October

It has been a very long time since I updated. Lots of fun stuff has happened.

First off, I got away for a weekend with my girlfriends the second weekend of September. It was great to have some time away and to see the girls. The weather was gloomy but the company was awesome, as was the resort. We stayed at Ludlow's Resort on Lake Vermillion. I'd certainly recommend it if someone is looking for a peaceful get-away.

While I was off enjoying myself, my sister was taking care of Jake and Ben. It was the first time they have ever stayed at her house. Everyone did great. Jake had a little homesick moment but a talk on the phone with his Dad cleared it up. Dad was busy working at home and setting up Jake's new bunkbeds. He was pretty excited about them when we got home!

Everyday Ben continues to change. He's interested in a doing everything that a 3 year old might want to do. Needless to say, he's often frustrated. Jake and Ben have been finding moments of real play between them. It's a lot of effort on Jake's part and he's been doing a wonderful job.

I'm including a picture of Ben wearing his new shoes. He's never had actual shoes on his feet before and I was starting to get worried that it would be a battle. Well, he surprised me once again. He absolutely loved them. He sat patiently while I put them on and then giggled the minute he started walking in them. He must have run up and down the hallway a dozen time, stopping occassionally to check out his feet and have a little giggle.

The weekend after the boys stayed with the Evenochecks we headed back to Cambridge for Gabe's 4th Birthday party. Everyone had a great time. Jake still can't figure out why they want to live sooooo far away from us. The drive is torture for him. He thinks that they could easily build a house right next to Grandpa Ken's garage.

This picture is of Gabe opening his gift from Jake. It is R2-D2 - I guess he has taken a liking to Star Wars.
While Gabe was opening presents Grandpa Ken and Ben were bonding in the living room...

The Celebration

The big birthday bash for our 1 year old was a success! I think everyone had a nice time - Ben actually loved all the excitement. All day long he was following grandma and me around the house complaining but as soon as the festivities started, he was awesome. He really is a complainer - you should hear him sometimes. It gets to be kind of funny. I can about imagine what he'll all have to say when the words start coming out.

Friday was also dentist day for Jake. He's been to the dentist a few times but this time he had to have 2 cavities filled. He really did great. I wasn't sure how it was going to go because he was getting skiddish the closer we got to the dentist. I had to coax him in the chair but after that all went well. Of course the gas that they gave him helped out a bit! Even after the appt he was a champ - sleeping lips and cheeks and all! We went grocery shopping and birthday gift shopping for Ben. It helped that he had a stressful appt right before - it was pretty easy to convince his mother to buy him something too!

My mom was over today making homemade chili - I have so many tomatoes that we had to do something with some of them. She helped me make a huge batch so we could freeze a bunch. It turned out great. If anyone is up for canning pears - let me know. I have 50 lbs of them. I don't know what I was thinking when I ordered them!

I'm going to post a bunch of new pictures - I'm still a believer that they are more fun than words.


Grandpa Ken and Ben playing at the birthday party.


Jake helping Ben - or something like that!


Grandma Linda gave Ben a new sippy - as you can see
he liked it right away. It was his favorite.


Having a bit of cake...

Happy Birthday

Benjamin Turns 1!

Oh yes, it was a grand day. I can't believe he's 1 already, where does the time go? We really didn't do anything special for the day, other than go for a drive so Ben could experience what it was like to see where we are going in the car rather than where we've been. He thinks that having his carseat face foward is the coolest thing ever. Whenever I sneak a peak at him he gets a great big smile on his face. He has always hated getting into his carseat and now he hardly protests (though I'm sure this is short term - the fun will wear off).

We had planned to have cake after supper but both boys were too tuckered out. Jake fell asleep running an errand with Curt at 7pm and Ben was asleep shorter after. We'll celebrate Friday night with some family and a 'smash' cake.

Jake was busy over Labor Day weekend. He and Curt went to the I-94 raceway for some father-son fun. They had a blast. It wasn't just the typical races, they had all sorts of other things (rollover contest, tag team races, skid cars, monster truck, etc.). If you want to know what any of those things are or how it went, just give Jake a call. He also got to spend some time at Lake Maria playing, he spent a whole day with G & G Bergmann at Amy's house, then got to spend the night at the Lake and the whole next day with grandma. I think that might have been why he was soooo tired on Wednesday!

Next weekend I get to spend some much needed time with some girlfriends. Amber, Jo, Kim and I are heading to Lake Vermillion for a few days. The boys are staying with Amy. I can't wait!

Not a whole lot of other news. The busy season is starting for Curt so if anyone is looking to do something one night, let me know -- we'll be all alone most of the time.

I apologize for not updating. We've been busy, not sure doing what, just busy.



Well Jake has yet another friend. This time a salamander. We came home from the Kandiyohi County Fair and it was just waiting right on our cement pad. Just like it was looking for a nice boy to take care of it. Well, maybe not, but Jake thought it was awesome. This was the hardest one to convince him to let go. He had it for quite a few days.





Speaking of the fair - the guys go every year to Willmar to pull their semis at the County Fair. This year we took Jake along. Waiting for the semis was a bit long so Jake and I spent some time walking around checking out the animals and watching some of a horse show. Jake actually sat better for the horse show than the tractor pull! Curt told Jake that he could ride along in the semi while he was pulling - after that promise he wished he hadn't mentioned it, but Jake certainly didn't forget the promise. In the end I think he was good luck - Curt took 1st, beating Cory, which is very unusual. Jake was thrilled - he fell asleep holding the trophy on the way home. I wish I would have had a picture of that. Jake looks crabby on this picture, but he wasn't - just didn't want to smile for me!



