Backyard Camping.

Emma officially has one week of school in the books. We are starting to get on a pretty good schedule of bedtime at 8pm. We also are working on finishing her homework and reading assignments first thing when we get home, so she can have the rest of the evening to play and relax. It's actually going pretty well. She has her first spelling test tomorrow, and I know she is going to rock it!

This past weekend, John set up our tent in the backyard, and him and the kids spent the night in it. We made a whole evening of it and had a campfire, roasted marshmallows, played outside, and then let them watch a movie and pass out in the tent. The kids did really well and loved it. They made the whole night outside and are already talking about when they can do it again.

On Saturday we went out to Jim and Barb's house to help them clean up after a storm that hit their greenhouse and destroyed it. It was pretty sad to see the entire greenhouse in pieces. We all pitched in to help clean up most of the mess, and then also helped them throw out all their old plants from the season. It was a hot, messy job. We were rewarded with Pizza Ranch, which the kids were super pumped about.

Sunday was a catch up day. After church, we pretty much spent the day cleaning and catching up at home. John also had his Fantasy Football Draft. We are sharing a team this year, so that could be interesting.

This past week has been pretty busy and is flying by again. By the time I pick up kids, help Emma with homework, make and eat supper, and then play and clean up kids, it's bedtime and then time to start all over again the next day. It's pretty crazy.

John left this morning for a big fishing trip up at Lake of the Wood. He is gone with his family fishing until Labor Day. This means I am single-parenting it for the rest of the week. Today I had to get both kids up at 5:00 am, and drop them off bright and early this morning. They did okay with it this morning, but they are both very sensitive and tired tonight. Bedtime can't come fast enough. Emma is going to Grandma Barb's tomorrow night, since she had no school on Friday. Barb is planning on taking her to the State Fair on Friday, I am sure Emma will love that.

The kids and I are heading to Diamond Lake on Saturday to do one last weekend of camping. The kids are super excited and can't wait to go. The plan is to come back on Labor Day, which is when John should be getting back from fishing. Busy weekend.

This household is excited for the holiday weekend!

Camping at the Nelson's 

Cleaning up the greenhouse 

Crazy drivers. 

"painting" with sidewalk chalk

Elliott loving his new zebra room 

First day of school 2018.

I guess summer is officially over because we are in the full swing of school over here. Somehow, Emma started first grade yesterday. She is super excited about school again this year, and she just loves being there. Mrs. Knuth is her teacher again this year, and so far things are going quite smoothly. We expect more homework this year, but hopefully it's manageable, and Emma does well with it.  Emma has been pretty sensitive and moody these past couple of nights, I can't wait until she gets used to her new schedule and isn't so crabby in the evenings!! This is what we get for too many late nights this summer.

Yesterday was the official first day of school, and I took the day off from work so I could help get the kids ready and be there for Emma's first day. John and I went together to drop Emma off at school. We had chapel at school with the kids, and then we left a very excited Emma to drop Elliott off at daycare.

Elliott moved into a new room at daycare today. He is now officially a Zebra, and no longer a busy bee. He was super excited to move rooms, and it sounds like he had a fabulous first day. His teachers said he did very well, and he had all kinds of stories to tell me about his first day. In his new room, they do more prep work for kindergarten and work on their letters and numbers. I can't believe how big he is getting! He acts more mature than Emma some days.

Yesterday evening was absolutely beautiful, so we took advantage and went to the Canaries game. The kids enjoyed the bouncy houses and some dipping dots, while John and I got to actually watch some of the game. It was a perfect summer evening, and a great way to end an exciting day!

This weekend we don't have much for plans, and I think we are just going to keep it low key. The kids will hopefully sleep in a little and catch up on some sleep, and maybe we can just enjoy a couple more summer days before fall is here in full force. If it's nice enough, we might hit up the swimming pools one more time before they close for the year.

There is a lot of excitement in our household with school starting and new daycare classrooms!! Our next project is creating a consistent evening schedule so we can get all our homework and baths done, and still get kids to bed on time (with a little TV time thrown in there)

Here's to a new school year!! (and packing a lot of lunches!!)

New haircut for school 

First day of first grade!!

Siblings

Best friends. 

Emma's classroom 

Being silly. 

Turner County Fair & Sugarland

Another busy-ass, crazy week has flown by, and I'm still trying to catch my breath. After the Omaha Zoo on Monday, we just sort of hung out at home and laid low on Tuesday. Rachel and Elena stayed most of Tuesday, and then headed back to Mankato in the evening.

On Tuesday evening, we had school registration for Emma. She was super excited to bring all her stuff to school, sit in her desk, and talk to her teachers again. She is super excited to be a first grader and start school again. Elliott enjoyed running around and asking all kinds of questions.

