Holy Cow What a Month

It all started with a wedding in Chicago. Phoenix enjoyed the dance floor tremendously.

Fisher started a new passion--building forts/cabins for himself and his sister to keep out the bears and the dragons.

He loves to scare people by screaming "booo!" so we thought we'd make a monster mask.

One of the perks of moving to Iowa: access to prairie. Clearly this boy loved our day in the country.

Neko and Fisher.

More tall grass loving.

This boy has always been a big fan of tractors and all things with wheels. Here he is on great grandpa's tractor.

Phoenix is clapping now. Always a big hit.

One morning Fisher asked to go potty on the toilet and I asked him if he wanted to stop wearing diapers altogether and wear big boy undies instead. He said yes and then said he wanted to throw away his diapers. So, here we are with the ceremonial tossing of the diapers. (It's been a month now and he's only had a handful of accidents.)

Sporting some tightie whities.

He's pretty good at sharing, even his pop-sicles.

Always good for a sweet grin. I really have never met a happier, chill baby.

Another perk of living here: baby sitting! Aunt Shelby lives just up the hill and she comes down about once a week so Derek and I can hit the town. Fisher loves it! When I tell him she's coming he says "leave now mom."

Phoenix's first train ride (at the zoo).

More zoo fun: feeding parakeets.

Enjoying herself at Jerad and Kate's house for a fish fry.

This kid is a total goof.

Checked out the Neil Smith prairie on Father's Day.

Then on to Lake Ponderosa so Derek could take Fisher fishing and make it so that his name was both a noun and a verb.

He wasn't too fond of his first catch. He wouldn't touch it or reel it in. But he was pretty proud to tell people he caught two fish as big as his leg!

He got to drive Dad, grandpa, and great grandpa in the golf cart at the lake.

A family shot.

They had face painting at the downtown arts fest. Fisher loved his handlebars so much that he cried when we washed his face before bed.

More of his comedy act.

We had to go back to the arts fest again so he could get his 'stache on.

Then it was on to a strawberry field to pick the last of the season's crop. Just enough for a couple batches of strawberry sauce.

Doesn't this just scream boy/summer?

Over the weekend of the 4th we took the kids to the 80/35 music festival downtown. We had so much fun next year we're going to spend the full two days there with the kids. Here we are checking out Okkerville River.

Phoenix trying to eat some grass.

Can this kid groove or what? He put on quite the show himself.

We ran into some old friends from high school. Aunt Shelby watched the kids in the evening so we could go back to see Of Montreal.

Happy 4th!

She's getting some top teeth in now to match the bottom.

Swimsuit! Sitting on the deck at Grandma Brenda's, where we took in our first ever grandma fest (swimming, water balloons, candy, grilling, running crazy).

At first Fisher didn't want to do anything but help fill water balloons, which he then didn't want to throw because he spent so much time making them.

Fisher thinks it's pretty cool that he can pee outside. The problem is he doesn't always hide it.

All the cousins worn out from grandma fest.

Another quintessential summer pic.

He's getting pretty good at this.

Splashing at the pool.

Phoenix isn't crawling yet, but she can sure get around. She's scoots backwards and here managed to scoot all the way down the hall. Fisher came to have a chat.

Great for teething and 90 degree days.

Before the heat hit, we had some nice cooler evenings and stopped out to see Derek's sister camping.

Chilling on a patio.

And finally...we found a house! It came on the market two weeks ago and we had our offer in and accepted by Wed. Close Aug. 5! It's in a great neighborhood, right next to a bike trail, good schools, and close to everything. Totally needs updated but Derek loves that stuff.