Lego Land and Mall of America

We have finally arrived to the Mall of America. The kids did so great hanging in there with us as we shopped. We really shopped until we dropped - literally. We discovered that Hunter loves legos and has no problem what so ever putting them together. We bought him a Bionicle guy that he put together with ease (and no help I might add). We were really impressed.

Cabelas Pics

It seems that we always have to hit the local Cabelas where ever we are traveling. Here we stopped at a Cabelas on our way up to Minnesota. We have some cute pictures of the kids about 4 years ago with Dave. So we decided to get some new one's! They turned out really good.

Hunter's First Field Trip!

I got to drive on this field trip, which was great! They got to go to the Martin's Apple Orchard. The kids had a great time exploring all the different area's. It turned out to be a really warm day, which was great! All the kids kept having ladybugs land on them and Hunter got a few of them to hang around on his fingers!

Each kid got to pick 2 apples and a small pumpkin that they got to bring home. What a great way to kick off the fall!

Hunter started Preschool!

My baby is 5 and off to preschool! He was so excited and more then ready! He wanted his pictures done just the way we do Abby's, so here they are! He is thriving in preschool. He is at Lincoln Christian which is great, but I find myself parked in their parking lot majority of my days now. He's going Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons. He has made some friends that took him about 3 weeks to remember their names. He was so funny, because at first they were mentioned only if they had a cool show and tell item that they brought. The mind of a 5 year old. We've been working on it and he now has some friends that he finally mentions by name. Pretty exciting!

Abby's First Day of 2nd Grade

So grown up!
Sibling love!
Her new desk!
Here she was ready for me to leave. You can see it so plainly on her face! (ha ha!)

I have to apologize first off that I had totally forgotten that I made a sign for Abby the previous year that said "1st Grade 2007". I wish I hadn't forgotten that! There is always next year!



She looks so grown up! 2nd grade already! She has Mrs. Garcia at Lincoln Christian this year. Mrs. Garcia is great! We figured out after talking with her for awhile, that she is the aunt of a friend we both graduated with in high school. So it was fun making a connection there. She is a wonderful teacher and we appreciate all she has done so far this year! Abby so far has enjoyed going back to school. I think she really was starting to get bored with being home with mom and Hunter. She needed some new faces to look at!

Our First "Official" Family Vaca

Hooray! We are finally here!




We knew with school just around the corner, we needed to get away with the kids. We really had never taken a vacation with just the 4 of us, so it was great! We drove down to Kansas City for a Royals game. We were able to get tickets for the Friday night game which always features a fireworks show after the game. It was great fun and I hope the kids will remember it.

Summer Swimming

Back Floating
Jumping with NO FEAR
Don't forget to plug your nose!

We swam ALOT this summer. We have such gracious neighbors that let us swim whenever we want, so we took full advantage this year. The kids are little fish, and Hunter has even learned to swim on the deep end with no floaties. They also figured out the diving board is pretty cool!

VBS Program

This was their first year at Berean's VBS and they LOVED it! The program was really fun too, but man, there were alot of kids. It was really hard to get any pictures of them during the performance. Each group of kids were asked to dress up in a certain theme. Abby in cowboy attire and Hunter in summer wear. Don't they look so cute!

Who is that old lady?

You guessed it - it's crazy Aunt Kathy! She was going out on a "Leader Scavenger Hunt" with the youth group at church. She called and wanted to surprise the kids. Needless to say, she did just that! The kids went to answer the door and they didn't want to, because they didn't know who that lady was! You got 'um good Kathy!

Mayor's Run

Both Abby and Hunter ran this year. Dave ran with Abby and said that he was so impressed on how well she did. In the pic she is crying a bit, but it was really cold and everyone's muscles were cramping up a bit, and let's face it, she is a bit of a drama queen.

Hunter ran too. He wasn't signed up, but saw everyone participating and had to be involved. I didn't want to run, so Dylan, a family friend, said he would run with Hunter. They ran the whole way - didn't stop to walk once. Dylan was impressed! For those of you who know Hunter, he's a runner, so I wasn't all that surprised that he kept up with the pack.

Have you been wondering....

Have all of you been wondering where in the world have Abby & Hunter been? Well, they have been SO busy that mommy hasn't had alot of time to post anything, but she has decided that she needs to make this more of a priority, so friends and family can keep connected. Keep your eye out, because there is alot to come to get you all caught up. We've had a summer, a few vacations, the start of a new school year, and much more!

Thanks for being patient and I hope that you haven't lost hope on the fun adventures!

See you soon!