Katie and Thomas' Wedding!

Two weeks ago was Jake's birthday. I made him a cake called strawberry hot milk cake. You make it in two rounds. As you can see in the picture it is a layer of cake, then cool whip, then strawberries, more cake, more cool whip and then top it off with strawberries. It was really good. Surprisingly Jake and I ate the whole thing in a couple of days. So much for losing weight!.......ha ha ;-).

Jake and Addy celebrating Jake's birthday. We also had steaks on the grill, crossiants, pan fried potatoes and a veggie......talk about a feast!

This is our first picking of strawberries. We would have had much more except for the fact that some slugs ate quite a few of them. In our second picking we got twice this many and in our third picking we got three or four times this many. Hopefully there will be enough to make jelly soon.

Addy's hand print on the table. She is now in a booster seat instead of her highchair. I need to get her high chair all cleaned up so Susanna can start sitting in it in a month or so.

Susanna just chillin......Addy was so gracious and gave her a toy.

Susanna slouched in the boppy pillow.

She had a nice big smile on her face.

Last Thursday we went to Minnesota for Katie and Thomas' wedding. We all were in the wedding party except for Susanna. Addy was a flower girl, Jake was a groomsman and I was a bridesmaid. I did Katie's hair for the wedding.....it turned out beautiful! The wedding was SO beautiful! I almost cried a couple different times during the ceremony. Congratulations again, Katie and Thomas! We are so happy for you!

Susanna sleeping on grandma Friday morning during coffee.

Grandma holding Susanna during the grooms supper. 

Mommy and Addy.....Addy was being a goofball.

Katie, Thomas, the flowergirls and the ring bearer.

Katie and Addy....so cute!

Daddy holding Susannie after her big blowout. She had gone two days without pooping, it all came out on Saturday.

What a little cutie!

Stacie fixing Katie's hair before the ceremony.

Susanna laying on the floor......"trying" to fall asleep.

Family picture.....Addy always has her hands in her mouth these days. Her bottom two year molars are coming in :-(.

Running around after the ceremony.

Susanna with her Godmother at the reception.

The other flower girl was just hanging out in front of the head table.

Addy sat with Roger and Sue because Jake and I were at the head table.

The decorating of the car.......and so it begins.

And continues.....

More post-it notes.....

And more :-)

"Lets cover the whole car"

"Wait, lets do the wheels too." (This is how it looked when we went back in to the dance) 

Roger and Sue's family and friends having some toga party fun in honor of Roger's 50th birthday. They got sheets from the hotel to make togas.

Addy dancing with Stacie, Jared, and Roger.

Katie and Tomas see their car......sorry it's a bad picture.

Oh wow....more post its!

And off they go....

We got back to Roger and Sue's late Saturday night after the dance. We left early Sunday morning to get to Grand Forks. My cousin had been ordained a priest also on Saturday. We were sad that we missed the ordination but thought we should try and make it for the family reunion. It was very nice to see all of my extended family.

Random picture of Addy and Susanna.....I think Addy was tired of smiling after all those pictures on Saturday.

Susanna seems to never get tired of smiling....and laughing :-).

Addy......

Addy is now in a twin size bed. Last week she started jumping/climbing out of her crib. We didn't want her to get hurt so we decided she would now sleep in a twin bed. Before this last weekend the mattress had been on the floor because we didn't want her falling off the bed since we didn't have a bed rail yet. It takes a while for her to go to sleep now because she is constantly getting out of bed and having to be put back into bed. It is very frustrating because on average I lose an hour or two of time each day because I have to sit outside her room until she falls asleep. Is there a better way?....If anyone knows I would love to know. Other than that she is doing good besides her teeth. She is getting in her two year molars on the bottom, it seems like they are taking forever to come in!

Susanna....

Susanna is a big smiler! She loves to smile, giggle, and laugh. She is so ticklish, it is cute! She is such a good baby, way calmer and more mellow than Addy was. She likes to talk and coo. She also is practically sleeping through the night. On a regular basis she will go to bed between 8 and 9:30 and not wake up until somewhere between 4 and 6 o'clock. I am not liking her pooping schedule though. She will go several days without pooping and then bamm!.....she has a monster poop! When I say monster, I mean MONSTER! If you dumped the diaper upside down you could probably get a half a cup or so of liquid. She has not pooped now since her blow out on Saturday....that's 5 days! This is the longest she has gone without pooping. I am seriously scared....and not joking either!

The Garden.....

The garden is doing awesome. Pretty soon we are going to have a ton of stuff ready! The broccoli is starting to form heads, the potatoes and the peas are flowering, the corn is knee high and everything else is coming along nicely. We will have to pull all the radishes and throw them. We got a trial pack from the seed company we order from. Jake and I tried one....our mouths were on fire! The spinach has unfortunately gone to seed so we are going to replant it. The strawberries are taking off and are doing better now that we weeded the patch again.

