Favored & Blessed: 2008

Friday, October 31, 2008

Shades

Anna and Grandpa getting ready for a walk.

Our annual trip to the orchard was another great family day! The kids (and us too!) look forward to this all year and at the first signs of fall are already asking about when we'll be going to pick apples. It's such a yummy tradition! Like years past, Grandpa, Grandma and the kids joined us. We make quite the crew roaming through the rows of Apple trees and pumpkins. Here's Miss Joy enjoying another Apple Doughnut!

Anna was just tickled by the goats! She loved feeding them corn.

Another Beauty! Grace discovered this year that it's a little bit difficult to eat apples without front teeth but, as they say, where there's a will there's a way!

Micah and Daddy

Over MEA weekend Ryan and I went to a little cabin in Hayward, WI for a couple of days - minus the kids. It was so nice and much needed to get away and spend some time exclusively with each other. The weather was a little bit chilly but nice and we had fun doing whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted, you know, how it was before the kids! Ryan's been talking about going back there already (actually, he was talking about that before we even left there!)

Ryan got a little hungry while we were fishing!

Sunset on the lake

Micah's Birthday

Our little All Star had a sports/baseball themed birthday this year for his 4th birthday. He was so excited about his party, the cake, the decorations, everything really! The funny thing is that now that he's turned 4, he thinks he's 5 now - probably because big sister has been telling him that he can go to school too when he's 5 and "old enough".

Our Kids Love Their Veggies!

We've all heard about the Princess and the Pea, well how about the Princess and the Cucumber?! We had such a bumper crop of cucumbers out of our garden this year that we drew "Larry" faces on a few and gave one to each of the kids to play with. Anna loved hers so much that we found her snuggled up to it in bed one night - you can see the replaced Teddy Bear in the corner! So cute!

Soccer

Grace enjoyed playing her first 'season' of soccer this fall. She played for the Park & Rec 1st and 2nd grade group and was happy to have several kids from school and church playing with her too. She kept wanting to know when the "big game" was going to be!

First Day of School 2008

Grace's first day of school this year was wet and rainy, but that didn't dampen her spirits any and she was happy for a chance to use her Hello Kitty rain coat and umbrella!

Summer Fun!

Grace learned how to ride her bike without training wheels this summer and had great fun riding up and down our street and going on bike rides as a family.

Micah & Anna are working on it...

Thursday, July 24, 2008

90th year celebration

On July 12th we all celebrated Ryan's Grandma Rose's 90th Birthday. It was great to see so many family and friends there to celebrate Grandma, and it was nice to get to visit with loved ones that we don't get to see very often as well. I hope that I can look that good when I turn 90!

Grace & Lauren (Ryan's cousin)

Ryan, Anna & cousin Ella

Happy 4th of July!

We all went camping at Sibley State Park over the weekend of the 4th. Over all it was a good time. Although, Ryan and I have decided that we probably will wait until the kids are a little bit older to do it again. The kids had a lot of fun playing at the beach, swimming, playing in the dirt at the campsite, going for walks and just exploring. Sleeping 'outside' in the pop-up camper (all of us together) was a novelty that left the kids pretty excited and left Mom & Dad pretty exhausted! Here's a pic of the very awake children roasting marshmellows for their sugar-laden 'bedtime' snack before watching fireworks on the 4th. Oh well, it's all part of the experience - right?!

Parade Day

The annual Willmar Fests parade - the kids look forward to this all year! This year we went to the pancake breakfast at the firehouse first. The kids loved being able to get up close and sit in actual fire trucks, one of the highlights of the day!

Jeremy, Alysa & cousin Alayna came to watch the parade with us. In stark contrast to last year's parade, this year the weather was chilly, windy and, eventually, rainy. But, whatever the weather we had a fun time just being together!

Sail Away with me

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

All Dressed up...

May 31st we went to my cousin Jesse's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and we all had a great time - minus a close call with some bad weather! There were several friends and family members that came from out-of-state and it was nice to see all of them too. Since we left the children with a sitter, we actually had at least 4 solid hours of purely adult conversation! I know! It was such a rare high that I didn't even care that it was open bar! ;)

'The Girls' Jeanne, Deanna, Kate & Jessica

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Grace's Kindergarten Program

It's hard to believe that we're already at the end of Grace's first year of school! Wow! That went by so fast. They had the Kindergarten Program last week and it was fun, entertaining and bittersweet. They started the program like they start the school day with the 3 pledges (American flag, Christian flag and Bible), Grace was happy that she got to hold the American flag for the program.

Grace telling us about "Mr. G" during the Letter People Play

Grace and her teacher Mrs. Keenan - what a blessing it is to have such

a wonderful and loving teacher!

Grace's Dance Recital

Grace had her dance recital May 16 & 17th. This year she's been taking a ballet/tap class at Colleen's School of Dance. The recital was beautiful and well done and of course Grace was our favorite star! She did great! They performed tap to "I Enjoy Being a Girl" and ballet to "I Feel Pretty". Perfectly appropriate, I cannot think of any better choices for our 'princess'!

Grandma and Jessica were able to come for the show. What a nice treat!

"I Enjoy Being a Girl" (Grace is 2nd from the right)

(Grace is 3rd from the right)

"I Feel Pretty" (in front on left)

Anna's new Bed

The day after Mother's Day we moved Anna from her crib into a toddler bed. She's been totally loving her new "big girl bed" and the added freedom that it allows her. We're still adjusting to the change. It's a bit strange for Mom and Dad since we've had the crib set up pretty much non-stop for the past 6 and a half years. But, if we've learned anything being parents it's that each new stage brings with it new joys and challenges along with a few tears.

The little bookworm fell asleep under the covers of a good read!

Grandpa's Birthday & Spring Fun

Grandpa Steve's birthday is May 1st so we had a little party to celebrate, and then we had some outdoor fun (since the weather was warm-ish) with some of Grandpa's big-boy toys! They had a great time, and the kids had a lot of fun too! ;)

Grace giving Grandpa his birthday picture she made for him.