Last night of Soccer

Bishop had his last week of soccer last Tuesday. We were on the verge of rain and it was cool, but they got the "game" in and it was probably the best night yet! There were no "escapes" to the playground and he played and paid attention the entire night!

The little sisters were all at the game on Tuesday too! They enjoyed playing their own little game of soccer on the sidelines!

Bishop enjoyed soccer...although some weeks (and times) more than others. I guess that's to be expected for a three year olds first exposure to organized sports, especially with 3 of his best buddies--there were lots of distractions, but he learned about the game and was able to burn some energy! I'm looking forward to soccer as he gets older!

Aliyana, Nora, Carolyn

Team picture with Coach Ricky--this about sums it up!!

On Wednesday morning I flew to Chicago for a couple of appointments. I met up with a counter part and the National Sales manager and then we all drove to Milwaukee together for a conference on Thursday. I got home late Thursday night (in time to see Bishop before he fell asleep)! Grandpa and Grandma came while I was away and the kids enjoyed reading with them!

Weekend Fun

It was another fun weekend for the Froehle's. Friday night we started out by having the Heller's over for a last minute, casual dinner. Bishop, Liam and Nora had a great time playing together--and it's always fun to spend time with good friends. Max is getting so big--it was so fun to see him!

Saturday morning Luke took off for a 75 mile bike ride around Lake Pepin in Red Wing. He was gone most of the day...so I took Bishop to his last swimming lesson (we'll resume in the fall) and Nora got to spend some time with one of her old teachers, Becky. Everyone had a great time!

Bishop kicking on the green frog-he loved it!

All smiles for the last session of swimming lessons! :)

After swimming the kids and I walked to the "Green" park, as Bishop has named it. It's the park at the school at the end of our block. We hung out there, went swinging and played on the playground. The kids thought riding in the swing together was a blast!

Wheee!!

CHEESE!

 Shelly and Madelyn came over to play for the afternoon. We were quite busy playing inside, outside, down the block, at the neighbors shooting baskets, playing with chalk, bubbles, having lunch and finally a nap! The kids had a blast together and took late naps, so by the time they woke up Luke was just about home!  We were home Saturday night as a family, which was a perfect way to end the day.

We started today off by going to church and then visiting Baby Freddie! Bishop and Nora had a great time playing with Livi, while I got to hold Freddie for a long time while he slept--it was great!! We had brunch, hung out, caught up and let the kids play until it was nap time!

It was such a beautiful day that we ended it by going to SeSalt! The line for ordering our food was really long....but the kids did great and Luke and I tag-teamed standing in line.

We passed the time in line with ice cream cones--everyone was happy! :)

Nora and Bishop playing in the bikes--they had a blast!

Waiting for food while listening to live music!

My little girl showing a little attitude! ;)

Running to the car....and his shorts fell down!! We had to stop and laugh--and then quickly pull them back up! :)

It was a really fun weekend and one that I'm sad to see come to an end! I looked at Luke tonight while eating dinner (the kids love shrimp and calamari at SeSalt) and said.......I love our family!

Memorial Day with the McGovern's

We spent our Memorial Day weekend in Appleton, WI with the McGovern's! It was a very fun weekend and we ALL had a great time! The kids did great on the drives and sleeping went well there too!

Bishop quickly fell in love with Carrie, although he calls her Cherry! Saturday morning he woke up and in a very serious tone said "Mom, I just love Cherry SO much"! He listened to her every word and we used that to help us out for one of the temper tantrums he had! :) Thanks, Cherry!

Fintan and Bishop

Saturday we went to a state park and went on a short hike. Fintan was such a good helper with Nora..it was so sweet!

Fintan helping Nora hike!

Taking a break on the hike

 After the state park we went to a neighborhood park to fly kites and play on the playground.

Stella and Fintan on the big swings

Nora climbing up to go down the slide

Whee!! Swinging!

Bishop flying his Buzz Lightyear Kite!

Luke and Margot--she is such a good baby! She didn't cry all weekend!

