Catching up, what we have been up to!

Life is so busy, and I feel like I am just running behind always trying to catch up. I want to learn to slow down and, as the saying goes... "smell the roses." My kids are little yet, well the oldest will be 11 soon...so, he isn't so little anymore. I want to make it a personal goal to really play with them, individually...together, and down on the floor with them. Kids are so fun, and really funny! I love having conversations with my older 3 right now. I am home educating Nathaniel and Caleb this year. It is definitely a struggle to find consistent time to "do school," with having 3 under the age of 4. Nathaniel understands that we will have many interruptions, but he will have many breaks, too. I am going to try to come up with a better plan, and hopefully things will start to go smoother, and our days won't be so hectic,...ya' right! So far, we have been on 2 school field trips. We went to a Threshing show with the family and to an Indian Museum/Trading Post with the home school co-op that we belong to. Both trips were a lot of fun, and I am so glad that we are taking trips! I love the co-op that I am in this year, too! I will have to tell you more about that in another post.

Terry and I celebrated 5 years of marriage in August! I can't believe that we have been married for 5 years already! Seriously, the time has flown! In so many ways, I can see how God has blessed us. I am so thankful for Terry! He is a great husband, and a super father! In these 5 years we have lived in 3 homes, had 4 pregnancies, and Terry's changed jobs 5 times. He had his job, when we got married, for 10+ years, but he was very tired of it, and wanted change. I can understand that. He is working for a great company now, though, and he enjoys his work environment ~ which is a key factor in liking your job. Anyway...I am so glad he is happy where he is at. For our Anniversary, we drove up to Duluth. We love it up there. This time we took a different route, and we sure had some pretty views. We got out here, and we did some hiking on the trails and over the rocks.

It was a gorgeous day, and the sights were beautiful!

Cole was with us, and Terry carried him in the backpack carrier. Cole loved it, and didn't cry at all. He was a trooper, and loved being outdoors.

We saw kids jumping off this high bridge, and it freaked me out. I can't believe kids do that! So dangerous. I hope my kids will not make those choices.

Anyway, we did some walking, traveling over rocks, and there were cliffs and drop offs into the river. I had a really hard time with the rock climbing, and thinking of Cole in the carrier falling out. I had visions of Terry falling and him and Cole getting hurt. All in all...that experience was not very pleasant for me. I broke down emotionally.

Then, we went to Palisades Head way up North. It was pretty up there, but it sure confirmed my fear of high heights and water. I didn't walk around too much. Terry had climbed that a few years ago with rock climbing. When we were there, a few were climbing. I really don't see how people can do that.
We ended up having a late supper at a Lodge, and it was very tasty. It was a fun-filled day, and it was a great time with my husband (and our youngest).

We were fortunate to make it to both the MN Zoo and the Como Zoo this summer. We went to the Como Zoo with my sister-in-law, and her two kids. Her daughter is 3 (in between Caleb and Maddie in age) and her son is 1o days younger than Cole. We had a great day, but I think it was the hottest day this summer!

He is such a little cutie pie! He looks like his dad (my brother).

My little niece didn't feel very photogenic for this photo. BUT~ I did get my four and my nephew!

Here are the kids waiting for the Sparky (Sea Lion) show. We had a great day, and it was fun to spend the time with my niece, nephew and my sis-in-law.

We went to a local county fair this summer, too. Madelyn loved the animals! We had to take a picture of this goat, because Terry said it resembles his dad.

So funny! The goat is sporting a beard!
This was a ribbon-winning pumpkin! It was huge!
Madelyn and Caleb are saying howdy to the cowboy.
So happy together....
Caleb and Madelyn got the opportunity to plant a flower. It was a fun activity and they really enjoyed doing it!

We also learned a bit about bees, saw a hive, and had a honey sample. On Monday, we are going to a friend's house to see how they spin honey, and take honey off the comb. What a fun home school project and field trip!
After they potted their plants, they could take them home.


Another day this summer we went over to my brother/sister-n-law's house and spent the day together.
Here is my nephew eating a pretzel stick. He loves them!

Cole had his first pretzel stick, and he loved it, too!

Madelyn enjoyed the sand box. We don't have a sand box here, but it is on the "honey-do" list of things to do. :)
Caleb had a blast driving around in his cousin's dune buggy. That thing can move!

He is such a cute little guy! He is so happy, too! Don't you love his hat?
Cole loves swinging! He could swing all day if I let him.
Here are the three munchkins sitting on the ladder together. I was a chilly/wet day.
My brother is pretty crafty! He made/designed this whole play set! I think he did a fabulous job!

More to share from our trip to Illinois

I told you about the first 3 days of our trip out to Illinois, and I want to tell you what else we did. Thursday morning, we got to sleep in some, and we had planned to spend the day with my sister and her family. I was really looking forward to this time, because I feel like we weren't with them much. My brother-in-law went to work in the morning, and we were planning on picking him up around lunch time. My sister made sandwiches for the kids to eat in the vans on the way to Chicago, and we picked up some sandwiches at Subway. This day, we fueled up before getting into Chicago! We weren't going to pay $4.50/gallon again. When we got into Chicago, we drove under the city in the tunnels. That is such a cool thing to do! I wish I had some great pictures to show you of this adventure, but none of them turned out well enough. Chicago has several tunnels that travel under the city. When we got into a parking ramp, we walked around for awhile to find a bathroom. (Of coarse I really needed to go). Then, our second stop was to Millennium Park. We got to see Chicago's famous stainless steel (very large) Kidney Bean!

