The Combine and the Baby

We tripped to Holstein again last weekend because I just can't seem to stay away from the place, and lets' face it- when your husband is working 24/7 for 3 days straight, your best friend has a sweet new baby that needs to be cuddled and your other best friend and oldest brother are also going to be in Holstein-its pretty hard to stay away!
Said sweet baby is Ty Clausen, who happens to be just about the sweetest baby ever, who I happened to get many cuddles with. I actually do have his momma's permission to talk about him and even post a picture of him on my blog, because she is facing the truth of 4 boys 5yrs and under, like she is going to have time to sleep, let alone blog!:) Though I must say Katie is amazing at managing all of this even as she hosted an Iowa football get together on Saturday night and her hubby hosted a Vikings get together Sunday afternoon! She must know something I don't!

Here is Baby Ty


and our boys, minus Brady and Kellen




Jack has always been into tractors and such, and this year we have been talking about combines and watching the "corn get brown" so the combines can go to work. While in Holstein, he got to take a trip to our friend, Lonny Kay's, farm with Uncle Scott to check out the machines!




He hasn't stopped talking about it since. I mean talk about making a kid's life! He actually got to ride for a few rounds, and my brother said that "his head was on a swivel" just taking everything in! Thanks so much Uncle Scott and Lonny! Icing on the cake was the "no top" car that he got to ride in on the way there!

Shark Tank!

I am skipping ahead a bit, but couldn't resist posting about the weekend. Christina was in town taking the "Schnack's" engagement pics, so we thought it was necessary to visit some old haunts in Cedar Falls!
First on the list was Sharky's.
Wow-some great memories made (and probably many more never remembered!) at this bar. We were a little disappointed to see that the catwalk was gone, but had to take a picture on the dance floor anyway!
I am sure that the 19yr-olds were really impressed with the oldies at their bar! At Suds the bouncer looked at Cristina's id and said really loudly "1980?!" Like he couldn't believe we were that old. Nice. He did say that there was ONE guy older than us at the bar "a 1975" Really...awesome.
Also hit the OP, and am happy to report that the lines to Sharky's and Tony's were stretching down the street when we left the hill. I knew those places were still cool...
While we were bar hopping the boys snuggled at home in their new footie jammies with Daddy!

Happy Birthday!

Scott's Birthday was on Labor Day this year, and with neither of us working that night we got to celebrate! Jack helped make the cake
and picked out Daddy's balloon (dumptrucks!) The boys got Hawkeye tickets for Daddy! He was very excited (and me too, since there just happened to be 2 tickets!) Happy Birthday Scott, we love you!

Holstein Squared

Well we are averaging a month behind in blogworld, and I am NOT going to talk about computers, though know that I am posting from my in-laws laptop :(
We were in Holstein the last few days of August to see our friends, Aaron and Monica, tie the knot. It was great to be back and have some time to relax on Mom and Dad's fabulous patio and backyad in the beautiful weather.

It was so nice of Aaron and Monica to throw a party so that we could catch up with so many of our friends in one place.



Though just a warning: If you are not wanting to be preggers, I would suggest staying away from Holstein's water, it seems to be catching! Just look at these 3!
(this blog is so far behind that Katie has already had their baby. And since we can't quite seem to convince her of starting her own blog,it is my honor to introduce Ty Evan Clausen! Born September 15th-we can't wait to see you Baby Ty!)

I was so happy to catch up with Brooke, Stephanie and Meghann!

There was some dancing...


Look at that dancing photographer!
What a great time!

My brother Steve and his girlfriend, Mariam, were making the trip to Iowa for Labor Day weekend, along with my broher, Scott and wife Ashley, from Missouri. We couldn't pass up the oppurtunity to see them and loaded back into the car 3 days later, though one short. Scott had 2 tournaments, a wedding and a football party in Waverly that weekend, such is the life as a country club manager...
And even though we traveled on Thursday, we missed the blogger party. As I was driving past the Young family's turnoff at 8pm-ish, I felt that I made the better decision not to take my "end-of-my-rope, 2hrs of sleep, greasy, caffeined OD'ed self, and my screaming, Cheeto-stained, sugar loaded children" to the soiree. Yep definitely the better decision, though I missed catching up with everyone-and of course the free photos of the kids! :)
We did make it home in time for a fire and S'mores.


