It's All Good...

2012-02-02T14:45:00.000-06:00

Going to try and do the photo a day for February.

Probably will do a couple days each week.

If I say I am going to do every day I will never end up going the distance!

Yesterday's photo prompt was 'your view today'. I interpret that as my view from my house or around the house.

With a gray and foggy morning it left crystals attached to the trees. What I love most about when this happens is that the boys notice it and love it as much as I do! :-)

2012-01-18T18:24:00.003-06:00

Pretty excited for him.

The 6th grade boys got 2nd at their first tournament of the season!

They played well and were fun to watch.

Three more tournaments to go for the season.

I probably groan to myself when thinking of the entire Saturdays wasting away at some of these schools but it gets us out of the house as a family and you can't really ask for more than that!

Otherwise we all do our own thing at home and then the weekend is gone!

2012-01-03T12:27:00.003-06:00

I quick Christmas wrap-up. I know I will forget the little details if I don't get them down soon! These pictures are out of order but it really doesn't matter.

Christmas morning at Grandma Nancy's house. We had to quick snap some of her with all of the grandkids that were present that morning. This isn't even all of them! We were missing Alisa's 4 and Tyler! She was headed out the door at 11 bound for S.A.

A rarity of having this bunch altogether! Forgive me Ashley, I caught you with your eyes mid blink! I need to learn how to swap heads in photoshop!

Ha, ha...just a close up of my Miss Maddie.

Brenden was all about Vikings items this season. So he has acquired a Pillow Pet and named it Percy! He loves this thing! A few other favorites from Christmas were his Ponder jersey from Grandma Diane and Ron, his Harvin jersey from Grandpa Tom and Jackie, iHome stereo/alarm from Santa, Gophers sweatshirt from us and a Visa giftcard.

We started our Christmas celebration Friday night at Grandma Diane's house. Christmas Eve we had supper with my side at Lisa's house followed by my Dad's. Christmas morning we had our family time and then rushed to Grandma Nancy's before she left on her trip.

Lucas had very few things on his list this year but his favorites included video games, Gods Eater Burst, El Shaddai and Solotorobo. He got all 3 of those and Santa brought him a camera. I think everyone was blessed!

2012-01-01T09:02:00.002-06:00

I love this and think it will be my 2012 mantra!
Happy New Year!

2011-12-08T16:54:00.001-06:00

Getting so close to Christmas!

Everyone I talk to is not ready and need more time!

I am no exception! Shopping is about half way done as of yesterday. Baking is in the planning stages. Wrapping of the gifts that I DO have ready needs to be done.

So buying, wrapping and baking need to take place in the next week.

Busy busy busy!

A few more shares of the Thanksgiving photos. The one below I like to refer to as Where's Waldo? And the one above will always be the one about dangling junk...I needed to get him to really smile! And here is a sidenote, this picture above actually reminded me to call to get his ortho appt. scheduled for braces! Poor Kid! Lots of craziness going on with that mouth!

Miss Mads got into the action.

I seriously wanted to use this one as our Christmas picture this year! It so sums up their personalities and it is just plain hilarious!

If I don't back here...MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!

2011-12-01T16:30:00.000-06:00

I warned the boys prior to Thanksgiving day that we would be doing pictures after everyone had left for the day. It worked because they stayed somewhat clean and didn't complain much when I said it was time!

It was today or never for a Christmas card picture!

Wasn't it a gorgeous day? Just couldn't pass up the nice weather. This picture so sums up their personalities! TO.A.TEE.

And since I haven't taken much for nice pictures I did some of each separately. I know my years are dwindling with Lucas so I probably took more of him. He's going to hit those teenage years and probably hate me or just not want to be around me! Who knows...but I am going to take what I can while the gettin' is good.

Could eat those freckles up all day!

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving with family. Now onto the next season~

2011-11-11T13:59:00.001-06:00

And just like that he turned 12 on me!

Last year before the you know what!!

He tells me he is an adolescent. Ok. I am not even sure how to spell that word.

I had decided at the beginning of the summer that this was the year he would get his phone but I never once let on that that was what his present was. Even though he pleaded DAILY for hints.

But I thought just a phone was boring so I had to get him a video game from his list of 'wants'.

He told me later that he had the big box figured out but he had no idea what the small box was.

Look at that happy face!

I had programmed in most family members that he would need to know and then told a few people his number so he got calls right away. In fact I think there was a missed call on it when he opened the box!

And here is a real historic moment...his first text message being typed!

This year he wanted to do a sleepover. I obliged him in his wish for that. I looked up a few movies to see and he decided on Real Steel and pizza. The boys could have really cared less about the pizza when there was an arcade to play in!

He has begged for the confetti cake from Schwann's so I picked one up as a surprise. It really wasn't very good but they all tried a piece of it.

Make a wish Lucas! We love you!!

This was before they stayed up almost all night watching tv, playing video games and throwing around the balls that they won in the arcade. Boy Stuff!

2011-11-04T14:12:00.001-05:00

Last days of October

This is B with his pumpkin that he got to carve at school. They earn AM bucks and this was one of the prizes if they had enough of the bucks. I am so glad he did it at school because we didn't get pumpkins this year! I bought other decorative pumpkins but I never got any carving kind for them. I thought we would get some at the apple orchard but they were so picked over and nothing was good for carving. Big bummer but no mess! :-)

He chose to dress as a football player for Halloween over a month ago and we had everything but a helmet for the costume so it was easy peasy! He did get a new stocking hat though! He got lots of comments on his number 4 jersey. He is C.Ponder all the way now so it will be 7 soon enough.

Getting into character!

Lucas picked to be a Zombie Skateboarder. I am not into kids wearing masks but I think this might be his last year of dressing up so I caved in and got him the costume. He really wanted the skull hoodie so he was happy.

And the reason why I hate masks on kids is because they never fit right which was the case here. It was too big and he couldn't see very well so he got crabby at me about it!

He posed for a few pictures with it on and then threw it on the ground and that was the end of it.

So that is what is laying on the ground behind him. And he is so mad at me in these last pictures and I was threatening him that he would just stay home. He changed his attitude though and went trick or treating and he had fun! Without the mask!

2011-11-04T13:00:00.002-05:00

Warning!

Lots of pictures to follow...our afternoon spent at an apple orchard.

I had gone online to do some background checking on locations of apple orchards. Holy Cow! Lots of apple orchards around us. This one was in Lakeville and it had a pick your own apple option so we went with this location.

Overall, it wasn't a great experience. Not sure that we will be going back but the boys had fun and we got out of the house on a gorgeous fall day as a family!

We first went on a little hay wagon ride around the orchard and then we went back and ran through the rows of different varieties of apples. Interesting to see so many different kinds of apples.

I wasn't quick enough but this is what I get these days when asking for a picture!!

Next we decided to check out the corn maze. This was all of our first time in doing this. The boys loved it! Jason was more like...hurry up...let's get out of this field!

Why yes! Ears of corn CAN be a sword!

Or an Indian Headress.

And that was our trip to the Applewood Orchard!

2011-10-28T10:09:00.000-05:00

Homecoming was extra special this year.

Shelby was up for Homecoming Queen and Bailey was sophomore attendant.

Very fun to be a part of the festivities this year.

Shelby was crowned queen

and my boys had to have a picture with their very special girls.

They both cherish Shelby and Bailey.

Fun night.

2011-10-24T17:23:00.004-05:00

So CANNOT believe that over a month has passed since I posted pictures!

Where oh where do the days go????

So here are the first day of school photos.

Lucas taking Maddie for a quick potty break before he leaves for his first day of sixth grade. He is so good about taking her out. I can always count on him.

My 6th grader! New sling backpack, new shoes, new duds and necklace and he was ready.

Brenden had 2 days before his 1st day of third grade but he still hopped in for a couple pictures.

Yes...don't they looked thrilled??? How many more years will they give me first day of school pictures?

And Brenden's actual first day of school. He decided on his Under Armour drawstring bag for the first day. He switches out quite frequently depending on his mood!

First day of Third Grade.

He was excited to have a locker this year and he is sharing one with Carter.

He wouldn't let me inside his room so I stood at the door and got a few quick shots. Finding his desk and using the smart board to order his lunch for the first day.

Well there you have it... I have some apple orchard pictures coming up next but the way the time is flying it may be Christmas before I get them posted!!!!

2011-09-08T11:40:00.000-05:00

Thinking of these 2 alot this week.

We've had a great summer and I will miss our routine.

Brenden started 3rd grade today. He was excited. He was happy that he was sitting by Luke B. and that he is sharing a locker with Carter Q. He wanted me to walk with him to his classroom even though he walked way ahead of me on purpose! I could take pictures at his locker but not at his desk. So I stood at the doorway and snapped a couple. :-)

Lucas started 6th grade on Tuesday. It went very good and he is liking it so far. He said he got his locker open on the first try. He is hard to get many details from so the tidbits that I DID get I cherish!

I'll be back with the 'official' first day photos but I saw these and wanted to share them.

2011-09-01T10:48:00.003-05:00

I walked outside one night for something and noticed a pattern or design on the side of the block shed.

I looked again and just started giggling.

I had gotten a new nozzle for the hose to water with and the boys thought they would help me out with watering at night. Well they had drug the hose over to the shed and proceeded to make shadow figures of themselves!

How creative!!!

I ran to get my camera of course.

A couple closeups of their process for making these figures.

Lucas tried to do some elaborate poses and they didn't work out as well as he had wanted but they were still pretty cool!

Ahhhhh...the simplicity of it.

But the fun they had!

Again proving that it is the simple things in life...

2011-08-24T13:39:00.000-05:00

I was going to post this forever ago!

Been so busy with back to school shopping and trying to soak up every bit of summer that we have left.

A recap of this years' trip to SoDak.

We decided to tour a cave this year. We didn't have a certain one in mind so we drove to Rapid City on Thursday and drove around to find one that look interesting. We spotted a billboard for Crystal Cave so Crystal Cave it was! We weren't the most prepared to go underground though! We didn't have sweatshirts or very appropriate footwear.

So this first picture is one of the first things you see as you are going 6 flights of steps straight down!
The call it the map of the United States.

This whole room was made up of these 'dog teeth' crystals. This picture was before the bat made it's appearance! The guide was sure to tell us before the tour that it was very rare to see any 'wildlife' down in the cave. Well leave it to this day for a bat to make an appearance! He also was sure to tell us that the bats are totally harmless. yeah...whatever! I would have crawled out of the cave if they let me!

So after the cave experience we went back into Rapid and did some shopping at the mall. The boys found school shoes so it was a productive day too! On our drive back to Deadwood we decided to take the scenic road through Spearfish Canyon. We stopped along this stream that runs along the highway and it didn't take long for Lucas to be in the water and across the way.

We even found a huge heart shaped rock in this spot. Brenden of course doesn't think it looks anything like a heart but we kept it anyways!

There are 3 waterfalls in Spearfish Canyon and we saw 2 of them. The biggest is Roughlock Falls and we had to drive off the highway a mile or so to hike to it. By this time the boys were getting a bit crabby but I took some pictures anyways. It shows their true colors!

This is pretty much the extent of pictures that I took this year. It was a low key trip this time. We didn't do the rodeo. We did go on the Boot Hill bus tour which tells about all of the cowboys and famous people who settled and died and were buried in the cemetery. Wild Bill, Calamity Jane and Potato Creek Johnny being some of the most well known. Lucas was enamored by the extravagant headstones and all of the trinkets and money left at Wild Bill's gravesite. He tried to take some!!!!

