4th of July and House Blitz!!

On the 4th of July, Scott had to inspect a food vendor in Sigourney in the morning.  Laurel and I came along with him and played on the park while he inspected...well, I tried to get her to go on the swings and she freaked out, and then was not willing to climb on anything, so mostly she just walked around and I chased her.  I'm sure she'll enjoy parks more in a few years.  Anyway, after he finished his inspection, we continued down Hwy 92 to Iowa City, where we stopped at Menards, then spend the afternoon with Scott's brother Shawn and family.

Laurel enjoyed running around in the yard.

Shawn and Audrey made apple cinnamon ice cream...using Grandma Burkhalter's old hand crank ice cream maker.  It was really good!  Even Laurel loved it, and she is the world's pickiest eater!

Laurel with her cousins

Laurel with Aunt Audrey and Uncle Shawn.

On Friday, the 5th, we picked up my niece Emily for an overnight.  We had to run a bunch of errands, and brought her over to babysit while we organized our storage shed.  She had it easy--she got to sit in a quiet house and play with her iphone while Laurel took a nap!  

Then on Saturday my parents, and my sister Lynn and all her kids came over to our house to do a house cleaning blitz.  Scott and I have been planning for a long time to eventually sell our little house and buy a bigger one.  We have decided that now is a good time to start the process.  We have already done most of the really big projects we wanted to complete, but had a whole bunch of small things and cleaning activities we wanted to do before we put the house on the market--wash the windows and sills, take down personal pictures, clean the basement, wash light fixtures, etc.  If the two of us tried to do it all, it would take forever, since one of us would always have to be watching Laurel while the other cleaned.  With my family here to help, we got it all done in about 6 hours!  A big thanks to them for all their help.  Our house looks great!  We were going to wait until August, after my work business slows down, to put the house on the market, but decided to just bit the bullet and do it now.  I will be in Florida for a week this month, and Laurel will be staying at Grandma's, so it will be easier to keep the house clean for showings!