Children's Museum

Over spring break we went to the Children's Museum with Grandma

and Uncle David. It was a lot of fun! Three kids, do you think that I could get at least one of them

to actually look at the camara?! Maybe next time!
Upon entering the room where they had the Clifford exhibit
Anna said "Oh! This is my room!" Too cute!

Watching for shoplifters...

Girly time!

Since taking pictures at the photo studio isn't exactly cheap, we did the girls birthday pictures at Mom's Photo Studio instead (in other words I did them and saved us a bunch of money!) I think they turned out okay, of course it helps that they're so gosh darn cute too!

Sisters

goofy!

Christmas 2008

Anna and Grandpa Guy (& Cinderella of course!) Our 3 Beautiful kids - best gifts ever!

Grace & Micah with Grandpa Steve

Christmas Goodies!

We even got Daddy in on some of the action!

Grace's Birthday party

We had 12 first grade girls over for Grace's 7th birthday, add in one little brother and one little sister and you get a whole lot of crazy fun! They all had a great time decorating pre-assembled gingerbread houses. Yes, LOTS of sugar! Get them all sugared up and then send them home - a hallmark of any good kids party! ;) Good thing we have a big enough kitchen, we had 2 tables set up for all of the sticky little artists.

Shades

Anna and Grandpa getting ready for a walk.

Apple Orchard 2008

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...

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