A trip to the Zoo!

The weather has been so nice that we all thought a trip to the Zoo sounded like a fun way to spend Uncle Jeffy's 26th birthday. What 26 year old doesn't want to go to the zoo? :) Hudsen was very excited. He was a little nervous that the monkey's might jump on him. This turned out to be a nonissue as the monkeys were not out for the winter. There were plenty of other animals to see. Hudsen said his favorite was the sea lions. Eleanor REALLY had a good time. She was just taking in the whole atmosphere. On Sunday we found out she had a double ear infection. A person sure couldn't tell that with how good she was on Saturday. She loves being outside. Hard to say what her favorite animal at the zoo was, but she really liked watching mom and aunt Lina riding on the Camel. I think she wanted to be right up there with us!

WWW

What a Wonderful Weekend! The weather was fantastic! Both kids had a great time being outside. Today I see I have a little sunburn. Who would have thought in middle of March I would have a sunburn! On Saturday morning both kids were outside at about 8:30 am. We couldn’t keep Hudsen inside any longer and once Eleanor saw him going outside, she wanted to go too. Payton and Grace came over in the morning. The little girls went for a wagon ride while the big kids were on their trikes. They all really enjoyed themselves.




Later on Saturday, after Hudsen took a 3 hour nap, we went over to Brandon and Kari’s to watch the Iowa State game. The little girls went to bed and the big kids watched a movie until they got bored with that and came upstairs and did crafts. Although Iowa State did not win, it was still really fun to be together at Brandon and Kari’s and watch the game.


It was really nice on Sunday too. We went to church and then Eleanor went down for her morning nap. While she was down for a nap, Jarren and Hudsen played basketball while I went for a 4 mile run. It was so nice to get out for a run on such a nice day. When E got up, we went outside to play on the swing set. Jeff and Lina came over at that time. So there was some bubble time, tee-ball fun and lots of time on the swing set. Jeff acts like a 3 year old when he plays with Hudsen, so Hudsen loves it (and I think Uncle Jeffy does too :) Everyone was really ready for bed times last night after being outside so much.

Goodbye Tonsils and Hello Beautiful Weather

Little Hudsen got some news yesterday that was actually quit surprising. He has to get his tonsils out! When he went to the dentist last week, Dr. Nick mentioned that Hudsen's tonsils were pretty big. He asked me if he snores and I said, "yes louder than his dad sometimes". Dr. Nick said sometime to just get them checked out with the Dr. Secory (Hudsen's Ped). So last Friday afternoon I took Hudsen to see Dr. Secory. Dr. Secory thought Hudsen's tonsils were big too and that the ENT Dr. Young might want to take a look at them. He got us an appt. with Dr. Young for yesterday. I thought, no big deal, Dr. Young will just look at his tonsils and say they look big, but we will just wait and see how they look. Wrong! Dr. Young heard how Hudsen was breathing, and knew right away that he should get his tonsils out. Hudsen also has fluid on his ears so he will probably be getting tubes too. So tonsils are coming out on April 11th. Hudsen might not be too excited about the surgery, but I'm sure he will be happy with the ice cream aferwards :)

The weather in Waukee has been perfect! We have spent a lot of time outside as a family. It is great that Jarren has the new job and can spend this time with us. Eleanor still goes to bed around 6:45 but we are so lucky that she has Amy and goes outside with her and her boys during the day. We took both kids for a wagon ride the other day and they LOVED it. Lots of giggles. Today it is suppose to be 83 and the weather looks great for the weekend. It is hard to believe that I will need to get the sunscreen out for the kids in March!

