Rhodes family weekend

This past weekend was jam packed with Rhodes family fun! My parents, along with my oldest brother Chris, and his kids, all made the trip from Iowa to G-town. We spent the whole weekend together and I think I speak for everyone when I say that we had a really great time! Saturday our friends Sandy and Gay Lehman were kind enough to share their lake house with us. Sandy is always up for giving boat rides and we kept him busy most of the day. There was a lot of tubing and Chris, and my nephew Vince even showed off their skiing skills.





The little cousins loved watching their big cousins, Vince and Tommy, tube. Later on in the afternoon these two made it a little more interesting. They tried to knock each other off their tubes using every way a brother would think of including kicking, pulling and pushing. Typical brothers. Funny thing is that neither of them got hurt. However their sister Becca got a nice shiner from flipping off her tub and hitting Vince's leg.



After a while the little kids got a turn. Adam wasn't interested, but Morgan and Theo gave it a try with their dads. When Dave asked Morgan if she was scared or wanted to stop she replied "No Daddy, this is so much fun I can't believe it!"

After lunch I got a seat on the boat and eventually took my turn tubing with Morgan. Just for the record when asked Morgan said she liked tubing better with me then with Dave. :) It was fun being out on the boat again. It brought back memories of when we were in college and Sandy would drive around while Angie and I would soak up the sun. I guess life is a little different now.

For the last round we picked up Adrienne. She wasn't so sure about the straight jacket, but I'm all about the safety. She got used to it and as you can see she wasn't too mad to give me some of her precious smiles. Eventually the motion helped her go to sleep in my arms. By this time Morgan was loosing steam. Except for our lunch break she had been out on the boat all day. She had a blast, but she even admitted she was tired. And that doesn't happen very often.

While the little kids, and I, caught a quick nap, the older cousins and Dave entered to wonderful land of Rock Band. They had a blast and later that evening after supper the little kids played too. Morgan got really into it. She tried the drums first. With her cousins yelling out the color to hit she actually scored points! Then we came to a song she has heard her dad sing many times. Those of you who know Dave well, know that he is known for singing lyrics as they apply to what we are doing at the time. So Morgan has heard him say many a time "Hey...ho...lets go!" So when she started singing the words to the song her cousins decided to let her have the mic. Again she did really well, scoring a decent amount of points...for a 2 year old. We were cracking up.

Sunday was Dad's birthday, I won't tell you how old he is. I made him a cake and decorated it with his second true love, after Mom of course, mountains. After lunch everyone headed back to Iowa.

Here are the "big" cousins - Tommy, Becca, and Vince. Check out the shiner! It was great having them here for the weekend. They are a ton of fun. I love that they are so good with the "little" cousins. During the weekend when Morgan would go down for her naps I would always reassure her that everyone would still be here when she woke up. On Monday when she was getting ready for her nap she asked "When I wake up from my nap will someone else be here again?" I think she was missing her cousins. We had a great weekend!

Nick and Anna's wedding

Several weeks back we were able to attend Nick and Anna's wedding without our girls. Dave's parents came out for the day to watch Morgan and Adrienne which allowed us to go out on our own. It was really nice. The reception was a lot of fun. It was fun to talk to friends I haven't seen in months and hang out with others that I see more frequently. Friends and good food is a good combo, especially when you don't have to worry about feeding or wiping any little mouths. Since our dear sweet Adrienne still doesn't think she needs to take a bottle, we weren't able to stay as long as we would have liked to. None the less, we had a great time while it lasted.

One of the great folks we were able to hang out with was our good friend Heater. I recently found out that Heater is a faithful follower of my blog. Of course that made my day! So here's to you Heater (I'm raising my glass of iced tea) may you feel better then my husband does tonight after golfing with you all afternoon in the hot sun. Stop by and see us next time you are in town.

Spins & Splashes

Since Adrienne has recently become passionate about standing, I thought it was time to let her try out the excersaucer. She seemed to like it. As you can see she was fascinated by the spinning noisemakers.

We are lucky to have wonderful neighbors with a great pool. When the days are hot there is no better place to be then Terri's pool. The other evening Adrienne had her first dip in the pool. She loves her bath and I was hoping she would feel the same about the pool. She wasn't sure at first, but before long she seemed to really like it.

"Did you wake up sweetie?"

Adrienne has been taking her naps in her swing for as long as I can remember. When Morgan sees her blue eyes pop open she is quick to tell me "Adrienne's awake mama!" She sprints over to the swing to shower her with kisses while asking "Did you wake up sweetie?"

Iowa - the girls vacation in farmland

So after over a week of flaky Internet I am finally getting a chance to tell you about our week in Iowa. We were all there for the weekend of the 4th. Sunday Dave drove back to Goshen to work while his girls stayed in Iowa for the week. Then he drove back the following weekend to take us back home. What a man! We had a nice time. Morgan really loved being on the farm with Grandma and Grandpa. I enjoyed hanging out with my parents, seeing some old friends and getting a little scrap booking done. It was hard to choose the pictures for this post, believe it or not, I didn't include all of them. :) And of course Adrienne was happy(during the day) to be along for the ride. Our nights were a different story those pesky teeth brought on nights from hell. I was happy to have my mom to help with the girls during the day after those rough nights.



There were many special treats that came with Morgan staying at Grandma's house. Homemade cinnamon rolls was a daily breakfast favorite. Somehow Morgan would always finish hers and then eat some of mine too. I guess that's part of being a mom.

Morgan decided she needed to sit beside Grandma at every meal. The closer the better, preferable with their place mats touching.

