A night at the pool

Tonight Jesse an the kids went swimming with Troy, Pam and Talia. I sat on the side and watched since I am still pretty sore from the weekend. It was a great night and great place to swim.

Back To School

Ahhh....today was my first day back to work.  A shocker to us all, but we are so ready for a routine.  Olivia is SO excited to start First Grade with her teacher Mrs. Croal and to see all of her friends.  I cannot believe our little girl is a first grader, time goes by way too fast.  I am also ready to meet all of my new students and get the year started.

I cannot believe how fast our summer went.  We have had the busiest summer we have ever had, but had a great time enjoying it. 

So here is to...

 Celebrating with cousins...

Great-Grandparents and Out of Town Vistitors...

Picnics in the Park...

 

Charlie turning 2...

Brothers of the Sun Concert (the best surprise from Jesse)... 

4th of July Picnic (this is my cousin Kelly)...

Swimming in the Lake...

Olivia turning 6...

County Fair...

 

Hanging out....

Spending time with family...

Fires in the backyard...

Walking 60 miles in 3 days...

Chillaxin'...

Splash Parks...

Home Improvements (new flooring)...

Swimming Lessons....

Erberts and Gerberts (the kids' and my favorite place to eat)...

Strawberry Picking...

Mom and Olivia day at Target Field...

And last but certainly not least, Family Vacation...

It was such an awesome summer.  I cannot begin to say how thankful I am to be so fortunate to have my job.  We have had such an awesome summer.  I am so thankful to be able to take part in all of these great things and to have a job that allows me to be home with my kids for an extended period of time each year.  This is always a bittersweet moment.  I really dislike going back to work and having to drop Charlie off at day care, but I also enjoy getting to know my students and having a routine. I think the most difficult part about going back to work is dropping Charlie off.  He loves his daycare, but is not too happy that his big sister gets to go to school.  The other day he came with me to help at school and he was so mad that he couldn't take the bus to school and he had to ride with me.  I am pretty sure he won't have a problem when he goes to preschool next year.  He wants to go to school NOW!!

I hope your summer was as good as ours :)  

We did it!!

What an incredible experience. As I am typing this I am icing my ankle, nursing my blisters, and keeping my legs up. I am extremely tired and sore, but it was worth every minute. I can honestly say that someday I would love to do it again. I actually feel guilty complaining about my feet and legs because it doesn't even come close to what some of those woman have been through.

It was so cool to see a group of 1500 walkers walking 60 miles for such a good cause and the coolest thing is that each and everyone had to raise $2,300. The grand total was just announced and the walkers and crew raised over 3.8 million dollars this weekend.

Again...thank you so much for your support. There is no way I could have done it without all of you =)

I didn't get the opportunity to take too many pictures but here are a few.

So much pink!

Here is our home for the next two nights.

Day 1 complete!!

We have made it through day 1, a little sore, a little tired, but still in tact. Another 20 miles tomorrow.

Tomorrow Is the BIG Day!!

After months and months of waiting, fundraising, running, and again FUNDRAISING!!  The 3 Day is Finally here :)  

Tomorrow morning my friend Kimberly and I will be up bright and early ready to walk 60 MILES (in case you are wondering that is roughly 120,000 steps) over the next 3 days.  This is actually Kimberly's second time doing this event, so thankfully I have her to help me pack and for some advice.  

I cannot thank friends and family enough for all of their help and support over the past several months.  We have been fundraising since January.  In order to participate in this event, each walker must raise at least $2,300.  I am so very thankful for everyone that helped us get there.  

We really appreciate all of your support.  

We are proud to say that as of this morning, we have raised...

...that is $1,161.65 since over our goal!!!

I will be walking in honor of some amazing survivors...Jesse's aunt Tammy, my coworkers Cindy, Becky, and one lovely lady who just was diagnosed this week, Mavis who is a very close friend's mother.  We will also be remembering a dear friend and coworker who lost her battle earlier this year, Lisa.  

Here is one of our shirts...my favorite :)

Everything I need to survive the next three days (and the bag is pretty full too)

Our Sign for in front of our tent.

 

THANK YOU AGAIN!!!

