An update...

Here's an update on what we've been up to recently. Last week we went to IA/IL so Mike could help his parents get ready for his grandparents' auction. Mike and Gene (his dad) stayed at the farm in Bloomfield, IA to get things ready while the girls and I stayed in Keokuk with Kathy (his mom) for the first half of the week. We visited Grandma Weede each day which was fun. We got to see her new apartment in Keokuk. It's beautiful! There is a pond with a sidewalk around it just outside her apartment building, so we let the girls feed the ducks. When the ducks saw us coming toward them, they quacked and waddled toward us and wouldn't leave us alone until every last speck of bread crumb was thrown out. The girls thought that was fun! The next day, we had a picnic lunch with Grandma Weede and Kathy at Rand Park in Keokuk. It was a gorgeous day! The girls played on the playground equipment and swings for a long time, then we walked over to look at the river. It's such a pretty river. We had a great time with the Grandmas in Keokuk. The girls with Great-grandma Weede on her front porch.


The second half of the week the girls and I went to LaHarpe to stay with my folks. It's always good to be home when the weather isn't cold, so we went to town to play at the same parks I played at when I was a kid. We had fun talking to the cows and feeding them, and Hannah got to see the calf she named "Night Sky." On Saturday, Hannah and Grandpa went on a long ride together to go to Bloomfield for the auction (about 2 hours away). She had a great time, and came back with lots of stories of the things she got to see. The bridge in Ft. Madison was open for a boat to go through, and although that's annoying to wait for that as an adult, it's something I remember enjoying when I was a kid, and Hannah didn't seem to care that she was waiting on a bridge. She just had fun picking up all the rocks by the side of the road. She loves those kinds of days where she doesn't have to share the day with her sisters, it's good for a change. And Alli, Carrie, Grandma and I had a great day in LaHarpe. We went to the reservoir to try out their teeter-totter. Alli liked the one at the other park and wanted to try a different one, so we did. They both were missing a handle! Welcome to small town. At least they still have teeter-totters! Anyway, we had a great week, and wish we could have more fun grandparent days like these.

Here is the town reservoir where we went to play on the teeter-totters while Hannah and Grandpa went to the auction.

This is a huge rock that my sisters and I used to play on when we were kids and while it still lived in its home in the woods on a friend's property. It was recently moved to this spot in LaHarpe, which took some hard work and a massive wrecker truck--it weighed 4 1/2 tons!

Grandpa and the girls on a walk down the lane to see the cows.

Some funny things I need to write down before I forget:
Alli had to go potty while we were driving. Hannah thought she needed to announce it and said, "Alli needs to go potty real bad." Alli replied, "NOT BAD, Hannah, I got to go GOOD!"

She doesn't like to be called "silly, goofy, funny" or anything like that. When someone says "you're silly" she crinkles up her eyebrows and says, "I'm NOT silly, I'm Alli Kate!"

Carrie is our comforter in this family. Whenever one of her sisters starts to cry, she drops whatever she's doing--even if it's eating (one of her favorite things)--says, "Oh No!", runs to them and gives them a big hug until they stop crying. Now Alli has started to call for Carrie when she gets sad.

Hannah is having a great time in school. Yesterday we all got to go along on a field trip to our church's children's minister's farm. She has llamas, goats, chickens, a horse, cat, dog, etc. We fed the goats then went on a walk to collect things from the woods. Then we had a snack and games in the back yard. She has a beautiful property, and the kids had a great time.

Mrs. Caudill had fun games for the kids while were were on the field trip, since all the little siblings were playing too, it made for some interesting "rules" to the games! Under the parachute!

Here is Hannah and her friend Makayla at the Children's minister's house on her class field trip.