Perfect- with a capital P

The weekend was Perfect with a capital P

It couldn't have been any better, 

even with puffy eyes, sore throat (darn allergies) and poison ivy - it was still Perfect

Saturday morning we went to the Great River Days parade

 After the parade we got to spend time with these people
We miss them like CRAZY

The Calcott's and the Wilt's at Weed Park

We had Taco Johns

The boys climbed the tree

The kids acted like monkeys

We played a little music

They were back from Virginia and we couldn't have been more excited to see them

It was almost like old times (except the kids are older), lots of laughter and fun

There were lots of pictures taken 

and 

lots of talk of us HOPEFULLY going to Virginia some day

We had Taco Johns in the park

The boys climbed tons of trees

The gals took pictures, kept an eye on the kiddos and checked out plants

and

The guys talked

The weather was great even the 5 minutes of rain which we desperately needed



Saturday night we went to my Mom's for a family dinner
It was nice to spend some time with my Aunt and Uncle from Arizona



Sunday we went to church
Called our Dr. to get some magic potion (prednisone) for the poison ivy
Spencer went to earn his $5 for mowing Nana's grass
and
Parker did some chores to earn a little money
(They are saving money for the candy and cupcake shops in Omaha)

Speaking of Omaha
The reservations have been made

We finished up Sunday evening with a trip to aquatic center for Community Character Camp

Spencer diving

Parker was beside himself when he found out
that he's tall enough to go down the slides by himself

It was a busy weekend with very little rest but worth every second

Sweat

I don't like the word "sweat" but it's the only word that I could come up with today

"Sweat" is the word used to describe this -

1940

My parents weren't even born then, not that they are old or anything but MY GOODNESS!

I feel like our summer break has been wasted because of this ridiculous heat

I told the kids we should go get in the pool and they told me it's too hot

They have been playing the Wii for hours

And my poor Uncles are riding Ragbrai this week

All I have to say is August better be cooler

Moving on (Summer Bucket List)

With less than a month left before school starts,
I thought we better get moving on our Summer Bucket List


Friday was MUCH cooler than it had been in weeks
Parker and I did three hours of yard work

Is there something wrong with child labor?
This boy LOVES to work
Our trimmer is broke so Parker used scissors to trim the sidewalk (Crazy boy!)


After we got cleaned up and had lunch we went to the Aquatic Center

These boys LOVE the diving board


Saturday morning was a little cooler as well,
we got up early and went for a bike ride on the river front
While down at the river, the kids decided they wanted to play in the fountain
I had been asking for weeks if they wanted to go but I guess I didn't hit them on the right day
I think they were happy to be the only ones there

This week we have been keeping a close eye on our bunnies

Mama bunny had at least 6 babies in a hole out in the front yard
Here is a picture of three of the four bunnies (2 didn't make it)
Aren't they cute

On Sunday we went to our last National Guard Family Picnic and the boys enjoyed climbing the trees

We are crossing things off our list slowly

Here is Our Summer bucket List

Bubbles      Sidewalk Chalk     Discovery Center      Visit all the City Parks   

Zoo Garden     Make Smores     Swim     Wild Cat Den     Road Trip   

Aquatic Center     Fishing     Drive In     Mississippi Mist Fountain     Canoe     

Bike Ride     Visit the Lock and Dam     Bowling     Visit the Farmer's Market

Get Shaved Ice     Visit the Library    Sparklers    Read      Camp      Parade

Hike     Play Tennis     Zoo     Game Night     Ice Skating      Picnic     Tree Climbing

Play in the rain     Bake     VBS     Make Salt Clay     Make Taffy     Wii dance party

Feed the ducks     Day Camp     School Lunch    Plant Flowers     Water Bombs with sponges

Send Cards to someone     Make a fort     Water Gun Fight     Movie and Popcorn

Baseball with friends   Write a letter to Dad while he's gone     Play with cousins

Make Jolly Rancher suckers     Banana Split Party    Art projects

It's going to be HOT this week,
but we better get busy!

We're going on a trip!

