Pictures

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving and Stepec Christmas:

Donut Face:

Knuckles and Jack playing basketball in the bathtub!

Jack helped set up the nativity set, notice baby Jesus is riding on the cow!


Jack decorating cookies:


Jack and Steve at the Mall of America:


Stepec Christmas:

Stepec Christmas

We headed up to the cities last Thursday to celebrate Christmas with the Stepecs. We did manage a quick trip to Ikea on the way to the Mall of America. Our dear friend Christie gave us some free wrist bands so Steve and Jack went on a few rides. Jack loved them! I think riding the carousel was his favorite. I do have some pictures which I'll have to work on posting. We checked in at our hotel later that evening. Jack couldn't quite figure out the hotel business, so he kept wandering around wondering where stuff was. He quickly adjusted once he saw there was a pool right out our room and when he realized we packed his basketball hoop.

We stayed at the Grand Rios Hotel and Waterpark, so once everyone else got checked in on Friday we headed down to the waterpark for a while. We also opened presents that night! Jack got a Little People airport, clipos, and some new clothes.

Our weekend couldn't be complete without a sick kid. Jack woke up Thursday night running a fever (only we didn't figure that out until Friday afternoon when it was up to 102 or 103...nice, parents I know). We couldn't get the fever to break or stay down so we ended up heading out Saturday morning after we opened our stockings. He was such a trooper considering how sick he was. Poor guy. We came home and headed to Urgent Care where they said he has a virus, that makes his throat look "nasty" and he has some cold sores in his mouth. Basically gave us a steroid to use and told us to make sure he drinks something. He hardly drank or ate anything at all yesterday. Once we got back from the doctor he ate 2 popsicles and a piece of pizza. He's taking advantage of us giving him anything he wants which is fine with me.

Today Jack and I are hanging out, and for those of you who know how I hate sitting still this is not small project. Jack wants me to sit with him at all times or sit in my lap and play with him. Steve has stuff all morning and evening so hopefully he can come home for a little while so I can run to the grocery store.

So once Jack lets me move to the other computer I'll post some cute pictures of the weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

My dad and brother came down from Minnesota for the weekend. Which means that I'm making the turkey and all the fixings. Should be interesting! At least it's just for family so when something doesn't turn out we can all tally this up as a good memory. Jack is of course thrilled because "Knuckles" is here to play basketball with him. They were watching videos on YouTube and then trying to dunk like what they saw. I think Steve will appreciate the break from having to play basketball and cheer when Jack makes it.

We went back to Jack's asthma doctor in Des Moines yesterday and he is happy with the progress Jack has made with his meds, but his goal is to have Jack not cough at all. So to make a long story short, we're going to try some new meds and go back in 3 months. Steve and I have to get our flu shot, that's our assignment I guess.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! I'm excited to get out our Christmas decorations and get our tree tomorrow! Jack already talked Steve into putting up the outside Christmas lights.

Pictures...

Jack has been really funny lately. I went upstairs to get ready for bed, and go into the bathroom where Jack is sitting on his stool playing his guitar in front of the mirror.

His morning routine involves me getting him when he wakes up around 6:30ish and bringing him into our bed where he reads books to Steve while he snores away...

The New "Mini"

My sister, Lindi called our family minivan the "mini". So I'm sure if she were here today she would have some very special name for our new automobile! We bought it yesterday after months of looking and research. It's nice to finally have that item crossed off our list. We (especially me) am really good at packing LOTS of stuff when we travel places, which is why we wanted to get one so we would have enough space for all involved...Jack, new baby, dog, kitchen sink, etc.

I know I really have to up-date with other fun pictures of when my dad was here and things Jack has been up to. So I'll see how much time Jack gives me now to work on this! Otherwise it will have to be my personal goal for the week.

babysitter for a week...

