Stella's First Day of 1st Grade!

Stella started 1st Grade today at a new school. She has been VERY excited the past few days about starting back to school. Today she was up early, on her own, and ready to get the day started!

Last night Mike brought her home a bouquet of flowers to wish her luck on her first day. :)

In her school uniform. She can also wear white or navy tops and navy or khaki pants, skirts or shorts. She loves her uniform jumper (for now!).

With her teacher, Mrs. Gaul (and little brother---how embarrassing! ha ha!).

At her table spot.

Iowa State Fair

We spent a fun day at the Iowa State Fair today. The weather was perfect and the kids were very well behaved! :) We saw lots of sights and ran into a lot of people we know. Just an all around good day.

Mike's favorite thing to eat at the fair is a Tater Ribbon. Here he is with his "baby"!! That was all he ate today at the fair. Guess it filled him up. The "new" thing this year is fried butter on a stick. OMG. Seriously, so gross. I am all about things on a stick and fatty foods to eat at the fair, but I do draw the line at a stick of butter, dipped in batter, fried (which makes the butter melt), then drizzled with glaze. But there was a big line for them, so I guess they were a hit! Stella and Clifford (Porter refused to get in the picture!)

Stella and I with GOP Presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty

On the boat for Ye Old Mill, I loved this ride when I was child!

At The Little Hands on the Farm, a super cute exhibit at the fair. The kids love this.

Planting seeds at The Little Hands On The Farm

Butter Cow! This year was the 100th year of the butter cow at the fair.

Stella with her cotton candy on a stick. It's as big as her!
Porter with his rice krispie treat on a stick, it's as big as his head!

The biggest boar at the fair, Tiny, weighing in at 1196 pounds!

Porter, Mike and Stella going down the Big Slide. I think this was the first year that no one cried!
A new thing we did this year was the butterfly tent. The kids LOVED this. Butterflies everywhere.

Kiss (or Kiss wannabes!)

We happened to be in the same spot as Sarah Palin, and there was a HUGE crowd around her. I had to snap a photo.
But I have to admit, her husband Todd, is easy on the eyes!! :)

More Okoboji Fun!

We spent almost a week at lake Okoboji last week. It was a lot of fun and our "staycation" for the summer.
Porter and Stella love going to the beach by Steve and Linda's house to play in the sand. The sand castle Stella and Mike built.

Stella doing flips at Arnold's Park.

Porter and I on the Ferris Wheel.

Our good friends joined us Monday-Thursday at the lake. We had such a good time with them! Jeff, Lucy, Berlin, Eric and Eva had a great time, too! Stella and Berlin and 2 months apart and Porter and Eric are 3 months apart.

Porter and Stella picked out new shirts to take to the lake and we bought an extra one for each of their BFF's! :) Porter and Eric playing checkers in their matching super hero shirts.

Tubing. Lucy gives it 2 thumbs up! Buddies

Sweet Eva passed out on the boat. She was such a good girl the entire time she was there.

We dropped Eva off at the house, Linda and Steve listened for her, and the rest of us headed over to Barefoot Bar! :) They have a huge wooden swing set, sandbox and teeter totters for kids to play on. What a great idea for a bar!!! :)

Stella and Berlin in their matching shirts.

Eva at Arnolds Park

I bet they rode this roller coaster 2o times that day! Standing in line for the Ferris Wheel

Steve and Linda with all the kiddos before going out to eat our last night there. Eva was calling Linda "grandma" by the time she left! Too cute! :)

Random Summer Photos

A handful of photos of the kids from the last month.

Porter ended up in our room last night due to a loud thunderstorm that woke him in the middle of the night. When I woke up today, I'm not sure how Mike and I slept last night considering Porter was a total bed hog!!!

Stella participated in the summer reading program at the library. For each 100 pages she read she got to enter into a chance to win 8-10 different prizes. She was able to enter 4 times and each time she choose "lunch with a librarian" (this was not a popular category!!). She was so excited when she found out she was one of the lucky winners! Today was the her day to have lunch with a librarian. She picked out her outfit and accessories and wanted me to straighten her hair. She had lots of fun! Here she is at Chapter's Cafe, a cafe that is hooked onto the library.
Stella has learned how to braid and here we are making friendship bracelets.

Porter in the park today.....karate chop! Running through the neighbors sprinklers

I was cold a few weeks ago sitting near the AC vent and put my slippers on, then Porter went and got his slippers, of course Stella couldn't be left out! It was probably a heat index of 115 degrees outside and we are sporting our slippers! :)

The kids had a lemonade stand last month. They both made $3, which is a lot considering we have no traffic on our street!! They were very excited. :)