Farm Futures

I do not have to encourage my kids to read, however, I had to laugh when I saw WHAT they were reading...

they were helping out by getting the mail,

and began reading Rob's farm magazines :)

Beauty in the Storm

2 of my 3 kiddos are petrified of Thunderstorms, I love them!

We always sit around and wait for the beauty of the rainbow after some crazy weather, it seems to be what helps them thru the fear. This time we were doublely blessed.

2.5

Red Umbrella

After church one sunday we took Reise and the kids out to eat at the Blue Moose, we then let the kids run off some dinner while we sat and took pics.

Reise (E's BFF)

Day at the Park

I am so far behind in pics. This was from when the grass was still brown and there weren't any leaves on the trees. We are in the lushest time of year, now is when I need to be snipping some pics. So beautiful out!

Bullfrogs & Butterflies

Once a week I drop Creed off at a small daycare so that I can get office work done. Here are a few shots of him playing with his friends Ethan and Ella...

"Special Note" from a Friend...

The day E got this note, I picked up the kids from school, actually going into the building. The first thing E showed me was this "special note" from her friend Bob. Instantly my eyes widened and I looked over at Mrs. B (her teacher) and said "what a nice friend you have." That was exactly how Mrs. B handled it as well (emphasizing the "friend" part) and I was so thankful. Personally, I think this is way too much for 1st grade and I tried to not freak out!

Evidently, there is a lot of this going on in between Kindergarten, 1st and 3rd grade. I excluded 2nd grade because there are only 3 boys in that class and they are not even an iota interested in girls (I know because 1 of them is M).

E came home and showed Dad, who wasn't too impressed. We didn't make a big deal out of this at all. At least, so we thought...

About 2 weeks later, I was in E's room and she had taped this picture up so that it was a sign to see both sides (not a poster) in her room right up to her bed. On her desk, there was a piece of paper that had some scribblings of lovey dovey;s on it that included the boy artist. I had had enough!

It was time for a serious chat. We talked about how young she was for such things and how special it is when the time is right. Right now isn't that time. I told her she should focus on hanging out with her friends that are girls, she will have more things in common with them. She seemed to understand where I was coming from. I used age appropriate terms and analogize with her, not wanting to give too much information. In the end I could see she really was too young to really be thinking along the lines of "boyfriend/girlfriend". She has an innocence that I long to preserve, for the time being I think our talk has done the job.

It is hard to believe that this conversation had to take place at this age (7). I sure wish that other parents would talk to their kids and encourage then to be just that...KIDS! We don't want them to grow up so soon. I want my little girl to stay little for her little girl years! There will be a time, but seven isn't that time. Can I get an AMEN?!

BTW, E had taken the pics with my camera, not me :)

Hail Storm 2010

We have had some interesting weather this year.

I don't think I will too soon this hail storm. Rob said he hasn't ever seen hail this size here before. They were about baseball size.

They weren't the only size that came down Praise the Lord!

I was thankful for a home over our heads and a garage too to keep the cars from being beat up, this storm cause windshields to be smashed in a major damage to cars. YiKES!

Bring on the Summer

I have had my children home now for a full week and I am seriously in heaven! I love E coming in at 6 and saying she is going to go make her breakfast and then she gets C out of his crib and feeds him and then plays, and we don't have to rush out the door!

We sat down and made a Summer schedule, very flexible but available so I wont hear "I am bored" or "what do I do now." It goes a little something like this:

Breakfast

Change into day clothes, clean room, make bed and finish chores

Computer time (30 min) each

Outside time, or basement time (depending on if it is nice or storming out)

Reading time/story time

Free time till lunch

Lunch

Nap for C/ rest time

Work time M & E 2-3 hours in the afternoon

Clean up/shower or bath time

Supper time

Movie/game time (alternating)

Bed

This has been so wonderful, as you can tell there isn't a time set, this gives freedom and relaxation. Obviously, we are out alot and so those days we pick up right were we are according to lunch time or supper time. Chores are always done before we go anywhere.

This week M & E started tennis and M has had baseball for a few weeks now. His practices and games are on M-T-W in the evenings so most of the time Rob is able to take him. I love that!

We have some fun things planned just the 4 of us with friends. Riding bike in Itasca Park, going to the zoo, exploring Rydell's Wildlife Center and heading to the beach some. I am really looking forward to making wonderful memories this summer. I am so much more relaxed, I love the age the kids are right now.

The kids and I are taking our summer trip to Utah June 29-July 13, some of that time will be in Oregon celebrating a family wedding.

1227

Was my bib number for the Go Far Fargo Marathon 2010. Friday night they had the 5k walk/run.

