A Favorite Holiday Visit

We are very fortunate to live so close to the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.  It is just 20 minutes away from our house.  Every year they have a display of Christmas trees that are decorated and each year the trees have a different theme.  We try to go over to the museum each year to see the trees.  This year the theme for the trees was fairy tales.  It was fun to look at each tree and try to guess which fairy tale the tree was decorated for before reading the sign next to it.  I thought I would share the trees with everyone!

The Aladdin Tree

The Hansel and Gretel Tree

The Jungle Book Tree

The Little Red Riding Hood Tree

The Paul Bunyan Tree

The Pinnochio Tree

The Rumplestiltskin Tree

The Snow White Tree

The Nutcracker Tree

The Three Little Pigs Tree

The Wizard of Oz Tree

We loved seeing all the trees, hope you did too!

Merry Christmas!

Jodi

 

Lots and Lots of Cans!

On our way home from Thanksgiving, we stopped in Moline, IL, so I could do a little shopping at the Isabel Bloom store.  Lucky for me, there is a John Deere Pavilion right across the street from Isabel Bloom that has a variety of different John Deere equipment displayed inside.  This year the marketing department for John Deere came up with an idea to build a S-Series Combine all out of cans of food.  So they did just that and it was on display at the pavilion.  The boys went over to check it out and when I was done shopping, I met them over there and checked it out myself.  It was really cool and I just thought I would share.

As you can see it was an impressive structure.  Here are some of the details John Deere provided about the sculpture:

- Volunteers built the sculpture completely of stacked containers of food.

- The combine is 16 feet tall, 80 feet long & 60 feet wide.

- More than 300,000 cans of food were used and it weighed 170 tons.

- It took 450 volunteers working around 64 hours to create the sculpture.

- When the sculpture is disassembled in December, the food will be donated to a local foodbank in the Quad Cities.

- There were regular sized cans, large cans, small cans and some bagged items.

I am so glad we decided to stop and glad we went in to check it out.

Jodi

 

Thankful – Final Entry

It is now officially December and I am not exactly sure how I feel about that.  I thought I would finish up my thankful entries from the last three days of November.

I am thankful for having a working oven – Considering I decided to start my holiday baking on Monday, and made 5 different kinds of bars along with a deep dish pizza for supper, I am glad my oven is working.  It didn’t get much of a break on Monday, and then I started it up again on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I am really, really thankful for an oven that is working.

Having knowledgeable sales people – At this time of year it seems like there are a lot of temporary sales people who don’t seem to know much about the store they are working in.  However, when I went to do some shopping on Tuesday and needed help with finding something or answering of questions, I must have hit all the sales people who have worked at the stores for more than just a week or so.  All the questions I asked were answered and items I needed to find were found.  There are times when frustration hits, especially at this time of the year, but when I am able to talk to knowledgeable sales people it makes shopping so much less frustrating!

Having the majority of my Christmas shopping done – I know there are a few things I still need to pick up, but the majority of the items I need to purchase are bought.  I even started wrapping the presents and it as I wrap that I will get the final idea of what I still need to pick up.  I really hate to shop in big crowds of people, so am glad I can pick up the last few things during the day in the stores when they are not so busy!

November has been a great month and I am thankful for everything that went on and happened during the month.  Now on to that month of December.  The month is always bittersweet because it seems to go “too fast” and I usually feel like I don’t have enough time to just enjoy the month.  I am going to try to take time each day this month and just enjoy – it may be something as small as sitting and looking at the decorated Christmas tree with Christmas music playing in the background, but I am going to try!

Have a great December!

Jodi

Thankful Week 4

Last week was Thanksgiving week, so here are the things I was thankful for:

The house being decorated for Christmas – We travel for Thanksgiving, so I try to put the Christmas decorations up the weekend before Thanksgiving.  It is so nice to have it done, especially when we get home from Thanksgiving and it is all done.  I don’t turn the lights on until we get home from Thanksgiving, but when we walk in the door after our travels I can turn the lights on and enjoy the decorations.

