Lily Margaret

Last night, we went to the mall for dinner. Joe's away on business and I just didn't feel like cooking, OK??? Just get off my back about it! Geesh! We were in line at Panda Express and as I'm paying, the man says to Lily, "I'll trade you that stuffed animal for a chocolate chip cookie." Her head turned to the side in thought and at that moment I realize that I am staring at the works of MY genetics in a little 5 year old girl. I would seriously consider taking him up on that offer. After a lengthy pause she shook her head 'no'.
*By they way, it was not one of her beloved puppies. If that were the case, there would not have been any hesitation.


Lily has also been learning about different countries in school and I have totally ripped her off by not teaching her that there is life outside of Iowa! It has rocked her world! Feeling very convicted about that one! For example, the day she ran up to me after school and said, "MOM! Did you know that not everyone speaks English?!?" (ouch.) It has provided some precious moment such as last night when I was tucking her in she asked all sleepily, "Mommy, have I ever been to the U.S.A.?" Yes, baby, you have. I thought I would just explain that one in the morning.

Trip to KC.

Trip To The Apple Orchard!

Marching Band!

Last weekend the eighth graders got to march with the high school marching band. 450 kids on the field, it was pretty cool! They played "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga. Ummm....yeah. We didn't get to play stuff like that when I was in marching band.

...and this is how Noah spends his time during HS football games. Yes...that would be him at the bottom.

1st Day Of School.

My baby (sniff, sniff)....

She was ready to go!! She was very excited and went in just great. She was so cute when I was taking her pictures, she always made a concious effort to have her kitty lunch box facing the camera. Can't wait to hear how her day went. I did fine, too (just so you know). I didn't cry until Diana Frisbie came up to me and put her arm around me and said, "We'll take good care of her!" Waaaaa!!!!

This picture is worth a thousand words. One of these kids is excited...the other....not so much. Plus, he didn't want to have his picture taken, that's why there's only one of him. It was a morning of picking your battle. Once he got to school and got enveloped into his crowd of boys, he was fine.

And this guy got off on his bus this morning, bright and early. It's his first year taking the bus and I guess no matter how old they get I still always have this comfort thing of liking to see them actually walk into the building and knowing they're there. So, I had to get some reassurance by texting him to make sure he got on the bus and that it went Ok. After waiting patiently for a reply from him we asked if he was ignoring us and we got a "Yep!" reponse. So, all is well and normal on that end! Now, I need to figure out what to do in this quiet empty house.

Last Day of Minnesota Fun.

Time for croquet.

I have a confession to make.....

....I let my boys play with guns. Evidently that's just what you do in Minnesota. Oh, C'mon...they're just BB guns. Guess what my boys want for Christmas this year?

Need For Speed.

Lily was loving the go-carts this year for the first time. She was happy being a passenger in the bigger cars.
And then she tore it up in her little Skittles car. She was quite thrilled as that is her favorite candy. She took her job very seriously and was a little disappointed that the kiddie track was too narrow to pass other cars. I sensed a little bit of competitiveness there....I don't know where she gets that.

First, you should direct your attention to Noah's hair. That was some major wind turbulence. Secondly, notice they are giving each other a congratulatory high five. (Look who came in second!) I did happen to notice that each time they tried to get passed by "you-know-who", Papa's hand reached out to jerk the wheel at just the right time. They made a pretty good team.

...and here were the losers. I mean, the second place car.

Go-carting brings everyone together! Even those who get highly annoyed with each other! (See above.) Beckett loved the little carousel. This is the same little carousel that drained my coin purse 4 years ago, when Lily was having catastrophic meltdowns when her time on it ran out. She was a little more understanding this year! We also conquered the 6 man bicycle. These 2 got the front primo seats. Notice they have no pedals, they got to just sit back and enjoy the ride. I don't know why Lily is giving us the "stinker face" in all of these pics. It was an adventure that's for sure. Joe and I were in front for the first leg of our trip. Joe was driver and braker. I was next to him with a "fake wheel". I realized, after discovering the hand brake really didn't work all that well and faced with some decent highspeed downhills, that I apparently have some control issues as I continually tried to steer with my "fake" wheel. This was of course highly entertaining to my husband. The good news is I lived to tell about it and I did it all in a skirt, people!
And to top it all off, we had an excellent "bell ringer" He was very efficient at his job.

We caught 0 fish.