To cut or not to cut.....

Debating on whether to cut the curls. I am pretty sure once I cut them they will be gone forever. So I keep thinking I will wait just a little longer :)

Not sure how it happened....

but I now have a daughter who is SEVEN!!! She is making leaps and bounds. Sometimes I look at her and think I can't believe we created such a strong, caring, independent, driven, smart girl. Not to mention stubborn, emotional, and did I say stubborn already? She is growing up so fast and somedays I look at her and hardly recognize her. Most days I wish I could put a brick on her head!

As for the birthday night festivities, it was steak and potatoes for dinner for the second year in a row (she's a girl who knows what she likes and sticks with it!). Uncle Adam and Auntie Anne stopped over for cake and ice cream and watched her tear into gifts.

On Saturday she had her friend party and decided on a sleepover. Much to my surprise it went fairly smoothly with the help of Dad and Auntie Jo. There were six squealing, giggling, sugar overloaded girls running around the house...most of the time singing Taylor Swifts "Love Story". They played a few games, ate cupcakes, decorated pillowcases, put on a concert, tried unsuccessfully to watch a movie (it turned into a popcorn/pillow fight) and finally crashed at midnight with a little help from Dave sitting in the stairwell reminding them to go to bed every time they got a little rowdy.
Morning time came, pancakes, fruit and sausage were consumed in mass quantities and before I knew it parents were arriving :)
The first sleepover has been conquered!

A special thanks to my Mom for making the pillowcases, Scott and Tanya for letting us borrow the tent and Auntie Jo for coming down to help. You all helped make her 7th birthday memorable! And thanks to everyone for all the wonderful gifts!

Birthday night

The whole gang

Drawing on their pillowcases

Trying really hard to watch a movie

Halloween 2009

My three pumpkins
The very scary tiger
The whole crew

Most houses he was more interested in decorations than getting candy at the door :)

Annual Swappin' Meet

Much fun was had and much candy was eaten....

The days of picking costumes for the kids are over :( I managed to talk Beckett into a costume much to his dismay. He was as bound and determined as a two year old could be to be "scary stuff". Anything having to do with ghosts, zombies, goblins, werewolfs, strange alien creatures was right up his alley. The funny thing is he was scared to death of anyone else dressed like that! I had gotten the tiger costume on clearance and after much convincing that it was a "very scary tiger" and me squealing and hopping around the house pretending to be scared he gave in. Seriously....who knew 2 year olds could be so opinionated!
Raegan debated between a witch, a cheerleader and a rock star diva. She debated so long that I finally just picked the cheerleader costume up at Target because I was afraid if she waited much longer there wouldn't be anything left!
Walker was easy going as usual. We were in Costco in early September, he saw it...he liked it...I bought it. He was a character called Snake Eyes from the new movie GI Joe Cobra. He has never seen the movie but thought it looked cool. On the day they did the costume parade at school I told him if anyone asks who he is, "You are Snake Eyes from GI Joe Cobra." He responded, "How do you know that mom?" Me..."I read the package." He thought about it for a second and said, "I will just say I'm a ninja, okay." I love that I have one child who is just simply simple. It made me chuckle.

We enjoyed our annual trailer ride with the neighbors and the kids and each year it seems we go a little further and stay out a little later. Next year Dave has plans of rigging a heater on the trailer (we saw a trailer that night with one) and Mom has plans for hot adult beverages :)

Kindergarten Already??

Look at that smile!

On his way to the bus stop. (Making sure I wasn't too close)

Best Buds

A rare picture of all three looking at the camera.

I have been absent for awhile, but thought I should get these posted before I get scolded...(you know who you are).

My not so little anymore Walker ventured into the world of school buses, cafeteria lunches and phy ed on Wednesday. He was very excited in his Walker like way. Asking a lot of questions about how things were going to work. Who would he sit with, would someone be helping him find his way to class, would he be home after nap or during nap? He had a hard time sleeping on Tuesday night and when my mom said, "I bet you're thinking about school and having a hard time falling asleep." He responded, "I can't stop thinking about it."
In the morning all he wanted to do was talk to Daddy via Skype (He is in Japan for another week and a half) , show him what he was wearing and ask him wear his hair gel was so I could put a mohawk in it! He didn't want me to walk him to the bus (sniff sniff) and wanted me to wait back around the corner when he got off the bus in the afternoon. I told him I would walk him to the bus and meet him coming off the bus...but try not to come all the way. He was much braver than I was. He was the first in line to get on the bus and barely looked back as the bus drove off....which is probably a good thing because there might have been a few tears from this proud mama :)
He had a wonderful first day, loves his teacher Mrs. Pizano (Rae's kindergarten teacher too), and was a little bummed he wasn't going back until Friday.

Two down one to go!!!

1st Grade!

First day of the rest of her Monday through Friday life!

Raegan and her fellow 1st graders in the cul de sac.
Best Friends


The boys "ready" for the bus stop... or a rap session with Jay Z?



Beckett "going to school" too! He has insisted on the backpack both days of walking to the bus stop. I wonder how long that is going to last!

