What's up?

Fall has been busy in our household! School has started, we've been camping, we've been to the apple orchard as well as many other fun and busy activities. So we'll sum a few of them up right here.

First of all - we hit the apple orchard a few weeks back. Madeline went on her first wagon ride and the kids had a great time. The weather was perfect! Very warm and sunny.

Ok, and one funny story about the apple orchard. Mike bought a fresh apple pie from the apple orchard. He heated it up and had it sitting on the dining room table after dinner one night. He had one slice and then forgot to put it away. The next morning, we found the pie dish on the floor, licked completely clean - thanks to our dog Jake! He was one happy puppy after that one.

The kids love to dote over their baby sister and on this day, Dad was with them as they boarded the bus to go to school. Andrew has nicknamed Madeline "Maddle Taddles" or "Maddles" - since he likes to rhyme and all - but it has stuck.

We've done several camping trips this summer and this past month took two - one to Baker Park and one to Willow River State Park. Both times, the weather was wonderful. We played outside a lot. We took hikes, rode bikes - and played and played. The days were warm and sunny and the nights cool and clear - great for watching stars. And lots of campfires and s'mores.





Madeline is one busy girl! She is 4 1/2 months old now. She's working on adding a few teeth (all of our kids cracked their first tooth around 5 months and Madeline is on her way to match that). She's sitting up, wants to crawl, loves to be busy and loves to smile. Oh and she loves to be held....by anyone.


She also loves to eat cereal too! We just started with cereal and of course, most of it ends up on her face, hands, highchair - everywhere - as can be seen in this photo.

First Day of School

The older two had their first day of school yesterday.

Cailin was VERY excited to get back at it.

Andrew was more nervous about starting Kindergarten. He's a tough egg that one. He's always got a lot going in his brain, but it's harder to decode than Cailin. She's ALL out there. She will let you know anything and everything that's on her brain. So we weren't sure what to expect with Andrew. Sometimes he's excited for an activity, then refuses to participate or even go at the last minute for some reason unknown to his parents.


But he did great! And he came home saying "I want to go to Kindergarten every day!"

Hopefully that's truly the case.

Now, we'll see how day #2 goes.......

Checking in

We have been busy, busy, BUSY!

The two big kids are getting ready to start school TOMORROW. Gosh, is it really September?? We'll see how things go tomorrow and of course will report back.

Madeline is growing like a weed. She's almost four months old. Growing in leaps and bounds.

The latest is that she rolls over from her back onto her stomach. Which she usually does while in her bed trying to nap. Turns out that interrupts her sleep. Sooooo, we haven't been napping so much lately. I remember the other two going through this phase as well.

Here's a few pics taken this weekend of the squirt.



More on the other two tomorrow. No, we haven't forgotten about those guys...
;)