And we're off....

After packing up what feels like the majority of the house, I think we are finally ready for vacation.....we hope that everyone has a good week - I know we will!

Fingernails

Jenna HATES to have her fingernails and toenails trimmed, but I think I may have found a way to have her let me cut them w/o too much fussing. I told her that if she lets me trim them, I'd paint them for her, and that she'd get to pick out the color.....

She looks super cute with her little nails painted....next time my goal is to convince her to use the same color on both hands, but hey it's a start! Currently she has a bright pink on her left hand and foot, and a light pink on her right hand and foot.

Monday morning the kids were exhausted from such a busy weekend, so Bruce stayed home with them. We thought it was best to let them re-coup for a day at home relaxing and having fun with Dad. Plus, then they both got to sleep in. Andrew made it until 8:30, and Jenna until almost 9! From the looks of things when I got home it looked like they had a fun day. Here's Jenna playing Play-doh with her doll.

We had Andrew's hair cut on Monday, and after a hair cut they give the kids suckers....Jenna decided to put it in her hair! Luckily we didn't have to go get her hair cut too, Bruce was able to get it out.....not sure why she decided to put a sucker in her hair, but hopefully she won't do it again.

Here's a pic of the kids from last night (7/21) after eating freeze pops - do you think Andrew had a blue one?

We're off to the lake next week, so let's hope that the warmer weather sticks around.....I'd rather not be at the lake in July, and have to bundle up in sweatshirts & jeans every day!

Jackets in July, a Wedding and a Waterpark

Friday was a bit cool, especially for July....I'm not even sure we made it out of the 50's! It felt more like Spring or Fall than it did the middle of July. We had to wear our jackets to play group, and still ended up getting chilled. Hopefully we will be back to July like weather by the time we leave for vacation on Saturday (7/25). Andrew tested out his new paints on Friday while Jenna took her nap. Friday he did two masterpieces; the 1st was of a pirate ship in the water, with one good pirate and one bad pirate and there was also a goat jumping over the moon (not sure where the goat came from). His second picture was of two boats sinking next to a dock, which I think was from their bath that morning when they kept purposely sinking their toy boats.

Painting his prirate picture:

Earlier in the day (while we were eating breakfast) Jenna wanted to feed her baby. She went down to the basement, found the tray, then proceeded to buckle the baby in, and attempt to put the tray on. Saturday we went up to Elk River for a wedding. Jenna was a tiny bit antsy after sitting in the car, so she was pretty 'busy' during the ceremony. We told her that Chelsey, the bride, was a princess so she kept herself busy at the end of the wedding watching the princess. The kids were excited to stay in a hotel, and knew that on Sunday we'd get to go to the water park. Needless to say the question of the day was " Can we go to the water park now?"

Where's the water park?Jumping Jenna!

Joe was the last of the Robinson kids to get married. My parents and Art & Sue have been friends since tech school, so all of us kids grew up together, and are all fairly close in age. It's always fun to see everyone, and with 3 weddings this year, it's been a treat to see everyone so frequently.

The clan (Beth, Chris, Paul, Joe, Charlie, Kate, Jenn, Nick):The clan w/ their significant others (minus one)*:*Jenn's husband Bryce is serving over in Iraq right now

Andrew and Jenna had fun at the reception and dance. They had a photo booth where they asked all the guests to have their picture taken, then one copy was put in a guest book for you to sign, and you'd get to keep the other copy. Andrew loved the photo booth and was really sad to see it taken down. They also had a great table with lots of kids toys, color books, etc. to help entertain the kids while we were waiting for food....it was great, and I'm glad the my sister noticed it and took the kids over there. Jenna liked to dance, but her version of dancing was jumping up and down a few times, and running circles around the dance floor.

Jenna not eating:

Andrew teasing his Uncles:

Heading out to dance (aren't they cute?):

Jenna & Uncle Nick:

Good-night Hugs (it was after 11!):

Sunday morning the kids slept in, and they started the morning off with a pillow fight with Uncle Paul:

After eating breakfast we headed down to the water park. Bruce and I weren't sure how the kids were going to do, since the last time we had Andrew at a water park it didn't go very well, but they both LOVED it. Both kids even went down the Big slides. Andrew had fun going down the water slides with Daddy, Grandpa, and Uncle Paul, and even went down one that was pitch black at first (including a drop) and then dumped you into a 'mixing bowl' (as he called it). I was amazed at how much he enjoyed that water park. Jenna went down one of the big slides with Bruce and instantly asked to go again...unfortunately the lifeguard decided she was too little to go down the 2nd time we tried(after we climbed ALL those stairs), even tho she had just been down (we were just a wee bit irritated).

