This past weekend, Ellie and i were in the Waverly Heritage Days parade. It was the first parade she’s ever been in and was thrilled at the idea that she got to throw stuff at people. And this is what she’ll tell you about the parade too…”I throw stuff at people” – obviously the highlight of her day was the fact that she got to break the rules for an hour or so of her saturday.

I’m not so sure the kids sitting on the float with us were as thrilled as she was…considering this was her first parade, when I told her to pick up a toy to throw to the people, she promptly picked one up and threw it at the little girl sitting next to her. Sorry, Emily…once we got her straighted out, she did okay – except for that one gummy pizza sitting in the middle of Bremer Avenue…oops…I’m sure that left a nice, sticky mess on the tire of the first person to run it over. I’m hoping the celophane wrapper did its job and held it all in!

The theme of our float was “Your peeps are at your library”, and we were to dress in hip hop fashion. Ellie must be more hip hop than her mama, because it was easier to dress her for this than dressing myself.

You be the judge…I think she looked pretty good…(thanks for the photo stacey!)

No, its not a typo.
This year, Waverly was once again a stop on IPTV’s Reading Road trip.
Ellie, Evan and I went along with my mom who was here helping that week.

Here are the three of us with Dan Wardell of IPTV kids club fame.

I went to Wartburg with Dan…so have known him for 10 or so years…and am still amazed at his constant energy and his ability to mezmerize a crowd of kids (and adults too!)

So, I know the fourth was a long time ago, but I’m on maternity leave – its like vacation right? I just don’t seem to be getting all that much done besides hanging out with my kids…exactly what I’m supposed to be doing on this little break from work, right?

I wanted to share some pictures of us celebrating the fourth of july…

This photo was actually taken on the 3rd, for Waverly Childcare’s fourth of july children’s parade. I dressed up the first year i worked there because someone dared me to…now its tradition – going on three years. This year we thought it would be cute if Ellie dressed up too.

We celebrated the actual fourth with my sister and her family and my parents. It was the first time Aunt Laura and Uncle Ryan had met Evan…

This photo is the three grandkids together…isn’t my niece the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen? I think my children are gorgeous of course, but look at those eyes…

We didn’t see a parade this year, but we did take in some fireworks. Like everything else, Evan slept through them. Ellie loved them – at first they were scary, but by the end she was telling Grandpa all about them.

So, the past few days have been interesting ones at our house…its been an adjustment being at home with two kids instead of just one…but we’re making it…and what makes me happy is that Ellie seems to be just as happy as ever – and she’s just as funny as ever too – and her humor is a welcome addition to most every day.

Today we were driving to Waverly to pick up pictures when out of the blue, Ellie exclaims “You’re driving me nuts.” I couldn’t help but laugh…knowing exactly where she had heard this statement…direct from my mouth. I’m just thanking my lucky stars it was this exclaimation that she had remembered me saying and not some other, more inappropriate saying! Whew.