 Saturday night we grilled steaks and hung out in the McGovern's backyard. They have a sport court in their backyard and Bishop shot baskets ALL weekend long! He was in heaven!

Sunday, Cherry and I went out for a few hours--we did a little shopping and went out for lunch. When we got back Luke and Ryan went to the new Star Trek movie. Sunday night we went to Carrie's parents for a BBQ. It was a great day!

Fintan, Bishop and Cherry! :)

Bishop and his favorite gal of the weekend! :)

We took off on Monday morning to drive home. It was such a fun weekend! Thank you SO much, McGovern's! Your house is awesome and we appreciated you letting us stay with you all weekend! We miss you already and we can't wait to see you again!!! 

T-Ball, Soccer, Yogurt and Rain

We signed Bishop up for T-Ball at "school" this spring...so he gets 4 weeks (one day a week for 4 weeks) of t-ball. I was working from home on the first day of t-ball, so I drove over to check it out for a few minutes. I watched from the car at first...and then walked over to take a few pictures. It was pretty fun and I was amazed at how well he listened to his teachers! :) All the kids got a chance to bat, field and play catch (then I left). 

Henry Kruger (Bishop's best friend at school) and Bishop

WATCH OUT!

Playing catch with Rashad

We've had quite a bit of rain the past couple of weeks (it feels more like April than the end of May), and my mom got Nora a rain jacket off craigslist while we were on the North Shore...so I had to take a picture of her in it. It's a bit big, but it gets the job done! ;)

This is statement/post is entirely for my journal purposes, and not to brag about my son.....but last week at soccer, Bishop had a blast! They got to play the "tail game", where they each put jerseys in the back of their shorts and they had to dribble the ball around to avoid the coaches...then they all ran around chasing each other and trying to get each other's tails! :) At the end of every practice they scrimmage and last week Bishop's team won 3-2 and Bishop scored all 5 goals (he helped the other team out!) ;)

Bishop in green, chasing after Leo in orange

Bishop chasing coach Ricky

Nora has grown up quite a bit in the past couple of weeks. She insists on eating at her table now (and not in her highchair). She also likes to feed herself, which is often interesting! On this morning, she was eating yogurt! ;)

May 17th, 2013

On Friday May 17th, 2013 Luke and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary! We celebrated together on the North Shore and stayed at Bluefin Bay. I'd have to say this weekend away was JUST what we needed. We've traveled a fair amount without the kids, but this was our first time away without the kids, ALONE! It reminded me of our trip to Bluefin exactly 10 years ago (our very first trip away), as we hiked, relaxed, drank wine and thoroughly enjoyed our time alone together!

We drove up Thursday night and stopped at Fitgers on the way for a beer. By the time we got to Bluefin it was a little later, but we unpacked and stopped at the bar for some food.

Friday we went on a few smaller, shorter hikes. We hiked up to Caribou Falls and we also took a hike to Sugarloaf. We took a nap in the afternoon...ahhh....and then went on one more hike later that afternoon to Carlton Peak. We went back, sat in the hot tub and then celebrated our anniversary by enjoying a bottle of wine from our honeymoon, while watching our wedding video and having some good cheese and salami! We ate at Bluefin again that night.

Saturday we hiked up to Eagle Mountain. The highest point in Minnesota. We'd done this hike before and it was a little drizzly/cloudy, but it wasn't too bad. I had a sore ankle, so that slowed me down a bit and the trail was wet in some places (and even snow), but we made it to the top, where we rewarded ourselves with a glass of wine. We always used to hike with a bottle of wine, but we no longer do that with the kids, so that was a fun treat!

We hiked down and treated ourselves to massages....a hot tub, more wine from our honeymoon and another fun night eating out at Bluefin!

Sugarloaf

Hike up to Caribou Falls

Caribou Falls

Caribou Falls

Carlton Peak

Eagle Mountain

Enjoying wine at the top of Eagle Mountain

It's been a fun 5 years....and I won't lie, it hasn't been "easy", but we are blessed and we work everyday to appreciate all we've been given and to not take anything for granted (even the temper tantrums)! :) Happy Anniversary, Luke! I know one thing for sure--you are a good, good man and and we'll always have fun, no matter where life takes us! To the next 5 (and we promised, we wouldn't wait 5 more years to get away just the 2 of us)! ;)

A very special thank you to our parents for watching the kids so we could enjoy some time away! We wouldn't have enjoyed our time away quite as much if it wasn't for you.....so THANK YOU!

