Friday, July 27, 2012

I just tucked a SIX year old good night

Today was the big day.  Emily is now six.  Wow makes me feel really old, how did I get middle aged already?

Emily was up early and excited because Rob had told her he wanted to take her our for a special breakfast just the two of them.  They ate at my favorite place and she ordered the granola and yogurt.  The Cafe's granola is divine!
We had a little party this morning for Emily and some of her little friends.  We blended a few school friends into our church friends group, and it went pretty well.  You never know how that will work.

We surprised Emily with a princess that came to sing songs and paint faces.  It was a big hit for this age group. 

 We made this birthday shirt using freezer paper and fabric paint.  We copied a Carter's birthday t-shirt.
 Birthday breakfast at the Cafe with daddy
 Princess Lucinda painting Emily's face
 a close up
 friends
 all our little princess'
Dallas is getting a General Lee on his arm

All of Emily's friends know her so well.  They gifted her with such nice things like craft kits, beads, glitter glue (she loves that stuff), coloring books, and bowling gift cards. 
Now on to having the family over on Sunday.  Will anyone mind if I serve the cupcakes I made Thursday night? or do you want fresh cake....

Monday, July 23, 2012

the crockpot is getting a workout at our house lately.  too hot for the oven, and it seems much of what i am grilling ends up tasting like propane.  anyone know why that could be?

did you guys know I have a thing for super hero movies?  I really like them.  and after watching the avengers I am getting caught up on the ones I missed last summer. Watched Thor last night and just noticed Iron Man 2 is also on Netflix.  I think x-men (wolverine) is my fav, and spiderman my least fav.

rob just had a guys weekend of movies, friends, golf and racing.  they saw the batman movie (which I can't wait to see) and Ted, glad he had a buddy to go see that one with

things are getting set on repeat around here, so hot we do the same thing everyday.  we watched a little tv to kill time this afternoon.  it was too hot to do the pool, and Noelle was so grumpy from her short nap.  we watched an episode of Denise the Menace from 1950, introduced them to Popeye and Paddington Bear.  i think they likes Denise the best.

noelle and dallas have either summer allergies or a little cold.  both have been sneezing up a storm

i sold a couple things on craigslist today, I feel totally guilty.  the lady paid full price, i priced high, knowing people negotiate, she didn't

we are debating which extra ciricular activites to go with for emily for the fall, to many decisions

birthday girl will be 6 on Friday, SIX!  She made a list of special meals she would like, and a little list of present ideas.  everything was spelled delightfully phonetic!  which means some of it is hard to read

rob and i are stuch as to what to get her... although she did list a trip to the beauty shop with mom.  i might take her up on that, do you think she is too young to get a pedicure?  not sure if that is a standard i should set since i have only had four in my life





Saturday, July 21, 2012

Shrine Bowl Parade

 These 'grands were in Ames today for the Shriner All Star football game and parade
 My dad driving a little firetruck, isn't it cute!  I am so glad he is enjoying retirement so much
 Ummm, what can I say about this.  Shriners like to tailgate, this was the stuff not in coolers.  And I took this picture at 10:30 am.  Love it!
At the picnic after the parade at one of our favorite parks in Ames.  Emily swinging high, Noelle in the handicap swing, and Dallas not swinging in the back.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

#10

This happened Saturday night. 


Tooth #10 has been really loose for months.  Saturday I was out with a friend, Emily was worried she was going to swallow it.  It took a cookie, a flosser, cuddles and two episodes of the Andy Griffith show and out it came.

Monday, July 16, 2012

road trip

I promised a little post about our road trip to Turtle Lake, WI.  The back story goes like this.

Rob is looking for a very specific truck, so when he finds something similar he likes to hop on it.  He had a lead on a truck in MN, a little North of the cities.  If it hadn't sold by Friday he was going to go look at it and take it to a mechanic.  It sold before we could get there.  A similar truck popped up in WI, so it was decided that we would all go to WI on Sat, in the event that we bought it, Rob could drive it home. 
The trip up was nice.  I read, Rob listened, Noelle read library books (she is still facing backwards in the van, so she can't see the screen), and Emily and Dallas watched some Dukes of Hazzard.  We stopped and had lunch, and checked out the truck. 

It was a really nice truck.  Robert had a little concern that there was some smoke at idle which a quick internent confirmed what he was thinking.  New piston would be likely and we would need the guy to come down $1500-$2000.  In the end we passed.

