Our first playdate in WAY too long with these fun kiddos!
Their Mamas hold a very special place in my heart :)
It's hard to believe 12 years have passed between this picture below and the one above! Between then and now, there have been 2 weddings (Mark and I already were married at that point), 2 moves, and 9 kids! I'd say we're doing pretty good considering!
I'm beginning to think we may be turning a corner with Mama and Kinsley selfies! She's finally not scowling in all of them!
We had an hour or so after a funeral where the big kids were being entertained at my dear friend Jaime's house for Kins and I to have some Mama and me time. She had no problem downing my cafe mio...
I was about 90% sure she'd ruin the tulips, but she pretty much just squeezed a couple of them.
I SO enjoyed the short bit of catching up I got to do with this sweet friend! Jaime and I went to college together at NWC and had such a fun group of friends there! I hadn't seen her since we met up while we were both pregnant with our second kiddos back in, oh...the summer of 2013?
Ah, the memories here!
These 4...oh my, what a fun night this was! They've got so much energy, but man, are they fun! There are certainly days I'm ready to trade them all in for a ticket to Vancouver, but there are also times where I don't even hardly want to share them with anyone else ;)
Campus sure has changed since I went there!
I'm not going to go into much detail about all the shenanigans that happened the year I lived in the apartment in the far corner here...
So.Many.Memories! I kinda feel like we need a reunion, my dear friends? I wonder who still has any dance moves? lol
Best part of summer...as long as there aren't little kids involved. Alas, there kinda are, so...
It tends to be mad chaos taking these three out together. I guess you could just say I'm very well accustomed to chaos?
Creeper has to come with us EVERYWHERE these days.
There was a sign here that said "stay safe, no selfies" or something along those lines. Let's just say it took a LOT of convincing for me to explain to the boys that it was okay to take a selfie with the buffalo while in the confines of the minivan lol
A couple things: 1) Where would I be without grocery pickup (and/or delivery) right now in life? Oh my goodness! 2) So many bugs on that windshield!
Summertime...and the livin's easy! Or exhausting.
This candle smells SO FREAKING GOOD!!!!!
Last day of school pics for these cuties! It's hard to believe that a year from now we'll have THREE littles for these pictures!
This little cutie found an orange Fanta can at the Riverfest cookout on Friday night and while she didn't drink it, she wouldn't let it go. I told her she had to give it to me if she wanted to go in the bouncy house, and she actually picked holding this orange can lol
Lost my touch just a tinge on these fireworks pics, but this one was somewhat clear!
Kins was SO FUN at this parade! She's a BIG fan of candy lol
Mark was SO EXCITED to be able to see the parade and the kids. We video chat a fair amount with him. He goes through different phases, some where he video chats us WAY too frequently, and then others where he won't answer or call us for days.
CANDY!!
This is pretty HUGE for this kid! He has been scared of these big costumed people since he was a baby!
Ryan's face here, though!
Kendrick finally lost his first tooth! He was pretty stoked!!
I need to remind myself of this more often than I do, honestly.
Kinsley's face going down pretty much any slide is my very favorite lol
We had family pictures taken with the fabulous Heather from Red Barn Photography! It's hard to see how all of us have changed so much in the past year. Mark and I have both put on weight, and the kids have gotten so much bigger!
I didn't get time to actually go through them before ordering, so I just got the whole session on CD instead, so eventually I'll get around to going through them all and posting some, but this is all for right now.
This little lady is most definitely a morning person at this point!
Summertime and the livin's easy!
For some reason, we don't hit this place up nearly as often in the middle of the summer. I was not prepared for how TALL the grasses were and how overgrown everything looked. I'm not sure if it's just because of the weird temperatures this summer or what.
My favorite part about it, though, is that the kids are all engaged and have a fun time when we go!
Pretty sure this will be Cashel's last year of baseball. I insisted that he stick it out at least through the first year of coach pitch, but his heart is just NOT in it.
The kids had a great evening at the Shrine Circus when it came to town! Their favorite part? The real-life transformer car they had there, and Spiderman swinging from the ceiling!
Some days I think it's sweet, but many, many days I think it's exhausting that he wants to always be on top of me and playing with my hair and having his kitty cup. Whenever I think the littles have escaped unscathed, I realize how much anxiety they have, and how much they still need me to reassure them that things are okay. That's hard when there are days when things aren't okay, or I'm spent or burned out.
I still struggle every visit with realizing that this is the man I married. I mean, it's not him really at all anymore, but it still is. It's hard to show in a picture, but when I see the picture, I see it, because I remember what this particular day was like. It's hard to put on a smile and be happy and upbeat when I visit. But I love him, or who he was, and for that, I happily oblige. But some days, they're hard. The thought of this lifestyle continuing for years slays me. It has been a VERY long 14 months so far of this back and forth to Mankato to visit him. It's challenging enough to just do life without his help and companionship, but then throwing in the constant back and forth to love on him too...that's hard. It's a delicate balance between providing all the things for all the people and taking time to take care of me too.
It still warms my heart to see my littles take to him like they do. He's their Daddy, and they still know him as Daddy, and they still love to play with him. He's more like a really big friend of theirs who plays on their level and laughs at their little jokes just like he's one of them.
This was our second year picking without Mark. I struggle sometimes knowing whether to continue our traditions or start new ones, but this is one that the kids would never let me skip! This was our first year picking without the double stroller, which is CRAZY to me, but everyone kept up just fine, and for the first time EVER...everyone happily picked and did a great job!
Sprinkler time with cousins at the farm in Iowa is the BEST!
Uncle Michael went and blew up a TON of water balloons too, which was a HUGE hit!
Can we pick out who didn't get their nap today? lol
Anybody? lol
I guess I've got big shoes to fill?
