Werth Family OnlineThe boys dressed up for Halloween and hit the street. Thanks to some wonderful sewing by Nonni, the two dressed up as Pooh Bear and Piglet. The Pooh bear originally had been worn by Elise when she was much smaller!
Enjoy these pictures from the night:
In addition to birthday parties and house buying, Jacob and I managed to find our way to the park to practice our kite flying. The little guy had a great time, but unfortunately the winds didn’t last too long. Overall, it was a great time with plenty of excitement.
On Sunday, August 22nd we hopped in the car to go cheer on “tt” as she ran in the Bloomington Iron Girl. The race consisted of a 2 mile run, 22 mile bike, and 2 mile run. Teresa did quite well and Jacob enjoyed cheering for all the ladies (“Good Job Ladies!”).
After searching and waiting, we are once again homeowners.
Last Friday (September 27th) we closed on our new house in Delano. We are excited about the house and its location but there is some work to be done (painting, cleaning, etc.) before moving in.
We got started right away on Saturday morning starting to clean, paint, and set up the new desk. After a full weekend, Elise decided to head out of town to chaperone 160 sixth graders in the north woods. It was a three-day field trip for the entire Rockford sixth grade filled with some great activities like orienteering, rock climbing, and canoeing. Meanwhile, Papa stayed home and took care of two boys who were battling colds/fevers.
Overall, we’re excited to get settled in Delano and be a part of this new community.
In the middle of September, Henry celebrated his first birthday. It was an exciting Saturday morning filled with family, gifts, and plenty of messy cake eating. Jacob enjoyed helping Henry open his gifts and Elise tested her culinary art by crafting a delicious lion cake.
The past few weeks have been an exciting time for the Werth family. We have closed on our house in Iowa City and have taken up residence with Mary and Larry in Eden Prairie, MN. Elise has started her new position at Rockford Middle School, while Jon is working for the University of Iowa remotely. While there have been a lot of life changes, the boys have also continued to grow.
Henry is developing quite the personality, discovering how to make his needs known without the use of words. He has begun to climb up stairs, but is not yet too successful at going down. Also, his balance has continued to increase to the point where he can now stand on his own and is ‘cruising’ (pushing items around while walking).
Meanwhile, Jacob has enjoyed making new friends at his daycare, coming home daily with one or two new sign language words. He potty training has also been going very well, culminating in the purchase of big boy undies today!
It’s been a great few weeks of change and growth in many facets of our family’s life. To top it off, we are in the process of purchasing a home in Delano after our offer was accepted a week ago! Stay tuned for additional updates as we celebrate Henry’s 1st birthday soon and start to create our new home in Minnesota.
One of my favorite moments each day is story time with Jacob. Generally, this is a time just for Jacob and Mommy to cuddle up and read a good story together. I snapped this photo tonight and thought it captured the moment perfectly. Hopefully you like it as much as I do.
Not even a full week after moving to Minnesota, I got wrangled in to running the Minneapolis Duathlon. One of Laura’s friends dropped out, so I officially ran as a girl, but it was a whole lot of fun. Teresa and Fred paired up as a relay, while Laura and I went solo. Due to the heat, Laura and I were never able to finish up the race as the medical staff called it quits (which I must admit I was rather happy about). All in all, it was a great day and got me excited to train for future events, which I’ll need to do for my knee’s sake!
Enjoy this picture taken by the event staff:
The moment has arrived: the Werth family is moving to Minnesota! This weekend we are packing the last of our belongings in to a U-Haul and leaving Iowa City (mostly). While Elise and the boys will officially be in Minnesota, I (Jon) will be hanging back for one more week to wrap things up at work.
We’re excited about the move and being closer to family & friends, but we don’t have an official place to live yet. Elise’s folks are allowing us to crash their basement until we find that perfect place. Once we do, we’ll let you know where we end up!
As we continue to search for a house and prepare for the move to Minnesota, Jacob and Henry continue to grow and develop at a quick pace. Henry is now mobile, being fully able to crawl where he pleases. As a result, our house has become a bit of a disaster zone as Henry enjoys exploring everything: pulling things off of shelves and tipping over baskets of toys and laundry.
All of this has had an impact on Jacob who now has to defend his toys from the invading brother. It’s a hard lesson in sharing and one that is not coming easily, but we’re working on it.
Jacob’s vocabulary continues to grow, repeating nearly any word he hears. We’ve also reached the hilarious and embarrassing stage of child observation. For example, when Jacob saw a larger man in the grocery store he proceeded to say, “Whoa, he’s got a biiiig tummy!”
Meanwhile, Henry now has three teeth (one on the top and two on the bottom) and enjoys standing while holding on to something.
Enjoy these photos from our weekend!
This past Monday (July 15th) our house officially went on the market. The following day, it was on property tour in the morning and we had two showings that night. On Tuesday evening at about 11 p.m. we received an offer from one of the earlier showings. After talking it over with Elise, we slept on it and countered in the morning. After some interesting logistics (Elise was in Washington, IA and I was in Boston), we managed to pass the offer and counteroffer around for signatures. By noon on Wednesday (48 hours after the listing came active), the buyer had accepted our counteroffer and we were officially set as “Accepted Offer”!
We are now waiting for the inspections and paperwork to go through, but are scheduled to close on Aug 21st. Now it’s time to find a house in Minnesota!