would knock --and continue to knock-- until someone opened the door! It was a lot of walking, but they both enjoyed it. Adam, well, not so much. It's kinda like the first birthday syndrome....he would get one piece of candy in his bucket and would want to eat/play with it. He could care less about going to the next house and was not pleased about being made to do so. Eventually he was throwing fits at every house, so Adam and I went back to the Berger's to play. He was much happier.

At the end of the night on the drive home, Alex kept repeating, "I had lots fun at Gunnar house." "Gunnar house fun." "We go back Gunnar house?" :)

Helping Pop on the Farm

2010-11-03T14:00:00.005-04:00

Andy took a couple days off in October to make a long weekend. We went up so he could help his Dad chop, but mostly so the boys could ride in the combine. :) I can't begin to describe how excited Alex was to ride the combine. In fact, he slept horrible the first few nights (which was most of them!) because he was so excited! Adam liked it because he got to see tractors and trucks all the time. Adam is all boy---he's all about trucks, tractors, trains, and machines in general. Alex likes them too, but he loves the kitchen just as much. (Adam doesn't get as excited about the kitchen stuff as Alex does.)

While Pop and Daddy were out chopping, Alex was helping Mimi get some work done in the kitchen. They made cookies and diced tomatoes to be canned.

The boys looooved wathing the tractor pull the wagon back and forth across the road and down the lane. One way the wagon's full of silage, the other way it's empty!

And if you ask Alex where the silage goes, he'll tell you! "Silo!"

I really didn't take too many pictures of the chopping. It was really windy and very cold those days. But here's a shot of the boys watching (from inside the tractor cab) the silage unloaded from the wagon.

Ok, time to combine the corn!
But first we have to take the bean head off, and put the corn head on.

Now we're ready to work!

What's the next best thing to helping Mimi in the kitchen and driving the combine?

Playing in the wagon full of corn!

You wouldn't believe the nooks and cranies I found corn in on those boys at bath time. Or maybe you would. :) Alex would get so tired of corn in his shoes he would take them off when he was in the wagon! And mind you it was pretty chilly!

But boy did they have fun. :)

Jack

2010-10-19T14:23:00.003-04:00

A week ago we carved one of our pumpkins. Like I figured, Alex was really excited to cut the pumpkin, but not to get messy. So I did most of it. He was quite proud of the results though. And he affectionately calls it "Jack." When we go outside, he usually asks," Mom, we go see mine new friend, ok?" :) We have Jack on the front porch faced to the house so when we put a candle in him, the boys can look out the window and see it lit.

Picnic

2010-10-08T14:53:00.004-04:00

So the week after Adam's birthday, the construction workers came and mulched all the trees they cut down in the spring. We decided to have a picnic and watch the guys work. So we took the wagon and walked out to the other side of the pine trees way in the back. Alex thought it was a great idea. We watched as the big green tractor went and grabbed the trees then dragged them to an excavator. He picked up the tree and brush and set it on the belt of the mulcher. We saw some huge equipment and they made a massive pile of mulch!

Most of the bridges are completed and they are starting to get the main pathway of the highway cleared. Just this week we watched them come and use a stump remover to chew up the remaining stumps. There's like 6 dump trucks that go by our house all day taking dirt to part of the road just north of Buck Creek. We only live a mile from Buck Creek, so we see alot of dump trucks! I'm hoping they start soon behind our house so we can go watch while it's still relatively warm outside. But knowing my luck, I'll be pulling them on sleds to go watch this winter. :)

These are just a few shots I got of the boys the other day. No particular reason... :)

Birthday party #2

2010-09-20T13:45:00.003-04:00

The Rummel party was on Sept 12, and just about everyone showed up! It was a pleasant day made even better by the presence of the ice cream machine. Alex loved playing with all his cousins. In fact, he even told Daddy, "My cousins fun, Dad!" He spent most of the time playing in the sand. Of course, he helped little brother open gifts again. :)

Hahaha... I love this picture! I think Adam's favorite present was the cake topper. He had CAT tractors/trucks on his cake and he kinda ignored eating the cake so he could play with the trucks! In this picture, one of the other cousins is also eyeing the tractors and is trying to play with one. This photo catches the look of , "Hey, that's mine!"

At home playing with a new toy

The kittens are probably the favorite bday present though!

Birthday party #1

2010-09-20T13:26:00.002-04:00

So we couldn't find a date for a birthday party that worked for both the Rummel side and the Jackson side. Therefore, two parties! yipee! This is the Jackson party. We had it over Labor Day weekend, so Phil was even able to come. It was nice to see everyone and thanks to anyone who gave Adam gifts. As you will see, Alex was very willing to help Adam open any present he wasn't able to do himself---which was most of them. :)

Purdue jerseys

Clothes again?

Now for the good stuff.... Ice cream cake!

Unlike Alex, Adam had no problem eating his cake.

