Wild Cat Den

We took a walk a few weekends ago at Wild Cat Den. It was beautiful, and some of our pictures turned out fabulous.

More, More, More

Around the house we've had some excitement.

My Cactus Bloomed

I bought this in Texas because of the flower, and am so excited it finally bloomed again! (twice actually and I just found new buds this morning!)




We Had the Most Interesting Visitor

I found this one night in our back yard. I'd never seen anything like it before so I was determined to figure out what it is. After searching for hours through all kinds of caterpillars, I decided it's not a caterpillar. I believe it is a sawfly larvae. I'm glad these pictures turned out fairly well, but you have to believe it was even cooler in real life.




Our Couch Finally Came

I suppose it was worth the wait, but err still probably won't buy from them again. We have a matching love seat too. The couch reclines and it's way more comfy than lawn chairs! (can you tell we live close to sonic? Happy Hour - gotta love it)

The Wait is OVER!!

I've got pictures and I'm willing to show them off!! Yippee! Enjoy!
First, pictures from visiting IG in August

Levi and Taylor Enjoyed the pool



We got to see Grandma and John rip up the old patio (now a new deck - can't wait to see it!)




And of course spent hours in the car!



On our second trip to IG, Levi and Taylor got to celebrate Halloween a little Early

John brought us a few pumpkins from his garden. They obviously weren't ripe yet, but they worked for Jack-o-lanterns. (Surprisingly, unripened pumpkins smell like cucumbers.) This was about 2 hours after we'd made them - obviously it's a good idea to wait until it's chilly to do this, they barely made it through the weekend.



Menard's Already had their Halloween Stuff out, and the Kids liked trying stuff on.



Levi is so excited about Halloween, and loves the scary stuff.


This is Kind of Random

Jake and I watched Hallie and Reese one Saturday before they moved and I think this is adorable. She usually wants nothing to do with him, but at nap time she only wanted him (you can tell she's a daddy's girl)

Finally

Sorry 'bout the wait. And then, maybe it's not THAT cool - kinda a let down here, sorry. We have 2 new pets - they are rats, and they rock. We also have a new computer - pictures should come shortly. Also, Levi will be getting his Red belt in Karate on the 10th - should any of you be in the QCA let me know, I'll give details and you can come watch (well, frankly, you should be letting me know anyway). I started working finally, and I made it through the two weeks of orientation - my butt hurts a little from sitting, but at last I'm out of the classroom and actually taking care of people.

Excitement

Still no pics, sorry, I'll be getting this fixed soon, but I have to tell you there is some serious excitement coming our way very soon..... Not gonna tell you what it is, have to check back!! : )

: (

Just for the record, I haven't been slacking. It's been a hectic last couple of weeks. I found a job and daycare for Levi, we both start the 15th. I returned to Ida Grove to be with Davida for a week after her husband passed away. Upon returning home, my computer crashed. So for the time being there will be no pictures - hopefully I can get the ones off my computer, but I'm not sure - Jake says the hard drive is fried. His computer has a different operating system - supposedly better than Microsoft, but dosn't support as much fun stuff, so I'm not sure I can put my pictures on here - I'm sure I can I just haven't had a chance to try yet. I don't want you all to think I've abandoned this - just having some technical difficulties.

It's Official!

I am a Nurse, that's right, Licensed RN here!! Now if someone would just realize there's a nursing shortage and hire me that would be great! The job hunt will have to be postponed until next week, we're headed to Ida Grove today for a long weekend and Barb and TJ's wedding.

Fair Time

Candi and I took the kids to the Mississippi Valley Fair Tuesday. We stepped in poop, looked at lots of cow butts, got rained on, and spent too much money - what else are you suppose to do at a fair? We had a great time!! The kids got to pet a few cows, some goats, a llama, camel, feed an elephant and get pictures with a monkey - they usual fair stuff. You read that right, a monkey!



Yeah, he was that kind of monkey!



The elephant Levi chucked food at!



