First Ribbon

I remember getting my first ribbon in an activity. It was for swim lessons when I was a little kid. I was scared of my teacher and therefor, not a huge fan of going to lessons, but my parents FORCED me to go, which for swim lessons, it was a good thing. I am now a very proficient swimmer, so thank you Mom and Dad for following through on that. Anyway, I digress.....It was a cool green ribbon for completing my first class. I was so proud! I hung it up in my bedroom and over the years, my ribbon collection grew! Some were the "Participation" ribbons. You ALL know what I'm talking about - it's like 'thanks for participating, but you didn't make it in the top three, so thanks anyway.' Ok, kidding - And then there were the fancy blue, red or yellow (1st, 2nd, 3rd place) ribbons. Our elementary school did a big spring track meet kinda thing (go Birchview!). So I was able to collect a few of every color throughout my elementary, junior high and high school years. You'd get them for sports as well as for academic participation.

Last night, Cailin got her FIRST ribbon. She's 4 1/2 and has been doing gymnastics for the last three months. She got a yellow ribbon


- it was a 'participation' ribbon, but it was funny - even at her tender age, she realized the importance or maybe the significance of that little ribbon. She was GLOWING after she was presented with that thing.


They even did a cute little ceremony where they had all the children 'display' a little routine for the proud, eager, camera-holding parents (including myself).

Sorry that the pictures are so far away. I forgot my zoom lens at home and they wanted the parents outside the classroom so as not to 'distract' the students....so most of these shots are from behind the glass.....

4 year old gymnastics is kind of funny. Kids at that age are still getting more aware of their balance as well as they are still somewhat distractable. It's great exercise. Plus, Cailin loves gymnastics. She loves to practice at home. Thankfully we have lots of comfy furniture so she can tumble, flip and sommersalt all she wants at home and hopefully will remain uninjured.
What kind of gymnastics do they do with 4 year olds you ask? Well, here's a couple of samples...

Floor exercises


Uneven parellel bars and rings (that's Cailin hanging on the rings)


Balance beam


Vault and springboard



Mike had volleyball so he was unable to join us. That meant that Andrew tagged along and sat with mom to watch gymnastics. He had to entertain of course. He had a good time making friends with the other brothers that were 'watching' as well as their parents.

Talk to the hand....

Praying for Stellan...

Please send warm thoughts to this dear family, little Stellan is not doing well now.

www.mycharmingkids.net


Thanks!

It seemed like a good idea

We thought it was a good idea - to go to my mom's house down in Wisconsin for the weekend. We were very excited for the annual FFF - Family Fall Frolic. Where all of the family gathers at the farm to spend a nice fall weekend. Sure, sounds like a great idea. We were excited to see Oma and all the rest of the family.

However....there was a bit of a snowstorm this particular weekend. When we left the cities, it was raining. The further south we drove, the heavier the snow became. Until we got to Oma's house (finally) and got settled. It was quite a white-knuckled drive.


Then it got a little worse.




But then the snow stopped and in typical Minnesota (well I guess she lives in Wisconsin) fashion, it got really nice.
Andrew built a snowman (with what little snow was left).



Saturday, the snow melted and we got a snowman built before it all melted away and then got to play outside the rest of the weekend, enjoying the beautiful colors!

We also got to Kellogg again and rode the famous Carousel. It's sort of a 'must' for us when we head down that way. Lark Toys - awesome toy store and they have an indoor carousel and they even have 3 llamas to check out too. Fun place!

just because

he's kinda cute I wanted to put this picture up.



and one more.....



ok, seriously...how can you NOT smile when you look at those...

There, I'm better now.

Have a happy day!
:)

Camping in Minnesota

Camping in Minnesota sometimes takes on a new twist with each trip. Most of the time you are enjoying the beautiful outdoors of Minnesota. I remember growing up, we used to go tent camping which is much different than how our family goes camping now. We are lucky enough to have a really nice travel trailer that can keep us warm and dry.

This last camping trip we embarked on, we didn't have to worry about fighting rain or mosquitos or having it be too hot or anything like that. This trip, the forecast was for snow. Yes, Snow in October. It's not unheard of, but it is rather unusual to have snow that early. Although I do remember a handful of childhood Halloween trick or treats in my snowsuit. But still, it's OCTOBER for goodness sake. The snow and accompanying freezing snap put an end to our vegetable gardens but we still managed to enjoy ourselves immensely on our trip to Baylor Regional Park in Norwood Young America.


The campground hosts maybe 40-50 sites. And by their online reservation system, they were about 75% full that weekend. When we arrived, we saw that there were 8 other campers. 8. So we had a lot of other campers that had a last minute change of heart. Turns out it's really nice to go camping at a virtually empty campground. Camping within itself is a pretty friendly venture. Everyone is nice and talks to each other, greeting one another, chatting about the weather or events. But these campers were REALLY friendly. Everyone was enjoying the cold snap together.

We woke up Saturday morning to this:

Then it warmed up consideridbly, the sun tried to come out and we made s'mores by the fire. The snow quickly melted.


