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.

The cousin is coming, the cousin is coming!!

Uncle John, Auntie Melissa and Cousin Michael made a recent visit to the frozen tundra. They live in DC, and come to visit every year around this time, so we were all thrilled and filled with anticipation awaiting their arrival. They stayed in the cities for a few days and came to our house - we played with toys and more toys, had a fire (on purpose) in our backyard and made s'mores which I think might have been the first time for Michael. We went to their hotel and all went swimming and played in their room with, you guessed it - more toys....

This is during the big 'smore' event. Michael wasn't as interested in chocolate or marshmellows as our kids were...

Then they headed down to Nelson to stay with Oma. We followed on Wednesday of that week and stayed until just after they left on Saturday.

This picture was taken in the morning looking down towards Wabasha - usually you can see the bridge over the Mississippi and the city of Wabasha - but the clouds had the city all socked in. It was a really cool site.

We went to the Eagle Center in Wabasha - it was way cool! They have six live eagles there, plus awesome displays and not to mention the great view of the Mississippi River.

The kids put their heads in this eagle display - it lasted about 5 seconds.....

The view of the river was pretty fantastic too.

We also headed to the toy store in Kellogg for carousel rides and to play.

Cailin and Michael spent a lot of time together. Andrew would sort of float in and out, but overall, would do his own thing. Cailin would try and tell Michael what to do and Michael would try and tell Cailin what to do - it was a perfect set up.

We went to Alma to climb the big, big bridge over the railroad tracks. The kids wanted to see a train go by, and they waited and waited. They waited more patiently than the adults did until finally we pulled them away to head back for dinner with friends that were expected to visit.

The kids waited and watched. We were assured that there would be a train because we had heard that there are like 37 trains that pass under this bridge every day. So we figured the odds were with us that if were here for an 1/2 hour, that we'd see a train. The only train we saw was one parked on the side of tracks in a siding. The big topic of discussion with the kids then was "why is that train parked there? is it broken?"
We said our goodbyes and the kids were very sad to see their buddy Michael leave. Andrew kept asking "mommy, when do we get to see Michael again?". We told him we hoped really soon!

Movie Night

So it rained buckets and buckets last night (which is good because we really, really need it) - I think our rain gauge said over 4" last night alone. We had 1 1/2" the day before, so we've been inside a little bit over the past few days. Today is incredibly humid, so we spent some of the day outside running through the sprinkler but otherwise, we did inside stuff. Went to the store to rumage around and stayed inside playing games otherwise.
One of the kids' favorite thing to do is to stay up late and have "movie night". tonight's featured film was "Finding Nemo" and oldie but a goodie. We had popcorn and all and the kids love when we fold down the futon downstairs in the family room so they can lounge around.
Now, it's bedtime for everyone......including me...Hey, these kids wear me out!!

:)

Vacation Bible School

As soon as we got back into town from our camping trip - Cailin started her Vacation Bible School - VBS. It was held just up the street from our house at a church called Brookwood. Our friends, Sarah and Luke invited Cailin to join their oldest son, Caleb since he was also attending.

It was a long night for Cailin, since it went from 6-8:30pm. She's used to climbing into bed around 8pm and after a long weekend of camping and staying up late and playing through naps, we were a little tired by the week's end, that's for sure.

They did the theme of "Crocodile Dock" for VBS. And on the last night, the parents and family members were invited to a presentation that the kids prepared for them. Cailin loved her teacher, Lisa. The presentation included discussion about what they learned, about the mission projects they were raising money for and they performed some of the songs (with actions) for the parents that they had been practicing all week. It was fantastic and very organized. Everyone did a spectacular job! And Cailin had a blast as well....

More camping

This was our attempt to get a decent picture of the two kids together. That is not such an easy task. One of the two of them has to be a ham and it's usually Cailin and by the time we get her settled down, Andrew is usually quite bored and ready to bail......

We tried out another camping destination. We went to a place called Kiesler's - it's in Waseca, MN - yes big old Waseca. It's actually a really cute little town, not too far from our house.

They have a really nice pool with slides and playground equipment and we all brought our bikes and were able to take a few nice rides as well.

Cailin had just returned from one of our visits to the pool. She was purple as a popsicle since she would stay in there as long as possible. She is quite a fish!!!

Our campsites always look a little crazy since we bring almost everything we own it seems like. So the kids have their bikes, and toys and we have our bikes, chairs and lots of games and such, so our campsite (especially when we have been swimming like in these pictures) looks a little messy to say the least....
We had a couple of rain storms, but thankfully they were overnight and not at all severe - so we were able to be inside for those. The day time was nice. the first day was a bit cool, but that didn't stop the mashers from wanting to hit the pool. We spent a lot of time playing in the pool, playing at the playgrounds and playing in the volleyball pits - they had the best sand in their volleyball area! The kids brought sand toys (or I should say I brought sand toys for the kids) and the adults got to play a little volleyball - pepper a bit.... It was fun.

The evenings were spent by the campfire having beer and chatting with our friends, Luke and Sarah. It was a great time!

Cousin Doey

We 'affectionately' call our cousin Doey - his real name is Joey, but it's a carryover from his childhood, that just sort of stuck. Doey graduated this past spring and is soon heading off to the University of Wisconsin Madison. Doey came over to spend the night with us this past weekend and the kids were very excited to spend time with him.

Doey is very great with the kids and the kids enjoyed every minute of his time at our house. We're already trying to plan a stop in Madison to visit Doey in his new digs.
It was a warm weekend, so we set the pool up and played for awhile. Doey and Drew had fun playing in the water - they'd take turns pouring water over each other's heads. Drew handled that well - I was surprised. They were laughing big time.

So this is how the routine went down. Andrew would say "doey, can I pour water on your head? and Doey would say "sure Drew - go ahead" and Andrew would pour the water on his head, and squeal with delight. Then Doey would pour some on Andrew's head, then Drew would momentarily stop, and we were wondering if he'd cry or laugh - sure enough, he'd wipe his eyes and laugh, then they'd repeat the whole process - over and over and over and over and over - ok you get the picture.

Cailin is still in a phase where she doesn't want to pose for the camera, so we usually get this flat look when she sees the camera come out. Funny, she used to be quite a ham, I'm guessing this phase of non-compliance for the camera is only temporary - hopefully. She has a very cute smile!

Cailin was sort of a little Popsicle by the end of the day - it was now close to 7pm, almost time for tubs (hard to imagine, since she was wet pretty much all day) but a good chance to warm up. So we snuggled on the swing set for a little while before heading in for the day.
And of course, Lion and Panda had to snuggle as well.

Joey or sorry Doey stayed long enough to read the kids their bedtime stories and the kids were sad to have the weekend end as well as sad to have their cousin Doey leave. We will sure miss him when he's away and will look forward to another visit with him soon!