Summer is coming to an end...

As we are enjoying the last few days of August, it is becoming more and more real that summer's end is near.

The days are still pretty warm and sunny, but the nights are definitely cooling off quickly.  

All the older kids are back in school already or will be shortly.

The parks are more vacant each day.

The air is starting to smell like Fall.

Football season is not too far off (can you sense my excitement as our household has been full of all kinds of speculation and excitement).

My birthday is near and I will be another year older.

My skin is getting lighter and lighter everyday.  

Even though I am sad to think about summer ending, it is bittersweet as fall is perhaps my favorite season.  I look forward to a couple more months outside with the kids finding new parks and creating new adventures of our own.  

We have been blessed with an extremely fun, busy, and stressful summer.  We were able to spend a good amount of time with our families and friends as well.  

I hope you all enjoy these last few days of summer as I know we will!

Camping Summer 2009

I am posting these pictures a little late as we have had a busy week thus far.  The kids and I are adjusting to our new schedule with Ryan being gone quite a bit.  The kids sure miss Daddy and ask for him every morning, but we have been finding things to keep ourselves busy.  

We took the kids and went camping with our friends the O'Connors last saturday night.  We went to a state park about 15 minutes from our house-just in case the trip didn't go so well.  The kids did really well and had a lot of fun just being outside and spending time with our family and the O'Connors.  

Some highlights for the kids were: sticks, the fire, mud, the walk to the park, mud, just being outside, and did I mention mud?  

Luckily, Katie thought to bring her potty and the older kids used that!  It was quite funny to see Landon sitting on the potty in the middle of the woods...for his sake I didn't post that picture, although it was quite funny:) 

The 4 of us slept snug as a bug in our tent together.  Kadence slept in her pack-n-play and of course slept like a champ.  Landon and I...well, let's just say he woke up A LOT and woke me up!  Ryan slept pretty good, but woke up a lot, too.  It was pretty chilly getting down to the upper 50's, we even had to put poor Emma under the covers!  

It was a very fun experience and we will definitely do some more camping next summer!  Our family just loves being outside so much!  

Our family picture (minus Emma) outside of our tent, this is what we all look like with little sleep (aside from Kadence-who slept well like usual).
Kadence and Lily playing.  Kadence is 4 months older than Lily.
Landon and Hayley.  Hayley is 7 months older than Landon.
These two had a riot playing together!  Landon has been asking for Hayley ever since we got back!

Good Luck Ry!

I don't think it truly hit Ryan until yesterday that he would be starting clinical today.  He was feeling both nervous and excited!  

As he set his alarm clock for 430 am and took a deep breath, we both realized the next adventure in our family's future was about to begin.  

We are one step closer to "someday."  

I have 100% confidence in Ryan and know that he will do awesome!  

So, good luck to you and I love you!

The last of our summer travels...

I just can't get enough of this little rockstar!  She is just so fun right now!  Definitely copies everything her brother does and wants to be a big girl-it is scary how fast they grow up!

Our little family made the last of several long trips for the summer.  After the Twins game and Thomas fun in the cities, we headed back to Cloquet for a few days.  There is just never enough time to do all of the things I want to do back home.  

Ryan and I took the kids and Annabelle to Gooseberry falls one of the afternoons.  It is about an hour car ride from Cloquet, but the kids were good watching Elmo.  
What a beautiful place Gooseberry is!  I hadn't been there for a loooong time and forgot just how beautiful it is!  It was sort of a challenge with three children under 3, but we managed.  They had a great time exploring and hiking and the older two did just as many stairs as Ryan and I, it was impressive!

Part of the falls, so pretty!
It is so hard to get all of the kids to look in pictures!  I keep trying though...hoping one day it will happen:)  This is Landon's new pose... apparently he thinks he is a rockstar!
Another attempt! ha!
Annabelle was not too sure of the bridges, and really wondering why Aunty felt the need to stop in the middle for a picture!  Look at the background-I just love it!  

I think next time Ryan and I will leave the kiddos with grandma and grandpa and go exploring ourselves (at least until they are a little older anyway)!  
We all went out to Big Lake another day!  I don't think kids can ever get enough sand and water!  They had a great time fishing with their nets and playing around!
Here is Annabelle-looks more like she is dancing around than fishing...must get that from her daddy:)
Kadence sitting in the sand and water playing-no surprise there!
AJ playing, too!

Landon stopped for a quick picture!  

It is always so fun to go back home.  I love northern MN summer's!  

A day out with Thomas!

