The Larson Newsletter

Summer of 2010

2010-09-10T19:39:00.001-07:00

I forgot to mention how our summer was! Jerry and I both worked. Jerry worked for a guy that had an old 72 Chev pick up that needed rebuilding. I will post up a couple of pics. It was a huge project. I worked a Garden Center- mostly in the greenhouse. So i spent lots of time with flowers. I had to be careful with the heat inside the house...the ventilation was poor and some days the temps were near 100deg. F. Not a healthy environment for me being pregnant. So the summer went really fast. We didn't travel anywhere fancy. Just spent July 4 visiting Jerry's family out in ND. we took a couple of trips up north to Jerry's parents and had a baby shower for Joni (Jerry's sister) who is expecting twin girls. Joni is due a month later than me but being with twins, she is likely to have here babies around the same date as me. (Oct 22). Eagle Bend conv. is coming up at the beginning of Oct and Hunter is next weekend. Not sure which EB we are going to yet but will be there for both Sundays. Benjamin will be 2 years old Nov 11. cheers

back to the blog...

2010-09-10T18:57:00.001-07:00

Yep..its back to the blog for a quick update.
Bowden and Benjamin are doing great and keeping healthy.
Jerry and I started back at college for another semester of craziness. This is our 3rd week done so we are accumulating a decent amount of homework.
I am not sure if i have even blogged that I'm pregnant yet! I am Due Oct 22 and have around 6 weeks to go--which will be right in the middle of this semester! Jerry and I have planned our schedules were we can take turns watching baby on campus. We have also found another student willing to help with babysitting if needed.
Both Bowden and Benji are very excited to be getting a baby sister. Where they go for daycare, they get to be with twin girls who6mths old so they are getting lots experience with babies.
So that is school plans and as far as our house renovations go: we have the garage insulated and drywalled with working garage doors! its going to be so nice this winter to not have to worry about scraping ice of a frozen van. The garage should help keep the House cleaner too..no more tracking in dirt and snow from the drive!
Jerry and his Dad are at Hay Days this weekend (a huge snowmobile swap meet in Minneapolis.) I guess they have a motorbike and a bunch of accessories to sell along with a couple of Snowmobiles that Kevin Covlin (Jerry's cousins husband) is selling. They have Bowden with them..and the camper....so they should have a fun time. I have a wedding to go to in town this weekend and then another wedding next weekend. Jerry's good friend Seth (He was the best man at our wedding) is getting married. So i am making the most of my free time to get some home work done. I am taking 3 studio classes (printmaking, Life drawing and painting) this semester and 1 art history class. I love them all. Jerry is taking 2 Claculas classes and 3 financial management classes.
well, till next time.... greetings to everyone reading this!

Jan 2010

2010-01-27T19:04:00.000-08:00

Christmas and New years and the Month of January has wizzed by and now Jerry and I are back in School. My friend Maria (from Australia) spent the last few weeks with us and just left yesterday. She was an amazing help. It was nice that she was here when we were on Break. We have the Upstairs sheet rocked and Bowdens room taped and seamed. Its nice to have a wall up between the boys rooms now.
Right now we are listning to Obama give his state of the Union speech. So its hard for me to concentrate here..but i thought i would try to multi-task.
He says the war is over and all the troops will be out of Iraq by August this year.
Its getting interesting so I will write again soon.

Shane and Joni's visit over Halloween

2009-11-15T16:09:00.001-08:00

On the way to meet A. Joni and U. Shane...

Mall of America ...Lego Land
Our last Day with Gran..

Nickolodien world...Swiper no Swiping

Joni took us to the Jungle..

Then, Its off to the Zoo..

Then the Children's Museum..whew what a day

Halloween!!!!!!!!

\We Celebrated Benjamins Birthday Early. Jerry's Mom and Dad came down too!

A few fall pics of the Bowden and Benjamin 2009

2009-11-15T15:52:00.000-08:00

Benjamin just about a year old here..Yes! this is FALL! ......we had 2 snow storms in Oct!

