Snow Fun

It's only our second good snowfall of the winter and the kids aren't going to let it pass them by. Our yard wasn't good enough so they had to run off to the Historical Society's back yard. One plus about not having next door neighbors. Their yard becomes your extended yard.

Room-in-Waiting

With the exception of a few things our baby's room is ready to be filled. The crib is ready for it's fifth occupant, previously used by Seth, Samantha, Ethan and Jacob. Five babies, and it still looks as good as new. Seth's old dresser and night stand have been passed down to the baby's room, a new changing table is ready to be used and a nice brown rug lies on the floor.

Once baby comes, we'll get it geared towards a boy or a girl. But for now, it sits...

Shh, we're sleeping

Sam and I were hanging out on the recliner waiting for the boys to get home from fixing one of Grandpa Jim's trucks. Ocassionally Sam tries to say she is scared of being upstairs by herself. I would believe this if it was a constant issue. Since she hangs out upstairs and goes to bed on her own it makes it a less likely excuse.

I like the snuggle time, so I say okay. This time I said she could snuggle with me on the recliner as long as her eyes were closed. Within a few moments she was out cold. Holding a sleeping child has the same effect of holding a sleeping baby. It's hard to stay awake yourself.

FIRE

Moments after I pulled into my works parking lot I started getting a flood of calls. School has been cancelled because of an "electrical" fire. I was told the kids would be at the Methodist Church by the school. After getting off the phone with Sam's teacher, Mr. Schmidt, Mrs. Lindahl was calling about the same thing. I turned around and headed home. I wasn't able to get a hold of Nick so I figured he was still at home when the fire pager went off and was at the school now. About half way home I received yet another call. It was RCC informing me of the fire. Yup... I'm almost there! This would be the downfall of working 40 minutes from home.

We later found out that a 12 year old boy started a fire in the boys bathroom garbage can. School ended up being cancelled until Thursday due to all of the smoke that went through the ventilation system. This was great news for Seth - he was able to go trapping with Grandpa Jim all week. Sam on the other hand wasn't too happy because she wanted to be at school to see her friends.

Quality Time With Grandpa Jim

For the past few years, Seth has been asking to go trapping with Grandpa Jim and hunting with Nick. I haven't been comfortable with my boy going out and watching animals get shot or risk being shot himself. This year I decided to let go of my protectiveness... Well, kinda.

Seth asked Grandpa Jim if he could come with and without hesitation, Jim said of course. Seth was ecstatic. We found him a blaze orange hunting vest of Nick's, his water boots, and put on one of his many pairs of work jeans.

These will have to do until we can get to Gander Mountain to buy him his own vest and better boots. His rain boots didn't do too well keeping his feet warm in the creeks.

Off he went to set and check traps! We head all about his day. From where they went to what was found in each trap. He had an amazing time and can't wait to go again!!

Gathering of Friends

My Best Friend Melanie put together a baby shower of friends with the help of another friend Lori J. Dan's house was full of friends, coworkers and lots of kids. It was nice to see how many people cared enough to drive to Farmington for the shower. We got a lot of nice gifts from everyone that came. We played a few games, visited and watched the kids play.

Guests:

Seth & Samantha Brunner ~ Melanie & Maddie Janke ~ Lori Johnson

Amanda Hackman ~ Cole & Gianna Juliano ~ Jenni McSherry

Amy, Hanna & Hailey Parmley ~ Loriann & Marlee Lane ~ Lola Swiggum

Kate Magnuson ~ Jenny Endres ~ Shelly & Kiara Brochman

Sommer, Ethan and Jacob Stafford ~ Meredith Bauch ~ Krista Otte

Jodi, Josh & JoHanna Taylor ~ Nichole (Nacho) & Marc Nielson

A Reward

I made a deal with Seth back in May that if he finished another reading chart at school that I would take him to a water park as a reward. He needed to read and test on two books per week for four weeks. This seems easy to accomplish, but Seth was lacking motivation to read/test on more than one book a week. I wasn't sure if he could do it. But he did! Our summer became a little too packed with other activities (like always) so we didn't make it there until today.

Seth and Sam taking on the Boogie Boards.

They are naturals - It must be from all the practicing they did in Florida.