Minneapolis Fun Times!

The boys and I went to Minneapolis this past weekend to attend my sisters graduation ceremony for her Ph.D.  We also managed to do MANY other fun things!

The kids at Nickelodeon Universe with Jimmy Neutron

Gabe and Syd on their first ride of the day...

Mom and Andrew.  He is REALLY fun to ride rides with!

One of these things is not like the other....

Sponge Bob and Squidward!

Hot tubbin' at the hotel.

Passed out playing with his LeapPad.

Syd taking Gabe on his very first REAL roller coaster ride.  He liked it!

Grandma took her grandkids swimming.

A graduate!

Of course Gabe had to have the cookie the size of a plate at Kramarczuk's in MPLS.

Gabe's first professional baseball game... The Twins trounced the Indians, it was very fun to watch!  

Gabe imitating Kirby Puckett!

So special and fun!

Emily's Wedding Weekend

Auntie Emily married Uncle Rob on July 21st.  Aaron was the "officiant" and it was an awesome wedding weekend!

Unfortunately I don't have many pictures because I was busy taking care of my boys and Aaron was busy being a pastor.  I wish I had a good pic. of Emily and Rob but I know the wedding photographer got some really really nice ones of the family.... so I am looking forward to those!

Here Andrew and Bauer are cracking up at the water table.

Me spending some time with the best father-in-law in the world!

Gabe working really hard on being a good boy and eating his supper.

A beautiful picture of the farm taken by Aaron.  Sort of a different perspective/angle than the farm is usually photographed.

We took a really fun hay ride the evening before the wedding.  Uncle Mikey and his sweet boy Tommy were getting ready to go!

Gabe's sporting adventures

Earlier in the summer Gabe completed soccer camp and swimming lessons.  I loved reading what his coaches had to say about him...

He loves the water and passed level 1.  I really wish there was an indoor pool in Humboldt so he could continue lessons through the winter.

BFF's and storytime

Hudsen stayed overnight on Thursday night and my boys couldn't have been happier to have him!  Soon enough Kyzer will be old enough to stay over too.  'Till then the "big boys" will have to put up with Andrew....

Today before nap time.  Reading a book about Albert Pujols.  Andrew was asleep before the book was done!

Hot fun in the summertime!

Like everywhere else in the country we have been having a heat wave.  Grandma and Grandpa Schaefer brought this cool sprinkler from North Dakota.  It helped cool the boys off on a hot June evening!

More pics from Andrew's 3rd Birthday!

Sweet Sydney and Sweet baby Tiptyn watching crazy Drewey open presents....

Kyzer havin' a snack.

Ready to blow out the candle!

The ice cream cake from Andrew's "un"official birthday party on Saturday the 23rd of June.  Grandma and Grandpa Flatau made it all the way from Minnesota, daddy was home from St. Louis, and Grandma and Grandpa Schaefer were still here from Minot! 

Going Biking

Tonight Aaron did not have any meetings (miracle for a Monday) so we decided to go for a bike ride.  Here the boys are getting strapped in....

We had a nice ride, saw some deer and went to Kent and Dee's to say hi.  It was fun!

Boating with our boys!

Sunday evening we took a little trip out to Twin Lakes by Manson, Iowa.  First we had a picnic when we got there (sandwiches, chips, corn on the cob and rice-krispie bars), then we went boating!

The boys LOVE to swim in the lake.  Mom, not so much.  I just supervise.

One, Two, Three!

There is no other way to say it... Gabe is just a stud in the water!  Here he was jumping backwards off the boat.  LOVE the huge smile on his face as he does something he has never done before.

Jumping as FAR as he can...  He also swam around the boat two times (with dad following of course).

Andrew's Official Birthday Party!

Playing with his dozer from Kent & Dee

Mom & her boys!  We were getting the party started with some snacks.

Seriously cute!  Tiptyn was such a good snuggler with everyone!

Of course Gabe wasn't forgotten... he was THRILLED with his new transformer!  In fact it is on his pillow right next to his head right now while he sleeps.

Singing happy birthday.  We had to do it twice because he wanted to blow out the candle again... He wouldn't blow out the candle unless we were singing!

Family pic... missing Aaron and Jim.

One last gift before bed.... a pedal loader tractor!  He loved it and brought it to bed with him.  It's parked right by his bed.

"pike my hair" and push-ups

Andrew likes to have his hair "piked" aka spiked.  He asked me to spike his hair while he was in the bathtub dumping water on his head.  I told him to wait until he got out of the tub.  So of course we had to "pike" his hair before he was dressed.

CHEESE!

Gabe came in the bathroom and got a spike too.  Then we proceeded to take pics in the mirror.  The silly picture was actually the best one we took!

Gabe has been focused on "getting strong" lately.  I told him to do pull-ups on the monkey bars, which he does but always calls them push-ups.  So I figured I better show him what an actual push-up looks like.  ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNND since I can't do a "real" push-up I enlisted Aaron's help.  So here is a pic of all my boys getting in a workout.

First Wrestling Camp!

Arriving at the high school for wrestling.

He got this cool t-shirt that says "Humboldt Wrestling Club, Dominating the Competition".

He really liked wrestling and learned a lot for the first day (3 hours).  He goes back for the last day tomorrow.  For some reason I didn't take any pictures while he was wrestling (doh!) but trust me it was VERY cute to see him down on his knees on the mat trying some moves on his partner!

Thanks Grandma Flatau!

The boys each got a package in the mail today with a coloring book and an art project.

They wanted to start painting RIGHT AWAY!

Gabe wanted his to look just like the sample on the package.

Andrew's blue paint was dried up so he only had red and yellow... which just became red.

Finished!