Hoyt Lakes Minnesota July 2009

We spent a lovely 4 days in Hoyt Lakes Mn in July with the family...when I say family I really mean family! Almost all of the Ken's mom's family was there with us! There were Grandma and Grandpa Welch, his Mom and Mike, his brother Matt, RuthAnne, and Nephew Christian, his Aunt Sandy, his cousin Carlin, Cory, and their son Cedar and his other cousin Andy, Katie and their 2 kids, Karlee and Camden and our family of 4! There were a ton of us and it was a wonderful time!

We all spent a lot of time outside(obviously!),playing with the kids, fishing, and cooking on the fire! The kids seemed to have a wonderful time playing and interacting with one another, Jake and Karlee are the little story and joke tellers of the group! I don't think a minute went by with the 2 of them together that was quite...not even our meal times! Cam of course tagged along with them where ever they went, glad to be with them but quiet and observant!

Tyler and Cedar were two little peas in a pod, playing on the blanket and enjoying each others company. While Cedar tended to stay put on the blanket, Ty took off exploring everything around him whenever possible!

All in all we had a wonderful weekend and couldn't have wished for it to go any better than it had...I suppose the weather could have been a bit nicer, we had wet fairly rainy weather in the mornings and late evenings, but it was still very nice. We (all the adults) even managed to get a break and swim out to the island across from the campsite one afternoon, it was amazing and felt wonderful!

Ty playing in the lake, we couldn't keep him out of the water!

Jake doing what he does best...he found all sorts of places to explore!

Cory and Cedar enjoying the day with us!

Cedar made a wonderful little man to take pictures of! He couldn't take a bad picture!

The 3 amigo's telling "jokes"

Ken's mom and Mike!

Grandma and Grandpa Welch

I can't believe it has been so long....

SO....it has been ages since I last posted and boy do I have some catching up to do somehow!

The brisk fall weather has been with us for quite a few days now and I am hoping that it is a wonderful sign that fall is right around the corner! Fall seems to be the favorite of the seasons in our home and we cannot wait for the weather to remain cool, the leaves to start changing, and the warmth of the holidays around the corner!

Jake is off to preschool in just a few short weeks, he will be in school 4 days a week from 12:30pm-3:00pm, and while I am very sad to see how much he has grown up and to send him off to preschool I am thrilled to see the excitement in his eyes to be going to school and to be a "big kid" I am no where near ready for that but will hold his had while he starts this new phase in his life.

Tyler, well what can I say about Ty! He is almost 18months old and keeping us busy every second of the day! He is off and running, doing everything he can to keep up with Jake! He does a pretty good job of it, though he gets frustrated sometimes when things don't quite seem to go his way! He is also getting used to the idea of using "words" instead of screams and yelps when he wants something, though I have to say that most often we still get a pretty good yell from him when he could have used a few words, we are working with him though to change that around a bit!

Ken and I are as always just busy as can be! Planning for fall, Jake's birthday, family vacation, and of course the Holidays! We are hoping things go smoothly for us this fall as we take on all these things in a very short period of time. Though we have faith that we will make it through with little trouble and lots of smiles!

I am trying to make it a priority to update this a little more often than I had been doing before(the last time I posted it was just after New Years!) so with anyluck I will succeed!

Crazy Times

Wow....we have been so busy I don't really know where the time goes somedays. We are now midway through January, I know so hard to believe isn't it? Either way, work is still going well for both Ken and I we are blessed to both have stable jobs that make it easy to provide for our family and enjoy the things we want out of like. Nothing to complain about there....

I don't even know where to begin, I wanted to write a little about the New Year and the such, but really there isn't much to say aside from wishing everyone a wonderful year filled with love, health, and happiness. There are so many things that Ken and I wish to accomplish this year it is crazy but we have the drive and energy to do it so I have no doubts that all will get done....I will share that list later..it may take awhile to write up, though I want to so I know where we stand, plus who couldn't use a quick reminder sometimes right?

We will be arranging to have Tyler baptised soon here, we were so torn as to what and how we wanted to do things as our previous Pastor had retired while I was pregnant with Tyler. He is the same Pastor who confirmed Ken, married us, and baptized Jake. We really aren't too fond of the new Pastor at our church, so we have been waiting and working with Pastor Hofmann. He is going to do the Baptism for us, though it is a lot later than I may have liked it to be. He is after all retired. I guess we're not too upset about the time it has taken to get it all set up, we just want to get it done sooner than later at this point. It does look though like it is going to be done here at our home, unless we can get the Church for a short period of time, thats what we are waiting on now....Man I never figured it would take this long to get some scheduling and planning done. Oh well...there are worse things I suppose!

Tyler had his first truely scarry moment ever today, he managed to find a small clear wrapper from a peppermint and got it into his mouth without me noticing immediatley, it scared the crap out of me....there he was on the floor playing like everyother baby does and then he started to gasp/cry....it was a wierd sound and not one I am likely to forget any time soon. I heard the crackling of the wrapper as he was trying to breath, luckily I was able to get the whole thing out of him mouth right away, but it was a terrifiying experience for him and for me! I will forever be sure to get down on my hands and knees and check under furniture edges for little things, Jake drops things without realizing the danger sometimes, but it is okay, we will both learn from this. We are just very fortunate that I was able to catch it right away, I wasn't too distracted by the living going on in my home....as is normal in my house!

It sure has gotten cold out lately!

