Connor's Chaos

Red sauce!!

2012-02-11T21:24:00.000-08:00

First go around with ravioli! I think that he enjoyed it A LOT... I love that he likes to feed himself - don't love the baths after every supper! :)

Day off...

2012-02-11T21:22:00.000-08:00

We got to have a day at home last weekend and it was wonderful! Josh and Brody worked on a few puzzles that day and Beau and I got to make some ice cream and a yummy dessert for supper with Grandma and her friends.

Tourney #3

2012-02-11T21:19:00.000-08:00

Wrestling continues to go well for Brody. He is enjoying practices and works hard while he is there. We had another tournament last weekend and he won all 3 matches. The first one was won 10-8 and then he pinned the last 2 guys, for a 1st place finish.

Check out the kid in 2nd place... Man he looks ticked at Brody!! :)

Daddy's Little Helper!

2012-02-11T21:15:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday to me!! For my birthday Josh went all out and got me the elliptical that I have been craving for a few years... Of course as soon as we got home I made him put it together so that I could try it out! Braxton ended up getting back up and helping put it together... So far no poisoning has been sighted with all the chewing and licking of the tools that was done!

Wrestling...

2012-02-11T21:12:00.000-08:00

Wrestling has been going hot and heavy and Brody hit the mats for his 2nd tournament at the end of January... He ended up wrestling 2x, with a win and a loss and finished 3rd.

Pine Wood Derby

2012-01-26T18:37:00.000-08:00

Brody started boy scouts this year and he got to participate in his first pine wood derby tonight... He was super excited about the whole event and making his car. Josh let him draw on the wood block the design for his car and then he got to paint it whatever color he wanted after Josh had cut it out and sanded it down... Josh tried to get a little crazy with melting weights and lifting tires - whose pine wood derby car was this? :) They both had a great time making the car and Brody ended up with a 2nd place finish for the night. He started out undefeated but then lost twice to the boy that he had beat at the beginning of the bracket... There's always next year!

Brody and his car...

First race (he won this 2 out of 3 but eventually ended up losing to this car in the championship round...)

Second race (he won, but check out the cute iguana car he was racing against...)

Third Race (he won 2 out of 3)

Racing Brody's car against cousin Kolby's car (Reg had to call and taunt Josh immediately after this race when Kolby's car was the winner - nothing like some friendly competition... :)

2nd place medal...

1st Wrestling tourney of the year!

2012-01-23T06:37:00.000-08:00

In addition to Homecoming this weekend, we took off for Brody's first wrestling tournament of the season on Saturday morning... Thank God for Cindy being able to be around - I didn't have to haul all the kids with me when we went and could just enjoy watching Brody! Josh had to fly back to AZ for his grandma's funeral so I was on my own to coach him (scary thought!)... He did great!! 3 pins and an 11-5 win later he had gotten 1st place... He was pretty excited to get his "plank" as he called it - they handed out plaques with their pictures on them for the 1st place winner!

waiting for his plaque..

Arizona Vacation!

2012-01-23T06:35:00.000-08:00

Last week we got to head out to Arizona for a visit with Josh's family and a lot of our old friends... It was a fun filled whirl of a few days spending time with everyone! Here are a few of the pictures of our adventures!

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Homecoming...

2012-01-23T06:11:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was our Homecoming in Sebeka and the kids had a blast at the dance on Friday night... The program and coronation were first - Beau thought that the girls "shirts" were so beautiful, Bella was enamored with the "princesses" and Brody told me "mommy, Paul has been chosen" after he was crowned king (Paul is his helper in his classroom, so he was very excited that he knew him...) Then it was off to a lot of dancing... They were pretty sweaty and way tired by the time that we got home but had a great time!

Bella dancing with the "princesses"...

Bella and Jasmine

Beau, Aubrey, Kylah

New Ride On Toy...

2012-01-23T06:08:00.000-08:00

Seriously - I can't believe how true it is that kids could care less about their own toys and love the boxes, wrapping paper and anything else that they can get into... Our vacuum cleaner was out the other day and since I discovered it had broken down I wasn't super worried about them playing with it... It was an all day toy for all of them - the older ones drug it around and Braxton had fun climbing all over it!

Snow!

2012-01-09T11:42:00.000-08:00

We finally got a little snow at the tail end of break and we took advantage of it! Brody had bought a little snowboard with his Christmas money while we were out and about and we hit "poop" hill as soon as we could with a few of the cousins. They had a good time and Brody actually shared his snowboard with everyone! :)

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New Year's Eve

2012-01-09T11:32:00.000-08:00

Josh and I decided that we were going to be pretty low key this year for New Year's and we took the family to St. Cloud for the day and night. We got our family pictures done that afternoon, went bowling, caught an early supper and spent some time at the pool before we were in our hotel room with kids sleeping by 9:30... Not too shabby! The kids had a blast and we brought the New Year in with a snore! :)

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Bed hopping!