Having a great place for our dog to stay while we are gone – Cali stays at a place called Pearl’s Inn.  We are friends with the owner of the kennel, and she is also the one who grooms Cali.  Even if we weren’t friends with her and her partner Angie, I know that she would always take great care of Cali and it would be one thing we don’t have to worry about while we are gone.  Cali loves going to Kelly’s and she can’t wait to get out of the car when we get there.  It is so funny to watch her.

Having time for a pedicure – I got the luxury of being able to sit and get a pedicure from a wonderful lady named Chi.  She is at a nail place back home.  I wish she was here in the Iowa City area, because she does such a great job and she is so much fun to talk to.

A quiet Thanksgiving day that ended with a nice meal – Our Thanksgiving day was spent preparing food for the big meal we have on Friday.  Mom and I have the routine so down pat that we worked like a well oiled machine.  At the end of the day, we have a meal of steak and baked potatoes.  It is just my parents, Paul, Palmer and I, so it makes for a nice quiet meal.

Extended Family (all 20+ of them) – My mom’s family comes over to a Thanksgiving meal at my parent’s house on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  This year there were a total of 25 adults and children.  Sometimes extended family can get on a person’s nerves, but I just feel extremely fortunate to have that family.  It is really fun to just be able to sit and catch up with everyone.  There are usually lots of laughs.

Shopping with my mom and sister-in-law (even though it was raining) – Us three girls went out and did some small, local business shopping.  It was so nice to have the kids with the men.  We were able to take our time and really look around and things.  I love the small shops that have fun stuff.  Then the men took the kids to a movie, so when we got home, it was quiet.  What a nice way to spend the day.

An uneventful drive home from Illinois – The interstates were busy, but the drive home was uneventful.

A few more days this week of being thankful as the holidays start up.

Love -

Jodi

Thankful Week 3

This last week was a super busy week for me and my family, but I still had time each day to be thankful, even if it was just for the little things.

Time spent with Palmer – Monday night last week was a “family night” event at our elementary school.  Paul had a meeting that went late, so Palmer and I headed to family night.  We had a great time building different things and learning new science concepts.  It is great that we can have these times together.

The staff and teachers at Palmer’s school – Tuesday was the staff appreciation luncheon hosted by the PTO.  We really have a wonderful staff at our school and they care so much for all the kids.  As I said in my first thankful post, we may not have the newest school, the newest stuff in our school, but the staff and teachers are so wonderful at our school that you don’t realize what might be missing.  Whenever anyone asks me what it is about our school that makes it so great, I always respond “the staff and teachers”.

Time to just sit down – With the week being so busy and knowing the next month will seem even busier, it was nice to just have 5 minutes to just sit down.  I just decided to take those few minutes to sit and do nothing, and I do mean nothing.  It was what I needed so that I could get a little motivation to get some other things done.

A wonderful clean house – Our house is clean, but sometimes it just feels like it needs a good cleaning.  I had time to get that cleaning done this week.  I really wanted to get this done because I was planning to put up holiday decorations over the weekend.  I always like to have the house really clean before I start putting up decorations and I was able to get that done this last week.

Daylight Donuts – I know this seems like a silly thing to be thankful for, however, I love donuts and this place has got the best ones.  We used to have a great donut place here in Iowa City/Coralville, but it closed a number of years ago.  Every once in awhile I just get hungry for a good donut and it has been hard to find that here in town, until Daylight Donuts opened a few months ago.  The store is across town in Iowa City, but that is probably a good thing, or I would be there every day.  Their maple bacon longjohns are wonderful and their old fashions are super great too.

People who are understanding – I was supposed to help with an event for ICJSL (a women’s group I belong to) on Saturday night.  However, Friday when I woke up I hardly had a voice and Saturday when I got up, I had a horrible cold that settled into my sinus cavities by the middle of the day.  My cheek bones hurt so bad, I thought they were going to explode.  I had to call the girl who was in charge of the event a couple hours before I was supposed to be there and tell her I didn’t think it was a good idea for me to come.  She was so understanding and told me not to worry about not being there.  I felt so bad having to back out at the last minute, that is so unlike me, but she made it seem like it was no big deal.  I am so thankful that there are people like that out there!

