1st Day of School

Monday, August 29th:

Hard to believe that it is the 1st day of school partly because we're starting very early this year. It's still August for pete's sake! Well, we were up and at 'em early this morning and the house was a buzzing. We had a minor shoe issue but all in all it was a pretty smooth transition out of the house. Caitlin starts 5th grade and has a boy teacher and is super excited to see what the year brings. If you recall, last year (4th grade) was the "best year of her life!" Emily starts 3rd grade this year and they added another student to that class making it one of the biggest in the school. I believe they have either 19 or 20 students. Rachel will start on Wednesday and is pretty excited and maybe a little nervous. It sure will be nice to have all 3 together in one school this year. What will Natalie and I do with all of our alone time!?!?!?







Wednesday, August 31st:



It was Rachel's big day today! 1st Day of Kindergarten and she was up and dressed before 7:05 this morning! All she had on her face was one huge smile and her eyes were lit up! Things went smooth again. It probably helps that I'm up 30 minutes before the girls to get myself ready! As her sisters got out of the car and ran to the school, Rachel eagerly joined them and got almost to the door and stopped, turned around and ran back to us. She's eager, just not quite that eager! So we walked in and she found her line and patiently waited to be dismissed. Brian and I and the other proud parents followed them to their room and watched as they got comfortable with each other and their classroom. Watching the parents leave their "first" behind, it reminded me of the day Caitlin started and didn't want me to come in with her-just Brian. I remember waiting in the car wondering if she was missing me or needing me. It was such an emotional time. But even though Rachel isn't my first and I wasn't emotional like the first time around it was still hard leaving and wondering how she was doing on her first day. It sure wasn't the same around the house today. It was quiet and Natalie asked a few times where "Shesha" (rachel) was. Even she knew something was different. :)

End of Summer Vacation Fun

As a tradition, at the end of the summer right before school starts Brian takes whoever is old enough, tall enough and brave enough for a fun filled day at Valleyfair. Rachel is a bit too young and short yet for the rides that her crazy sisters and dad like to ride so she was lucky (?) to spend a day home with Natalie and I. I'd like to say we had just as much fun but that probably wasn't the case! Rachel and I did get to enjoy watching a movie together after Natalie went to bed. It was nice to just hang with her! Caitlin, Emily and Brian left at 8:30 a.m. and didn't get home until 9:20 p.m. They rode over 35 rides, got to have Dad to themselves, acted crazy I'm sure and had a super super fun time! Everyone's favorite ride was Renegade (a coaster) They also like Wild Thing (coaster)

Caitlin and Brian got to hang out with each other another night this past week and went to a Twins game with all the alter servers from mass. The Twins didn't win but the kids still had a fun time. It was Brian and Caitlin's first trip to the new stadium.

KeeNeeMooSha 2011

Our annual vacation to KeeNeeMooSha resort was again a nice, relaxing, sunny, fish friendly, end of the summer fun filled week. This year we decided to take Brian's parents 1970-ish boat. It sure was retro and we felt pretty cool and confident riding in the intimate 6 seater. The girls wanted to water ski and tube and everyone wanted to fish so the boat worked out beautifully. We did however have a bit of trouble with the motor. We were all raring to go and Brian couldn't get it going-flooded it. So while he's fixing on it this is what the girls were doing.
The Problem...
The Solution.....
"Are you almost done yet??"
"Maybe we should call Grandpa"
"Oh brother...."

The weather was perfect. Cool in the mornings and evenings, warm and sunny during the day. We did get one rainy day early in the week but that was ok. Sometimes it's nice to do indoor activities as a family too. We took the girls to see the Smurf movie which was pretty cute.

One of our annual favorite activities was tie-dying t-shirts. It's always fun and we love to see how we do from year to year. Brian out did everyone with his. He has very creative juices running thru his body!




Another favorite is the Turtle Races in Longville. This year Caitlin's turtle was her heats "Slowpoke" in which she one a bag of mini-donuts and a chance to race against the other heats slowpokes. In the big race she didn't win but had fun anyway. Natalie got to race a turtle for our resort and her's won! Bragging rights for KeeNeeMooSha for that particular week! She got her picture in the paper, a turtle hat and a free ice cream cone at Frosty's. (HUGE cones!!) My turtle bit me and during the hula-hoop contest for the moms I didn't give up this year and made it to the final two where a very young mother beat me. She must have been early twenties-much more flexible than me! :) There were over 320 turtle races the week we were there. Over 800 during the 4th of July week. Crazy.





We also got some fishing in and Brian and the girls caught enough for two meals. 2 big bass, 1 northern and 1 walleye. Emily and Caitlin are very much into fishing and wanted to go with Brian every chance they could.






