Our latest trip to STL

Drivin' home..."Move it or lose it, sister!"

Grammi & Jack

Bedtime snack

"He fits!"

Taylor and Ella had fun trying to fit Jack in various doll chairs. Looks like an awful lot of pink to me. We're gonna have to keep an eye on these girls until Jack's big enough to fend for himself...! :)

GO CLONES!

After 3 overtimes the Cyclones claimed the Cy-Hawk trophy for 2011. What a game!

We're doing our best to be sure Jack is raised right.

He has a few generations of Cyclone grads' footsteps to follow...

Grandpa Phil was a Cyclone football player himself

This is not including his Aunts, great Aunts and Uncle, second cousins, and his other Great Grandparents who live in Ames. No pressure or anything, kid!

Sittin', Swimmin' & Swingin'

Love these little guys!

Baby Shark

Too busy watching the kids that were over...

Too busy watching dad mow, (yep, Ryan mowed)...

We got Jack a baby swing for the swing set...another good way to get some fresh air

Success

Home Improvement weekend was a success, I would say. Ryan went to town and got a ton done.

Safety First

Relaxin' after some hard work.

I'm still getting used to being able to see the sun rise every morning. Nothin' better than an Iowa sunrise/sunset!

Just found out that our resident deer family has a baby!

I watched the fawn for awhile and didn't realize until the fawn started to run for the woods that the buck was keeping his eye out the whole time.

Aunt Alisa

Quick post here because I need to get some feedback on a picture I just took. For those of you who knew Alisa as a baby, does Jack look like her, or is it just me? I can't get over how much he reminds me of her sometimes.

And here's the little man making a few suggestions on how I should prepare his avocado next time.

"Now if you sauteed some garlic, threw in a few spices, and then folded in my avocado..."

The House

And here are a few pictures of the house...

Living Room

Jack's play room (technically a formal dining room)--it's supposed to be a mess. :)

If you have any cool kid-room ideas let me know, I'd like to do something fun with this room.

Kitchen/'Dining Room"

Master bedroom

Not a bad view from the laundry room :)

This weekend is Ryan-declared "Home Improvement Weekend", so come Monday there will be some improvements to these pictures. Don't plan on any new pictures being posted though-it took me long enough to get these taken! Besides, most improvements probably wouldn't be noticed in a photo.

The Best Part

The cord is still missing, but I found another solution, (not sure why I didn't think of this earlier)--my memory card fits right into my computer...duh!

Here are a few pictures of my favorite part of the new place...the yard. (One reason I also decided to start here is that I realized I haven't taken any pictures of the house yet! :)) We love it, and think Jack will too when he's a little older. They set the house up perfectly...back deck facing the sunrise, front porch facing the sunset. (Yes, I'm still in the 'honeymoon stage'--the honey-do list is not for me to do after all, and I haven't even had to mow the lawn yet thanks to Jay!)

Notice the woods as much, if not more, than the pool.

Our view will be a bit more limited next year with corn in the rotation, but farm fields feel like home, so it's fine with me!

Jack's playground.

No, not the slide and swings, the creek behind it full of bugs and mud and sticks an all good things for little boys.

Ryan told me to take a picture: first and last time he mows. Lucky for him he didn't even have to do it this time!