Bangtson Family

March 2011

2012-01-14T09:52:00.000-08:00

Cayden's preschool trip to the firehouse.

Justin's work participated in the St. Patrick's day bed races that River Falls has. There team won for best dressed!

The boys got cross country skies for Christmas and so enjoy using them. Plus we love it because now they can come with us.
I'm not sure how babies stay asleep in such random places and positions!
We had a picnic in the snow one day. We snowmobiled out to this certain spot and brought our lunches to eat. The boys loved it, I thought it was a little chilly!

Our "mini" snowman made with licorice, cucumbers and a carrot! (guess which one got eaten first?)
Crazy Hair Night at Awana.

Andrew pulling Elsa for a ride.

February 2011

2012-01-14T08:39:00.000-08:00

Taking a bath in Mom's bath is a special treat for the boys as we don't let them take baths in here that often as they literally think and act like it's a pool. So you can imagine clean up with 3 swimmers!
Just hanging out!

Jumping into the lake with papa!

We have another sleeper on the snowmobile!

January 2011

2012-01-14T07:37:00.000-08:00

When I'm at the cabin I try and sleep in as long as I can...which is 7:30 maybe 8. But this morning I was up early and loved this sunrise! Someday I'll get up early and enjoy it more!
Catching snowflakes!

I love the excitement on Justin's face in this one as Andrew is running to him!

The boys are always in heaven at the cabin! Especially Cayden as he is up at 6 ready to go snowmobiling and is literally outside all day except for lunch! He is my outdoors boy and his daddy loves it!
I love when the boys get creative at home with there toys. Here they are lining them up all over the house!

Blake trying the splits!
I'm pretty sure every kid tries to put the glasses on from Mr. Potato head.

Horsing around!
Andrew just dumped a glass of water over his head.
Ready to hit the trails.

Time to get up to date!

2012-01-14T07:34:00.000-08:00

So my goal is to have 2011 all blogged by April! So here we go let's see if I can reach my goal! I have so many pictures to go through and I'm hoping that by making sure I blog about them it will force me to go through my pictures and do something with them. I'm in the process of making a 2010 book on shutterfly. So if I like it I'll do the same with 2011! Let's get started!

Our Family Pictures

2011-11-09T08:18:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting family pictures for so long! And as a person that is always on the other side of the camera and never makes it in any of them, my friend Jacquelyn gave me a true gift! Thank you so much Jacquelyn for doing this for us! I love them and am already planning how I'm going to do canvas's all over the house!! I owe you!

Please check out her site to see our sneak peak!

www.jacquelynsenske.com/blog

Make sure you leave her some love in her comments!

Christmas 2010

2011-10-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

The boys had a great Christmas this past year! There big gifts were a new bike and a scooter! Yes we are the mean parents that give our kids a gift they can't use until summer! But hey it's like 2 gifts in one as they get excited when they get it and then 4 0r 5 months later they are just as excited because they finally get to use it!! (And since there asking for outside things again this year, we will be doing it again!)
I love watching them opening there gifts from each other because it's the like things that make them happy! As Blake got Cayden a pack of gum and was thrilled with it!!
This Year's Birthday cake!

I love getting a quick photo with my Grandma!! The last ones the boys took of us and let's just say only half of our faces got in it!
My Grandparents with all the Great- Grandkids!
A quick family picture!

I'll take what I can get with my boys!

Tired out!

This is a classic Andrew Look! Love it!
Making the Traditional Orange Julius on Christmas Morning!
Andrew sneaking some licorice from Papa's stocking!
There's another classic Andrew look again! He's sneaking Santa's cookies before bed!

Yes! Sharkboy Lavagirl! If your kids haven't seen it they will be sucked in for some strange reason!

Pumpkin Fun

2011-09-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

Andrew is dreaming of riding his own bike!!

Loose Tooth

2011-09-23T12:43:00.000-07:00

Last October Cayden lost his first tooth and I think a week later lost his second tooth. Here in this picture you can already see the tooth coming up behind!

Does this happen at your house??

2011-09-23T11:48:00.000-07:00

Yes I left the powdered sugar on the counter and a Mr. Someone got into it! It's always a surprise to come around the corner to see this wonderful mess!

And cooking at our house entails all kids moving chairs to the counter and that usually means no room for mama!