We also ate lots of Chinese food, stopped by the Full Throttle Saloon in Sturgis, and took adavantage of the great new aquatic center that the gaming board has built in Deadwood. The boys can't pass up a nice pool!

Oh I almost forgot this part...I hit it pretty big on the slots this year! I won $600 on $34 two different nights playing a quarter machine. I never win so it felt pretty good. I don't win because I seldom gamble. I was waiting for Jason to finish on his machine and that's when I won! :-)

Jason and I headed back on that Sunday while the boys and grandma and Ron headed to Cody, WY for a week of traveling Yellowstone and Glacier National.

I would say they have had a great summer of memories!

2011-08-04T15:54:00.000-05:00

He had so much fun at football camp.

His first football camp.

His first of many football camps...I am thinking!

For starters they learned some very basic fundamentals of handling the ball.

Basic but they all ate it up!

And of course, lots of tackling the dummies.

LOTS of INTENSITY!!

It was a very good time.

I'm glad I took some pictures of this 'first'.

2011-07-11T20:40:00.000-05:00

What was that show about animals way back when?

Mutual of Omaha?

Wild Kingdom or something like that?

Well some days it feels like that around here. Or the circus! Take your pick. It must be egg laying season for the turtles. On our early morning walk, Maddie and I spotted this dark 'thing' by the tall grass. And when we got closer I figured out what it was.

By the time I left for work it had made it's way up by the shed and was trying to continue onto the river. Brenden thought I had not to go to work and stay home to defend our property!

This one was alot less ferocious than the one a couple years back. This one didn't seem like it wanted to snap your legs and arms off! But still! Look at those claws.

I caught this rare moment between Ollie and Maddie. Nose to nose. They are at the sparring stage. I think next will be the tolerant stage and then maybe the " okay, maybe I kind of like you" stage. We'll see.

These 2 are definitely in the I love you stage!

2011-06-24T14:10:00.000-05:00

THE CAMPERS

It has become somewhat of a tradition to get out and setup the tent on the first days of summer vacation. For some reason I never took pictures last year so I made sure to do it right away this year! And I made them pick a spot closer to the house. They drag so much stuff out to the tent that I think it took a couple hours to drag it all back inside last year and they were way out back by the field.

So this year they were told to only pack the essentials and nothing else. It started out as their pillows and some blankets and sleeping bag and a few books. By the 3rd day it was snacks, books, dvd player, stuffed animals, clothing, video games and players, flashlights and more books!

It's fun for them and I think of the memories they are making!

2011-06-20T16:43:00.000-05:00

PEACE AND LILACS

He picked them for me.

He posed with them for me.

He gave me the peace sign. Or maybe it was supposed to be bunny ears????? Whichever...their keepers.

2011-06-11T12:34:00.000-05:00

My baby turned 8...

He wanted a Vikings themed birthday and that is what he got. Grandma Diane even obliged him by purchasing football pads for his present. Of course, we have heard about him wanting these since last August when Lucas started football!

The day of his party was also the last day of Sunday school and they had face painting as a fun activity. Guess what he had painted??

I love group shots. They are pure chaos but so fun to look back at in years to come!

He had lots of Viking, Twins and sports related items on his wish list this year. I can't think of anything that was a toy that he had on his list which he just converted his Christmas list over to his birthday list after revisions! He was actually easy this year. Went to Dick's picked up some sports related t shirts, some Under Armour items a quick trip to Target to get Just Dance2 and done. He was happy!

2011-06-03T16:40:00.000-05:00

The Story of Maddie...

We adopted Miss Maddie on April 23rd of this year.

She came from a high kill shelter in Kansas.

She can be so calm but when she turns it on...look out! Her one ear up and one ear down is so cute.
She came to us at 3 months old. I really didn't want a puppy. I wanted an older dog that was house trained.
But the boys loved her.

One brown eye and one blue eye... Australian Shepherd Mix. A very smart dog breed.
Some of her nicknames so far:
Miss Maddie
Maddie Blue
Maddie Sue
Madsie
Madders
...naughty dog...ok. I try not to use that one much! She is just a baby!

I wrote the above a few weeks ago and just came back to add and post:
She is still loved by us. She still loves us back! They say dogs are pack animals so I always say we are her pack. She is so excited to see everyone each morning one by one as they come down the stairs. She isn't allowed upstairs so she waits for each of the boys on the couch every morning. We have gotten into a routine and I think she is flourishing. We are seeing her personality.

Have a good weekend!

2011-05-16T21:45:00.000-05:00

Just a few of my favorites from our annual egg hunt.

I almost didn't do it this year. Thinking they were too'big' for it. But they requested that I hide them.

Miss Maddie girl went out with me to hide them and she wanted to carry them around and open them!

The boys loved running around looking for their color coded eggs and Maddie ran right behind them. Soaking up the fun!

Another successful egg hunt. I need to savor it. Is it the last year for it? I am kind of traditional so I think there needs to be a tradition. Any suggestions for 'older' boys for an Easter tradition?

2011-04-11T15:40:00.000-05:00

Sheesh...time flies! Been awhile since I updated. Well I'll start off with a picture of little office buddy.
He somehow some way takes over my office chair. So pretty soon I have to just get a different chair and leave him to his own! But with such a cute little face like that how can you deny him?

Brenden is zipping along with his Accelerated Reading. He received his 2nd book and then his teacher told me that he reached the 100,000 word count so next assembly he will be receiving that award. I am really proud of him! He likes the Magic Treehouse series, Junie B Jones series, and anything sports related. His teacher was very helpful and gave me some suggestions on a few authors for him for summer reading. Being the overachiever that he is is thinks he should be in the Millionaires Club by now. I told him to get a jump on it for next year by reading all summer and then he will have books to test on right away when he starts 3rd grade this fall. He had a super report card and his a well rounded student. He really surprises me sometimes. Very proud of him!

Lucas actually ASKED me to take his picture yesterday! I didn't let that chance go by me! I had him out the door in 30 seconds after he mentioned it. It was really windy but we found a few spots that weren't too bad. He really has come a long way since Christmas and is enjoying his sax immensely! He is fun to watch when he plays. He really gets into the rythmn.

He had an great report card also this semester. He had perfect attendance and made the B honor roll. But more than that he just seems to be more organized and aware. I don't have to stay on him to get things done. He just does it! Well, most of the time.

It was warm enough for flip flops and he was very happy for that! Flip flogs, sunshine and music.

Life is good.

2011-03-15T12:39:00.001-05:00

It was a bittersweet night in the household last night...the last ride of the season.

Then the storing of the snow machines took place.

Well unless there is another big snowstorm then they may make another appearance but the weather man is not forcasting any more snow any time soon. I think I am okay with that.

It was so nice to be outside after supper and still have good daylight.

Brenden was star of the week this past week and his last day of show and tell he brought the survival avalanche backpack. This is him riding his snowmobile around our yard with it on! He just loved every moment of it. He can't wait til he is old enough to go out west and ride in the mountains.

I think the picture below is my favorite.

Sun setting on my little boy having the time of his life.

Can't forget this one. He even got in the action and went out to soak up some of this mild winter weather.

A few more days til Spring!

2011-02-21T16:00:00.000-06:00

Yeah...so Lucas got his first flower from a girl.

A pink carnation.

He sent his first flower to a girl.

I believe he put his name on the flower he sent.

This flower came from "?" and they didn't know how to spell his last name or his teacher's name. He was sure it came from Shelby or Bailey. He did some investigating and nothing. But I guess a few days later the girl admitted to sending it to him. It wasn't from the girl he sent his flower to either...

I am going to confess something here. When he came off the bus carrying this flower, I really thought he had ordered it for me. :-( I got over it though. He is growing up. He still gives me lots of hugs and kisses and I hope that never stops. Lucas has always said that he is a lover not a fighter! So true.

2011-02-03T18:13:00.000-06:00

Our little music man.

He needed some extra credit for band so he put together a

holiday musical with a program and guests.

I even dusted off my flute and we did a duet! No picture of that though! He is getting good. It no longer sounds like a flock of geese flying through the house! His songs really sound like the song. And when he really gets into it he swings his hips and rocks with the beat. He doesn't realize he does it but it gets me giggling every time.

2011-01-27T16:39:00.000-06:00

This one plays in the snow every chance he can get and made this little snowman family using up baby carrots that I was going to throw away. Clever...clever little boy.

He ran out of carrots so Oliver is not represented in the family of snowmen. ;-)

And this one is doing lots of basketball practices and tournaments. I don't think that he LOVES it but he likes it alot more than football. He is catching on quickly and I am hoping he sticks with this! The exercise and sportsmanship does him good.

The team had a tournament all day last Saturday and they ended up with a 3rd place medal. Lucas was very excited to start his collection of basketball medals. Now he just needs 19-29 (his words) more to catch up to Bailey's collection!

I forgot to bring my camera to the tournament but they took a team picture and it was so cute! One of the Mom's is going to send me pictures. Yay! And I will be bringing my camera to the last 2 tourneys that they have in February. What in the heck was I thinking? I wasn't!!

Brenden is also in a basketball session. He is one of the oldest in the group but he is tolerating the little ones and can't wait til next year to be in an older group of kids. There appeared to be ALOT of girls that had no interest whatsoever in bouncing a basketball! They just were there to look cute in there little outfits and make their parents happy! Am I right Jamie???? No offense to the girls out there(or the parents) but this class has quite a few and it is kinda painful to watch them when you have a die hard sports kid that just wants to run, pass, dribble and shoot the ball for hours!

In other news...American Idol started and it looks to be a good season. Well I say that every year!

2011-01-06T15:22:00.000-06:00

A bit of a Christmas recap...

The annual Christmas cousins picture. Ash is missing but she volunteered to work Christmas Eve so someone else who had kids could be with them. The picture below is so funny. Poor Bailey bit her top lip during a basketball practice and it is scabbed over so she couldn't smile or laugh or she would be in pain. So she would hold her hand on her mouth when she would laugh. It got to be so funny towards the end of the night.

This picture is a bit out of focus but this is the one thing (besides a PSP) that he really REALLY wanted and his Grandma came through with the game Kingdome Hearts Birth by Sleep. At this point on Christmas Eve Lucas still didn't know if he was for sure going to get the PSP. He was very happy to get the game but then after thinking about it he got sad that he didn't know yet.

This picture is sooooo sooooo funny. All he has talked about for months is that he wanted an XBox 360 and Madden11. Well this is him receiving Madden11 from Grandma and Ron. He slept with it in his bed Christmas Eve night and still occasionally does! Today he got the game taken away for the rest of the week for having a fresh mouth.

Grandma and Ron also got Bonnie & Clyde Nerf Longstrike CS6 guns. I am SO sick of picking up those danged spongey darts! And Oliver chews on them!

There's B and B watching Despicable Me at Grandpa Tom's house. It was getting late so I was surprised Little B didn't fall asleep.

The three boys posing in front of the tree on Christmas morning. We had a rush rush night before so we didn't leave out any cookies for Santa. He still found our house just fine. Everyone was happy. Lucas got his PSP and a few games, a YuGiOh card game storage book, Final Fantasy and some Under Armor. Brenden got a Knex roller coaster, Richochet Remote controlled 'thing', Vikings sweatshirt, a couple games and Under Armor. That rundown is more for my memory than anything!

