Josh's 3yr pictures were taken with his favorite shirt. The red flowered Hawaiian shirt he is wearing. We only had 2 shirts, but Josh had grown out of his. Well we found another shirt in a 4T size at a thrift store for $1. That allowed me to get this great shot of the kids.
The Boys
The boys and I went out a couple of weeks ago to do some hiking. If you ever wonder what is in the heart of little boys, take them to a place where they can hike, climb, get dirty and throw rocks in a river. You will understand really quickly, how much they love adventure. We took this picture at Minnehaha Falls park. We gave it to Laura for Mother's Day.
More Photos Here
Jude in the Sink
Josh and Jakin were in the tub and didn't leave any room for Jude. He is pretty funny and gets into everything. I thought this was a great picture of his bath in the sink. It had great light and a great expression on Jude. "you looking at me?"
Jude's First Birthday
Jude celebrated is first birthday on March 21st. It is funny how time does fly. We must be having fun! I have posted many photos from both of Jude's cake eating extravaganzas. By the second time around, he got the hang of it. Click the photos link on the right hand side to see more photos!
Octubre
I used this photo for emails sent out to our families. It is our way of saying that numero quatro is on the way in October. Boy? Girl? Who knows - we are very excited and look forward to this arrival in a few months.
From the mouth of babes...
In the past, to encourage Josh to eat his dinner, we would tell him that he needed to eat his dinner or no dessert. Seems fair right? Anyway, as of late, Josh as been doing such a great job at eating his dinner. He eats his food and then proceeds to tell us that he would like some "zert". We don't always have dessert, but we do have after dinner treats often. Laura has this thought that Josh and I are really alike. Josh sometimes thinks of the same thing for dessert that I do, without me mentioning it. Laura said that I probably wanted a malt, but I said I was more interested in the "C-A-K-E", in the freezer. I spelled this out so Josh wouldn't hear or understand.
About a half an hour later, Josh asked momma for some "zert". Laura asked what do you want for dessert? Josh said, "cake". So Laura said, "Josh, go downstairs and ask daddy." So Josh comes downstairs and comes to me on the floor and gets about 2" from my nose and says "daddy, I want some cake!" Now Josh hasn't seen cake in a few weeks, so I thought Laura put him up to it, so I asked him if momma told him to come down, he said "yes". So I sent him back upstairs to tell momma that she is silly. I thought Laura told Josh to ask for cake, but this wasn't the case. So after I went upstairs to straighten it out and for Laura to build her case that Josh and I think alike, I went down to the freezer to get the cake. Josh asked are you going to get some cake? Then he said "Are you going to hook me up?" We all laughed pretty hard from that one. I certainly did hook my boys up with some "zert."
About a half an hour later, Josh asked momma for some "zert". Laura asked what do you want for dessert? Josh said, "cake". So Laura said, "Josh, go downstairs and ask daddy." So Josh comes downstairs and comes to me on the floor and gets about 2" from my nose and says "daddy, I want some cake!" Now Josh hasn't seen cake in a few weeks, so I thought Laura put him up to it, so I asked him if momma told him to come down, he said "yes". So I sent him back upstairs to tell momma that she is silly. I thought Laura told Josh to ask for cake, but this wasn't the case. So after I went upstairs to straighten it out and for Laura to build her case that Josh and I think alike, I went down to the freezer to get the cake. Josh asked are you going to get some cake? Then he said "Are you going to hook me up?" We all laughed pretty hard from that one. I certainly did hook my boys up with some "zert."
Sad Excuse..
I am such a sad excuse for a blogger. Can I use the excuse that I have been busy? We had an extremely blessed, but busy December. By the time December is over, we will have taken 2 vacations covering a total of 1700 miles, we will have had out of town guests, we will have served nearly 80 people for 3 different dinner parties within six days in early December. It has been a ton of fun and we really enjoy having people over. On another note, Jude turned 9 mos old yesterday. Yeah Jude! Picture Jude clapping, because that is what he has started doing the last couple of days. Pretty fun!
