It's Happening Already!

Today when I picked Gerrit up, we walked to his locker to get his stuff. Inside his locker was a folded up piece of paper that read: From Hattie to Getter (Gerrit)....and when I opened it up it read:

"I saw you at basckball (basketball). Why were you shy? Because I thot (thought) you were. You are good at basckball (basketball). Alomst (almost) every time you make a bascgit (basket). Ples writt (please write) me back. When you writt me back plea put it in my mel (mail) box plea. Thank you!

From Hattie to Getter 

I read the note to Gerrit and so far he has no interest in writing her back. Stay tuned to find out if he responds...

Thanksgiving Weekend 2013

Travis and Millie joined us for Thanksgiving. A small and intimate dinner that was a bit later than planned. I thought I'd try the convection setting on my oven....only to have the turkey take a wee bit longer than predicted! Guess my turkey was larger than I thought! None the less, it was worth the wait - juicy and the rest of the food stayed warm during the wait!

Travis is sportin' Emmit's pilgrim hat he made at daycare....

Friday we went to get the tree....Just as we arrived, Santa (Ho Ho if you are talking to Emmit) and Mrs Clause (Mrs. Ho Ho) arrived at the tree farm. This was the first time Gerrit got close to either one of them without crying or holding on to an adult! Emmit still isn't there yet.

Of course, I'm behind the lens....

All ready to find the perfect tree! Took the wagon to the far end of the farm:

So many great trees to choose from. Finally we settled on one. Being in a new house made for an interesting pick - we don't have the nice tall ceiling where we plan to put it. We tried to go small but our its so deceiving out in nature!

Adam doing double duty - carrying Emmit and dragging the tree. Gerrit hit Emmit in the face with the measuring stick (on accident). 

The boys on Sunday morning in their Christmas duds. It was pretty easy to get them dressed - Emmit thought his pants, shoes, and new coat were 'army' clothes! Gerrit had khaki's on but changed to jeans last minute. I wasn't going to argue with him.

Oh, the black eye and missing teeth you might ask about??? A week ago, Gerrit got into a fight with the slide at school. Came home with a real goose egg above his eye which of course left the eye a nice black and blue. The swelling is down and now its looking yellow. The tooth came out when he pulled it (it was pretty loose). The bottom 2 are finally coming in. Yes, he looks like a hockey player!

Emmit, hammin' it up. He had just refused to have his picture taken too!

Our very own Mr. Ho Ho in the tub! Having fun with bubbles!!

And I was able to get a little sewing in over the weekend. I made both boys cozy pants as we call them around here. Emmit chose Gopher fabric and is showing off his new pants!

Somehow the Lego dudes took over the boys' nativity set....

Catching my Breath

I finally feel like I have a few minutes....to update the blog! I think the last time I updated the pictures across the top was almost 2 years ago! Yikes! Thanks to pinterest I came across the pin about changing blog headings. Hopefully I can do a better job of updating the heading so its not outdated by 2 years! And now I should get back to folding laundry...guess my few minutes are up!

Happy Halloween!

A few quick photos from Halloween. The camera needs to be emptied - so there was not much room for new pictures.

The pumpkins carved and ready to be lit.

Anxious Vikings player and Ninja Turtle ready to head out!

Even though we were not in Z-town making the usual trip around town visiting all our friends, we had a good night. We made the outing with the 2 neighbor families we've come to know. The neighborhood is perfect - houses close together and barely any cars (so crossing the street is simple and safe!). The boys only made it an hour and they only did 2 streets (both sides) before they were 'done'. Their pumpkins were too heavy for them at the end and Emmit was freaked out by a "Joker" costume. (The kid didn't scare him, he was at the same house as we were when Emmit saw him and decided his trick or treating was done!) 

And a few text messages from friends in Z-town made the night complete!

Oma and Opa

Oma and Opa made it for their annual fall trip. They helped get Gerrit off to school each morning and picked him up. Emmit hung out with them and skipped going to Hug a Bear. Both boys enjoyed their visit and attention they received. 

When Gerrit and I had a few days off, we went to an apple orchard nearby. The boys dressed themselves - Gerrit in his traditional shorts and Emmit in his new football pants (thanks to Oma's sewing) and his soccer cleats!

I've given up on trying to get them to dress according to the weather and to match!

 

We picked a few apples. Emmit loved jumping to get ones rather than the ones Oma pointed out for him to get that were easy to grab:

Gerrit didn't want to pick apples, but as you can see, he's all smiles. We ended up with more apples than we needed but it was too fun:

Inspecting the fresh picked apples:

A quick photo with Oma and Opa:

The boys also picked out pumpkins. Oma said the only rule was they had to be able to carry it! Gerrit found a large one that was a wee bit too heavy:

Even the one he chose was pretty heavy but he was able to carry it so he got it!

