summer synopsis (so far)

Just some photos of what we've been doing...

 Golfing (sweet socks, kid)

 MANY trips to Home Depot for our big landscaping project in the backyard.

 Visiting Grandmas' and Grandpas' houses on lakes...

Here's Luke "burning" marshmallows (as he calls it).

Andrew says "Can you make mine red? I don't like brown."

 The little speck of a child is Andrew riding his 4-wheeler at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

 More golfing...

Adam LOVES taking them to the golf course, and they're actually pretty good!

 Andrew contemplating which club to use.

 Tour of a fire truck (in the Home Depot parking lot).

It was customer appreciation day and the boys got "achoos" (tattoos) and hot dogs - pretty exciting!

 More boating - this time at the other grandma and grandpa's house. 

The boys like to help Dad push off the dock.

 Waiting for the fireworks to start on the lake at 10:00pm. 

Yep, everyone was still up! (even me)

 We took the monkeys to the zoo.

 They liked this $0.50 four-wheeler ride the best that day.

 We could've gone to Coburn's and I would have paid $0.10 for the horse ride instead.

 Swimming again - they are getting really brave!!

 Fishing!  Andrew caught this fish and smiled for his picture.

(really, will I EVER get a decent smile?)

Luke caught this fish (it mysteriously looks very similar to Andrew's fish), but this is the closest he would get.

Note Grandma's legs bracing him to get his picture taken with the fish. 

Shaggy is still kickin' in the bottom corner of the photo and he liked the fish the best.

So yes, we've been having a LOT of fun this summer! 

summertime is the best time

Were you worried about us? So sorry. I'm taking this summer relaxation thing to a whole new level. A level where I don't check voicemails, facebook, pinterest, emails and instead sit, play, read and sit some more. But, now I'm back. :)

The best part about being a teacher is right when you've had all you can take from students, co-workers, paperwork deadlines, eating cold lunch in 5 minutes flat, using your brain to think of what you can possibly do to help Timmy, Tommy, Bobby or whoever learn something, a magical thing happens...and it's called summer vacation.  It's like a breath of fresh air (literally, you can actually, finally breathe) and it's wonderful.  Don't get me wrong I LOVE my job, and I get sick of summer vacation too, then it's the perfect time to head back to school. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Best of Both Worlds, people. 

Enough about that. I'll let you in on a little bit of what we've been doing this summer vacation. The boys started the summer by swimming in their super cool lion pool that we gave them at the end of last summer, then wrapped up again and gave to them for Christmas (don't judge, we have a lot going on that time of year and needed 1 extra gift 'cause twins need even numbers of stuff to open or all hell breaks loose. Even on Christmas). 

So back to the pool. Dad (the fun one, remember?) stuck a hose on their slide and put the pool at the bottom as a super-safe (yikes!) fun deal. 

Not only did they enjoy this picture of safety, but they like to watch themselves over and over again (courtesy of Adam's new AppleTV deal so he can put his stuff from his phone on the tv - he's obsessed. that's another story for another day).

The rugrats also started (and are now almost finished with) swimming lessons. The whole deal was a godsend - I'm telling you. There's this lady I work with whose family has a pool in their home (an indoor pool). Her daughters are high school and college aged and teach Red Cross certified classes in their home pool. This means that A) the boys got private lessons and  B) I did NOT have to get in the pool!! The other fantastic thing was that they were SO well behaved and listened SO well to their teachers. We only had 1 minor near-drowning where Luke (weird) jumped off the steps because he wanted to touch the bottom all by himself. He luckily held his breath the whole time and was rescued about 5 seconds after he went in solo and came up smiling and asking to do it again, so I'm pretty sure he's fine. :)

In honor of the boys' new swimming skills, we went shopping and they chose some new swimming trunks (well, honestly it's because I looked at the tags on their old trunks and they were size 18 months. (Again, no judging, we live in Minnesota...and I let them swim in their regular shorts most of the time anyway...)

So here's what they picked out: 

True to form, Luke picked something blue and Andrew picked something with stripes. Man, does that kid love his stripes. Andrew also picked out this striped shirt to wear with his new swimming trunks. He's a super-great matcher. Should we be worried?

things my kids shouldn't be doing

Dad is the most fun! I'm lame. He's cool. It's pretty much our thing. Sometimes it's hard for me to deal with, but it's the truth.

Here's why:

Yep, I would never have allowed something like that.

Nor would I think this is a good plan...