Look for some more updates really soon! I will take some new pictures of Jude tomorrow and will post them for you to see!+
Look for some more updates really soon! I will take some new pictures of Jude tomorrow and will post them for you to see!+
This is a long exposure shot of the stahlhouse on Halloween. I think it is cool that you can actually see stars in the photo. Fun stuff for sure. We did have quite the fun on Halloween this year. The boys and I carved pumpkins and hit the neighborhood up for some loot. Josh and Jakin didn't like cleaning out the pumpkin, it was kind of yucky. I have posted some new Halloween photos on flickr for your viewing.
Josh and Jakin were firefighters this year. They had fun. Did I mention that they like candy?
Jude the PeaPod
That is all for now!
GO Here for Pictures!
Updates!
Sorry, it's been a while since I last gave an update. I will try to recap.
The Rock had a baby dedication on Friday night the 20th. Jude got dedicated to the Lord. This is a ceremony where we all promise as parents to raise our kids on the values of the Bible and for us to do that publicly at church. There were at least 20 kids that night which is quite amazing since the Rock started as a singles church. We now have 40-50 kids coming to The Rock. Pretty cool.
The boys and I have been busy outside doing some home projects. Electrical service upgrades, tree triming, retaining wall rebuilding, fence removing, brush removal, sandbox relocation. It has been fun to say the least. The boys certainly have fun with dad outside. We went outside and worked in the dark tonight, then went on an adventure to Menard's. We picked up some supplies for the retaining wall/fence project. I will post some pictures soon, so check back.
Jude is funny as ever. He has this thing with his tongue - he likes to have it stick out. He is also getting more mobile. He is crawling now and before we know it, he will be flying across the floor to get some juicy prize.
House church - The Rock started house churches which meet twice a month in people's homes. I guess that is where the term house church originates. We still meet weekly on Friday nights for the Rock. In the house church we are trying to immitate the example of the church in the book of Acts. We have 4 house churches led by 2 guys each. Our pastor has been mentoring 8 guys at The Rock going through the GCLI program which is our leadership program and in house seminary training. I am one of those 8 and I am co-leading a house church with my buddy Kevin. Each week time we meet for house church we sing, take communion, preach and then pray. I haven't spoken yet, my first preaching stint is on November 14th. I will be talking on Servant/Kindness Evangelism. I am really excited and pumped to be involved in something so unique.
Halloween - the boys and I carved some pumpkins and did some prep on the 30th. We went out on Halloween and got some loot along with Laura handing out invites to a neighborhood progressive dinner. Josh and Jakin were fireman this year. Jude was a pea-pod. Pretty cool costumes. The boys sure like candy.... just like mom and dad!
That is all I can think about right now...
Oh yeah.. more STAHLHOUSE Dictionary Items.
Sheen - Machine
Biper - Diaper
Gaykin - Jakin
The Rock had a baby dedication on Friday night the 20th. Jude got dedicated to the Lord. This is a ceremony where we all promise as parents to raise our kids on the values of the Bible and for us to do that publicly at church. There were at least 20 kids that night which is quite amazing since the Rock started as a singles church. We now have 40-50 kids coming to The Rock. Pretty cool.
The boys and I have been busy outside doing some home projects. Electrical service upgrades, tree triming, retaining wall rebuilding, fence removing, brush removal, sandbox relocation. It has been fun to say the least. The boys certainly have fun with dad outside. We went outside and worked in the dark tonight, then went on an adventure to Menard's. We picked up some supplies for the retaining wall/fence project. I will post some pictures soon, so check back.
Jude is funny as ever. He has this thing with his tongue - he likes to have it stick out. He is also getting more mobile. He is crawling now and before we know it, he will be flying across the floor to get some juicy prize.
House church - The Rock started house churches which meet twice a month in people's homes. I guess that is where the term house church originates. We still meet weekly on Friday nights for the Rock. In the house church we are trying to immitate the example of the church in the book of Acts. We have 4 house churches led by 2 guys each. Our pastor has been mentoring 8 guys at The Rock going through the GCLI program which is our leadership program and in house seminary training. I am one of those 8 and I am co-leading a house church with my buddy Kevin. Each week time we meet for house church we sing, take communion, preach and then pray. I haven't spoken yet, my first preaching stint is on November 14th. I will be talking on Servant/Kindness Evangelism. I am really excited and pumped to be involved in something so unique.
