Apple Orchard and stuff

Bubbles-check, jets on-check, toys-check, goggles-check! Cannot take a bath unless you look cool doing it!
Woohoo! I may actually be caught up after this post...well, I'll be in the month of October at least. I think I do probably have some pictures on my camera to download. I did a few photos for church this past weekend so I'll have to download soon:) The children's director wanted me to get some photos of the preschool age kiddos for the church website. Plus Caden sang in church so I have those to post too-wait did I say he sang? I meant he stood on stage and looked good. No, he actually did do the movements and sing the words to one of his favorite VBS songs from this summer-Tear the Roof Off. Amy this song is on your mp3 list:)
Colton has been trying his hand at fashion designing. I don't think it's in his future. His latest design is ziploc mittens and socks/boots/shoes. He thinks they are pretty cool and bound to be a hit. They are great if you don't want to buy ice skates also-works wonders sliding on the carpet. If you would like to place an order just gives us a call:)
We had our annual MOPS Fall bake sale in September. I made some yummy caramel crispix and packaged it all pretty because if you are like me it's all in the packaging:) We also had some left over wood and tin pieces from a craft we did so I made up 8 magnetic frames with magnets for the sale.

On to the orchard...this year we went earlier than other years. Last year we had a hard time finding the apples-most were at the top of the trees. This year there were apples aplenty. The boys-and by that I mean Doug also-had a blast filling full 2 bags. Colton could not get enough of the apples as it shows in the picture below.s.

Welcome to my world

I have to post this Caden funny before I get on to finishing up our summer catch up series. Doug brought me home a Sprite and as he was opening it for me said "I'd better take a taste to make sure it's good" and Caden piped up from the table "welcome to my world" Background story: after church we stop by the Retro and grab a coffee/smoothie drink and the boys get a huge cookie and soda. We Doug opens Caden's soda and every time says"I'd better take a taste to see if its good". so I guess I now know what it is like to live in Caden's world.
On to the month of August-yes, I know it's October but still........

We went to the Hamel Rodeo......The boys thought it was okay for awhile but got bored. We did manage to stay to the end by buying some goodies.
We went to Valley Fair with Doug's company. Caden had a blast-too bad he wasn't tall enough to go on all the big rides like he wanted to. Maybe next year.
We had a double birthday party for Colton and Gracie. Both of them had fun opening presents, swimming in the pool and eating yummy food.
We then took Aunt Amy out to the farm and the boys enjoyed so fresh garden veggies. I was surprised they both ate the peas, carrots and potatoes-and liked them. Colton was brave and tried a green onion and liked it so much I caught him eating the whole thing-green part and all.
We also finally got to use our gift certificates from Terri. She gave the boys cards for Build a Bear workshop and they were happy to go in there and use them up. Caden has been in there before. He built a bear for Colton when he was born and he built one for cousin Gracie when she was born. This was Colton's first time but he did everything. They even had enough left on the gift card to outfit the bears.
And just because he always does something too cute...

That is so last year........

That would be Caden's new saying. I'm not even sure if he knows what it means but he uses it a lot-sometimes in the right context and sometimes not so much.
Caden is still liking school and the bus ride to school. We will find out by the end of the week if he will switch classrooms. I'm hoping not but we have talked about it so I think he'll be okay with it-a little sad but okay. Colton has had a fever since last Thursday. I finally took him in yesterday. I thought he was probably just getting his 2 yr. molars in. They did a mono test and strep test and both came back negative. The doctor said it was just a virus so unfortunately there was nothing they could give him but on the bright side we are still antibiotics free for both boys. She did say that there is a virus going around that leaves the kids down and out with a fever for up to 5 days. Of course as soon as we left the doctor's office he was doing much better and today is running around like his normal self. It's so hard to see them sick because it takes away from the happy, healthy little child that you are blessed with and you realize then how blessed you are to have healthy happy kids.
We had our Fall kick-off at church this past Sunday. I'm in the one year old room this year. Boy, was that a workout. Out of the 10 kids, 4 were crying and 2 had to have their parents called back into the room because they started that heaving crying. We just didn't have enough arms to hold all the crying ones. And when one starts it is like a domino effect. Oh did I mention that I was the only adult in the room? I had a junior high helper but I think she got a little scared with all the crying kids. It did help when 2 parents stayed in the room with their kids because the crying ceased a little bit. My arms are so sore from holding/juggling the kids all hour:) A great workout! Oh and we did not get to the lesson that was on the board!
Speaking of "that is so last year" here are a few pictures from our summer week at the lake in July.....these are soooooo a couple of months ago.

