Our Garden

We finally had a few vegetables to pick tonight from the garden. Colin was so excited to help pick the sweet peas and to get to eat them right away as we picked them. It is so fun to see how proud he is of his section of the garden that is really growing well.

Hint: if anyone has a picky eater that doesn't like vegetables, start a garden. Colin is eating more vegetables now!!

Here is the garden! Not bad for our first year.


Colin and his section of the garden.




Colin picking sweet peas.


Colin opening up the pod to eat the peas. He's not a fan of the outside of the pod, but loves the peas.

Mall of America

Last Saturday we took Colin to Mall of America for dinner and rides. We started the night at the Rainforest Cafe. We had a great dinner and Colin loved the rainstorms. We then headed to the Park at MOA for rides. Colin loves rides!! He wasn't afraid of any of them. He first went on rides at the park about 1.5 years ago and has loved them since. This time, he even went down the log ride with Daddy and loved it! I think it took me until I was about 10 to try rides like that. Here are a few of his favorite rides.










Scott even went on a ride. Crazy!




This was the end of the Log ride. Not the best picture, but Colin is in the log with Scott, not that you can see him.

A Day at Preschool

Colin is at his first day of preschool today. I dropped him off at 9:00 this morning and he'll be there until 12:00. He was so excited. He asked last night before bed if this was his last sleep before he could go to school in the morning. The preschool he will be attending this fall had a few days this summer that the kids could go and spend the morning playing, doing a craft and having lunch, so today was his day. When I said good-bye to him he could have cared less that I was leaving. I think Mommy was the only one sad about leaving. I still can't believe my little boy is old enough for preschool. I was so proud of him for being such a big boy and just heading right into the classroom to play with the other kids. I can't wait to go get him soon and hear all about it. He was so excited to bring his lunch to school. I think the only disappointment was last night at dinner when he said how excited he was to ride the school bus and we had to tell him that he wouldn't be riding a school bus for a few years.

Here are a few pictures I took of him before we left.

2 Great Weekends!!

We've had a busy 2 weeks. 2 weekends ago we spent the weekend at the cabin with 2 of my cousins and there kids. We had a great time. The weather wasn't the greatest, but that didn't stop the kids from playing outside on the beach and even doing a little tubing and jumping in the middle of the lake off the dock. Colin loves being with his "big cousin's" as he calls them and they are all so wonderful to him. We really enjoyed our weekend with everyone. Here are a few pictures of the weekend.

One of the many fish Colin caught this weekend.

The kids playing on the beach.

Colin pouring water on a sleeping Auntie Stacy!!!!


Sam and Stacy tubing with Julie and Cort in the back on the jet ski.

Colin off with Daddy for an hour of fishing. He sure loves everything his Daddy does!

This past weekend we were up in Hurley, WI to see Jason, Melissa and Brian and to celebrate the 4th. We had a great weekend spending time with family and just relaxing as a family. Colin was completely off his schedule and did great. Each night he was up until about midnight and slept in until about 9:00 each morning which was wonderful!! Thanks for a great weekend Auntie, Uncle and Brian!!

On Thursday we took the kids to see Wildlife Wildwood Adventures in Minocqua, WI. We had so much fun. It's like a zoo, but a lot of the animals are free to roam and we were able to pet and feed a lot of them. Colin was really into it.

The boys touching a Tortoise.

The boys feeding a baby goat.

Daddy and Colin feeding a Bear sugar water.

Colin feeding a Aoudad.

Colin holding a bird on a stick with birdseed. He loved this part of the park. We spent a lot of time with the birds.

Mommy and Colin.

Lovely family picture showing our wingspan. Daddy was a Bald Eagle, Mommy was a Turkey Vulture and Colin was a Sharp Hawk

The cousin's. Colin's shirt says T is for Tiger and Brian's says Little Tiger. Aren't they the cutest little boys!!

After the Wildlife are we stopped by a go-kart place. Colin was loving it. He was so proud to have won the race against Uncle. I think Uncle and Daddy had just as much fun as Colin did. They were like little kids out there.

Friday night fireworks. They were wonderful!!!

Saturday we took the boys to a park for a few pictures.

On the teeter toter together.

After nap the boys hit the pool.

Before the parade Daddy and Colin went 4 wheeling.

At the parade in their matching shirts.

Colin waiting for candy. Thanks to the parade candy and Jess (Auntie's sister) Colin was on a sugar high all night!! Thanks Jess :) I don't have any pictures, but we then saw fireworks after the parade.


