A Whole Mess O' Stuff

Guess it's been a bit since I last updated, so here you go! Starting from the most recent. :)
Today was Mike's 33rd birthday. The kids were SO excited to give him his gifts this morning. They did most of the picking out for him....although I did "guide" them to certain items! Tee hee! (Notice Stella's "bed-head"!!!) They were most excited about this gift for Mike! I think it is more a gift for them!! But I do know that all 3 of them will have a blast playing with it. :)

With his "Crabby Patty" birthday cake.

We headed to MA over the weekend for my 15 year High School reunion. It also happened to be the same weekend as Beggar's Bash, where children can trick-or-treat through a park and stop at booths sponsored by local businesses. It is always a big hit with the kids. Porter is playing Plink-O here to win a prize.

Stella decided to be a skeleton this year and Porter a spider.

Hanging out at my mom and dad's house.

Stella found out she could climb up the weeping willow tree all by herself! A very big accomplishment for her!

My class reunion was so much fun. I graduated with 42 people and 27 were able to make it back for part of the festivities. Friday we went to the Homecoming football game then headed uptown. Saturday we had a very nice meal at the Country Club and a great time socializing. Here are most of the peeps who made it back for the class of 1995 bash! :)

Porter riding bike at my parents.

Dad and Stella playing "catch", Stella could play this for HOURS!These are from a couple weeks ago. Porter is VERY into Legos right now. I guess he "creates" better if he is wearing the Lego container on his head?!?!?

Steve and Linda stayed with on our their way home from St. Louis a couple weeks ago, a couple pics of them reading with the kiddos.

I guess I should keep a closer eye on the children, I caught them "body painting" themselves instead of the paper a while ago!!!!!

This photo just cracks me up! Could a 3 year old look any more bored!!!!!!???!?!?!?!

Labor Day in Okoboji

We spent Labor Day weekend in Okoboji with Steve and Linda. It was a lot of fun and we stayed busy!!
Saturday we headed to Arnolds Park in the morning. There was also a car show going on, it was neat to look at all the old cars. Of course Stella had to pose in front of the purple one!

Riding the dragon ride

Driving the speed boats

Porter FINALLY went on the (little) roller coaster!!!!! He LOVED it! Mike and I were cracking up watching them enjoy this ride so much!! They went 3 times that day and the next day we went back and they rode it a few more times again! Stella's favorite ride is the Tilt-A-Whirl, but got damaged in a big storm at the end of July and still isn't fixed yet. Hopefully they have it up and running for next summer!

A view of West Okoboji from the top of the ferris wheel.

Riding the carousel with Mike

Self portrait in the mirror maze!!! :)

On top of the Crooked House, the kids LOVE this!! Mike and I don't like it at all! It is so crooked that is makes me dizzy and almost want to pass out. On the last day we played paper, rocks, scissors to see who had to go with the kids---I won!! woot!!!!

Outside of Arnolds Park, The Queen (a large boat) was getting ready to leave and was honking and it was really loud! Porter didn't care for it much!!! :)

At a nearby park

With Grandma and Grandpa

A rainbow we saw on the boat ride, the ride didn't last long b/c it started storming.

Labor Day morning, going out fishing!

Porter's First day of preschool---3 year old

I could of sworn I had posted about Porter's first day of preschool!!! Guess not! He started on Sept 7th and seems to be enjoying it. There were no tears when I left him the first day, he was VERY into playing with Play-Doh at the time. He also enjoys the wooden kitchen they have. His other favorites are: outside playground, the tools, lego table, science area (microscopes, magnifying glass, bugs to look at). I think he'll really have a fun time this year. He already has 2 friends that he talks about!

The morning of his first day! He just looks too cute his new BLUE TIGER shirt (that he picked out!!) and his squeaky clean tennis shoes! :) Acting goofy!

"Let's get this show on the road!"

Standing by his cubby at school.

Stella's First Day of Kindergarten!!!!!

Stella had her first day of Kindergarten today! She was super excited, to say the least!!! She had a great first day, made a couple of friends, had PE and music class. I will be helping out all week during lunch to get the children used to going through the hot lunch line, opening up milk boxes, getting lunch boxes open and stuff. It was fun to help out today.

Walking her to the bus stop which is half a block from the house.

Getting on the bus. Riding the bus is a HUGE thing for Stella, she has been looking forward to it FOREVER!!!!!!!!

Although she rode the bus to school, Porter and I still drove there to take pics of her getting off the bus!! And I wasn't the only dork to do this, there were lots of parents there photographing their little ones getting off the bus! :)

In her classroom with the Ginny, the class Guinea Pig.

Sitting at her table.....I think she was getting tired of photos by this point!!!!!!

I picked up a cake for her today and had Kindergarten Rocks written on it to celebrate her big day! She loved it!

Porter shoveling it in!

Iowa State Fair

Yesterday we headed to the Iowa State Fair. Our good friends traveled from the Kansas City area to join in the fun. It was great to have John, Julia and their 3 year old girl, Natasha stay with us for a couple of nights. The weather was cool for the fair, which was wonderful and it did rain for a short amount of time, but it was better than 95 degrees and 100% humidity!!!

Here are the 3 kids at the beginning of the morning. The only food item Mike has to have every year at the fair are these giant taters! He loves them and looks forward to them every year! :) I did notice that they even have veggie corn dogs now!! I will have to try one next year!

All the kids got a chance to milk a real cow! It was pretty cool and none of them were scared at all!

Natasha, Stella and Porter in front of the BIG BOAR! This picture does not give the Big Boar justice, he is HUGE! Stella saw him and yelled "Is that a hippopotamus!!!" It was super funny!

On the Sky Glider

Self portrait of Stella and I on the Sky Glider

In front of the Butter Cow

Stella at the Little Hands On The Farm exhibit

Porter at Little Hands On The Farm

Riding tractors at the Little Hands On The Farm

When we got home from the fair it was nap time. After I put P down for his nap I kept hearing a weird noise from his room, I went to check on him and he was under his bed with his power tools and playing with his power drill!! I told him if he didn't want to nap that was fine, but we were going to have quiet time for a little bit. I went back to check on him about 10 minutes later and I found him sound asleep under his bed hugging his flash light that came with his power tools! Too cute!!!!!!!!!!