Sorry Everyone

When I started this blog, I had high hopes of keeping it updated daily. I have failed miserably the past few months. Well, here is a brief recap of events since I last posted.

• The weekend away in Schaumburg was great. It was fun reconnecting with Michigan friends and buying lots of stuff for the new house at Ikea.
• My parent visited us the end of October. The kids had fun trick-or-treating with Grandma and papa.

• Jett shared some news with his sisters. They were wondering why Mommy's tummy didn't feel good and why she needed to lie on the couch.
  

• We had Thanksgiving dinner with David's sister's family who live 5 minutes from us. This was our first Thanksgiving not at one of our parent's houses. I even prepared 2 dishes - squash and a green bean casserole - and brought bread and a pie.
  
• The end of November, David and other generous helpers moved all our stuff from the rental house to our new house (2 miles away). The kids and I were sick that weekend, so we were useless.
• The girls highlight of the new house...

• As of today we are still unpacking boxes and putting stuff away. David is working on the mudroom lockers. I am itching to get pictures on the walls and make the place more homey. I promise to post pictures once the place is more in order!
  

A Weekend Away

A long time ago, my MOPS friends and I planned a girls weekend getaway. We decided on Schaumburg, Illinois. This about halfway between them and me. David decided to come along with the kids, so they would have something fun to do instead of being home. I am glad that I don't have to make the trip alone.

We are leaving this afternoon. The girls are very excited to stay in a hotel with a pool. I am very excited to have Lou Malnati's pizza and go shopping at IKEA. My friends will be arriving tomorrow and we will meet up to do some shopping and girly things. I will spend Saturday night with them in another hotel.

The Latest

Two summers ago this story happened. I desperately needed to go grocery shopping and the girls were winning about now wanting to go to Meijer. I told them they could pick out a fish if they did not complain or fight while we were in the store. I know I shouldn't use bribery, but sometimes it keeps me sane. The girls were thrilled about a new pet and were as good as can be while I shopped. We stopped by the fish section and they picked out a blue and red beta fish. We already had a fish bowl at home so all we needed were some rocks and food. While I finished shopping, they took turns holding the bag with the fish and they picked out the name 'beauty' for it. I had heard that these fish only last about a few months, so I figured every few months I could use this trick again. Well, to my surprise beauty was a strong fish and just died this week.

Say goodbye to beauty. Wow, my toilet needs to be cleaned! The girls were not sad that she died. Actually, they lost interest in her a loooong time ago.

Here is a picture I took last night of the house. The painters were there putting on the first coat of paint.

a HUGE update

I cannot believe that the last time I posted something was September 2. In August, I had nothing scheduled on our dry erase calendar. In September - October, there was something scheduled for almost every day - we actually have a life here. I have had numerous people call or email asking what's going on in Iowa? It is nice to know that people care about us and are interested in our lives! Every day I plan out in my head what I am going to write about, then it never happens. Here is a brief recap of the last month and a half:

• We visited the Maquoketa Caves State Park (about an hour south of Dubuque). The highlight was watching David almost get stuck in the opening to a cave.
• The girls go to a Wednesday night kids program at the church we are attending.
• We went to a 'Family Fun Night' carnival at Morgan's school. I like supporting the school, but hate all the junky toys the kids come home with.
  
• I attended a preschool meeting and learned more about what a Montessori school is. Carmen loves her class and her teachers are awesome!
• Morgan and Carmen both have gone on a field trip with their school class. Morgan went to a butterfly sanctuary. Carmen went to a farm.
• Jett and I were sick for about 2 weeks with bad head colds that turned into sinus infections.
• We tried out a small group and we plan on continuing.
  
• David's mom visited us for a weekend.
• Jett turned 18 months. He doesn't talk, but makes sounds for a lot of things (tssss = airplane). Mainly he just grunts and points at what he wants.
• I joined a MOPS group at the church we attend.
• David had an audition for the church praise team. He plays for the first time tonight (Sat pm service) and tomorrow (2 Sun am services).
• Our new house is coming along. The siding and stone has been put up on the exterior. The yard is graded and I think they are laying the sod next week. The drywall is all up and I am not sure what is done next. I have been having a great time picking out everything for the house. I spend most of my nights searching the internet for deals on things. We get packages from the UPS guy almost daily.

Preschool

Carmen's first day of 4's preschool at Grand View Preschool.

Carmen was so excited when she woke up this morning that she was starting preschool. She kept asking all morning when was it time for her to go? With Morgan and last year with Carmen, I did morning preschool. This year I did not have many options, so Carmen is going in the afternoon - from 1 - 4 pm on Tuesday - Friday. This would not have been my first choice, but I think it will work out well. Last week while Morgan was in school, Carmen was bored in the afternoon while Jett napped. The schedule is also working out - I can take Carmen to preschool, put Jett down for a 2 hour nap, pick up Morgan and then pick up Carmen.

Now that we are getting back into a routine, I accomplished so much more today.

Second Grade

Morgan's first day of second grade at John F. Kennedy Elementary School.

I was very anxious this morning for Morgan. I never liked the first day of school. I also felt bad that she had to start a new school. There was so much unknown for her, but she seemed less nervous than me. I prayed for her throughout the day that she would feel confident and make a friend. I could hardly wait to pick her up from school to see how her day was.

I had to pry information out of her about her day. These are the few things I gathered:
*her class room is very small
*her teacher is nice
*the lunch room was confusing
*the playground was super small
*she made a friend

Cable Car

A while back we were exploring downtown Dubuque. We found this.

It is a cable car that takes you up and down a steep bluff. There are two cars on a pulley system, one goes up while the other comes down. You can kind of see the car at the top and the other one is in the shack. The girls begged to ride on it, so we promised them that some time this summer we would take them on it. We surprised them Friday night with a trip on the cable car.

I debated whether or not to get on - I HATE heights. Once inside the car, you pull a cord to signal to the operator at the top that you are all loaded. The seats were like steps, because if it was a bench you all slide to one end. The doors close and slowly up you go. The girls loved the ride, Jett wasn't to sure of it and clung to David, and I have to admit that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

At the top you get out at what looks to be an old house. The operator works inside and collects money from the riders. There is an observation deck that allows you to look out over downtown Dubuque. The views are amazing. You can also see way down the Mississippi River. In this picture you can see across the Mississippi River to Illinois and to the North a little ways is Wisconsin.

A plaque on the wall said that J.K Graves built 'The Fourth Street Elevator' in 1882 for his own convenience; it was rebuilt after a fire in 1884 and used as public transport. At one time it was operated by steam, but now by electricity.

It gave me a funny feeling being up at the top and I didn't want to ride back down. I told David that he could just drive up and get me. After watching two other groups of people ride down unharmed, I decided to get back in the cable car. It didn't help things that on the ride down David started talking about what if the cable broke, what would stop us at the bottom?

It is fun being tourists in our new town!