God's Handiwork

I just finished editing some snowflake pictures that I took this afternoon and just had to share them.  God's handiwork is absolutely amazing!  Enjoy.

Ice-Skating Lessons!

The kids had their first ice-skating lessons of the season yesterday.  Last year, only Hailey did lessons as Lexi didn't want to...at first.  By the end of the season, she was expressing interest.  Of course, because the girls were going to do it, Jacob wanted to as well!  All 3 did very well for their first time on skates or back on skates.

Hailey took some getting used to be back up on her skates, but she did well.  They were working on skating backwards yesterday.  That'll take some time to get that figured out, but she was doing well and trying hard!  She took a few good falls, but got herself right back up again.

Lexi was a little nervous getting on the ice for the first time.  She's gotten to be much more brave since going to Kindergarten and even more willing to try new things.  She's always been a bit more adventurous and she's showing that more and more the older she gets.  She started off hanging on to the boards/side when first getting on the ice, but then started to gradually let go.  She was so excited when she was able to first stand on the ice without holding on to anything!  After that, she ventured out further onto the ice and was doing very well...even able to get back up by herself after falling down!  She seemed to have really enjoyed it.

Jacob seemed pretty excited to put his skates on and he was actually able to walk with a little help.  They helped him out onto the ice and along the boards.  He was unable to stay standing there by himself and was getting frustrated because he couldn't get up by himself...like his big sisters.  He did stay out there for almost the whole lesson time.  Aaron helped him "skate" a little and the teachers also would come and try to help him learn how to "take steps like walking" while they were holding him up.  When he was waiting his turn, he'd sit on the ice playing with the frost, throwing it up in the air and at other kids as they'd skate by or fall down around him.  :)  We'll see if he's willing to go again on Saturday for their 2nd lesson!

Halloween 2010

Happy Halloween!  The kids had fun dressing up and going trick-or-treating with friends again this year.  Here's some pictures of them in their costumes!

Jacob was a Bumble Bee

Here's our LexiBug!

Hailey, the Bug Fairy

We had beautiful weather and rather warm temps!

The kids standing with their pumpkins.

 Jacob, Kyra, Hailey, Lexi, Trevor, and Colby ready to go trick-or-treating!



Things we do for our kids.

The girls both have their class Halloween parties tomorrow afternoon.  Lexi came home with her party list on Tuesday, I believe, and she was responsible for bringing 2 dozen cupcakes.  No problem.  So I started looking for cute ideas to decorate the tops of the cupcakes online and by asking my friends on Facebook.  They had come up with a few different ideas.  THEN...Hailey comes home Wednesday from school with her party list and guess what she's supposed to bring?!  Yes, 2 dozen cupcakes.  So, now I'm having to find something super easy and still cute for 48 cupcakes.  I found a super cute idea from AllRecipes.com for Bat Cupcakes.  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bat-Cupcakes/Detail.aspx
Judy was able to have Jacob over at their place for the afternoon so I could crank out these cupcakes and I'm so glad she did that!  Here's some pictures from my cooking fun this afternoon.  I'm excited to see what the kids think tomorrow when I bring then to the girls' classrooms!

48 cupcakes baked and ready to decorate!

The cookies cut in half for the bat wings.

Turning the white frosting orange. 

Unwrapping the Hershey's Kisses for the bat body. 

24 of the cupcakes are finished! 

Close-up of the chocolate and orange frosting bats. 

All done!  They're so cute! 





It's New-to-Me!

