Indianola Balloon Festival!

Sorry for the blog overload... I figured if I didn't post it right away it wouldn't get done! so here goes... Tonight was such a fun night... Alicia and Brenton invited us to go to Indianola for the BALLOON FESTIVAL!!! The boys were SO excited!!! It had been over 2 years since Nick, Parker and I had been (and Owen had never been neither had Alicia and Brenton), so it was nice for all of us to get to go! We got to see all of the balloons and then the "GLOW" show too!

There were rides and blowup toys for the kids too, so we all had our share of fun! It was SOOOO HOT today... but by evening it had cooled off a little, so it was nice. Parker went on most of the rides and Owen only did two of them (the swings and the train)! He is still a little scare of the bounce houses, etc. I am sure it won't be long though!!!! After all of the rides we of course had to have a funnel cake!!! They cost $5!!!!! - - - and they really weren't all that good! Oh well... we didn't go there for the funnel cakes... and it is the fun we had that was important!! :) ... and I must add... the boys were SOOOO GOOD... Nick and I were so proud! :)

We were camera happy... so enjoy! :)


Some balloons...











The rides...

Tuesday Night Date Night

Last night (Tuesday) Nick and I had a date night! Jake and Michelle came over to watch the boys (our neighbor boy who is our sitter) and we went out with Meredith and Jonny for a night on the town!!! :) hehe!

We went to West Glen to Los Cabos (a Mexican restaurant) for dinner! We sat out on the patio... and the weather was beautiful!! The food was good... I can't say the same for the smell inside the restaurant! aghh... I am not sure I would have eaten there had there not been any tables outside available!!! - - - it really was good food (and GREAT company) though!!! :)

Afterwards we headed to Target (for me - it was the deal)!! And then on to the Cabaret for a drink! Again we were able to have a table outside on the patio... so nice!!! It was a good time... lots of good conversations... right Jonny??? hehe! We had a really nice night guys... THANK YOU!!! :) Hope to do it again soon!
Here are some pics...

CAMP OUT...

It has been another crazy week... sorry about the delayed post!! :) The week was filled with all sorts of activities... including a grill out, making new recipes with Nicole, camping out, making SMORES and a visit from Nina and Papa Hamann, the Edsen's and Nina Wilson!!! What a FUN time!! :) - - - THANK YOU for all of the visitors... and THANK YOU Don and Jane for the sweet corn and Kim for the bars/recipe! :)

I will spare you all of the details... as it would take hours to write, but we did have an exciting week/weekend! Much of our excitement was on Saturday night, when we decided to have a "CAMP OUT" in our backyard to give the kids an opportunity to try camping while avoiding loading up everything and driving somewhere only to find they didn't like it!! Much to our suprise, they LOVED it!!! :) First we had the Ladwig's over to roast marshmallows and make SMORES (my favorite!!!)! The kids had lots of fun running around and burning up some energy - me on the other hand was a bit stressed using the fire pit for the first time... too many scares for me!!! - sorry Nick! It was fun though!

Here are a few photos from the day/night!

SUPER HEROES...

This week was a little crazy for us and I didn't get many photos! (SORRY) Nick worked TOO MANY hours... and we spent the week getting ready for our garage sale (which is now going to be an annual event for us)! We did manage to get in a "DATE NIGHT" on Wednesday... we went out to TSING TSAO and to the Comedy Club with Brian & Lori and Alicia & Brenton... which was lots of fun!!! Not the BEST comedian, but still a GREAT night!

Thursday night was ALL about the garage sale!!! We had the garage sale all day Friday and Saturday... Nick took off Friday as a vacation day and watched the kids for me. On Friday Parker had a LEMONADE STAND and sold bags of chips too... he did pretty good, but it didn't last too long! Needless to say, there was NOT a lemonade stand on Saturday! :) hehe! He did good though... he made $9.50 and he even gave change once!!! - - that was us telling him to take the man's dollar and give him 3 quarters back... he was a little upset that he had to give out 3 quarters... he said, "I only got one dollar and he got 3 quarters????" it was too cute! :)

Here are a few photos from earlier in the week...

Our little SUPER HEROES!!! :)

Fun with FRIENDS!

This past weekend we had Nick's parents, a.k.a. Nina and Papa Hamann come and visit and then stay with the boys on Saturday while Nick and I got to spend some time away with our Ida Grove and Battle Creek friends~! So... Saturday morning everyone came over and we headed to Adventureland!!! It was a FUN day!! :) Then after spending the day there we all went to get ready and then met up again at their hotel room downtown! We went out for dinner at Raccoon River Brewery (which was VERY good!)... and then out on the town for a few drinks. Dawn and I even got in a dance to "Strokin'" - hehe! It was a fun night out and we were so glad to get to spend time with everyone!!! :) THANK YOU guys for getting in touch with us ... we hope you all had fun too!!!

Here are some photos of the night...

VBS Photos and SLEEPOVER #1

We made it ALL week at VBS... and all of the kids had a BLAST! I am sooo glad they were old enough this year to get to go! As I mentioned in a previous post, Parker took 3 friends... Corbin, Cooper and Lilly!!! Friday (tonight) after VBS we had Parker's 1st sleepover too! :)









Nick and I took the kids to VBS and then picked them up when it was over... we surprised the kids by taking them to DAIRY QUEEN for a treat!! They were SOOO excited and we saw lots of other VBS kids there too... I think everyone had the same idea tonight since it was so HOT! :) We also met Nina and Papa Hamann and Owen there!!! They walked over while we went to get the kids... so Owen got to be with the kids too! :) The kids were being silly and putting ice cream on their faces, etc. We were SO THANKFUL we decided to eat outside. hehe!


























After the ice cream it was back home for the sleepover! The kids were all excited... we played the Wii, toys, and read books! Then, up stairs to get on jammies, brush our teeth and potty (can't forget this step with three 4-year olds and one 5-year old!). After that they each picked where they wanted to sleep in Parker's room and we tucked them all in and after a few "SCARY NOISES" made by Cooper and a story or two... again by Cooper (who was assisted by Corbin and Parker), Lilly finally told them to stop making noises and asked me to turn the HANNAH MONTANA music down :) and off to "la-la land" they all went! Here is the proof....


Lilly... Cooper... Parker (sideways) and Corbin! :)











... and we can't forget about OWEN!!!!!! (he slept in our bed!!) :)











We had such a great night... THANK YOU to the Mommy's and the Daddy's for letting us have a fun week and for getting to end it with a SLEEPOVER! :)