Trip to PA....

Last weekend we ventured for the kids' first trip to Pennsylvania. It was such a wonderful, memorable trip! We flew out of Moline and the trip to the airport was rough on Danielle. She screamed the whole way....poor thing really doesn't like her car seat. Funny part is the Dylan slept the whole time, even thru his baby sisters tears......not so funny part.....just before we arrived at the airport she threw up in her car seat. That really was not fun changing her clothes in the car and trying to hurry and clean the car seat so it wouldn't stink by the time we got to PA!

Check out this beautiful view from my moms backyard, it is such a serene sight and breathtaking view of the mountains and the city of Bloomsburg below....

Danielle was a good girl on the plane. Being this was the kids second full trip on an airplane I think they were a little more use to it than the first time. Mommy held her again in the Baby Bjorn, thank goodness for that and being able to have 2 hands free! We arrived in Philly at 11pm, Grammy & Tom were there to greet us and we were SO excited to see them. After a lot of stand still traffic we arrived to Grammies house at about 2am, got all the kids nestled in their beds, they were cashed out from an exhausting day.

Saturday morning brought some relaxation, it was great! Britni and her friend Hannah played with Dylan at the super nice town park and Grammy & mommy hung out and snuggled Danielle. It sure was a beautiful day and so nice to spend some time soaking up sun & fresh air. We then went and surprised Great Grandpa Phillips with our visit. It was great, we pulled up and they were sitting on the sun porch, I waved and I could read Barbara's lips right away, 'is that Amber?!' We got out and they were thrilled and even more thrilled when the kids got out. This was their first time meeting them in person and it was the most precious moment ever! Grandpa had a huge smile from ear to ear! There is nothing better than giving the ones you love a complete, total surprise visit, it was great :)




We relaxed with Grandpa and Barbara. Danielle was such a good girl. Great Grandpa could not believe how soft her little arms were and how big she is getting compared to the many pictures he has seen of her. The pictures do no justice he told us. Dylan found his most favorite toy, a bucket of clothes pins, funny he rather play with those than the numerous toys. When Danielle was being held he of course wanted to relax in HER car seat. Silly big brother!
Saturday night our cousins RaeAnn & Carrie came over and Carrie brought her 2 girls, Nola is 4 1/2 months old and Sayla is just 6 months older than Dylan. Her little boy Savich was camping with his Grandparents so we didn't get to see him. But it was an excellent visit. We got in some great laughs and conversation. Danielle had been asleep when they arrived but mommy went and got her so she could join in on the fun and meet her cousins! Dylan and Sayla had a blast playing together. He was so into following her around and copying what she would do, she would take a drink of her cup and then Dylan would do the same, it was adorable. Little Nola just coo'd and snuggled with her mommy & Danielle snuggled with me. It was an excellent evening, mommy spent many summers visiting them when she was little and it was great being able to get our kids together now!


Sunday morning was church with Grammy. Grammies congregation has prayed so hard and often for our kids thru the most happiest and scariest moments that we have had with them. The prayers continue....
We then visited Great Grandpa and Barbara again and told old stories and just watched the kids be kids. Dylan & Danielle even managed to take a nap on the sun porch. It's not too often that they nap together at the same time, it was pretty cute. That night Auntie Ciara came over to meet the kids and have dinner. Grandpa Tom (Thomas as Dylan calls him) made his famous Italian Chicken, it was excellent as always! Must be that Italian in him that makes it the best, mommy definitely has tried to duplicate it and no such luck yet...! After dinner it was outside for play time. Aunties Ciara & Britni played some soccer with Dylan and did bubbles. Danielle snuggled with mommy & Grammy. It was a beautiful evening, and once again we were able to enjoy the breathtaking views while enjoying the company of great family. Danielle fell asleep & Dylan was filthy from playing so hard, but before bath time we needed to try out the new Popsicle contraption Grammy & Tom got the kids, so we put an orange Popsicle in it and he could hardly keep his eyes open to eat it, but managed. Then it was bath time and off to bed to prepare for another fun day ahead!

