Back to school means craziness! It's been a week of adjustment at our house....Not only am I back at work, but Daren had long days so I was on my own with the girls. They are doing pretty well easing back into daycare, but they are definitely more tired and grumpy for their mama when they come home...and I am equally as tired (and probably grumpy) at them. I sure do miss them during the day though, so we make the best of what little time we have together these days.
This weekend we went to Birchwood with some friends for a last summer getaway. We rented a family friend's cabin and enjoyed our weekend of relaxing, fishing, and boating.
Because of the week we had, I have zero pictures from the week, but did manage to snap a few pics of our weekend on my phone, so that's what you get this week!
The fish were really biting and the boys caught a couple good ones, so Daren decided to filet a few for our supper
Painting fun!
Watching their daddies
We're barely awake, but we're ready to fish!
She caught one!
Last weekend the girls and I ventured to Phoenix park, in hopes of taking some somewhat decent pictures myself...I've loved all the professional ones we've had done, but they are not cheap! So, I decided to see what my camera could do...we didn't get anything great, but it was a fun adventure! Hopefully I'll edit a few and maybe they'll look OK(in all my spare time)
Love this one! Not a great face D, but a cute high five for the dog statue:)
Alright peeps, this girl is tired! That's all you get! Have a great week:) Love,
Seriously, is it really September? Wow. Where did Summer go? I'm happy to report we continued to cram in as much fun as we could these last few weeks. I'm sad to report that tomorrow life returns to 'normal' as the girls head to daycare and I go back to work...I worked last week, but not full time and the girls were here and there. It's always such a bittersweet time of year for me. I do get very excited about starting a new school year and the potential effects I can have on all the new students I get to spend more time with than my own children the next 10 months...however, that's the hard part too, spending more time with my kindergartners than my own children:/ When we are in our school routine I wake them up, get them dressed, shove them out the door....then pick them up, feed them supper, baths and bed. Bottom line, I miss my OWN kids!
Part time work would be a great gig... still an outlet for myself, but more time with my girls too. BUT, my house, car van (we'll get to that in a minute!) clothes, etc... won't pay for themselves, so off to work I go. I know, those of you that work 12 months EVERY year aren't feeling any sympathy for me here and are thinking "at least you get your summer's off!" and I agree, that is a great benefit of my career- but it does make it harder to go back too!
So about that 'V' word...van. Yay, we got one. Do you hear the excitement in my typing voice? In all honesty, it took some major convincing to get me to agree to even looking at a van (yes, Daren was on board WAY before me:), but once we test drove them and tried the car seats in it, it was kind of a no-brainer...I had to put ease and practicality (and oh yeah, price!) ahead of my dislike and stigma that comes along with being a mini-van owner...and I have to say I LOVE it! The gas mileage is not much worse than the Malibu, believe it or not, and I still have a few perks and amenities I had a hard time giving up. So instead of saying I own a 'van' we like to call it the "swagger wagon" thanks to the folks at Toyota for the idea. We actually did not get a Toyota, we got a Honda Odyssey, but props to the Toyota Peeps for created this hilarious commercial/videos a few years ago...It really brought a whole new appreciation for the 'swagger wagon' and helped make it a little easier to take the plunge!
Here's the link to the video- it's hil-ar-ious!
Goodbye Malibu...Hello Odyssey
The 'old' lady now has an age appropriate vehicle:)
I did lots of racing this month and it's really been the 1st time the whole family has come to support, so it was great having them cheer me on!
My little bell ringers in their PJ's as I'm getting ready for my half marathon in Madison...
13.1 Miles later....
Danika also did a kid's fun run and earned a medal too!
After the Buckshot 5 mile this weekend...These 2 have spent lots of stroller time waiting for me:) It's meant a lot to have them there though, so an extra thanks to my hubby for entertaining them!
After my Madison race we headed for a weekend in the Dells with my mom, sister, and nephews. We had a great time and both girls LOVED the water!
Getting sunscreen ready...tribal style:)
Danika's FAVORITE water slide. Daren, I, or a lifeguard caught her and she did this slide over, and over, and OVER again!
In our condo there was a hot tub pretty much right in the living room and my nephew Collin and Danika kept themselves entertained in there...They'd sing, put on shows, lay down their blankets, play with stuffed animals, etc...