Andrew was sleeping before we even made it to I-94 (which was about 5 minutes), and Jenna held out a little longer, maybe 15 minutes. Both of them were exhausted from all the fun!

Jenna and her Tahoe

We dropped the Tahoe off tonight for an oil change and a few other things, and as a result Jenna had a huge MELTDOWN! We didn't think it'd be a big deal, so Bruce picked up the kids (in the Tahoe), and I met them at the dealership in the car. The 1st bout of crying started when Bruce went to go inside to drop off the keys...she started crying so he took her with. When they got back and he tried to put her in her car seat she started throwing fit, so he brought her over to the Tahoe to tell it 'bye'....then it took both of us to get her buckled in! She kept screaming "NO Ta-oh", arching her back and making it impossible for us to buckle her in (there were even big alligator tears). Once we got her buckled in we told her that the Tahoe was going to the Dr. to get a check up, it took a while, but she calmed down....she sure loves the Tahoe. We couldn't help but laugh, I think it was her biggest tantrum to date, and it was all because she wanted to ride in the Tahoe, and didn't want to leave it there.
*update* Once we were downstairs this morning, Miss Jenna started asking about the Tahoe again. I'm pretty sure she's going to be excited when we pick up today.

More fireworks

Saturday morning Jenna decided she was tired of putting stickers on herself, so she turned to the next best thing....poor Sadie. Good thing that she's a very tolerant dog.

Some of Jenna's work:

Jenna w/ her victim:

Saturday night our neighbors had their annual summer party. The kids both loved swimming in the pool, and Bruce and I enjoyed catching up with the neighbors that we don't see very often, and meeting a few that we hadn't meet yet. They hire someone to come in and put on a fireworks show every year, which Andrew was looking forward to. Last year they lit them off across the street, so we had to lay on the grass in front of our house in order to see them (Jenna slept thru it). This year they were a little further away, but still awesome to see. Jenna once again slept thru them, which was good since she doesn't like fireworks at all. We let Andrew do a couple of sparklers, then it was off to bed for Andrew and I, and Bruce headed back up to the party. We were both thankful that the kids slept in Sunday morning. Andrew didn't wake up until 8:30 and Jenna got up around 9 (which is much better than the 6:30 they are usually up!).


Barb and Russ came up for a visit today (Sunday), and brought the huge toboggan that Russ used as a kid (it's 7 feet!). Bruce and Andrew will be doing some sanding and refinishing of it before the snow comes back. I'm sure the kids will have fun using it on the sledding hill this winter. Barb made a delicious strawberry pie for dessert (a birthday pie), and home made whipped cream. Jenna only at the whipped cream and Andrew only ate the pie. We spent most of the day outside enjoying the perfect weather. We even ate supper on the deck, which hasn't happened as much as we'd like this summer.

1st Mommy day!

Friday was my 1st Friday home w/ the kids....we had a blast! We went to Lake Elmo Park in the morning for playgroup, and the kids had fun playing on the play ground. We had a picnic lunch with Amy, Brady & Aiden, then headed home for naps. I tried my best to keep Jenna awake until we made it home, but it didn't work. She was asleep before we even made it back to I-94 (about 2 minutes out of the park!). After Jenna woke up from her nap, we played in the pool for a while - it was fun day, and I am soooooooo glad that my manager let me go to 32 hours a week.

Here are some pics:

Snack time!

Jenna giving her babies a ride:

We went to DQ as a treat after supper, and on the way home the back seat got very quiet, when we looked back to see what was up, this is what we saw:

I took this as a good sign, and can't wait till next week!

Fun night

We had lettuce from the garden tonight w/ supper! It seems to taste so much better than the stuff you buy from the store. Both kids even tested it out. We also had a few raspberries that were ripe so Andrew and Bruce ate those. Jenna tried one, but spit it out pretty quickly.

