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Archive for September, 2009

This last weekend we went to Winfield to spend the weekend with Papa Ronnie, G’ma Jeryl, Aunt Joni and Great G’ma Bertie! We had a weekend filled with puppies & football! Friday night we watched the Winfield-Mt Union football team lose a close battle and then Saturday Ron, Jason, Zach (Jason’s cousin) & I headed to Iowa City to watch the Hawkeyes win big! It was a beautiful day (albeit somewhat hot) and we had a great time tailgating before the game and watching a big Hawk victory!

While we were gone at the game, Anya found a new best friend…one of G’ma Jeryl’s 3 week old puppies. This is pretty amazing considering she wouldn’t even look at a puppy, much less touch/hold one the last time we were there. She has been talking about this puppy non-stop and has even named the puppy “Princess” and doesn’t seem to care one bit that the puppy is a boy

Here are our weekend pictures of puppies & football!

We had a pretty quiet weekend–unless you count all the yelling Jason did at the TV watching football games The Hawks pulled off another victory against Iowa State, so Jason is happy for at least 6 more days!

Other than watching football, we didn’t have a lot planned. Sunday we went to church in the morning and then attended our church’s annual “FunFest” in the afternoon. We had a lot of fun and the weather couldn’t have been any nicer. So, we spent the afternoon jumping on different inflatables, going down the giant slide, eating lots of food, Anya getting her face painted, playing carnival games and listening to several awesome bands from our church. What a great way to end the weekend!

I am happy to report that Anya survived her first week at preschool and was excited to go again this morning. She saw her teacher at both church and the FunFest yesterday and was so excited to go say “Hi” to her! We also got to meet a couple of her classmates that were at the FunFest, so that was nice for us.

Here are a few pictures of our FunFest activities!

Today was the much anticipated first day of preschool for Anya and it went great! She is attending Evangelical Covenant Preschool (which just happens to be at our church) and has preschool Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. She woke up bright and early and couldn’t wait to wear her backpack somewhere other than around the house! Jason, Josiah and I all took her to her first day and had fun helping her find her coat/bag hook and meeting some of her classmates. She had no problem feeling comfortable since her preschool room is also her AWANA and Sunday school room and all 3 of her preschool teachers also attend our church–so she was definitely in familiar territory. She was smiling from ear to ear when I picked her up and she talked a hundred miles a minute on the way home about everything they did at “school”–so I think she had a great first day!

Here are a few more pictures of her first day of preschool!

What a fun holiday weekend we had! Friday morning I headed north with the kids to pick up Jill & Aubrey in Forest City and then we all headed to Spirit Lake to spend the weekend camping at Cutty’s with Papa Jim & G’ma Barb. Jason Mc, Jason Miller, Z and Noah joined up Sunday morning after getting back from the Iowa season opener against UNI.

The kids (and adults too) had a great time at Cutty’s. Friday night when we got there, the girls discovered the outdoor kiddie pool and didn’t really feel like waiting to change into their swimsuits—in they jumped fully clothed! Josiah was soon to follow, but we did manage to get him stripped down to his diaper before he took the plunge! Later than night we enjoyed an ice cream social–definitely a favorite of ours while at Cutty’s.

Saturday we headed off to Arnold’s Park to let the girls go on some rides–they had a blast! They rode the kiddie roller coaster, the fishes, the boat ride, the spinning apples, the trampoline, the merry-go-round and of course the train. They probably rode the train at least 15 times and thought they were really “big girls” because they could ride it all by themselves! Everyone was exhausted by mid-afternoon and we ended our day there by having a few snacks—chocolate dipped nut rolls and popsicles!

Sunday the boys got to Cutty’s around 10am and we packed up Jason & Jill’s new boat and we all hit the lake. What a beautiful day to be out on the water! We toured all the lakes and even got to see a sailboat regatta–it was really neat! After a couple hours out on the water, Josiah and Aubrey were getting restless, so we dropped them off along with Papa Jim & G’ma Barb and the rest of us went tubing for a couple of hours. I am happy to say that Anya was brave enough to be the first one of the day to ride in the tube (with mommy of course) and she seemed to have a great time. She rode with both mommy and daddy–but I think preferred mommy since when she was on the tube with daddy they tipped over!

Monday we just played around the campground, swam and then got packed up to go home. It was such a fun weekend and we were all extra-tuckered out from all the fun. Here are a few pictures….enjoy!