if he wears it, they will comment.....

Does the title of this post remind you of a certain ridiculous movie? Iowa, however, is a great place and every time one of my children wears something "Hawkeye" in this Gopher state, someone else out there with eyes for black and gold will say "I'm from Iowa!" or give my child a high five and say "Go Hawks!" We don't really even follow college sports *gasp*, but the kids do feel some sense of ownership for Iowa and know it must be great because Grandma and Grandpa live there. As I was putting this sweatshirt on Jude the other day I asked him who lives in Iowa? (assuming he would say Grandma and Grandpa). You know what he said instead? "God does." I can almost see my folks weeping tears of joy right now. So, THIS is for all of you Iowa lovers out there!

i'm serious. seriously!

A friend recently told us that our kids all have that "serious" look about them. When they're not smiling they've got the furrowed brow thing happening. This picture of Josie is evidence of that look. I realized it even more the other day when I was getting out of the van at Target and a lady was getting into her car next to me she said (about Jude and Jeneva) "What are you doing to those kids?! They look miserable!" I think she was implying that they weren't smiling at that moment and apparently they had that serious furrowed brow look. Really though, miserable? They weren't miserable. They were just riding in the van. Should I expect my kids to have smiles on their faces when they are riding in the van? Maybe I should. After all, vans ARE like super fun you know.

slumber party

jeneva looks like the big sister. josie looks like she's about 4. jude looks like he's about to sneeze. i think they had a good time.

and we haven't even started reading Nancy Drew yet...

At the dinner table today:

"So, mom, do you have any mysteries in your life that you need to solve?" --Jeneva

there's always an important matter that needs to be taken care of before it's naptime

me: "Jude, it's naptime. Let's go upstairs."

jude: "Just a minute mom, I need to go shoot the tiger first."

he takes out his play plastic shotgun, points it at the big stuffed tiger and says "boom!"

jude: "Okay, he's dead. Now I am ready for naptime."

jeneva's birthday and the beginning of first grade

A few weeks ago, we entered a drawing at the library for State Fair tickets. We won them, so we went on Jeneva's birthday. We joined up with the Knight family. Ava and Jeneva are quite the pair! It was fun seeing them walk hand in hand through the fair and ride on the rides together. We got there early in the morning (love the park-n-ride system) and stayed until about 1:00. We didn't last too long. Steve was going on zero sleep and the crowds were starting to affect my mental state.


Jeneva's birthday celebration consisted of the State Fair in the morning and an un-official impromptu birthday party in the evening. We had invited Uncle Mike, Aunt Megan, and Uncle Matt over for a low key gathering involving cake in the evening. However, two neighbor friends showed up so we told them to stay. Also, the Malley's and the Carlson's called earlier in the day asking if they could stop by with a gift. We told them they might as well stay and enjoy some cake too. Hey, a birthday celebration that I didn't even plan.

I forgot to take a picture of the cake. Go figure. We made cupcakes in ice cream cones topped with pink frosting and sprinkles. Perhaps you can just imagine what it looked like.


Jeneva started first grade on Monday. It's going very well so far and she is enjoying it. Her teacher for this year was her assistant teacher last year. Lee Laoshi (pronounced "lousher") is her name. Laoshi means "teacher" in Chinese. Last year her teacher was Yang Laoshi and we adored her. We're praying for a good fit again this year for her. She has homework (math and Chinese language arts) every night....which was assigned on the first day of school. Hard core!

So, this is the start of a big year for Jeneva. First grade and age seven. It's hard to believe it was that many years ago we brought home our little pink bundle from the hospital.

"May the Lord bless you and keep you (in the year to come). May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you (every day!). May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace (always). Amen!"

Jeneva Rae, love you girlie!

SWEET! (corn)

no privacy around here!

If you leave the bathroom door open while you are taking a shower, this is exactly where little "nosy" ends up.