Madison's 3rd Birthday

I didn't do so hot on the pictures this year for Madi's birthday! Oh well, we were too busy having fun to bother with the camera! Madi had a few cousins over in the morning to play and have cake. Her one request for her birthday was a Dora cake. She wanted it for her birthday breakfast, lunch and dinner!! And it had to be pink!! We went out for a pizza dinner when Eric came home.

The Birds

We were visited by the cast of the Alfred Hitchcock movie this morning. Literally hundreds of blacks birds swooped down onto the trees that line the house. It sounded like rushing water or wind. I know these pictures dont do it justice, but the trees are virtually leaf-free, so everything that resembles a leaf is actually a bird.

They stayed about 10 minutes and then left as quickly as they had come in one mass flock! This picture only captured maybe half of them. Madi thought it was pretty cool, but then again, so did I!

Fall Fun

This past weekend we enjoyed some wonderful crisp fall days!! What better activity to do in the fall than play in the leaves!!

On Saturday we went to a pumpkin patch. They had a corn "sand box", which the girls loved. And I loved that it was so clean.

Madi loved the big slide and wanted to go again and again!

We had met Dan and Dee and the kids there also. Madi and Erika are in the front barrell. Andrew is in the next one. Emily is holding Taylor in the last one.

Our new home

Before the farmers did a lot of harvesting last week, we were surrounded by nothing but corn. Now we don't even have that!! :) Us girls really enjoyed watching all the tractors while we sat at our kitchen table and ate our meals. Madi had a lot of questions, like, "what's that?" and "what are they doing?". My typical response was, "I don't know, let's ask daddy when he gets home". Yeah, I so don't know my tractors or harvesting process!! :)
Here's a couple of pictures of our view. The clusters of trees in both pictures are where there are other homes. The closest neighbor we have is about 1/4 mile away. The area we live in is a plain, so its very flat and very windy!!

Country life is quiet, beautiful and very different from the life I've always known. This next year is going to be an adventure!!

We are Moving!!

We're packing up and moving out!!:

This is the house we will be living in for the next year. Its in a tiny town in IA called Cedar. Yep, Eric is turning me into a country girl!

Family Time

My parents and brothers came out to visit last week. They came out to help Dan and Dee move and meet their newest grandson. We had a lot of fun.
One day we went on a paddle boat up the Mississippi River. It was a Perfect day for a boat ride.

Madi and Brian watching the water, waiting for the boat to take off: