The Night Before Europe.

It's really hard to believe that it's so close, but we leave for Minneapolis tomorrow morning, and fly to London tomorrow evening. That's a crazy sentence to write. I am super excited to finally be leaving for this trip, and to not be researching and planning it anymore! It's kind of like planning a wedding, I'm just ready for the party at this point.

I've been a little behind on my blogging lately, so I will try to fill you in on the last couple of weeks. Mostly, we have just been staying busy with school, and work, and life in general.

Last weekend we finally stained our deck. That has been a work in progress for a few weeks now, and we finally got it cleaned off, and then we got it fully stained. The kids played outside, and drove us crazy all morning, while we stained and got it done. It kind of sucked, but the weather was nice and it is so nice to have done before we leave on our trip.

Last Sunday, we had a football party at Kayjay and Josh's house. It was super hot out, so all the kids had fun playing outside in the sprinklers and playing with squirt guns. The games were pretty fun and intense, and the Vikings and Packers tied each other, so that was interesting. Unfortunately, Liam fell and hit his head and needed some staples, so that was a little bit of a downer, but he was ok and back to himself when they got back home again. It was a great afternoon.

This past week has pretty much flown by. Work was super crazy busy this past week, so I am happy to see the end of the week. I also had a bible study one night, and John shot an engagement session, so we stayed really busy. We also had 6 inches of rain on Thursday, so that left things really wet and flooded around here, and it was really bad timing for the famers.

Emma finished up her last Cross Country meet this last Wednesday. Emma really improved her time and finished her quarter mile in 2:19. She ran the entire way this week, and did a really good job. We were super proud of her. Elliott also ran the quarter mile, and finished the race and did a great job. It was really fun to watch them run. It was a great way to represent Bethel School in a positive way and the kids all seemed to enjoy the experience.

Today, we pretty much spent the entire day packing and cleaning. I packed up the kids stuff for Jim and Barb's house, and I packed up my stuff. I did fit everything into my carry-on, which is amazing considering we are gone for 10 days. I feel better now that we are finally packed, and we know everything fits in our bags.

After all the packing and cleaning, we headed out to Jim and Barb's to have supper and drop off the kids. We spent most of the afternoon and evening out there and than it came time to say goodbye to the kids. I told Elliott we were leaving, and he threw his arms up and yelled "yippy", such an Elliott move. Both kids gave us hugs and kisses, but they were way more excited about being at grandma and grandpa's house, than worrying about where their parents were going. I feel better knowing that they are happy and excited, but I am sure going to miss them these next 10 days. But, they will have a lot of fun, and we definitely will be busy the entire time we are gone.

So, here we are. Ready to wake up and leave at around 8:30am, and start this vacation. We fly out of Minneapolis at 6:00pm, and then we arrive in London at 8:00am London time. We probably won't get much sleep tomorrow night on the plane, so I am going to try to get as much rest as I can in my own bed tonight.

I'm going to call it a night soon here, and get some rest. London, here we come!!

Ready to run.

Go Bethel

Checking out the HyVee Pumpkin Patch

Just like her daddy

Beautiful Emma 

Elliott ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house 

Picnics and Football Games.

For a weekend where we didn't have much planned, we sure stayed busy. Emma had a sleepover at Hannah T's house for her birthday on Friday night, so John and I had an evening with just Elliott. 

We started our Friday evening by taking our turn and cleaning the school. It actually went pretty quickly because we didn't have any kids with us and we could just clean without interruptions. After cleaning, we went and picked up Elliott and decided to have a picnic at Falls Park. It was a perfect evening for a picnic. The sun was shining, it was about 70 degrees, and pretty calm. It was gorgeous. Elliott thought it was amazing. After eating, we walked around Falls Park, looking at all the waterfalls and climbing some rocks. We ended our trip with a little time at the playground and then headed home. Elliott sweetly asked for some ice cream on the way home, so we indulged him and we all enjoyed a little ice cream treat at Dairy Queen on the way home. It was a great evening of spending some quality time with our son. 

On Saturday, we hit up Sam's Club and then picked up Emma from the Tomczack's house. Emma was having so much fun she didn't want to leave, but once she heard we had a picnic with Elliott the evening before, she was immediately jealous and we had to go have another picnic. This time, we headed to Sertoma Park and had a nice picnic at the Outdoor Campus by the water. Once again, the kids thought it was the greatest thing ever. I forget how easy it is to make kids happy sometimes. After lunch, we headed over to all the playgrounds and let the kids play for a while. 

On a whim, we decided that is was such a beautiful day and we didn't have any evening plans, so we decided to go to the Jacks Football game at 6pm. We took a chance and brought the kids with us, and they did pretty well. We had to buy them a bunch of food to keep them happy, and made a bunch of trips up and down the bleachers, but overall it was a success. It was a beautiful evening, and then it got just a little chilly once the sun went down, but we were all pretty comfortable in our sweatshirts. 

John and Elliott were messing around and John made Elliott laugh so hard that he threw up, so that was an adventure at a football game. After we got him as cleaned up as we could, we moved spots to get out of the vomit. It was a special moment. 