The amount of people running the 5k was absolutely insane something like 5197!

There was hardly any room to move, let alone run.

Danell and I were not signed up to run the 5k, but because we were there we popped in a couple of times to encourage and support our girls Katy and Stacie!

We had such a great time, that next year we are going to sign up for the 5k and the 10k.

Danell and I ready and warmed up for the early morning Saturday 10k!

There I am right behind the man in reds head, huffing and puffing my way to the finish line.

My time 1 hour 22 seconds.

At the finish line we received our medals and I was pleasantly surprised of what was engraved on the back: "Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1

Isn't that beautiful!

We then jetted back to the hotel room for our wonderful hour massages by our great friend Jessica Moland. Couldn't have been better!

(Pictures courtesy of Stacie Lynn Hoefler)

Edelweiss

Rob has always sung this song to Creed before bed and it has grown to be Creed's favorite song, he will sing this song randomly thru the day along with the ABC's.

I love how he is trying to play the piano and sing at the same time.

Painting is finished!

OK! I have been so excited about this newest project, because this back room has been such an eye sore in our house and now that it is painted-just paint, man it really makes a difference.

So, I went very neutral because really, I don't ever want to repaint this room again! There are 3 colors: Jogging Path which is on the left side of the pillars, Taupe Tone is on the right side. Very flowing and suttle.

Continuing to the right we have the window wall which I chose to do as a deep dark color because of all the natural light. This color Black Fox is my favorite- it went on so beautifully, it truly reminded me of melted milk chocolate.
The rest of the room is the Taupe Tone which is the core color of my home.
I also repainted the entry way which was two toned now is the Jogging Path which is a nice flow into the sitting nook.

We will be looking into flooring and trim soon. Rob is getting busy again with farming, so I wont expect anything to be decided on until fall. We are thinking along the lines of wood flooring int he sitting nook and carpet for the entertainment area, but we aren't sure how to mesh it altogether and then we have the stairs!? I voted for an interior designer to come try her hand...we shall see.

Buzz Cut

The weather is warming up and so was Creed. His locks were keeping his head just too hot, he was always wet with sweat and so with much sadness in my heart, I took the clippers to his hair today. He looks so different. So much more grown up. His hair is so fine, a lot different from Micah's hair I thought for sure there wasn't going to be any hair left on his head when I was finished. It turned out alright, I guess. It will take some time for me to get used to it.

Our Backroom (Entertainment Room)

This is the view from the landing between the upstairs and the basement. We have had a gate to close this area off because it was such a danger to crawling children, it is such a relief to have a real wall there to make it safe.
Within the pillars we are going to insert 3 large pieces of glass to act as the wall. We chose this over a 1/2 wall to keep it open and for natural lighting.
I am so excited to see this progress. We have waited for 7.5 years for this part of the house to be finished. There is still alot of work to be done, but for now this makes me happy. We are in the process of finding what colors we want to paint. Fun, fun!

Picking...

Easter 2010

This year the kids were on their own for coloring easter eggs. I think in times past I could handle it more because I was doing most of it, well they are old enough to do it all on their own and it was driving this "control freak" mother crazy. I seriously went into the office and called my mom. They did a great job and they cleaned up their mess too!

Micah- Easter 2010

Emma-Easter 2010

Creed-Easter 2010

He is Risen!

Home Improvements

I am so excited! I have waited for 7.5 years for this part of the house to be finished! It is hard to believe it is actually getting done...I am so happy!

This picture above is from the garage entry facing East.
This shot is facing NE. In between the pillars on the left and the 2 pillars here in front we are going to set large glass with brackets to keep the rooms natural light and openness. The glass wall will go up only half way, and really is only to provide safety and to meet code, I guess it would be a deep fall down the stairs to the basement. This room will be the family/entertainment room, so the room where the T.V. is now will just be the "parlor/music" room.

We have finally finished the garage! Here is the area were we Minnesotans take off our shoes before entering a house. I never understood this until I lived here were most of the road are dirt and not paved! This is a large area were multiple people could remove their winter gear at a time and not be stuffed up or crowed like they were in our entry way.

Trying to be organized! It hasn't worked yet :) Emma still scrambles to find her coat...
Rob has worked the last 2 weekends to get all the trim work up, it is finally finished and he did such a fantastic job, I never knew he liked working with wood so much, I am sure proud of him and he is impressed with himself too, I think.
Very fun details he did with the trim and the outlets. All the trim is cedar and the garage smells wonderful.

I will continue to post more as they occur. Good things do come to those who wait! YAY!