Great Grandpa Quentin

2011-09-07T18:46:00.000-07:00

Justin's Grandpa Quentin passed away this summer and he was such a sweet and caring man. Justin was very close to him and I know is going to miss those Saturday morning phone calls. It never failed that when Great Quentin would come over he would have a jar of cherries for each boy as he new that was there favorite!
These pictures are from last Thanksgiving but this is such a reminder to always take pictures as they will always be treasures!
Great Quentin with the Great Grandkids!

2011-09-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

Halloween 2010

2011-09-04T12:19:00.000-07:00

We had a busy Halloween! The boys were a shark, pirate and a teddy bear!! We trick or treated in the neighborhood, went to a halloween party and visited the nursing Home! Andrew didn't really get it which is fine, he got his sucker and was good for the night.

Sever's Corn Maze!

2011-09-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

I was kind of hesitant of going here but we had such a great time that we are definitely going back this year! We got here right after lunch and literally stayed until 6 because we kept so busy! They have this huge hay maze that most kids just run and jump across! Even Andrew was daring enough to try at only 14 months!!

They also had a huge corn pit that was just packed! We spent forever swimming and jumping in the corn!

Throwing ourselves in the corn!!

Buried ourselves in the corn!
Stuffed our shirts with corn!!

Rolled in the Corn!
And even filled our diapers with corn!!
Here's Andrew jumping into the pit and right after this jump he got a bloody nose as his face hit my leg.
Here's the only thing I wasn't a fan of....the 3 dollar slide that take 5 seconds to go down!

Awesome Pig races that we had front row seats for.
This turkey nibbled at Andrew's toes and bit my finger!

I love this picture and I'm sure I will be the only one that appreciates it but I know what he was doing during this shot! He was doing his little butt shake dance that only he can do and it's so dang cute!!
The tired Viking!

The also had a great exotic zoo, it was so fun to see the kangaroos with the babies coming in and out of the pouch. The kids just thought this was so cool!

And this was the last shot of the day before we discovered Andrew had pooped everywhere on the stoller and his cloths! Needless to say I think we drove home with him wearing only a diaper!!

Apple Farm-petting zoo!

2011-08-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

At this apple orchard we actually never made it into the orchard. The boys had to much fun riding the bikes and checking out the goats. But I'm ok that we didn't make it to the apples as it's a pretty small apple farm. So I used the afternoon to play around with my camera which I love to do and the boys had fun playing!

Pumkin Patch

2011-08-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

I love this Pumpkin patch as there is so much for the kids to do. We've got hay bail jumping, a maze, train ride, hayride and a petting zoo! The kids have so much fun and I'm looking forward to doing it again this year!

Andrew milking the cow!

Folgers Coffee Playdate!

2011-08-21T06:51:00.000-07:00

This past winter I had signed up to host a party with Folgers coffee and Land o lakes Creamer. All I had to do was invite friends over to try some coffee and cream. They sent me the coffee, coupons to get cream, and goodies for everyone that came! So it worked perfect to just have a huge playdate. There were 9 of us moms and 15 kids! Thanks Folgers for an excuse to have people over! If you ever want to have a party of your own to try out new things go to www.houseparty.com

A Future Wrestler??

2011-08-06T20:45:00.000-07:00

Brotherly Love!

2011-08-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

Actual Photo Shoot with my Borrowed Lens!

2011-08-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

I seriously forgot about these pictures until now! This is a sign I need to 1 either not take so many pictures or 2 find time to order and go through my own photos. I know a huge reason is that I forgot about these pictures is that I took them during my busy time last year and during that time I forget about my own family pictures as I want to make sure I get everyone's done.
I totally loved this spot and want someone to book a season in downtown Minneapolis! I wanted this shot to work so bad but since Andrew had only been walking a couple of months at this point there was no slowing him down! Seriously he was moving the whole time. I don't think I got one shot of them together that he wasn't walking out of the picture!
I even tried the sitting down pose and he was standing usually by the time I got back to my spot to take it!

Here is my goofy Blake! This is so his personality to me!

Cayden was a charmer this day and I was having so much fun with him!

See....he's distracted again!

A Day in the Park

2011-08-04T12:01:00.001-07:00

Andrew looks so little in this picture, its crazy to see how much he has grown all ready this year. Here we are in a park in Minneapolis and I had just rented a lens that I know own! So we went so I could play!

I even let Cayden in on the Playing! I'm hoping maybe someday one of my kids will take an interest in photography as well!

Photography Website

2011-07-16T19:56:00.000-07:00

I officially have a Professional Website!
If you haven't seen it yet make sure you check it out!

www.aliciabangtsonphotography.com

Update Finally!

