Hair & Teeth

We finally talked Katie into getting her hair cut. We have threatened this haircut for months now since she screams everytime we come near her with a brush! She has such beautiful hair, but it is so thick and has natural curl...so if it is humid or not brushed a few times throughout the day, it isn't so pretty anymore! It was sad to actually go in to the salon, but I am so glad that we did it. We headed to Target & Toys R Us after getting it cut and she told a few people that she had just gotten her hair cut...I think she likes it!

Katie lost her third tooth this week! She was spending the night at Grammy & Grandad's and Grammy helped pull the stubborn tooth out! Luckily the tooth fairy was able to find her at Grammy & Grandad's house!

Vacation Bible School

Last week was the annual Vacation Bible School at our church. The girls had a blast! We ended the week by attending a program followed by cookies & big construction equipment! I think the girls enjoyed climbing on the equipment!

Alex's Prayer

During prayer time last night, this was Alex's prayer:

"Dear God, I want to be a mommy but I like being a kid too. When I am a mommy I'll have babies, I'd like five or four or two and a doggy."

Plan B

We had arranged to meet some fellow letterboxing friends in Rockford, IL yesterday. Our plans changed last minute due to loads of rain received in the past week. A letterboxer on vacation from North Carolina planted a bunch of boxes in Burlington, IA...and it hadn't rained as much there...so we headed south for the day.

Here is our day in numbers & pictures...

23 Boxes Attempted - 23 Boxes Found!

14 hours of driving / letterboxing

12 new slides (we set a goal of 100 slides in 2009...this makes 131)

9 Potty Breaks

7 cars / trucks honking

6 Parks

Here is Will being chased by Katie - We told her (the sheriff) to take Will (the bad guy) to jail. As soon as she took a step towards him, he took off running.

She did catch him and showed us a good "mad" sheriff face!

5 Snack Breaks
4 Veggie Tales (played at least 2x each!)

3 Children waiting anxiously for the train

2 Potty Accidents - 3 outfits!

2 Schools

1 VERY inked up little boy

On Two Wheels

Tonight, we decided, would be the night the girls would start using 2 wheels rather than 4 wheels! I worked with Katie a bit last year, but our driveway isn't wide enough and our street is too busy to ride. Katie had already told me that she didn't want to learn - I asked her if she wanted to be a 6th grader using training wheels (yes, I tend to err on the extreme side!)...her answer was yes! I think she was pretty scared of falling...as was Alex.

We drove to our church's parking lot and ate our picnic dinner. We arrived at 6:15 and left to go home at 7:30. I kid you not, Alex had never ridden without training wheels and Katie only a few times up & down our driveway (with me holding on to her). Check out this video...

Swimming & Other Fun Summer Stuff!

I brought in the camera that we always keep in the van and found some pictures I had forgotten about! One afternoon, Aunt Teri got Grammy's pool filled so the kids could play for a bit. It was as fun as could be with 5 kids trying to share a little pool! As I always say...it's all about the memories, right!!!

Maddie sporting some fancy goggles!!

As I mentioned in the previous post, the Snoopy Metlife blimp is in town for the John Deere Golf Classic. We drove by the airport last night to catch a glimpse of it. Pay no heed to the "restricted area" sign!

I took the kids to the John Deere Pavilion today. If you aren't from this area and you come to the Quad Cities someday...you have to visit the Pavilion. It is a very nice, interactive history of John Deere and agriculture! There are always tractors, combines, gators on display and most can be climbed in/on! For our fellow letterboxers...there is a beautiful image of John Deere waiting for you at the front desk...I have the right to brag about my hubby's carvings, right?

This picture is for Grandpa Ken - Katie still remembers the Gator ride from 2 years ago "watch your head" was the quote that day, so she tells me!

Will milking a cow (or as Katie put it "watering a cow since it was water and not milk"...)

We met Grammy at Longview Park last week - it had to have been the coldest July day in years! We met for lunch and the kids played for quite a while.

I had to include this one - it was too funny to leave out!!

Do you notice the shaft in the middle of the playground? That is a hidden ladder to get above! The 2nd picture is of Alex climbing up the ladder.

4th of July Weekend

We have had a busy weekend - as have most people with the extended holiday weekend! Matt's work decided to have their 4th of July holiday be used as a floater holiday and employees were given the option to use it within 2 weeks. Matt was thrilled with this - he is able to take his holiday during LBCon (Letterboxing Convention) in St. Louis coming up in 2 weeks! Matt was also on call through Friday night, so our Friday activities were minus him.

Katie, Alex & I headed to Clinton, IA (45 min north on the Mississippi) to visit friends. We swam all afternoon and then headed to the parade. We ended our day with dinner & a quick stop at a nearby park.

Collin & Alex playing cars while waiting for the parade to start.

Katie reading while waiting...

Can you guess that the parade started??

We headed to my parent's house Friday night. My brother and his family were in town for the holiday. We had a great time of food & fellowship. The kids loved playing with their cousins and we had great weather to play outside most of the night. The kids are still young enough that they don't get to stay up / be outside late so they were thrilled with catching lightening bugs and running around the yard as it got dark!

Notice the kids - all lined up and ready to watch the fireworks! We ended up waiting until 9:15 and couldn't see the fireworks, so we headed home. On the drive home we were able to see 2 sets of firework displays so we pulled over and watched for 15-20 minutes! The kids LOVED it!

I love this picture because of the kid pile in the background! My niece Beth (13) is under the pile! They all had a blast.

Aby, Katie & Beth pushing/pulling Grammy's wagon with Maddie, Will & Alex inside.

Still waiting for the fireworks to start!!

Saturday - we woke up to rain!! It rained all day : ( We had hoped to watch a local parade but that didn't happen! After church (it had finally stopped raining!), we met up with our friends, the Pollocks, and watched the Bettendorf fireworks. We were blessed by having our friends, the Wades, join us...they were joining their family who happened to be sitting beside us!! We love how God gives us little surprises like this!

Sunday was sunny & warm. Matt found the clues for a new letterbox in Prophetstown, IL so we headed out late morning. Our first stop was in Lyndon, IL to see a bridge that Matt had discovered a while ago. It is a beautiful bridge with the Rock River below. We all got out and walked across it. The twins & Katie were very tentative...but little Alex...WOW! She had no fear and ran ahead, warning us of gaps and lose boards, etc!!

Next we found the letterbox in Prophetstown and decided it was time for lunch! We drove to Rock Falls / Sterling, ate lunch and went in search of some playgrounds for the kids. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. After playing for a few hours, we started home. (notice on the 4th picture down, you can see the Snoopy Metlife Blimp...flying over Rock Falls, heading to the Quad Cities!...I will have pictures of that another day!).