Golf!

James went golfing on a big course for the first time with Daddy today. They golfed nine holes and James had a blast! I think Daddy did too...
Mark took several little movies of James on the course. Here's one of them:

Little Dancer

Claranna loves to dance. Here is a video I shot of her at the MN State Fair as she was grooving to a live band.

Full Moon

For our anniversary last year, I gave Mark a telescope. The kids love looking at the moon and the planets with Daddy. James is especially interested in astronomy. He often looks to see if the sky is clear and if it is, he asks if it can be a telescope night. Tonight we tried something I had previously read about--taking pictures through the telescope using our digital camera. Below are the pictures we took tonight of the full moon. Fun stuff!

First Days of School

I can't believe that we are already on to the second week of school! So far things have being going just fine for the kids and by the end of the week we should have our new routine down. Ella had a pretty good case of the first day jitters, but she came home from school on Tuesday afternoon with a smile. James met his teacher on Tuesday and had his first official day of kindergarten on Thursday. James commented that he wished he could stay at school all day like Ella, so I guess he had good first day. Claranna cried when Ella got on the bus on Tuesday and wasn't any happier when both kids left on Thursday. She is adjusting to spending mornings with just Mommy and is very excited to meet James and Ella at the bus stop when they come home. It is awfully quiet around here with Ella and James away. I'm glad that James is only going half days. Here are a few pics from Tuesday and Thursday morning...This is Ella's first day. After Ella got on the bus, James and I went to school to meet his kindergarten teacher.


Here's a group shot on Thursday morning for James' big day. The kids are ready to walk to the bus stop.

Little sister gives a big hug!

They're ready for the bus to come.

Ella walked her little brother from the bus to the kindergarten line.
James was very proud in the kindergarten line at school.
In fact, he told Mark and me that we could go home.


James and his teacher, Ms. M.



Our kindergartener getting off the school bus and giving Claranna a big hug and a kiss on the top of her head. So sweet!

Denial

The kids are tucked into bed: a cautious third grader, an excited kindergartner and an energetic two year old. How can school be starting again already tomorrow?

This blog has not seen much time for me as we've been busy with: planting the garden at the farm, the removal of Ella's cast, a week of swim lessons, making a garden and planting it in our yard, a long weekend on Long Lake, a week of Vacation Bible School, Thursdays on First, visiting with a friend form Michigan, the removal of Ella's splint and a week of soccer camp for James. That was just June.

July found us enjoying a long weekend at Lake Kabetogama, having a fun day of rides at the Winona County Fair, at a water park with some cousins, more Thursday's on First, a day at the Dodge County Fair, a week long trip to Sacramento, park time with the Mom and Kids group, the opening of the Miracle of Birth Center, a demo derby, many days at the Olmsted County Fair and a newly stained deck.

August was supposed to be our calm month. In August Ella and James had another week of swimming lessons, Mark and I celebrated our 12th anniversary with a trip to a B&B in Red Wing, I had a birthday, Ella had a fever for five days and a trip to the ER, we spent a weekend at Good Earth Village for family camp with 25 other church families, went to Niagara Cave, spent the day at Valley Fair, Claranna had a fever for six days, Mark had a birthday, we enjoyed a sponsored week at the local athletic club with our friends, James learned to ride a two wheel bike, Mark and I saw Hairball (a 80's cover band) with friends, had family pictures taken, spent the day at the State Fair, made salsa and tomato sauce from the garden produce, and had some great evenings with friends. Whew!

And now, it is September. Summer is over. I don't have to wonder where our summer went since it is written above. It was a great summer full of wonderful memories and moments, but it really did whirl by and I can't believe it is over!My three beautiful babies at the top of the Space Needle at the Great Minnesota Get Together.

September 2, 2011

Ella's Movies

Ella has not been feeling well at all this week. She even spent seven hours at the ED on Tuesday night where they ruled out any acute issues and pumped her full of IV fluids and pain meds. She was sent home with the suggestion that she might just have a nasty virus. Since she is still not better and her temp climbed way back up to 104.6 at four this morning when all her meds wore off, I've already scheduled her a visit with our pediatrician for later this morning. Hopefully we'll get more direction and our happy Ella back! Since she is quietly resting this morning, I found a moment to finally download pics from the camera that she used on our trip to California. She loves to secretly take little videos and they are usually fun surprises. These cute little movies were taken on our first morning in California when she was riding in the car with Hal and Sharleen. I am sure they'll enjoy seeing them and I bet they didn't know Ella was making movies that morning!

It's Fair Week and Love is in the Air!

There is a certain someone who James is quite fond of. She happens to have an older sister who is old enough to be in 4-H and that means that a special little someone will be at the fair a lot this week too! James saw her tonight TWICE. He sat with her, walked with her, talked with her and he is already looking forward to tomorrow. At bedtime, this was our conversation:

James: "Can you tell Daddy to wake me up right away in the morning when he leaves for work? I want to get up and be ready to go to the fair."
Mommy: "So you can see someone?"
James: (With a BIG grin and puppy dog eyes) Yeah, who I love!