Farm Fun.

We headed to the farm for a very fun weekend.  The whole family was there for family photos and despite some crappy weather we had a great time with everyone!

The above videos are just a glimpse of what we are lucky enough to travel with.  Our little family does an abundance of traveling with almost all of our family hours away.  This trip was entertaining to say the least!

 Grandma Sue gave both the girls a little trim before pictures.  This was Kenzie's first haircut!

 On Sunday afternoon a bunch of us went muddin'.  This was one of several trips most of the people had made but my first trip.  Landon thought this was so fun and had a blast.  After I went on a trek I understood why.  It was probably a good thing I didn't know exactly what was going on the day before...

Another great summer trip to the farm.  The time always goes by too fast but it was great to see everyone!

2 Little Gymnasts.

 Kadence started her first Gymnastics class this week and is loving it!  She goes every Monday and Wednesday in June and July from 10:30-11:30.  She has been having so much fun and I absolutely love watching her.  A majority of the things are brand new for her and she tries her absolute hardest.  I am so proud of her!

 Miss Kenzie started her competitive gymnastics this week as well.  She tried out for and made the "Little Giants" team which is for 3-4 year olds.  I am pretty sure she is the youngest one on the team!  She had her first practice today and did pretty well.  She was pretty tired afterwards.  They do skills the entire time and it is an hour and a half long which is almost double the length of the "parent tot" class she had been doing.  I hope she adjusts and enjoys it!  She's so adorable!

Weekend Away.

The kids and I headed to Cloquet for the weekend since Ryan was on call.  I hadn't been back for awhile and it was a good time to go visit everyone!  The kids and I spent Friday morning at Grandma June's apartment.  It was so nice to have her all to ourselves and just spend time with her.  The kids were really good and had fun playing with Grandma's cane and walkers.  Kenzie even had a chance to push Grandma's emergency button (it's on a necklace and oh so very tempting for a 2 year old) oopsies-at least we know it still works! My Grandma is seriously the best grandma EVER.  I can hardly believe she is 87 years young.  I love her so much.

Since we traveled on Thursday, we were able to attend AJ's preschool graduation program.  He was pretty cute and we all enjoyed the yummy treats!

The weather was crappy all weekend long.  Mom and I were lucky enough to have a "spa day."  Cutest little pedicurists I have ever seen!

It wouldn't be a trip back home without a Saturday morning breakfast.  These four had their own table and behaved pretty well.  Attendees were: Grandma June, Mom, Dad, Aunty Peggy, Arletta, Lee, Jeromy, Jennifer, Cisco, Curt, me and the 5 munchkins.

Grandma's house always has lots of makeup samples and that cousin Annabelle sure is good at helping Kadence find it!  The girls had plenty of lipstick and blush on all weekend!

This little munchkin was really good until bed time.  I struggled with her a ton.  I had to lay with her until she fell asleep (which we don't typically do with any of our kids) and then try and sneak off.  The one night I was so unbelievably frustrated and then she finally fell asleep.  I had to snap a picture of how precious she was.  It's funny how you can be so frustrated and then take one look at her precious, sleeping face and be filled with love instantaneously.  

Sleeping at Grandma and Grandpa's house with dad is a special treat for this one!  She gets to sleep with Mom!  I snapped this when I came to bed one night-note the lipstick!

 We had a great trip and the only painful parts were in the car and Kenzie at bedtime.  I'd say that's a pretty successful trip without Dad.

 Kadence, is that really comfortable enough to sleep?!

 Oh Emma.  She was definitely my most difficult child in the car.  She is getting so bad and I just don't know what to do with her!

She rode in the kennel 95% of the trip and scratched and bit the side of the cage while whining 94% of that time.  YIKES!  What a dog lover won't do for her fur child.

Another great trip "up north."  I'm ashamed to admit all photos were taken on my phone, not the camera I forgot home and went back for even though I was 15 minutes into my trip.  Shame shame.

Let It Grow!

"Every child is born a naturalist.  His eyes are, by nature, open to the glories of the stars, the beauty of the flowers, and the mystery of life."

I have wanted to create a small vegetable garden for a few years now.  Ryan and I decided that this was the year we would attempt it!  Our neighbors had a great garden last year and our kids had so much fun watching it grow and eating things out of it!  We hope that we at least can get a few things to grow because our children are ecstatic!!

 Taking the grass out was a big hit!  The kids had a blast searching for (and playing with) worms.

 

 Sue helped Ryan make the garden box when she was here marathon weekend which was very helpful.    We have had so much rain since then and the kids have been anxiously awaiting planting!

 We all had so much fun planting! We planted tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, carrots, peas, and some flowers!  I am desperately praying at least some of our things will grow so our kids won't be too discouraged!  I've heard the first year can be rough and I definitely don't have a green thumb.  Prayers accepted!

 We also finally planted some trees!  We planted two trees in our boulevard and one in our back yard.  The kids were just as excited to plant the trees as the garden!  They look great! We had a great weekend getting some things done around the house! Love this little family :)

School's out for summer!

Landon's last day of Kindergarten!

Landon's first day of Kindergarten!

I can't believe it is actually over!  My little boy has completed his first year of school with great success! Landon was very excited to be done with school but not excited to be leaving his friends and teacher.  The last couple of weeks he has been saying, "Mama, I really just don't want to talk about the last day because it makes me sad.  I love Mrs. Spanier."  He is such a tender-hearted little boy.  He also told me last night he was sad because not all of his friends would be at his school for 1st grade.  I know he will soon forget all of these things and meet new friends and be happy with a new teacher but it is hard to see him sad right now.  

Mrs. Spanier sent the above letter home with Landon on the last day and I don't think I could have worded my own feelings as they are reflected in the letter any better.  It truly says it all. 

We got some great news yesterday as well!  Landon was given the Principal's Award at school.  There were 1 or 2 from each Kindergarten class that were given the award for excellent behavior.  We are so proud of him!  

 Landon received a certificate to Buffalo Wild Wings with his award and he is very excited to celebrate there!

So now we move on to Summer Vacation!  We are all excited to sleep in a little later (yeah right), spend an abundance of time outdoors and start all of the new summer activities!