School is back in session!

August 13th the older two went off to school at Walnut Hills Elementary. Carter started 3rd grade and Claire entered the big world of kindergarten. Claire was so excited to go, Carter not so much saying, " It's still summer" I kinda agree with him. There is this big debate about schools starting so early, with Waukee being one of the earliest starting schools in the state. For the 1st two days, the kindergartners had "transition days" meaning a shortened day, going from 9:45 to 1:45. This absolutely helped with the congestion as Claire is in one of 7 kindergarten classes in the building! WOW! Can you imagine what the noise level is like at lunch time with 160 kindergartners eating at once? 

Before school selfie with my girl!

 Claire and her teacher, Ms Ginkens (Carter was too cool to get his picture taken with his teacher, Mrs Huyck)

Claire and her friend Mia from preschool! So happy she has a familiar face in her class! 

Off she goes like a big girl! Luckily she never turned back to see my tears! 

Oh my goodness did Case ever miss his sissy on that first day! I really missed her too and couldn't wait to hear all about her first day! Once we got home from dropping the kids off I had great intentions of getting all kinds of stuff done around the house. Case was my shadow and I finally told him to go play so mommy could get something done. He looked right at me and said "Play with who?" Aww.. he didn't have anyone to play with except boring old mom :( He's not used to be the only child in the house! When it was time to go pick her up he nearly ran the whole way to get her (it is almost a mile!)

Celebrating the first day of school with cupcakes from Smallcakes! They are anything but small and are to die for! YUMMY! We toasted our cupcakes to meeting new friends, learning, learning, learning, being responsible, and most importantly, HAVING FUN! 

Summer Fun!

Excuse me summer! Where did you go? Just like that, it has come and gone! We certainly made the most of it, getting everything crossed off our summer bucket list! Here are a few of the highlights! 

4TH OF JULY! 

We celebrated the 4th in Waukee, hitting up the parade and activities at the park. Later that night we had a front row seat at our friend's the Froehlich's for fireworks and sparklers for the kids! 

ADVENTURELAND! 

Every year I can get half price tickets from work to Adventureland, but you have to use them in July! The only day we could go was July 5th, and it was about 60 degrees out! Can you say BRRR!! We weren't able to hit up the water park or brave the log ride or raging river, but we had plenty of other rides to enjoy in our sweatshirts! 

Case keeping me warm on the Ferris wheel! 

Tough guy on the motorcycle!

ZOO X 2

Claire, Case and I hit up the Blank Park Zoo earlier in the summer and we made a family trip to Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo in July.

I just love the giraffe's but the day we were there, the orangutan's were by far the best! I am bummed I didn't get any pictures of them! The zoo keepers had given them some old clothes to play with and they were actually trying to put the pants on their heads and one had a hat on he pulled down over his eyes and would run into the wall what seemed to be on purpose! We saw a baby orangutan give it's momma a big hug too..so sweet! 

National Balloon Classic

This was by far my favorite summer activity! I can't believe I have lived in Iowa 99% of my life and have never been to this! I think I sat with my mouth open in awe the whole time! We couldn't have asked for a more perfect night to go. 

It ended up being a "glow" night, although we didn't know that when we went. All the balloons set up on the field at dusk and they let the crowd out onto the field to walk around and talk to the balloonist. The balloonist hand out playing cards for the kids to collect (like baseball cards) which was really cool. The announcer would count down and the balloons would all "fire up" to make the sky glow. It was so neat and I loved hearing the kids squeal in delight when they did this! 

MINI VA CA! 

Last weekend we headed to Kansas City to spend a couple days at the Great Wolf Lodge. We stayed in the "Kid Camp" so the kids had their own little cabin accessorized with bunk beds and their own TV! 

After swimming for awhile, we ventured out to this area called Legends and checked out the T REX cafe. It is like a Rainforest cafe, only filled with dinosaurs! 

Scary dinosaurs! 

Back at the lodge, they had all kinds of activities for the kids! The kids went on a "wolf walk" one night and made origami wolves. 

Carter spend quite a bit of time playing this interactive game called "Magic Quest" . Using this magic wand, you had to perform quests to unlock different levels of the game. Once you completed a level, you earned tokens to take to the master magician, Merlin. 

Claire opted for a glittery tattoo instead of playing the magic game! 

Friday night we checked out Kaufman Stadium and watched a really good game against the SF Giants. It was a perfect night for a ball game and it was full of action, including fireworks afterwards! 

Saturday we spent the day swimming before heading back home. 

Can you tell someone doesn't want to leave? 

IOWA STATE FAIR!

It's somewhat the "official" end to summer when it is fair time. I love fair! Mom and dad so graciously helped me out with the kiddos as Jeremy refuses to go! He doesn't know what he is missing out on! Although it is kinda nice he doesn't go so we can eat DONUTS!! (and other really good bad stuff!)

State Fair tradition! Spin art! 

Another tradition is the Little Hands on the Farm, although I think Carter has probably outgrown it! He was a sport about it and helped Case understand what it takes to be farmer! 

Planting their seeds!

Poor Bessie! 

Enjoying the fruits of their labor, Popsicles!

Papa and his little buddy! 

We also filled our summer up with swimming lessons, many trips to the pool our favorite parks with a picnic, mini golf, ice cream shop, ice cream shop, ice cream shop, bowling, camping, making homemade ice cream, a car wash, farmers market, bike rides, and movies in the park! Although summer is over, I am looking forward to my favorite time of year! Fall! Bring on the football, pumpkins, sweatshirts and pretty trees!