Jackson's First Fishing Trip

As promised, here's the video from our fishing trip the other day and Jackson catching his first fish!

Tulip Festival in OC

Tulip Time in Orange City has come and gone for another year and so have our friends, the Loerop's. This is the second year in a row that they have come to visit us from sunny Florida to partake of the festivities. Jessica and I have been best friends since the 6th grade and apparently, we are so in tune with each other that we keep having babies at the same time. Jackson and Nathan are only 5 weeks apart in age, and we are both pregnant again (both with boys again!) and this time we are only 2 weeks apart in our due dates. Seriously, how crazy is that? Couldn't have planned it if we tried! Anway, it makes for really fun and easy times since the boys really dig playing with each other- including Todd and Jonathan! Here is a picture of the Loerop's- Jonathan is a fellow Dutchman, so they are sitting in front of the Friesland plaque, which is one of the provinces that his family comes from.

And here are out cutie boys- even harder to get to sit still than last year!
A few of the fun things that the boys really enjoyed this year were the carnival rides, as always, but this year, Nathan and Jackson were big enough that they could go down by themselves a few times which was really fun and scary for me! They both really liked visiting the horses that do the horse-drawn tours around town during the festival, and Jackson still keeps reminding me of how they pee in the streets. Apparently it made quite an impression. Too bad he won't take a cue and try peeing somewhere other than his diaper, but that's a whole other blog post.

And one of the last full days we had together, we all took the boys fishing which was surprisingly quite fun! Everyone got to catch a fish, some larger than others, but at least they were biting. I got some cute video of Jackson when he caught his fish that I'll try to post soon. Got lots of catching up to do, but packing for the move has commenced, so we'll see what happens.

Here's the latest...

It seems like lots has been going on so I'll give the short version of all the news around here.
-We have a house!! Hopefully- inspection is tomorrow morning and as long as everything checks out ok, we'll close on June 5...that's soon! I'll try to get some pictures up soon- at least of the outside of it.
-The OC Tulip Festival starts on Thursday, and our friends the Loerops are coming to visit us again for round 2 of the tulip festival! Yay! Jackson and I will pick them up from the airport in the morning.
-Hmmmm...I can't think of anything else! I really thought there was more- or at least that's how it has seemed. Sorry to get you all excited for just a little bit of news!

Experimenting...

We've been on the house hunt lately- can't remember if I ever made the announcement, but we sold our house! Yay! But in about 60 days or less we will be homeless. Boo! Needless to say, we are feeling that it is crunch time on finding a house but we're just having a bit of trouble finding the one that's just right. I figured I needed a project to take my mind off of the stress of not knowing where we will live, so I decided that I wanted to make a quilt. And of course, you can't just start with a small baby quilt or anything...that would be too easy. I want to make a twin size quilt for when Jackson transitions to a big boy bed when we move and before the Deuce comes. I've been collecting fabric and trying to figure out what I want it to look like, but I haven't quite gotten that narrowed down yet. Today I decided I should maybe practice and see if I even have a clue what I'm doing, so I went through my scraps and cut some squares and pieced a little block together.

I purposely did it in a random pattern so there really isn't any rhyme or reason to it, but maybe some day it will become part of something fun. How did I do Mom? I showed it to Todd and in a horrified voice he said, "That's not for Jackson is it???" and then he said, "You do know we're having another boy, don't you?" Always has to be a smart alec.

Easter in STL

We spent Easter weekend in STL with the Perkins and Tim Vogel contingents. Again, Jackson had a ball playing with his cousins and it was nice to hang with family again. So here's a few pictures from that weekend. We did have some nicer weather so Linds and I took the kiddos to the park for a picnic one afternoon- here's our siamese twins Jackson and Shepherd.


Shepherd started getting sick over the weekend and he becomes even more of a cuddler when he's not feeling well. He was being so sweet this morning with his mommy on the couch I just couldn't resist documenting it.We spent Easter Sunday with Tim and Lizzie and Lizzie's family, so Jackson got to Easter egg hunt with Lilly! They both scored quite a bit of candy that we are still working our way through here!And just to end with a few pictures that were too cute to pass up of Jackson. I can't help it that he's so stinking cute!

Easter at Grandma V's House

We had an early Easter at Grandma V's house since we were going to be in STL for the actual day. The kiddos all were very excited about the Easter Egg hunt, although we had to do it inside since it was too cold out. Here's Grandma V and her little chickens, Ella, Max, and Jackson with all of their booty from the hunt. Ella and Max while they were opening their eggs.

And my little sweetie concentrating very hard on getting his eggs open.

Always so much fun for these cousins to play together. Then the fun got to continue in STL where he got to see the rest of this cousins, Lilly, Eva, and Shepherd! Pictures to come in the next post.

Ultrasound Day!

Here we are already about halfway through this pregnancy and we're happy to report that the Deuce is doing great. The ultrasound showed a wonderfully healthy baby and it looks like we're having another BOY!! We are so happy that Jackson will have a brother closer in age, and I'm happy to say that my plan for having two boys first and then two girls is working out stunningly so far!

Thought I'd share a little (or not so little) belly shot so you can see just how large and in charge I am already. The picture cracks me up too because it looks like someone is standing on a chair taking it, but it's really just my tall stud of a husband!