March Madness...in February...kinda.

March 24, 2011

Lincoln coached 3rd grade basketball this year. Luke played. The only games they played this year were 3 games in a 4th grade tournament held here in Cannon. (they played all 4th graders) They got 5th place (lost their first game, won their next 2). Awesome.

LOVE this photo (thanks to Katie for all these photos)
This one will probably make it to print and a frame.

#25 - just like his father.

I was a very proud mom on this day. He played well as did the rest of the team and they had fun! I can't wait until next season!

Old familiar...warm fuzzies.

March 19, 2011

Lincoln and I went on a double date last night with some friends of ours. Our babysitters were my mom and step-dad and they came down to the house and stayed overnight. THAT WAS SO NICE! Anyway, they brought their own coffee maker because we don't drink coffee (and the only pot we have is the 30-cup one). This morning at 6 am it started brewing and the smell was so familiar. It wasn't the usual coffee smell that I usually don't like to smell, but it was a smell I remember from living in Kansas. It reminded me of when my parent's came down to stay with me after I had Luke and then again after I had Ashlyn. I had them for a week each time and it was awesome. I woke up to or at least spent the morning smelling that smell every day they were there. I remember when they left my house in Kansas, I went back in the house and just cried and cried. And the smell I wasn't necessarily fond of was the smell that I was hoping wouldn't go away for a few days. It was a rough couple of days after they left each time. The smell at 6 am this morning brought me back to those days and back to my house in Kansas. There are some things I miss about living in Scott City....the group of ladies I learned my scrapbooking from, the couple that we got to know first because of the farm and the people we met through them, the weather....I bet it'll be in the 80's there tomorrow. Our neighbors would be watering their lawns in January the first year we were there....3 weeks later we drove back to MN to -20 degrees. :) But, I missed ALL of my family and friends horribly. It really brought me down a lot, although I tried to get through it as best I could. It was rough not having mom there for the births of my first 2 babies and to help me the first few days. She was there for the 3rd though and that is actually when I needed her most. We were back in MN and she was there. She got to see Chloe being born and she was there the first day back to make supper. Turns out the third child would put me into postpartum depression.....thank God I was back in MN for that. I don't know what I would have done if I wouldn't have been here.
Anyway...warm fuzzies this morning, having the smell of something I really don't like bring me back to 9 years ago. Ironically, it was this same week that they came and met Luke for the first time. Funny how things work out.

What? It's only been 6 months...

March 13, 2011

It's a whole new year! Can't believe we've hit 2011. With 2011 came a new niece we like to call Jillian Marie. She was born on January 11th to Grant & Tiffany. Se was 7 pounds and was 10-11 days late. Jealous. :) So cute. Lincoln's sister is expecting a baby in June. So exciting.
Christmas was great as usual this year. New years....came and is here. This winter has been crazy with the snow. the cold and then the warmer weather has been really hard on our outdoors....the sidewalks are all a mess and I just hope that they all go back to normal during the thaw. We are expecting close to 50 this next week. Whew. The snow has been crazy this winter.

Luke just turned 9 last week. 9. Wow. He celebrated by having a ton of his friends come to the roller rink close to our place. Then our family came over this past Friday night. I love having every one over. Luke is doing really well in school. It's hard to get home to want to read, but he does it because he has to. His spelling is excellent and he is really improving on grammer and English. His math is pretty good too. This is the first year he was able to actually play basketball. Lincoln coached. His 3rd grade team played their very first games in their very first tournament against 4th graders and they ended up getting 5th place. So proud. He LOVES his basketball.

Ashlyn turned 7 in December. She celebrated by having a few of her friend over to the house and her grandma Sharon and grandpa Paul along with auntie Victoria and Josh came to help celebrate. She got an American Girl doll, Kit, for her birthday from her grandma Chris. She loves that doll! :) She is still really into drawing and coloring...crafting. She is doing pretty good in school. She needed to go to a class for extra reading help at the beginning of the year and we just got word on Friday that she can be done with that now because she is where she needs to be. Awesome. We are having some really big issues with math right now. She is supposed to be learning and have some knowledge on money, mainly coins. She just doesn't get it. It'll be some work, but eventually she'll get it. I hope. Ashlyn is in Girl Scouts this year as well. She is a Daisy. I am an assistant leader. And I would just like to vent here quick by saying that the girl scout cookie event this year was really not fun. There. I'm done. She's been enjoying it.

Chloe is growing so fast. We've been spending our Monday mornings by going to ECFE and meeting new friends. She had her preschool screening in February and is all ready to go. We signed her up for next year. She is sure she is going to ride the bus with her siblings...not yet, babe! :) She is very quiet and sweet. She is getting along a lot better with her cousins and she loves coming with me everywhere. She loves her cartoons too. I've been trying to set limits on that, but, she usually wins. She loves doing puzzles and coloring. LOVES stickers. She is also very excited that she gets to go to Sunday School in the fall. She talks about it all the time.

