HELLO OCTOBER!



Yep, another 6 weeks has passed with no update. Here goes:

• We've had 4 football practices per week since mid August & it ends at the end of October. We've had 4 games and so far we haven't won a football game or even come close to winning. Jake is still loving it though.
• Allie was voted the first kid of character in her class. When voted, you get to sit in a special desk for a week. She was thrilled to be the first!
• Jake has been going to soccer practice twice a week since the end of August. He doesn't love his team & is sticking it out because he loves soccer. They haven't won a game but Jake is looking good & has scored one of only 3 goals scored this year.
• Allie has been going to tutoring every Monday & boy has it paid off. She has taken 2 math tests & got 100% on the first one & 98% on the 2nd!
• We remodeled the kids bathroom. It is beautiful! New floor, new counter, new paint, new towels/accessories...I love it! Next project, my bathroom.
• Jake started safety patrol & likes it.
• Allie joined the UNI Children's Choir. She is an alto and so far thinks it is cool. The choir is singing with the UNI Men's Glee Club during their Christmas concerts. Pretty cool! She has another concert in December as well.
• We've been taking the kids to the CF Tigers football games at the Dome. It has been fun. Jake's football team had the opportunity to carry in the Amvets flag for the National Anthem one night. Very cool.
• I had a PTA meeting and am still the secretary. I also am the room parent for Allie's class & helping with Jake's.
• I took on the role of Treasurer for the union at work. I am not sure why I agreed, but I did.
• The kids had school pictures and they turned out good.
• Allie had to get a tooth filled. One of her first cavities.
• Jake went to his friend Ben's birthday party. They spent the night at his grandparent's cabin. There was fishing, wading in the pond & it sounds like lots of 5th grade boy fun!
• Jake came home the other day with the announcement that he had a girlfriend. He didn't understand why she stopped talking to him once they started going together. I told him it sounds pretty typical for a 5th grade relationship.
• Jake started basketball practice already. He has a tournament in November. It makes for crazy Saturdays with football & basketball practice plus a soccer game. Needless to say, Jake is exhausted on Saturday night.
• Mandy & the kids spent a weekend here. It was great to catch up with them. Mom & Dad also came up and caught a football game.
• Allie went to a swimming party for her friend Madison. Tons of 3rd graders were there.
• Allie had a Brownie meeting. She's dying for the annual cookie sale to begin. I'm not!
• The kids ran the mile. Jake placed 1st in his class with a time of 7:32. Allie ran it in 8:28, which is GREAT for Allie. Jake also got 1st place in the whole 5th grade in the pacer test with 87.
• I went to the eye doctor and got contacts. I love them & am getting pretty good and putting them in and taking them out.
• Allie had a field trip to Hartman Reserve. I got to go with her class and we had a wonderful day.
• Religious Ed started for the kids.
• We went to my cousin Abe's wedding a couple of weeks ago. It was a fun reception and great to see family.
• Jake went to a 5th grade party at his friend Makenna's house. There were TONS of kids there & they all appeared to be half crazy!
• The kids joined a running club at school and will run/walk a couple of days a week. I'm planning to help out the PE teacher once our schedule settles down a bit.
• Allie has decided to play basketball this winter. It should be interesting.
• I co-chaired my last school carnival. It was very successful. I'm happy to finally be done with that huge task.
• I went to haunted houses with a couple of co-workers. We had the best time filled with lots of laughs.
• I went to a baby shower for a co-worker.
• Allie started a pottery class at the Hearst Center. She can't say enough wonderful things about the class.
• We had our friend Bailey take our family pictures a few weeks ago. They turned out great!

The family
Miss Allie

Allie & Jake

Jake

The kids

Another

Jake

Allie

The fam

Jake is #44

Allie's class silent auction basket. It brought in $320 at the auction for her carnival

Morgan, Abbie, Skylar & Allie at the field trip. Her best friends

Allie's class on the field trip.

Allie on the field trip

Exploring the pond on the field trip

My favorite bakery in town

Allie & buds at the CF game

Jake & friends at the game

Ready for safety patrol

Jake's team with the flag

Allie was the kid of character in her class.

5th grade party

GOODBYE AUGUST!

Yep, another busy month is gone & lots has happened!

