One Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed...

My youngest monkey fell off her bed tonight. She screamed for a minute, but as soon as I got in to her room, she smiled and seemed happy to have time outside of her bedroom (it was bedtime). I think that she was jumping on her bed and ran into the dresser which is at eye level right beside her bed. Wouldn't you know it, we were going to get family pictures tomorrow! We will see how she looks in the morning.

The Stuff that Memories are Made of

After a week of suffering from an awful head cold which included a continuous headache for the past 3 days, I was feeling good enough to head to the bank today. Mind you, when we head to the bank, we go through the drive through! After going to the bank, I decided to surprise the kids and drive down to our local arena, where Ringling Barnum & Bailey Circus is in town for the weekend. I thought it would be neat to show the kids the Circus train and all of the tents...maybe even see some animals. As we were getting closer, I noticed that there were police officers lining the street as well as people sitting on the sidewalks. I got so excited as I realized that we could see the Elephant parade in action! I have heard of this parade for the past 10 years, but have never witnessed it! We found a parking spot and got out the stroller. I soon realized that we had some issues. Remember how I said that we were just heading to the bank (drive through)? I had not planned on getting out of the van! Alex, Maddie & Will had no shoes, none of the kids had their hair brushed, Will had a long sleeve turtleneck on (with shorts)! (that was HIS choice!), I was in desperate need of a shower after being sick for so long. Yes, we were not a lovely sight. I didn't have any snacks or drinks to get us through the hour that we waited. Luckily there WAS a store with a bathroom right there. We survived the wait and we were SOO excited to see the elephants and horses as they paraded to the arena. What beautiful animals they are! Of course, I didn't have my camera since I didn't grab the diaper bag! Katie made my day though when she looked back at me and smiled and said "Mommy, this day has so many memories! I love this day". It is a good reminder to not worry about how we appear to everyone else all the time, but to concentrate on our kids and yes, it is about the memories!

A Tweet So Sweet

We headed out towards Princeton, IL tonight to enjoy the beautiful 70 degree weather and find a new letterbox. Along the Hennepin Canal feeder line, the Green River intersects the Hennepin Canal (the Green River goes underneath the Canal). Where these two intersect, QuestStar has place a beautiful stamp named "A Tweet So Sweet". We were able to take all of the kids out for this box, but were glad that we had the stroller. I can guarantee that one of the twins would have been wet if we didn't!
Notice all of the trees/branches from the flooding...Also notice the bridge behind the cement supports...Now notice where the girls are. I was happy that I didn't see this picture until after the fact!
Next we headed to Princeton to find Shorty's "Books in a Box" at the Princeton Library. We made it in time and the kids had a good time coloring and playing with the toys while Matt stamped in. On the way to Princeton, we came across this very cool swing set. It is rather Flintstonesque!

New Letterbox placed by Skeeter (Katie)

One of Katie's school assignments is to write in her journal a few times a week. I usually give her a general topic, but she did her own writing today. Here it is: (with her permission)

Go at night and dress up like a astronaut. Hurray! Hurray! Clues to I Am Going to the Moon. Look for a big oak tree. If you find the big oak tree, walk 16 steps until you see the moon above you and fly up to the moon but don't talk or then other people will hear you even though they're six miles away. Look under a rock buried above a acorn tree. The stamp will have me on the moon. Katie Hart to Mom & Dad "Have fun!!", I say.

Maybe some day...

PS - she did mention that she wants to work on the stamp next.

Breakfast on the Veranda...I mean porch

We have had some beautiful mornings the past few weeks. The kids love to take their breakfast outside and sit on the porch to enjoy the morning. Here is Maddy & Will before the girls woke up one morning.