And they're off!! First day of School 2015-2016

 

Just like that we're starting school again!  Why does summer seem to go so fast?  Oh, maybe it's because school activities start in the middle of August....seriously.  We had a great summer filled with just the right amount of activity and rest.  But in all honesty, all of us were ready for school to start.  The building of excitement of a new year with new teachers and some with new schools and classrooms, new school supplies (who doesn't love a new box of crayons?) and new tennis shoes somehow subconsciously gets us ready.  This year as I sent pictures off to my parents and sister, it dawned on me how abundantly blessed I am.  And my mom also affirmed it in a text which surprisingly made me cry.  So blessed.  Thank you God.  So here we go!  Caitlin a 9th grader, A FRESHMAN in High School!  The beginning of GPA and classes the "count".  Emily a 7th grader (Sevie) in a new "big" school, trying to find her way around to her different classes with different teachers and meeting new friends (Class size=198!).  Rachel a 4th grader, the oldest Salfer at JI, her chance to show us her leadership abilities, a year with fun field trips, joining band and becoming an alter server.  And Natalie, a 1st grader.  Moving classrooms to the "Hallway" with the big kids.  Learning about all the Saints on Saints Row, Leading Mass and Prayer, being a big kid compared to the baby kindergarteners.  And drum roll.....learning how to read and having HOMEWORK!  It's going to be a fantastic year, more than likely with many ups and downs, but fun no matter what!

"And this little one went wee, wee, wee, wee all the way  home"....don't worry, we will have our fair share of fun too!!!  Her social calendar will be just as full as her sisters!

KeeNeeMooSha 2015

This year at KNMS we did not have very nice weather.  It was 90 degrees and sunny when we arrived on Saturday.  Windy on Sunday and Monday and not as warm as they had forcasted.  Rain came on Tuesday late afternoon as we were out on a family boat ride around the lake.  Rained the entire night and on into Wednesday.  Never had we had a turtle race day as cold as we did this year.  It never got above 56 degrees!  Thursday was cool but sunny and a little windy but by evening the winds died down and it was a very nice night.  Today was supposed to be 82 and sunny but it never even got to 75.  A little disappointing since we were expecting to have our last day out on the boats tubing and water skiing.  Brian and Natalie did go fishing in the morning and caught a lot of sunnies, but none really keep-able.  She had a lot of fun though just going out with Brian.  We did, however, have a lot of fun catching up with our friends, tubing and boating when we could, fishing when we could, relaxing, playing games, watching movies, etc.... It was a good week and we are thankful that we can do this trip every year and we are very grateful for the friends we've made over the years.  Here are the highlights of the week:

August Activity

At the beginning of August Brian and I got away with Tony & Mary and Jeff & Heather and went to a Twins game!  It was alot of fun and we had some pretty good seats and they won in a nail biter!  Caitlin, Emily and I helped with our church's Vacation Bible School while Rachel and Natalie participated.  We all had a blast and were all pretty exhausted after the 5 nights.  We can't wait to do it again next year!  We also got some green stuff layed down in our yard!  GRASS!!  I was so happy I almost cried!  It seems like forever since we've had the green stuff.  Emily and I got away for an overnighter to the cities to do a little school shopping and hang out together and talk about expectations, goals, fears and excitement in regards to 7th grade.  It was so much fun to hang out with her!  I'm really glad we started these traditions even though sometimes it's hard to keep up with all of them!  And now we are enjoying our week away at KeeNeeMooSha where it is raining and the girls are watching a movie, Brian's out fishing and I don't feel guilty at all getting this blog updated finally!  I'm also working on our scrapbook from our Alabama trip among other albums I would love to finish up. When we arrived on Saturday it was 90 degrees and tomorrows forcasted high will be 58 degrees..brrrrrr!  Luckily we came up early and got a lot of tubing in and Caitlin, Emily and Rachel all water skiied, and Natalie and Lauren caught the big fish so far

.  The girls found their friends and picked up where they left off  last summer.  Brian did end up taking Caitlin and Emily back to St. Peter Sunday night and came back this afternoon.  Emily had golf, tennis and 7th grade jumpstart while Caitlin had tennis and wanted to prove that she's ready to play top JV this year.  It wasn't fun not having them here but all is well now that we're all one big happy family!

July Activity

In July we celebrated the 4th by going to the St. Peter parade followed by having the Crowley's and Gleisner's over for pizza and then later in the evening going to Gracks and then finally the fireworks at the fairgrounds.  It was a fun filled Fourth!  Emily continued Golf League and is having a lot of fun golfing once a week.  Caitlin and Emily both started going to Tennis captains practice.  Rachel and Natalie had a few small camps they went to.  Emily went to CMW for a week and had a blast meeting new friends.  Brian and I celebrated our 17th anniversary.  We did a lot more landscaping or shall I say, Brian did a lot of moving dirt around.  The girls continued going to the library and pool.  They also had a lemonade stand before we lost all our grass in the front yard and also made homemade cupcakes and frosting-in preparation of their dream one day to own their own bakery.  We also took the girls to the greatest place on earth, The Big Yellow Barn Candy Store in Jordan MN after we spent some time at the MN Arboretum checking out all the Lego creations.  My sister and I went to an outdoor Christian rock concert on one of the hottest days of the summer and Brian and Caitlin attended the Steubenville Youth conference at St. Thomas.  And to end the month on a high note we took the girls to the circus that came to St. Peter!  What a fun filled month!