Halloween - the boys and I carved some pumpkins and did some prep on the 30th. We went out on Halloween and got some loot along with Laura handing out invites to a neighborhood progressive dinner. Josh and Jakin were fireman this year. Jude was a pea-pod. Pretty cool costumes. The boys sure like candy.... just like mom and dad!
That is all I can think about right now...
Oh yeah.. more STAHLHOUSE Dictionary Items.
Sheen - Machine
Biper - Diaper
Gaykin - Jakin
Family Photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thestahlhouse/sets/72157594324824540/
See this link for the polished versions of the latest "milestone" pictures. Josh at 3, Jakin at 2, Jude at 1/2. Then our family photo too!
See this link for the polished versions of the latest "milestone" pictures. Josh at 3, Jakin at 2, Jude at 1/2. Then our family photo too!
The Stahlhouse Dictionary
Boobins - in the last post Josh had used this term in conjunction with a police car toy. He did use the term again 2 weeks ago. We were on our way home from house church and we had to wait at a stoplight as 2 squad cars went flying through the intersection. Josh said when we got home that he saw two boobins. In talking with Laura, we think this pronunciation comes from Ambulance. As in boolance to the term boobins.
Guk - this is milk. Both Josh and Jakin used this term for milk without learning it from each other. The jury is still out on Jude, he still has some more time.
Sawgage - this is Josh's term for Sausage.
Brocky - Brocolli (Jakin really likes Brocky)
BanBan - Band Aid
PakPak - Back Pack
.... more to follow....
Guk - this is milk. Both Josh and Jakin used this term for milk without learning it from each other. The jury is still out on Jude, he still has some more time.
Sawgage - this is Josh's term for Sausage.
Brocky - Brocolli (Jakin really likes Brocky)
BanBan - Band Aid
PakPak - Back Pack
.... more to follow....
Commonly Heard Phrases in thestahlhouse!
As we are growing as parents, and as our kids are growing up to be more vocal contributors to our household, we have heard some mighty fine "words" come out of the mouth of our "babes."
"Momma, my nose doesn't work!" ~ This was uttered by Josh one morning when he woke up with a stuffy nose.
__
Momma - "Josh do you have to go poop on the potty?"
Josh - "No, I don't have to go poop on the potty?"
Momma - "Why don't you go and try?"
Josh - "Can you help me?"
Momma - "How can I help you go poop on the potty? Go up there and try to go."
Josh - "grunt, grunt, grunt - No poop coming"
Momma - "keep trying!"
Josh - "no poop coming"
Momma - "keep trying"
Josh - "Poop is coming"
Josh - "I poop a lot"
Momma - "nice job Josh"
____
Jakin - "nak"
Momma - "what's that honey?"
Jakin - "momma, nak"
Momma - "You want a 'snack'?"
Jakin - "No, nak"
Momma - "does you neck hurt?"
Jakin - "No, nak"
Momma - "can you show me what you want"
Jakin then takes momma to the bathroom where he gets his Kleenex. I guess that is what he heard. Klee Naks!
____
Josh - "I want my bloobins"
Daddy - "what, you want your bloobins?"
Josh - "Yes, my bloobins."
Daddy - "Can you show me where your bloobins is?"
Josh then takes me upstairs to the toy bin and points to a police matchbox car. So today that was a bloobins. I have know idea where that came from.
____
Jakin - "Bee-yo"
Momma - "you want to watch a video?"
Jakin - "no, bee-yo"
Momma - "Josh, what is Jakin saying?"
Josh - "bee-yo"
.... to be continued, we still aren't sure what Jakin was saying.
___
Daddy - "Josh it's time for you to rest"
Josh - "It's not time, I don't want to go to sleep"
Daddy - "you don't have to sleep, but you do need to rest in your room"
Daddy - "I have to go out and spend time with God"
Josh - "I don't want you to leave"
Daddy - "I have to leave so that I can pray and seek God for direction in leading you and being a good daddy."
