Back to School

Last Wednesday morning, I'd heard kids walking to school outside my bedroom window which made me wake up in a panic. Why hadn't my alarm gone off?!? I was mad that I was late for work on the first day of school! I quickly grabbed my phone to see why the alarm hadn't gone off when I discovered that it said it was Wednesday morning. I quickly remembered that I don't live in the same school district that I work in and I knew I didn't start until Thursday. I was relieved that I had one more day of summer vacation, but it was 7:30 and I was wide awake. So much for sleeping in for one last day! Thursday morning my alarm went off without a problem and I arrived at work on time to help the kids cross the street on the first day of school.

Saturday Chris and Ella went to the state fair with Grandma Mary, Grandpa Mike and Aunt Tamra.

 Hard Boiled Eggs on a stick

 Chocolate Ice Cream

 More cow statues

 More fried cheese curds

I stayed in town for Katrina(a high school friend of mine)'s bachelorette party. I know there were pictures taken, but I have not seen them yet.

Sunday afternoon we took Ella to the hospital for a quick tour. Uncle Jerry had taken us on a tour of the hospital that he works at this past winter and Ella spent most of the tour concerned that she was going to get shots, so I wanted to take Ella to see the hospital where she'll soon meet her little sibling, so she knows there is nothing to worry about. She got to see a baby being wheeled in it's crib from the nursery to it's mother's room, and she immediately pointed out "baby sleeping!" Then we met Nurse Elle who showed us around the floor, and even showed Ella where she could find some ice cream! Thanks Nurse Elle for helping Ella feel at home at the hospital, I'm sure she will be fine now when it's finally time to meet Baby Bow-Wow! 

Tuesday we had yet another appointment with Dr. Minyon. Baby is still doing well and not putting much thought into joining us before the due date. I have now pre-registered at the hospital and washed the car seat cover! Two things down, many yet to do. After my appointment we stopped for donuts at a new donut shop in Iowa City, Daylight Donuts.  The maple bacon donuts are fantastic!

Happy Birthday Butter Cow!

Last Friday Ella, Mom and I went to the Iowa State Fair. This was Ella's 3rd year at the fair, look how much she has grown!

August 2009 (4 weeks old)

August 2010  (1 year old)

August 2011 (2 years old)

Ella and Gra Dondie eating kettle corn and a pork chop on a stick, yum!

Ella enjoyed PB&J on a stick.

Ella found some Legos to play with.

 Ella in the mouth of a Lego Lion

 Gra Dondee and Ella inside a Lego Shark.

 This year's fair celebrated the Butter Cow's 100th birthday, so there were little cow statues scattered all over the fairgrounds, Ella had her picture taken with all the ones we saw along our way through the fair. 

We attempted to take a picture of ourselves enjoying a caramel apple.

 Ella and I had our picture taken with the President and First Lady.

 Ella took a nap in the varied industries building.

This is what the first butter cow looked like.

And here we are with the butter cow. Aren't we cute!?!

We also enjoyed fried cheese curds, warm chocolate chip cookies with ice cold milk, lots of lemonade, and some birthday cake for the butter cow. I do not know what happened to the photographic evidence of these events, but they were all delicious. We did not try the fried butter on a stick.

Saturday was Kids Day at Kinnick. Chris, Ella and I enjoyed a beautiful day at Kinnick Stadium watching the Hawkeyes scrimmage. Lately whenever we pull up to our house, Mom and Dad's house, or Eric and Hallie's house, Ella will start listing off who lives there. For example, when we pull up to our house she will say "Mommy house, Daddy house, Ella house, Ruby house, Me (Millie) house, Baby Bow-Wow house." As we were walking through the parking lot on our way into Kinnick Stadium on Saturday Ella points to the stadium and exclaims, "Herky house!" We are so proud of her! :)

Also on Saturday we headed downtown to check out the sand sculptures at Sand in the City. Ella wiped out right in front of the first aid booth and really milked the workers for all the sympathy she could get. They sprayed her knee to clean it off, put a band-aid on it and gave her a balloon.

She was still pretty crabby and wouldn't pose for any pictures with the sand sculptures. But here are a few of our favorites from this year.

Charlotte's Web

 Alice in Wonderland

 The Lorax

 Rainbow Fish

 Humpty Dumpty

 The Very Hungry Caterpillar

 The Little Engine That Could

 The Giving Tree

 The Three Little Pigs

The "highlight" of my week was probably on Monday when I had to take Millie in for her check-up and shots. After spending all morning chasing her around the house I finally trapped her behind the toilet and managed to get her into the crate. It is no easy task to remove a pissed off cat from behind a toilet when you are 8 1/2 months pregnant. Millie and Ella then meowed at each other in the back seat of the car all the way to the vet. Good news, Ella (24lbs)  now weighs twice as much as Millie (12lbs) does!

We made our first attempt at potty training this week. I think Ella has been ready to start, but I didn't really want to start until after the baby came. I'm not sure why I suddenly felt like maybe it wouldn't be that bad. It must have been just the idea of a few slow days with nothing big on the calendar, but whatever it was, I really should have ignored it. Ella might be ready, but I do not have the energy. Going back to plan a and waiting until after Baby's arrival, or maybe Christmas.