Prairie Bosens: First Post of 2011 (better late than never)

It is an unseasonably warm night on the Plains. The snow and ice on the streets and driveways melted quite a bit today, and has temporarily refrozen since the sun went down, but tomorrow should be another sunny day. It really hasn't been a bad winter for us here in Iowa so far. I am home in the quiet house unwinding after accounting class, eating a delicious Texas grapefruit (one of the greatest parts of this time of year), and realizing that we haven't blogged since.... Last Year!!!

We have been very busy the last few weeks. I have been busy with school and with my new job. We have also been busy with a one-year-old who is suddenly walking and wants to constantly be on the move. She is always exploring something or throwing things on the floor. Anything left on a table, Eva quickly has to make sure it is on the floor. She is a character. Eva is a huge animal lover, especially dogs. She has a special relationship with our dog Rosie (the Boxador). Eva feeds Rosie, every time she has some food. Although we try to stop it, it has gone so far that we had to switch Rosie to diet dogfood. They love each other, though, and Rosie is usually very patient with Eva's, um, over-enthusiasm.

One thing we haven't been busy with the last few weeks has been taking pictures. See, we haven't really done much that would make for nice photos. A couple weeks ago, Asher and I went to Drake University to see a college basketball game. Asher is suddenly obsessed with basketball. I thought he might get bored at some point during the game, but he was entranced. He loves numbers, and he added up the score as the game went on. He watched intently, and clapped politely but enthusiastically whenever the Bulldogs scored (he'd hate me saying this, but it was really cute). He had a blast! I took a few pictures of him with my phone.

Go Bulldogs!

Last Saturday, we found ourself with nowhere we needed to be for the first full day in what seems like forever. We wanted to get out and do something, but it was way too cold to spend time outside that day. We decided to head to downtown Des Moines for the RV and Boat show. We have no inclination (or more accurately, savings) to buy an RV or boat right now, but we had a great time going through all the trailers, fifth wheels, and party barges (party barges are huge in Iowa). The kids, especially Asher, loved it. Asher got to fish for real fish in a huge tank, and we got to watch a pretty interesting lumberjack competition. It was a good time, a nice reminder of summer, and a cure for our cabin fever. Asher was very sad when it was time to go.