Family pictures

We decided to get some professional family pictures taken this year. We haven't had a nice family picture taken since Levi was 1 1/2 years old. I think it was time. We know a gal from small group at church and Crista Ballard Photography did an amazing job!

 

Halloween

We had some fun on Halloween carving pumpkins and then heading out to trick-or-treat and make a haul on candy. It was a nice evening to be out walking the neighborhood. The boys had fun, got a lot of candy and hit sugar high!

 

 Mom carved one this year too...G for Green Bay Packers.

The candy haul and sugar high!

Football

Now we are into the fall and football! Ethan is playing tackle for the first time this year and is loving it. Micah and Levi are both playing tag. It keeps us busy most nights and weekends. Thankfully we haven't had to divide two parents three ways. Micah and Levi play at the same location so just one has to take them as the other runs Ethan to his.

 



Back to school

And now the summer fun has come to a close and school has once again started. They have been back for about a month now. All are settling back into the routine and so far are enjoying it. Adjusting to new classrooms, teachers and classmates.

 

 We have a 6th grader!

 We have a 1st grader!

 We have a 4th grader!

And we have some goofs!

 



Summer fun

Oh wow, I am behind on pictures. We've had a great summer. I'll post a few highlights.

 

 We signed up for kids free bowl and the boys had fun learning to bowl. We could go everyday for two games. We didn't make it that often but tried to get there twice a week.

 Exploring and bouldering the rocks at Falls Park.

 Visiting Papa and Nana and driving the ranger alone for the first time. They grow up too fast!

 Family vacation in Colorado and fun time with our cousins.

 Colorado

 Visiting Great-Grandparents in Nebraska.

Ice cream fun with friends after a fun and busy week at VBS.



Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the best Dad in the whole world.

The beginning of our yard work and deck building

And it has begun. The first steps of deck building and landscaping. We rented an augur to dig some holes, rented a cement mixer so we could fill holes with cement and placed some poles in the ground for the deck. Now we move onto putting in edging, laying down plastic and covering it with rock, planting grass and then getting back to the deck and finishing it. Dave is chomping at the bit to get to his deck but we have to get the landscaping done first, he calls that the work and the deck will be fun.

 

 Big boys and their toys.

 A big "gofer" attached our yard.

We had some good little hard workers. They'll remember this summer well. Shoveling dirt!

South Dakota kayak challenge

Another year...another kayak trip. He beat his time by 45 minutes! We headed to Yankton over Memorial Day weekend to launch Dave into the Missouri River for his second SD kayak challenge. He went 72 miles from Yankton, SD to Sioux City, NE. The boys and Mom were support crew. We dropped him off to launch at 7am and tracked him as he went and picked him up 11 hours later. We are proud of him and his accomplishment. Bring on next year!

 

Micah's 9th Birthday

We celebrated Micah's birthday twice this year. He picked a friend's birthday party and dinner at home with cake and just our family of five. Friends joined us at Air Madness trampoline park for some fun jumping and then back to our house for cake and presents. It is hard to believe he is 9 already. We are so proud of him and thankful to God for blessing our lives with such a precious boy.

 

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to me. My boys got me my yearly gerbera daisy flower and planted it in my pot. Ethan had also seen me looking at this mug one day at Scheel's and told me later that he knew they had to go get it for me for Mother's Day. It is my new favorite. Love all these boys so much!

 

Field trips

 Both Micah and Levi asked for me to go with them on their class field trips this year. It was fun to hang out with them and their friends for a day. Micah and I went to Luverne, MN. The kids swam, we ate lunch at the park and then went to the movie theater and watched, "Peter Rabbit." Levi and I went to Brookings, SD to the Children's museum.