Crystal Beach 2010

It has been 9 months since we have updated this blog!! Yes, that is horrible. We will be sure to be better about updates, and will have to share pics from our summer trip north.

But first, here are some shots from our trip to the Bolivar peninsula in May for our annual visit to Crystal Beach, Texas. Gotta love CB!!

A picture of all the children lined up in the surf.

Landrie trying to bury her feet with Andrew's help.

Love this shot of Landrie...who did have to sample the salty sand again. Notice the sand on her face!

Jenna and Kylie loved playing in the waves as usual.

An annual family shot...not much sun that morning.

We love making this trip every spring to stay in Crystal Beach. Great little town, still rebuilding from Hurricane Ike in September 2008. It is always fun to spent the time with great friends too!!

Early November visit from Grandy

The blog has been neglected lately, but it seems that everyone is so busy---it all goes by so fast at times!
Grandy Jean came for a visit in the beginning of November for a long weekend trip from Minnesota. The girls, and us of course, were so excited for her visit. It was a nice weekend of relaxing and catching up. Over that weekend all of the girls took a trip to a local park; we call it the "Wood Park", because it has a bunch of kid stuff to climb on and it is all made of wood! Imagine that:)
Landrie enjoyed the tire swing...

Grandy and Jenna took a moment to visit on the bench swing...

And a nice little shot of the girls all together.

November came and went---we made a trip north to Illinois for Thanksgiving to Steve and Jeanne's. We had a great visit to see the Geneseo/Atkinson branch of the family. We always have a good time with Pop Pop and Shanny! The girls enjoyed visiting with Conor, Mike, Mitch and Jamie and it was the first time the girls got to meet their newest cousin, London. That was fun for them...I will have to post some of those too.

The one thing we didn't get done in Illinois that we like to---we didn't make it down to Grandma Marge's basement for a drink with her!! Next time Marge:)

Happy Halloween 2009!

Halloween night was a great time again this year---we ventured over to Deanna and Jodi's neighborhood in Mansfield for trick or treating and Andrew's annual Halloween camp out. The camp out ended up inside because of some rather frigid temperatures(at least in my terms)...it got down to like 50 degrees or so, maybe even 49!!
The kids camped in tents in the garage, so they had a great night. The adventure through the neighborhood proved fruitful...this was evident by Landrie's labored and hunched little walk as the evening went on.

This first pic is toward the end when I made her get into the wagon---as you can see I had an angry gnome on my hands!!

A little earlier the Landrie gnome was much happier:)

Here come the children after getting more candy...

Yes, the pictures are way out of order...this was just prior to heading out...we got all five kids on the couch for a group photo. Jenna, Kylie, Ian, Andrew and Landrie.

That way to my garden said the little girl gnome...no, not really...she was pointing at this giant spider that would drop down on or near your head when it heard a loud noise nearby. Landrie would say, "Spider scares me!"

It was a much cooler Halloween than last year, but a great night for trick or treating. It was a nice night to spend with some scary friends! :)

Jenna, the new Student Council Historian

The last two weeks or so of campaigning at school have paid off. On Tuesday, Jenna was elected to the Sallye Moore Elementary School Student Council as the historian. She beat out 11 other candidates for the job...

Jenna decided she wanted to run for Student Council at school...and since third graders can only run for historian or treasurer, she decided that being historian would be great. She had to prepare campaign posters and a speech. She had great ideas, but of course, Katie and I helped her touch them up. Katie and Jenna came up with her slogan--"Jenna for Historian, All in favor, say, e-I-sel". She came up with her main points to her speech, and I helped her to polish it up, and then she practiced. I was pretty impressed because she had it memorized in like 30 minutes?! Yeah, she doesn't get that from me...and thank goodness she doesn't get my nerves or anxiety either!

Here is Jenna, waiting to speak---I think maybe there are a few nerves?!

So, Tuesday afternoon, just before the election, all of the candidates presented their speeches to the 3rd-5th graders. I was more nervous than her, I know that. Here is the speech, from the most excited little 3rd grader in this house!

Congratulations Jenna, mommy and I are very proud of you!! Love you...

Our newest niece, London Jean Scofield

We want to welcome our newest niece to the family!
London Jean Scofield was born in the wee hours of the morning on September 22, 2009 at Fairview Red Wing Hospital in scenic Red Wing, Minnesota. You know Red Wing, home of the Red Wing HS Wingers??!!
Congrats to the new mom and dad too---try to get in as much sleep as possible, whenever you can Jamie and Mitch!!
Jamie and Mitch sent us this pic on Wednesday at one day old--looks like she might be a peaceful sleeper?

Here she was 'smiling' shortly after being born. I have to apologize, I don't even have her birth stats in front of me, and Katie is sleeping. I think she was born 8 lbs 4 ozs, and maybe 20 inches long. I know I must be somewhat close:) I do know that the girls are so excited to meet her, but they will have to wait until Thanksgiving. It will be here before we know it though. Katie is making a long weekend trip up to meet London, see Jamie and Mitch and her parents too. I know she is very excited about that.

Besides London being born, all is pretty hectic here.