We've decided that we will never have enough money to take a trip

So we are just going to take one anyway (A small one)

The hubby is taking a week off of work in August and we are going to

The boys and I have been there before but that's okay, 

a trip is a trip

I'm looking forward to three days off work, no house cleaning, laundry, dishes or cooking

Wow, my husband must feel like he's on vacation every day

I wouldn't even care if I had to work during my vacation as long as I didn't have to do ANY housework

Well, we are getting 3 days of FREEDOM and I could just scream

I'm so excited!

I'm still in the planning process and wishing I had booked a travel agent

So I got the next best thing - A visitors guide

I LOVE visitors guides
Check these out -
Chocolate Peacock (Boutique)
The Chatty Squirrel (Cafe)
The Loose Moose (Bar and Grill)

I'm hoping to check some of those out


We will be leaving pretty early and will surprise the boys with lunch and fun here

I would like to take the boys through Pioneer Courage Park and on the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge



Our top priority is

and then some more new places

Nothing Bundt Cakes check it out

Cupcake Island check it out
 Old Market Candy Shop check it out

Oh and I guess we need a hotel
Hotels are the tough part but thankfully I found one that gives 4 zoo passes with a 1 night stay


Now I just need to line up a pet sitter and we'll be set

School shopping will be the death of me

There are very few things that I HATE doing

Shoe shopping for my boys and school shopping 

rank # one and # two

I refuse to buy any clothes with the exception of socks before school starts

They don't need jeans when it's one hundred degrees out and they will be in a different size by fall

Last year I shopped for school supplies a little each week leading up to school starting

I wasn't nearly as stressed out and was able to find everything on the boys lists

I sure hope the boys teachers aren't too picky about supplies this year :

I have a thousand pencils laying around,

  three ringer binders that are still in good shape, 

a  Ziploc baggie full of dry erase markers and a dry erase board

and

a full bottle of glue (combined 2 bottles from last year)

I'm sorry teachers but I will not be buying BRAND NEW stuff if I can make what I have work

The kids will each have 12 sharpened pencils 

(Will they all match? No but they are pencils and they are sharpened)

The kids will have dry erase boards

(They may be a little stained but they will work)

The kids may not have half inch three ringer binders

(They will have one inch binders because I have ten of those in my hutch)

I don't even want to think about how much money we spend every year registering our kids for school

We pay 160 dollars just for our kids to ride the bus because we live within 2 miles of the school

Do you think I'm going to let my children walk to school on the busiest street in Muscatine?

Yeah, I don't think you want your children to do that either!

Doesn't it make more sense to charge the families that live further away because of  the amount of gas?

Then we add on lunch money, book fees and this year a band fee

YIKES!

I also think way back when I was in school

Teachers didn't ask for big bottles of hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes and we still survived

And why would any child need 6 packages of loose leaf paper

(Take 23 students x 6 pkgs x 130 sheets of paper = 17,940 sheets of paper

That is just ridiculous! 

Shouldn't we be teaching our kids about saving trees and recycling?

I guess all that's REALLY important is that my kiddos get a good education and enjoy school


School will be starting a month from today

Even Amelia is ready for school
She LOVES Parker's bag for some reason

FUN @ Fun City

Last weekend we went to Fun City in Burlington for the first time

(Chip has been there with some military buddies but it was a first for the family)

We weren't planning a trip to Fun City but when my mom said Monsanto (her employer) was giving each child/grandchild $70 on a card for their work picnic, we thought we better go

When my Mom told me that they were estimating 600 people from Monsanto, 

I cringed but tried to have a good time

I heard GREAT things about Fun City

My husband and kids LOVED it

I'm secretly praying that I never have to go back 

(Don't tell my kids or husband)

If I could ride the go carts all day without standing in line, I would love it too

The go carts were our favorite

 My Mom even got in on the action

We played laser tag

 The boys went in for the first round and then drug me in 

I LOVED it and came out saying - My cheeks hurt from smiling so much

Parker was pretty excited that he was FINALLY tall enough to ride a ride by himself

 And what's better than a roller coaster simulator?

 He even got Grandma to go with him

He showed her the emergency button in case she got sick when they went upside down

Spencer was very brave and decided to ride this BEFORE we ate lunch

I remember doing this before I had kids and became the lady with the worst motion sickness ever

The boys were anxious - I was dreading it!

