Good friends and John Deere museum

We had a couple friends from Madison come to Cedar Falls to visit, since we happened to move to Cedar Falls where they have another friend, so they made the trip to see us both!

We decided to go to the brand new John Deere museum:

Scott trying his hand at making some horsepower

Sadie trying her hand at making some horsepower

Blake making some plans to building his own tractor

Scott and Scott with the tour guide, as the women ran around with the kids more times than not

Blake and Sadie with Stephanie on a tractor. I was impressed we got Blake on here. Normally, he refuses to get on equipment, regardless of whether it is running. 

Then we couldn't get him off (notice Sadie's little legs on the floor) ;) She has to do everything Blake does

Big tractor, little boy

The crew

 Scott and Stephanie then graciously offered to watch our kids so we could go on a date for Valentine's Day. My kids just loved Scott, as he is so good with kids; Scott and Stephanie are expecting their own little Sprout (as they call him/her) in May! You can see why they loved him:

I tried to find some good live theatre here in Cedar Falls, but unfortunately found nothing. :( Sigh, sometimes I miss living in a bigger city :) So, we went for dinner, and a movie. American Sniper--quite touching.

Two little monkeys...

Today I was thinking it had been a while since I'd posted a video on my blog (well, posted anything on my blog for that matter), so I thought it would be fun to get a video. Well, I promptly forgot about it until Blake and Sadie started putting on a show for me and then I ran to get my camera.

Take one of my two little monkeys

Take two of my two little monkeys

And then, since I had a great selfie of Blake, I tried to get Sadie to take one of herself. I tried holding the camera at her arms length away, and she didn't like that (she usually sulks or runs away when I take out the camera).

This is what I got...

 Well, then Sadie decided it was fun to play with the camera and periodically held it up like she was taking a picture of herself, and then smiled. Well, she had the camera turned the wrong way, so every time I tried to quickly turn it around and then snap the picture of her smile, I got this furrowed brow:

 Ok, so we'll stick with playing peek a boo around the bed and snap the picture then :)

What is that lying at the foot of the bed? Yes, toilet paper. Sadie loves to shred toilet paper. We put our rolls on the counter rather than on the dispenser and this morning I walked in to grab a sheet to wipe Blake's nose and didn't see it. I looked around and then spotted it on the floor, but at the same time Sadie had walked into the bathroom carrying two books. It didn't take her but a second to spot the toilet paper, hurriedly throw her books down, and walk towards her prize. It was kind of funny seeing her instantly change from calmly walking in, to instant purpose as she tried to get the toilet paper. Of course, I picked it up first :) She pretends to blow her nose with it, wipe her face, and then starts to shred. Fun fun.

A funny surprise on my camera

Every once in a while, the kids' auntie Amber reminds me how nice it is to have pictures of my kids together, which I forget to take sometimes. So, here is my attempt: 

I told Blake to hold onto Sadie, but she started walking away, so he just stood there reaching for her...

First shot together, and he is holding on great, but Sadie started to blink :( otherwise it would've been so great!

Great, now Sadie is looking, but not Blake...

Ah, the best one!! Not as good a smile from Blake, but pretty good :) 

In case you were wondering if I tried styling Blake's hair in the pictures above, no, I didn't. Blake put some unidentified product in his hair from the bathroom and it turned out looking surprisingly stylish :)

So, why the title "A funny surprise on my camera?" Well, I'm not sure if you know, but Blake loves to play with the camera. He loves loves loves watching video's of himself, taking pictures of everything around him, and taking selfies. Some of his selfies are great, including the one below: