Goodbye Summer!

We had a great summer this year- cabin trip, swimming pool, parks, beaches, camp fires, Wisconsin Dells, fairs, and so on. Can't believe fall is here! I feel like I say this for every season. Feels like the older we get, the faster time goes. For me, I've been busy at work; not so much with clients but in getting ready to relocate buildings. I've been having fun being a part of the ALS program in Golden Valley 2 mornings a week. It's such a rewarding and wonderful program . I really can't complain about my job- love what I do! Jarrod is busy at work as he's nearing the end of a huge project. I'm sure he'll be relieved when that's over.

Leah has begun preschool at St. Anne's in Le Sueur. She goes every morning for 2 1/2 hours. We haven't heard any complaints yet! Most of you know that we are not Catholic but she has now learned their prayer! She came home one day from school and did it before lunch! I love the fact that the school is religious based and is more private than most. I'd rather her learn a Catholic prayer than learn the theme song of a TV show! It's weird now that she goes to school. I feel as if I lost a part of my child. I'm sure most moms feel that way. It's a good thing. She also has started up dance again in Belle Plaine every Thursday night and attends Sunday School. I love when she tells us what she's learned in her class and the certain details that stick in her mind. The latest one was with the story of Joseph and his coat and how his brothers put blood on it. She really finessed that story! Her newest thing now that she loves to do is tell stories. She'll take a book she's familiar with and retell it to us during her storytime at night. It's so fun to see where her imagination takes her.

Jackson has been talking a lot more now. He now says- mama, dada, wawa (water), papa (puppy), boppa (for Le Sueur grandpa and call him bumpa), Leah, Lily (friend from daycare), what's that, ish (fish), ba (ball), oos (shoes), baba (baby), nana (banana), and think I'm missing a few others. One thing I've noticed him doing lately is instead of saying 'duck', he'll click his tongue. He must think that word sounds like a click! So cute! He also can do a few animal sounds but his favorite is roaring. I will ask him what a bird says then he will roar. It has to be the boy in him! This must be the speech therapist coming out of me but love keeping track of what he says!  He's now a pro at walking and is starting to try and run. His little legs will get going fast but eventually falls. I love this stage!

                               Riding horse at Scott Cty Fair

                                                        Leah played a game onstage at the fair

                                                     Riding the big horse!

                                           Silly siblings                                                

Jackson's Almost There!

On Friday July 15th, Jackson took his first three steps on his own! A little shaky, yes but he did it! Since then he hasn't cared to relive this moment but we're hoping he'll keep at it. Besides walking, his newest thing now is shaking his head 'no' to every question we ask. I'm trying to teach him that it's okay to say 'yes' too. He's kind of catching onto this. So when I ask him a question I know he means 'yes' to, he will now take his hand and put it on top of his head to nod it. So cute! He also continues to sign to help himself communicate. Signs he commonly uses are- dad, mom, banana, more, puppy. He's learning signs for- please, thank you, and eat. He's a pretty quick learner with these.

As most of you know, we had a terrific time up north a couple weeks ago. We stayed at Tamarak Lodge on Lake Winnie for about 4 nights over the 4th of July holiday with another family, the Olmanson's. It was a lot of fun. Leah caught her fish so Jarrod was a pretty proud papa. We also rented a pontoon and watched Jarrod and his cousin, Jesse tube. The kids also tubed with parents. Leah had lots of fun playing with Emily and Zach. All seemed to get along pretty well! We also went to Grand Rapids for part of a day to the Children's Museum. Leah LOVED it, especially the talking tree and dress up area. It was a real neat place with lots of things for kids. The kids loved fishing off the dock. This is where we had the most action fishing wise. Most of the fish caught were perch. Towards the end of the trip, Leah was even handling the fish! That was quite a change compared to the first day in which she'd scream when it moved! Jackson had a lot of fun watching the other kids and having Emily push him around in her red car. It was sad coming home but Jackson was ready. The car ride was a little long for him and was ready to be back in his own bed.

Spring 2011

Can't believe it's been over 2 months since our last post. This spring has been a pretty busy and fun one. I'll begin with Leah. April 30th was her last dance performance of the year. She did such a great job and I was a proud mama! There doesn't seem to be a nervous bone in her body! She was given over 30 flowers at the end of her performance. She was in heaven! In June, Leah began soccer. She loved it even more knowing her friend, Ellie was in the class. It ended this past week. Short season but Leah wasn't too crazy about it. Towards the end, she told us that she's sick of kicking the ball around. We also went to our very first rodeo (besides Jarrod) this month. Jackson LOVED it and his eyes were pretty much glued the whole time. Leah wasn't really into at first but seemed to like watching them rope calves and watching the Rodeo Princess ride around. She even got her autograph! Leah will begin swim lessons mid-July 3 days a week for 3 weeks. We can't believe how well she does this year compared to last. She can swim with her lifevest on without us! She does great! She's even trying to swim underwater. What a little fish! This last week, her friend was over for a bit. Us moms thought it got a little quite up there but didn't think much of it. Well after her friend left, I found out why. They had a little doll chair set up on a table and were being haircutters to her Barbies! I counted about 7 Barbies with a new do! As I had Leah clean up this mess (hair all over the floor), we were throwing it in the trash but Leah stopped me and said 'No, throw it in here', which was a drawer on her vanity filled with the dolls cut hair! I was so mad but was laughing on the inside. Needless to say, her Barbies were taken away for a weekend.

