Summer 2012

 Johnathon broke his arm on June 4 falling off the monkey bars. After a month of hoping it would grow together good we realized it wasn't.  He ended up having surgery July 11th. It went good even with 2 big screws in it. The Dr. said at the last check up it healed up good now we just have to wait and see if it is going to grow the right way. 

 Gideon helped BJ bale hay this summer again and he did a wonderful job and baled around 50 bales, I think.

 Grammy and Grandpa L took us to the balloon glow at the lake. It was really neat to watch the balloons get taken down and folded up to fit into the back of a van or truck.

 Natalie refuses to sit in her chair the normal way. If she isn't standing up she is sitting backwards. Busy, busy!

 We were not able to get a very good crop of squash or cucumbers because of the nasty squash beetles.  Here is Addi showing off one of the only cucumbers.

 Natalie has to stay in her exer saucer or she sticks everything in her mouth.

 It was a horrible HOT summer, with the fair being no exception! Gideon still did an amazing job and got a purple ribbon with Moon his bottle calf.

 This is the only picture of the original ribbon. Gid hung it on her pin and Moon ate it. oops.                  
                               
 The little girls did a wonderful job at "living" at the fair for the week!

Summer Fun

 Rachel played softball for the first time this year and really enjoyed it. She loved the social time and really learned a lot.  She did not enjoy being the catcher because it was hot!

 This is a bull frog Adalli spotted on a Ranger ride while checking cows. She did not want to touch it but she liked looking at it. It was HUGE!

Gideon has worked hard all year raising a bucket bottle calf "Moon" she has grown so much and he has learned tons throughout  the past few months. This week is fair and he is loving every minute of it. He shows her on Thursday so hopefully she will lead in the 100 degree temps. Fair time pictures to come!

It Finally Happened

 On Monday June 4th Rachel had a makeup softball game and then we went to watch some girls in Majors play. While we were watching Johnathon and his cousins were playing on the playground. His cousin came and got me and said that John had fallen and was hurt pretty bad, so I jumped up and met him. He wasn't crying that bad at all but he was favoring his arm quite a bit. We made him sit, much to his dismay with a pack of ice for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes we took the ice off and there was  weird swelling right on top where his arm bends at the elbow. BJ loaded him up and headed to Pella to check it out. They said they had to have the radiologist look at the x rays and they would call in the morning. I got a phone call about 9:00 and they said that he had broken his elbow and we needed to see a pediatric orthopedic Dr. in Des Moines. Oh, she also told me that he was to sit and ice it continuously for all day Tuesday and Wednesday. What a chore! John does not sit still for long at all! Thank goodness for the Kindle!

We made it tho, and the Dr. said that he did not need surgery just a cast with his hand facing up, which makes it quite difficult to button your pants or hold on to anything we have found out! He gets a new cast next week Thursday because his arm will have shrunk so much that it will about slide out of this one, they told us. I am thankful for that because it has proved pretty tricky to keep this one clean!

It has not slowed him down in the least and he is sucking up all the attention he gets from it!

Sunday Afternoon Ride

 Our family was invited to go riding on a friends acreage down south a little ways. We had no idea that he had invited so many other families as well. What Fun!! We did a bunch of riding on trails thru the woods and brush. I was to busy hanging on so I didn't get any pictures from that. After our woods excursions we were all hot and ready for some water fun! Wow, did we get wet and sandy and the guys got to pull out a bunch of people. Deep down I think they enjoy that almost as much as riding.

 This is what happens when you stop in a soft spot. Kurt buried it good! Thank goodness for a wench. Kurt was one of many people that got stuck on the water run. BJ was always great and stopped to help, so the kiddos got in some swimming time and I got some pics taken.

This is Karl and Kristen coming thru a pretty deep spot. BJ was an awesome driver and we didn't get stuck once. We had so much fun and would love to do it again sometime!

Dan Larson Memorial Bull Riding

 On Saturday evening we went to this bull riding and barrel racing rodeo in Albia. It was a beautiful night and BJ was able to take the evening off. We had a wonderful time. The bulls did much better than the cowboys but the announcer and the rodeo clown were very entertaining! The boys are still telling jokes and laughing at all the silly things they said and did. 

