August Recap

Considering how un-planned our August was, we sure filled it up with a lot of activities! We started and ended the month with birthdays (Mark's 37th, Kendrick's 3rd), and had a week at the beginning of the month with Mark's brother and his family staying with us. I also spent a few days with my Mama while my sister and her family were on vacation, and then had a couple days in Minneapolis for work. We rounded it all out with a big birthday party for Kendrick, and then a fun day together on the actual day.

Overall, the month was a good one. It's getting busier and busier with Ryan being so much more interested in moving and shaking, so I have a feeling it's going to start getting really interesting right around harvest in a month or so. The boys are...well...boys. It's messy and crazy and loud at our house the vast majority of the time. But then we'll have plenty of quiet, sweet moments too. It's not a zoo all day every day, but it's a zoo often enough that it keeps us humble.

I don't think I've mentioned it before, but my feet have been troublesome ever since Ryan has been born. They're sore a good amount of the time, and it has been hard to function as easily some days. Part of the issue is carrying Ryan around so much. He's over 20lbs now, and it's just a lot of extra weight. Part of the issue is me needing to be more disciplined in my food intake and drop some weight again. Part of the issue is my excruciatingly flat feet and my lack of discipline about wearing shoes in our house. It's rough, though :(

Highlights:

• Celebrating Daddy's 37th Birthday (August 1) (recap here)
• Swimming Lessons for Cashel (August 1-9) (recap here)
• A Week in Windom with the Fam (August 2-8) (recap here)
• Four Days with my Mama (August 7-10) (recap here)
• County Fairs (August 13 and 19) (recap here)
• Pizza and Park Date with Friends (August 20) (recap here)
• Distributed IS Meetings for Mama (August 23-24) (recap here)
• Kendrick's Bob the Builder Birthday Party (August 27) (recap here)
• Kendrick's 3rd Birthday

Photo Highlights:

Looking Ahead...

September promises to be a fun month, but we are starting (or we did start) with a lazy Labor Day weekend at home with zero plans. We hit the parks a lot, to be sure, but other than that, we didn't really leave town much.

We'll hit up the kite festival in Jackson again, as well as the Reinbows Kids' Rodeo event, and will have a full day with King Turkey Day again down in Worthington.

Mark and I will also be celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary on the 23rd (wowza!) and then we'll be staring harvest in the face again. Pray for me haha :)

We keep toying around with talk about a family vacation somewhere this winter, but we're trying to decide if we want it to be with or without kids, and if without kids, how we would work that out, and if with kids, how we would stay sane and not lose the kids, because that's a real concern when you have 3 very busy boys haha :) Destinations we're looking at would be maybe somewhere in Texas or maybe San Diego, but flight costs are making our eyes bug out a bit, so we'll just have to see how that all goes. Maybe we'll just bring in a truck load of sand in our living room and make umbrella drinks and listen to tropical music with our house set to 85 degrees? Pretty sure it'd be cheaper, and likely significantly less stressful haha

Lately in Windom (August)

Swimming lessons were no bueno for Kendrick this year. He did one day, but then we determined that he wasn't ready for the big kid class, and he was the only one signed up for the little kid class, so...looks like we wait another year.

Does anyone else struggle SO.HARD. with getting your hubby or significant other to retire shirts that are WAY too old and ratty? I've decided to start buying him gaudy NEW shirts to replace his OLD gaudy shirts. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to help. ::sigh:: Now we just have too many t-shirts.

Cashel's birthday note to Daddy: "I love you. You make the bestest food ever. I love you the sweetheart. Do what I say." (so much giggling went into the dictation here haha)

A little birthday lunch with some of Mark's fam.

This girl is going places, you guys! This is our niece Sofie, and not only is she the best baller (soccer, that is) in California, she's the smartest teenager I know! The boys ADORE her, and we think she's pretty awesome too :)

Our normal sweet corn provider wasn't selling this year The corn just wasn't really on point this year, so we didn't freeze much. I still feel a little sad about it.

We're still working on "gentle" with Kendrick much of the time. It is an absolute blast to see these big brothers dote on their little brother.

This kid lights up a room faster than a lightbulb!

We've got some WWE-style stuff going on some nights. Daddy puts up with so much. It's a

Teddy bear pancakes were a big hit for a while.

Ryan's first Vikings Training Camp

This seems to sum up my kids' appetites lately. A single piece of bacon for breakfast? Sure!

Crazy cousins!

Oh, this kid :)

Love :)

it's hard to believe we've been friends with this group since we first met over 11 years ago. And for some of these friends, we've known significantly longer than that.

This is why I never get a blizzard anymore: Both boys insist on dilly bars, and I get stuck with them after this point. It's a good thing this is a once-in-a-blue-moon type of treat.

Fun memories with my babies :)

These pants are my absolute favorite item of clothing Ryan owns. I found them at Hallmark in town, and they may have been a little spendy, but oh my goodness are they ever adorable, and SUPER cozy.

Feeding baby brother is a family affair, apparently. We're still not regularly doing baby food, because the kid isn't very fond of it.

Off to work conferences for a couple day. My favorite part of the trip is my annual stop at River Rock in St. Peter for a drink. This particular morning I opted for a Vanilla Hazelnut Steamer, as I'd already downed my coffee for the day, and O...M...G... So yummy!

The evening I was there, I

It's bad news bears when your kite dies.

This is KENDRICK, if you would believe it. One day he just went outside and started riding the toddler bike! And now he prefers to ride Cashel's bigger kid bike. It's unreal!

The punch is always a HUGE hit at birthday parties at our house. There is seldom any left at the end of the party. It's 1 large can pineapple juice, 1 brick of sherbet (any flavor) and 1 2-liter of ginger ale.

It's hard to believe this big kid is THREE years old now!

And just like that, August is over!