June Recap

June has been a bit of a whirlwind. Ryan and I enjoyed one last week at home before heading back to work on June 6: Bittersweet for sure! I was up to my neck in projects as soon as I returned, so thankfully he adjusted back to daycare quickly and painlessly.

We've had a relatively easy transition to getting back into the swing of things, and we are SO very grateful that Ryan has continued sleeping so well, so we're not zombies in that regard.

We kept our schedule a little more low-key this month with the transition, but had a lot of fun at a couple different pools, strawberry picking, a short trip to Mankato for Mark's cousin Cole's HS graduation party, and some jet skiing and celebrating Daddy for Father's Day.

Highlights:

• Day Trip to Humboldt (June 1) (recap here)
• Cole's Graduation and Mankato Day (June 5) (recap here)
• Back to Work (June 6) (recap here)
• Strawberry Pickin' (June 11 and 18) (recap here)
• Riverfest Weekend and Daycare (June 11) (recap here)
• Fairmont Aquatic Park Day (June 18) (recap here)
• Father's Day and Jet Skiing (June 19) (recap here)
• Pool Evening (June 24) (recap here)

Photo Highlights:

Seeing as how I'm now back to work, the whole keeping up with scrapbooking thing has gone to the wayside, so while I started the month strong, the rest of this is just going to be a hodgepodge of highlight photos. I hope you enjoy all these pics :)

Looking Ahead...

We're excited to celebrate the 4th of July around home this year as well as our annual church picnic. We'll spend two weekends in a row in Humboldt with our Ropte family (one of those being just a day trip to see some extended family the weekend before the 2nd, the other a weekend with just us and my Mama), and Mark and I are also anticipating our first overnight away from all 3 kiddos with an overnight date in Sioux Falls!

At the end of the month we have our week-long trip to Alexandria as a family, so we're really excited for that, and some time to relax together.

Of course, August brings the Daddy/son duo of birthdays: Mark's birthday (he's 37 this year!) on the first and Kendrick's birthday (he'll be 3) on the 30th. Ryan and I will also be spending a handful of days with my Mom down in Humboldt again that first weekend while my sister and her family are on vacation. And the week before Kendrick's birthday party, I'll have a couple days in Minneapolis again for our annual conferences.

It is, as always, a jam-packed summer. We're hoping to make it back to the Fairmont Aquatic Center again at least once, and hit the jet ski as well!

Lately in Windom (June Edition)

I'm pretty sure we skipped over all of May (I just finished the recap post last night...on JUNE 30), so I'm going to just go back to the most recent stuff here, and considering how busy I am for it, I'm not apologizing ;)

We had to buy all new bottles for Ryan, since the myriad Medela AND Avent naturals ones were a no go for this little guy :(

We were so thrilled to have this key back in our hands. We've learned that we can no longer leave the keys in the new van, since we have just this one set. We also need to lock it when we get out, because the boys suddenly think it's a lot of fun to go crawl in the van just randomly. We were thankful that it was still under warranty WITH roadside assistance so we could get it unlocked for free.

Last day of Maternity leave was so bittersweet. I miss these days :(

A "baby" gift from my sister-in-law, this time for Mama ;) The shirt says "Boy Mom Outnumbered", and boy is it ever true! Thanks, Tiff!

How we do Old Navy with 3 kids.

If you haven't been here in Mankato and you have young kids, you should go! My kids LOVE it here! The playground is so fun, and they have a little miniature farm animal "zoo" of sorts.

I got these hats thinking they'd be great to keep the sun off the boys' faces, but when I see them wearing them in this picture, I'm not really a big fan. I think they're too kiddish for Cashel, and Kendrick won't keep it on, so...total waste of money :(

Kendrick favors three shirts in his closet: This dinosaur one, his red monster truck one and his red "sococer rocker" shirt. Beyond that, if you make him choose, he's going to pair his athletic shorts with a nice polo shirt. The minor OCD part of my mind has a really hard time with this.

This kid! We had an impromptu Mama and Kendrick date to Pizza Ranch while Cashel was at daycare campout and Ryan was entertaining Grandma Pam and Aunt Jess.

At Pizza Ranch, my favorite pizza is the Chicken Bacon Ranch. And this is how I do their dessert ;)

Mark is really a great Daddy :) He certainly is stern from time to time (okay, EVERY meal time), but he's also very patient and kind and loves to show his boys new things. That being said, I think he's more than ready for Kendrick to pass this trying age he's in right now. And I love the kid and really am trying to soak it up, but seriously - this 2.5-3 age is for the birds! Kendrick can be such a jerk sometimes.

29lbs this year, and not a single jar of jam. We did 2 strawberry-rhubarb pies, 1 strawberry pretzel dessert, 2 gallon bags frozen for smoothies, and 2 gallon bags frozen of ice cream topping for milk shakes.

