It's Another Papke!

Congratulations to my brother Andrew and his wife Rebekah on the birth of their daughter; Kathryn "Kitty" Louise Papke. She joined us yesterday weighing in at 6 lbs 11 oz and 19-3/4 inches.


This is the only photo I have now but will update with a couple more when Andrew sends them out. Abby was trying to Skype and book a plane ticket last night to go see them. She kept saying "Mom, the computer is calling." To say they are excited is an understatement. Both Rebekah and Kitty are doing well - haven't got an update on how Andrew survived, but I'm sure that is a story in the making.

Congratulations TX Papke family! We are so happy for you!

Realistic Advice to Teenage Girls

A high school friend of mine recommended reading this from Backwoods Mom's blog, I found it quite entertaining - and as a mother of 2 girls who will someday be teenagers (thankfully not any time soon) it never hurts to pass on some wisdom. Here is her advice:

Because naive parenting leads to unprepared teenagers...

Nobody really looks like that. Stop trying to achieve the impossible.

That eighty dollar pair of jeans looks exactly the same as that thirty dollar pair of jeans.

Lower back tattoos are called a “Tramp Stamp” for a reason.

In ten years you will be nothing like the person you are today. I know you don't believe me. But please try not to embarrass the future you.

Having a baby as a teenager is fun for about six minutes. And then all your friends get tired of holding the baby and slowly drift away, back to their silly, teenager lives. Yours is over.

Learn how to swing a hammer, change your oil and flip a breaker.

It does not hurt him when you say, “NO”. He will not explode and die like he may try to convince you.

Do not text pictures of your body to teenage boys. I can’t even begin to explain how this cheapens you.

Makeup should be worn so that it looks like it’s not being worn.

You will remember your first time your entire life. Make sure he’s worth remembering.

Do not post Facebook pictures of yourself scantily dressed in your bathroom mirror. Everyone hates it.

If you must, a two drink limit keeps things in perspective.

Learn to cook.

You do not have to be tomorrow, who you were yesterday.

If you have to look in the mirror more than twice a day, you are spending too much time on your looks.

There is a fine line between sexy and sleazy. If you don’t know what the line is, you are probably sleazy.

Relying on your looks will only last until the first pregnancy. Plan for college.

Showing your cleavage is not what attracts him. He knows what’s in there and his imagination is even more generous than your proportions. Cover yourself a bit…and give him something to think about.

Wear comfortable shoes.

Nobody noticed that zit until you pinched the crap out of it. Smile, they will only notice your gleam.

Sometimes lust feels like love. Identify the difference as soon as possible and you will have fewer regrets.

If you wouldn’t want your grandmother to know you are doing it, don’t do it.

Jeans and a t-shirt always wins.

Playing stupid only makes you look stupid.

He is not going to change. No, he’s not. Stop arguing. You can’t fix him.

Peer pressure is no excuse for stupidity.

If he says the words, “But, if you loved me you would…” run the other direction. Don’t walk, run.

**There were a few that made me laugh, some are just plain true. Thankfully for now, I'll stick with the drama of sharing Barbies and who hit who last.

If only weekends were longer.....

This weekend, instead of being at the Lake of the Ozarks we were at Mark Twain Lake with our boat. we organized a gathering with the Pollard's, Jeremy, and the Love family to meet out at the lake. Since the Pollard's live in Burlington, IA it's not exactly in the middle but close enough. As the day was going to be ridiculously hot we decided to be on the water by 10 and off by 3 or so. The Pollards left by 3:30 but we stayed until about 5. Most of the day was in the water because it was just too hot. We found a great cove spot, had a good lunch, and did some skiing/kneeboarding/tubing to end the day.



Here are Abby and Megan being forced to drink some juice boxes before they can get back in the water. Abby is getting braver and braver with jumping off the back of the boat. She is up to the top step on the ladder. Maybe next week she'll finally jump off the swim platform!




This is actually Megan and Abby on our tube. They are in the middle of course and we are maybe going 5 mph tops. They were loving it and didn't want to get off, but Megan was starting to fall asleep so it was time to pull them off. This is the first time they have rode it together - and asked to do it!! I see a lot more tubing in our future with the girls. When Abby got off the first thing she said was that she wanted to go tubing with her friend Ashley and go "medium" speed.