We kept Puddy in a pen while at Mom and Dad's.

Alex spent alot of time 'fixing' it while we were there.

Concrete is done!

2010-09-20T13:08:00.003-04:00

These pictures are going to be in the wrong order, but I dont think it will matter. Bob came and finished the concrete a week or two ago. Stuart was here too, so we all spent the day watching Bob work. After nap, I had the boys put their hands and feet in the concrete. Alex didnt' want to at first. But after Adam did it, he was very willing! I think they turned out well. :)

Watching the work

This was also the last time the boys get to see Stuart for a year! They had fun playing with him and spending time with him. On Sept 12 he flew to Berlin, and as far as I know he's doing well. Hopefully we'll be able to find time to skype in the months to come. Praying for you Stu!

Construction

2010-09-01T14:22:00.004-04:00

We aren't really 'building' anything, just having some concrete poured. But as far as Alex is concerned, it's construction! We are adding some parking but mainly a basketball court. (No, not a full or half court, but plenty of room for a 3-pt line.) Alex calls it, "baseball court." A relative of Andy's co-worker is doing the job. He does concrete for a larger company and on the side does smaller jobs, like ours. It's so nice to have someone who knows what he's doing! I'm pretty sure it would be a mess if we tried to do this ourselves.

Alex is normally shy around people the first time, but not Bob (our concrete guy). Alex was so thrilled at finally being able to see some work being done. He kept asking Bob if the concrete mixer was going to come. But it can't beat Alex's first words to him..." Bob! I pee on tree!" Thankfully, Bob is a grandpa, and he doesn't mind being asked lots of questions or his every move being watched (and I mean every move!).

This past weekend the digging started. We ran into a few minor bumps, but nothing we can't handle. So this is a picture of after the first day of work.

Day 2

Day 3
This is only a third of the concrete. Hopefully more later this week...?
We walked on it this morning. The boys loved running/walking on it.
Adam walked in circles and then would squeal in glee.

All that dirt had to go somewhere. We piled it where a pine tree had been. You can probably see it in the first picture of the construction.
Alex likes to say, "Can we go play dirt?" or "I climb mountain, Mom!"
Adam sometimes plays in the dirt, but is much more interested in the bobcat and the trailer.

Alex is showing us his muscles.... being 'Macho'. :)

I wish you could hear the sound effects...

A quick family photo

Slip'n'slide

2010-08-26T17:53:00.003-04:00

So there's really not much to hear in this one. But this shows Alex and Andy going down the slip'n'slide. You can see Alex get excited and flap his arms a bit. He loves it!

Chicks

2010-08-26T14:24:00.003-04:00

Well, Adam is definitely walking now! Even Andy and I can see the difference just a couple days makes in his progress----so you know he's changing fast! He doesn't want help to walk and certainly doesn't want to crawl. He falls down less and less, however he hits his head on things many times a day. :)

Last week, Papa came and spent the night. He was on his way to the state fair, and he brought chicks! Alex was very curious and really liked checking on them. Adam wasn't so sure of them at first, but then warmed up. Alex really liked petting them and holding them until one pooped in the wagon. Then he wasn't as eager to hold them---he didnt' want to get poop on his hands. (Alex is a bit of a clean/neat freak). :)

Slip'n'slide

2010-08-12T14:18:00.003-04:00

Can you believe that this is the first time this year that we've had the slip'n'slide out?! We had a few friends over and had a great time with it. Alex loved the slide this year! He's been down it before, but like Adam, he wasn't too trilled with it. But now that he's older, the slip'n'slide is lots of fun----he told us so every time he walked up the hill for the first 45 minutes! In fact the only way we could get him to stop was the promise that he could do it again the next day. He was shaking with chills and he still wanted to go again! Needless to say, he slept really good that night. :)
It was a perfect time for it though...it's super hot and the ground is soft. I even got to enjoy the thrill of the ride (considering I was pregnant last year!). :)

Mimi is going to bring us another piece of plastic---one not so big. That way we can whip it out real quick and Alex can go down it every day if he wants. He can't wait.

The next two pics are of a couple of Alex's friends.

He calls them," My boyz!"....and yes, one's a girl. haha :)

Gunnar

Anna

Just hanging around

2010-08-12T13:58:00.002-04:00

Phil came for a visit last week since he had a tennis thing in Indy over the weekend. He only got to spend one day with us, but the boys really enjoyed it. hahaha...Alex kept calling him Stuart though.

