Fullerton Family Blog

Full speed ahead

2012-01-25T22:35:00.001-06:00

Mikey had a great Friday the 13th....he figured out how to crawl! He loves phones and that turned out to be his 'down fall'.....he just couldn't resist going after Bruce's cell phone. Prior to this he'd been scooting & rolling everywhere, which he seemed perfectly content to continue doing. Andrew & Jenna get a kick out of seeing him crawl & so far think it's pretty cool. Not sure they are going to think what comes next is so cool, but we'll see. He's already pulling himself up on things & loves to hold onto our fingers and 'walk'. I think he looks pretty darn adorable crawling, check it out:

Skating

2012-01-25T22:11:00.001-06:00

Since Andrew is testing out Hockey as his winter sport this year, the kids have been doing a lot of skating (at least it seems that way). I've been staying inside where it's nice & warm with Mikey while Bruce has been out skating with them. I hadn't really seen either of them skate this year so I was amazed when I stopped by the pond to watch them. Last year Jenna needed a chair & this year she's all on her own & is continually improving each time she's out. She's already announced that she's playing hockey next year (if she actually does is still TBD). Andrew could skate last year, but this year he looks more fluid & I was amazed at how comfortable he looks. You can tell he really enjoys skating.
Here are some video's I took (these are from a few weeks ago - they've gotten even better since then):

Here's Jenna (she fell on purpose....)

They've even convinced me to buy a pair of skates and learn to skate (wish me luck)...now it just needs to get warm enough to bring Mikey out in the snow & I'll be able to give it a whirl.

Rock Band

2012-01-23T21:54:00.001-06:00

Thanks to all the musical instruments the kids have, the Fullerton kids band is back in action.

Mikey was supposed to be playing keyboard, but had a hard time resisting the drum...must be something about those Fullerton boys & drums. I'm sure that there are lots of concerts in our future (we can't wait!).

Franklin Visits

2012-01-23T21:22:00.001-06:00

Franklin (Beth & Travis too) came to visit and it was fun to watch him explore. He liked following Sadie around and REALLY liked playing in her house. Here's a picture of Franklin checking out Sadie's house. Mikey enjoyed helping him open & close the door to the kennel. Every time Franklin would come out of Sadie's house, she'd go over & sniff him. It was as if she was going "nope, still not a puppy". Here he is in her house:

Children's museum

2012-01-23T21:13:00.001-06:00

Thanks to Aunt Lynn & Uncle Tom, the kids get to go to the Children's museum whenever they want (& time allows). We love that it's so close, and that we can go & not feel guilty about leaving after a few hours. After finding new homes for all the gifts, we took the kids to the mesuem to burn some energy off. They really enjoyed the story book exhibt. Since we have 3 little cookie monsters, we HAD to get their picture by one of their favorite books:

Here's Jenna checking out one of the cityscapes:

Andrew taking a break 'in' part of the book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom"

Playing with the magentic pictures to make a story (even Mikey joined in!):

A trip to the musuem wouldn't be complete with out stopping to paint their faces:

The last few times we've been at the museum the crane has either not been working, or the line has been super long so Andrew was really excited to get a turn running the crane.

Playing with the gears:

We had 3 very tuckered out kids by the time we left. Good thing Mikey still faces backward & is in his carrier :-) Apparently he makes a great pillow!

Bongers Family Christmas

2012-01-19T22:48:00.000-06:00

Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa's was a flurry of activity & trying to take pictures of all 3 kids and keep track of gifts got to be a little interesting this year. Good thing Mikey was still more interested in the paper than he was in opening gifts :-) Here are some pictures from the Bongers Family Christmas:

Andrew opening the presents in his stocking

Jenna opening her Santa gifts

Wow - a drum set!

Uncle Nick tuning Jenna's guitar for her

Mikey with his ride on toy

Jenna opening her pink gun (that way the boys won't use it!)

Our little present :-)

All the Christmas's gave us 3 tired kids by the end of the weekend. I had to laugh when I turned around to see who was still up and found all three sleeping. Good thing Mikey makes a good pillow!

Tired munchkins

Christmas @ home

2012-01-19T22:28:00.000-06:00

After all that fun opening presents at Grandma & Grandpa's the kids came home & got ready for Santa's visit. They sprinkled the reindeer food in the front yard, wrote Santa a note, and set out milk & cookies.

Santa came!

Opening their Santa presents

Playing with wrapping paper was WAY more fun than opening the presents

That Santa is one smart cookie...not only did Andrew get a Nerf gun from him, but Daddy did too!

Jenna w/ her doodle bear

Paper is still awesome

Jenna on her stick pony ( I just LOVE this pic of her, even if it is a little blury)

After opening presents at our house it was time to head down to Faribault to open presents with Grandma & Grandpa Bongers.

Fullerton Family Christmas

2012-01-19T22:07:00.001-06:00

We kicked off our Christmas festivities by spending Christmas eve in Owatonna celebrating Christmas with the Fullerton side. We started off with a delicious meal of BBQ ribs (sorry about the floor Barb!) and then moved on to present opening.

Here are some pictures from gift opening:

Andrew w/ his new spinning reel

Jenna w/ her awesome cookie set

Wow - look at all those buttons!

Andrew's cool new bow (he loves shooting it!)

Hmm if the xylophone makes noise, I wonder what these balls sound like?

Jenna w/ her Rockin' Barbie Guitar!

After opening all those presents we were all pretty tired, so we headed back home to get ready for a visit from Santa. Even tho a brown Christmas isn't ideal, it did make for easy travels.

Dancing Princess

2011-12-26T23:42:00.000-06:00

After 6 weeks of dance class, Jenna was ready to show off what she had learned. Her group did 1 tap dance, and 1 ballet type dance. She's the one in purple on the left. She's still singing & dancing for us! In other Jenna news she also moved up a level in gymnastics! She's was a monkey (age 3-4), but is now a tiger (ages 5-6) - yay Jenna!

Practice

2011-12-16T23:20:00.003-06:00

Mikey - 10 months

Mikey turned 10 months old this week (where does the time go?) so to help him celebrate we gave him an oppurtunity to practice for his 1st birthday.....with a mini cupcake. Based on how he ended up, I think he'll be all ready to go when his birthday rolls around!

hmm...what's this?

it's squishy...

tastes pretty good too!

yum, yum - can I have more?

A visit with Santa

2011-12-07T22:57:00.001-06:00

We took the kids to see Santa last week....Andrew and Jenna were super excited and planned out exactly what they would be asking for and how they were supposed to behave in order to ensure Santa would not only hear their request, but bring it to them for Christmas.
Mikey fell asleep on the drive over to Santa, so Andrew & Jenna went up talked Santa and got their picture taken (aren't they cute!).

While the kids were hanging out with friends that were there, getting tattoo's, and eating cookies Mikey woke up. After a bit, we thought we'd attempt a picture of all three kids....let's just say Mikey was NOT impressed with Santa.

(pure terror)

(can you hear him screaming?)

The saving grace is that he's too young to remember this, so hopefully we won't have to pay for therapy when he's older (hehehe). Yep, we managed to get the classic kid with Santa pictures (thanks Mikey!). Mikey kept an eye on Santa for the rest of the time we where there...you never know when he might come over & attempt to talk to you :-)

Thanksgiving

2011-11-29T21:28:00.001-06:00

We kicked off Thanksgiving week with a Thanksgiving "feast" at Jenna's school. She was very excited that all the grandparents were going to come to her school.

Can't tell she was excited can you?

Everyone getting ready for the feast:

Being silly in her classroom:

This year we ended up only getting to see the Bongers family, Grandma & Grandpa Fullerton were under the weather so we didn't get to see them. The kids enjoyed hanging out with everyone. Here Mikey eating some of the turkey that uncle Paul made in his smoker. Mikey loved the turkey & ate a ton of it! It was fun to see him in my highchair too :-)

Here are Mikey & Martin playing. Franklin was in the mix too, but I wasn't able to get a picture with all 3 little boys.

It wouldn't be a holiday if we didn't attempt a picture of Grandma & Grandpa with all the grandkids....good luck getting everyone to not only look at the camera, but have their eyes open & be smiling at the same time!

We also got to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. Jenna was very excited to be able to sing him happy birthday, and both kids enjoyed blowing out the candles. Mikey seemed to like the cake too, especially the frosting :-)

Rock Star Princess

2011-11-29T21:14:00.001-06:00

While Bruce was hunting Jenna put on a concert for us....she was a Rock Star Princess.

It cracked me up that every time the guitar stopped playing she'd stop singing. There were many performances over the course of the weekend, and apparently only the fireplace is an appropriate stage for a rock star princess (I offered up the couch). There were even a few songs that she demanded her adoring fans (Mikey & I) joined her on stage, and of course we obliged.

Although most of her songs are all made up, she does love to sing. Lately her choices for songs have been the Christmas music she is learning for the daycare program or preschool program. I've been attempting to capture it on video, but haven't been able to get it yet. Some of her lyrics are pretty entertaining.

We're back!

2011-11-15T22:09:00.011-06:00

After a crazy busy summer & start to the school year, I'm going to attempt to do a way better job about posting. Thanks to those of you that have inquired about the lack of posts, it reminds me that people do read this, and they want to know how the kiddo's are doing and what we've been up to.

Over the summer we were able to spend some time at the lake a few different times. All of them were fun, and we are looking forward to spending time at the lake again next summer. Mikey proved that he's a trooper and seemed to enjoy the lake just as much as the rest of the us, altough he wasn't too fond of the life jacket, but I think that is only because he can't lay down very well in it.

So let's see.....In late August and September we had a lot of 1st's. Mikey's 1st Twins game, 1st days of school, Mikey's 1st trip to the state fair and the start of a new daycare.

We took the kids to an evening game the week school started. Everyone was super excited, including Mikey. All the noise didn't go over so well with Mikey, but thanks to the wonderful people at Target field, he was outfitted with ear plugs, and then proceeded to sleep thru most of the game. Here are Andrew & Jenna posing with Kilabrew:

Here's Andrew on his 1st day of school. Hard to believe we now have a 1st grader!

Mikey was sleeping so he's missing, but here are Andrew & Jenna on Andrew's 1st day:

The next day was Jenna's 1st day of Preschool! She was super excited about going to school.

