Oh Tater...

Oh my little man, Taterbean. You've been surprising me more and more everyday. Mommy can't believe all the things you are doing/saying.

I've been snapping some photos of the things you've been up to.


You LOVE your cars and will play with these over anything else! I've noticed how well you can line your cars up....I love watching your little brain work! So sweet!

You love watching Thomas! You sing along, and add all you own sound effects!

You love shoes! You're always trying to fill Daddy's...You have a ways to go Buddy!

You have two new favorite treats: sweet corn and popcorn! You crack me up when you eat them!

We knew we had to save you some popcorn after our 'date night'. Sure enough- you inhaled it the next day!! The box was as big as you!



Zoo and More

We decided that we'd take a little getaway and go to Omaha to stay with Marc and Amanda for a few days. We had sooo much fun, and we even went to the zoo. I have a feeling that this will be just one of many trips to the zoo for Tate. It was HOT, but he loved it. 

I have so many pictures to share from our fun stay!

Swimming with Uncle Marc

Tate and Daddy at the zoo

Tate and Mommy

Monkeys!!!

Amanda and Tater

Looking at all the "wishies". He loved the aquarium.

After a day at the zoo and  running through the sprinklers, Tate got his first golf lesson from Marc.



18 Months

Taterbean is 18 months! We recently had his checkup and 18 months shots! He's still small but mighty!
This little man continues to amaze us every day and we love him more than we can say.

So, Tate at 18 months you...
-weigh 19 pounds 1 ounce (1 %ile).
-are 29 inches tall (4 %ile).
-RUN, never walk.
-LOVE singing. Your favorite songs are "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "The Wheels on the Bus". You can sing them both quite well.
-have the whitest hair and a lot of people say you look just like your uncle Marc did at this age.
-love giving "knuckles" and high fives.
-have a pretty large vocabulary. (Momma, Dadda, Papa, Grandma, Tate, car, truck, tractor, thank you, shoe, banana, apple, cheese, hot, strawberry, watermelon, teeth, love you, bronco, Cy....and that is just what I can think of off the top of my head).
-have lots of boo-boos on your poor little knees.
-can point to most of your body parts.
-love swimming and swinging.
-enjoy reading books and I often find you somewhere off on your own reading. It's so precious. We read lots of books together everyday!
-eat pretty well. Some of your favorite things are grilled cheese, watermelon, chicken nuggets, spaghetti, and teddy grahams.
-sleep from 8:30 to 7:00. Normally you go right down, but we've recently had some troubles and you want to snuggle and rock awhile first. Daddy and I think it may be just a phase.

Love you Buddyboy!! I can't wait to continue watching you grow and change each and everyday!  I'm so thankful that I get to spend my entire summer with you.

Still Lovin' our Summer!

We have had one great summer. We've been spending lots of time in Emmetsburg at my parents so Blair can work with my dad. I think he loves getting his hands dirty.  On Thursdays, I teach summer school. I've really enjoyed this. This is my first time teaching summer school, and so far its been a great experience. I have a great group of kids from 6 years up to 12!

Tate is also enjoying this hot weather. Currently his new thing is to throw a huge fit everytime we try to go inside. He LOVES his car and mo-mo (mower). We've been spending lots of times biking and walking, and we've even gone to the pool several times.

Even though its time to start thinking about summer coming to an end, we still have lots of things to look forward to. August is full of lots of exciting things. We are anxiously waiting the arrival of a new niece. I know I'm getting more and more excited to meet this new baby girl and I can't wait to hear her name.  Also in August, Blair will be starting graduate work for administration. I think he's getting excited. AND of course we will be getting ready to start a new school year. Although I love my summer home with Tater, a fresh start is always nice. Finally, we'll be looking forward to football season and will prepare for lots of tailgating and ISU games!

So, heres all the things we've been up to:

Playing in the rain

Helping Daddy open his Father's Day gift

Playing with Cousin Kayson

Swimming in the lake

Learning to Drive the BIG mo-mo with Papa Tim

A little scare...

We had a little scare with my mom, and I just feel like I have to blog some of the details.
After getting back from Kansas City on Monday, Mom suffered from a stroke early Tuesday morning.
My dad took her to the hospital in Emmetsburg and they took her by ambulance to Mason City.
She had 24 full hours of testing, and thankfully after lots of waiting her MRI revealed that she did have a small stroke in part of her brain called the Basal Ganglia.
Mom does have some slight damage to her left side and her speech is a little off. I've already seen great improvements with her movements tough, and the doctor assured us that she would regain full mobility.  Home Health Care will come to her house and get all her physical, occupational, and speech therapy arranged. She'll get this at the house until she is able to drive herself.
She was able to head home today and I know she is just thankful that she can get some good sleep in her own bed. I know my dad needs some rest too, and I hope they can just get that.
I really appreciate all the kind thoughts and prayers from ALL of our family members and friends. It all reminds me just how loved she is! We all agree that she just needs to worry about herself for awhile and take the time she needs to heal. She is such an amazing women and I'm so blessed to have her as my mom.

We Love You Mom!!!!

Kansas City

This past weekend we took a mini vacation to Kansas City, but it wasn't just the three of us. Grandma and Papa Siemers joined us too. They had never been to KC and we thought it would be fun to have them get away with us.
We left on Friday and made a couple stops at some wineries. We enjoyed some great wines and then checked into our hotel.Our hotel had an outdoor pool so we hit that as soon as we settled in.

Papa and Tate in the pool.

That evening we decided to go down to the Plaza to look around and have dinner. Tate loved the fountains and didn't want to sit for very long...he was on the mooove after riding in the car for several hours.
On Saturday, we went to Legends for shopping. We got lots of great deals and made many purchases. This awesome outdoors shopping had more fountains for Tate to splash in and an awesome aquarium in one of the stores.

Grandma let Taterbean get all wet! He LOVED it!

On Sunday, we went to St. Joe to visit Aunt Maagie and the gang. We had lunch and played. Then it was back in the car and we headed to Diagonal to Grandpa Dick and Grandma Janis' house. Tate 'drove' the tractors and even went for a ride with Daddy on the 4wheeler. He loved it!

Enjoying our time with Aunt Maagie

Tate and Cousin Ashlei

We ended our Sunday in Creston at Grandma and Papa Taylors. We had a HUGE dinner. Mike even gave my parents a tour of Creston and we had a nice visit. This was the first time seeing both of the grandparents at the same time since Tate could say "grandma and papa". We thought maybe he'd be confused, but he did well. He's a lucky little boy to have such awesome grandparents who love him to pieces!
Now it's Monday and we are back home in Nevada. It was a great weekend and we are all glad to be sleeping in our own beds!
I'm just so thankful that we had a safe trip!

SUMMER!!! :)

Summer break is here! So far we've spent most of our time outside....