Gracia is THREE!!

Our Sweet "baby" is three! Happy Birthday Gracia, we love you so much!




Double three's, what talent!!

Have a "tubular" year!

I know, how corny is that title?? But it was the only thing that came to me that would fit with this picture! Happy thoughts to you on your birthday Gretchen, don't you wish we were back at the lake instead of freezing? I'd take it!

a birthday gift?

Sorry Brian, I'm a day late, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! We sang to you a day early so it all works out right? :) For your birthday present we are FLYING TO CALIFORNIA!!!! YIPEE!!! Can't wait!!

What a girl!

Gracia was getting all ready to head outside this morning with dad and the big kids when she found a barbie that has been put away for awhile... that ended her going outside mode! She's happily playing with the "found" barbie! What a GIRL! :)

Officially now, "Happy All Saints Day!"

Can you guess?

"It's a jolly holiday with Mary!" Can you guess what we are doing on this "holiday" night??

Happy day before All Saint's Day!

At the Park

We really have some great parks to play at. Thanks Renns for inviting us to "supper at the Park!"

family fun night??

What did you do this Saturday night?  I'm not sure that this classifies as a "family fun night" but J let the kids watch a part of the "Transformers" movie, (a small part!)  They thought it was pretty cool!  Hans has received some Transformers for his birthday and just got a new one when Grandma Sandy was here this week so he thought it was very cool to see his toys put to action in the movie.  His toys actually look the same as the robots in the movie so he was really into it.  

Karina made Hans this awesome Transformers cake for his birthday!  Don't we have some talented cake decorators in the family!!  Thanks again Karina.

I could look into this face all day long!  5 yrs. old already...

It did rain almost all day today but we still went down to the Fire Station for the kids events this morning.  They do this every year where the kids can do all kinds of fun stuff, sit in the firetruck, ride the firetruck, spray the hose, go in the smoke house, this year they had a phone to practice dialing 911 and a car simulating a crash.  We saw how the dummies fly out right away when they are not wearing their seat belts.  It was pretty neat.

Not sure where this week went but I do need to say a big "thank you" to both Grandma Sandy and Grandma Linda for coming this week!!  What a treat to have both Grandma's in one week!  

Sadie's Soapy Saturday

Our "part-time" dog who we share with Grandma and Grandpa returned to us for a couple of weeks and last Saturday the whole family had some part in cleaning our pooch.  I love how crazy dogs get when they're clean.

Trying to get that dirty smell back!

Isn't she cute!  I sure wish it was that beautiful this Sat. it rained almost all day!

Happy Birthday Marge!

Happy Birthday Marge!  I'll take this opportunity to add a few pictures from our reunion in July.  Unfortunately, I didn't get the greatest pictures from that weekend, but it sure was fun!

The ladies got to go out for coffee and shopping!

Violet is absolutely adorable!

What a great idea, the kids loved it!  Hope we can do it again soon!  Oh, and I'm excited to go through the clothes mom brought back.  Gracia has been dressing in the clothes she got from Violet this summer and loving it!  Thank you!  Happy Birthday, here's to a great year!!

Seven!

Sunday was her actual birthday so we had the Renns, Loehleins, and Vera over for some horse cake!!  (Thanks to master cake decorator, Jeremy, he must have a little Grandma Erickson in him.)

I can't believe that she is seven!  We are so thankful for her.


Thanks everyone for the fun day!

sleep-over

Last Friday Damaris got to have her friend Kylen spend the night for her birthday - mom decided she would enjoy one friend spending the night better than 9 friends running crazy for two hours! - I think I was right!  Hans however did not have much fun as he feels extremely left out whenever Damaris has a friend over.  I put him to work helping me cut up candy corn for popcorn balls, he thought my new knife was pretty neat, in fact while he was cutting he said, "this is a cool knife mom!" 

Hans didn't last long so Damaris and Kylen took their turn too.

Notice the outfit Karina?  I let her open your package on Thursday night and had it washed up by Friday morning!  She loves it!  Thank you!

For the record, the girls were up 'till 11:20!!  And so it begins...

Gracia's prayers

This is Gracia's addition to prayers tonight.

