some randoms from the last week

1. We gussied up the front of our house a little Friday and Sat. Rob moved 2.5 ton of two inch river rock and 100 bullet edge paver stones in less than 24 hours, and he is not in the least bit sore. I have such a strong husband! I laid landscape fabric and planted, moved and replanted hostas, and spread wood chips. and I am sore, but I think that is from unloading the bullet edgers from the truck. *special thanks to Grandma, we wouldn't have accomplished this with kids underfoot.

2. We need to still plant the bushes, they seem to be quite expensive locally, has anyone ever ordered online, I need help with this one, I am not sure which is the best route. Pay full price locally or go the more reasonable route, but probably more risky and order from an online nursery. Leave me a comment if you have a suggestion.
I need 7 Mockorange Miniature snowflake, 3 weigela polka (which I can't even find locally), 1 judd viburnum and an American Filbert (also having problems locating in town).

3. I think Dallas is half goat, this kid will eat anything, everything! Books, rocks, sand, noodles, bread, I was always so cautious feeding Emily, and it seems that everytime he gets to try something new it is because he has stolen it, grabbed it from my hand or eaten it up off the floor.

4. I finally figured out how to wash the window between the screen today, it was quite dirty as we have been in this house almost four years. Take that MerryMaids!

5. Emily has been playing store a lot lately. She will purchase things she shops around the house and want you to check them out and they she wants to pay. I think we need to start explaining the -whole we pay with a debit card thing, and that is real money we have at the bank, not borrowed credit. I hardly ever carry cash so she always sees me swipe at the store, even then I run it as credit and not debit because then we are protected in our purchases. We don't want her growing up thinking a little magic plastic card will get you anything.

6. We are looking forward to the football season starting, Thursday night we have a sitter for Dallas and the rest of us will head off to the season opener, ISU vs. NDSU.

7. I finally got to see Star Trek, it was Rob's third viewing, it was awesome. I think we will be purchasing!

Dallas has another ear infection.
He was tugging at his ear all morning and has been generally fussy, usually he is very happy to play. I guessed that it was coming since he has had a runny/stuffy nose since Sunday. I could go back to check my previous entries, but I think this is number five. I guess the good thing is that I can easily recognize his symptoms, he responds well to antibiotics (he actually will readily drink them now), and he has only ever had an infection in his right ear.
nuff said.

a little of this, a couple ton of that

Help wanted: as this is in our future...

- Please apply in driveway if you can see it under the rock

- Help me to remember to park on the street as the camry will not drive well over couple ton of rock.

- Please bring wheel barrels

- Gawkers don't get to drink the "refreshments" that will be provided!

Out -outside time

We have been enjoying the outdoors lately and the wonderful weather.

Being outdoors sure tuckers the little man out, isn't he super cute!

We have also enjoyed several wagon rides in Em's birthday wagon.

Fan Fest 2009

After a whirlwind morning, with the church service out at the new building The Plex, and celebrating Gods work, we headed out to Fan Fest. This is one of the reason's we love living in Ames, close to the action.

Emily learning to dive from and ISU diver
After a backward somersault, courtesy of ISU gymnastics team member

Holding a medicine ball with an ISU swimmer

Walking the balance beam with an ISU gymnast

I State tattoo

Emily really liked Cy today, Dallas did too, although he didn't look at the camera for any pictures

Emily and part of the cheer squad, I think she is giving us the bird!

Dallas and Emily on the 50 yard line

Coach McDermott

Visit to my grandma

I packed up the kids and we traveled to Lowden last week to stay and visit with my grandma. She did a great job hosting us, and was not bothered by Dallas waking four plus times that evening. Emily played with the little suitcase of dolls and toys my sister and I always played with while visiting. After Lowden we headed to IL to see some friends that had moved from Ames. Emily and Emma didn't seem to miss a beat and played nicely all day together.

Dallas finally got a helmet. We wedged him next to Emily. He loves to wear the helmet, not so sure about being strapped into the trailer. All that work and as soon as we started peddling, rain poured from the blue skies!

Our State Fair

Butter tv, and buttered popcorn

Free ice cream, yummy. Emily freaks, I mean freaks when it starts to melt and falls off the stick

Aunt Lynne would be so proud

Camaro, yes please!