Their Mamas hold a very special place in my heart :)
It's hard to believe 12 years have passed between this picture below and the one above! Between then and now, there have been 2 weddings (Mark and I already were married at that point), 2 moves, and 9 kids! I'd say we're doing pretty good considering!
I'm beginning to think we may be turning a corner with Mama and Kinsley selfies! She's finally not scowling in all of them!
We had an hour or so after a funeral where the big kids were being entertained at my dear friend Jaime's house for Kins and I to have some Mama and me time. She had no problem downing my cafe mio...
I was about 90% sure she'd ruin the tulips, but she pretty much just squeezed a couple of them.
I SO enjoyed the short bit of catching up I got to do with this sweet friend! Jaime and I went to college together at NWC and had such a fun group of friends there! I hadn't seen her since we met up while we were both pregnant with our second kiddos back in, oh...the summer of 2013?
Ah, the memories here!
These 4...oh my, what a fun night this was! They've got so much energy, but man, are they fun! There are certainly days I'm ready to trade them all in for a ticket to Vancouver, but there are also times where I don't even hardly want to share them with anyone else ;)
Campus sure has changed since I went there!
I'm not going to go into much detail about all the shenanigans that happened the year I lived in the apartment in the far corner here...
So.Many.Memories! I kinda feel like we need a reunion, my dear friends? I wonder who still has any dance moves? lol
Best part of summer...as long as there aren't little kids involved. Alas, there kinda are, so...
It tends to be mad chaos taking these three out together. I guess you could just say I'm very well accustomed to chaos?
Creeper has to come with us EVERYWHERE these days.
There was a sign here that said "stay safe, no selfies" or something along those lines. Let's just say it took a LOT of convincing for me to explain to the boys that it was okay to take a selfie with the buffalo while in the confines of the minivan lol
A couple things: 1) Where would I be without grocery pickup (and/or delivery) right now in life? Oh my goodness! 2) So many bugs on that windshield!
Summertime...and the livin's easy! Or exhausting.
This candle smells SO FREAKING GOOD!!!!!
Last day of school pics for these cuties! It's hard to believe that a year from now we'll have THREE littles for these pictures!
This little cutie found an orange Fanta can at the Riverfest cookout on Friday night and while she didn't drink it, she wouldn't let it go. I told her she had to give it to me if she wanted to go in the bouncy house, and she actually picked holding this orange can lol
Lost my touch just a tinge on these fireworks pics, but this one was somewhat clear!
Kins was SO FUN at this parade! She's a BIG fan of candy lol
Mark was SO EXCITED to be able to see the parade and the kids. We video chat a fair amount with him. He goes through different phases, some where he video chats us WAY too frequently, and then others where he won't answer or call us for days.
CANDY!!
This is pretty HUGE for this kid! He has been scared of these big costumed people since he was a baby!
Ryan's face here, though!
Kendrick finally lost his first tooth! He was pretty stoked!!
I need to remind myself of this more often than I do, honestly.
Kinsley's face going down pretty much any slide is my very favorite lol
We had family pictures taken with the fabulous Heather from Red Barn Photography! It's hard to see how all of us have changed so much in the past year. Mark and I have both put on weight, and the kids have gotten so much bigger!
I didn't get time to actually go through them before ordering, so I just got the whole session on CD instead, so eventually I'll get around to going through them all and posting some, but this is all for right now.
This little lady is most definitely a morning person at this point!
Summertime and the livin's easy!
For some reason, we don't hit this place up nearly as often in the middle of the summer. I was not prepared for how TALL the grasses were and how overgrown everything looked. I'm not sure if it's just because of the weird temperatures this summer or what.
My favorite part about it, though, is that the kids are all engaged and have a fun time when we go!
Pretty sure this will be Cashel's last year of baseball. I insisted that he stick it out at least through the first year of coach pitch, but his heart is just NOT in it.
The kids had a great evening at the Shrine Circus when it came to town! Their favorite part? The real-life transformer car they had there, and Spiderman swinging from the ceiling!
Some days I think it's sweet, but many, many days I think it's exhausting that he wants to always be on top of me and playing with my hair and having his kitty cup. Whenever I think the littles have escaped unscathed, I realize how much anxiety they have, and how much they still need me to reassure them that things are okay. That's hard when there are days when things aren't okay, or I'm spent or burned out.
I still struggle every visit with realizing that this is the man I married. I mean, it's not him really at all anymore, but it still is. It's hard to show in a picture, but when I see the picture, I see it, because I remember what this particular day was like. It's hard to put on a smile and be happy and upbeat when I visit. But I love him, or who he was, and for that, I happily oblige. But some days, they're hard. The thought of this lifestyle continuing for years slays me. It has been a VERY long 14 months so far of this back and forth to Mankato to visit him. It's challenging enough to just do life without his help and companionship, but then throwing in the constant back and forth to love on him too...that's hard. It's a delicate balance between providing all the things for all the people and taking time to take care of me too.
It still warms my heart to see my littles take to him like they do. He's their Daddy, and they still know him as Daddy, and they still love to play with him. He's more like a really big friend of theirs who plays on their level and laughs at their little jokes just like he's one of them.
This was our second year picking without Mark. I struggle sometimes knowing whether to continue our traditions or start new ones, but this is one that the kids would never let me skip! This was our first year picking without the double stroller, which is CRAZY to me, but everyone kept up just fine, and for the first time EVER...everyone happily picked and did a great job!
Sprinkler time with cousins at the farm in Iowa is the BEST!
Uncle Michael went and blew up a TON of water balloons too, which was a HUGE hit!
Can we pick out who didn't get their nap today? lol
Anybody? lol
I guess I've got big shoes to fill?