Here's Jenna in her new hat:

Here's Andrew explaining coasting on his scooter to me:

If you are at our house and see this coming at you- RUN! She will run you over!

Jenna wondering why there isn't water:

Jenna & Bruce:

Andrew watering the Rhubarb (& Sadie):

4th of July

On Saturday Paul, Larissa and Daisy stopped by, then Chad, Christy and the kids came up and we enjoyed playing outside for bit...until it rained (more like monsooned) and cooled off. After things dried out a bit we headed back outside to play a little more and enjoy the 4th of July festivities. Mark and Rudy (his dog) also joined us for the evening. Jenna did not like the fire works and spent the majority of the night in Bruce's arms, with ear plugs in, looking a wee bit shell shocked. She now says 'loud' pretty clearly. Hopefully next year will be better for her. This upcoming weekend our neighbors are having a fire works show, so I'm hoping that she'll manage to sleep through it like she did last year. Here are some pictures from the 4th:

What happens when Jenna finds stickers:

I caught a parachute!

Are they done yet?

Ready for bed (10:45 pm)

Sunday I don't think we could have asked for better weather. It was so nice to have be able to be outside playing all day. Andrew spent the afternoon hanging out with the neighborhood kids, and Jenna spent a lot of time playing in the pool with Bruce. After they were done playing in the pool, Bruce and Jenna came out to the garden to help me pull weeds. Jenna is such a good little helper, and I don't think we lost any of the 'good' plants this time. Bruce ran the hose out to the raspberry bushes, so she spent a lot of time filling her bucket and playing with the water - it was pretty cute! We also lit off a few more fire works for the kids (& Bruce)....Jenna still wasn't impressed.

Hayward & a Birthday

We set off for Turtle Lake on Wednesday after work. Jenna insisted on sitting in the Tahoe the entire time we were packing, which meant she was tired of sitting in the car by the time we left. It just re-affirmed our decision to spend the night in Turtle Lake on our way to Hayward. At least she didn't scream the entire drive, just had little bouts of fussiness. Once we got to the hotel, the kids changed into their suits at amazing speeds, and we were off to the pool. Both of them enjoyed swimming in the pool, and Dad ran to DQ while we were changing into our jammies for night time snacks. We attempted to let Jenna sleep in her sleeping bag for the 1st time, but it didn't go very well. She fell asleep just fine (next to Andrew), but woke up at 1:30 in the morning crying, and instead of staying put she decided to start speed crawling around the room. I eventually caught her, and she settled down, but she slept between Bruce and I for the rest of the night (we didn't want her freak out again).

Do you think she liked the chocolate on her 1st doughnut?

Playing in the tub:

The next morning after the kids had fun playing in the Jacuzzi tub while Bruce and I got ready, we were off to Hayward. We had a lot of fun seeing (and meeting) everyone, and are glad that Bob and Mary were willing to let us spend the night. Mikaiya and Andrew had fun playing, and were up until 10:30 on Thursday playing in the sand. I'm not sure who talked more, but between the two of them there was constant jabbering, so we always knew where they were. It was fun to meet Emily and Braenna. Emily and Jenna are 6 months apart in age, and even tho Jenna was very much 2, Emily put up with her. Braenna tried her best to keep up with the big girls.

Jenna pushing Mikaiya:

Jenna pushing Emily:

Even though it was only in the 60's the kids wanted to swim (well at least Andrew & Mikaiya did), so we let them swim for bit. Jenna & Emily tired to go swimming, but neither one of them was very thrilled about the water. They both enjoyed throwing the rocks that Bruce would give them though.

Andrew & Mikaiya spent some time inside 'building a house' with the tools that Grammy gave them to play with.

Here's the best picture I got with most of the kids....and no I'm not sure why Andrew was sticking his tongue out.

Playing in the boat before we left:

Friday the drive home was uneventful (yay!). We stopped at a little restaurant in Shell Lake for lunch (they had awesome burgers), then got back on the road and the kids both took naps. Prior to our food arriving Jenna entertained herself by eating jelly.....she opened it herself! Usually she just plays with them (stacking, lining them up, throwing, etc. ), but not this time. Later that day we had a little cake, the kids helped me open my b-day present (a new camera!), and we went out to eat.