These are the days. . .

Curtis made a "snorkeler" and wanted to try it out in his bath. 


Three kids doing homework.  This is a new sight. 


The older two dressed old-fashioned for a special day at school. 


That same day was "Talk-like-a-Pirate" Day.  Curtis preschool went to a special storytime at the library where they dressed up and learned how to talk like a pirate. 




I'm used to Bella leaving us the notes, but now Graydon is starting.  I love finding these!  This one was taped to our closet door. 


While at Best Buy (in the market for a flat screen TV - our first one!), Graydon found a price tag and asked me to buy him.  I think he's worth way more than $209!


Curtis is a good kitchen helper. 


I'm not sure why I bother making him clean these up every day because it always ends up like this.  He loves his Legos!


Our town celebrated its 47th annual Heritage Days.  Thousands of people inhabited the city for the weekend and enjoyed lots of food, music, and activities.  One thing offered for the kids was a tractor pull.  All three of our kids participated. 




Graydon and Curtis were in the same weight class.  Curtis came in 2nd and Graydon in 4th.  
Bella was in a different weight class.  She came in third.  Each of them did great!


Sunday afternoon was the parade.  Our church's youth group had a float and we all participated. 




Bella did a great job handing out candy. 


This was also Andy's and my 12th anniversary!
Our neighbor lent us a gator for the day. 


Andy took advantage by bringing Curtis to preschool in it. 


Andy and I are heading out to dinner tonight to properly celebrate our anniversary after such a busy weekend!

September so far. . .

Here's a little bit of what we've been up to these past couple of weeks.

Curtis - my lunch date most days.


It's hard to see, but the boys found boxes that they made into "beds" that they intended to sleep in one night.  That lasted for all of five minutes.  I think one of them slept on the guest room bed and the other ended up back in their bedroom. 


I went with Curtis on a preschool field trip to an apple farm.


There was a petting zoo there and these animals were eager!


Curtis laughed because it tickled his hands. 


One Saturday morning, we made another visit to a church member's farm.  Graydon is trying to get closer to some goats. 


But they just wanted to get away. 


There were 11 llamas and an alpaca. 


Bella found a mushroom.  Andy has turned her into a mushroom hunter! 


Checking out the chicken coop. 




Some mornings, we wake to find that Curtis has snuck in bed with us. 


Our church hosts a blood drive every 56 days.  Here's Andy making his donation.  I was turned away because my iron was a little low.  First time that has happened.  I intend to take my vitamins and be back in gear by the next blood drive on November 11. 


Bella's sketch of a wall in her bedroom. 


A few weeks ago, Curtis learned to ride his bike with no training wheels!  Andy and I worked with him a little bit, but he was so determined to figure it out that we could often find him in the garage or parking lot practicing.  Finally, success!


Here's a little cell phone video of him riding.  


My brother, Scott, came down this past weekend.  We all had so much fun hanging out with him and enjoying our first campfire of the season. 




Hotdogs, brats, and later on s'mores! 


This past Sunday, we went to our first ever cattle auction!  The least expensive cow that day was around $1700 and the most expensive was $29,000!  Last year, the mother (or sister, can't remember) of that expensive cow was auctioned off for over $50,000!  Andy and I just tried to make sure we weren't waving or rubbing our noses and accidentally bidding on these high-ticked animals! 

The kids were more interested in climbing the hay bails.  


Prior to this past weekend, they were all cows to me.  Here is what I now know and I thought I'd pass the info along. . .

Cow - a female bovine who has given birth to a calf. 
Heifer - a female bovine who has never given birth to a calf.
Steer - a male bovine that has been castrated
Bull - a mature bovine used for breeding purposes

Now you know!

Later that same day, we enjoyed relaxing together and watching the Packer game! 

Turning 34 and other things. . .

This is not my first birthday in a new place.  It seems that, whenever we've made a big move, it's always been around the beginning of August, with my birthday arriving just a few short weeks later.  But this is my first birthday that has ever fallen on a school day.  It felt a little strange to send Bella and Graydon off to school when I've become so used to having my kids around on my special day.  But I still had Curtis and we got some special hangout time.  And he got to run errands with me - lucky boy.  The real celebrating began in the evening when everyone came home.  We had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and Andy made me some brownies (which turned out much better than LAST YEAR'S!) 


The following day, we went on another farm tour.  Andy got to drive a gator. 


If you look closely at the picture, you can see that Graydon is steering the tractor.  They didn't go straight or anything, but he sure did enjoy that experience. 


A little over a month ago, the kids were getting buried in sand.  Now it's corn!








Bella's turn to steer this time.  She did pretty good going straight!


A Happy Meal toy at McDonalds. 


Graydon asked me to take his picture. 


Curtis is starting to get much better at cleaning up after himself.  He wanted me to take a picture of him cleaning. 


Bella and Graydon's school photos have already come back!  Both kids are looking so much older to me. 


My parents were in town and my mom purchased a slip n' slide for the kids that was on clearance. 




We played lots of games: movie trivia, Spoons, Uno, and matching. 


My mom brought her cotton candy maker!


And though we're closer, we were still sad to see them leave.  Thankfully our next visit will be sooner than later!