December 16, 2008

Wow...I am not good at updating this blog at all. Lot's of stuff going on. I can't believe we are just over a week away from Christmas. I am not close to ready. At all. I am super excited, however, because we will get to meet our nephew finally!! Serene, Daryn and Colten will be flying in a week from today!

Our family is just as busy as usual. Lincoln is busy going to Gopher basketball games and playing in a league in Cannon Falls. We also, or I should say he also, picked up some calf feeding duties last month so that we can have a little extra cash to pay some stuff off. I was going to be a part of it until we realized that it is too hard with all 3 kids with us...at their ages anyway. I have been busy with various projects and my jobs. It's the Christmas season and I work for church....it's busy right now. :)

Luke just lost his second tooth last night. The tooth fairy left him a dollar again. She is so nice. He's doing very well in school still. He is reading like crazy now. I love it! He's gone to a couple Gopher games with Lincoln and he really enjoys those. I guess he does all the cheering that the students do.

Ashlyn is still doing good in dance and preschool. She is learning a lot every time she goes. She writes her name so much better now. I can't believe that she is going to be 5 in less than a week. Wow. Kindergarten next fall. I am excited to send her off, but it's so weird that I will have 2 in school. Ashlyn has her first dance recital this weekend at the high school. I am excited. It'll be fun!

Chloe is talking more & more all the time. She says a whole list of words now. As far as animals though....she will only say 'sheep'. All the other animals she calls by their sounds. A cow is a 'moo', a kitty is a 'meow'. Oh-well. To her, Ashlyn is 'Ash' and Luke is 'Uke'. She is starting to copy us now so I guess we better watch it around her now....not that we say a whole lot of bad stuff around the house...we don't...usually. She takes direction very well, however, she knows how to tease us....great. We are in the process of breaking her of the pacifier. She knows to keep it in her crib when she wakes up in the morning and for her naps. We are getting closer.

Here are some pictures from this month so far:

Ashlyn had a dress rehearsal at the nursing home.

"Cheese"

Luke's class had a holiday open house for all the parents. This is the tree that they made. The ornaments are a count down to Christmas and every day we take one off and he is supposed to do what is on it. Last night he washed dishes.

Oh, the Gingerbread House. I think the kids had fun decorating with the candies, but unfortunately, I didn't enjoy preparing the house from the kit. I am obviously not a gingerbread type. I may do it again next year (i mean, it was a kit...can it get any easier?), but if they don't remember...I probably won't remind them.

Took this picture right before we headed out the door to go to their Sunday School Christmas program on Sunday night.

I probably won't be on here again until after Christmas. I hope that you all have a very merry Christmas!!!

Some of November

November 17, 2008

Sisters

Oooo, snow!!!!

U of W - LaCrosse Cheerleader...complements of Chloe's Godparents, Corey & Stacey

More Snow

Watching the snow come down on Lincoln's birthday.

Smelling candle samples.

The Girls - our little group from High School.

Down on the Farm

November 17, 2008

We started feeding calves on the farm now to take over for someone who quit. I must say, it's a bit challenging with all three kids with us.

Fall

November 17, 2008

Carving Pumpkins

Halloween'08

Lincoln - Shaggy
Me - Velma (we have a Scooby Doo if you can't see it)
Chloe - Holly Hobby
Ashlyn - The Little Mermaid
Luke - Bumble Bee (Transformers)

This is the classic Holly Hobby look

Chloe trying to figure out that wig on Ashlyn

"Where's Ashlyn?!?!"

They are sweet when they wanna be!

House Pictures

November 17, 2008

Finally, huh? I didn't post all the pictures I took...there were a lot...besides most of the bedrooms and a couple bathrooms aren't decorated yet. :)

The fall colors down here were beautiful.

View from the front steps.

View from our bedroom

Walking in the front door

Front room

Dining Room

Kitchen / Family Room

Family Room / Kitchen

The "landing" upstairs - shot of the balcony that overlooks the front entry. (Our bedroom is directly behind me, Chloe's room is the door you can see off to the left, Luke's room is around the corner from that chair, Ashlyn's room is across from that and then there is a bathroom and a laundry room off to the behind right of this photo...it's basically a circle up there.)

Basement - taken from the far wall to the left of the bar.

"Basement Family Room"

The Bar

I am currently brainstorming decorating ideas for the basement...it's way too dull down there. White walls and gray carpet. I need to spice it up a bit. I am actually contemplating wallpaper....never thought I would say that. I also want to get the kids' bedrooms and their bathroom painted soon.

