Since the last post about 6 months ago (I know...way to long). We have had just a few things go on. Here is a nice long post....
AUGUST
Eli was potty trained. His reward...a new bike!
We went on our first official family vacation to the Wisconsin Dells. We had an absolute BLAST!!! Even more fun than we anticipated. We got a fantastic cabin where the Schlemme, McCarthy, McAllister, and Manternach families all got to stay under one roof! It was a fantastic weekend.
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| The Mama's and their kiddos (round 2) |
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| Can't get enough of these baby blues :) |
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Look at us, you would think there wasn't any sun involved in our vacation!
Not the greatest family picture, but at least we're all together! |
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| This about sums up how much fun we had! |
Labor Day Weekend - Grandpa Scott and Grandma Jayne came for a visit. We had some fun at the Minnesota State Fair. Food on a stick, drinks, some rides....
And 2 tired little boys!
SEPTEMBER
We participated in our first SMA fundraiser - the Minnesota Chapter Families of SMA Walk 'n' Roll. With the help of so many people, Team Colin raised over $5,000 - amazing!. The support that we got from people from so many different places was so touching and truly inspiring. There were a lot of emotions that day, but the biggest thing that Travis and I took away I think is that the kids were genuinely happy. We left that day with a more positive outlook than negative so I would say...it was a success!
We celebrated Elijah's 3rd birthday on the 14th (and the 11th). THE gift of the birthday was the Handy Manny tools and tool belt. He was beyond excited and squealed every single tools name as he pulled it out of the box. Aunt Kayla...you're such a good shopper....
OCTOBER
We had a fun weekend visit from the McCarthy clan. It was a GORGEOUS fall weekend so we visited a pumpkin patch. Lunch, pony rides, apples, and of course..picked out our pumpkins!
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| The kids and the pumpkins they chose |
We celebrated Halloween in our usual tradition. Dinner with the Tetzlaff's and some Trick or Treating. Eli and Jack really enjoyed it this year. Every house...Eli "I'm trick or treatin', I want candy. Oh and wait here comes Jack." So cute.
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| Me and my favorite Elmo (in 2010 - Eli was Elmo in 2009 - see previous post) |
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| Allison and her little princess |
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| A very homeade Handy Manny (what other character is there?!) |
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| The cutest little old man ever! |
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| And..trying to take a picture of all 4 kids. This is about right....of course Jack is smiling! |
October was also a month with a lot of decisions. A random phone call in mid-October (actually the weekend the McCarthy's were in town) from Ohnward Bank in Cascade triggered us to make some very big decisions that resulted in a couple of months of chaos in our household. At the end of October we decided to leave our home, good friends, and jobs in the Twin Cities and return to our roots. Here we come Cascade Iowa - whoa!!!
That led to November and December, which pretty much consisted of packing up the house, completing house projects to get it ready to sell, many trips (by many different people) to haul all of our stuff, finding a place to live in Cascade, eating at our favorite places, spending as much time as possible with our friends.....
Some things fun, some not so fun. The Knuth crew came to town for Thanksgiving so we had a big meal and then went to cheer on the Hawks against Minnesota on Saturday (rather not talk about that game!)
On Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend Travis officially moved from Richfield...to his parents ;) Only temporarily of course. The boys and I stayed for a couple more weeks. The weekend between when Travis moved and me and boys moved we did a lot of driving. Minneapolis to Cascade, Cascade to Chicago (and back), and then back to Minneapolis. The driving...not exactly fun. The weekend however made it worth it. Went to Chicago for round 2 with the girls (Kelly, Laura, Erin, Jenny, and Kayla). A little different tone than last year for a couple of reasons, but still a REALLY great time and so great to catch up with everyone.
Me and the boys spent our last week very busy being social butterflies. It was hard on them though being in an empty house withouth their dad. We had a VERY larget meltdown at one point in which Eli cried (very heavily), "I want my bed, and my couches, and my toys, and I miss my daddy SO MUCH!" While sad at the time, he got over it quickly and just called his Dad - Colin just relaxed and sucked his thumb in his usual fashion.
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| Thru the craziness, the boys still find time to relax |
A very bad snowstorm (~2 ft of snow in two days..one for the record books) forced us to leave a day early. So on December 10, we made our trek to Cascade for good (as residents anyway). Lots of memories in this house...not easy to leave. A new chapter begins for us. However, we still own it so I guess we have a little getaway home?!
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| Yes..I borrowed the pic from our listing.... |
I was NOT good about pictures at Christmas this year..not really sure why. This one of Colin is really the only good one I got. The boys really enjoyed it this year. Colin got excited about opening things and Eli had the perfect reaction for almost every gift. For example, one of the first gifts he opened was a sweat suit. He pulled it out and said "Awww - CUTE!". He is loving all of his farm toys and Colin is very much enjoying his puzzles.
Unfortunately no picture of our new home. Maybe in the spring?! We are settling in well...still adjusting to life in Cascade, but really enjoying it. We LOVE our new house, particularly the attached garage and the kitchen. The boys absolutely love being so close to their grandparents, their aunts and uncles, and other friends. Mom and Dad like the extra hands too :)
We ended the year by going out with some good friends on New Year's Eve.
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| Travis..you're so mysterious... |
While 2010 held many challenges (some of which have only begun) and some sadness for us, we also had a lot of joy and have so much to be thankful for. Our blog posts are only a fraction of the joy and blessings that we have..and looking back there are a lot of good memories that have been captured. To a great 2011....
SEPTEMBER
