Snapshots :: September

some snapshots of day to day life and events this month

backyard hair salon :: momma gave the haircuts, dadda cleaned them up

park fun :: a nearby lake we had never visited before

photos for grandparents :: ended up in very loud giggly pile up

Henry's job for an afternoon :: watching after Kacie, and he took it very seriously!

5th grade volleyball :: sweet coach invited them to watch a college level game 

5th grade volleyball :: and then they got to play their first game a few days later!

Papa and Aahma B, world travelers :: Henry helped me pick them up from the airport, where they returned from a big trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands

Papa and Aahma B, world travelers :: thank you for gifts for all from Ecuador

Wilson aka New Car aka Silver Car aka Dadda's Car :: turned over 100,000 miles 

(this is the only car we have ever bought new, but I suppose we shouldn't call it "New Car" anymore)

open house at fire station next door to school :: future firefighter?

dinner by Jeff & Christy's and musical entertainment by cousins :: quite a fun friday

supermoon lunar eclipse :: fun to share the science and phenomenon of it with the kids due to it being at a decent time, not at 4 in the morning or something like that (fuzzy cell phone pic, but captures how bright the moon was!)

supermoon lunar eclipse :: momma geeking out not only about the eclipse, but about capturing decent photos of it on her new camera!!!

S'more taste testing

S'mores were an item on the summer list that amazingly did NOT happen before school started.  How could that be?  We decided to get that crossed off as soon as we could.  The DY's were willing to help us and joined us for supper and a bonfire Friday night. 

 Grace and I had some fun looking online for different s'more recipes - brownie brittle/york peppermint patty s'more, graham/resees peanutbutter cup s'more, fudge strip cookie s'more, and of course the classic.

 It was a hard job, but the kids were up to the task of testing all of them. ;)  

And the favorite?  (drumroll, please....)

Who would have guessed?

Nothing better than the classic - adults and kids both agreed!

1st Day of School 2015...

Ahhhh, the first day of school!  I am always a bit excited for a new start, but a bit sad to see our summer days go.  It came up on us fast this year too.  Since Labor Day was so late this year we started the Wednesday before, and it turned out to be such a nice transition into the school year - a few days, a long weekend, a 4 day week, and then into the full schedule.

And I am also glad that everyone was eager and up early and ready on the first day because then I could get our annual first day of school pictures in without making us too late!

Grace is in 5th grade this year.  She is excited to add volleyball and band to her list of activities (along with continuing piano and GEMS).  

Willem is in 3rd grade this year.  He is so excited to get back to school to play with his friends.  Playing catch all summer with Carsten was great, but it is so fun to have a troop of boys to split into teams and play soccer and football at every recess.

Carsten is in 1st grade.  He is excited to go to school all day every day this year.  I sure do miss him on Tuesday and Thursdays though!

Off to school!  

(oh man, why do I take these same photos every year?  It just kills me when I look back and see fast they are growing!!! 2010 - 2011 - 2012 - 2013 - 2014) 

Willem and Mrs. Stille

Carsten and Mrs. Radtke

Grace and Mrs. TeWinkel

(extra fun for Grace - not only does Mrs. TeWinkel go to our church, but she is pregnant and due to have a boy at the beginning of October!  Mrs. T will be gone Oct-Dec, but the long term sub is very familiar to the kids so that should be an easy transition.)

After getting the big kids settled in their classrooms, we went to the gym for opening chapel.  It was extra fun to sit by Auntie Christy and cousin Greta, because...

 ...cousin Kaatje is attending Calvin this year and is in 8th grade!  

We are excited to have her here, and I promised I wouldn't give her too many auntie hugs and kisses in front of her friends. =)

Last but definitely not least tradition on the first day of school - snacks with Mrs. Lynne to tell her all about their day.  Everyone was excited and had great days to tell about.  

I think it will be a good year for all.

15 years, 23 days...

Maybe it wasn't the Caribbean vacation we were dreaming of, but our weekend away downtown couldn't have been a more perfect get-away.

 A super nice 20th floor hotel room (thank you last minute cheap rate from Hotwire!)...

A phenomenoal meal Friday evening (at 8:45!  you mean people go out at that time and aren't all home putting tinies to bed?!), and a warm nightime downtown stroll...

(that's his cute "why do you have to take so many pictures" look that I ignore and start taking pictures of him then)

A 2 1/2 hour segway tour of downtown Saturday morning...  

This was so much fun.  The segways are awesome, the tour guides were great, and we saw a lot of great stuff in the 5+ miles of bike paths and streets that we covered.  Neat way to experience downtown! 
 (Steve has always threatened to get a segway since it is only a mile to work for him, so I thought this was the perfect gift!  And after the tour I totally would get one too. ;)

We took a video to show the kids how it worked!

A kid-less visit with my brother Lucas and his beautiful pregnant wife Jessica...

Huh?  How does this happen you ask?  They were up to see a Twins game with Lucas's work, and their hotel happened to be 3 blocks from ours!  So after our segway tour we spent an hour or so hanging out with them before we headed out for our evening.  It was great because the four of us haven't sat and visited without any kids around for who knows how long!  Definitely a fun bonus for our weekend!

And last but not least, an early supper, some great views, and a performance of Music Man at the Guthrie...
 It was a great show that both Steve and I were in in high school, but watching the real professionals do it there were so many times that we were both "Oh that's how that is supposed to go!"

I couldn't be more blessed by being married to this man.  As I told him over the weekend, my heart is full of all the mushy gushy things to say, but I won't try because the words won't do you justice.  So just a big I love you and I do, always.

Sing MN

This summer we let Grace and Willem do something new - they attended a singing camp called Sing MN!  Both of them show great interest in singing, but we just haven't found the time to have them be involved in anything extra during the school year.  We thought that this summer camp was a great option.  And it was a great camp experience for both of them.  They got to play games, do crafts, and then work drama and singing too.  They divided into 4 groups and each group performed a small play and sang a song that went with the play.  Then the large group sang a couple songs together as well.  The theme this year was MN stories, so Grace's play and song were about Paul Bunyan, and Willem's play and song were about Hiawatha. And after working on these all week, they performed them for friends and family the last day of camp.  Papa and Aahma Bruin came to watch them too!

waiting for the show to begin!

Willem was a forest animal in their Hiawatha play

Grace was one of the neighbor ladies in their Paul Bunyan play

Singing together!

One of their MN songs which is still stuck in all of our heads. =)
(can't see the video?  you can watch it here)

The only drawback to their camp was that it was from 8:30 to 4:30 at a college campus 40 minutes away from our house.  Those times meant traffic to and fro was thick and the drive was almost always an hour.  This photo was of the pretty sunflowers blooming on the side of the road.  And I was able to take it because the car was standing still in the traffic.

You also might ask what did Carsten and Henry and I do without Grace and Willem all week?

Party!!!!

Just kidding.

We did some serious potty training with this big boy!  

Henry did great, and Carsten was a super cheerer-and-snack-sharer-and-juice-drinker-and-prize-picker-outer brother.

(can't believe our house will not have to have diapers in it soon.  that is seriously mind-blowing)