Weekend in Owatonna at home

Luke went fishing this past weekend, so the kids and I went down to Owatonna Friday night. We spent the night and stayed all day Saturday. It was fun to be down there and we found some fun things to do indoors, since it was so cool and rainy outside!

Watching The Toy Story Halloween Movie with Papa!

Cuddles for Nana in the morning

Happy to play inside with Nana!

Very happy to help Papa rake leaves

 

The boys and girls split up in the morning--the boys went to find some trains and then to the store to buy a toy. The girls went to Target and Kohl's to buy new winter hats for the kids.

We all met at home and then raked leaves/played inside/went to the park (until it rained).  

After naps we went to the library.....since Daddy was fishing, Nora and Papa did their own fishing!  Bishop checked out 10 shark books and made Papa read all of them to him when we got home.

After the library we stopped to see Great Grandpa Arnie! He wasn't feeling the best, but he was still happy to see the kids!

We drove back home Saturday night and went to church in the morning. Sunday was my first day all alone with both kids from the minute they woke up until the next day (well, until Tuesday actually--but they went to daycare). Wow! It wasn't an easy day....I don't think I'd make a very good stay at home mom......the kids tested my limits!  I don't think it helped that it was 40 degrees and raining the entire day.

We went to the Y to play for awhile.....the kids took long naps and then we went to Target. We had our moments, but we all survived! ;)

Playing basketball at the Y

This looks like we're having a good time, doesn't it!?!? :)

 Needless to say we were all VERY excited to see daddy on Tuesday afternoon!

Just one Sunday story for the  memory book. We went to Target, which went very well-all things considered--when I said "no", Bishop just moved on to asking for the next thing. He was a very good helper and Nora only tried to get out of the stroller 5 times. Bishop helped by carrying some things in the house and he was very proud to carry in the gallon of skim milk (HIS milk)! :) When he got it inside he threw it down, which of course put a hole in it and milk started spilling everywhere......I took it right out to the garbage, I didn't have time to try to salvage any good milk out of the carton. I was bummed, but oh well-no use crying over spilled milk, right!?!? Well, Bishop REALLY wanted a full gallon of milk and he stood in the mudroom crying for his milk for a good 15 minutes+....while Nora stood by the fridge screaming for PICKLES!!!!! It was 6pm and I was just about ready to lose it! I can look back on it and smile and think (that doesn't sound like that big of a deal looking back), but it was at the time!

I really enjoyed my time with the kids and overall we had a good day!

I Luv You!

Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa came to stay on Sunday night as the kids didn't have school on Monday and I had a meeting in Denver, so they came down to watch the kids. Nora was super excited to see them...especially Grandma! ;)

Apple Jack's Pumpkin Patch

On Sunday we visited the Apple Jack's Pumpkin Patch with the Bormann's! My mom was in town, so she joined too, which was a ton of fun (and help)! :)

The kids all had a blast! The girls started out with a wagon ride.......

Nora and Madelyn in the wagon

Then the 3 "big" kids got to go on pony rides......

Bishop on his pony Big Red

Nora on her pony, Chip-this was Bishop's pony last year

Madelyn on her pony-Dusty!

There are so many things to do at this pumpkin patch-it is awesome! There is a petting zoo--slides built into hay bales, tires to climb on and jump off, a train ride, jumpy cushion, apple picking, corn maze, corn pit and food--and I probably forgot something!

Nora and Madelyn going down the slides!

Bishop jumping off the tires!

Nora was SO happy to see Nana she wanted nothing to do with anyone else!

 Next up was the cow train ride! The kids all did great!

Nora all ready to go on her first train ride....and by herself! :)

Bishop, Nora and Madelyn

Just kicking back and enjoying the ride!

Jack just relaxed with Nana-he was perfectly content!

Here they come!

 Next up....the bouncy cushion! Bishop JUMPED AND JUMPED and JUMPED!

The dad's and the kids!

 Next up.....the corn pit!

She is definitely a Nana's girl! :)

Happy Jack with his beautiful mama!

