Just a few pictures that didn't make it into previous posts this week.

I love this picture because both boys have such great smiles on their faces.

I love this picture because Mason has an even greater smile and he's using Kade's ears as handles :-)

For the past couple months we've been having Wednesday afternoon playdates with Kourtney, a great friend of mine that I've had since elementary school.  She's got 3 boys, 2 of which are literally weeks apart in age from Kade and Mason.  I'm not sure why it took us so long to realize that we were sitting on a gold mine.  5 boys with endless energy, why haven't we combined forces sooner?!

Kade and Kellan, the two 4 year olds.

Kadin holding Kollin, Kade holding Mason, and Kellan.  

Yes, it is not lost on us that our names are Kourtney, Kadin, Kellan, Kollin, Kristi, Kade and….Mason.  Poor Mase, the only non-K name.

The boys checking out their handsome faces after their picture was taken.

This barn is pretty special because Great Grandpa H made it about 30 years for his great nephew.  Recently, we got a call from the nephew's mom asking us if we wanted it since they don't have any use for it and it had been sitting in storage for a long time.  Of course we said "YES!!".  The boys love it!

The story behind this photo just needs to be documented for memories.  

One evening Erik was pulling into the driveway and saw this old guy sitting on our deck.  He tried to get rid of it by throwing snow at it but the raccoon just ran up a tree and stayed there til it got dark.  

A few days later it came back looking even worse so it was time for it to go on to the Great Unknown:  Raccoon Afterlife.  

We called our Man With a Gun (my dad, who we affectionately call Ranger). Ranger wasn't home so we had to call in Plan B (Erik's dad Bill, who we affectionately call Barney Fife--at least when it comes to his gun skills, or lack thereof).  

Bill came out with his 22 and a bullet.  He shot?  He missed?  Did a bullet come out?  Did anyone hear anything that remotely sounded like a gun going off?  Has the gun been cleaned in the past decade?  All great questions that no one has the answer to.  

However, 30 seconds after the trigger was pulled the raccoon tipped over.  Erik and Bill went to inspect it.  Nope, definitely no blood and definitely no gun shot wound.  He was just that withered that he randomly tipped over.  Erik said it's breathing was pretty ragged but they didn't have any bullets left and the gun didn't work anyway.  

Onto Plan C:  a baseball bat.  Thank goodness for Bill because Erik could not take that final swing to send the raccoon packing so his dad did it for him.  

It should be noted that I'm telling this story this story second hand.  I was not there to witness this with my own eyes as the boys and I were tucked safely away in a locked house, in the boy's bedroom, behind it's locked door :-)

Needless to say, Erik and I are NOT great huntsmen.  Lesson of the story?  Ranger is never allowed to leave his house again--our Man With a Gun needs to be available at all times.