Monday Barbara & Grandpa invited us over for a picnic lunch on the sun porch. It was SO yummy. Barbara is totally Ms. Susie Homemaker and everything was home made, the veggies were all fresh from the market & the lemonade fresh squeezed, perfect for a summer day! Danielle took a nice afternoon nap while we ate and visited. Dylan loved to play, once again with his bucket of clothes pins. Great Grandpa and Barbara each did some snuggling with Danielle. Precious moments that is for sure. Whether our family is miles and miles away or close to us at home it is always such cherished time when spent together. We were able to pull off such a heart warming surprise for the kids to see their Great Grandpa & Great Grammy Barbie, it surly warmed mommy's heart.
There is nothing as wonderful as catching up with family that we have not been able to see since before we had kids. The kids were such a surprise for them & we were more than happy to share them for the nice, long weekend :) We got home, Danielle didn't make a peep on the ride home, Dylan ate his lunch, we gave them baths, did laundry right away and got all settled in from a wonderful trip. Dylan still keeps asking for Grammy, Thomas & 'Bam', (he calls Britni Bam) it's hard to explain to him where they are, but we know we will see them again very soon!

Lord thank you for blessing our family with a perfect vacation. Thank you for protecting us in our travels. We look forward to seeing them again very soon :) It's very hard to believe that our precious baby girl will be 1 year old next weekend. We look forward to an excellent celebration for our little princess.~

Memorial Day 2009...

Happy Memorial Day-

This Memorial Day weekend was great, and especially since the weather cooperated and the rain held off! The past few weekends have been busy for Miss Danielle! For mommy's birthday we took a day trip to Jordan Creek Mall in Des Moines. It was a perfect day for some shopping, a nice dinner and we even took the kids to their first Build A Bear Workshop, Danielle slept thru the whole experience so next time she will get to 'Build' her own stuffed animal and accessorize it too! She of course made out with a couple very cute summer outfits with matching head bands and some adorable little Crocks!

One of the newest most adorable thing about Danielle is that her hair is getting SO long, on top that is! We now put her hair in 'pretties' regularly. But when she doesn't have a pretty in, and she just wakes up she tends to get a case of 'bed head'. Daddy thinks that she has a perfect 80's Punk Rocker do, what do you think?!

Our friends Mike & Kirsten welcomed into the world their first baby, Lila Louise on April 18th. It was wonderful to have her out to our house for her first visit, seeing her in this picture in Danielle's bouncy seat really makes me realize how BIG our little girl is getting. She isn't such a little newborn anymore :) We are excited to watch Lila grow and her and Danielle to play together and be little girl friends!

This weekend was great. We were able to spend a lot of time outside and together. We ventured to Dubuque for the day. Dubuque has so much to offer for families and that is what we liked the most. We took the kids to the Fenelon Elevator Co for a Cable Car ride up the huge hill. Daddy was especially excited to do this since his Grandma used to take him there when he was little. Danielle was just along for the ride on mommy's lap and Dylan thought it was pretty cool. Mommy and daddy just tried not to look down on the way up!

We also ventured to the Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. We toured around inside and once again Danielle slept the whole time! Dylan loved the fish and walking around outside to the boats and even the kids play area. He of course loved riding the bouncy ducky!

On Sunday we ventured to Cassie's Graduation Party! We are so proud of her and the kids surly LOVE her so much, she has taken such great care of them many times! Her and her family had a wonderful party and it was such a beautiful day. It was especially fun to see family and there were many that saw Danielle for the first time. There is nothing like great company from good family & friends.

We then decided to go back to Dubuqe and stay at the Grand Harbor Resort & Water Park for the night. Dylan loved the water and him & daddy had all kinds of fun. Danielle and mommy had our suits on too and just relaxed lazy river side! It was a great night. We went back to the room thinking that both kids would be all tuckered out, nope, it was time for Dylan to make himself comfortable in his own bed and baby girl snuggled with mommy & daddy!

On Monday we woke up, had breakfast and Dylan kept saying, 'water, fun', he was ready to go back to the water park and I think daddy was ready too! This time they again ventured down the big kid water slides, neither of us could believe that Dylan loved them as much as he did, they were definitely a BIG hit! Danielle and mommy sat around the water again and the boys did everything that boys do! The water park was a huge hit and we will for sure be visiting another water park soon. We can't wait until we can all do those fun water slides together, baby girl just needs to get about Dylan's age now and that will happen! But she is perfectly content in her cute little swimsuit hanging out with mommy or in her stroller, just taking in all of the activity!

We decided to take our time getting home so we decided to relax after such a busy morning, we stopped and had lunch at one of mommy & daddy's favorite places in Dubuque, Bricktown! It was wonderful as always and the kids were great. Dylan was pooped out and laid on daddy's lap most of the time and baby girl had a full belly herself and slept thru most of our lunch. We surly had a great relaxing weekend and really enjoyed spending 3 whole days as a family, there is nothing better than that!