2012-01-09T11:29:00.000-08:00

Bella has been having some issues with bedtime lately and seems to come up 8 million times before she actually goes to sleep... Seriously - I'm not even exaggerating! :) We are past the point of putting her back to bed each time and usually just send her down there on her own. Well, obviously she decided that she needed to cuddle in with her brother instead of plopping back into her own bed...

Paintball wars!

2012-01-02T11:57:00.000-08:00

It was a little too chilly for mommy this day, so not a lot of pictures, but all of the kids (including cousins) got paintball guns for Christmas... They were super excited and had to play them! It was so chilly that the paintballs didn't really explode when they hit the kids, they just fell to the ground, which made them reusable! BONUS!!

Braxton and Emma

Daddy helping Brody and Beau with their guns...

Beau

Santa time!

2012-01-02T11:51:00.000-08:00

The kids were super excited for Santa this year and really got into getting ready for him to come... They were outside throwing out the oatmeal and glitter combo that Beau brought home from preschool (that guided in the reindeer), strategically placing carrots for the reindeer to eat and getting a plate of cookies ready for Santa. They even went to bed pretty well, shocking for our kids! :) They had a great time opening their presents and when Braxton finally woke up he had a ton of wrapping paper to play with and eat! :)

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Mom's Christmas Card...

2012-01-02T11:46:00.000-08:00

This year my mom decided that she wanted a Christmas card with all of her kids and their spouses... Needless to say with the 10 of us, it gets a little crazy! :)

Christmas 2012

2012-01-01T20:54:00.001-08:00

We had a wild weekend of Christmasing - boy were we all worn out by the time Monday came along! :) We started Friday night at my mom's house with the Kiser crew, Saturday was for our family and Cindy, Saturday night was supper with my dad, brothers and their families and then Sunday was back to my mom's for the Polman Christmas... With little napping, late nights and lots of excitement I was really impressed with how well the kids did! :)

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Bella's new present!

2012-01-01T20:40:00.000-08:00

Bella got a new four wheeler helmet from Grandpa Jerry this year. The boys both have theirs and we decided that we needed one for Bella this year and Josh wanted it to be pink! :) She loves it!! Thanks Grandpa Jerry!

Big Brother...

2012-01-01T20:37:00.001-08:00

Brody has turned into such an awesome helper with Braxton - it is adorable to watch! The other night while we were eating, Josh was feeding Braxton and Brody decided that he wanted to do it. He doesn't quite have the clean up swipe that comes at the end of sticking the spoon in the mouth, but he did a pretty good job! :)

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the no posting for a while... We have had a lot going on in December and I have been taking pictures but not uploading them to the computer as fast as I usually do... With Josh gone a lot lately I have been running the show on my own and am dead on my feet by the end of the day and pretty much just drop on the couch or my bed! :) I am catching up now though so check out all the fun we have had in the past month - you even have to click on older posts at the bottom of the page to see all that we have been doing!

Sunday School Christmas Program

2011-12-21T08:38:00.000-08:00

The kids had their Christmas program at church this past week also and they did great!! Beau had his part (as a star) down for the past month and did a great, animated job of it! Bella knew her part (as a sheep) also but refused to say it during all of our practices but came through during the real deal! Brody moved up to the big kids production and did a great job with his part as a traveler and the LOTS of songs that they had to learn!! It is so fun to watch them up on the stage...

Bella, minus her sheep head... We've got a stubborn girl on our hands!!

Beau

Brody waiting patiently...

Brody (his head is just barely visible! :)

Brody

2011-12-21T08:29:00.000-08:00

Beau

2011-12-21T08:26:00.000-08:00

Ice Skating

2011-12-21T08:22:00.000-08:00

Sebeka has a new ice skating rink this year and the kids are very excited about it... Too bad the weather has been so ridiculously warm and the ice keeps melting on us! Josh was home last Friday and through the weekend so he brought the kids up to try out the new skates that we found them... The melting ice didn't stop our little Brian Botanos! :)

Brody

Beau, Brody, Bella

Beau

Beau

Beau's Christmas program

2011-12-21T08:20:00.000-08:00

Beau had his Christmas program last Thursday night and he rocked the place! :) He was VERY enthusiastic and animated on the songs that he knew and definitely gave the crowd a good show! :)

More Santa!

