Bitter or Sweet?

Walking through Target last week, it was hard to miss the giant displays of school supplies.  As we cruised on past them, Quinn and I spontaneously remarked and reacted to what we saw.

My reaction was, "Ugh... it is way too early for these supplies to be out. How dare they?!"  It just reminds me that in a few short weeks we will be back in school and the bump and grind of everyday life will ensue.

Quinn's was a smidgen bit more positive than me. She said, "Yea... the school supplies are out!"  She then proceeded to ask if she could pick out her supplies, to which I quickly said "No, it's too early!"

She has proceeded to ask me every time we have walked through the doors of Target, which has been far too many times this week. Quinn finally cracked me a couple of nights ago!

I guess I need to get in the mental game... after all, it is that time of year again!

A Great Saturday...

We spent Saturday morning with Mer, Matt, Judson, Crew, Elsa and Grandma Jane. The weather was tolerable, according to South Dakota standards, so we all packed up and headed to the zoo. 

The girls had a hoot pushing the boys around and the boys in turn enjoyed the scenery and animals. 

We managed to capture a picture of Judson, Crew, Quinn and Sullivan, but Miss Elsa was being feed, and let's face it, food trumps pictures any day of the week.

Miss Elsa getting a few snuggles from Matt in between naps.

Grandma Jane and Quinn in the monkey house...

The boys rode the carousel for the very first time with Quinn and Sullivan.  I think it was a HUGE success for them - Judson and Crew loved it!

They also feed the goats and loved that as well!

At one point Judson got hold of Sullivan's sunglasses and Sullivan got hold of Ryan's sunglasses. Quinn kept her own goofy glasses. Don't they look cute?!

We always enjoy the zoo, but it is much more fun to enjoy it with family.

Two Peas...

Despite the poor quality picture, these little ladies are two peas in a pod.... check out their coordinating outfits!

You might look at that picture and ask yourself why Quinn and Gabby are wearing pants and jackets.  After all, it is July 26th - the middle of summer.  That would be because our stinkin' weather didn't get past 70 degrees today with a pretty good wind.  Don't let the sun shining in the background fool you. It was darn near cold today.

The girls spent the day helping with our rummage sale and playing outside and because of that, their cute summer dresses were not going to cut it...ugh!

 

Strike!!

The girls and I were looking for something to do yesterday to pass a few hours.  We wanted to do something we hadn't done this summer yet, so we decided to....

go bowling!!!

Quinn had only been bowling once before and Sullivan had never been before.  I was intrigued to see how they would do or if they would even really enjoy it.  I was pleasantly impressed by how enthusiastic they were and how much fun we had!

Sullivan needed a little bit of help getting the ball down the lane, but Quinn was so independent.

They were so puzzled with the ball return.  They couldn't figure out how the ball got from one end of the building where the pins were at to the other end of the building where we were.  It was so fun to watch them.
 

The adventure to pass a few hours yesterday was a huge success!  Score one good idea for me - Yay!

Summer Portraits...

A few weeks ago, we signed up for a summer portrait session that benefited a young girl diagnosed with leukemia.  I eagerly picked the pictures up this week.

Here are a few of the highlights from the photo session...

A couple of black & white photos too... 

Ryan calls this one the "I take you to be my sister..." pose.  

I guess I have to agree!

Just a small shout out to Jeff Sampson Photography.  Jeff did an amazing job with the photographs and was incredibly kind and easy to work with!

That's the Way She Bikes It...

We have been working hard this week teaching Sullivan to ride her bike without training wheels.

 It seemed very impossible at first and in fact I questioned our decision to even try.  She wasn't getting it and wasn't wanting to get it.  I told Ryan to put the training wheels back on the bike and we would try again next summer.  He reassured me that we need to give it time.  I hesitantly listened and I am glad I did!

Something clicked last night and Sullivan is an official bike rider!!!  She can go about the length of three houses without falling!  Wahooo!  While I realize that isn't really far, it is a start!  We'll take it!

I thought that it was sooo cute - Duff was super protective and wanted to make sure Sullivan was okay on her bike.  She followed Sullivan and Ryan (or myself) up and down the sidewalk as we taught her to ride her bike.  She was fast on our heels!

Before long Sullivan will be zipping up and down the block all by herself!!!

A Couple of Firsts....Lessons Learned

This past week, I went to a teacher's conference in Minneapolis with a few of my colleagues from school.  We spent a few days learning some great things in the world of education, that will be exciting to implement back in our school this coming school year.

However, while I was away on this trip, several "firsts" took place:

1.  Ryan had both girls overnight by himself for three nights.  He had never had both of them on his own and from what he reports (and the girls report) they had a great time.  No trips to the emergency room and they look like they have been fed, so all is good.

Ryan and the girls went swimming
while I was gone.

Lesson Learned?  I have to get away more often.  How did Ryan go 4 1/2 years without having them on his own?!

