12 Year-Old Emma

 I say this every year, but it's hard to believe Emma is now 12. 12! She's almost a teenager. How did that happen?

Emma is a pretty good 12 year old, in my biased opinion. She's sweet, she's sassy, and she's funny. She gives us some attitude at times, but that's pretty normal for her age, and we try to keep her in check. 

Emma's favorite things:

-Cats, drawing, painting, hanging with friends, calling friends, face-timing friends, playing basketball, going to summer camp, making new friends, having sleepovers, swimming, camping, ice cream, hashbrowns, going to Twin's games, going on vacations, reading, 

Emma's not so favorite things:

-Softball, chores, getting up early, school, homework, bug bites, being left behind when mom and dad travel, little brothers, 

I really like spending time with Emma at this age. We like to shop together, get some Starbucks or Scooters, and watch movies together. It's fun to have an Emma and Mom day and do some things that we enjoy doing together. She's getting to an age where can share some experiences together and both really enjoy them. 

Emma really enjoys basketball and she has some natural talent for it, so I hope she continues to pursue that. She doing basketball camp right now, and then we found out that Jefferson has open gyms this summer on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so that will be fun. We also have some plans to go to some movies, camping at Diamond Lake, and Emma has another week long camp in July. So, we have some fun times coming. 

Emma makes us proud and we love her so much. I just want her to find her passions in life, and pursue them, and not let anyone hold her back. 

Happy 12th Birthday Emma, We Love you!

Emily's Bachelorette Party

 Well, summer continues to fly by over here. Softball continues a couple days a week for Emma, I have softball one night, and we find other things to fill our days as well. 

Two weekends ago, we all 4 made the trip to Minnesota. We stopped at Ryan's on Friday evening and had a grill out with a campfire. We had a good time filled with conversation and good food. 

On Saturday, it was Emma's 12th Birthday. So, we had plans to go to the Twin's Game, but the weather didn't cooperate and the game was cancelled, So, we shifted gears and went to Mall of America. Emma really wanted to do the climbing walls, so for 2 hours Emma and Elliott climbed walls. Emma was really, really good at climbing. She could just zip up with wall with no problem. She wanted to do all 40 climbing walls, but she didn't quite get them all in. Her hands started to hurt and blister, and she got tired. But she finished about 75% of the walls. Elliott also did really well, but he struggled a little more than Emma. He did better on the easier walls, and he wasn't as interested as Emma. 

After climbing, we needed to eat somewhere. Emma picked the food court. Elliott and Emma ate at A&W, and John and I found other places to eat. After eating, the kids were pretty much done with the mall. We did a little shopping, and then John and I headed to IKEA to shop while the kids chilled in the truck. 

After Ikea, we headed for home. John and I did stop at a brewery on the way home for a good beer, and then we were to my parent's house around 10:00pm. We all went to bed pretty tired. Overnight, it ended up raining 6 inches, on ground that was already really wet. So, my parent's got a lot of water in their basement. My parents were on vacation in NYC, so they were not even home when we were staying there. So, Ryan came over and we found some more sump pumps and started to pump all the excess water out of the basement. They got slammed with water, but eventually we caught up. What a mess. 

In the afternoon, we went to Lila's 90th Birthday party at Squirrel's in Fairfax. It was hot and crowded in there, and little awkward, but we made an appearance, visited a little and then got out of there. Next, we headed to New London. We were a little early to drop Emma off for camp, so we stopped at Goat Ridge Brewery and had a beer and some pretzels. Finally, it was time to drop off Emma. It was a little emotional to drop her off at a camp all week where she didn't know anyone else so far away, but she did great. She wasn't nervous at all, and she couldn't wait for us to leave. 

So, holding back some silly tears, we left her there. And we didn't hear a peep from her all week. Since Emma was gone all week, Elliott went to Jim and Barb's for the week. He had a great time. He got spoiled, made a lot of rainbow loom bracelets, and just generally enjoyed his time. 

Our week at home without kids was kind of weird. We didn't do anything crazy. We got some weird tasks done like an Amazon return, dropped off clothes at Goodwill, and made a Costco trip. Otherwise, we actually stayed home, enjoyed our patio, and just chilled. 

The weather has been the major focus around here lately. Sioux Falls and surrounding area experienced severe flooding. The Big Sioux River is very flooded for the bike trail, roads, parks, and some interstates are shut down. The city of Rock Valley is completely under water. It's been really devastating for some people. Luckily, we did not have any water problems or flooding at our house, but it's sad to see. 

I almost couldn't make it to Emily's bachelorette party because some roads were shut down, but I found a clear route and ended up making it. I went to Rachel's house on Friday evening and basically just settled in so we could leave early the next morning. We left at 8:30 the next morning, and made the 2 hours drive to Stillwater. We had a good weekend. We ate good food, went to a beautiful winery, had some drinks, played some games, saw some live music, and ended with a brunch on Sunday. It was pretty fun overall, and every one got along well. We were all ready to go home on Sunday. 

On Sunday, I met Emma (finally!! hadn't seen her in a week) and my parents in Sleepy Eye for some beers, company and some pizza. It was nice to catch up with them after their trip, and nice to see Emma and hear all about camp. She LOVED camp by the way. She made friends, made crafts, swam, had bible study, biked, and was pretty busy the whole time. It rained some while she was there, but mostly in the evenings. And she wants to go again next year, so that's awesome. 

