The jig is up!

So Lily and I are just nicely home around 5 pm, when 4 of Aaron's friends show up, with bathing suits on and towels in hand. One of their dad's had brought them over, and he was under the impression that I was aware of this whole plan. The only problem is - no I wasn't aware, Aaron hadn't asked or said anything about it! And, Aaron wasn't even home yet! So, I went to pick him up and he says, "Oh yeah, I meant to tell you I told them to come over to swim tonight". What??? You meant to tell me? We had a talk about asking permission first before he invites friends over. I let them stay though, being to cool, level-headed mom that I am (sputter-cough-choke).

The dad stayed for awhile too, so I wasn't the only adult to watch 6 screaming monkeys jumping in our little pop-up pool. All the kids were good, and they had lots of fun. Most of them only stayed an hour, and the last two were leaving by 6:45. By then the kids and I were starving, so I whipped up some Kraft mac & cheese on the stove. I'm such a culinary mastermind.

The whole summer better not be like this!

I'm Iowa-bred and proud of it!

You have 87% Iowa in you!

Wow! You're almost all Iowa. No wonder you're such a likeable person. Isn't it great being so close to the greatest state in the country!

Do you have Iowa in you?

Out of the mouths of babes

On the way to church Sunday morning, Lily asked, "Do I look stinkin' cute Daddy?". She got really mad when we started chuckling, but we assured her she looked "stinkin' cute".

She had on a black halter dress, with a ruffled hem and bright embroidery on the top. She looked VERY Latina in it, especially when she shook her booty.

Lime pickles

Tasty tasty. Dad brought over some lime flavored pickles from Arkansas awhile ago, but we all balked - lime pickles???? He left the jar here and I just tried them on some brat burgers - yummy!!!
We had another whirlwind weekend. Friday night was the fundraiser/comedy show for the next Kenya trip. The comedian was excellent, and the crowd was wild! I'm sure a lot of money was raised for the next trip to Kenya in October (see Roy's blog for info about the first trip).
Saturday the kids, Aunt Sarah and I made the rounds at Robins' city-wide garage sales. They were few and far between, but we got some great deals. The Peppy's ice cream truck seemed to be stalking us, but we didn't succumb to it.
One garage sale was finishing up, and had a big FREE sign on the rest of the stuff, so we got an Exersaucer for the twins F-R-E-E! That was the deal of the day. We found various other baby things, receiving blankets for 5 cents, outfits for Zoe, one measly shirt for David - poor kid, the girl always gets more stuff. We were on the lookout for a snowsuit for David, but the only boyish one we found was powder blue with little clouds on it - not exactly manly. We passed on that.
I almost made an offer on a dining room table, but it didn't have any leaves, and with the Duff/Brandt family, we need leaves for our table sometimes! I found an unopened audio Bible CD set called "The Bible Experience" (New Testament). The lady said she got it for Christmas but never opened it. It's a $50 value, and I paid $1.00!!
Aaron waited all day for a garage sale with boy stuff, and we finally happened upon a boys' size 8 Nike shirt/short set, which he changed into in the car. He also got a zippered wallet that fit around his Nintendo DS, including the games.
Lily picked out a green and navy dress for $5, and a flowered denim hat. At the last garage sale she got a flowered shirt and a crazy tiger-print skirt, which she promptly changed into in the car. It sure didn't match, but when you're 4 1/2, you can wear whatever you want!
THEN, since we had avoided Peppy's ice cream all day, we went to Dairy Queen the end the afternoon.
For supper, we went to Culver's, where the kids had ice cream AGAIN. I just couldn't eat any more ice cream in one day - ugh.
On Sunday, Roy and Aaron went to the Camp Courageous Car Show after church. There were 3 Scions, and 2 of them placed in their category. Of course, there were only 4 vehicles total in their category.
Lily and I went with Brett & Sarah to our cousin Alan's high school graduation party in Elkader. He's going to Coe here in CR this fall. Sarah made a list of contact numbers for those of us in the area, including helpful hints like, "Empty-nesters like to take you out to dinner." and "Jared will show you all the unsavory things your parents' don't want you to know about." Our cousin Jenni works in the dean's office at Coe, so he can also "name-drop" as needed. The party was great, with cake made by my mom-in-law. I haven't had her carrot cake in a long time, and it was GOOD!