One thing that has been really good about keeping up with blogging and scrapping while the kids are young is my realization that I tend to only take pictures of the kids, or people with the kids and have really not done a great job of capturing the adults. Hoping to remedy this ;)

I think I have posted this picture just about everywhere it could go. One of my favorites of all times!

I'm gonna shoot straight with ya: There was FAR too much planting season this year. I'm hoping harvest is significantly shorter and goes significantly more smoothly.

This guy is such a ham :) It's a good thing he's so cute, since probably 75% of the time he is a MAJOR handful.

If there will be a farmer out of the boys, I think Kendrick will be it. This kid adores tractors, and can't wait for his next ride.

Does anyone know the magic secret to get my beautiful peonies to last for longer than 2 days? I mean, I guess living in SW Minnesota with the wind and all, maybe there's no hope, but man - they're so beautiful, and then they blow away so quickly!

I'm really sad that these mornings seem to be a thing of the past :( Don't get me wrong - I love getting a full nights' sleep (and with the 4-month sleep regression fast approaching, I can't guarantee they'll stay), but I miss waking up next to this little dude :(

Our selfies are few and far between these days, it seems...at least ones without kids in them. Hoping to remedy that!

The only thing I don't adore about this picture is that Ryan isn't in it too :)

Ryan is a HUGE distraction during meals these days. Meals these days are also just ridiculous. Both Cashel and Kendrick are at this stage where they only want to do exactly what they aren't supposed to be doing. This includes actually eating their supper. The one thing that breaks that mold is corn on the cob. They'll each eat 2 cobs a meal if we let them. The downside to that is that the corn isn't really in season yet, and it's not very good right now.

Muddy legs...such is the life of a #boymom

I think we're doomed with this guy. We're constantly taking his fingers out of his mouth, but his Daddy sucked on these same two fingers as a child until he was in something like 1st grade. Oh boy!

This is how I do iced coffee as a Mom with little boys at home. I buy those straw cups, and they literally BITE them into pieces. On a related note, how we've not had a single ER trip with these kids is completely beyond me.

Fairmont has a VERY fun aquatic center. I see us visiting there when we have another free weekend, hopefully soon!

I really want to buy up this swim outfit in every size imagineable. Just seeing it in Ryan's drawer makes me smile so big :)

Father's Day :)

The boys had a blast trading rides on the jet ski with Daddy :)

I find myself so stuck inbetween feelings of wanting my babies to stay little forever and being ready for them to grow up. One thing I'm NOT ready for, however, is the day when they get taller than I am. Sadly, I fear with Cashel that it's only a few years away. He's nearing 4 feet already, at 4 and a half years old :(

Kendrick may be a handful, but he is such a huge flirt, and he is SO friendly. He waves and smiles and says "hi" to everyone he sees. If you happen to not return the greeting, be prepared for the wrath!

We are so big on snuggles in this house :)

BIG fan of the pool! I thought it was a tinge cold, but he had no problem.

It takes total cooperation to get a family picture these days, and I'll just say...I don't think we've got that kind of cooperation, nor am I sure we'll have it in the near future.

I say this every time I find Mark's selfies on our dropbox, but he seriously needs to work on that selfie game.

Poor Ryan has been dealing with a mystery rash the past week. This is when it was at its worst, and I took him in to the doctor. The only thing I can think of is maybe that I had jalapenos on a BBQ chicken taco a few days prior, but beyond that, no clue. On an unrelated note, I hadn't realized how long my hair has gotten! Wowza!

First time in a real swing!

I'm not sure if I'm thrilled that Mark has so many early games this year or not. It's a LOT of work to keep the boys safe and not bothering people during the games, which we don't even get to watch. BUT...the boys enjoy going, so I suppose there's that.

During VBS a couple weeks ago, I took Cashel on a Mama and Me lunch date to Hardee's before taking him back to daycare. He loved it so much that he asked if we could have a family lunch date the next week. We found a day where we had no leftovers and picked the older boys up for a lunch date :)

They EACH (!!!) ate a double cheeseburger by themselves! And a couple chicken nuggets. And fries. This is the most they've eaten at a restaurant I think *ever*.

Mark and I are forgetful. And the boys always want the person they don't have that night for bedtime, so I made these cards to hang on a hook by their room so that they can always know who is their bedtime buddy for the night.

Really excited to try this for fireworks this year!!

One of the down sides to getting 3 kids ready in the morning is that I've been making coffee at work instead of at home more frequently. I do try to remember, but usually it's getting things for the kids ready and tehn getting myself ready and there's not time left. Thank goodness we have a Keurig!

I decided to purchase a FitBit finally. I'm still trying to decide if I think it's helping me much.

This is pretty much the favorite thing for the boys to do in the summer. It's a total waste of water, time and energy, but getting a smile like this sorta makes it worth it ;)

On a related note, I think we need a bigger deck.

Ryan enjoyed just being a bystander ;)

Well, that's it for June! I'll try to remember to do July ;)