My mom and dad took the kids to a Thomas the train ride in Lakeville.  I was so excited to see Landon's face when something he loved so much was real to him!  He was so excited and had such a great time!  
He wore his cap all day-it was so adorable.  He also got a Thomas whistle, which Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed thouroughly on the 2 hour car ride back to Cloquet!  Here is a picture of him giving his ticket to get on the train...he is growing up too fast!

After a 25 minute ride, he received his certificate and posed for a picture!

What a neat idea!  

There was a little kid area that Landon and Kadence played in with Grandma and Grandpa before and after the ride.  They had such a blast.  Kadence thought it all was pretty neat, too!  She kept pointing at Thomas and saying choo-choo!
I don't know if little boys get any cuter than this:)
Thank you mom and dad for this great experience!  The kids had such a great time and are so blessed to have such a wonderful family!

Go Twins!

We finally cashed in on the Father's day presents!  Landon and Kadence's father's day present to Ryan and Ryan and my father's day present's to our dad's was Twins tickets!  (I think I got the best deal as I got to go as well!)  We watched the Twins lose to the Indians:(  It was fun even though they lost!  It will be the last game we all see in the Metrodome!  Hopefully we will get to go to a game in the NEW stadium next summer:) 
I had to get a picture of my favorite player...Justin Morneau.  My camera doesn't have the best zoom, but hey it works.  Unfortunately (or fortunately:)) this was the view we had from our seats along the 1st base side.  Morneau didn't play 1st base which was a bummer but at least he was DH'ing.  We did get to see Mauer hit a homer which was pretty sweet!
My new favorite picture of Ryan and I!  The pictures of us are few and far between, so it is always fun to have a good one...especially with the dome as the background!
The kids stayed back at the hotel with the grandma's.  They had more fun there I am sure...2 grandma's at once...does it get any better than that?

A year's gone by...

I was trying to organize some of my pictures and came across this picture of the kids together.  I can not believe that a year has already gone by.  I remember taking these pictures like it was yesterday.  The kids have grown up and changed so much in a year.  The first thing I realized was it is almost impossible to get the kids together in a picture these days.  It wasn't so hard when Kadence was still a baby!
Kadence has changed so much!  She has gone from baby to little girl! 

 -She walks and runs instead of just rolling over. 

-She eats real food and drinks from a cup instead of baby food and formula.

-She talks and talks and talks.

-She has so much more hair-blonde blonde blonde!

She has developed her own little personality!  She absolutely loves playing outside and loves to swing at the park.  She is a beautiful little girl and is so much fun!
Landon has quickly gone from little boy to big boy!  

-He still runs and runs and runs, but can now jump, do somersaults, and climb.

-He talks instead of whining.

-He is potty trained.

-He is tall and thin and lost that baby boy look.

What a fun, busy little boy!  

These are just a few of the big changes that have occurred in just one year with our kids!  It amazes me how many other things about them have changed.  I love watching them grow and develop every day.  They are like sponges right now and learn so much every day!  Imagine what another year will bring for these little people!  

I love them both so much!

Good Job Ryan!

Hard to believe this photo was taken a year ago on Ryan's first day of class!  This past year flew by!  Ryan finished up the class portion of his master's program today!  I am so proud of all of his hard work.  He studied hard and did so well-all A's!  It is not an easy program by any means and we had some added challenges with young children, moving, and job changes to add to the stress.  

Now Ryan has some time off and starts his full time clinicals the 3rd week in August.  It will be another adjustment for our family, but much smaller than the last.   

Ryan and I always said if we made it through this year and still loved each other, we were good to go.  Well, we made it through and love each other more than ever...I guess we truly were meant for each other.  Love you Ryan- I am so proud of all of your accomplishments!

Happy 60th Birthday Gary and Sue!

A surprise 60th birthday party for Gary and Sue (at their own house) was a success!  They are both turning 60 in August, just the reason for a party!  They were surprised and everyone had a great time!  It was fun to spend some time at the farm and the lake with all of the kids and grandkids home!

Just had to put this picture in of Kadence wearing Papa's glasses.  She thought she was pretty cool!  She has an obsession with glasses and loves to wear any kind!We played at the lake for most of the day Saturday which was a blast.  The kids all went tubing, skiing, and wakeboarding.  Landon loves riding on the boat and spent most of the day there!  Kadence mostly stayed on shore and played in the dirt-her favorite thing to do!

Even Landon went tubing!  He loved it, he actually cried when he had to stop!  He is such an adventurous little boy!  

Another busy, fun weekend!