Happy Birthday Lonnie!

Today is my father-in-law’s birthday! Happy Birthday Lonnie! You are a great Papa and dad/father-in-law. I know we don’t say it enough but we really appreciate all you do for us. Hope you have a wonderful day and we look forward to celebrating with you tomorrow at the lake. We love you!

Baseball

Another year of baseball has wrapped up. Where has the summer gone? Jacob enjoyed playing baseball again this summer. He was on the same team as last summer, with a few new kids, so it was fun to see everyone again. This year instead of a pitching machine the kids pitched to each other. Some games got a little longer than others. We did have some real nail bitters too. A majority of the time Jacob played in the outfield and at the plate he got several hits. He's not a real but threat at the plate but hopefully with time he'll get a little better. All that matters now is he enjoys playing and I enjoy watching him grow and have fun. Hopefully next year he'll be with the same group of kids as they played really well together.

At the plate.

Jacob getting ready to hit the ball!
He made it to 1st!!

Running home!!

Throwing the ball.

Happy Birthday Nate!

Today is my sister's husband's birthday. Happy Birthday Nate! We hope you have a wonderful day. We love you!!



Nate, Jen and Emma at Justin's wedding.

Father's Day

On Father’s Day we were invited down the Brad and Anita’s lake for the day. It turned out to be a beautiful day for the lake. Brec and Isabel were in town so it was a fun filled family day. We (me, Lane and MaKena – Jacob was with his dad for the weekend) got to the lake around noon and hopped on the Lonnie and Ardis’s pontoon for a ride around the lake. MaKena sat with Papa to help him drive the boat. After a few minutes with Papa she knew what lever to push to make the boat go faster and kept trying to make the boat go faster. After the pontoon ride the kids got their suits on and hit the water. MaKena was having a blast. She jumped in the water to Uncle Brad and swam around. She was fascinated with trying to catch fish (aka minnows). She would make Brad carry her around in the water while she had the fish net in hand trying to catch fish. Later in the afternoon Brad took the kids tubing. I have to admit I was a little worried MaKena wouldn’t like it. Boy was I wrong, she loved it. No fear! Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and head home. It was a fun day!

Riding around the lake on the pontoon.

MaKena driving the pontoon with Papa.

Alexis, MaKena and Brandon.

Ardis, Brec and Isabel.

MaKena catching fish with Brandon.

MaKena, Alexis and Brandon getting ready to get in the water.

Another pontoon ride! I was a perfect day for a boat ride. (Lonnie, Lane, Isabel, Alexis, MaKena, Ardis and Brec)

Lane, MaKena and Alexis sitting on the back of the pontoon. I think MaKena was telling a story!!

MaKena swimming with Uncle Brad and Isabel on the raft.

Alexis, Isabel and MaKena on the raft.

Brandon carrying MaKena in the water.

Brad was trying to talk MaKena into jumping off the raft.

Isabel with her goggles!

The kids getting ready to go tubing.

Having fun tubing!

Papa, MaKena and Nana. Papa was opening his Father's Day gifts.

MaKena showing off her big catch!!

Swimming pool fun!

MaKena loves to swim. Whether it’s in the tub at bath time, in her little pool on a hot day or at the lake, she loves to swim. We’ve had several hot days this summer so I set the pool up one Saturday afternoon and let her swim the day away. I honestly think she would have stayed in the pool all day if I would have let her. She’ll slide down her slide every way possible and if you don’t watch her she’ll do it again! Then she’ll jump off the little seats and splash water all over. The fun she creates for herself is pretty amusing. But after 3 plus hours I was tired of sitting out in the hot sun so I told her it was time to head inside and get some dry clothes on so we could have supper. Thankfully she didn’t put up a fuss! I’m sure we’ll have many more fun days in the pool this summer!

MaKena cooling off on a hot day!
Down the slide she goes. I've decided we'll need a bigger pool for next year. Maybe one that I can sit in with her!

This a shot of one of many times she jumped off one of the seats.

