My True Iowa Girl

Code Yellow!

For those of you who haven't heard: at Target (at least the one in Ames) "Code Yellow" apparantly means "lost child." That's right the lost child belonged to me. Little Miss Ella wandered herself far enough away that the walkie talkies were lighting up and a woman clad in a red shirt and khaki pants walked my child by the hand to her mommy. What they didn't know was she was successfully avoiding the crocodiles whom, it would seem, were chasing her. The less than harrowing ordeal was well short of two minutes, and neither mom nor three year old were overly panicked. As the seconds ticked by I obvioulsy got more and more frightened, but mostly I knew she'd just bolted and was making her way through the aisles. The stink.

Mia's biggest news is that she seems to be officially off the boob. I had started to wean her last week, and discovered by mid week that I was pretty much making her nurse in the morning, which was our only time of the day. So I decided to let her lead and she was done by Friday. So we're three days out now and she had her first cup of cow's milk today. Seems to have taken to it much better than Ella. Thank God.

I realize it's been a while, but in my defense we were busy one week and I was sick the other. Granny and Grandpa did make it into town for the birthday celebration. And as promised I ws contently sleeping. As was, it turns out, Chris. They were welcomed by our 130 pound fierce guard dog. The one that woke neither of his owners, and made little or no sound in the welcoming. We had a good few days with them, enjoyed the pool, hit Applebees for dinner and even made some time to catch the "little zoo" in Fort Dodge. It's one of our favorite spots, and I'm glad we went cause I haven't made the effort to take the girls there this year. They hung around long enough on Monday for a quick lunch then headed back to Ray-town.

Ella has completed her first week of swim lessong (passed level one!) and is starting her second tomorrow. She took well to the lessons, nothing earth moving given that she's quite comfortable in the water, but it's fun to watch her try and float and tred water.

We spent last weekend in Racine for Jill Brown's wedding. It was fun to get to see lots of old friends, and spend some time with Scott and Heather too. Mia has taken to Scott like you wouldn't believe. It was a quick trip, and both Chris and I were feeling pretty crappy when we left Sunday morning, but it's well worth it and we enjoyed the trip and company.

Last week was a bit quieter. We hosted play group on Wednesday...outside games with slip-n-slide, pool with the whale slide and this cool rocket thing that shoots off the end of the hose that Hagedorn's brought down. Way cool. Everyone packed picnic lunches and the kids ate outside. It was a complete success. Measured mostly by the soaking wet kids and sand strewn about my yard!

We hit the fair on Friday. Didn't stay long, just a few rides and some animal visiting. The girls got closest to the pigs (ack!). Mia seems to love animals, and would have loved to spent more time oggling them!

Our weekend was mostly uneventful. Chris spent most of the day with L and Mia on Saturday while I ran some sidewalk chalk art contest and did some major landscape remodeling. We've finished loading our brand new, completely finished closet with all of our clothes. A feat that is helping me leep so much better at night!

Hope you're all doing well. We're gearing up for Mia's birthday in a few weeks, after which mom and dad are off to KC for a few days without the kids! I've never been so excited in my whole life!

3 Years Old!!!

So far the birthday weekend has been a HUGE success! Emma and Leah arrived yesterday afternoon just in time to eat lunch adn go to the pool. Emma and Ella are becoming great friends, and it's always good to see Leah. They are both doing well and we always enjoy their company. Nana and Papa joined the brigade for dinner nad a trip to open gym at Ella's gymnastics club. The girls were dripping with sweat before we left, jumped on the trampolines nad did summersaults until they couldn't stand anymore.
The party was tons of fun, the girls all looked so cozy in their comfies, and they all seeme dto enjoy decorating their teddy bear pancake with chocolate chips and m&m's just long enough to pick the candy off and eat it, only to repeat the process!
After the party we hit the pool again with Leah adn Emma for a while and sent them on their way. Nana and Papa treated us to a birthday dinner at Outback and we're now winding down, and mom is headed straight to bed. Granny and Grandpa are set to be in house when Ella (and mom) awake tomorrow. I told Chris I'm regretful that ther eis no possible way for me to maintain a state of wakening until they arrive tonight. I fear I will be sawing logs before 9:30 and they look to make their enterance sometime after the stroke of 12.
So far so good....the festivities continue tomorrow!

Too Many Words....

