Saturday, June 23, 2007
I just thought they looked so cute here!
Andy is quite the little chessmaster for a four year old and has now beaten all the adults at least once... Grandpa, Daddy, Mommy, Aunt Marie, Uncle Peter, and Aunt Rebekah. I would like to say however that we usually are ALSO trying to carry on a conversation or hold a baby at the same time...
This is really how Scott takes the boys grocery shopping on a weekly basis. They love it.
We had fun one day making balloon super hero costumes on the front porch. Andy and his friend Jake then had a superhero battle with balloon swords. It was really fun. 
Andy and I really love to play pirates. It's so fun, and he really gets into it. Um.... I guess I really get into it too. Maybe too much. After we set it up and hide all the treasure. We then pillage and plunder our own island. 
I think she might be a thumbsucker!
My two little budding evil geniuses. The Science Center of Iowa is so fun, and the kids really are into it so much this year.
Andy practices shooting spider webs at the Village Bean.
I love my hotsling, and Lucy loves it too!
A dad smiles at his son. I love him!
Chilling at the Village Bean in the East Village. Yes, I know Noah is wearing an Obama sticker. No, we are not supporting him. However, being in Iowa, it's always fun to go see candidates as they make the rounds prior to straw poll and caucus time. So that's how he got the sticker. The East Village is so fun now!
Is it just me, or does my Andy have an awesome stage presence. I mean, he just sparkles! This was his end of the year preschool program.
Worn out from playing too hard. Cuties.
Lucy trying on her dress for chrismation. I love how she looks in it. So sweet.
Noah LOVES the "Song of the Prairie" exhibit. He always loves to play it for awhile. It's basically the same idea as a music box but you control whether or not the different pitches will play. It is supposed to make you think about how the song of the prarie would be different without different animals or plants.
Andy was inspired by the Native American weapons at the Neal Smith Prairie. What a fun kid!
My little diva. I am secretly hoping for my own little Ya-Ya sisterhood without the dysfunction. Me, Lucy, huge sunglasses, scarves on our heads, and a powder blue convertible. Scott kept telling me when she was sick that the image he kept seeing was of Lucy and me walking down the Champs-Elysees in Paris with huge shopping bags. It's fun to have a girl. Yes, yes. 
The cutest baby girl in the whole world... my little Lucy Beatrice.Wednesday, June 20, 2007
"I'm a big girl," says little Lucy.
"How does she say this?" you might be wondering. She says this by doing little stomach crunches every time we lay her down. I remember the boys doing this, but Lucy surpasses everyone in her ability to hold her head up in a little stomach crunch if I lay her down. She'll sit there in her carseat with her head up trying to look around. It's so funny to see a little 3 month old doing that. I have to admit the first time I saw her doing that I thought, "Oh no, another independent-minded child." She always wants to sit in her Bumbo seat even if she ends up in a little folded over position. So funny, I have to rescue her, but she gets a little disappointed because she LOOOOOOOOOVES to pretend she's a big girl in her Bumbo even if she can't hold herself up.
She's a fun little girl. We love her so much.
"How does she say this?" you might be wondering. She says this by doing little stomach crunches every time we lay her down. I remember the boys doing this, but Lucy surpasses everyone in her ability to hold her head up in a little stomach crunch if I lay her down. She'll sit there in her carseat with her head up trying to look around. It's so funny to see a little 3 month old doing that. I have to admit the first time I saw her doing that I thought, "Oh no, another independent-minded child." She always wants to sit in her Bumbo seat even if she ends up in a little folded over position. So funny, I have to rescue her, but she gets a little disappointed because she LOOOOOOOOOVES to pretend she's a big girl in her Bumbo even if she can't hold herself up.
She's a fun little girl. We love her so much.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Today was a fun day in the summer of "Mommy Day Camp." We decided to start off at the coffee shop for breakfast. Next we went to the pet store and bought the kids guppies and a little "pirate bone head" (Andy calls it that... it's really sort of a pirate, skull thingy) for the fish. For lunch we went to the park and had a picnic and then played and played and played on the equipment and in the wading pool. We finished the day off at the library for a magic show... very cute.
