JUNE BLOG CHALLENGE check-in...

Well, this is my 20th blog post.  June blog challenge complete!  I would not give myself and A on it though as there were a couple little posts like this that really shouldn't count.  But there were also a bunch of big ones that maybe should have counted for 2 so I can feel somewhat justified.  The A goes to Amy who finished 20 full blown blog posts and also completed her goal of finishing 2013 (all while having to travel to WA for her sister's wedding too =)!  I have a ways to go to finish 2013, but I did get the summer of 2013 finished which is an awesome start.

I would like to continue this pace and keep catching up, but we will have to see how the healing process goes.  I had sinus surgery last Wednesday and it was pretty extensive and the recovery process is proving to be pretty extensive too.  I am so thankful for Steve and my mom and my mother-in-law and my kiddos and friends and neighbors who are all doing their best to make this easy for me!

So you will definitely see posts here this month, hopefully a bunch of them, but if not, please feel free to kick me in the butt and we will be back with an AUGUST BLOG CHALLENGE! =)

OK, off to rest my head and brain.

(this has been a good typing challenge 

as I can't look down at the keys at all!)

good bye summer...

Saturday morning was a beautiful morning for one last ranger ride...

one last Edgerton bakery run...

and one last car ride home.  (these were windmill blades on rail cars we saw on our way home!  we all were super excited about it)

We stopped in Willmar for supper, where Grace got one last birthday presesnt...aahma shorts!

And with one last hug we headed home.  Where we would unpack, do laundry, check the backpacks, the first day of school outfits, and everything else and make sure we were ready for school to start on Tuesday.  What a great summer!  We were sad to say goodbye to it, but excited for the school year.  

Thankful to be so blessed...

a baby shower...

The whole reason we went to the farm on Grace's birthday was to throw Lucas and Jessica a baby shower!!!!

Her sister had thrown her an awesome shower earlier in the month and a lot of church people and friends and family in town were able to come to that.  Since most of our side of the family is out of town, Amy and I threw them a mail-in baby shower and brought all the present to them.  We planned a fun evening with our immediate family celebrating this little boy who was to come soon!

 

And it was not just your "come over to Mom and Dad's so you can open these gifts we got in the mail" type of evening.  No, it had panache and style!  Mostly thanks to Amy who was in charge of these gorgeous decorations.

I was in charge of food - brats and burgers (which Marcus grilled, thanks!!), Mom and Dad's sweet corn, veggies and fruit and chips, and brownies and ice cream for dessert.  Went over well with kids and big kids alike!

And as our family is inclined to do when we get together, we took photos outside after supper.  Here is the lovely Dad and Mom to be!  Marcus and Amy got better pictures of everyone else (really of everything this whole evening!) so pop over to their blog to check them out.

After pictures we headed back inside for games!  Name to baby animal (Boppa, stop using your phone!), and a price is right game with baby stuff (and our next item shown to us by the lovely Evie...).

Then on to the best part of the night...presents!  Oh the kids had just as much fun with Uncle Lucas and Auntie Jessica opening presents as they did!  We all got them some favorite baby items and lots of fun toys for the little guy too.

It was such a great evening, being together as a family and celebrating this super exciting event for Lucas and Jessica.  We love you guys so much and know you are going to be awesome parents!

happy eight...

For Grace's eighth birthday, we had to pack and drive to the farm for the weekend.  She was not super excited about the packing and driving, but she did think it was fun that we would celebrate part of her birthday at the farm!  Steve and I tried to make the drive fun for her by letting her open her presents in the car every hour or so...

what is it?!  (need)

a new lunch box!

popsicle molds and twinkly led flower lights for her bed from Uncle Jeff, Auntie Christy, Kaatje and Greta!

A mini American Girl Doll and book set! (want and read)

 a new outfit! (wear)

This made the trip really fun for Grace and the time passed very quickly!  Before we knew it we were at the farm for supper.  Grace requested Pizza Hut pizza like we had for Aahma's birthday party.  

Then it was a few more gifts...

lots of fun stuff from Aahma and Boppa!

and super special reese's peanut butter cup cupcakes from Auntie Jess and Uncle Lucas for her birthday dessert.  I think Grace was the MOST excited about these! =0

Happy 8th Birthday sweet girl!

We love you so much!

 

camping at Sibley State park with papa and aahma...

Remember the tent we gave Steve for Father's Day?  Well, all of a sudden it was August and we hadn't used it yet!  Plus, after we got back from our vacation we looked at the calendar and realized that all the weekends were full until school started.  Maybe we wouldn't get that camping trip in this summer after all?  Then Steve suggested going to Sibley for a couple days during the week - we know the park, it is not too far away, and we could always bail and go to his parent's house 20 minutes away in Willmar if it was bad weather.  He was able to get Wednesday to Friday off, and we emailed his parents to see if they were going to be around and if they would want to come out and have a campfire with us any evening.  They surprised us by calling us back and asking if they could join us camping!  We didn't think about inviting them since it was very last minute, during the week and we didn't want to make his dad take vacation days, but with him having a new job, it has a lot more flexibility and he was able to move a few things around and free up those days too!  Yay!  It is always fun camping, but even more fun when you have someone to share it all with.  Bonus of having them live so close to the park too is that they drove up there and picked out some good spots for us rather than just having to guess on a map online. =)

We headed out on Wednesday afternoon after finishing packing everything up, and we met Mom and Dad at the park and had a quick supper and started setting up camp.  We explored the nature center for a while which is always fun for the kids.  We also checked into programs going on at the park over the week while we were at the nature center and there was a fishing program for kids the next morning!

