Thank You.

Chloe starts school next week, it will be 3 days a week for 2 1/2 hours a day! She will have one of the same teachers from summer enrichment school and we are all super pumped about that, we love Ms Tracy.

Tuesday night Chloe had Meet the Teacher Night. She wore one of her new outfits from gramma and even brought her backpack. She just couldn't go to school with out bringing her backpack, it didn't make any sense to her not to bring it.

Which quickly led to a bath in the kitchen sink.

Gramma and Chloe cooking a Chinese supper, it was so yummy.

Chloe helping gramma make supper sans clothes!

Chloe loves the fountain at the mall and making wishes/throwing money in the water;)

Chloe and Rambo exhausted after a fun night at Uncle Rich's.

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Losing our baby to miscarriage this past week was one of the worst days of my life. But for this blog post I have decided to thank all the amazing, supportive and positive family members and friends that have been here for us during this time. So here are my thank yous and gratitude.

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My Brother Rich; Thank you so much for taking care of Chloe for those 4 hours when I needed to just be sad and have some alone time with Jason. You brought love and laughter into Chloe's evening and it was so special for her to spend one on one time with you. You are an amazing Uncle.

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My Sister Brigett; Thank you so much for not only taking care of me during my surgery but also for taking care of Chloe and being there for Jason as well. You put your life on hold to help take care of mine, that's the most giving act of love, thank you. Chloe also thanks you for her new Ariel dress, she doesn't have to wait for her birthday anymore and she couldn't be more excited:) you are an awesome Aunt.

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Our Friends the Petersen's; Thank you very much for having us over for dinner and letting Chloe forget about the sadness at home and just be a kid and play with her best friends Hannah and Ava.

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My Mother in Law Janet; Thank you so very much for the beautiful flowers and caring messages. Knowing how much you care means a lot to me. And thank you for all of your support to Jason as well.

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Our Friends the McSweeney's; Thank you very much for bringing supper over and hanging out with us. The kids filled this home with some much needed laughter and joy again.

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My Mom; Thank you so much for coming to stay with us for a couple days. You endlessly give of yourself through cooking, cleaning, playing with Chloe, listening to my thoughts, taking us out for meals, getting Chloe a back to school wardrobe, and even retail therapy for me. I will always need you as my mother and you have always been there for me. I can't thank you enough.

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My Father In Law Tim and My Brothers In Law Todd and Tyler; Thank you all for being there for Jason. I'm sure it's different and difficult as a man to grieve the loss of a baby and having your support means a lot to both of us.

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Our Friend Judi; Thank you for the delicious zucchini bread. Your thoughtfulness is such a kind gesture and is appreciated.

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To All Our Friends Near and Far; Thank you for the messages and phone calls. Every little bit helps.

Summer Fun Continues

We also got to see the famous butter cow, pretty awesome! Some other highlights of the day were watching the 5 and under kids compete at mutton bustin, this was hilarious and impressive. We saw some horse shows. We all shared a good sample of fair food including a red velvet funnel cake, fried macaroni and cheese, ice cream cones, homemade peanut nut rolls, grandpa enjoyed a pork chop on a stick and of course lots of water, it was a warm day. Thanks for a fun day at the fair, we had a great time!

We had so much fun going to the fair. And even though we went once this year already, it's so huge that we did all new things including a bunch of stuff that we missed the first time. Above is a picture of Chloe sitting in the kids section at the Shenanigans Wild West Comedy show.

Chloe wanted to take some pictures and it ended up being so much fun and quite a funny series. Here are a lot of them:)

Chloe got some new fairy wings to go along with her crown and wanted to play dress up.

We had another great week. Some highlight of the week were going to the indoor bounce house on the rainy day we had last week. I went to the Parent/Teacher meeting for Chloe's fall preschool, that was a whole new experience for me. I've been prepping Chloe for school and getting her used to the idea but in the mean time I neglected to prepare myself for this new stage in our lives. It went great and we'll go to meet the teacher night next week, thankfully she will have one of her summer school teachers for the fall school! We also had some friends over for a play date. Then Thursday late afternoon gramma and grandpa Kneifl came over to visit and stay. We had a nice night at home and Uncle Rich even joined us for grilling out and playing. Friday gramma and grandpa treated Chloe and I to a fun day at the Iowa State Fair! And this past weekend was mostly a lot of work. Jason and Tim removed out 50 hedges, a lilac tree and a bunch of branches. This left Stephanie, the kids and I in charge of entertainment and meals:) Thanks to the guys for all their hard work! The yard look huge and is taking some getting used to but it looks good.

