Our B&B in Des Moines

The Butler House on Grand in Des Moines is a nice place for a nearby getaway. I was very pleasantly surprised by what Des Moines had to offer as a city -- neat, growing town.

Practicing for Halloween

Compare to older pictures of M at this age posted a few days ago...

 

Fun at GPa & Barbara's

 

 

 

Fun with Mamo

 

 

Reading lists & new hobbies...

 

 

 

Still Best Friends!

OK, I'm done now!:)

Our Eldest

I've always loved this picture!

Blast from the Past!

I stumbled across some old pictures on our old computer and found this gem! These 4 gals and I have had some really great times! Hard to believe there are now 13 kids between the 5 of us. Here's to you gals---love ya!!

Photo evidence of excess...

Little A has been caught by spy photographers in no fewer than 4 vehicles today within 15 minutes. Her agent refuses to comment on what is certainly going to be seen by her fans as excessive transportation use. And yes, one of those is a bike that she started riding this weekend!

Working the System...

So just how does she afford all of these means of transportation? Hard work, and investing in the right places... like being cute to friends and family. Believe it or not, these were NOT staged... again, she just gets herself in these situations.

OK, sis, can you hold me still so I can finish this stock purchase?

Fun at the Lake

Gone are the days that Doug and I used to scoff at those boaters who pulled tubes-how could they, we'd ask. All they did was drive around and make a ton of waves for those of us mature folks who wanted smooth water and minimal boat traffic for a good wakeboard ride or slalom ski. We had a good laugh at ourselves as we had our inaugural boat adventure this weekend w/ our new tube. Now we know why people do it--our kids absolutely LOVED it!!

'08-'09 Teachers

M w/ her teacher at Back to School Night

The big man w/ his favorite for the 2nd year in a row-we were all thrilled to have her as his teacher again this year!

Little Hands on the Farm

This was by far my highlight of the day at the fair. They have this wonderful exhibit where kids pretend to be farmers and see their 'crop' step by step from planting to selling it for money where they went into a store to buy anything from bread to canned corn to a sweet treat (which of course our kids chose...popsicles) . It was so fun to watch them really get in to this great hands on exhibit!

More Fun at the Fair