18 years

Jesse and I celebrated our 18th anniversary on July 29th! We had gone out to dinner the night before at a nice little restaurant in town; We grilled steaks on our anniversary then went for a drive (our favorite thing to do) in the scenic Loess Hills. We found a beautiful overlook which we took to the kids to today and hiked. Jesse also posed by a tractor he liked in a small town nearby and by some really tall corn.

Corn time...

We put up a freezer (small) full of sweet corn yesterday....it is a hot and grueling job but will be well worth it this winter. A nice family from church let us come out and pick some from their patch...it is extremely sweet and tasty! Julia is making a disgusted face when she finds worms in the corn. Colton looks thrilled to be participating in our endeavor.

Will Israel attack Iran this Fall?

Here is a link to an article in Time magazine:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1826310,00.html?xid=rss-world

Also check out Joel Rosenberg's latest in his blog....

Hot day...

We went to church this morning (Jesse stayed home, he is still sick:() and then home to make lunch. We got some free sweet corn from a church member, soooo good! Carlina made brownies, too. Unfortunately when we use the stove it heats the kitchen up to 1 million degrees....which will be a nice perk in the winter time! Alicia, Katie and Garrett went to spend the night with Grandma and the rest of us didn't do much of anything....

30 weeks on Monday

I will hit the 30 week mark on Monday and hope to find an Iowa ob next week. Baby is very active and everything seems to be going good. My legs are bad, but they look much worse than they feel. I am still trying to recover from this cold/flu that has had me down for a week. I am extremely tired and finding it hard to get much done, plus it has been very hot lately. I don't want to complain about that, am really trying to enjoy the summer while it lasts.

Hollister

Have you ever been in one of these stores? This is Julia's absolutely favorite clothing store. She was pleasantly surprised that there was one in the local mall (local being 45 miles away, lol). For fragrant sensitive people this store is a killer.....the whole place is scented with their numerous perfumes. Loud tunes are playing with a booming back beat....it looks like an upscale California surf shop with live pictures from "Surf City, USA". Cool dudes work there; dressed in Hollister duds....which are pricey, by the way...of course. Julia loves their t-shirts and shorts....clearance prices for their t-shirts are about $15 (that is NOT clearance!). Jesse and I were reminiscing about clothing fads that were popular when we were teens.....remember OP? Those were the surf clothes of the 80's. Someone is always revisiting an old theme and making big bucks!

Pickled melon? tuna melon? pickly milk?

Yum, yum...don't those things sound delicious? They do to me. One of my lovely children is notorious for leaving containers lidless....yesterday to my delight, they left an empty jar of pickle juice (no top) in the fridge beside a melon without plastic wrap and a jug of milk without the lid....thus, the culinary wonders mentioned above. They love to leave a bowl of tuna salad open and ready to scent the whole fridge. My palate will never be the same....

OT...get your fresh deep fried pickles at your local fair right now...right next to the deep fried twinkies, snickers, cheese filled brats and socks.

So sick today...

I haven't been this sick in ages. Yesterday I started to feel under the weather, tummy ache, tired. Today I woke up with full blown flu. Weak, headache, body aches, stomach troubles, etc. I was in bed all day and it was miserable! We had plans all weekend but had to cancel everything. Alicia had tummy problems yesterday and Jesse had them today also. I was the only one with flu-like symptoms though. I am hoping for a full recovery tomorrow!!!

Listening to God....

I have wished many times that God would come down and burn a bush for me; that He would give me explicit instructions (out loud) about what to do...what path to follow...how to solve a particular problem....unfortunately this has not happened to me once. But His voice is there...just how to recognize it? It is in His Word. I have stumbled across just the answers I needed many times while reading the Bible and not really looking for anything in particular. It is in my heart. I have heard His voice while praying and meditating and sometimes while not even thinking about anything special. It is often quiet, small and can only be heard when I am the same. He has just the answers we seek...He does answer but I have to seek. They are not always the answers that I want to hear but I am physical, mortal, reliant on Him...His will is perfect. I pray that I can seek His will and not mine. Mine leads to disaster, His down the straight and narrow path. Thank you God for your wisdom and that You are always there for your children.

