Beautiful fall...

I ran to the store early this morning and on my way back the light was just so beautiful across the neighbors yard, I had to grab the camera and try and capture it. I so love fall colors! If I could live my life in green, brown and oranges I would be happy always! I of course am not as happy with the photo as the real life, but it stiff shows the colors. And as my sweet Linds is standing over my shoulder as I type saying where is that from, that's cute! I guess that's all the complements I need. Any of you plant buffs, know what sort of shrub/bush that is????

I have been a little computer absent the last couple weeks, Carter's birthday sort of hit me in a strange way I've been sorta sad, but I know I'll get over it. I think it must mean that my baby days are behind me and well that must mean I'm getting older and I hate getting older.

The other shots are Carter's one year photos, they went well. He is such a wild guy, I would have never guessed he would be this way and I know he will continue to surprise me as he grows.

So the other thing that I must document is the fact that I had my very first surgery. Not that I wanted it! Last Friday I felt icky, painful stomach cramps for 24+ hours. Finally after my husband forced me I went to the ER Saturday morning. After a few tests and a CT scan (5 hrs later), doc is back and yep it's Appendicitis! FABULOUS! Off to surgery I go with an Anesthesiologist who keeps telling me to think of a happy place like the beach, little does he know I hate the beach! I tell him that as I drift off...

All went fine and I am feeling much more like myself today, only tough part was/is that I am suppose to be watching the amount of lifting and carrying that I do. Not so easy with a toddler! Especially with a toddler who is sick too! Yep I guess it's that time of year, Carter's got the nasty cold/allergy/asthma thing going on again. I am not happy! I am so worried that I will spend the next six months trying to help him breathe. I am freaking out enough that I have already scheduled a meeting with our Doc to discuss a plan of attack for this winter. First thing will be to get refferal to a specialist. Wish me luck with that meeting.

Kaleb has is first "test" in Tae Kwan Do on Tuesday, he can move up to a yellow striped belt. I'm excited, I'm going to bring the camera and get some photos to scrap! YIPEE! (really do I need more photos to scrap????)

Linds is wonderful, everytime I look at her I just think how beautiful she is and how fast she is growing up. She told me the other day she was going to be a superstar when she gets big. I asked her if she would be an actress, singer or dancer. She replies, a dancer and maybe singing too. She has the performing bug bad. Right now she is dancing and singing her way through the High School Musical CD for the third time. Don't you just love the "Fabulous" song! I kinda think I like it better than her, and I am so being completely truthful about that.

The Birthday Party was a success...

Can't you just taste that frosting??? Ok any of you real experienced photo takers out there, tell me is there are trick to taking photos inside and not ending up with the horrible shadow??? I love the shot but I could live without the shadow. Do I need to invest in a better flash to get rid of this or is there a magic setting that I am unaware of???

We did have an interesting week, yes my baby is one can't really seem to get over that yet, but I will move on. Kaleb, Linds and I took Carter to McD's on his birthday, there was another little one just a few months older than Carter and boy did he love that. I am thinking that Carter needs more playdates with other one year olds. I was a little worried that he was gonna tackle the other little one, he is an aggressive monster some times. I have heard lots of stories about child number three and well Carter fits like a peg into some stereo types.

Then on Wednesday I had my first "photo shoot" I was the photographer! I conviced my friend to let me take senior pictures of her daughter. I am relatively happy with how they turned out and it seems they are too. We are doing some more tomorrow, she had a different hair style that she wanted to try.

Thursday's excitement came from Kaleb. As you may have read he's doing Tae Kwan Do, he loves it and it is fitting quite well into our schedules. Well on thursday Kaleb broke a board with a kick! I so wish I could have been there to get a picture, but I am guessing he will attempt this another time and I can be there. He was so proud it was just awsome!

We also had teacher conferences and I am feeling better about Kaleb's teacher, she really adores him and is so willing to do whatever it takes to help him succeed. Linds' conference took all of 30 seconds, she just doesn't have any issues and is doing all that she should be doing. The teacher did laugh at one of my comments about my concerns, I had to ask if Linds follows directions in a timely manner (she so does NOT do this at home), I guess she does fabulous at school though.

