Summer in Iowa

Summer has finally come to Iowa and it only took until August! Anyone who knows me knows that I do not do heat. I do not to humidity. And when those two occurences occur together I get cranky. Why do I live in Iowa then, you ask?

I have no idea.

Nonetheless, I left the comforts of my air conditioned home so that my children could enjoy some time in the sprinkler on Saturday. All was not lost, though. I did attempt to cool down with some Apricot Brandy slush mix...it is my personal elixir. While I don't believe it serves any medicinal purposes, it certainly does cure what ail's me.

The heat was oppressive and fogged my camera lense for the first five minutes we were outside. It gave me even more reason to turn on the sprinkler full blast and sit close enough to be cooled by the occasionaly stray sprinkle.






Ella has been a bit of a crab apple lately. A combination of impending teeth and anything else that could possibly make a five month-old child cranky.

This is her "my parents dragged me along out in this disgusting heat and all I got was this stupid hat" face:



This is her "God, my parents are boring; I must have done something awful in a former life" face:



This is her "my brother and sister get to run around in the sprinkler and I'm expected to sit here and watch...how lucky am I?" face:



After watching her sulk and pout long enough I told Dustin he should go stick her feet in the water.



After she felt how freezing cold the water was I think it is safe to say she was happier being bored with her ol' mom and dad.

The rest of the weekend was pretty laid back. The search for the movie rental "Dora the Explorer: Rhymes and Riddles" DVD continues. I tore apart most of the house this weekend, some of it for the fourth or fifth time, and we have yet to find it.

As Lauren said last night, "Dora play hide and seek?" Yes, Lauren. She is.




Sunday night we did have a bit of excitement with some bad weather. Dustin put Ella down for bed and the kids and I were playing with Pokemon cards in our bedroom when the sirens went off. Like every good Iowan does, we took the kids downstairs and Dustin and I went to look outside.

Each time we have a bad storm I say a little prayer to the weather Gods that the storm causes severe window and siding damage to our home while completely sparing the camper and Dustin's truck. I should be so lucky to get my windows replaced and my siding replaced by my insurance company.

And even though it was a pretty decent storm...the Gods failed me yet again.




Last night Uncle Joel came over to join us for dinner. Weeknight dinners are pretty lonesome for me. Yes, I have three kids to keep me busy, but they don't really care to hear about the stresses of my day or want to hear about my trip to the dentist. So I was just about as excited as the kids were to have a dinner guest.

The kids always love it when Uncle Joel comes over to play. Josh begins analyzing which Wii games to play with him, Lauren wants him to throw her around and Ella just loves another face to smile at her.




As Josh said last night, "Uncle Joel came over to play Wii with me AND I got to stay up late? WHAT A NIGHT!"