One last thing...I'm sure I'll have some stories to tell after this week is over, my dad or Bapa as Jack calls him is coming down for the week to watch Jack during the day so our friends can have a break. We'll keep you posted to see if he lasts the whole week or not...

halloween and leaves

Jack was a horse for Halloween...well, actually he was a horse-rider. His back legs made up the back legs of the horse. He wasn't too sure about all the Halloween stuff until he figured out that going around with that costume on meant that people would give you candy! YUM! It was a little tricky to put him in his carseat with that thing on, but we made it work. Look how much he enjoyed it!


He has also liked helping dad with the leaves! It keeps both of them entertained.

where has the time gone?

I can't believe my last post was over a month ago! Yikes...


(this is Steve and Jack at the pond around Jordan Creek Town Center in Des Moines...Jack loved to watch the goldfish)

Things have been a little crazy in the Stepec household. One of the major changes is that Jack's daycare lady moved out of town so we have no daycare. But praise the Lord we have wonderful friends who have stepped in. He goes 2 days a week to 2 different houses and Steve has Friday off. It's worked out really well so far and Jack seems to really enjoy being able to go to Wal-Mart, McDonalds, the library, and who knows where else when Steve and I are working. The tricky part is I try to leave work right at 4:00 to go get him, so I'm often behind on school things...oh well, that pile of stuff will still be there the next day!

(mom putting Jack to work with the dustbuster...you've got to start somewhere, right?)

Jack also had an asthma attack which was scary but what a relief to have a "plan" and know what to do at 1:00 in the morning. He's not too sure about his "ducky face" or his inhaler, but he takes his medicine morning and night all on his own (oh yes, we do bribe him with 3 chocolate chips).



I enjoyed a weekend in the cities with Trisha, April, and Erin. We hit up Target, Mall of America, Noodles and Company, TGI Fridays, Brueggers Bagels, and Erin and I ended our trip to Borders. We have so much fun, and my stomach hurt from laughing so much! They bring such joy and fun to even things that shouldn't really be funny! Thanks girls.

True Iowan

No words needed!

Weekend of Fun!

Knuckles and Bapa came down from Minnesota so that made Jack's day since Steve went to Trout Lake Camp for the weekend with the youth group. We had a lot of fun hanging out, eating yummy food(I even made a blueberry pie since my dad brought down some MN blueberries from this summer). We went apple picking today which was a lot of fun, and now we have TONS of apples. I better get baking! I'm really waiting for my pampered chef apple corer-peeler-slicer to come in. :)

Here are a couple cute pictures from apple picking. Since Jack LOVES to eat apples, he was in heaven on Nels shoulders picking his own apples from the trees.

doctor

On Friday we spent the morning at the Blank Children's Health Center in Des Moines with a Pediatric Pumologist, to find out that Jack has asthma (which is what we were thinking) and he also has reflux, which goes hand in hand with asthma. What does this mean for us? Well, we have to keep a close diary for the next 60 days of when he coughs, etc and try to re-arrange some medications. We go back right before Thanksgiving and the goal is to try to figure out if he has consistent asthma or intermittent asthma and the best form of treatment depending on the type. I guess 10-15% of the general public have asthma, so it's not too uncommon.

We finished up the day with an hour trip to the pharmacy (just mom and Jack...and yes, I gave in and got him a sucker!) They of course had to educate us on all the meds and check with insurance, etc. Fun, fun, fun!

birthday pictures

Hello again!

I do have a couple pictures to add...here are the ones I promised back a couple weeks ago from Jack's birthday. He had so much fun that the morning after his party he slept in until 9:15! Don't get too jealous, that only has happened once.

Happy Birthday Jack!

I can't believe 2 years ago on the 15th Jack was born! Yikes...time goes too fast. We've had a couple weekends with fun birthday celebrations, which I'll post some pictures of sometime soon. I posted a picture of Jack when he was just a wee little guy!

big boy bed!

