December where did you go??

December 2009--Here and gone. A quick run down of our month:
Brady in all of his cuteness decided that his saying for the month "You're Lookin' Good!!"

Madie celebrated her 50th day of school with a "sock hop". Mom went to school to help serve root beer floats and was the only parent dressed up!

Snowstorm to start the month...after watching my neighbors get stuck in the road, we just all stayed home!!

Brady in all his cuteness (NOT) took a pencil and poked holes in my ottoman. He liked the "popping" sound that it made.

Helped my sister Jody celebrate her 50th birthday.


Celebrated the holiday's with our wonderful daycare families!





Brady's Christmas program at 5 C's preschool. He sang and did all of the actions to the shows. We were very proud of him!!!













Madie's Christmas program at school. She had a speaking part in the program. We are very proud of her!!














Went sledding with the kids at Spring Lake Park. It was a blast and like bad parents, we did not bring the camera:(

SNOW STORM like you could not believe over Christmas. We got about 18 inches of snow here in Mankato from the 24th of December to the 26th.


We celebrated the Birth of Jesus with our family tradition...Christmas Eve Christmas mass. Madie was an angel in the pageant. Home for family pictures. Soup for dinner and then presents from mom and dad.

Dad read "the night before Christmas" to the kids, they left cookies for santa and food for the reindeer and headed to bed.












Santa again came to our house this year. He brought us a new tent, so we are looking forward to checking it out this summer!!

We spent the Saturday after Christmas in Savage at Kelli and Tom's house for Christmas with the Clarke Family. The kids so enjoy playing with their cousins.

We spent the Sunday after Christmas traveling to Lucan to celebrate the VanLoy Christmas. The roads were HORRIBLE, but Kevin kept on going--sometimes as slow at 30mph. When we got to Christmas in Lucan, my sister Barb had surprised us all by flying in from South Carolina for the holiday. It was a GREAT surprise. Kerri gave us all breast cancer awareness bracelts...here we are (without Marsha who was in Mexico with her family).



We enjoyed New Years Eve at Matt and Lori's (our neighbors) and then headed home to ring in the new year with the kids.

So a quick run down of December 2009. Looking forward to a great 2010!

December already??

Wow, again almost 3 months have passed since my last post. I guess I am not real faithful at this blogging stuff.
The rest of September...Madie chose the Olive Garden as her Birthday meal choice. I guess she really does take after her mom.
Tom Gunderson turned 30 and Rachel threw him a Vegas party. Kevin and I dressed as Tacky Tourists. It was a great party!!
Madie played soccer again in September. It was FREEZING for most of her games.
Madie's birthday party...she had her friends birthday party at Becky's floral in Mankato. The girls decorated pots and then got to make their own bouquet of flowers. They had a lot of fun.
SICK--Madie got what we believe was H1N1. She was so nice that she shared with her mom and I got sick as well.
October...I am not sure where that entire month went, but the highlight of the month was our family dressing up as the Flintstones for Halloween. Kevin was Fred, I was Wilma, Madie was Pebbles and Brady was Bamm-Bamm.
November...a busy month of running, but nothing fun to report. Thanksgiving was late in the year and we hosted the Clarke's at our place on Thursday and the VanLoy's on Saturday.
Kevin again went Black Friday shopping. He chose not to even go to bed on Thanksgiving night. He got almost all the Christmas shopping done (although I did help from the comfort of our bed at 2:00 A.M. at Walmart.com!)
Christmas is right around the corner. Hopefully I will be better at posting in December...that is the goal.

First Days...

This week was the first day of school for both Madie and Brady. Madalyn started 1st grade at Washington Elementary with Cindi Hashimoto. Brayden started pre-school at 5C's preschool in North Mankato with Mrs. Willaert as his teacher. They both LOVE school, so that is great. Madie could not wait for school to start this week, let's hope that lasts.
Tomorrow Madalyn turns 7 years old. She was born at 3:46 A.M. on September 12, 2002. It was one of the happiest days of my life. We will be celebrating her day with lunch, and a friend staying over. On Sunday her grandparents and aunts/uncles are coming over. We will have her party with her friends later.

Where did the summer go??