A Trip to the Dentist

Brush’m Brush’m Brush’m, a trip to the dentist. What else would a 3 year old like to do? When I picked Hudsen up from day care yesterday he was not too excited about going to the dentist. He really wanted his Dad to come with him. However, once we got to the dentist, he was pretty excited to be there. Hudsen goes to Walnut Hill pediatric dentist and their waiting room looks like a barn. They have horses, cows and a slide to go down. He had a pretty good time with all of that and then when it was time for him to get checked out, he went right to the chair and did a GREAT job getting his teeth cleaned. He even brushed the teeth of the horse to show Dr. Nick how he brushes his teeth at home. I didn’t take any pictures this time, but I did add a picture from Hudsen’s dentist visit 6 months ago when he brushed the horse’s teeth. Dr. Nick said his teeth look great, but that Hudsen needs to stop sucking his thumb. Hudsen only sucks his thumb right now when he has his “B” and getting ready to go to bed, but he needs to stop doing that too. So Dr. Nick made a deal with him, if Hudsen put his thumb in his pocket or in the “holster” then he could have a Lightening McQueen spinning toothbrush. Hudsen was all for that! Last night he did not suck his thumb at all. He just said “Dr. Nick says I have to put it in my pocket.” Of course he would listen to Dr. Nick and not listen to his mom or dad! Hudsen’s dentist trip was a big success!

Pump it Up

Just a quick note about the birthday party that Hudsen went to at Pump it Up last night. As mentioned in the prior post, he went to a party on Saturday and was a little shy to start off with and then had a great time. Last night he was a crazy man and had a great time! It was so fun to watch the kids play around and go down the slides. On Saturday he was one of the younger kids there as it was Sam and Molly's 4 year old's birthday party, last night he was one of the older kids there as it was Claire's 3 year old birthday party. He was showing all the kids what to do. It was very cute. I tried to get in one of the inflatables and jump around with him and he told me "no mom's allowed". I guess that means I was just suppose to talk to the other mom's and let him have a good time. I was only able to take 2 pictures b/c he was jumping around most of the time.

Updates

A few updates on what is new with each member of the Hummel Family:
Jarren is very much enjoying his new job at DMU. He gets to work at about 7:30 every morning at leaves around 4:45 or 5. He really likes everyone that he works with. At night time it is nice to have him around a little earlier and to not have him constantly thinking about work. The kids have REALLY enjoyed their extra Dad time. Jarren is still involved in the Waukee Leadership group. Their class project is to start a Historical Society for Waukee. He is also playing basketball on Tuesday night with KPMG. His basketball on Sunday nights ended a few weeks ago. Softball will be starting soon and that will be on Thursday nights.
Hudsen went to his first non family birthday party this last weekend at Pump it Up. He was very cautious/shy to start off with, but after he saw all the other kids having fun and he got right in there. That is very much Hudsen’s personality. When he is doing something new he is very cautious/shy and then he turns a switch once he realizes it is ok and then there is no turning back. He has another birthday party at Pump it Up tonight and I am interested to see how he reacts. This morning he told me he was VERY excited. Saturday we also had Drew and Brady Eastman over for a play date. They all 3 played trains for awhile and had a great time. Hudsen wanted Drew and Brady to come over again on Sunday. The Iowa State game was on Saturday night and Grandpa and Grandma Hummel, Kasey, Morgan, and Isabella, Brandon, Kari, Payton and Grace all came over to watch. Whenever Hudsen sees Payton he is so excited. The 2 of them play so well together. You can’t separate them. Hide and Seek seems to be the game of choice these days.
Eleanor is starting to try to walk. She is walking along the furniture right now and seems to be just a little afraid to let go and see if she can do it on her own. She loves to watch her brother play with his trains. We spend a lot of time downstairs with Hudsen playing with his trains and Eleanor will still go in her jumper to watch him. We had our niece Grace’s birthday party 2 weekends ago. It is hard to believe that Grace is one and Eleanor will be turning 1 in less than 2 months. Where does the time go?!
What is new with me? I still like my job at CWG and love working with my co-workers. I think I laugh most of the day so I take that as a good sign  I am still doing Max Life every day at noon and enjoying that. I started doing Hot Yoga on Saturdays. I’m not sure if that will last but Molly and I bought a pass for 3 times so we’ll at least do it 2 more times. I have just started training for Dam to Dam. It is in June and right now 3 miles is all I can do, so it is going to take some dedication and hard work on my part to be ready for the race then. I just tell myself, it was easy, everyone would do it.
Below are some pictures from Grace’s one year birthday from 2 weekends ago.