Where have we been???

Well crap, 2 months slipped past me again without posting on the blog.  Gosh, how does that happen so quickly.  What have we been doing for the past 2 months?  Here's a peek:

In November, Mommy and Daddy and Uncle Stephen and Aunt Steff went on a lovely vacation to Mexico. They say it was 85 degrees and sunny the entire time.  We stayed back in Iowa hanging out with our Nana and Papa and Grammy.  We also got to play with our cousins, Connor and Kayla and had cousin-in-law Mark help out some too.  We had so much fun with mom and dad away!  It looks like they had fun too!

Next we practiced our musical talents.  We love to the play the drums and guitar.  Every morning on the way to school we tell Mommy "wouder, wouder (louder)" to all the songs on the radio.  We love to sing too!

We go to go to Marcus for an early Christmas.  We go to see our aunts and uncles again as well as our cousins Emma and Jonathan.

 We tried out some new pajamas thanks to Uncle Cody and Aunt Jen!  And watched scary movies with Daddy in bed.

We helped our girlfriend Lily...

get ready for these guys to arrive!  Congrats to the VanderLinden family on the arrival of Luke and Owen!

We were silly...a lot!  Mommy and Daddy laugh and laugh at us!

Last but not least, we went to see Santa.  We actually got to eat breakfast first, and then tell Santa our heart's wishes.  We told Santa the only thing we want for Christmas is "The Wizard of Oz" and lots of candy.  I sure hope he brings it to us!

We hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season.  And until next time...Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas!!

Happy Halloween

Well, another year of Halloween.  Of course, the Rash boys were animals again this year.  The boys actually understood Halloween this year...the dressing up, the trick or treating, the CANDY!!

They wore their costumes to school on Friday and went trick or treating in downtown Ames with their preschool.  It sounds like they had a lot of fun!  After school, our first stop was Grammy's house.  Unfortunately, Ethan missed the step coming out of my mom's house and landed head first onto the sidewalk.  He gained quite the ugly bump on his head and wasn't the happiest boy for a while.  Once a little Tylenol kicked in, he was ready to hit the streets!

 The boys' best friend Lily  came and trick or treated with them.  We had pizza afterward and of course CANDY, and then the kids had a dance party to burn off all the sugar.

 BJ got some good practice in with 2 little boys...his own 2 little boys will be arriving sometime in early December.  Good luck BJ!

We had a great time!  Good thing we have enough candy to last us until next Halloween. 

We're 3!

Wow, it's been quite a while since we've posted on here.  Frankly, life gets kinda crazy around here.  So, we apologize and will try and get you up to date.

The biggest thing that's happened is the boys turned 3!  They choose a Mickey Mouse theme for their birthday party.  We had lots of friends and family members here to celebrate and the boys loved every minute of it. 

A few days after their birthday we had our 3 year checks with Dr. Nau.  We still aren't very big, still have to drink whole milk, still have to drink pediasure, still have to push the calories with these boys (wish that was the case with me!).  But, Dr. Nau said he's less worried about their size than he used to be...hooray!  Here's our stats:

 Aidan-29 pounds, 2 ounces (22nd%) and 37 inches tall (32nd%)

Ethan-26 pounds (3rd %) and 36 inches tall (11th %)...of note, 6 months ago Ethan was only in the 1%...so he is making some great progress!!

Later that same day, we went to Boone and rode the Pumpkin Train with our friends the Van Der Lindens.  Lily is their best little girl friend...Ethan describes her as "beautiful".  Hope there's not fights some day :)  We let the kids wear their Halloween costumes.

 We've been enjoying the beautiful fall weather.  The boys have been out playing in the leaves and getting to the park as much as we can these last few days.  The end of next month, Adam and I are taking a trip to Mexico with Adam's brother Stephen and his wife Steffani.  We are both celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversaries this year.

Thanks to everyone who helped make the boy's birthday special.  We are so lucky to have family and friends that care about us.  Until next time...

State Fair and First Day of School

We took the boys to the state fair last week.  They loved it!  There favorite part was playing on the tractors and eating chocolate chip cookies!!  The boys also started preschool this week.  They are attending Ames Community Preschool Center which is located in downtown Ames.  This will be less of a commute for mom to get them to daycare and to work, which after 2 1/2 years of making the daily trek is a welcome change.  It was still really hard for mom to start them someplace new, but them seemed to enjoy it.

Waiting for the pony ride

 Playing on the tractors

The boys

 Sticky mess

Enjoying a Popsicle

 Crashed after a long day at the fair

Train ride!

Ethan-1st day of preschool

 Aidan-1st day of preschool

Off we go....

We were also in IA City with Ethan for a recheck on his eyes.  The doctor feels the glasses are really helping to straighten out the crossing of Ethan's eyes, but he still tucks his chin down  and looks out the top of his glasses rather than use the bifocal.  Most people with nystagmus (eyes bouncing) have a "null point" or a point at which they can "quiet" the bouncing and get a clearer picture.  Ethan's null point is high up in his vision which is why he tucks his chin.  Dr. Drack tells us there is surgery they can do to move the null point down in his vision, but she doesn't want to do the surgery too soon because the null point can move on it's own as he grows.  We go back to see her in 6 months for a recheck.  Meanwhile, she said not to correct Ethan or direct him on how he should look at things.  She said he is compensating to get the best picture possible and we should just let him do his thing.  That sounds easy to us!  The best part of all of this is that Ethan has always left his glasses on and never once fussed about having to wear glasses...that to us is a blessing!

Adam and I had our 5 year wedding anniversary this past weekend.  We both marvel at how our lives have changed in the past 5 years. What ever did we do with all our time and money!?!?!?

Hope everyone is enjoying the last few days of summer.  We are off to Chicago in 2 weeks to help Connor celebrate turning 4!

What have we been up to?

Swimming in our pool

 Playing on a firetruck

Helping Lily celebrate her birthday

Being silly

Goofing around

Going to our 1st movie...Shrek 4

Playing outside

With our new trucks

Hope you are having an adventurous summer too!
 

Sweet Corn

July in Iowa = Sweet Corn