Sunday Colin and Daddy did some more 4 wheeling and stopped to see some of the tractors that are being used to log on the trail.

2 great weekends. We are home for the next 2 weekends and then back to the cabin with my parents and the Geach's. What a fun summer it's been!!

Welcome Back!!

Well, I took a little break. But, we are back. Not that there hasn't been a lot to share out in the last 2.5 months, I just wasn't finding the time to update the blog. So, rather than recapping the last 2.5 months, we are just going to go forward from here.

The biggest news.....We are expecting baby #2 in December!! We are all so very excited. Baby is expected to arrive on December 7th or 8th. I know Heather Hanson is cheering for December 7th to share a birthday with this little one. We'll just have to wait and see. We had an ultrasound on Wed. and wow, this one is a mover. Way more than Colin ever was for us on camera. We got some great shots and Colin was so excited to see his baby. He is so excited to be a Big Brother. He talks to the baby all the time, kisses my tummy, and is convinced it's a brother. And for those who are wondering, we didn't find out the sex and aren't sure if we will or not in July when we have our 20 week ultrasound. More to come!!

Beyond the baby news we've really been enjoying spring and the beginning of summer. Even though the weather hasn't been the best, we are still enjoying the outdoors. We planted a garden on Memorial Weekend and Colin is really enjoying helping with the garden. He even has his own spot in the garden that he planted whic of course is growing the best. Go figure! Who knew dumping seeds, then layering on rocks, then dirt would produce such tall plants. Even Scott, who wasn't completely bought in on the idea, is really loving the garden.

Last Sunday we joined our friends the Brutger's at the Saints game. The boys had a blast! The weather wasn't the best, but no rain, so we were fine. The game on Saturday was rained out so we got to see a double header. The boys made it through the middle of the second game, so that was great. For those who know Jackson and Colin, they are two peas in a pod. Mel and I just love watching the two of them together and see so many visions of years to come of these two growing up together. We are blessed to have such great friends!

I'll end with a few pictures from the baseball game.

And a promise...I hope to keep this more up to date going forward.

3 years old

We have a three year old as of last Sunday! It's been a week of celebrations.

We started the week with a trip to Hurley with Gramma, Grampa, Auntie Melissa, Uncle Jason and Brian. We had a great 3 day weekend (Sat-Mon) up north. We surprised Colin with a Arctic Cat 4 wheeler on Saturday. His response was precious- "It's just what I wanted." He pretty much lived in it all weekend. Brian even thought it was pretty neat to sit in. We had a celebration with everyone on Sunday (Colin's actual birthday) and opened a few presents.

Here is Colin walking up to his new ride, the smile on his face says it all.


He was so excited to help Daddy put it together.




Colin and Brian taking a bath together Sat. night.


Blowing out his candles.


Auntie, Uncle, Brian and Colin

We headed back on Monday and had Colin's three year doctor's appointment on Tuesday morning. He is growing like a weed! His whole life so far (all 3 years of it) he has always been 50th percentile height and weight and 97th for his head (lot's of room for those brains :)). He jumped to 75th percentile for both height and weight and is at the 50th percentile for his BMI. They no longer chart the head size, but we know it's still huge!

Then it was off to daycare for his daycare birthday party. While he was gone in the morning the kids helped Erin make brownies and a birthday crown. He had a great celebration at daycare that day.

Saturday was the big family/friends celebration. We did a John Deere theme this year. Those that know Colin well know he is a huge fan of tractors and specifically John Deere. The party was wonderful. We had a house full of people and the kids all did wonderful together playing and celebrating with Colin. Colin got so many nice gifts, thank you everyone!

The cake Mommy made.

All of the kids

Sunday (today) we took Colin to his first movie at the theatre. We went and saw Monsters versus Aliens. It was a great movie and Colin was perfect the entire time. Laughing through it and sitting still eating his popcorn the entire 90 minutes. He is asking when we can go again. When we got home from the movie Colin's friends Vanessa and Lance across the street where out so Colin ran over to play. He took both kids for a ride in the Arctic Cat and Colin and Vanessa went biking together. Colin's bike was a present from yesterday from Gramma and Grampa. He's doing great riding it.

It's hard to believe our little boy is 3 years old already. These last three years have been so amazing watching Colin learn and grow. He is an amazing little boy that both Scott and I are so proud to call our son. He brings such joy to our day each day. I can't wait to see what the future holds for him. Happy 3rd Birthday Colin, Daddy and I love you very much!