Yesterday afternoon, Aaron & I ventured down to Fargo in the rain and super wind to pick up my new-to-me Dodge Durango!  My van had decided over a month ago that it was time to move on from our family.  The transmission, that we just replaced last summer, started to slip.  The mechanic said he can't pinpoint what exactly is wrong with it, so he'd have to just start replacing parts on at a time until it was fixed.  That means it could be rebuilding the transmission and cost up to $1600.  We had already been looking at buying a Durango for me this late fall/early winter, so we decided to not fix the van and just save the money towards our next purchase.  So the search began...craigslist.com, keepitlocal.com, carsoup.com, and any other car buying/selling website out there to find what kind of price range we were looking at and what was even available.  We decided on a 2001 or newer Dodge Durango.  After a while, I stopped looking because it was all the same vehicles and none of them were what we were looking for.  Then, on Tuesday night last week, I had that little nudge/thought to check craigslist again before getting off the computer and what did I find?!  The listing for this Durango!  It was the year and price that I was thinking we'd end up spending...and turns out $1000 less than Aaron's top price!  I went and looked at it on Thursday before heading to St. Paul for the Women of Faith conference.  Aaron looked at it on Sunday and after talking with me, my brother, and my step-dad, we decided to purchase it!  Everything fell into place and it's been so exciting to have my own vehicle again.  Praise God for that little nudge and for providing the right vehicle for us! 

Quick snapshot from my phone in order to send a picture to my mom and brother after we picked it up!

These next pictures I took this morning after the rain stopped.  I've moved the carseats and all the other stuff from the van into our new family vehicle!  Can't wait to give the kids a ride in it!

I think it looks like it's smiling at me! :)

It's got a little mud on it from the soggy gravel roads on the way home last night.

Minnesota Zoo Pictures

Here's some of the pictures from our trip to the Minnesota Zoo with Ryan & Jekka on September 10, 2010.  We had 6 children to keep track of...ages 7, 5, 5, 3, 3, and 1.

Hailey(7), Silas(5), Lexi(5), & Jacob(3) looking at the snow monkeys.

The newest snow monkey born in June. 

Aria (1) looking at the monkeys. 

 Lexi, Aria, Hailey, Jacob, & Silas watching the sea otters.

Hailey & Jacob watching the bears. 

The zoo has an archeology dig sight a.k.a. a sandbox with fake bones. 

Looking at the leopard. 

One of the two tigers we seen at the zoo.  This one would roar a little bit when Lexi and Jacob would roar at him from up on the walkway.  They thought that was pretty neat! 

Watching the prairie dogs. They were a lot of fun.

A couple of the prairie dogs.  The one on the left must have been hot because he kept laying out flat on his tummy with his feet stretched out in front and behind him.  The one on the right must have wanted his picture taken as he was looking right at me!  :)

 We ended the day by stopping in the aquarium building.  They kids had a lot of fun with the touch tank, watching the fish, sharks, and dolphin.  We had wanted to see a dolphin show, but they aren't doing them right now.  Jacob was quite disappointed we didn't get to see them do any tricks.

We had a wonderful trip and were glad we got to see some of our family and friends over the weekend.  We were also very thankful to be able to have a rental car for the trip!  Especially on Saturday when it was hot...the car said 91* in Rochester before the kids had their pictures taken, so the AC was very much appreciated!.



Wow!

So, I totally didn't even realize I haven't updated this since the first day of school this year!!!  Wow.

