Exciting things at the Taaffe's!

Lots of exciting things are happening at the Taaffe's! I can't believe it's already they 22nd of October, where did this month go? We've had a busy October thus far.

The weekend of the 5-7th, the kids went to Gran and Papa's for the weekend, so we could work on the playroom. A couple weeks prior, Kevin removed the fireplace and sheetrocked the hole. So we spent our entire weekend working on the playroom. Removing the carpet, painting and new flooring.  We weren't going to do the flooring yet, as we figured the new carpet would cost us about $1000 for the playroom and we just don't have an extra grand to spend right now on carpeting. But when we got the fireplace out we decided the carpet looked horrible that we decided to just do the floor as long as we had to move everything. We opted against the carpet and got laminate flooring at Sam's club and it was very reasonable, our whole project, paint, flooring, etc. was less than $500. We still had money stuck away for our Vegas trip that we decided to put towards the playroom. We're very happy with our "investment" and the kids love playing in here now. See the pictures below...

the start of my stenciling

The next exciting thing...

We have a walker! Or I should say...Runner! Just in the last couple weeks he's really started cruising, he's practically running. And he's not stop from the time he gets up until he goes down for a nap and then all over again. I can hardly believe he will be ONE in less than two weeks. Crazy!!

I just have to share this picture...nothing special. Amelia decided to "dress" herself. The shirt she had on, she still had her pants off after her nap time diaper change and wouldn't let me put them back on and then she found the socks in my bedroom, they have penguins on them. Then her cowboy boots. And to top it all off, she had been eating M&M's so she as a pretty face!

Our last exciting thing...

Amelia is now sleeping in a "big" girl bed. We took her crib out last night after dinner and put my old daybed into her room as a bed for her until we get her bunk beds. We let her pick out her own bedding at Target and I think that helped the process along a little. She slept great in her new bed last night. Very little fussing when it was bedtime. Didn't even try to get out, at least not that I know of. She woke up earlier than usual, but I think that was to be expected. She woke up at 5:45 and she usually sleeps to at least 6:30. I think after a week, she'll be in a routine and we shouldn't have a problem. Now if we could just get the potty training thing down. She does great for a couple weeks and then regresses...maybe she's just not ready? She knows everything, just forgets to tell us when she has to go and when we ask her she'll usually go, but not always. Oh well, baby steps!

She made each of us lay
in her new bed with her...

happy fall

As you can all tell...I'm a little behind in blogging! So I thought I'd take this moment to update everyone a bit on the life and times of the Taaffe Family! We're keeping busy...very busy...almost too busy if you ask me!!!

I started taking ECFE classes with the kids. (Early Childhood Family Education...for those of you who don't know what it stands for!) They are offered through the school district and so far I'm really enjoying it! I take Paul on Monday mornings from 8:30-9:30 and then Amelia on Tuesday nights from 6:15-7:45. They both seem to enjoy it as well. There are 2 other boys in Paul's class and one little girl. And in Amelia's class, she is the only girl and there are 3 boys! It's been nice meeting new parents/moms. We have a couple dads that attend the Tuesday night session. Which is neat.

We're both keeping busy with work. Which is a good thing. Our office is starting to slow down a little bit...I'm starting to think the economy is having a lot to do with it.

Last weekend we were at my Mom's for the weekend. One of my best girlfriends is getting married October 27th and last weekend was her Bridal Shower and Bachelorette party. I went to her shower, but opted out of the Bachelorette party to spend time with my mom. We took the kids to a local farm, and the kids really enjoyed that. They had lots of animals for you to see and some you could pet. Amelia liked all of it and especially liked the "Baby Moos". That's all she could talk about! When my mom said we were going there and we'd see baby animals she said "I see baby maminals" It was so dang cute!

On our way up Friday night, we hit a Coyote on the freeway.... Look and see what it did to my bumper. Thankfully, it didn't take out my A/C compressor or something like that...something with the A/C anyway! So that's going to be a nice $350 minimum repair!

Us at the farm on the hayride...

Amelia in the "straw bale maze"
Pauly picking out his prize pumpkin!

Amelia and Paul sitting nice on the straw bale....

...and her laughing her fool head off after pushing Paul off the bale of straw! (Which didn't seem to bother him!)

Paul now has 5 teeth and is walking! He is still crawling a bit, but mostly walking! I can't believe we have less than a month until Paul's birthday, crazy how fast a year goes by!

just a quick update...