2011-12-21T08:15:00.000-08:00

Brody got his chance to finally go and see Santa after his Christmas program at school. We ran in, as usual Bella hid in the corner and both the boys got to jump on his lap!

Santa Braxton

2011-12-21T08:12:00.000-08:00

Had to do it! :)

Getting ready for Christmas!

2011-12-21T07:56:00.000-08:00

So, after Santa came the trip to get the tree... We get our trees from a family that we know just a couple of miles out of town and it is a treat to be able to go there every year. The kids are always excited to go and see Gene and pick out just the right tree! We are getting so many ornaments that the tree is going to tip at some point, but I love it... I love to tell them about each ornament, whose it is and where it came from as we are hanging them up!

Our mighty tree before it fell!

Bella helping Josh straighten the tree skirt! :)

Bella and Beau

Brody

Santa!

2011-12-21T07:52:00.000-08:00

Santa came to town a few weekends ago and I took the kids to see him... Brody ended up with the flu and didn't come with us and Bella was too busy running the other way to get a picture with Santa - hopefully she won't be scared of him next year! :)

Beau telling Santa all about what he wants!

Braxton's first go round with Santa!

Life at the Connor House

2011-11-16T06:17:00.001-08:00

So the 3 youngest have hacked their way through the weekend and I decided that it was time to do something about it. Braxton sounded especially bad and since he is so little I didn't want to leave it anymore. As usual, an appointment for one led to me bringing in a few more to have them "look" at. Good thing... After a visit to the doctor I came home armed with 3 new masks for the nebulizer and 3 prescriptions. Fantastic! Of course this happens when Josh is out of town so I am manning the nebulizer on my own - seems like that is all that we did yesterday, going from one kid to the next! :)

Braxton's first bath!

2011-11-16T06:13:00.000-08:00

Since we have our sauna downstairs we don't take a lot of time to put Braxton in the bath and let him play... It is straight to the shower with all the older kids! :) So last night the older kids were coloring and I decided to let him play a bit... He had a great time chasing the cup around the tub! We go for the fancy toys at the Connor house! :)

Loving the tub!

"Now how am I going to reach that?"

Stretch it out...

Mom even had time for some hair styling! :)

Americanism Program

2011-11-16T06:01:00.000-08:00

Since I can't always get away for programs that the kids have during the day, I sent Cindy armed with my camera for the Americanism Program that was at the school on Monday. Brody and Elyse were singing "You're a Grand Old Flag" with the rest of the first grade, Teagen and the kindergarteners led the pledge, Kolby represented the boy scouts and Tyce was picked to read his paper on why he was proud to be an American. It was an eventful day for the Kiser grandkids! :)

Brody and his class...

Kolby

Tyce

Another milestone...

2011-11-14T07:39:00.000-08:00

Braxton started holding his own bottle -which makes mommy very happy and life much easier, at least for the first half of the bottle. Unfortunately after about halfway his ADD kicks in and he gets too distracted to finish, which also makes mommy very happy because I still need a little of that cuddle time with him! :)

Brody's new profession?

2011-11-14T07:36:00.000-08:00

Brody decided that he was barber for the day... when it happened, I'm still not sure - but Bella's hair got a little shorter right in the middle. When asked why, WHy, WHY would you cut your sister's hair he replied - "she asked me to." Well, okay then... Next lesson - don't listen to everything that your 2 year old sister tells you to do, especially when you are 6 and know better!!

Bella with Brody's haircut...

Bella with the actual hair stylist's haircut...

Up, up and not away yet...

2011-11-14T07:34:00.000-08:00

Braxton is getting closer and closer to being able to chase after his older brothers and sister... He has started getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth. It is so fun to watch all of the milestones that he hits - and a little sad knowing that it is the last set that we will get to see from our kids...

Feel the love...

2011-11-14T07:33:00.000-08:00

Braxton is going to be one of my toughest kids - he has to be! :) His siblings love him, love him too much sometimes!! Between all the kissing, hugging, wrestling and general taking care of that he has to endure it gets a little rough!! Thank God he is so good natured and seems to take it all in stride! :)

My little boy scout...

2011-11-14T07:29:00.000-08:00

Brody decided that he wanted to join Boy Scouts this year, so off we went! :) He has had 2 meetings with his grade level and got to be a part of a food drive and the Scouts Halloween party. Today is the Americanism program at school in honor of Veteran's Day and the Boy Scouts are all supposed to wear their uniforms to school. His grade also gets to sing a special song for the program...

Brody

Brody and Eion before school...

Halloween!

