July

The month of July in review.
Swimming lessons. Kaden got to advance to the lap pool this year. He did SO awesome in his lessons! He moved up 3 levels!

Now Hudsen on the other hand...that was a challenge! He loves the pool and water but not the swimming lessons! He participated in 5 out of 8 of them. He sat out and pouted for a few. Looking back, I should have waited another year to put him in lessons. Lesson learned! This picture is of Hudsen and his little friend Avery. They had fun one day after lessons just playing on the steps.
We picked a REALLY hot day (one of the few hot days this summer!) to pick berries. It was a lot of fun! Notice Hudsen picked a long-sleeved, black shirt to go picking in. There was NO way I could change his mind about it. "Like reasoning with a drunk monkey!"
Hudsen picking raspberries. He really got the hang of it this year!
Adalyn in her berry shirt! She was so good, we put her in her stroller in some shade close to us and she was so happy!
Kaden got the jackpot! Yum!
While we were picking berries, the kids' aunt Jessica was busy having this sweet little baby, Ellery Jane. She is such a sweetie! She has a ton of super soft blonde hair! She was 8 lbs. 1 oz.Here is Ellery and Adalyn side by side. It was amazing to see how big Addie was next to Ellery! Ellery was half the size!

Addie is ALWAYS smiling! Oh the fun these two girls are going to have someday!

Griffin being himself...he is such a funny little boy! Love him!

Hudsen Lee being cute!

Horner boys. They have lots of fun together! Someday they will be BIG trouble!

Our little princess, drool and all!
The last All-Comers track meet of the summer. Hudsen & Daddy running
His ribbon (upside down)
Kaden is in the gray shirt
Our little neighbor friend Simon has been coming over and playing with the boys a lot. His mommy Kristie just had her 5th baby. So, needless to say, Simon needs boys to play with!
We headed to the lake for Hudsen's b'day. The night we got there it was SO nice out. Just beautiful!
I have a thing for Adirondack chairs!

Huddy's 4th b'day! It was all about Spongebob this year!

Huddy had to close his eyes and wait for his surprise!

A new bike!

CrAsHeD!!!

My mom kept the boys for a few days after Hudsen's b'day. It was just Addie and I for a few days...kind of nice and quiet! Missed those little stinkers though! Grandma took the boys to a play, mini-golfing, mining for "gold", and looked a big bug sculptures. They had LOTS of fun! Addie and I met them in Mankato at the mall. It was fun to be back there. I hadn't been there since I graduated from college there 9 years ago! Funny how some things change, but also how things stay exactly the same! :)
The mall in Mankato has a really neat carousel. Hudsen & I went on it. Kaden was way too cool to go on it. Too bad he thinks that he is too old for the carousel.
I love this picture!
Kaden got to go to "Take your child to work" day again this year. Hudsen isn't old enough, maybe next year. Kaden had a TON of fun watching what Jeremy does day in and day out. Love that Hudsen is going crazy in this pic. (See why he isn't ready to go to work yet!?!?)
Cute pic with the blue zoo behind them.
We had some friends over for homemade pizza and a bonfire. It was a perfect summer night with great friends! Kaden and Matthew had fun climbing the "climbing tree" in the back.

Little JohnAvery
Touchdown!

So, there it is! A fun (and really fast!) July!

Kaden-award

I was just going through some of our videos and saw this one that Jeremy took at Kaden's end of the year program. We are pretty proud of our little scroller!

4th of July

Our annual Fourth of July at the lake started out with Matt and Jess' wedding. It was on the lake at Bill and Nancy's new lake home. It was really a beautiful wedding. A few sprinkles during the actual ceremony, but no one seemed to mind. The rain came later for the reception. The electricity even went out. But, that added to the fun!

My boys were pretty good during the wedding. Thank goodness it was outside and short!

Kelt and her crew. Little Cael and Devin were named "Search and Destroy" after this night! They are busy boys and they have busy parents! Keeping them from stealing vans, eating rocks and darting into the street is no easy task! I love how Kelty just laughs and smiles the whole time! Zach and Kellie. He cleans up GOOD. Jess and Matt Peterson. He had a broken collarbone for the wedding. Poor guy.Huddy loved his sparklers!
Brothers. They love each other, even though we get an occasional, "you aren't my brother anymore!" Ah, the bickering.We warned Hudsen (and G'ma!) that the fireworks would be loud!
All American girl!Addie loves it on the deck! She loves being outside and looking up at the trees.Hudsen got a new tree swing. I love this picture.A very rare moment: Kaden just chilling!Here we go!Time to go to West Lake to see the fireworks! Love this! Jer and Kaden walking to Pick's to get a good spot. It was a perfect night for fireworks. There were SO many boats on the lake. I don't remember there being that many. The Romes (minus Little D!)The Park. Ah, the memories I have of this place.Kaden starting out on the tube. This was Sunday, the best day, weather-wise.Sunday was also G'pa Blum's 61st b'day! I made a cake and Kaden decorated it with a number 61 in candles. We also had homemade ice cream. Doesn't get much better.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Monica's pictures

Monica came over on a hot, humid day and snapped some shots of the kiddos. Here are some of my favorites:

The boys spend a ton of time on the neighbor's trampoline. They have older kids now but still have the trampoline for all the neighborhood kids.

My little tree climber. He was born to climb!

LOVE this picture of the three of them (not an easy task!). Addie didn't cooperate, but it is still good.
The higher the better for Kaden. Scary for me.

And so flexible!

Loose tooth!

Hudsen trying to get Addie to smile for the camera!

Huddy telling me something funny!

That cute little look!

First full week of summer

I'm on a roll! Two posts in two days!
Last week was Kaden's first full week of summer vacation. He had VBS at Calvary. He had a great time, like always. I believe this was his 3rd summer of VBS. He loves the music, the crafts and of course, the friends. He has been lucky to have his buddy Matthew in his group every year. He also is lucky that Matthew's mom loves to have a playmate for Matthew after VBS! They spent a lot of time together last week. Boys just being boys.
On Thursday, we loaded the boys (and Addie! what a good little trooper she is!) up and went to the annual Viola Gopher Count (isn't that SO Minnesotan???) Parade. I first discovered this parade years ago when I was doing daycare & just had Kaden. If I remember right, I was lucky enough to just have one daycare kid on parade day and we loaded up and went. I have been lovin' this parade ever since! It is so small, no big, huge crowds and they throw a ton of candy.
Here are Monica's professional pictures:
You can see Adalyn's little head! She was such a good sport!

CANDY!

Huddy checking out his loot!

Matthew & Kaden on candy patrol!

We told Hudsen to just wave at everyone and then they would throw him candy!

Score!

Bubbles!

Hudsen scored a popsicle! Must have been all that waving!