My favorite picture of the holiday. I was lucky enough to get a new lens for my camera so I had to try it out right away and put the timer to good use. This might be a new tradition. ;-) Don't we look bright eyed!

2010-12-31T12:33:00.002-06:00

We got out this week to enjoy some mild weather and go sledding. Brenden is such an intense outdoorsman so sledding is no different. I am just glad he paused long enough to let me take a couple of his glowing face.

We were the first sledders at the park so we had to pack the snow to get some speed. That was ALOT harder to do than to say. . .

Over and over and over, he went down the hill. Trying for more air and more speed.

Lucas and I gave up and just sat in the snow and watched Brenden have his fun.

Soaking up that sunshine.

We had a nice Christmas. We were missing family members but we were thankful for what we had.

Now onto a New Year!

2010-11-29T13:14:00.000-06:00

I'll just start with Halloween to try and catch up on some things. We just never got to our pumpkins to carve them until the actual day of Halloween. But then they last til the day of and not get all moldy!

So much planning goes into their design but yet they look about the same from year to year! Lucas' pumpkins was frozen so it was a bit mushy to try and carve. He made it work.

And this year it was a cowboy for Brenden. He got many complements on his costume. Is it really a costume when he would wear this every day and wants to be a cowboy some day? He wanted or should I say WANTS a long leather duster to complete his look. I just couldn't find one in a kids size.

And a Ninja Warrior for Lucas. I think this is his 3rd year of being something ninja related. I thought he was going to be a knight this year but came home with this costume. And it is all about the sword in his world!

and if you only knew how hard it was to get them standing by each other for a picture!

Getting ready to head out for trick or treating in this last one. Sun setting in the background. Lucas was going to go early and then head over to the dance at the Middle School. Well we went over there but he didn't stay long. Long story. Maybe another day. But tears were shed. :(

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Ummmm....and a question to anyone. Have you ever used RitzPics for uploading photos and then either picking them up or have them delivered to your house? If you have or know of anyone that has, what was the quality? I just went through them for the first time and was not impressed at all with the pictures. They were either blown out or very dark. Not happy at all! And it was over 250 pictures! I was going to order my Christmas cards through them but now I may not! Let me know your thoughts on that please.

2010-11-09T12:58:00.000-06:00

Took advantage of one of the last nice fall days to get Lucas' pictures for his 11th year taken and then to have his loving brother pop in for a Christmas photo. I think I have some keepers but these are some of the 'outtakes'. The first pictures shows Brenden trying to figure out what squatting is. We giggled about this. It just looks like he has to go to the bathroom. But he was trying!

I just liked this one. Of course, he gives me this blank stare. ALOT! So I kept having to remind him to give me smiles. He is so serious looking all the time. He's my 'thinker'. Always off in another place in his mind.

Ok. This next one. Hil- ar - i - ous! Just as I was going to snap the picture, it was completely quiet and then we hear a cow moo. And it sounded like it was right behind me. Oh my...we laughed. I looked around like there was a cow walking in our yard. It sounded that close! So of course, B had to imitate a cow mooing!

More Mooing!

Lucas loves his new hat so I let him wear it in some pictures and rock it out. ;-)

New location. Down by the river behind our house. Alot of the brush was washed down stream by the last flood so we had some space to move around. By this time, I had to bribe them with 15 minutes extra before bed time and Brenden wanted pictures by the woods. But this next picture is so deceiving. They look like they like each other. For reals!!!

Another laugh session. Lucas being a woody woodpecker with his hat.

Goofball. All I asked was that they touch shoulders. So this was Lucas easing himself into touching Brenden. Plus we always have to prepare Brenden for affection!

So there you have it. Some peaks of our Christmas card and our laughs we shared while doing it! I have good intentions of getting our card out in the mail by December 10th. Wish me luck!

fall nesting

2010-09-26T20:09:00.001-05:00

It's been awhile since I have done an around the house type post. It can't always be about those boys! Not sure why but I love decorating for fall. I am always on the hunt for white pumpkin decor. I scored this glass battery jar this spring and haven't really done much with it. But I KNEW I would eventually find the perfect spot for it. It sits in my bay window in my kitchen. I filled it with vintage baseballs and white pumpkins.

Brenden wanted to know why I had this house in the kitchen now. I have usually had it in the living room but I love it and wanted to see it more often so the kitchen it went!

Another find from this spring...a vintage suitcase. I love the creme color to this one. I have seen these stacked up as a display piece or end table type thing but I set mine up on end and liked the variation of the height so I decided to leave them like that. I set a white pumpkin on one and a baby picture of Lucas on the taller one in back. That taller suitcase has a story all it's own. I should take some close ups of it. It has stickers from all over the world on it. It belonged to my Grandmother's Great Aunt ( I think I have that right.) She was an author and traveled the world. Now it's in my home. :-)
And I have a thing for the letter 'R' and the number "2 & 4", so I have ALOT of them set around my home. These 2 are my latest finds. I thought it would be fun to decorate a Christmas tree with all of the letters and numbers that I have collected over the years. We'll see. I have a couple months to think about it yet.

2010-09-15T16:47:00.000-05:00

This kid is hard core! He is in 2nd grade and so ready to be in tackle football.

Brenden suiting up with Lucas' football gear. He is in heaven. Pictures of the actual owner of this gear coming soon! We just had to get Brenden out of it long enough for Lucas to use it!

He overheard a conversation with someone last week about the football team lifting weights.

So this is what he said to me yesterday in the car after school:

Mom, I am going to lift tires today.

Me: Oh?

Yep, so if I start today I will have 3 years of lifting weights before I start tackle football in 5th grade.

Me: Ummmm. Ok?

I saw some tires in the shed and some are just the tires and some are on the wheels(rims).

Me: Well I think you had better start with just the tire ones and work your way up to the other ones.

Well I think I will lift them now and then later when I'm stronger tie them around my waist and pull them around.

Me: Ahhhhhhhh. okay?

I tell you! Hardcore!

deadwood '10

2010-08-20T13:29:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's that time of year again. The annual trek across SoDak for some family bonding. Ha, ha. We try to do different things each year so no one gets too bored. I am so in love with Custer State Park. We toured the park our first day out. We stayed at the Sylvan Lake Lodge the first night. This lodge has been here since the 30's. The original lodge burnt to the ground that was right on the lake. They rebuilt it up the hill where this is sitting. Not sure why they didn't rebuild in the same place but I just love the history of this place! The boys loved running around on the hills and cliffs (!!) exploring and burning off energy. I want to live on this lake one day. Gorgeous! In the picture below, where the boys are walking is where the original lodge was located.

My daredevils!

The first full day we were signed up for a buffalo tour by jeep. So 7 of us plus the driver piled into this jeep and headed out touring the State Park. We went offroad and ended up on this hill overlooking the valley. Another GORGEOUS place. It was so peaceful and beautiful.

This friendly bear was so close I couldn't get my camera focused enough! Wow. It was intimidating and we loved every minute of it! :-)

The next morning we hit the Needles Highway headed for Mount Rushmore. Here is a faraway glimpse of it. Love these shots! And loved the Needles Highway. I want to go back and get more pictures of the rocks. Just awe inspiring. Jason wants to move out to the Black Hills area. The landscape and scenery are just so grand. Hard to put into words. The history behind this park is so rich. I am just shocked that the people behind making this a State Park knew enough to do so to preserve it and keep this for so many people to see and experience.

And there was lots of treats and ice cream breaks. The weather ended up being much warmer than what was forecasted but then that doesn't surprise us. It is ALWAYS hot when we are out in SoDak! I love that there are NO BUGS!

Finally made it to Mount Rushmore. I don't think they were as excited about it this time around but it was still cool to see again.
I had to dig out the same picture from the 1st time were here in 2005. So dang cute! Look at those little babies!

Ok. I'm sure these vacation pics aren't real exciting to you if you weren't there but I hope you get a sense of how much we loved it out there! :-) Summer is coming to an end. Sadly. So it is nice to look at these and remember.

It's Amazing

2010-08-17T09:02:00.002-05:00

how something so cheap and simple as a kite can be so entertaining and magical to two boys! They get so into kite flying it isn't even funny.Lucas and I were at a home improvement store and he came to me and asked if he could have it. I usually say, 'put it back' but I knew it would be a wise investment of $2.99 so I caved.

Home we went and he put it together and went out to give it a try. Of course, Brenden had to take over and show him how to do it. He always thinks his way is better and Lucas is nice enough to just let him do it his way...most of the time. ;-)

They had the string so tangled I had to spend about an hour untangling it so they could at least get some impressive air. Well until they decided to add the string from another kite. Then I just got scared they were going to wrap it around a power line!

Boys...always taking it to a new level.

Oh and I have had some really weird hits on this blog so if you stop by would you leave a comment? Pretty please. It would calm my nerves. Thinking about making this private if the weird things keep happening. Have a feeling someone is stealing images off of my blog?? Kind of makes me weirded out since all of the images are of my boys! Ok. thanks. ;)

THE bike ramp

2010-07-22T20:45:00.000-05:00

These pictures are nothing stellar but the looks on their faces are absolutely priceless!

This is B's first time up the ramp.

The concentration and the thrill are so funny.

Lucas thought he should try his skateboard on it. So he got into the action too.

It's was way harder than he thought it would be.

Getting more brave and speed on this run!

Lucas ended up getting his bike out and biffing it off the side and knocking the wind out of himself. I came out just as he was landing on his arm and the way he came up gasping for air I thought his arm was probably broken. He still gets mad at me every time I reenact the sound he was making. Oh what are Mom's for if we can't give them a little grief back once in awhile?

birthday boy

2010-06-10T15:41:00.000-05:00

Another year slipped by in a blink. He's seven. It was all about wanting a new bike and bike ramps this year. He got both. Soooo spoiled. He worked Grandma and Ron for the bike ramps and we got him the bike. I let him pick one out a couple weeks before his birthday and then went back to get it closer to his birthday. Had a bit of a scare when the bike was gone from the rack!!! But after hunting down a salesperson and he brought out 2 different bikes we finally found the one that he had picked out. Crisis averted!

We ordered the cake from the grocery store. Abby's bakery. So good. I am not a frosting lover but this frosting is soooo good! Brenden looks through the cake book every time we go into that store. He couldn't decide between a Timberwolves cake(because it came with a basketball hoop on it) or this snowmobile cake. It was pretty obvious which one would win out! Ha! This kid lives and breathes for the snow.

Bike and bike ramp pics to come soon. They are pretty funny.

Deep Breath

2010-06-07T16:37:00.002-05:00

because here comes summer! Last Friday was their last day of school. Well that's all fine and dandy. Then it hits me that it is Lucas' very last day EVER of elementary school. What?! How did this happen? Fourth grade was a struggle, a battle, actually but WE made it. Am I going to look back next year and think, 4th grade was a piece of cake? I seriously hope not! I hope I look back and think that 4th grade was a eye opener to 5th grade. MIDDLE SCHOOL! A bus ride to another town. No more watching him walk into the school. Knowing he is there. Safe and sound.

So, I have the summer to prepare myself. Mentally prepare. Ok. I could go on and on with this!

And Mrs. Harty graduated Brenden from 1st grade into 2nd grade as he walked out the door on Friday. It was the cutest thing. They had to jump over the line as they went out the door and that was there jump into 2nd grade. Brenden loved 1st grade and I hope we have a successful 2nd grade too. He loves homework and is looking forward to all of the summer sheets that I have saved and the packets that Mrs. Harty sent home. What? Who's kid is this? He loves homework! Probably because he has never had any!

