crusty toes

sunny summer days...

for the love of Krispie Bars!

What's my secret? Twice the butter, marshmallows AND a jar of marshmallow cream and of course, a little vanilla.

we're "fish-sitting"

While Grandma and Grandpa are down south, Sam is taking care of their fish.

I dream of sunny summer days!

tea set

polish me...please

elephant mask

Tragedy was narrowly avoided on Friday as he brought home his elephant mask on the bus. As usual, Sam was "messing around" on the walk home from the bus stop and slipped on the melting ice. His mask fell into a huge puddle of water! Tears galore - for hours. Luckily, we were able to dry it out and staple the ears back on. Whew...

fireworks!

Chris the cat

dusk

scissors

great-grandma's lily

strawberries

New Year's Resolution?

I 'm taking another photography class with Sharon Lyons. We meet weekly, get assignment and critique each others work. My plan is to post a new photo every day to keep me actively taking pictures every day...will this end up like every other New Year's resolution? Keep your fingers crossed.

Civil War Re-enactment

A couple of weekends ago we went down to Farmington to Dakota City. A customer from my shop was participating in a Civil War re-enactment and invited us to check it out. It was great fun and the actors (I guess you call them) really stayed in character. We not only witnessed the cannons being fired with real gunpowder, but toured most of the building on the site. I would highly recommend Dakota City to anyone that's going to be in the Farmington area. Check out their website for the upcoming events around Christmas...I heard a rumor that Santa was going to be there!

Look who came for dinner...

Last week we had a very interesting guest during dinner. As we sat outside enjoying our meal, Sam says "Mommy, look at that big bird up there". Sure enough, there was a "big bird" circling around above the trees ~ a good hundred or so feet up. A few minutes later, Sam jumps up and runs to the garage yelling that the bird had landed between our house and the neighbors. Suddenly, the bird flapped it's wings and was sitting on the next-door neighbor's handrail with a big old mouse in this mouth! He proceeded to hang out in the back yard for 10-15 minutes while he enjoyed his "dinner".

Soccer is a hit - so far!

Yesterday was the first day of soccer practice and it appears to be a real hit so far. Sam was a little apprehensive at first but as soon as he started kicking the ball around he was having a blast! It also helps that his friends Courtney, Jack and a new friend from kindergarten, Izzie are on his team.

The First Day of Kindergarten!

Yes, Sam was up at 6am on his first day of kindergarten.

No sleeping in for this guy, he's got things to do!

First, a good breakfast! Scrambled eggs, turkey sausage (Sam's favorite), raisin toast and of course, chocolate milk!

Here he is! All ready to meet new friends.

Sam and Daddy.

Sam and Mommy.

He is such a brave young man! Good luck, Sam.

The boy is finally home...

A week with Grandma and Grandpa: 7 hard-charging days filled with four-wheelin', cap-gun shooting, bug-collecting all-out fun. Two out of three of the people in this picture look a little tired, don't they? Everyone had a great time. The weather was beautiful, mainly clear and not too hot for late August. Sam was able to roam the five acres (or "the ranch" as he started to call it) at will when he wasn't helping Grandma or Grandpa. Summer's last hurrah before he starts kindergarten next week!

Nothing like a good ol' 4th of July parade...

My boy contemplating his strategy for getting the most candy.

Going through pictures on my camera I found these from the 4th of July in Brainerd. Plenty of farm implements and not much candy. I actually ran into someone at the Raspberry Festival parade a couple weeks later, who had gone to the Brainerd parade, and they said the same thing ... not enough candy! What happened to the good old days when they threw out candy by the bucketfuls? And you had a giant stash that would last you until Halloween when you could stock up again!

A lot of tractors ~ not many floats!


Wait, there is a Jeep. Wow.

Hold on, another tractor.

You can tell his enthusiasm is fading.

This is what a 5 yr old in 'meltdown mode' looks like ... when they have had enough of the parade and just want to go home. There is always next year.