Rachel's 9th Birthday

Rachel turned 9 years old this year!  Last year in the single digits!  I say this with all the girls but I just can't believe how fast they're growing up.  Rachel is our true middle child, sometimes trying to figure out where she fits in in this crazy family.  She is a beautiful young lady that's full of spice!  Pretty sure she'll be able to hold her own with the boys.  She loves soccer, playing computer, building legos, her friends, her sisters and Jesus.  She's still a little over dramatic at times, knows how to push our buttons, and has selective hearing. :)  She's super smart and has no problem with school or piano.  She's inquisative and creative.  She is an all around good kid and we love her so very much!

Since the girls didn't have school the day before Rachel's bday we started her celebrations early with a sleepover with two friends and my attempt at creating a "Rainbow Loom" themed party/cake.  Thank God for Pinterest!  So the first cake was super easy and very fun!  The girls had a good time and the sleepover was a success.  The following evening we took her out for her bday meal-she chose Pizza Ranch and it was super yummy.  The day of her bday she and I ran off to Mankato for a bagel at panera and PEDICURES!!  It's kind of like another rite of passage-at age 6 they can get their ears pierced and at age 9 they can get a pedicure.  I didn't make these traditions up, they did!  It was nice to spend a little one-on-one time with this beauty.  We had a great time!  On Sunday Gpa and Gma Salfer, Gpa Tom, Gma Elaine and Randy and Sheila came for her party.  It was nice to visit with them all and have a nice ending to Rachel's day.  The 2nd "loom" cake Caitin helped with and we did it a little differently.  Both cakes were good and Rachel approved of them too.

First Days of School

School Year 2014-2015

It feels like we just finished the last school year...where did the summer go?  I think we all wanted a little bit more time before heading back to the classrooms.  It seems like most people I talked with they felt the same way.  Well here we are ready for 8th grade, 6th grade, 3rd grade and Kindergarten!

Nervous or Giddy?  Ready for 3rd Grade

No big deal...just 8th grade.  At least I'm not a sevie

Definitely giddy!  Let's do this!  Last year at JI-6th Grade here I come!

yah...see ya mom...now get going...you don't have to take a picture!

Hey, what about me???  i would like to go too!

Natalie, Lauren and I had a little more fun after we dropped off the older three.  We went to Mankato, ran a few errands, rode the escalator at Scheels about 5 times, went on the carosel and had lunch at Panera.  One last hoorah before kindergarten

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Kindergarten Here I come!!

all decked out in her "Frozen" attire.  She even wanted her hair like Elsa's!
Too cute and WAY excited!!

her friend Reagan..watch out for these two!

Yes, and then there was one....One cute little girl with no where to be except with her mom meeting some friends at the coffee shop.  Something tells me this is going to happen frequently!

KeeNeeMooSha Year 7!!!!

kee-nee-moo-sha 2014

Getting ready to leave on the long car trip!

Oh how we look forward to this family trip every year.  Meeting up with families that we haven't seen in a year, campfire donuts, tie-dye tshirts, turtle races, ice cream, boating, fishing, the list goes on and on!  Complete relaxation for one whole week-away from our "lives" in St. Peter.  This year however, like last year (boat fire) started off a bit rocky.  We forgot a tub of clothes, particularly mine (swim suits, sweatshirts) and my make up and underwear and all our bathroom items oh and Laurens diapers.  So the bathroom stuff and Laurens diapers not too big of a deal, but my undies and swimsuits?  THANKFULLY, we have good friends, the Wenners that have family members who own a cabin about 25 minutes away.  Heidi got us all set up to have her brother in law bring our basket of stuff up the next morning.  So I was only away from my things for 12 hours or so.  Oh, that made me soooooooo happy!  The rest of the week went smoothly.  We had amazing weather!  Brian, Caitlin Emily Rachel and I all got up on waterski's.  Natalie was a big girl and went a little faster on the tubes and was very brave swimming in the lake.  Lauren did great playing in the sand or in the water or on the playset.  The fishing wasn't great but Brian and the girls didn't fish as much as they had in the past either.  We had just enough though for one small meal and it was delicious!  The week went fast and we were all sad to leave our friends and our little cabin.  We're already counting down the days til next year!