(out of order photos for some reason) - I actually won a radio call in for a free dozen of roses. The girls picked them out for me. Bet you thought Tim got them for me.........nope.

Suellen, Tim, and Justin relaxing on their boat.

We had a great day on the water. It still amazes me how much the girls are enjoying the boat and swimming in the lake and how adapted they are to it all. I know I was not lake friendly at all when I was 4.

Weekend with Grandma Papke

This past week Grandma Papke came down to Columbia to spend time with the girls while the men were fishing up in WI and to also help while I took my CPP re-certification exam (which I passed - yeah!). She came down on Tuesday evening and got plenty of Barbie, princess, and animated movie time with the girls. If she has to watch Shrek Forever After again I think it will be too soon. Thanks to her help I completed my test on time by Friday and in celebration we headed to the mall for some pedicures....


The girls both got their nails painted - "tops and bottoms" as Abby likes to say. This was Megan's first time getting her nails done.


As you can see - she is a pro - however all the cute nail polish on her hands was peeled off before the afternoon was over. I think she has maybe 1 or 2 nails still there if that.

Being silly and drying things off even more.

What trip to the mall would be complete without a ride on the carousel? Grandma got to ride along with the girls. She left on Saturday morning though and everyone was sad to see her go. There have been many questions on when her and Grandpa will be coming back and when will we be going to their house to play with their Barbies.....

A little belated shout out to my sister-in-law Colleen whom celebrated her birthday yesterday.

Also a belated congrats to Carrie Miller (yes I know your last name is Sims - but it doesn't roll off the tongue as well) - who welcomed her baby boy - William Vincent Sims this past week.

Also a Happy 2nd Anniversary to my brother Andrew and his wife Rebekah - how time flies.

4th of July

We hope everyone had a great 4th of July - because we certainly did! We headed down to the Cowan Lake house on Friday evening - surprisingly with no traffic issues so that was a miracle to start with. We started off with a BBQ - and just relaxed and unpacked. Saturday morning we hit the lake early for some tubing and skiing before the lake got really choppy - which happened relatively quickly due to the GREAT weather we had all weekend. So after about an hour on the lake we headed back and just hung out at the cove and on the dock. Lots of sun - even Jenn and Tim mentioned that I even look tan - which never happens - I just burn randomly. Saturday evening we went to the Slenker house for their annual fish fry. Catfish, crappie, walleye - it was all there for the taking along with some excellent sides! Since the kids had been out playing all day it involved some crashing early - so we had to leave only after a couple of hours. Megan had "lake ass" as we like to describe it and wasn't feeling so great. Then due to the fried fish/deviled eggs/beer/etc. the men had some room clearing aromas of their own - thankfully the ladies went to the outlet mall to return a few things and missed out on that.

Sunday morning was about the same - we got out on the boat early to ski - only to be surrounded by more idiots on the water not paying attention to what they were doing. When it was all said and done and we headed back to the house - as Dave said - it was like playing Frogger. We did a little swimming then headed to the Resnik house to cove it out for a while - one word for you there - Margaritas!!! A storm threatened - but all that did was clear off most of the lake so we had a smoother ride home. Dave made a fabulous pork loin, Megan ate all of my corn on the cob - which if you know me, I love corn on the cob so sharing was rough - thankfully there were extras. We took the boat out to watch fireworks at Captain Ron's only to get rained on but still saw the show then the rain stopped and the Cowan Fireworks Festivities began. Of course we have front row seats - they are more like directly under the fireworks so you are looking straight up. Megan wanted to go to bed halfway through but Abby made it to the end.

Monday we all hit the road early but got a few pictures of the girls in the 4th outfits.


Ashley, Megan, and Abby


Hugging it out for the camera.

1st attempt with Allison in a picture.

2nd attempt with Allison in a picture - she just wasn't a happy camper that afternoon, it was time for a nap.

Abby and Ashley - best buds photo.

We loaded up the boat and the kids and headed back to Columbia - only to get to clean the boat - it was due for a wash. Tim is fishing with the Papke men in WI this week so if there are any big fish photos - I'll let you know. It will be hard to live up to last year's catches. Grandma Papke will be heading down to Columbia for the week to spend some time with the girls. They couldn't be more excited that there are 0 more sleeps until she is here.

Happy 4th to all!