Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

To the best dad in the world......thank you so much for all you've done for me and now my family! You are simply amazing and I've always looked to you for guidance, support and advice! I love talking with you! I appreciate how hard you worked to provide so many wonderful experiences for me, growing up! I respect you and the decisions you've made and how you handle so many different situations! Thanks for everything! You are so special to Bishop and Nora! We all love you so much!

Happy Father's day to Luke! He's wanted roller skis for awhile now and he got them for Father's Day! I'm excited for him to start using them and to see how he likes them!

Daddy and his daughter

So sweet!

Luke, you are an amazing father! I love how involved you are in your kids' lives! Thank you for working so hard to provide for our family, you are such a positive influence on Bishop and Nora! Thanks for all you do! We love you so much!

Rich, I'm sorry we weren't able to celebrate with you this weekend--we hope to see you soon! Thanks for being such a wonderful father-in-law and Grandpa!

We had a great day! The kids had spent the night at Nana and Papa's in Owatonna, since we were at Rock The Garden, so Luke and I went out for a quiet breakfast at The Egg and I. We cleaned up at home a bit and then drove down to pick up the kids.

It rained quite a bit, but cleared off enough to finish our night at SeSalt for dinner! It was a beautiful night and fun to be together celebrating!!

Dirty Benjamin

Like I mentioned in my last post, on Saturday Luke rode in an insane bike ride. It's called The Dirty Benjamin. It was a 107 bike ride on dirt roads on a single speed bike. There was no "help" on the course (since there wasn't an entry fee). This means there were no water stops, etc. They were able to drop a bag at the 1/2 way point, but otherwise they were on their own!

Luke biked with his good friend, Tony and due to a wrong turn they ended up biking 113 miles!!  They had to print out all of the turns to know where they were going!

They caught up with a friend of a friend, who ended up helping Luke out a ton! Luke had a flat tire and a problem with his chain and his new friend helped him out tremendously!

Luke said the weather was perfect. They got rained on, but it was a welcome break and it helped pack down the dirt and made the roads not quite so dusty.

Luke said it was one of the hardest things he's ever done and understandably so!

These two guys biked for 7+ hours and were on the course for 8+ hours!

They finished, ate, showered and joined myself and a bunch of our friends at Rock the Garden! They got to RTG at 7:30, just in time to hear Trampled By Turtles!

I am so proud of you, Luke! Way to go!

Play Date

Luke rode in a 107 mile bike race yesterday (I'll devote another post to that), so I hosted a playdate with some of my hs friends and their boys! It was a crazy, fun time! :) There were 8 kids and 5 moms here and we were missing 2 boys and a mom!

It was fun to see the boys interact with one another. Bishop had a hard time sharing at first, but he settled down and ended up having a great time!

Anna and her boys, Christian and Sawyer!

Liam-he looks so old here!

Bishop and Oliver eating their popsicles in the tent

I just got a new camera lens, and I was playing with some different settings on the camera, which is why these pictures look the way they do!

Here they are! One of Anna's boys was taking a nap, so he missed the picture (I think it was Sawyer).

Christian (or Sawyer), Oliver, Myles, Nora, Bishop, Liam and Griffin

I've been friends with these girls for the majority of my life (one since Kindergarden)!! It's so neat to think some of these kids will be friends for even longer!

Accident on the Playground

**I have attached a picture that involves blood--if that bothers you, stop reading now.

On Wednesday night I picked the kids up and Bishop wanted to go biking. Since Luke wasn't home, I put Nora in the bjorn and told Bishop he could either bike to the lake and bike home (not to the bandshell) or to the school and we'd play on the playground. He choose the school.

He biked over to the school and Paul and Johnny were getting there at the same time, so he was really excited to see Johnny. They were playing on the playground and Bishop was all over the place. Since it's a middle school the "activities" at the playground are for older kids. There are a couple of slides and then some "pods" you walk across that move, so it requires a lot of balance. There was one area where Bishop definitely needed some help to move from pod to pod and there was one area where he could go on the pods on his own. He would do this over and over and over again and he was doing really well! I was VERY impressed it could maneuver across the pods so well.

I had just helped him across the pods he needed help with when he stepped off the platform to the pods he had just gone on 5 times in a row....he missed the pod and fell off the platform, scraping the back of his head on the platform and basically landing on his head. I saw it all happen (which isn't always a good thing). Thank god for Paul. I was a mess....there was blood everywhere and he was sobbing and screaming! I had Nora in the bjorn and thankfully Paul stepped right in....he didn't think twice and got his hands in the middle of the bloody mess to see how big the gash was. It was a little hard to tell since his hair was covering the cut and of course it hurt for us to touch it. I gave Nora to Paul and finally got Bishop settled down (after Paul informed me he didn't think he needed stitches).  I would say he cried for 5 minutes at the most and then he wanted to keep playing and do it all again!!! This boy is crazy! :)

He was crying when we left because he wanted to stay. I carried both kids home on my hips, while Paul carried the bike. Luke still wasn't home when we got home, but I had Bishop settled down. I tried to clean up the cut, but he wouldn't let me. Luke gave Bishop a bath when he got home and we decided there wasn't a deep enough gash for stitches! It looked much worse than it was!