Ben is as busy as ever. He's walking quite a bit now. Crawling is still much faster but he often chooses to walk instead. He's still busy trying to climb on everything. I'm not sure how we're going to keep tabs on him because he manages to open the doors and get outside already. We'll be having his 1st birthday soon - I can't believe that it has been that long already.

Our in-house sitter will be finishing up this week since school is starting soon. I'll miss that. The boys will be starting daycare at the Funny Farm Day Nursery - Melissa Poepping. They've already spent some time there and they both seem to enjoy it.

Curt, his brother and dad spent some time cleaning out their manure pit at the farm. They are going to close it up. This picture is of Jake and Brent playing on one side of the pit wall. The boys think it is a great place to play!

The next few weekends will be pretty busy. This coming weekend Johnny Holm is playing in New Munich on Friday night and Hairball on Saturday night. Lots more stuff planned too. Jake asked me again today if we could go camping before it gets cold out. We'll have to see!



Ben is starting to self feed - here he is trying a bit of yogurt.

Camping with the Budde's

We spent 3 days last week camping with Mike, Jolene, Carter, Taylor, Katelyn & Jack. It was a blast. We borrowed Cory's camper and met the Budde gang at Canary Beach Resort in Villard. Curt wasn't so sure about it on Wednesday but by Thursday afternoon he was into the camping routine. It is easy to enjoy it when the kids are having such a good time. I don't really know if Ben had a good time but he sure was a trooper through all of it. We got to do some fishing off the pontoon, fishing off the dock, swimming, paddling in some small boats, biking and lots of visiting. Now Jake not only thinks we should buy a camper but he'd like a pontoon as well.

Saturday we visited Gabe at G & G Bergmann's and did some more fishing off the dock. Early afternoon we headed to my aunt Joanie's house on Little Birch Lake for a Bergmann get together. It has been a very long time since we've had one. Once again the boys did awesome - played in the sand and water and had a blast. I was suffering a little due to the fact that I burnt my back terribly while fishing with Jake earlier that day. Dumb -- it is still as red as ever today and hurts like a bear. It was my refresher course to not do that again for the next 15 years.

Sunday Curt and Jake went back to the lake to catch more fish. Jake really likes to fish and it getting quite good at it. By the time they were finished they had enough to bring home and clean. We had them for supper tonight.

Wednesday we plan to spend some more time at the lake with the Middendorf's at Jeske's cabin. I think Jake might spend the night at Grandma Marilyn's after that. Mom is off this week because she had knee surgery last week. She's doing pretty well but it is still a bit stiff.

This week is the Stearns County Fair. We might go on Friday for Kid's day and I think Jake and Curt are planning to go to the demo Friday night.

Can't believe we are on the downslide of summer -- it went way too fast!!
By the way - I don't miss my long hair even a little bit.



Jo's Taylor enjoying the paddle boats.


The 'old' camping buddies.


Jo's Katelyn - she's supposed to be looking for frogs.


Jake and Mom paddling the boats (this is after the first attempt in which I sunk the boat)


Finally getting to roast marshmellows - don't let the face fool you - he was having a grand time.

New Do!

Well, I did it. I cut off my hair. Funny thing is that Amber just did the same thing! I read her blog yesterday and had my appt that night. I wasn't sure if it would be long enough to donate to Locks of Love. I had decided if it was close, I'd wait otherwise I was still getting it cut. It was long enough! I'll post some pictures tonight.

We are going camping tomorrow for two nights. Jake is pretty excited. The only bad part is that now I'll be reminded everyday that he wants a camper. We are going to Canary Beach with Mike and Jolene and their kids. If the weather is good it should be a great time.

We spent a little time fishing off the dock on Sunday night at my parent's. Jake was having a blast. We caught a bass, 2 rock bass, and 4 sunnies. Bad part was that his silly mom didn't have the basket quite right and they escaped! Jake wasn't too upset and it made the decision of keeping them a lot easier.

Ben is as busy as ever. He can clap his hands now and wave bye bye. He has been waving for a long time but last night was the first time he waved when I said bye bye. It was pretty cute. He can stand on his own and go from squatting into standing without holding onto anything. No steps yet. I'll post again after the camping adventure.

A few new pictures...

Yet another friend for Jake.

The boys 'wrestling'. (Jake is learning how to have fun and not hurt Ben)

Toad Heaven... 3 new friends in one night!

It was a great 4th of July weekend for us. We had a chance to do a little bit of everything. Friday we went to the Ward Spring's parade and visited with the Bergmann relatives at Dave's afterward. After a 3 hour nap for most of the house we went out to Lake Maria to visit with the camping crew. The biggest hit and probably most exciting event of the weekend was that Jake went tubing! Carly went in the tube with him but he did awesome and loved it.

Saturday was windy and hot so Curt decided to get some work done and Jake rode with in the truck. It made for a nice afternoon at home with Ben for me. We actually had some quiet play time. That night we went to Feldewerd's for supper and some more visiting.

Sunday was the annual Feldewerd get together at the JC park in Melrose. It was nice - lots of food like normal. Jake was having a blast playing in the water from the spigot there - anyone who has had a school outing at the JC park knows which one I am talking about. After that party we went to a pool party. Ben almost slept the entire time in the truck, which was nice since he's a handful to keep after these days.

After all that visiting it was early to bed on Sunday night and back to 'normal' on Monday.

Tomorrow night I am going out with some friends and Ben and Jake are visiting with Pam and company. I'm sure it will be well enjoyed by all.

That's all for now - oh one more thing - we caught a turtle to add to the list of creatures visiting our house. Curt has seen some baby deer tracks in the backyard so we're hoping to get a glance of that as well. Jake was already asking if we could catch it!