Lately in Windom (July 2017)

We had to start locking our vehicles and hiding the keys while they are in our garage. Kendrick has locked himself inside the Tahoe a couple times now (thank goodness it wasn't a hot day!), and was going a little crazy getting in the mini van as well. I swear, you go to the bathroom and don't envision that these things can happen in that short amount of time.

We're in the midst of my least favorite stage when it comes to eating: The super messy face and food all over the floor stage. ::sigh:: Good thing he's cute!

Our kids could have just eaten 5 pieces of pizza, but you can guarantee that when we get to Grandma and Grandpa's in Worthington, they'll be ready for snacks.

Beach Bash is quickly becoming one of our favorite events in the summer!

The boys talk about the rainbow ice cream cones all year long. The only time we oblige is Beach Bash :) We enjoyed getting our special treats with our friends :)

This year, they were ready to share with Ryan.

Cashel is so sweet to his little brother and just ate the ice cream off the top, then gave his cone and extra ice cream to Ryan. Ryan does NOT do well with having someone else feed him, so he had to hold it himself.

We met up with our friends, the Studes there, and the kiddos LOVED dancing to Chris Hawkey there.

The fireworks were pretty darn good, although I think my photos of them look better than they actually were in person haha

None of them really want to look at the camera these days. I say "Look at me. No, with your eyes. With your eyes, look right here at Mama" probably fifty times while trying to get their pictures.

Kendrick is a HUGE salad kid. He specifically ordered the salad bar when we stopped at The Ranch in Fairmont after swimming.

Ryan officially has all his "first year" teeth now, although for a regular mouth, that means 20 teeth. For him, it means 19. He has one bottom tooth that is the size of about a tooth and a half, so we're kinda hoping that when his permanent teeth come in, this turns into two.

Pretty huge progress with this guy in the water this year. Even a month ago, there is NO way you would see him putting most of his head in the water.

Waiting for his ride on the jet ski with Daddy ;)



Headed out for a harrowing ride with Uncle Daniel. (Daddy needed to slow down!)

I really don't even want to get into how I feel about this. Little boys are SO MESSY!

After his first summer of t-ball, I think it's safe to say that this might not be the sport for Cashel.

Still, he sure is cute ;)

We had to opt for private swimming lessons this year with Kendrick. After 3 days, the instructor called to ask what we do to get him to "do anything". I wasn't quite sure what she meant until I got there for lesson #4. Apparently she meant she couldnt' even get him to get IN the water! lol

He sure is a little cutie pie :)

I totally burned my belly BAD while making supper one night. Some boiling water splashed out of the pot and fell on my belly and OW! It took a good week for it not to be super painful.

I was so in need of a Mama's afternoon of pampering at this point! I stopped for a yummy smoothie at Caribou, picked up a new book, and went for a mani/pedi. Only problem was, it was too soon before baby for the mani to last, so I ended up having to re-do it. Still, I had a wonderful time!

This kid can't make it through lunch these days.

New windows! We LOVE them!!

Shopping and dinner plans with these two in Mankato was also much-needed!

Before Ryan's first haircut by Mama!

After!

Mark getting ready to hit the softball.

He had his own little cheering section.

It's hard not to smile back when this guy smiles at you with those smiley eyes :)

I SO enjoyed my DQ dates with my older boys the week before my due date. Also, I refuse to admit how many choco cherry love blizzards I had in the course of two weeks.

This guy is all smiles when he's with Mama ;)

This is what waiting for a baby looks like at our house. This little one had better come soon, or else we're all going to go crazy.

Some days it really is sweet how much this little guy loves his Mama. This was his face right after he finally found me.

Our lives may be seriously exhausting right now, but when I see these little boys loving each other so much,
it melts my heart. I keep trying to remind myself that it really WILL be worth it in the end, even if we want to pull our hair out a lot of the time.

He wants so badly to hang with the big kids right now!

With everything going on at home lately being so crazy and chaotic and up in the air, Uncle Daniel's visit wasn't nearly as much excitement and fun as usually they are, but the boys sure do love their Uncle Daniel!

Love how my nails turned out. I took the afternoon off to pamper myself a bit :)

The attempts at walking to get this baby out do not seem to be helping whatsoever.

I tire so easily of this stage. We call Ryan our "troublesome tot".

My kids have no personality at all.

I'm so thankful for this hammock swing that we put up in the back yard. It makes it SO much easier to relax while the kids play out back.

He doesn't like to be anywhere without my hair in his hand.

Officially one day past the due date, and Mama emailed an eviction notice to this little one.

And now...we wait...

Summer 2017

Summer has seemed long this year so far. I feel like no matter what we do, everything is just plain filthy. We try to come up with fun things for the kids to do, but oh my goodness are they really good at making a huge mess of things these days.

For instance: So far this summer, we have gone through 2 inflatable pools, the molded plastic one we bought is already damaged, and is full of dirt, grass and sand within 20 minutes of filling it up, we can't do water balloons, because the boys try to EAT them, even after being told repeatedly that they cannot put them in their mouths.

A good chunk of the sand from the sandbox has been relocated to the back walk out area and lower deck. The boys have figured out how to CLIMB UP THE HOSE and turn the water on that is about 5 foot up the side of our house, resulting in a hose that won't stop leaking. The result of the hose constantly being on is that they have discovered how to make a little mud pit in the corner of the walk out area by our deck.

It's just so messy! Things keep getting broken and ruined. Like...literally, we JUST bought this kid a new pair of shoes, and they already have holes in them after 3 practices and a showcase for t-ball.

This boy mom thing is exhausting! We put chain locks on all the doors at the way tip top for those days when it's just too hot to be outside (although Kendrick especially will never see it that way), but they figured out within about 5 days how to pull something over, climb up on top of it and undo the lock. Seriously...

Soooo...either Mark or I have to sit out in the heat and watch them (which, in 95 degree weather with 60% humidity is so fun for this very, very, very pregnant Mama)...when we hear them go outside, that is. When our house gets too quiet, we're suddenly wondering where the older boys have gone to, and we find them outside more times than not. We did add lots of swings fit for bigger kids (and Mamas who are very, uncomfortably pregnant), and they do play with them on occasion, as well as the slide we added off the side of our deck, but OMG you guys...these kids are EXHAUSTING this summer! And wet. And muddy. And sandy (seriously...EVERYWHERE you wouldn't hope to find sand). Cashel's favorite thing is to get all wet in the pool, and then literally go roll around in the sandbox. I have to wash his hair something like 5 times to get all the sand out. I have to clean out the tub every.single.night before my epsom salt soaks.

I mean, this looks simple and clean enough, right? Until they fill the bucket 2 seconds later with sand and dirt and make it a "mud bath" instead.

Or, you know, go lay in the sand box and decide to bury yourself...in your church clothes.

And the bricks around our tree in the front of the house are a bug-lovers' party, which is SUPER helpful when it comes time to mow each week.

Add in a 16 month old little man who is in that super messy eater stage (my very least favorite of the stages, while at the same time my very favorite of the stages), and some days I'm about to come unglued.

I love these kids, but the mess just cannot be contained! I know there will be a day in the near future where I will laugh fondly about this, but right now, I'm ready to pull my hair out!

I mean, Summer, in my memory, used to be a lot more like THESE moments ;)

We've got about TWO days before this baby is due, and I cannot wait!!!