Kacie's 8th Birthday

April Dance Show

                                                            
Now Jackson. His newest milestone is saying the word 'yuck', shaking his head 'no', walking on his knees, and climbing upstairs. Nope, still not walking and he's almost 17 months. Oh well. He's in no rush! We try but just doesn' t want to do it on his own. My arms will get pretty built soon here, that's the nice thing! He's all about keeping up with Leah. He follows her everywhere and is always giving her hugs. At daycare, he's become a little bully- pulls hair, steals toys, climbs on kids, and hits kids with toys but he's still cute! So he's been starting to earn timeouts for his fits and just hates it! We'll sit him down in his room by his door and will stay there, but cry! He's gotta learn somehow, right? Jackson is starting to learn to like being in the water. We took him to the pool this last week and bought him this little swim floaty thing. At first, he said 'done' before even being in it but after a few minutes of being in it, he was laughing while Leah was pulling him around the kiddie pool. He loves being in the big kid jeep with Leah. He's such a good little passenger.

At the MN Zoo with Grandma

In their jeep

 I'm excited for the summer- vacations, 4th of July, fairs, and hopefully Wisconsin Dells. Summer is way too short so we all need to cherish the times, especially with our family and friends!

DisneyWorld: Day 5 (Last Day)

The last day we were in Florida. We weren't quite sure which park we should have went to. The girls really  wanted to see Tinkerbell and the fairies yet but weren't 100% sure which park they were in. Jessica and I had asked around earlier in the week and heard 2 different answers. She was told that they were in Hollywood Studios and I was told they were at Epcot. Such decisions! So we had a late start and were pressed for time as we had to leave the resort around 3pm to catch our bus to take us to the airport. So we were at the bus stop trying to decide which park to go and decided to take a chance and whichever bus was next, would be the park we will finish our vacation at. Spontaneous, huh? Sure enough, it was the Hollywood Studio bus so we hopped on and were on our way.

Hollywood Studios was pretty cool, not as big as Magic Kingdom but fun and different at the same time. My opinion, it's for older kids and adults but we found some things the girls liked. We saw a cool street parade and dance from some Disney Channel show. The girls were pretty glued to that and were both dancing. Then we heard that Buzz and Woody from Toy Story were at the park so wanted to meet them as both girls really love that movie. When we reached that area of the park, we saw quite a few of those toy army guys in the street. One minute they'd be still as can be, then we'd walk by and would move. Didn't think they were real! So we got a few pictures taken with them. This was the longest wait, by far, for the entire vacation. My estimate is that we waited about 2 hours in line to meet Buzz and Woody. At least during the wait, there was cool things to look at and do. There was various picture posing stations along the way designed as different scenes in Toy Story. One was the bedroom scene, another was pretending to be in a box, another was being strapped to a rocket and so on. The girls really didn't complain in line but knew they were getting tired. Once they met them, the wait was worth it. It's nice that they get to spend at least 3-5 minutes with them- talking and dancing. Buzz had to quick 'get his batteries changed' so luckily they got to spend more time with Woody then while they were waiting. 

After that, we had to have some lunch and did a little shopping. We also found some Monsters Inc. characters- Sully and Mike. Leah was a little timid of them, being so tall. They weren't able to sign their books but got some cute pictures. Leah said Sully was really hairy and soft. Time seemed too short at this park but had to catch that bus back. Once we were back at our resort, we took a nice walk around to remember everything- pool, beach, flower trees, pond and bridge. We also played at the park for an hour or so while us moms had a Pina Colada! We could tell the girls were sad to leave but were ready to get back to see the boys. 

They were both excited to hop back on the airplane. They waved goodbye to Disney and said 'See you later'. They kept busy on the plane with coloring, watching movies, and of course, sleeping. We got back to Minneapolis around 9pm and were happy to see daddy and Jackson. These will be such wonderful will memories to share with my little girl. I feel so grateful that we went on this trip. It's hard to spend good, quality time with each kid I have now that we have two. So this week being with Leah, I felt that I learned even more about her and am going to cherish these memories. She's such a fun, happy, funny little girl andalways love her. We'll be back in a few Disney!

Kids Update

It's been a little while since we've posted about what our kids have been up to so I'll try and think here. I'll start with Jackson. His new milestones have been- crawling (still prefers scooting but is getting fast at crawling), saying 3 words (mama, dada, all done), signing (more, puppy, mom, dad), waving hi/bye, throwing balls, and shaking his head "no". Seems like his favorite thing to say is 'a da' for 'all done'. He follows his big sis everywhere. Most of the time she loves it but not when she's focused on something then she'll yell at him. For the most part, Jax is a pretty happy boy wherever he is. He's really into playing ball, cars, trucks, books, knocking things over, and following the dog or Leah. Typical boy!

Leah's newest thing is being able to write her name and Jackson's nickname. We're so proud she can do this! When we first started teaching her how to write, she got so frustrated and would give up so easily but now is writing all of the time. She still plays with the same old toys- princess, Barbies, baby, and dress up. She now attends Sunday School at our old church in Belle Plaine. We are happier at this church being a younger population and they have more to offer for kids. She once told us that a this character in a movie was baptized and died and went to heaven. Cute! Then another time, we asked her what she learned in Sunday School and she said about the 'american woman' then we were thinking to ourselves- oh- you mean 'Samaritan Woman'! She will begin soccer this spring, once dance is over. Her last dance performance is April 30th then onto something different for the spring. She sure has been enjoying dance. The songs she will be dancing to at the spring show are- 'Pretty Woman' and 'Tigger ABC's'. Both are very fun! We also have her registered for preschool starting in the fall. She'll be going everyday for a couple hours each day. Can't believe how quick that went. She's so excited for it. The bus will pick her up from daycare and take her back. Can't get any better than that!

We just got both their pictures done so will post them soon! Jenny did them and look awesome!