Father Hennepin Festival

Our family went to the Father Hennepin Carnival with my Mom. The kids all loved the rides and the carnival food as well. After the carnival, we enjoyed the great fire works as well :-)

Brooke in her stroller sporting her cool shades!

Adriauna went on the strawberries with Ethan and Kami

Ethan, Brooke and Kami on the cars..........Kami was angry because we would not let her change cars for the 3rd time. LOL

Playing the Ducky carnival game.........

Kami on the merry go round

Mike took the little ones on the spinning dragon ride :-)

Ethan and Kami on the dragon roller coaster. Ethan could not get enough and Kami flashed smiles along with some really nervous facial expressions as well.

Adriauna and I taking a break on the bench

Father/Son Camp out.

Mike and Ethan went on their first Father/Son camp out. It was raining from the start and unfortunately the tent they brought was not so waterproof. Mike said when they got done setting it up it had an inch of water inside it. He and Ethan went to the van where Mike explained that they would have to sleep in the van that night. Ethan replied with "We can't sleep in the van. That's no fun. We have to sleep in the tent." So Mike being the great Daddy that he is found some tarps and made the tent sleepable. Ethan had a great time on the two hour hike in the rain, playing with the other boys on the camp out and just spending time with his Dad. Of course all the fun ended when it was time to go to bed for the night in the tent. This is where Ethan had a major screaming fit and said he wanted to go home. Mike called me and I reminded him that I had packed the D.S.(hand held video game) for Ethan in case of an emergency like this. Ethan was happy again playing his video game. After the rain died down again around midnight after everyone was asleep in their tents Ethan insisted that him and Mike make smores by the camp fire before they went to sleep. Again, Mike being the super Dad that he is, made smores with Ethan before going to sleep. The next morning Ethan refused to leave the tent because his shoes were drenched but eventually Mike lured him out for some breakfast before they took down the tent and headed home. All in all, I would say that this was a successful first camp out for Ethan filled with some great memories and although I was not there, I feel as though I was and am excited to have yet another great story.

Peonies

Every year my parents get beautiful peonies in there back yard and my Dad always cuts me a bundle of them to put on my kitchen table. They smell delightful and look so delicate and beautiful!

Park Day :-)

The little girls enjoying some time at the park:-) After looking at these pictures, I realize how big my baby girls are!

Como Zoo

A friend of mine and I decided to meet up at Como Zoo with our kids. Turns out that the day we chose to go ended up being 94 degrees. It was really hot but we still had a great time.

Ava and Brooke enjoying some snow cones

Ethan, Zander,Kami and Nash enjoying some snow cones as well

Best Cinnamon Rolls Ever!!!

My friend had posted a picture of some amazing looking cinnamon rolls. I just had to have the recipe and so she being the wonderful person she is, she shared it with me and they are soooo good :-)

Darth Maul

Every year for the kids' birthdays I make their cakes myself. They get to choose what kind of cake they want. This year Ethan has decided that he wants a cake with Darth Maul and Ob1 Kenobe fighting on top. We have been looking for Darth Maul for quite some time in the stores and could never find him. We finally ordered him from ToysRus. Ethan waited patiently every day for the mail to come to see if he had received his Darth Maul. Finally he came and Ethan was super excited even though he knows that he is not aloud to take him out of the box and can't play with him until after he has blown out the candles on the cake.

Ethan receiving his Darth Maul in the mail

Little Photographers

Ethan had a play date with his friend Gavin the other day and the next day when I was looking at our camera I was surprised to see 30 or so random pictures had been taken with the camera. It did not take me long to realize that these pictures were taken by Ethan and his friend Gavin the previous day. These are two of my favorites.....

This is the first picture taken by Gavin after getting a hold of the camera. I love Ethan's facial expression. He looks like he knows that they are doing something they shouldn't yet he thinks it is funny.

Everyone who lives in our house knows how important Robbin is to Ethan and Kami. They are constantly fighting over who get's to play with Robbin. We have 2 Robbins but one has been lost for a few weeks now and as you can probably imagine, there has been a lot of fighting lately at our house regarding who gets to play with him. It makes perfect sense for Robbin to have his picture taken.

28 weeks...........

Oh the joys that come along with the 28th week of pregnancy at my Dr. appointment. I had to drink the really gross thick syrup like orange beverage and wait in the clinic for an hour afterwards to have my blood drawn to test for gestational diabetes. Unfortunately you are not aloud to eat or drink anything after you drink the beverage with the exception of water and drinking water does not get the taste out of your mouth. I even asked if I could chew gum and was told that I could not. I have never really been affected by this beverage in the past but this time it was especially gross and a few hours later, I felt pretty horrible. I had no energy and felt pretty weak. It did not help that the night before Brooke had decided to wake up every hour but the next day, I was back to normal. Besides that and some back pain here and there, my pregnancy has been going great. I have been keeping very busy taking the kids to the park, beach, pool biking and just playing in the yard. With all of that and trying to keep the house clean and keep up with laundry and make sure we have dinner ready at 6 every night, I am one busy Mama! I am not complaining however because this is my dream come true and I am so grateful to have been blessed with a wonderful supportive husband and soon to be 5 adorable, loving, and most importantly healthy children. I imagine the next few months will go by quickly and Brandon will be joining our family What else can I say other than: LIFE IS FANTASTIC!