Steve and Papa took the kids down to Andrew Lake where there was a naturalist waiting with fishing gear for all the kids.  She talked about fishing and some tips and then let them all go try it out.  Our kids love to fish so they were ready to go, but the timing or the spot just wasn't the right one and no fish were caught.  Still a fun morning though!  And then each of them got a little tackle box to go home with.

Then we all headed back to camp for lunch.  We had a cold breakfast since they were going to head out and fish, so we decided to have hot breakfast for lunch!  Traditional camping food for us - blueberry pancakes and bacon fried up on our old washing machine lid pan.  YUM!

 

After lunch and a rest, we headed back to Andrew Lake, only this time with our swimsuits on.  We were in sweatshirts all morning so we didn't know if it would be warm enough to swim, but the sun was shining brightly and it actually warmed up quite a bit for the afternoon.  The kids and Steve and I all had fun splashing around in the lake while Papa and Aahma watched from the beach.  Aahma also took some containers along and they had fun building sand castles (or sand Carstens!) too.

Supper after swimming was also a tradition for camping - tonka toasters!  And they always taste the best after a big day camping.  We had pizza ones with ham and pineapple, regular cheese ones, and then dessert ones with apple pie filling.

After supper we decided to do a short hike to the top of Mt. Tom (driving to a parking lot most of the way up to start) to see the sunset.  The kids got a big kick out of Papa having the same name as the mountain. =)

The next day we hiked the prairie trail, making sure we stopped at the bog halfway and found snails.  Then after lunch we packed up and got ready to head home.  What a fun last minute camping trip!  Thanks Papa and Aahma for coming with us!

a blessed father's day, 2013...

(oh boogers.  realized I forgot another post from June.  oh well, that is what I get for blogging a year behind!)

As is usually the case, Father's Day falls right after VBS.  This means I never fully feel like I put the amount of work or attention into the day that Steve really deserves (nor my own dad and father-in-law!  I think they got calls on the day...), but being the best dadda ever, he never expects it either.  After church on Sunday, we did a simple meal of spaghetti WITH meat sauce, which is how dadda likes it, some dessert I am sure but don't remember what, and presented him with homemade cards and the gift that we did manage to get before the day...

...a huge new tent for camping!

We had fun and made the neighbors laugh by setting it up in the front yard to try it out.  We made Marcus and Amy laugh by sending them a text and telling them this was where they were sleeping for the next week!  (they were on their way to visit us)  We definitely can't wait to try this tent out for real and now we have no excuses for not going camping now that we have a big enough tent! 

Love you so much, sweetheart!

vacation 2013, part MN...the rest of the story

With the jam all made, we could head for the Pipestone County Fair!  My kids love fairs, so they were super excited we could go and do all the normal fair stuff:

Like looking at machinery...

watching the horse show...

looking at all the animals...

(and getting to hold a few! but mental note, don't give the baby a chick to hold and then stand back to take a picture - the chick almost didn't make it!  hence no photo of H holding one! =)

and riding the carousel!

 We also got free yardsticks and other swag from the booths.  But we didn't do a lot of fair food, as it was Mom's birthday and we were going to pick up pizza and head home for a little birthday party for her.

Uncle Lucas came out to join us!

I don't know who was more excited about presents - Aahma or the kids. =)

After supper and presents, we went outside for a bit to burn off some energy before brownies and ice cream.

Uncle Lucas showed off his mad juggling skillz.

No pictures of birthday dessert as it was too good and consumed quickly.  What a busy fun day!

Happy Birthday Aahma!

Saturday was going to be just as busy and fun because it was a baby shower for Auntie Jess!  Jessica's sister Jen threw her a lovely baby shower at Lucas and Jessica's church.  And Grace and I were super excited that we could go and do all the normal baby shower stuff:

Like eating yummy food, including fruit salad served from a watermelon cut to look like a baby carriage...

 ooo-ing and aaah-ing over this John Deere themed diaper cake...

(someone made another one to look like a Harley with a stuffed monkey driving it!)

 bringing books in to stock baby's library...

playing shower games where you lost your little diaper pin if you said baby...

(Grace got Auntie Jess's here!  She and Jessica's niece Koranna were by far the best players)

visiting with a lot of lovely ladies that all love Lucas and Jessica as much as we do and that were so happy to be there to celebrate their little bundle of joy to come...

and of course opening lots and lots of gifts for baby!!!

(top is baby sweater from Grandma Kole, middle is flannel baby blankets from my mom, and bet you can't guess who all the Carter's onsies on the bottom photo came from.  =)

 We also got to take a four generation photo since Grandma was able to come to the shower too.

What a fun shower, and thank you to Boppa, who baby-sat the three boys while we were gone.  And when we got home there was one more fun farm thing to do before getting ready to leave after church the next day...

 ...husking sweet corn!  

Under the same tree my folks have been husking sweet corn since they have owned the farm.

Kids all tried it raw, but much preferred it cooked with butter and salt. 
(Henry liked all the butter and salt off first, silly boy. =)

After church Boppa and Aahma drove us to Willmar to the other grandparents' house to meet Dadda.  It was such a full and busy week I was afraid of a crabby crabby car ride, but between Mom and Dad and I, there were plenty of apple devices to keep them happy and calm and quiet. =)

And we had just enough time for a quick bonfire by the lake with tonka toasters and s'mores before making the final leg home.  

It may not have been the ocean or mountains, but we saw so many people

that we love and got to do so many fun things with them that this

2013 summer vacation is definitely a memorable one!