Ok. Have a good week. Until next time...

Sigh...

2010-06-04T15:28:00.003-05:00

Holy Crap! It's been over a month since I have posted something? Wow! Well...here is the sigh part...where to begin? We have celebrated a 7th birthday, school has ended and summer has begun! LEt's start with this: The 1st graders planted sunflower seeds. B brought them home at the end of May and we quick planted them. I thought it would be fun to take a picture at the 1st of each month til school starts to document the sunflowers' growth! Looks a bit like Jack and the Beanstalk right now!

Funny sidenote, the year Lucas brought his home we sat them out overnight and a rabbit ate every last morsel of them! So we never got to do this. So far, no rabbits! Now possums, skunks and stray cats...check, check and check!

Now let's just hope I remember to take the picture at the same time every month. Today school ended for the year and summer has begun. We don't have a ton of stuff planned so far but I think it will fly by nontheless! Hope everyone has a great summer! OH and I hope I get back here to update before then. ;-)

for you

2010-04-26T17:09:00.005-05:00

He absolutely loves dandelions. He thinks they are the bestest flower ever! We can NEVER NOT pick dandelions. No matter where we might be a stop is in order to pick some of these yellow wonders.

I'm letting him enjoy them because Dad is planning to spray the yard this week so by the weekend they will be all wilted and sad.

I only had to pay them each a dollar to take some pictures of them. Like usual they will forget to claim their money. :-) I think they just like to act all tough about it but secretly they love having my camera in their face!

And we can't go far without this little trooper following right behind. Love this kitty. He is such a lover. He was having fun jumping through the clumps of clover and dandelions. We were on his turf but he was happy about it.

He was waiting for me to tell him to open his eyes but I kind of thought he looked just so sweet laying there among the dandelions and clover. Can't believe he didn't start combing it for 4 leafed clover.

One of them together. Gasp! The horror of my mother to ask such a thing! So as you can see we are getting out and enjoying spring as much as we can. I think there is around 6 weeks of school left and then the fun REALLY starts.

Lake Raths

2010-04-05T13:37:00.002-05:00

Ha! We had the pleasure of having our very own lake for a couple weeks as the snow melted. I was and am fine with it...as long as it is gone before the bullfrogs figure it out! To date it is about dried up but compared to these pictures but you can hear a few down there croaking away. Next week marks the 2nd anniversary of our moving into our house. The first spring and summer here we had hundreds...no thousands of frogs! It was hard to concentrate when outside the house. So much noise. Plus the geese make a landing every morning around 5:30 or 6. I'm up and out of bed but they sure make a racket!

I had to catch the reflection of the barn at sunset in 'Lake Raths'. I couldn't resist.

Right now...

2010-03-18T19:19:00.002-05:00

He is obsessed with the Game of Life! He will sit and play for hours. all.by.himself! I bought him the game as his reward for his reading accomplishment at school. I am really proud of him and his determination to make a goal and do what it takes to get to it. The first day we played and him and Lucas both got married and had 2 kids each. I had none! Go figure but Brenden spun the wheel and landed on go on a cruise...pay $5000 for each kid. As soon as he read that he said, 'I don't want to take the kids.' I burst out laughing at that statement and then said to him, See why Dad and I try to get away without you kids? It's more expensive!!!!" It still cracks me up when I think about it. :-)

Some other things about him right now.

*He is getting jazzed for his birthday in a couple months.

*He is loving making Pixos creations. He is entering a few of his creations in the art show tomorrow at school. I got him a little inexpensive display case for them and he is so proud.

*He walks around the house with books in his hand reading and walking. Kind of cute.

*He rarely if at all has homework. We practice spelling words and math facts every night but that is pretty much it. He has only gotten 1 spelling word wrong all year! Two good spellers. I'm so lucky!

*Now that the snow is gone he is all about riding his 4 wheeler and fishing in the 'pond' for seaweed and turtles. Tonight he hauled up new sand for his sandbox but he filled the wheelbarrow too full so I had to go out and help him push it to the sandbox. Lucas went out first and they both couldn't budge it. I wished I had taken pictures because it was funny. They were waving their arms and laughing and then rolling in the grass and then they would get up and do it again. Funny little boys. They have been getting along a bit better but the battles still break out here and there.

I think it has been 60 degrees 4 days this week but now it's supposed to cool off for the weekend. Not looking forward to that after having this great week! Maybe get some cleaning done around the house? Boring...

We had a blast

2010-03-15T10:17:00.005-05:00

It is the middle of March and it was 60 degrees! We HAD to be outdoors yesterday. The sun was so bright and warm. The bikes were dragged from the shed and air was pumped into the tires. Helmets were found in the depths of the garage...I don't know why because they really don't wear them! I think Lucas wasn't sure if he was going to remember how to ride so he found his and wore it around the yard. Even when he wasn't riding his bike! I should have gotten a picture of that. :-) It has a dragon on it so he thinks it is very cool.
These 2 have been getting along better these days. They didn't even really race to each corner on our walk. Not sure why I walked and they both rode their bikes? I pretty much walked by myself with them 3 blocks ahead of me! I finally warned them if they got ahead of me by more than a half of a block we wouldn't be going on any more walk/rides!

They always hold their hands up and I tell them "HEY, no gang signs!" They always laugh and do it anyways. :)

I'm sure he is thinking, let's run Mom over while she is laying on the road taking our picture.

There is always a trick to be caught on film!

We did lots more yesterday...I got my garage cleaned out, just need to scrub the floor but I'll wait til winter is REALLY over to do that! I got my raspberry bushes trimmed down, and the yard debris cleaned up. It's a start and it feels good. I think everyone is ready for this warmer brighter days!

Oliver

2010-03-04T13:55:00.002-06:00

He's quite the little buddy during the day. Well when he's not napping. We aren't sure when he was born so we need to determine a date to be his birthday. Lucas thinks it should be the 4th of July and Brenden thinks it should be the same day as his in May. I think May might be a better estimate of his age. I call him my little kitten and it drives Jason crazy. That CAT is not a kitten. But then the way Oliver follows me around like a little faithful puppy, Jason thinks I keep catnip in my pockets! :-) Oliver has been quite the stinker during the nights lately. He likes to prowl around our bedroom anywhere from 2 am to 5 am. I never mind to much but it drives Jason nuts. He kicks and swats at him but Oliver just thinks he wants to play. Ha. We even locked him out one morning when he got really wild. That lasted about 2 hours and then he started jumping against the door trying to get the knob to turn. That cat is a smart one. I got up and let him in and he just wanted to lay and cuddle and purr. Who could resist???

2010-02-28T15:20:00.000-06:00

We have been trying to soak up some of that winter sunshine! It is hard to get motivated to get out there but once we are...it's great.

He can't get enough of snowmobiling. He goes out before school to start it up and let it run for a couple minutes. Once we are home from school he runs in and grabs his gear, starts it up and off he goes. Round and round he goes.

Some days he comes in to get a tape measure and he goes out to try and measure how much air and distance he gets over the driveway. Goofy crazy kid.

And this one...he REALLY doesn't like the cold but once he's out there he always finds something interesting to make into a sword. With the warm sun these past weeks we have had some monster icicles hanging from the shed roofs. We carefully extracted this one.

So happy when he is out in the fresh air.

This one should get out more often...he looks great with those rosy cheeks!

I have to admit that I do love the snow but I am ready for green grass. I am ready to plant my garden and dig in the dirt.

Ha

2010-01-28T08:11:00.003-06:00

Conversation from the backseat. This is what I heard them saying:

L: I am going to have a sweet car when I can drive. How many more years til I get my driver's license Mom?
Me: About 6.
L: That is so cool. Brenden, I am going to have the sweetest car when I am 16. And you won't be embarrassed to ride to school with me because my car will be so sweet that all the girls will want to go out with you!

Me: Well how are you going to buy this super sweet car?

L: I am going to have 3 jobs...McDonald's, Dairy Queen and Toys R Us.
Me: Well I am glad you know you have to work to have a sweet car.

:-)
Boys and their 'sweet' toys!

ah winter...

2010-01-17T17:29:00.002-06:00

Just having some fun experimenting with textures on these snowy pics taken at Christmas. Of course, you can no longer so ANY grassy areas! The yellow spot in the upper right is the top of the kids' slide peaking out of a snow drift.

Other than having fun with pictures, I have been getting new items up in my Etsy shop. Getting things freshened up there. I loved how my new items turned out. Most of the time they take on a life of their own and then I am not so sure if I like the finished project as I saw it in my head. So busy with Etsy, finishing up things at work and trying to just keep up with the usual things.

January thaw seems to be here and it's helping to cope with the winter. Brenden has been doing ALOT of snowmobiling. He is even trying to do some jumps and he's getting more daring! Yikes! I should go out one of these days and get some action shots of him. :-)

So much...

2010-01-07T11:19:00.003-06:00

So much to say, so little time! That is such a lame excuse but it really is the truth. Heck I still haven't put the Christmas presents away. They are sitting randomly around the house. Sad really. Lots of things going on right now. Just wanted to pop on and say Happy New Year. Here's hoping twenty ten is the best year ever!!! I hate posting without a picture but that's the way it is this time. Hope to be back regularly real soon. Happy New Year.

2009-12-20T15:56:00.005-06:00

Since I don't really have any new pictures. By the end of the week there will be many but I was thinking about doing a favorites post. So I went back through my files to find some of my very favorites pics. Some have already been posted here but some have not.

A fun day of snowboarding and sledding with my boys! Early January.

I have this picture framed in my house. I love it. How convincing are they?! February

Waterpark in Meford. March

Webkinz Love. April

I think I will do this in parts. It's been a long day! Hope you all have a great week. Merry Christmas to all of you.

Snow Day Part 2

2009-12-14T16:02:00.000-06:00

Brenden was just sick to have me take some pictures of all the snow we got on Tuesday into Wednesday. Not sure how much we actually got but the wind made some pretty impressive drifts!This is the scene on our front steps and looking west.

And then I walked into our sitting room which I have named the quiet room and found this scene.

His face is just so cute. I went out to the shed at 5 am to rescue him from the storm. Poor thing. There was snow swirling inside the shed and the metal roof was banging. I doubt he slept at all. So he spent the day indoors with his family. Snuggling on the couch and finding a quiet spot to snooze in the quiet room.

Still trying to get those pictures of him in the tree. He is a sneaky little feline!

What a day!

2009-12-09T13:21:00.004-06:00

Well we got the snow day that we had been wanting.

So I decided to get the rest of the Christmas decorating done and take some pictures. I forget what I do from year to year! I haven't figured out what exactly works for this house just yet.
I love decorating this chicken feeder up for the seasons. I think the rusty galvanized metal with the sparkly shiny ornaments is a cool look.

I have had this tree for years and years. I think I bought it at a garage sale and it came with mini Easter decorations but I haven't gotten it out for quite some time.

I recently found some vintage Christmas bulbs and thought they would look perfect on this tree.

I put the tree inside an old silver water pitcher. I still have to finish the top. I put this antique rhinestone buckle on the top and I still need to find the perfect ribbon to go with it.

An abandoned nest that we found in the yard is a great spot for some extra bulbs. The nest is resting in an old store scoop used for weighing items.

I love this old chippy metal sign. Another abandoned nest that Brenden and I found on a bike ride. :-) Next to the heart shaped rock.

A closeup of the mantle this year.

