September

So, life just has a way of sneaking up on you and then fast-forwarding.  That's what these past few months (heck, the whole year!) have felt like.  We've been so busy just living that the blog has kind of fallen by the wayside.  But the good thing is, it's always here to come back to.  Since I haven't been good about blogging and there is so much that we've done, this will be more just a photo/video post than writing.

This is for my sister's boys, who wanted to watch this over and over on my camera.  None of our boys could get enough of this slide!!!

going down with Grandma

Looking like such a big boy!

The preview of his teenager pose?!?!

Having fun with Grandpa at the lake.

What a group of handsome boys!!!

Visiting the fire station when our friends from up north came to visit.

Getting in a little pre-race snack: kim...yum!

There was a kid's mile mud run before the 5K one started for the adults (which I ran with a group of other moms).  Boo was soooooo excited to do this, and I'm really NOT exaggerating.  Look at how intense he looks here before his race started, almost like he's picturing himself running it.  He was so pumped for this race!  C and his daddy ran it as well; Jay, next time we'll give you a heads up about needing to bring extra clothes.  Sorry!!

The beginning of his wave of kids; one parent could run it with their child.  Chris was lagging behind which almost caused Boo to wipe out after he looked back.  At the end of this video, Chris is telling Jay that he's going to have to go keep up with Boo.

Walking through the mud trough.

Don't know why it turned out sideways.  Boo took a face plant at the bottom of the slide, even though Chris is trying to hold him up.

Trucking along...almost to the finish line!!!
And he absolutely loved the checkered flags there because they are racecar flags!

Crossing the finish line.

Here comes C and Jay!

Our two little runners...you guys did a great job!!

Now for the mama's turn:

The clean before photo.

And the after shot...you can't tell here, but we really are pretty muddy.  It was so much fun!!  Hope to do it again with you all next year.

Being silly while having a "standing dinner."

So sweet.

Game 5 National League Division Series

GO CARDS!!!

Our Journey - A Movie

To commemorate our Referral Day (fondly known as our referral-versary), October 2, 2009, I finally finished the movie of our journey to becoming a family of three!

It's been four years since we received our precious son's referral and we are still amazed and awed that we are together.  Every time I watch this movie, I remember all the emotions we went through on this journey.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we've enjoyed becoming a family.

Movie Monday - Chopsticks

Trying soooo hard to get the rice to his mouth using the chopsticks...

He did it!!

He's nothing if not inventive in how to get something done!

That's muh boy!

(And that was a huge mouthful of rice.)

And in to August!

So in August I got my hair cut, which I posted on at the time.  That same day, we had our family pictures taken professionally for the first time in three years.  The last time we did that was the fall after we brought Boo home.  I will post some of those pictures at a later time, but let me tell you, my friend Kellie did a great job!  Thank you so much for the great experience!!!

We went camping again in August and this time, Chris' parents came up to visit, like they did last year. They stay in a hotel about 25 minutes away that's right on the river where we rent the pontoon boat.  

We did some go-karting,

went to the zoo,

(did you SEE his eyes when Grandma told him the bunnies were for sale!?!?)

He's got the wingspan of a peregrine falcon; mine was the turkey vulture and Daddy's was the bald eagle.

and hung around at the river/beach area behind their hotel.

I think Grandma had just as much fun as Boo did with all the activities!

Boo picking and eating blueberries straight off the vine in our neighbor's yard.

My little home-boy/rapper-man.

Wordless Wednesday - Surprise for Mommy!

The Beginning of a Backlog of Blogging...

Why I think I'll have more time to blog during certain times of the year, I have no. clue.

I always seem to stay caught up for a while and then...BOOM, it's been almost two months since my last blog post!  And it's never because there's been nothing going on worth posting about.  So I will continue to slowly work my way through our summer activities.

Back to the 4th...July 4th, that is!

We again made what's getting to be our annual "north for the fourth" camping trip.  The special thing about this time was the company we had while we were there; two of the days, two different friends from home were randomly up north as well and came to visit us at our land since they'd never been there before.  It was nice to show them around and walk the trails that we had just had plowed through our acreage.  That was the first time we'd been on the trails too, and they have just opened up our property and made it seem sooo much bigger since we can now get around it more easily.

(the shortest video I took documenting the trails. for those of you who haven't seen them yet.)

We spent some time visiting with our neighbors up there whom we have gotten to know over the last year.  Tim and Billie Jo are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet and we're so thankful for their friendship and generosity.  They've lent us/Chris what I call their "big-boy toys" in order to help us make our camp into what it is today.

our big boy

sitting on Tim's ATV

the picture Boo took of the neighbor's driveway/front "yard" area

Then we had our other northern friends over for one night.  We rented a pontoon with them again and spent the next day cruising the lakes in northern WI.  It turned out to be a gorgeous day with some wonderful company!

Boo was just itching to get into the water and he actually jumped off the front of the pontoon boat to me once!  Daddy and I were so proud of him because that was quite a jump for our tiny guy.

He didn't want to get out once he was in the water!

cruising through a pass between lakes

Fresh air + swimming + a ton of fun = naptime!!

A couple of random pictures from July:

great picture of Boo with Grandma and Grandpa!

visiting family the end of July...just so you can see how restless of a sleeper this kid can be: cross-wise on the bed, on top of the covers, and I'm surprised he hasn't taken his pj's off!  I'm sure Lexi is only tolerating being laid on because she isn't allowed to get up on the furniture at home and doesn't want to be kicked off the bed here!!

Whew!  Done with July.  Now to download pictures/video from August and September and start working my way through those...