After the brewery, we made our way home and got home around 8:00pm. What a day. Emma was so happy to be home (so was I). 

This week is another adventure. I am off all week for the LWMS National Rally. And Emma has basketball camp Monday-Wednesday at Jefferson, and Hannah and Rachel and Jacob are coming over. Basically, it's another wild week. Oh, and softball tonight. And tomorrow, I signed the kids up for Kids Night in the Park where they can sell something they have made. So, Elliott is selling Rainbow Loom bracelets and Emma is going to do face painting and temporary tattoos. So, we will see how this goes. They are really excited for it. The rest of my week will be many volunteer hours at the LWMS Rally, so we will see how that goes as well. 

Birthday Girl 

Mall of America Treats 

Ready to Climb 

Water in the basement 

Flooding in the ditch at mom and dad's

Ready for the Bachelorette Party 

Fishing at the Missouri River

 These past couple weeks have been really busy and crazy. Last week, Emma and Elliott had VBS and swimming lessons. We coordinated with the Tomczaks, so the kids spent a lot of time at their house last week. John dropped the kids off at VBS around 8:30 am. Emma was a helper this year, and Elliott just enjoyed going. At around 10:45, the kids went to the Tomczaks house, got their bikes, and then biked to Kuehn Pool for their swimming lessons. Then, they biked back, had lunch, and hung out at the Tomczaks' house until one of us was off work. Some days, the kids would go back to the pool and swim in the afternoon. Other days, they would just play, read, and hang out. 

The kids did this all week. They had a blast, but they were wore out in the evenings. Emma still had softball games on Monday night, and practice on Wednesday. Run, run, run. Emma is doing really well in her swimming lessons, one lifeguard even asked her if she was on a swim team. Elliott is also doing well, and really liking the swimming lessons. 

This past weekend, we made the journey to Platte, and camped with Jeff and Samantha at their permanent camping spot. We got to their camper on Friday evening at around 7:30pm. We enjoyed hanging out on their deck, visiting, and having a few drinks. 

We all slept in the camper. The kids and I took the bunk room, and John slept on the pull out couch. It was a little crowded, but worked out pretty well. On Saturday morning, it was rainy and cool. We waited for the weather to pass, and then we headed out on the Pontoon to fish. The Missouri River was beautiful, and we had a chilly, but really nice boat ride. We took a 30 minute ride out to the bridge, and then did some fishing. The fishing was a little slow, but we caught some Walleye that were keepers. Jeff and Samantha caught all the keepers, but we were all having fun. Emma really enjoyed netting all the fish, and Elliott had fun and asked a lot of questions. 

We ate lunch on the boat, enjoyed some sunshine, and then headed back in at 3:30pm. We took a golf cart tour and toured the campground and saw where all Jeff and Samantha's friends stay. We also saw the Platte Creek Store. We made Fajitas for supper. And then we played some Wii Mario Cart on their deck. The kids really enjoyed the games, fishing, and of course playing with Vinny. We put some really tired kids to bed around 11;00pm, and then the adults went to the bar for some drinks and to see the band. It was a fun night. 

On Sunday, we ate breakfast, and then headed out to fish again around 9:00 am. Samantha and Emma stayed behind and had a nice breakfast date and Samantha let Emma drive the golf cart around all morning. The rest of us went fishing. We had pretty good luck. I caught a nice bass and a Walleye that was a keeper. Elliott caught two keepers, and Jeff caught 2 keepers. John caught fish, but they were all too small to keep. 

After a couple of hours of beautiful sunshine and fishing, we called it a day. We headed back to the camper, packed up, and started our journey home. We made it home by 4:00pm, unpacked, did laundry, and ate some delicious fish tacos for supper. It was a fun, busy weekend. 

This past week has flown by pretty quickly. The kids had another week of swimming lessons. They spent some time at the Tomczaks again. Emma had to swim a 500 meter swim (which is 10 times down and back) and she was the first one done. She officially passed her swimming lessons a day early!

On Wednesday, Emma had a softball doubleheader. The strikers won the first game, and lost the second. But, they were good games, and there was actually quite a bit of action to watch. After the games. the kids went home with Jim and Barb. The grandparents wanted to spend some time with Emma for her birthday, and with Elliott as well. So, they took the kids to swimming lessons today, and then went shopping and to Dairy Queen. The kids had a great day. 

It was a catch up day around here today. I mowed lawn while John had a council meeting. We also did some packing for this weekend, cleaning, and laundry. It was nice to catch up, but I feel like I can never get ahead. 

This weekend is another doozy. We are going to Mom and Dad's house tomorrow (even though they are in NYC right now) to grill out with Ryan and Emily and have a bonfire. Then, on Saturday,(Emma's Birthday!) John and Elliott are getting fitted for the wedding, and then we are going to a Twins Game. After the Twin's Game, we are planning to eat supper somewhere for Emma's birthday, and then back to the farm for the night. 

Sunday, we drop Emma off at Bible camp in New London. She stays there until Saturday morning. I am going to miss her. I am so excited for her, but also nervous for her. I hope she has the time of her life. Elliott will spend most of next week at Grandma and Grandpa Nelson's house. He will have a blast as well. 

Softball nights 

Vinny snuggles on the deck 

Fishing on the river 

Puppy snuggles 

Emma playing bartender 

The Missouri River 

Shennanigans while mom plays softball 

Stretching out Elliott's Rainbow Looms