as always click photo to make larger

I'm Baaaaaack.......

I'm back but wondering where did our summer go? I'm not complaining too much though since I love Fall.
Caden started Kindergarten on the 2nd. He loved it! When he got home I asked him to tell me 2 words that would tell me how kindergarten is and he said fun and happy. The bus stopped by and put a little bug in Caden's head about riding it to school. I was going to take him but now he wants to ride the bus!! I can't believe it. I was suppose to take my baby to school and pick him up. He's not suppose to be wanting to ride the bus already!!!! So we made a deal-he could ride the kindergarten bus to school-only kids in his class are on the bus but I would pick him up after school since we went to 1 tier busing he would have to ride with all the kids-k-12-and be on the bus for 1hour and 20minutes. Caden got the teacher he wanted but we will have to see if it stays that way. There are 27 kids in his class and if everyone that registered shows up they may consider adding on another PM kindergarten class and splitting all the classes up again-what a pain but I do want him to have a smaller class-he likes order and routine.

As always click on photos to make larger.
I left a blank spot on this scrapbook page because I'm going to have Caden write his name on the paper once I get it printed off.And what is with sending home a fund raiser on the first day of school? I couldn't believe it. I sent it back with Caden today. Nothing like putting pressure on these kids.

Of course Caden couldn't be the only one with a backpack and going to school. Colton started to cry when I got Caden's backpack ready. He wanted one also. So we found one of Caden's old ones and he put in his blanket and Gracie's baby. Bonni-he really loves that baby! He even slept with it last night but he did tell me he would give it back to Gracie when we see you guys!

And since I left off somewhere in the middle of the summer here is what we did the end of July. On July 22 we celebrated Colton's birthday.

We also had a new neighbor move in so I made a movie night basket that included a popcorn bowl, couple bags of microwave popcorn, 2 bottles of water, 2 bottles of Root Beer and a movie certificate for a new release movie at our local movie rental place. The boys and I took it to their place and met the dad and the son. The boy is a year younger than Caden and I think the girl is a year older.

VBS wrap up and check ups

Caden had so much fun at VBS. He loved to go. Colton enjoyed his stay in the childcare room also. We have a wonderful cd of all the music and songs from the week. Colton has a favorite that I'm trying to get him recorded saying. He "sings" the song Choose Jesus"-well just the chorus-oh okay he just says "choo Jesus" and sometimes it's more of a "choo sesus".
Below are some of the highlights.








I have no pictures for Day 5 because I had to put together the parents PowerPoint of all the pictures I took. I narrowed it down to 185 pics to put into the slide show. I think I took close to 800+ that week. But who needs pictures? I think the theme for the day says it all:After a full morning of worship and VBS fun we headed to Dr. Dina and our yearly check ups! They love Dina! I do too! She is so great with them. Caden only had 1 monkey in his ear and Colton had a bird:) And now onto the stats: Caden weighed a whopping 45lbs-which puts him the the 50-75%, his height was 43 inches-still too short for many of the rides at Valleyfair:(25-50%). Colton is still my little dude weighing in at 26.5lbs (25%) and 32inches high (10-15%) I found it interesting that they now check BMI in kids-must be all the overweight kids today. They also gave me info on potty training. I don't think Colton is ready-the other day in his swim trunks he went and when I asked him if he went potty he looked down and said no. Either he doesn't know or doesn't care-hmmmm. Both boys had shots. Caden-3 and Colton-1. Caden did really well and only cried at the MMR-which the nurse said it would sting and Colton didn't cry at all but I think he would have let loose if the nurse looked at him a second longer and if I didn't pick him up right away and start talking to him. Both look healthy and athletic said Dr. Dina-Doug was happy with that:)-me too:)

Summer is half way through?