First Grade Photo

October 24, 2008

I can't believe I have a first grader...still. Here is his school picture. I love it! He is a handsome one I must say! :)

We have a....NEPHEW!!!!!

October 18, 2008

Colten Neal was born to Lincoln's sister, Serene, and her husband, Daryn this morning, 2 1/2 weeks early.
He weighed in at 6 lbs. 15 oz. and was 20 inches long.
YAY! Congrats Daryn & Serene. We cannot wait to meet him at Christmas!

So proud!!

October 14, 2008

I don't have any pictures ready to post...sorry. We've been busy. :) Not sure with what though. :)
Last night we had Luke's first conference for 1st grade. I just have to say....I am the proudest mom! Before I sound like I have a favorite kid, let me just say that I don't...they are all my favorites. Luke is such a great kid. His teacher said that he is great in class. He's polite, quiet and gets done what he needs to. She said that he doesn't like to get things wrong...I wonder who he got that from?!? ;) There are no behavioral problems at all and he's helpful. You could tell when we were sitting there that he was proud of himself. I was almost brought to tears a couple times just by the way his teacher talked about him. Somehow, despite his rough toddler years, we went right with that one...so far. To make it even more great, he saw that his teacher from last year for Kindergarten wasn't busy when we were walking by so he wanted to say "hi". So cute. He asked her if she still have the light-up pen he gave her last year. When she said she did, his eyes lit up. Another almost tear-jerker. So, so proud of my boy!!! I hope that Ashlyn will turn out like him...but in her own way. We will see. :)

Ashlyn is liking school and dance. She is always excited to go...always. Last week her class went to a Pumpkin Patch in Dundas and she was so excited to have a pumpkin to show me and bring home. Lately she's been quite a great helper. She washes the dishes at the farm after breakfast almost everyday...and I don't even have to re-do them!!! :) She's still her typical self though....she is VERY middle child. She acts like she's almost 5 when she's around Luke and then she acts like she's 12 months old when it's me, her and Chloe. So much so that she actually sits on the floor with her arms raised and whines to be picked up. UGH...frustrating, but what am I supposed to do about it. I actually...and call me a bad mom...put her in a time-out tonight because of it. However, her acting like that caused Chloe to slip underwater in the bath...that's mostly why I did it. That girl.

Chloe likes her ECFE class too. She lets me go in with the other parents and just plays until I get back. She listens so well. She cleans up when we ask...most of the time and she understands most of what we ask her. She isn't talking much yet...Mommy, Daddy, Puppy...that's about it. I think she tries, but I don't know what she's saying. She likes to 'read' books. I play Baby Einstein movies in the van when we are going places so she can pick up on stuff and she gets really involved in those. She's got a couple more teeth coming in right now too. We were at the clinic last Friday because I wanted to check her for ear infections before the weekend...last week wasn't a fun one...and she was at 28 pounds. :)

I am hoping to upload some pictures soon and will get those up...especially of the house. The colors are beautiful right outside our door. My goal is to get some outdoor ones tomorrow before something happens and all that color goes away. :) Our 3 deer are still hanging around here. They are so neat to watch, but we are at the point now that we don't tell the kids. Once we do they come running and the deer run away. One problem we have here are moles. Our backyard is being rented by moles. So disappointing. And the bees ans wasps. Who says we're having a shortage of bees???? I know where they all are. One evening we saw a skunk up the driveway digging through the grass and we were afaid it was living near our house somewhere and it could be in the woods. When we were living in Kansas we actually has a family of them living right in the corner of our backyard. Eventually Lincoln was successful in flooding them out...for good.

We are in the middle of corn again. We did silage a couple weeks ago and now we are putting corn in the silos. Hopefully that'll be done this weekend. All the guys have been busy at work since corn started.

Meanwhile, I am busy with a few projects here and there and I am getting ready to get serious about catching up on all my scrapbooking. There just isn't enough time in a day and the weekends are way too short. I am still working at the farm and at church. I am playing with the idea of quiting everything and starting a daycare, but I am nrevous I won't fill up and then I'll be in trouble. :) We will see.

September 15, 2008

Nothing really all that new has happened since last time I posted. I am busy getting ready for a garage sale that I am having here with Trish this weekend as part of the Cannon Falls City-Wide Sales. I guess there are over 100 sales. Wow! I think that is pretty good for our little town. I just hope that people will find it worth it to come out there. If not, I think all the clothes are going to go to a consignment shop.