2011-11-02T13:43:00.001-07:00

The kids had a fabulous time trick or treating this year... Bella chased after her brothers and they got loaded down with all kinds of goodies for mom and dad (I mean for them) to pick through! :) My two littlest chickens ran from the slightest spooky mask or decoration but Brody braved his way through everything! They were super troopers the whole night and we had a great time!

My four hoodlums! The pirate, ninja, chunky monky and devil princess!

Stopping in to see Gram and Gramps!

The whole "Kiser" gang!

Checking out their loot...

Sous Chef

2011-10-31T09:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a busy day for our family! We worked on cutting wood for our wood stove for the winter, so Josh and I traded labor! :) I told him that I would help him if he gave me a hand with the work that I needed to have done! So, after the kiddos went to bed it was a double batch of pumpkin fudge (that needed to be stirred constantly for way too long!) and a double batch of chocolate popcorn... Josh was a great sport and helped make both (especially with the stirring part!)

Halloweeen Fest

2011-10-31T08:49:00.000-07:00

Every year a group that I am involved with has a Halloween party at the school. We set up fun stations for the kids to go through, crafts to do and treats to win... Most come in costume and it is a lot of fun!

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Hiking Tim's Trail

2011-10-31T08:13:00.000-07:00

The other day the teachers had an inservice and the kids didn't have school. Cindy came over and gathered up the older boys at my daycare and took them for a walk on Tim's Trail. They had a blast "conquering" the trail, being pirates and enjoying the trail!

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Pillowcases!

2011-10-23T19:36:00.000-07:00

Cindy was in a sewing mood the other day and went crazy with pillowcases for all of my nieces and nephews... They were all super excited to get their presents so I had to take a picture for her! She is so talented!!

Girly girl (sometimes!)

2011-10-23T19:33:00.001-07:00

I found this cute camo tutu on Zulily and couldn't resist buying it! Then I ran out and actually spent money on Bella (rather then just garage sale buys) and bought her a pair of boots and a shirt to go with it. Doesn't she look so cute?? I was loving seeing her in it, even though she wouldn't cooperate with pictures!! She did run around the house saying that she was a princess though... Love her!

Pumpkin Carving...

2011-10-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

With Josh being gone all week we got a head start on our pumpkin carving and worked on our pumpkins tonight before he left for the week. We got a good crop of pumpkins out of our garden this year, so we didn't have to buy any and got to use our own! The kids had a great time - Beau was freaked out by the "guts" while Bella LOVED pulling them out. They all worked hard and did a great job on their own pumpkins!

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Fishing...

2011-10-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

Who goes fishing on one of the coldest days? Josh and the kids that's who! :) Brody was begging to go, so Josh gave in and took them. They didn't last long, they didn't catch anything, but they had fun with dad and that's the whole point!

Bella

Beau

Brody

Pumpkin Patch!

2011-10-23T19:07:00.000-07:00

Fall is in the air and it was time for a trip to the pumpkin patch! The kids had a blast, Josh and I got stuck in the hay maze and it was a beautiful day - it couldn't get any better! :)

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Preschool Field Trip

2011-10-23T18:57:00.000-07:00

Every year the preschool spends a night at the fire hall for fire safety week... The kids love it - especially since most of my family is on the fire department. My kids get a chance to see where their uncles and grandpa go when their pagers go off and climb into all the trucks. It's a lot of fun for everyone!

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Cuddling...

2011-10-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

He's not a bit cuddler anymore, but I still get my moments! :)

Braxton!

2011-10-10T10:51:00.000-07:00

This was an outfit that I loved on Brody when he was this age so I had to get a picture of Braxton wearing it... He's not quite awake yet this morning so I couldn't coax any smiles out of him! :)

Wedding and more...

2011-10-10T10:44:00.001-07:00

This past weekend the last of my cousins got hitched and we all headed to Cross Lake to take part in the fun. They had a beautiful outdoor wedding and the reception was held at a fabulous resort there. We had a great time dancing it up and spending time with family. As part of the festivities the bride and groom had maple tree starters in honor of the parent that each of them had lost. So, the very next day we took them outside and got them planted in our yard. Since it might be a little too late to be planting trees in our weather they are going to need some of Uncle Bruce's mojo to make it through the winter... Here's praying for that!

Josh and Kayla Erdahl

My cousin Sara (who I don't get to see often enough anymore) and I...

Girls! Me, Sara, Kayla and Ann

Breaking through our hard ground!

Brody and Josh

Josh and the kids...

Everyone got to help!

The making of a princess...

