First Snow in Iowa

So, my phone has been hopping with calls wondering about the weather. Lots of Illinois folks wondering how much. Even a rub-it-in call from Marco Island, Florida under the pretense of needing a recipe (yeah, right : ). )Yes, Iowa got snow. Not tons of snow, but enough to send my kids into a flurry of Santa prep work. There were letters to write, cookies to bake, cleaning up their rooms so he wouldn't trip. It was all too funny! They haven't really grasped that concept of time yet. We still have to do the "sleeps" method. It's four sleeps til this, two sleeps til that. Right now it is seven sleeps until we see grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It is also fourteen sleeps until High School Musical 3 comes to our tiny, $3-a-ticket theater.

The first picture show our backyard and the beginning of the flurries. It snowed like that from around 5:30 in the morning until bedtime. It never stopped all day. The second pictures shows about all that it accumulated to. Just enough for good tracks and footprints. Brom loved it and tracked up the whole yard chasing chipmunks (managed to catch and gulp on whole -- yuck).

Can't wait to see what winter is going to throw at us. I'm definitely guessing Bing's "White Christmas" will be our theme song.

Big Catch for Brom

The dog was sooooo proud of himself the other day. He caught a present, which he then deposited right at my feet. Yeck! He played with that snake for over an hour, until it finally bit him. These are the snakes that we had all over our yard when we first moved in. Their population has gone down a bit after the endless hours of snake hunting. These are the things that should be on realtor reports -- big yard with high snake population.

Grotto Pictures

I had tried to post these pictures before, but newbie flub-ups prevented it. These are from The Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend, Iowa. Tiny town with this "structure that spans about 1 block. It is beyond anything I've ever seen. We've been three times now. It's free (good will offering sort of deal). One priest designed and built the majority of this; handing over the last bit to a younger priest in his old age.

The first statue is Michael slaying Lucifer. So cool. I had been telling my kids that when they were scared to call on angels to protect them. I think they kept imagining soft, fluffy angels. This statue put into perspective God's warriors. It's my favorite statue at the Grotto.

It's hard to tell by the pics, but this is all created from rocks and shells (except the marble statues). He built all this by hand. Even the ceilings are encrusted.

I get a little lost in some of the Catholicism of it -- stations of the cross and such, but still it is an awesome spot. If ever you are in West Bend : First, come see us, we're only a half hour away. Second, definitely visit the Grotto.

Happy Birthday Paige and Claire!

The kids are at the fun age of Halloween. They still love the cute costumes (and still share their candy : ) ). The girls went as Alvin and the Chipmunks. I think each choose the chipmunk that best fits their peronality: Paige, inquisitive Simon, Claire, munchable Theodore, and Ava, sassy Alvin.
Isaak choose to be Indiana Jones, as did every boy in the free world. However, he was super cute as he hummed the theme song from house to house, flicking his whip at the Chipmunks. The kids were beat after a few houses. Our new neighborhood is awesome, in that the houses are spread out, but this makes for a LONG trick-or-treat route. We didn't make quite the haul we used too, but still have the huge tupperware bowl filled to the brim with treats
Claire and Paige had pretty good birthday, beautiful weather. Turning 8 came and went in flurry of nachos and brownies (their choice -- but I think it was a good one). They had lots of presents. New "fur" coats and snow boots. (I think we'll need these in Iowa). Not as many toys this year. *sniff* *sniff* They are growing up. They didn't even really desire toys this year, but I threw in some Polly Pockets and small toys to keep my dreams alive.



Favorite gift of all --- The $2 toe socks from Ike and Ava. Aren't kids funny?

Best of Both Worlds

We survived Paige and Claire's "Rock Star Party", where you got to have the best of both worlds. The girls all received a backstage pass in the mail and had to wear it to be allowed in. Brant the bouncer was very stern and strict -- no pass/no enter. The moms thought it was hilarious. Each pass had their true identity name and their "secret rock star" name. All the rocker names were rhyming state names --- Claire Delaware, Elaine Maine, Pippi Mississippi, etc. After serving microphones and soundbites (corndogs and party mix), my lovely neighbor Jill and I performed their rock star make-overs. Huge thanks to Jill for doing the make-up. She went home covered in glitter, but giggling at what she got to leave behind.
After the make-overs we played a quick game and had a photo shoot in front of the stage. Notice all the pink hair and red lips. The gobs of glitter didn't show up in this phot, but, trust me, we'll be finding it for weeks.
The pass.
This I threw in to show off Iowa. Can you tell what this is? Look closely. The reason I took a boring picture of the side of our black grill is to show off the snow. Yes, people, it snowed for about two hours yesterday. Nothing really stuck, but still honest to God snow in October. Jeez, I am so not prepared for this.

Leeper Kids

These are pics from when my mom and sister came up to visit. Notice how over half of the Leeper grandchildren belong to Brant and I. They turned out pretty good for just a day at the park.

We've been busy working on the toy room/sewing room in the basement this week. It's turning out pretty cool, and since it's in the basement, there's a sound barrier from the craziness. This week also includes Paige and Claire's rock star party, so there is another layer of kookiness there. The girls are high on little girl joy and I'm going crazy making sure I have it all lined up so it runs smoothly (well, at least sanely).


This pic shows that even though Iowa may seem bland, it really is a pretty place. This is the river that runs right through the middle of our town (West Des Moine River). Most of the parks are planted along its banks, so you can overlook it while you play ( and constantly toss out drowning threats at your children if they go near it).

Back to Blogging

O.k. o.k. I finally loaded up Picasa 3 (thanks to Jennifer's suggestion and wealth of blogger knowledge). Wow this is going to be so much easier. Now maybe I can keep up. This picture is about a month old. Since then I've painted, made a few curtains, learned to knit socks, being a busy little birthday elf (leaving this off blog), made 4 Halloween costumes. . . See why I forget to update!

Anyway -- our lives have been filled with lots of love lately. Our family is in love with Awanas, a mission based children's program on Wednesday night. Brant and I help in the games department, Paige and Claire are sparkies, and Ike and Ava are Cubbies. Can't think of a more family fun night.

My sister, Mom, two nephews, and niece were here this weekend. While I had help with the kiddies, Brant started framing in the basement for a toy room and my sewing room (does he love me or what?!). It was great to see everyone. I swear my niece Sarah is too tall, and Drake eats like a horse. The biggest change was in Brock though. Oooh, how Isaak misses that little guy. He's full of karate chops and giggles, and Isaak so desires a boy around here.

Keep your eyes peeled for birthday news. Paige and Claire's party should "rock".