Here is a quick update for all you folks. I'm a little behind on updating here...but here goes...

Labor Day Weekend---Jensen Family Reunion @ Elks Youth Camp in Nisswa. We opted not to go this year for several reasons....#1. Kevin had to work Saturday. #2. Good weekend to work on Potty Training as Amelia was extremely interested. #3. Kevin's Grandma Bev (Kevin Sr.'s mother) had a massive heart attack and was in the ICU. I'm sure we weren't very well liked that weekend for not going camping, but sometimes you have to make decisions and unfortunately they don't always make everyone happy. So we stayed home, I'm sure we were the hot gossip item...but I don't care! I have my own family and am plenty old enough to make my own decisions on what I do! It actually was a good thing we stayed home. Kevin ended up working late Friday night as it was nuts at the shop all day. Saturday he worked all day and Gene was gone most of the day on lock-outs and there is NO WAY they could have closed the station on a busy holiday weekend. They were busy that day working on cars, pumping gas and then doing several lock-outs for people who locked their keys in their cars at the campgrounds. Saturday evening we went and visited Kevin's Grandma at the hospital and then we had dinner with Kevin Sr. and his wife Mary. Sunday we went to Church like usual, then came home and got stuff done around the house. Monday we went to the MN Zoo with my co-worker Katie and her husband and two kids. It was nice to do something with another family that we don't normally hang out with. Amelia had a blast, as Katie's 4-1/2 year old Kami took her all over showing her things!

Last weekend (9/7-9/9), my Grandma and Grandpa Gregg came down. Granny had gotten tickets from a co-worker for the Gophers Football game and asked us if we'd like to go. Her original plan was for Papa, Dad, Uncle Ron and Kev to all go together. But Dad was busy working on his shop in Kilkenny and Ron and Terri had an Army thing for Luke. So Papa had called to see if Kevin wanted to go, then Kev invited him to stay the night at our place and told him to bring Granny along too! Then we just decided that the 4 of us would go. It really was a nice time and we rode the light rail down to the dome. They ended up coming late Friday night which was a nice surprise. Saturday after the game we came back to our house for dinner and my Dad and Mary Jo came over and we grilled steaks. Then had a bonfire, which Amelia really enjoyed. Sunday we headed to the Zoo again, this time with Kevin Sr, Mary, Kev's sister Shana, our brother-in-law Brandon and niece Brenna. Along with Mary's son Eric, his wife and their two kids. We had a great time at the Zoo as well. It seemed a lot different than when we were their previously, the weather wasn't as hot and the animals were doing different things. Which was nice and we seemed to have seen different things.

Tuesday morning we received sad news that Kevin's Grandma Bev had passed away that morning. The wake was Thursday night in Coon Rapids and the funeral Friday in Fridley with the burial being at Fort Snelling. Kevin was the Lector and a pallbearer

Friday late afternoon we got together with my cousin Jake, who is going to school at the U of M. It was nice to see him and spend time with him, we haven't seen him since he moved to the cities. Amelia just adores him and asks to see him everyday (literally!) While at Fort Snelling Amelia was very enthralled in the airplanes and while we were waiting in the funeral procession, she kept asking "Daddy, wanna fly airplane with me?" "Mommy, wanna fly airplane with me?" "Pauly (who was sleeping) wanna fly airplane with me?". We've determined...she's going to be a pilot! She's obsessed!

Saturday...nothing exciting! Kev worked until 8:00 last night (12 hours!!!) The kids and I ran errands in the morning, ran to Mankato to pick-up things for the station and do some grocery shopping. Then came home and make my candies for the church festival. Amelia helped me, we made chocolate dipped pretzels.

Today we went to Mass and then to Logan's 1st Birthday Party! I can't believe he is already ONE! Matt and Kel put on a very nice party, had a nice crowd and Logan got lots of new clothes and new toys and believe it or not...none were duplicates! :)

Potty training has been going okay. The first week and a half went GREAT! With only one accident a day and that typically was during her nap. She was really good about telling us if she had to go potty and she'd go when we'd just take her in there. Now she poops on there, but forgets to tell us when she has to pee. So we've been going through a lot of pull-ups! We've been on the go a lot lately, so I'm hoping now that things are calming down that she'll get better about going! I have to remember, she's only 2-1/2 and we still have time to get her potty trained! We're doing it when she shows interest, which she did, one weekend she only wanted to go on her potty, so we thought great, she's ready. Well she did good for a week and a half. I know she'll get better at it and stop having accidents. We'll get there!