2011-10-10T10:42:00.000-07:00

I love it when the kids actually play really well together!! It is such a fun experience... This night they decided that they were going to "make" Bella into a princess. As you can tell, Brody is working on her hair. What you maybe didn't know was that shots are required to become a princess - hence Beau's part in the project!
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Sickos

2011-10-04T11:04:00.000-07:00

Beau was complaining the other night that his stomach hurt - so to be more safe then sorry, we sent him to bed with a bucket. Of course Bella HAD to have her own bucket also and when I went to check on her before we went to bed this is what I found!!

Pumpkins everywhere!!

2011-10-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

We had minimal success with our garden this year - all the rain got to our seeds! :( But, our pumpkins did phenomenal and for the first time we actually have some to pick!! The kids were very excited to see all the stages that they went through and checked on them constantly... Next step - CARVING!!

Our pumpkin patch!

Josh helping Beau with his crop load! :)

Bella usually heads for the biggest and tries to pick them up! :) This one was more her size.

Brody

Braxton in the middle of the action!

Bella's learning to drive the tractor too!

Josh and Braxton

Bella's new adventure!

2011-09-26T09:18:00.000-07:00

Josh and his dad hit the garage sales a couple of weekends ago and came home with a couple of bikes for the kids... A nice pink one that was the right size for Beau (which he and Brody promptly spray painted orange and black thanks to dad) and a purple one that was pretty close to perfect for Bella. She is just a touch too short, but I figured that she would be good to go for next year. Little did I expect that she would be cruising around already!! It's slow going, but she does it on her own for the most part! Given the fact that the back tire is completely flat and I didn't realize it - she just might be going even better once Josh gets it fixed!! Such a big girl - trying to keep up with those brothers! :)

Sweet Potatoes...

2011-09-22T06:56:00.000-07:00

Braxton is starting to make his rounds through his first foods! Sweet potatoes was his first stop after he tried rice and oatmeal. Not such a big fan on the first couple of tries, but he is gradually getting used to the new taste in his mouth!

Preschool!

2011-09-22T06:50:00.000-07:00

Beau started preschool for his last year on Monday! He is old enough to go every afternoon, Monday through Thursday and he is LOVING it!! Next stop - kindergarten!!

Beau's first day of preschool!

Beau and his cousin Ellie - they are both in the same class...

There was no "mom bringing him to school" this year... He and Ellie wanted to ride their bikes from the very first day!

Working on writing his name! Mom definitely needs to work with him more! :)

Beau and his teacher, Heidi

His cousin Parker also started preschool this year... He is only three and goes 2 days a week in the mornings, so they are not in the same class but got to go to meet the teacher night at the same time!

Sleepyhead...

2011-09-22T06:47:00.000-07:00

I swear this kid is constantly moving... even in spaces where it is hard to turn over, he will find a way!

1st Haircut...

2011-09-06T10:52:00.001-07:00

I had an appointment to get my hair trimmed the other day, so I took Bella along with me for her first hair cut. She had some dead stuff on the ends from all our swimming this summer so I figured it was the perfect time! Not a lot off but still another milestone reached! :)

She did a great job! Just sat super still and didn't cry or anything...

The only problem we had was that she was so nosey that she kept turning her head and Chris would have to redirect her! :)

1st Grade!

2011-09-06T10:47:00.000-07:00

Brody started school today! For his first day of first grade daddy wanted to take him to school so we got a few pictures from there too! He woke up in a fiesty mood so no tears were shed this morning when mom shoved him out the door! :) Just kidding... (about the shoving part - not about the no tears! :) I don't want you people to start calling CPS on me or anything...

Brody and his teacher, Mrs. Lindroos

Brody

The Line Up - waiting to get to go into their classrooms... Brody, Teagen, Tori, Kenzie, Elyse, Eion, Tyce

Bumps and Bruises...

2011-09-06T10:42:00.001-07:00

Looking at my kids you can tell that they are go, go, go kind of kids... This was never more evident then over the past week! Usually we limit our bumps and bruises to our legs and arms but not so much this week. Thank goodness we didn't have any pictures scheduled! Brody started it off by wiping out on his bike and getting a golf ball sized bump on his forehead and then Bella jumped in with an accident of her own. Brody decided that he needed to pull her in the wagon with his bike and a rope. Needless to say, this didn't end well and she fell out and got some awesome road rash on her face! No pictures of Beau - he rolled the kids' little 4 wheeler a few weeks ago and had some wonderful cuts, scrapes and rashes due to that. I didn't have my camera handy for that one though! :)

Lake Trip!

2011-09-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

Every summer we spend a day on the lake with my sister-in-law's parents and it is so much fun! Hanging out, eating, watching the kids swim, tube and have fun... It's a great relaxing day!

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Cousins...

2011-09-06T10:38:00.000-07:00

We love to get together with the family as often as we can and the kids love being able to play with their cousins! I love watching them interact with each other!