My son still finding Christmas magical – I know that this could possibly be the last year (insert broken heart here) that Palmer will still truly “believe”.  He was so excited when I started getting the Christmas decorations out this weekend.  He couldn’t wait to help decorate the Christmas tree in the family room and in his room.  I always feel this time of the year is magical, but having Palmer’s excitement in the house makes it even more magical.  I am just so thankful that Christmas will still be magical this year.

As we come upon Thanksgiving Day this week, I hope that everyone gets some time to spend with their family and friends.

Love -

Jodi

Palmer

Thanks to Lindsay McGowan who took these beautiful pictures of my son.  There are so many more, but these were just some of my favorites.

Love -

Jodi

Thankful Week 2

As we finish another week of November, these are the things I was thankful for last week.

My parents – They just always seem to know, without us asking, when it would be a great time to come and stay for a night.  It worked out perfect because Paul, Palmer and I needed to be 3 different places all at the same time.  Thanks to my dad, he took Palmer and went to the Cub Scout meeting so Paul and I could keep our commitments.

My husband – Even though there are times I may not be the easiest to live with, he loves me just the same.  I know there are times he would rather be doing other things, but he helps me when I ask.

No snow – There was snow in the air, but thankfully, none of it stuck to the ground.  My brother in Des Moines (just 120 miles west) had to shovel, yes I said shovel, 6 inches off his driveway on this same day.  I am really not a cold weather person, so seeing snow in the air always makes me sad.  The fact it did not accumulate, or even stick to the ground, made me happy!

The Surprise Squad – This is a group doing various good deeds around Coralville and Iowa City, no questions asked.  They have been paying for gas, paying for food, etc.  I went to their website where you could request a “Surprise”.  I requested one for the secretaries at my son’s school.  They showed up on Wednesday and brought a huge tray of cookies and fresh Starbuck’s coffee.  Not only did they bring it for the secretaries, but they brought enough for the whole school staff.  After meeting these people, I wanted to be one of them.  One day, maybe!

Time spent with my husband and son – So Palmer had the day off school for parent/teacher conferences and Paul had the day off work for Veteran’s Day, so we had Friday to spend together.  Even though they got on my nerves a bit, it was nice to have a random day to spend together.  The 3 of us that day were very thankful for the Veteran’s and active service men and women in our lives.

Time spent with friends – You know those friends that you don’t spend a lot of time with, but you really enjoy spending time with.  These are the friends I am thankful for on this day.  We spent time tailgating before the Iowa game for some of these friends.  It is always great fun, lots of laughs, lots of food and just lots and lots of fun!

Helpful school parents – We are so fortunate that Palmer goes to a school where the parents love to help.  I am fortunate to know a good number of these parents personally.  This week at our school we are having Staff Appreciation Week and there are lots of things that need to be done.  If we didn’t have these parents helping, the event wouldn’t work.  Thanks to these wonderful parents, this week’s worth of events will go without a hitch and the staff will be pampered beyond belief!

Until next week, keep being thankful!

Jodi

Thankful November Week 1

Even thought we should be thankful all the time, the month of November is a great month to express that thankfulness to everyone we know.  Some of my friends are blogging and Facebooking about be thankful each day this month.  I wish I could say I am that on task to be able to do the same thing, however, I think I am better to just doing weekly thankful postings.  So, here is what I am thankful for from last week.

First and foremost, I am thankful that my brother-in-law, Chad, returned safely from Kerdistan.  He was stationed there for 6 months with the Air Force.  He didn’t have to see any kind of battle, but when he was so far away, you just never know.  He was also away from his wife and 2 daughters for that time and I know they missed him greatly!

Second, I am thankful for a warm house to live in and always come home to.  Considering there were lots of people on the east coast last week that didn’t have electricity, I am thankful that as our week got colder last week, I had a warm home.

Third, I am thankful for a wonderful son, who just turned 9, and loves to learn.  He is always excited about going to school and learning new things.  He seems to come home and impart new knowledge to me and Paul and it is usually about something out of the blue!

Fourth, I am thankful for a wonderful school, where my son gets the chance to learn every day!  Palmer doesn’t go to the newest school in the district, but I would have to say he goes to the school with the most heart!  All the teachers and staff at Palmer’s school want every kid to learn and have a great experience while learning.  They care so deeply for the students and for each other that you just have a great family feeling when you walk in the doors.