Another wonderful weekend with family and friends!

Happy Ava enjoying her view from the boat. Thanks for a fun day in the sun Petersen's!

So much fun!

The noodle had to be split in two for the girls.

Sunday we had the pleasure of going boating with our friends, the Petersen's. The girls love to jump off the back of the boat and swim. We went to Saylorville Lake this time and the water was calm and mostly warm for a perfect day of boating.

At the end of the night at the fair and all smiles:)

The three cowgirls:)

Ava wasn't so sure about all of this but Chloe always enjoys having her along.

Chloe took off her hat and shook it in the air but I was too slow to get it on camera.

Yee-haw!

Hannah and Chloe all dressed up and ready to ride the horses!

Chloe chose the pink convertible for her last ride of the evening. She really wanted to ride the motorcycles but she was an inch too short, it looked pretty major and the worker didn't let the kids who were just tall enough on because she thought it was too dangerous. Chloe was bummed and thought that by the end of the night that maybe she had grown enough to go back and ride it:)

Hands on the wheel and ready to take off.

Chloe wanted to ride the helicopter ride. She sat in the front and took off. It even goes way up in the air and she liked it, she's always been a dare-devil!

Chloe and mommy waving to daddy.

Tim and Hannah on her fave ride!

Ava is so patient while the big girls get to have all the fun.

Waiting in line for the carousel.

Petting her pony.

Brave enough to let go and wave.

Hannah, Stephanie, Chloe and Daddy riding the ponies! This was Chloe's first ride on a horse and she loved it!

When we left the goats Chloe gave him a kiss on the ear:)

Feeding the goats.

First stop, petting zoo!

Saturday we packed up the kids and headed to the IA State Fair!

Friday was Chloe's last day of summer enrichment preschool. She had a great day and made her teachers cards to give them as well. Fall preschool will resume in 3 1/2 short weeks;) Then Friday evening Aunt Brigett made the trip to Ankeny once again to give Jason and I a date night and in return Chloe gets special time with her Aunt! These date nights have been so amazing and beneficial to our sanity and relationship, thank you so much Brig for doing this for all of us!

How much fun can one girl have???

Gramma bought Chloe a fairy crown at the garden's gift shop, I think she was pretty pumped!

Saying cheese once again after requesting her picture be taken:)

Being quite the model.

Posing at the top of the hill before taking off full speed down it!

At the gardens, in the butterfly pavilion, Chloe found the bench, sat on it and said, "time for a picture"!

We got to take daddy out to lunch on Wednesday! What fun for all of us:)

Once again, every berry Chloe picked, she ate!

Gramma and Chloe picking blue berries at the farm. Gramma picked over two pounds and I picked over three!

Gramma and Chloe at the mall playground after the movie.

Gramma and Chloe playing together.

Chloe and daddy with the hand made pencil box.

Aunt Andrea shared her Dr. Pepper with Chloe. This is the first time she has had it and by the looks from it you can tell she liked it!

This is one of the pictures Chloe took, not bad!

Ok last weekend was fun and busy. Friday Chloe had a wonderful day at school followed by supper and playing at our friend's house that evening. Saturday morning Chloe and Daddy went to the Kids Workshop at Home Depot. This month they made a pencil box, Chloe loves going to Daddy's store and using a hammer:) That afternoon Aunt Brigett and cousin Tyler came over and after grabbing a quick lunch we went to newton for the Nationwide Race. Well, we didn't go to the race but we sure had a fun time tailgating! Chloe loves the RV and most of all being with her family and friends. Sunday we went to Rich's house and then he treated us all out for lunch! After lunch we got to go boating with our friends, the Petersen's again! We all have fun boating, tubing, and swimming:)

And the fun didn't even stop there. Sunday evening after boating Gramma Kneifl came over to stay with us this week! We had such a good time having her here. Chloe loves to get all of gramma's attention! This week with gramma we went to the kids movie and saw Monsters vs Aliens, one of Chloe's faves, went out to lunch, did some shopping, had Uncle Rich over for supper, went berry picking, and went to the Reiman Gardens. Gramma had to leave before Chloe woke up this morning and when Chloe did wake up she was so sad that gramma left already and said "No, I want gramma here, now." We all enjoyed her company and her help and look forward to another visit from her:)