Beau and Ellie

Trevin, Bella and Emma

Braxton

2011-09-06T09:10:00.001-07:00

Braxton loves hanging out in his saucer - I think mainly because he can really see what's going on all the time...

Helping??

2011-08-25T06:26:00.000-07:00

The boys love to help with Braxton and Brody usually does a great job. With Beau that is sometimes not so much the case...

Cereal!

2011-08-25T06:09:00.001-07:00

Braxton started eating cereal last week. It's just a step that you can't take back... Makes me so sad but excited at the same time! No more little baby but again we are on the cusp of no more bottles! (okay, okay, that will be a while but time slips away so fast when they are little...)

Family Vacation

2011-08-17T13:23:00.000-07:00

We got away for the weekend this past week and it was so much fun! We headed down to meet up with Josh in the cities on Saturday morning and spent the day at a water park and mini golf course. Sunday was a day full of fun at the Como Zoo and Como Park. We had a blast, the kids made it through the entire weekend without meltdowns and we were all good and tired when we got home! :)

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Super Swimmer!

2011-08-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

Brody passed his deep end test the other day and couldn't have been more excited!! I knew that he could do it, he just had to gain his confidence... So, it is on to the deep end where he can hit the slide and do some dives!!

getting ready...

and the dive...

Top of the slide!

Bella's strange sleeping arrangements!

2011-08-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

Braxton has been sleeping through the night for a while now, so I decided it was time to move him downstairs. I was worried about him sharing a room with Bella, since that is where the crib is, so we did some rearranging and switched her and Brody around. This means that Bella and Beau are now sharing a room and it has been interesting. She hasn't been sleeping as well and we always come in to their room to find her with interesting things in her bed...

Who doesn't sleep with their own personal rocking chair in their bed? :)

Level 2 passed!

2011-08-17T13:07:00.001-07:00

Brody is turning into quite the little fish in our family... he started the summer doing great, but ended it doing fantastic!! He was in Level 2 for lessons this year and had no problems passing.

Brody and his swim teacher Adrienne

Spirit Lake

2011-08-07T19:24:00.000-07:00

We didn't have Sunday dinner at mom's this past Sunday so Josh and I decided to take the kids for a picnic and swimming at the local beach. It was a lot of fun and something different then the pool every day!

Bella burying at least part of daddy...

Braxton and I hanging out on the beach!

Braxton

Josh, Brody and Beau

Sleeping Beauty!

2011-08-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

Sleeping hard!

Date Night!

2011-08-07T19:21:00.000-07:00

Josh and I finally got a night out on our own the other night and it was a great time. We did supper out and then went and painted plates at the local pottery place. It was a fabulous time with just the two of us!!

Me and my man! :)

Plates for the kids!

Run, Bella, Run!

2011-08-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

I can't keep clothes on this girl!

4-Wheeling!

2011-08-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

When we first moved to Minnesota Grandpa Jerry surprised Brody with a 4 wheeler for his birthday. It hasn't been used a lot lately - mom was a little nervous about them all riding it! Josh got it up and running this weekend and the boys had a blast with it. Beau is our little daredevil and doesn't go slowly at all... Makes me a little nervous, but we made it through 2 days with only one crash!

Brody

Brody

Teaching Beau the basics...

Slow enough to get at least one picture!

Brody giving Bella a ride...

Girls Day Out!

2011-08-04T19:45:00.000-07:00

So, after 2 years of waiting all the babies were done and it was time for tattoos! Girls day out! It was so much fun and we all loved the tattoos that Frank did up for us... We walked in with a few ideas and walked out with tattoos that we loved more then our ideas! It was a ton of fun just hanging out and making memories that will DEFINITELY last FOR-EVER!! :)

Little plug for Tattoos by Frank - he did up some wonderful ideas for us and we were all super impressed with his work...

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Kiser Cousins!

2011-08-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

It can be a little wild when our whole crew gets together, but man I love these kids!!

Trevin, Ellie, Teagen, Tyce, Braxton, Gavin, Kolby, Zoe, Parker, Elyse, Tori, Eion, Emma, Beau, Bella, Brody

Work it out!

2011-08-03T20:00:00.000-07:00

Josh was actually able to be home tonight and the kids were crazy with excitement! This is fabulous, especially at bedtime! :( So, I told Josh to have them settle it down and this was about the time that he decided that they needed to have a push up contest. Not the way that I would settle things down, but okay... They were slightly hilarious though! :)

Getting in shape - Ruby of course always needs to get into the action when they are on the floor for anything! :)

Bella and Beau

Bella - immediately hopping on!

Josh - hanging on for dear life?

