On the campaign trail

Harli spent today walking (well, riding) in the Johnston Green Days parade on the Polk Co Republicans float for Govenor Branstad. Kory and Benjamin joined us. We handed out candy and Eric Hellman notepads. I'm not sure who had more fun...I think Kory might win, though. He got a pretty big kick out of handing out the notepads! I also managed to hit about 45 kids while throwing candy! Oops!! Hopefully I will have more parades to practice not hitting kids. Harli had a lot of fun trying to eat the candy before I threw it out. Many people commented "Look at that cute baby" while we were on the parade route. I think she might have taken some attention away from Govenor Branstad! The Chet Culver camp had quite the hissy fit when they found out they were behind us in the parade lineup. Oh well!!! Get over it big boy!

Harli, Benjamin, and the dogs did a great job shopping for Kory's Father's Day presents! He got Season One of 24, a miter saw, and NorthFace shirt and shorts. Since we will be out of town tomorrow, Kory got his presents early. He was very surprised by all his presents and was very happy to get them early!

Harli has mastered crawling everywhere and has decided that she is ready to move on to pulling herself up to stand on anything and everything. I see a walking baby in our near future. We thought she would be walking at 9 months, but she turns 8 months next week and is already walking when we hold on to her hands. I think she will be walking on her own well before 9 months. She is quite the independent little girl! There is no stopping her and if you try, she lets you know how she feels about that!!

Hello, Summer!

While Kory worked all weekend, Harli and I headed out to Adel for a picnic with my aunt, parents, and grandmother. Harli had fun playing with Bogey and Vivian (the dogs). They are both little dogs so they are easy to chase and pull on. I'm sure Bogey was glad once we left; Vivian on the other hand had no clue Miss Harli would be spending the next two days with her! After lunch, Aunt Caddie took Harli and I on a golf cart ride. Harli drove the cart...until she felt asleep at the wheel! She was holding on so tight that Aunt Caddie had trouble turning the wheel. After Aunt Caddie's, we went to my parents house. Since Harli and I didn't want to hang out all weekend by ourselves, we hung out with my parents, brother, and sister...and dogs. Sunday night we just hung out and watched TV. I also spent three hours reading the Guthrie Center Times. What a great paper!! I didn't realize all the fun news that was in there. My brother made the front page because he is the new pool manager, page two was dedicated to some lady's duck themed baby shower, Joe Kapaska took up page three with news of him winning cribbage the week prior, and the last page had "What to do in case of a tornado". Oh and somewhere in there you could find that the couple getting married in two weeks was registered at Dowd Drug. I found the baby shower news and the bridal registry rude because what if, like myself, you were not invited to either of these festivities and had to read about them in the paper. I felt extremely left out of the Guthrie Center fun by not being invited. Did I know these people...no...but they shouldn't advertise all the fun they are having unless they invite everyone. Its only fair! :-) I was so intrigued by all this news that I couldn't put the papers down. Monday, we went to the pool and hung around the house. I headed home Monday late afternoon so Harli could have some Nana and Papa time. I can only imagine the amount of spoiling she received while I was gone! It was a great way to start the summer!

Harli has mastered crawling and is now is determined to start the walking process. She crawls over to the couch, table, or us and pushes/pulls until she is standing. She is a very independent little girl. I'm sure by her 9 month birthday she will be walking. Watch out world!! She also knows which toys are hers and which toys are off limits. Remotes, cell phones, her brother's iPod, and the laptops are way more fun then her toys. She will lunge for toys that aren't hers and just give us a look when we present her with a toy she should be playing with.

Harli's second tooth has broken through. This teething experience wasn't near as bad as her first tooth. She has woken up in the middle of the night a couple of times and has only had one real meltdown. We haven't had to use much Tylenol (don't worry...we use the store brand) this time, either. Maybe when her third tooth comes in she won't even know! A mom can dream!

Well, that's all that is happening in the world of Harli right now. I am going sign off because someone is a little sassy that I am not giving her my undivided attention!