A Picnic with Julie

If you remember from earlier posts... my friend Julie was diagnosed with breast cancer last year.... since then she was doing great and the cancer was gone... then she went in for her 3 month scans and was told she had cancer in her liver, lungs, bones, brain and skull. She is such a fighter... and she is once again fighting this horrible disease at age 37! Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

Saturday Julie invited everyone to go to Ledges State Park in Boone for a picnic! I haven't gotten to see Julie in a while so we loaded up the family and headed over! It was a GORGEOUS day... we put on our "team" shirts (per Julie's request), grabbed subs at subway and joined in the fun! It was great getting to catch up with Julie and other friends! Julie had a friend there taking lots of photos for her for her photo albums. It was nice just getting to spend time together and to see all of the people there to show Julie their support and to let her know we are all there for her. As usual... Julie looked great! I am so glad she invited us all out while she is still feeling good and can enjoy the company. She started her chemo Friday. Here are a few photos we took.

Julie and I...

Jessica, her boys Hayden and Hunter and Julie...












Me, Julie, Sue and Julie B...

Nick's Uncle Greg...

We wanted to update you about Nick's Uncle Greg... and ask for prayers. He has spent the last 3 months in the hospital fighting cancer. He was able to go home the other day and is now back in the hospital again. He has been through so much and we are praying for God's strength through it all for him and his family! Lots of prayers and love are being sent their way.

State Fair 2009

As usual we made our annual trip to the State Fair with Dawn and Andy... this year Tim and Jen came along too! It was so great to not be walking around sweating this year... it was in the 70's for a change and it was nice! :) We had our share of grease on a stick... and like years past, it was great! I never did get my banana on a stick that I wanted tho. :( Every year we have to make a visit to the tractors... the boys love it and secretly I think Nick and Andy do too! :) I didn't get a ton of pictures... but here are a few!

The boys at the ARMY booth... checking out the hummer!
























Tractor time...

The guys...

Dawn & Jen...

More MACHINE fun...

Parker's FAVORITE part of the fair... getting his IOWA Hawkeye shirt/hat and a picture with Herky!!! :) He is a bit of a nut for the hawkeyes these days... it's kinda funny! He was pretty bummed that they were out of posters and tatoos!

Our Visitors...

We got some suprise visitors the other night... Brenton and Alicia stopped by to bring the boys (and me) the movie Madagascar 1 to borrow! We have seen Madagascar2 and LOVE IT so she thought we had better see the first one too! THANK YOU ALICIA!! :) I promise we will get it back to you soon... I have only seen parts so far and I have to see it all! :) Anyways... during their visit the boys were in a silly mood and they got a little crazy with the camera and with the ink pen! Poor Brenton had tattoos all over his arm when Parker was done with him! - - hope it wasn't too hard to get off! At least it wasn't a sharpie, right! :)

THANKS for stopping by guys... as always it was great to see you! :)

this was just the beginning... :)

Parker's First Day CONTINUED :)

Forgot to add the image of when he got home! :) This was the BEST part of the whole day!! Parker was home and coloring and Owen woke up and saw he was home, yelled "Parker" and ran to him and hugged him! It melted my heart... and of course I made them stay in the position so I could grab my camera! :) I LOVE these moments! :)

Parker's First Day of Kindergarten

Wednesday was Parker's first day of Kindergarten! All morning he was pretty excited... he felt pretty special having his daycare friends here to see him off for school! He was anxiously awaiting his bus ride! :) Nick stayed home in the morning so he c0uld see him off as well! It was raining so we drove to the corner and all waited in the van for the bus! Once the bus got here we took some final pictures and gave our hugs and kisses and waved goodbye... then we got in the van and the crying continued for me... all morning I was really nervous for him and sad to see him go! We were told that the parents usually go up to the school to say their final goodbyes so we too headed to the school. SO GLAD we did... all of the parents were there... and poor Parker would have been heart broken if he didn't see his parents there! :) They lined up with their teachers and then walked on in to their classroom! Poor Parker had such a frightened look on his face and I felt so bad leaving him there. - - he doesn't know anyone in his class either! So... we left (me more sad than before) and Nick went to work and I began my day without Parker. It was definitely different not having him here.

When I went to meet him on the bus after school he was quiet. I asked him about his day and he said he had SQUARE PIZZA! :) - - hehehehe... this was too cute! He was pretty excited about the pizza. Then he showed me he had a bandaid on his knee. Aparently a little boy punched another little boy and that boy went running to tell the teacher and knocked Parker down on his way. He scraped both knees and his hands too! poor guy! :( - - - at least he still wanted to go back the next day! :) All in all it went well and he says he really likes his teacher! :) - - oh and the best part... Nina Wilson called him and asked if he made any new friends... Parker said yes, two of them! Nina said, "what are their names?" and Parker said, "Ummmm.... I forgot the first one.... and I forgot the second one." That made us all laugh! He is so funny! :)

Here are lots of pics from this memorable day!

Our Past Week

This past week has been maybe the best all summer! :) We spent most of the week RELAXING! We hung out at home almost every night and were in bed early too! We needed this... with Parker starting school and us having a super busy summer, it was time for a little SLOW DOWN! I worked on a few screen orders and had some errands here and there... which in the midst of all that Nick and I got this sofa table on craigslist that we are sanding and refinishing to add to our family room so we are excited about that! - - $30! I love a good buy! The boys have spent some time in the pool and on their bikes before summer ends... but other than that not a lot to blog on. Unfortunately I have no pictures to post, but if there were pictures, you can bet we would all be SMILING! :)

Tomorrow is Parker's FIRST day of kindergarten! Nick is working from home in the morning so we can both see our baby off! Hard to believe this day is here already. - - I will post pics tomorrow... wish him and us luck! :)

Pool Party

We had an eventful weekend last weekend! We did Adventureland on Friday, school shopping on Saturday (some great deals too!!) and then headed over to Ryan & Candi's for their pool party Saturday evening! Kim/Craig & family (Candi's friends from Davenport area), Jodi/Adam & family, Candi/Ryan & family and our family were all there for the fun! The guys got their fair share of cannonballs in while us girls got in all of our talking and kitchen time! :) It was so much fun! The kids all had a great time swimming and playing... and the food was AWESOME! :) These are the best get-togethers!!

Here are a few pictures from our fun day!