My helper
Best part of the trip:) Story time with Aunt Mimi/Mom:) We didn't have much for books, so good ol' technology and the ipad came in handy!
...and just like most things end for our family, with a nap for these 3!
Gotta love the 'swagger wagon' so dad can fit in between them:)
Oh yay, I had a birthday...a dirty one:/ I know it's just a number and I never thought it would bother me that much, but maybe it was the van and 30 all within the same month!
Daren and the girls spoiled me with flowers, and an UH-MAZING red velvet cake. From scratch. Frosting too! I know, he's husband of the year material!
We also ventured to the Minnesota State Fair. I'm sure I'm going to sound quite selfish here, but I totally miss my kid-free fair days! It was tiring exhausting with the kids, and we didn't even get to do all the fun kid stuff! But Danika did enjoy herself...Haddie, probably not so much, but we just kept feeding her and she was content:)
Ferris Wheel with dad...despite her face, she loved it:)
Happy and clean...
and not so much...She loved the cookies, but like her mama, she HATES messy food!
We even caught a few minutes of a high school rodeo taking place in the coliseum. Danika liked watching the bull riding!
The Fair isn't complete without the super slide!
Some other random funness from our month...
Danika earned a new activity and she chose this floor puzzle...she loves this thing and can just about do the whole thing without our help!
My ice cream girls:)
Even thought the 1st and last time we took the boat out this summer, Haddie broke her leg, we decided it was completely unrelated and we should probably take it out again before summer is over.....errrr, wait, it is over:/ Good thing we snuck out on Sunday! The weather wasn't scorching, but it was a nice, cool evening for a ride. Danika and I even jumped in and swam a bit. Granny got to come along too!
Future Driver...YIKES!!
A favorite moment of the month:) Papa reading to Danika!
Well... off I go, now at 11:07pm to prepare for my kindies who will be walking in the door bright and early tomorrow morning! Wish us all luck that we survive this week getting back to our new normal:/
To all my teacher friends...best of luck on a great, rewarding, school year
and
To all my mommy friends sending their babies off to school, I promise, we'll take good care of them and they'll be O.K. sooner than you will be :)
Love,
J and the Fam
Monday, August 12, 2013
Here we are again... ready to report about our last few weeks!
We continue to pack in as much summer fun as we can.
Papa arranged for the grandkids to have a horse ride with one of the farm helpers, Sarah. Danika was SO excited. I thought she'd be nervous on a 'big' horse since she's only had pony rides before, but she proved me wrong. We had to talk her into letting Daren walk along side her, as long as he didn't hold onto her!
There's a little video clip of the ride at the bottom of the blog...
We headed out for a last minute camping excursion the middle of last week. It's been impossible to find 2 consecutive days that we've had nothing going on, so we finally got it work out and Daren took a few days off work and to Hayward we went. We camped at Lake Chippewa Campground just east of Hayward. It was actually a lot of fun and the girls entertained themselves pretty well.
Danika loved riding her bike around the campsite and loading up the back with her rock collection
The boot got AWFULLY dirty, but Haddie didn't mind at all...
Camping dinner- (looks like we were feeding 20 people!)
After we returned from camping, we unpacked, washed clothes, and repacked to head to Mike & Lori's. We stayed there 1 night and then Lori and I headed off for girls weekend, while Daren and the girls stayed with Mike & Miles.
The two littles (Miles & Haddie) hanging out:)
For this year's girl's weekend with the Dummer/Spielman clan, we went for a sunset cruise on Lake Pepin. It was ABSOLUTELY. BEAUTIFUL. I just love being on the water in general, but the temperature was great and the sunset was amazing.
It was a great trip with great views, great food, great wine, and great camaraderie with the gals!
This weekend was Daren's weekend to help on the farm so we stayed with him and 'helped' too!
Danika loves to be in the barn and doesn't mind getting her boots dirty one bit!
...and of course there is that little perk of M&M's in the barn for helpers:)
D loves to ride this hot wheels bike around the farm...she is (finally!) starting to get the hang of pedaling and is interested in bike riding.
One last event to share....
The girls and I went blueberry picking today! Danika was a SUPER helper and Haddie, well she helped too...helped EAT them, that is! She was eating huge handfuls of blueberries faster than I could pick them off the trees!
Finally, my work was becoming counter-productive, so I had to hide my bucket and make Hadster pick the berries off the bushes if she wanted to eat them:)
