Practice Makes Improvment!

I always tell the boys that Practice doesn't make Perfect but rather Improvments. As the summer is winding down to an end, and our boating weekends are pretty much over(hence we have a VERY BUSY SEPTEMBER) the boys have practiced all summer and have both gotten much improvment in their skiing/wakeboarding.
Elijah has attempted the wake jumping and needless to say my 8 year old son can wakeboard better than me!! He has other boaters turning their heads to watch this little guy attempt to jump wakes. I took a dozen pictures and this is the best I got of him. Well done Elijah. Im eager to see what next summer brings!!
And sweet Caden...usually we have to encourage him into the water to ski, however this past time he was asking to ski. This past time he attempted to ski about 6+ times and each time he got a bit further in distance. I think next summer we will see the greatest change as he continues to get a bit older. We are so proud of our 5 year old!! (yes, I still have to get in with him to hold him upright or else he can't keep his ski's straight).

So we had to get rid of our old tube because of a hole, however we found a great deal on this double tube that can be either a flat tube or a tube where you can sit inside of it. The boys love it and Elijah has found that when Caden isn't on the tube it's lighter thus allowing him to catch some air. Here is a video (excuse my silly voice) of Elijah "flying".

Fair Oaks Farms

So saturday our plans were to go boating, however the forcast scared us off and we decided to take the boys to a "unannounced" place. Elijah wanted to be blind folded and as you can see in the back...Caden did not!! Elijah made it about 30 minutes before he removed the blind fold. We did not tell the boys where we were going nor did we give hints. They both figured it out when we pulled into the drive of Fair Oaks Farms.
Getting ready to "milk" the cow. Not sure Elijah was thrilled about touching the teets:)

Even little Liam got to play a bit. He had fun on this slide.

Even Nick had a great time bouncing around on the "pillow".

Look at the air that Elijah got!! He was sailing!!

Both Elijah and Caden did the rock wall several times. Both accomplished the easy and medium levels. Both tried the hard level but neither was able to get to the top to ring the bell.

We ended the day with a delicious waffle cone. Both boys got Peach, I got Butter Pecan and Nick got Peach and Chocolate Chip. Liam...well....he got everyones:).

We had a great family day. Now we are hoping to hit the lake this coming weekend if the weather permits!!

And they are off!!

August 16th marks the first day of 2010-2011 school year. Elijah enters 3rd grade(wow, really?) and Caden is a Kindergartener!!
Daddy stayed home a bit later this morning than usual to help send the boys off to school. He made them breakfast of Waffles and apple juice. Caden kept saying how he was excited for school. (which Im so thankful for)
After breakfast was a photo shoot with their backpacks. Happy little Caden!

Excited Elijah poses for yet another "first day" photo.

Coming out of the house and much to my dismay.......

running for the bus:(. (my plan was to get down their early, and get a picture of both boys going onto the bus. However the bus came 15 minutes earlier than last year and came from a different direction too). So this is the only picture of them getting onto the bus. Im so bummed. Im glad we walked down early or we would have missed it all together. Guess this means that we will be getting up even earlier since the bus comes earlier!!

I love you boys!!! Happy First Day of School!!

Summer Fun is Over for Me

This is in regards to the last post with the odd looking picture. Thanks for the guesses, however it is the inside of my ear....the eardrum!! I was wakeboarding a week and a half ago and I fell flat on my right ear. I immediately felt intense pain followed by a lack of hearing. I waited a couple days to see if it would go away, but it didn't so I headed to an ENT doctor. Not much to my surprise I had busted the eardrum wide open. Doc said it was a nice size hole, however he thinks it will heal on its own in 6 weeks. He went ahead a placed a paper patch over the hole in the eardrum right there in the office. Let me tell you...when your eardrum is touched it can pretty much make you jump thru the roof. I was gripping the chair for dear life and then when he was done I was a lightheaded mess.
Praying I have a closed up eardrum come 6 weeks otherwise it will be ear surgery number 2 for me:(.
No submerging my head in water for 6 weeks and so this puts an end to my summer fun out on the lake:(. BOO HOO!!!

Any Guesses??

Ok Ok, I know this is a gross looking picture. Anyone know what it is a picture of?? (those of my family members that already know because I told you...don't guess:))

Hint: summer fun is over for me

Summer = Corn on the Cob

One of our simple pleasures that we love about summer is field fresh corn on the cob. Liam was a bit young last summer to enjoy this, so here he is enjoying his first summer of corn on the cob:



Mmmmm, I love corn on the cob!

Time to get down to business!!

If I stuff more up in my cheeks, I won't have to stop to swallow.

Just a little nibble off the end here.

I like to call this move the

"Liam-Spectacular-Double-Fister-Corn-Muncher."

One down, one more to go.

This is getting less and less fun by the second.

Whew! That may have been just one bite too many. Wait until Mom & Dad see the surprise that I have in store for them tomorrow!

xoxo
Liam

BLESSED!!!

This past weekend was super great!!! My mother came from a family of 8 children and boy have we multiplied!! There are 131 aunts, uncles and first cousins whom have most all married and have children. Out of this 131 people only one death has happened, which just boggles my mind. We have 5 generations in this family. Unfortunently not everyone could make it this weekend to the cabin in Parker Prairie Minnesota. My aunt Linda and uncle Mark have a cabin here on 300+ acres where we had fun playing yard games, four wheeling, swimming in their private lake, reconnecting with my cousins (whom I have not seen in 5+ years), eating popcorn(the best ever), and just plain having a great time. We came together to celebrate aunt Bev and uncle Terry's 50th wedding anniversary. I so wish Id have taken more pictures, but I had to much fun to stop and take pictures.

This is my grandma schmidt and her 5 daughters. Wish I had taken a picture of Grandpa and his 3 sons. Grandpa and Grandma have been married 68 years...we can't wait to all get together for their 70th wedding anniversary.

There were 5 four wheelers we could take and scout out the land. Lots of fun. Here is my cousin paul and his son Brady taking a load down to the lake to swim.

Elijah and Caden had a blast. They take this pontoon out to the middle of the lake where they have this raft anchored down. All around the lake is cat tails so you can't just swim out. This blue raft was a hit....

Uncle Mark and Aunt Linda also rented a bounce house and it was a hit too. Here is Sierra, Lauren, Elijah, Joy and (can't remember his name) jumping around.

Of course we had a campfire too. My cousin's Dave and Stacy and their daughter Whitney, Aunt Paulette and my mom sitting around warming up:).

Needless to say the boys were worn out...or should I say Caden was worn out!! We got into the van to leave one evening and before we were even a mile down the road this is what Caden looked like:). Nice make shift pillow he has.

Thanks for such a great time and we can't wait to spend more years with our family in Minnesota!!