I believe this is the beginning of a summer with a two year old boy! I'm so thankful he's so tough!!

Nora's 4 months old!

It's hard to believe, but Nora is 4 months old already!!

She had her 4 month check up on Tuesday and she's doing great!

Here are some latest updates for Nora......

She weighs 13lbs 14 oz (57%)
25 1/4 in (85%)
Head: 41.4cm (63%)
She has rolled from her tummy to her back and her back to her tummy! Not often or very much, but she's done it, which is a little ahead of schedule.

The past few days she's really started grasping her toys. She can take her paci out of her mouth (which she loves having in) and she tries to put it back in. She can grab onto Sophie, the giraffe, and bring it to her mouth! When laying on her activity mat she pulls her toys towards her.

She continues to smile, all the time and be a very content, sweet baby girl! She just melts my heart!

She has been battling a cold most of her life (literally) and has a cough that has come with it in the past few days. Saturday night she had a temp of 101, but it came down with Tylenol and some cold wash cloths on her forehead. Her cold has gotten her up more at night, so she hasn't slept quite as well this past week. We're hoping that improves soon! Although--the middle of the night cuddles aren't the worst!

I love you so much, Nora Sunde!!

Play Date with Mitchell and Ethan

Sunday was another busy, fun day! We had Nora's 4 month pictures taken by Matt at his house (just south of Cannon Falls). Cameron, Matt's 5 year old son, showed Bishop around and Bishop loved it-he followed him everywhere! Cameron is such a hoot-he talks nonstop and is hilarious! Matt and Leah also have a daughter who will be four this fall and a 6 month old, Keaton. They are such a neat family....so nice and thoughtful!

I'm so excited to see how the pictures turn out! I saw one of Nora and it was beautiful-Matt does such a nice job and they always make us feel at home! Leah made us lunch and insisted we stay and join them! It was another hot day (mid 90's)!

We drove back up to meet Bishop's friends, Mitchell and Ethan at the park, for a playdate. Mitchell will be leaving Kindercare and his mom organized a playdate to get the boys together. They had a lot of fun together! We met at a park with a wading pool, so it was perfect for Bishop to cool off in!

Mitchell, Ethan, Bishop

Mitchell, Ethan, Bishop

 The boys all got on the tire swing for a ride! It was Bishop's first time swinging on the tire swing. He was all smiles at first....absolutely LOVING it and all of a sudden it got going too fast and he turned green and looked sick! We stopped and he got off....he got his bearings and got back on for more!

It was hard to get a picture while they were swining!

Holding on for dear life and loving it!

It was another fun day in the sun! Summer is great!

Bishop climbing the chain ladder!

Nora's Baptism

On Saturday morning we celebrated Nora's Baptism, at our house!

Father Alberic is a family friend of the Froehle's. He baptized Luke, in his house, when he was a baby. He baptized Bishop in our house and he baptized Nora in our house on Saturday! It was such a special ceremony and day! Nora did great and didn't flinch at all when the water was poured on her head.

Bishop enjoyed the day too! It was a HOT day, but the kids loved playing outside in the bouncy house (thanks, Kahlert's for letting us borrow it). Tim and Liana are Nora's god parents, so it was fun to have them be a part of the day, along with Siena and Maia too! Bishop kept busy with Siena, Maia and Madelyn!

I made it a point to get a picture of everyone with Nora. I feel absolutely terrible, that the only people I didn't get a picture of with Nora was Shelly, Ryan and Madelyn! I'm SO SO sorry, Shelly!! I gets so crazy with the kids running around--we'll get a special picture of you with her SOON!

Nora wore a special dress that her cousin, Madelyn also wore when she was baptized! Thanks, Madelyn!

Grandpa Rich and Nora

Father Alberic and Nora

Grandma and Nora

Nana and Nora

Great Grandma Darlene and Nora

Baptism Ceremony 

Bishop helping out during the ceremony

Baptismal water

Blessing of "the mother"

Blessing of "the father"

A Happy Child of God

Nora and her godmother, Liana

The Froehle's-this was the best we could do with an uncooperative Bishop

Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Jake

Nora with her god parents, Liana and Tim

Nana, Papa and Nora

Madelyn, such a happy girl!

Great Grandpa Ray and Great Grandma Darlene with Nora

Maia, Siena and Nora

Great Grandpa Arnie and Great Grandma Marlys with Nora (she had an outfit change)!  :)

Auntie Shelly and Madelyn! Beautiful girls!

Relaxing with dad after the great day!

It was a very special day for a very special girl!! Thank you to everyone who made it a very special day! We are proud that you are a child of God, Nora! We love you very much!