July's Almost Over!

It's been a while since we've posted last! It is the last week of July :-(

That means that school will be starting in a few weeks. Julie has made A LOT or progress in her classroom. I helped her move a lot of "useless" stuff out of her room that was taking up space. She is happy with the transformation. She just has a lot of organizing to do. She has to go down on August 5th and 6th for "new" teacher orientation. I got back into my room today. It is freshly painted, and looks very bright. I just need to spend a little time now getting things put back where I want them, and I have a whole bunch of work to do in my office. We went to the zoo in Des Moines a couple of weeks ago. Olivia really enjoyed the animals, especially the sea lions. It was fun seeing her reaction to all of the different animals.

Julie's cousin Rachel is visiting from Melvin. Her mom, Nancy, drove her down, and we met in Albia to pick her up on Thursday. She will be here until Friday. She is riding up with my band kids to Minneapolis, where Jim and Nancy will be there to meet us.

She hasn't been around Olivia that much, but I think she is really enjoying getting to know her. We have really been enjoying being at home and spending time together this summer. It will be hard for all of us to get back into the routine of school, especially Olivia. The County Fair just got over tonight, so that is yet another thing that we don't have on our plate anymore. It has been a very busy summer! We plan on enjoying what time we have left of it right up until that first school bell! Hope everybody is doing well!


Olivia seemed very fascinated with this one...


I know, I know...I'm trying to start her too early!

July already?

Wow, it is July 7th already! Next month, we have to go back to work!! WTF? I hope everybody had a good 4th of July holiday. We entered Olivia in the Mystic Cutie Contest. She got 1st place in the 13-23 month division, beating the girl that beat her last year! Here is one of the pictures.

Other than that, we went to Amy & Kendal's for supper and fireworks. We saw some nice fireworks from Exline as well.

Olivia has been using her potty a whole bunch the last few days! We have been rewarding her with candy. Hopefully she will start to fully understand that if she goes on the potty, she will get a reward. It will be nice to get her out of diapers someday. We also recently discovered that Olivia really likes sweet corn. She hasn't been able to get enough the past few days.


Julie got down to her classroom, and has been working the last few days in there. She has got a lot done, but still has a long way to go! We have our last municipal band performance this Thursday. After that, I won't have to play that much until school starts. Julie's cousin Rachel is coming in a couple of weeks, so that will be nice to have her stay. Will post more later!