We start the drive home, things are still going well.  We get a little South of the cities (Owatanna) for all you who have driven I35.  Noelle throws up, everywhere.  I climb to the back to sit next to her and decide it can't be cleaned while driving.  We pull over.  She gets naked, we try our best with the seat that is covered.  She was really sad about us taking her blanket away.  Emily donates her blanket to the cause.  15 mi down the road it happens again.  We pull over, repeat.  Dallas hastily donates his blanket, so Noelle doesn't have to sit directly in the seat we can't completley clean.  This pattern repeats 2x more, but we are out of everything.  No wipes, diapers, she had been naked since the first stop.  I was out of water to wash her, even though I no longer had anything to wipe her with.  Rob pulled over at Walmart in Mason City to restock and buy me some mint gum to chew so I could smell mint.  Curses to Clear Lake for not having more than conveince stores!  Clear Lake to Ames, is still 1.5 + hours.  We made it home finally.  And then spent Sunday detailing the van.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

my little peeps

 This oldest peep on her last day of swimming lessons.  She is always smiling, even in the water (it causes her to swallow a lot of water)
 This middle peep, snuggled up in my bed.  I love sleeping babies.  Rob and I always go in and pray over our kids after they are asleep. 
This littlest peep was the only one happy to pose with Gpa on a hot day.  I love her expressions.  She says many things incorrectly, but her inflection, eyes and lips leave zero room for interpretation!
Rob is hanging a tire swing in the backyard today.  I am so excited.  I have wanted one for a while.  This is extra special because he is hanging it himself and it is a tire from the Chevelle!  He had it removed from the wheels before he sold them. 
So if anyone is feeling generous and wants to donate a big tampoline or a cottage playhouse my dream backyard will be complete!

Monday, July 9, 2012

the Fourth

 annual Good Guys coloring contest
 Zane's half birthday patriotic crispy bars
 anticipation
 Ames had fireworks on the 3rd, but the parade on the Fourth
 No one was daring enough to sit in the sun to watch the parade on the 100 degree day.  Our side of the street was shadey until the last entrant rolled by
I layed down with this guy to force him into a nap so we wouldn't be too grumpy staying up until 11:30 pm

Robert's Birthday

its a blurrrr,  They were going so fast
 The kids bought daddy lego's for his birthday.  They are putting together a blue car
 Family photo attempt #26 on the train at Adventureland 
Driving the semi's around the track


Rob was traveling on his birthday so we celebrated on the following Monday.  He took the day off and we headed to Adventureland (his choice).
I didn't get many pictures, I regrettabley choose to ride "the Slinger", I sat with Noelle.  She was frantically signing all done, and saying "I no like it" .  I was trying to only look at her, keeping my vison off the spinning.  It didn't help.  In Rob's words, "You look gray and shiney".  It took me all day to recover from that spinning!  The kids and Rob had a great time.  I enjoyed seeing all the delight in their eyes.  I am missing a couple pictures which I think are on Rob's phone.
 This poor kid needs a brother
 This kid gets a snuggle
 Who doesn't want to own a 30 yr old sleeping bag.  I am trying to de-smell it
A happy Father's Day photo
We went swimming with Charley a couple weeks ago and the kids discovered this tree frog

 Can you see the cousin love?  Charley liked to take, Noelle liked to scream!

My Monday Musings

We played outside this morning until lunch, we even lunched outside.  Love this cooler weather.

We hit the pool with Robert yesterday after naps, he took us on the lazy river, FUN.

I am reading Unbroken, it is amazing.  I have been dreaming about it each night, I feel such pain for the WWII soldiers and POW's, I also feel guilty because I know my imagination can't even come close to what they really experienced.  Read it, sooo good.  I actually read the first 18 chapters out loud to Robert driving to WI (this journey will require its own post)

I might read Seabiscuit next because I have loved Unbroken so much.

I just paid our entrapment fine to the City of Cedar Rapids, I looked everywhere for some loopholes, but they clearly had us speeding, and by "us" you know who I really mean. 

We started week two of swimming swimming lessons.  Emily has improved much already.  Trying to do all the motions at once that are required seems to be the tricky part.

This year Dallas does really well waiting for lessons, it is Noelle I have to worry about teetering around the edge of the pool.  Dallas prefers to go lay on an Adirondack chair and sunbath, it makes him very content and he does this for 20 minutes or more some days.

Rob detailed the van's interior yesterday and switched all the seats around to let the leather have a breather. 

My garden is yielding sugar snap peas and a couple grape tomatos so far.