A couple birthdays and a new preschool

Ellie's 2!!!
Here is her Strawberry Shortcake birthday cake that I made myself. I have to say I think it's quite a cute cake and I didn't even plan it this way!


Caleb, Cindy and Myla having dinner at their own table. It was cute to see them eating together and they all did pretty well too!
We bought her a cradle for her babies for her birthday. The next morning after her party, she and Caleb had a brawl over who got to take the baby out of bed and feed her (my mom bought her an interactive doll). She got to take care of the baby, but Caleb didn't quite understand why. Oh well, I am sure we will have fights in february too!

Ellie with Uncle Jon and Sara. She will actually go to him. The only guys besides daddy that she will let hold her are uncle Jon and Papa Pat. Uncle Ben tried and so did Uncle Dave, but she wanted nothing to do with them. In fact, I have a pic of her with Uncle Ben, but she is nearly crying and straining to get out. I decided not to put that one on here. It's funny because she spent the week before her party "calling" uncle Dave on her phone, but once she saw him, she was not having it! Poor uncle Dave and Uncle Ben!

Isn't this shirt just the cutest! Uncle Ben picked it out all by himself! It is of course from UND. On the back it says "rookie" :)

We took Ellie to the Mall of America to go on some rides for her special day. We try to spend the day with just our family on their birthdays. It was actually the day after because I had to work on her birthday :( at least she didn't know.
Caleb's first day at preschool. He has done so well this first month at school. He still says that he doesn't want to go first thing in the morning, but once he is there, he does great! He always says it is fun when he is done, so that is awesome!

Here she is with her stroller from Auntie Lynn. They have had so much fun with the strollers that she got.

Caleb got a kite from Myla for his birthday this year and we finally got out to use it. I don't know if we chose the right day to go, since it didn't fly for too long, but Caleb got a kick out of it.

Daddy's birthday-the kids and I surprised him with a chocolate cake that the kids made and decorated. He thought it was pretty cool for his special day and the kids and I had fun making it!

August was busy!

I must put out a warning on this post as some others have before...I guess I waited too long to post and so there are a lot of pictures. I hope you enjoy. We've had a busy summer and done lots of fun stuff. We also got to experience pneumonia in August!!(me and Caleb) which was NO fun at all. Caleb will start his official preschool that he will stay at for 2 years in a little over a week so hopefully that goes well. Tim is gearing up to be an election judge this year. He has really sunk his teeth into politics this year. It is good, but frustrating as well to see him so passionate about something like that.

Our vacation up north:

Caleb got into fishing pretty good this week. He and Papa caught this one right off the dock. He wasn't afraid of the fish at all except for the 4 lb Northern that he caught (no kidding!!!). Uncle Jon was nervous that he might get finned, but he didn't. They caught lots of fish, but all of those pics are on my dad's camera, so they will have to wait.
Just Caleb and Papa! This is a decent picture of my parents new pontoon that they just bought this week. It was so nice to have for us and the kids. I am even more excited for next summer when we can really get out and enjoy it. Elle was still a little frightening on the dock this year, but Caleb did really well. I am hoping that next year they will both do well and we can have a few more good weekends up north then.

Hanging with Uncle Jon. Uncle Ben had school start, so he couldn't be up with us. We missed him and I think he missed out on some good fun too. Uncle Jon helped Caleb out fishing and played a bunch with them. And daddy got to play tennis and golf with Uncle so that was good. They LOVED hanging off the end of the pontoon watching the motor water. Don't worry, I have both of them and daddy was taking the picture.

First motorcycle ride. Papa wanted to take Caleb out and I didn't know how that would go, but actually Caleb rode for a few minutes. much longer than I thought he would! He said that night that riding the motorcycle was his favorite thing for the day-over catching his first fish!!!

Caleb and my dad were best buddies this week. Papa entertained Caleb out on the dock for around 2 hours one morning! I think he tired Papa out!

2008 State Fair
Both kids had a blast on the diggers and tractors, I think they may have stayed there all day if they could have.
Here is Caleb on the fireman ride. He wanted to ride in the cab, but he wouldn't go alone, so we had to ride up top and "put out the flames" I think he liked it pretty much.
Caleb and Ellery got to ride on the car ride and the Alligator ride this year. They seemed to really like being on them together.




Caleb's first T-ball "game"

The first coaching session. Hopefully for daddy's sake, the first of many!
He participated some...more so when mommy was out there too. He seemed to have fun especially fielding the ball-except that there was one boy who was a little older who kept stealing the balls from all the other kids. I think Caleb was a little discouraged by that, but at least he hit the ball a few times and did some fielding. All in all, it was a fun little game.

Ellery and her new Dora bike.
One afternoon, Caleb was feeling extra nice and decided to let his sister have a ride on his truck. They just laughed and squealed, it was very cute to see them having so much fun together.

Our 6 year anniversary dinner. Can't believe it's been 6 years of wedded bliss!!! We got to spend an evening out courtesy of "Damma D" (Elle doesn't say "g") and so we spent a whole lot on dinner out at the Melting Pot this year. It was worth the money!

At the lake near our house:

He actually went in the water. We thought he would just sit on the beach, but he was pretty into "swimming" around and checking out all the fish that just come right up to you. It gave me hope that he won't be afraid of the water... Isn't she just the cutest!

Goofin' off in the sand. My was that a mess!

Hope you liked our pictures. Have a good start of fall!

July fun

UH OH! Another thumb sucker?? No, thankfully she's just being a copycat. She isn't a die hard like he is. She gave up her nukie and hasn't gone back! Checking out the fish in the butterfly garden at the zoo.

Here he is with Myla looking at the coocoons of the butterflies.

Aren't they just the cutest!!! They probably won't really like eachother much someday, but for now, they are the best of friends!

Another weekend up at the cabin. I must say a big Thank you to my aunt and uncle and cousin for allowing us to use their bedroom. I don't think we would have survived without the space. I'm sure my cousin and her friends weren't too happy to be woken up at 8 both mornings. I tried to keep them in the room for as long as possible, but 8 was all I could do. It went very well, just me with the kids. Daddy had some alone time with his friends. Thanks to my parents and my brother, we survived just fine!

"feeding the fishies" at the cabin. Really there weren't any fish off the dock for them to see. I wish there were-then Caleb might be more into it.

This was just a cute pic of her in her life jacket-which she really LOVES ;o) It was so windy that weekend (2 weekends ago) that we couldn't even go swimming. The temp was okay, it was just too windy. So far, I haven't had a super weekend up there yet! Hopefully the next time we go!!!

We went to one of the local libraries and a baker was singing and doing a demo. They got these hats and finally put them on at home. Aren't they too cute! It looks like he's telling her some kind of story!

We went to the parade here on the 4th with my friend Melissa and her family.
Then, after nap, daddy picked up some sparklers. I wasn't too excited about it, but the kids liked it anyway. I was very nervous with hot stuff being swung around. They were pretty good, but it still made me nervous.

See the devil in the eyes. I wasn't so worried about her, but he was a little scary! He really enjoyed swirling the sparklers around but.....

...then Tim had also gotten another firework. He was all excited because it was supposed to be very colorful, but he didn't pay attention to how loud. It really scared the daylights out of Caleb. In this picture, he is staring at it cracking off at the end of the driveway. Just after this, he took off and ran crying into the house. It was pretty sad for me.

We did go to the local fireworks show, but we were far enough away that the "booms" weren't bothersome. He heard them, but not like the other fireworks so it was okay.