Hay Ride

Seth's brother, Ricky, lives on the farm where Seth's family used to live. Last week, he took all the grandkids out on a hay ride through their pasture. I forget how lovely it is out there (Seth used to take me there when we were dating). My pictures don't really do it justice, but I tried.

Duh.

I was starting to think Seth would just have to pay a professional to cut his hair since we were struggling to find 20 minutes where one of the kids didn't need attention. And I didn't really feel like taking the risk of getting half-way through cutting his hair and having to stop.

Then it dawned on us: for about $3 less than the cost of a haircut, we could hire a sitter to come and watch the kids for 2 full hours - during which time, I could not only cut his hair but also get some much needed housework done. So we did. The kids had a blast (Elena got to go swimming!) I cut Seth's hair. And it was sooooo worth it.

Note to Self:

Don't use brightly-dyed frosting on our children's b-day cakes. Our nephew, Wyatt had green and blue frosting for his birthday cupcakes. Thank goodness they were outside!

Yogurt Bath

Unfortunately, this is what happens if I leave the room while she's eating.

Overwhelmed

Both kids are sleeping. Simultaneously. At the same time. (I know those mean the same thing, but I'm trying to convince myself it's true.) It's been almost 30 minutes now and, being unaccustomed to having this much uninterrupted time, I'm having some trouble deciding what I should accomplish with this precious commodity they call "free time."

The dishes are done, the car is cleaned, the floors are (sort of) mopped...so I plan to put together a couple of blog posts and schedule them over the next week. If I accomplish this task, you just might be able to enjoy a few consecutive days of blogs. As Elena would say: "Woo Hoo!"

Seth's New Weight Set

Concerts in the park

Wednesdays have become my favorite evening of the week now that summer has arrived. Every week there is a concert in the park in Marshall. It gives me somewhere to go with the kids while Seth is out working; Sam and Elena both love dancing to the music and seeing my parents & Seth's mom; and Elena gets a ton of energy out playing on the playground and dancing with her friend, Ana.

1st wedding of the season

I don't think we've had a picture taken of the whole family since Christmas. We attended a high school friend's wedding last weekend in Eau Claire and decided we'd better get a shot of us all dressed up.

We had a great time. My parents came along and helped out with the kids (thank you, God!).

Elena had a blast swimming at the pool and dancing at the reception as you can see in the video below. Sammy enjoyed watching everyone (I think we've got another people person).

Congratulations, Amber and Brad! It was a beautiful wedding.

I especially like Sammy's tie.

He especially liked to chew on his tie.

The following weekend (June 12th), Seth and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. It sure has flown by, which I assume is a good thing. My dad came over that evening to plant 2 apple trees in our yard (yay!), and I realized while he was planting that we were getting the traditional 5-year-anniversary gift (wood). It will be fun to watch those trees grow along with us.

Some friends of ours took us out the next night to the Left Bank Cafe in Slayton. Holy buckets! I cannot recommend this place highly enough. We had an 8 course mediterranean meal and it was absolutely delicious. The portions were all just the right size so you could easily get through all the courses and still feel satisfied at the end. Each month is a different menu so it's going to be tempting to go back every month. Thanks, Dan and Joy!

Bye-bye pack n' play!

Elena officially hit "big girl" status and moved into her new toddler bed.

A glimpse into our future?

I was shopping the other day and ran into a high school girl I know. She's the oldest daughter of 9 children and was picking up groceries for her mom. Considering Seth and I would love to have a large family, I got to thinking of the ups and downs of having several more kids than the average family.

Downside: she had 6 gallons of milk in the cart (which, she said, was less than the usual 9 gallons)

Upside: the daughter was doing the shopping.

"The greatest gift you can give your child is another sibling."

I couldn't agree with you more, John Paul II.

Here are some shots of the kiddos playing together. It took a few tries to get a decent photo of both.

Yee Haw!

We went to the Callens' barn dance Friday night with the kids. The Callens are a family with 9 kids who are very talented musically and they host a barn dance every year on their farm. Elena had a blast dancing; she especially loved the chicken dance and kept trying to get everyone to do it again.
Another highlight was seeing all the animals. This farm is the epitome of farms. They had cows, horses, chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep, goats and dogs. I'm assuming there were cats as well, but we didn't see any. Elena had a blast seeing all the animals. I'm not sure which were her favorite, but she seemed to be the cows' favorite.

Sam had fun wowing all the ladies with his dance moves.