4th of July

We spent the weekend of the 4th of July all over the place.  On Wednesday night, we headed to St. Peter to spend some time in the pool and relax before the big parade the following morning.  The kids swam for about an hour and then they were good to good for bed (maybe we should put in a pool as another way to burn some energy for the kids?).  By Thursday morning, everyone was in St. Peter and ready for some parade fun so we loaded all the kiddies in their respective strollers (thank god Ryan and Lauren no longer need strollers or we would have looked like our own mini parade), and walked down to find some prime candy catching seats.  Here is the crew just minutes before the start of the parade . . .

And here is the token "family picture" that Ash is really good at remembering to have taken (I wish I would do this more often, but the more kids you have, the harder it gets, her time will come).

After the parade, and way too much candy, we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a day filled with swimming (I believe Ryan might have been in the water for almost 6 hours that day), food, and drinks.  We finished the night off with just 4 of the 7 grand kids staying awake long enough to watch the fireworks, and when they were done, so were all of us - it was a long, fun filled 4th!



We our St. Peter portion of the trip coming to an end, we spent one night back at home, then headed out again to visit the other grandparents at the cabin.  We spent Saturday and Sunday hanging out with aunts, uncles, and cousins, then headed back home to get back to reality . . . ugh!  Another fantastic 4th in the books!

More summer fun!

The weather seems to have finally caught onto the fact that it is summer, and therefore the rain should stop, and the sun should shine.  With that being the case, we are taking full advantage and getting outside every chance we have.  Parks, picnics, sprinklers, bikes, you name it, we are doing it (and I should add, lots of ice cream treats, the Schwans man is a favorite at our house)!  And here is some proof in the form of pictures . . .

As you can tell, Auntie and Kate have also joined us on our last two trips to the park.  I don't know who has more fun, Kate watching the kids play, the kids playing with her, either way, they all seem to enjoy it!  Tomorrow we start our 4th of July fun . . . . I imagine there will be lots of cousin time, lots of swimming, and lots of fun!  We are hitting up both sides of the family so by Sunday the kids should be good and tired and ready for a break (I hope).

1 inch, don't think so!

So I took the kids into get haircuts yesterday.  I used my Great Clips app, checked in online, and was ready to go.  When we got to the place, I only saw one "regular" hairstylist there (at least that I recognized), so I was a little worried, but since the kids needed it, and their haircuts are pretty basic, I decided to go through with it.  Ryan was up first.  He got his usual, (1 on the side, 4 on top), and was done right quick (and he looked very handsome) - no problems so far.  Oh, and I should add that the lady that cut his hair was not the "regular" so my nerves about having a bad cut was eased a bit.  Then it was time for the girls.  They both got in their chairs (right next to each other), and I gave each stylist pointers for their haircut.  Ellie, just a trim and some shaping around the face - easy enough (and she had the same lady that had just finished Ryan).  Lauren (she had the other "new" lady) needed a little bit more cut off because her hair is so long and it gets snarls and snags especially in the humid weather so I told her to take off an each.  She then proceeded to show me where an inch would be on Lauren's hair - I gave her the nod of approval and went to sit back with Ryan in the waiting area.  Pretty soon Ellie is finished up, and she looks great (that "new" lady now has my approval for future haircuts).  Lauren was last to get done, and after taking a quick look at her, I knew why, the lady cut off all of her hair!  Apparently somewhere between showing me an inch on Lauren's hair, and actually cutting it off, she must have changed her idea of an inch was.  And what should have been a pretty basic haircut turned into a complete transformation from long hair to short (probably the shortest Lauren's hair has been since she was a bald and beautiful little babe).  After seeing it, I started to get worried what Lauren would think.  The kid can go off the deep end for any reason, or no reason at all so messing with her hair when she didn't want it done could be a disaster (especially because the lady that cut it said, "now you look just like your little sister" - which in Lauren's world is not okay because the little sister should look like the big sister, not the other way around).  After some carefully worded compliments from me, Lauren smiled and said that she did indeed like the cut and it was perfect for the hot summer - dodged a bullet there!  And, after getting over the shock of her looking so different without her long, yellow mane, I actually like it too.  It is super easy to wash, stays off her neck and back (especially on hot and humid days), and does make her and Ellie look a lot more alike which is weird because I normally think they look nothing alike.  So here is the short haired little blondie (although her hair is getting darker and darker all the time) with her matching signature "Ellie" braid on the side on her head . . .

