July 2016

For some reason I love the 4th of July!  We celebrated this year with fireworks in Slater on the 3rd, a parade on the 4th, and meals with friends.

This guy got the candy thing figured
out pretty quick...no surprise!

Slater 4th of July parade with Alisa and the Warricks

Alisa teaching Jesse about skunks :)

...waiting for the vulture to come back so they can watch it eat
the dead opossum on the road. Great morning entertainment! (*gag*)

Cow Appreciation Day

Dress like a cow and get free supper...why not?

...especially when Dad's getting home late!
(Note: if Jesse ends up with a mascot phobia, it all
started with the Chick-fil-A cow!)

The boys really got into their outfits after I explained the plan.
The two best parts in my mind were their cute little tails,
and their mud boots, which was a late-entry idea from Jack.

Cleaning beets from the garden

Jack needed some concrete poured, so he recruited some help.

 Grandma & Grandpa's 65th Wedding Anniversary
What an awesome weekend!  I told someone it was like a great wedding
of family or a close friend that you spend the next few days reliving. :)

Carousel at Union Park
This was one of the stops on the tour of Grandma's old stomping grounds
in East Des Moines.  It was awesome to get to see bits of her growing up years!

We got to host Karen & Tom and Jamie's family.
It was so fun to have these kids together.  They
warmed up quickly and had a great time playing together!

Lame show of pictures for such a great weekend...I was too busy "being there"! :)

COUSIN WEEKEND!

Darren and Melissa and the kids came up for the weekend--we were thankful they came Thursday so we got more time!  The kids had fun just playing at home, but we also got up to Ledges State Park and enjoyed some of Polk City's Four Seasons Festival with the parade and festivities on the square.

I can't remember, but I assume Ryan
was probably trying to calm things down before bed!

Creek walk at Ledges followed by Hickory Park...of course!

Cousins and Buddies

We spent a weekend in the Omaha area visiting two different family friends,
followed by a trip to the Zoo.

College buddies with the next generation of boys

COUSIN DAY!

Jana's came for the day.  We spent the morning at the Natural Playscape, Bird Blind and playground at Jester Park.  The afternoon was spent back at our house with some napping, but mostly playing. 

Picnic lunch at Jester.

Turtle program with Silas
at the Saylorville Visitor Center

Record of Urgent Care Visits (#1)

Unfortunately I'm sure this is only the beginning, and we'll probably loose track after awhile, so I figured I'd keep record.  ...hoping it doesn't get to the point where I stop even keeping track!

Jack: 5 stitches
Fell on a kids' table he was using as a fork lift.  He was pushing it around upside down, with two legs lifted as the forks.  It was actually a great idea...until he hit the transition joint between the wood and carpet.  I took Jack in and had to lay down 3/4 of the way through bc I started to feel sick.  Ryan was home when Lane needed to go in, so he took care of that one thankfully.  I'm gonna have to get a tougher stomach!

Lane: 2 staples (photo after removal)
Fell out of bed during a weekend at the farm.

Until next time...

June 2016

We've had a great summer so far.  Two high lights have been visiting Jensen cousins.  Unfortunately I failed to take any pictures at either place. :/  (I'm stealing a few from Missy from our time on their farm.)  It was fun for me to see my kids having so much fun with my cousins' kids.  We're looking forward to seeing them all again soon at the big reunion!

Anabel was a hit...can't imagine why! ;)

My cousins picked great wives! :)

Taking a break after making themselves
sick on the merry-go-round!

Community Appreciation Day...some of the cutest face paint I've seen!

Another highlight of course was VBS week.  As usual, Lakeside went all out and Jack LOVED it.  Ryan taught at Lakeside's VBS and I went to the Burmese VBS that the youth puts on and worked on English with some of the moms.  Jack and Beth came to help with the boys to help make all of this possible.  A fun AND exhausting week! :)

Chillin' with Grammi & Papa

Puppet show :)

We also got to host some more visitors through the Iowa International Center at the end of VBS week.  This time it was two women from Venezuela.  They are english teachers, so we were able to talk without the help of Google Translate this time. :)  It was fun to have them and I certainly learned a lot!

Milagros & Maribel

Picking black raspberries...another summer highlight.

(These are my new favorite pictures!)

Someone's been watching his brothers play airport!

Scooping, pouring, mixing...focused! 

The boys wanted sprayers...no problem...Dad's got it covered.

May 2016

Water skiing in the creek

I had asked the boys to pick up one day before running upstairs to fold laundry.
I heard lots of laughing and Jack kept saying, "Won't she be so proud of us?!!"
I wasn't sure if I should be excited or nervous about going back downstairs.
This is what I found.  Hey, they picked up and it could've been a LOT worse. :)

Jesse has some pretty tough looks.  This is a fairly good sample.
We'll have to try to catch a few more incase he grows out of them soon. :P

... ?? ... :) ... brothers ...

Love reading with this  guy!

Makin' himself a smoothie

Ok, so he just likes the machine!

April 2016

Ryan brought a buggy home from a job one evening and thought the boys would have fun riding it around the yard, through the woods, and over the creek.  He was right...they LOVED it! :)

This guys' growing up--definitely wants to be like
his brothers.  The high chair is not cool anymore!

 We got a couple guppies after Jack and I read "Henry and Ribsy".

(For those familiar with the story, we got two males!)

Jesse is a big fan, as you can see!

March 2016

Dad & his boys :)

Pretty proud to be wearing his brother's mud boots!

Jack helps Ryan with set-up at church, so a common occurance
will be stage set-up, followed by a church service, which usually
only consists of singing.

The Drummer
As long as he gets to bang on something he doesn't
care if he's just being used to fill a spot!

Febrary 2016

Start 'em early!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY LANE!

Lane wanted a construction party.  We can do that!

A few additional touches by Ryan!

Happy Birthday to Lane!

Ryan had his third shoulder surgery.  We were grateful
there was no rotator cuff tear, as that shorted recovery up
significantly.  He's still pretty useful though, even in a sling!

Electric circuit game from Grammi & Papa