Movie in the Park

Last night a local park had a Movie in the Park night and they were showing…. 101 Dalmatians!  So.. you KNOW we just HAD to go!  That is one of Grace’s FAVORITE movies and even though she has seen it almost 101 times, she could watch it everyday!  She had never seen the unanimated version with Glenn Close, but I knew that she would love that as well. 

So, the girls and I headed to the park with Pongo, Perdita, Patch, snacks, drinks, chairs, a blanket, the camera and other things for a night of fun.  We got there in good time and got GREAT seats with a nice view.  After setting things up, we got popcorn, played on the playground and swings, and then did a few activities that the park set up for the night. It was hard waiting for it to be dark enough for the show though.  It turns out that the small camera I had was the favorite pre-movie activity… as you will see! 

Making dog collars….they wore them on their wrists.

Grace climbed UP the pole… using gymnastics muscles of course!

Hannah enjoyed climbing and climbing….

Pretending to watch the movie

Sampling her lemonade… I guess passes the test!

Cuddles with the Dalmatians… and feeding them popcorn

Oh, and I put Patch IN my popcorn bag! HA HA!

Perdita couldn’t fit in Hannah’s bag…

Grace taking a picture of Grace….

Hannah taking a picture of Hannah…

Silly popcorn faces…

Pongo is NOT going anywhere!

Me and my girls

They HAD to get a few of just me….

Getting close to show time…. and trying NOT to be sleepy!

Silliness…. wearing Perdita’s collar!

The show didn’t start until after 9:30 because they needed to turn the lights of the pavilion off… and it took them a long time to figure that out.  Many families left, but we stayed until the end and didn’t get home until 11:20!!!!!  I hoped the kids would sleep in this morning… NOPE!!  Oh, well!  It was WELL WORTH the memories!!!

The ugliest house/yard in the neighborhood

When we moved into our house in DSM, it had been vacant for over 12 months and was a foreclosure.  It needed a lot of work, but we have been doing it… sssslllloooooowwwwllllyyy!  I mean, there is a lot that HAD to be done (like getting the toilets to work and putting in flooring in all the rooms), and now we are at the things that we WANT to do.  But that list could go on forever.  There is nothing that HAS to be done right now!  YEAH! 

When we are out for a walk, we often see our neighbors and begin to talk to them – we greatly desire for our neighborhood to come to know Jesus.  As we begin to talk we always get asked, “So, where do you live?”  All we have to say is, “The white house on the corner.”  Then we get THE LOOK.  You see, since our house was vacant it had become the eye sore of the neighborhood. The white house on the corner was the ugly one that no one was taking care of and had grass that was waist high.  It was THE HOUSE that everyone talked about and was desperately hoping that SOMEONE would buy.  After the initial chit-chat we hear stories about our house and the dogs that once lived there and then they tell us how nice our house and yard look now… it wasn’t very hard.  Just cutting the grass regularly was an upgrade!

BUT speaking of upgrades, we have done SOME things to the house to improve the overall curb appeal.   We added shutters, painted the front door, put up new light fixtures, added some landscaping rocks to make a flower bed, and transplanted some plants and flowers.  We have also leveled the sinking driveway and walkway – you can’t really tell that from pictures, but it was a HUGE improvement. 

BEFORE (the only one I had was in winter, sorry!):

AFTER:

There is STILL work to do, but there is PROGRESS and for that we AND OUR NEIGHBORHOOD is thankful!!!

PS.  I am NOT in love with the white color of the house, but that is NOT something that I am willing to spend money on… there are FAR greater things in this world than adding a new color of siding!

Armed and Dangerous

Sometimes the best deals can be found at the Dollar Tree… like these water pistols!  The kids have already logged hours and hours of fun with them this summer!  They are certainly Armed and Dangerous….don’t let their giggles fool you!  If you are in the area of our house, you are fair game to these three!  They hid behind the play structure and pounce on their subject!  They sneak up behind you to soak you to the bone… they are DANGEROUS!!  And they WILL get you wet… you have been warned!  :)

The Sharp Shooter

The Peppy Pistol

The Loose Cannon

Free Fun!

One of the things that I like about Des Moines is that you can find free fun all over the city.  Cities all over the US have libraries that are free and the occasional museum, but DSM has much more than that.  One of my favorite free things is the many wade pools and splash parks!  WE LOVE THEM!  Last Thursday we had a friend here for the day – Joshua – so we took our first trip to Crivaro Park.  (I took all 5 kids by myself!!!)  Here are the highlights from the day!

By the way… the extra kid in these pictures is our friend, Joshua!  His mom, sister, and brother were out of town for a week, so he spent two days with us while his dad was at work.  WE LOVE HAVING HIM HERE!!  Josiah absolutely ADORES him and he is a great kid!  We are SO SAD that he and his family are moving to Kansas this week… THAT STINKS!!!