New vids from the kids!

These are a few recent videos that we have taken of the munchkins. Ethan is really showing some personality, and Olivia has some funny new quirk every day. Here they are singing some tunes, each in their own way.

Family Life in Iowa City

Life in Iowa City has been pretty good (house aside...see following blog). This town seems to be full of life and there is no shortage of activities for the family. My calendar is full of events to go to with the kids, many of which are coordinated through the public library system - it is wonderful here. We are very curious to see how the town changes come September when the college students invade.

Picture of Ethan at 7 weeks. He is 8 weeks old today which is amazing! As you can see, he is a very happy baby and will frequently coo to get your attention. You can also see that he is a well fed baby as the 2nd chin is fully developed and he is working on a 2nd roll on his thighs.


One of the wonderful places we have discovered is called the Ped Mall. It is a 4 block radius of unique shops, local restaurants, a playground, and a water area for the kids. There are weekly music concerts there, and you will frequently come across a Presidential hopeful campaigning in the area (Iowa is obviously rampant with politics right now). Olivia LOVES the water area as you can see.

Waiting for the 4th of July parade. We thought that this would be a fun activity to do as Olivia had never been to a parade before. Little did we know that it is a TWO HOUR parade with 174 entries. I didn't bring sunscreen, water to drink, a hat for Ethan, or anything for us to sit on as we were expecting it to be about 15 minutes or so. Olivia thought that it was the best thing ever - she just had to sit and look pretty and she came away with so many goodies. And not just candy, but necklaces, water bottles, popsicles, flags, sparklers, troll dolls, etc. It was impressive.

I love this picture - I think it looks like a typical small town 4th of July scene.

Fun with the sparklers from the parade.

Hello to everyone!

We finally have the room to set up the princess tent from Grammy. Olivia loves this and will bring all of her stuffed animals into it each day. If you look closely you can see Ethan through the tent's window.

For some reason, after a hard day working, Joe and my dad both had to climb this tree in our front yard. Just because it is there, is my guess. So then Olivia wanted to join in the fun, too.

The New House

We are officially settled here in Iowa City. All boxes are unpacked, pictures are hung, and we believe that this house is now habitable. I write that last part because, for a rental house, it was a lot of work (and money!) to make it acceptable. I don't know where to start on the house...the positives are that it has a bigger yard to play in than we previously had, there is a beautiful screened in back porch, and the kitchen is completely new. The negatives...the entire basement stunk of cat/dog urine (!) - and I mean it was so overwhelming that it knocked me over when I first walked into the house, we had so many wasps flying around it was scary (we found the nests and took care of the problem), there is a large mouse nest outside, the bathrooms are teeny, and the owner of the house is a bit of a do-it-yourself-er who should consult help from the Yellow Pages more (there are holes everywhere in the house - walls and ceilings from who know what).

Here is the house after all of our hard work to make the landscaping not look like a weed pit.


My poor dad. He has visited two times, and each time has been nothing but work. The basement had carpeting in the hallway and playroom. The first visit, he, Joe, and my mom ripped up the hallway carpet thinking that that was where the urine smell was coming from. Turns out that ALL of the carpet needed to be removed, and that plus installing new carpet was completed on dad's second trip. I wonder if these two doctors secretly enjoyed the manual labor, though, as you can see that they look very proud of themselves in these pictures.

The new carpet. In case you didn't know where it is, the two are pointing it out for you. Now we can actually play in the playroom without holding our noses.

Conquering the carpet of urine. Right now it is sitting in our driveway waiting to be hauled away. The only problem is that Iowa City has had highs in the upper 90s lately so it is now stinking up the entire neighborhood. I hope it is hauled away soon!

Hello from Iowa City

We have successfully moved from Springfield to Iowa City. Go Hawkeyes! Just kidding, the town hasn't converted us that quickly! I do not have any pics yet of the new house and such, but those will be coming soon. The following is a mix of pics from our last week in Springfield.

Our last potluck with our playgroup. This group helped me to survive the first 2 1/2 year of motherhood, and I have no idea how I'll manage without them.


The playgroup moms - Kelly, Susan, me, Nicola, and Kara.

Joe and Ethan resting from packing for the move.

Olivia at her last Funshop (a sort of pre-pre-school program run through the Springfield Park District). She was certainly king for a day as you'll also see in the next picture.

Olivia taking her walk of fame for both being a new big sister and to say goodbye to her Funshop friends.

We are starting Ethan early with his love of Cardinals.

One last family picture in front of our very first home. It was a good home after we worked out some initial "bugs" (broken furnace, broken dishwasher, broken disposal). We hope that the new owners like it as much as we did.

This picture was taken today - one day shy of 7 weeks. We cannot believe how fast these weeks have gone! Ethan is smiling now, is perfecting his head control, and is much more alert and responsive to you.

We are settling into the new home - all boxes are unpacked, pics are on the wall, and now we are focusing on cleaning up/organizing the outside. We have all had our issues to work through from the move - Yoda is again peeing on the carpets, Olivia is having potty issues as well, Joe is worn out from ripping up smelly old carpet that reeked of cat urine, and Kate is homesick (for Springfield of all places). Thus far, the cat and Ethan are the only ones who are handling the move well - go figure. The town seems to be great, people are friendly, and there appears to be a lot to do, so now it is time to immerse ourselves in Iowa City!