Overall, it's been a crazy hectic two weeks and I'm glad they are over!

Tomorrow morning at 8:30, Pauly starts his ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education) class. Amelia will go with and go to Sibling care! Then Tuesday nights Amelia has her ECFE class at 6:15. I'm very excited for both of these and can't wait to meet some new people with kids the same ages as mine. I'm totally stepping out of my comfort zone, but I know this is important for both me and the kids to do!

With that being said...I'm heading to bed!

PS-I forgot to mention Pauly got a new tooth on Thursday. The maxillary (upper) right central incisor! Pretty exciting! It's definitely my easy teether! We hardly know he's ever teething. He had a bit of a fever when he got home Thursday after daycare, and I said he must have gotten a tooth...sure enough he did!

the tale of two moos...

Just as I promised. The story of Amelia and Paul's moo adventure! At the end of Amelia's visit to the Helping Hands Farm, she got to get finger puppets (I had a coupon!) and then I said "Okay, let's pick out something for Pauly." So she picked out a cow for Paul (pictured above). And she also got one for herself! We paid for them and then headed outside to meet up with Daddy and Pauly. She carried the bag with the "moos", her finger puppets and a magnet photo frame. We got outside and she took out Paul's cow and said to Paul (while giving him his new toy and gift from her) "Here Pauly, I got you a moo!" in her sweetest little 2-1/2 year old voice. It was the cutest thing ever! She was so proud of what she got for her brother and just couldn't wait to give it to him, she was practically running to him with it. Well, Paul definitely enjoyed the cow, for the short amount of time he got to have it. You see, these cute adorable little cows are made out of foam! Not foam like a sponge, more like the compressed foam that they make those little stress balls out of. Well the 9 almost 10 month old...sticks EVERYTHING in his mouth, so it's definitely not a wonder why this wouldn't go to his mouth as well. We weren't paying much attention, as he was enjoying playing with his new toy his big sister got him at his first State Fair. Well, I just happened to look down and noticed the cow's nose was missing...well the little booger, bit it off! Those two tiny little teeth sure can do a lot! So we had to take it away from him, which made him cry. So what does his big sister and best friend do? She reaches back and says "Pauly here's my moo" and give her cow to him. What a nice big sister. However, we had to take it away from him and then put them both in the bottom of the stroller, so no one would be eating foam! Amelia's cow is now as she put it "Daddy, moo broke", as some how on Monday evening, one of her cow's legs came off. We think Paul got ahold of it again! Needless, to say, both moos are going into their memory boxes with the date of their fair visit and maybe a short note written on them as to what happened! So there my friends you have it, the tale of two moos! In the picture above, Paul's cow is on the left...note it's missing nose!

...on a stick

Yes! We did it! We attended the Great Minnesota Get-Together aka the Minnesota State Fair! It is our one thing we look forward to all summer long and is always on our to-do list! It's a tradition we share with our kids and hope that someday it is something they look forward to as well! We went yesterday.

We love going...call us nuts. But we love it! I think it's our love of people watching! Both kids seemed to enjoy it as well. We ate a sampling of food... We started our day off with Cheese Curds (we shared a small basket) this is the first time in 4 years we've had cheese curds at the state fair. Then I got Kettle Corn...this is one of my fair favorites and a must have! Then Kevin had boneless chicken wings on a stick and Meli had a foot long hot dog, that she dipped in Kev's remaining ranch dressing for his chicken wings. Then Kev had Spaghetti and meatballs on a stick...I tried it and it was great! He had seen it on the news the night before and just had to try it! It was a meatball with spaghetti noodles mixed into the meat, battered and deep fried and covered in marinara sauce. Amelia had buttered noodles...from the same stand. I had a few of those as well. Next I moved onto a bacon wrapped turkey tenderloin on a stick...I must say this was my favorite! Kevin had a beer...I stuck to soda! Next I had a deep fried Milky Way on a stick...yum-o! I look forward to this every year...they are very good and very rich. I had a steak fajita...which wasn't as good as in previous years. There were more fajita toppings than steak. That pretty much topped out our day...oh and Kev had a pepperoni and sausage calzone...which was suppose to be on a stick as well...but wasn't! All in all, it was a great day food wise. We picked up some Sweet Martha's cookies for someone in Kilkenny (Gene called with the request right before we left the fair) we had a small sampling of those in order to get the lids on the buckets!