This feeder is on the dining table and I added lots of bulbs nestled around this old paper church. It has a hole in the back for a light but I don't have a way to light it up. I might have to cut a bigger opening and put one of those battery operated tea lights inside.

And this is just a simple Christmas scented candle sitting inside a iron ware bowl. My Grandma recently passed it onto me knowing I love and collect the pieces. I suppose I COULD sprinkle some bulbs inside it! :) Some fresh greens might have to be added also. But I kind of like it simple like this.

Well those are some of my favorites. I have some more to share soon. We have a furry little white thing that is frequently making the Christmas tree his perch...but he is sneaky about it. Every time I go to grab my camera he climbs out so I don't have a picture yet. I will though! Unless he has learned his lesson. It is quite the sight with these 2 big eyes peeping out from amongst the branches. He is lucky he is so cute and loved.

So are we ready for Christmas?

2009-12-03T09:47:00.000-06:00

Oh man. Where has the time gone? I had such high hopes of getting this place all spiffed up but the month of November is gone! Incredible how the weeks just slip on by.

We hosted Thanksgiving again this year. The Wednesday before was Jason's birthday. So it got to be another busy week. I decided to skip the whole Black Friday shopping thing. I like to shop but not at the same time with everyone else in the state! It would have been awesome to get most of my holiday shopping done with though.

Here are a couple pics of the birthday boy from the beginning of November. Yes. I am that far behind! He got his wish and was presented with a new Nintendo DS. He was very excited and has had a blast playing new games. He used some of his birthday money to purchase a new Kingdom Hearts DS game. He is so into Kingdom Hearts right now. He even wants a long black coat and a key blade sword just like the main character. Is that how Goth starts???? Seriously questioning that these days!

What else? Just trying to keep my head up. No motivation whatsoever lately. Brenden is bugging me to get Christmas stuff up in the house. I am SLOWLY getting it done. Little baby steps. They each have a little tree with lights in their rooms and the big main Christmas tree is up but nothing on it. Maybe Sunday. Sunday may turn into a busy busy day since I have been putting off so many things.

It snowed a bit this morning so maybe that will get me in the festive mood. Brenden got up and got all his snow gear on and went out to shovel the driveway before school! He loves his snow. He just loves getting out there and moving it around. Just like his Dad! I hope he ate breakfast though. Now I am wondering. I never asked him but I bet he didn't. At least they have a morning snack in school! Now let's just hope he had snacks in his backpack. I have gotten so bad at keeping on top of that. Tis the season. ;) Another cute thing...this morning the kids busted out the christmas carols on the way to school. Of course, they were each singing a different song but hey, it was fun.

a full weekend

2009-10-31T21:51:00.003-05:00

A full weekend already and it's only Saturday night! We did a couple hours of trick and treating. Lucas started not feeling so well so we cut it short. He says he just needed to eat so let's hope that is what it is! I would hate to cancel his party tomorrow. :( Lucas loved his costume this year. His hair was a bit unruly but we got it under control and sprayed it black.

Mr. Spiderman all buff! Showing his muscles.

He loves his pumpkin freshly carved. It's been a great weekend so far.

Pre Halloween

2009-10-28T19:25:00.009-05:00

I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of the pumpkins yet. And I know this may come as a real shock but guess who landed in the pictures??? He is such a camera hog! We have been showering him with extra loving care. Poor Oliver has had some health issues with his mouth. Not sure what happened but he is on the mend now. His appetite has returned and he is out catching field mice. He trots them up by the house so we can watch him finish off the mice. Gross, I know!

Another tooth bit the dust on Monday morning. He woke up and it fell out. It was so loose I am surprised he didn't swallow it while he was sleeping!

We did this a few years back and he remembers it. He was mad that he couldn't get the little pumpkins to balance on his head. I will tell him why! He can't sit or stand still long enough...

I'm sure I will be back soon with more fall and Halloween festivity pictures. Plus the big one oh partay on Sunday! Such an exciting week in the Raths' household. Have a Happy Halloween everyone. Are you dressing up???

2009-10-20T12:56:00.004-05:00

I got the boys out for some fun pictures. It's getting REALLY close to Lucas' 10th birthday so it's an annual tradition to take pictures of the birthday boy. Not goofy everyday ones but some nice ones. He was willing to do it so we went with it even though it was cold cold the day we did these. Oliver wandered into MOST of the pictures! He is such a ham so we allow it. And he is so stinkin' cute and has a great personality. He loves us.

It was a fight to see who got to hold him. So we had to switch off.

This one cracks me up. This is when Oliver was wandering over to us. I lost their interest and you can see both of their eyes glued to Oliver and what he was up too.

This one went horribly wrong. I should post the outtakes of this one. Very very funny and there was a headlock involved if I remember right. :-) Silly brothers.

Lots of sickness has hit our family. Grandma has been in the hospital now for a week and Brenden has the flu. It started Sunday with a headache and no appetite and then a fever spiked and the vomiting on Monday. Today there was some vomiting but no fever. He has made it to the couch now and is cracking his jokes. I think he is definitely on the mend. Amen. Now if the rest of us could be spared! B hasn't been sick in over 3 years and it was his first days missed of school ever. He is just hoping that he gets back tomorrow. Show and tell day.

2009-10-11T16:46:00.003-05:00

Yes. The start of school has passed by! Way by! But hey, I'm gettting there. Getting caught up. The boys had succombed to summer boredom and admitted to being ready for school. More to reunite with their buds more than anything though. This year Lucas wanted a sling backpack. We searched everywhere and finally found one right before school started. They were either really popular and would sell out before we got to a store or there aren't a whole lot of them out there! But we found one and he liked it. Afterall, isn't it all about the cool backpack? :)

Brenden wanted to be home schooled but I told him unless he finds a new home he was going to public school! And he was more than happy to take Lucas' hot wheels backpack. Well it isn't really hot wheels but it has flames and so he calls it a hot wheels backpack. Whatever puts a smile on his face. Some days it's impossible!

No this isn't a picture of Brenden in mid eye blink. No, that would be the face he makes when he has to get close to his brother. Oh the joy...
Of course, Oliver would make it into back to school pictures! They were saying their goodbyes. We were only going to 'meet the teacher' and would be back in an hour. But they have to let him know every time we leave. And when we'll be back. And where we are going.

This is Lucas' last year in elementary school. Next year will be busing to the middle school in another town. I'm pretty sure I am more nervous about it than him!

a last hurrah

2009-10-03T17:49:00.008-05:00

we finally got over to the lake for the last hurrah of summer. I am not much of the camping sort but knowing the boys are in their glory, I suck it up and take it. :-) Once I'm there I am fine. Other than the lack of hot water and showers this year it was fun. We rented the resort's pontoon 2 nights and spent many hours touring around the lake. Look at this happy captain! I think the boat's capacity was 9 but we had 13 people AND pulled the boys behind on the tube. I think most of us could have gotten out and swam faster!

The boys really really REALLY wanted to catch a fish but they had no luck. Barely even a nibble but we did see some jumping! Just not close enough to our hooks!

Boating, tubing and fishing as sunset. Life is good!

Lucas loves the water but Brenden has to be coaxed into liking it. He put up a fuss but he did go in the tube for a bit with his brother. Lucas couldn't wait for that ride to be over! :-)

*****I decided to open an Etsy shop. It's been stressful getting things together to fill it up but I figure I will need something to keep me busy in a few months! Link on the sidebar. Let me know what you think.

little things

2009-09-30T15:23:00.001-05:00

When we were out shopping for a wedding gift in August we came across Martha Stewart's product in Macy's. Alot of things were on clearance or on sale. Lucas and I spied the popsicle molds and we new we had to get it and try our hand at making our own popsicles. They have been a HUGE hit. The hardest part is waiting for them to freeze solid enough to get them out of the mold! The kit even came with a mold to fit inside to make 2 flavored pops. Those were a hit too!

They are a quite messy but well worth it, I've been told.

I feel like they should be saying some kind of superhero phrase here. :-)

Lots going on and lots of stuff to share very soon. Hopefully this week yet. Stay tuned!

lazy days

2009-09-17T16:26:00.004-05:00

I just love these pictures. One of the last days of summer.

Soaking up the warm sunshine.

Lovin'up from Oliver.

:-) we played croquet for awhile and then the towels and pillows were dragged out

onto the yard for sunning.

I think they layed out there for almost 2 hours.

I had to check after awhile thinking they must be doing something else by then.

Nope. Just relaxing in the sun.

This boy and this cat.

Does it get any better really?

new family member

2009-08-24T15:33:00.003-05:00

His name is Elliot but we call him Oliver and the boys are over the moon happy to have a pet in our family again. He has a great temperament. Loves attention and is adjusting to our family.

Ah, he does however, LOVE to climb trees. Which makes the boys really nervous. We have always had cats that are declawed so this is pretty new to them.

I really hope this time it works out to have an outdoor pet! Really, really, really hope.

the slip n' slide incident

2009-08-20T14:53:00.000-05:00

This happened earlier this summer. I just haven't gotten the whole story down til today. It's been kind of a cool summer so water fun hasn't been really a big deal this year! But we decided to get the slip n' slide out and I set it up on the south side of our driveway so there was a bit of a hill to get some speed. You finally got the courage up to go. Wouldn't you know it...you got cut on something. Never did figure out what it was! But it was nasty looking. We got you cleaned up and 10 bandaids later you were ready to try it again.

Nothing like having battle wounds from a slip n' slide! Bruised knees maybe but huge cuts and scrapes!? Leave it up to you for there to be blood in anything you do. Does anyone else put bandaids on their weekly shopping list EVERY week?

just a few

2009-08-11T21:22:00.004-05:00

pictures from last Saturday. My Dad finally got married after 20 years. It was a hot and humid day. Horrible humid! There was a nice breeze for awhile to make the first hour bearable. Brenden married twice. I believe this is the second marriage of the day. Or was it the first? I will have to clear it with him. I know he married, left her so he could get married again. :-) All in the same day!

A kiss to seal the deal! Pretend kiss...

This one had quite a day. Within 5 minutes of arriving at the farm where the wedding was he got a bloody nose. Got that cleaned up but there are wet spots all down the front of his shirt from me scrubbing them in all the pictures. He wouldn't wear his flower. He finally gave in later but then most of the pictures were over with. After that he cut his finger while maneuvering the monkey bars. Then then later he smashed his finger with pool balls. It made his finger swell up like a grape and he said it made his finger beep. So in between injuries he did manage a few smiles and had fun!

So now I have gotten both my parents married off again. 1 year, 2 weddings.

the rock

2009-08-06T10:52:00.002-05:00

I bribed this one for some pictures. Well actually I bribed awhile back but now I was collecting on the bribe! :-) I can tell that his willingness to sit still for pictures is getting less and less. So the bribes will have to get more enticing! So to warm up he won't even look at me. He thinks he is funny! I don't tell him but I love this picture. It shows his devilish little laugh.

(as always, click to see the pictures enlarged.)

I get this look alot. He is always thinking and talking. Talking and thinking. We have to ban some topics in our daily conversations because he gets obsessed with it and then we talk of NOTHING ELSE! Right now it is a certain Bolshack Dragon Duel Master trading card that he wants! BAD!