You MUST watch this until the end...you know it!

you know it from Kristine Lindgren on Vimeo.

playing in a winter wonderland

I am not a huge fan of cold weather. I remember playing outside a lot as a kid, but now that I'm an old lady, I'd rather be inside.

Unfortunately for me, the boys LOVE to play outside in the snow. They've been sledding since November. Yes, we just got snow that stuck around this week, meaning they went sledding on the muddy, grassy hill.

this picture was taken in November on the 1st day of snow

(which melted the next day)

I have become creative in playing outside though with them. I taught them how to shovel the driveway, so that's helpful. :)

For Christmas they got hockey sticks, pucks, and hockey skates from their fabulous aunts and uncles (both sides of our family love hockey - except for me that is...). They've been ice skating a few times and have practiced "playing puck" on the driveway.

Honestly, I was hoping they wouldn't like it as hockey has me seeing $$(dollar signs) in the future, but guess what? They do. And Adam said one day "I hate to tell you this, but they're actually pretty good. They can pass the puck to each other right on target." Bad news for this Mama.

So, that's what's new around here. I can't believe I have 3-year olds! How did that happen so fast? And what's worse is they're smarter than me.

WHAT?? A NEW POST??????

Yes, folks, it's no lie. I am actually putting a post on this thing.

I know, I know, it's been a LONG time, but stuff gets busy around here. If you wanna hear about it, I'll tell you: I got a new job, the kids are almost 3, we've had a lot of things going on - weddings, hunting, activities, etc. and so there are all the reasons why.

And honestly, I'd rather spend my "free time" playing with my kids. Tonight for example, when we got home from work, I made yummy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cupcakes with the boys. (From the cookbook Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World - One of my FAVORITE cookbooks, and I love cookbooks). Well, the cupcakes were vegan until Andrew smelled his spoon and it is possible that some of his snot could have gotten in them. Gross. Don't eat them (I will. Hey! They're good and the odds of boogs actually getting in the cupcakes are slim, right?)

So, other than that, work is good. Life is great. And here are some updated photos of us. :)

Yes, that is 2 sets of twins in 1 vehicle.

Travis and Adam were driving, while Leah and I were shopping!!

The ring bearers at Auntie Amy's weddin'.

They ran like this ALL DAY.

And then fell asleep.

Luke slept during dinner. Andrew slept during the actual wedding.

And then Andrew woke up, just in time to eat the bride's cake.

:)

Day at the Farm

It was such a beautiful morning, that Adam said "we should go somewhere today. I'm thinking this farm or the horse races". I chose the farm thinking the boys would probably like that a little better, and there would be more to do and see than watching horses run (which Adam would have preferred, no doubt).

So here are some pictures of our trip to this farm near our house that farms as though it's 1860. Pretty neat. I, of course, wanted to spend time in the museum reading about life in the 1800s. The boys did not.

Here's Andrew looking in the chicken coop.

Brave guys until the rooster started chasing them...

We saw some sheep. They "baaa"d. It was a riot. :)

This is Holly. She's a baby cow. They liked her, she was both tied up and beneath them.

Here the boys are looking in the cow pen. I had just explained what all that mud was inside the pen.

Luke didn't like it.

More cows...

Pointing at stuff.

After we looked at some of the animals, Andrew turned to me and said "Mom, now I wanna go see the zebra". Hmmm. Am I doing my kids a disservice by not having them near a farm?? When I was a kid, my grandpa still had a farm with pigs, cows, and chickens. We used to run around there like we were nuts, with directions not to jump off the haybales in the shed, don't touch the cats (they were pretty gross), and don't touch the electric fence - although we used to "warm up" rhubarb on it while getting a little shock. :) I never realized how different it would be for my kids who don't go to the farm every weekend.

Side note: the grossest parts about the farm were A) chicken butchering day - I still can smell it in my memory (gag) and B) When I realized that Spike 1, Spike 2, and Spike 3, the adorable calves my brother Aaron named had grown up and we couldn't find them anymore...(hint, they were in our freezer).

But the smell of the hay still reminds me of my grandparents house, which isn't so gross :)

bros

Looking through pictures of what we did this summer and I came across some from my cousin's wedding in July. It was a heck of a hot day, but was a beautiful wedding. The boys hung out with their other grandparents, and my whole fam went to the wedding. We had a blast!

Here's some rather adorable pics of me and my brothers (we only have 3 pictures together as adults - no kidding):

Here we are, looking' so spiffed up.

