Happy Birthday, Paige

Paige turned 7 on Friday, August 28th. I can't believe it's been 7 years already, where does the time go?

When she got up in that morning, Josh made her "birthday" pancakes before school. They are just like regular pancakes, just made for you on your birthday. We also let her open her presents from us, Grandma and Grandpa, and the Anliker's because she invited 3 of her friends to go to King's Pointe water park in Storm Lake after school.

After picking up the kids, we headed to Storm Lake, stopping first at Burger King for supper because we let Paige choose where to eat.

The kids had a great time at the water park. I don't have many pictures since kids + water + camera = bad idea.

We got back to our house about 9:30 and let them eat cupcakes and ice cream before Paige opened more presents. Josh took Conner home (no boy-girl sleepovers allowed) and Abbrielle and Azzia spent the night. We moved Paige's mattress into the living room and they had a slumber party out there, with one girl on the couch, one on the love seat and one on the mattress.

Paige got the Hannah Montana movie as one of her gifts, so they wanted to watch that. At midnight I shut off the TV and told the 2 that were still awake it was time for bed. We didn't even hear any giggling or talking after lights out. Bet that doesn't happen for long.

Saturday morning we took the girls home and just kinda vegged out at home until late afternoon when it was time to head to Algona to watch Josh race. Paige got to flag the hot laps since it was her birthday the day before. She talked to Grant the flagman last week and asked if she could flag. She had a great time!

Yep...that's her dad's car in front of her

We headed to Emmetsburg today for the go-kart races. She only has one race left.

What a busy weekend! Wasn't it just a short time ago I was complaining because I felt like we had nothing interesting going on to blog about?

First Day of First Grade

Paige is officially growing up. She is now a First Grader!


Yesterday was the first day of school and she had a great day. She will again be riding the "white bus", the in-town bussing system. It works out great for us since they pick her up about 7:20, Josh and I both have time to get to work on time.


Here are a few pictures taken before school yesterday:

It's almost time for school

Since the summer is almost over, we decided to take a mini-vacation earlier this week.

We left on Sunday and headed to Des Moines. We shopped a little on the way down there and a little more once we hit DSM. We checked into our hotel and headed to HuHot for supper. Josh and I love to eat there, but Paige had never been before. We have since decided that will be a "date place" because she did not like it at all. We stopped by McDonald's on the way back to the hotel so she could get a cheeseburger.

On Monday, we headed to Adventureland. The weather was a little warm, but tolerable. We got there about noon and rode rides for a couple hours. Josh is so glad to have a little buddy to ride the scary rides with. I don't really like rides that much, so the tilt-o-whirl is about all the excitement I can handle. They rode the roller coaster twice and hit all the rides she was tall enough to ride (which was all but 2). We headed to the water park at Adventurland, Kokomo Cove, about 3 and stayed for a couple hours. After changing back into our dry clothes, we went back to the rides. We stayed until 9 so Paige could see the park all lit up. She really liked it. After leaving, we ended up at Hooter's for a late supper. Who doesn't love chicken wings?

Wednesday morning we got up early to head to Omaha. We got to the zoo about 11:30 and spent most of the day there. Paige wasn't very excited about the zoo. I thought she would enjoy it more than she did, but it was hot so a lot of the animals were hard to see since they were hiding in the shade. We checked into our hotel after leaving the zoo and spent a few hours at the pool.





The Petting Zoo at Dairy World at the zoo

"Help! I'm being eaten by a hippo!" She thought this was hilarious
The Aquarium, she was trying to get the big fish to give her kisses

Which one is my monkey?

Paige loved the orangutans because they have the same color hair she does

The fountain right inside the zoo

I learned that only the boys are peacocks, the girls are peahens and the babies are peafowl. Who knew?

Daddy's girl

We went for the Sea lion show, but Wednesday's are the only day they don't do one because they clean the tank. Oh well, we still got to get a good look at them on the rocks.

Feeding the budgies

Thursday morning we went to the Omaha Children's Museum. We had a great time there. There was a traveling exhibit about the body. That was interesting. They also had an art room, a theater room, a room where the kids could shoot balls from all sorts of devices, a store. Whew! It was a lot of fun and I would recommend it to anybody heading to Omaha. Thanks to my cousin, Kelly, for her great ideas.


Racing the wheelchair in the Body room.

The light box in the art room. Paige and Josh made this sign for me. Awww!
The giant nose that actually sneezed and dripped "snot". I hope it was only water.

All about digestion. Paige's favorite part of the body exhibit.

Poo happens!!

String Art

They didn't have any race car driver outfits, so she opted to be an astronaut instead

Josh and Paige's faces



We finally headed home on Thursday afternoon and, of course, had to stop and see Albert

Not a whole lot going on

I feel like I haven't blogged in a long time, but that's because I just don't think we have a whole lot going on.

The other day I commented to a friend who also blogs that I really should update ours, but that all it would say is: went to the races, went to the pool, went to the races, went to the pool.

What can I say, it's summer.......that's all we've been up to. Racing and the pool.