On to the big party day, yesterday. We had nine adults, seven kids, and two fabulously precious infants (SIL's twins), quite a crowded house. I think this will be the last time I do an individual party. Next year we'll do all three kids sometime in September, when it's still warm enough to be outside. Which is funny because it's been very unseasonalbly warm around here and if we had better lighting we should have been outside... I am not sure that I like 80+ degree weather in October... back to the party, it was crazy but Carter enjoyed all the attention and the cake! And what type of family would we be if another boy in the house did not have his own four-wheeler! Check out the hot new ride Carter got from Grandpa and Grandma Johnston! And no it's not motorized, just incase any of you were starting to worry, all Carter powered.

Then and now... HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARTER!
I can hardly believe that you are a whole year old today, time really goes by too fast. Look how much you have changed, how much you've grown. You are such an independent little guy, I love it and I hate it. I know that if I don't pay attention if I just doze of for a few you'll be a kindergartener then a senior in HS and then a father. How does it all happen... Until then I will just try and enjoy every moment I get with you and with Kaleb and Linds too.

I'm getting kinda lazy about this silly thing lately, oh well!

This past week has been a strange one, I have been feeling off, not really sure why the kids are acting good, the baby is sleeping alright, we are getting to all of our activities on time and with out whinning, so who knows maybe it's just me!

So anyway to try and get myself out of this funk I decided that I would force myself to get on the scale and really work at getting myself where I want to be. I wasn't a little unhappy with the number but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I am now doing the silly Special K diet, and I really feel good! Quite strange because I thought I would feel like I was starving all the time, maybe I am just to darn busy to think about being hungry any more. And I have gotten my share of exercise in lately. Been walking all week and yesterday the kids and I (with Carter in tow) rode our bikes to and from school. This is not the easiest task, it's kinda hilly out here in Dodgeville and the school is at the top on one very large hill. Now I have only gotten back into biking just a couple months ago and it's tough for me to make the hill on my own let alone pulling the baby. We had to walk it, but hey that's gotta be good exercise too right??? Today is another wonderful day and I am looking forward to a walk after nap time again. I am anxiously awaiting the fall colors, for some strange reason all my pictures from the fall last year are of a little baby???? This year I really want to get some good shots of the kids in the leaves.

Speaking of the baby, we are just around the corner from a birthday! I am in the midst of planning a party and well I could make invites, but I can't seem to find the time. I searched for a "photo" card and here's what I found, check out Zazzle they do cards and shirts and calendars and buttons so much cool stuff. I made the cutest invites, when they arrive I will post a picture.

So you'd think now that the kids are off to school I would have a little more time on my hands...

NOT TRUE!

Really I can't explain why I am so busy or rather why I feel so busy, but the days just fly by and before I know it, it will be Christmas and then we will be counting down the days for summer 2008. Everytime life moves too fast I always think of my Grandma Baun (I know most of you have heard this before, but...) and what she wrote in a card a few years back when she turned 80. Time moves faster because when you are 8 one year is only 1/8 of your life, when your 80, one year is 1/80th! Much smaller amount of time! Grandmother's have so much knowledge.

So I made it through the kids first week of school and we are half way through the second, I have settled down a bit and think that everything will work out just fine.

I spent a wonderful couple days this past weekend in Minneapolis, doing the ScrapFest thing. Went with my friend Chris, it's our third time going up together, we have a blast. The drive is a great time to catch up and just gossip. Then the mall is filled with scrap stuff and everything else you can think of. I tried to stick hard to my budget and I think I didn't go to far overboard. Got a very special truck for Kaleb, check out RIDEMAKERZ they are a spin off of Build A Bear, you build your own car or in Kaleb's case a monster truck! The pictures are of me creating Kaleb's special treat!

