One for the books....

Leah: Isaac!?
Isaac: What? You need help? I'm fix-it man.

Good to know...  :)

A few highlights....

When my sister moved far, far away I promised her I'd keep my blog updated. Oops. I don't feel too bad, though because I do talk with her regularly and have a video chat once in a while. And while I could blame my lack of posting on the busy life of a momma with 3 little ones, a demanding calling, a husband running for public office, etc., etc., etc.; there's really only one culprit:

Yep...I found Pinterest and am in LOVE with it! I spend too much time on it, I know. I'm trying to be better. :)

So here are a few highlights of our last 5 weeks since I've posted (some without pictures, sorry!)

A few funny things:

**One day Isaac wanted Leah to wake up from her nap. I told him he could go upstairs, but he had to be quiet so he didn't wake her up. I didn't hear him and shortly after he came back down. A few minutes later Leah came down as well. Then I noticed my alarm clock from my nightstand was also downstairs. "Leah, why do you have my alarm clock?" -blank stare- Isaac: "I took it in to show Leah it was time to wake up." Lovely.

**While leaving a store, we walked by the shoe department. On the floor was one of those little stocking things you can use when you're trying on shoes. It was stretched out kind of weird, but I knew what it was right away and paid no attention to it. Isaac looked at it, kept walking, then stopped and went back to take a closer look. "Isaac, come on-let's keep going." Looking at me with shocked wonder he says, "is that bacon?" Nope, it wasn't bacon. 

**A few days ago Leah had the hiccups-she gets them from time to time like most kids, no big deal. She comes up to me and says, "Mom, surprise me." 

**Waiting on the sidewalk for me to get Adam in the stroller at the library, Isaac is staring at the handicap parking sign next to where we parked. He then tells me, "I could climb up high on that if I had sticky fingers." Yep, you sure could.

The beginning of the month Isaac started preschool-he LOVES it. He goes MWF afternoons, and is constantly asking if it's a school day. Despite only a few boys and lots of girls in class, he has a great time and has made some new friends. 

 We mourned the loss of the Iowa-Iowa State game. (Thanks Josh and Shalie for hosting!)

 We had a Relief Society Meeting at church this month...the 411 on the 515. I totally forgot to take pictures before the event (again!) but here's a picture from while we were cleaning up. We decorated with t-shirts, Iowa maps, and mason jars. It was adorable (if I say so myself!) and super cheap. We had a great time!

 This little boy got a haircut...by his Momma. Here's the before and after shots. Adam is officially crawling everywhere and is into everything. He especially loves paper and plastic. Go figure. I've never cleaned my floors so often in my life!

 More pictures to come....after I take them since I've obviously not taken too many this month. I posted everything I had! Yikes! :)

A Boatload (as in 30+) of Pictures!

 The end of July we headed down to Nauvoo for our annual trip with Jake's family. On the way in what seemed liked the middle of nowhere, Jake pulled over so we could switch drivers. Upon closer examination of this sign (that we've driven by several times over the years) he found this...how appropriate, huh? Crawfordsville, IA. Read more about it here if you'd like.

 

I think I might make these next 3 sepia tone and hang them in our still empty hallway. Cute little pioneer children if I say so. 

 Leah played in the little log cabin with her cousins Tava and Cael and a baby doll (or 2 or 3 or 4) forever. I think this little play time made the whole trip worthwhile for her!

 Isaac finally mastered this little game (there's a wooden bear not visible in the picture that "climbs" up the rope). He also did a little stick pulling with Jake and some marble games with Grandma.

 While Jake and Leah took a nap at the hotel, the boys and I ventured to a park in Fort Madison...Adam ate my keys and Isaac had a grand old time on the slide and swings.

 Here we are at the temple on our way to the pageant (we tye-died t-shirts as a group earlier this week, but we didn't get a picture with everyone...and Jake hated his so he didn't wear it).

 The kids thought it was so cool to touch the temple!

 Adam discovered the swing at home...thanks to our neighbors-they have the swingset open for public use and we provide the swing.

 Our other neighbors allow the kids to use their trampoline whenever they'd like (which is always!). Here's the older two bouncing around one day.

 We finally brought home the wagon my parents bought the kids two Easters ago. They've been keeping it at their house until we had room. It's been great to use when we go get the mail or on walks.

 Adam sprouted his bottom two teeth almost a month ago.

 The boys and I will often go outside in the afternoons while Leah takes her nap. Here's Isaac showing off some cool stunts on the trampoline. (His face in the second picture is hysterical!)

 Our little garden is doing fairly well. We definitely needed to water more, plant earlier, and probably add a little fertilizer of some sort. We have two watermelons growing, and hopefully will get nice and big and be tasty once harvested. The cucumbers look great-we planted a kind that's supposed to be great for pickling. Yum!

 We spent a day at Pump It Up (an indoor place with giant inflatables). Adam hung out in the stroller and the other two bounced and drove around.

 Just a few cute pictures of the kids outside...as usual. The weather has been wonderful lately (for a change!) so we've been outside quite a bit.

 After dinner one night...this is quickly becoming part of Adam's daily routine. He takes a little catnap around 6:30-7:00 and Jake loves it. I clean up dinner, the other two play or watch TV, and Jake and Adam take a nap.

 Random, but I walked into the pantry the other night to find this...what I'm calling a suicidal fly. Yes, it's a live fly that landed on the fly swatter-by choice! Strangely, I never thought to kill it. It's gone now...flying around our house somewhere driving me crazy at times, I'm sure.

 And lastly...two of the neighbor boys start school tomorrow (the rest are too young) so for an official end to summer they played in the mud. You can see Leah's feelings about being one girl of 8 boys of our immediate neighbors. We have the best neighbors, all with two boys ranging from 2 to 6 in age. I'm sure there will be lots more of these pictures in the future. (The neighbor behind us is pregnant and didn't find out if she's having a boy or a girl...Leah is hoping for a girl I think!).

Summer Fun!

Celebrating the 4th started a little early for us this year-Saturday we went to see fireworks in Earlham. On Monday, we had a parade in the morning and then spent the afternoon/evening at Jake's parents' house swimming and eating with family and friends. We went to Waukee to see fireworks-again! The kids had a blast (no pun intended!).  :)  Between the parade and swimming our monarch butterfly had come out of its chrysalis-wow! The kids were so enthralled! Thankfully it takes the little butterfly some time to dry out its wings so the kids were able to watch it from up close. Isaac still tells me his misses his butterfly since it had to go find its mom and dad. We're keeping our eyes peeled for another caterpillar.

 Adam turned 6 months old on the 6th so that means he was able to try solids-cereal! This first picture just cracks me up-was it that good or that bad? Not sure-he was actually pretty indifferent to the whole thing. The spoon was way more interesting for this little guy.

July also means Deardorf sweetcorn here in Adel (Deardorf is the last name of a farmer in town). Yummy! We had our first half dozen ears the other night-while Jake was shucking it we came across a siamese ear of corn. Crazy!

 

And just because they're cute...

This little guy sure loves his thumb-he was laying on the floor playing when I looked over because he was so quiet. Here's what I found...he often puts himself to sleep in his bed like this. So cute (and so nice for me!).