Karisa's 4th Birthday Party

About a month ago we were out at Jason and Jerene’s to help Karisa celebrate her 4th birthday. It’s hard to believe she’s 4 already. It was beautiful night to be outside playing. The kids played in the backyard on the trampoline and swing set while all the adults visited. Karisa got a lot of nice new outfits and toys for her birthday. It was a fun night with the Redfield family!

The kids jumping in the tramp.
They sure had a lot of fun jumping!

MaKena going down the slide.

Another view of the kids in the tramp. They spent a lot of time in there.

Jacob, MaKena, Karisa, Karlee and Emma saying cheese!!

Gunnar driving.

The little girls playing in the playhouse. Emma, MaKena, Karlee and Karisa.

More fun in the pool!

We love splashing in the pool!! You can probably tell from all the pool post I’ve had this summer! But this day I decided it’s time we get a bigger pool! There isn’t a lot of room left in the pool when Jacob is in it!! So on my list next spring is a new swimming pool for the kids. But regardless of the size of the pool the kids still had fun and they were able to cool off on another hot summer day.

Jacob relaxing in the pool.
Jacob and MaKena cooling off on a hot hot day!

Pretending to be asleep! Silly kids.

MaKena squirting Jacob.

Bingo with Grandma Vivian

For those of you who don’t know Grandma Vivian, my mom’s mom, was moved up to a nursing home in Fargo Memorial Day weekend. I love having her in town but I don’t love the fact that she has to be in nursing home. I remember as a kid growing up I always wanted grandma to live in Fargo. Every time she’d come visit us everyday we’d play Skippo, watch Days of Our Lives and take Bo for a walk. Then when it came time for her to leave I’d cry the entire day she left. I hated it when she left. But now she’s in town and I love it. One Sunday afternoon I finally remembered to bring my camera when Jacob and I went up to play bingo with Grandma. Grandma doesn’t like having her picture take so I had to be sneaky about it! Thankfully she couldn’t hear the camera click when I took the pictures!! Jacob helped grandma by putting the chips on her card. Everybody wins at bingo in the nursing home and the prizes are snacks or a dime. Grandma usually takes the snacks and puts them in her drawer for all her great grandchildren to have when they come to visit. They all know where the snacks are at grandmas! We love to play bingo at the nursing home with Grandma!!

Jacob helping grandma play bingo!
Jacob giving me a little smile!

Swimming at the South High Pool

Lane and I took the kids to the South High pool one Saturday afternoon when the temps and humidity were extremely high. There wasn’t anything else we could do and I was tired of hanging out inside. Jacob brought his friend Andy with and we spent the afternoon cooling off at the pool. I think this is the first time the water hasn’t felt cold! We bought the boys passes to go down the water slide, so while the boys went sliding Lane and I hung out with MaKena in the shallow end. She had fun playing with all the different things and sliding down the slide. It was the perfect day to be at the pool.

MaKena getting wet under one of the little water falls.
MaKena and daddy.

Lane putting MaKena under the falling water.

My sweet MaKena Rose!

She put her goggles on. Lane and I laughed and laughed at her cute little face! Silly girl! I think the goggles are a little too big.

Jacob and Andy.

Jacob, MaKena and Andy hanging out in the shallow end.

Daddy catching MaKena at the end of the little kids slide.

Andy on the slide.

Jacob coming down the slide.

Pool Fun

We’ve had an extremely hot summer this year. We’ve taken MaKena’s pool out on several occasions and she just loves to swim in it. Next year I will need to get her a bigger pool. This particular day was extremely hot and if I remember correctly I was starting to fall asleep in the chair while watching her swim!! Ah, the lazy days of summer. I’m sure going to miss them when the snow starts flying.

MaKena cooling off in the pool.
Looking cute while adding a little more water to her pool.

Here is a sequence of pictures taken while MaKena was jumping into the water. I love taking the pictures to see how they turn out. Her face expressions are priceless! Here she's getting ready to jump.

Jumping in the water.

Splash.

MaKena getting ready to jump again.

I love her face in this picture! She was having fun.

Owie!

On July 19th I was at work and I got a call from my daycare around noon. That’s never a good sign when your phone rings and its daycare. Sarah, our daycare lady, informed me that MaKena was lying on the floor by the coffee table and big glass bowl fell on her head and she’s probably going to need stitches. (We found out later that one of the little boys pushed the bowl off the table.) Instantly my heart sank. I’m pretty sure the first words I said were “Oh no” and then I said she’ll be ok. I could tell Sarah was really worried and upset. I dropped what I was doing at work and ran out the door. When I got to daycare, surprisingly she wasn’t crying. Sarah taped a gaze pad to her head in case the cut started to bleed. I grabbed her things and hopped in the car and headed for the ER. MaKena really wanted her daddy so thankfully we didn’t have to wait too long in the ER before daddy showed up. The entire time we were waiting to get called back MaKena just sat on my lap, no tears. Once we got back to the room the doctor came in and looked at her cut and grabbed the glue. Thank God, no stitches. Jacob had stitches in his lip when he was 18 months and I think I’m still traumatized by that. Before we knew it the doctor was done and out the door we went. But not before we got a hand full of stickers for being such a big girl. A month later her head has finally healed. I’m sure she’ll have a nice scare for a while but at least she won’t be traumatized by the whole process.

The before picture. She was sitting on the bed in ER room waiting for the doctor. (This picture was taken with my phone so the quality isn't the greatest.)
All glued up and ready to go. Still no smiles. Poor girl. (Another picture taken with my phone.)
A day later, showing off her owie after bath.
There's a little smile!

Soccer with Justin and Laura

The night before Justin and Laura left to head back to Chicago, they stopped at our house for a visit and to bring Jacob back home. The visit turned into a friendly game of soccer in the back yard. If first started with Jacob and Laura, then Justin joined in on the fun. Shortly after Justin joined I decided to help Laura out and of course the girls kicked the boys butt! Actually Laura beat the boys as I was busy trying to keep Daisy in the yard. After our friendly game of soccer we headed inside and visited briefly before Justin and Laura left. It was a lot of fun having them in town but the time goes by way too fast. We are all eagerly looking forward to their next visit.

I think this was right before Justin kicked the ball over the neighbor's fence. Leave it to him to do something like that!!
An action shot.

I'm pretty sure Justin was talking smack to Laura!

Jacob trying to score on Laura.

4th of July with the Redfields

Here are the pictures from the 4th with the Redfields.


Lane taking Mallorie for a Jet Ski ride.
Gunnar looking cute.

Emma with a piece of grass in her mouth. Not sure why but it was funny!

Gunnar splashing in the water.

He was having fun splashing in the water!

MaKena and Karisa playing in the water and sand.

The water fight between the 3 little girls.

Jacob hanging out on the jet ski.

Jacob and Mallorie trying to catch fish.

Jacob got in on the water fight with the girls!

I just love this picture! The kids in action.

The adults watching the kids play. (L to R: Gunnar, Nate, Uncle Tom, Lane, Laura, Jerene (walking in the back) Vic (Jerene's dad in the red), Kathy.)

Another action shot of the kids and the water fight.

More of the adults relaxing.

My mom and Grandma Vivian.

Jason pulling Jacob, Emma and Mallorie tubing.

Uncle Tom showing all the kids the turtle Justin caught. (We did let him go once we got done checking him out.)

MaKena touching the turtle.