The Runaway Summer

It has happened again. Summer has been taken stolen from me. Why does the fourth of July come SO fast every summer? It feels like we only have half the summer left, but in reality, there are almost two full months left. Every weekend in July is full, but thankfully our craziness slows down in August. I'll jump right in to our summer happenings since my last post.

A few weekends ago we packed up the car for the day and headed to Oskaloosa to celebrate Corey's Grandma's birthday. Gwen knew that Grandma Zollars loves peacocks, so we spent one day making her a peacock craft. Truthfully, it turned out better than I thought! Gwen painted the canvas, and chose some scrapbook paper to make a body for the peacock, and we got these awesome feather/wire-y things at Hobby Lobby way on sale.

We had a wonderful time at her birthday party, and the weather was absolutely beautiful. We got to catch up with a lot of family members, had a great potluck lunch, and the kids got to run around and play all day. Gwen loved playing with her cousins and friends. There was a cool castle playground the kids could play on, several games available at our shelter, and even water balloons and a sprinkler to entertain the little ones. I wish I had taken more pictures, but here are two (How cute is Gwen in piggy tails?)

We got home and relaxed that evening because the next day was Father's Day and a big race day for Corey! We all got up early, packed the car, grabbed our sign to cheer for Daddy, and headed to his race. We spent the morning and most of the afternoon cheering him on and relaxing in the shade while he raced. Gwen made him this sign, and really loved holding it up as he rode by. Unfortunately, she had it upside down the first time he went by, but he got the jist :) She also had several people admire her art-work. Corey finished fifth, and we were so proud!

We really enjoyed watching him, and especially wanted to be there to make sure how much we love and appreciate him as a Daddy! We stopped and ate pizza on our way home, and picked some berries near Ankeny.

The next day we decided to celebrate Corey's birthday a little early. Gwen and I met him for lunch and saw the movie Inside Out. We LOVED it. We're not huge movie-goers, and we don't watch much TV at home, but we thought it was a great movie and would recommend it to anyone. It's one of those movies that has a lot of adult humor, but still kept Gwen interested and engaged (which can sometimes be difficult!).

The next weekend was one of very few weekends that we didn't have anything planned. I did technically have my 10 year high school reunion, but we were both so exhausted from having traveled so much that we just decided to have a relaxing weekend home. It turns out that my sister-in-law and nephews were coming in for the weekend to visit her friend, so we got to spend Saturday with Titan, Jett, and Colt. Angie text me Saturday morning asking if we'd like to hang out with Jett while she took Titan and Colt to the skate park; of course we obliged. So while Titan skated, Jett came and played in the yard while Corey washed his bike. Jett rode Gwen's bike, tried to catch grapes in his mouth, played disc golf, and played with chalk. After he was tired of playing outside, he tried his hand at every toy inside. Later, Angie and Colt came over and had lunch and played some more. Titan is getting to be so big! He'll be six in September and will start kindergarten. He has gotten very into skateboarding lately, and it's so fun to watch all the videos of him as he learns more and more tricks. He's also pretty brave for a six-year-old! Corey has very quickly gotten interested in Titan's skating, and can often be found watching YouTube videos about how to "drop-in" and "rock the fakie" (or whatever). He's currently planning on building a ramp in Evan and Angie's spare bedroom in the basement so Titan can skate in the winter. I think Corey needs a boy :) Colt was so happy the entire time he was at our house and has gotten even cuter (if that's possible). When we played outside, he put monster trucks in a little wagon and pulled it around. When we were playing inside, he was obsessed with Gwen's Baby Natalie and her stroller. Every time he'd get side tracked with another toy, I'd put her back in Gwen's room, and soon enough Colt would find her and bring her back out. Eventually Titan and Colt were wrestling and chasing each other with Baby Natalie. Gwen would be mortified. Just kidding, she would have cracked up :) Boys are so different than girls, but they were quite fun. Later, Corey took Colt and Titan to the skate park while Angie, Jett, and I went to get Angie a tattoo. Later that night, we all went to the Arts Festival and had a great time. The boys were so good and had a lot of fun doing all of the art activities that were available for kids. Corey and I really love the Arts Festival, so it was fun to share that with them. Last summer we went with Corey's brother, Travis, and sister-in-law, Julie. It's hard to believe that was an entire year ago! The next day ended up as another race day (can you tell it's really hard for us to just "relax" and do nothing? :) We rode up to Ames and Corey competed in a mountain bike race. He did very well (I think he got second...I can't remember now!). I love to watch him race because he's incredibly driven and dedicated. He has that competitive edge that I never really got :)

