Easter

Well we made the first trip back to Northwest Iowa with two kids. Funny thing is-- we took two cars..:)! We had done some MAJOR spring cleaning and had two car loads of junk to bring up for a garage sale. Joe took Kale and the dog, and I had Ava. Ava slept most of the way up and back home. Both ways Ava rode like a champ until the last 10 miles. The last 10 miles involved violent screaming. When we got home her face was beat red from yelling and she did not even want to touched.. she only wanted to stretch out on the floor. Anywhere over three hours could be questionable for awhile.

Ava got to meet all sets of great grandparents as well as A LOT of other relatives that had not met her yet. The only downside of having both our families from the same place is that there is so many people to see and so little time!

We met Shannon halfway between Sioux Falls and my parent's house to get Jake so the boys could play while Shannon and Sheldon were at work. We took my parents car for the DVD player and we realized we could easily get used to having a bigger vehicle! There was so much room! We are a bit crammed in our car. Oh well, we will make do for now. Kale and Jake had fun but Joe and I have decided that THREE kids would put us over the top and maybe in need of some counseling. We weren't sure what to do when the the third kid had something else in mind! We were out numbered. Kale always wanted to be on the four wheeler...Jake wanted nothing to do with that but wanted to be outside pointing and talking about things..and Ava needed to be fed! ugh! The once laid back Jake (although still very easy going) is breaking though with a few glimpses of the terrible twos (which I was SO hoping would happen so Shannon could quit sailing through parenthood while I was chasing Kale around sweating :) ) In fact, while I was putting him to bed he yelled "NO!" and hit me in the stomach it actually made me feel quite warm inside just to know that ALL kids must go through this (either that or just the Goeken boys--haha). He then proceeded to attempt to knock over Papa's new TV and yelled "SHUT UP" when Drake started barking! All of this was music to my ears :)!





Kale also got his farming fix and helped Papa put on "hydrous" in the "big huge tractor." This is what he has been doing in his playroom since we got home too! He loves to farm. He wants to drive anything that has a motor and will sucker anyone into giving him a ride. In fact, just after Joe and I had him convinced that most everything was out of gas or had flat tires... Travis fired up the lawn mower AND the four wheeler to give him a ride :)

Kale has been getting spoiled with gifts basically since Christmas! So, we had hardly talked about the Easter bunny to avoid him creating a lengthy list of things he thought should be delivered to him... Joe took Kale and Jake into the Easter egg hunt in Primghar. They had fun riding the fire truck and getting eggs although Dad did not take near the amount of pictures I would have :)!



Bob and Jane gave Kale and Ava matching outfits they wore for Easter. We had Shannon pick up something for Jake too. They looked SO cute! Come to find out, once we got to church.. EVERYONE else shops and The Childrens Place too! Nikki had her kids dressed up in it and Kale and Ava matched Eli and Martina Harmon too!



Both kids we EXHAUSTED when we got home they both slept like rocks. It was great seeing great family over Easter!

Guys Night Out

Kale and Joe went to the Globetrotters last night! It was a hit! They ended up with courtside seats.. I heard all about the smoke, the funny dressed up guys, and some guy bumping his head! He was impressed!










Ava and I had girls night in... this was the extent of our activitiy. Not nearly as exciting as the game!

Happy Birthday Joe!

Joe turned 29 yesterday! To celebrate we got Dairy Queen ice cream cake! Yummy!


When I showed Kale the new Iowa State Jacket we got Dad he said, "I like it!" and then minutes later he said, "What kind of toy is he going to get?" I made the mistake of asking, "What kind of toy do you want to get him?" Without missing a beat he was insisting on getting him a "John Deere cop car"... we went to two stores before he believed me that they don't make John Deere cop cars. He settled on getting him and semi with car transporter that he was sure Dad would like. As we were driving home with the present he said, "I hope Dad is a good sharer!"

We had our first little "situation" with Kale trying to pick up Ava unassisted. I was in the kitchen and Joe was on the computer. Luckily Kale was sitting next to Ava on the floor and the next thing I knew he was holding her. I sucked air and ran over. All the commotion scared Kale and he started crying. Nothing phased Ava. Here is the picture after the lecture of how we don't hold Ava without Mom and Dad's help. Notice the big alligator tear! Hopefully this will be the last time that happens...at least until she can support her own little head. She is going to be a tough little girl!

Ava is 1 Month!

