Howell's

We headed down to Howell's this afternoon. Beautiful day to be at the pumpkin patch. The girls had a great time.

beautiful fall day

Haydn and I headed out to Jordan Creek to feed the ducks today. What another BEAUTIFUL fall day we are having. Feels more like summer weather! We had a good time walking around the water.

cheesy smile

this guy was following us after we were done feeding them. I think he was still hungry!

This lady was sunning herself. She already had more of a tan than I will ever have. I had to take this pic of her from across the lake!

dance class

On Wednesdays Haydn participates in a dance class through the YMCA. Today was the last class for this session. Parents were invited to come to the last 5 min and dance with their child. We danced the Hokey Pokey and Thumbs Up, Elbows Out! She really enjoyed the class. In these pictures she is dancing to a song about bean bags.

Almost October

This month just seems like it flew by. We are finally into the routine of school. Once I got back from AZ the weather was cooler. For an example: last Saturday was 52 and rained most of the day. Yesterday was 81. Today is to be 71. WHAT? Now I have a cold, and I blame the weather change! I have decorated for Halloween and am enjoying our nice days mixed in with the cooler ones (70's I mean). The girls have their Halloween costumes picked out. Hannah will be a Go-Go girl (the girl LOVES peace signs) and Haydn will be Tinkerbell. Hannah started Faith Formation on Wednesday nights. I co-teach her class. There are only 7 kids in the class.

Hannah is LOVING 1st grade. She has a great teacher. Haydn is LOVING preschool as well. I was nervous about her. She was really clingy to me later part of the summer. Mentioned numerous times that she did not want to go to school unless I was her teacher?! Well the other day she told me that she didn't miss me at all. I was happy to hear that (you know what I mean).

Took the camera out the other day to snap some shots of the girls. They weren't wanting to pose for too many! This is all I got...

Trip to AZ

Wes and I flew to Arizona on Thursday, Sept 16th (my cousin's Jen's b-day) and flew home on the 20th. Jen, TJ, Matt, Luke and Aunt Ann picked us up from the airport. We went straight to Kinnick's Bar and Grill. It is a new sports bar that had just opened recently. You could still smell the new paint in it. Scott, Amy, U Steve, A Carolyn and Steph all met us there.

Friday morning Wes and I headed down to Tucson. Wes and his boss were to play golf but our Garmin sent us into the desert so we got lost and the rescheduled for Saturday morning. Probably a better tee time at 7:20 AM than 12:40 PM. It was hot, they actually were having record temps for this time of the year. Wes, his coworkers and I went out on the town in Tucson Friday night. We went to The Hut were all IA fans were gathering. It was alot of fun, but very crowded. We also hit some other bars around the area. We got back to the motel at 9:30. We really thought it was later, but really it was 11:30 IA time!!

Wes golfed Saturday morning as I layed around the hotel. We headed to Gentle Ben's Saturday afternoon to meet up with the U of A fans (Jen and Steph) also Steve, Carolyn, Ryan Roe, TJ and Matt met our group there. Gentle Ben's was also a hang out for IA fans. We headed to the game later. It started at 7:30 AZ time so 9:30 IA time. It was a good game except for the loss for the Hawks. There was a good breeze where we sat. Wes and I went back to the motel after the game, we were tired.

Sunday Wes and I got up and around and headed back to Mesa. Jen and TJ had a get together for supper that night. Was good to see Ben and Morgan and meet Garrett and Connor. We had a great time in AZ. I hate that I never got a shot of the Warin girls and I. I believe Steph and A Carolyn took some, hopefully they will email some to me.

Thanks to Jen and TJ for the hospitality and Amy for taking us back to the airport.

Ben, Robert, Ron and Wes

Ron and I

Iowa fans at The Hut

sign welcoming IA fans

Wes, Ben, Robert and Ron at Gentle Ben's

Ben, Robert, Herky, Wes, I, Ron, Matt and Nick

football game. the U of A band spelled U of A. pretty cool!

hawks getting ready to enter the field

poem

I went to open house/meet the teacher tonight for Hannah. It was great to talk to her teacher more in depth. To hear what she will be learning this school year. Mrs Schulte gave us this poem and I think it really made me think....

Visitors Welcome

You are now entering the world of 6 & 7 year olds. If the furniture is small and uncomfortable, remember that it fits us just fine.

If you must walk around our games, toys and block structures, remember that it is through this kind of experimentation and manipulation that we learn.

If we seem to be talking too much, remember this is the way we learn our wonderful language.

If we come up and talk to you, don't be surprised as we are open, friendly, and curious, and we want to know you as our friend.

Enjoy our world, and when you leave, we hope you carry with you some of our enthusiasm for living and learning.

acorn craft

Haydn got bored after painting a couple acorns so this is what she did!

The girls and I were in MA over Labor Day weekend. Mom had seen this craft in a magazine. Since she has a couple trees that have acorns, the girls were hard at work filling containers full of acorns. Today while Hannah was at school I glued the twine on the acorns. When Hannah got home from school we painted the acorns. Both girls got bored of it so I did finish the project. We started outside then it started to thunder so I moved the project inside. I think they are to be more fall like colors but I decided it would be more fun to paint them bright colors.

Haydn's 1st day at HTP

Haydn started preschool this morning. She will go on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings from 9:15-11:45. She was excited this morning. We had one of her favorite breakfasts, Chocolate chip muffins!

She got a new backpack. She has a take home folder that stays in her backpack. Since our other backpacks are smaller we had to buy her a new one. Hello Kitty is what she picked out!

here she is inside her new room.

she said she had a good time. Today and tomorrow their theme is camping so there were tents set up in the room for them to play in. Today she had chocolate chips, marshmallows and graham crackers for snacks. She was excited to show me her craft once we got home that she made on her 1st day. I think she will have a great year of preschool!! My baby is growing up!

Iowa Hawkeye Football

Nick, Carrie, Wes and I headed over to IA City yesterday. We ate supper at the Vine last night. This morning we geared up for some great tailgating. Nick and Carrie are WONDERFUL chefs. We had steak and egg burritos this morning. What a fun game to see! We came home with a victory!!
Nick and Carrie working their magic

Bean bag game and cup holders

Nick and Wes

Kinnick