We went to the playground a few times and even headed into town to get some supplies and to check things out. The kids got to ride their bikes on the circle without the worry of traffic (since there was NO traffic in the campground this particular weekend). And the kids didn't seem to mind doing all this in their winter gear finest.

We stayed late on Sunday to absorb as much of the outdoors as we could. Then after we headed home, Mike quickly unpacked a large chunk of the camper BEFORE the next snowstorm was due. Sunday night, it snowed all night long.


Thankfully today it's going to hit almost 60 degrees. And we have another camping trip this weekend.

Only in Minnesota!

Inbetween raindrops

September had a lot of rain in Minnesota. I don't remember the statistics but it was dry in July, relatively dry in August (except for those days during our camping trip). But it seemed like we had a lot of rainy September days, which is good for our trees and plnts to help them get all ready before the FREEZE sets in, but it was wet for the humans who tried to dodge the raindrops to get outside before the FREEZE sets in.

Well, we had one of those nice weekends in September and we ventured out to a local apple orchard - just like the rest of Minnesota. We arrived right away as they opened up, which was a great idea. No crowds, we got a great wagon to use and got to walk around pretty much alone. They have a winery onsite as well, so we wandered through the Apple Orchard and then over by the winery. The grapes were amazingly beautiful.



They had a pumpkin patch and the kids played around the pumpkins. They also had animals, some goats, bunnies and a few horses. Cute place! We got our apples and the kids had a few yummy apple snacks and we were off to do more 'adventuring'. We just had to dodge some raindrops on the way home.


It was good to get out and stretch our legs before the next rainstorm showed up.

Labor Day Weekend

Yes, I have been very delinquent in updating posts and I promised to do so and now I will start. This shows you how delinquent I've been. As the snow/rain mix is falling on the 15th of October (which is sooooo wrong...) I'm telling you about warm sunny September days. Ah, such is life. I'll try and keep up but things have been very happily busy these days, which is fantastic I must say.

Where we left off was on Labor Day weeeknd. We bid farewell to Uncle John, Auntie Melissa and Cousin Michael on Saturday and then soon departed Oma's house ourselves to head down to Pine Island.

Cailin had been complaining of a sore throat so Mike took the camper to PI and then I took the kids to try and find the Super Target in Rochester. I went to one, unloaded the kids, tredge into the store only to find out there are TWO Targets in Rochester. Who knew? And the one I needed to be at, where they had the Target Clinic was in the OTHER Target. Just my luck right? Well, not a big deal I thought, just give me directions and I'll find it. Well the two ladies didn't really have a clue on how to get to it, other than to say it's the "South" Target and to head south on the highway and I'm sure to see it. Well, after a lot of driving and no red bullseye in sight, I frantically (really not very happy) called my husband who grew up in the area. With some help from his parents I finally found the Target. They took good care of Cailin only to decide it was a virus and must run it's course. Keep up what we're doing and all is good, watch for signs of worsening she says. So we loaded up on medicine (just in case) and headed up to Grandma and Grandpa's.

We spent the day playing with toys, riding their tractors and visiting.


We headed over to see Grandma Bea and had a nice dinner with the family. Turns out Auntie Wanda was in town staying with Auntie Katrine, so we got to see them as well. The Adults had a nice bon fire after the kidlins went to bed. It was a gorgeous night!

Sunday we went to Oxbow Park and Zollman Zoo which is in Byron, MN - wow that is something! You wouldn't think a small town like Byron had a zoo, but does it ever! And it's FREE!!! Very nice! Here's the link: http://www.co.olmsted.mn.us/parks/oxbow_park_&_zoo.asp
It's an Olmstead County park and it has a very nice campground on a creek and then this zoo. They have all sorts of animals and it's tucked right in this nice little town of Byron (which was just about 15 miles from Grandma and Grandpa's place in Pine Island which was nice).


Andrew had a blast at the zoo. Auntie Wanda, Grandma and Grandpa went with us. Cailin, still not feeling 100% was very, very crabby to say the least.


She kept saying that she wanted to leave and pretty much whined the entire day, no matter what I said or did. But Andrew, he had a great time and would have stayed all day.

He fed the animals.


He showed his puppy to the animals.

He let his puppy 'rest' since they did so much walking.


He walked around talking and talking and talking and talking to anyone and anything that would show the least amount of interest.

He was a funny guy that day.

Not Me Monday

I would say that I've taken the time to write a blog entry since last Monday, but I guess I haven't. I will have to play catch up soon, very soon, because I have a pile of photos and other entries that I need to get updated here. So we'll start with a Not Me Monday entry since well, it is Monday....
Some people read last week's entry and were like "huh?" - this is a new direction for you Karen. Others just laughed along knowing they've been there too. Well, whatever you think, hopefully you can follow along and laugh, because I'm sure we've all been there right?? Or am I just telling myself that to make myself feel better??? Hmmmmmm -
I wrote this originally at home at 4:30am so if it's a little convoluted, my apologies!!
:)
Happy Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by mckMama,/a>. You can head over to ,a href="http:/www.mycharmingkids.net"> her blog to read what she and everyone else have been doing this week.