Andrew & Jenna all ready for Jenna's 1st day:

Then on Labor day weekend, we braved the crowds at the State Fair with the Ihrke's (which is becoming a yearly tradition). Here are the kids waiting (almost patiently) for their Sweet Martha's cookies:

After spending 6 years at the same daycare, she let us know in mid-August she was closing so she could move back to Nebraska to be closer to her parents. Once over my shock, I realized I only had 3 weeks to find someplace for both Jenna & Mikey! Placing an infant in 3 weeks is no small feat, but we were super fortunate and found a place. We feel very lucky to have found Matt, and the kids seem to really like it there. Yes, you read that correctly the kids are going to a daddy daycare...he's awesome. They even go on field trips, which is unusual for an in home daycare. Here's a picture of Mikey all ready to go for his 1st day at Matt's:

We decided to let all 3 kids take a bath together...Mikey LOVES the water, and seemed to enjoy splashing even more when he had an audience. He still seems to think his sibling are the best things ever, and they still adore him (we're pretty lucky!).

Thanks to Grandpa Bongers, Andrew has been using Uncle Paul's old bow to fine tune his archery skills (well....maybe develop skills...). He loves shooting the bow and is getting really good at it.

Jenna dotes on Mikey most of the time, and seems to firmly believe she needs to be his main source of entertainment. While 'shopping' one day it was determined that he could fit in the cart...he enjoyed the ride. What this picture didn't capture is that Sadie was following her around like a little mother hen, not sure if the dog thought she could catch Mikey if the cart tipped over or what, but she appeared very concerned about the whole situation.

Our leaf pile is no where near what most peoples are (especially the grandparents & Uncle Paul's) but the kids still had fun running & jumping into them. They did get to jump into leaves at Grandma & Grandpa Bongers house, and really enjoyed the big pile there.

Here are the kiddo's on Halloween (Andrew - Captain Rex a clone trooper from Star Wars, Jenna - Super Girl, and Mikey - Yoda):
I love this picture of Mikey. As I said earlier, he LOVES the water:

Here's a picture of all 3 kids, Mikey is obsessed with chewing on his fingers, and when he wasn't chewing on his fingers, he was pulling Jenna's hair. Never a dull moment!

After a fun day playing at Matt's (daycare) Mikey was too tired to finish eating...he feel asleep between bites!
Okay...that's it for now. I hope you've enjoyed catching up a little bit!

Mikey's 1st day

2011-05-31T12:21:00.004-05:00

Mikey started daycare with Jenna, and so far things have gone really well. Jenna seems to enjoy having Mike there with her, and I'm sure he's comforted (or at least entertained) by having her there. Here are some pictures from his 1st day at Melissa's:

'Big' boy...all ready to go:

One last snuggle:

On the way to Melissa's Jenna explained the 'rules' to Mikey, it was pretty cute. He's one lucky little boy to have constant entertainment in the form of Jenna. He's either going to think it's completely normal to have someone constantly talking to him, or he'll be deaf in one ear; guess we'll have to wait and see! Now if we can just get him to not have blows outs everyday while at daycare.....

Monster Cookies & Monster Smiles

2011-05-30T22:42:00.004-05:00

With some of the loot from Easter we made Monster cookies, here are some pictures of Andrew & Jenna helping:

Their favorite part of helping bake....licking everything of course!

Showing a little sibling love:

And here's the monster smile that Mikey loves to flash:
He loves to play patty cake, which is what he was doing in the picture. He's still a very happy little guy, and he adores his siblings so we get to see lots of smiles :-)

Easter (Part 3)

2011-05-30T22:32:00.005-05:00

After all the fun in Owatonna, we headed to Faribault to have Easter with Bongers. That Easter bunny was extra busy in Faribault...he hid eggs for all the grand kids and since Andrew & Jenna are the only ones that are walking, they got to find all the eggs!

Jenna hunting for eggs:

Andrew searching:

Mikey chillin' with Grandpa Vern:

Grandma Dee with all her great grand kids:

After all this Easter, everyone was pretty tuckered out....now to find hiding spots for all the candy.....

Easter (Part 2)

2011-05-15T15:11:00.006-05:00

After Easter morning at our house, we headed to Owatonna to have Easter with the Fullertons. Here are some pictures from the day:

listening to the letter from the bunny:

Mikey all ready to help out with the hunt:
And they're off!
Wow...look at all those eggs!

Testing out his airplane (cool!):

Take off.....

Jenna walking Sir Thor:

Jenna & Sir Thor's walk didn't end very well...luckily Uncle Tom was there to grab the leash just as Thor & Jenna were buzzed by the airplane. Pretty sure that Thor will never be a fan of the airplane, and thankfully Tom saved Jenna from a trip across the yard w/ Thor.

Easter (part 1)

2011-05-15T14:44:00.004-05:00

The kids really enjoyed getting ready for the Easter bunny this year, and loved dying the eggs. Along with dying eggs, Easter bunny prep at our house this year also required a clean playroom & clean bedrooms; otherwise the bunny wasn't going to come. Good thing he let mom & dad know the new rules, otherwise our house may have been skipped.

Here are the kids all ready to dye eggs:

Waiting (almost patiently):
Checking the eggs:

All that hard work paid off, the Bunny came! Since Andrew & Jenna were a flurry of activity, Mikey was the only one slow enough to get a picture of....which I'm sure will not be the case next year :-)

Next up - Easter @ the grandparents. Mr. Easter Bunny was busy.....he hid eggs, baskets & presents for the kids at their houses too!

2 months

2011-05-14T16:12:00.004-05:00

Here are some pictures of Michael on his 2 month birthday. I'm going to attempt to remember to have the giraffe next to him in all his 'month birthday' pictures to show how big he's getting.

Spring! (or so we thought)

2011-05-02T15:53:00.003-05:00

Back in April we had what we thought was the start of Spring (it only lasted a day), so of course we hit the backyard. There was t-ball to be played, running/dancing to be done & of course bubbles to be made.

The boys practicing t-ball:

Mike kicking away making bubbles:
Jenna running around/dancing, just enjoying the warmth:

When we went back to the rainy, cold weather we were all sad....come on spring, where are you?

Bucket head & Tummy time

2011-04-27T22:47:00.005-05:00

The kids were able to take a bucket home from the twins game....so we had the revival of bucket head:
We've been working with Mikey on tummy time...only issue is that unlike most kids, instead of getting upset; he falls asleep!

Opening weekend

2011-04-27T22:25:00.005-05:00

We were very, very fortunate to be asked if we wanted to go to a Twins game against Oakland on opening weekend. Plus it wasn't 'just' an invite...Aunt Lynn won tickets for a suite, and invited us to join her. All of us were super excited & thankful that she invited us along. Jenna was really excited about getting to see TC Bear again, and Andrew was just excited to be going to a game. The only thing that could have made the night better, would have been if they won the game. Here are some pictures from the game:

Checking out the field:

Hanging out with Grandpa watching the game:

Where Mike spent most of the night:

One of the rare moments when Jenna actually sat down:

Happy baby:

We keep reminding the kids that this was a once in a lifetime thing, and that the next game they go to they will need to sit in their seats (which will be very hard for Jenna). Jenna loved the freedom of being able to walk around and dance and just not be seated. Andrew LOVED all the snacks Aunt Lynn provided. We were pretty sure that both kids would be asleep before we made it out of the parking ramp, but Jenna stayed awake talking until we were 15 minutes from home....I'm sure it had absolutely nothing to do with all the sugar she consumed....

Thanks Aunt Lynn for the fun night!

Pretty Please....

2011-04-27T22:12:00.006-05:00

We took everyone to the Sports show...the kids had a lot of fun checking out the boats & campers. They really liked the pontoons that had slides going off the back, and the campers that had lofts to sleep in. Then they found the 4 wheelers.....

After that it was all about the 4 wheelers. So if anyone is looking for birthday gifts (grandparents) here you go....Jenna wants a pink one, and Andrew would take just about any color but pink or purple.

(just kidding grandparents!)

Fun with Mikey

2011-04-17T21:39:00.002-05:00

Mikey is doing great. He is a pretty laid back kid, and already seems to be in awe of his big brother. Here are some pictures from his 1st month or so....

Crazy hair - this is what his hair looks like EVERY morning.....and it doesn't lay down!

Playing with Daddy, Andrew & Jenna: 1 Month old!

Checking out Andrew's bed; looks right at home doesn't he?Sadie & Mike taking a nap (he sleeps really well if we allow her to curl up next to him):Project time with Andrew & Jenna on a snow day:Talking to Daddy:

More Spring Break fun

2011-04-15T23:21:00.005-05:00

After getting back from the Dells, we went to MOA the next evening. Andrew wanted to check out the Lego store (he was awestruck).

Posing with Woody:

Cool! Then on Friday we were off to the Children's museum. Andrew was with us, he was just moving to fast to get any pictures.

It wasn't a trip to the beach which is what the kids were hoping for, but they had fun and were sufficiently worn out by the end of the week (Mom & Dad too!).

The Dell's

2011-04-15T22:56:00.005-05:00

Andrew was on Spring break the week after Mikey's baptism, so we headed to the Dells for a few days. The kids had a blast, and it was nice to relax & watch the kids have fun.

All ready to go:

Best part of a hotel room; Jumping from bed to bed of course!

Look close...even Mikey made the picture!

Little Miss, having fun in the wave pool:How Mike spent most of his time at the pool (kicked back & sleeping):Enjoying a ride on the carousel:

Wishing it was a real one:Water slide fun (Jenna's in there between Andrew & Bruce); you could hear them coming down the slide because they'd sing "you spin me round baby right round, like a record baby..." yes, the 80's tune, every time:

Much to Jenna's dismay we did not put Michael in the water....she only asked about a million and one times. Andrew & Jenna had a blast on the water slides, and can't wait to go back. Jenna also developed an obsession with dippin' dots.....and would pester Bruce at least once a day until he'd go get her some :-)

Baptisim(s)

2011-04-15T21:54:00.005-05:00

Cousin Martin lead the way for Mikey by showing him what being baptized was all about. Martin looked super cute in the outfit that Grandma Lila made for him; and we are honored to be his godparents. Here are a couple of pics from the day:

The next weekend it was Mikey's turn...he did great. It was a great service, and we felt blessed that everyone could join us for Michael's special day. Below are a few pictures from the day.

Michael in the outfit Grandma Lila made for him (on the blanket from great Aunt Doris); doesn't he look adorable?:

Michael with his godparents (Aunt Larissa, and good friends Chad & Christy) & Fr. Dan:

What do you mean I don't get cake?