Misc Pics from my Mom's visit and Eagle Bend Conv. 2009

2009-11-15T10:27:00.000-08:00

We made a batch Apple butter on the 27th September out of the apples off our tree in the backyard. It was tasty.

Jerry's trip out to Rhode Island and back...(his dad bought a new pickup truck so jerry flew out there and drove back to keep his dad company) ...they made a stop at the Ford Museum in Detriot.

The nice part about daylight savings.....you get to wake up to this...... hmm ...

Tyler Kract...haning out with the boyz

Heidi and Jordan stayed a few days at our place with thier beautiful Baby Elle :)

Just had to add this one.......... Ha ha!

Liz (my highschool friend from Australia) came to visit for a few days. She saw snow for the first time in her life!

Jana Forsland and me @ Conv.

Gran (my Mom) and Benjamin in the camper at Conv.

mmmmmmm....Mum made the BEST roast Lamb! There is nothing like a good old Aussie roast lamb dinner!!!! This roast cost $40! Mum couldn't beleive how expensive our Lamb was and how cheap chicken is over here.

Axel and Addy! Kent and Jacindas Vist Sept 09

2009-11-15T10:18:00.000-08:00

Douglas County Fair August 23-25 2009

2009-11-15T10:11:00.001-08:00

what it looks like with the garage so far..

2009-11-15T10:04:00.001-08:00

Not the best shots but I just took these this morning....

Some changes to our house this summer.....

2009-11-15T09:35:00.001-08:00

Starting on the garage foundation. (early fall) ...will put more pics up later...

update...

2009-11-14T19:48:00.001-08:00

Its been so long since i logged in here, I almost forgot my password. I really don't know where the last couple of months have gone. Sometimes I wonder the clock really did grow wings and fly. I feel like it should still be the beginning of october...which is as far back as i can remember right now anyway.
My Mom arrived Oct 2nd to beautiful fall weather and a culture shock of 'American busyness' The first week she was here was a juggle between kids, Universtiy, Convention and trying to impress my mom with tasty American food--which didn't work--because every night we came home she has some awesome Aussie dish bubbling away in the oven! In fact..I don't think i even turned the dial on my washing machine the whole time she was here either. Such a treat...I miss her so much. Convention was wonderful. Jerry and I made it to most of #1 and I made it to the Sun of #2 (My Mom was sick with a bad cold and pink eye.) That Fri Liz (a school friend from Australia that I hadn't seen since 8th grade) came to visit. the next day it snowed..Liz was more excited than i have ever seen anyone in a long time. It was her first time seeing snow.
The next week I got sick with a bad cold and the stomach flu. Jerrys mom came down to visit. She was going to take my mum up to Deluth but becuase i was sick and Jerry was Driving back from Rhode Island with his Dad, they didn't go. So they stayed here and skipped around Alexandira visiting all the touristy places and booked my Mom tickets to Florida (Disney World etc). Florida was where my Mom finally warmed up...she had 80-90degree temps while we were wearing hats and mittens.
The next weekend (Halloween) we all went down to the cities to pick up shane and Joni from the airport. Shane rode back with Jerry to work on our garage (we have a garage almost built now! Yaay!) and My mom and I stayed with Joni and went to the Mall of America, the zoo and the childrens Museum. I took my mom to the airport that friday morning :(. It was sad to see her go. She says she had a good time. The kids got to know here really well. Espeically Bowden. He can picture who 'Gran' is for real now. Joni the kids and I made it back home Friday night to more snow. The guys had to give up working on the garage becuase of the storm. Sooo ....its Halloween night and Joni and I are the 'Men in the yellow hat and the Bowden and Benjamin are both Courious George the monkey. Its beyond words how cute they were. Joni found the cutest monkey costumes that were so warm and cozy--perfect for a white halloween. so we all went trick or treating and stock piled up on candy for the year and got all sugared up on corn syrup. Ha...i hadn't even had supper..so i was really hyped! woooooh.
oh my battery is going to die on me so i will finish this later
cherio.

Yo Ho Ho and Its of to UNI we go!