The farm is still going and I and still working at the church. Lincoln's basketball season is coming to an end next weekend and the Gophers...well, they are done and Lincoln is not happy about it. Not to fear though.....March madness is going to be in full swing this week. Get those brackets ready! Lincoln and I will be celebrating 10 years of marriage on June 16th. We think we are going to go somewhere...and that is as far as we have gotten with it. Obviously, it's not easy getting away when you are farmers with 3 children. Especially when those children are in school (because we won't go anywhere until next spring).

I'll leave you with some photos from the past several months........take care!

Halloween: Pumpkin Spice Girl, Luke Skywalker & Princess Leia

She was supposed to be stuffing bulletins for me while at work one day...it got quiet and this is what I found. Chloe was sleeping on the job. She's too cute to fire though.

Ahhhhh, December 11th....the day with all the snow. 20+ inches. It was blowing too much to send the kids out in it so I took an idea from a friend and filled a tote full of snow and let them play in our kitchen. (the idea giver put hers in the bathtub, but I didn't want to go to the basement or the upper level.) This is the night that it got so bad, Lincoln didn't get home and stayed in town at a friend's house.

This is the day after that storm. The first plowing of it. I kept up with the snow out on the deck byu shoveling every couple hours, but I just couldn't keep up with the rest and I didn't know how to start and run the blower so it waited for Lincoln to finally get home.

Ashlyn in her party dress from grandma Sharon. This was at her friend party.

With her Kit American Girl doll.

Her cake.

My Christmas dressed kids. this was actually taken a week before on our way out the door to our carols service at church one Sunday morning. This is the only time they get all dressed for Christmas. Luke got a hair cut shortly after this photo...because that is what made me realize that he really needed one.

School is....IN SESSION!!!

September 14, 2010

Yep, school's back. Here are some photos. We got thru the school bus issues and first day of school just fine. All is well...I hope the year goes great!

The Summer...is pretty much done.

August 31, 2010

I'll get right to it. :)

In July, we went and celebrated my 33rd birthday (I think that's what it was...I can't keep track anymore...let's see 7-14-2010 minus 7-14-1977 = 33. Yep.) back to the update...we went bowling and out for Godfather's pizza for my birthday the weekend before the actual day and we had a blast. Chloe had so much fun...her first time bowling. And Godfather's pizza...YUM!

Chloe was jumping up and down here..she did that after every throw. :)

Back in June, the road construction finally started. It's been fun. the best part (sarcasm) is that they then started construction on all 3 of the detour route roads. Smart thinkin' on their part. that was awesome. You pretty much had an issue getting anywhere this summer. Currently we can get out one way so that's good. It'll be so nice when everything is done. It'll look really nice out here and they can leave it all alone for a while. :) And the workers have been really accommodating for the most part.



July was pretty busy...I can't remember what with though. There was a weekend filled with all of Lincoln's family at the end of that month and that was pretty fun. It was a good weekend, I thought. the kids started swimming lessons in July and they loved it and did great. Luke and Ashlyn passed to go onto the next level for next summer, Chloe did not, but I expected that. She was a little young for her class. But she isn't as scared of the water and she will let go of me now and she will also jump in from the side with or without a life jacket...you just gotta watch her and catch her if she's not wearing one. We also went to the Cannon Valley Fair and the 4th of July Parade...and fireworks.

All three kids spent a week at my dad and step-mom's house and I have to say, that was awesome although we missed the kids. It was quiet around here. They enjoyed themselves, but I think they missed home too...Chloe is still clingy toward me. Ashlyn attended summer school to prepare her for 1st grade. That was two weeks long which brings us to this week. Tonight was open house at school so we met teachers, checked out the classrooms, paid for everything that needs it...which is not cheap in my opinion.
I am excited for this year, but i am so nervous. I am having a hard time letting go and a hard time not thinking about how Luke is going to learn this or that or get it right and the same goes for Ashlyn....especially her. Ugh, parenthood. Thank goodness for teachers. This will be a good year. And next year...Chloe in preschool. Wow. So, 7 days and they will be getting on a bus...2 of them all day, every day. Whew. LOL

I suppose that's all for now. Linc and I are headed to the MN State Fair tomorrow...alone. Date day. I can't wait. :)
Until next time.....

We have another...NEPHEW!!!! (and more stuff)

June 19, 2010

There is yet one more boy in our family! Clinton, Bonnie & Sophie welcomed Harrison Clinton into their lives on Tuesday, June 15 at 7:33 am. He weighed 9 lbs. 10 oz. and was 21" long. Big boy. Everyone is doing great and Sophie seems to be a proud big sister. We are so happy for them and so excited. (and I have to get this in there...Bonnie took her nursing boards on Friday, found out she passed them over the weekend and went in to the hospital at 12:30 am Tuesday...way to go, girlie!)