"Green booger"

Lauren is a real bugger to dress (and this isn't a new thing, she has been terrible to get dressed for as long as she has had an opinion).  So in an effort to start the mornings off on a good note versus a war over her outfit for the day, I have opted to let her choose her clothes.  And here is what she came out in this morning . . .

She is clearly very pleased with her choice, I on the other hand, had just one thought running through my mind . . . Mom's "green booger" outfit.  Back in the day (at least 3-5 years ago), my mom thought it was "fashionable" to wear outfits that completely matched (the pants and the tops would be the same color).  Now, I'm not saying I have ever been good with fashion, but even I knew the "green booger" was NOT a good outfit.  Imagine the slimiest green booger you can think of, now imagine that as a pair of capris and a sweater set and you have the "green booger."  Mom apparently loved it because she wore it A LOT, and when she did, Ash and I made sure to let her know our thoughts on the outfit (they were not nice thoughts).  And now it looks like the fashion gods might be punishing me for my cruel behavior by passing on mom's fashion beliefs onto my child.  On a good note though, Lauren's tye-dye outfit is still way better than the "green booger" (if I had a picture of mom, you can bet it would be up here right now to prove my point).

Finally a nice weekend!!

We had a big week/weekend this past week.  For starters, Ryan's summer Read n' Run program started, and after two sessions, he is loving it!  He is reading, running, and having fun - I guess that is the point of the class!  Ellie also had a major milestone this week . . . she finally stopped sucking her thumb (well almost, she did get busted on Saturday night at Grandma's house, but for the most part, she is done!!!!).  To get her to stop, we had to use some extreme measures (hockey tape and custom made "thum guards"), and most importantly, I had to bribe her.  I bought her a Dive and Swim Dora she wanted and left the doll in the box sitting in her room for a week while she proved that she wouldn't suck her thumb.  It wasn't pretty (the first days were complete hell because I basically took her best friend away and she didn't know any other way of falling asleep other than sucking her thumb), but once we got past those days, it got a lot easier.  Now we are keeping our fingers crossed that her gap in her front teeth slowly closes, and that we will not have to spend thousands dollars on braces to fix what her thumb has ruined, we'll wait and see. 

Lauren's big activity for the week was her friend's birthday party on Friday.  I swear, the kid has already been to more birthday parties in her five and a half years of life than I have in my almost 35 years of life (she is a social butterfly, yet another Travis trait that she has inheirted, scary how similar those two are).  With the week wrapped up, we headed south to help celebrate Travis' cousins wedding.  Our initial plan was to take the whole family to the wedding, but once we stopped at Grandma and Grandpa Loken's house to get dressed, plans changes.  The kids took one look at the pool and it was over, they were not going to the wedding.  Oh well, that meant a kid free night out for Trav and I (thanks again Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie, Mike, and Aaron for helping watch the kids).  While the kids stayed and splashed around in the pool, Trav and I had a great time catching up with the family and busting out some impressive dance mobes (more so Trav, not me).  To wrap up the weekend and take full advantage of the fist really nice weekend of the summer, we spent Sunday doing some more swimming.  Ann brought the girls down for the day as well so that meant the entire Loken/Kleist/Quast clan was all there.  And because that happens less than you would think, we decided to get an unofficial family picture taken to show just how big this little family is getting.  Check it out . . .

And here are some other favorites from the day (I'm trying to make up for the almost 4 months that went by when I didn't take a single picture - I am a horrible moter), enjoy!  Oh, and because I almost forgot, Ryan did a front flip for the first time today.  The kid is so scared of so many different things, yet he'll throw himself off a diving board after "thinking it though" for about a minute - nice job Ryan!