2009-08-25T21:07:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is officially our first day of UNIVERSITY! I start the morning off with a Drawing class and finish with a Math class. Jerry has a banking class a management class and Calculus. We went over to Morris again today for more Orientation and for the Student Activities Fair. We got a free supper and signed up to be in several different student organizations. I signed up for the Swimming club, running club, Saddle club and an Art club. Jerry signed up for a chemistry club (where they even make ice cream our of liquid nitrogen) and a small town club as part of Green Corps. I will have to decide between the running and swimming club cause it may be too much to keep up with both. There is a huge Rec Center on campus that has an indoor running track, swimming pools, climbing walls and everything else you need for gym. So we are so anxious to try it out. They even have water slides and Toddler events going on for kids on Saturdays! Ahh its going to be a great semester at the Uof M in Morris :)

Getting Ready for a Garage Sale....

2009-08-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

So we are about to dive into something we have never done before.......a garage sale. Jerry and I spent the afternoon going through all our junk and hauling what we thought is 'saleable' to the front deck. We are either going to take it to the community center in town where they fill up the skating rink with everyone else stuff or we are just going to do it our here.
Its funny, I actually like scrounging for things to sell. I have so many old dusty shoes that i am very eager to part with! Its the baby clothes that are going to be the most work to price.
Tonight, Jerry got a call from one of his Buddies, Todd Ricthmeier. He was on his way back to the cities but broke down 15 mins from our house. So he went in to help him and then brought him back for Supper. It turns out that the transmission on his car is shot and it is now stuck here at our house. Jerry is driving him back to the cities as I write and will they will meet his wife half way.

Tomorrow is the first day the kids go to daycare. Bowden thinks he is such a big boy to go to Preschool! At this point, Benjamin is just happy where ever he is!:) I am a little sad but i know they will enjoy it. They are going to a family Daycare (or Chassy's house) is just up the road from our house.
So with classes starting this week and our garage sale we are going to be flat out. So I'm bracing my self for adventure! Night

Fall (I din't just say "Fall" did I?) = Baking to warm up the house

2009-08-21T22:53:00.000-07:00

Feels like fall is on its at way. I felt like baking today so I spent the morning cleaning the kitchen and washed the floor..seems nuts but i hate cooking in a dirty kitchen. Jerry decided to make Monster Cookies and I made two huge loaves of fresh white buttermilk bread. For supper I made Shrimp Fettichini Alfredo with fresh Basil and Fresh Parsley from the Garden. It was so tasty....and somewhat healthier than the regular Alfredo's...........only because i had to use 1% milk instead of whipping cream in which my fridge was sadly missing.
Benjamin was a little grouchy today. His teeth are hurting him and he is frustrated that he can't keep up with his big Brother. Jerry Parents came down to our place tonight and will stay for tomorrow and then go home. We plan on going to the fair n town in the morning and check out all the animals and maybe hit a couple of rides. It cost $4 per person to get into our fair plus a $2 parking fee. It drives Jerry mad that it cost so much...to the point where he doesn't even want to go! As the saying goes "The best things and the best times are free."
Jerry's Parents brought down all kinds of goodies tonight. Lots of candy and stuff from Sweden. (Joni went on a trip over there a few weeks ago) and of course some more clothes and a couple of Bomber hats (Artic cat ones of course) for the boys.
Yesterday we went over to the Uof M in Morris for Orientation. We bought all our books our parking permits and checked out where all our classes are going to be. We love the campus and can't wait to start going there. Classes start next Wednesday. Wooh oo!
All for tonight.

House Renovations

2009-08-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

Just for fun...i added this pic of what the house used to look like back before we started any remodelling.

After.....

New lights in the livingroom

The front is sided and waiting for paint. (Im going green)

No garage and before siding is on......

after siding...........

This is the west side of the house (where the garage used to be)

The back of the house. before siding and a new window. (i couldn't find a pic of what it is like now)

Summertime

2009-08-07T19:45:00.000-07:00

Its FAIR time!

The Warran County Fair in Northern Minnesota

On a train ride with Grandma

At the park and the BEACH!

Maggie Romeo with Bowden..Jerry and Tim Veldkamp on the merry-go-round and Dana Beckler spinning them!

