Roose Camping Trip '11 (4th Annual)

We camped at Palisades Park in Cedar Rapids. We arrived Thursday evening and Jordan, Joy, and family arrived soon after us. Jenessa joined us Friday night - Saturday night and Dad and Mom Roose came for the day on Saturday. Austin was down in Alabama helping with tornado relief so he wasn't able to join us this year.

Here is our camp.



Timothy helping Alice on her tricycle

Alice & Lydia sitting by the fire.


There were a lot of nice hiking trails in the park. Friday morning we headed out on our first hike. Jameson carried Alice in our hiking backpack.

Overlooking the river.

Hiking bridge

Alice sleeping on hike.

She'd gotten to bed lake the night before and was up early, so it was good that she was able to get a little sleep. Later that afternoon we discovered it was far to hot for her to nap in the tent, so this nap proved even more necessary.

Friday afternoon we drove down to Lake McBride and spent time at the Beach.

After we got back from the beach, we began making supper. The girls kept busy playing in water, getting themselves and each other wet as they waited.

Jameson making Mountain Man Breakfast. It was a beautiful morning to relax around the fire.

Alice playing with dollies in her stroller.

Saturday morning hike with everyone.

Watermelon... a great snack to cool off with after a hike!

Saturday afternoon we headed to the spillway between Lake McBride and Coralville Lake. This allowed the girls to get a brief nap in the cars and it was refreshing to walk around in the spillway.

Family picture!

Stopping for ice cream has become another camping trip tradition. This time we stopped at DQ and split a tasty snickers / reeses peanut butter cup blizzard.



Hiking down to the river for our Sunday morning family 'worship service'.

Alice got tired on the way back and fell asleep on Jameson's back!

We packed up and left after lunch Sunday afternoon. Alice slept the whole way home and we all slept for a couple hours after getting home to make up for short nights / earlier mornings.

That's all... It was another great camping trip!

May '11

Happy May Day! Our tree was in full bloom and Alice is just a few weeks older than 18 months.

Tulip TIme Baby Parade

Alice enjoyed eating grapes more than watching the parade!

Alice was on a mission to walk around the bricks around the tulips and thus had no interested in possing for a picture.

Jordan and Joys

Camping

Climbing

Garden

Alice & Watering Can

April '11

Alice and Uncle Austin

Alice's first ponytail!

Helping Jordan with fence

Alice on 4 wheeler

Alice in daddy's shoes

Alice w/ tongue out

We spent part of Easter weekend at Jordan and Joy's. Sunday morning we enjoyed 'resurrection rolls' made by Joy. They are made with a marshmallow in the middle, which then melts leaving an 'empty tomb'. This has become a tradition for their family and I look forward to making it one for ours as well.
Alice, cousin Lydia, and Uncle Jordan Easter Morning.

Easter Pictures!


Alice has had fun playing with Easter Eggs


Playing with booster chair

Giving baby doll a bath

March '11

March 3 was Jameson's mom's 60th Birthday so we traveled down Friday afternoon and had a supper at Jordan and Joy's (where we stayed). Saturday morning we went down to the Red Rock Dam and looked for Bald Eagles as part of 'Bald Eagle Days'. We also went to a presentation at Central College and got to see 4 birds including a Bald Eagle and an Owl.

After a quick lunch and naptime, we went back into town for an afternoon/evening of birthday fun...coffee time at Great-Grandma Roose's, bowling, and supper at Happy Joe's. Bowling was great fun!!! Here are a few pictures.

Grandpa & Jordan

Jameson

Alice & Mommy


Sunday morning we went to the Pella OPC church plant for church. We really enjoyed the message and the fellowship with the people there. We certainly pray that the Lord will bless the labors of this congregation as they strive to serve the Lord and uphold his holy word. Here is a picture of the cousins before church.


Also, for those of you that may not have heard, we are expecting again! We heard the heartbeat the week before Christmas so Alice showed off her 'I'm going to be a big sister' shirt at Christmas to family. We saw the ultrasound (and once again did not find out the gender) in February and are due July 15. We are supper excited to have a new baby again and for Alice to get to be a sister!


Updates on Alice:
I don't have pictures of these 'everyday events' but I don't want to forget them so I'm going to write about them and then hopefully do a better job of getting out the camera.

Alice continues to eat great and is starting to master getting food that's on her spoon or fork into her mouth! She still struggles to get some food onto her utensils so she will hand them to me for help because she wants to use them and get big bites. She's only had a few meals in her whole life where we've had to force her to take a few bites because she wasn't eating. She seems to thrive on variety. If you give her the same PBJ or pasta several days in a row, she gets tired of it and won't eat as much. As long as she keeps getting variety and/or new foods she eats great with no complaining, for which we are very grateful!

Alice loves reading/looking at books, playing on the floor with mommy & daddy, coloring, and being mommy's assistance with cooking and cleaning. She does a great job greeting daddy at the back door when he gets home from work, telling him to take off his shoes, and trying to open the closet door so he can hang up his coat.

I recently discovered that she Alice to walk from the car into places by herself, rather than being carried. I make her hold my hand, which took only a little training once she realized if she let go I would carry her. She thinks it's great and I figure it's a skill I'll be thankful she's acquired 4 months from now!

Alice LOVES going/being outside!!! We had one nice week in Feb. and ever since then she points to the door or brings me my shoes implying that she wants to go outside. When the weather turned cold again our trips outside consisted of a few minutes to run around on the driveway, getting the mail, and coming back in. Now that it's mid-March we are getting outside for some playtime, a walk, or trip to the park almost everyday. Jameson and I also LOVE being outside so we are thankful that she loves it and are looking forward to many fun times this summer. We have decided that this summer is going to be an 'outdoor summer' and are supper excited about lots of grilling, walks, picnics, frisbee throwing, playtime at the park, canoeing, and camping.


More from March:

Swinging at Grandma & Grandpa Teeselink's

Another activity Alice LOVES to help me with... taking paper out of the printer as it prints. While at times her 'help' requires patience, I appreciate her eagerness to try to help me.

The end of March and hosted a shower with several other ladies for my friend Elizabeth, who's expecting her first in beginning of May. Our theme for the party was Children's books and I was impressed with how everything can together.

I made a 'book cake' for the shower, putting my decorating skills to the test. My mom and aunt make beautiful cakes but this was one of my first attempts to decorate a cake for someone other than family.