Josh - "I want to go with you"
Daddy - "I need to go and spend time alone with God."
Josh - "I don't want you to leave"
Daddy - "I need to spend time with God so I can be a good daddy, don't you want me to be a good daddy?"
Josh - "no, I don't want you to be a good daddy?"
_____
Other news.. Jakin went poop on the potty tonight. As his reward he got to go get ice cream with Daddy. It was a cookie dough blizzard. Jakin was nice enough to share it with me. Yummy!
"Momma, my nose doesn't work!" ~ This was uttered by Josh one morning when he woke up with a stuffy nose.
__
Momma - "Josh do you have to go poop on the potty?"
Josh - "No, I don't have to go poop on the potty?"
Momma - "Why don't you go and try?"
Josh - "Can you help me?"
Momma - "How can I help you go poop on the potty? Go up there and try to go."
Josh - "grunt, grunt, grunt - No poop coming"
Momma - "keep trying!"
Josh - "no poop coming"
Momma - "keep trying"
Josh - "Poop is coming"
Josh - "I poop a lot"
Momma - "nice job Josh"
____
Jakin - "nak"
Momma - "what's that honey?"
Jakin - "momma, nak"
Momma - "You want a 'snack'?"
Jakin - "No, nak"
Momma - "does you neck hurt?"
Jakin - "No, nak"
Momma - "can you show me what you want"
Jakin then takes momma to the bathroom where he gets his Kleenex. I guess that is what he heard. Klee Naks!
____
Josh - "I want my bloobins"
Daddy - "what, you want your bloobins?"
Josh - "Yes, my bloobins."
Daddy - "Can you show me where your bloobins is?"
Josh then takes me upstairs to the toy bin and points to a police matchbox car. So today that was a bloobins. I have know idea where that came from.
____
Jakin - "Bee-yo"
Momma - "you want to watch a video?"
Jakin - "no, bee-yo"
Momma - "Josh, what is Jakin saying?"
Josh - "bee-yo"
.... to be continued, we still aren't sure what Jakin was saying.
___
Daddy - "Josh it's time for you to rest"
Josh - "It's not time, I don't want to go to sleep"
Daddy - "you don't have to sleep, but you do need to rest in your room"
Daddy - "I have to go out and spend time with God"
Josh - "I don't want you to leave"
Daddy - "I have to leave so that I can pray and seek God for direction in leading you and being a good daddy."
Josh - "I want to go with you"
Daddy - "I need to go and spend time alone with God."
Josh - "I don't want you to leave"
Daddy - "I need to spend time with God so I can be a good daddy, don't you want me to be a good daddy?"
Josh - "no, I don't want you to be a good daddy?"
_____
Other news.. Jakin went poop on the potty tonight. As his reward he got to go get ice cream with Daddy. It was a cookie dough blizzard. Jakin was nice enough to share it with me. Yummy!
Nana's Prized Tomatoes
Here is a shot of Nana posing with her tomatoes. Nice work Nana!
MNStateFair001
Originally uploaded by thestahlhouse.
MNStateFair001
Originally uploaded by thestahlhouse.
The Great Minnesota Get Together
I know I am a little behind in posting updates. I have been busy. Anywho, the boys, Nana and I went to the MN State Fair on a wednesday night. It was quite an adventure. We did pretty well with curbing our eating, but who can resist donut holes and Sweet Martha's Cookies? We had a absolute blast. The kids rode some rides. I even went on the Giant Slide with Jakin. Josh went down all by himself. Nana said "you should have seen the look on Josh and Jakin's face". They loved it. It was also cool to see the Fine Arts building. I always like to look at the photographs. I had wondered about entering some photos in the fair, but hadn't done so yet. Nana asked someone about the process. What she found out is that 660 people submitted art and only 130 were accepted to be displayed a the fair. Odds like that really challenge me, so I just might try and enter something next year.
The really cool thing though is that Nana entered some tomatoes and she took 4th place. Not bad. We are all so proud. This is another reason why I want to enter the fair. Nothing like a good old competition.
