Here We Go Again, YBHA XIII

Mom and her boys, Levi (3), Noah (6).

Just when you thought it was safe to stop keeping track of the Yeager boys and their home alone adventures.
In November, we thought YBHA XII was going to be the last one for a while. Sorry. Here we go again. Welcome to Yeager Boys Home Alone 13.

We begin with the traditional departure photo. This picture is taken right before Amy flies. The one time we did not take the picture, Mommy was stuck in Europe for a few extra days because of some volcanic ash.

This trip is to a new overseas destination for Amy. We will see what this journey brings.

Cousins Paige and Allie help with Noah’s Valentine creations. Aunt Julie supervises.

Originally, I was slated for a meeting on Saturday and I had booked a babysitter in cousin Paige. When that fell through, I still had the Wood family come for lunch.

We first finished up Noah’s Valentine’s Day cards. Noah is ready for the holiday. His Madagascar cards are complete with tattoos and Laffy Taffy for his friends.

Chopsticks aren’t just for eating.

We took the crew to lunch.

Noah and Levi tried chopsticks to eat their HuHot. Most of the time they were used for something other than eating. I think this picture looks more like a directing a symphony.

Stairway of fun.

And we played around with my new app off the week, Vine. We took some standard shots and then started playing around with the app.

Vine is video twitter. You get six seconds and can edit in the camera. The videos loop and can be posted to Twitter or Facebook. Look for more of these videos.

This one is the kids saying hello.

And this one is a little song they performed for you. Enjoy.

Final chapter of YBHA?

The traditional “launch” photo of Amy and her boys.

Tortured readers of the blog have come to expect quarterly updates from the Yeager Boys.

We refer to them as Yeager Boys Home Alone. Again, we are left without, and must fend for ourselves to eat, sleep and stay alive.

This edition comes a little later than the traditional launch of Saturday. Forgive us, we’ve been a little busy playing the distraction game. Amy did depart late Saturday for the Netherlands. But this time, we have some bigger things on the calendar that required experience.

Enter Grandma Honey.

Sunday was a big day at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Ankeny. We were installing our new pastor for care and discipleship, Rev. Pam Schroeder. It was also her first Sunday with us on Des Moines Street and we were having an old-fashioned Lutheran potluck. For those of you not familiar, I’m sorry. They are one of the traditional church’s best events.

The call committee was responsible for throwing the party and since I was the chair of the group, I kind of needed to be there. Grandma Honey is no stranger to staying at church for a long time. The Yeager’s and Bergman’s shut down ALC in Jesup many Sunday’s, so this would have to be one of those days. Instead of keeping Johnny and Paul apart, it was Levi and Noah getting the attention.

The boys did pretty darn good at trying new foods, staying quiet and watching a Veggie Tales movie. Thank the Lord for all things on a DVD.

Shortly after putting the leftovers in the freezer, the Yeager’s loaded up and headed to Jefferson for a benefit for Team Ballard. My cousin Laura’s husband, Bob, is going through cancer treatments. The guest of honor was there, greeting people, giving us all hope as he deals with beating the terrible C word.

Grandma Honey with her youngest and oldest grandsons.

Grandma Honey was needed for one more day as Ankeny schools were called off for the day as teachers went through a development day.

After grandma was released from her sentence, the boys and I traveled around down, causing mayhem. So, back to normal.

Amy is on what is likely her last trip to the Netherlands, at least for a few years. She is transitioning into a different job with Uncle John. She’ll stay in the metro, but trips will now be to Germany and California as needed.

These weeks are fun, but as Levi told me more than once this week, “I miss mommy!” When he was a baby, he knew no different. Now he’s aware that mom is gone and the boys are home alone.

We will see what trouble we can cause in the final few days of this adventure.

Double Booked

Noah let the Cardinals put him to sleep.

We have a couple of nights where we are going to be double booked with the boys’ activities.

Tuesday was one of those evenings.

Noah had VBS at six. Levi had Kindermusik at six.

We borrowed from one event to make both work during YBHA XI.

That is what happens all the time with families. We are just now entering the double booking time of our lives.

Nothing eventful other than Noah was a little wound up before bed. He tried falling asleep for 15 minutes, then walked down the stairs saying he couldn’t fall asleep. That may have been because I read Dr. Seuss’ “The Sneetches” to him in an active way before bed. He may have been a little wound up after my reading. Oops. My bad.

After Noah came downstairs, he was able to watch the Cardinals lose to the White Sox. I think Noah could tell the Cardinals gave up in the game.

He was asleep soon after the last out was recorded.

So much for my exciting read of the star-bellied sneetches. The excitement before bed thing is why we don’t let the boys watch “The Incredibles” before bed.

Summertime Tradition Returns

Levi helps water the trees. And grass. And his dad.

Summer brings warm temperatures, ice cream, baseball and Levi getting all wet from a hose.

It kind of happens every year. Levi “helps” me water the garden and other items.