I cannot believe it. Where did it go? I was just talking with a few friends about how in April and May you get out the calendar and start adding activities to the summer months and when you have a blank week you think "hmmm that cannot happen-what can I fill it with" Then summer gets here and you long for that day when you have nothing to do.

Lets see.....what have we been doing since last post? We went to a TWINS game. Caden was so excited. As we backed out of the garage he asked "are we there yet?" Of course this is only cute the first 5 times or so-especially since we hadn't even gotten onto any freeway yet. Then as we were entering downtown I noticed he had gotten quiet. I thought for sure he would say something about the "city." He had just been talking a few minutes ago. I looked behind and this is what I saw.... As always click on photos to make larger

Oh well...they had a great time. We were in the family section so it was up in the upper level, which is scary when you have a soon to be 2 year old. While we were waiting for the game to start-we got there 30 minutes early, but got the wind up TWINS toy!! This guy started walking down our row and it was someone Doug knew from Canby. Jackie, you know them-are friends with his wife-and of course I cannot remember their names as I type this-he fixed our house in Garretson after that storm, his daughter goes to Bethel? Any who....the boys had a great time. Colton spent a few innings wiping up his chocolate milk on the floor. He had a funky milk smell because he had spilled so much of it on himself-ahhh kids and straws.
We had spent the 4th at a local parade that is named the largest and oldest 4th of July parade in the state. The kids had fun.
After that we headed over to the carnival they always have. Caden had a blast on the rides. He is soooo ready for Valleyfair this year.

We spent the day at our friend Amy, Liv, and Keira's house. The kids enjoyed running around the backyard with sprinklers, kiddie pools and the playhouse. We moved one of the pool under the slide and Liv and Caden thought that was the coolest. Amy and I about had a heart attack the first time they went down. They went so fast I though they would bounce off the back side of the pool and flip out! It was kind of comical. They would fly down fast into the pool and keep going until they hit the end of the pool and then bounce back into the water.

My small group from church also met this past week. We are doing a book study this month with the book Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel. We hired 4 baby sitters from church and then the moms took off running/walking. When we got back we thought we could sneak down to the pool and sit for awhile but the kids spied us and then it was swim time for them. The mom hosting just had a pool put in so it was nice to sit around and chat.

On Friday we had a play date after jazzercise that involved another friend and their pool. It was a fun couple of hours and Caden loved the swim time. This year swim lessons went great. He loved the water. Unfortunately, Colton also does and it was hard to keep him occupied. We went for many walks around the halls of the high school and parking lot!
We also got some strawberry picking in....
And last week we heard the music of the ice-cream man coming down the street so the boys and I rushed to get their clothes on-yes, they sometimes run around in the diaper and undies during the day! They were so excited and wanted to know when he was coming back. I believe it will be a weekly thing....

This past weekend we went to the rodeo. I believe it is my first time there. It was a fun experience. Next year Caden wants to do the horse stick races-that should be fun. And after the rodeo we went over to a neighbors house for a little get together. It's interesting how you live here 3 years and you just finally get to meet a few people in your neighborhood!
We started VBS today. Caden had a great time at the "amusement park"-that is the theme this year. Pictures to follow later in the week.
And just because.....

Do I need a title?

Just putting up some photos of days gone by.....
A couple weeks ago we bought a cheap-y water sprinkler-who knew that the boys would have so much fun with it? It took Colton a few minutes of watching Caden run through before he got the courage to go and try it. But once he did we couldn't stop him.

click photos to make larger
And we also have the dog watching event. Colton is finally getting used to the dogs next door but he sure keeps an eye out for them and heads to the stairs to keep a safe distance because 2 fences just aren't enough protection.
What a blessing to have 2 beautiful healthy boys!
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Isiah 40:30-31