The really cool thing though is that Nana entered some tomatoes and she took 4th place. Not bad. We are all so proud. This is another reason why I want to enter the fair. Nothing like a good old competition.
Family Photo
Here is a recent shot of our family. We don't all get into the picture very often. We were on our way over to Nana's place all dressed up for Jakin's Birthday. I recently purchased a remote switch for my camera. It has a 9' cord. These pictures were taken with my toe!
It is hard to make the kids smile when there is no one behind the camera. Maybe I need to set up a mirror for us to look at.
All for now!
It is hard to make the kids smile when there is no one behind the camera. Maybe I need to set up a mirror for us to look at.
All for now!
#2 is now 2
Jakin turned 2 today. It seems weird. In one sense 2 years doesn't seem like that long, but with kids it is a huge difference. It was just yesterday that he was born, right? Man do I feel old. When you are younger, you look forward to when you are older. When you are older you just want things to slow down. Life gets that way sometimes.
Jakin had a great day. He loved all his presents. It was a beautiful sunny day for a birthday too. That was a bonus.
Photos to follow soon!
Jakin had a great day. He loved all his presents. It was a beautiful sunny day for a birthday too. That was a bonus.
Photos to follow soon!
Perils of Picking Crabapples
The other night my wife went out to pickup crabapples. This is a routine activity since our 2 trees have approximately 1.5 million crabapples on them. You might ask, "why bother to pick them up in the first place?" There are several reasons. 1. They smell. 2. They attract bees, yellow jackets, fly's etc. 3. They get squishy in your toes. 4. They stink. 5. They clog up the tires on the lawn mower. 6. They can be very alluring to young children who typically like to put things in there mouth. Photos Here! 7. They will sprout new trees in the spring. 8. And lastly, they don't smell very good.
So my wife, being the awesome servant she is, decided to go tackle the yard after our week of vacation. She has been very sympathetic this time of year when my allergies are in full force. Thanks sweetie!
We here in Minnesota have had a very dry summer. We didn't get much rain in June or July. August has made up for it and so have the mosquito's. So how much fun can it bee (get it) to be outside with all those flying insects picking up mushy crabapples? It can be loads of fun if you dare to try.
WarWounds001
Originally uploaded by thestahlhouse.
So my wife, being the awesome servant she is, decided to go tackle the yard after our week of vacation. She has been very sympathetic this time of year when my allergies are in full force. Thanks sweetie!
We here in Minnesota have had a very dry summer. We didn't get much rain in June or July. August has made up for it and so have the mosquito's. So how much fun can it bee (get it) to be outside with all those flying insects picking up mushy crabapples? It can be loads of fun if you dare to try.
WarWounds001
Originally uploaded by thestahlhouse.
This is a picture of Laura's foot. She had 15 mosquito bites and they were very itchy. So she applied some cortizon and some bandages. She is even sporting some "Chicken Little" tatoo bandages. Very cool. With kids, I am glad I can get them for $1 a box instead of $3.50 in the store. Anyone with kids out there need some? Let me know!
We are now taking applications for full time assistant crabapple pickers.
We are now taking applications for full time assistant crabapple pickers.
A week of vacation!!!
I took a week of vacation starting on Monday the 14th. We planned on leaving for Aberdeen, South Dakota on Tuesday evening, so I figured I needed the whole weekend to prepare and pack for the trip. Here are the highlights from our week.
Monday the 14th
Started doing the prep work of our trip by cleaning the van. I vacuumed, washed, waxed, and even used armor all. The boys helped and were pretty much in the van the whole day. They were good, with very little mischief. Josh woke up this morning and was all ready to go see Papa John and Grandma Sandi. He must have asked every hour if we were ready to go yet. No other problems except Jakins belly flop onto the concrete garage floor. I am not sure what that sounded like since I was running the vacuum at the time. It must have hurt because he wasn't very happy.