Turtle Lake

2011-08-03T19:58:00.001-07:00

For the second year in a row the brothers and sisters made the trek over to my sister's in-laws cabin. We had a great weekend of swimming, tubing, camping and spending time together!

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VBS 2011

2011-08-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

The kids went over to bible school with their cousins last week and had a blast! It was fun to see them up on stage singing their hearts out!

Beau and Brody

Brody

Beau

Dinosaur!

2011-07-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

Beau gets a little antsy when he isn't able to be involved in the things that Brody is doing... He finds his own ways to amuse himself!

Sunday adventure!

2011-07-27T08:02:00.000-07:00

After church on Sunday we decided to head over to Zorbaz for lunch since mom wasn't having her usual Sunday dinner. The kids had a blast checking out the fish in the water before the restaurant opened and even got a little pool lession in after we ate!

Watching the fish - I can't believe how clear the water was!

1st picture of the 4 of them I have taken... Whoops! :)

Pool lessons from Josh!

Bumbo...

2011-07-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law asked if we wanted a bumbo chair for Braxton that she was getting rid of. I told her we would try it and I am so glad we did! He LOVES to be sitting up and checking everything out so this is perfect for him...

Brody's Surgery

2011-07-24T19:59:00.000-07:00

My baby had to go under the knife last week! We have been noticing how large his tonsils are (as well as everyone that looks in his mouth - from doctors to dentists...) and after many rounds of strep this winter, it was decided that it was time for them to come out. We set up surgery for the end of August, but were lucky and they had a cancellation for this past Wednesday, so off we went to the surgery center. Brody was a champ and didn't seem nervous at all. He talked nonstop about the popsicles and ice cream that he was going to get and that seemed to cure it all! He has bounced back wonderfully and is already trying to run around and do his normal activities. He still has a few days of needing to stay kind of quiet and I think that I will be hard pressed to keep him down! :) (Mom did fine too... Only started bawling after I walked him into the OR and they put him to sleep. It was way too much to see my baby's body go limp and them laying him down. Booked it out of there fast though just in case he wasn't all the way asleep. Hey - I stayed strong when he was watching... :)

In the waiting room. We had to be there by 7:15 am - 6:00 came way to early for all of us!

Right before surgery...

Blood pressure time...

Getting some loving from daddy after he came back...

Camping with the Kiser's!

2011-07-24T19:56:00.000-07:00

We got to head out camping for the weekend again last weekend with Reg, Laura and their kids and it was a blast. It ended up being one of the hottest weekends so far this summer, so it was great that we had a lake to spend a lot of time at. The kids had so much fun with all the toys that we available at the campground we stayed at. We were pretty much the only ones there that weekend so we didn't have to fight for space in the water at all!

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A Present for Grandma

2011-07-24T19:54:00.000-07:00

Cindy was over for supper the other night and was holding Braxton... He left her a great present that she was not so excited about! :) Oops...

Big Brother Brody

2011-07-24T19:38:00.000-07:00

Brody LOVES helping with Braxton! He started with trying to hold him all the time, feeding him, just hanging out. He has advanced to even more helping lately. He will get him out of his playpen for me in the mornings, get him a pacifier whenever he needs it, carry him around when he is fussy... Mom's a little nervous about this, but he hasn't dropped him, yet! :) The other day he even advanced to the changing of the diaper - WHAT?? You heard it, he wanted to change Braxton's diaper! He is too cute!! I think we will stop at just the pee diapers though, no matter how much he wants to help! :)

Our 2nd home...

2011-07-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

The weather this summer has been all over the place in MN, but that hasn't stopped us from hitting the pool, pretty much on a daily basis! The kids are having a blast and becoming little fishies! Braxton usually heads over to his grandma's or great grandma's for the afternoons, but every once in a while we drag him along and he LOVES the water!!

Bella and Uncle Luke

Happy Camper Bella

Braxton - Chilling...

Brody, Kenzie, Gavin and Uncle Rusty!

Rusty and his girlfriend Lindsay made it home for the weekend and joined the whole fam at the pool! I don't think that they were alone for more then 2 seconds the whole time we were there...

Brody

Beau

T-Ball season!

2011-07-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

Our t-ball season has come to a close for the summer. I can't believe how fast it went and how much fun Brody had playing this year. He got to play on the older kids field this year and did a great job and didn't have to use the tee once! Hopefully he continues to enjoy playing and he will be ready for next year again...

Covering 1st!

Ready for a hit...

Swing batter, batter!

There has to be at least ONE picture of him playing in the dirt at this age! :)

Brody's team...