Maggie and Tim

Megan and Dana

Jerry and I

This is a crayfish/yabby (or as Bowden calls them.."Crabbie") down by the lake near our house.

Walks down to the lake

WATER SLIDE!!!!

helping Daddy!

Playing in the Sandbox

A trip up north, a fair and working on the house....

2009-08-07T13:47:00.001-07:00

Its raining today so a good excuse to update.
On the 24th of June, we went to Brett (Engel)and Annamaries (Fore) wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and very entertaining. The Food was amazing. After that we drove down to Kent and Jacinda's to spent the rest of the weekend there. We went shopping at the mall and enjoyed relaxing at their house. Jacinda made the best homemade icecream with fresh raspberry sauce on Sunday. She would get rich selling that stuff! yummy!
The following weekend we had Tim Veldkamp stay with us and his Girlfriend, Maggie Romeo. Megan and Dana Bekler came down for the day On Sun too. There was Art in the Park with live music and lots of neat artsy things to look at. After that we went to a batting cage and had a few attempts at hitting a 80mph base ball. Then we ordered pizza and hit the beach for the rest of the evening. The water still hasn't warmed up much here ..I wonder if it ever will.
Last weekend we went up to Jerry's Mom and Dad's. The boys love going to Grandma and Grandpa's! on Sat we went to the Warron County Fair and spent the day eating a pile of fried stuff on sticks and dodging cow piles in the barns! The rides were the best part. (especially because I get to go on them for free!) Bowden spent tons of time on the Jumping castle and then the Choo Choo train was his next favorite. Benjamin was too little so he enjoyed watching them. On Monday, Grandma came down to spend the night and all of Tues to watch the kids. I was able to spend then entire day up on Scaffolding to help jerry put siding up on the house. We have nearly completed the siding now and are almost ready to paint!
Now we are counting down the days till we start school. We are off to the UofM in Morris Minnesota. Both of us are going full time but Jerry may still be able to get Tues and Thurs off to work. We will be staying here at our place and just driving the 50mins there and back each day. The boys will be going to day care right here in Garfield so that will be handy. Bowden will be jumping right into a preschool program at his daycare so im really excited about that.
Both the boys are doing really good. Benjamin is just about crawling....he does the army crawl or rolls to get where he want to go now. He is also pulling himself up on the side of his crib now and thinks he is a champ! he says Mamma and Dadda all the time and bub bub for his bottle. He knows the sign for more and all done and when he is hungry he smacks his fist to his mouth! He is quite the little charactor. He will be giong to day care with a little boy named cruize..he is just turning a year now so they will have lots in common!
So far we have no plans for this weekend. But we do want to go pick strawberries at the local berry patch.
later ...

Julie and Andrew's Visit to America

2009-07-06T20:09:00.000-07:00

Five weeks or more have been and gone since I last posted. My Twin sister and her family arrived here on the 2nd of June. Since then, it has been crazy. I look back now and wonder where those 5 weeks went!

It was really exciting to meet my new little nephew Levi. He is such a handsome little fella who is easily entertained. I miss his little laugh already. My other nephew and niece, Kyle and Selina, are growing up so fast too. The last time I saw them was when Kyle was Bowdens age and Selina was just a baby. For the most part, we hung out at home, the beach and the mall of America. For the first couple of weeks they were here, it was cold so we spent most of the time drinking coffee and catching up. The kids played really well together and it was fun to watch Benjamin and Levi play together.

For the entire last week of June, we all jumped in the Motorhome and took a trip out to Yellowstone national park. We camped 2 nights in yellowstone...Jerry and I even braved a night in a tent! (this was in a campground where they had just closed the walking trail to the store because of a grizzly sighting). After the park, we stayed in Cody WY and went to the rodeo and Julie and I went white water rafting down the shoeshone river--it was amazing! that afternoon (fri) we hit the road again until we found a walmart to camp over night in. the next day we drove to Hermosa convention in South Dakota and spent the night there. It was fun to see lots of Jerry's relatives there and nice that they could meek Julie and her family. There was another family from Australia there so they didn't feel too out of place! our last night we spent in Wall, SD at a campground. it had a pool and we were allowed a fire ring to make smores. woo hoo. Then it was back home.