We got Jack a twin bed for this 2nd birthday (even though it's not until the 15th). I thought it would take them at least a few days to deliver the bed, but they came an hour after we bought it. No more than 15 minutes after the bed was here and set up it was nap time. Jack told me he didn't want to sleep in his crib, because that was for babies so he napped on his bed. Amazing. Then when it was time for bed, he wanted to sleep in his bed. At this time I was thinking that we'll be up 10 times in the night with him getting up, etc. He went to bed and didn't wake up until morning when some random alarm went off in his room. We're crossing our fingers that this transition is easier than we were thinking it was going to be. I'll try to take a picture of the bed, but it's even cuter to see him sleeping in it. I'll have to try at a nap time so the flash doesn't wake him up.

Steve's parents have been here for the weekend, so we did an early celebration for Jack (one party out of 3 total). He got a Fisher Price House from them, which he has spent a great deal of time playing with already. At least now the people from the house are bigger then when I was a kid because those things hurt when you stepped on them.

Yes, I also survived the 1st 2 weeks of school with kids. I did figure out when you loop (have the same class for 2 years) you don't get the nice "honeymoon" period that you do when they're new. I guess they're too comfortable with you and each other. Great. They are pretty fascinated with the fact that I'm pregnant, I think they're really excited to have a sub from Feb-May they just don't want to tell me that.

kitchen floor

Some people have been asking how our kitchen floor looks...so here is a picture. It's so nice to be able to clean the floor and know that it's clean, unlike our other floor.


We had a nice weekend...some shopping done for back to school stuff, oraganized some stuff around the house. The first day for students is on Tuesday! YIKES! The one good thing about this week is that next Friday we head to Red Rock for our annual camping trip.

Have a good week! I'd like to think that I'll post before next weekend...but any of you who have had a first week of school teaching know that it's an insane week! :)

#2(not Jack's second birthday)

Here are the things that #2 is not:

me teaching the same students for 2 years
what Jack is carrying around in his diaper as I type this
the number of naps Jack takes in one day
how many cars we have
the 2 weeks of Christmas vacation I have this year


But it is:
We're having a 2nd child....I'm due Feb 3rd!

Trout Lake Camp

Here is Jack pushing the cart at the little local grocery store...he even figured out how to load up the candy from the candy shelf by the checkout.

We had an amazing week at Trout! We were able to relax, hang out, eat yummy camp food, go swimming, shopping, etc. I think we went to Crafts and Cones 2 times during the week. Very good ice cream! Steve was a seminar leader, which just involved a couple of mornings. It was a nice break to be able to hang out just the 3 of us for a week, especially before we head back to crazy Iowa and I start school a week after we get home. Yuck!

Here is Jack at Caribou Coffee which was a real treat since we don't have any near us in Iowa. Their Wild Berry Smoothie is amazing!


We're looking forward to another Trout Lake visit next year!

Timbuktu Visit #2!

Jack's favorite person...."Knuckles"! He still talks about him everyday at home. The conversation goes something like this...Jack: "Call Knuckles?" Mom: "No, not now" Jack: "Knuckles workin'" Nels is the only person that Jack will talk to on the phone. He won't even talk to Steve or I.

We (Jack and I) were at the lake for 2 weeks. It was too fun! Jack was such an entertainer to everyone that came to visit or walked by. He is not bashful that’s for sure…I wonder where he gets that from?

We had my grandpa’s memorial service on the 26th, so that was a good time of closure for us to have some extended family and friends around for the weekend. We had the service right at the lake, just like he would have wanted. Jack wanted to keep playing the piano during the service…so we hung out in the back. Jack was clean for the morning and during the service, as soon as the service was over he was in the sand and water. Which was his daily routine….once he was clean and dry he would be wet and dirty….thank goodness for a washer and dryer right there.
Before:

After:

It was fun to be able to see Trisha, April and Erin whenever I wanted to. Now we’ll have to resort to blogs, emails and phone calls until we meet again. Maybe a scrapbooking/card making weekend in the cities this Fall?

