Monday's On the Farm

In the summer, Kade's daycare is closed on Monday's.  Thankfully, Grandma H has summers off so Kade gets to spend the day on the farm!  "Coincidentally", Grandpa H has every Monday in the summer off too.

This summer is even more exciting because Kade's cousin, Violet now goes to the same daycare so she gets to spend Monday's on the farm too!

Violet seems to be shaping up to be the female version of Kade.  She wants a basketball in her hand at all times and she whines until she gets outside!  She also doesn't seem to mind a good tractor ride now and then.  They are 2 peas in a pod!  Kade calls her his "Little Lady" and gives her kisses every chance he gets.

How many farmers can you fit on 1 small tractor?

Summertime and the livin's easy!

Chillin with a bowl of ice cream.  Life is good.

Vi was supposed to be sleeping at this time but she has too much fun with her big cousin!  They were both shivering by the end of this marathon bath.

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Someone is building a house across the street from us.  Every time the builders leave for the day Kade puts on his "construction" boots and heads over to the site.  He calls himself a "Struction Mans".

It's going to take awhile to move this pile of dirt with that little shovel but it doesn't deter him.  I wonder what the builders think every morning when they come back and see new little piles of dirt everywhere?

Kade's a Camper!

After we got back from Milwaukee last week, the next day we packed up the camper and headed out on our first family camping trip!  I grew up camping but it's been a few years since I've gone.  As I was packing up the camper I thought to myself, "This feels like second nature to me but at the same time it's A LOT more work being a Camping Mom than it is being a Camping Kid!"  Thankfully it didn't take long for me to adjust to being the "responsible" one :-)

We went with my good friend, Melisa, and her husband and sons.  Melisa and I have been friends since before we could walk.  Our families camped together for many years and she's been my partner-in-camping-crime for as long as I can remember.  Hopefully our kids don't pull some of the stunts that we pulled as Camping Kids :-) It was great to finally be back together!

Kade absolutely loved it and was a natural!  Of course it didn't hurt that the campground had 2 heated pools, 2 playgrounds, a full basketball court and every road was paved so he could bike everywhere.  Oh yeah, and it is on a lake, had a hay wagon ride pulled by a John Deere tractor and an ice cream shop was waiting after we got off.  I don't know why we even bothered bringing lawn chairs!  He was so wore out at the end of the day that he actually asked to go to bed!  There was a thunderstorm one night and, as you can imagine, it's pretty loud in a camper.  Kade didn't even wake up!  In fact, I don't think he even stirred!

This picture is for Lady A, he's wearing the swim goggles she bought him!

S'more time!  Ellie, Kade, Owen, Logan and Bode.

The biggest ice cream come I've ever seen.  Kade took it down like a champ!

Thank goodness for outdoor showers.  Ice cream + summer + 2 year olds DO NOT mix :-)

Bode and Kade.  The next generation of Melisa and Kristi?  I hope not!

College Roommate Reunion

In college there were 6 girls, including me, who all lived together.  We try to get together at least once a year.  We've discovered the only way that is going to happen is if we bring our kids and leave our husbands.  This time 5 of the 6 made it.  3 of the roommates live in Milwaukee and it was our turn to come to them.

On Tuesday afternoon, Kade and I (along with Megan, Owen (5), Ellie (3), and Rylee (1)) drove to Milwaukee, WI.  We spent Tuesday night, all day Wednesday and Thursday morning playing.  At more than one point there was 11 kids, ages 5 and under, all under 1 roof!  It was perfect chaos.  The kids were playing, the moms were chatting and I'm not going to deny--there might have been some wine and other like beverages consumed!  Maybe that's why we all had smiles on our faces?

I was a little concerned about bringing Kade because he is a DADDY'S BOY!  I was worried how he would handle 2 nights without Erik.  He did pretty well but he was definitely very clingy to me.  He's so shy that he needed me in his sights at all times.  Of course, by the time we were leaving on Thursday afternoon he was ready to play without me there!  

My initial plan for bedtime was to lay with him until he fell asleep, then I would sneak away to catch up with my friends.  Can you guess what happened?  Yup, I fell asleep both nights and missed both opportunities to talk with my friends kids-free!  Not that I'm complaining because I do love my Kade Time, even if we're just sleeping!  Especially when we're not at home and I don't have "home owner" distractions to tend to.

Luckily, we all had our planners out and discovered another weekend in August we are all free and it's my turn to host!  This could be a record for us, 3 get togethers in one year!  That's more times than when we lived together even!  I think we had ONE night in college where we were all free at the same time and managed to have dinner together.  Obviously it was a good night because, no matter how hard it is, we make it a priority to stay in touch.  I'm glad we do because when we all get together its like no time has passed and we're as silly as we were when we were 21 (except there's A LOT less alcohol involved :-)

Of course we didn't get a group picture, or even very many pictures, but here's what I got.

On the road to Milwaukee!  It got a little long but they did great!  Even Rylee on the left, who held her potty for almost an hour!  Traffic was a little hairy and we couldn't pull over but she made it!

We're missing 2 kids and 2 moms in this picture but this was pretty much the theme of our trip.  Controlling the chaos!  We're on our way to get ice cream in this picture.

Life is good!

Movie time! AKA: mommy's need a break time.  Notice the only kid NOT watching the movie?  Yup, that's Kade-O the Tornado!

Uh oh.  We spent too much time in Packer Country.  We got out just in the knick of time, he's still a Vikings fan.

After last week's excitement of KC, this week's post is pretty boring.  I made a promise to myself to do a new post every week but sometimes there's just not much to say.  So, this is a post of last week's pictures.  Look closely, you can see the, "rare, elusive, only comes out when it thinks no one is looking", sun!  Seriously Mother Nature, what did we do to you??

Last Wed we spent the morning hanging with Vi.  This is the best picture I could get because these 2 munchkins never stop moving!

Molly was helping Kade move sand.

Kade asked me if I would get in the wagon, I declined.  I value my life too much.

Kade and Paige.  Don't be fooled by their angelic faces.  These 2 are hiding piles of Starbursts behind their backs.  I've never seen a bigger sugar high than what I witnessed after we left this graduation party.  Cake, punch and candy are a lethal combo for a Kade that's naturally crazy!

Sunday Funday with Michael and Taylor.  Obviously Kade is a big fan of Taylor's cheeks :-)