After all the "kid stuff," I was completely worn out. And luckily, I had a therapeutic yoga class for an hour and a half after that. I NEEDED it. I then stopped at the coffee shop... had a coffee and read the New York Times in quiet solitude until I started missing the kids again.... so then I came home and here I am.
What's really awesome is that I have another therapeutic yoga class tomorrow morning!!!
On Tuesday we had an even cooler day than today. We went to the Neal Smith Prairie and the kids took their nature journals. They drew some pretty neat pictures. I have a nature journal too, and it was so fun to do a little sketching of the prairie.
It's fun to be with the boys, and to have Marie and Homestead around to help us take such fun day trips!
After all the "kid stuff," I was completely worn out. And luckily, I had a therapeutic yoga class for an hour and a half after that. I NEEDED it. I then stopped at the coffee shop... had a coffee and read the New York Times in quiet solitude until I started missing the kids again.... so then I came home and here I am.
What's really awesome is that I have another therapeutic yoga class tomorrow morning!!!
On Tuesday we had an even cooler day than today. We went to the Neal Smith Prairie and the kids took their nature journals. They drew some pretty neat pictures. I have a nature journal too, and it was so fun to do a little sketching of the prairie.
It's fun to be with the boys, and to have Marie and Homestead around to help us take such fun day trips!
Sunday, June 10, 2007
It was a country church surrounded by cornfields and lots of sky. The wedding was a humble affair... borrowed decorations, a handmade veil, old fashioned cake, punch, and the midwestern standby... little mints in the shapes of flowers. The bride wore a dress with silk roses on the skirt. The groom dapper and smiling in his wedding suit. It was June 10, 1995, when a tall sandy haired boy married a small brunette with innocent eyes. They looked ahead to the future and saw nothing but happiness.
They had prepared for this day with innocent, youthful, preparations. Having no idea that a wedding was supposed to be difficult, they merely made a list of necessities, and checked it off. Photographer, pastor, cake, flowers... the afternoon before was spent walking through a country wildflower garden snipping wildflowers for the reception table. The days were sunny and bright and full of hope.
They had met years before. They were just kids, really. She was 15, he was 17. He gave her a ride home as a favor to his sister. She became enamored with him. She was a focused young girl. She wasn't leaving anything to chance. She knew that he was the one. It was that year that she decided to begin to pray. She prayed that 1. he would notice her! 2. he would ask her out. 3. he would fall in love. 4. they would get married. 5. they would have children and a happy family. She decided that everytime she saw a falling star she would add an extra prayer.
The next 4 years she saw more falling stars than ever before. Some nights she would see three or four. She began to write him letters after he was in college, two years later. He was surprised because she was so much younger. But she knew that she needed to write him letters. But she also wanted the relationship to be "his idea." So she wrote and he wrote... it was before email, and the letters piled up. He kept his in a shoebox. She kept hers tied with a ribbon. 1. First, he noticed her. How could he not? Wherever he sat in church, she sat in front of him. Whenever there was anything going on where he would be... there she was too. He liked the Beatles, she learned the lyrics to Ob-la-di, ob-la-da. And she wrote and he wrote. 2. Finally, he asked her out. They had a winter picnic. They had soup in a thermos, and oranges. He slid down a snowy hill. She laughed and laughed and laughed. He stood up with a flourish. She laughed again. 3. He fell in love several months later. She had been in love for a long time but hid it well. He really thought it was his idea!!! 4. It was the next summer when they watched a meteor shower from the top of a huge hay stack out in the country. It was as though the heavens knew her secret. The falling stars were in cahoots with her to get her to wish and pray. He asked her to marry him in the woods on a bluff overlooking more Iowa countrysides. She said yes, and happily wore his diamond ring. And the next summer on June 10, they were married.
Today, twelve years later, they have found their happiness. Three beautiful children, a happy home, and the sun is still shining.
Scott and Holly Peterson: Today married 12 years.
They had prepared for this day with innocent, youthful, preparations. Having no idea that a wedding was supposed to be difficult, they merely made a list of necessities, and checked it off. Photographer, pastor, cake, flowers... the afternoon before was spent walking through a country wildflower garden snipping wildflowers for the reception table. The days were sunny and bright and full of hope.
