Matt and I celebrated five years of marriage by getting out of Ames and going to a brewery and dinner in Ankeny. All while being back by 8:00 and in bed by 10:00....our kind of nights. Wouldn't want to do life with anyone else.
Emma spent four nights by herself at grandma and grandpa Shoultz house in Litchfield before Matt and Maggie came up for a few more days. Emma loved it and appreciated the 1:1 time with them. She even got to spend the night out at the camper.
I had a work trip in DC and got to spend the evening relishing in the beautiful history. I'd love to do this trip all over again as I clearly didn't appreciate it while on the 8th grade field trip.
We might have found Emma's sport: softball. She sure can slug them off the tee or being pitched too.
Lots of park time in and around Ames.....
Quick trip to Clear Lake for the day so the girls can experience the lake life. Matt and I decided that a dream of ours is to have a getaway house up there some day. Note: DREAM.
I potty trained Maggie on July 6. Probably not the best timing as Matt was out of commission for six weeks post surgery, but it's done and she has done such a great job. She was two years and two months when we did it. While young, she was more than ready and showed immense interest. After a couple of weeks of random accidents, she's fully potty trained and the thought of being done with diapers forever is amazing!
More time spent up at Clear Lake with dear friends. Third summer in a row we have done this and we look forward to it every year.
Our bribe during summer months is "If you take a good nap, we will go see the horses." Almost always does the trick.
We got rid of the pacifier on Matt's birthday after he asked her if she wanted to throw it away. In a moment of weakness, she said yes. It was a rough night and a rough few nights there after. But now, she's doing well and doesn't ask for her. Throwing away the paci though coincided with her getting out of her converted crib, so that weekend, the crib got put back together to keep her caged, I mean contained for a little while longer.
Visited Litchfield before the craziness of football and basketball season got underway. The girls have a ball up there and love getting to see their cousin Maddy who they adore.