Tuesday the 15th
Josh again woke up ready to go on the trip. He spent most of the day in the van with me as I packed it and ran some cables for separate speakers. I wanted the video sound just in the back so Laura and I could listen to what we wanted on the stereo. This worked really well. The boys were playing with the dashboard and the ashtray since it was full of coins. I told them to keep them the coins in the ashtray so they wouldn't end up all over. So I finished the speaker and power runs for the video stuff, just in time to see Jakin inserting coins into his bank. When I say bank I mean steering column. So when did I catch him? Not before he inserted 13 coins totalling $1.19. At 3:00 we headed on our way to Aberdeen. We arrived at about 9:45PM. Josh and Jakin were put in the sunroom to sleep in their new sleeping bags. They had fun until they wouldn't go to sleep, so Jakin ended up in our room with Jude, Laura and me. 3:30AM. Jakin wakes up screaming. He rolled under our bed and couldn't get out. Laura jumped up, turned on the light and extracted our "rolling" boy from under the bed. We took Jude (not so mobile) out of the portable crib and put Jakin in his place. Jude did just fine on the floor of our room. He didn't get stuck under the bed, whew!
Wednesday the 16th
We got up and had breakfast then headed to Wylie Park. This is a local park with a lot of activities including Storybook Land. It is really fun for the kids and adults alike. The kids enjoyed the time, rode the train, had a picnic and a lot of fun. We went home after this and enjoyed some naps. I went over to Grandma Jeanettes to introduce her to Jude. We had a very nice visit, then I left to take Jude back for his nap. Mike, Mary and I went back over to Gr. Jeannettes to learn how to make strudles. These are German dough logs that you cook and serve with gravy. I think they are quite yummy. After that we all played and had fun. Then we went home and the boys Sam, Josh and Jakin went for a "swim" in mom and dad's whirlpool tub. That night my mom thought it would be cool if all the older grandkids slept in the sunroom with their sleeping bags. Kate didn't want to join in, so Sam, Josh and Jakin tried sleeping together. Jakin was in the portable crib. Sam and Josh were on the floor. Josh is certainly the instigator. Jakin and Sam wanted to sleep, but Josh was keeping everyone up. So we removed Josh to fall asleep on our bed, then we moved him back to Sam and Jakin. All was well until the morning.
Thursday the 17th
The boys got up a little early. Jakin needs his sleep but with Sam and Josh up, it was difficult to get them w/o Jakin. So they all got up about 7:30. Jakin was tired the rest of the day. This day we went to the farm to see Grandpa and Grandma Stahl (Earl and Joyce). We had fun riding the 4 wheelers, playing in the corn and having a great meal from Joyce. The family headed home around 1:30 and I stayed to take some pictures of my grandparents. We had some fun and enjoyed a nice chat about ancestors. We (Gr. Earl, Gr. Joyce and I) took a drive "down home". This is part of the original homestead of my Gr. Grandpa Arthur Bean (Joyce's Dad). This land has never been tilled or planted. It used to have the farm hands house on it and a barn. The house was moved to my Earl and Joyce's current farm and they live in that house today. It was really cool to see this land. It is hilly and beautiful. Maybe I just like the flatness of South Dakota or maybe because it is a piece of history. I don't know what, but I like it. Gr. Joyce and I picked some apples from a tree that her dad had planted in the 1920's. It is amazing the tree is still alive. Gr. Joyce made me an apple pie from those apples. She delivered it to us on Friday and it was delicious. My grandpa Earl gave me a camera that was bought in 1927 by his mother Elsie. This a Kodak Brownie Autographic camera. I want to locate some film for it and shoot some pictures to send back to grandpa Earl. Thursday night we had the Gr. Grandparents over for a group birthday party. Josh's birthday was in July. Sam's is August 22, Jakin's is August 27 and Kate's is September 21st so we celebrated them all when we were home. Is was some really nice chaos. This night we put Jakin in the laundry room and he did just fine. So much so, that he slept in there the next 2 nights too!
Friday the 18th
Today was the day we were going to the Brown County Fair. My parents had bought some unlimited ride wrist bands for the grandkids. They rode the cars, the carousel, the whale, the planes etc. They had tons of fun. I got some good pictures for sure. After that we had naps and then to Uncle Jim's and his pool. It was a beautiful day for a swim. Josh did very well all by himself, and the help of his swim fins. Jude even floated in a float ring we bought for Josh and never got to use for Josh or Jakin. They grew too big too fast. This time Jude fit in just fine.
