Labor Day Weekend

We had such a fun Labor Day weekend!! 

It started Thursday night with an evening out at our local football game! Crimson vs Osseo. With Osseo having won state last year, it was a competitive game. It started at bedtime (7:00pm), but the kids did a great job staying up. One of their favorite parts was playing their own little football game on a patch of grass near concessions. 

Cutest selfie in Maple Grove

Friday was our last summer 'stay-at-home' day before school starts. We had to do a bunch of stuff around the house for basement inspections and our appraisal, but afterwards, we packed a picnic and went to Central Park for some quality playground and splashpad time. It's so simple, but one of my favorite things to do with the kids is grab a coffee and bring them to a playground. I love watching them run around giggling, playing together, and exploring.

Brecken LOVED the splashpad! He kept leaning and squirming to try to get into the fountains :)

After nap, we went to Cabellas (per their request) to look at the fish and animals. So funny how much they love this. It's like the zoo to them!

Saturday we spent at Grandma D's by the pool since KK was in town. Highlights included Breck & I jumping on the trampoline, a few flips (and ninja moves) off the divingboard, walk with the boys and KK, bonfire (and mom actually came out!)

We had promised the kids a coffee shop muffin (apparently this is a big deal to them and Logi calls them 'English Muffins') if they went to bed good. They went to bed awesome and slept until about 6:30. So we headed down to the riverfront to find a coffee shop to keep our promise (and for a great cup of joe for mom and dad!) 

They ate right by the water :)

And then we took our yummy coffee to a new playground. The kids loved the whole thing, but I think our favorite part was the 'rock climbing'.

Our next stop was up to Zimmerman for one last summer lake day. The kids played outside most of the day - playing yard games, tubing, learning to drive the paddleboat by themselves (!), trampoline jumping, building Legos...

Just love these little feet!

Ryder is loving high speeds and choppy water on the tube!

Buddies :)

The boys out on their own! They are getting so big!!

Ry showing off his skills on the trampoline.

What a weekend! Sometimes I wish summer would last all year! 

Baby Gates are Up!

Brecken - you are on the move!! I thought I would be sad as you started to grow into a toddler, but it's not sad - it's so fun!! You are my last baby and I know I will miss the baby stage, but watching you in the yard yesterday - I love it. We were at your grandparents' house and let you crawl all around the huge yard while I played games with the big boys. You pushed the monster truck all around the yard, crawling behind it, and chasing it down the hill with your robo-baby moves! You did a great job not eating all the sticks and leaves as you crawled over them. That alone made me so happy! At this age, your brothers put everything in their mouths - including landscape rocks and wood chips. I'm hopeful we're going to skip all that...

I was watching the three of you near the lake, so I wasn't able to go in and grab my phone for a picture, but I hoped if I took down a few words, it would help me remember this fun phase :)

(Photo from the following day)

Day in the Life

I have done a few 'day in the life' posts on Fridays, but I don't think I have done one on a weekday. I think yesterday was a good example of a typical busy day for this working mom.

5am: wake up, shower, dry my hair, put on a dress, tell Ryder to go back to bed,  make two PB protein waffles, make a double shot of espresso, have my waffles and caffeine in the car on my quiet drive to work...

6:30am: at my desk at work, eat morning snack on my way to the copy machine, meetings downtown, back in time to grab a salad just before the cafe closes, ate while working, 9.5 hours feels like 2...

4pm: goodbye drinks with a friend

5:30: rush hour home, stop at Starbucks for a tall dark roast coffee for 'dinner'...met Shawn and the boys at soccer practice...

8pm: give kids a shower, bottle for Brecken, get the kids to bed...

8:30pm: Log back on at home to finish the work that's due today...

11pm: Relax for 15 minutes. 

Go to bed!

Logan surprised me with this photo of me watching practice...

Keeping one eye on the game and one on the 'free range' littles...

Ryder setting up for a goal :)

Someday I'm going to wonder how all this was possible!! Ha!

Brecken Stands!!

Brecken! You just stood for the first time ever! I'm so loving getting to do these firsts one last time!

We were all building a Kiwi Box in the kitchen and Brecken was giggling so hard each time Logan launched a rocket. So funny! And then, as we were distracted, Logan shouted "Brecken's standing!!" He was standing right in the middle of the floor and had pushed to a stand all on his own. He balanced for a short time and then fell to a sit. He celebrated by smiling sooo huge and clapping for himself! :) Love love love these moments!!

We tried and tried for a repeat performance to capture a photo, but no luck...yet...

Little for a Little While

After hustling out the door for our playdate, handling some unexpected issues over the phone for work, making it home for nap, doing more work during nap, and cleaning up the house a bit, we had a coule hours with no plans. 

It had started to sprinkle just as we had loaded up the stroller to head to the park. Brecken's old enough and it's warm enough, that I didn't worry about him with the rain. Plus, he had a little canopy. The boys didn't mind, and neither did I. 

We spent some time on the ball field and at the playground. It was so nice to just relax and enjoy the boys. With chores and work, I have had a hard time with this balance lately. But at this point in the day, I was fully savoring this time with them. 

