Our last week...

I am not sure how to even write this post.  As I begin to search for the words, I am filled with tears.  This is my last week with ET before he leaves for school.  Jay and I both are a ball of emotions right now, and so I feel the need to just write from the heart.

First, what an amazing gift we have been given.  ET is truly a remarkable child!  There is no other gift in the world that can even remotely compare to the gift of being his Mother.  I can remember bringing ET home from the hospital and feeling very overwhelmed.  I had taken care of children for years prior to becoming a mom, but ultimately the true responsibilities lied on the decisions of the parents.  Now I was the parent!  I can remember asking my sister, "What if I screw up?"  She reassured me that as time moved on, I would grow more confidence.  She was right, but I still sometimes feel like I have no idea what I am doing.  It has been said many times by many parents, "I wish they came with instruction manuals!"  We all know that what works for one child does not always work the same for another and figuring out your child is half the challenge.  It seams that with every new situation it becomes a trial and error process, and by the end of it all we will be old and gray, but we will have thoroughly enjoyed the ride!  I find it so ironic that my oldest sister is sending her oldest son off to college the same year that I am sending my oldest son off to Kindergarten.  What great talks we have had in regards to this!  She has helped me to see just how fast time flies, and I have helped her remember time well spent!

I was given the gift to be able to stay at home with ET for the first five years of his life, and it was my "job" in every sense of the word to make the most of it.  I can so clearly remember when ET reached six weeks old, and imagining what it would be like to have to hand him off to someone else while I worked away from him.  I cried just thinking about it, and very often I would pray with thanks to God for the opportunity to be with him everyday.  I got to be there when he took his first steps, and when he spoke his first words.  I got to change every diaper, feed every meal, and kiss every owie.  I got to see see him through every situation he has encountered.  I watched him make new friends, and I was able to be there to coach him through conflicts, and to teach him how to express his frustrations.  I can say confidently that I used the most of our time together, and prepared daily activities that are the very root of his education.  I got to teach him his colors, numbers, letters, how to use a pair of scissors, how to write, and how to read.  I got see him struggle and succeed!  I got to be the one to give him a hug and a kiss when he fell down, and give him a pat on the back when he achieved a goal.  I got to turn to him at any time in the day and say, "You matter to me!"  There is truly no better feeling than to be able to turn to your child and hug him at any time during the day.  What a blessing! 

Although times have proven to be difficult, I can say with ease that I have never taken a moment for granted.  I thank God every day for the health and happiness of my children.  Becoming a parent  has filled me with such extreme emotions.  Any parent can attest that being a parent provides experiences that we could never have anticipated.  ET has managed to make me laugh until it hurts, and make me angry enough to cry.  I love him so deeply I can feel it emotionally and physically.

Our time together has made so many lasting memories that I will cherish for a lifetime.  Don't get me wrong though, it hasn't been all perfect.  Matter of fact, ET has managed to make this week very VERY difficult for me.  Maybe it is God's way of making it easier for me to send him off to school - who knows!  However, I do believe I have created an environment for him where he has felt safe enough to test his boundaries, and explore his surroundings, and through it all he still continues to learn without a shadow of a doubt that my love is unconditional! 

Our biggest wish for ET as he heads off to school is that he continues to show that he is a caring, understanding and compassionate person.  We don't expect him to be friends with everyone, but we wish for him to show kindness and to be tolerant of all of our differences.   Our second wish is for ET is to trust in God.  We wish that he will constantly be reminded through us and the people that surround us that "With Him we can do all things", and that God has a plan for all of us!  Our third wish is an obvious one.  We wish for ET to make good choices!  I sound like a broken record when it comes to this one.  As ET gets older I will wish for him to make the wise choice by not playing with temptation.  In other words, I will ask that he stay away from all slippery slopes in life, so that the really tough choices can be avoided.

I know the time has come for him to move on.  We know that ET is going to do great in school.  I have done my job, and I believe I have done my job to the best of my abilities.  He is caring, smart, strong, brave, and outgoing - a perfect combination for success! As each day closes, and we grow nearer to a new stage in life, I pray so deeply that God is with us.  I pray for patience and wisdom, and for God's mercy on all the rest!

Please join me in praying for ET these next two weeks!  I take rest in the power of our prayers!
Thank you!

Papa and Grandma's New Home!

My parents recently purchased a new home in Bemidji.  This is where my parents met, where my Dad when to college for a few years, and where my family camped nearly every year when I was young.  This place has many memories for me as a child and I am happy and excited that our boys will have a "cabin" to escape to.  I think it is so important for our boys to have a traditional place to go to and since our original family cabin is about on its last leg, I know this home with be that place for them.

