Third Generation

When Grandma Vicky has her grandsons come to visit, they all get to sit in a very special seat. This highchair has been in the family for over 50 years! When mom was a baby, Grandma and Grandpa got this highchair for her to use, then Uncle Matt used it, then their grandkids used it, and now it is at Mom's house for when her grandkids come to visit! The chair is starting to show its age, but it is still the perfect place for the boys to eat while at Grandma's house!

Wordless Wednesday

Lindsey's Wedding

The boys and I are back from our week long trip to Indiana, and I am somewhat unpacked from this trip...only to get packed again and leave for another week on Sunday! The whole reason for our trip to Indiana was to watch my cousin Lindsey marry her sweetheart Travis.

These two have been together for 9 years and are finally husband and wife!!! They had a beautiful wedding...and of course, Lindsey was such a gorgeous bride!

It is different to attend a wedding with children now...I am always emotional about weddings (because they remind me of my special day with my one true love!), I got teary eyed watching the beautiful bride walk down the aisle, but then we were busy trying to entertain a 2 year old and a 5 month old most of the time. Kaden was pretty good during the ceremony, he just got tired at the end, but Karter kept saying (rather loudly) "Lindsey's getting married"! We really need to teach him how to whisper. Karter and Jonah enjoyed their freedom after the ceremony.

Our nephew, Jonah is adorable...and sure knows how to ham it up for the camera!

While we were waiting on the bride and groom to have their pictures taken, appetizers were served and it was a great way to entertain these two monkeys!

Karter did not nap ALL day, so he was running around to try and stay awake and didn't like to have to stop for a picture with mama.

After not seeing his daddy for a whole week, Kado was pretty happy to be hanging out with daddy!

Karter is in love with Lindsey, he couldn't wait to see her and steal a smooch!

He was pretty excited to dance with her too!

Grandma Vicky even stole a dance or two!

Finally the no nap situation caught up with him and he passed out on Kristoffer. There is just something about watching my strong husband cuddle our sleeping baby that makes my heart melt...I love them both!!

Lindsey and Travis had a photo booth set up at their reception and we thought it was the coolest idea.

Congratulations, Mr. & Mrs. Wait!!!

Hiking and Picnicing in Afton State Park

Last Saturday, we decided that we needed to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. So, we went for a nice afternoon at Afton State Park - along the scenic St. Croix River on the Minn/Wis border.

We were able to get out on the "beach" area of the park. It was absolutely beautiful seeing the birds and sailboats and river rolling by. It made all of us ache for a few weeks - when we will be at the real beach in North Carolina.

Here is Dana holding Kaden at the riverside beach - enjoying the view.


Karter LOVED throwing rocks in the river. He is going to love tossing shells in the waves!

We were also able to picnic - having an early lunch in the park. Kaden took in the view from an IU blanket below the picnic table.

We enjoyed spending the day as a family enjoying the great outdoors - one of the best things about Minnesota.

Only in Hampton...wait, what street is that?

Seriously...where is the accountability? Brand new intersection of UIEW and 238th in Hampton, MN.

Lesson learned - CHECK YOUR WORK!

Trickster

Kaden is learning so many new tricks lately and it is so fun to watch him change each day. In the last week it seems he has learned so many new things....rolling over more consistently, sitting by himself, blowing raspberries and playing with his toes. He is such a happy little guy and as long as he has his toes to play with, he is pretty content to hang out on our bed while I get ready! Here are a couple of videos of Kado in action...he is just so darn cute!!

100%

I am a little scared to post this, because I know when I do something bad is going to happen...but Karter is now 100% potty trained!!! He really turned a corner the weekend that Gramaw and Papaw came to visit and started pooing in the potty. As an incentive to get him to poo, we would give him a sucker if he went...well now, he goes about every time he potties just to get a sucker! He has been waking up dry for weeks now, so we decided on Monday to try wearing regular undies all the time (even during naps) and he hasn't had any accidents. We are so proud of him and can't believe how quickly he took to using the potty. Having him use a big potty really helped, and it is super nice to not have to worry when we are out if he will use a regular potty or not.

Fireworks!

