Father's Day 2011

Happy Father's Day to the best Dad!  Being a Dad to three kids 4 and under isn't always an easy task.  It is so neat that Ryan is such a hands on dad with all three of the kids.  I love to watch him play with Landon and see their special father-son relationship grow each day.  I also love watching Ryan and Kadence.  He has had a soft spot for our little blondie since the day she was born.  She can get away with pretty much anything when it comes to her dad.  Ryan is also tremendous with Kenzie, it amazes me every day.  He always finds the best toys for her to chew on (never actual toys) that keep her entertained and happy and she loves him so much.  Just too sweet. 

Love this picture of my sweet guy.  He doesn't love me always taking pictures as you can tell.

Ryan playing some ball with the kids.

I just had to post this video.  Ryan was playing Fairy's with the kids and the giggles were so heartwarming.  It just shows how great of a dad he really is.  It gets a little lengthy, but I have not figured out how to edit videos yet.  Love you so much Ryan!

Shhhhh....

 What is it about sleeping babies....and sleeping children in general?  Oh yeah, it's the peacefulness.  There is no yelling, no screaming, no fighting, and no demands.  But this also means that there are no smiles, no giggles, no cute sayings, no hugs, no kisses and no "I love you, Mom's."  So, after a chaotic, crazy day when I can't wait for bedtime, it seems odd that when the kids are finally in their rooms sleeping, I start to miss them.  And...that is motherhood.  So, then I go in and look at their perfect little faces and it's a peaceful bliss.

Summer Sports.

Landon and Kadence started their summer sports last week.  It was a crazy busy week for us with the activities and Ryan working his first call shifts.  I am trying to get used to hauling three kids here and there by myself and doing some single parenting when Ryan has stuff going on in the evenings.  I did survive 5 nights of supper/bath/bedtime alone last week.  With that said I hope to not make this a habit.  It would be one thing if the kids were older, but is a lot of work with a 6 month old, 3, and 4 year old.  By the end of the night I was so exhausted but yet did not want to give up the time to myself to go to bed early and still am getting up with Kenzie in the night.  Such is life!

Back to the sports.  Landon has t-ball every Monday and Wednesday from 9-10am and they both have soccer every Monday and Wednesday from 4:30-5:05.  Those are very busy days for us as you can imagine.

  Landon and his team, the Tigers, huddling at home plate.

Running out to the field to do some practicing.

Practicing running bases.  It is hilarious because they all run with their gloves on!
I think Landon is enjoying his first year of t-ball.  They have only had a couple days and they have just been working on some skills.  I am excited to see his first games!  He listens so well and is very focused on what he is doing.  I am so proud of how well he is doing and it is so exciting to see him so interested in something!
A little sneak peak of Landon...

Both kids seem to be enjoying soccer, too.  These are just previews of more pictures to come.  I actually have not even been brave enough to take my good camera yet due to the fact that I just don't have enough hands and/or we are still getting in the swing of things.  I just snapped all of these pictures with my little digital camera but was very happy with how they turned out!

Kadence doing some dribbling.  Love the t-shirt dress.  I tried tying it up one day but she would have none of that.

Really, does it get any cuter than 3 year old soccer?

That was hard work! Water break.  This is my favorite part, the kids run over as fast as they can to the sidelines where their parents are sitting and they all have giant smiles on their faces and are SO excited.

Love this video of Kadence.  What a free spirit!
P.S.  These videos are not scratchy for any reason other than the wind!!!! Hello Fargo!

Let's not forget Landon and Kadence's #1 fan.  Kenzie girl who will (without a choice) be dragged around from activity to activity until she starts her own.  On a side note, she loves being outside and has been such a trooper!

The K Girls.

One of my favorite things to do (which is probably obvious if you read my blog regularly) is to look back and compare pictures of my babies.  It amazes me how I can see similarities in all 3 children; yet, they all have some big differences as well.

There is just something beautiful about a sleeping baby.  There are days I feel worn out, exhausted, and even frustrated with Kenzie.  As soon as she falls asleep, the feelings vanish and are replaced with more love than the day before.  It is so amazing how God has given us this capability as a mother.  With that said, I snapped this picture of Kenzie (the bottom one) and when I looked at it, it reminded me of sleeping baby Kadence.  When I looked back, I found the top picture of Kadence.  They are both sleeping on their left side and snuggling their blanket or bear covering their face.  So sweet.

There is also something absolutely adorable about baby buns.  The top picture is Kadence at almost 8 months and the bottom Kenzie at just over 6 months.  I didn't realize when I took the picture of Kenzie that I had an almost identical one of Kadence until I looked through my photo library.  It makes me laugh when you see the two photos together, you can see that they aren't really built the same.  I wish I had one of Landon to compare!  I am thinking my girls will not like me for these photos some day.

Love these girls so much!

A Beautiful Northern MN Weekend.

We decided to make a last minute trip to Cloquet for the weekend.  I am beginning to feel like we live in our car; yet, I love fun summer weekends spent with family and friends.  Ryan was done working by noon and we were able to make it home in time for Annabelle's first dance recital.  She was SO cute and she did so well.  I took Kadence with me and left Landon and Kenzie at my parents with Ryan.  Kadence had so much fun watching all of the dancers in their pretty "farkly" costumes and she never stopped wiggling and dancing herself.

 

 I enjoyed watching the dance recital very much.  It brought back so many memories of when I was a little girl and had dance recitals at that very same auditorium with the same dance studio.  I was in dance from age 4-10 and enjoyed it so much.

I really wanted a picture of Kadence and Annabelle and this is what I got.  It is so sad!  This would be an overtired 4 year old who does not want a photo and really wants her flip flops that her mom didn't bring! Still cute!

We woke up to an absolutely perfect day on Saturday.  The sun was shining and it was very warm, finally.  The kids spent a lot of time playing outside on my parents' deck.  I love this sunny shot of Landon with those beautiful pine trees in the background.  It is crazy how I took all the beautiful trees for granted when I lived there.  We went to our ritual "Saturday morning breakfast" at the cozy and were then on our way!

It was a perfect day to head to Canal Park in Duluth for some walking, eating, and rock throwing.  The kids liked watching the lift bridge raise for the big boats.

Grandma Debbie and Kadence.  

Landon Gary.

Kadence and Landon throwing some rocks.  There is a rock beach with a never ending supply of rocks to toss into the lake.  The kids had so much fun!  

I really like this shot of my dad and mom. Dad was hanging with Kenzie while she took a nap in the stroller...Landon informed us later that Grandpa Ken was taking a nap, too!

I think this is what everyone wanted to do after our lovely day by the lake....except Kenzie.

What better way to top of a great day than with a campfire?  This was really the kids' first campfire and they were both fascinated with the idea and were really good despite their exhaustion.

One of my favorite things about Northern MN in the summer is that you have the most beautiful warm (and usually not humid) days and then the air cools off at night which is great for sleeping!

Landon and Kadence helping Ryan roast some marshmallows for their Smores.

I think they found their new favorite treat!  They were so cute eating their yummy treats and so excited!  After the older two joined Kenzie in the house sleeping, the four of us sat around the fire and chatted for awhile, it was such a nice evening for a campfire!  

Sunday was another gorgeous day and we relaxed outside and spent some time with the Skowlunds after they returned from their wedding in the Twin Cities.  Another great weekend come and gone too fast!  And...The trip home was much better than the previous weekend!