975.3 - Call number for Juvenile books on Washington D.C.

Keegan and I are going to D.C.! It's official! We are going to visit Clara of course!Keegan is so excited. (Can you tell by the crazed look in his eyes?) We've been talking about it since May. I mentioned once that we may or may not get to go and he said, "I already told all my friends!" Well, in that case let me just buy those tickets immediately! Each time we are getting ready to go out of town he asks, "Are we going to Washington?". We went to the library today and Keegan checked out an armful of books about the landmarks in DC. Thought it would be a good idea for me to freshen up on my U.S. history and for Keegan to have some background knowledge. I know with his high activity level he may not absorb as much of the information when we are there in the moment. The nerdy teacher came out in me when I said to Keegan, "We can make a poster board to display everything you've learned." He agreed and was very enthusiastic about the idea! I think he will be able to read most of the books by himself and add them to his summer reading list. He asked me today after reading the level on the book he was reading, "Mom, what does proficient reader mean?" I replied, "If you can read that then you are a proficient reader!" Clara - we'll see you in just a few weeks! I've already woken up in the middle of the night with a nervous stomach about flying, I really need to get some drugs or something to calm me down! :)

Happy Father's Day!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Josh and the boys (Keegan's 3 and Sam's under 1). I read some advice on http://dooce.com/, that said don't marry a man unless you can be proud if you had a son who turned out exactly like him. Lucky for me I got two! Happy father's day Josh and to our dads, Mark, Stan and Skip!

The spillway runneth over...

Well the spillway has spilled. I feel so bad for the people in Iowa City, Coralville, CR area. My parents house is fine but they know many that are being affected and there are many secondary affects like drinking water and not being able to drive anywhere. I have been up watching the thunderstorm at our house, watching CNN and looking at photos on the Internet of the floods in Eastern Iowa. It's overwhelming to see all these familiar places under water. Praying that the rain stops is the only hope at this point. With all this wildness, I just want to swoop up my boys and keep them safe forever. Imitating Josh's usual routine, I went in to both of their rooms tonight to give them an extra kiss and pull up their covers just right as they were sleeping peacefully. I love those little beings so much it hurts, My cup runneth over.

Deceptively delicious? or Deceptively just alright?

Have you read, seen or heard of the cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry's wife) titled, Deceptively Delicious? It contains "mouthwatering" recipes that are packed with unseen, pureed veggies. The book is very aesthetically pleasing with color photographs and organized so that the pureeing and planning are very simple. Jeni and I both saw it featured on Oprah and immediately started pureeing like mad women. We thought what a godsend! Get our kids to eat veggies in their favorite meals like mac and cheese, pizza, french toast etc. Although my kids are pretty good at eating some veggies and fruits we all couldn't hurt from eating a variety, squash, beets, spinach etc. The recipes also call for more natural ingredients like whole wheat flour. I had many frozen purees left and decided to try "spinach brownies". Yes Spinach brownies! Here they are:

I'll be honest they DO NOT taste like Duncan Hines fudgy brownies. Just don't tell people they are brownies. They were more like cake/bread with a little bit of a chocolate flavor. Sam gobbled them up and was a little bit runny the next morning if you know what I mean! Hey for 133 calories a brownie, low sat fat and 3 g of fiber, I'll go for these every now and then! If you want the recipe let me know!

Down on the Farm

On Tuesday, we met our "playgroup" at Deanna Rose Farmstead. This is the best place that we frequent during warm weather. Not only are there animals to see, tractors to ride, goats to feed, wagons to be carried on, water to splash in, teepees to be explored, fish to be caught and playgrounds to be played on but it is FREE! Our playgroup consists of ladies I use to teach with and their children. There were originally 5 of us and our kids were all under the age of three. The group has expanded and the oldest kid is going into 5th grade. We use to get together at one of our houses and let the toddlers play in the basement while we adults talked and destressed. Now we schedule weekly outings throughout the summer. We still make the date and the drive because I love these ladies and their kids. There is just something about being with other moms who know you, don't judge your parenting and understand you! I miss teaching with them but it has been worth it to be home with the boys!

"I see that smile"

This is a line that Keegan and Sam say to each other. It can be used for various situations, to cheer one up, when one is up to mischief or when one wants to take a cute video. Here is Sam with his cheesy smile saying the one liner, it comes out..."I tee dat mile". I posted two, he has modified it over time.

Eerily similar to '93

We were able to squeeze in a short visit with Mom and Dad who are now officially empty nesters - no Clara there-it was weird, we missed you! Like many others, we flocked to the Coralville Reservoir to see the water at the spillway which is just inches from the top!

Mimi with boys by the gorge that was created by the floods in 1993. The boys got to pretend they were archaeologists and look at the fossils that date back about 200 million years before the age of the dinosaurs! Keegan thought he found dinosaur bones!

Here we are at the top of the spillway. You can just barely see the waterline at the back left.

Keegan's view from the top!

The flooded beach, that is the top of a shelter I believe.

Taking a break on Daddy's shoulders, after climbing up the spillway.

Great to see you both, Mom and Dad! We love you and we pray that it stops raining!

The best flooded image we saw, we were not able to get a picture of...On the side of I-80 there was flood water perfectly surrounding an "Adult Superstore". The parking lot and building looked like an island with water all around. The funny part was there were still cars in the parking lot. Wish we could have gotten a picture - I would have titled it, "One man's wish is granted...when he answered the question, What would be one thing you could take with you on a deserted island?." Josh said we could have photoshopped in a palm tree!