Down the slide she goes again. (This was Father's Day weekend so Jacob wasn't able to join us for the fun.)

Happy 4th Birthday Karisa Jo!

Happy birthday Karisa! We hope you have a fun filled day. We can't believe you are 4 already. We look forward to celebrating with you. We love you!!

Happy 7th Birthday Isabel!

Happy 7th Birthday Isabel!! We hope you have a great day. It’s hard to believe you are 7 already. We look forward to celebrating your special day with you. We love you!!

Isabel (in the bright pink) playing cards with her cousins at Christmas.

Midwest Kids Fest

I’ve never been to the Midwest Kids Fest at Island Park until this summer. What’s the Midwest Kids Fest?? It’s a kid’s fest set up in Island Park in Fargo. There are several interactive educational booths and many carnival games set up all over the park. Along with an entertainment stage with a bunch of different acts going on all day. It’s a lot of fun for the kids!

I took the day off to head to Island Park with Lonnie and Ardis, my kids and my nieces and nephew. It was supposed to be a nice day until late afternoon but once again the weather people got it wrong. We got out to Island Park around 11 and within a half hour of being there it started to down pour while the kids were playing on the playground. We tried to stay dry but it was a little difficult! Once the rain stopped we ventured back out from under a tent to have some fun. A lot of the booths got ruined due to the rain and ended up shutting down. The kids went on a wagon ride pulled by horses and a train ride pulled by a lawn mower. We ate some kettle corn and walked around. The kids played a little longer on the playground and then we decided to head to the DQ for a dry lunch. It was a lot of fun even though we got a little wet. Maybe next year the weather will cooperate!

Jacob, Isabel and Brandon on the wagon ride before it rained!
Me, Alexis and MaKena on the wagon ride.

MaKena, Alexis, Isabel, Brandon and Jacob waiting to ride on the train ride thing!

The kids on the train ride.

I thought this picture was cute of the kids walking away from us!

Daisy

We did it. We are dog owners again! A couple weeks ago Lane saw an ad in the paper for Hush Basset puppies for sale. This particular litter was ¾ basset hound and ¼ cocker spaniel. The ad said they looked like basset hounds but smaller. We decided to call and set up a time to look at the puppies. We didn’t tell the kids, especially Jacob, because we weren’t sure if we wanted to go through with it. So we looked at them and told the lady we’d let her know either way. It was right before the 4th of July and I knew I didn’t want to deal with a puppy over the 4th. We talked about it all weekend long and finally decided Monday night that we wanted to get a puppy for the kids. On Tuesday Lane, MaKena and I went to pick the puppy up. We then went to my grandma’s to surprise Jacob (He was visiting GG with Uncle Justin and Aunt Laura). His reaction was priceless. I wish I would have recorded it. He was thrilled. We decided to name her Daisy. It’s funny because MaKena will call her Daisers from time to time. She’ll say “Daisers come here.” The kids just love her but I have to be honest, I forgot how stressful the puppy stage can be. There have been many times I’ve ask myself “what were we thinking!!” But once she gets past her puppy stage and is fully potty trained it will be a lot better! She fits in well with our family!

Jacob checking out his new puppy.

MaKena with Daisy.

MaKena and Jacob with Daisy.Daisy relaxing on Jacob.

Nail Polish

To say MaKena loves to have her nails painted would be an understatement. What girl doesn’t like to have their nails painted? One night after bath I got the nail polish out and told MaKena we’d repaint her nails. I have to say she has some of the weirdest toe nails! Usually when I paint her nails some of the paint rubs off onto her other toe so I decided to get some cotton balls out and wedge them between her toes. Kind of like they do in a nail salon!! (Actually I don’t know if that’s what they do at a nail place because I’ve never had my nails done professionally!!) After I finished I had to take a picture of her toes because I thought she looked so darn cute!! I’m sure there will be many more nail painting nights at our house!

Life is good! Eating snack, watching a movie and getting her nails done! Check out the cotton between her toes!
Cheeeeesssssseeee!!!

A close up of her toes!