I CAN'T WAIT TO POST PICTURES NEXT WEEK :)

Potty Training

Another Laugh for you...

Charlie asked me to change him, so I did.  While I was doing that I asked him to start using the toilet.  He looked at me and said "NOPE" and of course I asked why.  His response was "mom...I am TOO Busy!" and he looked at me again with a serious face and said "too busy mom."

And about 20 seconds later he looked at me and said "mom...dad says your crabby."  Which was even funnier because I think he was saying that because I wanted him to use the toliet (and I am sure Jesse has sad it a time or two).  He hasn't even seen Jesse all day, so it is not something that was fresh on his mind.

Haha!!  I hope his little comments make you laugh as much as  much as us.

Good Laugh...

I think I need to start a quote of the day post for Charlie.

Today we were in Wal-Mart and there was this little old lady wearing dark glasses 

(glasses for vision impaired) and back support vest.  

Loud as can be, Charlie looked at me and said "Mom, why is that guy a Rockstar?"

Of course I had to bite my lip and turn the cart the other way and give an explanation. 

 I just love how that kid thinks.

Today was the first time I took Charlie shopping without a stroller.  

He felt like such a big boy :)

Fun Day!!

Today the kids and I had such a great day.  We went to the Mall of America.  We started off by helping celebrate the Mall's 20th Birthday.  It was Toddler Tuesday and so they had party hats and toys for the kids, along with dancing music :)  

  

   

After we danced and met Dora (Charlie didn't want anything to do with her), we headed to the American Girl Store.  A trip to the Mall would not be complete without stopping there.  We (Olivia, Charlie, Ruthie and I) had lunch at the Bistro (Because it was Toddler Tuesday, kids eat FREE...and of course Ruthie is always free, surprising considering they charge for everything there...lol!!).  I just love it there and the food is great and actually on the healthier side.  It is spendy, but not on Tuesdays :)  After lunch of course Olivia had to look around and dream about everything she wants, but we are pretty strict.  She has to earn the money she spends there.  She had some "babysitting" money and chore money so she was able to get a little blanket for her doll.  She brings her own little purse and counts her money at the register.  She is so proud to make purchases on her own. 

Ice Cream is always include :D

  

After hearing Charlie say "mom...I don't like this store" a hundred times we finally checked out and headed to the Lego store, another must stop at the MOA.  Charlie was also able to pick out a small Lego car.  I was informed by him that I cannot put it together.  That is for daddy and him only!!

Once the kids were satisfied with their stops and our bellies were full, I finally was able to go to a couple of my favorite stores.  We purchased some school clothes for Olivia and I and then headed to see my cousin Kelly at Bare Essentials.  She "dolled" Olivia and I up with make up and we went on our way.  By this time Charlie was completely spent and fell asleep in the stroller.  Olivia and I took advantage of "Mr. not going in any girl like stores" sleeping and looked at some dresses and shoes and went to get my ring cleaned and admired all of the beautiful jewelry at the jewelry store.  

Finally we headed to the car.  On our way home I decided that I would take the kids to see my grandpa's stone at Fort Snelling.  That place is amazing and gives me goose bumps every time I am there.  We found Grandpa's gravesite and sat there for a while and talked about people in the Military and how grateful we need to be for them.  It is incredible to see how many thousands of men and women are buried there.  After a bit we then headed up the big hill to watch the airplanes take off.  When I was a little kid my Grandma would always take me to a hill by the airport to watch the planes. That hill is no longer accessible, but we found a second best!! It was so exciting to see my kids get excited about the planes.  The only thing that would have made that moment better is if my Grandma were there.  Next time we need to pick her up and bring her along :)

In the picture above you can see the little flower pedals at the bottom of the stone.  Olivia and Charlie found those on the road where we parked and Olivia insisted on putting them on his grave.  We weren't planning on stopping there so we didn't have time to go buy flowers. 

I wish we would have but we definitely will next time.

Our summer days are almost gone.  It is so sad that my time home with the kids is ending again for the year, but after having days like today, it makes me think about how much more we are going to be able to do next year.  The kids are finally getting to the point where they are getting easier (not easy...but easier).