My mom wears this lovely headdress when she works outside because she says it keeps the bugs out of her hair. So naturally Morgan needed one too when she was out helping Grandma water the flowers every morning. How perfect that Mom found a pink one for Morgan. Pink is her favorite color.

We read lots of books this week. Some books over and over and over again. Adrienne seemed to like the colorful pictures too.

Several evenings after supper Dad took Morgan for rides in the wagon around the yard. They went around to the different trees and he taught her what he could about the trees. She really liked it, and this night she decided she could return the favor. She thought she was pretty strong and Dad was kind enough to help by pushing the wheels without bursting her bubble.

Morgan discovered the joy of bedtime snacks while in Iowa. A couple of nights we had popcorn. This evening she got to enjoy one of my favorite drinks from home - homemade grape juice. Mmmmmm so yummy!
Adrienne was a good sport as usual. You would never know by this picture that she was desperately tired at this point in the evening. She hung on for a little longer so her sister could enjoy playing in the tractor a little longer.

Dad enjoyed playing with the girls too when he got the chance. He works long days, but hopefully soon the days won't have to be quite so long.

Adrienne found her toes while we were in Iowa. She still hasn't figured out they make a nice chew toy, but I figure that time will come soon.

Iowa - friends (old and new)

Since we were in Iowa a whole week were able to do some special play dates that we usually aren't able to do.

One morning we met my aunts, cousins and their kids at the local park so the kids could play and the adults could have a chance to talk. Morgan is the youngest of the "big" kids and she was a little hesitant to play. But there were moments where she let her guard down and all in all I think she had a good time.

We were able to spend most of one day with my niece Becca. Morgan really loved playing with her. We had a good time at the Kalona pool. I had a full circle moment as Becca taught Morgan how to "walk" like a crocodile, something I had taught Becca at the same pool when Becca was Morgan's age. Crazy! After supper that evening Morgan and Becca disappeared out side. When I went to check on them they were having a great time catching fireflies. Eventually they had a whole food chain as they also found a spider and a little toad. I thought it was great. Morgan could learn about bugs and I didn't have to be a part of it!

The next day we went to visit one of my good friends from high school Sally, and her little girl Lila. Morgan took her jar of bugs to show them and Lila loved it. We had a good time catching up and playing with the girls.

Iowa - Grandpa's little helper

Every evening Morgan helped Dad feed the sheep which included giving one lamb a bottle. Dad would have had the lamb weened, but he thought Morgan would like giving it the bottle. He was so right. She loved it! Every day, several times a day, she would ask if it was time to feed the lamb. Then when it was getting close to that time she would stand on a kitchen chair looking out the window, waiting for Grandpa to come around the corner in his pick-up.




She also got to ride in the tractor. You can tell by her face that she was pretty excited about that. One morning Dad let her play in the tractors while he washed them. When she came back in and told me about it she could hardly contain her excitement.






The last day we were in Iowa we went up the the home place, where Dad has the cows (for a couple more weeks) to help feed the calfs. Of course this was another big hit with Morgan. She helped him mix up the bottles and even carried one out to the calfs. We went in the dairy barn as they were milking. That was a little too much for her. She very concerned about stepping in the poop and I think the cows were just too big.



The first couple of days we were back in Goshen she asked me several times what we could do. I think she was a little bored and missed the adventures she was able to have on the farm with Grandpa and Grandma.

4th of July and the Wellman parade

The Yoder's, my mom's family, has a tradition of getting together on the 4th of July. Wellman has a parade on the 4th and it happened to go right past my Grandma's house. So every year we would set up our camp in her front yard. Our parents relaxed in their lawn chairs as we, the cousins, lined up with bags in hand, ready to pounce on the candy being thrown in our direction. We would spend the rest of the day together, grilling out, playing games and finally watching the fireworks. She has now moved on to the local nursing home. Grandma is no longer the Grandma I remember from my candy pouncing days, but we continue to gather around her to watch the parade go by. And now there is a new generation of cousins standing in line waiting to pounce on the candy being thrown in their direction.

Morgan had never been to a parade so Becca was happy to show her what she needed to know. She seemed to be a little uneasy throughout the whole thing. I guess the concept is a bit strange. Becca made sure she gathered her share of the candy, and Morgan was kind enough to share with the rest of us.

A lot of people threw out beaded necklaces this year. Morgan was pretty excited to get a pink one.

Adrienne may have a few years before shes out pouncing on candy with her sister. For now she is just happy to be along for the ride.

Adrienne 5 months

Here she is - another month older. She continues to be a really happy baby... except for those pesky teeth. Within the last week two of her bottom teeth have broken through. That has made for some not so fun nights. She also gets pretty mad when she accidentally bites her finger. I can understand why as she has also bit me - they are SHARP! She has figured out how to roll both ways, but doesn't do it on a regular basis. She loves to show off her leg strength by standing straight up as long as she can. While standing she usually makes her arms stiff and gives some grunts. Standing is hard work. She continues to experiment with her voice. She is going through a growling stage where she gives a soft happy "growl" when she was content, like after eating. That is entertaining. I commented last month that she has started "singing" herself to sleep. There have been two times now that she has been really tired and has made it known that she doesn't want me holding her. So I laid her down in her bed and she "sang" herself to sleep. That is exciting to me as I see the days of her putting herself to sleep are soon to come. She continues to love watching Morgan, and has started to be aware of Abbey too. We are hearing more and more of her giggles which I love! She continues to be a blessing in our lives - even when she wakes me up at night. :)