Linds got a new doll, and Carter got some much needed fall clothes. And well I did break down a buy a few scrap items. But now I am set for long winter days and nights full of scrappin!

Check out the TallyScrapper pin on my bag! Talked a couple peoples ears off about TS and I am hoping that I see there names there soon.

And the best part of the weekend by far had to be meeting in real life, Minda from tally! She is even more fabulous in person and I think we hit it off quite well. She took us out of the mall and to a great LSS. I found some really cute hunting paper (God knows if I will ever get around to scrapping Jeff's stuff, LOL), and the infamous HS playing cards! Miss Katie it is your fault that I had to have these, but it's ok don't feel bad I LOVE THEM! They are a monster sized full deck of cards to alter and scrap with! I can't wait to get playing with them. Then Minda took us to a great "pizza" joint. Real brick oven pizzas with tons of cheese and chunks of tomatoes! This is heaven for me! I had a great time and I can't wait to see Minda again for our Tally Rally at Blooming Escapes in March!

Well it is a beautiful day outside and I want to enjoy it! Off to wake the baby and then out the door for a power walk before picking up the other monsters and taking Linds to dance. So far the running around between school, Tae Kwan Do, and now dance is going good. We shall see how I feel about that when it's 20 below outside in Januaray...

Back to school...

So we made it through our first day back! And I am having all of the wonderful, over-protective mother issues. If only we could have one teacher for all the grades than I wouldn't worry so much. Last year I had the same feelings of worry about who was watching out for my babies and how I wasn't quite sure if I would like them, then I grew to really like them and now I have to start all over again! I keep telling myself it will be ok, but I still worry.

Both Kaleb and Linds seem totally unaffected by my worry, they had a wonderful day full of fun and new excitement. I think they are both looking forward to going back tomorrow. Kaleb can't wait until thursday, he started Tae Kwan Do today and the next lesson is after school thursday. I have not seen him this excited about something since his first experience on a hunt with daddy. I am really glad that he likes it, they say it's really good for self confidence and he needs that. Tomorrow we get our times for Linds dance class and I think she is excited for that too. Not so sure I am as excited for all these extra-curriculars, means lots of extra running for mom, but what's a parent to do... these kids just keep getting bigger and they want to do stuff!

Speaking of doing stuff, Carter is starting to take a few steps on his own, I am positive he will be a fully functional walker by his first birthday, which happens to be in less than a month now! Why, oh why does time have to go by so fast???

Busy, busy days!

So with Jeff gone we have been keeping pretty busy. Saturday we spent the day at Grandpa Bob's and enjoyed a wonderful meal with lots of chit chat with the Baun family. It was fun for Linds and K to meet some far away second cousins. Two cute and wild boys from Pennsilvania. Linds had them playing Polly Pocket with her it was just adorable. I brought my camera, but alas no pictures were taken by me. I think i was just too concerned with Carter not wrecking anything. Grandpa Bob's really isn't baby proof. I really did enjoy catching up with relatives we rarely see, expecially my Grandparents. Then we sort of snuck out early cuz I needed to get our stuff together for my night out! YIPEE! The kids went to JoJo's and had a blast, while I got a little bit of scrappin done and a whole lot of great adult time in.

Sunday we spent the entire afternoon at Nana's, the weather was perfect. The kids had tons of fun outside on the slip/slide. Only one silly downfall, nana had mowed her lawn the day before. It took 30 min in the shower to shampoo and condition and comb out all the grass that had found a home in Linds long hair! Since my scrap stuff was so nicely packed from the night before I drug that along and got a couple more pages together. Perfectly relaxing time was had by all!

Monday we thought about going to the pool, but we had a wonderful crazy thunderstorm from 9:30ish until noon. So off to madison we went for a little scrap shopping (had a gift cert to spend) and just some bumming. We hit the mall and went to Build a Bear for new accessories (gift certs for that too!). Then we picked up a few new school clothes. It was nice to not feel pressured to rush, rush, rush. We took our time and played. That would be one bonus of not having Daddy home.