Nora's 15 months

Nora turned 15 months on Saturday. I can't believe she's 15 months old already! I believe Nora will always be my "sweet Nora" and that comes with her temper tantrum side too! ;) Her smile and giggle make up for it all though...... Here are some updates on Nora.

Weight: 25 lb 4 oz (83%)
Height: 31 1/4in (75%)
Head: 47.5cm (89%)

• She's wearing size 18 month clothing
• She's wearing size 4 diapers
• She's wearing size 5 1/2 shoes
• She's becoming more attached to her blankies, she likes to snuggle up and be comfy with them...even during the day
• We took her paci away around 14 months, so she no longer uses it at all (even at nighttime)-it was a relatively easy transition. The first night she was missing it and after that she was fine!
• She likes to drink milk (whole milk)...it took awhile for her to adjust to cow's milk, but she's fine with it now
• She is a very good eater--she's not the biggest fan of meats, but she'll eat most anything else
• She's a tough girl-she can stick up for herself and lately she's starting taking Bishop's toys from him....so we've had a little sibling fighting lately--I think it's payback time for all the times he took her toys and she couldn't do anything about it
• She LOVES balls--especially basketballs
• She's an active girl
• She has a lot of "words".....mama, dada, wawa (water), nana, papa, ball, HI!, buh-bye, nigh, nigh, uh-oh, no, moo, baa, neigh, Bishop (but it sounds nothing like Bishop, it's more like Ba ba), up, wow, yeah....I'm sure I've forgotten some, but that's the majority of them
• she loves dogs and will spot them from a mile away--she makes this really funny sound when she sees them (like she's barking at them)
• She's a little ham. No matter what she's doing if she sees me get out the camera she looks, smiles and says "cheeeeese"
• She does not want to miss out on anything....she wants to be wherever Bishop is
• She LOVES to go outside--she'll bring us her shoes, hat, coat and multiple pairs of shoes for us to put on too

Nora is still battling ear infections. She woke up on Monday morning and both her ears were draining (a considerable amount). Thankfully she had her 15 month appt that day, so I addressed it with her ped. He took a sample of the drainage to culture and we're waiting on the results of that. Her ENT offered to put in bigger tubes and to remove her adenoids, as that is something I asked about. Both her ENT and ped agree she should not be continuing to have this many ear infections. Her tubes should have dried up her ears by now. The positives are--we are able to tell when she has an infection because of the drainage and it's not as painful for her.....the treatment is ear drops, which is easier and better for her than antibiotics. I realize things could be much worse--I'm so thankful she's a very happy and healthy girl, we just hope to rid her of ear infections for good!

To our happy girl! You are an absolute true joy! Thanks for all the smiles, hugs, kisses and love--we love you bigger than the sky!

Walking with Worms

Luke was out of town, fishing, this past weekend, so on Friday Nora went to my parents and Bishop and I had a little date night. He chose to play basketball at our neighbors and eat "green icecream" at home (I was secretly hoping to go to Sebastian Joe's)! ;)

Saturday morning he had swimming lessons and he got to ride in a boat in the pool! He had no problem getting in and he thought it was pretty fun!

Bishop's in the front of the boat!

After swimming lessons we drove down to Owatonna to spend the rest of our weekend there. We visited Great Grandpa Arnie.....

The kids helped Papa pick up sticks in the yard......

The kids helped Papa dig a hole to look for worms............

Bishop became pretty excited about the worms he found.......

We went for a walk to the park, to visit the ducks and Bishop had to bring his worms along (and he dressed himself).......

And we celebrated Mother's Day on Sunday ( updated in another post). It was a really fun weekend in Owatonna--thanks mom and dad for all the help! :)