Summer vacation has begun! The kids are bored. Figures. We are trying to keep them busy though. Luke is leaving tomorrow afternoon for Good Earth Village Camp through church. He stays for 2 nights. Weird for mom. He is also signed up for a couple other things this summer like a track & field camp type thing and a LEGO activity class for a few days.

I haven't written in a while. May turned out to be very busy for us for a while. Unfortunately, we attended quite a few funerals last month. Our neighbor lost his battle with cancer and a few days after that, Lincoln's grandma Betty passed away at the age of 90. 90, wow. It was a very sad couple days and she passed away on Mother's Day night. Appropriate, I think...for the Matriarch of the Sjoquist family to go see her Savior on Mother's Day. Her visitation and her funeral were both at Spring Garden...again, appropriate, I thought. She touched a lot of lives. I am very thankful that I was lead to meet my husband and to marry into his incredible family. We ended the two days over at my in-laws house with almost the whole Sjoquist family and I thought, again...how appropriate that everyone was together...and we had a great game of baseball going on that day. What a woman she must have been in her days. 90. What a life...a good and hard and rewarding life. I hope that she continued to be proud of the kids she raised and the kids that her kids have raised and the kids that her grandkids are raising. :)

May continued with dance performances and school programs. And eventually a couple field trips and the end of a school year the first week of June. My little sister graduated on June 10th from Elk River High School. Then when she went off to her all-night party, the rest of us went to eat...it was a great night.

The kids. Luke will be off to 3rd grade in a couple months and Ashlyn will be in 1st. Wow. We already know their teachers which is awesome. I love that. With May also came Chloe turning 3. She sometimes acts like she's 5. :) I am going to be signing the kids all up for swimming lessons in town and with that comes a season pass so I plan on hanging at the pool a lot the rest of this summer. They are excited that I am finally getting on this. Luke has been helping out on the farm too and I think he's been a big help. He is also now heavy enough to keep the lawn mower going when he sits on it so he learned to mow and now helped his dad mow the yard and it actually cuts the mowing time for Lincoln in half. LOVE IT! I know he expects to be paid....we'll have to work something out. :)

Us...well, Lincoln and I just had our 9th wedding anniversary come and go. Eventually this summer we will go out and eat or something. Our nephews birth took precedence to us and we love it! I love that everyone else is adding to the family now. :) (And I'm not the one getting up in the middle of the night feeding and changing...although, I wouldn't mind doing it once in a while and an overnight sitter!)

We don't really have a vacation planned this summer. Lincoln will take a few days off probably and I am going out-of-town with my mom next weekend, but we aren't going on a week long trip again like last summer. Maybe a couple long weekend trips or something...if we can get them fit in. Too bad before we know it it'll be school time again and I won't lie, I am half excited for that, but yet I love summer so....well, it is what it is. :)

Easter 2010

April 18, 2010

I hope everyone had a great Easter celebration!! We had a great day. Very, very busy, but great. I got up early, sang at the 6:30 am service, ran home, helped get kids ready, saw what the Easter bunny got them, ran back to church with the family, had breakfast there, sang in the 10:00 am service, ran home, changed clothes, got to my grandma & grandpas for lunch, did an egg hunt there, at around 4:30 we ran to Lincoln's parents for dinner (if we were hungry), hung out there a little bit and finally got back home by about 7:30ish. Whew. What a day! It was awesome though. Next year, however, I think I am going to skip out on the choir for the 6:30 am service. I miss getting to watch the kids look for their baskets and I love seeing their faces when they are surprised. We shall see. :)

Here is a photo of my Easter kiddos. Luke was so excited to be wearing a tie! :) Grandma Chris made Ashlyn's dress this year...sooooo cute! Chloe's dress was actually one that I bought 2 years ago for Ashlyn, but then Chris made dresses so it never got worn.


We are loving the spring-like weather. I do, however, like that it is still a little cool out. I don't need it to be hot yet. :) It is a little hard to believe that it is only April with the weather. There are farmers out planting already. I am so excited for the early season, but sooooo hoping for their sake that it doesn't backfire on them. So, here's to hoping we don't get any freezing weather anymore until after harvest.
You can tell that spring is here as the kids are kicking off the spring program season this week. Luke has a concert on Tuesday, Ashlyn has a small performance at the nursing home for dance on Friday. The spring field trips have started and there will be more performances for dance and school soon. Wow. And once school is out I will officially have a 3rd grader and a 1st graders. 2 kids in school full-time. I also will have another child eligible for 3-year old preschool, but we are going to wait until she is 4. Speaking of Chloe....she is going to be 3...in less than a month. So exciting and so sad all at the same time.

I better close this and get some stuff done before bed. Another Monday tomorrow.