Speaking of Daddy, Jeff touched base with us Monday. They made it safely to the hunting grounds in Colorado and are having a pretty good time. I guess he missed a very nice Mule deer that was quite a distance away. He didn't sound upset about missing, would have been very lucky if he had hit it. They are seeing lots of Elk, deer and bear. Which is wonderful in itself, they are bowhunting so there is a whole lot more skill involved in actually taking an animal. We are missing him tons, but he will be home before we know it. Kaleb just keeps asking when will he get to go. K is definately a born hunter.

HAPPY, HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

So I got Jeff out of the house yesterday after only a few very stressful moments, I love the sigh of relief when he is finally gone. He's off to Colorado for Mule deer hunting. But then I started thinking, I probably won't get to talk to him for 3 or 4 days! Yikes! I sorta miss him...

But with the hubby gone I get busy scrappin! Love it! I am so excited I am going to scrapmania tomorrow. Meeting up with Shannon so it should be a blast. It's kinda crazy cuz I am pretty much organized for the crop and I am so a last minute girl, that's probably why I am still up and doing this silly blog I feel like I should be getting something ready. Oh well! Sending the kids to Aunt JoJo's for the night, yes all three of them. K and Linds are way excited about spending the night with their cousins, it's something they rarely do. I of course will be worried about Carter, but with him being number 3, I will just worry and keep it to myself, no calling and checking in. Heck I won't have time for that with all the scrappin and gossipin I'll be doing.

And it's still raining...

So on Friday night the pool was empty, here's what it looks like this morning, YIKES! I am certainly glad that we don't live down in a valley or we could have been dealing with a very wet basement.

I wish I could say that I have been scrappin up a storm in this perfect scrappin weather, but somehow the kids have not let me get to my pages. I did however have a very sleepless night Friday and round about 3 am I finished two pages for a photo swap I am in on TallyScrapper. I like how they turned out, now one last picture to do and I will be sending them back to my friend, hoping that she enjoys them. Maybe I will get that done today...

So yesterday I was supposed to go to my high school reunion, but it was a picnic and well not really what I wanted to do with all this rain. I skipped it. Today I am feeling a little low about not going, but what can I do but wait 5 yrs and try again.

Jeff, Kaleb and Linds went to the races on Friday night, Kaleb was too funny, Friday afternoon I asked him if he was excited to go and he replies, " I get to see Bud, mom!" He thought he was going to a Nascar race! Too cute! Nascar would be the only type of car racing that Kaleb had ever really seen and he just assumed when Daddy asked if he wanted to go to the races it was Nascar. It was sorta sad telling him he wouldn't be seeing Bud (that would be Dale Ernhart Jr., just incase any of you are not up on racing, not that I really am either). I stayed home with Carter, car races are so NOT my thing! Sometimes that baby comes in real handy... But anyway, K and Linds had a great time with Daddy and they both loved the races.

Today if I could have it my way I would be heading to the outlet mall in the Dells and doing some shopping. I have a serious shopping bug and well it has been six months since I've had a day to play. But alas with three kids in tow I will be staying in. I really should try and clean out my office and get some scrap stuff organized...

Alright, blogger is not liking me today, couldn't seem to get my pictures to post through picasa so I'm trying something different we shall see...

So the pictures are from this past weekend, we had a wonderful campfire at Grandpa's! The kids had such a great time running around in the dark. Jeff was giving them little challenges and the winner would get a dollar. By the end the challenges were getting quite silly. We of course did smores, gotta love those! Other than that excitement we have mostly been hanging out at the pool when it's not raining. Boy I am glad that we did finally get some rain, my lawn was turning an awful shade of brown. Now it is back to the beautiful lush green that I love. Only issue now is when it's not raining the humidity is almost unbearable, we are either at the pool on chilling in the AC. Feel like I haven't been able to take a walk or ride the bike in forever. I just don't seem to have the strength to brave the heat. But I am thinking that todays rain is coming from the north along with some cool breezes, sounds like the weather for the next few days will be perfect for walks and rides.

