The summer of fun...and some tree hugging

Today I finally sat down to catch my breath. What an amazing summer we have had, and as I sit here, I feel many emotions creep in. Fall is a great time of year, but it always makes me a little sad...mostly because I HATE cold weather and cloudy days--and not fall cold, winter cold, but yet, sad it is. As I look through hundreds of pictures from our summer, it makes me happy knowing we filled our warm days as a family in so many different ways.

JUNE

      

June starts with a fabulous trip-- a stop in the Smokey Mountains, to bringing a sweet

addition, ten years later, to our honeymoon spot.  It was lovely (for the most part).  :-)

Everything else we did...

       waiting to get signatures at PINKALICIOUS - building LEGO's, and many other

playtime favorites went on - a fun JOHN DEERE day helping Daddy

 we love the chocolate cake dessert at Appanoose Rapids (and the Cuban!!) - waterpark trips are
abundant this summer - and biking in Ottumwa Park is a favorite past time

Showing off some biking skills to Nonna and Nonno

  

 hanging on the "beach" in ottumwa - ottumwa balloon races going past our home one
 beautiful summer morning - and presents from auntie danica always bring a lot of joy

 Cousins visit (without any other adults than me--scarey) for three days.  It was a blast, and an inside view of what parents of three kids go through everyday (whew) 
- Nick and I build a ring of fire - 
Harris' skinny teenage back with four bee stings (this was on a seperate visit in Hamilton after a day at the Country Club). 
 In true Harris fashion, he said, "ooww, ooww, oww" quietly, then asked for pictures to send to friends.  I love teenagers (of course, when they aren't mine)

 

With record heat and a bad drought in the making, we spent many days in the
back yard floating in the kiddie pool avoiding all the crunchy burnt up grass

JULY, oh wonderful July

This is what the City of Ottumwa did to our neighborhood in July... 

 

My feeling then...God Bless America and the government in control of our children's future!

They took down six trees around our home, which were among hundreds of others to redo the sewer, and my hell raising consumed a lot of time.  To tell this story would take a seperate blog post, which I have no time for, so to sum it all up--I got the city of Ottumwa to pass a New Resolution to start an Urban Reforestation Program.  Plans are under way as I write, and I can't wait to plant the first tree.  Below is an email I got from one city council member that made it all worth it...

Francesca:

Politics is a funny beast. Just by being there, you put a great deal of pressure on the other guys to follow through. Thank you for caring and standing tall for what you believe. Your strength and that of your friends will result in a change in the way this city operates from this point forward. Think of that! One little lady and a few friends has changed the course of an entire city. This will start now and go into the future. You have done a mighty thing. God Bless you and all of us "tree-huggers". John Richards

my feeling now...be the change you wish to see in the world (thank you gandhi)

THE REST OF JULY

A few pictures from our tree saga...

handing out flyers, with some true friends, to get support -- the kids hanging around our beautiful trees while they were getting cut down --what we salvaged, for building a fairy garden for Ava, with left over tree stumps (this is a work in progress, more like at a halt, until we get rain to soften up the drought riden ground to dig holes)...

   

  

Ava goes away for the weekend without Mommy for the first time and she cries while riding the horse :-( , we took two trips to the zoo, and cousins hanging out on the ONLY cold evening this summer--but still in the pool...

 

The Circus comes to town and Ava proceeds to want to be in the Circus...

  

We babysit a few times and Ava makes a great big neighbor sister...

My sister and I go see Rythmic Circus and have a REALLY good time

(I still need to give my friend Mark hell about that light)...

Another visit with cousins...

 this visit takes us from "roughen it" to pampering ourselves at the nail salon..

My cousin from Colorado came to visit for a week and we took all the kids to Lake Wapello... My favorite memory from this trip, besides the lake, is sitting on my back porch (until god knows when) with Becky & my sister, talking and laughing until our stomachs hurt.  Something about cousins can make everything seem so much more fun!

A fun visit back in Camp Hamilton takes us down memory lane (Ava in my prom dress from 1992), to the "old bridge" to watch barges, and big hugs between cousins.  This trip was extra fun...

 

FINALLY ON TO AUGUST

 Lots and lots of fun in August with even more cousins & family, and one wedding thrown in there...

and more visits with cousins...have you started to notice a pattern here?  I think they all like coming to our house..and eating ALL my food.  :-)

and some last minute fun stuff before school started...

By the end of August, Iowa is the driest I have ever seen it . Creek beds and river beds are empty, corn fields are withering, trees, flowers, grasses, and my water bill are all suffering.  The clouds came through all summer, but the rain just wouldn't come.  What little rain we have had, has been a blessing, and God got lots of thanks those evenings from Ava for even the littlest rain puddle to splash in.

This is one of the last bike rides we took that I cherish...I miss our summer evening walks already.

 THEN THERE WAS SCHOOL!!!!

  

 

 teacher of the century mrs. johnson - getting our new tradition of after school ice cream - 

and the heart she carried on her hand during school in case she missed her family.  she did great, but did tell me she kissed her heart a couple times when she thought of us...oh, my melting heart!!!

Freedom is...

riding your bike alone for the first time.  Ava did it tonight!!  We laughed together, she squealed in delight a lot, and then a small tear popped up from me.  Her first taste of freedom and I got to help her learn to feel it.  I had no gadgets on me so it was a real moment with no interruptions from technology.  They should all be that way! It was much more special to focus only on her instead of fumbling around for my IPhone to capture a moment that already past.

I can't wait to help her take off again tomorrow...maybe this time with a camera.  :-)

Dutch for a day...

 OOPS! 