4th of July

2011-07-24T19:09:00.000-07:00

4th of July was time for our yearly get together at my aunt and uncle's house and then off to my cousins for fireworks. It was a ton of fun, even though it was hotter then heck all day! We played a lot of bean bag horseshoes, spent a lot of time together and got carried away by mosquitoes during the fireworks... It was a fabulous day!

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Catching & Sliding

2011-07-02T12:07:00.001-07:00

Brody love being catcher during his T-Ball games... It's definitely where the action is at! He also has been practicing his sliding technique. He slides into every base that he gets to, other then first! :) Cracks me up the whole time!!

Fielding the ball...

Covering his bag...

Ready to catch the pitch!

Sliding into home!

Dower Lake Camping

2011-07-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

Our family tries to get together at least once a summer and go camping with all my brothers and sisters... It is a great time back at one of our old camping haunts from when we were kids. The water was a little chilly, but the kids made it in quite a bit and spent A LOT of time playing in the sand. They loved biking around the campground, heading to the pier and just having fun together. Besides my niece Ellie busting her chin open and requiring 4 stiches, it was a pretty uneventful weekend... This weekend was a little crazier then our normal weekend though - I threw in a surprise birthday party for Josh since he just turned 30. It was great fun, the weather cooperated and we all had a fabulous time!

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Grandma and her MN boys

2011-07-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

Grandma Cindy made it over to our house today for lunch. While Bella was taking her nap Grandma got to hang with her boys and learn a little bit about Mario Brothers...

Ready to Run...

2011-07-02T11:17:00.001-07:00

Brody is still loving playing T-Ball. He likes to be in the infield the most (what kid doesn't in the little grades when the ball doesn't usually make it to the outfield! :)

Mommy's big helper!

2011-06-23T20:18:00.000-07:00

Braxton was hanging out with me while I was working on folding the mountains of laundry that seems to be never ending at our house... He makes the chore so much easier! :)

Braxton's Dedication

2011-06-23T17:23:00.000-07:00

To top off our fun filled Red Eye River Days weekend, it was dedication day at our church. So, we got all our family up nice and early after the late night the night before and joined together to celebrate Braxton's dedication... It was a wonderful service and we were so happy that most of our family could be there with us.

Mic, Josh, Me, Braxton, Molly

Braxton and his godparents

Braxton and his cake...

Red Eye River Days!

2011-06-23T17:20:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was our town celebration and the kids and I took in as much of it as possible! We started on Friday night with the Stingers game and a potato from the potato booth. Then we moved on to Saturday morning where I did the 5K walk, ran over to the kiddie games where I met up with the kids and then ate at the Boy Scouts booth. Then it was home for a little rest before we headed back uptown for supper at the Lions booth, bouncies for the kids, the kiddie parade and the big parade! It is a fun filled and busy weekend but we made it through! :) Next year Brody will be old enough to participate in the kids triatholon on Sunday - can't wait to see him doing that!

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1st T-Ball game of the year!

2011-06-20T13:19:00.001-07:00

Brody had his first T-Ball game this past week. He has been doing great and going with the older group this year. That means that they don't use a tee from the start! :) He loves it and is anxious to go every day for practice... Hopefully he keeps up the great attitude!

Family day!

2011-06-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

As summer hit so did the work that Josh has to do! It has been a little lonely around here as he is gone for most of the week each week. We finally got hime for about 36 hours and then he was off to North Carolina for the week, so we took advantage of Saturday to have a family day! Josh and I both got our chores done on Friday afternoon and night and then played with the kids all day! From the skate park to four wheeling to the Red Eye ball field to the swimming pool, it was a wonderful way to get in some quality time!!

Snack before they ride! Brody, Josh, Bella, Beau

Beau

Bella in all her glory!! Someone get that girl a ponytail!!

Braxton hanging out in the stroller

Beau tooling around on 2 wheels!

Brody the trickster...

Josh and Bella

Picnic in the front yard!

Newest feat!

2011-06-14T13:20:00.000-07:00

It always amazes me the little things that Brody is able to do now that he is getting so much bigger! Seriously, the small things like making his bed, helping out with chores and his brother and sister, even making a sandwich!! Here's the first sandwich that he made on his own...

Our new obsession!

2011-06-14T13:17:00.000-07:00

Brody has been working really hard to earn and save enough money to get a Nintendo DS. Finally after his birthday this year he was able to have enough. He has been loving it and (thankfully) letting his little brother have a few turns here and there. So, when Beau's birthday rolled around he had enough money, with the money he still had from Christmas.... to get his own. So, now mom has the exciting job of controlling how much Nintendo time that they both have! They love them though and they certainly make car rides a little bit calmer! :)