My mini pumpkins

One year I was in the vegetable barn at the state fair and thought I could do this. The next year I entered. I've entered 3 times and have taken home a 5th place, 1st place and this year a red 2nd place ribbon! Always so fun! Waking at the crack if dawn to bring them down the first day if the fair! Love it!! 

Thanks to Jen, the state fair fanatic I found out by noon I had the red ribbon! Thanks, Jen! 

So I'm a farming nerd. But I don't care. It's fun! Maybe I should try something new too! 

Our fall trip to Duluth in pictures!

Sept 19th -21st  2014

We had great weather. We did fun family things. So glad we did it. 

The pizza Luce hotel picnic

Early morning walk to the lake, skipping stones

Georgia fell in the lake, no big deal we camped out in the bathroom and dried her pants, shoes and socks. 

We also had breakfast at Amazing Grace, biked around canal park

We rode the train to Lester river 

We liked that! 

Then we headed to the hot air balloon festival at bayfront park where we saw the largest steamship on the Great Lakes the Paul at Tregurtha run aground right infront if the balloon festival! It made the news! So crazy!

We got up close but couldn't get a great picture! The kids flew kites from the Kiwanis club and did the big trampolines. 

Sunday we ventured out for a yummy breakfast up the shore a little bit in lakeside and then hiked at Lester River. 

Always so great to get away. Great trip even with 3 small kids and 2 old dogs in tow! Hope to see you again soon Duluth!

  

 

Our little gymnast.

Grace chose gymnastics. We were not surprised! She is a natural monkey!

I knew twin city twister was just down the road but knew it was a bit pricey. I'm so glad we tried it! Grace was one if 6 kids with 2 teachers. They have 2 preschool rooms to work in and then go into the big gyms for different things at the end. 

This was the last week. Grace has really liked it. One if her preschool friends was in the class, too. I think we will do an ice skating class this winter to get us out but maybe another class in the spring. I'm not ready for year round sports yet! ;-)

She can do monkey flips on the bar, hand stands against the wall! She was not the most graceful kid out there. And that's okay! She loved every minute of it! 

Our hockey player

So on a whim, we signed Max up for the 6 weeks of a 'free taste of hockey' that our local association does. I was super impressed with the coaches and how great they were with encouraging the kids and teaching them. Max was very green and cautious on skates. He used the walker the first several times but was very determined. He has impressed me with how fast he has picked up skating and the game. He's a natural defenseman. The practices are mostly drills and short scrimmages and playing minnows and guppies! You should see done if these cute little people whip around the rink! I was nervous about Max being behind at first but he's totally getting it figured out! Each time on the ice he's better. 

A very Star Wars halloween

Still on a Star Wars high after prepping and participating in the Westies big birthday bash the kids chose stars costumes. 

Introducing our clone trooper, Luke Skywalker (totally her choice :-)) and yoda! 

I was able to join Maxs class field trip on Oct 29th to Anoka county farms! It was so fun! 

We carved pumpkins from our garden at nana Mary's with Liss and Brandon! 

And Gia and I watched Graces Prek parade! She was princess Sofia at school because if the costume code of no superheroes. 

We trick or treated with the neighbor boys again! We all did our entire Parkside trail and then the big boys even went over to Lakeside trail for more! These kids got so much candy! I gave them free reign if it for Halloween night and the next day but then we sorted it and they had to pick 25 pieces. Then we donated the rest, a large shopping bag full, to the fairview clinics in exchange for a book! I think they send the candy to US troops over seas!  

It was a great Halloween season! 

Sweet sixteen

On the eve of Gia turning 17 months I wanted to squeak in a sweet sixteen post/update! She has definitely been smooched, by the way! 

This little lady is amazing. What she has been lacking in talking she makes up for in agility and daredevilness! During this 16th month she's definitely been trying to say more. She communicates well with nonverbal cues. She does some signing. But oh man, does she climb! She's figured out the "push the stool over to the counter and climb on the oven/counters and scare the crisp out of mom" trick! It's so funny how the little ones think they can do everything the big kids do! GG really understands so much! You can ask her domething and she will run off and grab what you are talking about or point to her head if you say something about a hat! It's amazing! 

She has developed the best cheesy grin! 

Gia is a great sleeper! She will at times even ask to go to sleep! She occasionally cries for a few minutes but otherwise will settle in on her own to sleep! Praise God! We got one right! We definitely had bad ways with the big two so it's wonderful to have one go to sleep on her own. Well after she does her bedtime routine and waves and smooches goodnight. Then it's a few minutes of cuddles and she will lay down! Wow! Why didn't we do that sooner? I give all credit to Robb. I think with getting all 3 to sleep when I work evenings she's had to cry it out a bit but it's worked out. She's sleeps about 11 hours at night and one nap in the afternoon. 

I stand by thinking she is the funny one. She has the best sense of humor and giggles do much! Her favorite thing is to tickle tickle people and belly laughs about it! Love her so much! 

Georgia is figuring out her will. Rarely defiant so far, but she tries it out. 

She's a great eater. Eats lots of fruits and veggies. If any of the kids become vegetarian my guess would be George. 

She still has many alias'. I wonder if that confuses her? Georgia, Gia,George, GG, jumbo, little G. And on and on.