Adam is just about walking! He loves walking behind things or along the couch. When we go outside he just runs along behind the truck and walks all over the yard. He's even been taking 4 or 5 steps by himself! He's certainly not afraid to try it on his own. Adam loves food (he's sooo different from Alex)! He refuses to be fed by a spoon (goodbye babyfood!) and wants to self-feed. So right now he's on a diet of hot dogs and scrambled eggs with various fruits he can gum. He has two bottom teeth that just came in in the last couple weeks, but that's it! So it's hard to find foods he can actually eat! But he gets so excited for those hot dogs and eggs and Cheerios. He can put away 2 hot dogs and 3 eggs! (Alex still wont touch eggs.) Thankfully I'm blessed with one child who will eat. :)

Alex is my little helper out in the yard whenever I'm watering or moving plants. But we've mostly been keeping cool by playing out in the sprinklers. Yesterday, Alex was so hot, he wanted all his clothes off to run in the sprinkler! I let him, and the next thing I know, he's standing in the middle of the spray trying to pee on the sprinkler! Evidently the cold water didn't phase him at all. :)

Wipeout! is so much fun to watch right before bed :)

Elkhart Co Fair

2010-08-03T20:46:00.004-04:00

Or "Mimi's fair" as Alex likes to call it. :)
We had a great time at the fair, especially Alex! He was there 3 days! (not all day) His first day was probably his favorite, because he got to ride all the kiddie rides (it being Kids Day and all) and he was with Mimi. He wasn't all that impressed with the tractor pull, but he did enjoy the rodeo. His favorite was the bucking broncos. Nana and Papa came up to watch the rodeo with us, so that was a nice treat. Adam wasn't all that thrilled with the fair in general, so he was only there one day. He prefered to stay and play at Mimi's.

Our favorite eating spot, the Pork tent! Yum!

To kick off part of the tractor pull, some parachuters landed in the infield of the track.

Adam could care less. :)

At home

2010-08-03T20:25:00.004-04:00

This is the boys at the Rummel's....in the bath tub!

Alex and Adam are watching Daddy mow.

And if you ask him who he's talking to, it's almost always "PeteKelli"!

We made a caterpiller out of our banana! Alex loved it!

Stuart's turn to play with Alex and the race track.

Adam tried to chase the cars, but they were too fast.

He finally just sat on the track to stop them! :)

We had a campfire one night, and Alex is helping Daddy take the stuff back to the house.

Kelli and Adam around the fire

Alex walking with Pete

Yum, S'mores!

Although he mostly ate chocolate and marshmallow!

4th of July

2010-08-03T14:37:00.003-04:00

We went to some friends house for a 4th of July party. Alex had a lot of fun...Adam not so much. But then at his age, it's what we expected. :)

Brrr! Mom it's a little chilly when you're all wet!

2010-07-13T20:51:00.006-04:00

So Andy has been wanting to see Alcatraz and San Fransisco for a while and we finally bought tickets a couple weeks before our trip out. And of course they are non-refundable. My cousin Amy took Andy's ticket and we had a great day hanging out in San Fransisco. First we went on a bus tour of the city and then on to Alcatraz in the afternoon.

The Painted Ladies

Lumbard St.

THE ROCK

This is the shower room.

Doesn't look much like it does in the movie "The Rock", does it?

a cell

The inmates 'playground'

These are isolation cells.

It's completely dark when they were in there.

what the guards looked like

This is a picture of a cell that was broken out of. The vent (floor level mid picture) was chipped to make it bigger (supposidly with a spoon). I think 4 guys did this, crawled to the roof and made a raft from rain coats. They were never found.

An ex-con wrote a book and was there at Alcatraz signing books.

This is a container ship that was on it's way to Oakland.

I can't even describe to you how HUGE they are!

CA -- Santa Rosa

2010-07-11T21:08:00.004-04:00

We always take at least one day to go to Santa Rosa to see the Jacksons. We first stopped at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Uncle Johnie is the only one there now....Grandpa is in a home in Petaluma and Grandma passed away last fall. But we had a nice visit with Uncle Johnie under the big oak tree. Alex found some toys, his favorite being the squirt guns! They looked slightly familiar to me, so that tells you how old they were! But they worked. :)

After a bit, we all packed up and headed to Ginny's house for lunch. Johnie went to get Grandpa to bring him too. We had a little party for Grandpa's birthday. He gets a little anxious when he's around so many people. Walking helps calm him, so that's what he did....walked all over the house the whole afternoon! He looks pretty good though. With all of his walking he works up an appetite so it makes for a pretty healthy looking 90-year-old! (even though he is missing his teeth!) After an afternoon with family, we headed back across the Golden Gate to Redwood City.

It was a really hot day, so what better to cool off in than a pool!

Alex really enjoyed it. :)

Aunt Wanda

Johnie, Grandpa, Dad

Yes, Ginny didn't even hesitate to get in with the kids!

This is Ginny when she's not in a kiddy pool.

Ca trip-- Back in Redwood City

2010-07-09T13:46:00.008-04:00

After Asilomar, we got to spend about a week more at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Alex spent alot of time watering and playing baseball in the backyard. He also enjoyed helping Papa G put seed in the bird feeder and pick apricots and oranges. So needless to say, we stayed busy!

For those of us who remember it, here's the ol' Flexy!

That thing has a lot of miles on it. :)