Life with boys

Miles and James are finally "playing" together. Well, James climbs on Miles, laughs, and Miles moves over. Or Miles is playing with a toy, James comes along so Miles puts the toy up where little brother can't reach, and either James pesters Miles until he gets it, or throws himself down and has a tantrum.

A little out of focus, but what a great big smile!!

Miles was pretty sick this past week. He hardly ever gets sick, so as he was going on second day of not eating, fever, and crying every time he coughed, to the doctor we went.

Turns out his tonsils were so swollen they were touching. Poor guy! Wasn't strep, but started antibiotics anyhow. Looking at his chart, he just gets sick once a year! Wish James had his immune system!

He's feeling much better now, but i have to admit, it was kind of nice when he was laying on the couch, calm and quiet.

Cars, trucks, tractors, and helicopters.

We can't have enough!!

and we're off...

Ben's contract was approved by the Marshall city council Monday evening. And after tons of work this weekend, the for sale sign went up yesterday night. Still more to do to be ready for showings, we have one scheduled for Tuesday! Pray for a sale!

Ben starts July 7th, if our house hasn't sold by then, the boys and I have to stay back in Blue Earth. Oh the fun has just begun!

Overwhelmed!

Wow, big changes may be coming soon. This past Tuesday Ben had an interview in Marshall, MN. I went along, had breakfast with the council and city staff (amazing group), had a tour (beautiful city), and got to peak in some of the little shops downtown (trouble). Ben had interviews beginning late morning and into the afternoon. Around 3:00 he was done and we attempted to drive through the neighborhoods to peak at housing...

...HA! After driving past the cemetery three times, all the roads seem to twist and turn, we headed home exhausted. About 45 minutes into our drive Ben received a call offering him the position!!! UGH!!!

We were just trying to digest the whole day... city, staff, interview...
...while Ben was talking, we pulled over, I had to get out of the car. So there I stood, next to corn field, sick to my stomach. Excited, scared, OVERWHELMED!

After about three hours my stomach started to settle, we got back to Blue Earth, picked up the boys, put them to bed, and turned into zombies. We were spent!

Ben is working on some minor contract issues, but we're preparing to make the move. Oh, the Marshall newspaper called about 5 minutes after the offer came!! So the offer was in the paper yesterday evening, and this morning at 7:30 during breakfast it was announced on the local radio. Ben at least was able to talk with the mayor yesterday evening. Just wish we had a little time to tell people ourselves first, especially the "girls" at city hall.

So today was another exhausting day. Ben worked, I, being a typical type A personality, had to start making plans, lists, calls...
Thank god, my parents are coming down this weekend to give us a hand.

I LOVE Blue Earth, and we will miss all our friends and especially Ben's parents being so close (working on relocating them!), but this is a very exciting transition in our lives, and Marshall has so much to offer.

I can't stop talking about all I saw on Tuesday during my visit there and have even started attempting to recruit others! heehee!

I'll try to keep you updated, but it's going to get crazy...

Nisswa

Miles and I came up to Grand View Lodge in Nisswa with Ben for his city managers conference.

What a beautiful place!

Our cabin is right on the lake, and our cabin!! Very nice! Definitely want to come back here!

It was dark and we were out walking around...

Miles picked up a stick and started picking at this tree...

"I'm a woodpecker, Mommy! I'm looking for bugs to eat!"

This is the main lodge.

"Miles, can you count the steps?"

"Yea! One, two, three, FOUR!"

Hmmmm...

"We're in the forest, Mommy!"

And finally there was a great indoor pool.

"Miles, can you dunk your head in the water?"

At Last!!!

Spring has finally arrived! And the boys are loving the outdoors!

We've been on lots of walks already!

Sometimes I can get them in the burley together, but ususally Miles wants to ride his little red bike. It's so cute, a radio flyer with crome fenders!

Miles still loves wearing hats!

James will have NOTHING to do with them.

I can't believe this time last year James was only a month old!

Rashy...

Poor Little James...

...he just can't seem to catch a break!

We've been battling a pretty nasty rash the past 4 weeks. It started around the 1st of April when we had strep, then just took of from there. All over his legs (the knees were really bad), arms, eventually a little on his belly and cheek. The worst part has been the last couple weeks with the intense itching! Thought is was maybe an allergy, but all the tests came back negative. So the pediatrician concluded it's severe eczema exacerbated by who-knows-what. We're going on 5 days of Singulair (an asthma medication), oatmeal baths, and tons of aquaphor...

...and it seems to be clearing up. Thank goodness because the next step was going to be Prednisone, and I really didn't want him on that. The doctor said this is probably something he's going to have throughout out his life, and we'll just have to figure out what works best for treatment.

Other than all that he is quite the busy guy! Just making the tranisition into the toddler room at daycare! He Loves being outside, just like big brother, so we'll be getting lots of fresh air this summer!