Photo Dump

Big photo dump ahead! :) Keep putting off updating my Blog, so there are lots of pics. We've been busy these last couple of weeks. We did travel to Mt. Ayr last weekend for the funeral of my Aunt Ann. It was a sad weekend, but also one full of laughter, just how Aunt Ann would of wanted it. I didn't think to take any cousin photos or pics of people gathering/visiting, but I wish I would of. There were a lot of great people who gathered together to say good-bye to a wonderful lady.

Stella diving off the diving board. She's become a little fish this summer!

It finally cooled down this past week so we are able to go outside and do normal summer activities outside of the water! We enjoyed a fun morning at a local park.

 Different day, different park playing in the sand.

Monkey girl

Porter found a cool bug and thought I needed a photo of it!

Ready to bike home it was beginning to sprinkle.

So glad we left the park when we did!! We weren't home 10 seconds before the skies opened up and let loose!! We had quite the severe thunderstorm. All of our deck chairs were blown off the decks, quite a few big limbs down in the yard. Even had hail. The did enjoy a few moments of playing in the rain before I made them come in and dry off.

Next day different park. Decided to play around with the tennis rackets/ball with the kids. It was pretty fun!

I also brought their roller blades, skate boards and scooter for them to play on at the courts.

Same park, but different area.

Love this pic of my boy! :)

Stella and Porter love to take pics with my phone now, so I got in on some of the shots.

Came home and had a lemonade stand. They didn't have much luck, living on a dead end street and all. But they still had fun and each earned $1.50! :)

Yesterday we headed to Fogel Lake for our annual camping trip with my parents, The Little's and Mark and Ken. We had gorgeous weather!! We packed in a lot of fun in our 24 hours, but I hardly took any photos. I will be sure to get more next year. We kayaked, canoed, went horse back riding at John and Karleens, had a fantastic cook out, fished. The kids played so much. They were beat last night. And filthy! :)
Ken posing for me! :)

Stella and Haydn on the bridge.

Papa and Porter fishing.

Haydn was the only one to catch a fish!

Porter caught the worlds smallest frog, but he was very excited and proud! :)

Stella took this today of the cats! There is a baby bunny that lives under our deck and he plays right outside this window. The cats love to watch it and I'm sure would LOVE to pounce on it!!

Summer Fun

We've been having a great summer break. 3 weeks from today the kids start back to school. I know it will fly by.

We've had an extremely HOT summer. If we are outside we have to be in the water, otherwise we melt. So if we aren't swimming we are finding ways to keep entertained indoors.

I took the kids to Sky Zone a couple weeks ago. It's a HUGE trampoline park. Here's Porter running out of the foam pit.

Stella in the back corner playing Dodge Ball. They both loved playing this.

Doing Spin Art.

Working hard on sticker moasics.

We went to the Beaverdale Farmers Market to get some yummy locally grown food. Of course the kids wanted Sno Cones. :)

Playing in boxes. I can't believe he fits in this!!!

Mike built a big deck a couple weeks ago. He came home like this a few days in a row. The shirt was a goner, but I did manage to get the shorts clean.  Go me!!  ha ha

Sara, Mom and I went on our annual Mother/Daughter weekend, we sure missed having Anna there! This year we traveled to Dubuque and Galena, IL. We had a great time. Here they are posing on the corner of Diagonal St! :) (Mom is in the middle of talking, go figure!)

We are fostering a cat for the next 18 months. Cosmo Vladimir Cupcake Ricklefs (try saying that 10 times fast!!) will be living with us while our good friends, the Ricklefs live in Beijing, China the next year and a half. He's such a great kitty. He and Rex have adjusted to each other pretty darn well.

Luckily our neighbors let us come over and swim as much as we want which has been fabulous this summer. We are so glad that the Little's live so much closer!! They come and swim a lot, too!! :)

Last week was VBS at the Luthern Church of Hope. I think 5000 kids attended during the two weeks they offered it. It's a great program and the kids just love it. This is just the kindergarten and preschool group. The 1st - 6 th graders are upstairs.

Had to snap a photo after leaving a playdate to what my car was reading. It actually started out at 110 degrees!

Mike and Porter taking a snooze on the couch.

I took the kids along with Hannah and Haydn out to the Animal Rescue League today to visit the animals. It was fun! Hannah wanted me to get her a dog and bring it home. Pretty sure Sara wouldn't of been too happy about that!!!

Trip To Mall of America

This past weekend Stella and I traveled with my wonderful mother in law, Linda to the Mall of America. She really wanted to take Stella to the American Girl Store and to eat there.  We had a fantastic weekend! :)

Eating lunch on Saturday once we got to the mall.

Linda had a BIG surprise up her sleeve and bought Stella a new American Girl Doll!! Stella was beyond thrilled! At first she really wanted Kit, then she saw Emily and fell in love with her. Here she is deciding between the two.  She decided on Emily until.......

....we headed upstairs and she saw the "Just Like Me Dolls" and then she wanted a doll that looked like her. So that's what she got! Her doll had the exact same color of hair as Stella and a few freckles across her nose.  The only major difference is Stella has hazel colored eyes and the doll has blue eyes.

We had dessert at the American Girl Cafe. Very cute. Stella named her new doll Sophie. So Sophie, Stella, Linda and I all shared an ice cream sundae and fruit smoothie.

We shopped some and checked in at the hotel and swam for a bit. Then we headed back to the mall and ate at the Rain Forest Cafe. It was a lot of fun! Stella and the tree frog.

Getting ready to ride a ride at the amusement park in the center of the mall.

Getting ready for bed. Stella brought up her other two dolls, Kanani and McKenna. Stella had so much fun and it will be a trip she'll always remember taking with her Grandma! :)

Porter's New Look

We started giving Porter's room a new look last month and finally finished it this week.  He picked out new bedding, Lego Ninjago of course! Choose orange for his walls and navy curtains. We also got him a new stuffed animal storage and mirror at Ikea over the weekend.

We got rid of his bunk beds a couple months ago and got this bed off Craigslist with dresser built into it. Mike then put doors behid the dresser part so he can crawl in there and have a hide out. He loves it!

I also got two Ninjago posters for his room. He wanted Cole and Sensei Wu.

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I also ordered him a wall decal off Etsy with his name in "karate" writing and in the next photo you'll see the karate/ninja decals above his closet that I also got for him. You can see the new mirror in the corner of his room here. Linda got him a new alarm clock at the Lego Store at the Mall of America over the weekend. It's the red Ninja, Kai, from Ninjago. Kai is his favorite ninja and he was thrilled with this! You can see him on top of the bookshelf.

I'm very happy with the new look and most importantly so is he!! :)

Stella's updated room

We gave Stella's room a new look this summer.  She picked out new bedding, curtains, paint color (we helped with the paint color). Mom made her a new bedskirt and pillow shams.  I ordered her a wall decal that is over her bed that says her name with some butterflies around it. We were at Ikea over the weekend and got her a new stuffed animal storage (that is the pink mesh thingy hanging from the ceiling) and a new storage unit.

I think it turned out pretty cute. The walls are now gray, they used to be purple.

You can see the new storage unit next to her dresser here. There are pink fabric cubes storing her doll clothes, accessories and Barbie items.  The dresser I picked up last spring off Craigslist and sanded and painted it and put new knobs on it. I'm really happy how it turned out.  There are new mirrored peace sign decals around her mirror.