Last Days of the Farm

We concluded our 3 week sabbatical at the Farm in Iowa. We spent a good chunk of the last week baking and preparing food. Nana's pantry is about the size of our kitchen so it was very tempting to fix bunches of goodies. 

Baking homemade Oreos. 

 Yummo!!!

 Reading books with Grandma B, same book I enjoyed reading when I was little!!

 Making chocolate chip pumpkin bars

 Miles wanted to snag a few chocolate chips. 

 Reading on Nana's couch. Can you see she took all the back cushions off. 

 The last day we "went into town" for some real excitement at the park

 Miles enjoyed sleeping in the Moby. Check out those eyelashes!!

 Little climber

 We then hit up the bakery and Lauren picked out a "little" cookie. We enjoyed this over several sittings.

 Next up was Soper Park and the beach

 The sun was starting to descend 

 Attack!

 Toes in the sand

 Rocks in the lake

  Baby Blues!

 Lauren said I had to take a picture of her treasure

Sunday School & 10 Weeks

 Lauren went to Sunday School for the first time last weekend. She kept telling everyone who asked if she goes to school that she does...Sunday School! Needless to say, she was pumped!! I told her to show me her, "I'm going to Sunday School face" and this is what I got:

:

 I then turned the camera on little bro and said, "show me your Lauren's going to Sunday School face" and he did the same thing...

 I chuckled since he did the same thing as big sis, so I put the camera back on him and said it again...same results!

 walking into the preschool room

 didn't even tell me goodbye, this girl is a social butterfly

 10 WEEKS!

Miles around 10 weeks helping with laundry

Lauren helping too! She was 4 months old here...Miles is a chunker compared to her :)

Grotto

Still in Iowa Pictures...We visited the Grotto with Kyle's sister Erin. The Grotto, the 8th wonder of the world according to Kyle, is a massive castle constructed of tiny rocks over many years by several Catholic priests. 

playing at the nearby park

 the Grotto

 For 2 hours, we heard, "Look at this!"

 Look at that!

 A cove in the "Rock Castle"

 The prime photo spot. I need to find my picture like this!

 Playing a game in the cafe

 Checking out the swans!

 We went back to Illinois for a few days and gave some gifts from the Grotto to our friends. Here is Tami busting open their geode.

 The inside!

 Gabby was impressed

 The unbroken Geode

 We walked back to our house in the rain the 3 blocks away. I let Miles sit with Lauren. 

Sleeping baby!! I never want to forget these moments!! 

Lauren Lately...

I'm thinking "Lauren Lately" should be our new installment of things she says that crack us up!

1. At a Pig Roast we went to tonight, Lauren walked up to the band playing and told the lead singer she was hiding from the "bad guys". The band player thought she was saying he was a bad guy. She then proceeded to ask him to play some kid songs. Thankfully, he obliged and sang the Raindrop/Gumdrop song (not sure what the exact title is), he even included an adult second verse. 

2. The other day on the farm she wanted to know if she could eat the corn in the field. I explained to her that there are 2 kinds of corn: sweet corn and feed corn. The corn in the field was feed corn and for animals. She asked me if pigs boiled their corn and ate it hot like we did. 

3. After the Pig Roast we ran to the book store. She was pretty wiped out afterward and asked Kyle to carry her because "her feet hurt!". Kyle told her to come over to him and he would carry her the rest of the way to the car. She SPRINTED over to him so Kyle said, "obviously your feet don't hurt that bad" to which she replied, "ooowie, ooowie, my feet hurt". 

4. The lady cashier at the bookstore said she really held people "captive" with her conversations. I think she talked to everyone in the bookstore! I told the cashier she reminds me of Anne of Green Gables and she busted out laughing and agreed wholeheartedly. Finally I found someone who has read the story and agrees that my child talks non-stop about nonsense.

We have been working real hard on giving her natural/realistic consequences that match the offense instead of always resorting to time-out (aka solitary confinement). The other day she wrote all over the walls, hallway, and doors in about 5 seconds while Kyle was changing Miles' diaper and I was picking out his clothes. Of course, she had to clean it up and Kyle took her marker away for the day. She was really bummed about it because it was part of her school kit that she got for her birthday. Thankfully, it was dry-erase marker and came off with just a rag.

 The fun of cleaning was over at this point, apparently it was a good punishment. 

 We made goop with cornstarch and water...this stuff is crazy!