Jack was all over the yummy Minnesota blueberries. He would eat them by the handful, I finally had to cut him off after he would eat a bowl at one sitting. Thank you to dad for picking them for Jack!

Lake Ellen

Jack was a trooper on our 14 hour bus ride to Lake Ellen. I think he did a better job of not being antsy than I did! We had a few hour delay on the road due to a tire issue, but praise the Lord that was taken care of as soon as possible.

We stayed in the Retreat Center and Jack loved all the kids that were around everytime we went outside. He was so tired he would sleep for 2 ½ to 3 hours in the morning and then again in the afternoon he would sleep for 2 more hours. So mom and Jack got some good naps in, and I got some projects done and 3 books read.

We also were lucky enough to go and visit Jean and Brett for the day, so that was a well needed break from “camp life” for both Jack and I. Thank you!

Jack’s favorite part of the week was playing his guitar with the kids during practice. He had down all the moves and was upset when we had to leave the chapel area.

His second favorite thing to do was to drive the bus like daddy!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Steve!

4th of July and other things...

We are back from our trip to MN, and are actually heading out tomorrow for the UP of Michigan with a youth trip. Jack and I are braving the bus with the other kids, so this should be entertaining. We (Jack and I) won't be back to Iowa until August 10th so we'll be gone a month. It should be fun...Steve will be with us for the first week and then the last week, so I'm sure we'll miss him.

Here are some pictures to capture what we did in MN:

The water was freezing cold....62 degrees!

Jack loved to follow "Knuckles" everywhere!

Jack also went to Ely to spend the day with Grandpa and Grandma Stepec and Great-grandpa and great-grandma Stepec....lots of fun!

Jack loved to drive the boat when it was in the boathouse, but not when we were on the lake because he didn't want Boppa to steer with him...Mr.Independent that's for sure!

On the road again...

We (Jack and I) are heading out today with most of the Boland family (Steve on Monday) for our annual 4th of July trip to the lake! We've had a busy couple weeks at home...most of which has consisted of heading to the pool everyday between Jack's naps. Oh, how I love summer vacation! We'll be back in 10 days....have a great 4th everyone!

back home

We got back home last Thursday and Jack has been following Steve around everywhere. He sure missed his daddy. We had a good weekend catching up on laundry, cleaning water out of the basement and all those good things that happen here in Iowa. We had an early start to Father's Day when the tornado siren went off at 3:00am and we had to scoop Jack out of his crib and take him to the basement. He thought it was heaven since he was able to play the Wii...so yes, Guitar Hero at 3:00 in the morning with his dad not a bad start to the day! :)

Jack started to come down with this random rash that I thought was from his new medication (Singular) but it kept getting worse so I took him in today and turns out he has Fifth Disease. Weird...nothing you can do about it but let it run it's course. I guess you only get it once so there's another thing for Jack to check off his list of illnesses. Here are some pictures to capture what this terrible thing looks like.

a neat visit

One of the highlights while in Duluth was that Jack and I met up with my mom's dear friend Laurie. It just so happens that she works at Scholastica (where my sister went). It was a real healing time for me because the last time I was on that campus was for my sister's memorial service back almost 3 years ago. The neat thing was that we took Jack to the gym, which is right where my sister played both volleyball and basketball. There was Jack trying to shot the ball and dribble left-handed, just like Lindi. Gosh, I wish Jack was able to meet her.

Thank you, Laurie!

Minnesota trip Part 2---Duluth!

After the wedding Jack and I headed to Duluth to visit Steve's family and meet out 2 new nieces! They are both adorable! Jack was totally fascinated with the babies. He was so cute, when Ashley (Seth & Sarah's) would cry Jack would take Seth by the hand to go to the baby. He was too cute. Here's a picture of him holding her, check out his cute smile!

