Monday, October 31, 2016

Trick or Treat

At 4:00 we did the candy parade put on at the town square
and local businesses around the mall.
At the girls' request, I even put on my costume.
Daddy wasn't expecting that!

Cowgirl and Waldo

Avery threw a 15 minute tantrum refusing to wear her Minne ears - 
she finally was satisfied with a yellow penguin hat.
Ok. Whatever!

The girls' best picture of the night -
with their friend Aoi :)

Then at 6:00, we went to the Osky Elementary
parking lot for trunk or treat, put on by Central Ref. Church.



All this and we made it on time to our 7:00 church
congregational meeting!





Saturday, October 29, 2016

ISU game

Thanks to Grandma Char and Grandpa Craig,
we were able to go to the ISU game on Saturday.
It was an 11:00 game, so we dropped the girls off early at 8:00.
We then went to the game, stopped by some friends who were tailgating after,
went to Chilis for supper in Des Moines and were home 12 hours later.
The girls had a good day and we had a BLAST!
It was picture perfect weather!



the cheerleaders
(we wanted to show Aubrey :))

the team coming in with the band in the background

team huddle before it started 

We had the *privilege* of sitting next to a bunch of pirates!
Of course since it was Halloween weekend,
 there were a lot of people dressed up. I got to sit next to "Johnny Depp." 
They really were not too obnoxious and left at halftime and didn't return. 

going for a TD!

We had pretty good seats - just to the right of the end zone about 13 rows up.
(a LATE birthday present that we used, from my parents, to Steve)

TOUCHDOWN!

Hmm...too bad the game didn't end in our favor.

31-26 final, ISU loses 


Friday, October 28, 2016

Combine Time

On Friday after school, we headed out to G and G Betty's farm
to ride in the combine.
Unfortunately it was really too wet, so Grandpa 
just tested a few rows to see if it was dry enough...it wasn't.
The girls got their ride and didn't know any different.
Thanks for taking time to let the girls ride!

Aubrey wanted to go first -
climbing up in the machine shed 

Avery wasn't so sure at first and got a little scared
when the combine started up really loud.

backing out of the machine shed was a tight squeeze

Aubrey getting finger prints all over the nicely cleaned windows

Grandpa said that Aubrey had a lot of questions 

Avery, Mom, and Grandma Betty waiting in the pick up
until it was Avery's turn - it was windy and dusty!

This year we got to see the soybeans get combined.
Last year we were in this same field when it was corn.


Avery and Daddy joined this time

Avery getting a close up look at the beans

Grandpa stopped to check the moisture - still too wet,
and the girls had to take a peek, too.

running through the bean field :)

the windy runner 

getting to ride in the back of the pickup
(well, not Avery since she didn't obey ;))

NOW they could both sit on the pickup box 











Thursday, October 27, 2016

Timber!

On Monday afternoon, a whole bunch of equipment showed up
on our yard...ready to remove our 4 trees on Tuesday!
(3 of which were infested with Ash borers and the other leaning questionably)


one last picture of our leaning tree on our side yard
(the tree on the back left was also getting removed)

Of these three backyard trees, the one on the right
and the one on the left were removed,
leaving just the SUPER LARGE maple in the middle.

side view, one in front and the one in the back going to be removed 

I came home from school on Tuesday, to this.
The worker wanted to keep all the firewood for himself.

The girls standing where the leaning tree was 

We watched them trim the last of this one down -
he went ALL the way up to the top for that limb!

They left the trees like this to finish later since it started to rain.

What a mess!
Thankfully they cleaned it all up later very well.

Most of the branches went through the Vermeer wood chipper 
and the big chunks were made into firewood. 

The girls had fun climbing around all the down logs.

Since it rained all Wednesday, they came back to finish on Thursday!
Too bad the ground was still soft, and ruined our side yard
and back yard with all their equipment.
Here is a view of our side yard - we feel VERY EXPOSED 
to the neighbors on the left without the two trees dividing our space. 

side yard - different angle

Here you can see where the two trees were - creating a bit more sunlight 
close to the house, but we still have most of the backyard shaded,
just now with much less leaves! 

This tree we won't miss too much since it was totally dead anyway
and in the middle of the backyard. 

A few thousand dollars later, and the project is complete!




Tuesday, October 25, 2016

End of Soccer Season

Our Soccer season came to a cold end this evening.
It rained right before the game, so most teams did not even have practice
but we needed to get our last game in, so we held it.

Aubrey getting her medal from Dad


Daddy and his two biggest fans

Coach Daddy with Aubrey
for the purple team

Yay, cookie snack, juice box, and medal
make it all worth it :)

the WHOLE purple team
Coach, Charlie, Iwan, Logan, Seth
Johnny, Jaren, Molly, Jack, Aubrey 

silly picture :)