• Allie finished up her summer tutoring. We'll start up again after school gets into full swing.
• Jake went to an end of summer pool party at a friend's neighborhood pool. There were a lot of his friends there & he has fun.
• I met with my carnival co-chairs to discuss some things before our full committee meeting this weekend.
• Jake went to a 3 day football camp sponsored by the high school. He had a great time there.
• Football practice started and they practice 4 nights a week. He loves it. He is playing quarterback and full back.
• We registered for school and found out the kid's teachers. Allie has Mrs. Marshall, who Jake had. We loved her and hoped that is where Allie would end up. Jake has Mrs. Oldani & I couldn't be happier. She runs a tight ship & makes it clear what she expects out of her kids. Jake needs that!
• Allie celebrated her 9th birthday. She had a party at Claire's with her friends. It was spa themed and they had fun being pampered. We went to Carlos for lunch and then Allie went to her friend Jordyn's to play. We went to Sakura (her choice) for supper. She loves the way they grill the noodles, rice & other food right at your table. After supper, she opened her gifts and had Bishop's Pie. A great day!
• A few co-workers came over for pizza & beers after a very long day at registration. We went to outlet mall shopping the next day & found lots of back to school bargains.
• Jake spent the night at his friend's Will & Sam's house. Allie spent the night the same night with her friend Jordyn. Scott & I went out for drinks!
• Allie had a planter's wart & we went to the doctor to have it treated. I felt so bad because it was a very painful treatment.
• I went to a friend's house for an At Home America party. I bought a couple of candles that smelled wonderful.
• My parents spent the night one evening. My great aunt Helen passed away and since she lived in this area they stayed her after the visitation. We took my dad to the Brown Bottle for dinner while mom stayed at the whole visitation. Yum.
• Jake had his friend Mason spend the night. Allie asked her friend Morgan to spend the night. Morgan wasn't ok with sleeping over, so she came over in her PJ's and watched movies, at junk food and hung out until about 10. Allie was ok with that!
• We spent an afternoon at Lost Island waterpark. We hadn't been there all summer & Allie really wanted to try out the new roller coaster slide. She loved it and we had a ball.
• Jake went to a bowling party and sleepover to celebrated his friend Nick's birthday.
• I watched our neighbor boy Paul a couple of days while his little brother had a small outpatient surgery done.
• I had a meeting for work one morning. We went over bloodborne pathogens and some HR stuff.
• I woke up the other night with severe stomach pain. I had only been asleep for about 15 minutes or so & was up the rest of the night. Nothing helped & the pain worsened. I ended up at the doc & after many tests, we found out I had a UTI. All is better now.
• Allie & I went to our salon for back to school hair cuts. It was our stylist's last day & we are so sad.
• I had an eye doctor appointment. It had been quite awhile since my last appointment and we found out that my eyes had gotten much worse. I ended up getting bifocals. I'm going to get used to them and then move to contacts as soon as possible.
• Jake participated in a fund raiser for his football team. He basically stood outside of Fareway and begged for money with some of his teammates. They raised about $600.
• The kids had dentist appointments. Allie has a small cavity and Jake checked out fine.
• I met with the teacher that I'll be working with this year. We got lots figured out for the school year.
• Allie and I checked out a new bakery in town. It was SO good. We ordered cupcakes for some of our favorite teachers/coworkers as a welcome back gift.
• Allie and I also checked out a new nail place and got pedicures while Jake was at football practice one night. We had the WORST pedis ever and will NEVER go back.
• We went to Backpack Night and met the kids teachers and dropped off school supplies. I also met some of the kiddos in the classroom I am in.
• Our first day of school was great. The kids love their classes and so do I.
• I went to input conferences for the kids. I warned the teachers about my kids!
• I went out with co-workers because we survived the first week of school. Scott met us out and then the two of us went to dinner. Our sitter stayed with Allie. Jake went to the football game with his buddies.
• Jake played in a scrimmage called the Jamboree. They played a team that was much bigger than them. Jake held his own & did well for his first game. I was a proud mama.
• Coming up: football practice, soccer practice, carnival meeting & a long Labor Day weekend. Allie's 9th birthday

Allie & her best friends (Morgan, Abbie, Skylar, Katie & Allie)