Here's the other new baby, Ashera (Sharon & John's). She came home from the hospital a couple days before we got to see her, too cute!

We were also lucky enough to be able to celebrate John's birthday while we were there so we were all together for the evening, which is so different than it use to be with all the new babies and Jada and Jack running around like crazies!


Jack and I also were able to visit with Jo and Katie and finally meet Kylie, one more cute baby for the trip! Too fun! It was great to catch up, especially since Jack napped the entire time we were there. A nice break for me! We also got the news that Aaron and Katie's adoption went through in Africa so they'll head over sometime later this summer to bring home Matea! We can't wait to meet her!

beautiful wedding!

Jack and I made it back to Cook with the help from my dad, who drove the entire way! My job was to take care of Jack....he was such a trooper we made it from our house to North Branch without getting out of the car. That's about 5 hours! Then we made it from North Branch home without getting out of the car, another 3 hours. We did bribe him with a shake from McDonalds in Virginia.

It was great to be home and see friends and hang out at my dad's house. Jack of course loved all the basketballs and everything around the house.

It was yucky weather everyday we were there except the wedding! It was a perfect day for a wedding, not too hot and not too cold. It was so much fun! April was a beautiful bride! Here are some pictures of the event, sorry I don't have too many fun ones.



Of course the trip to Cook wouldn't be complete without a little Moosebirds ice cream! YUM! It was Jack's first ice cream cone from Moosebirds (yes, it's blog worthy!)

summer?

Okay, it's been way too long since I've last posted. As any of you school teachers know May is the craziest month ever! Between having enough energy and patience to deal with 5th graders that don't want to do anything and the paperwork trail that seems never ending. I thought today (the last day with kids) would never come! Tomorrow I head back in for a teacher work day. I hope to get my stuff done early so I can head up to Cook all the sooner! The big wedding (april and jesse) is this weekend! I sure hope my bridesmaid dress will still fit.

My dad came down last weekend...Nels and I met 1/2 way in Clear Lake, IA and so he's going to be riding with Jack and I up north which will be such a blessing. I was thinking for a long time that Jack and I were going to travel 8 hours alone. We'll be in Cook for a few days and then Jack and I are going to head to Duluth to spend some time with friends and family. So those of you from Duluth, I'll call you when I know more so we can get together! I'll also get to meet a new niece, Ashera. Sharon (Steve's sister) is going to have a C-section tomorrow.

Here are some pictures to re-cap our last few weeks since I've posted!


Jack always wanting to go outside!

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Anyone for a bike ride? Jack's ready!


We love playgrounds! No fear going down the biggest slide all by himself.

Sorry about the random link in the middle of the page...I have no idea what I did and I don't want to start over!

Mother's Day Weekend

We had a great weekend...especially since Knuckles (Uncle Nels) came to visit from the cities. Jack was following him all over and wanted Knuckles to do things for him, not mom. Here is a cute picture of all the boys watching You Tube on Friday night which is always worth some good laughs.

On Saturday we hung out and chatted and drank coffee while Jack took a good, long morning nap. He's been so tired lately. He's back on the nebulizer machine with some new meds they're trying and he actually has to go back to the doctor on Friday morning. So we'll see what happens. I wish they could just figure out what in the world is wrong with him...poor fellow! We had a good day not doing too much of anything except shooting some hoops and playing chase around the house.

Sunday meant church. The best part of church this weekend was that Steve preached. Can you believe it? It was youth Sunday and he did the message. He did an amazing job! Jack was so tired I had to wake him up from his morning nap to go to church. I did manage to get some cute pictures of him sleeping in his church clothes. When they're sleeping it's so cute! I got my wish for Mother's Day which was to take a nap for as long as I wanted to. I miss being able to take a nap and being able to wake up when I want instead of Jack waking up first.

After naps we made some Monster cookies for some teachers at school. Jack was really impressed with the peanut butter M&M's!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!