He was kind of grumpy so I decided to tell him to see how high he could jump. So he simulated jumping but then he finally thought it would be fun to see how high he could actually jump. I kind of like this one too. :-)

He was pretty much done after the jumping bit so we had spotted a nest that had fallen out of one of the pine trees so we started walking that way. I kind of stumbled and looked down. He saw a cool rock and picked it up but it wasn't that cool after closer inspection. I then told him to find me any and all heart shaped rocks he ever finds and bring them to me. I looked down and found one embedded in the muck along side the barn. Score!

And one last picture was stolen, I mean taken of the boy and the new found rock. And yes, he is still growing his hair out like Jon Bon Jovi. We had a smallish hair catastrophe last month but we are hoping to get back on track this month! We'll leave it at that...for now. For those of you that stop by... say hi please. :-)

lil partner

2009-08-02T19:42:00.001-05:00

As soon as we got back from our family trip to Deadwood, this one has been all about the cowboys. Boots, gun and hat. It's hilarious!

He thinks he needs a better cap gun next year. Okay, I do have some new pictures of Lucas that I'll post soon. They are kind of cute. :-) But then aren't they always when they are your own?!

Ready

2009-07-28T19:06:00.000-05:00

He's all boy! That is for certain. Here he is waiting in Dad's dump truck.
He sat in there for a good hour. Honking the train horn, waving at us, looking around inside. He was so proud of himself that he could get in and out of the truck on his own.

2009-07-15T08:45:00.006-05:00

So we finally got Brenden to his Twins game that we promised him for his birthday. We planned and made our 'Circle Me Bert' sign, borrowed binoculars and baseball gloves. And off we trekked to the Metrodome last Sunday. The boys really had fun. I thought it might get to be a long day but it kept rolling along. Around the 4th inning Lucas leaned over and asked if it would be over soon. I told him that the game has 9 innings. He didn't think so because when he plays Wii baseball it only has 3 or 4 innings! That kid, everything in his life relates to a video game! I got a good chuckle out of it though.

A little 8th inning random picture taking. It was a big job paying attention to when to hold up our monster "Bert" sign! We never did get circled and Brenden was a bit annoyed by that fact but he did an outstanding job of getting that sign up at each field change!

YAY! They won. Which makes it that much more fun to go to the game. The Twins lead the whole game. Scott Baker was the starting pitcher and Joe Nathan closed. Joe Mauer didn't catch but he was a designated hitter. 0 for 4 but at least he played. I think he didn't catch because the All Star game was the next day.

Final Score 13-7 -- T W I N S ! ! !

We really had a fun time and can't wait to go to the new outdoor stadium next season.

raspberries

2009-07-13T11:02:00.003-05:00

Doing lots of picking this week.

They are in full bloom and looks like they will keep

going for another couple weeks.

I have been experimenting with them making smoothies.

I haven't perfected the recipe yet but it's been fun trying!
If you have any good recipes, send them my way!

the fourth

2009-07-08T19:11:00.005-05:00

I think the 4th of July is more fun as a kid. Parades, candy, water, hot weather, all things my kids seem to love anyways. So this was the first year that we watched the parade from our new house. Last year we had moved but still went to our old house and did the parade thing. Alot of our 'usuals' were out of town this year so it was a small crowd gathered. I think there was only 4 kids so they made out like bandits on the candy! The first set of pictures are the kids getting ready for the parade. It was so cute, Grace was positioned first so she would give them this little wave and a smile which lured over the candy givers and then the other 3 swooped in to get their fill! Grace was the decoy. :-)

Bailey did her annual red, white and blue attire. I was thinking she toned it down a bit this year but it's always fun to see what she comes up with every year. She had her nails painted in coordinating colors and there was a hat but I never saw that.

Oh how he loves his cousin, Bailey! <3

Before the parade we had a family picnic and Mom's house. After the parade we hung around our house til the traffic slowed down. And then headed up to the annual Firemen's water fight. There was also bouncey things for the kids to play on and lots of food. Grilled out at home for supper and then back up to watch the fireworks and listen to the bands on the south end of town. We crammed as much as we could into this fourth!

lessons

2009-07-08T18:59:00.004-05:00

I signed the boys up for the 1st session of swimming lessons this year. Lucas in Level 4 and Brenden Level 2. I wasn't sure if the weather would be warm enough and they would turn into popsicles. Especially Lucas who had morning lessons. But the weather was hot and steamy so it was perfect timing. They both did awesome. Brenden really surprised me. His float was great and he learned his crawl to perfection! He is fast becoming my littlest fish. :) By the time his 2 weeks were done he was going off the diving boards without a life jacker or any help. He jumps in, comes up for a breath and goes back under and swims to the side. It's pretty darn cool! He passed Level 2. He was super proud of himself but I had to really talk him into letting me take his picture.

This one did an awesome job too. He lucked into his session with only one other swimmer. So they pretty much had one on one lessons. He made huge strides in his endurance this year. They had to swim the length of the pool down and back to pass. He was able to do it but did tire out by the last few yards so the instructor didn't pass him. She said he did great but just needs to build up his endurance so that his strokes don't get sloppy.

Still very proud of him. He's only 9 1/2 so he has plenty of time to perfect his swimming. Besides it just gives him more time at the pool! The last day of lessons was pretty much a play day and he latched onto the flippers and swam around with those. He loved them.

Just going to add: New rule at the pool this year wouldn't allow any parents to come inside the pool during lessons. So I had a hard time taking any pictures that I liked. Hard to take good pictures through a chain link fence! Next year I may just sneak inside and take some pictures on the last day since it was all play anyways! Sheesh, cut us picture taking fool parents a little slack.

concentrating

2009-07-05T17:02:00.003-05:00

on enjoying summer! Doing alot of swimming and library trips. Just being lazy some days...B likes to do lots of outdoor activities. Like hitting the ball off of his tee that he got for his birthday. We also cleaned out our block shed that has a basketball hoop in it so the boys can go out there and shoot. The shed desperately needed a cleaning anyways so that was a great feeling to get that cleaned out. Now if we could just keep the birds out of it!!!

His tongue is always sticking out when he is concentrating on something. :-)

Hopefully I will get back here soon with 4th pictures and some other updates. This week maybe?

night and day

2009-06-15T15:35:00.004-05:00

at the exact same moment this is what I usually find. One inside reading his latest books checked out from the library. The other one hootin' and hollerin' riding around the house on his four wheeler.

He has to back it into the garage each time he is done riding his four wheeler. He wants to be able to just peel out of the garage without backing up. This 6 year old is going to be hell on wheels! He already is perfecting new tricks. Oh boy, we are in for it with this one.

And this one is thoroughly enjoying his summer reading program with the library. He read 6 books last week alone. At least he is easing off the video games! I think it was last Saturday morning I heard him get up and I looked at my clock...5:45 a.m. So later in the morning when I was willing to think about getting up and Lucas came into my room to cuddle and visit he told me that he had been up since around 6 reading. Ummm...that would be 5:45, but close enough. He said he was so close to the end of his book and wanted to finish it.

I'm very glad they are each enjoying their summer! Swimming lessons start today and go for 2 weeks. So lots of pool time for them. They both equally enjoy that part of summer!

it's official

2009-06-04T09:30:00.004-05:00

Summer has begun at our house. We kicked off the summer break with a smores fest for our dessert. Yummmmmy. We did the roasted marshmallow between 2 Keebler fudge striped cookies. They are my new favorite. Not as much chocolate but so much less mess.

Lucas is concentrating on keeping just the right amount of heat without starting it on fire.

Oh yes, I think he has perfected his method. But for him it is just as much fun to let them catch on fire and then throw them into the fire pit.

Yeah, so I guess he likes to catch his marshmallows on fire also. Blow that puppy out!

Notice the marshmallow smudges on the cheek from previous attempts at the perfect smore. :-)

six

2009-05-25T14:55:00.002-05:00

Today is his sixth birthday. We are celebrating his birthday at 4:00 with family.
He is beside himself with excitement! Oh to be a little kid again. Birthdays are everything.

He picked out his cake. He wanted to go with a Minnesota Twins theme this year. After 3 years straight of a four wheeler cake we finally broke the cycle. Yay! This worked out well for decorating too since it's Memorial Day. We did mostly everything in red, white & blue.

Lots more pictures coming soon. Back to the party prep. 1 hour to go...

Guitar Hero

2009-05-18T12:13:00.003-05:00

For some reason he decided to start his Guitar Hero training late last week.

He has become obsessed. We have had the video game for almost a year and just now has started mastering it. He hasn't really given it any attention until last week.

Must be the hair is long enough now! :-)And the funny thing is he has the whole thing down. He is still on Easy for the difficulty level but he so has the moves down. He sings along, carries on conversations, dances, does the whole guitar rockin' out bit.
The pictures don't really tell it but he is having so much fun with this game.
It has us giggling when he plays. Brenden even likes to sit back and make song requests to our very own Jon bon Jovi rockstar.

a crafty update

2009-05-11T14:15:00.002-05:00

This one is mostly all crafty stuff that I have done lately.

A few pages that I finished:

A Mother's Day gift that I sewed for my Mom.
I used scraps of fabric for the banner, backed it with felt and then sewed it together and added different little embellishments like felt, flowers, buttons and vintage sheet music. I also used iron on's and sewed to the banner.

Some closeups. Brenden then came in and thought he should be in the pictures!

My Mother's Day present! I love it. The boys and I went for a bike ride last night and it was so much fun.

Well other than Brenden thinking he needs to be the leader and will taunt you like no other if you try to get around him! He makes it a bit trying at times but I'm sure we will get along just fine. We had a great day. We went for a quick lunch at the mall for orange chicken and then went to the fairgrounds to check out Goldrush that was going on. Most of the vendors were packing up already so we didn't stay long. I think it is so funny that both of the boys just love the thrill of it. They just love looking for stuff that interests them. They got cold after awhile but they sat in the car and waited patiently with their dad until I was ready to go.

dirtbikes and wrenches

2009-04-24T09:28:00.004-05:00

We have been doing alot of wrenching lately. We as in, mostly Jason, but the boys would like to help more if given the chance. We recently have picked up 2 dirt bikes. The first one is a 125 and is a bit too big for the boys. Jason finally realized that they wouldn't be able to ride it for a couple years. Well if Lucas would put some meat on his bones he would be able to ride it! The second one that Jason found on an online auction is a 50. It had been stored in a shed and hadn't been ridden in over 3 years. We went on a Sunday outing to pick it up. The boys found lots of treasures that they would have loved to bring home but we did manage to only leave with the dirt bike. It was funny though, the boys kept running back to the truck to tell me everything that they were finding. The air hockey table was a big hit! The funny thing is that I didn't realize that was on the auction until after the bidding was closed. I so would have bid on it!!(Click on the pictures to see the whole thing. I changed blog templates and havent gotten it the way I want it yet. )
Here they are, ready to do some fixing. Yes. Brenden really is that pasty white! And his lips are blue from some powdered candy thing that he had been sucking on that his grandma had let him pick out at the store! Why do they always go for that straight sugar in a bottle crap????

Jason directing them on tightening the last bolts after oiling the chain. Brenden is patiently holding his hands waiting for his turn at the wrench.
This last picture is hilarious. Look at Jason's face! He is so irritated at having to be patient and let them do it there painfully slow way. :-) He gets so disgusted but all and all they got the job done and the riding commenced. Jason rode with Lucas to let him get the feel of it. I didn't take pictures because I thought that Lucas might get to distracted at me with my camera so I went in the house. I wasn't sure how it was going to play out either!

