Bare Buns

Another pre-move post...

Violet decided she wanted to be potty trained the week of packing....This was a horrible plan on her part which I poo pooed (haha) in a hurry.  Who wants to drive 22 hours with two kids under 4 asking to use the potty every 45 minutes...NOT ME!

Well she did successfully got twice before I put the potty chair away, and these are some priceless photos I was able to catch, in the meantime. :)

Happy Birthday Dad!

Well, this is an overdue post, but I thought I would share a quick picture before my blog gets attacked with coverage of "the great adventure".

July 16 was my Dad's birthday and we decided to mix things up a bit and the three of us girls took Dad out for his birthday.  We went to a barbecue place, Jethro's, and had a great 2 hours just the four of us.  It wasn't ideal for our schedules, with busy work, moving plans and everything else that Summer brings but it was a very sweet time to just pause and appreciate family and celebrate our Dad!  The only tradegy of the evening is that we only got two pictures, and my bangs are awkwardly split in both of them...:)

Weekend with Friends

This past weekend we got the honor of hosting several friends who began this journey in Ames with us, 7ish years ago.  We had soo much fun with people coming and going all weekend, we ate waaay too much food, and got to meet so many new faces as people have added to their families!  Thanks Everyone  for coming and helping us say Good Bye to Ames, and we can't wait till you all visit us in VA!

My dear friend Amy whom I met in cosmetology school.  Maybe not the best picture of us, but she's meant so much to me over the years :) (Our precious little girls in their un-planned, matching outfits :)

Our friends Zac and Cathy have a sweet "new"/3 month old baby Caleb.  He's so handsome!

She stole all of Marcus RootBeers.

I guess with a look like this, you can get away with  most anything...

She would give sound effects of drinking, and then once, she set the cup down and said "Ahhh"  :)

Before Josie came...the girls and their babies (minus Benjamin Oliver and Owen)

Sooo bad its funny :)

Handsome daddy's and their pretty matching girls :)

mingle mingle mingle (beautiful flowers courtesy of my sweet friend Malaika!)

getting ready to go :(

A quick shot before they left, of the Men and some of their boys (minus baby Owen)

Gremlin hair

Yay!  Josie came!

pretty toes

try try try again

and again

and again

and again

and again...

Lewicki's and Downes

Lewicki's and Rusch's


And then they all went home and left us to pack...To be cont'...

Duluth - The Voyage Home

We packed up after our 9 days in MN and took off for Ames on Monday morning, August 9th, which happened to be Our 7 Year Wedding Anniversary!  We stopped in Duluth after being in the car for just around an hour, and got some energy out before the long trek home.  It was a pretty fun stop.  Violet didn't do as well on the trip home as she did on the way, but Benjamin redeemed the trip with this little conversation as we pulled into Ames.  EVERYONE had to go to the bathroom VERY badly.  We were singing songs trying to keep our mind off of it, and as we drove through campus, we sang "To me, He is so wonderful, and I love Him..."  and after we ended I asked Benjamin if he knew who "He" was that we were singing about (because the song doesn't actually identify the pronoun!).  He exclaimed, "Yeah! Jesus!"  I proceeded to say the he was so wonderful for creating xyz... and for creating Benjamin!.  "Isn't that great Benjamin?" I said.  To which he responded, "Yeah Momma, He's such a great great God!"  It was priceless :)  Anyways, here's a few photos :)

The Fourth of July!

Shortly after we got to Grandma and Grandpa's house Friday Night the Long family arrived.  We must have impressed them with how incredibly fun we are (haha) because after they drove back to Minneapolis Sunday night, they decided to take off work most of the week and come back up North Tuesday night - Sunday.  We got to spend the 4th of July with them and as you can tell by the pictures, we had lots and lots of fun! :)  (Even thought I didn't really get any good pictures of all of us :(  )

Waiting for the parade to start

2 Little boys Heaven (Check out the train in the back ground!)

Poor planning on our part = parking FAR away, bringing way too much stuff, and only having the umbrella stroller!

on the train!

I think he liked it!

It was soo hot!

They aren't excited about the train anymore...or the pictures

making the best of a bad situation :)

finally getting a smile out of our heat exhausted little girl

4th of July feast!