There goes our peaceful sleep...

We did it - we took the plunge and turned Julianne's crib into a day bed today! 

I'm really hoping she'll transition well.  She usually takes a long time to fall asleep so I was dreading this a little.  But, so far so good.  She took her nap in her big girl bed this afternoon and has been in her room for at least 45 minutes tonight - I'm too afraid to go in her room and check if she's sleeping!  But she hasn't come out of her room and it's quiet so I would say it's a success..  We threatened if she didn't stay in her bed we were going to put her rail back on - and we will too because there's nothing like a peaceful night's sleep!  I'm not so sure it will be peaceful tonight anyway though - I'll be too worried about her falling out of bed!  But I lined up couch cushions on the floor beside her bed so if she falls at least she'll have a soft landing!

Julianne so proud of her big girl bed!

The %$#**@ lawnmower is gone!

It's a happy day in the Frank house - at least in my corner of the world!  Nick bought a new lawnmower today!!!  I like have a big lawn, or at least I used to before this year.   Nick threatened to fence in cattle or goats on the lawn so we didn't have to mow, so I tried not to complain too much... Besides I didn't really mind spending the 3+ hours on the mower each time the lawn needed to be cut - it usually ended up in a good sun-tan (that was pre-baby of course, I don't have 3 hours to myself now!).

However..... this year was a different story - I was about ready to go buy some goats myself!  With all the rain we had this spring, our lawn was growing like crazy and since I'm gone from the house at least 10 hours a day during the week and Nick is gone even more than I am, the only time we had to mow was on weekends.  And I didn't like spending my two free hours (nap time!) on Sat and Sun mowing lawn!  The time I  hired a babysitter so I could mow AND the day I actually took off work early to come home and mow, that stupid, $*#**@*@%#* lawnmower wouldn't work so I had to just sit in the house and look at that overgrown, shaggy lawn from the window.  Ugh - very frustrating! 

SOOOOO I am really glad that we now are the proud owners of a brand new lawn mower (with a 60" deck so maybe I can actually get it done in 2 1/2 hours now!!)

Holiday Weekend

I'm finally getting around to posting our 4th of July pictures!!  It was another fun year at the cabin on Big Kandi with my parents and this year my sister Alissa and her husband Josh and my other sister Kelly came as well!  The weather couldn't have been more perfect and we had a fabulous time!  Although it wasn't the same without Nick's parents; Sheri hasn't been feeling well so they didn't stay at the cabin with us.  They made it out during the day on Saturday and Sunday however, so at least we got to visit them for a little bit.  The Vogt's came to visit on Saturday and the Barden's also came for a short while on Sunday.

Sunset over Big Kandi on Saturday night

Mom, Dad and Kelly on our Saturday evening pontoon ride 

Captain Nick and his sidekick.

 Alissa and Josh

Julianne testing out her sprinkler for the first time this year

Shay, Nick and Julianne 

Kelly, Alissa and Riley-the-wonder-dog

It wouldn't be the 4th of July without sparklers!!  Julianne wasn't too thrilled with her first experience with sparklers.  Although it probably had something to do with the fact that she was C-R-A-N-K-Y!! We should know better than try to do something fun at 9:30 at night after we made her wear that dumb two-piece swimsuit and her popcicle melted all over her on the pontoon!  Looking forward to the teenage years after this night....  

Julianne and Daddy swimming in the lake 

Everyone loves chocolate and strawberries, right?!?!

Aww... relaxing by the fire 

A couple of red-faced Franks... 

 Thanks to neighbor Dave for building this sandbox right between

our cabins!  Julianne has tons of fun in this sandbox! 

Julianne watering Grandma Sheri's flowers 

 Well, July sure came in with a bang!  On July 1st a ferocious storm with 80-100 mph straight-line winds swept through our area leaving lots of damage behind.  We were pretty lucky since our house was not damaged, however it took a lot of big trees down and did some damage to our sheds and barns.  Below are some pictures of the damage.

On of the 3 big evergreens that were uprooted at our place

A piece of a grain bin was laying on the side of our gravel road.  I'm not sure which neighbor this came from - there were a couple that had bins collapse.

This tree feel just next to our house (thank goodness!)  It didn't do any damage to our house, but we lost a nice shade tree!

More of the evergreens that went down

Damage to the hog barn roof

Damage to the shed roof

 This is Nick's parent's yard.  They got hit a lot harder than we did; I think there's just a few trees left standing in their yard now!  Luckily, they didn't do any major damage to their house either.

This is also at Steve and Sheri's



Como Zoo

A couple weeks ago, my mom, sister and I took Julianne to the Como Zoo.  She LOVED it!  It had just the perfect amount of animals to keep a 2-year-old entertained plus it had rides!  This was our first trip to the zoo and I'm sure we'll be going back!

Julianne looking at the Ostriches

Giraffes 

Grandma, Auntie 'Lissa and Jules 

Tiger 

Julianne and Mommy 

Julianne looking at the baby buffalo that was just born the day before

The best part of the day - the rides!  Julianne loves going fast, high or on anything that has a little bit of thrill to it so she had a blast on the rides.  Since she's such a little munchkin she could only go on a couple of them, but of course she had to ride each one twice! 

After one of the rides - the smile tells it all! 

A day at the zoo wouldn't be complete without seeing the monkeys! 

Thanks for a fun day Grandma and Auntie 'Lissa!

Kitchen Update

I suppose most of you are wondering about our kitchen by now... We're this close to having it completed and I promise I'll post pictures of the final product!  The appliances are in, with the exception of microwave/hood.  Nick has to hang two more lights and I'm also waiting for our painter to return; I decided I didn't like the color on the walls so am having it re-painting.  But it is close enough to done that I am putting stuff away in the cupboards.  That is a MAJOR TASK!  It's hard to decide where to put things - but it is a little fun too.. :-)  I will probably never have all my spices alphabetized again!

So stay tuned for the big kitchen reveal in a few weeks...