Laundry Sayings Needed

Hello, dear readers!

I am looking to stencil a few words in my laundry room. Sort of a motivational thing. I'm looking for a verse or a saying that will bring a smile to my face as I walk in the room where there is always a constant task to do. So please leave your ideas in the comment section! I appreciate all of you!

Playing Frisbee

So last night we went outside after dinner. I said to Mike, "Let's play frisbee" which is a very unusual thing for me to say. But Mike agreed and we got out our new frisbee. It is not rigid like an old school frisbee would be so it took some getting used to throwing. Since we've dated, we've kept track of some of the, well, I guess you would say some of the "cuter" things we've said to each other. Like while on the phone with my fiance who was living in California (I was in North Dakota), I said, "My, you are an amorous fellow." Sayings like that...

As we were tossing the frisbee, Mike being much better at it then myself, I kept saying "oops!" and "sorry!" which finally led me to saying "Oops, I did it again...." Ahhhh, maybe you had to be there.

Soon, though, I got the hang of it and started trying to be a little more adventurous with my throwing. Mike totally missed one and he said, "Oh! I was dazzled by your wowiness." Which I replied, that was going on the blog, which led to a discussion on how to spell wowiness (there was an initial disagreement but Mike's five minute explanation on why it should be an "i" as opposed to a "y" finally won me over).

This goes to show you that over 10+ years of being together we are still as geeky as when we first started out.

We are ARRRRTIISITS!

Imagine me saying that with my fake French accent....

Today is a down-right rainy day. One cannot really send their kids outside to play in the rain (well, not a reasonably sane person who tries to keep her floor decently clean). So we needed to find something to do inside. I don't know if I posted it before but I painted the basement and planned to have the kids supply the artwork for the walls. I bought some canvases off of Amazon.com - the absolute cheapest place to buy them (that I've found). Thus today we busted out the canvases to do some artwork.

I found some things out.

1. Luke is a perfectionist, so he gets extremely frustrated when things are not exactly as he wants them.
2. Abby is a free spirit and much more of the "abstract" art type.
3. Libby would rather eat the paint then make marks with it.
4. I can impress my children with my somewhat lacking artistic abilities.

Here they are:

Luke's


Abby's


Libby's


Mine

Over 2 lbs of Tomato

In one tomato. Pretty impressive, huh? This baby weighed 2 lbs 4.5 oz, thus beating Marc's (Mike's granddad) throw-down weight of 2 lbs. 4 oz. We only picked four of this variety (Big Italian) but we harvested over eight lbs. Not too bad - it'll make some good salsa or probably tomato juice.

In case you were wondering what the inside looks like....(btw - I'm saving seeds)

Another New Skill

Yes, Luke started riding his bike without training wheels. Wow - he's growing up fast!


Luke Riding Bike

New "Do"

I decided to cut Abby's hair. I watched the hair stylist cut it twice before and thought, "Hey, I could do that!" Well, as I kind of expected, it was harder than it looked (duh!). But Abby and I are pleased with the results.

As promised, photos & recap

Well we're back from the Iowa State Fair. It truly is a fair on steroids. We did not ride one single ride there (although if we wanted to pay 5 dollars for 2 minutes of stomach upsetting movement we surely could have) but we spent the whole day being entertained. We arrived there around 10 am. Most everyone else was arriving at the same time so there was a wait to park and such. First thing we saw was a parade to salute Iowan veterans and the currently enlisted. Then we walked down to the DNR building and learned a little about butterflies in Iowa. Then we walked over to the food pavilion where all the food judging competitions are held. I'm so going to enter next year! Next was the 4-H buildings. Saw some sheep judging in the sheep barn. Went and saw this year's largest boar (which broke the previous record - "Freight Train" was the name I believe). Then went over to the cattle barns. Saw all the various kinds of milking cows, the biggest bull which was a Charleigh bull. Then we took a break for lunch (corn dogs) and enjoyed watching the horses walking over to their judging barns. Oh and we saw so much more! There are a lot of talented people in Iowa - not just in the basis of agriculture but also in the fine arts. Very cool stuff in the art barn. I loved the watercolor entitled "Harvest Dance" - I didn't get a picture but it pictured three ballerinas in red farmer's caps dancing in a hay field. Luke got to see the National Gaurdsmen and sit on a hummer. Abby got to watch the dance troops. And Libby got a nap. Our feet were sore but we had a good time.







Shawn Johnson, American gymnast from West Des Moines, Iowa in Butter


This year's butter cow -yes - it is a sculpture of a cow done entirely out of butter.



And finally, I've said it before but Iowans are crazy about their politics. This table scape caught my eye.

Week Highlights (or Lowlights)

Well, it is Friday and another week is in the books (or on the blogs?) so to say. So here is a highlight list for you all.

• Proudest Moment: Luke tied his shoes by himself
• Grossest Moment: Libby licking the fly swatter
• Most Tired Moment: Looking at all I've pickled these last few days (and thinking about all that is in the garden still)
  
• Most Relaxing Moment: Sitting outside of Coffeesmith's with some of my girlfriends
• Most Fun Moment: Spending a morning and having lunch at the park
• Most Educational Moment: Watching a bee pollinate the butternut squash (the kids & I got so close we could see the bees "tongue" sticking way out getting all the nectar)
• Most Bittersweet Moment: Finishing our summer bible study
• Most Anticipatory Moment: Booking a hotel room in Des Moines so we can go to the Iowa State Fair.

There will be lots of pictures posted next week as well as a wrap up of our first Iowa State Fair experience (which, I heard yesterday is supposed to be in the Top 100 Things to Do in America).

Congratulations Luke!

You've learned to tie your shoes! Awesome job!!!


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