I am in a new town! It has been a long time since we have parked somewhere that we have not been to before. I am in the northeastern part of Iowa in a beautiful small town, Decorah. It is only the four of us here. We are hiring an Iowa temp to help us with some administration work for the next several weeks of classes. Cathy is teaming up with our friend Dannie and Ryan to teach all across the mid and west parts of Iowa. Richard will teach several cities along the eastern Iowa border. It is an amazing seminar schedule. I hope Cathy and Richard can talk for that many hours! It is a very good thing they love what they teach!

While I have been away we have had several changes! Richard went to Colorado to be a STUDENT for a week! He had a great time and learned a lot of valuable information. Cathy and Dannie came up to teach while he was away. It was a nice change to have new people in the RV. Mixing it up a bit for the kids and I. But I was ready for Richard to be home. It was a tough week because I put Levi through a major life change. The morning after Richard left, I decided it was time to give up the pacifier, cold turkey! I researched best techniques and felt strength in reading over and over again that after a couple of days they will move on. Well, THAT IS NOT TRUE!  Going to sleep was the hardest because that was the only time I always allowed the pacifier. The first night he had the worst tantrum EVER! He kicked and screamed and attacked me. I almost gave in. In fact I was standing up to go get them (no, I wasn’t brave enough to throw them away) when he flung himself to his pillow and passed out! Oh thank goodness, he had almost won that battle. This win gave me courage to fight the many mini-battles that laid ahead of me all week. It has now been 8 days and he still asks me for it at least 3 times a day. Google researched LIED!! But, he has done it. I will win this war. I’m proud of him (and myself) for sticking to it. My story to him is that the baby dinosaurs needed the pacifiers. Actually, I tried telling him that younger BABIES needed them but he told me it was the baby dinosaurs. Okay, whatever makes him more agreeable? I was hoping this would also make him less in love with dinosaurs, you know since they stole his pacifiers and all. But, no, that is not what happened. He is still completely obsessed with all things dinosaur.

Because of the love of dinosaurs in my house, I found a traveling Dinosaur Exhibit in Davenport, IA and took the kids one day. It was really great! The sounds matched the motion of these huge creatures perfectly. I was secretly hoping it would scare Levi a little so that his obsession would begin to fade. That plan did not work in my favor. He really enjoyed it and so did Piper. I was concerned for her because she doesn’t like anything “scary”. Not even the villain in a Dora cartoon! She had no problem with the huge dinosaurs roaring at her. What is with kids and loving these things so much!

Dinosaurs!

I met a friend on the playground! I sit at MANY playgrounds all over Iowa and have never met a new friend at one until this week. We had lovely conversations while our kids played at the RV park playground all weekend. It was sad to see them leave but life on the road is full of passing happy moments.

Richard picked many pounds of peaches while in Colorado so I am going to be making a couple peach desserts this week. I may only get 1 dessert in because Levi will eat about 4 or 5 peaches for one snack! He LOVES them!

We went to the Iowa State Fair last week. What a huge event! We had a great time seeing all the many things there was to see. At the end of the day, I got to hear a few songs from Boyz II Men! Memories!!

First prize Pumpkin! 933 lbs

Tons of livestock to see!

Here in Decorah, we were invited to check out the local clay art studio. The lady we are working with here in this town volunteers at the studio and showed us a great time! The kids loved doing this kind of art. I will be searching these studios out more in the future. I know we have one in Austin. I’m happy to know my kids are finally old enough to go to places like this. They each painted an already made piece. Piper painted a unicorn and Levi painted a dinosaur, of course! Then they were given a pound of clay to mold as they wish. With Daddy’s help, they made so many great things! An ice cream bouquet, little bowls, a sandwich and a soccer ball! What fun!

Now we have to wait for the kiln to complete the project!