Mikey slept thru most of his baptism, and enjoyed being held by everyone. Jenna is still referring to baptism's as "bath-tizers", and in true Jenna style was very entertaining.

When I grow up....

2011-03-15T21:29:00.004-05:00

Andrew had his Kindergarten concert at the end of February. The theme was "when I grow up..." and the music teachers asked each of them what they wanted to be when they grow up, and then you were supposed to dress the kids like that profession for the concert. Well I got the list and saw 'artist' behind Andrew's name. I was a little surprised that it wasn't football or baseball player, but didn't really question it. Then I started to find things for his costume and showed him what I was planning on putting together for him....only to have him get really upset that there weren't airplanes involved with the costume. Thoroughly confused I asked his teacher if she knew what was up...turns out that he doesn't want to be an artist. He wants to be a pilot! Not sure how an artist becomes an airplane pilot or vice versa, but after conferences (which is where we found out about the confusion) we had 3 days to come up with a pilot costume....Here he is, our future pilot:

Next year he says he wants to be a dirt bike racer.....hopefully I get more than 3 days to come up with that costume :-)

Introducing Michael Lee

2011-03-12T21:32:00.004-06:00

We were blessed with the arrival of Michael Lee on Tuesday, February 15th. He arrived at 8:32 AM weighing 8 lbs 3 oz and was 20 inches long. He had dark hair just like his siblings, and seems to be a pretty calm, relaxed kid so far.Michael arrivals finished off a crazy 24 hours at our house. We kicked off Valentine's day with Andrew waking up saying his ear hurt, and having one side of his face swollen...so off to the Dr. we went. He had an ear infection. Then when we picked up Jenna from daycare that night she said her ear hurt, so we took her to the minute clinic only to be told that they didn't have time to see her so we were left with no choice but to wait till the morning....I already had an appointment scheduled, so we figured we just bring her in with me. Well I went into labor at 1:30 in the morning, and we went to the hospital at 3:30. Grandma Lila brought Jenna to the clinic at 7:50 for her ear, and Michael was born at 8:32 AM....going to the Dr. 3 times in 24 hours made us very thankful for insurance!

New Cousin

2011-02-09T12:55:00.007-06:00

This past Saturday (2/5) Martin Robert arrived, and boy were the kids excited about their new cousin! We are very happy for Paul and Larissa and it was fun to meet Martin.

Happy Family:

Paul, Andrew & Martin:

Marty sleeping away (not sure how w/ his cousins in the room!):

Andrew holding Marty (he was so happy holding him, and didn't want to put him down!):

Jenna holding Marty (she did really well - thankfully):

Marty even decided to open his eyes for us, right before we left - what a little cutie!

There have been all kinds of questions at our house concerning Marty. Andrew wants to visit him so he can hold him some more and Jenna has been very concerned that he doesn't have clothes to wear (in the hospital he had a shirt & diaper and was wrapped in a blanket). Convincing her that Paul & Larissa dress him, and don't let him be in a diaper has been a task. She's very concerned he's going to be cold. She's also very concerned that Daisy (their dog) will knock him over, but we keep telling her that won't happen....the things she thinks of!

Meeting Marty has made the excitement over our new arrival increase...it won't be long now. He just needs to wait till next week when my Dr. is back in town!

Hot Air Affair

2011-02-08T11:56:00.003-06:00

This past weekend was the Hudson Hot Air Affair, and once again the kids enjoyed seeing the balloons. Unfortunately the weather wasn't very cooperative this year so the balloons did not launch. Some of the balloonist still inflated their balloons for everyone to see, which was very nice of them. Both kids were on the look out for the Wally balloon (it looks like Nemo), but seemed to like the big football too.

Jenna riding around in style:

After enjoying some hot chocolate, cheese curds, and mini doughnuts; the kids hit the playground for a bit; then it was off to Rochester to meet their new cousin.

Ice Skating

2011-02-07T11:09:00.005-06:00

Andrew has been out ice skating a few times now this year, and Jenna has been insistent that she can skate too.....so Bruce took them both out, while I sat on the sidelines. Both of them did great. I was impressed by how much Andrew has improved, and Jenna's determination paid off and she did way better than either Bruce or I expected. Here are some pictures that I took from the sidelines:
Towards the end Jenna would climb up on the chair and Bruce and Andrew would push her around. It was pretty cute to watch Andrew skate around the pond all the while pushing Jenna on the chair....then Daddy would take over and give her a big push that would cause her to go sliding across the pond and she'd sit and giggle.
Now they keep asking when I'm going to go skating with them....1st I should probably figure out how to ice skate! Not sure how I managed to live in MN growing up and never learn to skate, but I did.

Painting

2011-02-04T22:49:00.004-06:00

The kids have been great helpers when it comes to getting ready for the baby. One of the projects that they've helped with recently was painting....They did great!

Andrew explaining to Jenna what needed to be done:

Hard at work:

After painting they helped put up the wall decals. Andrew also helped move the cradle, dresser, and nightstand into place. It's fun to see them get excited about the arrival of their new sibling.

Daddy's Home!!

2011-01-31T23:28:00.007-06:00

After a little over a week of Bruce traveling for work, we were very excited to have him back home. One of the kids favorite things about Bruce traveling, is getting to pick him up at the airport. Here are some pictures from the airport:

Jenna & Daddy (just a little excited!):

Another favorite thing to do...bring Dad's luggage out to the car:

Once home, they LOVE helping him unpack (to see if they find anything for them). Here's Jenna discovering her Panda bear (in pink of course):

Andrew got a remote control helicopter:

Daddy & Andrew testing out the Helicopter (not sure who was more excited):

Helicopter in flight:

The Helicopter is still a big hit, and Andrew is getting really good at flying it. It will be fun this summer to see how high it can go outside. Jenna loves her Panda, and looks adorable in the little silk dress that Daddy brought home for her. Happiest of all about Bruce returning was Sadie. I don't think she liked that she had to wait for me to get downstairs w/ the kids before feeding her since that was typically an hour later than when Bruce would feed her (he feeds her 1st thing in the morning)!

Wrestling

2011-01-31T21:37:00.009-06:00

This year for his winter activity, Andrew is in wrestling. He had his first tournament in January and had a lot of fun. We've enjoyed watching him learn the various wrestling moves, and I think it's been good for him too :-) Here are some pictures of Andrew at the tournament. As you can see he was very excited, and spent the whole day smiling.

Andrew with some buddies (trying to be tough!):

Wrestling:

Showing off his medal:

Even after a long day, he was still all smiles, and still as proud as ever:

We had a very, very busy day with Andrew's 1st wrestling tourney, a shower for Larissa, and Bruce traveling for work. Grandpa Vern came up and helped at the wrestling tournament and made sure our little wrestler was well taken care of complete with ice cream as a treat afterwards (yum!). Grandma Lila & Katelyn helped with the shower so Jenna and I could watch Andrew wrestle 2 out of his 3 matches. Jenna was such a proud little sister...she was quite the cheerleader at the tournament, and loved helping Auntie Larissa open all the gifts.

Sledding

2010-12-30T22:21:00.005-06:00

The Monday after Christmas we met up with a few families from Andrew's preschool class to go sledding. The kids had fun catching up with each other, and the hill was the perfect size for the kids....not to fast, yet big enough for a long run.

Speedy:

Making their way back up the hill:

Buddies:

Classmates:

Warming up with some hot chocolate:

After 2 hours of sledding, it was time to go home (since the adults were starting to get chilly & it was getting to be nap time for the younger ones). Everyone had a lot of fun; it was a great way to spend the morning!

Bongers Family Christmas (2010)

2010-12-30T21:55:00.004-06:00

After opening gifts at our house on Christmas morning we went down to Grandma & Grandpa Bongers to celebrate with them.

Opening the gifts that Santa left in their stockings:

Andrew opening his present from Santa (the firetruck Lego set):

Jenna & Grandma checking out her new Zhu Zhu pet hotel:

Jenna helping baby Frank check out his new toy:

Mr. Construction with his new cement mixer:

Jenna wearing both dress up dresses she received, while checking out her new Fairy from Aunt Beth:

The kids enjoyed spending time with their aunts & uncles, and their cousin. Jenna had baby Frank smiling & cooing at her (even tho she didn't realize it). They were pretty tuckered out when we left, which translated into sleeping in until 8 the next day!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-29T22:01:00.011-06:00

After sprinkling the reindeer food in the front yard, picking out the perfect cookies, and writing Santa a note, Andrew was ready for bed on Christmas eve. Jenna fell fast asleep on the way home from Grandma & Grandpa Fullerton's house, and there was no waking her up. We made the request that they stay in their rooms until 7, and at 7 on the dot, we had too little blondies in our room asking if they could go downstairs to see if Santa came.

Sprinkling the reindeer food:

Santa came!

Just a little happy about his Leapster:

Jenna with her doll house.

Still playing....had to convince her to open other presents:

Andrew explaining his 'awesome' gift to Dad (they get to make a birdhouse together).

Jenna in her new dress-up outfit & flower hat, testing out her new magna doodle w/ Andrew

How we found Andrew for most of Christmas day (playing his Leapster):

Merry Christmas!

Fullerton Christmas

2010-12-29T20:49:00.010-06:00

We spent Christmas eve celebrating at Grandma & Grandpa Fullerton's house. After a delicious meal of BBQ ribs, we opened gifts, then of course spent time playing with everything! The kids were pretty tuckered out when it was time to leave.

Checking out her new shirt:

With his new hunting game that he loves. He barely put the box down once he opened it!

Showing off the adorable baby outfit from Lynn & Tom (there's a fish that wraps around to the back too - super, super cute! Can't wait to put the little guy in it)

Andrew with 2 of the 4 Airport Mouse books (yea new books!). We are all looking forward to learning about the adventures of airport mouse.

Admiring the nursery set for her doll house.

Andrew with his new binoculars (Dad might be 'borrowing' them from time to time - they are really nice!).

The kids in action....yep, this is how a lot of presents were opened :-)

Here's how the boys spent some time after all the presents were open. The video game was big hit with all the boys (young & old).

Christmas Crafts

2010-12-28T09:11:00.006-06:00

This year instead of buying something for the kids god parents, we had the kids make something. I hope it meant more to the god parents to know that the kids made it themselves, I know they were both really proud of the ornaments that they made.