Jason at one point let Lucas ride it alone but Lucas forgot how to use the brakes. Yeah, we almost had a drive through fireplace! I quit watching after that. There were keys and tools everywhere. Oh and speaking of keys, Jason happened to lose both sets of his keys. in the hayfield behind our house! Acres of hay. Guess who walked out and found both sets within minutes??????

Easter

2009-04-14T16:26:00.005-05:00

I want to quick type this in so I don't forget the cute little details of our Easter weekend. The boys couldn't decide on an egg dying kit so we kept putting it off. So Friday when I stopped to pick one up the store that I stopped at only had a glittery kit. Lucas nix nayed that in a split second. So I thought I would pick one up at the T store on Saturday. Yep. Nothing. Not one stickin' kit to be found! I was shocked and a bit panicked. I had hard boiled 3 dozen eggs to be colored! Well after 3 more stops I came up with just a plain jane egg dye kit and one that had paints to color the eggs. I got some sneers when I got home with it but they had just as much fun as if it had been the Spongebob Squarepants and SuperHero one that they fought over a month ago! So 2 and a half dozen eggs were colored. I had a bit of trouble getting them to hard boil! Still getting used to this stove. Well that is the excuse I am using.

I set my alarm for 6 that night to get up and hide eggs outside for the boys to have a little hunt. Boy I wished I had done this years ago. They had so much fun! They didn't even care what was inside the eggs. Brenden opened the first 2 that he found but then it was more of a race to see who found the most eggs. No time to worry about what is inside! Find the eggs and worry about what's inside later. Lucas started wandering to the front yard so I had to kind of steer them in the right direction or we would probably still be out digging around for eggs. They had a blast and even stopped to pose for a few pictures.

We made 3 stops to visit all of our family but it was a nice day. The weather was pleasant and the food was yummy.

How did this happen?

2009-03-30T08:54:00.002-05:00

We have been overtaken by the Webkinz world in this house!

He spends hours thinking about which animals he will get next. Which animals will fit the best with the ones he already has. There are just so many options! And with his birthday coming up in awhile the list is in full swing!

This spotted leopard is really Lucas' but Brenden has become the caretaker. :-) Spotty goes with us on most of our outings. He recently enjoyed the inside of an abercrombie bag while walking the halls at the mall of america! Oh good times.
Brenden so enjoys them. He is the one that wanted his picture taken with his friends.
Okay.
Twist my arm!

testing...

2009-03-25T11:22:00.004-05:00

Just testing to see if the picture really would be larger when i change the way I upload.

Can you see it?

Weekend getaway

2009-03-18T21:28:00.004-05:00

We decided to head out of town for a couple of days to a waterpark hotel. The boys were in heaven! A waterpark, bunkbeds in the room AND an arcade! Total score for them.

We spent a bunch of time in the arcade racking up points to earn the tickets. I didn't get a picture of what they earned with all of those tickets but it wasn't much!

They have their game faces on and I love the concentration on all three of the boys' faces. They were so into this.

B loved the slides. I didn't think he would do it but up he went and down he slid. A huge smile on his face the entire time!

B had this picture planned before we even got to the water park.

Brothers with their arms around the shoulders. Cuteness.

We really had a fun time. Can't wait for next year.

guess what's missing...

2009-03-02T15:04:00.002-06:00

Friday was a big day in our household!

Can you spot what's missing? :-)Yep this Kindergartner is missing his first tooth. He has been wiggling it for a few months now and it was just perfect for his plan with Grandma Diane. She was supposed to take him to get a frozen ice cream sandwich to bite into so the tooth would then stick in the sandwich. What? Everybody doesn't have this kind of plan to loose their tooth?! That's how big brother's first tooth came out so that's how it was supposed to happen for B. But the tooth came out 2 days before Grandma came home from Texas. He wiggled it during gym at school and out it popped. It was hanging on my a thread so I wasn't surprised to get a phone call at work on Friday afternoon that the tooth was out.
He got this little green treasure chest to put it in for safe keeping. Just like big brother. Except his treasure chest was blue. But it was close enough for B.
The tooth fairy was not allowed access to the tooth until Grandma and Ron had inspected it. So the tooth had to be kept safe for 2 days. He got 3 $1.00 bills for that tooth from the tooth fairy plus Grandma gave him some money for it. What an odd custom! Money for teeth.

Playin'

2009-02-23T17:07:00.004-06:00

I couldn't decide how I wanted this picture. Soft and muted or bright and vibrant. What do you think?

I'm kind of partial to the soft and muted version.

This is an old battered quilt that Jason had stuffed in his trunk when we first started dating. I couldn't believe that he had it stuffed in there amongst the spare tire and dirty clothes! I believe his Grandma made it. I keep it tucked safely under my bed but thought it would be cool to take outside for some pictures.

That's about it around here. More snow and cold. B loves it but the rest of us not so much!

Project Finished

2009-02-20T07:42:00.003-06:00

I did get it finished on the day of Valentines so technically it was finished in time!

I started it weeks before Valentines Day. Not real sure how it would look once I finished it. I putzed around with it here and there when I had time.I used more of my stash of vintage sheet music and buttons. I sprayed white crepe paper with alcohol ink to give it a slightly pink color. Since I used a mister to spray it on the color was variegated. I kind of liked it.
I used my die cutting machine to cut the large scalloped circles and leters. I sparkled them up with Stickles glitter glue, a few extra touches here and there and it was done.

Oh and I used fabric strips to attach each of the letter panels together.

Let me know what you think!

Have a great weekend...I might be back to post some more fun pictures of Brenden. But it might not happen til Monday. We'll see how my time management skills are for this weekend.

Just Because

2009-02-15T15:03:00.007-06:00

Hope it was a fun 'love' day!

We went for lunch at Applebee's and a trip thru Target.

Along with the rest of Minnesota!

B Man has wanted to do more Valentine pictures so we ran out today to do a few. It is sunny but it get colds fast on the fingers!

Goofy boy.

Took some other fun ones too.

I'll save them for another day.

We ventured outside

2009-02-10T12:51:00.005-06:00

on saturday to take some fun pictures and see if the snow was sticky enough to make a snow fort. So someone isn't happy that we drew hearts on the front of the barn but I kind of like it. I think little B did too!No bribing was in order for this little one to cooperate but the big one... a movie or game rental from the store! Turkey!

Please ignore the state of his hair! He is still on his quest for Jon BonJovi hair. It's not going so well. I finally have him scheduled for Monday to get it trimmed. Or SOMETHING! It is seriously scary. His hair takes more time than my own each morning. And he still looks scary as we are running out the door. Too bad he can't wear his cap all day! I still love that he has a vision and is willing to stick to it. Perseverance.

This one is cuter if you click on it to see it bigger. You can see their funny faces they are making at each other much better!

The boys have been busy readying their valentines for their school parties and attaching the candy to each one. They put alot of thought into which valentine for each classmate. B has been really really getting into it this year!

So here's hoping you have a great Valentines Day!

random

2009-01-23T09:49:00.003-06:00

Not alot to write about lately.
We have been holed up in the house escaping this bitter cold called Minnesota winter's!
Enough already. I would settle for sunshine at least!

A couple random things with the boys.
Brenden has an ever so slightly loose bottom tooth. A few weeks ago he complained of a tooth ache. Well the little stinker refuses to go to the dentist. Let me back up, he will go to the dentist but he won't open his mouth long enough to accomplish what the appointment was supposed to! So after a week of complaining I said to open up and let me look. Never saw anything and wondered how you could have a cavity in the front of your mouth? So a couple more days went by and I looked again and for some reason I tried to wiggle it and it moved ever so slightly. B moaned in agony. Whatever! It's a loose tooth. But now this past week he's been really working on getting it more loose. And get this...he asked to go to the dentist. :-) I think he just wants to let them in on the news of his loose tooth.

Another funny story about B. Lucas and Brenden stayed home by themselves for a couple hours on Christmas Eve while I got some work done. I left the number to call me if they needed anything. Well that leaves the door wide open for them to call me...for EVERYTHING! Mom I need a snack, Mom can I watch t.v., Mom Lucas won't let me play video games with him. So the last time he called this is what he says.

Me: Good Morning,.....
B: My name is Bubba and I need a new truck.
Me: You do?
B: Yep, need a new truck.
Me: (giggling) Ok, well you called the right place.
B: MOM!, It's me Brenden.

He is such a goofball. So I figured they were bored and they were so excited for all of the festivities of the day to begin so I headed home. To make Bubba and his brother some lunch.

Lucas is another story. He is such a homebody. Just wants to stay in his room to read and play video games. During Christmas break he stayed in his pajamas for days! I guess I would too if I could. He has pretty much finished all of the video games that he got for Christmas. The kid can finish one in about 2 weeks or less. So now that school is back in full swing he has been limited on time spent doing that and more on math facts! Joy. But he thinks he has passed addition and can now move onto subtraction. :-( He struggles with math. He just can't sit still long enough to focus on the math facts. But we pulled out the flash cards again and that seems to be helping somewhat.

I think that's enough random for now.
Peace.

2009-01-10T17:05:00.006-06:00

Photo heavy today! I finally got my camera out. First time since Christmas. We headed out to the park to get in some sliding. What a beautiful day! No wind, sun shining and clear blue skies. Just a perfect winter day.

Lucas didn't get on his snowboard but Brenden did. I didn't get pictures but that kid is fearless!

Lucas was over having his picture taken so this was me torturing him to see his eyes. I threatened for no more video games today. :-)

Pure Joy.

This kid just goes and goes. The fresh air energizes him even more.

He could play outside for hours. As long as he has his trusty face mask!

Trying out the timer on the camera.

Us.

And then Dad crashed the sledding party with the snowmobile so we headed back home for a few laps around the house.

He loves this thing! And now that Dad got it going even faster...

That was the end of our winter day. Now if we could only get a bunch more like today, winter wouldn't seem so long and horrible!

naughty or nice OR nice & naughty?

2008-12-28T21:18:00.005-06:00

Hope it was a Merry Christmas!

Now onto a New Year.

I had fun with B and these metal words. He wanted to know what it spelled when I showed it to him. I told him I would tell him after he posed for the pictures. :-)

But even when I told him what the words said he still liked the naughty one the best! He is such a stinker. Santa did stop and brought them more than just coal. Ha! I kept warning them that they may just end up with a coal filled stocking this year.

More to come.

Christmas is Coming!

2008-12-17T13:31:00.005-06:00

I may not have all my shopping done but I did manage to get my decorating done!

In fact,

the tree went up the day after Thanksgiving and it was decorated by the end of that weekend.

Brenden keeps adding his own little touches when I'm not looking. A paper chain here and a string there. :-)It has been fun decorating this house for the holidays for the first time. I kind of have a weakness for vintage jars. I pick them up whenever I spy a good deal and a cool shape that I like. I filled this one with pinecones that has glitter snow around the tips.

I also have a weakness for bulbs in various cream colors. I have ALOT of them. I dumped a bunch of various sizes and shades in this wire planter that sits above my sink.

A close up of the jar w/ pinecones. Blogger seems to upload and organize my photos however it sees fit! I really hate that.

This little arrangement is on the dining room table. The felt snowman was a birthday gift from my Grandma K. I also have had fun setting up the right table top decor. Add a little here take away something here until it's just right.

This banner is a gift for my Mom. But it goes so well with my colors and decor I may have to make one for myself! I used vintage sheet music of my Great Grandmother's and I think it dates back even before her! But there is a ton of it so I think I'm safe using a few sheets here and there for fun projects. I also used some of her vintage buttons from her collection that was passed on to me.