Monday night Levi and I were giving a little drink to our newly expanded garden. Levi wanted to water the trees. Last year, we couldn’t turn on the hose without ending up with wet shirts, soaked shoes and socks. It is good to see Levi continue the tradition in 2012.

He and I were at home alone while Noah was at VBS. Mom was in the air officially beginning YBHA XI.

This picture gained a little attention on the social media networks. It was just a little timing and luck to get the shot.

I was on the east side of the spray looking back west into the sun. The backlight hit the water and boom, we had the shot. I did put it through Instagram, but did very little to the shot, a little saturation of color and I took the top and bottom out of focus.

I now have a lasting memory of Levi captured on “film”.

I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Nine Times, Mrs. Yeager

Levi, Amy and Noah. November 5, 2011.

As the clock winds back an hour, it is time to retreat to the old PP&M standby, Yeager Boys Home Alone.

For those of you new to the blog, this is the time when Mama Yeager departs overseas for a few days to leave us a Yeager boys home, well, alone.

This marks the 9th time we’ve done this. Some are easy, others are more of a challenge. (Nine times? Nine Times, Mrs. Bueller.)

We begin each trip with a departure photo. The one time we didn’t take a picture, Amy was stranded earned a few extra days in Europe thanks to a volcano. Call me superstitious, Just don’t call me well-rested.

Hair cut time, because we all know how important hair is to a male Yeager.

Amy tries to leave later on Saturday so we can have some time together before she flies and this launch day was no different.

One item on our agenda was to get two little boys a hair cut. Mission accomplished.

We put some furniture back into our front room after our renovation was finally complete. We ripped out carpet in that room and put in a hardwood floor.

It will be my job to make sure the floors have minimal scratches, wears and no tears on her return.

One way to do that is to send Levi’s wrestling partner, Noah, to cousin Jenna’s for a sleepover. So, Noah had fun going to Chuck E. Cheese and Levi and I had a quiet night planned.

But first we had to make a lot of noise at the grocery store. Levi no longer wants to sit in the toddler seat and look back at the driver. He wants to sit in the main cart area and stack groceries on him. After awhile, he’s ready to stand up in the cart and stand on everything in the cart. No cardboard box, loaf of bread or broad egg noodles are safe.

Levi did keep asking for No-No, but instead it was just his daddy. Amy and I have talked about how much calmer and easier it is to just have one child instead of two. At the time we had just one, it seemed sooooo complicated. I’m sure our friends with 3 and 4 kids will tell us that two is a walk in the park.

Levi and I ended up in the basement and I’ll let him tell you what we were up to. http://youtu.be/Vg6p4LpMUvA

I wonder where Levi gets his love of the camera?

Gardening is like farming, right?

Noah has nice tomatoes.

You would think that the son and grandsons of a 3rd generation farmer would be able to handle a few things in the garden.

We will see. But, I think we will remember where the grocery store is for our produce needs.

There’s a lot of things we don’t know about gardening. Planting, may be one of them.

Noah, Levi and I tried to plant some items in our new garden on Sunday. We headed outdoors after the naps were completed and Grandma Honey was onto her next grandchild visit.

Levi tries to balance his plant and this feet.

Both boys wanted to be my helpers.
Levi was able to handle my one pepper for planting.

He was able to waddle down the steps, across the lawn and to our newly tilled ground.

We are trying the garden next to the garage where it will get about 85% sun, mostly in the late morning to afternoon. It was mostly an area with sod and weeds.

We put in a little rhubarb there a couple of years ago. We also put in some raspberries in there, too. We had a lot of berries last year and they’ve really taken off this year already.

Ah, Levi, that is dad's lawn. The garden is the black part, not the green part.

I’ve turned the dirt over and put in some new topsoil to try to make the conditions the best for growing.

Right now, Levi is really trying to do everything his brother does. This is fun to see little brother look up and try to copy big brother.

This process is helping build some patience for Noah. The 5-year-old has to let his brother try things for his own, before helping.

This shot shows Levi trying to dig up the lawn as Noah waits to correct him.

Let me help you, brother.

Noah lasted about .26 seconds later before taking over the reigns.

Levi and Noah were digging holes for me to plant the tomatoes and peppers.

We will see how our garden grows.

We try to check it every night. Each time I let Levi try to water the garden, he ends up getting more water on himself than he does the intended target.

My two helpers will also grow this year. I’m curious to see how they change by harvest time later this summer.

A little fresh air in Day 3 of YBHA VI

No, I didn't mismatch dress Noah, it was PJ and Movie day.

Let’s face it. This spring has stunk. It seems we’ve only had one flirtatious afternoon with nice weather.

Today wasn’t great, but nice enough to head to the green park.

It was time to leave the dancing indoors and get some fresh air.

Noah had a nice day at school as Thursday is the traditional pajama/movie day. He got some new Spider-Man PJ’s for his birthday and he was excited to wear them. He didn’t have any problem with wearing them while biking down the street.

Oh to be 5 again.