Daddy showing them how to add the beads to the ornaments (they were stained glass):

Hard at work:

Santa

2010-12-28T08:55:00.005-06:00

The weekend of the big snow storm, we went out to the Hudson Y camp for breakfast with Santa, only to find out they had canceled the event (right before it was slated to start). Since Santa managed to make it out there, anyone that made it there was able to visit with Santa and have breakfast too. We weren't the only ones that made it out there, but I know it definitely wasn't the number of people they typically have. It was nice to not have to wait in line to see Santa, plus the breakfast was really nice too! We plan on heading back out there again next year.

Here are a few pictures from the visit with Santa:

Miss Jenna climbed right up

Andrew telling Santa what he'd like for Christmas (a Leapster).

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree....

2010-12-15T12:36:00.006-06:00

After weeks of asking (they started in early November), we put up the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. The kids helped, which although I can't claim made the tree go up faster than usual, they really enjoyed helping with the process.

Sorting out the branches by letter/color (they amazing well with keeping the piles separate):

Putting the branches on:
Here comes the top of the tree:

Adding the angel on top:Decorating proved to be a bit of a challenge with two helpers, but we managed. Here's the finished product after we thinned out the ornaments from the bottom ;-)

Sparkle Berry, our Elf on the Shelf, also came back this year after Thanksgiving, and the kids have been enjoying finding his new spot each morning. The day he took up residence on the light fixture above the table, Jenna ate really, really well....he may be visiting that spot often (hehehe).

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2010-12-14T13:34:00.007-06:00

Even with the 1st snow of the season, we braved the roads to help Grandma Barb celebrate her birthday. We ended up with a change of plans since Lynn & Tom were unable to join us, and also decided against driving to the Hubbel House for dinner. Instead we made the short trip to Timberlodge for dinner, and enjoyed the warmth of being inside versus in a car.

Here we are before dinner:

Grandma & the kids:

Opening presents:

Jenna (aka - bag head), what else are you going to do with an empty bag?:

Jenna spent a lot of time requesting that Grandpa spin her in one of their chairs....she loved it. After a while we told her no more spinning so she found dolls & stuffed animals and spun those in the chair instead.

No birthday celebration is complete without cake :-)

1st Snow

2010-12-14T13:26:00.002-06:00

So I'm a little behind on posting.....

Back in November the kids were ecstatic to wake up to snow, and not just a little snow, but enough snow to build snowmen, forts, etc. in. Plus it was warm enough to actually play outside for a long time (well over an hour).

Here's miss Jenna all ready to go (just a little Christmas Story-ish):

Snow!!

Building a fort:

It was so much fun to watch the kids play together outside. There were little 'projects' all over the yard. We had snow angels, snowmen, sled tracks, and the start of a fort. They were sopping wet, and tuckered out by the time they came in, but you could tell they had a blast.

museum

2010-11-15T22:08:00.005-06:00

After dance class last week Jenna said she wanted to go to the Children's museum, so we headed over to check it out. It was the 1st time that we'd been there w/o Andrew, so it was a little strange for me, but Jenna seemed to enjoy being able to go where ever she wanted w/o having to convince an older brother he needed to follow her. Here are some pictures from our visit:

Driving the bus:

Boat racing:

Checking out the slide in the beaver dam:

Getting her groove on, on the video screen:

One of her favorite parts of the day was painting her face at the spark cart....she thoroughly enjoyed all the color options, and was VERY proud of the job she did.

She wants to go back again soon, but says she wants Andrew to go with...isn't she sweet? So we're planning for a Friday evening or Saturday trip.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-08T22:25:00.006-06:00

This year Elmo & Batman were in the house for Halloween. Both kids loved their costumes, and it took convincing to get them off. We participated in the annual neighborhood Halloween parade, and the kids made out like bandits. The both made me laugh when people would let them pick out their own candy....each of them would carefully select 1 piece of candy, and would make sure it was something they liked. Most people looked at them like they were nuts since a lot of other kids would just reach in and grab a handful.

The neighbors joined us for the parade, and the kids really enjoyed having Macie ride with them. Macie wasn't too impressed with her costume, but seemed to enjoy the ride.

After the parade, Grandma & Grandpa took over and Bruce and I were able to sneak away for a bit. We enjoyed dinner out with neighbors, and the kids enjoyed their their time with Grandma & Grandpa.

Andrew & Grandpa had fun shooting Andrew's BB gun at some of the pumpkins. Both of them seemed to enjoy it. It brought back memories of going out to the gravel pit with my dad when I was younger to zero in his guns. Plus I don't know who had the bigger smile, Andrew or Grandpa.

We hope that everyone had a good Halloween, we sure did!

Carving Pumpkins

2010-11-06T09:20:00.007-05:00

The kids had a blast carving pumpkins this year. We were lucky and were able to grow the pumpkins in the garden, so there were 'big' decisions about which one each of them would get. Jenna chose the 'baby' pumpkin, while Andrew chose one of the bigger ones.

Jenna wasn't very impressed with cleaning the pumpkins out, and opted to have Andrew & Bruce do that for her. She loved that I gave her a marker to draw a face on the pumpkin tho.....he was a very marked up pumpkin by the time she was done with him! Side note - look she let me put a pony tail in her hair!!! She even kept it in for the rest of night - amazing, but apparently it was a fluke since she hasn't let me put anything other than barrettes in her hair since.

Andrew seemed to enjoy getting all slimy taking the 'guts' out of the pumpkins, and did a really good job cleaning them out. He insisted he carve his own pumpkin this year (we did help a little), so I was glad we had some safety knives on hand. He did a good job carving, although after we thought we were done, he decided to carve a big chunk out of the back of the pumpkin, which we weren't sure what it was supposed to be (that's why you can see thru the nose on his pumpkin).

The kids and the finished pumpkins

Almost spooky :-)

Out on the front porch with the pumpkins....Andrew was trying to hide behind them.

WI Dells

2010-10-17T21:07:00.007-05:00

Andrew had 3 days off of school last week, so we decided to make good use of it by taking the kids to the WI Dells for the 1st time. It was a blast! The kids are already trying to get us to go back right away. Here are some pictures from our time in the Dells:

With the Gorilla on the way to the water park:

Miss Jenna:

WaHOO! That was fun!

WEEEEEEEE:

Bruce, Jenna (she's between the boys) & Andrew on one of the raft rides (the kids LOVED it!):

Andrew on the flow-rider:

Family:

Andrew amazed us by wanting to learn to 'surf' on the flow-rider. He did awesome! We were impressed that he could even do it, let alone wanted to do it more than once since you WILL wipe-out. He's still talking about it!

Jenna took a while to warm up to all the water spraying everywhere, but once she got used to it she loved climbing up the play structure & going down the big slides (over & over & over).

Both kids liked the wave pool, and lazy river, and kept requesting to go down the raft rides. Overall is was a great way to spend some of Andrew's time off & it was a great kick off to the weekend!

Apple orchard & fishing

2010-10-11T14:08:00.008-05:00

We spent this past weekend enjoying the gorgeous weather we've been having. You really can't beat 80°F & sunny in October.

We kicked things off on Friday night with a bonfire, and had fun hanging out with the neighbors. Then Saturday morning we went down to our favorite apple orchard to pick up some more apples. We got there a 1/2 hour after they opened, and it was already busy! The kids played on the haystack & fed the animals. We had some yummy apple doughnuts, and went for a wagon ride. It was a great way to spend the morning.

Seeing "how tall this fall":

Playing on the hay pile:

Both kids enjoyed feeding the animals:

Wagon ride:

Saturday night we had another bonfire, and then Sunday after church we decided it was too perfect of a day to not spend at least a little bit of it out in the boat. So we went out on one of the local lakes for a few hours....it was really nice to not have to be all bundled up in order to be out on the water! The combination of the warm weather, calm water, and changing leaves was beautiful. The fish weren't very interested in biting, but we didn't mind.

Andrew even started to learn how to take fish off the hook (yea!). I think he liked the 'throwing' the fish back part the best.....be sure to look at the left hand side of the picture were it looks like he threw something - that black thing is the fish!

Fishing with Mom:

Sounds like we are in for some more great weather next weekend - we can't wait!

Grandpa's birthday

2010-09-29T23:31:00.005-05:00

We went up to Two Inlets to help Grandpa Russ celebrate his birthday at the beginning of September....it was a little chilly & wet to start with, but was still a fun weekend. Here are some pics from it:

Jenna, Grandpa & Turtle:

Playing some pinball:

Time for cake!

Look at all those candles!!!

Catch of the day:

Andrew 'driving' Grandpa's boat:

Check out that smile!

Andrew's 1st day of school

2010-09-07T22:55:00.009-05:00

It happened....Andrew started Kindergarten. He LOVED it, and has been waiting and waiting for school to start, especially since the kindergartners started the week after the older kids. Here are some pictures from his big day.

Bruce and I met the bus at school, and took some pictures of him heading to class too:

Here he is getting home from school:
Andrew loved school, and is excited to go again tomorrow. He had all kinds of things to tell us today, so we're looking forward to hearing about his day tomorrow. Jenna didn't seem to notice that Andrew wasn't at Melissa, and instead loved that she got to sleep out in the 'big kid' area on a sleeping bag instead of in the toddler bed. I do think she missed him tho ;)

Twins (take 2)

2010-09-07T22:43:00.003-05:00

We spent the last day of summer (Labor day) at the Twins game....it was a bit cool & rainy, but our seats were just under an overhang so we stayed dry (yea!). The kids loved it. Andrew liked being closer to the field than last time, both kids enjoyed TC Bear, and Jenna loved all the clapping.

Ready to go to the game:

The golden glove:

Jenna holding her spoon so she could clap:

Andrew & I:

Post Game:

Next up - Andrew's 1st day of school....yep, he's officially a kindergartner!

State Fair

2010-09-07T22:06:00.006-05:00

We made our annual trek to the state fair this year, and this time it was with the Ihrke's! We were part of the record breaking crowd on the 2nd day, but it didn't seem all that crowded, so we must have been there at the right time. All the kids did great, and lasted way longer than we thought they would - 5 hours!

We had all kinds of fun while there....1st we needed to take a run down the big slide (it was a huge hit with everyone):

Then we visited the DNR building where the boys tested out their archery skills, and then everyone checked out the fish pond.

After that it was on to the Miracle of Birth center to check out all the baby animals. The kids got to pet lambs, ducklings, and a piglet.

After looking at all the babies, we checked out the swine barn to see the biggest pig in the state of MN (his name was Reggie, and he was HUGE), and the cattle barn to see how milking works, and to learn out how it goes from the cow to our fridge. Then it was time for a a snack break, so the kids requested Icee's. Jenna loved hers, but Andrew said he'd rather have a Yogurt parfait.

