Taj the Hamster

This is Taj the hamster. He also is known as Erik and Goofy. The kids couldn't decide on a name so he has 3! He was a gift at Christmas and has made it to March! We love him. He doesn't bite but needs to work on pooping on people.

It's been a while

So, I have neglected my blogging due to my unorganized amount of photos. So, to keep people updated here are our latest events!

1. Ryan started 2nd grade. Yeah! However, the homework is absurd. Classroom reading assignments, spelling words, math homework, frequently used words to review and 20 minutes of reading. All of this-every night! Plus after school activities. He also got braces:(

2. Colin can finally poop of the toilet. He really struggles with somethings and just needs to take his own time to get there. Yeah! He is very proud and not sure why he waited so long to try this. Preschool is Tues/Thur. which is going well. He is practicing writing letter and enjoys school.

3. Natalie has got rid of the NUK!!!! 1 month before her birthday and she was ready. SHe has started dance and got her first figure skates. My kids are really growing up! They are now 3,4, and 7!

4. I am trying to purge stuff on ebay to clean house. GOing well, but time consuming. Josh stiff continues to play hockey. He is on a 5000 calorie "diet"! Don't I wish!

Here are pictures from Natalies little dance class and some first day of school stuff.

Up North in Crosslake, MN

This past weekend I took the kids to my grandparents cabin for 3 days. Josh had to work-he's quite buys there these days, so I decided to head up there since my parents would also be there. Dad flew my mom and their dog, Olive up to Brainard and were picked up by my grandparents. I drove the 4 hours up but it wasn't bad with the DVD player. It was an exhausting few days but worth it, I think:)

Highlights from trip:

-Nat fell off the dock

-Colin hit 3 cars in one stroke playing minigolf

-Ryan caught 4 sunnies, Colin got 1 northern

-We had ice cream cones with surprise jellybeans at the bottom

Ryan Update

With summer comes outdoor activites-right? Well, Ryan, having the luck he has, ended up falling off the pool later and breaking his wrist! Another July with a cast. Last year was his ankle. Luckily neither break was bad. He was only in a cast this time for 2 weeks. However, two days earlier, he got his full set of braces on! Can you imagine a 6 year old with braces?! He had a bad underbite that was compromising his permanent teeth so we really had no choice but to see the orthodontist. Thankfully the pain was only about 2 days and now he doesn't even notice them. (And he likes to pick the color rubberbands!) He choose red, green and blue this time. Now with summer school over and the cast off he can really enjoy the last month of summer vacation!

Beach Time!

This month I got the chance to bring the kids to the Lake Elmo Park Reserve and meet my friend Karen there with her 3 little boys. It was such a fun time! All the kids were so good and haveing so much fun. Even us mommies got to relax a bit! This is a man made lake only about 4 ft deep at the most, with lots of lifegaurds and big umbrellas.

The Farley's

Yeah! The Farley's came for a visit from North Carolina! It was so nice to see Jen, Joel, Tyler and Maddie. It was like they never left us.

Banana Split

With summer well underway, I asked Ryan what he wanted to accomplish this year. He said he'd like to get a banana split from the DQ. So, the next day after swimming lessons, we all went and got our favorite treats and brought our neighbor, Brooke. Ryan was so full he could not finish his banana split but he really enjoyed it. At least I could make this small dream come true!