2011-07-16T19:53:00.000-07:00

So I know I have not been updating my blog very well and I miss doing this. But I can't stand that my pictures look blurry when I post them. I've asked a couple of people if they look blurry and they say no but I've checked out there computer and they do. I guess I'm just a little anal about how they look. But I've decided I'm just going to deal with it. I know no one else cares...it's just the photographer in me that wants them to look perfect.

So here's to hoping I can get caught up!!

October fall trip!

2011-05-31T11:43:00.000-07:00

We did our annual fall camping trip! I can't remember the name of the town but we did a 15 mile bike ride around the town to different apple orchards. Yes it was fun but it was freezing and the wind was blowing at us most of the way. I know next time I will pack gloves, mittens, hats, extra sweatshirts and will be packing Justin Shorts!

Snack Break! Thank God I remembered that!

We had a huge hill that we had to walk our bikes up because there was no way after ten miles I was going to be riding up it. But it was absolutely beautiful with the orchards everywhere! That is definitely a dream that I have of living and running an apple orchard!

Lots of Carmel Apples!

And yes we had a lot of stuff!

Apple Orchard

2011-04-24T19:40:00.000-07:00

I'm sad that we didn't get to make it to as many apple orchards this fall. This fall seemed to be so rainy that we didn't get a chance to make it to our favorites. I absolutely love the whole Apple farm feel! Whenever I'm at an orchard I always think home much I would love to live on one and run it. Maybe someday you never know! The kids loved it and as always take too many apples from the trees. And the apples you find on the ground with only one bite are not from my kids!

Andrew's 1st Hair Cut

2011-04-24T19:36:00.000-07:00

Andrew did Awesome at his first haircut in October. He sat there so patiently just waiting to get his sucker!

Viking Fans!

2011-04-21T20:06:00.000-07:00

Cayden's 1st day of preschool!

2011-04-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

This is Cayden's first day at preschool this year! He's in the 4 day a week class and is loving it. Looking at the jeans he's wearing makes me sad as he grew out of those 2 months into the school year. I'm pretty sure he grew 3 inches this year. Now next year Blake will take over this class and Cayden will be off to Kindergarten. I wont even go there!

Andrew's 1 Year Photos

2011-04-21T19:33:00.000-07:00

Andrew and I had a lot of fun doing his one year pictures, we had our music cranked up to Go Fish and we just kind of danced our way to different poses! I love how they turned out but unfortunately there is one huge mistake I made as a photographer. I know most people wont notice....but I was playing around with my camera the day before and of course I hurried through this session with him and never really looked at my settings. If you are a photographer you'll notice what's wrong....the ISO is set to 1600. Talk about major grain when I was looking through these photos. And since I was in the midst of my busy season when I took these that I didn't even look at these pictures honestly till November! Yup too late to retake them. I am just so thankful that it wasn't a client that this happened to! Crazy to think that in just 3 months he'll be turning 2. Love you Andrew!

Quick SIde note

2011-04-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Blake's 4th birthday and all day long he would ask me at random times..."Mom am I really 4?" "Don't lie, am I really?" and then this morning when he got up and was sitting with Justin on the couch he said to him "I can't believe I"m really 4!" Guess he's pretty excited to be 4!

Park Day!

2011-03-31T18:58:00.000-07:00

This was at the end of the summer last year and it's so fun to see how much the boys have changed since then. Andrew has grown up so much and Cayden has probably grown a foot since then! All the pictures remind me of how goofy my kids are...even more so when no one is around! Like Andrew for example....really why is he laying down in the middle of the sidewalk?

And yes this is his own pose!

2011-03-28T20:03:00.000-07:00

Things that happen on our Pontoon Rides!

2011-03-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

Cayden was really into doing whatever one else was doing. So that entailed wearing glass, reading the paper, reading books....etc..etc!

Our new Pontoon Driver.
Catching little sunnies over the pontoon!

Beasly the Bunny

2011-03-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

My brothers girlfriend bought a bunny last summer and it spent a weekend at the cabin. The boys had a great time playing with it and cuddling it. I think they were a little timid at first but then they came around.

These are typical Andrew Expressions! I love being able to capture them so that I will always remember them!

Excitement!

2011-03-23T18:50:00.000-07:00

Super Star!

2011-03-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

I can't wait for this!

2011-03-17T20:17:00.000-07:00

Bangtson family weekend

2011-02-27T19:29:00.000-08:00

We had Justin's moms side of the family up for a weekend of fun. Since there were lots of boys there, it gave me a glimpse of what our life is going to be like in a couple of years! Here are some crazy shots of some great tube falls!