On the way to the Little Farm Hands area, the kids took a break to cool off in a sprinkler, and then got a little side tracked by the kid sized 4 wheelers & dirt bikes they found.

After checking out the Kemps area, getting Kemp's tattoo's, throwing baseballs to Joe Mauer (a cut out), and getting their pictures taken with him, it was time to check out all those John Deere tractors.

Everyone had fun, and we are looking forward to visiting the fair again next year!

Go Twins!

2010-09-02T10:47:00.008-05:00

We took the kids to a Twins game on Sunday (8/19). We had a lot of fun, and they lasted much longer then we thought they would :) Jenna fell in love with TC Bear and spent the entire game trying to find him, and Andrew just enjoyed being at a baseball game. He asked a ton of questions about just about everything he saw. He seemed very interested in all the work that the grounds crew does before and during the game.

Here are some pictures from our 1st Twins adventure:

In the elevator, on the way to the game
Andrew & I

Jenna & Bruce

The moon coming up (it was a night game)

Coloring to pass some time (she made it to the bottom of the 8th!)

Playing games

It was a fun night, and we all enjoyed our 1st outdoor baseball game as a family (Bruce has already been to a few games). The stadium is awesome, and the Twins won :) We're planning on heading back to celebrate Andrew starting school on labor day. This time the game will be during the day, so we won't have to worry so much about how late it's getting.

Dressing herself

2010-08-29T22:43:00.005-05:00

Sometimes the outfits that Jenna picks out, work, other times, not so much. Here's one of her recent outfit choices....and yes, according to Jenna it all matches because everything has pink in it!

Not one, but two shirts....

She even added stickers to her 'look':

And she did her own hair:

Eventually, we convinced her that she only needed 1 of the shirts, and just left the hair ;) Any one with kids, or grandkids will know she dressed herself, and most are sure to tell her she did a fantastic job.

1st Nephew/Cousin

2010-08-26T11:22:00.006-05:00

My sister & her husband welcomed Franklin Luverne into the world very early in the morning on August 19th. He's an adorable little guy, and we were all excited to meet him.

Beth, Travis & Franklin:

Andrew & Jenna w/ their cousin Franklin:

Jenna making sure baby Frank is okay:

The kids were excited to meet their only cousin, and are looking forward to the arrival of their 2nd cousin in February.

Slip, slide and splash

2010-08-25T14:14:00.008-05:00

We had some rain the other day....lots of rain, in a short amount of time, after days of rain, so our ditch flooded. The kids LOVED it!

They started out just running around:

Then decided to see if a boat would make it thru the culvert that goes under the driveway:

Back to more splashing, which at this point also started to include running and sliding (think slip-n-slide):

The neighbors even decided to join us :)

They were all soaked by the time they came in, but you could tell they were having fun!

Training Camp

2010-08-23T13:49:00.007-05:00

Bruce, Andrew, and Grandpa Russ headed down to Vikings training camp on the last day of camp. It was supposed to be the day before so Andrew could participate in the kids day activities, but he was running a temp & had swollen glands that day. Luckily with a little rest he was good to go for the last day, and everyone could switch their schedules around for the impromptu decision to head to Mankato.

He loved seeing the players up close, and was happy to 'show' Jenna and I what the coaches and players were doing at camp. He was also able to do a bunch of fun stuff like a practice agility course, throwing a football at a target, and jump in a bounce house.

Here are some pictures:

After all that football they boys took some time to head to the park with Grandma to feed the ducks (and this was only some of them!):

Here's some video of Andrew throwing the football at the target:

travel bag

2010-08-18T21:31:00.005-05:00

The kids enjoyed going thru the bag that the airline gave Bruce during his over sea's travel. Jenna loved the 'tights' (socks) that they had, and thought the eye mask was extra cool.

Here's a picture from the day after Bruce got back:

The kids were loving having their daddy back, can you tell?

Daddy!

2010-08-16T21:53:00.005-05:00

We went to the airport to pick up Bruce on Friday (8/6)....here's how it went:

1st we checked out the luggage carousels, I had to convince them that they were not merry-go-rounds since both kids wanted to go for rides. I didn't think that security would appreciate 2 kids going round and round with the luggage.

The we found some open seats, and did some more waiting and people watching. Pretty sure that anyone and everyone was told 'Hi'. Andrew also pointed out everyone that was really tall, had a wheelchair, walker, cane, or that he thought needed to be pointed out. We're working on that....I'm guessing it's a little bit of payback from the fat guy at the auction incident I put my parents thru when I younger.

Then we saw on the screens that the plane arrived so the kids moved onto watching everyone thru the glass.

Unfortunately the plane landed at a very busy time so there wasn't a portable walkway available for a bit, which meant there was no way to get people off the plane...which meant we went back to walking around the baggage area....then it happened....we turned around and Jenna spotted Bruce. Both kids did an all out run down the walkway to him- it was adorable.

Andrew, our little helper, loved pulling the suitcase along:

There were lots of hugs from Jenna, she barely let Bruce put her down (I think she missed her Daddy):

Once out in the ramp, the questions started; what kind of plane, did you get to watch movies, and of course - did you bring us anything?

Both kids got some adorable panda bears:

Jenna got a China doll (made out of wood):

Andrew got a Twins jersey (he's been asking for one):

Vacation

2010-08-11T21:46:00.007-05:00

We spent the last week of July at Belle Shores Resort in northern MN. We had a great time, and are looking forward to spending a week up there again next year. We had awesome weather this year, and were able to spend a lot of time in to boat, and on the beach enjoying the water.

Here's the week in pictures:

Seeing how far the squirt gun will squirt:

Out in the tube:

Bruce and Andrew with their bounty:

Superman & Wonder Woman even made appearances:

Fishing:The kids that participated in the fishing contest (there were more kids than this @ the resort):

One of our traditions is going to the Dorset House for Ice Cream, here we are ordering:

The kids & I with my big sunfish:

Wednesday night, the moon was really cool. It was orange. We've never seen anything like it. It was beautiful:

Thursday morning the kids participated in the minnow races:

Both kids loved riding on the fun bugs:

Andrew still loves to Kayak, and went out whenever he could. He's really good at steering and paddling this year, so we went out quite a bit. Jenna liked to go out too, but isn't big enough to got by herself so she would ride with Bruce or I.

Bruce with one of his fish. The kids got a kick out of this one because he jumped right out of the live well!All rested up after a great week!

Another highlight for the week was being stopped by the water patrol. He stopped us while we were out kayaking and paddle boating to give the kids a certificate for a free ice cream cone or burger at DQ (they each got one), just because they were wearing their life jackets. We thought it was a great way to reinforce that they need to wear their life jackets.

For Daddy

2010-08-05T12:24:00.005-05:00

This is post for Bruce.....he's been in China this week.

Here's a picture of the kiddos:

And here's a family shot from vacation last week.....

Up next - a vacation post from our week at Belle Shores resort, but that will wait until I find some time.....I have no idea how single parents manage. They must be exhausted all the time!

Random July pics

2010-07-23T08:27:00.004-05:00

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks (since Hayward, but before vacation). We've been having fun, and enjoying the warm weather with some days at the beach.

Miss Jenna showing off her swimming ability:

Andrew looking cool on his bike:

Jenna has been requesting to wear this dress a lot lately...she calls it her party dress:

Andrew and one of his friends during playgroup at the beach. They had caught some minnows, so they were making sure they had enough water.

After spending the day at the Lake Elmo pond swimming and having fun, we headed to Stillwater to get ice cream at Nelson's....YUMMY!

Hayward

2010-07-11T21:43:00.007-05:00

We spent the 4th of July weekend up in Hayward, and had a blast. We tested out the rental by owner option, and it worked out really well. The place we rented had a really sandy shoreline, so it was perfect for swimming, plus it was back in a bay, so even on the windier days, it stayed calm. They also allowed us to bring Sadie! It was a lot of fun to have her at the lake with us.

Andrew & Bruce made friends with the neighbors right away, which lead to Andrew meeting Maddie, their granddaughter who is his age. They played a lot together, and he ended up getting to ride a jet ski, be pulled on their tube, and go out in the paddle boat to look at the otters, and turtles that were in the bay. Here are some pictures from his adventures:

The other big highlight was getting to visit the Stampf's and Marion's every day that we were up there. The kids all did really well playing with each other, which allowed for the adults to catch up a bit ;) It was great to hang out the Cori and Teresa, and their families for more than a day (which is what we usually do). Here are some pictures from the weekend:

What he was trying to catch:

Andrew wanted to kayak, but decided he could improvise w/ my lounge chair instead:

It's a shark! Nope just Sadie:

Enjoying some ice cream at West's Dairy on the 4th of July:

Splashing in the puddles:

Andrew with one of his big catches:

Home Run!

2010-07-11T21:40:00.006-05:00

During Andrew's offical last game (we did have a make-up game after the 4th), he was the last batter during one of the inning....which means he got to hit a homerun! Here's our little all star running the bases:

He loved playing t-ball and is sad that it's over. Bruce really enjoyed coaching too. Here are some additional pictures of Andrew in action:

3 year stats

2010-06-25T09:43:00.006-05:00

Jenna amazed us by jumping percentiles (a lot) for her 3 year check. Turns out she's not nearly the peanut we thought she was :)

Here are her stats:
Height: 38 inches (75%)
Weight: 28 lbs (50%)

We think they were a little generous with the height measurement, but she does seem tall (or a least average) when around others her age.

She did great at the Dr., but I think that's only because she asked every single person she saw if she was getting shots, and they all responded "no" so she seemed okay with being there. Apparently our flu shots last year were more traumatic than we thought!

She also celebrated her birthday at daycare. Here she is showing off her 'crown':

3 years old!

2010-06-22T15:08:00.008-05:00

Jenna woke up on Monday morning and announced "I'm three, for real", and also reminded us that since it was her real birthday she wanted to go out for supper, and she got to pick where. She decided to wear her party dress (instead of the Birthday girl t-shirt I picked), and was lucky enough to stay home with Dad and Andrew for the day. After getting dressed, and waking up Andrew, we headed downstairs to open presents.