On Wednesday, we got to get out on the boat to do a little skiing and tubing. We took the motor home down to the boat ramp so we had a cabin at the lake! On Sat, I took Jules and her family to the Outlets down near Minneapolis and then onto the Mall of America again for Supper (tea). We ate at Bubba Gump shrimp Co. (my favorite restaurant eva!)

So now as I type Jules and Andy are waiting in line at the LA airport and completely tired out. They spent the day at Disneyland and the night before they took a guided tour of LA and Hollywood.

I am going to miss them so much. :(

Naps

2009-05-19T22:21:00.000-07:00

Sleepy time......

Bowden and Grandma Edna......

2009-05-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of our kitchen...with the new counter tops that Jerry built. We are really happy with how it all turned out. We have a little more to do yet before its totally done like: trim around the windows, trim on the top and bottom of cabnets and a pantry door.

Here are some pics of the upstairs progress...

Bowdens room will be the one on the left, Benjamins on the right, the bathroom on the far right. on the right hand side, by the bathroom is the office (you cant see it in this pic.)

Bowdens Bunk bed -- in the making....

Bowden is TWO!

2009-05-13T10:32:00.001-07:00

Grandma Deloris made an amazing "sandcastle --as Bowden calls it--cake! it was green on the inside too! Bowden wanted a GREEN cake for his birthday this year.

2009-05-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe that its is the middle of May already.
Jerry and I are both done with classes this semester and are glad to finally have some time to work on the house. We are building walls upstairs for 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and an office. The framing is almost done and now we will tackle the wiring. We got a little side tracked today and decided to build a bunk bed for Bowden. Benjamin is getting too big for his Boat crib now and will need the crib Bowden is using.
Jerry and his Dad (who is here for a few days to help with the upstaris) took Bowden to Mernards to get supplies and i stayed home with Benjamin. He fell asleep earlier than usual last night so i was able to get out and Mow the grass--for the first time this summer! Oh how i love the smell of fresh cut grass.
This is the last week of Day Care for the Boys. Melissa, their provider, is really sad and I know both the boys will miss being there. However, I am looking forward to being home and spending the entire summer with them. Its Just over two weeks now before my Twin sister and her family from Australia gets here. (hence another reason to get the boys their own bedroom and out of the basement.) I am so excited for them to get here. We plan to take a road trip out west--Probebly to Yellowstone, Medora, the badlands and hopefully get to a convention out there. We will be taking a motorhome so we will have so much fun 'boundin' across the country in style! --ha ha wait till you see pics!
Bowden had his Second Birthday last Sat (May 9) we spent the day with Kent and Jacinda so Bowden could play with his little buddy Axel and so Benjamin could play with his little friend, Adalyn. It was a fun day. We had Special Meetings up here in Barrett on Sunday so we had to come back home Sat night. Thanks for a nice time Kent and Jacinda!
Tomorrow I hope to till up the garden and gets some veggies planted. Jerry's Mom got me a tomato planter for mothers day so Bowden and I planted those yesterday morning. He says "To-maR-toes" the aussie way--just like his Mommy!
Not too much else is happening. I will try to post again soon. Hope everyone is well and enjoying the spring, autumn, where ever you are! :)

Spring time in the country......

2009-05-11T19:41:00.000-07:00

skunk video

2009-04-12T14:53:00.000-07:00

The dog food thief.....

2009-03-20T21:54:00.001-07:00

I lost my video of the skunk we had in our garage - i promise to post it if i find it. Here is a photo instead! - little devil.

Time for some pics.....

2009-03-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

The snow drifted halfway up the back door!

Freezing rain

Dawn -view from our patio door

Benjamin -4mths

Bowden- helping Mommy cook

Time for a few pics

2009-03-20T21:16:00.000-07:00

Sugar!