I REALLY DISLIKED the pool area - HATE would be a better word

There were SO MANY people! 

I would have preferred my kids stay in the inside pool area 

I liked them contained and could keep track of them easier

 but they made their way out side

I had a not so proud moment while I was trying to keep up with Parker

A lady stepped on the back of my flip flop and broke it

I'm pretty sure that I gave her the look of death

She looked back at me and said - Dude, I just stepped on your flip flop

First of all, I am NOT a dude

and

Second of all, you didn't just step on it, you broke it

 Anyway, I got over it and tried to enjoy the rest of our time 

The boys floated down the lazy river and swam in the pool 

and then this mama broke the bad news

We had been at Fun City for 6 hours

It was time to go!

I'm glad the boys had fun

 and 

I'm thankful for Monsanto for blessing their employees and families

Failing as a blogger

The reason I started blogging was so I could look back on my boys youth

To remember all the fun things we did as a family

and 

how carefree they were

I feel like I have failed as a blogger

One day, I'm going to look back at the blog and think,

we must not have done ANYTHING during the summer of 2012

So here is a wrap up of whats been going on around here

We played baseball

Parker going in for a slide

Spencer did an INCREDIBLE job pitching and catching this year

Spencer's team (Pizza Hut) ended - 4-8

Parker's team (Fuhlman Siding) ended  12-0 

We had an AMAZING fan club

My Mom, Dad, Aunt, Uncle and cousin were great cheer leaders

Grandpa, Grandma and Parker
Our last game

 With temps like these

We have been doing a lot of this

9:00 AM dip in the pool

We went to our first Freedom Celebration Service 

(Church in the park)

We love our new church family and are starting to feel like this is where we belong

Spencer playing kickball 

 Our baby girl turned ONE

We celebrated with pink lemonade cake and kitty treats

Happy Birthday Pretty Girl

We have been struggling with allergies (Boooo)

Cinnamon rolls make everything better

Although the boys hadn't been feeling the best,

they had a GREAT time last week at VBS

The boys got to pick berries

My cousin has a black berry bush and she was so sweet to share her produce

This is our first week with NO PLANS

We are looking forward to some fun at the fountain, aquatic center and bowling alley

Celebrating the 4th

I thought I was going to die a few times 

Celebrating the 4th when it's one hundred degrees isn't much fun

We started out the morning by sleeping in a little bit (7:00AM)

The boys and I went to Hy-Vee for donuts
(I just heard that Hy-Vee is going to do away with their donut section and repalce it with Starbucks ) (Boooo!)

I made some yummy lemonade in hopes of saving some money and time spent in lines

If you want to check it out, go here

I will say NOTHING and I mean NOTHING beats those lemonade shake ups you can buy at the parade

Our lemonade was good and cold but it wasn't nearly as great as the shake ups

We headed to the Grandview parade 

I LOVE parades but I HATE finding parking 

A couple of years ago, we started parking at the old Grandview Corners and walking to the park

It's not bad when it's not to hot but when it's one hundred degrees, It's just plain miserable

It was so hot, the fancy cars, tractors and floats were tearing up the asphalt

The town of Grandview may never allow a parade again after they have to pay to have their roads repaired

Parker enjoyed the petting zoo

I hope he never wants a pet pig
Those babies were cute but very loud and stinky

Waiting for the candy to be thrown

After the Grandview parade we went to my parents for lunch

My Mom is an amazing cook but it was almost too hot to eat 

I could have just lived on the bowl of watermelon

We stayed at my parents all afternoon and watched the Olympic Trials while the kids swam

At 4:00 it was time to head to the next parade

Spencer and I were in the Muscatine parade with the Cub Scouts
I was so thankful that we got to ride and didn't have to walk

After the parade we decided we needed to cool down,
I went to the store and the boys decided to swim for a while until Spencer and the pool filter got into it



Then it was time for fireworks!
We walked over to the river, sat up chairs and waited for them to begin

That was the extent of our 4th
It was a hot day but overall a lot of fun