Levi liked the slide, even when his brother helped.

Levi continues to grow at the playground. During an earlier trip to the green park, Levi started climbing a lot more on his own. He even wants to tackle the big kids slide.

That is, when the big kids aren’t climbing up the slide. (How many of you say, politely, to the wrong-way children to only go ‘down’ the slide?)

I feel a little bit bad saying something to other kids, but soon enough my boys will be tracking wood chips up the statically charged plastic circle of death and setting bad examples for the next generation.

Levi did seem to find a used or at least soft, Now’n'later. His hands were delicious.

Time for some Play-doh fun at Grandma and Grandpa's.

The trip to the park came after Grandma Paula and Grandpa Wil rescued us again. They watched the boys for an hour so I could mow the lawn wild prairie last night.

Tonight I had my first ever Tee-Ball coach’s meeting. We will be the Angels. Any advice to the rookie skipper? I hear snacks are a big hit.
I was thinking more of windsprints on the first day to send a message.

Too harsh?

How about just getting to first base without crying?

See you tomorrow for another fun-filled YBHA adventure. Join us next time when you hear Levi say, “No.”

YBHA VI Starts With A Delay

Momma and her boys before departure.

The Yeager boys are left alone again.
What could possibly go wrong this time? Another knot the size of Italy? A trip to the surgeon? All of Europe being shut down for Royal Wedding?

Each of these work trips has been an adventure. Some, more than others.

We learned from the last delayed return trip from Holland.

What started out as an excuse for a family photo has turned into a superstition buster. We didn’t take a picture with Amy, Noah and Levi in April and she had some extra time on the company dime.

This departure was a little different as it came during the week and not on a Saturday. So, we took the group picture the night before her adventure. I guess I should have gotten both boys up this morning as Amy’s flights were delayed and rerouted for a six-hour stretch on Tuesday. She originally was headed to Detroit with final destination of Amsterdam. Now she’s flying through Minneapolis.

So, her boss and the other traveler in their group used the Des Moines International Airport as their remote office to plow through some email this afternoon.

The storms finally cleared and her flight landed in MSP then took off for Holland.

Our first day was pretty good. Noah had Kindermusik tonight. He’s of the age where he gets about 30 minutes with Miss Tina and the last 15 minutes with families. So Levi and I hung out in the hall waiting for our time to come in and see what Noah had done. Levi is pretty good during family time as he thinks it is pretty cool to be in the same room as the big kids.

When we got home, it was bath time and bed. Both boys were tired and went to bed pretty easy. I think they are still tired form Noah’s birthday gatherings. Let’s hope they sleep well and be good for Dad. Otherwise, they may not get their surprise later in the week.

Join us next time when we talk about the songs we listen to here in the U.S.A.

A reunion on Day 1 of YBHA V

Noah, Amy and Levi. Can you see how happy Levi is?

Here we go again with another fun-filled edition of the Yeager Boys Home Alone or YBHA. This is the fifth installment of this week when Amy heads out of the country for a few days for work.

The last time, in YBHA IV, Amy departed in November at the same time as the state high school football finals.

This trip has her heading back to Holland.

We started with a few standards.

We got our traditional picture of the boys with Amy. The only time we didn’t get that shot, we know how that trip ended, 6 days later. You can see how happy Levi is in this shot. He was still waking up from his nap. I held him for part of it so he could get a few more ZZZs and Noah and Amy could have a little one-on-one time. That’s important for Noah.

Another popular starting point is Aunt Kris and cousin Maddox.

Kris and I had planned to get together anyway this day as we were holding a Winter Warm up for Section 10.

The view from Section 10.

Section 10 is where we sit at Principal Park for the Iowa Cubs games. Our uncle Gordon and his friends sit in the front row. It is only our third year in the section. The 2011 season will be the fourth. So we’ve gotten to know Bill and Linda, Ron and Chandler. I’ve had a lot of great nights at the park solving the world’s problems with those five.

When the I-Cubs stopped doing their own winter warm up, this year Kris thought it would be good to get together in January to talk baseball and see how big the boys have gotten.

Ron and Eileen are out of the country, but we did get to see the Coleman’s tonight along with Gordon.

Stop by Section 10 the next time you’re at Principal Park.

Time to get to bed. Noah woke up at 550 this morning and Levi may not feeling well. This could be a recipe for disaster. This isn’t the Charlie Sheen cocaine bender. We go to bed before the sun rises.

Here we go again…

Heading out to a parade.

The Yeager Boys are about to be left home alone again.

Not since April have we been trusted to be left home alone. That will change Sunday. Amy is headed overseas on another business trip.

Just as a primer to those of you may have missed it the first two times, but here’s the review of the first overseas trip Amy took this year. And here’s the link to the second time. The second one had a little more excitement thanks to that darn volcano. Amy was stuck in Europe for a few extra days.

This time she’ll be heading to Germany for a few intense days of work.

God help us all.

Yeager Boys Home Alone III is coming to a RSS feed near you.