Water Water Everywhere

We came home yesterday around 5:00 after being gone all day and the kids yelled upstairs, "The basement is wet!" Yes, the carpet was soaking wet. Ryan's parents came to help us and we wet-vaced the carpet, tore out the pad and vaced it again. We moved the toys upstairs and everything else into the back room onto the cement. That room was wet in places, but not all over. YUCK! Not a great way to end the day, that's for sure. Thankfully, none of the furniture is ruined, so hopefully we'll just have to get new pad and re-lay the carpet.

The pad outside, what a mess!

This is what our back room looks like, so much stuff to go through, but I guess i won't think about it yet.

Now our house stinks. Hopefully it will air out. I keep thinking of all the people who had their whole houses flooded last year and I'm very thankful that this is manageable. However, it's still not fun.

Boating

Aubrey wanted to go boating for her birthday, so Aunt Shannon and Uncle Scotty took us on their boat. We were going to go on Friday night, but it was COLD, so we changed planes to Saturday. It was a much nicer day, although we did get cold at the end of the evening. Aubrey got to invite a friend, so we took her cousin Ashlyn. They had fun together and even jumped in the lake together. Aubrey went tubing again, she went earlier this summer for the first time. Cameron didn't want to tube, but we convinced him and he did a great job!

Happy 5th Birthday Aubrey!

Aubrey turned 5 last Sunday. We had a party with family that afternoon. This year she wanted a Barbie cake. It was fairly easy, but the frosting kept slipping down, so my Sunday morning Barbie wasn't very modest anymore. Thankfully I had extra frosting, so I could fix her. Here's my lovely creation Saturday night right after I finished. I had a hunch that there might be trouble with the frosting, so I took the picture right away.

Aubrey's party was for family. We had it in Kalona at the nursing home so my grandma could come. They have a nice space there that you can reserve, so we had it all to ourselves. Aubrey got lots of girly presents. This must be the year of girliness.

Here she is with her cake before blowing out the candles.

Opening her presents.

Ryan and I got her this hat, how adorable!

Monday night Ryan started a new tradition. He took Aubrey out to eat, just her and him. She looked forward to it for weeks and even dressed up. She wore her hat and took her new purse. She said she was all ready, just like a lady. They ate at Texas Road House and went to Dairy Queen for dessert. Later, Ryan told me how everyone was looking at her like she was so cute. Aubrey overheard and said, "I think I was the cutest one there!" No lack of self-confidence for her.

Aubrey, I can't believe that you are already five years old. It seems like yesterday that you were our only child! You are excited about learning and know so much already. God has given you a strong personality and we hope to shape it in a way that pleases God. You are into dolls, make up and dressing up. You are a great helper around the house and do your chores without complaining. We love you! -Mom and Dad

State Fair

Last Thursday Emily and I took our kids (minus Lauren who stayed with Grandma Miller) to the state fair. It was a perfect day weather-wise. I rained for about 15 minutes in the early afternoon, but other than that the temperature was great! I also think we picked a good day because some schools were back in session, so the crowd wasn't so thick. The kids all did awesome! Who knew that five kids under 5 would have so much fun at the state fair.

The kids looking at the zedonk (zebra/donkey) in the petting zoo.

One of the highlights of the day was the big wheel race. Any kid who wanted to could sign up. We had to wait through the rain, but it was worth it. I don't think my kids had been on a big wheel before, but it brought back memories for me.

My kids in the animal learning center. They loved all the baby animals. I have to say, the videos playing on the big screen were quite disturbing. Animal births should not be witnessed by young children. I felt like I was constantly trying to get them to look away. Thankfully nothing has been said about it since.

The biggest highlight of the fair was the Little Hands on the Farm. The kids got to walk through a little "farm." They got aprons and baskets and got to pick vegetables and apples, milk a cow, drive a pedal tractor, plant crops, etc. Cameron was thrilled with this, it was definitely right up his alley. At the end the kids each got a dollar (play money) to spend after selling their produce at the farmers market. Then they got to go into the grocery store and pick out whatever they wanted. Here Cameron and Ellie are enjoying their popsicles.

All the kids with their baskets.

Swimsuits not needed in our pool

Last night when I was getting supper ready Aubrey and Cameron were playing in the backyard. In the 5 minutes it took me to set the table and get the food out of the oven they had decided to jump into the upside down pool (it was drying) that was filled with rain water. They were even jumping off their table into the pool. I couldn't help but laugh. They had to eat outside and stay out there until bedtime. I don't think it was much of a punishment since I let them continue to play in the pool, oh well.

Wordless Wednesday

Patch Satus

We visited the eye doctor early last week to see how Aubrey's eye is doing. I was hoping for good news, maybe cutting back a day or two, but that was not to be. Dr. Thompson said that her eye is doing well, but she would like it to be better. Right now it is 20/30, but she wants it to get to 20/25. Of course I want this too, but I was secretly a little disappointed. Aubrey didn't care at all. Even when Dr. Thompson said we could try to do 5 days a week instead of just 4 Aubrey thought that we could add in Tuesday so she could still take weekends off. At least it's doing the job, even if it is taking awhile.

Electric Mall

Yesterday Aubrey, Lauren and I were going into Super Target while Cameron was at Austin's party. I was explaining why this was a Super Target and how that was different from our Target. I don't really know how it came up but Aubrey asked me about the other mall, the electric mall. I had no idea what she was talking about and prodded her for more information. She said that she hadn't been there, it wasn't our mall, and that I talk about it with other people. I finally had to tell her I was sorry, but I had no idea what the electric mall is. Today, over 24 hours later as we were driving to my parent's house it came to me. I said, "Aubrey, yesterday when you said the electric mall, were you talking about the outlet mall?" Her reply, "Yes!" I love the way young minds work!