On Wednesday, we spent the entire day at the Turner County Fair. The kids and I stayed at home in the  morning, but after lunch we headed to the fair. We met up with Barb at the fair and got the kids some wristbands. The kids enjoyed rides for the next couple of hours, which were very hot and crowded. There were people everywhere, and the lines were all super long for the rides. But, the kids still had fun. Emma got to ride the swings for the first time ever, and loved them! Elliott enjoyed going on every ride he was big enough for, and did a really good job waiting in line.

After we were all hot, and tired of the crowds, we hit up the commercial buildings, saw some animals, and then ate some food. John met us in time for supper, bingo, and a little more walking around. All of John's family was in town for the fair, so we also got to visit with all kinds of family. It was really fun, but by 8:30pm, the kids and I were more than ready to go home and call it a day.

Thursday was finally back to daycare and work for everyone, and it was a little bit of a rude awakening. Jim picked the kids up from daycare after work, since John and I had a Sugarland Concert to attend. We made a date night out of it (Our 8th Anniversary was on Tuesday after all). We had a giftcard for Parker's Bistro and decided to try that out. The food and service was really good, but it was super overpriced and a little too fancy for us. We enjoyed it for what it was, but I don't think we will be back there anytime soon.

This weekend has been a little quieter for us. On Friday evening we headed to Chris and Jerrice's house to swim in the pool with the kids and have a pizza party with all of John's family. It was a last get-together before everyone headed out to go home again. It was a really fun evening and good way to send everyone off.

Saturday was a pretty lazy day. We stayed home all day, and I cleaned the house, John mowed, and the kids just had fun being home and playing with their toys. In the evening, I volunteered to help at the downtown Riverfest, which was pretty fun. There was live music, beautiful weather, and I just got to enjoy myself while providing wristbands for people who wanted to drink beer. There were a ton of people downtown, they say they usually get 18,000 people. They even had fireworks over the river at the end.

Today, we went to church and had donuts for Vicar Callies last day and now we are trying to force our tired, crabby kids to take some naps. They are wore out from our crazy week and they both need some rest. I think I better go help them nap :)

Elena 

Three little cuties 

The fair. 

Hot, but having fun

Emma earned her first blue ribbon at the fair

Really enjoying Bingo 

Omaha Zoo.

 We had a super busy, fun day yesterday. Rachel, Elena, Emma, Elliott, and I decided to tackle the Omaha Zoo. Overall, it was a really good trip. The kids all traveled very well, did great at the zoo, and really we had pretty minimal outbursts.

We left Sioux Falls at about 8:30 am and drove straight to Omaha. We didn't even have to make a single stop, which was pretty impressive for our crew. We stopped at King Kong for lunch, which was a little overpriced, but pretty good. Then we headed straight to the zoo.

The kids were super excited for the zoo. We each had a stroller that the three kids traded off riding in. We started off by seeing the Jungle, Butterfly house, and Aquarium. The kids were pretty thrilled with the monkeys and penguins.

Then, we took the skyfari ride to the other end of the zoo. The kids were very impressed with the skyfari and all the things they could see from being up so high. On the other end of the zoo we saw the lions, cheetahs (Emma's favorite) and some sea lions. By the time we got to this end, it was super hot out. Like 92 degrees, sunny, and barely a breeze. All the kids were pretty rosy cheeked and getting a little crabby.

So, we rode the Skyfari back, picked up the strollers, and then got some ice cream. The ice cream tasted really good in the heat, and Elena enjoyed a little nap while we all cooled off.

After ice cream, the kids begged to go to the splash park. So, we made out way past the Giraffes (Elliott's favorite), Elephants, and finally made it to the splash park. This was probably the favorite spot for everyone on such a hot day. All three kids enjoyed running around, cooling off, and getting wet.

By the time everyone was done splashing around, we decided to head to the Gorilla exhibit. The gorillas were pretty fun to see, Elliott was pretty impressed by how big they were. Finally, we made our way through the Desert Dome, and then it was time to go home. We put a solid 5.5 hours in at the zoo. We were all hot and tired after that, and still had a 3 hour drive home.

Elliott slept part of the way home, but everyone else stayed awake, but once again it was a quiet ride. We stopped in Sioux City at Applebee's for supper, and then made it the rest of the way home with  no stops. We got home at around 9:30pm, and put three very tired kids to bed.

It was a super fun day, but I'm glad we only go once a year to the Omaha Zoo. Today, the kids are kind of tired and are just enjoying lounging around, watching some TV, and hopefully having a nap later.

Emma has school registration tonight. It's so hard to believe that we are ready for another school year, where did the summer go?! We are also going to hit up the fair tomorrow, including rides for the kids. I think they have had a pretty adventurous summer this year!! Emma also submitted a project this year that she worked on with Grandma Barb, and she got a first place ribbon. She is pretty proud of it, and we are going to go see it tomorrow. Way to go Emma!!

Cousins Swinging 

Emma navigating us at the zoo. 

The crew. 

The entire crew. 

Fun at the aquarium 

The kids thought the crabs were gross

Jellyfish

Ice Cream break

Splash Park

Casual Emma. 

Desert Dome

Cousins trip to the zoo. 

We had a great day!!