additions to our family...

I am proud to announce some new additions to our family. Meet... Mary, Jim, Red, and Pink, our new fish!

Here are some pics from the other morning, it was so beautiful!

A wintery kind of day

What a lovely Sunday! After a couple cancellations, I ended up having the day off! This has not happened on a weekend in, well, I don't even know when! So it really felt like a day off. Starting with meeting our new friend George (See post below), we also played lots in the snow. James ended up going out twice. Oh he loved it! So did Ada, but she was pretty annoyed with her mittens that were just a big joke. After at least 20 minutes of trying to get her thumbs in those dang thumb holes, I gave up and just shoved her hand in best they would fit. Poor thing, really couldn't even use her hands while playing. Grilled cheese and hot coco for lunch, went on a quick trip to Walmart, made some fudge, yummy tacos, cuddles on the couch. Ended the day off with a warm bath and chapped cheeks.

The Summer Sun

The shadows are changing. I know we are still in the middle of the summer, but a part of me feels it coming to an end, maybe slowly, but visions of crunchy leaves and school clothes are not far off. I love summer. I love the seasons here too, but summer is my favorite. Maybe that is a good enough excuse for not posting often? Maybe not. Gotta go jump in the lake now! Happy Tuesday!

A month behind

Bad mommy. Bad bad mommy. My summer has been pretty crazy. In a good way though! Lots and lots of photo stuff and lots of friends and family. I am going to try to start where I left off and catch up. I have been pretty bad and taking pics of my own kids lately, need to remember to do that!
My mommy came just about a month ago. It was so nice having them around, the kids loved it. Of course, when I was hoping for the most perfect weather ever to try to persuade them more to move home, the weather was pretty much crap the whole time they were here. Raining, cold, if it wasn't cold it was super humid. I mean come on, Mother Nature was not working with me on that one.


Even though the weather could have been better, we pretended like it was all fine and dandy. We still got out and did some fun things. We went over to Fawn-Doe-Rosa, which was Ada's first time.


I had a wedding on that Saturday. My mom and Bruce went up to my Aunt's cabin that day and our little family unit went up Sunday (Father's Day). On our way up we hit up this little go-cart place we have stopped at quite a few times before.




My aunt's cabin is such a nice get away.



That Monday was my little big boy's 4th birthday! I have a 4 year old! I remember not too long after James was born trying to imagine having an older child. One that talked and walked and ate real food. It seemed so far off at the time. It was so unimaginable. That time is here now, I have this amazing child. He knows so much and he surprises me every day. I feel like the luckiest person in the world with these two beautiful, healthy children.
On his birthday, we did a little fishing in the morning off the dock.

Ate a little lunch, then the boys took James out on the boat to fish for a while. My mom, Ada, and I set up a little surprise party while they were out.

Ahhh, his little surprised face was so priceless. He knew it was his birthday, but he was so so surprised for the little party.





The cabin time came and went way too quickly. Soon it was the day we had to drive to the airport. This also happened to have been the most beautiful day out of the whole trip, of course.

Hopefully they will be back real soon, and hopefully there won't be a driving them to the airport!!! My fingers are crossed.

A day I could re-live over and over

I had one of those days yesterday. It was perfect.
I had 2 photo sessions the first half of the day, picked up Subway, came home and ate, and away we went.

This wasn't planned, it just happened. I think that added to the wonderfulness of it. We threw the kids in the stroller, strapped them in, grabbed a bag full of just-in-case items and ventured downtown to get some ice cream. Yummo.





It was such a beautiful day too. It was warm, but not too warm. After ice cream, we walked across the St. Croix River bridge into Wisconsin. We ended up in the Interstate park and kept on a truckin.



This lead us to a beach where some of those just-in-case items came into use. James has been asking and begging every nice day to go to the beach. I really didn't think the water was going to be warm enough, but to our surprise, it was perfect! Being at the beach, we had a little bit of this...

Chubby baby girl swimsuit body. Last summer she wasn't walking yet, so this was her first real experience of walking around and playing in the water. It was a hit for sure.








Then to the park for some swings and slides.

James insisted on wearing this paper mask, ring, and arm cuff most of the day. He did look pretty cool.


Dinner time! We headed over to the Drive In for some yummy burgers and root beer. It wouldn't have been a fun adventurous day if we didn't find a wood tick on someone. We got really lucky this time and found a deer tick stuck in behind Ada's ear again. I hate them. Gross.





With a full belly we headed home and hung out in the yard a bit, played with the hose and rolled in the grass. I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!!! We ended the day with some warm baths and comfy jammies! LOVE LOVE LOVE!