My little ballerinas

The girls just started ballet lessons this month and they look so cute in their outfits!  I'll post more pics as their season continues, but I had to share this super cute one :)

Labor Day Fun in Wisconsin

 We spent Labor Day visiting Gordon's parents, Jackie and Steve, in Northern Wisconsin.  It's such a beautiful place, the landscaping is so green and so lush.  The weather was wonderful and we got to spend time on the water utilizing the new paddle boat on Gordon's parents lake, Jackie Lake.  We also were fortunate to get a visit from Gordon's childhood best friend Mike, his wife Greta, and their baby boy Scott.  I took so many photos and narrowed it down to just these below, but don't be surprised if you see any of these photos for Christmas cards, too!  :)

2014 First Day of School

This school year was a special one with all 3 kiddos getting in on the action.  Alexa entered the 3 year old pre-school program, while Kirsten went into the 4/5 year old pre-school class, and Drake became a big 3rd grader!  

Alexa's first day was one to remember even though it only lasted one hour...poor thing got sick and threw-up after we dropped her off and the school has a 24 hour no puking policy, so as soon as we picked her up we had to turn around and get her again.  Fortunately, she felt better the next day and was excited to get back to school!

Kirsten's arrival began by finding her friends and settling in nicely.  She loves school and her favorite part is reading bible stories and completing arts and crafts.

Drake asked that we take him to school and I took a lot of pictures! I feel as though we only have a few more years left before he won't ask, so we gladly accepted.  :)

We will miss you Maura!

Both of our girls headed to pre-school this year which means they no longer are in the care of Maura, our in-home daycare provider.  It was an emotional day for the girls, myself and Gordon.  Maura was the family we didn't have in Iowa and the love we have for her is great.  It was with mixed emotion we said "so long", not goodbye.  She always loved our girls as her own.

Adventureland -- summer 2014

Every summer we make it a point to take the kids to Adventureland.  It's a lot of fun for them and for us!  We get to enjoy a lot of rides and visit the water park located inside Adventureland.  I'm still waiting for Alexa to become tall enough to ride the roller coasters with me..so far none of the kids are brave enough and Gordon doesn't like them, so she is my only hope!  :)

Go Cards!

What's a summer without some baseball??  Even though we don't have a professional baseball team in Des Moines we do have a minor league team with a big and beautiful stadium (for minor league standards).  We took the family to see the Memphis Redbirds (St. Louis Cardinals) play the Iowa Cubs (Chicago Cubs) and the Redbirds won!  The family even took a pedicab from our car to the stadium, the girls thought that was a blast!

Tubing down the river

Over the summer Gordon and I went tubing down the river with our friends.  Normally river tubing is reserved for college kids, but that didn't stop us!  It was my friend Becki's idea and we made sure everyone had a great time.  Actually, there aren't too many times that I can get away from technology and kids to focus on talking or catching-up with friends.  This experience gave me several hours to enjoy the "quiet time"  ha!

Danielle comes to Iowa!

I moved to Iowa in May of 2007 and the running joke is asking my best friends when they will come to visit me.  I'm not sure if they thought I wasn't going to stay this long, or what...but after 7.5 years Danielle came to visit!  We showed her all that Des Moines has to offer, but Danielle's primary intentions were to spend time with me and my family.  We went to the Iowa State Fair, saw a 311 concert, attended a Farmer's Market, had great dinners, and spent a lot of quality time talking and catching up on memories that go back 18 years.  Love you Danielle!!

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