Fall Fun

I don't know how it's been in Idaho lately but Fall in Wisconsin this year has felt more like winter! It was 80 degrees in mid-September when we left for Idaho and was in the forties when we got back! But today we had one great day. It was 64 degrees, the sky was clear, and only a slight breeze. We had to take advantage of the beautiful fall day so we went on a morning walk, spent the afternoon at a park, played in the backyard, and went for another evening walk. Also, yesterday was pretty nice and we went to the Little Farmer again and did the hay ride and let the kids play. It's a really fun place with corn mazes, an apple orchard, pumpkins, goats, chickens, etc. Here's some pictures.






















Our other project this month was a new floor in the kitchen and dining room. I LOVE it. It now makes me realize how gross our old kitchen floor was! I sweep now and it actually looks clean! Gabe is loving preschool. This week he is the snack helper so wish me luck on that. I know I'm making muffins one of the days. Caleb is now only taking one nap a day instead of two. He's getting more personality every day. And he loves to dance. Any commercial with music and he instantly starts to bust a move. He tries to jump. It's funny though cause both feet are never actually off the ground at once. Gabe laughs at him and says, "My baby is funny!" (He thinks Caleb is "his baby" like some toy we bought for him.) Other than that life is the usual. Time just keeps slippin' by! I'm starting to Christmas shop which Josh makes fun of me for. I'm excited for the holidays. Our trick or treating is this Sunday. I'll post pics. That's all for now!

Last home projects

I love looking at before and afters plus I am so proud of Josh for all the work he has done. It has been one year on October 30th since we bought this house so in celebration of our 1 year as homeowners, here's a look back at all the work!

Our Idaho Trip

We are officially settling back in after our fun, fun trip to Idaho. We loved seeing all our friends and family. Gabe only has one cousin here and we had told him about his many, many cousins in Idaho and it got to the point that every time we were around any child he would call him/her his cousin. (The firsr 14 kids we hung out with the first couple days really were so I guess he just assumed everyone in Idaho was related- wait... sometimes that DOES seem true! :)

Anyways we had such a great time hanging out with everyone, visiting the temple, and of course floating the river (a must on Josh's list every time.) I swear one day I will take one wrong step and slide to my death down that mountain! Luckily, I made it this time. Here's some of my favorite pictures from the trip...

Here's a few random ones

Wow, for all of my followers (yes, all 5 of you...) here is one super-sized post for the whole month of August. We've been busy. Can't wait to see you Idaho folks soon!

A Day at the Beach- Happy 5-Year Anniversary, honey!

Josh surprised me on our anniversary. It was about 11:00 am and I was saying to Josh, "You better go in and shower and start getting ready for work!" and he goes, "I think we should go to the beach today." I was like, "Well I do too but you kind of have to work..." and he's like, "Nah, I think I'll stay home today." And he had traded wtih a guy to take the day off. So we had lots of fun with the boys during the day and then left them with sitter to go out to dinner. I love you honey! Thanks for the new steps! (And we finally bought ourselves a flat-screen too.)

Who's the FAIREST of them all??? We are!

We were crazy fair-goers this summer. First we went to my town's fair. Then I won some tickets on the radio to the Winnebago county fair (where Josh works!) so we went there twice. (I had to say to Josh, "I had fun tonight... even though you took me to the carnival I was already at..." - girl on Joe Dirt)(And yes, I know I am cool for playing radio call-in games.) Then my mom bought us tickets to a THIRD fair in Milwaukee. A tractor pull, two cases of fair-food gut rot, and countless toothless carnies later, we were all faired out. Here's some of the happier moments...

Maybe this just makes ME crack up but I laugh every time. If you watch closely you can see Caleb cranking on that wheel like a madman.

The Fruits of our Labors

Here's some of our harvest. (What the rabbits and other friends let us have anyway!) We have corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, green onions, sunflowers, peas, and TONS of pumpkins!

Almost time for Preschool!

What a fun Summer it's been! And also definitely full of projects. Josh has stayed very busy! A man walking past our house with his dog yesterday saw the new front steps and said, "You've sure done alot to this house. That's a talented guy you've got there." Another man on a different day asked, "Don't you ever let that man rest?"
No, I guess I don't. It sure looks nice now though. Now we are getting excited for it to be fall and our trip to IDAHO!!! Yay! Gabe keeps talking about huckleberry picking but it might be done by Sept. 17. If y'all go, save us some! :) Josh lived off his frozen stash all year!!! He's just now running out! Gabe is also exicted to, "ride in grandpa Rhodes truck, play with cousins, and ride horses!!!" Oh, and go fishing. Hopefully he won't fall in the river this year! (Right Jenni and Jake?)

Caleb is getting so much personality. He loves to play outside and push his trucks around. His favorite is sending them rolling down the slide and flying into the bush! That makes him laugh really hard. He probably weighs 35 pounds now. I am having a pants dilemma for him. Do I find the 3T waist that fits and hem them or what? He's tall but not tall enough for a 3T! You'll all see what I mean soon.

Josh gave them both haircuts today. What a treat. They SCREAMED! I'd have pictures but we took our camera to the beach on our anniversary (5 YEARS!! Josh surprised me and took work off.) and now our camera stopped working. :( I think it got sand in it. Well, Josh is feigning helpless right now so I need to go make lunch. I'll post pics later.
Ah, the life of a stay at home mom...

Our family's newest addition

Hi everyone! As some of you may know, Josh has been wanting a dog pretty much since we got married. But that wasn't really possible till we bought a house. So when we got moved in he started talking about it again but I was like, "I really don't want a dog messing up our nice new house." But he kept talking about it and of course he didn't just want a dog, he wanted a BIG dog. Preferably a husky or a boxer. So I REALLY didn't want a big dog in the house. But the other night after looking on craigslist for about 2 weeks, I happened upon this ad with this picture:

... and I was hooked. I showed Josh when he got home and said half-jokingly, "THIS is the only kind of dog I would get!" and he said, "Call them!" I guess he just figured any dog was better than no dog. So I emailed the people and the next day we went "Just to look," but of course we couldn't leave without her. Gabe named her Molly and she is his new best friend. It is so cute to watch them together. He carries her around with her hanging there with her top legs over his arm and the rest of her body hanging. She is hopefully going to be a very kid tolerant dog. So, we've been dealing with a crying puppy at night, a teething Caleb, and a "Where's Molly? I need Molly!" three-year-old. We must be crazy. Josh has been a lot more patient with all of it than I have I think. So, wish us luck! Hopefully we won't lose our minds!

My Birthday Present - in Gabe's eyes

So, yesterday was my birthday (I am now 25 - it's a milestone!) and I got this really pretty gold, linked bracelet. I really like it especially because it doesn't have the usual clasp that's so hard to get on. It has like, the round opening and then a bar on the other end. So I had it on and Gabe came over to me and was playing with it on my wrist. I was like, "Isn't it pretty?" (I need a daughter.) But he kind of just kept looking at it, then figured out how to take it off, and ran out of the room. So after a couple minutes I went to see what he was up to and this is what I found:

You have to look past Gabe's weird, cheesy smile and past the fact that he's in his undies and look at his cars. Here's a closer look:


Yes, that is my bracelet being used as a tow cable. What a little boy I have, huh?

(Note: Pause my music on the side first.) I saw this on a blog and it made me laugh so hard I had to put it on mine too. You have to watch it till the end, that's the funniest part. For all you moms...