Both boys trying to pull the wagon to the check out:

One last ride on the tractors before going home:

Emmit loved it - it was just his size!

Another fun week with Oma and Opa has come and gone. Yard work, sewing, and shopping were among the things that kept us busy - that and visiting friends! We look forward to this spring when they come back again!

Feelin' Blessed

For making a quick decision on buying our house, it was a great decision!

I love looking outside and seeing this:

Gerrit and the 2 neighbor boys playing on the driveway. Gerrit loves playing with Blake who is in 5th grade and the 2 of them will play football a lot in the front yards. Jacob is 5 and follows the 2 boys like they are his older brothers. Emmit tags along and plays very well with Jacob. The 2 of them will play 'parents' as Emmit calls it - which is their version of house. I love sitting on the steps and listening to them! Such imaginations. 

As much as we loved our neighbors in Z-town, we are lucky to have neighbors with kids our boys love to play with!

Flag Football Fun

With flag football coming to an end, I realized I had taken quite a few pictures but never posted them. I have some video too but need to work on getting the video off the camera and onto the computer first. 

First game - in the rain! The bad weather is just the beginning for all of us - the boys having to play in it and Adam and I having to watch them in the same poor weather conditions. I think we will be investing in a few golf umbrellas as well as heated seats in the next few years to make these cold, rainy days tolerable!

A little defense in the rain. Ya, Gerrit was one of a few in shorts and it was a cold rain!

Emmit was a trooper watching in the rain - he had his Lego Star Wars umbrella so he was happy!

A much better night for football:

Emmit didn't mind having to go to football every week. He took along his own equipment and played on the sideline. Luckily there was another little brother that he played very well with:

Gerrit played quarter back, here's a hand off. Love the kid in the background - not even paying attention to what was going on!

Again, Emmit enjoying his own football from the sidelines:

From kick offs to hand offs, Emmit practiced it all with dad!

All smiles!

Gerrit and the Badgers:

Enjoyed running the ball as much as throwing it:

Caught the boys huddling up on their own without the coach. I have no idea what was said, if anything, but it sure looked cute from the sidelines. 

Ready to run! (The coach played QB periodically too)

Getting his medal from one of the coaches at the last game:

A very happy boy who can't wait till next season!

We were very proud of Gerrit for seeing the season through. He is very tough on himself (guess who he gets that from?) and a few weeks didn't want to go to football. He played with boys he does not go to school with either which was a big step for him. He can be very shy and timid but he wasn't. He loved it and was glad we 'made' him go to practice/games when he didn't want to go. His coaches told me he was ready for tackle football because he was more advanced than most of the boys. I said I was not ready for tackle and flag will be just fine for a few more years!

The Badgers

The one nice thing about a large school district is the opportunities available. Gerrit had the opportunity to play flag football as part of the after school program. Because there were not enough kids signed up at his school, he was able to combine with others from the district and play at a neutral site. So every Wednesday (for 4 weeks), we head off to practice. 

Saturdays are game days. This week was the first game - and yes, in the rain! As we sat there with umbrellas and rain coats, we decided we need to invest in another golf umbrella because this is what our lives will be like for the next 15 years! 

We didn't complain, nor did the kids. I was able to get a few pictures once we were settled under the umbrella. I missed getting pictures of Gerrit's touch down but here are some of him on defense.

He's wearing gloves b/c he has a blister from the monkey bars - we couldn't find his football gloves (which he got for Christmas last year) so he wore his BMX gloves! They worked and protected his hand.

 Emmit thought he was left out by not getting his picture taken....so here he is in the rain with his rain coat on but not the umbrella. He didn't mind the rain and was a trooper watching the game (and every practice!)

 The game was cut short due to the downpour. The boys didn't mind and not one complained. The coach said they were getting cold so he called it with 20 min. left. Gerrit wasn't mad but said he would've kept playing if he could. There's always next week... (and as of tonight, there is a good chance of rain!) He was not sure if he wanted to be a Badger (his team has red shirts and the other team has maroon - yep, gophers!)

Here's a video from last week's practice - it was taken with my phone, sorry if its a bit grainy. Gerrit is the quarter back (red shorts, black shirt)

New School, New Year

Before school started, Gerrit had open house. Oma and Aunt Cara were here (to babysit while I had to work and when we didn't have daycare for Gerrit).

They were able to join us and see Gerrit's new school and classroom. Here is his desk!

We stayed for a new family orientation and left with a great feeling about the school year. We are very happy we ended up in the district we did as well as at this school. His teacher is great and the leadership is top notch. We are excited to see what the school year brings!

