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!).

Almost July?!?!?

And here's life lately...

My brother and his wife had their first little baby...Arabella. Such a sweetie! (Congrats again, guys!)

 We're still coaching our grass to grow in.

 The kids are just hanging out most days.

 Isaac turned 4 May 24, but we didn't do his party until early June. He had a great time and is still loving all his new presents-we did a rocket theme. The cake was surely the worst I've decorated, but Isaac liked it and it tasted good so all is well! :)

 Adam is still cute. (And drooling like Niagara Falls!)

 We finally redeemed a Groupon purchased for Pump it Up-an indoor place with a bunch of giant inflatables. The kids had a blast-good thing we have 3 more trips to use before September!

 We've had a mix of weather lately (no kidding-it's Iowa, right?) and on this especially hot day we tried out one of Isaac's birthday gifts-a pool! It's just the right size for the deck (remember our yard is still under construction!).

 This is my latest nap-time project. I am working on a template for a vinyl tree. I'll just cut the vinyl with scissors and stick it up there. I plan to collect pictures of ancestors and add a cute quote. So far it's going pretty well.

 We planted a garden it's doing surprisingly well considering the lack of care it's received. We just planted pumpkin seeds the other night for Family Home Evening-mainly because we realized the germination time will have them ready just a couple weeks before Halloween!

 Yep, still cute!  :)

 As is a summer tradition for many families, we caught our first monarch caterpillar of the season and it's already gone into its chrysalis. We actually watched it go through this process and it was AMAZING! (Thanks, Grandma for the giant container of cheeseballs that now houses our little butterfly-to-be!)

 Still cute-no actually, this is his "before" picture at the salon for his first (and much needed!) haircut. Crazy, out of control, whispy, Einstien-like? Yes!

 And the good ol' thumb comes in handy at any time during the day.

 And the after. Ahh.....much better! He looks like a new man. No, really, I'm still getting used to the new look.

 Just making sure he's still cute.  :)

 And as for things not included in pictures-life is good! We are busy, busy. Jake is running for Iowa Senate so our Saturdays are pretty well booked with a parade or two for a good portion of the summer. We will go to Nauvoo later in the summer for a few days, but we are mostly just here and hanging out. It's wonderful being in our new home-though decorating is taking forever! I really will get some pictures posted soon now that we've finally gotten some pictures and things on the walls.