Take my picture!

Ok, so I know that this blog is really out of date, but I have a story to post because I found it so funny and I want to record it somewhere. And perhaps this will jump start some more updates. :-)

Yesterday we made a trip to the local DMV to get our Wisconsin licenses and register our van in Wisconsin. After being there for about an hour waiting and doing paperwork and going to another line to wait some more the lady said, "OK, we will just get your picture now and you can be on your way." Well, apparently Soren thought that meant we all should get our photos. I took mine and then Erik took his and we began walking to the coat rack to begin the bundling up process to go outside. Soren just stared at the camera lady instead of following us and began shouting, "But I want my picture too! I need my picture taken." I got down and talked to him quietly trying to diffuse the situation by letting him know that this is a picture for our driver's license and when he gets older he can get one too. Then he proceeded to through himself on the floor, kicking legs and all demanding he get his picture taken too. By this time we had a rather large audience of onlooker and since Erik was ready he just picked him and took him to the van where we heard more screams of this great injustice.

Fast forward now about seven hours to bed time. Erik was reading a story about this little bird who left the nest to go exploring. After the story he asked Soren, "What do you want to do when you are big?" Erik then offered some suggestions like being a pilot and flying big airplanes, or being a fireman and driving firetrucks to put out fires, etc. Soren's response, "I am going to get my picture taken."

The Nelson Ground Breaking Ceremony

Let the building begin! As many of you know my parents are building a house just north of Decorah out on a farm they bought two years ago. I have so many memories of Mom "walking" me through drawings of various homes that came in the magazine Country Living as well as her numerous doodles of various floor plans on pieces of scrap paper. So, this is truly a lifelong dream come true for her. They are both enjoying the process of tapping into the potential of what this bare land will become some day. This weekend we surprised my parents with an official "Nelson Ground Breaking." They knew that we were coming up for the night, but they weren't aware that Andrew and his family would also make it up for the big event. The ceremony consisted of Dad and Mom being presented with their hard hats and golden shovel. We then made a toast and dug the first hole! Our reception afterwards included a lovely fire made by brother Andrew and the roasting of hot dogs, served along side a fruit salad, broccoli salad, and several delicious condiments for the hot dogs. The meal was topped off with some scrumptious S'mores!

The Golden Shovel Breaks Ground

Builder-Ma & Builder-Pa

"Git R Done!"

Getting them out there wasn't hard, just volunteer to help and you're there! Here I am pushing the bark down out the chute so they could bark the wind break trees to help with weed control.

The grandkids were happy to help!

Cheers!

Olivia picked a lovely bouquet of flowers


We then pulled the actually blueprints out and did a rough draft of staking it out so that they would have a better idea for the real staking on Monday. The real digging is set to start this week!

Mom looking rather official with the blueprints

Taking Measurements

My Waterloo Days

Friday night we decided to head down to the main stage/ carnival area for supper. Erik and I had some amazing gyros while the kids enjoyed a large corn dog. We went down with our family friends, the Robinsons. We decided to go in together to get a ticket package to make the tickets a bit more reasonable. The older two got to choose two rides, while the little ones each picked one. Olivia and Tori went on a little roller coaster. When if first took off it went much faster than either of them was prepared for, their faces were lit up with surprise! Olivia and Soren went on a not-so-tame cars. The cars would go around in an oval and at the turn it would whip them around so fast their heads would kind of do a whiplash like movement. Soren wasn't so sure about this. He looked a bit pale and started saying, "Out, Out." But with our cheering and the help of his big sister he stopped trying to climb out and actually did start to enjoy the ride and even had a smile on his face by the end.

Memorial Day Weekend

We were blessed with some great family time this Memorial Day weekend. Saturday morning we packed up the car and headed north to the Twin Cities to join Erik's extended family and his Dad/ the kids' Grandad to help Papa celebrate his 86th birthday, as well as honor the memory of Nana. Man does Papa ever inspire me! He is an amazing 86 year old and really embodies the term "life long learner." It was so great to also see Randy/Dad/Grandad! He was full of special treats pulling items like chocolate cake and ice cream cones out of seemingly thin air. The kids definitely loved these treats but it was an even bigger treat to get to play Mr. Potato Head and kick the ball around with Grandad.

Papa and Soren kicking the ball around

Papa and his four children with the beautiful bouquet in memory of Nana

On Monday we enjoyed another family bike in a local state park, George Wyth State Park. It was absolutely beautiful biking along the river. It didn't take us long to learn that it was best to keep moving or else we would be lunch for some poor hungry mosquitoes. While we may have starved the mosquitoes, we did not; we enjoyed a nice picnic along the trail.

Sandbox!!!

The sandbox is officially up and running! My Dad built this sandbox during the kids' birthday weekend. I wanted to stain it so that it would match the playset before we filled it with sand. The kids have been not so patiently waiting for the pretreated wood to dry out enough so that I could stain it so that it could be filled. I pulled it out of the garage yesterday, put two coats of stain on it, and then filled it with 30 bags of sand today. I have had a lot of people tell me that I am crazy for wanting this for the kids. All these comments made me a tad bit nervous so we held a sandbox meeting (aka learning sandbox rules) before they played in it. The kids have handled it really well, and the mess hasn't been that bad. They know that we have sandbox time and when they are ALL done we clean up, put the cover back on, wash off at the hose and then wait until we are dry before we go in the house. So far, so good.