Levi Sharing his funnel cake with baby Reese

Bix Weekend

This weekend was the annual Bix 7 marathon. Levi and Hallie got into the Jr Bix and both are very proud of their medals. Saturday Jake walked the Bix - 7 miles, mostly uphill - with his Uncle Mike, they finished in just under 2 hours - way to go guys!



If you look really hard in the Second picture you can see Levi (he's behind the boy in orange shorts, and may have been responsible for the girl on the ground - He told me this happened after the race, but I was surprised to see it on camera)



More importantly, the Bix weekend means lots of family! Levi had a blast playing with his cousins and we had fun seeing everyone we don't often get to see!

Play Time

Recently Levi designed a cake from playdouh - I know I'm a little bias, but if this is his first attempt, we may have a future Cake Designer in the house... The black are candles with yellow fire and blue frosting stratigically placed.



Also, you know Levi's a big fan of Lego's and Spider man, but did you know there are Lego Spider man toys? Oh yes, and you thought your kids toys were hard to put together... I actually like building them if I didn't know they were going to be destroyed within minuets after they're put together!

45 min.... 75 Questions

Well, I tested. This part is almost worse - I have to wait, and wait and wait to know how I did, hopefully getting done quickly is a good sign - I usually test fast, and I didn't get stuck on any particular problem, so it's probably good. I don't know, I just don't know........ But I will certainly be sharing with you as soon as I do!

Local News

Just in case you're worried - we survived the storm with no adverse effects. Candi, however, is without power but managing well. They aren't sure when their power will be back on - it could be days.

Also, I got my ATT which means I can sit for my RN boards - I test Next Monday, the 28th - wish me luck - I am totally freaking out!!

Brookfield Zoo

Saturday we drove to Chicago to check out the Zoo. It was lots of fun, but I have to admit we've been horribly spoiled with the Omaha zoo. Not that Brookfield isn't impressive - clearly we had a great time, but Omaha is amazing. The cool thing about Brookfield is are more opportunities for hands on learning and a dolphin show. I would recommend checking it out.

Patty Grandma!!

Patty Grandma came to visit this weekend. We had a blast. She got to watch Levi at Karate Class and try out our pool. We also visited the Putnam Museum.



Levi Poses as an exhibit



Listening to information about water conservation



Making it rain



Taking a break in a boat



I didn't take a picture, but the museum actually houses 2 mummies. We also watched Kung Fu Panda in the IMAX. The movie was great and was our first IMAX experience - very cool (just don't get a pretzel - not so great)

Slumber Party!!

You've all been waiting for it... The slumber party went fabulously, I was so impressed with how brave Hallie was. In fact, at one point she wanted me to call her mom to make sure she wasn't coming to pick her up.

Our festivities included a walk to the park





And a morning dip in the pool - just me and the kids, I was nervous, but they were both wonderfully behaved.



The next morning, Reese came over to hang out too.

Lego Mania

One of Levi's favorite things is to play with Legos.



Today he made this awesome robot!!




Hallie is on her way to our house for her first ever slumber party!! She's never spent the night away from mom and dad - hopefully it goes well!!

Hidden Treasures

As many of you may know, we moved here with very little furniture. We have graciously received a dinning room table from Candi and a love seat from one of Jake co-workers (as our sofa and love seat that should have already arrived won't be here until at least early August). We've also been searching yard sells and have found 2 book shelves. One is very practical, not that pretty and we've put it in our bed room. The other we paid 5 dollars for - it was a hideous maroon color - not just because it was maroon - which doesn't fit our house, but because it was an ugly maroon. We spent a few day sanding and staining it and now it's a beautiful bookshelf and holds our aquarium.

We also made a trip to the junk store with Candi and Reese.

We all found treasures that we couldn't live without, well, we could live without most of them, but did find a few goodies - such as a wonderful solid oak step stool for $7!! We were a little confused to find some of our finds labeled Not For Sale..... so you're just storing some stuff at the store??
We're constantly searching for more gotta have its and great bargains - I'll keep you posted.