Wow, how sad is it that I wanted to blog so that I would not forget the kids growing up and I just missed 4 months of their lives.
A quick update on the summer...
Soccer: Madie played soccer during the month of June. I helped coach which is so funny because I know nothing about soccer except...SCORE! The girls had a great time and learned a lot. That is all that matters.
Camping: We went camping in Wisconsin the end of June and the kids had a blast. There was a big bouncy thing that the kids LOVED. It was cold and rainy, but we got to see Kevin's grandma and aunt/uncle and cousins so it was well worth the trip. We also were in charge of picking up the fireworks for the neighborhood 4th of July party. Brady became addicted to mini-golf this weekend.
4th of July: One GREAT neighborhood party! We had a BLAST. We rented 2 huge waterslides for the kids to play on all weekend. We had lots of food and lots of beer. Nothing better! Played games and had one great DJ (our neighbor Jon). The cops made a few trips by during the later part of the evening, but just came becuase they heard there was a great party on Cole Ct! The waterslides were used on Sunday by Rachel almost as much as the kids:) Kevin went down too...it was HILARIOUS.
Illinois Trip for mom: I went to Illinios with my mom and 5 of my 6 sisters in our van for the weekend. It was a BLAST. We went to meet our sister Barb from SC, she was diagnosed with breast cancer in May, so we all went together to support her. The trip down was so fun, we enjoyed the weekend and Marsha FLEW home.
Brady turns 4!! Brayden chose Buffalo Wild Wings for this birthday supper. It was so funny that is where a 4 year old wants to go. His birthday was great, a new spiderman bike was his present this year.
Camping trip #2 of the summer brought us to Fairmont. We went on Friday and hit the Fairmont water park the went to the campground. Jen and Ross, our neighbors, met us in Fairmont. It again was COLD and rainy, but that did not damper the fun. Brady became addicted to croquet this weekend.
Kevin & I celebrated our 11 year wedding anniversary on August 1st.
Madie and I enjoyed a great girls day...school shopping, lunch, pedicures. Nothing better than spending quality time with your girl!
Spent a weekend on Duck Lake. The kids enjoyed Auntie M's cabin and kayaking. It was the first time any of us had been kayaking. We got very sunburned, but had a blast.
Kevin and I went to Ribfest and Boogie Wonderland. We had not seen Boogie Wonderland since before we had kids.
Carbon Monoxide malfunction: at 10:30 P.M. on August 11th...do you assume it is a false alarm, nope, you call the fire department and head to Rachel and Tom's holding sleeping kids to wait to make sure you have the all clear!
Gunderson's get a speed boat--and it is a blast! Kevin took the kids to Chaska so I could have a day to myself and Rachel kidnapped me to have a day on the lake with her, Tom and Jeff and Mindy. We had a blast tubing. That evening, Kevin met us downtown for a night out. It was a great day. The kids enjoyed being in Chaska staying at Auntie Kims. Madie went to Sam's birthday party at the Chanhassen gymnastics place.
Mom celebrates the 6th anniversary of her 29th birthday! I had a great birthday thanks to the kids and Kevin. Kevin took me to the Jason Mraz concert--it was great. The kids stayed with Jen and Ross and had a great time too.
Weekend at the lake: Went to the lake with the Gunderson's. Headed out on Saturday and Brady puked in the car about 2 miles from home. We turned around and cleaned out the car. Brady decided he wanted to go build sand castles, so we covered the back seat with a blanket, gave Brady a bucket and went to the beach. He was a trooper...and did no puke any more. He even went tubing...the kids first time tubing and both did great. Went back to the lake that Sunday for more tubing!
Makin Salsa...we canned salsa for the first time. We are enjoying it!!
Camping trip #3: We went to New Ulm camping the end of August. As we were packing up on Friday, Madie got the pukes. We asked her if she wanted to stay home...nope, she wanted to camp. So we loaded everything in the van, gave her a bucket and off we went. She puked in the van on the way, puked when we got to New Ulm, puked at the campsite while we set up the tent, puked in the tent while she was resting...then said she was hungry. Ate a TON and then was just fine. We went hiking in the state park, saw a deer and other animals. The kids LOVED Herman the German and the Glockenspiel. Our friends Marsha, Jeff and Isaac joined us for supper on Friday night. It was another successful camping trip--with NO RAIN!!
That sums up our summer in a short version. If I think of anything else...I will post soon. School starts next week. Madie will be in 1st grade with Mrs. Hashimoto as her Teacher and Brady will be going to 5 C's.