2009-03-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

A little sugar goes a loooooooong way-and stays in a little boys system for a looooooong time! Bowden found the sugar pot today and decided that when Mom isn't looking, it would be a good time to dump it out and shovel as much as possible in his mouth!. He was supposed to be playing with play dough but obviously found out that sugar makes it even tastier. I had to pick him up, brush of the sugar and head out the door. (We were off to meet Jerry's Dad for lunch). Bowden wanted pancakes and sausage-and of course syrup! he could not sit still in his chair and kept throwing crayons everywhere. So back home it was and time for a nap...YEAH RIGHT...honestly, he was literally climbing walls. I have never seen him act so silly-ever! So by 4pm he eventually crashed and wanted his crib. I let him sleep for an hour but he was still up till 10pm tonight. Benjamin is much better today and took a long afternoon nap (which has been rare lately because of his cold) I baked two cakes,made Lemingtons and started supper (tea) the whole time he was sleeping. I made yummy meatloaf, potatoes, biscuits (scones) and veggies. It was scruptous.
Jill (Solberg) came over and hung out for the afternoon. She is really good with kids and Both Bowden and Benjamin love her so much. Jerry left with two of his buddies to go Snowmobiling in Montana yesterday morning. I finally talked to him tonight from his motel. There is no cell ph service our there in the sticks i guess. They had a good time riding today but are really wiped out.
Jerry's Great Grandpa Martin ended up in the hospital last night. He had pains in his arm that wouldn't go away. He is in the heart clinic in St Cloud hospital right now and may be there for a few days. They don't really know if he had a heart attack or not - yet anyway. He is really confused and pulled out his IV. They believe his confusion is from the meds he is on. We are all hoping he pulls though.
That's all for tonight.

2009-03-18T21:27:00.001-07:00

I guess you are all still wondering....about the skunk i mean. Well it wouldn't leave our garage, it kept coming out from its hiding place and crawling into the cat food bag. So eventually Jerry just went out and shot it right there in the garage! It never sprayed-thank goodness-but the garage still smells. We are all up at Jerry's parents this week. Benjamin still has a cold so we took him to the Doctor today. We were worried about pneumonia but the doc says he is fine.-Just really congested.
I got a good video of the skunk eating the cat food and will post that up soon.

SKUNK ALERT!

2009-03-14T17:57:00.001-07:00

Skunk Skunk Skunk Yuck Yuck Yuck....AND, it is in our garage!- AAAAH!We just got the kids down for a nap then sat down on the couch with some milk and cookies-and that's when i spelt it. SKUNK! it smell so bad. Jerry had just sold his woodboiler this morning so he left still had the garage door open. Bowden had been outside with Jerry and filled the dogs bowl up with a mix of cat and dog food. So the skunk had a feast before its eyes. So what to do? you can't go out there and scare it cause it would spray its worse-than-sewer stench all over the garage and who ever tries to scare it. So i just watched it for a while, took a video and a couple of pics and then it started to head for the door. I went to our bedroom window to follow it and saw it go under the deck. Now this is bad, because our porch wraps around three sides of the house and if you shoot it under there, there will be skunk smell for months. so we jumped up and down on the deck trying to chase it back out into the yard and away from the house-then Jerry can finish him off with his rifle. the skunk eventually came back out but went straight back into the garage. We waited and waited outside for it to come back out. but this time it was trying to hide and now its still crouched down behind some drywall leaning against the wall. Thankfully, It hasn't sprayed yet, but this potent little creature stinks so bad, you can smell him from inside the house.! Half way through all this Sheila, our dog, rises from her dog house an comes barking around the corner. We grabbed her and the cat and locked them inside. So i just checked again and the skunk is still hiding. I will let you know what happens next.....later :)

Exciting News!

2009-03-11T23:00:00.000-07:00

We just got word last night that my twin sister, Julie, her Husband, Andrew and their three kids are coming over to visit. They will be here in June- This year!!! I am really excited. I haven't seen any of them for four years. The count down is on - only 3 months until they arrive. :) I am happy happy happy happy! Bowden and Benjamin will get to meet their cousins and have lots of time to play.

Benjamin - 4 mths, teeth and wearing 6-9mth sleepers!

