Was Dat??

This week was full of "firsts" for all the kids... John started football practice, his 1st high school practice. He decided two days before that he wanted to play. So that left us running around getting stuff from his doctor and the gear. **that's not the first time that he's waited until the last minute** They work him pretty hard at the 3 hour practices.


Makynna had her first dentist appointment this last week. She has been watching a video at daycare on how to take care of her teeth and has been asking when she'll get to go to the dentist. When I told her that she was going to see the dentist she said she was excited, then a few minutes later she said that she was just a little scared. She was VERY brave!! She let the assistant and the dentist do what they needed to do and didn't complain once. On our way out she asked when she could go back. When we got home, I think she "flossed" her teeth for an hour!



Livia had her first birthday party this past weekend in South Dakota. She shared the party with her cousin Alex, who was turning 7. She had a great time, I've attached some pictures below. For awhile now, every time we pick her up she points at something and says "Was dat?" It was cute at first... She also loves to talk on the phone, she'll pick up the phone or a toy one and hold it backwards and say "hi". I remember Makynna doing the same thing. She's still "speed crawling" but wants to walk with your fingers all the time.









Here are the cakes I made. Alex's is in the back and Livi's in the front. :)- Yummy!
Alex and Livi...and me.

Here is Livi with one of her gifts, she couldn't wait for me to take it out. She loves to play with it and all the accessories - including the phone...

Livi before cake....

Livi after cake... YUM!

Had to include this picture of Brad's sisters, Ericka and Becky, I love it.

Being without mom and dad...

I had to drop off John and his friend Mike at Bible Camp last Sunday. I was a bit nervous, John has spent time away from us of course, but only with family. This was a little different, and just another milestone that Mom had to get through. When we got there we had to go and register. On the way over there all we saw were little clusters of girls - where ever you turned...there were more. I made the comment that "I thought I signed you guys up for an all boys camp," and before I could finish my sentence Mike said... "If it were all boys we wouldn't have signed up" Look out for that one!! John said that he had an "OK" time, but I think he enjoyed it. I'm pretty sure that I missed him more that he missed us...
Makynna on the other hand, must still like to be around Brad and I. I had a good friend's daughter, Beth, come over and babysit the other night so I could go out to WeFest. Beth said that after she put Livia to bed her and Makynna were coloring. Mid-coloring Makynna looked up at her and said "You know, sometimes it's really hard to be without your mom and dad and be with someone else." How cute!! BTW Beth when she got up she said that she really had fun with you and whenever she needed a babysitter she wanted to get you :)

Loco Dayz

Makynna and Mom went to Loco Dayz in Dilworth last weekend, while Daddy stayed home with Livia. She wasn't feeling well that day. It was a good time, we went to "another parade" and Makynna has enough candy to hand out for Halloween this year :) After that we went to Penny and Pals with our "pals" Jody and Ellianna. The girls had a great time dancing and singing.
Makynna is at a Penny and Pals workshop. Penny is a children's singer that Makynna just LOVES. She had a good time dancing and singing. She's in front of "rockin' robot" and Penny is in the pink shirt.
Ellianna and Makynna
The girls enjoying the inflatable games.
Jumping...
.....and more jumping.

Honey Days!!

Well, I'm finally able to update, it's been driving me nuts! John, Andy (John's friend), Makynna, Livia and I went to grandma and grandpa Ribstein's the last weekend in July for Honey Days. This is my home town of approx 250 people which was turning 125 years old. We had a great time.
Thursday night was the fireworks. The show was great, better than the 4th of July here in Moorhead. This picture turned out pretty neat, and Makynna pointed out the fact that it looks like a jelly fish. Hmmm....didn't know that she knew what they were, but it does.
This is Livia during the fireworks, my grandma - her great-grandma is holding her. She said that everytime one was fired Livi would jump. She is holding on pretty tight to her tank top. She was still holding on when we went into the house too. I don't think she knew what to think.

This is Jed and Kacy with the twins- Hunter and Talan (L-R). I hope I got that right. The baby shower was really fun. Livia wasn't real sure of the babies. She sat next to them and acted like she wanted to touch them, but would get really close and back away. They just weren't like her dolls at home.
This was hilarious! Everytime that Livi would crawl to the cement from the outdoor rug at my parents house she would come up off her knees and walk on all fours. I'm sure the concrete hurt her knees, but it was a funny sight.

This was in the parade on Saturday, in case you can't tell the theme for "honey" days had to due with honey and bees...

Kolby, Makynna and Chloe waving during the parade to get candy. The parade lasted 1 1/2 hours! This was the FIRST time that Makynna sat by me and said that she was "too tired" to get any more candy (with only 5 minutes left).
My Uncle Russ came up with his Model A and John and Andy got to ride in the back and throw candy. I think the boys had a good time. There was a teen dance on Friday that I wasn't sure if they went to or not....the bedroom door was shut when we got back from the baby shower. I opened it and got a big whiff of cologne, that answered my question. Normally you don't open the door to a teenage boy's room and smell anything good.

Just a cute picture of Livi eating ice-cream.

They had free rides at the park on what I would call a "wagon train" it was a bunch of little carts/wagons pulled by a 4 wheeler. This is Makynna with my cousin's little girl Alayah (sorry if I spelled it wrong Kim)....isn't she adorable!!

This is my brother Cory's car (which used to be Brad's in college) taking part in the "burn out" after the car show.

They had a kid parade on Sunday that the kids took part in. The sign says "They "THINK" they're queen bees". Kolby drove while the girls threw candy that was in the trailer that he was pulling. They had a blast.
Makynna decided to take part in the tractor pull after the kiddie parade. I was suprised that she wanted to do it - being a "city girl" and all.

She ended up getting 2nd place for 4 year old girls (out of 3) and cousin Kolby got 1st place for 4 year old boys (out of 5, I think). He qualified for the "state tractor pull" in September. I thought there might have been an issue with the fact that Kolby got a trophy and Makynna only got a medal (especially with the lack of sleep for the past few days). Makynna just said that "Even though I got a medal, I think I'm just going to pretend that it is a trophy." That works!!

We had a great time, we'll be back next year!!!