"supervising" car seat assembly:

Birthday Girl seeing if her new car seat 'fit':

Testing out the chalkboard side of her new easel:

Sharing the dry erase side w/ Andrew:
Every time we asked Jenna where she wanted to go out for supper at she'd give us a different answer. It was everything from McDonald's, Wendy's, Chilli's, Apple Bee's and Perkins. Somehow right as we were leaving she decided on Chipotle. We we're surprised, but happy that we didn't have to eat McDonald's :)

The kids got a little silly in the car on the way to Chipotle:

Here she is waiting for her quesadilla to cool down:

Jenna loves her new big girl car seat, and loves to put her window down:

Next up - pink cupcakes for the birthday girl:

I'm not sure why I waste my time making her cupcakes and/or cake...all she wants is the frosting. One of her favorite treats is putting frosting on a graham cracker.

Here she is picking the frosting off her cupcake:

She did take 1 bite of her cupcake.....

I think she had a great birthday, and liked staying home w/ Daddy for the day. She's turning into such a little girl, and is definitely not a 'baby' any more. She'll talk your ear off, and has her own opinions and ideas of how things are supposed to be, and is not afraid to let you know what they are. She's in her 'why' stage right now, which can be trying at times, but I know she's learning a ton. She also loves to ask people what their name is, which is typically followed up with "are you a boy or girl?" or "why?". She's our fearless kid, and I know her independence will serve her well when she's older. She's so full of energy, and is determined to live life to it's fullest, which is great. We are very blessed to have such a great little girl.

Birthday Party

2010-06-22T15:03:00.008-05:00

We had the family party for the kids this past weekend. They had a blast hanging out with everyone and playing with all their cool new toys. Jenna kept asking over and over when her Uncles were coming to see her, since she knew the party would start when they got there. Needless to say she was very excited to see Lynn & Tom drive down the driveway. Here are some picture from Saturday:

Jenna's Cake:

Birthday Girl:

Present time:
Blowing out the candles (it took a few tries, and a little help from Andrew):

Andrew w/ Uncle Tom & Grandpa, figuring out the new soccer set:

How Jenna plays Goalie (also why Andrew won't play soccer w/ her):

Jenna & Grandpa playing with the air rocket:

As a special treat the kids go to stay up extra late (10:30) and hang out at the bonfire.
Both of them loved it, but Miss Jenna was a bit of a handful the next day since she still woke up at 6:30. An early nap helped a bit with the tantrums, but we won't be letting her stay up that late again (at least for a while), it made for a long Father's day for Bruce.

Andrew's 5 year stats

2010-06-15T10:43:00.003-05:00

Andrew had his 5 year check up yesterday, and did great at it. He was very excited about this appointment because he knew it was also his kindergarten check-up, and didn't even seem nervous about the shots that he knew were coming.
He answered all of Dr. Dahl's questions, and didn't even cry when they gave him the shots (1 in each leg) just told me it hurt.

Here are his 5 year stats:
weight - 48 lbs (85%)
height - 46 1/4 inches or 3 feet 10 1/4 inches (97%)

Yep, he's going to be a tall kid, and if his eating habits this week are any indication, he's on another growth spurt! Uncle Nick better watch out, because he may have some company at his elevation in the future :)

Strawberries!

2010-06-10T12:15:00.004-05:00

Last night when we checked the garden, we saw something Andrew has been waiting for....a ripe Strawberry! He was very excited, and immediately ran up and washed it so he could eat it, and even did the same for the one we found for Jenna.

YUMMY!

After noticing Jenna walking on the lettuce & 'weeding' a green bean we asked her to sit on the side of the garden, instead of inside of it....Andrew joined her to keep her company, and silliness ensued. Shortly after this picture, wrestling starting, and from there it turned into Andrew giving Jenna pony rides :)
Different night, but look at the size of that strawberry! We've gotten a lot of store sized berries, so I'm hoping I can figure out what we did right, so it will happen again next year :)

5 years old

2010-06-07T23:08:00.009-05:00

Andrew turned 5 today (6/7), and couldn't be more excited! He had his day all planned out:

1) open presents before school

2) Get a birthday crown from Miss Cheryl, and wear it ALL day

3) Bring baseball cupcakes for treats

4) After school he wanted to go out to eat, and he wanted to choose where we were going

Luckily the day turned out just like he was hoping.

Here's Andrew w/ his b-day cake from his party on Saturday. He had 5 friends over to help him celebrate:Sunday night he wanted to see some fireworks, so Bruce obliged. Here he is paitently waiting:

Here's Jenna new accesorry for watching fireworks:

It didn't work....she still freaked out.

This morning Andrew opened his presents:

A blue light saber:

A flat bed w/ a combine:

and last but not least, a Red Rider BB gun:

We ate at Chilli's, and once we were home he showed off his crown:

Then it was time to try out his new BB gun:

Sadie decided that since there was a gun, she should show off her pointing skills (she did this for a really long time, apparently being around hunting dogs a lot has rubbed off on her).
After that, it was time for a birthday cupake:
He made sure he got all the candles on the 1st try:

He had a great day, and we can't belive that he's 5. It seems like just yesterday we were in the hospital meeting him for the 1st time, and introducing him to everyone. He's an amazing little boy, and we are very blessed that he's ours.

Memorial Day weekend

2010-06-05T15:44:00.009-05:00

For Memorial Day weekend we were lucky enough to make it out in the boat 2 out of the 3 days. We went to Demontraville Lake on Saturday, where Andrew tested out his new fishing pole. The lake is full of little sunfish that follow boats around, so he loved that he caught a lot of fish. He was more about quantity of fish, then size, so it was perfect. Jenna wasn't too into fishing, but enjoying watching the fish that we put in an ice cream pail for her to look at. She even dropped a few fruit snacks into the bucket as food.

1st fish with his new pole:Little fisherman:

Jenna 'helping' drive:

On Sunday, we went to Lake Elmo, and had a lot of fun. We got to fish, play in the sand, play catch, and test out the new tube.

Miss Jenna testing out the water:

Playing in the sand:

Who needs a boat when you've got dad!

Miss Jenna:

Playing catch w/ Dad:

Getting Ready to go:

Taking the tube for a spin:

Monday we went to a birthday party for a family friend, but prior to that, Jenna showed off her fashion sense. She got her shorts wet while helping water plants, so she needed to change her shorts, this is how she came down:

A little while later she came in from outside, with her play phone, and dress up shoes added to the outfit. She told me she was riding the lawn mower with Daddy....and NOT playing in the mulch....which based, on her tights, wasn't true: (she did admit to it, after I asked if she was sure she wasn't playing in the mulch - "well, maybe just a little bit" is what she told me)

We helped Isaac celebrate his 3rd birthday on Monday afternoon/evening. Here's the birthday boy with his cake:

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday:

The water rocket, was a huge hit with the kids and dads, and entertained everyone for a while.

It was a busy, but fun weekend. We all enjoyed being out in the boat, and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Spring Program & T-ball

2010-05-25T21:46:00.005-05:00

Andrew had his 1st T-ball game tonight, and also had his Spring program @ school, so it was a very busy night at our house. Unfortunately the baseball game and program were almost at the exact same times, so he didn't get to play T-ball for very long. He was there for the 1st inning, and had a blast. The dads did a great job of keeping the kids focused (as much as you can focus 4 & 5 year olds), and it looked like everyone was having fun. They have their 2nd game tomorrow (Wednesday) night, and Andrew is looking forward to being there for the entire game.

His Spring program was really cute. Each class wore a differnt color T-shirt, and they sang some really cute songs. The theme was spring rainbows, and due to short downpout (that missed T-ball but hit our house & school) there was a beutiful rainbow right before the program.

Here's some video of one of the songs (purple people eater). The kids were really excited about this song, not only becuase it's fun, they got to sing with a band :)

Jenna kept sneaking closer to the front, but eventually settle in the aisle with some other kids. She loved the songs, but we think her favorite part was clapping - she takes it very seriously:

2 Wheels!

2010-05-24T23:55:00.007-05:00

Andrew had a big accomplishment this past weekend - he decided it was time to ditch the training wheels.

Here's his 1st run down the driveway:

And here he is on the way back down:

We couldn't be more proud of him! It was so cool to see him try something he was so nervous about and succeed. He had a permanent smile all weekend :)

Happy Birthday Dad!

2010-05-20T12:46:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday Bruce! He didn't get much of a celebration because we had a really busy day (plus he had to work on his b-day), but there was cake & ice cream, which made up for the crazy day.
After swimming lessons, we headed to Chipotle for a quick bite to eat, then we were off to T-ball. After T-ball practice (from 7-8) we headed home for presents, cake & ice cream. The kids did a good job of singing, then they decided to steal some frosting....I didn't catch Andrew in the act (he was too fast), but did catch Jenna:

Present time was next - the kids were happy to help open everything:We also were able to snap this quick picture of the kids....I thought it turned out pretty good:

Happy Birthday Bruce/Daddy!

Waiting for Daddy

2010-05-20T12:24:00.005-05:00

On Monday after the kids and I ate, we headed outside to enjoy the fabulous weather we've been having. Jenna opted for playing with water, while Andrew hung out in the sandbox w/ one of the neighbor boys. Here are some pictures of Jenna while she was playing, it was pretty funny to see, and I wish I would have taken video....she was playing house, so she was busy 'washing' windows, filling buckets, and just plain being silly (and yes, those are her dress up (click clack) shoes), she apparently needed heels on in order to 'clean'.

Then she spotted the Tahoe.... it was hard for her, but she did stop herself from running out to greet Daddy & Grandpa.
And covered her eyes while they backed down the driveway (apparently it was scary):
She very happy to have her Daddy, Grandpa, Tahoe & boat back:
Once everything was unpacked, she decided it was best to try to run all of us over w/ her 'bike':
If you are wondering why there aren't pictures of Andrew, it's because the boys told me they didn't want their pictures taken.....I did sneak in one tho, it shows perfectly why it took over 20 minutes for the sandbox toys to be picked up!

Fishing Opener

2010-05-18T22:36:00.007-05:00

While Bruce and his dad were up north fishing, the kids and I were back home having fun. We kept ourselves busy with tee ball, a play date, the daycare picnic, and Aunt Larissa's bag/purse party. Unfortunately I don't have many pictures....
Andrew's tee ball team scrimmaged the team that was practicing at the same time for the last 20 minutes of practice on Saturday. The kids did great, and it was really nice of the other dads to help out while Bruce was fishing. Andrew played short stop, and also got a really nice hit that went between the 3rd baseman and short stop. He loved the 'game' and can't wait for his 1st real game on the 25th.