We had such a great weekend!  We drove up Friday night and arrived around 10:15 pm.  Obviously, it was straight to bed for the boys.  The cabin has four bedrooms. My Dad set up my old bunk beds from when I was a child in one bedroom.  (He  of course bought new mattresses for the beds.)  The boys had a blast sharing a room together!

On Saturday morning, we headed to Ulen where my Grandma and Grandpa live.  I feel horrible saying this, but I had not been up to visit them since I was a junior in high school.  We spent the day in their town because they were having their annual Ulen Turkey BBQ.

They set up over 3,000 pounds of turkey over hot coals surrounded by cinder blocks...

 Of course there was a parade.  It was on the smaller side because this town is smaller than you can imagine, but they definitely had a good show of tractors and horses!

My Grandpa has been playing in the Ulen band for over 20 years!  They play on a big rig while it drives by!

 ET had a go at the tractor pull.  It was a lot harder than he thought it would be, but he did a great job!

 The band played a show for an hour and half after the parade.

 Here everyone is gathered for the turkey dinner. 

My Grandma could not let us leave town without taking us on at least one small adventure.  (She took me and my sisters on so many adventures growing up).  We all hoped in one car, and went off-roading to a secluded cemetery.  The gravestones were dated back to the 1800's!  Grandpa's ancestors were buried there!  I had no idea that Grandpa's ancestor's last name was Ulen and they started the town many years ago!  On our way out of the woods, we passed by the farm Grandpa grew up on!

We arrived back to Bemidji at 8:30 pm on Saturday night.  It was raining and so we were all a bit bummed that we could not have a campfire.  We put the kids to bed and the rest of us stayed up late talking.  I had my mom explain her family history to Jay.  She is truly a remarkable woman to have come from such a background!

On Sunday, we woke to the sounds and smells of my Mom cooking a feast in the kitchen!  We slowly ate and drank our coffee and got ready for the day.  We walked around the yard and took in all the sights and sounds of the new place!  It was beautiful!  I am so bummed I completely forgot to take pictures of my parents and their new home!  Oh well, just another excuse to get up there in the Fall to see all the beautiful colors.

Of course we had to stop by Paul Bunyan Park...

Next, we headed over to the college.  My Mom and Dad showed all of us where they shared their first kiss! :)  I have never seen them so peaceful and so happy than they are in this town.

We played at a park near Lake Bemidji...

We had lunch at the Green Mill before heading out of town.  It only took us four hours to get home!  We enjoyed ourselves so much and we cannot wait to go again!  It seems like life literally slows down when we go up north!  We love it!

Jay's Music...

I am so proud of my man!  He is finally playing music again!!!!  We love that Jay is taking time for himself and feeding his soul exactly what it needs!

Jay will be playing at Yo-Joe's and the American Motorsports once a month regularly now.  Be sure to check him out if you have the time!

A Trip to the Zoo!

We recently spent a day at the Como Zoo with the boys.  It was a lot of fun!


How cool!  We were able to see the turtle being fed watermelon!

 The new bear exhibits were awesome!

 Nate was most excited about seeing the "ROAR" (a.k.a. lion). :)

 ET is definitely getting big!  He loved riding on the bumper cars and roller coaster with Jay.

 Nate was so psyched they had cars for him to ride on!

 Love the driving school they have for ages 4 and up.  Nate was so jealous!

Brotherly Love...

I wrote in my earlier post that ET and Nate have been playing a lot more now that Nate is talking.  ET absolutely loves having sleepovers at Grandma and Papa's house, and he has been asking a lot recently for a sleepover.  I remembered that I used to have sleepovers with my sisters when I was younger and so I let the boys know that they could camp out in each others room on a weekend if they wanted to.  We decided it would be best to have ET sleep in Nate's room.

So at 8:00 pm the official chaos started....  First, they were somewhat quiet and giggly.  Shortly after my loud, wild and crazy boys came out.  They played like boys do for a good half hour.  It reminded me of the book, Where the Wild Things Are.  They roared with imagination and I just loved listening in.

When ET wanted to finally shut the lights off and go to sleep, Nate shouted "NO, PLAY!"  ET eventually chose to pack up his things and leave camp for the night so he could find peace and quiet in his own bed.  I really didn't step in to parent any of this.  I actually enjoyed watching them make decisions for themselves.  They are getting so big and I am amazed with each new stage we enter.  I love our boys!

