Our last days!

We are back......sorry for the long absence! Things have been a little busy around our house.....ok, so that might be an understatement! These were the last few weeks that we will be in Ames so we were packing it all in! I will just try and quickly highlight our happenings!
WARNING this is a long post!!
To go back 3 weeks....

Play dates with friends!

Small group going away party! They presented us with Hickory Park memorabilia! Click on the picture to see what the shirt says....it is actually really cute for a kids shirt from a restaurant. One of the best, most filling, cheapest, fastest places to eat west side of the Mississippi!

Since it was raining outside we new we needed something to entertain 6 little girls so we got beads and string to make "friendship bracelets/necklaces." (at the present time our small group has 8 girls and zero boys....the joke is we planned it!)

For those of you who watch IPTV you know who this crazy guy is! Dan Wardell is on his summer reading road trip and one of his first stops Ames. They had it at a park this year and Mackenzie was pretty excited. She brought a friend along and met some other friends there as well. He basically tells the kids this silly story, with much involvement from the crowd and then sent all 100 kids away with Kazoos! Thanks IPTV!

Here she is with Smiles the dog....the library mascot! Since when do libraries have mascots? She is never quite sure in the beginning about getting too close, but then after warming up they kept going back for more!

Perfect Games opened up just across the road from us and ever since we went to check it out she has been begging us to go bowling. We knew we didn't have much time left and rather than going on a weekend we decided that a week night would be much better.

We tried many different ways and she did pretty good for her first time. I think there was only one major stray ball. Kate sat in her stroller with a sucker while Mackenzie had a blast. Someday it will be so fun to all be able to participate in the family activities!

I am ashamed to say that of all of our years living in Ames we have never been to Rieman Gardens. I was planned a play date with one of my friends and I knew her little boys would probably be interested in the dinosaur exhibit that they had.

We actually got all the kids to look at the camera at the same time! They have a butterfly house that you walk through with butterflies just flying around you! Mackenzie was pretty sure that some butterflies landed on the back of her leg;)

They have some neat sculptures!

And the dinosaurs!

My good friends Beth and Wendi put together a going away party for us with all of our friends at a park nearby. It was so much fun to all be together, let the kids play and have a good ol' root beer float. I told them I was not saying good bye, but just "see ya later!"

Kate taking over daddy's spot!

Then on Friday, Aaron's last day of work in his office they had a going away open house for him! I took the girls over.....it was so nice to meet many of his clients and see his co-workers one last time. He really enjoyed the people that he worked with and will miss them a lot!

The night before we left we realized we had enough guys in one spot to move our playset to our neighbors yard. We decided that it was best to just sell it than try and take it all apart and move it. We are glad that little neighbor boy will get to enjoy it now!

The girls did their part in helping move the slide! Mackenzie was kind of sad to see it go, but Lori and Tony assured her that she could come play on it anytime she wanted! We feel so blessed to have gotten to know a couple of our neighbors the year and a half that we lived there!

We had told Mackenzie that before we move she could have her first slumber party! Now before you call me crazy I'll let you know that it went very well! We did normal slumber party things....played, watched movies, ate marshmallow popcorn and went to bed late! A couple girls came over for the evening, but opted to go home. It is so much fun seeing Mackenzie and all of her friends grow up and turn into beautiful little girls! Mackenzie is very into friends and will miss seeing them all the time! Like I said before it is not goodbye, but see ya later!

Well that about sums up our last couple weeks. Sunday was a pretty hard day as it happened to be possibly our last Sunday and our worship pastor and his family's last Sunday(We will miss you Kvernen's)! I say possibly because we have to go back to organize and pack a little before our movers come, but I don't know when that will be and if it will fall over a Sunday. Our church has been our family while we were there and have met so many amazing people. God has given our pastor such an amazing gift of teaching and preaching and we will miss that a lot. BUT we know that the Lord has another plan with a church family that we can fit right into!

Sunday we headed to my parents where the girls and I will be staying until the move. So it is not our final, final day in Ames as I said before we have to go back and move..... that will be coming up in a later post........ It's not "see ya later" yet!