A couple cute glittery snowmen that I love. I think I picked these up at the Amish store last year. I think I got them late in the winter and packed them away right after I purchased them. It was fun to pull them out this winter.

Another glass jar that has a picture of my baby bear a couple years ago in it. I glammed it up with some glittery garland and a happy holidays metal sign.

See! Doesn't that banner just blend perfectly with my mantle? I really need to make another one for myself!

I think that's the most of my decorating. I just realized I forgot about the tree. Maybe next time. I am looking forward to getting my shopping done with this weekend and get those presents wrapped and under the tree. All that work and it's over in a blink of an eye!

I didn't take my camera to Mexico so I don't have a single picture to share. It was a bit on the cold side but it was still nice to see sandy beaches and clear blue waters. We came back to below zero weather. Reality!

That's all I got.

Peace.

a boy and his sled

2008-11-29T16:08:00.003-06:00

There's no snow and this little boy is not liking that! But I did manage to get a few attitude filled smiles. Ha. The snow will come soon enough. And then we will be so sick of it. Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving holiday.

Question...

2008-11-19T18:29:00.005-06:00

I am trying to decide on our family christmas cards for this year. I have done several drafts and then Jason drops by and makes a comment which then makes me second guess my ideas. So instead of putting much more time into the whole process I thought I would pose a question to you all. I think I know the answer but I am still curious! So if you happen by this place leave me a comment on your thoughts. pretty please!

Ok, so here goes. Do you prefer a photo christmas card, a handmade card, a store bought card or other when receiving your christmas cards? So that's my question. And I know it is great to get any card during the holidays but let's be honest...there is one that you prefer. Leave me a comment with your thoughts.

I'll leave it at that. And our card from last year. Or at least it was ONE of the versions I sent out! :-)

He's Nine

2008-11-12T16:55:00.005-06:00

You know how you look at pictures of your kids and you think how grown up they look? Well I have to say that when I look at these pictures he just looks like my little boy. Do I have my mommy goggles on or what???! Just in denial, I suppose.So anyways, we loaded up the specially ordered dragon DQ cake with candles. I don't think he knows about the candles and girlfriends thing because he kept blowing and blowing! Maybe I will prep him for next year a bit better. :-)
This was the first year that he was really jazzed about getting gift cards. He got one for GameStop and one to Barnes and Noble. And he got a super cool dragon bookmark from Nick, Lynn & girls. He can't wait to spend those giftcards. I think he has asked 10 times when we can go and spend them!

This is him on the morning of his birthday. He got to open one the morning of his family party and the rest the morning of his actual birthday. I'm mean like that! Ha. So Brenden really really wanted to pick out something of his own to give his brother. He thought for a couple days until he came up with something good. A Bakugan holder and Magic Treehouse books.

Video games are still high on his list this year. He got plenty to keep him busy...for a few weeks! We got him Crash Mind over Mutant for his PS2.

He also got 2 games and a book from his Grandpa Tom and jackie.

Here he is trying on his new dragon bike helmut from Grandma Diane and Ron. He couldn't wait for the packaging to be taken off. He just had to get it on! He also got a new bike to go with that helmut. Quite spoiled.

I am a bit addicted to this game! I guess we know where he gets his skillz from???

2008-11-04T20:46:00.003-06:00

The boys got to do a 'mock vote' in school today. They were both so excited about the whole process. They are anxious to see who comes out as our new President. I am glad the school gets them involved in the election. And they think their votes are totally counted towards their candidate of choice. :-)Brenden was a bit confused on who exactly he voted for but his name is John McCain and he has brown skin??? Oh and he likes basketball. So we are not sure who exactly he voted for. Lucas was all for Obama.
So did YOU vote??????

The weaning begins...

2008-11-01T22:51:00.005-05:00

I hate the sugar hangover after Halloween! And as predicted the boys have hardly touched any of their goods. I will give it til Monday and it gets tossed. They won't even miss it.

Well Brenden was a ninja turtle this year. He told me that the thing he liked best about the costume was the mouth on the mask. Ok.
And we already had this sword so he was sure to bring it along trick or treating.

And...Lucas was a Ninja again this year. Well he was sure to correct me that last year he was a Ninja Warrior. This year was just a Ninja. With a 4 foot sword! That I got whapped over the head quite a few times.

Ohhhhh...scary!

2 Raths boys with swords. that's what I call scary!

But that face is not. Love the orange soda moustache.

We even found a couple cousins out on the town!

Yes. We never got to the carving this year. But I kind of like them like this. I guess we can still do it next week. Lucas' is the one with flames. :-)

A quick duel before heading out on the streets.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween.

I'll be back soon with pictures of the birthday party. Soon.

I know...

2008-10-31T10:25:00.003-05:00

I should be excited for Halloween but I really don't get into the holiday.

Getting some ridiculous costume on and begging for candy. No thanks.

But the boys are excited so I will play along for them. And they really won't eat most of the candy so who cares?! Jason and I will rummage through and pick out our favorites after they have claimed their favorites. I will throw the rest away by Monday!

Brenden is all about going to pick out the perfect birthday gift for his brother. To the point that he is driving me nuts with the constant asking!! So as soon as Halloween is over it's onto getting this birthday party set for Sunday. Busy busy weekend for sures.

So here's to a Happy Halloween everyone!

the tour

2008-10-26T21:01:00.007-05:00

This was the picture I almost got run over while trying to get the right angle. Since the boys weren't with us I took pictures of the car. Kind of like a flat stanley. :-) Jason pretty much grins from ear to ear while driving his car. But I think he may of been telling me NOT to take pictures of him. Yeah. I think that is what he's saying.

This was outside Mankato. We picked the perfect weekend to go on our fall leaf tour. The sun was shining and it wasn't too windy or cold. Now if it would have been this past weekend...we would have been miserable!

This isn't the greatest picture but it's the Schell's Brewery sign. I would love to go back and take the tour. It looked like it has alot of history and interesting facts. I do know it is the second oldest family owned brewery.

This was the home on the brewery property. It had such a neat path that lead up to the front entry. I wished Jason would have let me get out and take more pictures. But after being almost run down earlier he wasn't letting me out!

And one more of the car for good measure. It was a short trip but definitely fun. We want to go again some year. We missed taking the river road along the Minnesota and Wisconsin border this year so that may be our route next year. But I don't know if the car will be our ride. I slept so horribly worried that someone was scratching the paint or something even worse. Of course, we stayed in a Holiday Inn in New Ulm that just happened to be having parties out in the parking lot! I spent most of the night looking out the window making sure the car was safe and sound. Jason tells me he had one of the best night's sleep in a long time. Figures!! But it is a fun fall tradition that we have been following for 3 years now and we hope to continue it. I would love to hear any of your fall traditions that you may have.

It's a big week here in the Raths' household since we have a birthday for a certain 'soon to be' nine year old! There will be many pictures to document. Naturally.

2008-10-20T07:05:00.006-05:00

What a cute face! I had to bribe him with $5 if he would get dressed and go out to take some pictures. Come to think of it...he never collected. He must have had such a good time that he forgot to get his five bucks. Ha! I did let him bring his 4 foot sword that he got for his halloween costume with us. He was really happy to bring it.Once Brenden saw us getting ready to go outside he decided that he should get his dress clothes on and come with us. What a stinker. He had to do every pose that Lucas did.Score! Both of them together. Cooperating. double score!!

I think they might even like each other...a little bit.
Here they are gettin' their attitude on for me. So I have a ton more that I love but I don't want to spoil the annual christmas card. I think one of the shots I got will work. Both boys in the shot...check, both boys looking at me...check, and both boys smiling...check, check and check!
This past weekend Jason and I went out on our somewhat annual fall tour. This year we took the Mustang. We had a good time. Stayed in New Ulm. Drank some locally brewed Schell's beer. Enjoyed the beautiful weather. I have some pictures that I will try to get up soon.
Nothing real earth shattering but I like what we got. Stopped to take some pictures of the car along this winding road up to the brewery and about got run down by some crazy couple in a mini van. The brewery wasn't even open yet so I don't know where they were off to in such a hurry. Do they give out free samples? Were they wanting to be first in line for the free beer? If anybody knows the answer be sure to let me know. We might have to go back next year to find out!

More fall stuff

2008-10-12T12:54:00.009-05:00

So this weekend was full of things to do on 'the' list. And believe it or not ALOT of them got crossed off! Go me! I did manage to get a few fun things in also. I bought this Martha Stewart halloween banner a month or so ago. I was thinking I was really on the ball buying that thing. Of course, I just needed to add a few personal touches and it was good to go. Well fast forward one month and it's finally done. Well almost. I hung it up over the fireplace but I still think it needs more? We'll see. A few closeups. I printed out little pictures of last Halloween to add to some of the tags.

Oh and while I am thinking Halloween. Both the boys decided on their costumes. We made a Target run on Thursday night and we were just going to LOOK at the costumes. Yeah right, we came out of that store with the works! We'll wait til the actual day to reveal. :-)

This guy is sitting in my kitchen window. It's huge and I love it!
My fake pumpkins bunched together in a footed tin metal basket. It sits on the ledge between the kitchen and dining room above the sink.
Acorn on display. I wish I could find more of these. They are made out of wood maybe? If anyone sees any. LET ME KNOW! Thanks.

So on top of getting some more fall decorating done, I got all of the windows washed and the screens scrubbed. My arms hurt last night! We also got the garage organized a little bit. Wasn't the weather just beautiful this weekend?

2008-10-08T10:43:00.004-05:00

Here is an oldie but a goodie. Lucas last fall balancing a mini pumpkins while trying to look like he's surfing. Quite talented! Funny, Brenden fits into this jacket now and Lucas' cheeks look so chubby. I think he has thinned out even more since last fall!

It's been a hard week at our house. Monday we lost our dear sweet kitten, Sonic. Man do we miss him. It's weird but we had a routine around feeding him and loving on him and now it's like we are forgetting something. So we are all sad.

To make things worse, Lucas has had the flu for two days! The poor thing. He can't keep anything down, has a temp and has no appetite. He even tried his favorite Mango smoothie from Area 57 and couldn't keep that down for more than a half hour. I brought homework home for him today. He didn't seem real thrilled. Hmmm... go figure. :)

Since I am home with him I'm trying to get a few little projects started or finished depending on which one it is! Updating photos displays throughout the house and I'm trying to finish up my Halloween crafty projects that I have had in my head for awhile. I will try to put up some pictures as soon as they are finished. Hopefully by the end of the week.

field trip day

2008-10-02T19:40:00.000-05:00

I had the honor of attending the first Kindergarten field trip of the school year. This happened to be my first school field trip ever as a chaperone. It was a fun filled day. Darned chilly but other than that it was action packed. We started out at Tweites Pumpkin Patch and then to Oxbow Park.Brenden was crabby about the pumpkins because they were all dirty! He didn't want a dirty pumpkin. So I had to talk him through it and told him that we put it right in the bag and then we can scrub it up all shiney once we get it home.

So he decided to be okay with that and posed with his special pumpkin that was picked especially for him! Look at that strained smile. Because he's really NOT okay with a dirty pumpkin!
Brenden and his friend in front of the bison. The sun finally came out and was pleasant for a short time.
The kids were amazed at how close they got to some of the animals and that they could feed them. Brenden was brave and decided to feed the deer.

And of course he had to make a leaf angel! Doesn't everyone make leaf angels?
And that was the end of my trip to the zoo.