This was actually Nate's first night without his bed rail!

For this night we chose the book, No More Monkeys Jumping On the Bed.  We felt it would be a good influence for them to not jump - I was kidding myself. :)

Nate is 2 1/2!

I have been wanting to give an update on Nate for quite some time now.  He turned 2 1/2 in July and has really changed a lot over the last 6 (well now 7) months.

I would say Nate's speech started to become understandable through conversation back at the beginning of June.  At that time he started talking so much that 80% of his communication was attempts at words and only 20% was gibberish.  Currently almost everything is words now.  At this point he knows so many words I have lost count.  His articulation is still very poor and so I would bet that not many people would be able to pick up on what I can hear, but there has still been great improvement!  He can communicate his wants and needs and that is truly the biggest thing.  Whenever he is telling a story or tattling on his brother, that is when it is really hard to understand him.  This is because he has so many words to say at one time and he can really only make two (occasionally three) word sentences.  I absolutely ADORE listening to him tell me or someone else a story though.  It just makes my heart melt seeing him work so hard at trying to talk!   He is currently at the stage where he is repeating everything I say.  He will come up and ask me what something is and then repeat it back to me.  I know this is a huge point for him because he is taking in so much and is really retaining everything.

Nate is still getting private therapy once a week at Children's and received therapy from the school district during the month of July (the speech pathologists have June and August off for summer vacation).  He will start speech again through the district in September and will be back to a consistent two days per week intervention.  His speech pathologist through the district has reserved a spot for him to attend an articulation class starting in January (when he will be three years old).  He would need to take a bus two days a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and would be in a class of no more than 6 children.  I have very mixed feelings about this.  First, we are not sure if he will even qualify yet, but I just hate the idea of him leaving me at such a young age.  I think it could potentially be beneficial for him, but I am definitely not set on sending him as of right now.

Nate's health has been great!  Ever since the ear tube surgery he has not had one fever or infection!  THANK GOD!  He has had a few colds, but has fought them off strong within a few days.  We are confident that we have detected a food allergy to regular cow's milk.  Well, actually I am not sure if it is an allergy or a sensitivity.  Currently, if we give him regular milk he will develop so much mucous that he will have a severe cough and cold-like symptoms within a half hour of drinking it.  I am not sure if he will have this sensitivity his whole life or if he could grow out of it.  For right now though we have switched our whole family to a non-homogenized organic grass-fed cow's milk.  Regardless of the allergy, we have made many changes to our diet over the last five months and we are happy to be eating and drinking healthier!

Nate still continues to amaze us intellectually!  He knows every single capital letter in the alphabet and even a few lowercase letters. Nate can even spell his name on his own!  He is starting to trace letters on paper.  He can also count, but will still often skip a few numbers.  Right now I am working a lot on getting him to learn his colors.  He is pretty good at remembering blue, red and green.  Strangely though his default response for, "What color is this?" is orange.

Nate is still downright obsessed with cars!  He still carries them around, lines them up and even sleeps with them!  What amazes us though is how much he actually plays with them.  Nate will sit quietly by himself for an hour playing with his cars and trucks!  He has such an awesome imagination!

Here is a short recap of some of the things he is up to lately...