Blake's way of skiing!
He got up!!!

I love this picture of all the guys working on trying to get the tree as a bench and Jamie just standing there watching!!
Blake watching all the workers!
Off they go to be like the men!

Andrew loves the water and seriously is going to be a handful this summer!

I love these toes!

Reading time with all the grandkids.

2011-02-27T19:26:00.000-08:00

Fun at GG's

2011-02-14T19:04:00.000-08:00

The boys love going to my grandparents house! They love it because they are spoiled rotten and there is so much to do. Cayden gets to climb trees, ride the 4 wheeler, move the yard, and get to eat grandma's famous mac n' cheese!
I love how my grandma takes the time with the kids and really listens to them. She puts so much energy into them and pays such good attention to them during the time they are there that I'm sure she is just exhausted when we leave. If she didn't live an hour away I know that we would be over there all the time. Seriously my Grandma is the best Grandma Ever!

4 more months and will be doing this!!

2011-02-14T18:52:00.000-08:00

Neighbor weekend at the cabin!

2011-01-24T13:32:00.000-08:00

This past summer we had a couple of our neighbors from our neighborhood now up to the cabin. We seriously had so much fun! With 9 kids there was always some kind of action going on. Races, throwing each other in the water, lots of new water skiers, and lots of tubing went on!

With 4 girls there Andrew always had someone looking out for him!

"M" learning to ski and always smiling for the camera!

It became a contest of who could get up the highest!

Blake didn't make it on to the boat to actual try it but today he told me he can't wait too this summer!

Cayden practicing!
Dad teaching him what to do!

And he's up!!

Cayden's Birthday Part 2

2011-01-16T10:30:00.000-08:00

I decided this year to let Cayden have his first friend birthday party. They had tons of fun but I'm not sure I'll be doing it again soon!

Cayden and his friends Cody and Lyla!
You'd think this many water balloons would last a little while. But they lasted 1 minute if that!
Here I am filling them up and it took way too long! But I know Cayden was happy for the effort!

Cayden loved the Cap guns that His brother Blake gave him!

Cayden's Birthday

2010-11-23T18:21:00.000-08:00

We had the extreme pleasure of celebrating Cayden's birthday on Uncle Tom and Aunt Barb's houseboat! We had so much fun hanging out on their private beach that there club has, it's like paradise there. Uncle Tom has this great hammock that he puts up between 2 trees and I could have spent all day in it! We roasted hot dogs, swam, swam, played in the sand, jumped off the boat, and swam some more! Plus I got a chance to play around with my camera hence the mass amount of pictures.

This was at the end of the day and we were all exhausted but no one was ready to go home!

I love when the swim trunks slip off!
Yes we had so much fun!
Relaxing with my boys.

Seriously look at that belly!
Blake's famous smile.
YUM.

Thanks Barb and Tom for the best birthday as Cayden says! We can't wait for next summer to spend a weekend with you guys!

I can't wait to get back!!

2010-11-23T13:39:00.000-08:00

Just wanted you all to know I should be back posting pictures in a week!! I can see I'm so far behind!! I haven't even gotten Cayden's birthday party on here!! But thanks for being patient the fall ended up being a busy season this year with my photography business!!
See you all next week!

Grandparents photo Shoot

2010-10-21T19:50:00.000-07:00

I did a little photo shoot with my grandparents! I was a little disappointed that it only lasted 5 minutes due to that was long enough for my grandpa! Oh well....I'll have to try and talk him into a longer one in the Spring! We also attempted a Great Grandchild photo. Turned out pretty good with 4 kids if you ask me!

2010-10-07T18:48:00.001-07:00

For you regulars here....if you scroll down there was a post I forgot to put up and if wont let me change the date so check out Sept 23!

Sleepy Blake

2010-09-25T07:17:00.000-07:00

Blake has a hard time going to bed. He comes out numerous times before he finally falls asleep. This night I must not have heard him come out and when I got up to go to bed this was how I found him sleeping!! Seriously what a cutie!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Frogs

2010-09-25T06:55:00.000-07:00

The boys were at our neighbor Parkers house catching frogs one day! Needles to say my boys wouldn't touch them! I"m not sure why since a couple of weeks before the were touching them and even snakes. But not today! But Parker out did them and carried them around like they were stuffed animals! It was so cute!
Think he could get any more in his hands? He didn't want to put them down because they would hop away!
Andrew would have touched him if he could.
I love how they just look like dolls in his hands!