"Thank you that Kylen at school today, thank you Damaris and Hans at school today, thank you I stay home with mommy, thank you Daddy has tattoo, thank you I not have tattoo, thank you cupcakes and little things, thank you krispies, they my favorite, did you buy krispies?"  No, we didn't buy krispies today, "oh, thank you we not buy krispies today, we go tomorrow and buy krispies?"  I don't think we will go to the store again tomorrow, "oh, thank you we not buy krispies tomorrow, mommy, your turn."

precious

music to my ears

While I wait for supper to finish cooking and all children are sent various places, (Damaris on the piano, Hans to his room to play and Gracia is on her bed because she was mean to Hans...), I'm going to write this down before I just don't I guess!  :)

Particularly Hans and Gracia have been busting out in song lately.  It is so fun to listen to them. Hans is busy playing in his room right now and he is singing, "He is risen, He is risen, He is risen from the dead like He said, AMEN!"  So cute.  Yesterday we were getting our stuff on to go to the dump and he and Gracia were both singing "Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be the glorious name."  It's amazing to me how much of the songs they can sing and with the right words!  We listen to our itunes on the computer a lot during the day I guess... !  Here is the one that I could have to explain a little though if they were to sing in public...  After supper last night Gracia started them all out on, "Rock what you got, rock what you got!"  Which sounds like it would be completely secular in nature, but it actually is by the Christian band "Superchick" which I may be seeing in concert on Sat. with Elizabeth, whoo hoo! 

Happy Birthday Judy!

Happy Birthday to my Aunt Judy.  I have thought many times over the past year that it would be great fun to have you teach my kids!  I bet you are a super great teacher.  I hope your class makes you feel very special today! :) (your family too!)

Angie

Happy Birthday Uncle Keith!

The kids left some messages for you!  Hope you have a great day and a wonderful year!

The big kids' version:

Happy Birthday :)  We are thankful for you!

1st grade spelling

Jeremy and I were just talking about the spelling words that Damaris has had for the last two weeks.  Her 2nd week of 1st grade here was her spelling list:

three

one

four

six

nine

ten

two

eight

five

seven

How do you teach a 6 (mostly 5 yr. olds by the 2nd week) yr old how to spell eight without it just being by memory.  It doesn't make any sense phonetically!!  "E I sometimes makes an 'A' sound..."  What!!??  We are very fortunate that Damaris likes to be busy with things so going over spelling words at night is actually kinda fun for her!  (and me if I must admit!)  Last Friday she got a 9 out of 10 on her spelling test, what word did she miss do you ask??  Well, actually none.  Her pencil broke and in her words, "someone was up using the pencil sharpener and teacher didn't see me raising my hand."  Guess she didn't get my big mouth!  Here are the words for this week:

and

here

where

at

look

what

seven

eight

four

one

what

Yes, 'what' is on there twice, is that to trick them?  They did have to write it twice on their "practice" test earlier this week.  Seems like the 1st couple of weeks of a 1st grade spelling test should look a little more like: cat, bat, rat, sat, mat...  

I guess that's why I'm not the teacher! :) 

Ears

Well the update is that Hans went to the Audiologist today and his left ear (always been the bad one) is filled with fluid and the tube (which was just put in, in February) is not in place.  (We did already know all this info from his 5 yr. ckup but for those of you that didn't know...)  So his Dr. wanted him to see the Audiologist to see how his ear actually was working.  He is below normal range of hearing for his left ear, which I guess was expected given the fact that he has fluid built up behind his ear.  So he is hearing a diminished amount in his left ear.  His right ear still has the tube in place and it's doing it's job because there is no fluid and he hearing is in the normal range.  (Not great, but normal.)  The biggest thing for me is that we haven't noticed huge differences in him lately (hearing related) so the Dr. and I am ok with leaving things as is until we do see a significant drop in hearing...  Please pray for Hans, that his ears start working right on their own!  It would be so great if we didn't have to put him through another surgery.  This last one he really was able to know what was going on and how he felt after the surgery and it was not good.  

My American!

Softly humming the Star Spangled Banner as she works on her homework.  Her other favorite is God Bless the USA.

(quality isn't the greatest 'cause I took it with my computer camera.)

Time to Recycle!

This is what we do when the big kids are at school:  I guess you could call it, "getting things done, but having some FUN!"  :)

Grandma Ruth's necklace

Mom, Keith, Marge, do you remember this necklace?  It came from Grandma Ruth's stuff and it's beautiful.  I'm not sure if you can really see it on this picture, but it is very unique, never seen anything like it.  Just wondering if anyone knew where it came from.

As you can see we had a full, fun day!  We got back home by about 12:30am.  It was nice to have Sunday to relax!  This week has been going good so far, Hans did good on Monday, choked up a little when I said goodbye, and asked if I could stay but when I said I had to go he just said ok and was fine.  After school he was excited to tell me about gym and lunch, when I told Jeremy he said, "that's my boy!" :)  This morning he asked me to walk him in and I said ok, but I can't stay, to which he responded, "I know, I'm used to school now."  Thank you Lord!