• Nate plays with ET a lot now.  We love to see the two of them interact as brothers.  Sometimes that involves a lot of love, and sometimes a lot of screaming. :)
• Favorite movies: Loves Dora, and Cars the best. 
• Loves playing with the older kids at the daycare.  He absolutely adores his friends Autumn and Lilly.  He discovered he can say "Lilly" surprisingly well, and so he asks for her repeately throughout the day.  He will definitely miss the older kids when they all leave for school in a couple weeks.
• Pedals a tricycle outside.
• Loves doing circle time routine in the morning with the daycare.  He always wants me to say it is his birthday on the calendar.
• When frustrated or angry, he will show a real temper and will run to his bedroom and slam the door.
• Nate is a great eater!  He loves bread and doesn't dislike much.  He is also still a perfectionist when eating and will sometimes make less of a mess than ET.
• Bedtime can sometimes be a bit of challenge.  He will be put to bed with a book, hugs and kisses and then will get out of his bed and play.  He turns his lights on and plays with his toys.  I don't mind that at all; however, he will often come out of his room asking silly questions (ex: Where Eddie?), or requesting silly things (ex: band-aid, chap-stick, water, etc.) many times before actually going to sleep.  These are typical stall tactics that are just hard to say "no" to because he is so darn cute in my eyes.  Many times he will actually just fall asleep on the floor while playing with his toys and I will have to carry him back to this bed.  A few times he has even fallen asleep right in front of his door, and it was nearly impossible getting in the room to get to him. 
• Nate's naps have finally become longer!!!! YAY!  Up until recently Nate only napped for 45 minutes to an hour.  Now, he is consistently napping for 2-3 hours each day!  On the weekends he doesn't always get a solid nap because of our schedule, so maybe this is his way of making up for it.
• I recently took Nate's bed rail down while washing his sheets one day.  I really did not want to put the bed rail back up, so I thought I would give it a try without it.  It was shocking to learn that he was not in need of that thing anymore!  He has slept just fine for nearly two weeks now without it!
• I have been working on potty training with Nate for a while now.  He has a love/hate relationship with the potty.  He absolutely LOVES trying the potty, but if I ask him to actually sit there until he makes pee or poop, then he fights to get off.  He sits on the potty multiple times a day, but just doesn't make anything.  I really don't know what to think of it.  I imagine he will not be potty trained until three years old or a few months after. Grrr!  Diapers are so expensive!
• Nate will definitely have some adapting to do with the changes coming this Fall.  He will have new friends in the daycare, and will no longer be the youngest kid around.  He will not have some of his best friends, and will also not have ET.  I honestly think the changes will be good for him and he will change a lot more by the age of 3.

We are so amazed every day at how loving and compassionate Nate is.  He is such a sweet little guy and is always eager to please.  I just love seeing him go out of his way to help me or a friend.  Jay and I enjoy watching the little man that he is becoming!

Here are pics of Nate after bedtime.  He has fallen asleep on the floor while playing with his toys.

I just pick him up and move him back to bed, and he rarely wakes.  What a sweetheart!  Here you can see he is sleeping next to his "Ba-Ba."  He also loves his stuffed kitty he named, "Eddie."  He thinks it is funny to put underwear on his animals lately.  Ha! :)

Time flies when you're having fun!

WOW!  I cannot believe how fast this summer is going by!  I also cannot believe that I have not written a blog post since July 8th! 

Although I have not written in a while it is with good reason.  We have been so unbelievably busy!  The two weeks following our return from Colorado were filled with friends, family, and a whole lot of fun!

When we returned from Colorado, the very next day my friend (Kathryn) and her two boys stayed in our home for two weeks.  Kathryn's boys are 10 months, and 2 years (just weeks away from Nate's age).  It was so much fun to get to know her boys more and to see them play happily together with our boys.   I still had the daycare kids during those two weeks and so it was very tight quarters, but I was very happy it all worked out.  Kathryn learned we live a very mellow lifestyle and I think she actually liked that.  Each night we would sit on the couch and talk until very late.  We just loved it!  We felt like we were kids again!  I am so lucky to have such a great friend who knows me inside and out and who I can share everything with!  Kathryn celebrated her birthday on the 18th, and so we managed to escape once for a fun time out after the boys went down for the night.  We planned to meet up with old friends to go bowling and celebrate.  I made her chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes to wish her a very happy birthday. We had a lot of fun.  Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures while she was in town.

Also during those two weeks Jay's sister (Mary) and her two girls were in town from Texas.  The week of the 16-20 was our busiest week...

• First, I took Monday off from work and all of us went to the Cascade Bay water-park.  Tammy and her family met us there as well and we had a lot of fun soaking up the hot sun and playing with the kids.  Afterwards, we headed over to Jay's parents for a short BBQ before heading home.  
• On Tuesday, ET was invited to go the MN Zoo with a very good friend from school.  He was so thrilled to be able to do this!
• On Wednesday, Nate turned 2 and 1/2!  
• On Thursday, Mary, her girls, Jay, and ET all went bowling together.  
• On Friday, they all went out again to see the movie Brave. Kathryn and her boys also left our house on Friday, and that evening we headed over to a friends house to hang out for a while.
• The next morning, we attended Jay's extended family reunion in Wisconsin, and then Mary and the girls followed us back and stayed with us for the night.  We stayed up late and played games and talked.  
• Sunday morning, we headed out to Stillwater for the day.  We shopped, and then ate at the Freight House out on the patio.  It was a great time!  We headed home and prepared the grill for dinner.  Jay's parents joined us and we sat outside and talked while we ate.  Mary planned on leaving one day later, so it was a nice way to end our time together.

Unfortunately, this was the only picture I took while Mary was in town.  You would think someone stole my camera!  I am ashamed to look back at these two weeks and only see this one picture! UGH!