Memorial Weekend

As of Friday before Memorial Day we didn't have anything planned for the weekend, which isn't like us. We decided what Priceline.com could get us for a hotel room in the cities. We got a great deal at LeBourget Aero Suites in Bloomington. After we booked the room Brady started to get a fever Friday night. Since we are a family who believes in drugs we decided to drug Brady to get his fever down and go to the cities for some fun.
On Saturday after we had some lunch we headed to the hotel. We immediately headed for the swimming pool. It was small, and hotter than hell in the pool area but the water was good and the kids enjoyed it. After the pool we headed out to supper. We had a coupon for Wolley's steakhouse at the Embassy Suites hotel. Very ritzy place but we decided since it was in a hotel the kids could go to this resturant. Jean had pasta, I had stuffed pork chops, Madie had pizza and Brady enjoyed chicken fingers. Even thou Brady was feverish he still ate a lot of food. At the end of the meal the waiter brought out a bowl full of lemon flavored cotton candy. Kids loved it. After supper we headed back to the hotel where Madie swam some more and Brady rested while watching Wow Wow Wubbze. Jean had a craving for Perkins pie so we all had pie for a bedtime snack.
On Sunday, we got up and had breakfast at the hotel. The hotel was nice to give us breakfast for $5.00. We all got a drink and a menu item for $5 total. Nice deal i think. After, we headed out to the Como Zoo which turned out to be a zoo. After driving around for 20 minutes we finally found a spot about 3 blocks away. The kids couldn't wait to hit the rides so we started out with that. We had lunch while waiting for Sparky the Sea Lion to perform. Kids loved it. I thought it was kinda a short performance but it was nice. We then walked around looking at the animals and ended the visit with a few more rides and the kids getting their face painted. We headed home about 4:30 and got home just in time for supper.
On Monday Jean decided to take Brady to the Clinic in the mall. He battled his fever all weekend and it got as high as 103. Turns out he had strep throat and he got on antibiotics. We just stayed home on Monday and enjoyed the day. We had Jen and Ross over for some steaks for supper then we called it a night. Turns out it was going to be a long night.
Monday night, Tuesday morning was a long night because Brady's fever reached it's highest, it even got me a little scared. At 1am his fever was 104.8. I drugged him some more and cooled him with the ice pack. Jean and I took turns laying with him. Tuesday after his second dose of antibiotics he got better and now he is himself thank God!
It wasn't the best Memorial Day weekend we ever had but the kids had fun and the weather was great.

Kevin

Mother's Day 2009

Well Mother's Day weekend started with Madie going to her first sleepover in which it wasn't a neighbor or family member. She went to a birthday party sleepover for her friend from school. Jean thought we would be getting a call in the middle of the night but I knew she would make it all night.
Saturday started with a trip to the farmer's market. I thought they wouldn't have anything but turns out they had asparagus and RHUBARB! Then we picked up Madie and all went to the library. The kids picked out some books and even Jean is getting hooked on Nora Roberts books. After a quick lunch at home we went off to find flowers for Mom. We went to Drummers got some Viola's, vegetables and other flowers for Mom. We came home and quickly got to work. I mowed the grass while Mom and Madie started on the flower bed. We got the flower bed done and moved on moving rock away from the side of the house to plant our first ever vegetable garden. We hopefully will be enjoying cucumbers, peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes and rhubarb. Then we planted the flowers in the pots for the front. All in all the outside looks great, inside is next. We topped of the day watching Tom start an adventure of his own in landscaping their new tree with landscape brick and then played a little beer pong before calling it a night.
Sunday we all went to church for the first time in a long time. After, we finally got to look at the love seat Jean found on craigslist. The high school senior who was selling it took $25 less than the asking price and we found ourselves with a pretty new love seat for our sun room. We came home and Jean opened her presents from us. She liked them but some didn't work out or were the wrong color so we exchanged them on Monday. For lunch we decided at last minute to eat at 101 Main for their lunch buffet. Sadly it sucked. They ran out of their famous popovers and other food. Thank God the kids were only $2.99 a piece. After we ate, we or should I say my wife decided to she wanted to paint the sun room since we got the new love seat. So off to Sherwin Williams! We stopped there and Menards for some other garden supplies. We started painting about 3:30 and with help from Madie and Brady busy playing Wii it only took us 2 hours. It looks great! The color is Brandywine and matches the room and makes it look very comfy. Jean says she will drink the wine and I'll drink the brandy. We are now on a look out for an end table and ottoman.
It was a busy, hard working Mother's Day but Jean was happy and everything looks great and that's all that matters.

Kevin

Is it really May already???

Not sure where the time has gone...although I think a lot of time has been spent at the YMCA pool watching the kids at swimming lessons. Tonight was the last night of the session and both kids passed!! Yeah for them. Brady will now be in Eel and Madie will be in Guppy2. Madie jumped in the deep pool without a life jacket---What a big day! Both kids went down the slide and Brady LOVED it.

Madie is going to a little friends (Adrianna's) birthday party tomorrow night. It is a sleep over, so we will see if she makes it or if we have to go and get her in the middle of the night (or Kevin needs to go and get her I should clarify).

We planted some ruhbarb this week and this weekend we will work on planting all the flowers for the summer.

Brady is FULLY potty trained. He wears underware to bed and everything. YEAH!

Madie still does not have her 2 front teeth. She lost them in September and they are still not in. I am sure glad that I had the dentist X-Ray for them when I had the kids in a few months ago. He promised me they are there, I just need to be patient I guess.

It was a beautiful day today. I went to the Greater Mankato Growth Young Professionals network salsa party this evening and met some very nice people. I really like living in this town!

Love to all.