The frogs went down the slide, up the stairs and even the swing!

Summer fun continues

2010-09-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

My 3 Boys!

Andrew lounging!

All the boys on the jetski!

This is my favorite picture so far from this summer at the cabin! The boys were looking at frogs!! Totally unplanned....and for some reason it's slipping my mind why the had there swimsuits off.

Andrew's scar from falling down the stairs.
Kim and Parker!
Trying to get Cayden to wakeboard.....hhhmmm not really the best idea!
Andrew is in the stage of continuously throwing stuff over board!

Andrew's 1st Birthday!

2010-09-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

I love the Happiness of this picture!
Of course his brothers can't stop touching him!
So excited! You can see Blake's little hand trying to get a taste before Andrew.

He was ready to put his face in it.
Giving his brothers a taste.

I didn't realize 2 boys would be getting dirty during this event.
Full Tummy!
And we ended the evening with wrestling that even Elsa got involved in!

Dressing like pirates.

Kids fun run/My 2 mile run

2010-09-18T06:37:00.000-07:00

Cayden did his first Kids fun run this year during the River Falls Days. He did awesome and was super excited to do it!! As you can see he ran his little heart out.

I also ran my first 2 mile race....I should say run because I was not trying to win, I was just trying to make it to the finish line! I did train for this race and felt pretty good about it until the morning of. That morning did not start off like I planned. Justin was already gone helping set up the course, the kids decided to choose that morning to sleep in and I couldn't find my ipod anywhere. So needless to say My running partner Jamie(bil) got to hear me complain the whole way!!! Sorry Jamie. But mentally knowing I didn't have my ipod and had never ran with out it and hate running in the first place it was really hard for me to not focus on the running part. With my ipod i can usually get my self in a zone. So on that note you can tell I enjoyed it huh?? Actually once i was done it wasn't so bad....I actually think I'll do it again next year. And I also might do a 13 mile walk/run race in Nashville in April!?!?! Will seee.

FIrst Kool-Aid Stand!

2010-09-18T06:27:00.000-07:00

This summer Cayden got to experience his first Kool-Aid stand! He loved it and wanted to have them all the time this summer! He really got in to helping me make the kool-aid, doing the sign and then bringing all the stuff to the corner. We stayed out for about a half hour and we did get one official customer and Cayden was so excited! Were already talking about the ones were going to have next summer!

4th of July Weekend!

2010-09-16T11:49:00.000-07:00

The boys have really gotten into washing their hair and then jumping in this summer! Actually it usually happens about 10 times a day! Good thing my Dad picks up a lot of sample shampoos at the hotels!!
Elsa and Andrew trying to have there own fun in the tube!
Isn't she just gorgeous?
hmmmmm looks like Blake needs some smaller swimming trunks!
I'm kind of confused at this picture and the fact that my son Cayden has picked up the snake! Since by the end of summer he wouldn't even pick up a frog himself....his brother always had to do it or his friend Parker!

Grandpa and the boys built themselves a "tiny" dock this summer! It was a fun quick project to keep them busy! Which they sure have enjoyed!

The boys and grandpa doing a happy dance! They can't wait to get the dock in!
Testing it out.
YUP it works good!
Seriously I'm not sure how kids can just fall asleep anywhere. Here's Blake sleeping on the side of the boat while everyone else is tubing!
Again he feel asleep!
Yup he's asleep in this picture as well.....but I thought the foot was positioned just right!
Cayden tubing for the first time by himself and loved it!! (wait till you see what he did by the end of summer...yup you'll have to wait for me to catch up on all my posts!)

The Boys Favorite candy! (or dad's and they just like it because he does!) We had a great 4th this year! Grandpa Bob bought fireworks again this year and they did those the night before the 4th which was a good thing since it poured on the 4th. We also made our famous homemade deep fried cheese curds which has now become a tradition!

Tball continued

2010-09-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

I think Blake's favorite part of Tball was getting dressed for it!
This picture just makes me laugh!

Cayden loved Tball as well and did really great at the practices. He was a little more into it then Blake.

Cayden always loved to be first to everything.
Notice the cute girl behind him. She is in Cayden's preschool class and just adores Cayden. She is so cute and I think she's excited to be standing next to him.

June Fun

2010-09-04T07:09:00.000-07:00

One of our big changes that has happened at the cabin this year is that we have 2 little fish that are always swimming. Yes both Cayden and Blake have become independent swimmers. They have kept us busy jumping off the dock and swimming to the boat. They are constantly doing different dives, canon balls, Roman candle sticks and belly flops.