Fifth, I am thankful for an Iowa Hawkeye win over Michigan.  So this might not be the best use of being thankful, but it is always so sweet when a team that is not expected to win over a ranked team surprises you and wins!  It was a great game, and we did get to spend some time with great friends on game day.

Finally, I am thankful for having great neighbors.  One of my neighbors and I got to spend time on Sunday morning walking through a craft show.  The best part was laughing about crazy things while we were doing it.  It is so nice to have someone close by that you can laugh with just when you need it!

Until this time next week, keep being thankful for all those big, little or in between things!

Halloween 2011

Halloween has come and gone again this year.  We had a fun party in Palmer’s classroom.  The weather was cool, but not too cold.  I sat on the front porch and handed out treats without freezing, while Paul and Palmer wandered through the neighborhood collecting candy.  We had 95 kids come trick or treating at our house.  Palmer ended up with 117 pieces of candy.  Yes, he counted all of them.

Palmer dressed up this year as an Air Force man.  Since Paul’s brother is serving in the Air Force, we called Aunt Saudi to see if Uncle Chad had an old fatigue jacket and hat he wasn’t using.  Sure enough, he had something for Palmer to borrow.  So, Palmer was authentic and the fatigue jacket even had our last name on it.  That was pretty cool!  Palmer thought he was big stuff wearing the fatigues!

We thought he looked pretty good.  I tried to get a picture of him saluting with a serious look on his face.  As you can see in the picture, it is pretty close, but he had a hard timed not smiling or laughing while I was trying to get the picture.

I hope your Halloween was as great at ours!

Jodi

The Wisconsin Dells

So in the last post, I teased with the fact that we took Palmer on a surprise trip for his birthday.  A lot of people in the Iowa City area head up to the Wisconsin Dells for weekend trips and even for longer trips in the summer.  This was a place that neither Paul or I had ever been to, and we decided that Palmer was at a good age to be able to enjoy all the Dells had to offer.  The nice thing about the Dells, is that it is about a 3 hour drive from here.

We picked Palmer up a couple hours early from school on the Friday before his birthday.  We had the car packed and off we went.  We pulled into the resort where we were staying at 4:00p and checked right into the 2 bedroom villa that we had reserved.  We stayed at the Wilderness Territory.  This place was amazing and is probably even more amazing in the summer when all the outdoor waterparks are going.  As it was we had 3 indoor waterparks to play in, along with 2 indoor mini-golf courses and 3 arcades.  We didn’t even begin to see half of the resort.  The villa we were in was beautiful and huge.  It had 2 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, a huge kitchen, eating area and family room.  Each bedroom had a balcony.  The room we were in, the balcony looked into the one indoor waterpark.  The room where my parents stayed, the balcony looked out over a wooded ravine where they had a zip line set up.

We enjoyed an amazing weekend.  We parked the car and never had to use it again until we left on Sunday.  We played in all 3 indoor waterparks.  We played golf on both indoor mini-golf courses, and Sunday morning Palmer, Grandpa and Paul hit one of the arcades to play a few games before we headed toward home.  I would definitely recommend this resort to anyone wanting to get away and have fun even in the winter.

Waiting for the waves to start in the wave pool.

Hanging out in the wave pool!

This was a waterslide in the area with the wave pool.

Grandpa, Palmer and Me coming out of the Dueling Mammoths waterslide.

Another indoor waterpark

Palmer on one of the numerous waterslides.

This is a view of the whole Wild West Waterpark.

Paul, Palmer and me on the family waterslide.

Paul and Palmer on one of the tube slides.

They even had indoor bumper boats, so Palmer and Grandpa gave them a try. They are trying to squirt Grandma while she is taking the picture.

Trying to squirt Grandma again, I think they got her feet this time!

At one of the indoor mini golf courses

Grandpa as a pirate

Palmer as the pirate

As we were walking between a couple of the buildings, we looked out and saw this area where they had set up this cool fall setting.

It really was a great weekend and it was nice to get away for a little while.

Jodi