Yay....so we have for the first time in 8yrs made it below zero in December! I know what a crazy thing to be excited for but still I love it. It is after all Minnesota and for all us crazy Minnesotans I like my cold weather and yes I do in many strange ways like the snow. I don't mind it at all actually. I must say the only time I don't fully enjoy it would be while I am trying to drive to work or home. Aside from that I think it is beautiful. All the glittery white flakes sticking to the trees and edges of the pine trees. I love the look of it along the river where the current flows ever so slowly making a smooth and seamless appearance. One of the main pleasures I find in working downtown were the river runs litterally out my window. I get to look out and see the beauty of it where I sit and LOVE IT!

Along with the winter weather it is almost Christmas, and I have some of the best memories from my childhood with the big flakes and glow of the lights against the snow....again in the right area it is breath taking and sooo beautiful. I hope to get some pictures to share from some of my favorite spots.

Our christmas tree is up and most of the gifts are wrapped...aside from the ones from "Santa" of course...well even some of those are wrapped already and hidden away so we don't have anyone find them! I even have the Christmas cards done and being mailed out tomorrow. I have been waiting for the christmas pictures of the boys, I decided to get Holiday Greeting cards done and so it has been delayed due to that....I know what a way to procrastinate on them huh? No really it has just been such a busy month, between the new job, the holiday shopping and baking I just have been sooo short of time. I haven't even been able to spend some precious time with my best friends....I miss them too! As much as I love the Holidays I also can't wait for them to be over so I get some of my time back rather than it being filled with family functions and obligations....not to say I don't love being with all the family it just seems to take so much of my free time between all the family "Christmas gatherings" it gets to be a bit much when we have 4 just with out parents(both divorced and remarried) and then the grandparents on Christmas day....wow it's a lot of places.

OH well...it is only once a year we get to celebrate friends and family and I love to do it.....I am looking forward to yet another fabulous Holiday Season and wonderful New Year!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....Without the snow!!

The time has once again come to start decorating for Christmas...and Jake is trying to be more than a big help! The joy and excitement that he has over the thought of Santa coming soon is wonderful. We had a great Thanksgiving and now look forward to the busy holiday month ahead...well so maybe not entirely looking forward to it as there is a ton of work and SOOO many places for us to go to and figure out who's house we won't be going to...the list is almost endless! Either way the winter months are the favorite in our house...I love the warm and inviting feel of a home all decorated for the holidays and this year feels more complete and a little more special now that Tyler is here to celebrate with us. Both boys are growing so fast and the days are flying by without fail. Jake is learning to write his letters and beginning to realize that they have meaning and that when put together in the right order they form words and they define an object...such an awesome thing to teach a child. Tyler is busy, busy, busy! He has realized that the things at the end of his legs are feet and they aid him in walking....yes I said walking. We are no longer working on crawling..though he has a unique way of "army crawl scooting" to get himself across the room...if all else fails we just roll over until we reach our destination! He is now pulling himself up on furniture if he can get a good grip and will stand and bounce and cruise a little as long as he has some support! He is keeping us one our toes...we weren't expecting him to be such a quick mover, not to mention walker!

Now we need to find the perfect outfits for the boys for Christmas pictures and Christmas of course...can't wait to get the pictures done...Jake's are always so perfect I can only imagine how fun they will be to take this year...I am so excited!

Well I am off to decorate the house and hope to have some pictures up soon of the boys in our holiday splendor....tomorrow is some more Christmas shopping and decorating....hopefully we get some snow soon so we can have a little more of a Christmas feel in the air....until then HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!

I think I may lose my mind!

I can't believe how incredibly hard it has been to try and wean Tyler...not only from the boob but from our bed. The last few nights have been a bit easier and gone a little better but they are still far from what I would like them to be! We only got up twice last night, while we had been getting up more often than that before and the first time I was able to get him to go back to sleep without a feeding and then about 4am he was up again...I couldn't get him back to sleep that time though without bringing him into bed with us. I feel like it was a bad step in the wrong direction because he now knows if he pushes the issue too much I will just bring him to bed so that he doesn't wake Ken and Jake...AHHHHH!

Jake on the other had has become a holy terror...I don't even know what to do with him. The good old saying "I know why some animals eat their young" fits more than perfect for some of his behavior! It really makes me hope that at some point in time he will start listening again and be my sweet little boy. It also makes me wish that Tyler doesn't grow up, this is not something I think I am going to want to live through again...then again maybe he won't go through it this badly because Jake will be older and hopefully better behaved again so he will want to be like his big brother..oh well!

On a much better note, I am going shopping this weekend to try and find some cute outfits for the boys' Christmas pictures so I can get them out in the cards soon after Thanksgiving! I am usually so good about that kind of stuff and I am not about to let the new job and just a busy life in general keep me from getting it all done!

Here's to a happy, and not too busy weekend...though when you have children and own a house they are all busy!

Wow....Have I created a monster!

So I have decided to quit breastfeeding Tyler...aside from the multiple times I have been bitten by him(teeth don't feel so hot!), and with my schedule change coming up in January both Ken and I feel this may be the best option. Needless to say it isn't easy at all....Jake was so simple, then again he was a year old and NOT used to sleeping half of his night in our bed with us. I always sat in a recliner chair in Jake's room to feed him and put him back into his crib immediately, I don't have that chair anymore and so I started to bring Ty into bed with me when I was feeding him. I should have been much better about getting back up to put him in his crib...because not only am I trying to wean him but I am now also fighting with getting him to sleep in his own bed too! It has proven to be an interesting feat....we have 2 nights down, and many, many more to go. I just hope that they get better because I NEED to get more than 3-4hrs of sleep before he wakes up and refuses to go back to bed. Sure I could leave him to cry it out for a few minutes...while it seems cruel it is only a few minutes before they fall to back asleep, but I have other people in the house to think about and to let sleep! Any suggestions would be more than welcomed!