Variety is the spice of life

I titled this blog "variety is the spice of life" because I have quite the variety of topics to blog today. Maybe it would be best to break it down into girl and boys. Girl- Kaelynn's favorite color right now is pink. Eveything in her world revolves around that color so why shouldn't it be? In the last couple of days she has told me that she wants a pink doctor, pink Kool-Aid, a pink birthday, and her answer for how much daddy loves her is "Pink." We were sitting at the lunch table having a very nice conversation, when Carson says, "Kaelynn's going to have a baby when she gets older." Kaelynn proudly exclaims, "I'm going to have a pink baby." And then she turns to Connor and says," And Connor's going to have a chocolate baby!!!" This is one of those moments where a mom wants to encourage creativity without trying to laugh hysterically and make the child feel self-conscious. I proceeded to explain (without too much detail) that it was possible that Connor could have a chocolate baby someday, but more than likely he will probably have a white baby. Grandma Jan likes to say that Kaelynn has personality plus- she definetly is taking to that phrase more and more. When she was told no that she couldn't have any more milk before bedtime last night, she gasped and in a very dramatic fashion said, "She said no???" Broadway here she comes. A positive thing about her independent nature is that she is taking the initiative to potty train herself. It's going well so far- it might take a little longer than the boys as everything needs to be in her timing, but that's okay!!! Boys- Boys will be boys best describes their activities this week. They found a frog and a painter turtle in the yard this week. They were enamored by both of them and had it in their minds that they were going to be the new family pets. Mommy put an end to that thought pretty quickly and they both went back to their homes in the "snake creek", as it is affectionately named. They have had a great time playing outside this week (when it hasn't rained). And have made some new friends who live two houses down, Calvin and Kaden. A new topic of conversation in our house is healthy foods. Our family has made some significant changes in the things we eat and the boys have embraced it well. The question, "Is (fill in a food) healthy for our bodies?" comes up quite a few times a day. They are making wise choices in the snacks they eat (of course their always up for a treat too). We are very proud of Andy as he has lost over 20 pounds already. Way to go honey!!! This gives you a little taste of our week. Hope your's has gone well! We are continuing to pray for you, Paul and Krisanne as you grieve the loss of your grandpa! We love you all!

What was that?????

Our wonderful Carson has quite the imagination. He can play for hours with his toys making anything come alive. Sometimes he makes up quite the stories. Tonight we went for a bike ride and at one point I was riding next to him. Here's how the conversation went: Carson: "There's a spider-fly on my toe." Mommy: "I didn't know there was such a thing as a spider-fly." Carson: "It's on my usical toe." Mommy: "What was that? What's a usical toe?" Carson: "It's my usical toe!! I don't want him to eat my toe." Mommy: "I've never known a bug to eat a whole toe before." Carson: "He'll only half of it." How does he come up with these things?????????

Garage sales and pool fun

Our garage sale went pretty well! Friday was definetly better than Saturday, but we sold quite a bit of stuff nonetheless. The kids were great for the most part. It is always stressful trying to set up a garage sale with 3 little ones asking you why you are selling their stuff. I don't think I will do one again for a while :) We did buy a pool this weekend as it has finally reached the 80's here and that helped distract them a bit. Below are some pictures from the past two days.

Kaelynn loves to go grocery shopping with her cart. Good thing it's just the pretend grocery store because I don't think the regular grocery store would let her in looking like this :)
The boys love to play with boats of any type in the water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They had a great time splashing around.
Brothers and best friends!!
Garage sale lady!!!!!!

Memorial Day weekend

We had a good Memorial Day weekend. It of course included lots of fishing. In fact it was Kaelynn's first time fishing. We got her a Barbie fishing rod with a little blue fish already attached. She had a great time dropping the fish into the water and reeling it back up while proudly exclaiming, "I caught a BIG fish." Daddy was going to put a hook on the end of her line, but quickly realized that it wasn't necessary. Carson caught the biggest fish of the day and was definetly in his element. It's amazing the attention span he has when it comes to fishing.

Connor did a great job teaching Kaelynn the in's and out's of being a good fisher-woman.
On Sunday we went to Big Creek State Park with friends of ours. There is a huge playground and a great swimming beach. The kids loved splashing in the water. The two girls in the middle are Rachel and Samantha. They are twins and were in Connor and Carson's preschool class.

The boys went fishing and caught a bunch of walleyes. Unfortunately none of them were keeper size. It made for a fun afternoon though!
Enjoying an afternoon snack!

We haven't fallen off the planet :)

Let's just get it all out. Yes, I have been completely delinquent on the blog. Sorry!! I do have a couple of really good reasons. We have been outside a lot and I am trying to get ready for a garage sale this weekend. So, there you have it. Please don't be too harsh on me :) For the most part things are pretty normal around here.
Andy and I celebrated our 8th anniversary on Tuesday. Actually we tried to celebrate on Tuesday, but Kaelynn woke up with a 103 degree fever. That put a slight damper in the plans. We ended up celebrating on Friday night instead. Connor and Carson have been enjoying the outdoors. They helped me plant some flowers and are starting to really love baseball. They both do very well at hitting the ball off the tee and Carson is starting to be able to hit the ball when it is pitched to him.
Kaelynn has definetly hit the terrible two's in full force. She is quite strong-willed and is not afraid to let you know that she doesn't like not getting her way. I love her to death, but I am already looking forward to her growing out of this stage.
We are looking forward to a relaxing weekend. We hope yours is relaxing too!!!

Kaelynn loves to dress up! Here she is in one of her favorite princess costumes.

Some outside fun...

Congratulations Carson and Connor!!!!!!

The boys have successfully completed their first year of school. They had a program tonight and were promoted to the next year of preschool. Yeah Connor and Carson!!!! We have included a few videos from the evening that show the two songs they sang and each of them receiving their certificates. In the second one you will see Connor having to fight off the little boy next to him. Unfortunately that was not the only time that happened. In fact before they started singing, the little boy (whom shall remain nameless) almost pulled him off the risers. Connor was very mature in how he handled himself. We are very proud of him for ignoring the little boy and not getting mad at him.
The night was topped off with some surprise cookies from their favorite babysitters and a trip to the Dairy Queen for sundaes. It was a great celebration of a job well done!!

The graduates!!!

Connor and Carson's friends who are in their class. They are all in Sunday School together too. This was taken a week ago at their spring program.

It's been a while :)

I have been very lax on the blog because I simply haven't felt like doing it. SORRY!!!!! It has been a bit of a hard transition back to reality coming off of the cruise. Last week was a bit more crazy than usual with the boys having a spring program and getting ready to travel to Kansas for Jason Thompson's wedding. This weekend Kaelynn and I are going to Mpls. to do some wedding dress shopping with my newly engaged sister, Katie. The wedding is only four months away and it is necessary to find something soon!!! We are very excited for her and Rusty and are excited to have another wonderful brother-in-law!!! Mother's Day was spent in the car driving home from Kansas. Not exactly stress-free, but somewhat enjoyable still. We did stop in Kansas City at a T-Rex restaurant. "What is a T-Rex restaurant?" you may be asking. If you have been to a Rain Forest Cafe, it is along those lines except with a dinosaur theme. Yet again, not exactly stress-free but it made the kids happy and isn't that one of the chief goals of a mother- especially one who has been in the car with them for 3 hours with three+ more hours to go :) We did get video of the boys' spring program and hope to put that on soon for you to enjoy. They have a preschool promotion ceremony on Thursday that we will post too. Hope you all have a wonderful week.