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!

Creepy Crawlers

Since the bunny appeared in our garage we've had lots of other temporary family members. There's been June bugs, May flies, snakes, toads, worms and Jake really would have liked to have a Dragon fly. Good thing this mom isn't too squeamish about any of them. Jake's favorite, by far, are toads. Today he hit the jackpot! Look at the size of this toad. I wish I would have had him on video tape when he came running in the garage with it. He was so excited. We kept it for most of the day in a 5 gallon pail and then he let him loose. At first I had a hard time convincing him to release his new found friends but he is starting to understand that they to be let go in order to survive.

Ben is our busy bee. He's into everything these days. Being outside is a little challenging because he isn't content in his stroller anymore and there are just too many things for him to eat while he's crawling on the ground. In the house he's into all the cupboards, up on anything he can climb on, standing next to everything, and even taking a few guided steps between things. If things continue this way he'll be our athlete and Jake will be our politician.

Tomorrow we are going to spend a few hours at the NICU 20 year anniversary party. I thought it might be interesting so we are going to try to go. It will just be me and the boys so we probably won't stay too long.

I spent a little time weeding my garden last night - it is doing quite well despite the fact that the weeds have taken over. I would have finished but the mosquitoes decided that I was their bedtime snack. I was pretty much fully clothed, sprayed with repellent and I still had about 25 bites. Yikes! I guess next time I'll have to do it in the heat of the day. Apparently radishes are quite strong when they are small. Jake wanted to try one and so we picked one and cleaned it up. He made quite the face when he bit into it. I tried it and made the same face! It was more like eating a hot pepper.

That's all for now. Enjoy your weekend.

What we've been doing...

Summer has brought about a few changes and lots of fun at our house. First of all we decided to have someone come into our house for child care for the summer. I was soooo excited. It would allow me to leave earlier and get home earlier and the kids to sleep in. Needless to say - Jake isn't found of it. It has been a bit of a struggle since Amanda started. He is fine when he's at home with her but wants to call me and cries if I talk to him. He has admitted a few times that they did have fun. :) I'm sure by the end of summer he'll be loving it and then it will be time to switch back to daycare mode. Oh well.

We've been spending some time at the park, visiting grandparents, visiting with my brothers (they were both home for week), we've gone to a parade, played outside, broke out the pool, tended the garden, played with friends and cousins and lots of other stuff. I'm posting more pictures - I think they tell the story the best.

Hope you are all well.

Bunny in the Loader?

I was a little surprised when I walked into the garage tonight to help Jake with bubbles. He was standing next to his loader with a giant grin on his face. I was startled until I realized it was a bunny and not some other creature. Jake just said "I won't dump it." Alley was sitting patiently by the step waiting to get her catch back. Jake said when he walked into the garage it was just sitting by Alley so he put it in his loader. This was my first lesson in what little boys (and their cats) will bring home. He put it in the long grass - seemed better than just letting the cat have it back.