Saturday the 19th
This was a down day. We didn't do much except try to keep the kids entertained. They played in Grandpa's muddy yard. Lot's of fun for sure. We also took pictures of the grandkids. Later, Jackson came by (he is a few months younger than Jakin) so we could take pictures of all the Great Grandkids of Earl and Joyce. My cousin Corey and his wife are expecting at the end of September so that will make 7 "greats" for my grandparents. In the evening we had some relatives over for some pizza. A little later than that we played some games. Mom bought us a new game called Spite and Malice. I had seen this game before in the store and I didn't know if it sounded like fun or not. Let me tell you, it is quite fun. We also did some preliminary packing.
Sunday the 20th
We did some more packing. Mike and I went to Grandma Jeannette's to look at some family heirlooms. I picked up 2 bowls and a piece of depression ware that Gr. Jeanette says her Gr. Rath had and probably came from her Great Grandma Gutschmidt. She would be my Gr.Gr.Gr. Grandma Gutschmidt. Pretty cool though to have some more of history. Family is very important to me. I love our history. Our trip home wasn't too eventful which is good.
That's all for now! I'll have some pictures posted on flickr soon.
Monday the 14th
Started doing the prep work of our trip by cleaning the van. I vacuumed, washed, waxed, and even used armor all. The boys helped and were pretty much in the van the whole day. They were good, with very little mischief. Josh woke up this morning and was all ready to go see Papa John and Grandma Sandi. He must have asked every hour if we were ready to go yet. No other problems except Jakins belly flop onto the concrete garage floor. I am not sure what that sounded like since I was running the vacuum at the time. It must have hurt because he wasn't very happy.
Tuesday the 15th
Josh again woke up ready to go on the trip. He spent most of the day in the van with me as I packed it and ran some cables for separate speakers. I wanted the video sound just in the back so Laura and I could listen to what we wanted on the stereo. This worked really well. The boys were playing with the dashboard and the ashtray since it was full of coins. I told them to keep them the coins in the ashtray so they wouldn't end up all over. So I finished the speaker and power runs for the video stuff, just in time to see Jakin inserting coins into his bank. When I say bank I mean steering column. So when did I catch him? Not before he inserted 13 coins totalling $1.19. At 3:00 we headed on our way to Aberdeen. We arrived at about 9:45PM. Josh and Jakin were put in the sunroom to sleep in their new sleeping bags. They had fun until they wouldn't go to sleep, so Jakin ended up in our room with Jude, Laura and me. 3:30AM. Jakin wakes up screaming. He rolled under our bed and couldn't get out. Laura jumped up, turned on the light and extracted our "rolling" boy from under the bed. We took Jude (not so mobile) out of the portable crib and put Jakin in his place. Jude did just fine on the floor of our room. He didn't get stuck under the bed, whew!
Wednesday the 16th
We got up and had breakfast then headed to Wylie Park. This is a local park with a lot of activities including Storybook Land. It is really fun for the kids and adults alike. The kids enjoyed the time, rode the train, had a picnic and a lot of fun. We went home after this and enjoyed some naps. I went over to Grandma Jeanettes to introduce her to Jude. We had a very nice visit, then I left to take Jude back for his nap. Mike, Mary and I went back over to Gr. Jeannettes to learn how to make strudles. These are German dough logs that you cook and serve with gravy. I think they are quite yummy. After that we all played and had fun. Then we went home and the boys Sam, Josh and Jakin went for a "swim" in mom and dad's whirlpool tub. That night my mom thought it would be cool if all the older grandkids slept in the sunroom with their sleeping bags. Kate didn't want to join in, so Sam, Josh and Jakin tried sleeping together. Jakin was in the portable crib. Sam and Josh were on the floor. Josh is certainly the instigator. Jakin and Sam wanted to sleep, but Josh was keeping everyone up. So we removed Josh to fall asleep on our bed, then we moved him back to Sam and Jakin. All was well until the morning.
