Fun with our Family: October 2011

In October we were so blessed to have family come and visit us. Since Des Moines is sort'a in the middle Bill and Amanda just had to come "up" and Charlie and Evelyn and Mom just came "over". We tried to have a plan and fill our time with loads of activities, and I think it worked. The cousins played so great! It was a lot of fun to see them get together and find out what kind of plays we would see this time around. And I must say the kids did not disappoint! It was just so much fun to sit back and watch them do what kids can do best. And that is use their wonderful imaginations! We got to see them play on the trampoline, and Uncle Charlie even got in on that action!!!

The weather was perfect which made going outside so much fun! Hi Joe!!!

Of course without a fence in our backyard we all kind'a had to be on our toes to kids little ones in the yard! Thanks Grandma for all you do, it was so much fun to have you come!

Our neighbor even let us borrow some bikes so everyone could have a ride! Thanks!

Remember I was talking about their creative imaginations??? Check out these bloody noses, done of course with lip gloss! All part of the play!

They loved the sleeping arrangements!!! Perfect for a movie and then just go to bed!

It was a non stop party for two days!!!

Here the whole troup got to go to the soccer game! Once again such great weather for kite flying and soccer ball playing!

Olivia even got to play with her all star cousin Kelsey! What a neat experience to play together!

Whitney was also chosen MVP for her team!

Then we got to celebrate Pappa Ross' birthday by sending him our love on balloons! A great family tradition!

It was a very windy day! But all our love got sent on it's way (I should have been a poet or a Hallmark card writer...)

I kind'a thought I should edit Whitney out of this picture, but when you gotta go....

Happy Birthday Pappa!!!

This was everyone after our super busy Sat. Sorry but I didn't have pictures of the pool party, but it was a lot of fun too!!!
This was the kiddos before the bigger kids got to go out to dinner. Grandma and Audrey managed the fort and said everyone pretty much tuckered out after the movie! Thanks Grandma and Audrey for letting us big kids go out to play, we had a great time at dinner!

Some Arkansas Time

In May we were fortunate enough to visit some family in the great State of Arkansas. Bill and Amanda were so nice to let us Iowa Ross' invade their space and enjoy their lovely home. We had such a wonderful time and the kids enjoyed seeing each as well. Aunt Amanda had the great idea as to provide crafts for the girls. So they came away with, as Whitney calls it, decorated flip flops.

The weather was nice, but as you can tell, these girlies look a little pooped...

Sleeping arrangements were cozy, but these cousins couldn't have been happier!

Makeovers and hair were important processes that needed done daily...

We took a hike on Sunday and enjoyed the great outdoors and even saw some wild life...

Camping was even in the cards, except Allie and Amanda still enjoyed their indoor creature comforts

Thanks so much Amanda, Bill, Kelsey, Riley, and Brendley, we really enjoyed our trip and hope to see you all again in the near future!

Fun time with our cousins

We were so lucky to have Joe and Samantha come and visit us for a few days. It has become our summer tradition. We tried to pack in as much fun as we could in the few days they were here. Water park, state captitol, water balloons, and doughnuts. (Can't forget bowling and snow cones) It is always a fun time to have them come and spend time with us! Thanks Joe and Sam (and Charlie and Evelyn)

It's great to be Mom...

It is great to be a Mom. I always knew that someday I would love to be a mom. I can say that I never really had any back-up plan if that didn't happen for me. I went to college, and studied, but everything I learned in those classes I just thought about how I would apply this to being a Mother.
Now I have three wonderful daughters who are bright and unique. I love them to pieces and sometimes find that I should calm my mothering to them at times. Like after swim practice, I'm the only mother in the locker room still helping them. And I've finally taken the hint from Audrey, when she says, just wait right here and we'll be out in a little bit. Yikes, she is getting so independent...
But I love them and I'm so thankful for all the wonderful women in my life, my mother, mother-in-law, grandmothers, sisters, and aunts, and cousins, who I've always looked up too and have been wonderful examples to me of what a mother does and how a mother acts.
Happy Mother's Day!

Piano Recital

Audrey and Olivia recently had the opportunity to perform in their Spring piano recital.
They did an absolutely fantastic job. I even got in the action a little bit, by performing in a duet with Olivia. I am so proud of them and can't wait to find out what the future holds for these two lovely girls. Oh, and please excuse our video quality, we haven't quite figured out all this technology stuff yet. Without further adieu....

Better late than never...

Well I must say, I did it... I haven't posted in about a whole year. I knew I could do it, way to go...
As much as I would like to put a positive spin on it, I just can't erase the fact that I have been completely a-wall in the blog department. But thankfully I have my great little conscience, kind'a like a Jimmie Cricket type, but a little bigger, who occasionally whispers to me and says, when are you going to put something on the blog. Or, I sure do miss our blog. And in fact when I logged on again today to see the sorry state of affairs, I missed my blog too!
It was so wonderful to see some of my old posts and gaze in wonderment at how big my kids are now. I re-read about some of our trips and it was fun reading things that I had forgotten. So I must say, blogs are a good thing. And I will try my best to preserve a history for my children and their children the best I can. There, I've said it, now I must go and do...
So don't give up on us, we are still in Iowa. Although sadly, not Dubuquers anymore, but we've taken up residence in the wonderful town of West Des Moines, that is west of Des Moines. We been here since July 2010 and have enjoyed this new chapter in our lives. So here you have it, we may have been down but not out....