29!

Aaron turned 29 this year, and has begun his last year in his 20's! 364 more days and I will be married to a 30 year old! Crazy!

We celebrated his birthday this year by going to Fire Lake restaurant in Minneapolis with Steph and Adam, and then out for drinks afterwards. We had a great time talking, laughing, people watching, and debating our views on the gay 90's. The kids were with Mom and Grammy, so we stayed downtown. We planned to go to the Shout House, but someone is getting old and wasn't feeling so great, (definitely NOT me) so we ended up just watching movies at the hotel. And the next morning we got to sleep in and not to wake up to any fighting, crying, or screaming! It was wonderful.

Happy Birthday Love!

Garage Sale 2011!

Once again, we held our annual garage sale in Owatonna. I think this year might have just been our 10th year doing it! Or maybe 11? Anyway, we've been doing it a long time! I look forward to this part of our summer every year! Julie always comes down, Grammy comes, and of course Mom, Joan, and I. Shauna came with Julie this year, and Nancy brought her homemade cookies as usual. Every year we are shocked by how much stuff we come up with to fill the garage... and the driveway...and 3 pop up canopies!

The last few years Malichi and Kinzie have been setting up a lemonade stand. They make their own sign, decide on the prices for what they are selling, and they get to run the stand. Afterward, they get to use their hard earned money for whatever they choose.



The twins' enjoying cookies from the lemonade stand.



At the end of the sale we had all made a little extra cash, got rid of some of stuff we don't need (though we still had tons to pack up), and had a blast! The best part of the garage sale weekend this year was that Tiff and Eric moved back to Minnesota on Saturday night!

Father's Day 2011

For Father's Day this year, we spent the day in Owatonna. The weather was beautiful, so we grilled out at Aaron's parents and let the kids play in the water all afternoon.



















Scout loves to get other people wet, but when they get her back, she is not happy!










Daddy opening all his gifts from the kids. They each made him a card, and they picked out a new pair of swim trunks for him for this summer! :)




Then we headed to my Dad's for dinner, and the kids played pinball and had races in his basement.

A blast from the past!

As a kid I remember walking to this really awesome park whenever we would go to my Aunt and Uncles house. I remember it having huge metal slides that seemed to never end, and huge wood and rope climbing structures. I seem to remember it having zip lines too. It was the best park I had ever been too, despite the splinters and metal slide burns I remember getting!

Well, I haven't thought about that park in years, until someone in my ECFE class mentioned Chutes and Ladders as a fun place to take your kids in the summer. I about jumped out of my chair in excitement, recalling my memories of going there as a kid!

I knew I needed to take my kids there, and soon! So on our first day of summer break, Kristie and I took all the kids there for the afternoon!

The Fab 7!



I was so anxious to see if it was still what I remembered it as a child. Of course, they have updated it to today's safety standards, and added lots of colorful, plastic play structures. And everything seems bigger when you are a kid, so it didn't seem as big as I remembered it. But the really big metal slide, and some of the play structures were the same as the ones I remember playing on.



I hope my kids had as much fun playing there, as I did as a kid!

School's out for summer!

We officially have a 1st Grader and a 4th Grader here (and a little toddler who wanted to be in the picture too)!



I can't believe Kinzie has already finished her Kindergarten year! I still feel like I should be bringing her to preschool! But unfortunately she's not my baby anymore. She's reading, and writing and doing math! She loves to read the Junie B. Jones series and the Ramona series. And most days she writes someone a letter or a story! She just loves to write. She's growing up and is all ready for first grade!



Malichi's 3rd grade year was great too! He will be starting his last year in Elementary come fall! OHMYGOD for real? His last year in elementary? I don't see how this could be possible!



Both of the kids were super excited for summer break, but a little sad too that their school year was ending. I, on the other hand, was not sad that school was ending. I love having the kids home for the summer, and not having such a schedule!

Kinzie's first T-ball game

Kinzie chose to play T-ball again this year. While she is having lots of fun, and looks forward to all her games, I definitely don't think it is her favorite sport. She has a few friends on her team and spends a lot of time chatting with them; it's a social gathering anyway, right?

She sure does look cute in her T-ball getup though, doesn't she!?





Here she is with her team, and Daddy is even one of the coaches!

Bayview Carnival

Highlights from the Bayview Carnival 2011!



Kinzie's favorite thing was getting "Wacky Hair"



Malichi's favorite thing was dunking his classmate in the dunk tank!





And the twins favorite thing? Playing in the puddles!