To cap off our fun filled 4th of July, we decided to take the boys to watch the fireworks in Cannon Falls. We did bath time as usual and let the boys hang out in our bed while we got things packed up.

They launch the fireworks from the fairgrounds, so the best spot in town to watch them from (unless you want to pay to get into the fairgrounds) is right across the highway. We took a side road off of 52 and ended up parked right off the highway. It was a little scary how close we were, but there were at least 50 other cars there...so we felt ok with it.

Since it was the boys normal bed time, we figured Kaden would fall asleep (and he did!), but we came prepared with things to help keep Karter entertained. We started off with sparklers...

...then we sat on the blanket and ate popcorn...

... and then we sang songs and acted goofy!

It's hard to keep a 2 year old entertained for almost 2 hours!!

When the fireworks finally started, Karter was so excited and not scared at all...he kept asking for more when they were all over! Kaden slept in the van the whole time, and only woke up when we were on the road back home. We went home and put the boys to bed hoping that staying up late would mean they would sleep in... Karter was the only one who was able to sleep in, Kaden was still up at 6 all bright eyed and smiley!

Wordless Wednesday

4th of July Parade

We had been planning for weeks to take the boys to the 4th of July parade in Cannon Falls and were a little disappointed when it started raining 10 minutes before we were going to leave. Our plan was to leave our house 1 1/2 hours before the parade was suppose to start and get a good spot and then have a picnic lunch while we waited. We had just finished loading up the van and it started pouring down rain, but we decided to go anyway and the closer we got to Cannon we realized that it hadn't rained as hard as it did at home. We thought that we were plenty early and with the rain, maybe it would deter people from getting there so early and we could get a great spot.

We still ended up with a great spot, but the rain definitely didn't deter people from coming early!

We all walked together to pick out our spot, but then Kaden and I went back to the van so he could eat. As soon as I got into the van it started raining super hard. All I could think about was poor Kristoffer and Karter sitting out in the rain. Luckily we packed our 2 big umbrellas, so they were relatively dry when we got back. Our lunch didn't really go as planned, only Karter ended up eating anything!

By the time the parade started, the rain had pretty much stopped except for the big drops falling off of the trees. Kaden didn't like those hitting his head, so he decided to hold the umbrella!

Turns out, my opinions weight very heavily on Karter and if I don't like something he doesn't either. We had been talking last week about clowns and I told him that I didn't like them. When he saw the clowns coming down the parade he said "mommy doesn't like clowns" and when they got closer to him he freaked out a little bit! He was a little jumpy after that, but overall he really had fun and came home with a bucket full of candy!

Kaden hung out in his car seat most of the time, but we did have to hold him when the fire engines came by. He has excellent hearing and those really scared him!

It was definitely a small town parade made up of local businesses, farmers and churches...but despite the rain, we made some great family memories...and we were all worn out afterwards!!!

Cannon Valley Fair

Wow, what another fantastic weekend we had together...and we get a bonus day today with Kristoffer home all day!!! Saturday morning we loaded with the kids and headed down to Cannon Falls to their little fair. The fair is really tiny, but the perfect size to walk around with Karter. Kaden walked around strapped to Daddy's chest and enjoyed taking in the crowds and watching Karter be silly all day.

In the pavilion next to where we ate lunch there was a reptile show. Karter wasn't really interested in listening to the speaker, but when she was done she let the kids touch the reptiles. Turns out, Karter is scared of turtles....

...but not snakes...go figure!!!

After lunch we were excited for Karter to ride his first amusement ride. We thought he would be scared, but he loved every minute of it! (Who looks more excited in that picture!?)

He had so much fun, we caved and bought 3 more tickets for him to ride another ride.

This time he rode by himself in a car. He pretty much had a blank expression on his face the whole time, but he did like it because when he had to get off this is what he did...

Sorry buddy, we already spent 6 bucks for you to ride 2 rides, time to move on!

The last thing we saw at the fair was "The All America Lumberjack Show". It was really pretty cool, but Kaden didn't really think so! He was really tired by that point, and chainsaws aren't the most quiet things. It was such a fun outing and we can't wait to go back next year!

Happy 5 Months!!!