Ashlyn really didn't want to take the time to take a First Day of School picture. She was eager to get to class so she pouted. That's okay though...this is a typical look for her unfortunately. :)



This next picture is maybe a little creepy for some. This past Saturday night while it was raining a little, I peeked my head out the sliding door in the basement and found this guy right at the door. This was about 5 minutes after I picked one up off of the garage floor and put him outside. I remember when I was younger and I would spend the summers at my Dad's place. They had a big in-ground pool. Almost everyday my step-brother and I would be out there fishing out the salamanders, frogs, turtles, mice and sometimes even snakes out of the pool before we could use it. I think I remember my step-sister out with us too once-in-a-while.
I saw this guy the other night and had a flash-back. With the pond close-by, I was wondering if I was ever going to see some of these.

And speaking of the pond...today I tried to get a shot of the 8 ducks hanging out in the water. Once you start driving by, they all scatter, but I tried. I can't stand that green algae stuff on the top of that water.

Well, that's about it for now. I am thinking it's time for bed. Goodnite!

Tooth - Less

September 8, 2008

Luke finally lost his first tooth last night. I saw the other tooth coming in behind it so I just pulled the other right out. I did not realize how loose it really was. The tooth fairy came last night right before I went to bed and left him 4 quarters! She is the best!

Most of August - A Little Bit of Now

September 5, 2008

So, I know...I have been a horrible blogger lately. There has been a lot going on. On August 1st, we closed on our first house owned in Minnesota. We moved in that same weekend...I had the flu. Yep...I was sick. We had a ton of help though, thank goodness. I felt horrible that weekend. Where would we be without family??? We love the house, although the payments are going to be quite scary for a little while. Still haven't had to pay electric or gas. Yikes. We are still getting this put in order. I am planning on painting and bordering a few rooms and we still have pictures to put up. It'll get done. I haven't taken any pictures yet. I wanted to wait until I got a few rooms done. We also have to paint the front door and man doors on the garage.

Funny...for as busy as it seems I was, I don't think we did anything real significant. Just work and house stuff.

Chloe is growing fast. She is teething right now...has been for some time now. She is getting all 4 molars and 2 canine teeth. It has not been fun. She's got an attitude now. Great. :) Chloe is going to go to ECFE on Thursday nights starting in a couple weeks. That should be interesting.

Ashlyn started dance this past Thursday and I think she likes it. I hope so because I paid for half the year already. She's cute in her little outfit. She start preschool this coming Tuesday. I can't wait. :) She met her teacher last night and is all set to go.

Luke started 1st grade this past Tuesday. He is liking it so far, but you can tell he's just tired by the time 6 or 7 rolls around. Talk about cranky. Our new driveway is so long now, he rides his bike up to the end and leaves it along side the driveway then he rides it back after the bus drops him off. He learned on his first day about being peanut-free. His class has the 4 1st grade kids in it that have peanut allergies. They put them all together in a class on purpose so they can watch closer. I am glad they do that...however, my son only likes peanut butter sandwiches on his field trips. I guess I will be ordering the schools. It has taught me how to read labels. :) It makes me feel good that they care enough to watch them. When I was sick with my allergies and Asthma in school - no one really cared back then. Luke also is so excited because he finally has a loose tooth on the bottom. It'll be out within the next week, I hope.

Here are some pictures from.....well, since last time.

Luke and Ashlyn taking care of the dishes for me at the farm.

Sophie trying to escape to Uncle Lincoln who was standing right outside talking to Cary. We babysat overnight one weekend. (This pic is in the new kitchen looking out onto the deck.)

Chloe trying on Mommy's sunglasses. Here we were at Sophie's 1st birthday party.

Luke's 1st day of 1st grade. (The front door that we need to repaint - in a different color)

Gettin' on the Bus

Ashlyn ready for dance class.

The next photos are of our "photo shoot" with Chelsie. They were done the end of June, but I didn't have them back yet to post with the last entry.


I think that's about all I have now. I am trying to get the house in order so we can have a housewarming party in October. I am also preparing for my garage sale with my BFF Trisha. It's part of the Cannon Falls City-wide sales on Sept. 20th. I hope we have a good turn-out. We have a ton of girls clothes up to 3T-4T and some boy stuff. I mean a ton!

My next goal is to get this house in order to take picture and hopefully that'll be the next post.
I will apologize now for any miss-spellings or weird mistakes. I'm not goin' back to correct them tonight. :)