This is actually more like it, but YIKES! That's not my brother, that's Adam, I married him. And we unintentionally forgot Morgan, my brother's wife, who was taking the picture. Why didn't we have someone else take the picture so she could be in it? Hmmmm, it was probably the 5 glasses of wine I had and Adam's constant mission to drain the keg that must have done it...

Oh look, there we are!

(NOT my brother)

new friend

The boys have been enjoying the outdoors so much this summer. They really want to be outside and do boy stuff; dig around in the dirt, run like they're nuts, jump off of stuff, push each other down hills, you know, the usual. One afternoon the boys hollered "Mom, look at this!" and this is what I saw:

(insert video of a frog getting a ride in the boys' truck. I tried to upload it here, but after 2 days and about 3 hours it still wasn't working, so imagine it and if you ever come to visit, I'll show you :) )

If you can hear in the background (which you can't), Luke is laughing like a maniac. That's because he's terrified of creepy crawly things. Andrew's the brave one when it comes to that kind of stuff, so Luke is always saying "Andrew, you do it"! Mr. Boss.

so crafty

Day # 2 - IN A ROW PEOPLE!

I've mentioned previously that I worked a few days this summer. For those of you that don't know, I was doing home visits, working with children ages 0-3 in their homes. One darling little family had two of the most adorable girls I have ever seen. Really. The older girl was 5, going to

Kindergarten in the fall and just CUTE! The younger sister was almost 3, a tiny little peanut of a girl and both had long blonde hair and were about the sweetest things I've ever seen.

The hour I spent at their house went by WAY too quickly, and sitting there I realized how DRASTICALLY different girls are than the two hoodlum little boys I have at home.

You see, these girls LOVED craft projects and sat at the table with me for an ENTIRE HOUR

coloring, talking about pictures, cutting, gluing, stapling, beading, matching, twisting everything I would bring out. Needless to say I spent so much time planning for this little girls session - and brought out two of everything so her dolly of a sister could sit with us and craft too.

After six weeks of seeing these little girls work so well with all of this, I decided we needed some craft items at home too. I took advantage of the (dare I even say it?) "back-to-school" sales (I was irritated at Target for having this stuff out in JULY - really? Way to burst my bubble,

Target). I digress, I took advantage of the sales and stocked up on glue, construction paper, markers and even (gasp) scissors for the boys, determined to spend some time crafting at home.

We got home, opened our purchases and I started drawing suns in yellow paper for us to color, cut and decorate to hang on the fridge and show daddy when he got home. This is how our

crafting went:

It looks like they take after their mom in the "craft" department. Yikes.

slacker

Yeah, yeah, I know I've been slacking on my blogging duties, but (I don't have to tell you) we have been busy busy this summer!!

Not only did I work a little bit, but we've done a TON of fun things all summer and I just never know where to start. So, we'll take baby steps. I promise to you that until school starts I will put a new post up daily. They might not be great, but there will be some fun stuff, so hang in there with me!

Here's Andrew learning to throw a frisbee this summer (an important skill to have if your dad is Adam), while Luke is riding their "four-wheeler". Note the speed. I laugh every time!

at the lake

We went to the lake on this holiday weekend.

Well, the boys and I went on Saturday, while dad worked at our house putting in a patio (which looks really nice), and then Dad and I came on Sunday afternoon to play at the lake.

The boys are more and more fun because they are actually playing at the lake. They were digging and dumping dirt from the beach into the lake and dumping lake water on to the beach for hours.

Luke would NOT smile for the camera...

We went on the boat and caught a fish!

I caught the fish.

I was hoping for a perch or something to show the boys what a real fish was like and look what I ended up with:

Luke would not touch it, but told Andrew to touch it.

He did, and then he kissed it.

Grandpa let Andrew drive the boat, then Luke had to help too.

We taught the boys to potty off the side of the boat.

Yep, sure did.

Needless to say there were many potty breaks on the boat.

After the thunderstorm this morning, there were huge puddles, so the boys ran through them for a while.

You can get a small glimpse of the sheer JOY on their faces when they were allowed to run through this giant puddle and get grassy and muddy.

We fished some more.

My favorite part of this picture is that Adam and I are helping Andrew and someone is semi-unsupervised at the other edge of the dock.

(In our defense Grandpa was right there, just not in the picture)

Oh, this one is much more responsible. :)

And we climbed some trees

(geez, this kid is more like his uncle Aaron every day!)

Andrew was more cautious, but if someone was right there, he too climbed the tree.

We can't wait for many more weekends at the lake!

We've got ourselves a couple of lake boys!