After T-ball, Andrew went over to one of his classmates houses for a play date; while Jenna and I enjoyed a nice lunch on the deck. She also did 'art' while out there. Here are a few pics:

On Sunday we went to the daycare picnic, which was fun. We had to laugh at the kids, because when we first got there you could tell there was a little confusion as to why we were all at the park, and why all the parents were staying. The kids had fun running around with all their buddies from daycare, and took good naps afterwards. I remembered to put sunscreen on the kids, but forgot to bring the camera, so once again I don't have any pictures.

After naps, we were off to Aunt Larissa's for the ThrityOne bag party. Jenna was a little chatterbox the entire time, and Andrew ate like I hadn't fed him all day (he went back in for food 3 times!). They both loved climbing the tree in the back yard, and had fun telling Grandma everything they wanted (they must have done a good job selling too, since they're both getting something from the party for their birthdays).

Monday, I ended up taking Jenna into the Dr. since she was running a temp, and developed an awful cough over night. She's got a double ear infection....yuck. So far it hasn't slowed her down too much. She seems more upset about her runny nose then her ears.

Mother's day

2010-05-14T22:07:00.006-05:00

On Saturday we invited both families up to our house for dinner. After eating the kids started to check out the treat bags that Grandma and Grandpa Fullerton gave them, which lead to this:
Andrew was the 1st to discover that the container had a giant cookie in it....Thor was really hoping Andrew would share with him ;)

After snacking on their cookies, both kids remembered the giant lollipops that Grandma Lila brought for them, and moved on to those.

Jenna showed us that having a lollipop as big as your head, may cause a bit of a sticky issue (the dot on her forehead is sucker too):

After getting cleaned up, they took a break from playing to take a picture w/ the Grandma's and their Mother's day flowers:

On Mother's day the kids slept in a little (they almost made it to 7). While getting ready for the day, Bruce and I noticed it had gotten pretty quiet, so we went to check on the kids. Here's how we found them:

Andrew was 'reading' Jenna a book :) It was really sweet. They continued to melt my heart by walking downstairs hand in hand.
Andrew made a gift for me at school, so he was bursting with excitement/anticipation to give it to me.

He had planted flowers (zinnias) in a little pink pot, and also did a special piece of artwork:

I thought it was really cool. The flowers are doing well....even tho they spent a few days in a bag , and should be ready to plant outside soon.

We spent the rest of the day on Sunday buying and planting flowers, and planting the garden.

Carnival

2010-05-10T22:40:00.006-05:00

We started Mother's day weekend off by visiting the carnival that set up in town.

We tested out a few rides (the cars & Merry-go-round):

Tested our luck with the ring toss game (we didn't win):

Then before it started raining, and we needed to head home, the kids got to pick out a snack/treat....

A GIANT pickle:

And a hand battered corn dog:

School Carnival

2010-05-06T22:54:00.003-05:00

Andrew's school had their annual spring carnival. The kids had a blast playing the games, jumping in the bounce houses, and visiting the animals in the petting zoo.

Here are some pictures of the kids with the animals at the petting zoo:

Jenna getting brave and attempting to pet a goat

Petting one of the bunnies (he was huge!)

Andrew and his buddy Jarrett. It was their goal to pet each of the animals....they almost made it, neither one of them was willing to pet the turkey :)

One of Andrew's classmate's dad makes ice sculptures. Here are the kids with the sculpture he made for the festival (it was inside during the carnival, this was taken after).

The kids had a lot of fun, and it helped the school raise enough money so they can build an outdoor play village (yay!).

Little cutie

2010-05-06T22:38:00.004-05:00

Miss Jenna wanted pig tails the other morning (a rarity). She doesn't let me put them in very often, so I was surprised she actually sat still long enough that they were semi straight! Isn't she a little cutie?

Worm picking

2010-05-06T22:24:00.005-05:00

It's been a little rainy lately, which has given the kids lots of opportunities to play outside in their raincoats & rain boots. Here are some pictures from when they decided to pick up worms from the driveway.

These were taken after Jenna decided to stop stomping on them.....it was a bit hairy at first with Jenna insistent that all worms needed to be squashed, and Andrew intent to 'rescue' them from the rain, and being squashed by his little sister. Jenna would spot Andrew heading for a worm and would then proceed to race him to the worm and stomp it with her boots. Eventually we convinced her that worms were not evil, and did not need to be squashed.

Just add water

2010-04-26T12:57:00.006-05:00

It all started when they asked if they could play with their new water tubes/squirters (or water crayons as Andrew calls them)....so it started with filling buckets of water, and then silliness ensued:
In the end the outside of the house, sidewalk, garage floor, car, Tahoe, Barbie car, and both kids were soaking wet, but they sure had fun :)

friends, fires & firetrucks

2010-04-19T13:18:00.005-05:00

On Friday night we had some friends from the town homes over for supper. We were hoping to be able to have a bonfire, but the wind had other plans in mind. Instead we grilled out, had fun catching up, and watching the kids play.

Uncle Paul & Daisy also came up and stayed with us. He brought up his new boat for us to check out, and then on Saturday Paul & Bruce took the boat out on the river. It sounds like they had fun fishing, and the kids got a kick out of his boat. There were all kinds of questions, but my favorite came from Andrew. He asked Paul "How come your boat has sparkles in it?" Paul told him that the only way Aunt Larissa would let him get a boat was if it had sparkles in it - he seemed okay with that answer! It's a Nitro bass boat, which is why it has sparkles it, I just thought it was funny that out of all the things he could notice, he noticed that.

Here are 2 pictures from their trip. The shinny silver fish is a Gar (for those of you that may have been wondering). It looks a bit prehistoric.

Early in the afternoon on Saturday I noticed a lot of smoke coming from behind one of the neighbors houses, but saw that they were burning their tall grass/weeds, so I didn't think much of it. As the day progressed the smoke/fire moved right along the line of houses. The smoke was pretty thick at times. This is what it looked like from our driveway:
We're not sure what happened, or who called, but the fire department showed up, so the kids were ecstatic to see this:They burned a few acres of weeds/tall grass; they had let the fire department know, so we're not sure why the trucks showed up, but it did cause some excitement :)

On Sunday night, we had dinner over the bonfire (per Andrew's request). Andrew had been asking all week to cook a hotdog over the fire, so he was happy to finally get the chance.

Jenna could have cared less about cooking hot dogs over the fire, and was much more interested in eating marshmallows and chocolate (and refused to eat them in the s'more version).

We ended up having an impromptu get together with the neighbors, along with the bonfire, which was a lot of fun. You can tell that it's spring - everyone is happy to be outside and seeing people again!

Kindergarten Orientation

2010-04-12T23:05:00.003-05:00

After having a fun weekend, we got to start off the week, with something pretty exciting for Andrew - Kindergarten Orientation. The parents got to sit & listen to things about what our kids days will be like, and what to expect once school starts, while the kids (20 of them) were in a classroom having informal evaluations done. Andrew was super excited, and did great. He didn't even seem to notice that we came back into the room to get him....he was too busy checking things out, and asking one of the neighbor girls about their trampoline :) We took it as a good sign, and that it shows he's ready to start school. He was the 1st one to go thru orientation in his preschool class, so once we dropped him everyone was curious how it went, and what to expect. His teacher said he did a great job answering everyone's questions. Right now his class size is expected to be 20 kids, which is double the size of his preschool class, but not as large as other classes (some have 29-30 kids!). There will be 4 classes of kindergarten students at his school, with 20 kids each. He's very excited about starting school, and keeps going over the time line of when he starts.....after his birthday, after vacation, in the fall....at least he's excited :)

Bongers Easter

2010-04-12T22:46:00.007-05:00

The 3rd egg hunt of the day took place at Grandma & Grandpa Bongers house. This time the egg hunt took place after lunch. The bunny did hide their baskets inside the house, so the kids were able to find those before eating.

Here's Jenna doing a puzzle w/ Aunt Beth (can you tell she likes puzzles?):

Once all the food was cleaned up it was time for the egg hunt to begin:
After the egg hunt the kids tested out their new water toys on the deck:
There was also time to fit in another game of baseball:Then we went out to the lake to check everything out.
The dock wasn't in yet, but the kids enjoyed looking at the water from it, and watching Dutch fetch sticks.
There were also a lot of different ducks on the lake, in the bay where the cabin is at, so Andrew had fun looking at them with Grandpa's binoculars:

Here's Jenna copying Grandpa (and most likely telling him how it is!):

By the time we got home that night we were all tired, from the long day. It was great to have such beautiful weather for Easter weekend. I know we all enjoyed being able to spend so much time outside.

Fullerton Easter

2010-04-12T22:32:00.005-05:00

The 2nd egg hunt of the morning took place in Owatonna. The bunny also left a note at Grandma & Grandpa's house letting the kids know which color eggs to look for, and where to look (outside of course!).

Here's Jenna doing a puzzle while waiting for brunch:

After brunch everyone headed back outside to test out all the new stuff the bunny brought :)

Easter @ home

2010-04-12T22:17:00.005-05:00

The kids had fun waking up on Easter morning and finding all the eggs and their baskets. The Easter bunny even left them a note letting them know which color eggs they were supposed to be looking for. Andrew carried the note around with him and made sure that both he and Jenna were following the instructions.

Here are some pictures from the morning:

Before heading to Owatonna and Faribault to continue the Easter celebrations, we got the kids to sit still for a few seconds & take a picture....aren't they cute :)

Jenna loves her new PINK glove, and Andrew's been using his new bat when ever possible. They were even able to test out their new umbrella's in the rain last week.

Easter Eggs

2010-04-12T22:05:00.003-05:00

Uncle Paul & Aunt Larissa came up and helped us dye Easter Eggs. This allowed the kids to dye lots of eggs :) Both kids did pretty good with letting the eggs sit in the dye, it was getting them out of and into the dye that made a bit of a mess. We ended up with a few cracked eggs, and Sadie had some green polka dots by the time we were done, but the eggs looked great!

Callie's Birthday

2010-04-01T08:39:00.008-05:00

Last Friday (3/26) we packed up and headed down to Chicagoland to visit Camille, Theo & Callie; we had a 2nd birthday to celebrate. We were very, very concerned about how Jenna was going to do on the 5-6 hour car trip, since she hasn't exactly done great on car trips. She amazed us, and was a complete rock star in the car - both there and back! There was no whining or crying the entire trip, which included a very long wait in a construction zone. Andrew did awesome as always, and didn't seem to mind watching SuperWhy (Jenna's choice) for the trip down. We had fun helping Callie celebrate. Here are some pictures from the party.