Allie with her party attendees

Allie's birthday donuts for her party

Jake & friends after his scrimmage (Paul, Nick, Will, Sam, Jake & Tanner)

Jake handing off the ball to Parker

Jake carrying the ball as QB

Jake's football team (he's number 44)

Jake & Allie on the 1st day of school

The awesome cupcakes from Scratch

Allie & her teacher

Jake & his teacher

Me & Allie on the 1st day

Me & Jake on back pack night

Allie & Jake before back pack night

Awwwwww

Lost Island

Allie at Lost Island

Jake at Lost Island

20 YEAR REUNION

I went to my 20 year class reunion last week. I had a great time catching up with old friends. I stayed out way too late...good thing we only get together every 5 years or so!


The reunion attendees
At the bar after

The Grand Mound elementary crew

These were a couple of my HS best friends. (me, Amy, Kathy & Melissa)

My very best friend since 2nd grade (Amy).

WHERE DID JULY GO?

Seriously, where did July go? It was just the 4th & now we are in the last week of the month! Here's what we've done!

• Allie is going to tutoring for math 2 days a week. She is improving a ton & loves going. We will keep it up during the school year too.
• Jake saw his ortho. He gets by another year with no braces or retainer. Yay!
• Jake's baseball team won against Gilbertville. It is the ONE team that we wanted to beat more than any other in the league. They were so happy. We celebrated with some of the team by going out for pizza after the game.
• Jake's baseball season came to an end. The end of the year tournament for the silver medal didn't go well. We lost all 3 games. We ended up 3rd in our conference, which I thought was great.
• We went to see Despicable Me as a family. It was a cute movie.
• I made a flying trip to see my family. We took in one of my nephew Ben's t-ball games, had dinner at Hall of Fame & the girls got their toes done. It was a great time.
• Scott's 20 year reunion has come and gone. We went to Fairfield on a Friday evening after dropping the kids in Cedar Rapids with my mom. We stayed in a hotel and enjoyed being without kids. We went out with Scott's classmates Friday & Saturday night. Scott took me for a tour of his hometown & showed me where he hung out, went to school, worked etc. It was a great time.
• We spent 4 days in the Ozarks with my whole family. We went boating, jet skiing, swimming, fishing, shopping, used the paddle boat, golfed, ate, drank & laughed. What a great time. We are already talking about booking the same lake house for next year. Sure hope it works out! I took about 450 pictures, I put a sampling on the page...
• I took the kids to Grand Mound for Kid's Day again this year. Allie really enjoyed herself. Jake is getting too old for the festivities.
• The kids and I went to the pool the other day. It might have been the hottest day of the year, so they had a blast.
• We bought our school supplies. School starts in less than a month. I can't believe how fast the summer has gone by!
• I had my friends Luke & Kristin over for pizza and beers. We hadn't seen each other for several weeks due to vacations. We needed to catch up & we sure did that!
• I started a new challenge (from my friend Luke). I am posting a picture a day on a website called http://365project.org/grinsteads/365 check it out, it's kinda fun. Let me know if you decide to try it out too. You can also check out Luke's project http://365project.org/lukewa/365 He is way more creative that me!
• Coming up: tutoring for Allie, pool party for Jake, my 20 year reunion, carnival meeting, football camp, registration, Allie's 9th birthday, Allie's party, doctor appointments and hair appointments.
  
  

Ben & Mike in the Ozarks
Maddie sipping a frozen drink on the beach at Coconuts.

Jake, Allie & Tesha on the boat.

My angels :)

Our family at Coconuts.

Allie at Coconuts.

Jake & Allie on the giant floating sea turtle at Coconuts.

Me, Allie & Delaney on the hammock.

My family by the lake.

My whole family in our matching Fischer shirts.

Front: Allie, Ben, Drew & Jake

Sitting: Tesha, Maddie, Mandy, Mom, Delaney, Kim & Me

Back: Will, Mike, Dad, Michael & Scott

My & my nephew Drew.

We celebrated Allie's birthday early.

Jake in the lake.

Jake & Drew

Drew pretending to drink some beer.

Me & my love!

Jake fishing

Taking a ride on the paddle boat.

My kiddos getting along!

Miss Allie

Allie bowling at Kid's Day

Jake bowling.

Jake pitching during the tournameny

Jake up to bat.