The kids seemed to enjoy themselves. I took Amelia to the Little Hands Farm. It is a neat little interactive exhibit just for kids, to see what it's like working on a farm and how your food gets from farm to table! They collected things throughout their visit. First we got feed for the animals (a baggie of corn) then we rode the tractors...see picture below. Then she fed the chickens (all animals fake of course!) and got to collect a fake egg and put in her bucket. Then she picked a carrot from the garden for her bucket, then fed the sheep and collected a bag of wool, then she fed the cow the rest of her feed and collected a carton of milk. Then picked an apple from the tree. Then we visited the Farmers Market, turned in all of her things she collected and earned a play dollar to buy something in the "store" they could pick from cans of vegetables or small single serving boxes of General Mills Cereal...she opted for the Lucky Charms...which she has never had before and seemed to enjoy. I don't particularly like to give her sugar cereal...but oh well, it was a special day! After we got done with the farm, we visited their gift shop and Amelia got some finger puppets and I told her to pick out something for Paul and she picked out a foam cow for him and one for herself as well....the story continues below!

Here she is riding a pedal tractor...couldn't quite figure out the pedals so she was being pushed around!

Here she is just at the tail end of the farm, after we collected all her goodies, she's telling Daddy and Pauly all about her adventure (They are standing outside the fence!)

Mr. Pauly pants cruising in the stroller, enjoying his first MN State Fair!

Time for a little snoozer!

Watching the Canadian Mounted Patrol...in her handy dandy Home Depot apron! (Amelia and Daddy were building a project at the Home Depot booth and she got an apron...just like the employees at Home Depot. We got one for Pauly too!

Canadian Mounted Patrol, putting on a show outside the cattle barns.

Waiting for the parade to start...Big slide! Amelia and I are on the far right side of this picture in the middle of the slide. Right between the yellow and Green. Amelia loved this!

Overall it was a good day at the fair. The weather was nice, sprinkled a few times...large drops...nothing serious. Nice breeze. Nice company and good food. Check back for the story of the two moos. I'm too tired to write about it tonight...it relates to Amelia's visit to the Helping Hands Farm and her gift for Paul! Goodnight.

Relay for Life...

First and foremost, I have to thank each and everyone of you who supported me when I did the Relay for Life. What an incredible event. I raised just shy of $300 for the American Cancer Society thanks to all of you very generous people and I sold 6 luminaries for another $60. I am very proud to say I was a part of the 2007 Relay for Life at the West Ottertail County Fairgrounds in Fergus Falls. It was a great event and I plan to participate again next year and hope to raise even more money.

It was very incredible to see all of the luminaries lit...I heard a few people say they estimated that there were 30,000 luminaries. The white ones designate someone who has lost the battle to cancer and the brown bags designate someone who survived their fight with cancer or are still fighting a courageous battle. Someday I surely hope to see a lot more brown ones than white ones. The luminaries lined the walking path.

Below are just a few pictures from the Relay. Some are ones I took and others are one's my mom's friend Carolee took.

this spelled out hope...

There were a lot of neat designs with the luminaries...including this heart... My good friend and "sister" Sara and I...this was after a LONG night staying up...I think this was taken about 5:30 a.m. as we were starting to help clean up the fairgrounds and our "campsite"
The few sole survivors of the all night event...

from Left to Right: My Aunt Roxanne, my Mom Carrie (Colon Cancer Survivor), my step-sister Sam, Stephanie (mom's friend Carolee's daughter), me, Friend/Sister Sara and Carolee (my mom's friend from High School)

We won the "Best Team Theme" award...we dressed up as pirates and won! We got a traveling trophy and hope to take it home again next year as well!

Thanks again to everyone for their support! I truly appreciate it. I can't wait to participate next year!

Sorry this update has taken me so long to get on here. It's been a crazy few weeks around here!

First Dentist Appointment...

Amelia had her first dentist appointment yesterday. I wanted to take her in to get her use to what they do during an appointment. She did great when we got there. We came in the back door and typically she sticks right by me when we stop at my work, but yesterday, she marched right up to the front. I stopped in the hall way to visit with Dr. Winn and she kept on walking. I was shocked...usually she's shy when we ware at my work! She played with the toys for a minute and then Julie (the hygienist) brought her back into the room, with Paul and I in tow of course! Amelia did great---in my opinion anyway! She sat in the chair and let Julie look in there a little bit, she held the big mirror while Julie looked in there with the little mirror. Julie just brushed her teeth a little (as seen in the picture above) with a toothbrush instead of a prophy cup. Amelia didn't like the idea of being tipped back in the chair...I think just because it was something new for her. So we ended it there, so she wouldn't be scared for her next visit. She did great, and she even came home with a brand new Tigger toothbrush!

