a little spelunking in the Black Hills

We went to South Dakota last summer so I could run the Crazy Horse 1/2 marathon with my sister-in-law. We were able to fit in some spelunking too :)

a little ESCHEL commencement (May 2015)

The kids after commencement in 2015 with their certificates :)

Ezzie graduated from K5!

Foofie graduated from 4th grade!

 Buddy graduated from 7th grade!

And Halo graduated from 9th grade. 

a little fun little boys! (June 2015)

The little boys enjoy playing together!

G's favorite shoes: the camo rainboots!!

a little kindergartener (spring 2015)

Ezzie in K5 ... seems like so long ago. Now he's my 1st grader!

 Lunch with his kindergarten friends!

 Show and tell (above and below)!

Story time!! (Ezzie's in orange)

a little lawncare business

Halo and Buddy's lawncare business really took off in the summer of 2014 ... so much so that Halo decided they needed official shirts. So ... she bought t-shirts and hand painted them with "their" colors while we were in Florida in winter 2015!

Buddy modeling his. Their name is Lawns P.L.U.S. Landscaping. Plus is an acronym: Personalized Lawncare; Unique Service.

They now have professionally made shirts but I love the handmade ones still :)

a little Thanksgiving (2014)

The two photos I did manage to take at our extended-family Thanksgiving dinner :-)

Halo and Buddy went pheasant hunting for the first time as well ... (unfortunately the photos are on J's phone)
Except this one of the hunters lunch in the barn.

Fun was had with cousins too!!

Foosball fun!

 Ba-ba's tractors and ATVs in the barn ... how exciting!

G loved the tire swing :)

a little lawnmower guy

Little Guy has been really in to lawnmowers. We have photos of him at various ages with his play lawnmower/weed-whipper (aka long shower head)/leaf blower (aka bat) as well as on the real lawn tractor and pushing the real lawnmower. He gets this from Buddy (who now wants to be called MowerMan) :-)

(these all from September 2014)

a little trumpeter swans

On a walk last fall, Ezzie, G, and I saw some trumpeter swans on a little pond/lake/thing near out house.

(Ezzie took this one ... that's what the angle is so strange!)

a little more photo shoot!

Halo has been really in to photo shoots ... just found another one from September 2014. :)

a little silly foofie and baby

Foof has been really into cameras lately. She took a bunch of goofy videos of G and Ezzie a few years ago. I found some recently from September 2014 :)

a little Florida welcome center fun

It has become a tradition in our family, when we go to Florida every year, to stop at the official (emphasis on official) Florida Welcome Center. We enjoy their fresh OJ and grapefruit juice and take silly pictures at their photo booth and pick out maps.

Here are our "silly pictures" from this year :)

Much fun and sunshine ahead!!

a (nother) little photo shoot

Halo likes to take photos of the kids and has "photo shoots" every so often :) This time, her subjects were the two littles, Ezzie and G.

a little first day of school (2014)

First day of school photos from 2014 :)

Ezzie, K5

 Foofie, 4th

Halo, 9th

Buddy, 7th

(Buddy thought we were going to be late so he didn't want a photo :) )

All four kids crammed into the back of a rental car -- our big van was in the shop.

little gardening

Halo has really gotten her green thumb now :) She is really into gardening and outdoor work. (thanks, G-ma)

Two years ago, she cleared a bit of land and has converted it into a pretty garden (finished product photos later).

Happy in her garden :)

a little catching up

I'm going to be catching up on blogging -- from the last few years :)

And I'll start with a photo shoot from two years ago:


Ezzie, Buddy, and G

Little, or big Foofie!

The littles

G-isims :)

Some little "Gunnar-isms" from the past few months.

The other day, Jensen said, "I'm watching you!" and G replies with, "Don't look at my face!!!"

"no-balls" or "no-fort" for "snow balls" or "snow fort" ... no = snow :)

SUPER everything ... "SUPER sick, SUPER dangerous, SUPER mad"

He loves anything lawn related or machinery.

Wants to go hunting with Hayley and Jensen in South Dakota and keeps asking if he can go!

Pretends he's a dog a lot ... he'll attempt to eat food like a dog, crawl like a dog, bark like a dog, drink water/milk like a dog etc.

If someone does something he doesn't like he'll say, "I'm sooooo mad at you!" or "I'm SUPER mad at you!"

Enjoys singing songs by tobyMac, I Am They, & Rend Collective (post video later!).

While setting the table for dinner, G watched H set the table. She didn't put a cup by his plate cause she was going to get a plastic/paper cup. He looks at her and says: I NEED a glass cup. She replies: Oh, really? Alright, I guess. She brings a mug over to the table and G eyes it suspiciously. "Is that a GLASS cup?" he asks in a huffy voice. She responded, "Yes." He says, "Okay. FANK YOU." (somewhat angrily)

I told G his legs were so fast and strong and he replies, no they're teeny :)

Whenever he wants candy/gum he tells us, "I'm SUPER sick!!!"

When asked what he's doing, he says, "I'm doing stuffin" or "I'm getting stuffin."