Lots of Changes!

Oh my goodness, it has been a while! I finally have a moment to write a quick blog. Since my last post, we have been to Wisconsin for a visit, quit the full-time apartment manager job (I am now a part-time assistant manager) and bought a house of our own in Rexburg! Gabe has also started Kindergarten and Caleb has started 2-day-a-week preschool. Lots of changes in the Rhodes family! Josh is still a policeman, but everyone else in our family is making some big daily schedule changes. The biggest and most benefical one though, is that I feel like I will finally have more time to spend with my kids. As a manager, ever though I worked out of the home, I felt like I NEVER LEFT WORK! It was getting to be pretty overwhelming. Now I feel so happy to be able to do my four hours, then get in my car and drive home and spend the afternoon and evening with my kids, without any interuptions over AC's not working, or the volume on the movie theater not working, or a room mate complaint over dirty dishes! It has been SO NICE and it's only been a week since we moved out! We also feel so lucky to have found a brand new house that we love, just across the street from Gabe's school, that we bought from the owners/builders of our apartment complex for a really good price. Josh just thinks the one thing missing is a new dog...
that is one change that I am not sure I am ready for yet.

August Wisconsin Trip

Here's some pictures from our trip to Wisconsin! We drove out there on August 10th and spent about a week then drove back, just in time to move out of Northgate into our new house!

Summer Fun!

This Summer took forever to get here (it was hailing on Memorial Day and 48 degrees...) butit finally got to Rexburg sometime in June I think. Here is some of what we've been doing!

Caleb's Birthday

This is very overdue but Happy 3rd Birthday, Caleb! We had family over for a party in the clubhouse at Northgate. He was very into Cars 2 stuff this year and almost all his presents had to do with the Cars 2 race set. He had been asking for a Lightning McQueen remote control car since January when he first spotted it in a Fisher Price catalog we got in the mail. He was pretty excited to finally get it!
He is growing up so much. He is still very cute and cuddly but he definitely has a mind of his own. He can be such a tough little guy. He and Gabe wrestle all the time and it's usually a pretty even fight! The other big milestone is that I'd say he's 90 percent potty trained. He still wears a diaper at night (cause I was sick of washing bedding after the first accident) but during the day he does pretty good.Another fun thing - since yesterday was Fourth of July Saturday - we went to Rigby Lake and everyone noticed he has no fear in the water!! He loves swimming! His other loves: Superheroes, The Backyardigans, the color orange, and hot chocolate. Here's some pictures of the big BOY!

Trip to Wisconsin, the ER, and Gabe's graduation

I have not been so good about blogging since we moved here. But I am trying to keep going so I can print it off into a book at the end of the year like I did last year. It's the closest thing to a journal I am doing right now! So... first I have to talk about our trip to Wisconsin.

The first week of May, me and the boys flew to Wisconsin for a little visit. I was a little nervous about the two boys on the airplane, but they did great. Our layover in Minneapolis was so tight though. We flagged down a little golf cart guy as soon as we got off the plane and zoomed through the airport dodging pedestrians the whole way and STILL barely made it! They were announcing the last call for boarding to Milwaukee as we were zooming down the last little hallway and I was like, "Step on it buddy! That's us!!" But we just made it. The boys thought it was fun. :)

When we were in Wisconsin we did a lot of their favorite Wisconsin things - including playing at McDonalds (yes, we have one in Rexburg but I guess the Fond du lac one is cooler), playing with their cousin Jasmine, playing at Lakeside Park and climbing to the top of the lighthouse, going to the Children's Museum, and of course Culver's. If I could choose four things to build in Rexburg,they would be: 1) A really cool Children's Museum (the flood museum does not count) 2)An indoor waterpark 3) Culver's and 4) Menard's. I miss Menard's. I also wish people in Rexburg did more Rummage sales (or I guess they are called garage sales here.) There's got to be a lot of quality baby clothes just going to DI out here (that's like their Goodwill store.) People are too nice out here and they just give stuff away. In Wisconsin, we're like, "No way! I'm gonna make $400 off this stuff!" I need to go through my baby stuff bad. Do you think if I just throw away all my baby boy stuff it will guarantee I have a girl next? I wish. :)

Anyways, we stayed in Wisconsin for a week and left on Mother's Day. We all brought colds back home with us. We are finally now just getting over them I think.

