Gleisner Benefit

Saturday, October 16th we held a benefit in honor of our family friends, the Gleinsers. Adam is battling cancer. He is only 48 years old. He has a wife JoAnna and daughter Grace who is in Emily's class and Jared who is the same age as Rachel. They have amazing faith and love and trust in the Lord, which I admire so much. The day was cool but sunny-really just perfect. We started out the day with a 9-hole best ball tourney, then had a family fun apple festival with hayrides, kids games, obstacle course, bon fire, apple pies, caramel apples, apples for sale, pumpkins, face painting, etc... It was so much fun! The kids had a blast! After the festival we had a spaghetti dinner that served around 400 people. The Gleisners are loved by ALOT of people! Everything just came together perfectly and everyone pitched in and made it a great day. We were all so happy Adam was able to join us for a while and visit. Our hearts go out to them and we pray for their family everyday. Thanks to God for all our blessings.

Fall Frenzy

We have had a beautiful fall up until the past two days. Here are some pictures of the girls playing in the leaves and being silly.

Rachel celebrates with Grandparents

Rachel was lucky enough to have two birthday parties this year. We weren't able to get everyone together the weekend of her birthday so we spread it out and held it the weekend after. As always we had a great time and great food. Rachel needed some help blowing out her candles and Natalie was able to help out. It was pretty funny. Rachel would try and she'd end up blowing upward rather than outward. While Rachel was trying and giggling, Natalie bent down and blew one out for her. We all got a laugh out of that!

St. Peter flooding

Hwy 22 S from St. Peter going to Mankato

It's a little difficult to get in and out of St. Peter these days. The flooding is amazing! Brian's commute takes him an extra 15 minutes, which isn't too bad, just a little inconvenient. Hwy 169 is closed both north and south of St. Peter. It's completely submerged right around McDonalds. Our friends the Frey's live next to McDonalds and the water came as close as 20-25 feet from their house. They said they've never seen flooding this bad before. Not exactly sure where 169 is flooded south of St. Peter but more than likely it's around the 7-mile park area. Doesn't take much to flood that area. Hwy 22 south to Mankato is also closed with water completely submerging that road as you can see in the photo.

Hwy 99 East of St. Peter is closed too. The water is right up under the bridge and the railroad tracks and road were also under water near Whiskey River. We have quite a few friends that live out that way and their detour into St. Peter takes them quite a bit out of the way. A good 25 minute drive or more. What a pain. Somehow a large log caught a cable line near the 99 bridge. The photo shows that.




Millpond is pretty much under water too. The dock where the girls fish is bearly showing, same goes for the playground equipment. There's been lots and lots of people taking pictures and documenting this historical flood. Hopefully it won't take too long for the water to recede and life to get back to normal. Pretty awesome though. :)

Rachel is 5!

5 years ago today this little firecracker arrived and we are so blessed to have her in our family. Rachel is one spunky little kid. I know sometimes I blame it on the mochas and pop that I let her drink but really it's just who she is and we love her personality! It's good parent training for Brian and I. Just when we think we've got something maybe figured out with her she proves us wrong. It's all good! Today Rachel had her friends, Luke, Kael, Nathan, Cole and Elli over for her "kid" party. She didn't invite any of her "girl" friends from school just some of the boys and Kael's little sis, Elli. They had a great time (noisy though) playing and eating pizza and cake. In the evening we went to Rachel's choice of restaurants, Culvers, for her birthday dinner. After eating a yummy dinner we went back to St. Peter to check out all the flooding. She had a great day and was smiling ear to ear all day long! Happy Birthday pee-popper!

Natalie Pics

I realize that I'm totally dropping the ball on updates on Natalie. Must be because she is the 4th kid and we neglect her! Ha! Not hardly! :) She is such a funny little kid and showing many sides to her personality. She's very stubborn believe it or not or maybe just persistant. I tend to think this is a blonde thing that runs in our family. I told myself that this one will NOT have pop or coffee as a toddler. We all know how lively Rachel is and I blame it on the caffine! I know, its my fault. We all just enjoy Natalie so much! She has the cutest little smile, showing her 4 teeth. Yes she only has 4....not sure how she manages to chew but she does somehow. She cracks us all up when she dances. If I think of it I'll video her-it's a hoot! She LOVES her boy friends, Levi, Luke and Kael. She must just bored with us girls. :) She loves to play on steps. WHY????? She loves to escape outside as soon as someone opens the door. She wants to speak so badly. Why don't the words just come out, she must think? She still loves her Nuks-doesn't matter which one. She has about 4 floating around and sometimes she'll find one and take out the one she'd been sucking just to get a taste of the new one. Maybe it had remnants of chocolate or go-gurt??! Such an adorable little girl!!! Enjoy the pictures!

1st Day of School

Just a week behind, but the girls' first day of school was last Tuesday and they had a great first day and first week. Caitlin, our grown up 4th grader, Emily, our eager 2nd grader, and Rachel our excited preschooler all were up and at 'em early with anticipation. We didn't get outside pictures of them this year because it was very windy and cool. They had picked out a shorts outfit for the first day but had to find some warmer clothes instead. Rachel's first day was Wednesday and it was much nicer but still cooler. Good thing I had some fall clothes ready for them! The girls are still doing great getting up early but I'm sure as soon as it's darker and colder in the morning it will be hard to wake them and myself as well! It's so nice to get back into the swing of things and it has become a much quieter house during the day. Ahhhhh..... :)