2009-03-11T22:37:00.000-07:00

Benjamin turned 4 months today! He also had cereal from a bowl- fed with a spoon -for the first time. Where has the time gone? He sleeps in a boat crib -(that rocks) but he is getting too big for it. I had to dig through Bowdens old clothes to find some that would fit Benjamin. I was shocked to find out he could only fit the 6-9mth sleepers! He is a big boy. His favorite pass time is hanging out in his walker. I use a big thick atlas under his feet so he can push up from the ground. He gets so excited with the toys in front of him that he nearly bails out of the walker. Its rather funny! Bowden is still doing his daily rounds in this same walker too. Although he gets stuck in it and whines until i come and get him out. Benjamin is not sleeping the best at night lately. I think his teeth are bugging him. He has two teeth that just came through - the 'I' teeth on the top gums.
We got snowed in the last couple of days and the weather is back to its usual freezing. For a while back there I thought i smelt spring comming.
I opened the garage door this morning to feed Shelia (our dog) up to waist deep snow! the wind had blown a huge drif right up the back garage wall!. Our van was covered in a thick layer of ice from the freezing rain the night before. it was so thick that an ice scraper could hardly get it off.

2009-03-08T21:02:00.000-07:00

2009-03-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

My Boys.........

2009-03-08T20:56:00.000-07:00

Brief Update

2009-03-08T20:39:00.000-07:00

Time has flown - Benjamin is nearly four months old and doing really well. He has had a congested cold for a week or so but otherwise he smiles, coos, giggles (allot!) and has already rolled over from his back to his tummy. Bowden is such a loving big brother and always ready to help Mommy. When Benjamin starts to fuss, Bowden will shhhh him or say "Quiet" or "boo". He gives Benjamin lots of hugs and kisses. The only issue he has with his little brother is sharing! Benjamin just started to use Bowdens old walker/bounder and boys alive, does Bowden throw a fit! Bowden counted to 6 again today and calls Humpty Dumpty-"Humpy Dumpy" I took a video of him helping me make cookies and - yeah- you'll have to look out for it here soon.
We are all excited that the weather is warming up. Jer too Bowden for a four wheeler ride today and when they came back, Bowden didn't want to get off. "more rides...Daddy?" '
This weekend we had Jess and Lana Birchill stay with us. They had a booth at the home show in town for their Floor business. It was a great time. Jerry's Mom and Dad were with us on Sat too. We just found out that My Mum (back in Australia) is coming over to spend a month with us this comming October. We are excited that she is finally going to meet her grandkids! She will be here for Eagle Bend conventions so it will be very nice to have some extra help!
Its back to Class for Jer and I tomorrow so i will leave this here so i can get some sleep.
Oh, we got some formal pics done of the kids so will post a couple of those up soon too. :)

2009-01-03T12:52:00.000-08:00

Welcome Baby Benjamin George

Our pets- Sheila and Xena

Xmas and New Years.

2008-12-31T21:31:00.000-08:00

Its New years Eve..only 25 mins away from 2009. Jerry had his Tonsils taken out today down in St Cloud. Jerry's Mom and Dad are here this week to help out :)

Kent and Jacinda Kramer are in town and came over for the afternoon. They have Axel (21 days older than Bowden) and Adelynn. (2 months older then Benjaman) Bowden has a hard time sharing his toys!

We had a party and even celebrated my Birthday for the 5th Jan - Jerry's mom bought me a cake.

Its been a busy week. Christmas was spent up in Thief River with Jerry's Parents and some friends up there and then we went to a Family reunion in Castleton ND (Jerrys Mom's side of the family) on the 28th and 29th. It was good to see everyone again. While at the reunion, we found out that my sister Renee had her baby- a little girl - Abigail Renee 8lbs. - that's all the details i know so far. Anxious to see pics.(Congrats!). Benjamin is sleeping now so I'm off to get some zzzzzzzzz's myself.

Bowden can say "Happy New year" as plain as day. -As Kent and Jacinda left we told them happy new year and when they were gone, Bowden was saying "happy new year" while playing with his train set!

2008-12-31T14:36:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our blog!

(Thanks Jacinda for helping me get this going!)

Being that most of you are so far away, We are going to try this out to keep you posted on all the excitedment that goes on around here!

I will try to keep this updated weekly.

Happy new year everyone :)