goofin' around

Always goofin' around.... that's my Harlie.

What do you think, is she just like her mom or her dad?

This silly footstool will be hard to ever get rid of someday, one that folds up would be much more practical.  All of our kids have used it for snacks or the occasionally lunch.  Sometimes when I'm working in the kitchen I have them eat here so we can still keep each other company.  Ali's sure not complaining!

 Shh... don't tell Wendell you saw this.  He was in shock when I took his pictures and INSISTED that I not show it to any friends or grandparents.  I'm just jealous that I don't have one for myself.

 Big brother giving his sis a ride.

 Showing her the ropes.

Any guesses at who this is? 

almost caught up

I'm almost caught up from the summer... such a relief!  I have at least 2 more posts coming up. Then I can take 'blog' off my to do list.  Yeah!!

Now that the kids are in school, I can actually get something done!!

Kids at school is such a love hate relationship.  I love them, I hate to see them go but I love my time at home too.  It's so peaceful and quiet.  I can complete a thought, talk on the phone, eat lunch when I'm hungry.  When they're all in school I think life will begin to be more 'reasonable'.

I look forward to that day but I also feel guilty for that relief.  I always said I wanted to be a grandma... not so much a mom.  Don't get me wrong, I love it but it is exhausting 24/7 kid centered life.

I feel like I can get some selfish 'me' time back when the kids are at school; something I truly miss.

First Day of School 2013

 First ya gotta get new clothes and shoes.. these shoes light up!  

Thanks Big Grandma and Grandpa!

 Wendell walking to the bus stop 

                  (Harlie didn't start school until the next week) 

                                                  with our friend Mckenzie.

I thinks someone is NOT happy she doesn't get to go too. 

 Here's the bus crowd.

 So handsome!

Getting on the bus... 

  with his good friend Timothy. 

 Home now and relaxing. 

Getting his Wii fix in. 

He's a gamer, like his dad.

 Harlie's first day of school.

 Alert and ready!

 We have to drive Harlie to school so usually 

Wendell rides along (in the morning).

 Getting to work right away. 

 In the back ground you can see Wendell trying to keep Ali contained  : )

This does not really look tasty but it was good.  I send the kids lunch most days and tried something different here (they usually take leftovers).  These are homemade breadsticks (that I didn't let rise long enough) and then hamburger balls.  I made little bite size balls so they could dip it in the spaghetti/pizza sauce.  Then some veggies to top it off.  Yum, Yum!

Happy 4th Birthday!!

Harlie wanted to make her own birthday cake this year.  

So off to the store we went!

Chocolate cake...

Green frosting.

Fingers are so much easier to frost a cake.

Wendell helped too.

Gotta have sprinkles!

Our friend Mckenzie helped too.

Ta  da!

All done!

We had our friends Abby and Mckenzie over for cake and ice cream.

opening gifts...

daddy is watching the fun : )

The loot and a very happy girl.

We celebrated at school too.

Ms. Boehmer is her teacher (same one Wendell had).

Both kids love her!

Elgin, Iowa

 Once upon a time, when I first started working at EPI, I took a day trip with some of the folks I worked with to Elgin, Iowa (turns out I was wrong).  I mostly remember an animal conservation place that had a lot of animals in cages that were native to Iowa such as owls, foxes, skunks, raccoons, etc.  I have often wanted to revisit this place as I enjoyed looking at all the animals.  So when some friends of ours, Rooney and Jenny, had a day off we took a day trip.  We loaded in their truck, the girls and I in the back seat and Rooney, Jenny, and Wendell in the front seat.  

So I took my camera a long and must say.. I hardly got any good, in focus, pictures but here are some fun ones from the day.

 wow.. now that's some kind of blurry....
 

Nothing personal, but this was the 'great' petting zoo they had.  Sorry, didn't compare to the one we have here in Waterloo.


They did have a neat house from the 1800's that was on display.  We could walk through the 1 1/2  room house and see how people lived.  Now if you think my house was small, or even my yard, you should have seen this one.  It made my house seem like a mansion and yard like an acreage  : )

They also had a shed with a lot of old farming equipment.  Now some people would love that kind of 'junk' but I wasn't so fond.  They did have a covered wagon which was neat to see after reading Little House on the Prairie this summer.

 Oh one of the animals got out of the zoo!

Get the lasso!

 On the ride we took some pictures to entertain ourselves.

 Take 1.

 Take 2.

 Take 3.  

Oh.. I give up.

What have we found here?  

 Teeth! and a pimple.

Oh, one good picture from the day.  Petting the tame raccoons.  Now that was kind of fun.



This last picture was of the second place we went to since Elgin didn't really pan out, we drove over near Morewood Campground.  They had a neat little place there with the animals but still not the 'Elgin' trip I remembered.  Not sure where I went years ago.  I might have to ask some of my old co-workers who went with me.   

So.. one fun trip from this summer.  If I remember correctly it was one of those days that was about 100 degrees out... not so fun for an 'outdoor' activity but we made it fun!  Thanks to Jenny and Rooney for taking us!

baseball

 

Phil helped in the field. 

 Now, that's a serious look!

Here's our little ball player

  Just a good picture of our Harlie

My dad and step mom came to watch the last game. 

Wendell enjoyed playing again this year.  

It was a nice ending to our summer.  

Next year Harlie gets to play so that should be interesting!

indoor summer fun

We have fun inside too. 

 

Lots of messes.

Lots of building.

Lots of goofyness. 

Lots of love.