Well, September has flown by and now it's already October 14th.  Where does the time go?  The girls have been enjoying school.  Lexi has been telling people that "School is the best!" and I'm very happy she's enjoying it.  One of the coolest things the school is doing this year is the Fresh Fruits & Vegetables(FFV) grant.  Twice a week, the kids are getting to try/taste some fruits or vegetables.  On Tuesdays, they get to try a veggie and on Thursdays fruit.  So far the most uncommon veggie they've tried is jicama.  Hailey didn't like it (no surprise) but Lexi said she loved it (again, no surprise).  Their favorite fruit they've tried was the star fruit...and I'm sure the shape didn't have any influence on that! ha-ha
September was also busy with SMILE (our churches Sunday School program) starting up again.  My women's Bible study on Tuesdays has also gotten back together again.  It's nice getting back into our "normal" routines again.  The girls have also started up in Awana and are loving that.  Aaron, Jacob, & I go to a W.H.I.F.F. (Wednesday Hour In Family Fellowship) study during that same time at our church and are really enjoying it.  We're going thru a study called "Effective Parenting in a Defective World" by Chip Ingram.
We also enjoyed a visit from my brother & sister-in-law later in the month.  It's so nice to see them when they get a chance to get home from Maryland.  We're planning on making a trip out to Canada and Maryland next summer...and hopefully get to see two new nieces/nephews!  Only one for sure right now and just waiting for the exciting news from my brother.
The other exciting event for the month was Aaron & I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on the 21st!  It's fun to look back and see how our lives have changed over the course of the last 8 years and to see how far off from what we thought it would be like, but we wouldn't change it!
October has brought us some beautiful fall weather and then a little splash of heat the last couple weeks.  It was nice, but now I have to adjust to the chillier temps again.  It's been so nice to actually have a fall this year and get to see the leaves change colors before falling off the trees.
The "big" weekend this month was last weekend.  The kids and I took a trip to Gpa & Gma Froehlich's on the 8th to spend the night there.  Saturday, we headed to Rochester with Vickie and Jackson to spend the day.  We stopped at a pumpkin patch on the way and the kids had so much fun.  They each got to pick out a pumpkin, pet the baby bunnies, look at the goats, turkeys, chickens, and pigs.  Then on to Rochester for lunch and then a thrift store and garage sale.  I found some super cute clothes for the kids!  That evening, we met up with a friend of mine, Tessa, and had their pictures taken.  I'm super excited to see how they turned out and will post some pics after I get them.  It was so fun to see Tessa again.  The last time we had seen each other, I was pregnant with Hailey.  This time, she's the one pregnant and about as far along as I was with Hailey.  :)  After pictures, the kids and I headed to Prior Lake, a Southern suburb of Minneapolis, to stay with Jekka and her family.  I met Jekka at Bible school and lived with her the summer before Aaron and I got married.  We got to see her new house for the first time and then settle the kids down for bed.  Sunday, we all went to the Minnesota Zoo.  That was a lot of fun!  Tired the kids out, too, so it was a pretty quiet drive home.
I don't want this to be a super picture heavy post, so I'll post the zoo pictures in another one.  Here's some from the pumpkin patch.

The kids in front of some of the mums. 

 Jacob, Lexi, Hailey, & Jackson

Jackson picking out a pumpkin. 

 Jacob looking mischievious.  He didn't want his picture taken.

Lexi holding her pumpkin she picked out. 

Hailey holding her pumpkin. 

The best picture of my 3 on top of the large square bales.  They were looking at Jackson & Vickie, I think.

First Day of School!

So today was the first day of school!  It doesn't seem totally real...yet.  Hailey started 2nd Grade and Lexi went to Kindergarten!  When did my girls grow up?!

Lexi ready for her first day of Kindergarten!  Showing off her backpack.

Hailey ready for 2nd Grade

Waiting for the bus

Getting on the bus for the first day!

Hailey was happy to be getting back to school and her friends.  Lexi was excited to start this new chapter, but you could also tell she was a little nervous.  I stopped by her classroom so she could give her friend Elsie a birthday card and it was so cute to see all of them sitting at their tables...nervous excitement!  I left the room smiling.

Hailey's first day of Kindergarten was tough for me.  I'm not one that cries easily, so I was a little suprised at myself when Hailey rode off on the bus her first day.  I didn't cry dropping her off at preschool, so I didn't figure I would when she went to Kindergarten, but I was wrong.  I was crying for at least 30 minutes after the bus left.  So, based on what happened two years ago, I figured I'd do about the same thing with Lexi.  I will admit, there were a few tears, but nothing dramatic!

Driving home from bringing in Lexi immunization records to the school, I got to thinking about how far we've come in the last 5 years.  We had a couple scares with her during her stay in the NICU and we could have not been sending her to Kindergarten.  I'm so thankful that God brought us thru that and she is a perfectly healthy, happy 5 year old.