My sweet and crazy boy, Bishop!

The Bormann's

Nana and her grandkids!

Nana and the babies!

 Next up...picking pumpkins!!  Bishop and Luke loved picking out the pumpkins and then BIshop insisted on pulling the wagon up the hill (it was HEAVY)!

 And finally.....a treat from Nana....Kettle Corn! Yummy!

It was a beautiful day and it was so fun to get out and spend some time with the Bormann's. Bishop and Nora absolutely love their cousins and it's so fun to watch them grow up together!

Friday Night Football

Last Friday night we took the kids to the SW Homecoming football game.  It was a beautiful night and the kids had a fun time eating their Ring Pops and playing in the bouncy house in the endzone of the field. Unfortunately the team didn't do so well and they lost pretty badly (to Washburn).

On the way home we were talking about the game and Bishop made the comment about how all the guys go BOOM (and tackle a lot). I asked if he wanted to play football and he said "NO, I don't want to go Boom! I just want to play basketball!"  We'll see how long we can convince him that that is a great idea! :)

Dad and the kids at the game

Mom and the kids at the game!

Ride to Rescue

A couple weeks ago I participated in my first Bike Tour (Ride to Rescue). It was held around Lake Pepin in Red Wing and it was a ride set up by Molly's uncle a few years ago to raise money for rescue dogs, breast cancer and now Multiple Myeloma. I did the 1/2, which was 35 miles and Luke biked 72 miles. I met the crew that did the full at the 1/2 point and biked back to Molly's parents place.  The first 1/2 it rained and was cool-but I got lucky and missed the rain.

I was a bit nervous as I had never ridden before and I don't have a road bike....and we were biking right on the Highway. In the end, it was a blast and I loved it! We stopped 1/2 way (through my 1/2) at the bar, so that helped break things up. It was fun to ride with others and have some pacers to keep up with!

Thanks to my parents for watching the kids so we could do this-it was a great day!

Family Weekend

We had a very nice family weekend! 

Friday night we went to the Hennum's and the kids enjoyed icecream cones together! You can really tell I need a new small camera or phone with a better camera, as the quality on these isn't the best. Regardless, I love the smiles (and the seriousness of eating icecream)!

Saturday we started the day off with a 25 mile bike ride. Luke checked the weather and we were supposed to be good for a couple of hours.....but it rained for most of our ride. Thankfully it wasn't TOO cold during the ride. The kids had had enough of the ride and decided they wanted to go to the zoo after we got home.....so we went to the zoo! We hadn't been there in a long time and it was especially fun for Nora--she laughed at all the animals and they both got really excited to see the animals!

After the zoo we tried to stop for dinner. Nora fell asleep on the way, so I stayed in the car with her while she napped while Bishop and Luke went in to order/eat. I woke Nora up after about a 1/2 hour or so.....and that was the end of our fun times for the afternoon. She was NOT happy and both kids were all wound up in the restuarant. We ate and left, very abruptly.

Saturday night the Moore's stopped by--the boys especially had a good time together. Nora was having a tough time going to bed so we sent Bishop and Danny up to check on her after we heard them commenting on how "Nora's STILL crying". We knew they were up to something as we could hear them running quite a bit......and none of us were too surprised to find Nora buried under all of their books.

 

The boys got warm running around (and watching movies) and they insisted on taking their shirts off.......they are 2 peas in a pod!

Show us your muscles!

Sunday was church/Sunday School and then a trip to the YMCA to go swimming. Bishop has wanted to go swimming for awhile now, so we went right after church and it was great because there weren't many people there. We swam for about a 1/2 hour or so until we were asked to get out.....someone had pooped in the pool. I'm glad we were able to swim for at least a 1/2 hour before leaving. 

After naps we walked/biked/ran down to the bandshell--stopped to climb a tree (he did NOT want me to take his picture--every time I did he jumped out of the tree) and ended up playing at the park!

Domino and Nora eating apples from the neighbors tree

 It was a wonderful weekend at home!