It was the first day of 1st grade for Rae on Tuesday. She has been ready for school for quite sometime....since oohhh...July! She tried on the outfit she wanted to wear the night before, and by outfit I mean the WHOLE ensemble! Shirt, skirt, shoes, school bag, and she even wanted me to do her hair so she could see how it would all look! Then she stood in the full length mirror doing a side to side view, then she exclaimed, "Yep this is it!" I have a feeling I am in trouble. But I have known this for quite some time :) She had a wonderful first day, she told me all about it from start to finish. She even included the bathroom breaks! I don't know if she is more excited about "school" or getting to skip nap EVERYDAY!

It will be quite an adjustment for me to have her gone everyday. But I think I will be o.k. ;)

Warning! He's oh sooooo TWO!

It's hard to believe that it has been 2 years since Beckett joined us in the chaos.  He is a perfect fit and we are thankful everyday for his loud (really loud), magnetic personality.  This last year he has discovered the musician in himself and fell in love with motorcycles, garbage trucks and his big brother Walker.  Don't get me wrong....he loves Raegan and Alex but he IDOLIZES Walker.  I haven't decided if that is a good thing or a bad thing. He is still a snuggle bug and definitely still has the mischievious streak that he had a year ago!  

He is no longer my baby Beckett anymore....sigh.

It was a toss up between making a motorcycle cake or a garbage truck.  Daddy got in on the decorating this year and it turned out great!  Beckett thought is was the real deal....

              so real he thought he should give it a push and see how far it would go!

                                                       His birthday motorcycle

Loved climbing in and out of the paddle boat on shore.

The determination of a two year old is pretty impressive!

He was going to do his own life jacket no matter how long it took.

Father's Day

This year we were very lucky and spent Father's Day up in Park Rapids with Dave's dad and my dad.  It was a perfect day on the lake to swim and fish and do absolutely nothing. Raegan had been feeling sick but perked up enough to jump in the lake and after all the splashing Walker got to spend some quality time with Daddy.  They walked to the big gardento dig up some worms and then spent the afternoon fishing.  As fast as he could cast one would take the bait!  What a perfect day with the best Daddy in the world!!!  That evening we ate, drank, laughed and reminisced.  Here are a few of my favorites pics from the day....more to come of the whole gang :)

Can you believe it?

                                                      Receiving her "diploma"
                                                     Mrs. Pizano was faboulous!
                                                     Her most favorite friend :)

It feels like just yesterday that I was saying, "I can't believe she is going to be in Kindergarten!" The year flew by and she made leaps and bounds.  It is AMAZING how quickly there little brains soak up all the new information being given to them!  She has become quite the little reader, she loves to add and subtract and is very good with letting me know how much money I have in my wallet :)  Her report card was wonderful with lots of S's (satisfactory) and E's (exceeds).  We couldn't be more proud!!!

YEAH Alex!!!!!!!

                                 Senior Class 2009  Park Rapids Area High School (95 kids)

                                                   Waiting in line...beaming!

                                                         A VERY proud Dad!

                                               Rare family photo :)

            All of Alex's siblings....Isaac, Remington, Kalvin, Raegan, Walker and Beckett

Memorial weekend we had the honor of watching Alex walk through commencement and graduate!! Can you believe it? I think that means we are getting old!  We are SO proud of him. As for plans in the fall....he is going to attend community college up north and work on his generals with the intention of transferring to the University of Minnesota Duluth majoring in music.
WAY TO GO ALEX!!  

Should I be worried? No fear...and a love of motorcycles (and he's not even 2!)

I can only imagine what the next several years are going to be like! Hopefully no broken bones....but somehow I think the odds are against me.

Splish Splash

Beckett was content just sitting and splashing, and hanging out with Daddy.
Walker made his way around the entire park.  His favorite was the tube slide.
Future Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model?  She was working the camera BIG TIME!

BFF'S :)  
The whole gang!
I don't have very many pics of me and the kids...so here's a rare shot!


Last weekend we joined the Invaldson's for some fun in the sun (ok there was no sun)....but lots of water! We arrived to the hotel on Friday night, ordered pizza and then headed to the water park. The kids were still upright at 10pm! After convincing them that they had to go to bed the grown ups had a little chance to wind down with a drink poolside :)

Saturday we went to the hotel restaurant for a buffet breakfast and then it was off to the water park for some more splashing.
I'm not sure who had more fun...Tanya and I racing down the water slides or the kids :) Raegan, Walker and Josie were able to go down the tube slides by themselves this year. The girls also did the body slides and by pure accident Raegan did the Hurricane aka "the toilet bowl". She was terrified and did not make the same mistake again! Beckett enjoyed splashing anyone who walked by (but especially little girls that were his size), floating around the lazy river and he made a few runs down the tube slides with Dave and I.

We had a blast... And it was even more memorable because we shared it with such great friends!  Thanks Ingvaldson's!!

The end of a very long day.  I sent him up to get pj's at 6:30.  I went up to check on him at 6:40 when he hadn't come down yet.  I was able to get him in his jammies and into bed without waking him up!