The New Pool...

Friday night we bought the kids a pool! We just got them a small one. Big enough for the two of them and me if Paul isn't in his pool float! Amelia was really anxious to get in there Saturday after her nap! It was a nice hot day too and it had warmed the pool up great too! It was almost like bathwater in there. I sat in it a short time and held Paul a little, then I put him in his pool float.

Just getting into the pool...

Paul enjoying the new pool!
Amelia keeping the ball away from her brother!
My little water babies!
Having a great time in his floatie! Goofy girl!

Floating around the pool!

Both having a good time!

Bathing beauty!

We'll probably head out to the pool again this afternoon when Amelia wakes up from her nap! We emptied it this morning and filled it with fresh water! Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Happy July!!

Richfield's 4th of July Parade

Paul hanging out at the parade!

Since it is now the 5th of July, I can't wish everyone Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone had a great day yesterday and remembered the true meaning of our Independence. What a wonderful country we live and oh how lucky we are to be free.

We had another busy weekend last weekend...as always! Friday night we had dinner with Mary and Ron, Mary had picked up the kids from daycare and took them to Annie's birthday party at the nursing home Friday afternoon, then brought the kids to our house until I got home. And we waited for Kev to get home from work because they had to swap vehicles, so she would have car seats. Then we just decided that we'd go grab a bit to eat, I was too tired to cook anything anyway!

Then Saturday we did a little yard work and the kids played in the front yard with the Sand and water table, all with water, no sand and Amelia now thinks it is a swimming pool! And I'm sure if Paul could have figured out how to get up there he would have been in it to. We are having to redo our landscaping by our driveway/walkway. We just did it last summer and it has become over grown with weeds. So we shoveled all the rock and dirt out and replaced the landscaping fabric with heavy duty plastic. And more rock was delivered Monday and now it's almost complete again, tomorrow night we're going to get another paver (one had broke) and some plants to put around the mailbox and up the walkway.

Ron had asked Kev on Friday night if he wanted to go golfing Saturday afternoon, him and Mary were going on Saturday morning and there was no way Kev was getting up to go at 7am! :) He loves to golf, but claims that is way too early to go! They had a 2:22 tee time in New Prague, so Mary came and hung out with the kids and me and helped me clean up the house. It was nice having the company and help getting things done that I hadn't been able to get done earlier in the week.

Sunday, my dad and Mary Jo came down from Stillwater to celebrate his birthday which was on Saturday. We had a nice visit, spent a lot of time on the deck and Amelia demonstrated to Papa and Mary Jo how she swims in her sand and water table. I guess we definitely need to get the kid a pool! We grilled chicken breasts and potatoes for dinner and had DQ ice cream cake for dessert, I was going to make my famous NY style cheesecake...which is one of my dad's favorites, but it was too hot to use my oven! So I think I owe him now!

Amelia demonstrating how she swims!

Paul isn't going to miss out on the action!

Pauly helping Papa blow out his candles...didn't have 44 candles to put on it!

I've had an awful rough week. So far I've worked one day! I had Monday off, as usual. Worked Tuesday, we were closed yesterday and today and now I have to work tomorrow. Yesterday we went with the Case's to the 4th of July parade in Richfield. We had a good time, even though it was very hot. Amelia really enjoyed it and Paul slept through most of it! Afterwards, we went over to Kelly's parents house to cool off before going to the park (which we never made it to), we ended up staying there and eating dinner. Which it was very nice of them to invite us over and let us join in on their bbq. After we ate, we came home quick, grabbed our swimsuits and head back to Matt and Kelly's to go swimming. Kelly's parents had bought Logan a pool, they felt bad that he didn't have anywhere to go swimming! It's one of those easy set blue pools with the blow up top ring. It's 10'x30" deep. It was nice to go over there and take a dip, even though the water was cold! Amelia really enjoyed it and really could careless how the water felt, the girl just loves to swim! Best part was she could touch the bottom and still be above water without her floatie, also she could be in her floatie and walk herself around the pool. We're keeping our eyes open for some sort of pool for the babies to swim in, they both like water! We'll see!

Goodnight!

What a great weekend!