Ava turned a month old yesterday! I can't believe how fast the time has flown by. Seems like yesterday we were headed into the hospital. I am going to try and post a picture of Ava each month and a little video clip to go with it so we can look back and see how much she has changed. (the video clip for this month is not too exciting but cute none the less). In the video pretty much all I caught was her being bright eyed and a cute little sneeze. Had some trouble uploading my video clip, I will try and post it later!

For the first couple weeks, everyone commented about how calm she was....well, she is much feistier now and will make sure she lets you know she is not satisfied! She is really good at sticking out that pouty lower lip already. I was hoping for a "go with the flow" child this time. But, I guess I am destined for stubborn, strong willed children! She wakes up once, (well twice actually because I don't consider 6:00 morning yet) so I can't complain in that department although getting her to actually GO to sleep in an accomplishment in itself. She prefers, or should I say, demands you to STAND and bounce her to sleep.I think I am going to invest in some quality literature about getting children to go to sleep. It took me 3 years to get Kale to go to bed by himself without a struggle!

Kale has been so sweet with Ava and makes sure he gives her a hug (which can sometimes be a little too aggressive) and a kiss on the cheek before he goes to school. And sometimes he just runs over to her and says "aww, tiny Ava." Sunday morning while I was attempting to get showered and dressed, Ava started to fuss around. I went over to her and Kale quickly ran over and said, "Mom, go take a break. I'll take care of her." I thought it was very cute but was concerned about what his interpretation of "taking care" was..so I didn't take my break. :)

And of course, here is a picture of Kale....

Spring has Sprung!! Just in time to snow again :(

We are loving the weather.  Kale has been tuckered out at bedtime (which makes the battle a lot easier for me to win) since we have been able to get outside and play, play, play.  All the neighbor kids have been out which hasn't happened since last fall.  It is fun to see how much they have grown and actually interact with each other now..appropriately--- most of the time! :)  We love our neighbor friends!  Ava even got to come out for a bit!  I think she liked it!

It's supposed to snow again this weekend but hopefully it will come and go quickly so we can get on with the sunshine.....
Here's to Spring Dude!

Look Alikes..

We have been capturing pictures of Ava that remind of so much of when Kale was a baby.  I took this picture of Ava today with a goofy facial expression... and thought to myself, "I've seen this before!"

This is Ava and below is Kale.. I think he was a few weeks older than what Ava is now.

I'm Back

All right, so, after a long time of no blogging...I'm back! I have been following some other blogs and realizing how many funny things I could be documenting that happen that I never seem to get written anywhere. I have always said I was going to start a notebook of all the hilarious things Kale has said and I never do... I will attempt it here. We'll see how it goes.



We have a new addition! Ava Grace was born February 22nd. A big girl 9lbs 9oz and 21 inches long. Of course, she is perfect and Kale says we can keep her.



Ava hadn't gained much weight back (after getting down to 8.14 when we left the hospital) so we went in again today for another weight check. I had been getting a little frazzled with the little weight gain since Kale porked on the pounds with no effort when he was a baby and for god's sake the dairy has been open 24/7 since she was born.... But good news, she is up to 10.5! Hopefully she keeps putting it on and then has her daddy's metabolism come the teenage years :). We can't keep her snot nosed brother away from her... he loves her so much and smothers her with kisses. We are just praying the first cold doesn't hit for at least a month. By that time we are hoping that the 4 month long cold Kale has had subsides. Luckily, there are signs of spring!!



Kale has adjusted like a champ. No real issues. All except for the strange behavior of becoming very possessive of EVERYTHING not just Ava, but literally EVERYTHING that is in our house including the garbage..yes, you read that right, the garbage. He LOVES the garbage man but has recently decided that it is not okay for him to take our "big pile of garbage" only the neighbors. He has shed tears over our garbage being placed on the curb.. I have read nothing of this sort in how to raise your child and wondering what I have done wrong..LOL seriously kid! He also has become paranoid of strangers gawking over Ava for fear they are going to take her home when she is "our baby". I guess we could have the opposite problem and he could be asking for them to take her. We are also looking forward to the snow boots being retired. It has been a long winter and Kale has worn those darn boots everywhere for the past 4 months. My parents had to tell him a little fib and said that boots weren't allowed in the hospital when he came to meet his sister for the first time. My nephew Jake gets most of Kale's hand me downs but I don't think the snow boots will survive to be handed down. The sad thing is he has FAR more pairs of shoes than I do and all he ever wears are those boots..