Build-A-Bear

Grandpa Greg had given the kids some "vacation money" and Damaris in particular had been asking about doing "Build-A-Bear" for quite some time.  Hans has a bear from here that Uncle Keith made for him, but the kids had never been in the store.  They had fun picking out their unstuffed animal, Hans got a turtle, Damaris a Husky and Gracia a pink bear.  Here they are unstuffed.

Stuffing: you can see that Gracia is stepping on a "foot feed" this controlled the stuffing of her bear, Gracia didn't quite get it and had to keep pressing, the big kids went full force the whole time!

Stuffed!

Thanks Grandpa!  It was FUN!

Underwater World

Thanks to the Renns, we had passes to Underwater World that Teresa won on the radio.  They knew they wouldn't be able to use them, so we were on the receiving end again!!  The kids thought it was great, Gracia doesn't look like it in this picture, but she really did like it.

I got to shop while Jeremy took the kids, which wasn't as fun as it may sound, I don't care for shopping at the MOA, it's too big, I spent most of my time walking...  Plus, things don't clearance there so there goes my buying.  I had bought some shorts for D at Old Navy in Eden Prairie in early Aug. for $2.97, they were still $10-12 at the MOA now, a month later.  Same with some other kids stores.

A full Saturday!

Not like the first week of school was enough for us last week, we had to take a one day trip to Minneapolis!  It was a fabulous day, we were so glad we went and a special thanks to the PRESTENG'S, RENN'S and GRANDPA GREG, who all had a part in making the day for us!!

We started out about 9am and headed straight for the Mall of America, (a fav of our kids after being there this summer and now this time too, however, not a fav for their parents...)  We grabbed some lunch and bought our tickets for the light-rail.  This was the kids' first experience with a "train" and they had a blast!  Here they are looking out the window at Fort Snelling.

Go Twins!!  The kids 1st game.

I should note that because of the Bee sting I had given Hans a dose of Benadryl right away in the morning so by the time we left for the game I was able to give him another dose, his finger was still pretty hard and swollen.  Thus, he was out within 5 mins. of sitting down.  It ended up to be the best thing for him though.  "Circle Me Bert, I'm really enjoying my 1st Twins game!"

We just happened to be sitting by another 6 yr. old girl!  Damaris and Kylie had a lot of fun, NOT watching the game!

Hans did wake up and did like the game, if he hadn't taken the nap, I'm not sure what he would have thought of it...

Thanks to the Presteng's for their extra tickets.  Mark, Jeremy, Ben and Nick won the AFLBS golf scramble and part of their prize was the free tickets.  Mark and Mia couldn't use theirs so they sent them to us.  We wouldn't have ever thought of bringing the kids to the game, but it worked out nice.  Thanks!

MN, VOTE TIM TINGELSTAD for Supreme Court!

For all of you who are Minnesota voters, please go to the primaries, 9-9-08 Tuesday, to vote for Tim Tingelstad for Supreme Court.  He is a Bemidji resident and the right choice for the Supreme Court.  This election has three in the running so getting out to vote in the primary is very important.  Tim's website:  www.highesthill.com

Thanks!

Bee update...

Hans and Gracia got to go play with the Renn's this morning while I went into work.  Just as I had laid Gracia down for nap Hans told me, "my finger is hurting a little bit, and it's kinda red, maybe I should have some ice..."  Thankfully he said something 'cause I didn't check it this morning, (bad mom) and it was still swollen and now hard.  So into G's room to tell her she gets to skip nap again, (two days in a row!) and off to Urgent Care we go...  We spent all afternoon there, got out just in time to go get Damaris from school, go to Target to get the meds and now off to piano... ugh, I'm tired!

back on the blog bandwagon...

Unfortunately I am two months behind in posting...  our summer was BUSY!  It isn't because I didn't have anything to post, just that there was so much that happened this summer that I got too far behind.  I decided tonight that I am just going to go forward from here and every once-in-awhile "recap" from the summer.  Sound ok?  Maybe all my readers have given up on me anyway, and that's ok, I'm doing this partly for journaling too, I am so bad at writing things down, this is a better way for me to do that, (if I actually keep up, right!? ;)  

We had such a FABULOUS summer, the best ever!  I don't know how we were gone so much and yet did so much at home too.  The kids loved soccer, gymnastics, going for story time at the library and spending so much time with family.  We had a trip to the Dells to use but had to put that on hold 'cause there just wasn't enough time.  Biking again was a family favorite and our new fav this summer was Tennis! :)  Gracia didn't get into it, but she was happy with her baby and stroller instead.  Damaris decided that we needed to have another baby so that we would have an even # for Tennis partners....  I told her it didn't quite work that way! :)