 Adalli got a little bored a time or two so she opted to play the Kindle for awhile.

 One of the barrel racers. I always love watching the horses get so excited to run barrels!

Kindergarten Graduation

 Johnathon graduated Kindergarten this year. Wow, like I always say time is just zooming by! He enjoyed school for the most part this year. I praise God for Mrs. DeBruin and the hard work and devotion that she puts in to each child every year! She teaches them Bible verses for each letter of the alphabet, then has them pick out their favorite one. I kept his book by my desk for at least a week and now when I am trying to blog about it, it is no where to be seen. Bummer!

 Johnathon was a raccoon for his ceremony.

Fairy Garden

 Rachel and I went to the local greenhouse and got some fun things to make her very own Fairy Garden. With a little imagination and some pretty flowers I think she did a wonderful job! There is a puppy, a lady bug, a pond, pink mushroom and a mailbox. We are saving money so that we can add to our collection next year.

 My beautiful big girl with her masterpiece.

I bid at an auction for this beautiful blue pot. I took it to the greenhouse and they filled it for me with these beautiful flowers. Thank you so much Stam Greenhouse friends! It is so beautiful!

Little Girls

 These are just a few pictures I took over the last month. Adalli is big enough to go to her locker and pick out her own shoes and coat. On this particular day we were going to get groceries but she wanted to go with dad instead; so she put on her big brothers hand me down John Deere boots. (work boots) I thought it was to cute so we grocery shopped in her boots. :)

 I love her intent concentrating look as she works hard at her little pattern.

Natalie Mae, wow has time flown by or what? I find myself saying that so much! You are six months old in this picture. You giggle, smile, give kisses, sit up all by yourself, LOVE your baby food, continue to grow more hair, suck on your toes, thumb and finger, and love to watch the busyness of your brothers and sisters. You are not much into sitting outside by yourself while mom tries to work in the garden and yard but you love to be outside when you are held or pushed in your stroller. I think when you start crawling you will be a little more content. You slept thru the night for four nights last week but now you are up once to quick eat and go back to sleep. You are getting way to big for your little crib so it is about time we move you to your big girl crib in the girls room. As I type this I realize that today is your 7 month birthday. Hopefully we can get 7 month pictures up here before you are 8 months.

Pancakes

 A few Saturdays ago Rachel and Adalli wanted to make some pancakes. We pulled out Pioneer Woman's cookbook and put together her sour cream pancakes. Oh Yum!  Rachel did all of it by herself. Adalli ate lots of chocolate chips and supervised the whole process.

 I wanted a picture of the big stack of finished yummy pancakes but they kept disappearing as soon as Rachel pulled them off the griddle.

Natalie was also a great supervisor.

Aunt Moriah's House

 We had a work weekend at Aunt Mo's house a month and a half ago. 
We helped with a couple jobs inside and outside the house. Grandpa killed all the creeping charlie in her yard and then realized, that was her yard!  We planted new grass to replace it. The kids worked hard and we enjoyed a weekend away swimming and hanging out with cousin Zander, Aunt Mo, Aunt Kay and Uncle Ben.

 Here are My mom and dad's grandkids minus Natalie (she was taking a much needed nap). Kelita is also due with their 2nd in October. Yay! 

In front of Aunt Mo's cute little house! 

So Cute It's Exhausting

Natalie loves her exersaucer Grammie got her. She is the only one of our kiddos to have one because I was always to cheap to buy one. Thank goodness for Grammies, I don't know what I did without an exersaucer for the others!
Adalli loves her little sister so much and loves to make her giggle. Natalie jumps and jumps, then giggles and giggles. It is so cute!
After all that jumping and giggling she gets wore out! Time for a rest!

Feeding Cows

The other day Adalli wanted to help Daddy feed cows so she hopped on the tractor with him and they ground up some hay with the loud tractor and grinder. She loved it and asks all the time to go check on the cows with Dad.

I love how the calves get all excited too. It's not like they eat lots of hay but they sure get excited!