Between the dates of July 17-23, we also had a large construction crew of over a dozen men at our home for a full week installing a new driveway and patio in the backyard.  During this time the kids in the daycare were not able to go outside to play.  It made things really tough, but they enjoyed watching the work being done through the windows.  I think the guys found it pretty humorous to see 12 kids plastered to the windows as they worked.  The construction was complete on Monday, July 23 but then it rained for two days!  By this time, we were all itching like crazy for some outdoor playtime!

Here are pics of the new concrete.  We feel like we have gained additional square footage on the house!  We love being in the backyard now and we eat dinner on our patio table every night that the weather permits. :)

We eventually want to do some landscaping around the patio, but for now Jay worked hard at laying some sod around the edges to make it look nice.  We will look into doing landscaping and getting more furniture next year.

 We LOVE having a sidewalk go all the way to the backyard!

 Our front walk was in pretty bad condition.  It was so sunken down that it would pool up water in the winter time and then freeze and make ice.  We straightened the walk out so that now it runs parallel to the house.  We like this look a lot more and it works a lot better for landscaping.

It is still strange for us to have so much more space to park on now.  We widened the driveway quite a bit on each side.

WOW!  Needless to say, we did not have too many free moments during July; however, Jay, the kids and I enjoyed ourselves immensely!

Being that Nate turned 2 1/2 years old on July 19 I will have to give an update on him in a separate post!

After those two busy weeks, we had about one week of down time.  One thing we did during this week was visit our new neighborhood splash pad.  It is so great to know we can ride our bikes to a free waterpark with the kids!

On Saturday, August 4th we hosted a party for my Dad's 60th birthday and my Aunt Diane and Uncle Rick's 40th wedding anniversary!  We had 22 people for the party and it was such a wonderful day!  We lucked out BIG time with the weather.  The windows in the house were open, the weather was sunny but not too hot, and the bugs magically stayed away from us as we picnicked outside eating our traditional Lundberg chicken!  Of course, the family put on a program to honor my Dad, Rick and Diane.  We shared so many joyful memories until we cried with laughter.  What a blessing to have such a great family!

 Here is my wonderful Dad making the traditional Lundberg chicken...

 This chicken tasted just as awesome as it looked!

 I served the food inside to prevent any bugs from getting at it.  I knew that my cousins (Dave and Mark) would be bringing a Kransekake (a traditional Norwegian wedding cake) to the party.  My Aunt Diane and Uncle Rick had a cake like this at their wedding reception.  My kitchen table became the dessert table - it was beautiful!

 Dave and Mark printed off signs and pictures...

 I had my Aunt Diane type up "40 Memories" before coming to the party.  She emailed me the memories and I displayed them at the dessert table.  Diane shared a few of her favorites with the group during the program.

I made cupcake favors for everyone to bring home.  These were chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting.  I knew her wedding colors were red, and so I topped each cupcake with a chocolate covered strawberry drizzled with red candy coating.  I tied them off with red ribbon, a homemade tag, and a spoon.

 This cake was gorgeous!

Dave and Mark even brought a jar filled with chocolate covered Oreos wrapped in colorful tinfoil.  This was such a cute idea!  Everyone passed by and had a cookie with their meal. :)

Including my own family, we were a group of 22!  We definitely missed having a lot of the family members, but we enjoyed the company who could make it.

 We needed to move the tables into the shade because we don't have patio umbrellas yet.

 Here are my two adorable boys sitting at the "kid table."  I love that!

The family can never have a get together without having a "program," and so Dave and Mark started out with a fun poem about their parents that they wrote themselves.  After a trivia game, and a few shared memories, Diane and Rick spoke out loud to each other about their marriage.  They shared what 40 years has meant to them and how much they love each other.  I absolutely adored seeing them share such sweet sentiment towards one another!

 Here they are about to cut the cake...

 Sharing a taste! :)

Shortly after we started a program in honor of my Dad.  Here Rick is giving him the gold medal for still having a full head of brown hair!  We all laughed because everyone teases him about this.  They all think that my Dad dyes his hair, but truthfully he doesn't! :)

 Wink - wink...

 Cheers to 60 years old!

Diane and Rick brought him a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting - YUM!  I guess I know where I get my taste in sweets from. :)

 Before heading out, I had Dave and Mark decorate their parents car with a white car paint marker.  They did a great job, and Diane and Rick got a huge kick out of this. I hope they received a ton of honks on the way home!

 What a great looking family!