Once we got back to Idaho, Gabe had only 3 weeks left of preschool. He was really busy with his last field trips and activities. He also had his last speech class until Fall. He loves his speech teacher. He went twice a week since we moved here and she helped him tons. I hope he can work with her again in the Fall. Then Gabe also had a field trip to the Idaho Falls zoo. We all tagged along with him. :) It was actually a pretty nice zoo. I think they had some kind of fun park outside of it too, but it was raining by the end and we left just in time. Gabe's favorite part of the zoo was the otters. He had to get this stuffed otter before we left. Then this last week was the end of preschool for him. H had his official graduation on Thursday night. Then he had a bowling trip on Friday for their last day party. He's going to miss all his little buddies, especially Hudson.

So one more quick story: the night of Gabe's graduation at about 5:00, Gabe and Caleb were playing out in the clubhouse while I was talking to two girls in my office. Caleb suddenly started to scream and I ran out only to find his head gushing blood. The gash on his forehead was pretty deep and I ran into the office carrying him and said to the girls, "Do you think he needs stitches?" (I've never had them) and they were like, "Oh yeah, definitely!" So one girl drove us to the ER while one stayed with Gabe. On the way there Caleb told us he had been riding his bike (his little bike with training wheels) near the game room and "Gabe pushed me over!!!!" as he rounded the corner. Then we think he fell and bumped his head just right on the base of the heavy bar stools that go around these high tables. So we got to the ER and he was freaking out more after I said, "We have to go see the Doctor" than just from the initial pain. Josh came over too (in his police uniform) and helped old him while they stitched him up. He got five stitches in the corner of his forehead. It was so sad! But he was fine as soon as we left the hospital. He's playing like normal right now.

So! That's been the news here! We're just still waiting for Summer it feels like. There's still lots of sweatshirt days and rainy days going on here. It gets so cold and windy at nights too it seems like. Gabe keeps asking, "When will it be Summer?" I'm like, "I wish I knew!" They are building this water park here but it doesn't even look close to being done and even if it were it'd still be too cold anyways. They probably should've made it an indoor one. Oh well! We'll look forward to our Wisconsin trip in August and the waterpark there! That's all for now!

Grandmas visit, Montana, and Happy Birthday, Gabe!

So much has happened in this past month! I went to visit Wisconsin for my grandpa Dahlke's funeral. It was a sad time, but also happy because he didn't have to spend his last few years in a nursing home, which was something he had always feared. While I was home, about five days after he had passed away, we received an offer on our house! (I think he was up there working some magic for us...) We closed on the Wisconsin house officially on March 11th. It is such a relief, but it was also a little sad walking through it last month for what I knew would be the last time. :( It's not that I'll miss the house really, it's just thinking of all the great memories we had there with the little boys! Hopefully our next house will be our last house.

So, I got back home, got back to work filling this apartment complex for Spring, and Josh decided to sell his car (the Camry). I posted it on craigslist, and just mentioned in paranethese "husband wants a truck so we're selling our Camry..." and we had lots of people offering up trades! Well, so he found a truck he liked, a Blue Dodge Dakota, and the guy even paid a little to make the trade even. So Josh finally has his truck. It's an Idaho guy thing, but he's happy. He also has a police car that he drives to and from work.

Next news - my mom and grandma Dahlke came out to visit! They came up on March 17th and left yesterday. While they were here I showed them all around Rexburg - and after that hour was over - we went to Montana to visit my brother's family. We had a little joint birthday party for Gabe and Milana. It was a lot of fun.

Then TODAY was Gabe's BIG party with all of his preschool friends. First he celebrated at preschool from 9 am - 11:15 am. Then we had a party here right after that! I decided to invite all 18 of the kids in his class, thinking for sure half wouldn't come. Oh no. I was wrong. They all came but 2 I think! I had about 16 little kids running around here in the clubhouse movie theater from 11:30 to 1:30 today!!! I think I was a little crazy for doing that but it went pretty well. It was a pirate themed party. We had a pizza lunch first, then did a ship pinata, pin the flag on the treasure map, a treasure hunt that ended in them getting little candy-filled treasure chests, and we watched a little episode of Gabe's favorite show, "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" on the big movie screen. He got lots of little presents too. I think he had a lot of fun. We got him a new bike for his birthday, but unfortunately with the Idaho Pony Express, it has still not arrived. Hopefully by his 6th birthday it might be here... Then tonight, Josh's family came over for some cake and ice cream. It was a very eventful past couple of weeks!

I am really hoping for a little relaxation this next week, but with the upcoming semester Check-outs and check-ins going on between April 9th and April 15th, I am sure the relaxation won't last long!! This life sure is getting crazy!!! Pictures to come soon! Too tired tonight!!