Andrews long lashes.

Monkeying around.....seriously no comment.

Soccer Practice

2010-09-04T06:47:00.000-07:00

Well again its the same with soccer as it was with Tball, Blake would always get in the car after practice and say how much fun he had and that he Loved Soccer! But here's what usually happened. Practice was at 6:00 so we would hurry and eat dinner before, get ready, and then jump in the car. Practice was about a 5 minute drive.....did Blake ever make it there with out falling asleep? Nope he would always fall asleep on the drive over and then it would take the first half hour of practice to get him to wake up. But he alays left LOVING it!!
Andrew would do better then Blake at practice. Seriously he would run around kicking the ball just like the other 3 years old!

2010-09-03T20:37:00.000-07:00

Yup...we gave Cayden his first Mohawk this summer.

Andrew's first Pool experience

2010-09-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I missed the best part of this First as I didn't have my camera on me and I wasn't about to run inside to get it as I didn't want to miss the laughter of Andrew! Andrew Jumped into the pool with out any of us knowing.....Granted there is only about an inch of water in the pool. But he was literally jumping and kicking all over the place! The best part was when he would stand, look at us and then fall into the water! Over course he couldn't be the only one to get attention so Blake had to join in!

The running start!

Seriously look at that big Belly!

Tball For Blake

2010-09-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

Blake always leaves T-ball saying he loves it and can't wait to go back. But if you were actually there watching him you would think a different story. I think it's because there so many kids that he likes to watch them all but he was always so quiet and usually the last in. If you know Blake personally that's not him. Everything is a race and He's loud! But here he is sitting in the circle while everyone tells there name and favorite ice cream. (Note to teachers.......20 3 year olds do not want to sit in a circle and listen to eveyone say there name and favorite ice cream EVERY practice. That was a waste of 10 minutes of a 45 minute practice!!)
Here he is running bases. He always stood on the outside. But notice he's rocking cleats and Glove!
Cayden was a great brother and was always cheering him on.
Practicing catching the ball. Looks excited huh?
And seriously believe me when I say he loved it!!!

Summer Begins.....

2010-09-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

As I'm just now starting to Blog about our summer, summer is coming to an end! At least I'll be able to enjoy summer a little longer with the pictures!!

Andrew has kept us busy by the water as he loves it!! Really....he thinks he's a 2 year old that can swim and walk around by himself in the water! We always have to be 1 step behind otherwise he'll fall head first underwater and keep going!!
All smiles!
See what I mean...Catch me if you can, but I'm getting in!

Little Elsa! I just love her in red and her cute little curls that always seem to get curlier as the day goes on!

The boys rode this over and over....seriously my arms would have been killing!

Elsa and Andrew
Here's Cayden's frog....He had a name for him but I can't remember what it was. But if you notice it's missing a hand. I'm not sure if they found him that way or if for some reason there torturing it made it come off. This frog did everything that day merry go round, down the slide 10 times.....I'm sure it was so glad to be freed at the end of the day!

TWINS GAME

2010-08-31T20:02:00.000-07:00

Justin took the boys to there first Twins game at the new stadium! They loved it! They even got to take the train into the city and thought it was so cool! But they seem to think Babe Ruth and Charlie Root are still alive, because Blake told me Babe Ruth hit a home run! Just goes to show that they listen to daddy's stories very closely at night!

Como Zoo

2010-08-31T19:56:00.000-07:00

Sundays in the Park

2010-08-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

I couldn't have asked for a better picture of this! I love how everything turned blurry except for Andrew!! You can never play around with your camera to much!! That's probably why I'm ALWAYS taking pictures!
Crawling!
So Big! Or as dad likes to say "TOUCHDOWN"
Blake is the one in my family that loves to have his picture taking! Here he is helping me test some back drops!
I'm glad Blake is always around because here is my dear sweet husband testing backdrops for me! Looks real thrilled huh?
Best Buds
Every once in awhile I'll let Cayden take a couple of pictures! Great Job Cayden!
Another Cayden Shot.
And Another!
Here's Justin's......hhhmmmmm

Always throwing rocks and getting a little too close to the edge for my comfort!

Blue Angels

2010-08-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, we stood in the pouring Rain to watch these! At least I was able to pull out my camera for a quick shot.

Daddy and Andrew mow the yard!

2010-08-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

The Cousins

2010-08-21T18:43:00.000-07:00

Random cabin fun

2010-07-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

The boys watching the fish get cut up for the first time!
We had our old neighbors from Milwaukee up over Memorial Weekend and had a great time!

