Now that the summer is over...

I really miss my two best buddies...

Ellie the butterfly!

Super Owen!

As much as I LOVE being a teacher, I fully understand the want and need to be a full time mommy!

Pics taken from our zoo trip 2011

We will always have our summers :)

Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair

Aundrea has been home for almost 2 months this summer! She is heading back to San Francisco today and will officially be back in the mid-west for good this fall! We are so excited we could burst!




 The kids LOVE Aunt Aundrea! She is fun, silly, compassionate, and kind, she reads to them, plays with them, does their hair and eats a ton of chips and guacamole with them which is Owen's favorite food group at the moment.

Ellie and her Godmother praising the Lord

Ellie's Birthday lunch



Yes, she put pigtails in Owen's hair!

We were able to see Aundrea multiple times this summer, but here are some pics of her latest visit this past week with her mom, Ellen. After they left Ellie told me, "I love Ellen so much, and Aundrea too." It warms my heart to have my kids know and care for two people that I love so much as well!

Summer 2011

Reading books

We love you Aundrea and will see you soon when the leaves turn colors and start to fall, enjoy your last weeks in San Francisco!  

Love!

Weekend News

This past weekend was a full weekend jam packed with roofing, food, and pictures. Friday started off with silly faces at breakfast from Ellie and Owen :)

Funny Faces

We were supposed to go to Galena with my college roommate and her family, we had a change in plans once we learned we were going to have to replace the roof on our home before closing. Luckily it didn't cost us any money (just labor) and we are done with the mess of it. Ben Wilson came down Friday morning to help Jeremy before others got off work. The kids and I headed off to Cedar Rapids to run errands and stay out of the way. Friday afternoon I felt like I cooked non-stop for the guys. It made me feel like I was doing something :)

Guys up on the roof

Saturday all the guys returned plus my parents and Brinley! Brinley's mommy is a nurse and was working so we were lucky to get to have another baby around for the day!

Brinley-she was so good!

Ellie hanging with Brinley

Owen was pooped after all that hard work!

The morning was filled with more cooking, taking care of Brinley and keeping the kids busy. Ellie and Owen missed Brinley's brother, Emerick,  he was already scheduled to hang out with his grandparents. The 3 of them do play together so well! Here is an older pic of Owen and his buddy Emerick eating a snack at our place:

Owen and his buddy Emerick

Relaxing after the roof was all done

Sunday we headed to Dubuque for family pictures with the McCaffery side. They went very smoothly and we were able to enjoy lunch at Catfish Charlie's afterwards!

We would not have been able to get the roof done without the help from our friends and family! Thank you Hosh, Shane, Josh, Wilson, and Dad! We greatly appreciate all your hard work this weekend! I tried to make up for it with food, and babysitting for one of the guys, but we definitely owe them big time!

Niabi Zoo

Today we took a trip to the Niabi Zoo with the Wilson Family! It was a lot of fun and I think that the kids enjoyed seeing all the animals.

Zoo 2011

The whole way to the zoo Ellie talked about wanting to see a lion and a pig. We did get to see the lions, but no such luck on the pigs. The kids watched the lions for a long time (I think waiting for them to move:). Owen kept roaring over and over at the lions. It was too cute.

Rrooaarrr!

C'mon do something lions

We also saw, tigers, bears, elephants and many others. The kids were fascinated by two black bears. I also think that they were pretty impressed with the ducks and the fish in the pond. I thought that the lone swan in the pond was beautiful!

This tiger kept growling at us

What are the bears getting in to???

Beautiful Swan in the pond

They both love dinosaurs

 When I asked Ellie "What was your favorite animal that you saw today?" she said "The Giraffe" So I said, "What were some of your other favorite animals that we saw?" and she said "The other Giraffe" :)

Pictures do not do these animals justice, they are beautiful!

Welcome Cousin Addison Louise!

Addison Louise Daughetee was born Friday, July 29th. She is absolutely adorable!

Addison Louise

  We went to DBQ for her 1 week birthday :) and brought the fam some Happy Joes pizza and a little Iowa Hawkeye cheerleading outfit for Addison! Ellie is thrilled to have another little girl in the family!

First pic of the girls:)

Love her!

The boys :)

A Long Walk on the Trail

We enjoy taking long walks on the trail with Aunt Julie! Once we move to our new house we will be closer to her and the paved part of the trail!

Ready to roll!

Exciting News!

We SOLD our house!!!! Jeremy and I have been wanting to get out of Center Point for awhile now, we just couldn't decide if we were going to move back to DBQ or make the official move to Cedar Rapids. Well,  after careful thought  and consideration we have decided that it is best for our family to move to Cedar Rapids. Our house was put on the market on July 5th and we recieved an offer on July 17th! Negotiantions (which are dreadful, I thought Jeremy was going to kill them in their sleep) we feWe have found a home in Robins, just north of CR (technically not separate at all) and are very excited for the big move. The house we bought is in the CR school district (very important to me) and is a home that we can grow into and make our own. We officially close on August 26th, but may get possession a few days early!

The kids are excited to move!

In other news Owen took a poop on the potty! 7/22/11 (he was so proud!) Ellie and I sang for him! He walked with his head a little higher after the big moment. Love him!

So proud!

Making sure it is still in there