I created a new blog today dedicated to Paige's go-kart racing adventures. The link is on the left.

We go on vacation the week of August 10th. Maybe after that I will have something interesting to blog about.

Not enough hours in the day!

We have had a busy few weeks, between t-ball games, racing and the pool. I know, what a rough life.

Josh raced in Britt on Friday night and got up early to get the car ready to be in the Heritage Days celebration. As you can see from the picture, he was "thrilled" to do it. Oh, the things a daddy will do to please his little princess.

After the parade, Paige and I headed to all the kid's activities, including a carnival with kiddie games and inflatables. Of course, Paige would be the kid who gets a bloody nose on the first inflatable she goes on! Some kid came in from the wrong way and got her with an elbow to the nose. Thank goodness in a small town you can take your 6-year-old into the local bar's bathroom and nobody thinks anything of it. It was the closest place open with a bathroom so I could clean her up. Poor girl!


She looks like she's in a cage at the zoo
On the big slide....Whee!!

"Fishing"

Skee-ball

Jousting

After the carnival, we headed home to go racing again. This time to Algona. Josh is doing really well in the stock car. We are so proud of him.

Sunday brought some more activities, Paige needed to be a church for choir practice at 9 am, Mass at 10:30, singing at the Courthouse at 12:15, watched a couple local churches put on a skit and puppet show, and an open-house for Father K. at 2. Whew!!

Singing at the courthouse

Paige and Father K. (her best buddy)


This week should be a little quieter. Tomorrow, Paige has her last t-ball game and Josh is racing in Alta.

I am also no longer working at the daycare, it just wasn't for me. So, I guess the upside is that I will have more time to get the blog updated.

Dressing for Dinner

Paige was downstairs playing while I was making supper tonight. I called down the stairs and told her it was almost time to eat. She said she needed to "get ready". I wasn't sure what that meant.......until she came up the stairs dressed like this.

Poor girl was a tad overdressed for hot dogs and mac & cheese (which is the supper she requested). Her t-ball game was cancelled due to rain and since she was so bummed out, I let her pick supper.

Last Day of School

Today was officially Paige's last day as a Kindergartner! I can't believe the "baby" is going to be a First-Grader this fall. It just doesn't seem possible. She brought home her report card and did quite well. I don't know why I was disappointed to see the little check mark that said she gets to go on to First Grade in the fall. Not that I don't want her to do well, it's just hard to know she's growing up so quickly. It almost makes me a little teary-eyed. Ok, it actually makes me cry. Silly mom!!

I start working at the daycare already tomorrow. Nothing like getting right to it. I think it's going to be fun. I know Paige is excited to get to see her friends and spend time with them this summer. I'm pretty sure she would have gotten bored rather quickly if we weren't going to the daycare, so it really is a win-win.

I was also talked to today about the possibility of going back to the school in Pomeroy in the fall. It's not a definite yet and I won't know until the end of June, but it's nice to know there is a chance.

Paige has her first t-ball game at 7:15 tonight. Should be pretty interesting considering they've only had one practice. The only thing that matters is that the kids are having fun.

That was all the excitement from today. Otherwise, we've had a pretty quiet week. The holiday weekend was especially quiet since Josh's race car was wrecked Saturday night and he spent all day Sunday and all day Monday trying to get it back together. Few more hours this weekend and it should be ready for racing Saturday night. Josh's uncle and aunt Darwin and Debby Eaton are celebrating their 30th anniversary by sponsoring the VIP booth at the Algona Raceway on Saturday night so there will be some extra fans on hand to support the 68 Race Team.

Paige and I went to Oleson Park in Fort Dodge on Sunday. They have a petting zoo there and she had a ball. She had a lot of fun feeding the goats. The girl loves goats!! If you are in Fort Dodge on a weekend afternoon, it's worth stopping by.

Monday was a pretty quiet day at home. We did go to the shop so Paige could ride her go-cart and we got pizza to feed all the hungry helpers working on the car.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Starting T-ball Season

Paige had her first t-ball practice tonight and they have a game already a week from today. This ought to be interesting!

She played last year and seems to remember most of what she was taught. Should be a fun summer.

Happy Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day today. It all started with breakfast in bed....what a treat! Then Josh and Paige even did the dishes, bigger treat!

We went to Fort Dodge to do a little shopping. I got some new perfume and Josh picked up a Wii Fit for me. I've wanted one since Christmas, but the stores were always out of them. Well, today they had some in stock so I got one. Yeah! I don't know how long I will stay this excited, but I have really good intentions.

We invited Josh's mom and dad over for supper along with our neighbor, Barb. Josh grilled some awesome food and we had a wonderful supper.

Happy Mother's Day to all!! Hope your day was also great.

The Next Generation

Josh got Paige a go-cart a couple weeks ago. She is really enjoying driving it, as you can see from the pictures and videos. She was a little upset today because her dad told her she needed to slow down a little. She wants to go FAST!

The only mudhole in the whole lot and guess whose tire tracks those are!

Video of the little racer: