Happy 14th Birthday John!!

Happy Birthday to JOHN!!! Happy Birthday to JOHN!! He's going to be 14 tomorrow! I CANNOT believe that my "baby" is going to be that old. Man, where does the time go. He's going to be THRILLED that I put this picture up here, but if he'd let me "take" some pictures he wouldn't complain. Enjoy your day John - Love you!!

I made this diaper cake (with help from Brenda and Chelsea) for my cousin's baby shower for her twins. It was fun to make, especially attaching double of everything. The shower is this Friday and I can't wait to hold those babies! :)
I was in charge, or I should say volunteered, to do the invitations for the baby shower. I had fun doing them and LOVE how they turned out. They are two boys, Talan and Hunter, and although you cannot see it they have red hair, just like their (late) Grandpa Ribstein. He would have been so proud of these two boys! He loved babies/children. Congrats Kacy and Jed - their gorgeous!!
Well this seems to be the view that we have of Livi now. She isn't walking yet, which is fine by me, it's hard enough to keep up with her crawling. It seems that SHE has a hard time keeping up too. She goes so fast that her arms can't keep up with her legs and she ends up "tripping" and doing a head plant on the floor. She just has to slow down. ...I wonder how many times I will say that.... Jody, the girls' second mom (daycare), weighed her last week and she's up to 23lbs 8 ozs. Just this last weekend when we were in Walmart I had two women come up to me and ask how old she was (she's 11 months today) they guessed 18 months. Crazy!!
Here is Makynna at the lake a couple of weekends ago. She was messing around with daddy's fishing hat. It was kinda cold and rainy that weekend so we had to entertain ourselves (no TV out there). We have a seasonal camper on Little Toad Lake that we share with our neighbors and friends, Rick and Brenda and their son Riley who is the same age and friends with John. We have the camper every other weekend. It's a great time to relax and to spent some good quality time together. Our lives are so busy and this gives us a chance to reconnect. The campground is really nice, we have docks for the boat and lift, a swimming pool (that's always freezing), and a lodge where the kids can go and play pool and just hang out.

4th of July fun...

For the 4th of July we went to the MSUM parade. Makynna loves parades, or I should say she LOVES getting the candy. I told her that she has to wave to the floats or vehicles in the parade to get them to throw candy her. So she's consistently waving and gets upset when people don't throw candy. She'll say, "But mama, I was waving". I don't understand why they don't all have candy either. That should be one of the requirements of entering a parade. After the parade Brad took the kids to Hartford, SD to his brother's house for the 4th. I stayed back to get some things done at work and at the house. It was a productive weekend for me, I told Brad this will have to be an annual thing. Maybe not always on the fourth, but at some time during the year. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.


Makynna "waving" during the parade.

At Uncle Bob's house: Cousins (L-R) Alex, Makynna, Wyatt, Josie, John, and Livia.

Livia sharing some food with Josie.

In Madison, SD with Brad's grandma Clark: L-R Makynna, Brad, Livia, Wyatt, Becky with Josie, Travis, Grandma Clark, John, Bob, and Brandi.

Birthdays, cousins and fishing

Makynna, Owen (1), Livia (9 months), Josie (11 months). Just wait until this Christmas when these "little cousins" are going to be running around. Look out!!

Makynna with cousins Kolby (4) and Chloe (2). They always have a blast together.

Makynna and Daddy on the boat at the lake. She was SO excited to try and catch a fish, and he so determined to make her a fishing partner. After 1 1/2 hours of trying with no luck we headed back. While Livi and I headed up to the camper, Makynna put her pole in at the dock. Almost has soon as it was in, there was a fish. She was so surprised, but once it started to flop on the dock she was done. The princess came out and the screaming began.

Welcome!!

I decided to start a blog to keep everyone updated on how and what we are doing. A few of my friends and family have blogs, and I've always wanted to start one. So here it goes...