Thoughts

Summer is quickly coming to a close, but I wanted to update to let you know what we've been up to lately.

We've really been enjoying our wonderful summer days together. Joel has been working on projects around the house. Currently he is repainting our kitchen cabinets. It's a little bit of a mess in the kitchen, but sometimes it's handy to not have any cupboard doors!

I have spent two mornings this week getting some last things done before the craziness of school begins. I spent one morning at school working. It's a funny feeling right now because I'm totally ready to begin the scheduled life again, and I'm excited to teach, but the reality of leaving my boys is setting in. I'm enjoying them so much!

Caleb is so cute at this age. He's starting to use more full sentences that are easier to understand. I just love hearing what that little mind is thinking about. He loves to pretend, and loves to make his little brother giggle! But my favorite part of Caleb right now is his singing. He is obsessed with the singing group Go Fish right now. They are an acapella group that turned into a kid-band, and they do fun songs that don't drive parents crazy! Our church just did their VBS program a couple weeks ago, and Caleb also has their DVD of music videos from grandma. So he bounces around the house singing the Bible Book Bop, the B-I-B-L-E, 10 Commandment Boogie, and a few others. He asks for them every time we get in the car too. I love it!

Micah is growing like crazy! He rolls over every time I put him down now, just so that he can reach some toys and play with them on his tummy! We tried rice cereal for the first time last night, and it went really well.

I'm trying to soak up each minute of these last couple weeks of summer. We've almost completed our summer wish-list! We made a list of the fun things we hoped to get a chance to do this summer as a family, so here are the things we've done:

Children's Museum
MN Zoo
Como Zoo
Mora Pool
Playdates
Rides at MOA
Fishing/Boat Ride
Strawberry Picking
Duluth overnight
Pool in backyard
Parade
Fireworks
Grand Forks to visit family
Bonfires in backyard

And the only things left on our list:

Burger Night (schedule for the end of August!)
Camping

We hope you are all enjoying the end of your summer as well!

Caleb-ese

Singing!

If you know Joel or I at all, you know that we're both pretty musical. Therefore, music is a very important part of life with our boys as well. We sing lots, play guitar and piano, and dance around the house to any random tune.

A couple weekends ago we took a quick trip up north to visit Joel's extended family, meet some new baby cousins, and introduce everyone to Micah. It was about a 5 hour car ride, which made me pretty nervous because Micah has not been the greatest traveler. But actually it went very well! When we hit that after-supper crabby time, I sat in the backseat and we sang! It was a blast - Joel and I were thinking of every camp song and Sunday school song we ever learned!

Caleb did eventually request our before-bed song - How Great is Our God. So enjoy a bit of our singing car time!

Training Wheels

I know every parent says this, and I didn't think I would find myself saying it so often, but Caleb is growing up so fast!

We didn't think he would be using his mini bike with training wheels (second hand from some friends) until next summer. But he has been pulling out lately and attempting to ride it. And now, he can do it pretty well!




Also, sorry I tend to blog so many posts together with long breaks in between! Keep reading the next few new posts!

Fourth of July

We had a very fun celebration of the Fourth. Joel's parents, brother, and grandma came over in the afternoon. The guys went fishing for a little while, and then we had a delicious meal together.

Caleb didn't get to go fishing this time, but he enjoyed sitting in the boat parked on the street just as much!

My hot hubby at the grill!

Yummy food!

(check facebook for many more pictures)

Strawberries!

The boys and I went strawberry picking with some great friends last week. We had four adults and six kids, but we still managed to get two bucketfuls for each family! We had such a fun time, and the strawberries were delicious! I even tried freezer jam for the first time with some of our berries, and it turned out great! I'm thinking this should be a yearly tradition!

Fishing

The week of June 21st was deemed Fishing Week. Monday Joel headed up north to a cabin on Hunter Lake with two high school buddies for some fishing. The boys and I joined them for a few hours Monday evening to take Caleb on a boat ride and let him swim a little. We had dinner together and Dairy Queen cake to celebrate Joel's birthday. The guys stayed until Wednesday.

Father Son Fishing = Priceless!

Then on Thursday, after bring Caleb to see the ENT (he will most likely get his tubes replaced in August), we headed up to Lake Vermillion to join Joel's parents at the White Eagle Resort. Unfortunately it rained quite a bit while we were there, but we still enjoyed time together in the cabin.

Micah enjoying the morning view of the lake out the front window of our cabin.

When the rain let up later on Friday, Caleb enjoyed the playground. That evening, Caleb and I joined Dave and Joel on the boat for a little while before bed.

Joel caught three walleye - 16, 21, and 22 inches! Too bad he had to throw the larger two back - they were in the slot. (I have a lot to learn about taking pictures of fish! Joel was quite disappointed that I didn't capture the whole fish!!!)

Caleb loved being in the boat, and did very well, but was a little nervous with those big fish flopping around in the boat!

Caleb couldn't be happier!

Beautiful sunset as we drove back to the resort!

And a beautiful full moon over the lake our last night there!