We have an 8 year old!

And not only do we have an 8 year old, but we also have a 60 year old Grandpa (we had a blast celebrating Grandpa Jim's birthday, no need to go into details on that one) - how exciting!!  So as you may have guessed, Ryan turned 8 last week.  And since I am such a wonderful mother, I planned NOTHING - who does that?  Apparently me.  Anyway, in a bind to throw something together for Ryan's big day (side note: most birthday parties the kids have been to lately have been something big like Chuck E' Cheese, Bounce houses, you get the idea.  Whatever happened to the fun birthday party we used to have where you invite some kids over, they play, then go home), I came up with a pretty good last minute idea . . . Como Town/Zoo!!  And to make this plan even better, I had just purchased four unlimited ride passes the previous week at half price so that meant I had enough for my three kids plus one (Ryan got to choose the plus one as his "birthday" friend).  Lots of fun, and a good deal, this is turning into the perfect birthday celebration!  All in all, the kids (most importantly, Ryan and his friend) had a blast.  The boys went on at least 15 rides, the girls on the other hand, were a bit more skeptical of the whole ride thing.  Ellie managed to get in about 6 rides, while super cautious Lauren only did 4 or 5 (weird that she is scared of rides, but isn't really scared of anything else).  After a long day of rides, lunch, and seeing some animals, we topped the celebration off with a trip to the Dairy Queen.  A fine ending to a fine day.  With that, part one of the celebration to came an end.  We dropped Ryan's friend off, went home to relax and recover for a bit, then it was time for part two . . . the horse races with the family (Grandma Donna, Ann, and the three kids all joined in on the fun as well).  And because it was Ryan's lucky day, when we got to the races, he saw one of his good friends from school and was able to spend some more quality time running around and acting like a crazy 8 year boy!  Lauren, Ellie, Colton, Charlotte, and Avery had their own fun walking around, digging in sand, and petting the horses which left the four adults just enough time to have one adult beverage for the night (although I think Trav and I may have squeezed in 2).  We stayed long enough to see 4 races then headed home.  We had a big day/weekend ahead of us which meant we still had to get kids in the bath, and pack up everything before leaving for Mankato the next morning at 9am, somehow, we got it done!  So there you have it.  For having nothing planned a day before his birthday, I think he's actual birthday turned out just great.  He had fun, got a new scooter, and some cold hard cash, what more could a kid want?

Onto the weekend . . . the weekend was our annual "Girls Weekend" which meant I would be in St. Peter for the weekend.  However, when we planned this 6 months ago, we all seemed to overlook the fact that it was also Father's Day weekend (that, or we just really wanted to give our spouses the best Father's Day gift ever . . . a full weekend by themselves with their kids!!).  Either way, "girls weekend" had to happen.  And just to make things a little busier for us, I also planned our family dental appointment, carpet cleaning, and a hair appointment - why not get it all done at once?  So when we packed up and left Friday morning for our dental appointments, the carpet cleaners were already here get their things set up (is there anything better then coming home to super clean carpets after a long weekend, I think not).  The appointments went great, no cavities for anyone and because we have the best dentist, he invited us over to his house to spend the afternoon with his family (great if I didn't already have plans of my own like shopping and just thinking about myself all afternoon), not so great if I did (which I just may have).  Anyway, long story short, the kids were having fun playing, the adults were having good conversation, so like most well laid out plans, nothing happened the way I thought it would.  The big kids and Trav ended up spending the night (Lauren's first sleepover at a non-family members house by the way), while Ellie and I went back to St. Peter to get some much needed rest (in a comfy bed instead of on a couch or floor).  After the long night, Trav and the kids headed up to the lake while I got ready to start my weekend - yay!  Think lots of talking, pontoon rides, a couple of games of "Spoons", lots of food and drink, and some good laughs and you'll have the weekend summed up nicely.  After that, I made another stop in St. Peter to spend some time with the world's greatest Dad, and then it was back home to Trav and the kids.  When we all got back together in Shakopee, we were tired, dirty, and ready to just take it easy, and that's exactly what we did.