In the midst of all of these busy weekends, my mom and I painted the baby's room while Corey and his mom celebrated his birthday in Kansas City at a concert! It was fun for both of us to spend time with our moms, and I was really happy that Julia went with Corey to the concert so I didn't have to! I went last year and really enjoyed it, but this big ol' belly wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much as last year. I did miss seeing some of our friends who also went, but it was nice to see my mom and get the baby's room painted, finally! Since then, Corey put the crib up, I've washed all of the baby clothes we have (which isn't a lot since we don't know the baby's gender, but it's definitely enough to get us by for several weeks early on!), and started organizing pictures, decorations, and baby books. Corey's step-mom, Joni, is working on an awesome dresser/changing table for us and is reupholstering Gwen's old rocker, and then we'll essentially be set! Corey found some awesome prints for the walls--a variety of biking pictures, maps, and book covers/references. My favorite print is one of Dr. TJ Eckleburg's eyes from The Great Gatsby. Corey remembered how much I loved that symbol from the book and made it one of the prints. He also did one from "The Raven" by Poe. What a guy :) We did finish Gwen's room, and I know I promised pictures; I just haven't quite had the time! Corey found some incredible prints for her room, too. We have a painting of zebras my aunt did, a few princesses, and Gwen's favorite: a picture of Freddy Mercury. Once Gwen saw the baby's room, she wanted in on the action, so she drew two pictures: one of a princess and one of a prince. For now, we have the princess framed on a nightstand next to the crib, but if the baby is a boy, she naturally wants to switch to the prince picture. Of course :) Angie and Titan brought us the cutest little doll/stuffed animal from Where the Wild Things Are that I absolutely love! People have already been so incredibly generous to us and the baby; we feel so grateful to have so much support and so many people excited for us. It's hard to believe that in two months this baby will be here! I did have a doctor's appointment the morning my mom came, so she got to come with me. It was a short appointment since there was no ultrasound, but it was fun to have her come with me. Everything has gone so well with my pregnancy, and I feel very lucky that it's been so uneventful. I've felt great overall, which is probably good since I'm a worrier :) My mom got to hear the heartbeat when we went--that was fun! I'm measuring right on track and everything seemed fine, so that was that! I should be having appointments every two weeks, but this week I'm out of town at a training, so it will be next week instead. I've started to really pop out even more--here's a picture of me at 30 weeks (just a few days ago).

You can tell I'm starting to have a hard time sleeping--my face is swollen and I look exhausted. But I feel well, so that's all that matters :) Here are a few family pictures our friend Justin took for us last week, too! We love his work and are so grateful for how he captures how lives so quickly and accurately. Thank you, Justin! Here are my favorites:

And finally, that brings us to last weekend, the fourth of July. On Friday, Gwen, Corey and I went to Corey's Dad and step-mom's to celebrate America and hang out with family. Dave and Joni were on their way back in town when we got there, so we helped ourselves to their pool while we waited :)

Once they got home, we all got cleaned up and went to an old car show downtown.

Gwen enjoyed looking at the cars, and especially enjoyed the ice cream afterwards :) The next morning we got up relatively early and went to a parade. Gwen's cousin Avery and Corey's brother and sister-in-law joined us there! Avery and Gwen are inseparable :)

They loved getting candy from the parade, dancing, and then playing some fun games in the park after the parade. It was pretty hot, but the girls were troopers and had a blast! We then went home, had a quick lunch, and put the girls down for a nap. When they woke up, we all went swimming (it felt amazing after it being so hot). Gwen and Avery both had floaties around their bellies, so they could be pretty independent. That was awesome to see.

I also worked a little bit with Gwen on floating, kicking, putting her face in the water, and swimming on her belly. She really loved when we "motor-cycled"--haha, I essentially made car noises as I dragged her around the pool. Later, she and Avery were doing their thing and jumping in the pool while Corey, Brandon, Dave and I played with the water guns and diving toys. At one point I asked Corey if he'd do a "dirty dancing lift" with me--you know, lifting me out of the water over his head. We thought it might be funny. It wasn't. I basically free-willied directly onto his neck, which he heard pop. Sorry, Boo... Nothing makes you feel really pregnant like almost snapping your husband's neck. I still think it would have been cool had it worked ;)

We got home in the afternoon that Sunday and all took quick naps before getting ready for the upcoming week. Gwen and I went grocery shopping since the house was pretty barren, and tidied up for our next visitor, Grandma Julia! I left pretty early in the day on Monday for AP Training in Iowa City. I've been here all week. Gwen and Grandma did so many fun things while Corey was at work and while I was in class! They got their nails done, went to the park, painted some pottery, did water balloons, played dress up, made a pie... and I'm sure a ton of other things! Gwen has been looking forward to Grandma Julia's visit for a long time. Here are some pictures Grandma Julia took over their fun few days.

We are so grateful for her willingness to come and watch Gwen for us while we worked! Gwen is so fortunate to have so many wonderful, loving, and sacrificial grandparents.

Tomorrow (Friday) after class, I'm going to meet Corey and some friends in Clear Lake for the weekend. I'm really excited for it, and it should be fun to spend time with friends away. Corey has several races, so I'll let you know how those go at a later date. Next week Gwen starts Cheerleading. We're both pretty excited about it :) I think she's going to love it. Then next weekend is our baby shower. I can't believe how quickly it is coming--I'm very humbled and touched already at how excited people are for us. I'm really looking forward to seeing so many of my favorite people all in one place :) It is really rare that I get to see family, high school friends, college friends, co-workers, and new friends all together at one time!

PS: Please forgive the lack of paragraphs and organization of this blog. I swear when I'm typing it that I put in paragraphs and breaks between topics, but for some reason, the blog won't publish it that way. Don't judge me too harshly :)