2. While in Minneapolis, we spent a great deal of time at the conference but had the evenings to ourselves.  We enjoyed some great restaurants and great refreshments.    It was the first overnight, out of town conference I had been to.

Colleen (my principal), Joe (assistant principal),
Nicole (4th grade) and Jessica (5th grade)

Lesson Learned? Conferences are great and full of valuable information, but enjoying the company of colleagues (outside of school) is refreshing.  Something we don't get to do very often.

3.  Another night in Minneapolis, we left our assistant principal back at the hotel and went to Shout House - a dueling piano bar.  I had never been to a dueling piano bar and had no clue what it was all about.  The four of us ladies had a BLAST!

We even saw all the presenters/key note speakers from the conference at the piano bar.  Not that the names mean anything to anyone outside of education, but in the world of education, they are big wigs.  My friend summoned them over to take a few pictures.

The four of us with all but one of the main presenters...
(Tim Brown, Becky and Rick DeFour, William Ferriter, and Steve Pearce)

The four of us with Tim Brown, commentator and presenter at the conference.

Lesson Learned?  Dueling piano bars are a GREAT time.  I will go back and recommend the Shout House to anyone in the Minneapolis area.

Many firsts and many lessons learned this past week.... :)  The girls survived and Ryan survived - that's all that's important.

Fourth of July....

The fourth of July was a busy one... we had the traditional grill out and shoot fireworks kind of day.  But we also threw in a parade and a visit to the hospital for good measure.

We started the day at the 4th of July parade.  The three of us girls met Grandma Jane downtown.  I wish I could say that the parade was great and grand like those parades in larger cities.  But it wasn't.  It was just a simple parade with average people who decorated their bikes, wagons, and dogs (yes dogs!) in red, white, and blue and marched down the streets of downtown.

Despite how "average" it was, when someone throws a tootsie roll or dum-dum sucker at a child's feet, the parade instantly becomes magical and grand.  The girls had a hoot collecting bits of candy here and there and watching the floats and fire trucks saunter down the road.

After the parade, we made our way to Nana and Papa's house.  We grilled some burgers with them and enjoyed all things American in terms of food.  Delicious!

Before shooting fireworks though, we made a visit to the hospital so see sweet Elsa girl.  Unfortunately a nasty bug swept through Mer and Matt's house and all the little ones were sick at one point. Miss Elsa Girl's temperature and lack of eating required a couple night stay in the hospital.  Poor baby.  So sad to see a little one hooked up to wires and monitors and such.  Not a great way for them to celebrate the Fourth of July. Her first Fourth of July at that.

After the hospital, we waited patiently (some more patient than others!) for it to get dark enough to do a few fireworks.  Nothing over the top or dangerous, unless you count Sullivan (accidentally) waving her sparkler far too close to the grown ups legs as dangerous!  Oops!

Here are the lovely spectators taking in the fireworks display... Papa, Uncle Eric, Quinn, Sullivan, and Nana.  Ryan partook in the lighting of the fireworks.

Nana with her girls...

Despite Elsa's illness, a great Fourth of July! 

The Joys of Summer...

Nothing screams summer more than sprinkler fun and swimsuits... 

Quinn and Sullivan enjoyed a recent warm day (rare this year) in the sprinklers!

This was their best attempt at their "please mommy, can we have a Popsicle? Pretty, pretty please?" face.

And how can I say no to a face as sweet as these?  I can't.

As I said, the joys of summer.... we're lovin' it!

A "Berry" Fun Weekend...

Just across the border in Minnesota there is a neat little strawberry farm.  We decided to pay a visit to this strawberry farm on Saturday morning to stock up on the sweet and tart goodness these little berries had to offer.

This strawberry farm is a ma and pop operation - super nice people running the place.  The owner told us to go ahead and sample the strawberries while picking.  He said that because there was no chemicals or pesticides on the fruit, we could eat as many of the strawberries as we pleased.  He just told us to stop short of eating our weight in strawberries.  Sullivan took his advice to heart and ate darn near close to her weight in strawberries.  Imagine that.  Quinn quite the opposite.

This was a new experience for all of us - something we had never done before.  We had a blast picking the ripe berries and adding them to our buckets.  Quinn got into the picking and enjoyed finding the 'perfect' strawberry.  Sullivan wasn't as psyched about picking them.  She chose rather to eat the berries and hold the bucket for mom!

We picked and picked and picked.  It became somewhat addictive.  By the end, we had a little over 8 pounds of strawberries.  I am not sure any family of four (with one that doesn't even touch the fruit - I will let you guess who!) needs eight pounds of strawberries. But believe it or not, we've made a pretty good dent in them already.

The highlight of the trip for the girls was the uniquely shaped strawberry that I found in the fields.  It was shaped like a butterfly. As you can imagine, that was a small squabble as to whose bucket this strawberry got to go in!

I think we may have started a new summer tradition.  It was a 'berry' good way to spend the day!