Logan did an awesome job crushing the ball - he hit almost every pitch. Ry, too. Brecken just watched contently from his stroller.

Ryder - worried I'm going to hit him in the head [again] with a crazy pitch. (Don't worry - we just used wiffle balls)

Then Logan wandered off the ball field and started to jump in puddles. I followed.

Since no one else was around, I let them take off their shoes and jump right in. I know it's messy and these puddles are full of germs, but they're only little for a little while...

Ryder: "Let's jump in and whoever gets the dirtiest wins!"

Logan: "I'm so chilly...but I don't want to go home. I just want to stay here forever. Except for the night time. Because then the bears will come."

I think at a time like this, when I feel like their childhood is fleeting, this is just what I needed. An unscheduled, breaking the normal rules, pure uncontrollable giggles, kind of afternoon. Sure I have a little extra laundry to do, but I also have some pretty great photos to hang on the laundry room walls :)

And of course, I gave them a good scrub as soon as we got home!

Brecken | 10 Months

You can ride in the shopping cart like a big boy...

You go from a crawling position to a sitting position with ease...

You pull yourself up to your knees and have pulled to a stand, tho still need a little help to get to a standing position most of the time...

You are such a great eater. You eat everything and lots of it...

You are seriously happy and content all of the time...

You enjoy learning to climb through things and have climbed up a couple steps (however, after our last climber, we're not totally encouraging this skill)...

You learned to clap...

You learned to blow air from your mouth (mimicking when we do it to you)...

You sleep great, but are starting to walk a little earlier. You sleep from 7pm - 6:30am with two daytime naps...

You still flap your arm to wave and don't do it very regularly or with much grace (haha)...

You have really picked up the baby babble this month. Ryder said, "He likes to talk a lot...I think he's going to be like me."

You are getting so big and strong, we are trying to savor the last of the baby phase!!! And we do so by snuggling your, taking a million pictures, still carrying you in the tummy carrier (which you love), watching your sleep, and giving you a million kisses!!! It's fun to watch you grow, but don't grow too fast! Love your baby Brecky!

Day in the Life | July 2016

This was from a couple Fridays ago now, but we were well overdue for a day-in-the-life update. I love looking back at these, so enjoy doing them as often as I can.


9 photos, starting from the top left, and proceeding as if you're reading a book:


1. Early morning run / bike. The boys are getting up around 6:30 these days. Shawn usually makes their breakfast (eggs or waffles) before work. I love that he does this because it means they are usually fed by the time I wake up on Fridays. After breakfast, and after Shawn left for work, we went out for a bike ride (run for me). We either go to the 'first bridge' and back, the 'long way', or to Fish Lake.


2. Brecken is on the move now, so I need to keep a more careful eye on him. One of his favorite things to do now is army crawl over to the kid drawer and pull out all of the bowls :)


3. On Fridays, I often treat myself to coffeehouse coffee because even though it's my 'day off' of work, it is usually the toughest (but most enjoyable) day of the week.


4. On this Friday, we went to the community center waterpark. Brecken is now old enough to play! He sat in the zero depth area with me for quite a while, letting the big boys play nearby in deeper water. He was awake the entire visit (10:30-2??), spending sometime outside, sometime at the inside pool, and sometime sitting in the umbrella stroller just watching everyone.


5. Now that Ryder can officially swim, he was able to do the obstacle course! (Or as he would call it, the 'Ninja Warrior' course). He did this over and over and over. Sometime he made it across (without holding onto the net) and sometimes he fell into the water and had to swim to the side. So fun to be 6 :)


6. Logan loves this waterpark. Really, he loves just about anything active, as long as there isn't too much structure :) He was perfectly behaved (no joke) and loved the lazy river (riding on noodles and his life jacket) and loved playing at the super warm indoor play area pool. I even had a few minutes outside to lounge on a chaise with my eyes shut while all the boys quietly had snacks. Funny how a couple minutes can feel like a mini vacation...


7. Lunchtime. We had snacks at the pool, but went back home for a late lunch to avoid bringing a full cooler to the pool. As usual, I made sure the boys had a grain, a vegetable, and dairy while I ate a Luna bar for lunch. Coffee and clif bars keep me moving these days. Eventually, I'll get back to clean, healthy eating, but in the meantime, I spend a lot of time prepping food, feeding them, convincing them to eat, and then cleaning up after the kids. So by the time they're done, I feel like I spent so much time, I have to remind myself I didn't actually eat!


8. Dinnertime. Shawn grilled kabobs for the two of us :) I can't remember what kid-friendly meal the boys had, but we didn't even try to convince them to eat kabobs. Ryder would, but Logan would most likely refuse, and they prefer to eat the same thing as eachother. Brecken is really good at eating finger food, so we can usually dice food and let him feed himself a good chunck of his meal. On this particular day, I think he had meatballs, cheese, and puffs.


9. I remember a few years ago when I would tell people that we never really gave our kids ice cream. We would do vanilla yogurt in an ice cream cone or give them frozen bananas run through the food-processer (comes out like soft serve). Obviously, we have given in and often use ice cream as a bribe ;) On this particular day, Shawn brought home Dilly bars and the boys loved the special treat.