Not enough pictures. But alas, I forgot to take my camera along on the 4th so I'm bound to Heidi's expert photography skills. We had a great time on the 4th. Chris and I invited Heidia nd Jim along with their 4 kids to the cabin at Big Sandy. It was the first time we've had guests out there and it was lots of fun showing them around, and playing lake games with our friends. Addie and Ella had a great weekend together, very little fighting, lots of playing. They both skied:

Chased and caught toads endlessly:

And finally stopped long enough to sleep:

Matthew and Mia did like they usually do and played happily so long as they got to be a part of the party:

Chris weight loss contest "ended." As can be expected the "bet" part of the whole thing fizzled out, but lots of boys lost lots of weight. Frosty can proudly say he's no longer obese! As can Chris and Seth, and Giff seems to have moved off the almost obese edge. Theres are millions of fat cells out there screaming for nourishment and these dedicated boys refuse to feed them! Chris and Seth both lots somewhere between 55 and 60 pounds, Giff nearly 30 and Frosty over 10 I think. I am so very grateful for the life change this has spurred in Chris. He's so much healthier now, and says he feels better now. He's looking forward to living an active lifestyl, not just workouts, but playing ball with the kids, family walks, canoeing, anything that requires effort and that he may not have been terribly comfortable at his prior weight. Sounds like lots of fun to me!

You can imagine we've not slowed much since returning from the lake. The remodling project was supposed to be completed on Wednesday, but when Shawn called down to the flooring company to pick up the remaning pallett of floor he found out it had been used for another job and was being reordered. Bummer. So we're left with a half floored bedroom, and no trim in either the bedroom or closet. The rest is complete though, and while I was hoping it would be done for our company and Ella's party this weekend it's not that big of a deal.

On Wednesday evening Addie and Delaiey both came to play with our mini water park in the backyard. Most fun was the slip-n-slide. Which the 3 year olds can't seem to figure out how to properly use so I pick them up and basically throw them down the thing! After Delainey went home we walked Addie back and shared some pizza before we left her there but Mia to bed and did some closet work. Ella fell asleep watching movies on Heidi's bed. I pawned the girls off to a Bailey Tesdahl yesterday and did some major cleaning and redecorating. I have no idea where we would be with that family.

Leah and Emma are coming to visit today, they should be here by noon. We have plans to swim until the girls are wrinkly and go to open gym at Ella's gymnastics club tonight. They should be plenty worn out to sleep until the party in the morning. Cartoons and pancakes in comfies for 5 three year olds! Sounds like fun to me!

Have a good weekend everyone. I'll try to ge party pics up as soon as I can. More importanly I'll try and be sure and TAKE party pics!

Thanks, Coach

This is my small tribute to the woman to whom a owe much of my growth and maturity during my college years.
A few weeks back my college basketball coach, Lori Ulferts, retired from the profession of coaching. I can't say it was a suprise, she always told us when her own kids started getting involved in their own activities that she could hang up her whistle and follow them around, much as they had followed her during their early years. It took a good bit of time and maturity for me to realize how much Coach cared about us, and how much she was willing to do for us. But I can say now, of the woman who made a one day trip to Lincoln from St. Cloud for my wedding, that I am forever graterful to have been coached by her. I can think of no more worthy recipient of her time than her husband and two children. To them I say....thank you for sharing her with us.
Good Luck, Coach.

You Put What??? Where???

That's right....Ella shoved a piece of candy from a candy necklace up her nose, and managed to successfully lodge it just out of sight. It was a disaster. The whole day was kind of crazy...we babysat over the lunch hour, then quick got dressed to go to the pool. Had to run around town looking for a carseat so we could take Addie with us and they not only forgot to leave her a seat, but wouldn't answer their phones! While we were at the pool, my wallet got lifted out of our bag (I found it a few feet away a little later...just cash gone, apparantly the mini-thieves at the WC pool aren't interested in identity theft. Just cash for snacks). So after promising the girls sno-cones and running around trying to find my wallet, I was on my way to the ATM when L starts whining about how there's something in her nose. I ignored her until I checked back and there was blood streaming down her face onto her suit. So I jumped in the backseat with wipes and cleaned her up as she's telling me... "I put a candy in my nose."
Mom quick calls the doctor (the good ones, down in Texas of course). I actually called the direct access line Dianne gave me, and someone else answered. "Is Dianne available?" "She's not in right now." "Like out, out?" "Yes, out of the office." "Crap! This is Emily Hansen, we're up in Iowa, blah blah, insert story here." "blah blah, talk to the doctor...since it's bleeding you probably want to find a doctor, maybe you have family that knows a doctor..." "no, no, we live here...not visiting, I can go the the doctor if I need to." "Oh...you live there? Yeah, go ahead and take her in..."
So I take Ella, Mia and Addie to the doctor. All of us in swim suits, Ella with no shoes on. We're there five minutes, the PA looks up her nose says he'll be back. Ten mintues later I ask Ella to blow softly, and it's dissolved enough to come out. That's it...disaster avoided. We capped the adventure with the previously promised sno-cones. And everyone lived happily ever after.
The End.