School has been very busy for Katie and I. The girls are doing well, Landrie is quite the Chatty Cathy girl. Jenna and Kylie talk my ear off to and from school every day. Sometimes I have to announce 'talk break'--and turn up the radio a bit to decompress and clear my mind. Life is hectic, and one just has to enjoy every moment, no matter how crazy it seems. I found myself reminiscing about college life in Bemidji today---seems like yesterday, but actually about a decade ago, plus a couple of years!!! REALLY!!?? Wow, that is crazy. I have rambled a bit much. Anyway, back to the reason for the post, London: Look forward to meeting you soon, don't be too hard on your mom and dad.:)

First Day of School

Monday was a big day at our house. Jenna had her first day as a 3rd grader and Kylie started Kindergarten.

Here they are sporting their new backpacks. Kylie's with princesses (of course) and Jenna's with iCarly on it. They were set.

A couple quick pics before getting in the car.

All smiles.
Jenna took a picture of Jed and I with Kylie on her first day of school. Landrie snuck in too.
Here's Kylie with her teacher, Ms. Wood. She had a great first day. When I drove to pick them all up because we were all carpooling due to some Jetta issues...anyway...when I got there Kylie flew out the front doors of the school screaming "Mommy, I liked it." Jed said he saw her throughout the day in passing and she was just bouncing, ponytails swinging and smiling from ear to ear. That's my Kindergarten Kylie!

A Night at the Drive-In

A few weeks ago we all packed up the family and headed for Ennis, Texas. What's in Ennis you ask...the galaxy drive in theatre.

Landrie sat in her lawn chair for exactly 7 min. After that she was walking around, getting in and out of the van, and really just content when sitting by the popcorn.

It is about a 40 minute drive from our house, so we don't go often, but have been a few times. $5 gets you in to watch one of their four screens. Each screen shows 2 movies a night. I know we watched Ice Age 3, and Landrie was not about to sit through another movie, so we called it a night after that.

Sea World & San Antonio

In the middle of July we had the chance to take a little family trip to San Antonio Texas. The biggest reason for our trip was to hit Sea World. We lucked out and got two-day tickets for the price on one-day tickets so we enjoyed two Shamu-packed days.Of course the first thing we did when we got there was to head to the Shamu show. It was approximately 104 degrees out so we found ourselves a seat in the splash zone. This picture was after Landrie was soaked...she was not happy!


Jenna, Kylie and I took a ride on the Wild River. If you look closely you can see Jenna and I waving at Jed and Landrie. It felt so good to get a little wet.

Riding the Shamu express. Again, you can only see Jenna and I, Kylie was sitting next to me.

I think i rode this roller coaster 4 times and the girls probably 6 times each. (the line was short)

Another ride with a short line (which automatically make it a favorite of mine) was this one. Matter of fact they didn't even have to get off of it.

Wheeeee! And no they were not topless.

The girls watching the Sealion Show. One of their favorites. Jed and Landrie missed this one. Landrie was trying to fall asleep in the stroller so they walked around a little.

On day 2 we decided to get the girls caracatures done. Here's the start of it.

Working on Kylie in this picture. I'll have to take a picture of the finished product to post. It turned out really cute.

A picture on the way out of the park on day two. Landrie was done!

The sign of a great day. Sleeping as soon as we hit the car.

This was in the van after day one. on our way to the hotel. It was not a long ride, but they sure zonked out.

After checking inot the hotel having some showers and some pizza we ventured out in San Antonio. Here's jed and the girls waiting for the trolley that would take us the four blocks to the river walk.

Long story short: the trolley ended up being a scary city bus, so we walked back to the hotel when we were finished.

The Alamo.

The river walk.

It ended up being a very quick walk on the river walk. You can imagine how tired we all were after spening close to 7 hours that day walking around in the 100+ degree weather. So, we saw it, took a few pictures, walked back to the hotel and slept really well.

Illinois Trip

About 10 minutes after arriving in Illinois Jenna found the motercycle helmet and pretty much spent the next several dasy either one the motorcycle or asking to ride the motorcycle.

Speed Racer.

Kylie was a little nervous so jed took her for a spin.

Landrie - not nervous at all, but wishing her legs were a little longer.
Thanks Aunt Jamie for the ride.

Cheeeeese with Pop Pop.

I am so upset with myself that I did not do a better job of taking pictures.

Sparkler fun!

Between the first two nights I think we set off a record breaking number of fireworks...big ones!

The girls got to hang with Grandma Marge on the 4th.

Jed and I volunteered to got pick up Grandma Marge in Geneseo. We went a little early so that we could visit a little and have a drink with her in her basement that brings back great memories.

The girls with their cousin Kyle. Thanks Kyle for letting the girls take over your motorcycle for a few days.

Laughing with my Landrie!

The girls had a good time building blocks in the basement.

Jenna giving Pop Pop a tractor ride.

Kylie and Uncle Mitch checking out Conors new truck.

Conor did such a great job helping Kylie on the motorcycle.

And, did I mention that he saved Jenna from a huge accident. The first time she got on it she reved it up and practically wheelied her way across the driveway...thanks Conoc for being in the right place at the right time and helping to catch her. Once we set the speed to not exceed 1st gear they were good to go.

In no time at all Kylie was on her own racing around the yard!

A more mellow ride for Landrie.

Jenna going off the diving board at the local pool.

Kylie shooting out the slide.

And of course a bath in the driveway with a hose and some spray foam soap.

Thanks for a great trip Pop Pop and Shanny!