We went school shopping on Monday, checked out the new Super Target in Madison. I have decided that I do NOT like super stores. To really see the whole store I think I would have needed the whole day and without any children. I just don't have that much time anymore... We did get 99% of the things we need, now the count down begins only 20 more days until school starts. I am excited to have a little more quiet time around here, but with each start of the school year I feel sad because my babies are just growing up to fast and I just don't have enough time to do all that I wish we could do.

Speaking of time moving by to fast, this Saturday is my High School Reunion! Yikes 15 years! We are doing a family picnic and it should be a good time. Then next month is Jeff's Reunion, 20 years for him! He sure is getting old! Really you should always marry someone older than you so you can always feel young.

A little bit of fun from the last few days...

So I feel like I must have photos to go along with an update, so that's why I haven't made any notes on this thing in over a week. I really like to blog, so I should get over this photo thing.

Anyway, we have been keeping busy. Last week was a strange one, we were here and there and everywhere it what seemed to be a very short time span. Jeff and I had a little couples get-a-way Sunday night, we had a wonderful dinner just the two of us and then a night alone at the Don Q Inn, Jeff's dad had won a free nights stay and he graciously let us use it! Had a wonderful time relaxing in the hot tub and not having to tend to anyone's needs. Every mom needs that once in awhile!

Monday and Tuesday we ran around doing this and that getting ready for Jeff to head out to Indiana for the IBO World Championships. Jeff left on Wednesday while the kids and I headed in to Madison for some play time with Julie and her girls. We had a great day, love being able to get together with Julie, she gave me all the scoop from CHA (big scrappin tradeshow). Jeff had a good time at the archery thang, he finally had a great year. He took second place out of thousands of shooters, I am so proud of him!

We also had a little camping time in the backyard, got a new tent from Nana a couple years ago and it hadn't even been out of the box. I decided that I could put that thing up myself and I did! Good for me! LOL! K and Linds slept out there four nights. They were really upset to see it come down, but I was starting to worry about my lawn. If we can get rid of this hot humid weather we may put it up again before summer ends.

Carter had his first bubble bath! He is so hilarious, whenever he is in the water be it the pool or the tub he wants to stick his face in the water and drink it. With the bubbles he had the wonderful bubble beard, too cute.

I do think the weather is getting to all of us, poor Jeff it's gotta be so hard to run all day in this heat. Last night everyone was a bit out of sorts and I put Kaleb to work feeding Carter. Already have the scrap page in my head, Big Brother, Big Helper. Now to find some time to get it done.

NEW BABIES!

A huge congrats goes out to my SIL Jill and her hubby on the birth of their twin boys just this morning! The babies are beautiful, happy and very healthy. The first two pictures are of Jesse, he was wide awake and just taking it all in while we were visiting. The second two shots are Cody he was the sleepy one, I even tried to get him to wake up, but nope he just wanted to sleep. They are both so tiny, compared to what I am used to with Carter. I even thought for a minute I wouldn't mind trading Carter off for an infant, they really are so much fun when they just sleep and cuddle. But then I remembered the late night feeding and such and well Carter may be a trouble maker but we've got the schedule down and it works for us. Plus I really do love him way to much to trade him for anything! LOL!

Boy what have I been up to???

Why is it that we all look so forward to summer because it's going to give us time to relax have some fun just take it easy? But that never happens, I know my family and it seems most of the families that I know are so much more busy when summer comes around. Between always wanting to just get outside and play and the summer school and the swim lessons and picnics and barbeques and reunions, the list seems never ending of things to do. Where does the time to just relax go???

So that would be my excuse as to why this is so far behind...