What a great weekend we had! Friday after work we headed up to my mom and Tim's house. When we got there Amelia was all wound up and she didn't sleep at all in the car. We had a tough time getting her to bed. She was suppose to sleep on a mattress on the floor next to us, but she wouldn't stay put, she'd get up and run around and giggle! So finally we had to put her in the crib in the other room where Paul was suppose to sleep. Paul ended up sleeping on the mattress on the floor. He slept there just fine and he was sleeping right next to me so I could keep an eye on him, or at least know when he moved! I think it was about 12:30 by time we got the kids settled in!

Saturday, we all headed to the salon that Amber works at to get our hair cut. Amelia got her very first haircut! See the pics below! We only cut a little bit off the bottoms, maybe an inch at the most! It looks so cute as now she has even more curls than before! It really made it curl up without that extra weight on the bottom. They are more like ringlets. She sat pretty well during her haircut, it was hard to keep her still, since she kept getting distracted. I'm sure the next time will go a lot better!

During the haircut

After the haircut

My Grandma Jensen was having our annual Jensen Family "Golf Day" at her house on Saturday with my Grandpa's side. It was a tradition started many years ago as a way to celebrate my Grandpa's birthday, which was in May. Back in it's hay day it was a blast! They had set up a "Golf course" up and down their driveway and around the back of the house, they put metal coffee cans in the ground for the holes and my Grandpa's sister Norma had made him flags to go with each hole. We use to have a putting contests with a "pot of gold" and prizes for highest score and lowest score for both men and women, and they'd have prizes for us kids too. It's not as big as it was when I was a kid, but it was fun getting to see some of the relatives we only see a couple times a year.

Only the guys golfed this year, it was too hot out! The rest of us sat in the shade! Amelia and Paul had a good time playing with the kittens and with our Dog Abby who has lived at Grandma's for almost a year. Paul enjoyed crawling around and we had a tough time keeping him off the gravel driveway and keeping him from putting rocks in his mouth! We had a bonfire on Saturday night and that was a lot of fun! Sara and her fiance Adam came over for the afternoon/evening. And Sara asked me to be her Personal Attendant. I feel very honored that she asked me to be a part of her wedding day! She is getting married October 27 of this year! Everyone had a good time. We stayed up way too late though! I think it was about 1:00 by time we got back to Fergus.

Pauly and one of the kittens

Paul really liked our Fat Dog Abby!

Sunday we went over to my Grandma and Grandpa Gregg's house for brunch and to spend the day with them. After brunch we went out on the pontoon with Granny and Papa, and Terri and the girls. We spent the entire afternoon out on the lake, it was such a nice time. Paul didn't know what to think of his life jacket when I put it on him, but as witnessed in the picture below, he fell asleep shortly after we got on the lake!

Amelia was a bit grumpy when we first got on the lake, we had to wake her up!

Mr Paul sleeping in Granny's arms with his shades on!

Paul and Courtney after he woke up from his nap!

Britta (under water) Daddy and Amelia swimming!

Taking Pauly into the lake for the first time!

Just chillin' on the pontoon while everyone else swims. His hair is full of sunscreen, that's why it's sticking up! He won't keep a hat on so we had to put the sunscreen on his head!

We had a really nice time visiting with everyone yesterday. The kids had a great time out on the lake. In fact at one point when we stopped the pontoon to talk to someone on the lake, Amelia got upset because she wanted to go swimming and she kept saying "Water" "Water". So then we had to go somewhere that she could go swimming. There are no public beaches on East Battle anymore. There use to be one, but it is now privately owned. So we could anchor the pontoon off shore a little bit, just far enough so it wouldn't get stuck and then everyone could jump off and swim. Amelia really enjoyed that. She would be shivering in the lake, Kev would pull her out and put in in the boat and she'd say to me "Mommy, water?" And kept repeating until I put her back in the water with Kevin.

Kevin and I got completely fried out on the lake! So bad that I was freezing cold the entire ride home and I felt like I was going to get sick. We put sunscreen on the kids and of course neglected to put it on ourselves and it was the first time either one of had been out in the sun for an extended amount of time this year.

When we got back from the lake we had a bite to eat before we headed home. Jake and Luke joined us for dinner as well as Luke's girlfriend Joelle, who lives in Dallas and had flown in yesterday morning. Ron didn't get to join us until right before we were leaving, because he was bailing hay all day.

It was a nice weekend all around! It was great getting to see both sides of my family all weekend. It brings you back to reality and lets you know what's truly important in life!

I hope every one's summer is going well for them!

Until next week....