A Morning with Cousins....and Grandma!

With fall almost here it means it is back to school time.  Which means my sister and my brother-in-law start back to school again....which meant today was teacher work days for them.  Therefore, my mom watched Ava and Isaiah all day and Isabelle and I went up to play! :)

Isabelle is absolutely 100% in love with books.  All books.  All day long.  She will literally sit and look at books and "read" them to me for hours upon hours at at time.  I can't even begin to count the number of books that I read to her in a given day.  It is her most favorite thing to do.  Whenever we go anywhere...whether its a 30 minute car trip or just down the street to the store she takes about 20 books with her.  This was today's selection on the way to Ava and Isaiah's to play. :)

Playing outside...it was a beautiful day!

She always wants to swing in the baby swing when we are here.  Despite only using her big girl swings at home!  :)

Someday these two will really be out driving on the town......lets hope it doesn't come too fast!

Jumping of the chairs is much more fun with cousins!

Working on making a playdoh cake!

Ava making grandma playdoh earrings :)

We had a great morning and its hard to believe that Ava starts kindergarten tomorrow and Isaiah preschool! It seems like just yesterday Ava was Isabelle's age.  And next fall Isabelle will start preschool.  If only we could slow time down while they are young.  But since we can't we just have to enjoy each and every moment.

Making Daddy's Day

All morning Isabelle was asking to go see daddy at work. So we drove downtown to see daddy!  Here are a few pictures I took of the two. :)

There are lots of art sculptures in the Principal building.  Isabelle's favorite is this big horse.  She talks about it all the time and likes to run underneath it (despite our fears it will fall over!)

We had a great time visiting Kevin and eating lunch with him there.  He said we made his day, but I think he made Isabelle's just as much. :)

A Day of Fun

I feel like I haven't blogged in a long time!  It's only been a week but for me, that is long!  We have been enjoying lots and lots of time outdoors, complete with swimming, playing t-ball, building sand castles, swinging, sliding, and long walks.  My mom, sister, Ava, and Isaiah came over last Thursday to play and the kids had lots of fun of course.  This weekend was full of playing outside, visiting Clifford at the mall, and Grandma and Grandpa V coming over Saturday to play and for dinner.  It has been a great start to our August and we have been trying to soak in as much outdoor time as possible.

Today Isabelle and I went up to Ames to Reiman Gardens with my mom, Amy, Ava, and Isaiah.  They had a kids story and craft time and we then walked around looking at the Lego displays.  Afterwards was lunch at Grandma and Grandpa's followed by swimming and playing on their play set! It was a great day!

Before Reiman Gardens Isabelle got in some playtime on Grandma and Grandpa's swing set.  We are so happy they have this!

Walking to story time.

Craft and story time!

These are some of the Lego displays around the gardens!

What would a trip to Reiman Gardens be without getting coins from Grandma's purse to throw into the fountain? :)

Inside the butterfly room.

Time to play outside!

Isabelle went down the slide into the pool probably 30 times.  She loved it!

I can't believe we are already seven days into August.  Fall is quickly approaching which I LOVE!  And that also means the next Disney World trip is next month!  :)  Happy August!



Dinner with Grandma and Grandpa and a Kitchen Re-Do

Yesterday my parents took us out to dinner at Granite City.  Isabelle wanted to sit right between Grandma and Grandpa :)  She loves spending time with them!

This was Isabelle this morning, patiently waiting while I collected flooring samples at Home Depot and got paint.  We are going to completely redo our kitchen...finally.  We got new paint for the walls, have someone coming out to measure our flooring to redo that, and then will paint our kitchen cupboards white, and redo the counter top.  Kevin graciously offered to start painting the walls tonight, and then work on the cupboards, which we know will take some time will all the steps involved but is so worth it to do it yourself and save TONS of money! 
If it wasn't for the fun car shopping carts, I think Isabelle wouldn't have lasted as long as she did here today. :)

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Annual Family Reunion

This weekend we headed to Cedar Rapids for an annual family reunion on my dad's side.  Also known as the "Egg Burn."  We rode with my parents and left Saturday around lunch time to head over to the outlet mall along the way. 

Isabelle napping in the car next to Grandma. :)

Isabelle LOVED the little "rides" at the outlet mall.  She kept giving Mickey hugs. :)

We then all went out to eat for dinner before heading to the hotel.

My sister and I had connecting rooms so the kids loved running in between rooms.  Isabelle especially loved jumping on both beds singing "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed."

It was then time for a swim at the hotel pool. 

This brave little girl was jumping into the deep end all by herself with me catching her.  She loves swimming!

There were lots of turtle rides around the pool!

After a good nights sleep, it was time to head to the park for the reunion.

But not before a little breakfast at the hotel. :)

Off to the Egg Burn.  This held at the same park since I was little.  It wouldn't be the same anywhere else!

Once the kids caught sight of the playground...they ran over!

Playing a little croquet.

After the park, we headed over to my dad's cousin Sharon's house for lunch before heading home.  We had a great time at the Egg Burn, (and definitely missed the Elmore side of the family!), and look forward to next years!