August 2018

 We let the youth play with fire. Doesn't Noelle look crazed.

 The guys window shopped for hats

 #Kibbelee was worked on, ALL month

 School started

 Even for these sleepy heads

 Our good friend got to use these giant scissor to open the newest McFarland Clinic

 Emily had her birthday party at the ice arena

 We cruised in the Kharman Ghia for date night (it was home a lot this summer while the General Lee was at a friends garage)

 We worked on a listing and selling parts out of a storage garage.

 State Fair 2018

 We painted the 70% of the house inside and out in 10 days to get it listed to sell

 We also did crazy things like make our linen closet tidy.

 We did take a Sunday off during house sale prep to do have one more lake day, can't say no to those.

The many smiles of Emily

The many expressions of Noelle

Fourth of July 2018

We had two extra house guests for the Fourth of July holiday. A couple of Dallas friends (brothers) stayed the night while their parents were finishing up a vacation. 

 We headed over to the stadium to watch the fireworks. The boys played some street football while we waited for it to get dark.

 Emily and a festive friend. 

 I brought along sparklers and those things you throw that pop on the cement. The sparklers I bought at Walmart were ridiculously short compared to the things our friends were lighting. 

 Looks like Dallas secured a long sparkler from a friend 

 Dallas, Isaiah and Abram taking in the fireworks

 Ames has the fireworks on July 3rd. They host a parade down main street and a pancake breakfast on the 4th. We were invited to help with the Upwards float associated with our church. Robert drove the Chevelle in the parade with a ton of Upwards magnets as advertising. It was the hottest day!!!

 Like most things, we had to be to the staging area early and then wait. Luckily we were in the first 3rd of the parade. There is usually 100 entries.  The kids had candy and foam footballs to hand out, the adults handed out Upwards registration flyers and discount coupons.

It was a success. They handed out over 3 Sams Club carts of candy and 3000 footballs.

June 2018

 Pajamaed kids playing golf in the backyard. Dallas bought a nine iron, a putter and 4 balls at Overflow (a thrift store) and decided to be a golfer. 

 Noelle chipped her bottom tooth via her top teeth while swimming at the pool. The dentist said it looked fine, if anything it smoothed down her teeth that have big ridges.

 My kids have taken to audio books.  They can be seen eating cereal while listening. I think Dallas is also reading a comic book as well.

 I got to take Noelle on a date to El Azteca, her favorite place to eat. Her order is two cheese quesadillas no beans or rice and an order of queso.

 It has begun. I am pretty thrilled about it. Almost 18 months ago I was so worried he would never read well, perhaps he was dyslectic. Time makes a world of difference. I had him tested an he was reading above grade level then, just didn't want to do it all the time like Emily did/does. He had read a lot over the last year!

 We celebrated Fathers's day and Grandpa Dallas birthday

 We were tipped off about free smoothie day and indulged after the pool

Dallas finished up baseball season, and we celebrated!

 We went to Adventureland with Audrey

 The cousins grump

 We got Robert a new popcorn maker for his birthday and took him to a new BBQ joint we had heard about in Luther. It was delicious. 

 A quick pause for more reading

 Dallas took a couple of golf lessons

 Robert autocrossed the Chevelle at the Heartland National Good Guys show at the Iowa State Fair. He went down with Dallas all three days, I went two days and the girls went one full very hot day. Luckily Aunt Lynne volunteered to spend some time with the girls at her pool the next day.

 Good Guys with the Johnson cousin's. I was so thankful they had a much bigger, and air conditioned site for the Kids zone this year.

It was so hot at the fair grounds. We turned an empty cooler into a hill billy air conditioner. All the drinks were gone and all that remained was ice and water, we all took our sandals off and took turns standing in the cooler.