It was not me that took the kids to the community center for child #1's gymnastics class and tell child #1 that we couldn't get a treat out of the vending machine because I didn't have money, when in reality I did have money, but wanted to avoid the fight with said child, only to have child #2 pull money out of my pocket as we were exiting the building and have him say "here you go mama, I found it!". Nor would I have then said "well, that's where it went, huh!" like I was suprised it had been found. I would never tell my child a fib to try and avoid lots of sugary treats at such a late hour.

And I'm sure it wasn't me who quietly snuck off to the bathroom for a moment of peace (not to use the bathroom for what it's intended, just for some quiet - alone)last weekend and quietly locked the door hoping for just a few minutes of quiet and it could not have been me that was completely silent when I hear child #1 AND child #2 working together (instead of against one another) to try and find me. And it wasn't me that didn't answer as they banged on the bathroom door after I turned the light off pretending not to be in there. No way, must have been some other mother.

And when we went to Target last week it wasn't me that (once again) offered to trade myself with another mother since my #1 child told me I had "ruined her life" because I was "so mean" since I wouldn't buy her some nonsense item she TOTALLY didn't need (remember she's 4). I could tell that she actually looked at the other mother I had suggested that we ask about a trade to maybe ponder it for just a second...And it couldn't have been me that actually laughed at that moment, that could not have been something I would have done with my OWN child - never!

It was certainly not me that just threw all the laundry into the washer not caring to seperate and praying that they all turned out CLOSE to the same color they went in as, just because it was faster and easier.

And in no way could it have been me that walked by cat throw up twice because I didn't want to deal with it at THAT particular moment and waited until I had completely forgotten about it to hear my husband notice it and then I'm sure I didn't think to myself "shoot, I should have cleaned that up, but he'll get it I'm sure...." - oh well, couldn't have been me because I keep a SPOTLESS house...right!

And although it wasn't me that did any of those things, I TOTALLY love my #1 and #2 and loving husband and wouldn't trade it for the world, even if my #1 would trade me some days.....
:)

Happy Monday to all and I promise to upload more of the last month's pictures and such SOOOOOoon!

Not Me Monday

I follow this AWESOME blog (http://www.mycharmingkids.net/) and they have a regular blog session every Monday warmly titled “Not Me Monday”. Now, I’m sure you’re wondering, ‘what the heck does that mean?’. As a busy mom of two kids, working full time and TRYING to always be as perfect as I can be as a mom (yeah right…..) I finally am getting up the gumption (is that really a word?) to begin my own “Not Me Monday”. Because I love my two more than words can describe, but I am also human, and maybe not the best role model on some days, some days I said……I invite you all to also join in – the more the merrier! Part of living life is to laugh at yourself too!

But feel free to check out MckMamas website (http://www.mycharmingkids.net/) and read more for yourself.
Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by mckMama,/a>. You can head over to ,a href="http:/www.mycharmingkids.net"> her blog to read what she and everyone else have been doing this week.


It wasn’t me who took the kids to the grocery store in their pajamas because it was much easier than listening to the complaining about how jeans are ‘too scratchy’ and it certainly wasn’t me who also wore my pajama bottoms to same said grocery store while lugging the kids in tow since it was also easier than changing no, certainly not me. And it certainly wasn’t me that was wearing her t-shirt inside out for almost three hours before noticing that it was inside out, to which my realization, replayed what I had done within the past three hours which included filling the outside bird feeders, getting the Sunday paper and grabbing the mail while waiving to neighbors who were dutifully on their way to church – all while wearing my t-shirt (noticeably) inside out – or at least noticeably to others just not me. Nope, not me!

And it wasn’t me who realized when we got to the local home improvement store (yes, Luke the RIGHT one…)that I realized I hadn’t wiped either of my children’s faces since their first meal of the day, no that certainly would not have been something I would have done. I would have been MORTIFIED to have seen pancakes, syrup, pop tarts, milk, fruit, cheese and who knows what else smeared on their cute, adorable little faces.
And I’m sure it wasn’t me that when my daughter had been asking for a Popsicle since 6:30am, finally caved in by 9:30 just to get her to stop asking me again ‘mommy, I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY need a Popsicle!!’ – that certainly could not have been me.
It must not have been me that bribed my older child to join me on an activity so she’d give up the fight she was having with her younger brother, just to bring some peace and quiet? I’m sure I didn’t do that, even if it did include a small piece of chocolate.

And lastly (for now) it wasn’t me who was recently playing in the backyard with my two favorite children (my only children) when a nice woman walked by on the walking path to overhear my youngest child yell to mom who was not buried in the garden under mounds of raspberries not yell “mom – is that a boy or a girl – I can’t tell….” Nope that would have been very embarrassing indeed, so I’m sure that wasn’t me.