THE BLOG...

I'm so glad I finally started doing this! I intended this blog to be for our family members to keep up-to-date on our lives, but it has turned into SO much more. I LOVE hearing everyone say how much they enjoy reading it every week. Even neighbors who see us everyday can't wait to see the pictures, videos, etc... I has been such a rewarding process. And I love that others are catching on. I too love to read what is happening in everyday life.

Life is busy and now I don't feel like I have to sit down for hours on end to scrapbook. (Plus, I recruited my mom to help keep up with their actual books! - Thanks, Mom... now, get back to scrapbooking!)...HA!

Cole really enjoys watching the montages over and over and OVER... It's great that the kids will always have this journal to look back on. I encourage everyone to jump on the bandwagon!

WHERE IS THE SUMMER GOING...Or has it arrived? I can't tell. It's almost July! And the weather in IOWA stinks this year! We go from sweltering hot and humid, to unbelievable winds, storms and cold fronts.

Cole's last week of T-Ball is this week. So in the spirit of the season ending I put a special montage together of his team. There is also a short video of Cole trying to make it till dinner last Sunday night. He plays so hard on Sunday that this is what we get around 5:00-5:30. One SLEEPY boy! And of course I added a few pics of Landry - or I would be in huge trouble from the grandparents!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Early 4th of July! We will have lots of pics next weekend as we are having a big 4th of July BASH at our house. And going to a "pre-party" on Thursday!

Fun in the Sun!

Nothing new and exciting to report this week. We just tried to catch up on things around the house this weekend. The kids played with neighbor friends. We had the sprinkler and the pool out. And they played from house to house all weekend. They're like a big gang.

Landry got a play vanity and seems to be interested in all the play makeup and laughing at herself in the mirror. Maybe there's hope for a girly-girl!

I'm keeping busy with LandryAnnaDesigns. I had 2 birthday invitations to do this week. And I also worked on an 8 x 10 keepsake of Cole and his school buddies. Here it is below.


Only a few more weeks left of T-Ball. Then I think he's going to do a soccer clinic and then flag football (which Tyler is coaching).

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Busy - Busy Week!

Wow - a lot going on this week. Flooding, rain, more rain..., the start of Tee-Ball, Funtastic Days (our towns' small - and I stress small festival), a night out with friends, and Father's Day! Whew...!

If it's not tornados and weather alerts it's rain and flooding! Luckily we have not be affected by the flooding. We do not live in a flood zone. And neither Tyler or I work downtown (which was evacuated on Friday afternoon). Other than the ocassional detour from a road closure we have been fine. But it is definitely a sight to see. It is absolutely amazing how much water we have. I travel around the metro a lot for work and I took several trips over Saylorville Lake this week - you just never imagine the water could ever get that high. We've had beautiful DRY weekend so hopefully that trend will continue and the waters will receed fast.

Tee-Ball started on Tuesday, and somehow Tyler and our neighbor Mike took over coaching positions. Hey - it's good for them. I have been surprised by Tyler's patience when it comes to coaching 4 & 5 year olds. Patience isn't usually one of Tyler's strong points. It is a little frustrating for Cole, he's used to hitting a real ball with a real bat. This is BAM-BAM league... so it's all about plastic.

Funtastic Days is Grimes' small town festival. Typical carnie rides, parade, food and beer garden. We took Cole up to ride the rides Friday night. We met some neighbor friends and they all got to ride together. Saturday morning we walked up to the parade and met our buddy Luke from pre-school and daycare. They had a great time at the parade waving and catching candy. The neighbors that live right across the street from us were in the parade. The family owns a dentistry and they purchased a FIRE TRUCK. You'll see it in the parade pics. Wow - now that's a nice play toy!

Saturday night we had a night out with friends. It was a good time. I'll leave it at that. I'm sure the photos will say it all. If you're wondering about the IOWA HAWKEYE balls - a few men won the balls playing carnival games. They became the centerpiece of the whole night. They swear they won them for the kids!

Father's Day today! Or if you're Tyler you tried to pull off a Father's Day WEEK - then it was Father's Day WEEKEND. Hummm - try DAY...! We had Tyler's dad, sister, brother in-law, and kids over for a cookout. The kids had a great time playing outside. Landry was just interested in digging in the dirt and eating rocks.

There are a lot of pictures this week! ENJOY!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sibling Fun!

Landry is learning all kinds of things from Cole. Mostly things we don't want her to catch onto... like throwing all the pillows off the couch and using them as a landing pad. Just as one example....

But they do seem to have fun getting in trouble together!

Bath night tonight took a little longer than usual. As I was setting my camera down I turned to look and notcied the bath water looking a really funny color... Yes, underneath those bubbles I discovered Landry had had a blow-out in the bath tub. I calmly told Cole to stand up while the water and extras washed down the drain. He had no clue what was going on - thank god because he would have freaked out. So then I had to start all over with the baths! No bubbles next time...

As for Cole he has been learning a ton while away from home. He came home from a birthday party singing "Smokin'in the Boys Room" - which we explained probably wasn't the best song to be singing out loud. And after watching Alvin and the Chipmunks singing "Don't You Wish Your Girlfriend Was Hot Like Me". To top if off last night I was changing and he asked - "are those boobs mom?" I just quickly said yes and went about my way. He followed up with - "I have some of those too", "only mine are little." I won't tell you Tyler's quick remark to that...but I'm sure you can guess.

We are surviving the crazy midwest weather. Lots of storms, rain, humidity, and wind. Thursday night we had to make a quick trip to the basement as the tornado sirens were blaring in our town. I've been quite nervous after seeing Parkersburg totally distroyed. It was late and neither of the kids woke up as we carried them down which I was thankful for.

LANDRY IS 15 MONTHS TODAY!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Home Improvements...

This weekend was all about our newest "home improvement" project. The patio is coming along. My mom & dad came up this weekend and my dad stenciled our patio to look like flagstone. It quite the process. You start by laying down a stencil pattern. So to do that we had to use a spray adhesive and sticky tape to adhear it to the concrete. Then you spray a colored motar mix using a hopper over the stencil. When it's all dry you remove the stencil and... VOILA! It then has to been swept and cleaned before it can be sealed.

As for the next few weekends - those will be devoted to building the short wall around the patio. Tyler's BIG project!

We also celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary this weekend. Officially June 1st! At least it's not 104 degrees today like it was the day we got married... One major detail we will never forget!

Check out some pics of PHASE 2 of the patio.