We think he got the job..

It seems pretty sure that Jesse will be starting work in about a week. He did the drug test, phys exam today and got his steel toe boots. The super said that he should be able to work his way up pretty quickly. We are excited! He has had several job offers since this one but this looks like the most stable place to work with room to advance. We will have to see for sure what the van gets for mileage or it may pay to trade it off and get a little car for him to drive.

Ortho woes...

Carlina got to go to her new orthodontist today, for the first time. She has between 3-6 months left to wear braces and then will get her retainer. We had Carlina's braces paid off in Florida but will have to fork out an extra 1000-1400 to finish the deal in Iowa. I only will get about $200 from the Florida ortho for pro-rated service. Bummer! Don't ever move in the middle of orthodontic treatment!!! Julia is dying to get braces next but that will have to wait.

Fowler's Park

Yesterday we met Jim at Fowler's Park for a picnic. It is a gorgeous place in the Loess Hills, with trails, playground and picnic area. It was humid and buggy but that didn't ruin our fun. The kids had a blast soaking each other with cups of cold water from the well, all except Carlina was soaked to the bone. Oliver had fun running around chasing butterflies and ants. Jesse made excellent hamburgers and his campfire specialty hash. There is a WWII memorial (pictured) and Katie dislodged a huge stone (had been broken previously). She cried hysterically thinking she was going to be put in jail for it. Colton didn't help matters any by saying he heard police sirens coming to get her.

Silly face...

Alicia is posing in front of the computer involved in her favorite pasttime...designing dolls and dresses on the computer. Future fashion designer?

Wrong side of the bed?

Garrett seemed to wake up on that this morning. He has been moody and grumpy all day. When I mentioned that colloquial phrase to him, he corrected me saying"No, Mommy, I slept in my big boy bed last night!". On another note, he has been studiously practicing his letter and numbers and is very excited about preschool.

Hot day today!

I am relishing all of the heat, knowing that very cold weather is in my future. We live in a beautiful area with lots of trees, so I hope that Autumn is gorgeous and full of color. I really missed that, living in Florida. I do not look forward to 7 months of cold weather...ice, snow, wind chills. But one doesn't need to think about that today. Shorts, flip flops, sunshine, fresh produce, green grass...ahhh!

Mystery

I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie and have read everything she's written....I just finished a compilation of Miss Marple mysteries. If you, too, are a fan check out this website dedicated to her:
http://us.agathachristie.com/site/home/

Enjoy!!!

a few more random pics

Some older pics from dance recital..

We went out for lunch after the girl's dance recital on June 1st....

Some older pics from dance recital..

Blankie baby

Katie's blanket is worn and tattered. It smells odd...of food, chlorine, puppy. She does not take blankie from the house anymore but "she" stays in her place on honor on Katie's bed. Katie is excited about school starting in a month but especially about winter and snow. She is anticipating that with great glee.

Prayers please...

Jesse had a job interview on Monday and he said it was promising. It will be a good place to work and he will be able to work his way up. This company is doing very well (unlike some in this economic climate). One downside is the 35 mile commute (1 way) but really that is not too bad considering where we live. We are trusting in God to provide just the right employment and if this doesn't work out, he has a couple of other good possibilities.

jammy men

It was cool enough on Saturday night to put the boys in Long John pjs, thus their matching set from kidsrus. Thomas loves to be on the top bunk and usually jumps up and down and flings himself around, or if Garrett is up there, he loves to hit him on the head.

Dapper Dog

Puppy (why can't I call him Oliver?) is getting so lanky and adolescent. He has a really good personality and although not fully housebroken (help!) he seems to be a good little dog. I think he is going to be a good watchdog, too. He barks when people approach the house.