first day of school 2015-16

 August 24, 2015

Second grade with Mrs. Minteer

4 Year Old Good Shepherd Preschool with Miss Karen

A little brother who wants to be in the pictures, too.  

My three favorite kids! 

Brent's fishing trip

The boys took a fishing trip to Oak Island at the end of August. 

Brent, Brent, Marc, Dan, Blaine and photographer Dave.  

"pets"

Our pest control efforts have gone to an all new level at Perry Ag Services.  

We acquired Tiger (above) and Skittles (bellow) from a friend and customer.  

The kids were head over heals.  

Just a few weeks after we got them, Tiger got sick and died.  

We wanted Skittles to have a friend and our summer intern's family had a kitty for us.  

Meet Singe.  

The day I took this photo of Singe playing on the toy tractor made me realize I might be half way to becoming a crazy cat lady.  

Yep.  Crazy.  

a surprise adventure

Grandpa Steve left his John Deere ranger at our house after RAGBRAI.  One evening while it was here we took it on a family drive in the state owned land around our house.  On a whim, we drove over to Great Grandma's and convinced her to hop on with us.  This was very much out of her comfort zone but the kids convinced her it was worth it.

She loved it.  She would never have seen the trees and paths in any other way.  It was a great summer adventure.  

just another day at the office

When your dad is a seed and chemical dealer you get free Pioneer hats, work weekends and get up close and personal with aerial applicator planes.  

All while your older brother and sister have fun at Adventureland with Grandpa and Gramma.  

Your turn will come soon enough, Ryan. 

Jonah's birthday

This special boy had a fun 7th birthday celebration.  

A bigger than big screen movie! 

Outside, on a beautiful evening, with lots of friends!  

There is a lot of happy girl smiles in this photo -

Hannah, Hannah, Hanna and Meadow.  

RAGBRAI

The Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) came through our little town in July.  To say it was a big deal is an understatement.  It was a WHEELY BIG DEAL.  Get it?  But it really was a big thing.  It was months and months of community volunteers coordinating all of the efforts to host thousands of bicyclists and their support teams.  

The above photos were from Instagram of our beautiful little town.  

The kids and I walked miles that day!  From our house to the west side of town where riders entered, to Grandma and Grandpa's church BBQ to the town square and back home again.  It was a memorable day! 

One of many camping areas in town. 

Brandy, Teresa and Maggie volunteering in the ID/wristband tent for the beer garden.  

~ pool time ~

Soooo many hours of fun at the swimming pool this summer.  

Lots of play time with friends, successful swim lessons and warm, sunny weather.  

Funny faces! 

Meadow, Sophie and Hannah. 

Savanna, Noah and Hannah. 

Swim lessons! 

Toddler puddle jumpers. 

Jump!

Working on the dive. 

Celebrating the diving board with slide fun.  

Lucas' feet coming down the slide. 

Our 4-H pool party provided some high flying fun.  

Claire and Lucas. 

Our 4-H friends celebrating a great year.  

Owen, Charlie and Lucas. 

At another pool party Ryan and I had fun going down the slide together.  He got courageous enough to stay at the top of the slide and let me go down so I could stand at the bottom and catch him.  It is no exaggeration that we did that at least a dozen times.  Then he was getting brave enough to walk all the way around the slide to climb the stairs and slide down all by himself… a bunch of times!  

Our last day at the pool for 2015.  

What better way to celebrate summer fun than Cyclone beach towels times three!  

Lucas, Luke and Dan.