Thursday the 17th
The boys got up a little early. Jakin needs his sleep but with Sam and Josh up, it was difficult to get them w/o Jakin. So they all got up about 7:30. Jakin was tired the rest of the day. This day we went to the farm to see Grandpa and Grandma Stahl (Earl and Joyce). We had fun riding the 4 wheelers, playing in the corn and having a great meal from Joyce. The family headed home around 1:30 and I stayed to take some pictures of my grandparents. We had some fun and enjoyed a nice chat about ancestors. We (Gr. Earl, Gr. Joyce and I) took a drive "down home". This is part of the original homestead of my Gr. Grandpa Arthur Bean (Joyce's Dad). This land has never been tilled or planted. It used to have the farm hands house on it and a barn. The house was moved to my Earl and Joyce's current farm and they live in that house today. It was really cool to see this land. It is hilly and beautiful. Maybe I just like the flatness of South Dakota or maybe because it is a piece of history. I don't know what, but I like it. Gr. Joyce and I picked some apples from a tree that her dad had planted in the 1920's. It is amazing the tree is still alive. Gr. Joyce made me an apple pie from those apples. She delivered it to us on Friday and it was delicious. My grandpa Earl gave me a camera that was bought in 1927 by his mother Elsie. This a Kodak Brownie Autographic camera. I want to locate some film for it and shoot some pictures to send back to grandpa Earl. Thursday night we had the Gr. Grandparents over for a group birthday party. Josh's birthday was in July. Sam's is August 22, Jakin's is August 27 and Kate's is September 21st so we celebrated them all when we were home. Is was some really nice chaos. This night we put Jakin in the laundry room and he did just fine. So much so, that he slept in there the next 2 nights too!
Friday the 18th
Today was the day we were going to the Brown County Fair. My parents had bought some unlimited ride wrist bands for the grandkids. They rode the cars, the carousel, the whale, the planes etc. They had tons of fun. I got some good pictures for sure. After that we had naps and then to Uncle Jim's and his pool. It was a beautiful day for a swim. Josh did very well all by himself, and the help of his swim fins. Jude even floated in a float ring we bought for Josh and never got to use for Josh or Jakin. They grew too big too fast. This time Jude fit in just fine.
Saturday the 19th
This was a down day. We didn't do much except try to keep the kids entertained. They played in Grandpa's muddy yard. Lot's of fun for sure. We also took pictures of the grandkids. Later, Jackson came by (he is a few months younger than Jakin) so we could take pictures of all the Great Grandkids of Earl and Joyce. My cousin Corey and his wife are expecting at the end of September so that will make 7 "greats" for my grandparents. In the evening we had some relatives over for some pizza. A little later than that we played some games. Mom bought us a new game called Spite and Malice. I had seen this game before in the store and I didn't know if it sounded like fun or not. Let me tell you, it is quite fun. We also did some preliminary packing.
Sunday the 20th
We did some more packing. Mike and I went to Grandma Jeannette's to look at some family heirlooms. I picked up 2 bowls and a piece of depression ware that Gr. Jeanette says her Gr. Rath had and probably came from her Great Grandma Gutschmidt. She would be my Gr.Gr.Gr. Grandma Gutschmidt. Pretty cool though to have some more of history. Family is very important to me. I love our history. Our trip home wasn't too eventful which is good.
That's all for now! I'll have some pictures posted on flickr soon.
Fruits of my labor, well sort of...
Here is a dandy picture of 2 strawberries picked from our patch last week. These are the only 2 strawberries I got all year. We planted 12 plants on Memorial Day. All those plants died, so Laura took them back to Gertens. They explained to us that we fryed them. Basically we planted them on a day that was too hot. It was only 95 degrees. So we got 12 new replacement plants and waited until it cooled down. These plants were doing quite well and bearing fruit. They had some really nice berries on them. Then one day, Laura asked if I had been picking the berries, well I hadn't. It seems that birds must like strawberries too. Since strawberry plants are June bearing, we didn't anticipate any more berries. The plants are concentrating on spreading out and making a bigger patch. I was suprised to see these two, so I had to pick them and have some berries from the year. I wish I had strawberries as plentiful as my crabapples..... more later on that.