After lunch we drove home and made one last stop..... at the cemetery. We can't forget the true meaning of Memorial day, to celebrate those who have given their lives for us. We especially remember Great Grandma & Grandpa Kinney, Great Grandpa Holub. The cemetery is always beautifully decorated with flags everywhere. We also celebrate the life of our first born, Dalton James. It is always very important for us to take the kids to the cemetery so Dalton knows that we will never forget him and to see the beautiful life he is living thru Dylan & Danielle. We said a family prayer and I caught a couple priceless shots of Dylan staring down at his Great Grandparents & Big Brother's grave, and even giving the flowers a precious kiss :)

Thank you lord for blessing our family. It was a wonderful weekend of togetherness and thank you for protecting us and our extended family & keeping everyone safe in their travels.~

Baby's 1st Vacation....

We just returned from a wonderful, relaxing trip; destination: Scottsdale Arizona. It was wonderful to getaway and have some fun in the sun! This was Danielle's first vacation and first time on an airplane. She did absolutely perfect, she was strapped to mommy in the Baby Bjorn for the flight and never made a peep. She is such a good baby and loves to be snuggled. It was very nice to meet Grammy for the week and have daddy's support to be away from home, with the kids for a week! We really missed daddy, but we look forward to our family vacation in a couple of months. Thank you for supporting us daddy!

We did lots of fun activities and got some much needed relaxation in as well. On Sunday we went to the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium. We had already taken Dylan to the Phoenix Zoo for our last trip so we decided to check out a new one and it was great. There was a log ride that went thru the Aquarium and the Zoo had a fun playground, train that went thru the exhibits and an Australian Boat ride that went around the Australian Animals. There was a lift that went over the whole park and we even stopped at the Giraffe Feeding station to feed the Giraffe's. Danielle was perfect and was just along for the stroller ride and lunch at the Cafe. It was a beautiful day with a light breeze, perfect for the kids.

The rest of the week we went shopping and relaxed by the pool! I tried to keep the kids on their routines somewhat, in the mornings we would take a nice long walk then back to our suite for nap time, then lunch and off to the pool for the afternoon before out for dinner. It was SO nice to be able to spend a lot of one on one time with the kids, I have not been able to do that since Danielle came home from the hospital. It was very nice to spend time with my mom and have the kids have some fun Grammy time also! I could not have asked for a better baby, Danielle is just the sweetest little snuggle bug, she had no problem adjusting to new surroundings and slept great in the crib there also, it was great!

Mommy had fun dressing Danielle in her fun new summer clothes and swimsuit and swim cover-up! Girls are so fun to dress and Grammy and I even put her hair in her first 'pony pretty' it was adorable and it even stayed in. Danielle's hair is growing like crazy so 'pony pretties' will become frequent I imagine! Brad couldn't believe it when we sent him the pic on his cell phone, his little girl is getting SO big!

We also went to this super NEAT upscale toy store. I can't believe we have never seen it before since it is in the area we always go to, but it was awesome. It had EVERYTHING you could think of for kids of all ages. The neatest part is that it had a whole 'Eco' Section of Toys, all of the toys are made of Recyclable materials. Each of the kids got an 'Eco' Toy, made in the USA, and those can be very hard to find these days. Next trip to Arizona, this toy store is a must, on the list of things to do! They have a website so mommy will be shopping online I think before our next trip!

That is about the just of our past few weeks, fun in the sun and quality time together! Danielle had a Neurosurgery follow-up apt just before vacation and things went good. She had an MRI and will have another in about 2 months. We saw the world renown Neurosurgeon who is Danielle's doctor now and he is the BEST. We LOVED him, he even took the time to give us names of docs in the Scottsdale area for us to see if anything went wrong with Danielle's shunt while we were gone. That was such a piece of mind and he did it without us even asking, he said ' here are names of docs I want to see Danielle if anything comes up.' He is amazing and we are SO lucky to have him see our baby girl!

Daddy just finished the play yard/swing set for the kids and we are very excited to get them outside to play. The dry heat in Arizona was perfect for their little lungs, they are so sensitive to the humidity here in Iowa, so we will be careful. Danielle is eating like a little piggy and loving her cereal and fruit, now its on to veggies, mommy will be making home made veggies like I did with Dylan, that is the best for their little tummy's and what isn't as easy to make will be Organic baby food. Our little girl is now 10 months, wow, has time flown by! In just a few months she will be a year old. We cherish every single day with our little ones, we are SO fortunate God has blessed us with our beautiful children. Spending lots of snuggle time with them is so important and I am very lucky I got to do it for a week straight, it was fabulous. We love you baby Danielle, keep growing healthy and strong little one.~