We made it

We made it to Fargo. Sorry it's taken me this long to let you know that, but our computer and internet just got set up tonight. Things have been crazy. We got here on Monday at 1:20 and had an insurance appointment at 1:30. Then we went to our new house to walk through, hand the kids to grandma and get over to the title company to sign our lives away in order to own our second home. We then spent almost 48 hours straight taking down wallpaper and painting what we could. That took way more time then I thought it would- especially when you have vaulted ceilings!!!!! The results are great and I will post pictures soon. We love this house and feel so incredibly blessed to be living here. Our neighbors are great- there is a girl and a boy who are 12 and 8 next door and they have already snatched up Connor and Carson to play in the pool with them and jump on their trampoline. The whole family is very sweet and we are looking forward to building more of a relationship with them. Emotions are still running high though. There are many people and things we are missing about Ames. We know that we are in the right place and feel so blessed by all that God has done for us in this journey. I promise I will post pics soon!!!!

Caught in the act

The kids have done very well this week. We have asked them to play by themselves and entertain themselves a lot as we finish up the packing. I usually don't have to worry about them getting into mischief. They have pretty good consciences and know what they should do and shouldn't do.

However, this morning I watered some flowers and let the kids play with the rest of the water and watering can. Connor came inside to ask if he could fill it up again and I said yes. About 3 minutes later he and Carson came running in (hysterically) proclaiming that they were all soaked. I ran upstairs and into the garage to find Kaelynn standing in the garage full of boxes spraying the boxes with the garden hose. Thankfully it is going to be a warm day and they should dry out fairly quickly.

There's a very precious part of this story. I sent them all to their rooms. As I was letting them think about the choices they had made I heard Kaelynn softly crying to herself. This is how it was repeated over and over: "I'm very sorry for spraying the garage. I'm not completely good!" She has a very tender heart and I pray that we can protect that in her.

Our lake vacation

We just returned from a great time in Park Rapids with Andy's parents and sister and brother-in-law. It was a bitter-sweet time as Andy's sister Krisanne and her husband will be leaving in the next few days to go over-seas for the next number of years. We had a hard time saying good-bye, but have great memories planted in our minds of our time this week. Of course the main reason to go the cabin is for the fishing. The target is the coveted walleye, which we got a few of. All in all, the fishing total ended between 150 and 200. We think about 35 of those made it or will make it onto our plates and into our stomachs. The rest were spared another year :) Carson's true passion comes out in the boat. FISHING!!!!! It's in his blood. He had a fishing rod in his hand a majority of the day-everyday! We are thinking his future lies in the Pro-Fishing department. He caught his first Northern Pike which was about 3-4 lbs. He was so excited he was jumping up and down in the boat and the whole lake heard him. The guys fishing next to them gave Andy a big thumbs up. These are the keeper fish from Itasca Lake. We love to go to Itasca Park. It is so beautiful and there is something for all of us to do. They fileted 21 fish from that trip.

What's wrong with this picture??????????????

The weather wasn't so nice to us this week. Yes Kaelynn is wearing her winter jacket while playing in the sand at the beach. It was chilly everyday but the last two days. It didn't stop our hard-core sand castle builders though. The most fun on the beach was making a river that spilled into many lakes and broke through many dams on it's way into the big lake. The boys had a great time building up the dams and watching them break from the pressure of the water. It was a great science lesson too! We found many things to do indoors too. Grandma brought sugar cubes and frosting to make igloos- hmmmm how appropriate!!! They look a little more like castles or towers, but they didn't care! No lake week is complete without some smores eating :) Thanks for the silly glasses grandma. They made for a great picture!!

I love this picture of the two of us! The sky is so blue and the water is so pretty. It is such a beautiful area and we feel so blessed to be able to spend time there enjoying the amazing work of the Creator of it all!!!