Happy Birthday to an AWESOME man!

Today is my dearest husband's birthday! He has finally caught up to me in age....only for another half a year. He said last night that I can't boss him around anymore because we are the same age now. Just wait till November ;-).

Anyways, he is a great husband and father. He is always trying to do what is best for his family. He protects (kills mice, spiders, and other creatures around and in the house) and provides (working hard at his job and at home) for us. He also works hard at making our house nicer with all the remodeling. He normally has to do most of the "dirty" jobs around here (figuratively and literally speaking). I don't know what we would do with out him!

He is also a man of strong faith and conviction. He is the head of our family in faith matters and always pushes me to be the best I can be. The girls love their father so much and get excited when he comes home from work. Sometimes if Susanna can't be calmed down, I give her to Jake and she calms down right away.

So, honey.....here's to you! May you always seek the Lord's guidance in everything you do. And may he pour down many grace upon you on your birthday and everyday! I love you so much! Happy Birthday!

Butchering Chickens

Two weeks ago ( I know....I didn't post last week :-/ ), the night after Susanna's baby shower I was talking to Jake and patting Susanna's back. All of a sudden I realized that she wass fast asleep. This is what she looked like...

How this can be comfortable I will never know....

So precious.

The pile of stuff next to me is some of the stuff Susanna got at the shower.

That Friday, Addy fell and scraped her knee. It was her first bad injury. Jake and I didn't even know it was there until we undressed her for a bath that night....that is how tough she is :-).

Unfortunately, she got another big scrape on her knee the next day at a wedding we went to in Bismarck. We made a one day trip to Bismarck to go to a wedding for some friends of ours.  We were also able to spend some time with Agnes, our goddaughter,  and Pete and Monique. It was really nice to see them and their new place.

On Sunday Katie and Thomas stopped by on there way back from Bismarck to pick up some plants for Jake's dad. Their stay was lengthened at our place because Katie got sick and had to stay the night. Although it was a bummer she was sick, I enjoyed having her at our place on Monday. Sunday evening I made a quick trip to town to get some sprite for Katie. I left Susanna with Jake. That was the first time I had been away from her. Apparently, she was happy about that......

Jake was getting some pretty good smiles from her while I was gone.

Cutie.

One night last week Susanna fell asleep on Jake....and he fell asleep too ;-).

She is SO adorable.

Chicken Butchering

Our week was cut short by our trip to Josh and Christine's this last weekend to help them butcher chickens. I got the truck all packed Thursday night, picked up Jake and we headed out of town. Jake and Josh started butchering nice and early Friday morning.....5am! They wanted to do the butchering in the cool of the morning. There was 135 chickens butchered, bagged, and in the freezer by 1 o'clock.....that's what I call gettin her done! That afternoon after all the kids woke up we filled up the pool and went outside for some relaxation. Here are lots of pool pictures (sorry, I didn't get any butchering pictures....I know you are ALL disappointed ;-).

Addy playing.

Johnny with lots of toys.

The kids had lots of fun.

So serious.

Silly girl.

Ohhh.....

Trying to squirt someone with the water in the fish.

Jake was filling up the water for the chickens. Josh and Jake also moved the second batch of broilers to the pens that the ones they butchered had been in.

Jake was squirting himself with water.

The kids soaking their feet in the water.

Addy sitting in the lawn chair in the water.

Their sitting in their lawn chairs again.

The water got yucky because Johnny put a muddy truck in the pool. We told them that they were done in the pool and that it needed to be dumped. Addy and Johnny decided they would try and dump it. They didn't have much luck. Johnny finally pushed one of the sides down with his foot and some water came out.

A little boy, his mom and his grandma came to pick up some chickens. The little boy loved their John Deere Gator for kids. Addy decided she would hop on the back for a ride. 

They were moving only because Addy was pushing them along.

Uh Oh, Johnny has the sprayer....run!

Saturday morning Jake and Josh went fishing. They brought back some small mouth bass. I guess they caught more than they brought back. We ate them for supper that night...they were yummy.

With Johnny and Addy.

Cleaning the fish.

Johnny's birthday is this coming weekend. Since we, his godparents, are not going to be there we brought his gift with and gave it to him a little early.

A rake?

                                     

      We gave him a garden tools set with: a lawn rake, hoe, garden rake and spade. He really liked them.

Sunday when we got home from Josh and Christine's we were greeted with an unwelcome sight. Last week we papered and mulched all the vine crops (about 1/4 to 1/3 of the total garden). When we came home there was paper and straw everywhere! The strong south winds that we had gotten while we were gone had ripped everything apart. We spent the rest of the day trying to piece the mulching and paper back together. Most of the paper had to be replaced. I kept telling Jake that there is worse things that could of happened.

Susanna has slept though the night for the first time! 3 out of 6 of the past nights Susanna slept from 9pm to 6am....I could get used to that!