We weren't really very good at following rules in Pella, IA.  There were a lot of signs to control your children and walk with your hands behind your back, which kind of made us want to do everything naughty.

When my sister captured this guy (dutch chuckie) we just lost it.  We laughed a lot on this trip and made some really good memories.  It's not that Pella is a bad town, it just made us giggle a lot. So in case you don't know, we have sick minds, and like my sis said, our poor kids probably left there afraid of everything Dutch...windmills, mannequins,  dust ("too dusty mommy" said between over dramatic coughs from my daughter), old houses, miniature villages, and elevators.  Yes, elevators.  I was scared to get on one and  ended up making two little girls cry (not on purpose. they seemed to sense my fear), a sister smirk, and a little boy stand there looking at us girls like "what the f*** is wrong with these girls and WHY am I always stuck with them!?!?"   You see what I mean, lots of laughing went on.

On a nicer note, the meat market had THE BEST sandwiches and dried beef dip, it was the cleanest Iowa town on record, everyone was super friendly (Minus the lady in one shop we stopped at. I'm pretty sure she was on to our naughtiness), and there was plenty to do for the entire day.  Even the playground had a sign posted apologizing for the mulch not being down until July.  REALLY!!!????  An apology sign at the playground?  Raise your hand if you get the feeling there is something weird going on?  :-)

I'll stop talking and just post some fun pictures now.  It really was a great time and I recommend visiting when you get a chance.

  

It was a little windy at the top of the windmill...

I naturally screamed when the tour guide made me stand where my sister is standing.  It gives you a free falling sensation.  So guess what, I even made the tour guide laugh.  You see, lots of laughing was

not an exaggeration. 

 The miniature village...where our children did NOT walk with hands behind their backs

  

Coffee shop break.

  

And finally, finding this helped take a little of our suspicions go away.  :-)



Cherry harvest

Like everything this spring, the cherries came a month early and with an abundance not seen in quit a few years.  Enough for us, the birds, the squirrels, and the chipmunks...we did still enjoy scaring them off. :-)

I busted "A&A" standing on the ladder after telling them to wait for me...they of course smiled big.

Then the work began.  These two girls picked the entire time and helped harvest eight cups of cherries!  They then ditched me and spent the rest of the day inquiring when the pie would be ready to eat. 

AND THEN...THERE WAS PIE!!!

This day was full of fun, but my favorite moment was when these cousins hugged in excitement and squealed,  "today is going to be the best day ever!!!!!!"

Feet

I call this post feet because her feet are the only thing that didn't grow this school year; you may notice she is still wearing the same sandals in both her first day of school picture and her last day of school picture.   :-)

She has had an amazing year of school with two of the most amazing teachers to encourage her along the way.  Thank you to Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Glosser (and Seton Catholic School) for making Ava's first year of school memorable in so many ways, and for also teaching the kids ALL the President's of the United States.  Graduation tomorrow is sure to bring another tear to my eye, and some of the kids who are moving onto Kindergarten will be missed dearly.

Withdrawals

It is well known my daughter still used a binky to fall asleep at night. She would sleep all night without it, but we would find it back in her mouth in the morning; who knows when she woke up and grabbed it. All I know is, we have been sleeping really well for four years...UNTIL NOW! Woowza! Talk about binky withdrawals for all of us.

We had been preparing her for months, "when you turn four, the binky fairy comes to take it and she will leave you a present in its place", so she knew it was coming.  She was weepy the first night, but not throwing a fit. I encouraged her, telling her how smart, strong, & determined she is and how proud of her we were.  This seemed to work, but it took a week of whining, about not being able to sleep without it (which she did just fine each time) and four...yes four nights, of little presents from the binky fairy. This girl is smart. She didn't need that binky, she just wanted a gift. She sucked me into her fake whining for four nights, but when the huge fit came for not getting what SHE wanted from the fairy, we pulled the plug on the fairy (don't ever underestimate your toddler's brain power to sucker you in).

She has done fabulous sleeping without it, minus one problem, she now wakes up an hour and a half earlier than she used to (can you hear my sleepiness! I feel like I'm back in that baby stage). People! We have been sleeping in until 8/8:30 for four years! The 6:30am crap doesn't work for me. 6:30am is my calmly waking up time...stretch, glass of water, bathroom to clean up, work out, eat a bowl of cereal, facebook, email, news, start laundry; well, you get the picture, I do things for myself without interruption.  This past week, my 6:30 started out with a bang from her door opening, a grumpy face, pathetic eyes pleading for a binky, a whine about the binky not being there to help her go back to sleep, a smack in the face from a stuffed toy when I tried to roll over to go back to sleep, I'm hungry, I'm tired, I want to go downstairs, GET UP MOM...more pushing on the face, is the binky fairy coming again tonight, because I want (insert some crazy request). Now comes my grumpiness, and don't mess with me if you start me off in a bad mood. Her and I had to stay in separate rooms each morning until we both cooled off. She watched TV, I read the news on my IPad, 1/2 hour later we came together; hugged, kissed, and moved on to the rest of the day...until the bewitching hour of 4:00pm...you get the picture here; sassiness oozing from my toddler having withdrawals from that binky and lack of sleep. It was like her happy drug and the happy drug was gone. She was suddenly an angry, aggressive, whining toddler (NOT Ava at all).

WE HAVE ALL BEEN MISSING THAT BINKY...

Until this morning...she was all smiles and back to herself at a late 7:08am.  :-)  Just like that. Another trying week passes and we all survived unscathed and almost used to the early morning call for motherhood.

AAAAHHHH memories...I thought this one was quit appropriate for this post.  :-)