Potty Training

Oh the joys of potty training...starts by picking up a large bottle of carpet cleaner and Clorox wipes, a Froggy potty, a pack of underwear, and a lot of patience and persistence! Around the middle of April I had started talking about going to the bathroom, identifying when he was going in his diaper and just sitting on the potty seat to become comfortable with the whole idea of potty training. With Olivia we just picked a week and stayed home and focused on just potty training. One of us would run out for groceries or whatever and the other would stay home and keep doing the potty thing. This time with Erik gone during the week, errands that still had to be done, and an older child with activities, the process was a bit more difficult. I found myself throwing a diaper on him when we went out for the sake of convenience and then putting him in underwear at home. This was fine until he started to rebel against the whole process. So, I finally had to just committ to staying the course, so I started hauling about 3 changes of clothes in my purse along with rewards: sticker for trying, M & M for pee, and sucker for BM. I have quickly learned all the locations of bathrooms in our area. After the committment on my part, his success became more frequent, at least with number 1. Number 2 on the other hand was a whole different story. He looked like a nervous hen sitting on her eggs waiting for them to hatch. He knew he had to go number 2, so he would sit down and go a little and jump up real quick and yell, "Dump it." So, I would dump it into the toilet and then he would go some more, jump up and yell, "Dump it!" This would go on for about 3 more times and he was very emotionally distraught over the whole process. I tried to get him to just sit and relax and not get up until he was finished. Little by little with the help of last summer's leftover parade suckers I was able to get him to sit and finish so that he could earn a sucker. We eventually got it down to two pop ups and then finally he could sit and complete the big job in one sit. Now, we have moved on to the big potty and the froggy potty, M & M's, stickers, and suckers are a thing of the past. He has done remarkable well. His first accident free day was Mother's Day, which made a great gift for me! A few days later he was waking up from naps dry so we went to no diapers for nap and then a few days later he was waking up dry in the morning, so we are completely out of diapers! The next step...pacifier weaning. Lucky for him we have a June flight to California that will involve late night travels and a two hour time change, so for the sake of our sanity and the other passengers this is being postponed until our return.

Pre Potty Training Days...Everything better when done with a friend

Enjoying a sucker after a successful sit

Wearing his Elmo Underwear (and pointing out a plane in the sky...he is his Father's son)

Summer is Officially Here!

Olivia was pretty surprised this morning to see her name spelled out in pancakes. The last time I did that it was for the first day of preschool and here we are at the end of the preschool year. She had a great year making new friends and learning to be apart of a group.

First Day of School
Last Day of School
First Day of School
Last day of school

Olivia and her teachers



The highlight of the last week was a field trip, on the big yellow bus nonetheless, to a farm. Yes, that is right a farm, with animals and all. So, you can imagine who had the frightened little girl wrapped around her body, yes, that would be me. The farm had a dog that wasn't tied up so she was constantly checking over her shoulder for his where abouts and refused to let down her guard, well almost. I did see her relax for a moment when the free ice cream was passed out.

Soren joined the circle to listen to the rules and expectations of the trip too.

On the BUS!!!
Ice Cream!
Can you guess what flavor Soren picked?
Milking the pretend cow

A Whole New World

We have been discussing for some time about investing in bikes for our family. We live in an area with so many great trails that we have never been on. After a lot of research we settled on the trailer hit tandem bike for Olivia to be hitched to Erik's bike and the safe t seat that attaches near the handle bars for Soren. This past Wednesday we took our first bike trip. We left about 8:30, but then had to keep coming back to keep tightening this or that and fine tuning all the new equipment. We were finally on our way by 9. As we went out we noticed that there was a wind that was blowing across the bike path, but it wasn't that bad. We went out about five miles and enjoyed the sights and sounds of many frogs and geese in the river. When we turned around and started to head home we noticed the wind had really picked up and the direction had shifted slightly so that it was now head on to us. We later found out the winds were 30 mph with gust up to 40-50 mph. No wonder the ride home was so difficult. Olivia was a trooper and insisted on pedaling the whole time. We kept telling her that she could rest for a little while, and just sit and Daddy would do all the work, but she kept on pedaling. Soren loved it. He kept yelling "pun, pun," which I eventually figured out was "fun, fun." His huge smile only disappeared as we fought that wind. He kept gasping for air and would say, "wind all done." We so look forward to more bike rides, but perhaps on a bit calmer day.

Snack Time
The little one who never stopped pedaling

Tis is pun!

Hydrating with water and later with Popsicles :-)

Field Trip

Olivia had a field trip to a local diary farm that even pasturizes and bottles their own milk as well as make ice cream, cheese, and other diary goodness. Soren was very happy to get to join his big sister on the big yellow bus. Not sure which was the favorite, the bus ride of the free ice cream at the end of the tour?

Reviewing the rules...who is that blondy the snuck into the circle?

Riding the "big yellow bus!"


Milking Time

Then ice cream time!