They had met years before. They were just kids, really. She was 15, he was 17. He gave her a ride home as a favor to his sister. She became enamored with him. She was a focused young girl. She wasn't leaving anything to chance. She knew that he was the one. It was that year that she decided to begin to pray. She prayed that 1. he would notice her! 2. he would ask her out. 3. he would fall in love. 4. they would get married. 5. they would have children and a happy family. She decided that everytime she saw a falling star she would add an extra prayer.
The next 4 years she saw more falling stars than ever before. Some nights she would see three or four. She began to write him letters after he was in college, two years later. He was surprised because she was so much younger. But she knew that she needed to write him letters. But she also wanted the relationship to be "his idea." So she wrote and he wrote... it was before email, and the letters piled up. He kept his in a shoebox. She kept hers tied with a ribbon. 1. First, he noticed her. How could he not? Wherever he sat in church, she sat in front of him. Whenever there was anything going on where he would be... there she was too. He liked the Beatles, she learned the lyrics to Ob-la-di, ob-la-da. And she wrote and he wrote. 2. Finally, he asked her out. They had a winter picnic. They had soup in a thermos, and oranges. He slid down a snowy hill. She laughed and laughed and laughed. He stood up with a flourish. She laughed again. 3. He fell in love several months later. She had been in love for a long time but hid it well. He really thought it was his idea!!! 4. It was the next summer when they watched a meteor shower from the top of a huge hay stack out in the country. It was as though the heavens knew her secret. The falling stars were in cahoots with her to get her to wish and pray. He asked her to marry him in the woods on a bluff overlooking more Iowa countrysides. She said yes, and happily wore his diamond ring. And the next summer on June 10, they were married.
Today, twelve years later, they have found their happiness. Three beautiful children, a happy home, and the sun is still shining.
Scott and Holly Peterson: Today married 12 years.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Free Paris. Again.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Do I live in Iran? Oh sorry, I don't want to offend any Iranians who may actually have more freedom than we do.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/06/teen.sex.case.ap/index.html
Seriously, I am scared of our government. Premarital sex morality aside... these "kids" used to be of an age to be married back in the day. Now he's sent to prison. I could see if he was over 21 and she under. I could see if he was even 18 and she under. But 17 and 15? And 10 years in prison? 10 years?
Wow.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/06/teen.sex.case.ap/index.html
Seriously, I am scared of our government. Premarital sex morality aside... these "kids" used to be of an age to be married back in the day. Now he's sent to prison. I could see if he was over 21 and she under. I could see if he was even 18 and she under. But 17 and 15? And 10 years in prison? 10 years?
Wow.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
A graduation is not a solemn occasion.
A school in Galesburg, IL is denying several students their diplomas because people cheered for them. Yes, it's true. http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/06/01/graduation.decorum.ap/index.html
The students WILL be allowed to get their diplomas IF they spend 8 hours of public service for the school.
This is UTTERLY RIDICULOUS. That is great that people want to cheer for their kids. This may be the only time they are EVER cheered for... And hey, their parents are there and focused on their child and PROUD for goodness sake.
The worst part is to punish the graduates for something they had no control over. If I were in the Galesburg school system, I would pull my kid out on principle. Out of all the things schools having to worry about (NCLB, violence, guns, literacy, shortage of resources) I think that people cheering at a graduation ceremony is the least of their worries.
Crazy.
A school in Galesburg, IL is denying several students their diplomas because people cheered for them. Yes, it's true. http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/06/01/graduation.decorum.ap/index.html
The students WILL be allowed to get their diplomas IF they spend 8 hours of public service for the school.
This is UTTERLY RIDICULOUS. That is great that people want to cheer for their kids. This may be the only time they are EVER cheered for... And hey, their parents are there and focused on their child and PROUD for goodness sake.
The worst part is to punish the graduates for something they had no control over. If I were in the Galesburg school system, I would pull my kid out on principle. Out of all the things schools having to worry about (NCLB, violence, guns, literacy, shortage of resources) I think that people cheering at a graduation ceremony is the least of their worries.
Crazy.
