Life on the farm

Gabe has been spending this past week with The Flatau's on the farm. He has been having a great time!

Giving the calf a bottle or "bite" as Gabe calls it.

Moving some silage with Grandpa... Vroom!

Looking at cows with the 3 kittens. Gabe LOVES cows!

Getting ready to cut hay with Grandpa....

Cutting hay!

I'm cool -- and I like chocolate milk!

Relaxing in his Adirondack chair.

WATER FIGHT!!!!

Gabe loves the kitties. Here he is relaxing with Peaches.

Playing animals with Great Grandma Gena!

An underdog from Uncle Dan... I think Dan was trying for paybacks from when Aaron gave him and Jon an underdog on the tire swing at the farm and the chain broke....

Getting help from Auntie Holly

OK, OK, maybe Iowa isn't that great

Fine, Minnesota corn is amazing too....

This year at least.

Update..

If you were wondering as you read the next (my last) post... I stand a full 5'8"!

Iowa Corn.....

RULES!!!!!

Sorry Grandpa Flatau....

there's no doubt

that Iowa corn

is amazing!!

These pictures were taken this evening and were not doctored in any way.....

Up to Nothin'

Hello -- We had a quiet weekend around here. Work, church (which is also work so that is a little redundant), a little road trip to the LARGE town of Farnhamville, lawn mowing & not much else!


Here's a pic of Gabe having a drink. Note the ottoman/trunk he is in front of. That goes with our new couch. AND it doubles as a toy box. Cool, huh?


Goofing around! I don't know what possessed me to blow on his little feet but he thought it was hilarious.


If only my nose looked like his!

Humboldt Family Aquatic Center

As promised, we took Gabriel to the pool tonight. The water was a little cold but he loved it!

Here he is getting ready to go down the lion slide --

This was his favorite thing.

He was so cold, his lips were blue...

And the cutest of all, relaxing on the lounge chairs.

You gotta love small towns -- we saw a whole bunch of people we knew and had a great time!

Is this sanitary??

This morning I was cleaning out the dogs pool for them and filling it up again....

When somebody else thought it would be fun to play in the pool too!

So I'm not sure how sanitary it was or how odd it looked to the neighbors...

That my son was playing in a pool, inside a dog kennel, with some dogs!

In spite of all the worries, Gabe had a great time.

And tonight we'll take him to the real pool!

Life in Iowa

Life in Iowa is good! I am "home alone" this weekend... Well not alone, Gabe is here with me, Aaron is gone to Chicago for a conference on youth ministry. So I am working and taking care of Gabe this weekend. He had a babysitter tonight and he kept telling her bye-bye all night? Not sure why that was because he was in a great mood... It was funny though to hear him say bye-bye like 10 times when I got home. Maybe he wanted me to leave again?

Here's a little outfit that makes my baby look like a little boy now! He didn't keep the top shirt on for long but it was very cute!


This was last night and he was SO tired so he would go from crying to smiling and back again in a flash!


Such a sad face! And the snot bubble makes it all the better.


We constantly marvel at the beautiful sunsets we get almost every day in Iowa. This was taken tonight from our yard. I apologize to you real photographers out there for my poor third spacing and overall low quality of this photo. It really should have been beautiful if I had the right equipment and know-how!


Look closely and you'll see...... a pook! This pook is our neighbors from 2 houses down. She was sitting on top of one of those green electrical boxes in between our house and our next-door neighbors.

p.s. If you don't know what a pook is.... it's a cat! At least thats what we call our cats.... I mean pooks....

Our new couch.....

I am pleased to announce the addition of a new couch to our family! It is a lovely sectional that fits nicely in our living room. The cats took to it promptly and we've enjoyed it as well!

Dancing -- Basketball

Gabriel's First Parade

Humboldt has a parade through the streets of town every year on the 4th. It is a big deal and is pretty much a must see.

Here we are patiently waiting for the parade to start.


Our little buddies Katie and Adam waiting with their buckets on their heads....


This is Gabe IMpatiently waiting for the parade to start...


The sirens didn't scare my boy at all.


HMMM... Not sure what's going on here?


There were many exciting HUGE trucks & tractors for Gabe to ogle.


And a few pretty girls for him to ogle...

Happy 4th!

Our neighbor designs this in his grass every year. I think last year he had the stripes painted too... It's pretty neat!

Whatever happened to "knee high by the 4th of July"?

This corn is right by our house and it us up to my chest/armpits in many areas.