I thought I would share a few new photos with ya'll. The first two are our adventures at swim lessons. this is the first summer that I have been able to sign the kids up. Boy is it amazing what 8 days of swim lessons can teach a kid. the first day Kaleb is saying will we have to go off the diving board, I don't want to go off the diving board. Second day they went off the diving board, albeit a little scared but they both did it! The pictures are from the last day when they were pros off the board and you can hear K as his turn nears yelling out, I can do it on my own you don't need to catch me! the both of them jump swim to the side and do it again like they have been doing it forever. They were passed from level 2 and in a couple weeks we go back to go for level 3. I think if we had a "real" pool in our yard they would want to sleep in it.

The last picture is Carter playing with my Aunt Sue's new puppy, which she lovingly referred to as the land shark! LOL! He has sharp teeth, the puppy that is and well sort of likes to bite things like all puppies do. But no babies or puppies were harmed in the photos taken. I think the two little ones just liked having someone their size to play with.

This past weekend I got some scrappin done, went with my mom and friend Janell to Blooming Escapes for a little rest and relaxing. Janell and I pulled an all nighter Friday, I managed to get three single pages and a double spread finished before we had to get some lunch. But that was all for me, by the time we got back from lunch Saturday I was feeling horrible. Tried to get some sleep, tried to get up and do a little more, but in the end I found a home on the couch until Sunday morning when we left early cuz the other two could see the misery I was in. Went to the doc monday and lucky me I had picked up strep throat somewhere. Feeling pretty much like myself today, but Carter had a fever this am, just called the doc and they got him started on meds. Now Jeff is scheduled for vaca to a world archery tournament next week I really hope this doesn't catch up with him.

I WAS TAGGED!

The rules...
1-post these rules
2-each person tagged must post 8 random(... hopefully interesting) facts about themselves
3-tags should write a blog post of these facts
4- at the end of the post 8 more bloggers are tagged and named
5-go to their blog and leave a comment telling them they're tagged

1 - one on one I can talk your ear off, get me in a group and I am the listener until I know you all really well.

2 - My dh and I met for the first time when I worked at Wal-Mart, he thought I was cute and I thought I already knew him but couldn't figure out from where. This was at least 6 months before we really met each other and started dating. I totally believe in fate!

3 - If I could do anything I would be an actress. I have wanted this for as long as I can remember. Who knows maybe when my kids are grown I will get my big break!

4 - I am an only child and I love to be alone, maybe because with three kids I rarely get the chance to just be alone.

5 - I have an amazing collection of music boxes, but for now they are in storage, no where to show them off in our house.

6 - In middle school my favorite movie was Stand By Me and my girlfriends and I called each other by the four main caracters' names, if my memory serves me I was Gordie. It was a long time ago and those friends have long since drifted out of my life. But to this day when I watch Crossing Jordan and see Jerry O'Connell I always think of that movie and my friends.

7 - I never played any sports in high school, but when I started HS I knew had to be a cheerleader. My proudest moment was getting the Barbie doll award when I was a Junior. It wasn't because I was the prettiest or the nicest, but because I was always the most coordinated when it came to outfits. I always had the perfectly matching socks to my shirt, and that mattered when you tight rolled your jeans. Oh the memories...

8 - Would you believe that I sold Tupperware for 6 years and even had a company car for awhile.

Alright that is done! Ok Katie tagged everyone that I know that blogs so this trail ends with me, but I hope you all enjoyed these silly little facts.

It was a HOT day at the Parade!

Ok so I had to include the first shot just cuz you can see the temp on the bank clock. 97 degrees, fabulous! The pictures are from yesterday's Farmer Appreciation celebration in Dodgeville, there were Fireworks on Saturday night, but those are so not worth saying anything about. The last few years the fireworks have been getting pretty darn good for a small town, well this year's went way downhill. I think they may have lasted 15 min, including a 30 second finale. Carter slept through the whole thing! Oh well next year we will hit Rythm and Booms again.
So back to yesterdays activities... we watched the parade in the swealtering heat, lots of freezies were eaten. Not really sure what were K and Linds favorite parts, but Carter sure loved it when I let him sit on a blanket on the ground. Jeff got a horrible sunburn on his knees, he wears sunscreen to work everyday, but we didn't think of putting any on for the parade. After the parade everyone heads up to one of the parks where they do a great lunch of BBQ pork and beef sandwiches. Love this lunch! Carter slept through this too! Then we wandered a bit before Kaleb took his turn in the peddle tractor pull. He went a whopping 31 feet! Great for a first timer, but not quite good enough to end up in the top three for a prize. He was good about not winning anything, and he's looking forward to trying again next year. Linds got to show daddy how good she is at the Monkey bars, then we did a couple kiddie rides and petting some baby animals. By that time we were all just about melted to the max. Back home to cool off, and then K, Linds and I went to the pool. It was fun to go without Carter for a change, we ventured out into the deep end and the kids were jumping out and swimming to the edge all by themselves. Plus I got to just relax a little in the sun, no baby to keep happy.