Andrew loves the water and wants to swim just like his Brothers do!
Blake literally falls asleep everytime he goes for a boat ride or snowmobile ride.....seriously does this look comfortable??

Cayden and Blake have really gotten in to swimming by themselves! It amazes me the things there doing this summer. Here Cayden is swimming from the dock out to the boat by himself!
I'm always finding Blake playing somewhere!
Here both boys are sleeping! I asked Cayden to hold Andrew for a little bit while I did something and came back to find them both sleeping!
Andrew loves the bubbles!

Life as a boy!

2010-07-15T19:44:00.000-07:00

Andrew is holding on tight!

Like the big boys...

2010-07-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

If you can see Andrew's face.....You can tell he's ready to do what his brothers do!

Blake's 3 year

2010-06-21T19:48:00.000-07:00

More Adventures

2010-06-10T20:13:00.000-07:00

So the adventures of Cayden and Blake this day were take as much stuff as they could carry and take it across the street and just sit there. (They had to come and get a snack during that time though.) Then when they were ready they moved to the next spot.
Here we go to the back yard!

Andrew had a blast being pushed in laundry baskets around the house.

Grandpa's Turkey

2010-06-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

Blake was having nothing to do with touching it!

Adventures of Cayden

2010-06-10T19:32:00.000-07:00

Cayden had one of his classmates over for a playdate and here they took all the toys the could and piled them on the trampoline and made a bonfire! (needless to say Cayden and I didn't have a ton of fun putting them all away later that day. Oh well at least they had fun!)
There 'Smore sticks!

Cayden got him self a pair of rollerblades at a garage sale and he loves them. The first time he put them on he asked me why he can't be as fast as the other kids!

2010-06-09T20:03:00.000-07:00

Can you tell I'm trying to catch up on posting!!!

Andrew and the Tulips!

2010-06-09T19:44:00.000-07:00

I Love Spring!

2010-06-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

I loved seeing our tulips come up this year! The boys were even excited since they helped plant them.

Our apple tree blossom! I love that we have an apple tree in our yard. I know it's going to be awhile before we have any apples actually on the tree but I can't wait. Some day I'm going to have lots of them, plus a pear tree!

2010-06-09T19:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry....I need to throw in a picture of me here.....I never have any pictures taken of me and the kids and this was the first picture in a long time that someone offered to take a picture with me and Andrew! So I need to share because they don't happen often since I'm the one usually behind the camera.

2010-06-09T18:24:00.000-07:00

Loving his brother's bike!
I guess he was hungry.

Cayden loves to take Andrew and put him in the closets to play!

Cake Pops

2010-06-09T17:58:00.000-07:00

So I made Cake pops for Blake's actual birthday. They look better then they actually tasted. They weren't bad but I was expecting them to be great! Oh well Blake loved them!

Superman and other things...

2010-06-08T19:34:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to try this shot to see if I could see the flowers floating away!
So this is an obnoxious mail box we drive by often and the boys are always looking for it. As soon as one of them spots it, it turns in to a fight of who saw it first or saying the other person didn't see it. AAAGGGHHH the things that turn into arguing!! (I just want to say are you kidding me, this is what were arguing about!!!)
Another flower stop on our bike ride.
Close up of the lashes.
Here's our Crazy Superman!! Seriously this kid never stays in one outfit for long. I'm sure he looked hilarious on our bike ride with this on. But there is no talking him out of being Superman on a bike!

The Boys

2010-06-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

This is our neighbor friend Parker. Let's just say when they all get together they are complete boys! I love it and we have so much fun with Him.

Flowers or Weeds??

2010-06-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

I'm sure every Mom receives these flowers as a gift during the spring. I recieved lots and lots of them. One day at MOPS my kids picked me a good size handful of these dandelions. There teacher told me they wanted to pick me the whole field of them for me. It sure made me feel good to know that they were thinking of me the whole time!

Blake's 3rd Birthday

2010-06-07T19:55:00.000-07:00

You say you can open presents......and who comes running!
Glad he has some brotherly help.
Give the kid cloths and he's happy!
Trying out his new t-ball machine.

Look at those chubby legs!!!
Elsa got to test it out as well.
Our Shark boy!
Here's our Space Cowboy! (Notice the space gun, twins cloths, and too big of cowboy boots.)
Blake wanted a Moose cake this year. My friend made it and she did a great job!
Sporting his birthday gifts on his real birthday. Soccer cleats, bike helmet, and new baseball bat!