Chicago is well known for the arts and structures. This is one of many unusual, but very cool pieces of art. It was huge, and fun to look at!
This a picture of my sister's kids, our niece, and my kids. My sister's friend let us barrow her stroller while we were out there. It was great to barrow a double stroller!
This is our family picture in front of the "Bean!" It was a bit rainy out during this part of the day, a light drizzle.
I love the view of the city's buildings in the mirrored-image of the Bean. As you can see, it is super big! I really thought it was cool how the bean had the curved out shape in the inside.

This is a view of the Bean looking straight up when standing underneath. It was just cool to look at. My sister said it made her a little nauseous to look at it too long.
After the "Bean," we went for a walk through Millennium Park.
This is the band shell where they hold outdoor concerts! I would say it was bigger than a football field, and it was huge! There were many speakers over our heads! It was a neat looking place, and I bet it would be fun for a concert.

Nathaniel is really growing up! He will be 10 in a few months!
This is the big fountain in central Chicago. There is also a big spray that shoots up the middle once in awhile. I have a picture of it, but it didn't turn out so well. It reminds me of 'ol Faithful in Yellowstone.
This was one of our favorite parts of the day. This place had two large stone walls that displayed faces of people. The people would change, and the looks on their faces would change from a sober look, to smiling, to smiling with teeth showing.
The stone walls also had water spraying off of them, like a waterfall. The kids had fun with their shoes off walking around playing in the water.
The more they walked around and played, the more they got wet. This is Caleb, Nathaniel, Terry and Madelyn.
This is my sister with her daughter E. and baby D. Her little guy was happy to toddle around in just his diaper.
It was cool how the faces on the stones would change with their face expressions, but what was really weird (and cool) was that there was a hole where the mouth was, and every so often, water would shoot out the mouth. The kids thought this was fun!
Here is my sister with her little guy.
Nathaniel and E. loved getting wet, and walking through the water.
I really think that Nathaniel got the most wet!
Madelyn and Caleb got tired from the long day. They really had fun though!
Terry took this cute picture of Maddie.

Caleb had such a great time!

Ta-da!
Thursday was mine and Terry's 4th Wedding Anniversary! This is a tradition to take a photo of ourselves. Our four years have really flown by! We have done a lot in four years! I will have to share that sometime.
Happy couple!
The famous Chicago-Style hot dog! The "works" includes: ketchup, mustard, onions, jalapenos and a pickle. We didn't get the jalapenos. It was rather tasty. We had to try one.

After the Millennium Park, we went for a drive around the city. We saw a great view of Lake Michigan. I think it looks like an ocean. They had a really long, sandy beach with volleyball nets, and other outdoor activities set up. The buildings in Chicago are big! We saw the Hancock building, drove by the Navy Pier, and saw the Sears Tower. We saw the Water Tower, and then we went to a "yuppy" mall. That is what my sister called it. It was a nice mall located very near the Water Tower. My two nieces loved to go shopping in there. Shopping isn't really my gig anymore, but it was fun to let the little kids run around in a section that was a bit closed off. We ate supper in there in a food court called Food Life. It was a lot of fun in there. The lighting was a little dim, and there were so many great food selections. We each had a card that we brought to which ever location we got food from. The place would prepare our order, and put the charge on the card. Then, we just paid our bill upon leaving. The selections were great! I had a Chinese-type of meal. I filled up my bowl with veggies and the chef added meat and sauces. It was served with rice or noodles. It was very good, and reminded me of a Mongo's Grill. Terry had a HUGE burrito, and the kids ate chicken Alfredo. I wish I could share photos of this part of our trip, but I had forgotten our camera in the van. My sister took pictures, and I am hoping to get copies (someday). The drive home was fun. I love seeing the city lights and action. It was a great day! The time flew!

I will share the last two days in another post. This post is a long one already! The trip was so fun! I hope to go again someday!

Mongo's grill

Saturday night my siblings and I, (minus my sister that lives in Chicago) went out to eat at Mongo's to celebrate my parent's 50th Anniversary. We are planning on having a party for them this summer including their siblings and their wedding party, but we wanted to have a night out with them to celebrate. My brother, Kevin, called our house on Saturday morning. <<<<Here is a little history: Our family is classic for last minute planning. I called him back in December or January trying to make plans for my parent's Anniversary, but I didn't get a return call until beginning of March. My parent's Anniversary is in March...Oh well. I am going to get on the ball for getting this party planned for this summer.>>>>>
So, at 5:15 we dropped off the kid's with my niece (12 yrs. almost 13) and nephew (15 yrs.) for them to watch them. Bless them for watching 8 kiddos...my other niece who is almost 18 did come for awhile to help, too. It was a fun outing, and my parents were so happy to have us all together. My sister, Annikki, was even there. It is a long story, but I am really surprised she came. There is some family turmoil (basically she wants nothing to do with my brother David and his wife)...and she has been isolating herself from the family. I was glad to see her there. I haven't seen her since the 4th of July.
Mongo's is a fun and entertaining restaurant. You grab a bowl, fill it up with veggies, raw meats, raw sea food, cheeses, sauces, oils, seasonings, and noodles. Then, the grill people toss it on a big grill and saute' your food while you watch. You can have your stir fry in a wrap, eat it by itself, or have them saute rice in it. You can also chose your rice to have on the side. It was so tasty! I loved it! I really, REALLY...love stir fry anyway, so it was a welcoming treat. This night it was an all-you-can-eat meal for one price, so if you didn't really like what you put together, you could try something new. I highly recommend this restaurant if you have one near you....GO! You won't be disappointed. It was a fun night out. I love getting together with my brothers and sisters. I wish my sister in Chicago could have been there.