The other highlight was watching the girls get up on water skis. Caitlin had tried earlier in the summer and was able to get up after lots of tries. Emily and Rachel were very eager to try as well. I helped steady the girls in the water while Brian drove the boat and hung on to Natalie who by the way was a very good girl not complaining about her life jacket. :) By the end of the week, both Caitlin and Emily got up and went pretty far. Exciting to see! Rachel has the funny story of the trip though. Usually it's a funny fish story but this time it's a water skiing story. The first time she tried to get up I told her, "if you feel yourself falling, LET GO OF THE ROPE!" Well, with first time jitters she didn't listen and drank a bit of the lake because she didn't let go! :) The second time she tried she understood why you let go of the rope, so she was ready to go. On the 2nd or 3rd attempt she's all ready and takes off-BUT...here's the funny part....her skis somehow come off her feet and hook the rope, that she let go of and the skis get pulled by the boat, without the skiier. It was hilarious! We laughed and laughed and laughed. Never in a million years could we do that again!
Hard to see but this is Caitlin skiing


The week went by fast and we met some really nice people again and look forward to next year already! Cabin #2 was good to us and we made some really nice family memories!

Girls Weekend

The girls and I headed to my friend Gina's house on Friday night to spend the night with her and her 3 girls, Sydney, Tess and Gabby while her husband Steve came to our house to help Brian with the house addition. First the girls and I went to the MOA to celebrate Emily and Caitlin's academic all-star achievement. Kids from participating MN schools nominated students as academic all-stars. They held ceremonies throughout the day at the MOA. The kids were also given discounted tickets to Nickelodeon Universe and other retailers. There were quite a few students from John Ireland who were nominated!

We went to their program, played at Lego Land, went to the American Girl store and then headed to Gina's. Brian had met us for the program and had ice cream with us before he left. There were so many people at the mall and it was a little overwhelming to be in charge of not losing 4 kids! I was so relieved when we left!!It was so much fun to be able to visit with Gina while our girls played together so nicely.
In the morning, Gina took us to the Patisserie near their house. Such a cute place with lots of yummy treats. Gina and I with our SEVEN girls in tow. I'm sure we looked like a circus but the girls did very well and we didn't sweat too much! Thank you Gina for sharing your home with us and letting your husband help mine. Love you lots!

House Update

Since I last posted pictures of the house the rafters were going up. A lot has happened since then despite the uncooperative weather we've had this summer. The project is behind but Brian has done an amazing job with the time he's had to work on it. The shingles are going on and we're so close to having it water tight. We've had a lot of good help!! Thanks to Bob, Ryan, Steve and Mark. Stay tuned for more updates.

July Activity

We started out July celebrating the 4th. Brian, Emily and Rachel walked in the parade with the John Ireland school entry. Caitlin, Natalie and I had prime spots at our friends, Jessica and Charlie's house. Ken and Gladys joined us at the end of the parade and then headed down to Godfathers Pizza for our traditional after parade lunch. This year the Gleisner's JoAnna, Grace and Jared joined us. The pizza was good the air conditioning great and the company was the best! After lunch we headed back our house where Kenny and Brian worked on the house and Gladys, the girls and I hung out and relaxed. It was great. :) In the evening Brian took C, E and R down to the fireworks and I stayed back with a sleeping Natalie. When they got back the launched a few firecrackers in our driveway. It was a nice 4th celebration but look forward to hosting a big party next year after the remodel project!

Caitlin decided this year that she would try tennis. She really enjoyed it and hopefully she'll pursue it more when she's in high school. I'm not sure how much she actually learned about the game, since it was taught by 4 high school kids, but at any rate I guess it was a good introduction to the game.

The girls all took swim lessons and I'm happy to report that all of them passed whether they wanted to or not.

Emily didn't want to pass because she doesn't want to tread water for 5 minutes in level 5. But after some talks by both of us and her awesome swim teacher MacKenzie she now knows that she doesn't have to be a lifeguard and she just has to try the 5 minute tread. She was worrying way too much about the future! She did an awesome job and we are very proud of her! She got to take semi-private lessons with our friend Abby.

Rachel took semi-private lessons with our friend Kael again this summer and they had a great time. Rachel was much more comfortable in the water this time around. What I couldn't figure out was why she would listen to her instructor with out whining but when I tried to help her all I heard was complaining. Hmm.. She also had MacKenzie for a teacher and LOVED her! She was even brave enough to jump off the low board and swim by herself to the side. After that she decided she'd go a step further and jumped off the high board! Crazy! She's come a LONG way! We are very proud of her for being so brave this year.
Caitlin took regular (2-week) lessons in Level 5 and had no problems. She's such a natural. I just admire her for being so brave. She pretty much walked down to the pool by herself, did her lesson and walked home the first week. The second week she thought one of us should really come and watch and I'm so glad I did. She didn't have a problem at all with the 5 min tread and she learned how to dive off the board. She did awesome and we are so proud of her for always doing her best! (pictures to come)






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We celebrated our nephew Owen's 3rd birthday at my brother's house in Rogers. It was a beautiful HOT day and the kids had so much fun! Bob and Laura added to their fun house by getting a trampoline. The kids had a blast. And they all took turns! :) Owen's party was the Cars theme and was very cute. I think his favorite toy was the one we gave him. A remote control Mustang just like the big one and Gpa and Gmas house. Annie and Matt were great hosts and made awesome bbq ribs. The only bad part of the afternoon was when Natalie and Owen got stung by a wasp. Kind of puts a damper on things when the b-day boy gets injured. They were good troops though and bounced back pretty quickly. It was a very very fun day!