Fabulous fun on the Fourth of July!

New day, new look!

Ok so is anyone out there a bit more blogger savy than I??? I really want to do a little more customizing, but I can't quite figure it out. What I want to do is to make my page as wide as my banner, if ya know how to do this let me know.

So let's chat about the new banner... The kids and I got pictures taken on Tuesday. Of course went to my favorite place Portrait Innovations love them! We went with the red, white and blue theme. That seemed to be the easiest way for all four of us to match. I wish that I had not pushed my hair behind my ear for the picture, but it's not all that bad of me. The kids all did a great job and Carter was a bit harder to get shoots, but only because he does not like to sit still. It is so hard to believe that little baby Carter is 9 months old now, he is getting to big to fast. Not walking yet and I keep telling myself that if he waits until after his first birthday to walk that will be soon enough.

So did everyone have a great fourth of July??? We had a very nice day. Got pictures, but haven't downloaded to the laptop yet. Spent the day at Aunt Julie's. We did big cookout and the guys shot trap. So if your not into the gun thing trap is where they use shotguns to shoot the round clay discs in the air. Jeff loves this, and this is about the only time he gets to do it. I was a little worried about how Carter would do with all the noise but he didn't even flinch. Kaleb even shot his gun, not at the discs, but a stationary box on the ground. Maybe next year they will let him try the discs. I did actually get a couple pics of K shooting but I got a little to close and my ears were ringing for awhile so I didn't try anymore. Julie also has a big pool so the kids spent lots of time in and out of the water. Lindsay's favorite part was the kitties. I think there were 8 or 9 of them and they were held by one little person or another all day long. I am sure they were glad to see all of us leave. Haven't seen any fireworks yet, first time in 7 years that we missed Rythm and Booms. I was a little sad, Jeff was wildly happy that he didn't have to drive in the traffic. We will see fireworks this weekend here in Dodgeville. This weekend is our big "festival" they have a small midway at one of the parks along with all kinds of "ball" tournaments, music and fireworks on Saturday night. Sunday is a huge parade and more fun at the park. I really look forward to this each year, this year I am a little worried about the weather, looking like upper 90's with lots of humidity. Very fun to sit in the sun and watch the parade. We'll be bringing lots of water.

So it was a pretty un-eventful week, nothing too exciting. I did get to make a fun purchase the other day. Got myself a bike! K and Linds really like to ride their bikes around and well I just can't seem to keep up with them by foot any more. Also got a fun little "trailer" for Carter to ride in behind me. I took him for a test ride around a parking lot and I can't decide if he liked it or was terrified. He seemed to be holding on to both sides of his seat for dear life, but he wasn't crying. Went for a very peaceful ride by myself too, I really like to ride. I would love to be able to make this part of my daily routine, a quiet night ride each evening. But so far it's only worked out once. Saturday the kids and I rode to the pool, that was an experience. Kaleb does not want to ride in the street, and the straight forward way that is sidewalk all the way also runs right through out business district downtown. Can't really ride on that sidewalk with all the "stuff" that the owners put out during the day. We had to go a round about way. I must tell you that a bike pulling a trailer does not do well with curbs. No accidents, but not very easy. We made it to the pool had a great time and made it home. Can't wait to try it again.