That weekend really couldn't have been better (except for my missing hubby) The boys just happen to love their uncles...

And who can blame them, my brothers are great people and just plain fun to be around, whose significant others just seem to enhance their likability! Along with my Mom and Dad, we are a good bunch! We lauged and laughed...
We traveled to Sioux City to catch up with extended family on Friday including my Grandpa and Grandma,
2 pretty amazing people who have racked up 66 years of marrage!
We also took my babies to a bar...

There was a bit of controversy on who to cheer for on Saturday, all big Hawk fans, though all alum of UNI... Jack and Quinn showed their "brothers divided" feelings.
All were happy with the outcome!
A barbeque on previously mentioned fabulous patio with more family and great friends was a great way to end the night...oh wait I forgot that we loaded up and crashed the class of '99's 10yr reuinion. Though I think that it was late enough that it wasn't really crashing, and they are such a great class that I don't think that they minded, and it was really great to catch up with them too!
Maybe a few too many cocktails were served that night, but lots of fun with GREAT people!





There is nothing like family! (and great friends) And if you haven't gotten enough info on this said weekend, check out Mariam's site. Its the 1st one listed on the blog list.

Virus Schmirus

So. I got a computer virus oh about a month ago-darn! It basically took over my computer with Trojans (it seriously would make this crazy sound and then would say "you been hit by a Trojan!") So then Scott spent some hard-earned money on a security system and installed it, which definitely took care of the Trojan, but also thought every other halfways good site was also a Trojan. So then Scott spent some hard earned hours trying to uninstall some of the security to no avail, and the next day brought home his laptop...there is a little more to the story involving me calling Mediacom and maybe almost shedding a few tears, and then the little power outage-but we won't go THERE! So I am back (though I sure seemed to get a lot of stuff done while not always blogging or reading other blogs. I actually even read a few books!)and don't really know where to start. Many big and little things have been happening around here in the last 5 wks, and maybe 150pictures or so taken. So I will hit the high points!



Jack is a big boy! Vague I know, but seriously he is making leaps and bounds lately right before my eyes. He had his 1st sleepover-I worried all night though he had a great time, and wasn't homesick at all (that makes a Mama mostly happy-but just a little sad too!)He jumps from the side of the pool goes underwater and swims back to the side.
And then one very brave day he went down this slide all by himself (he is thankful for his tall genes that make him at least 42inches!) I mean, really? He's three! Then he started a new room at daycare/preschool, the coveted 3yr/4yr room.
He got new safety scissors, markers, and colored pencils and was quite excited on the first day (and maybe a little nervous. His blankie is tucked in that backpack!) He has great new responsibilities in this classroom, including jobs such as "door holder" "calendar helper" and "weather helper" The first day he was the door holder he made me peel the colored tape label off of his shirt to save for the next day! He is definitely my helper and Quinn's best bud (who he calls "little buddy" or "Quinner") though knows exactly how to push said little buddy's buttons! Oh how your Mommy loves you, Jack!



Quinn is something else. That kind of sums it up. He has learned "no" and says it so clearly, with so much conviction and a shake of his head that you almost listen to him. Unless of course the "no" is in answer to "Quinn lets get off the counter before you fall and crack your head open"
then his "no" doesn't carry much weight! He is quite a climber!



When home this past month, my Mom kept telling him and others that he was "such a little lover" and between the "no's" and "mine's" thats definitely what he is. He's quite a kisser and has gotten the smack just right.
trying to sneak Kellen Clausen a kiss!

He goes right in for the kiss and hug when he know's he's done something wrong-and even before I know the wrong doing has happened-if he's kissing and hugging he must have broken something! He always says "hi" and "bye" to everyone, multiple times, sometimes too many times...I think the shoppers at target get tired of saying "hi" after the millionth time we see them in the aisles! He is loving digging in the dirt currently and saying and doing whatever Jack is doing.
Playing Cowboys.


"drawing and cutting"

I think that the older he gets the more I try to pretend that he is still a baby, though I do get in a few minutes of snuggling with his blankie and him just before bedtime. Precious!


Wonder if he'll still let me do it when he's six?
I think from the looks of this post that I will do a separate one for our trips to Holstein the past few weeks. In other news, I got a new job and start on Wednesday! Yay! It is at the Waverly Hospital (4blocks from home) and involves some babies! Double yay!