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.

Winding Down

So our crazy summer schedule has started to settle down now and we're liking having some time at home. It's been about a month since updating my blog, so let's do a quick re-cap.  July started off with a weekend trip to Minnesota to celebrate Aaron's Grandpa's 80th birthday. We were able to see most of the family as only 1 of the cousins wasn't able to attend. There was lots of time for playing outside, jumping on the trampoline, riding horse, going to a parade, and watching fireworks.  I'd post some pictures from the weekend, but I don't have any of my pictures right now.  We were able to consolidate all the pictures from everyone's digital cameras onto Brian's laptop, so I deleted them off my camera after we got back home.  Well, our computer had been on hospice care for quite some time and finally decided to call it quits after we got back.  Thankfully, we had backed up everything on an external hard drive, so I only lost a few pictures (maybe 10).  I'll have to post some from the weekend in the next blog post after I get them copied to our computer.  :)  Hailey got to ride a horse (finally!) so there were some pictures taken of her with a huge smile on her face.  The colt also seemed to really like her, so there's a couple cute ones of them.

Aaron's brother, Brian, and his family were able to come home from Quebec for a visit and then stayed that following week.  Praise God for beautiful weather all week!  The kids had a blast playing with their cousin, Melina, all week.  On the 10th, we celebrated the girls' birthdays with Aaron's side of the family.  We had grilled chicken kabobs for lunch and then went to Splasher's South Seas indoor water park at the CanadInn in Grand Forks.  Everyone had fun playing in the water and going down the slides.

Brian, Susie, & Melina left on Sunday, the 11th, so we had some time to relax and get the kids in bed early.  The 12th thru 23rd, Hailey participated in the STEM program at Mayville State.  It was kind of like a fun summer school where the teachers got to "practice" teaching the 2nd graders and the kids got to learn about different countries.  The class was only for part of the mornings, so we'd drop Hailey off at 8:30am and then Lexi, Jacob, & I would go to the park or Rainbow Garden until 10 when we'd pick her up.  Hailey, Kyra, & Jacob learned about Australia and got to do different crafts.  On the last day (23rd), all the parents got to come and see a little presentation from the kids about what they learned and then see their projects they did throughout the last 2 weeks.  It was a lot of fun to see how proud they all were of their art projects!

Jacob, Kyra, & Hailey with their teachers.

Hailey standing in front of her projects.

That pretty much sums up the last month.  This coming week is pretty low key, and I'm looking forward to it!  The first week in August will be filled with Hailey going to our church's Day Camp (Vacation Bible School) from 9am-3pm.  After that, we'll be starting to get ready for Hailey and Lexi to go to school!

I'll close with some of my favorite pictures from this past month.

Lexi, Hailey, & Melina jumping into the pool

Jacob @ Island Park

Lexi @ Island Park

Hailey @ Rainbow Garden

Zinnias @ Rainbow Garden

My Favorite! (Straight out of the camera...no editing or cropping)

10 Year High School Reunion

We just had another great weekend.  Saturday we started out the day by going to Lowe's in Grand Forks to their Build & Grow Clinic.  The kids go to build Monster Trucks!  They're pretty neat.

After Lowe's, we dropped off a bunch of stuff at a thrift store.  It sure feels good to have all that stuff out of my house!  It's nice to be able to give away the clothes that are too small for the kids and/or the excess of clothes and other household stuff that we don't need.  We stopped and got a few essentials from Walmart and then headed to Binford.  We went thru Thompson, so we were able to see the path where the tornado went West of town.  It's crazy how just the path had mangled trees and flattened buildings, but not even 1/4 mile away, things were just fine.

Saturday afternoon was my class's 10 year high school reunion.  There were a total of 25 of us that graduated and a few others that didn't.  I just realized I had been counting 13 of us that were there, but it was actually 15.  Not too bad of a turn-out for the 10 year!  We met up at the park in Binford, the kids played, we grilled some burgers and hot dogs, and visited.  It was fun to see everyone and kind of funny to see some of the guys as dads.

After the reunion, we headed to my mom's in Jamestown.  We enjoyed visiting for a little while before heading to bed.  Sunday morning we went to church and then celebrated the girls' birthdays with my mom & step-dad, my uncle, and my Grandpa.  It's hard to believe that they are going to be 7 & 5 years old already!

Sunday afternoon, we went to Kathryn.  My Grandma has been battling cancer for the last couple years and just finished up a round of radiation treatment.  Her church in town hosted a benefit for her.  I enjoyed seeing my dad's side of the family.  The last time I seen most of them was for Grandma's 80th birthday which was about 5 years ago.  Hailey was only about 15 months old at the time, so they were able to meet Lexi and Jacob for the first time.

When we were heading home from Kathryn, we were able to watch a rainbow for most of the trip to Fargo.  As we got closer to Fargo, it got brighter and brighter.  There was even a faint 2nd rainbow, too!  Once we got to the North side of town, it pretty much disappered.  This was the only picture we got on my camera and it was just before it disappered.  You can just barely see it right about in the middle of the picture.

When we got home, we were greeted by 5 little 1-inch long frogs by our front step.  They were pretty cute!  Hailey caught one this afternoon while playing outside.

Isn't he cute?!

Here's a few more pictures of some of mom's flowers and my red geraniums.  :)