Father's Day

Our father's day celebrations started first thing in the morning with a round of golf.  Zach, Monroe, and I went to Jackrabbit to play nine.  I only play about once a year, so it is hard to get into a rhythm.  Monroe did well hanging out in the cart.  She enjoyed bringing us our putters and "driving". 

After golf, we went out to lunch and then put Monroe down for a nap.  Zach watched the US Open even though Tiger wasn't playing well.
After nap, we gave Zach his gifts.  We got Zach a golf net for the backyard, a gift card to Golf USA, and a picture frame. The picture frame had three pictures that spelled out Dad.  (I got the idea from friends.)

Then, we drove to Hastings to spend the evening with his family and grill out.  While we were there, I took pictures of Zach and Monroe.  Here are my favorites:

 
Zach's dad and brother grilling


A family shot

Weekend Away (the good and the bad)

On Friday morning, we drove to Lincoln to spend the day with Dustin and Julie.  That afternoon we played outside in the baby pool.  It was Josiah's first time swimming.  The kids had fun together in the tiny pool.  

 Playing piano

On Saturday, we had plans to go to the first College World Series game with my brothers and sister-in-law.  On our way to pick them all up, we got in our first car accident.  We were sitting at a stop sign waiting to turn onto 48th street.  There was a lot of traffic.  On the left, there was a man coming with his turning signal on.  There was no one on the right, so Zach went.  The man with his signal on didn't turn and instead hit our car at the driver's side front tire.  The damage didn't look terrible, but the wheel was crooked, so it was not drivable.  Zach ended up getting a ticket for Failure to Yield.   The accident was frustrating, but we are thankful that it wasn't more serious.  

On top of that, while we waited for our car to be towed away, I dropped my phone and cracked up the front screen.  It was a lovely 10 minutes :)

We decided to go to the baseball game anyway to get our minds off the wreck.  The game was a lot of fun.  It was a good game to attend.  The game was decided with the last hit that was close to going over the fence but was caught instead.  

After the game, we went back to Dustin and Julie's.  Julie's parents were in town for Father's Day, so we all went out to eat.  Then, thankfully, they brought us back to Grand Island.

Our car has already been in the shop for a week, and because of insurance, they haven't started working on it yet.  The guy thought it would take at least two weeks to do once they start.  It's a good thing it's summer and we can share one car easily :)

Big Girl Room

After hearing plenty of "horror" stories from my friends at school about transitioning to toddler beds, Zach and I decided we were in no hurry to do it.  We didn't need the crib, so Monroe could stay in it for as long as she wanted.  Then, we started potty training.  Monroe took to going both potty and poop in the toilet very quickly.  This was a huge relief, but it made us realize that she needed to be able to get out of bed to go potty if she needed to.  So, we converted her crib to a toddler bed.  

The transition went smoother than we expected.  Our only issue was that she would get out of bed, grab things from around the room, and take them back to bed with her.  After two nights of her getting her medical bag out of her changing table and dumping it in her crib, we decided we were ready to bring in her dresser from the garage.  Our thought was that the drawers would be harder to open and we could rubber band a few of them together to keep her out of them.  The dresser took up more space than the changing table, so the room needed to be rearranged.  While we were at it, we figured we might as well bring in her new bed too.  

Here's the new room:

The bed is from one of our spare bedrooms.  I found the bedspread at Kmart.

The dresser is the one that I found at a thrift store in North Platte.  I had planned to refinish it, but I am undecided if I'm going to.

I only did two projects for her new room.  The first one is one I've been meaning to do for a while.

The picture in the middle was made by Ramona, the counselor at Westridge MS.  When she gave it to us, I loved it, but it didn't match her room.  The outside frame was pink and the matting was blue.  I decided I wanted to for sure use it in her big girl room, so I painted the frame and matting the two grays from the room.  I love it, and I am so glad we are now showing it off in her room.

In her room before, we had a canvas picture of Monroe above the chair.  It was balanced on the wall by the lamp.  Once we put the bed on that wall, however, the picture didn't work in the far square.  We tried moving it to the center square, but it looked too small on the wall.  We needed something in the other two squares.

 So, I got two 16 x 20 canvases and covered them with material that matched the room.  They are a perfect addition to the wall and to the room.  

Monroe loves her big girl bed and her big girl room.  It seems unreal that she is old enough to have either. 

May Phone Dump

Eating at Paradise Donuts for the first time 

Playing with Daddy

Zach and his brothers surprised their mom for Mother's Day.

After I came home from my pedicure on Mother's Day, Monroe wanted her toes painted.  She chose yellow and green.

My aunt Gloria died a couple weeks ago, and my family went to Iowa for the funeral.  On the way home, my siblings and I went to Ackley, which is where my Grandma lived.  We stopped by her old house and went to our favorite restaurant.

 On the first day of summer, we took Monroe to Stolley Park.

 We rode the train before we went home.  

Our second time at Paradise Donuts.  Monroe asked for a brown donut. 

Just so we're clear, there are 25 days between the two trips to get donuts :)

We got Monroe a pool for playing in the backyard.  I think it will be a perfect size.