Aaron is the biggest Scion fan

I can't believe I haven't posted about Aaron's birthday yet - shame on me!
Aaron turned 8 years old on April 27th.
For Aaron's birthday, he begged Grandma Myriam for a Scion cake. Roy just happened to have an extra Scion emblem, which ended up on the cake.
Aaron also had a sleepover with 3 friends on his birthday, which was intensely loud and boisterous. Whew! We won't do that again for a long time. They had a blast, but I stayed up with them until 2 a.m. we were TIRED the next day and the day after that too. Click below for pics of the whole birthday weekend.

Photobucket Album

Blank Park Zoo

Remember when I said the kids hadn't been to a real zoo? Well now they have! It was 2 1/2 hours of family fun. We fed a giraffe, and saw lots of animals. Both kids had a great time. Sometime soon we'd like to take them to the Chicago Zoo or Omaha Zoo, so they can see even more animals.

We were exhausted on the way home after the All Scion Show on Friday night/Saturday, and the zoo on Sunday. Driving home I chatted with my sister to keep me going, and Roy called his Mom (it being Mother's Day and everything).

Photobucket Album

All Scion Show 4.0

It's our 4th Annual All Scion Show in Ames, IA! The pictures pretty much tell the whole story, or you can go to www.allscionshow.com if you're really interested.

For the raffle drawing for all registrants, I won an xB steering wheel that doesn't fit my car. BUT, it fits Roy's car, and it looks good!

An xA owner/friend won Putco grilles for an xB (like $599 retail people!), and she actually gave them to me!!! Roy put them on yesterday, and now my xB looks fierce. That's right, I said FIERCE! I'll post pics soon, I promise.

Aaron was one of the first group of people to ride in the 2008 xB that was brought from out of state just for the show. It's a lot different from the original xB (1.0), but it's growing on me.


Photobucket Album

Alien babies, weekend plans

Today the kids and I went with Aunt Sarah to her ultrasound. Aaron seemed very interested, and he pointed out some things, a spine, a head, and then we saw Baby A's feet kicking. Both kids were excited about that! The ultrasound tech said Baby A was kicking Baby B in the head, but we couldn't really tell. Lily was more interested in looking at the ultrasound wand on Aunt Sarah's tummy. We dubbed them the "alien babies" the first time we saw the 3D pics. They looked weird!! I think Baby B (Zoe) will be a little princess. She was calmer than Baby A (David). Sarah said David keeps kicking her like crazy.

The ultrasound was at 8:30, so I called Aaron's school and said he'd be late, probably by 10:00. Aaron did not like the idea of being late for school, but he wanted to go with us. We brought his backpack with us to the doctor's office, and we got him to school by 9:15 - only 10 minutes late! He was very glad he wasn't that late, but anxious to get inside. As usual, I only got a kiss blown to me - you never know who might see you kissing your MOM goodbye - yuck!

Lillian stayed home with me for a little while. She helped me do dishes - I washed, she rinsed, and I helped put them in the drainer. I took her to Michelle's around 10, I have to work in a little while. It's nice to have the morning off, but the afternoon kind of drags once I get to work. At least it's not a full day!

We're looking forward to camping this weekend. It's our annual All Scion Show 4.0 weekend in Ames, IA! I'm doing lots of laundry since with camping we'll need to run the gamut of spring/summer clothing, including jackets, sweatshirts, jeans, shorts, tank tops, t-shirts, etc. You get the idea. The Scion Show begins Friday night with a "Night Glow" contest - best lights after dark. Then Saturday is the big show with judging beginning at 12:00. It will be a long, hot day in the sun, but a blast! COME ON OVER TO WILSON OF AMES FOR THE ALL SCION SHOW 4.0 on Saturday!!!

On Sunday we plan to take the kids to the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines. My G&G took my brother and I there as kids, and I remember loving it. We went to Living History Farms with G&G too, but I don't know if we'll have time to do both on Sunday. I thought about going to the zoo because Lily and I went to the Bever Park Old MacDonald's Farm "zoo" last week on my day off. It's a small farm zoo with just farm animals and ducks. She like the goats, donkeys, sheep, etc, but kept asking where the hippos and giraffes were, like Daddy saw in Kenya. Time for a "real" zoo!!