The Jacks ended up winning 41-8, so it was a pretty fun game to watch. We left with about 5 minutes left on the clock, and we got home at about 10pm with a couple of really tired kids. 

Today, we had church in the morning. It was Elliott's first day of Sunday School, so that was pretty exciting. At first, he was acting really shy and like he didn't want to go, but of course once he went he had a great time and couldn't stop talking about it. 

Ryan stopped by this afternoon on his way home from a wedding in South Dakota. It was nice to see him and visit with him without the entire family around. We watched the Vikings game together (they won!) and then he headed home. 

After the game, we headed out to Jim and Barb's house to bring out supper and celebrate Grandparent's Day with them. We also headed to Judy's house for a while to play with the kitties and feed the horses. Both kids loved it, and they didn't want to leave. After supper and baths, we called it a night and headed home. 

Right now, both kids are sleeping peacefully, and I am enjoying some quiet time and some Sunday Night Football in the background. It was a great weekend, but I am tired. I will leave you all with some photos and then I am going to relax and go to bed. 

Falls Park on a Friday night

Elliott (with his new backpack)

My boys. 

Picnics 

SDSU Football Game 

Elliott loved the kitties

Barb made a quilt for Judy. 

Emma holding all 5 kitties- she loved it. 

Cross Country.

This year, Bethel decided to try something new and have a cross country team. Sioux Falls Parks and Rec is hosting 3 cross country meets at Morningside Park this fall. The first meet was yesterday. Emma has been pretty unsure about all this cross country business, and all the running that is involved. However, she was convinced into participating once she knew that all her friends were going to do it as well.

Yesterday was a perfect day for a cross country meet. It was about 75 degrees, a little breezy, and just all around beautiful. Emma was finally ready to go. All Emma heard before the race was the guy in charge say "If you get too tired, you can walk" and Emma was walking off the bat. The run for the kindergarten and first graders was only a 1/4 of a mile, and Emma spent the first third of that walking. She finally decided to run after that, but it was too much walking and she ended up in last place. She didn't seem to mind very much though, and she really enjoyed her purple popsicle at the end of the race. It was sort of comical watching her and all her sass, but I was really proud of her for running and finishing the course.

Grandma Barb came to watch the meet, and afterwards we all ate some supper at Hy Vee Grille. It was a fun day to spend outside.

Today was another gorgeous day. I love this time of year.

We finally finished Emma's homework and practicing all her spelling and memory work, so now it's time to finally relax with a little TV and then bedtime. The kids have been pretty tired in the evenings, so I know they are getting nice and worn out during the day.

Emma has a sleep over at Hannah's house tomorrow for her birthday. Emma is super pumped and can't wait to spend the night. I just hope she can go all night without a bedwetting accident.

Otherwise, we are planning a pretty low-key and relaxing weekend with not much on the agenda. Here's to a quiet weekend!!

Cross Country 

The kindergarten and first grade participants 

Orange Day at school 

Even Elliott and Rachel ran some 

Emma having fun

Learning about the letter B

Labor Day Weekend 2018.

It's Labor Day, which means summer is officially over in my book. I know that technically, we have a couple weeks left of summer, but once school has started, and the days start to get a little chillier and shorter, I consider summer over and done.

This past week was a little crazy. I had the kids by myself from Wednesday to Monday, so it was pretty busy for me. Overall, the week went really well, and the kids were on pretty good behavior. I had to wake them up at 5:00 am for three mornings, which was quite an adjustment for them. It was kind of crazy trying to get them ready, dropped off, and to work by 7am, but I made it with time to spare all three mornings.

The evenings consisted of homework for Emma (and she got 8 out of 8 correct on her spelling test. YAY!), supper, baths, and then some playing outside enjoying the weather. Both kids did very well with bedtimes, which was really helpful.

On Friday, Emma spent the day with Grandma Barb at the South Dakota State Fair. She had a really fun day. They did a couple rides, saw a lot of animals, played a couple games, and walked most of the fair. Emma was pretty tired after that, but she had such a great day. Elliott and I enjoyed a quiet evening of playing and spending some time all together. I think he really enjoyed not having to fight with Emma, and get some time alone with mom.

On Saturday morning, we headed to Diamond Lake to camp with my family. The entire family made it to the lake (besides John) and we had a really good time. The kids had a lot of fun and stayed really busy over the weekend. There was swimming, bike rides, campfires, a potluck, playing with friends, boat rides, fishing, and a lot of camping fun. I'm really glad we decided to make the trip, and get a nice weekend of family time in.

We stayed until today, and helped my mom and dad pack up and hook up the camper. It was kind of sad to see the campground so empty by the time we left this morning. Another summer of camping in the books!!

The kids traveled very well to and from the lake (with the help of the DVD players) and we got back home at around 2pm today. The kids were very excited to see daddy again when we got home, and then they took some much-needed naps. We spent the rest of Labor Day just catching up at home and relaxing. Right now, both kids are watching 101 Dalmatians and relaxing for the evening. It's good to be home.

Emma in her happy place with all the kitties 

Beach Day!

Emma loves orange pop

Family time. 

So happy to be boating 

Fishing!

Dirty, dirty kids