Pumpkin Patch!

Took our annual family trip to the pumpkin patch!

Thanks Papa!!!

Special Company

We had special company last night, Robyn, and she made (literally whipped up) slippers for the boys (they wanted slippers like hers)! They are so pleased--even slept with them on...

New Member of the Family!

Our new roommate, Ben, with the boys. Ben moved in when school started, but I am just getting around to posting a picture... The boys adore him of course!

Losing Streak is (hopefully) Over...

Sixth and hopefully last tooth for awhile.
Now we need to paint triangle eyes on him and dress him in orange...

Warning... kitten updates will be frequent! :-)

Caramel is following the boys everywhere they go... He can see them, can you? (notice camouflage clothes=invisible kids)

Success! Introducing Caramel...

Yesterday one of the feral kittens that we've been trying to befriend, decided to be our friend! Someone had given us the advice to try to start petting it on the back instead of the head and it worked! We've been feeding him, so he is used to our presence, and yesterday he just ate up the attention we gave him. We have named him Caramel since we all like caramel and he is that color...

Check out these paws--seven toes on each...

Want to remember...

Yesterday the boys had their teeth cleaned and they both were in rare form.
The hygienist told Reese to stay put while she went somewhere and he said, "Aye, aye captain!"
Reese told another hygienist to go ahead and pull his loose tooth while she was in there.
And Reese again... when he was all through with his cleaning he opened the drawer by his chair and helped himself to the coins that they get when they are good (they get to spend them in a bubble gum type machine that has toys) and then he turned to the hygienist and asked her, "How many do I get?"...
Thankfully the hygienist thought all of this was quite funny--she actually said it made her day as she had a couple of difficult patients earlier that day.

He's on a roll...

Reese has been losing teeth left and right it seems... Thursday he lost his fourth tooth, and last night his fifth tooth.
We are working on a jack-o-lantern costume for Halloween!

(taken by my phone, so not such great quality, but realized I didn't take any "real" pictures)

New Play Stucture

Hard to believe that Carsten is the one getting hurt and "hung up" on our new to us play structure... :) Today his pants got caught on the swing and over he went--he was giggling and laughing, but needed help getting out of his predicament.
I'll have to post pictures of the play structure soon--a friend of Jim's gave it to us and the kids love it!

Finally...

Another loosey goosey tooth is out! Third one for Reese.
I promised him ice cream after our Bible study if he could get it out, and he did five minutes before!

First Day...

First day of Homeschool 1st Grade...
The boys out taking a break before lunch. :)
Carsten is playing the harmonica and Reese is on the guitar and doing vocals.

End of summer project...

Our end of summer project is to catch some wild kittens... here is Reese waiting for them to come to some food (notice the blue bowl in the grass). And below is one of the victims seemingly oblivious...

Playdate at the water park...

This pole is how you turn on the fountains and so Carsten pretty much just hung out here all day...

Blueberries!

Blueberries are ripe for picking... The library here has a summer reading program and one of the prizes is a pound of u-pick blueberries--yum. Reese, Carsten and I went to pick them on Friday and they are all gone now--slurp.

4th of July 2010--Lots of Firsts

The boys got to go on their first fishing expedition with Papa, Jim, and Uncle Dave...

Reese caught his first fish (and only two were caught total...)

And Carsten convinced Jim to take off his training wheels... and guess what??? He can ride!

Now we need to get him a less girly bike!

Swimming Lessons!

Well, we are finally getting around to swimming lessons for these two... and they are loving it! Carsten's teacher is Catherine and he likes her (except today she dunked him and he wasn't so pleased and won't stop talking about it). Reese is doing great--he moved up a level today--on day two! Cousin Justin is also going with us, but he is still working on getting in... might take some time.

Wedding Weekend

Reese and Carsten were in a wedding on Friday night--Joren and Katelyn's wedding...
They did very well--I had told them they needed to smile a lot and it looks like they did!

Some of the other guests... crazy relatives.

The boys with the bride and groom...

Reese and Carsten got to ride around the golf course with this man (don't know him, but very nice!). They loved it!

We then went to another wedding Saturday morning 3 hours away... I forgot to take my camera (it was safe at the hotel...), so no pictures. This time it was Jim's cousin, Thomas, who got married. Busy, but very fun weekend!

Farmers

Carsten and Daddy out being "farmers" on our new to us riding mower (for the worried grandmas--Jim had already mowed and Carsten was just doing the driving. :)

Carsten's Birthday!

Carsten wanted a farmer hat cake (I tried...) and he wanted to go to "Vurgerville" for lunch! Papa and Auntie Alicia and Uncle Todd and cousins met us there.

Carsten with his helicopter from Papa.
He was quite tired after lunch and is still asleep in the car clutching his helicopter...

We celebrated Carsten's birthday today as we didn't have time yesterday... This bottom picture here is him opening his present from us on his brother's birthday (they picked them out themselves the day before Reese's birthday and it didn't seem fair to make Carsten wait 2 weeks to open his!).