The first day of school came awfully early for us! I didn't realize how tired (or not awake) Gerrit seemed in this picture!

He was ready to go to school and could hardly stand to get his picture taken he wanted to go! I wanted a picture with Emmit too but he was being a pain - he was still inside in his jammies eating breakfast! Luckily Adam dropped Gerrit off and I just had to deal with Emmit because I was almost late for school!

When Gerrit walked into school he said he was scared but didn't cling to Adam nor cry. (I'm glad I wasn't there because I think I would've cried hearing him say he was scared!) He did great and loves to go to school. He enjoys his before/after care which is also at school this year. So far so good!

Wowza!

I can't believe its been over a month since I last posted. Where has the time gone???? I guess I'll try and explain and show you with a few pictures...stay with me.

Sandy Pines - Part II:

I took the boys back to Sandy Pines after we moved because Adam was going to be gone and they love it there so much. We took Luke along again as my copilot - broken collar bone and all.

The boys can't get enough of the jeep - to think its over 12 years old already!

We were able to race BMX - well Gerrit did, they didn't have any Emmit's age to race. Small world - the guy in orange was Adam's freshman college roommate! He had a few little ones racing and were just getting into the sport. As nice as it was for the family to see Gerrit race, we are sure thankful for the great track we have in MN!

 This is how Emmit spent his time at the track - hanging out in an old tire that was filthy!

A trip to Sandy Pines is not complete without ice cream! The boys always tend to get the most unappealing flavor - pure sugar with cookie dough in it??? I was not going to help 'clean' the cone, Emmit was enjoying it too much and I didn't want to stomach the icky flavor...

I love that Gerrit is getting old enough to eat ice cream somewhat cleanly!

Yep, that is Emmit's hand...

We did a lot of playing at the beach

And yes, Emmit after ice cream (and cleaned up by Oma in the bathroom). Even though he didn't have his suit on, he still managed to get plenty wet!

 We went blueberry picking where I went as a little girl with my mom. Oma loves blueberries and would go daily if she could to pick fresh blueberries!

We were not quite as quick as Oma. I think all 4 of us together pick as many as Oma did by herself!

  Granted, some of ours was consumed by Emmit!

We spent a day at the cottage too. Emmit didn't like me for leaving him on the tube by himself. He did great though!

These 2 could play all day long together. They rarely fight and pick up where they left off each time they see each other.

They wanted to take the paddle boat out in the worst way and none of the adults wanted to go...so we let them do it themselves if they stayed near by and they did better than we thought! They have pretty strong legs to get that baby moving!

One day at Sandy Pines, we hung out with our friends at their beach. It was 2 doors down from where I spent many days hanging with my friend when I was little. Love that life has come full circle!

More August fun at the Farm.

We hadn't been to the farm all summer - the one we use to work at weekly when Deb was doing CSA boxes....So we squeezed in a visit before heading back to school.

Deb has new residents - 6 kittens that were only 2 weeks old when we were there. The boys surprisingly did well with them (they really are not animal kids). Gerrit held them and Emmit would pet them...we were able to wait out the rain and play with the kittens.

 Emmit  - a farmer at heart! 

When the rain stopped we took the dogs and headed to the river. It was a muggy night and a great time to cool off. Gerrit enjoyed finding rocks for Amber Jo to 'fetch'.

He also showed Deb his swimming skills:

Emmit was a bit timid by the cool water:

He finally was convinced to show Deb his 'swimming skills':

The boys took over our chairs and jumped in (yes, Emmit warmed up to the water). They were suppose to be jumping at the same time here....

I love the sun in this picture. We had to convince the boys it was time to get out of the water and head for dinner - they would've stayed in all night if we would let them!

We promised we would make it back this fall to visit and for sure next summer. We miss hanging out at the farm and the sense of peace we feel when we are there. Its so quiet and takes us out of the hustle and bustle of city life!

MN State Fair!

We have not been to the state fair in years.....but seeing we could get free tickets from the Corn Growers...we decided it was time to go back and bring the boys.

They enjoyed some of it: the Lego display...

My favorite was the little farm hands on exhibit:

Adam helped the boys 'plant' at the farm:

The one thing the boys didn't like was all the walking around. I think as they get older they will enjoy it. We visited many animals but missed seeing Mazy the Corn Grower's mascot by a few minutes (the boys were bummed about missing her).

No one argued with the chocolate chip cookies I bought!

We only were able to eat the top part of the bucket - enough to get it to close...luckily the milk barn was nearby so we could wash it down with a tall glass of milk!

This was the end of our August....let school begin!