Helping hands farms, Emily did great this year. Things got funny when she got to the store to buy something with the money she earned. The store is full of snacks, chocolate milk, granola bars, ice cream bars, ho ho's, fruit and candy. She wanted to buy a potato, granola bar and onion, Rob explained she could only get one thing, but she could pick from everything in the store. She buys the onion. The check-out lady gave her a funny look, I wonder if it was the only onion they sold all fair. She was so proud of her onion, she showed me and said we can eat it, I said perhaps we should cook it first, and Emily replied lets pretend eat it!

One man band

Go big, or go home

Locks of Love, here I come

mini-vaca

This weekend was just what I ordered, a relaxing time with the family. It was so lovely, my dear husband has a hard time just sitting, but he did well and enjoyed hanging out with me and the kiddos with no need to work on business, and he got to enjoy the Wisconsin two-lane drive. Although we dearly love living in central Iowa, Wisc and MN are much more picturesque

We were invited to stay at our friend's parents lake house on Madeline Island, part of the Apostle Islands. Madeline Island is home to La Pointe, WI the oldest town in Wisconsin. Lake Superior was gorgeous, the water is so clear and deceiving, I haven't looked up the temps, but I bet it wasn't warmer than 60F. The sandy beach and rock hunting were Emily's favorite. Everyone but Dallas jumped in. Robert and I took several dips, apparently you have too, to be invited back. We even jumped in, ran to the hot tub, ran down dove off the dock and ran back and jumped in the hot tub, very invigorating! We ate, slept, ate, toured Bayfield, Raspberry Island Lighthouse, went boating, road the ferry, and road on Austin's Papa's big boat. Many firsts for our family!

We had lots of pictures so I made a slideshow, you can click to have bigger to read the captions. Many thanks to Lynne for house/Bo sitting!

so Tired...

Yesterday was day 1 without the "baba" aka pacifier for Emily. I have been talking to her a lot lately about how big girls don't need them to sleep and that she would still have her blanket, cited examples of all the times she has fallen asleep without it.
Nap time was great, almost more smooth than normal, she asked when she got up from nap where it was, so I told her that big girls don't use paci's anymore.

Bedtime (just typing that word makes me sleepy) was another story. She really wanted her baba. Asked for it over and over, but she still hadn't cried and had a tantrum. I thought we were going to get out of this fairly easy, she had been quiet for hours, then Rob and I went up to bed. She was still awake, waiting for me to find a paci and bring it in.
We were so tired, thought we'll let her sleep in our bed (that never works), I was hugging the edge immediately (I am sure Rob was too, but I am telling this story!), she was so restless, couldn't settle down. 11:40, I decide to go sleep in her bed. 12:00, Rob brings her to join me, 12:05 I try to leave for my bed again, cry, fit, screaming, Dallas is now awake (did I mention he is still getting up 1-3 times a night).
12:15 I close her door let her make her noise. 12:16, Robert asks where her paci is, 12:18 Robert goes to sleep in the guest room. 12:30 I go and tell her if she can be quiet for 10 minutes then she can come sleep in my room, I show her what 10 minutes will look like on the clock, this is my little trick because I know she is so tired that if she just lies still for 2 minutes she will pass out, Yes I lied to my kid! Then she tells me her mouth really misses the baba, melts me, I almost give in. 1:00 am all is quiet, we all get our own beds for the night. She didn't ask about it this morning, here is hoping today goes better.

Summer, dining on the deck, sweet corn that tastes like candy... what more could a girl want

(don't tell grandpa we couldn't hold off any longer waiting for Johnson sweet corn, but this was from the next best thing, DeMoss Farm!)

Laundry baskets, how could we live without them?

NASCAR Busch series race in Newton

Damion and Robert enjoyed the race on Sat. along with 53,000 others. We watched some on tv. I will let the pictures speak for themselves since I wasn't along

Dentist

Windy pose at the dentist

In the waiting room (she got to hang her picture on the wall afterward)

Learning to floss on Alligator

Marnie the hygienist counting Em's teeth

Emily and her first dentist appointment. Our dentist is so nice and kind, the first visit is a "feel good" one with puppets. Emily was a tad nervous to start out, but warmed up nicely. The environment was really fun, they had several puppets on the shelf, balloons on the wall and ceiling. She received a tattoo for letting them count her teeth, a sticker sheet for flossing and brushing alligators teeth, she picked a pink bracelet from the toy jar too. Plus they sent us home with some red tablets to use after she brushes to see how well we have done, a tooth brush, and Wild floss! Dr. Jason did say she had the start of a cavity that we will have to watch, lesson learned, I won't use candy to potty train next kid! The first visit was filled with wonderful surprises, hopefully she will enjoy brushing more regularly.