Fun Children's Fest

It's so awesome living in a bigger city!  There seems to always be something fun and a lot of times, free, to do here with kids.  We usually just search online for something and decide the night before or sometimes the day of what we're doing.  

At the end of May, it was the Flint Hills International Children's Festival, in St. Paul.  There were performers, crafts, food, music, puppets, balloons, and face painting.  It rained a little while we were there, but there were lots of tents with crafts to hang out in.  It was hot, but it was such a fun time!

Sweetland Blooms

Back in May, our favorite orchard, Sweetland, had a day where you could come out and see the beautiful apple blossoms that will be our delicious apples this fall.  You could also taste some of their awesome hard ciders.  

It was a perfect day to run around the orchard and chase chickens :)  Hakan and Adeline found a couple toads, and the girl who screams bloody murder when a fly is by her, just picked it up, held it and kissed it, oh this daughter of ours.  

We went home with some hard cider and lots of rhubarb...I'll have to wait a bit to enjoy the cider, but the rhubarb has been enjoyed in some yummy desserts :)

Look at the size of this dandylion!!!

Adeline's Third Birthday

Three years ago, God blessed us with a beautiful baby girl, our sweet and spunky Adeline!  

Daddy made birthday caramel rolls, a favorite for all of us, yum!  We asked her what she wanted to do and she said the zoo and see the butterflies.  Because she loves strawberries, that was our theme for the day.  Daddy made a strawberry cake with strawberry frosting and we both decorated it.  I made her a strawberry "3" shirt too.

Adeline, when people meet you for the first time, you're so shy and won't talk, but once you're around them for a while, you'll talk their ear off with stories real and imaginary.  You're fearless when it comes to climbing and adventures.  You LOVE animals almost as much as your mom and your dad calls you Elmyra from Tiny Toons. When we're driving in the car you love to make up songs, usually ending with singing, "let it go! let it go! don't feel!" from Frozen.  When talking about yesterday, you say "last morrow".  If we're outside, you always have to have a stick, or as you say, "dick".  You love small sticks, big sticks, long sticks, little sticks...it makes us laugh pretty hard!  You will not keep your shoes and socks on no matter where we are.  You are an awesome eater, usually eating more than Hakan and way less picky.  You even eat things you're not supposed to, shoes, stickers (dickers), paper, socks, foam balls and bats, books, puzzles, cars, etc.  You recently yelled from outside, "Mommy, we found a worm!!! Should we eat it?!" Condiments and dressings are a food group for you.  You will randomly say you love us and give us a big hug and kiss.  You take things and hide them, I think someday we're going to find your secret cave filled will everything we "lost", you're like a squirrel.  "Adeline, where is your other sock?" "I don't know" looking around on the couch and floor, "OK, then you onlly have one sock to wear to go pick up Hakan" As we're getting ready to go, she sticks her hand down her shirt and pulls it out saying, "oh, here it is!!" I get asked if I curl your hair, nope, you're just blessed with perfect blonde curls.  You are growing so fast and already wearing size 4 almost 5T clothes.  We often find you sleeping in the hall, the floor in our room or on the stairs.  You love books. Your face is almost always dirty, along with your clothes, proof of a curious little adventurer.

You bring so much excitement and joy to our lives, we love you so much!  Happy birthday Adeline Grace!

A little hike

We have so many awesome places close to us and it's really fun exploring them as a family.  One of our favorites, but don't go often enough, is Lebanon Hills in Eagan, literally down the road, but feels like you're in another world.  They have tons of walking and biking paths with educational things along the way.

We saw turtles, birds, and snakes..I'm not afraid of snakes, but when you're walking and all of a sudden one starts slithering right in front of you, one might jump a little.

We want our kids to love being outside and exploring nature in all it's beauty.  Seeing God's creation through their little curious sparkling eyes is amazing!  I pray they never stop seeking adventures and always want to get out, see the world and get dirty.

  

Last Day of Preschool

Hakan's first day of preschool, September 2013

Hakan's last day of preschool, May 2014

I can't believe Hakan is finished with his first year of preschool!  He went to Grace Preschool and had two of the best teachers ever, Mrs Riopel and Mrs. Menk!  He loved every minute of it and made some good little friends.

As we were walking into the last day, I saw all these flowers, plants and gifts being brought in and it dawned on me that I completely forgot teacher gifts, fail!  Luckily, a while back I had found the cutest "teacher" fabric and was able to make a couple zip pouches.

Hakan has a late July birthday and we're not in a rush for him to start kindergarten, so we might do another year of preschool or I'll work with him at home...tough decisions.  I would really love to home school, but keep going back and forth with pros and cons.  Especially after having such great teachers.  So we will continue to pray and talk about it.

  

Without our two days of preschool, I keep forgetting what day it is...but yay for summer!!

Mother's Day

Mother's day was pretty perfect.  We spent the morning in the 2/3 year old class at church making Mother's day flower pots, ate lunch at home, and had a great bike ride as a family.  Derek made the most delicious cinnamon honey scones, I wanted to eat all of them in one sitting :)  

I am thankful everyday that God chose me to be these little one's mama, not that everyday is peachy, but it's so worth it.  They bring more joy and laughter to my life, teaching me new things everyday.  I love them so much and can't wait to add baby #3 in August!

Our wonderful church took pictures, which Hakan didn't really want to be part of, he's behind Derek in the one below...pretty much how family pictures usually go.

  

  

Hakan filled this out at school, and did a really good job...maybe not Sesame Street or always play the wii, but he can dream :)

Hakan made these beautiful flowers at preschool too.

I'm also thankful for all the other mama's in my life, mine, Derek's, my grandma's and all my friends.  Seriously, they teach me so much!

Hakan's First Team

There is nothing cuter than a bunch of 4/5 year olds trying to play baseball!  It's a little chaotic, when the ball is hit, every single kid (that's not playing in the dirt) runs after it, diving, pushing and piling on it.  They get five pitches and if they still haven't hit it, they can use a tee.  Hakan's tongue is hanging out of his mouth about 75% of the time, 100% if he's running bases...no idea where he gets that from ;)  He sometimes forgets to drop his bat and run, watching where the ball goes instead.  He has two games a week.  This week, he started sitting on the bases and playing in the dirt...we're working on that.

Derek and I both love being active and outside, and we're so excited to let Hakan find what he loves while we are cheering him on!