Andrew's dedication

2010-06-07T19:08:00.000-07:00

I didn't really get any good shots of Andrew's dedication in the church but we got some of the boys afterward.

Rainy days and worms.

2010-06-07T18:40:00.000-07:00

As soon as it starts raining at our house the boys get so excited to run around outside in their rain coats and for the worms to come out. This one particular rainy day the driveway was covered with worms! As you can see they have a dump truck full.
Seriously some of these worms were so long.
Blake just likes to run around the driveway like a mad man saying here's a worm, here's a worm!

GROSS!

Biking

2010-06-06T16:52:00.000-07:00

Cayden has been riding his bike with out training wheels since last summer. And this summer he's starting to think he's a little dare devil biker.....he does wheelies, goes as fast as he possibly can, can do 11 mile bike rides with out complaining and here he's practicing riding his bike with one hand. Oh and any chance he gets to go off trail, he does. Next up is Blake. A friend of ours gave us there smaller bike with training wheels and if he's outside he's on his bike. (he calls it his teeny bike.) Blake's already told me that by the end of the summer he wants his training wheels off........
oh and any chance we get to stop and climb things.....he's in heaven!

Andrew on the other hand is not digging his helmet!

IMAGINATIONS....

2010-06-03T20:06:00.000-07:00

The boys are really into making stuff up...here they have brought out blankets, babies and other toys. Then they always seem to take a nap.....I'm not sure if the basketball hoop would be very comfortable.

Here is the next day and they were playing Mailman......needless to say they had a lot of paper to pick up afterwards!

2010-06-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

Andrew playing with his little gal pal Avery!

Easter (last post)

2010-06-02T06:43:00.000-07:00

Our Easter consisted of Lawn mower rides, 4 wheel rides, kite flying, and an Easter egg hunt.
(I don't think the kite ever got in the air.) But Blake loved chasing it around.
Here the boys are getting ready to run for the eggs. I had to explain the rules first and where to look.
He can't wait any more!

Blake was so excited to find his first egg.
Hurry.....I have to beat Cayden!
Another one!!
The spectators!
Showing mom the loot!

Easter Photo Shoot

2010-05-11T19:45:00.000-07:00

Here the boys are trying to stop Andrew from walking into the water!

Easter egg Hunt

2010-05-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

Just look at these two pictures....I know if I was a kid I would be giddy with excitment!! This was our 3rd year attending this Egg hunt that a local church puts on for the community and they do an amazing job! Both our boys love it and can't wait to get into the gym to get the candy. This year they had to go at different times because of the way they split up the age groups. Blake was a little bit more hesitant at first because all the kids just rush out there to get the candy. So I had to help him a little bit. But once he figured out how to grab as much Candy as he could he was set!!

Here he is not sure what he should do. (Just to note there is plenty of candy for everyone to fill there buckets full to the top.)

Here is is waiting for his brothers turn and begging me to have a piece!
Cayden knows just what to do!
The boys are already looking forward to this next year. Oh and we do still have half a bucket left. (I'm hoping it's gone soon so that I don't hear "Can I have a piece of gum?" anymore!)

Smiling with the eyes!

2010-05-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

Little Eliot and His Mommy!

2010-05-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

Praying for Eliot's new little sister Kenley Today. (she's in the NICU and needs prayers to get over some complications.) Eliot you have an amazing mom and a wonderful new sister coming home to you soon!

Tired Out

2010-05-08T06:42:00.000-07:00

It always amazes me when babies fall asleep in the strangest places.
Andrew fell asleep jumping in the jumper and 20 minutes later woke up jumping!!
It was so funny, I came out to check on him and all of a sudden he started jumping but his eyes were still shut. It took him about a minute to wake up. As you can see he looked so sweet sleeping there....that I had to take about 10 pictures of him!

Canon Baby!

2010-05-08T05:18:00.000-07:00

Dump truck rides have started.

2010-05-08T05:09:00.000-07:00

2010-05-06T18:02:00.000-07:00

Another Example...

2010-05-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

..of our crazy man Blake. He loves cloths! And here he is wearing Andrew's 6-12 month cloths....needless to say he stretched them out.

Off The Beaten Path

2010-05-05T11:51:00.000-07:00

Our Family likes to take Hikes....the Boys like to go off Trail!! As you can see we do a lot of climbing rocks and getting dirty.

Blake...OUr Ladies Man

2010-05-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

My son Blake! Oh where do I start....He loves Cloths, He Loves Shoes, and He LOVES to do his hair before dinner!