Birthday girl deciding if she should snag some fruit:

Her awesome birthday cake*:

Jenna & Callie playing cards:
Why are all these people singing & staring at me?

Blowing out the candles*:
Jenna waiting for cake:

* the cake was really cute, but Elmo was made out of Rice Crispies....well by the time we got around to singing happy birthday the house had heated up a lot (due to all the extra people), and he had lost his nose & an eye - oops! Good thing we could just stick them back in for a bit (you can kinda see the 'fix' in the 2nd pic of cake). It might have been a little traumatic for Callie if Elmo was sitting on her cake missing an eye & nose :)

On the way home on Sunday, the kids did great in the car once again, and this is how we found Jenna before we even hit the toll way:

She slept for 4 hours! All the partying must have worn her out. After a stop for lunch the kids were ready to go again, here they are already being silly & entertaining themselves:

Bruce's trip

2010-03-23T21:35:00.003-05:00

Bruce's trip to China (for work) was canceled! YEA! The kids and I were happy that we didn't have to bring him to the airport on Friday, and it made for a whole weekend with absolutely nothing planned!

On Saturday we went to the Y to go swimming for a while in the afternoon. The kids love open swim, and are getting braver and braver in the water. Jenna discovered just how much fun it is to jump in the water, and then proceeded to jump in over and over and over again (my arms started to get tired from all the catching!). Andrew even decided to test out jumping in the water, and showed off his back float, and doggy paddle. After all that swimming the kids worked up an appetite, so we headed over to Applebee's. When the waiter asked what everyone wanted to drink, Jenna surprised us all by answering "beer". We talked her into milk. The waiter seemed to get a pretty good chuckle out of it; I'm guessing that he doesn't get an order for beer from a 2 year old very often.
On Sunday Grandpa & Grandma Bongers came up. The kids enjoyed wrestling with Grandpa. It was fun to watch and brought back memories of my siblings and I doing the same thing.

After wrestling, the kids headed to Target to pick out their Valentine's day presents with Grandma and Grandpa, while Bruce and I did a little shopping for the Easter bunny. Andrew picked out a Helicopter toy, while Jenna decided on a Doll (with a ton of accessories), sparkly Hello Kitty sandals, and a puzzle. Both kids also picked out bubbles. Jenna insisted on getting the doll out of the box as soon as she was out of the store, and then carried it around with her for the rest of the night. Andrew took his helicopter out in the restaurant while waiting for the pizza to arrive....and has been playing with it since. We're already on our second set of batteries.

We hope that everyone had a good weekend and is able to enjoy all the nice weather we've been having. I know we've been enjoying being able to go for walks at night, and the kids have been loving that they can play outside while we get supper ready.

Leprechaun visit

2010-03-17T21:10:00.004-05:00

When I picked the kids up from daycare today, Andrew greeted me with the following "MOM, guess what?!? A leprechaun pooped in my house!" Slightly confused, and trying to figure out why poop was a good thing, a few questions later it all made sense (kind of).
The kids made leprechaun houses out of Kleenex boxes today, and at some point (nap time most likely) the little guy visited and left treats in each house (1 house per kid). The kids spent project time decorating their house with paint, glitter, sparkles, etc. and Andrew has a 'if a little is good, a lot is better' philosophy lately when it comes to paint (& glue) so some of his treats ended up w/ a little bit green paint on them....or as he was calling it Leprechaun poop. Which is green by the way (in case you were wondering). If you ask him how it happened, his explanation is that the leprechaun was so excited by how cool his house is, that he pooped (out of excitement of course).
Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

65 & Sunny

2010-03-16T08:47:00.006-05:00

What do you do when it hits 65° in WI in March! Spend the day outside of course! There were walks to take, bikes to ride, a sandbox to play in, and friends to play with.

After going for a walk, the kids tested out their hula hoops.

Then it was on to the sandbox...and in case you were wondering Jenna picked her outfit out...not a great idea to wear a dress & white tights in the sandbox, let alone outside in the spring, but it wasn't worth the fight. She was happy, and looked pretty darn cute too :)

After doing a little digging in the sand, Andrew discovered that if you dug a hole it would fill with water.....so of course you have to start making a river.
After that Andrew was off to a friends house to play with everyone....I love spring because we actually get to see our neighbors again!

Bruce was packing away the winter stuff when Jenna noticed her sled sitting out, and attempted to convince us to take her for one more spin around the yard (it didn't work*):

* note the outfit change....after falling in the sandbox and getting dirty, she decided that a much better outfit would consist of her dress, and jeans....she searched and searched until she found the jeans she got from Addison that had the blue cuff on the bottom - all because "it matches!".

With Andrew off playing with his friends, she realized she could ride the 4-wheeler w/o having him ask to ride it....so off she went.

It was a fun day, and it was nice to be able to be outside soaking up some sun, after the long winter. Everyone was tuckered out by the end of the day...including Sadie who did a lot of Frisbee catching.

I did it myself

2010-03-14T22:08:00.004-05:00

After picking Andrew up from school on Friday, the kids and I made a trip to Target to pick up a few things. I bought them some popcorn, and they happily munched through out the store. When it was time to head home, Andrew said he was full, and threw his popcorn out, while Jenna wanted to bring hers with....she also asked me to put the tray on her car seat, which I didn't think much of since she had been insisting on having the tray put on all day. We had just gotten out of the parking lot when I heard "I did it myself"...."did what yourself Jenna?" "Poured it out! Now I can eat it all gone!" So I turned around to see what she had done....here it is:At least she got it all on her tray! Plus she was so proud of herself for doing such a good job, there was no way I could have told her it wasn't a good idea ;)

Mexican Fiesta

2010-03-14T21:56:00.005-05:00

Andrew has been taking a Spanish class and has been having a blast (and learning a ton too!). For their last class they had a Mexican Fiesta. As part of the party they tasted different types of Mexican food, and played some traditional games. He also brought home 2 different sombreros. Here he is showing off his 2 sombreros:

Pony parade

2010-03-08T22:22:00.005-06:00

Jenna's been a busy little girl lately. She found a basket in the basement (an Easter basket) and promptly filled it with Ponies. Tonight this is how we found them:

When I asked her what her ponies where doing....they were sleeping, because they had to wait in line for stickers. (note the sticker that is now on each pony). In case you are wondering, no we did not buy her any of these ponies, they are all hand-me-downs from one of Bruce's co-workers; she gave us a big bag of them (which Jenna just found and is now playing with).

She also was very interested in doing puzzles tonight, and we are very impressed with how good she did! She barely needed assistance with putting things together, it was fun to watch her figure things out. You could see her wheels turning as she put the puzzle together.

Andrew was also doing puzzles, but he notified us that we need harder puzzles, because the ones we have are too easy. Maybe the Easter bunny will treat him to a few more difficult puzzles.

This past week the weather was great, so we were able to spend some time outside (yay!). Both kids had fun riding their bikes:

And of course had to spend some time swinging:

On Saturday morning Andrew showed us his creative side by 'decorating' his room with Wikki Sticks....here's a picture of one of his creations. He's also been making lots and lots of posters lately, so he's been hanging them up all over the house. It's fun to watch his drawing skills develop. He's also been writing things lately, and is getting pretty good at sounding things out.

Swimming lessons

2010-03-03T21:58:00.003-06:00

Andrew and Jenna started swimming lessons tonight. We weren't sure how they were going to do since Andrew wasn't sure he wanted to take them, and has been really nervous in the water for the past year or two. Both kids did awesome!
Jenna is in a class that Bruce or I have to be in the water with her, and Andrew is on his own with his teacher. I wasn't sure how he'd do with seeing me in the water with Jenna and not him, but he did fine. His teacher said she could tell he was a little apprehensive of the water, but warmed up quickly. It was nice to be able to look over and see him splashing away and learning new things with a smile on his face. He even put his face in the water tonight (a big step for him!). Last time he was in lessons, there were some tears invovled, so this was a nice change. I think that it helps that his preschool teacher, Miss Cheryl, also teaches swimming lessons and prepped him for the lesson tonight, and asked him to tell her all about on Friday, when he sees her next.
This is Jenna's 1st swim class, and so far she seems to like it. She had a pretty big night since her teacher feels it's important to submerge the kids so they learn to hold their breath under water (in case they fall in). She wasn't very happy the 1st time the teacher pushed her under, but recovered quickly when the teacher had Jenna give her a high five, then pretended it caused her to fall over into the water. She went under a total of 4 times tonight, and did great with it. When the teacher asked the kids if they had fun Jenna answered with a loud "Yep!" so I guess she wasn't too traumatized.
Over all both Bruce and I were pleasantly surprised at how well it went, hopefully things continue to go well for the next 6 weeks!

Fun weekend

2010-03-02T21:39:00.006-06:00

Bruce and the kids spent this past weekend hanging out and having fun, while I meet up with some college friends in the Dells for a girls weekend. Bruce and the kids kept themselves busy by going to the Y to swim, checking out an ice fishing contest, building a fort (w/ tunnels) and sledding. They all had so much to tell me about when I got home on Sunday, it was fun to listen to the kids re-tell all their activities from the weekend.
Bruce took some video of Andrew going thru one of the tunnels in the snow fort that is really cute, so hopefully we can figure out how to get the video off his phone, and onto the here. He was pretending he was a rat (and a handsome one at that!).
This past weekend was the 1st time that the college group of girls has had everyone in the same place at the same time in 10 years! It was fun catching up with everyone, and we're hoping to be able to do it again next year. Here's a picture of every one from Saturday night:

After naps on Sunday, we headed outside to enjoy the warmer weather. The kids used their tubes on our little hill, and squealed and giggled every time we managed to make them bump into each other.

One, two, three, GO:

Bump:

Time to go again:

The tubes are really nice, since the kids (Jenna) can carry it back up themselves; plus they go a lot further. After sledding, and playing in the fort, they wanted to find the fire pit (we did!).

Here is a picture of the kids attempting to convince us we should have a bonfire:

We didn't have a bonfire, but at least now we know where the fire pit is, so at least it's a possibility!

Level 1

2010-02-23T12:29:00.002-06:00

On our way home, Sunday night Andrew said he was sleepy from having such a busy day, so we told him to close his eyes and try to sleep. A few minutes later we heard "Hey guys, do you think you could take down to a level 1, which means no talking"! Apparently our conversation was keeping him up :)
Today, he had an appointment and it was in a 3 story building. After the appointment, as we were driving out of the parking lot he asked "Were we on the top shelf of that building?"