As fun as our summer was, it was exciting to see the school year creeping in.  Damaris is so excited to be a 1st grader, and mom is so thankful to see a different "attitude" in her lately.  She is growing up and much more joyful, she can find excitement in almost anything.  She starts ballet and tap next week and has her first full piano lesson tomorrow, she has already been to meet her teacher and loved it.  Her teacher was impressed by what she has learned from G. Linda and Danielle, maybe a little from mom too, and said she is definitely ready for lessons.  She gave her some things to work on before her 1st lesson and Damaris has told me that she needs something harder, it's too easy! :)  I hope she keeps loving it for a long time.  Her 1st grade teacher seems great, already teaching them about nouns (?)  It's the third day of 1st grade?!  

My sweet Hans, he's trying to adjust to his new life...  For those that don't know, we have a program here called K-1, it's for the late spring/summer birthdays, you still have to be 5 by Sept. 1, you go all day every other day for the year and then next year go to Kindergarten.  Obviously we have made the right choice to not send him to Kindergarten this year...  Tuesday was his first day, all weekend he was "talking" so excitedly to go.  Tues. morn he couldn't eat his breakfast and as the minutes clicked away he kept getting more and more quiet...  As we were hanging his jacket/backpack up his eyes were filling up.  He did not want me to leave him, HE didn't want to leave, he just didn't want ME to leave!  The teacher had to pry him away from me...  :(  However, it did not last long (the teacher called to assure me that it only lasted a couple minutes) and he 'said' he liked it by the end of the day.  Damaris even said that he rejected her when she asked him to play with her on the playground at recess 'cause he was busy with his buddy Haaken.  Yes, HANS' best buddy's name is HAAKEN, it's like two old men!  hee, hee.  So he had Wed. off and I tried not to do anything too "fun" at home...  This morning went much better, still very hesitant, but I think a big thing was that I made him walk in to school with Damaris, not me.  Then Gracia and I went to a different door and went to D's room to see how it went.  She said there were no tears.  So I went home feeling much better then Tuesday...  until about 11:30...  the nurse calls from school and Hans got stung by a bee on the playground :(.  Poor kid.  He was so brave, until he saw me, then he let the waterworks go...  The nurse thought it best if I took him home to watch that he didn't have a reaction.  He seems just fine, still has a swollen finger though.  As I was praying with him tonight I said something to the affect of "helping Hans like school," and Hans looks right at me with a disgusted look and says, "I like school!"  I hope next week is uneventful for him, and full of things that make him feel confident and secure...

Gracia makes us all smile!  She is a joyful, 4 year old in a two year old's body!!  It is unreal to listen to that little turkey.  There isn't anything she doesn't say, she talks like such a big girl.  This week her favorite saying is "I'm just kidding,"  and "nevermind," and she uses them in the right context.  Her favorite things to do are to play babies, put on makeup and always have a few purses hanging from her arm.  Since the kids started school she has been talking about doing her "lessons,"  we were in Target the other day and she had to do her "lessons," she sang the ABC's, twinkle, twinkle, Jesus Loves Me, and then said, "that's all for my lessons today."

Jeremy is back into full swing with school and football.  I marvel at how he does it all, and does it all well.  (maybe with the exception of football, ha!)  His presence and example for the kids is better then any "great play" anyway.  

I'm really feeling like this is a Christmas letter now so I'm going to stop!  Hope all of you are doing great and ready for fall!  I love fall.  

   

Happy Anniversary Kevin and Karina!

I had to post this 'cause this is just such a nice picture of the two of you.  Happy 10th!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA!

Happy Birthday to our niece and cousin Jessie, we are so very thankful for you, you are such a beautiful young women with such great qualities.  We pray that you have a great 18th year!

J, A, and kids

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARINA!

Happy Birthday dear Karina, Happy Birthday to you!  We were very glad to celebrate with you last weekend.  Hope your day was terrific, and all year long too.  Hans wonders if you can come to our house for your birthday....  :)

We love you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Happy Birthday to the greatest dad and grandpa in the world.

I love you so much!

your daughter

more pics

Kayla is Gracia's godmother

Such fun to have cousins!

At home with the cousins

It was SUCH a treat to be able to take Morgan, Aubre and Kayla home with us at the beginning of the week.  We all had such a great time!  I was especially happy to have some extra time with Morgan and Kayla on the way home and a special shopping trip with Morgan.  Kayla, I still feel bad for Jason....  :)

Having big girls at our house was an opportunity to experiment with makeup!!  Check out Gracia's eyes!  She loved it so much our little girly girl!