Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving! As I think back through this year and everything that I am grateful for, I have quite a list. It mostly sounds cliche so I feel silly listing them out. I will say that I am grateful for my life especially for the people in it. It's been a tough year and yet somehow I made it through.

For probably the past 9 years, I've been blogging, publicly. When Uncas set up my first blog, he did it so I could post pictures and he admitted later on, that he didn't think I would continue with it for very long. Well, this is my 3rd personal blog (4th, if you count my baking one). It's been fun, an outlet, a way to keep family and friends from out of town up-to-date, and a place where I've been able to document the lives of our children. I've taken a break from time to time, but for the most part I've really tried to keep it up. I'm really grateful for the dedication - especially during Edith's first year and I was in such a daze from lack of sleep and trying to raise two little kids. It was a huge struggle and I barely remember anything from that year.

Over the past few months, I've really struggled to even want to sit down and blog. I feel like it's this burden and I don't want to continue feeling guilty because I haven't updated, which is how I have been feeling lately. With everything else going on this year - the last thing I need is to worry about updating my blog. I talked it over with Uncas and decided that maybe it's time to stop for good. However, the thing that I will miss the most is not having a record of what we have been doing as a family. I don't scrapbook and have no desire to start. I think we'll probably start a family journal or something, and we have no plans to make it public.

Because of my very sporadic posting this year, I'm not even sure I have anymore readers. But for anyone who cares what's really going on with us, please find me on Facebook, if you haven't already. I tend to post lots of pictures of the kids - usually when they are doing something completely and silly!

I'm not sure that I'm completely done with public blogging forever. I've enjoyed the baking blog and I still think that one day I'll go back to something with cooking and baking. But for now, thanks for reading and for the comments through the years!

Family Camping Trip Fall 2013

We've had a crazy end of August/beginning of September. I had no idea that back-to-school time is so crazy and we were just dealing with one child in preschool! Anyhow - Uncas and were talking one night and looking at the calendar.  We knew that the children would love to try camping this year, so we decided to make it happen.  We picked just one night and a state park that was fairly close to home.

We got new sleeping bags for the kids and we practiced being in them in our living room.  For this trip did a lot of practicing.  The only other time they had "slept" in a tent was over a year ago and to say that it was disastrous is putting it mildly.  We thought that maybe with some practice and discussion about "tent rules" things would go a little smoother. We also set the tent up in our yard and brought the sleeping bags in there.

We made it to our campsite mid-Saturday afternoon. The kids were great while we got camp set, but they were most anxious to sleep in the tent!  After I got the inside of the tent set, they eagerly crawled into their sleeping bags and wanted to sleep. It was 4 pm!

Let's go to sleep now!

Making a fire

View of campsite

Eating a smore

Edith and daddy on a hike!

Our nut collection

All in all it was a good trip. The rain didn't start until we got into our tent for the night. The kids (Edith) had trouble settling down, but they slept fairly well once they did. It was so rainy in the morning that we just packed up the car and left. We are looking forward to doing more camping next year!

First Day of Preschool

Last week Thursday Eddie started 3 year old preschool. He was super excited, although slightly nervous.

posing with Daddy

Being silly

The kids weren't co-operating too well with a picture (notice Edith's backpack too!)

Hitting sister in eye with elbow

In his classroom - too busy to look at camera!

 While Eddie had his first day at school, Edith and I came home and hosted our first playgroup of the year.  We'll be meeting with the same moms and kids two Thursdays a month throughout the school year. She was super excited for that and asked "where are my friends?"

First playgroup

 Eddie had a good first day. The teacher even emailed me several pictures. Eddie is looking forward to the rest of the year.

We ended the day with a trip to Dairy Queen and ice cream cones!

Belated B-day Celebration

At the end of August we had a special visit from JoJo. We really made the most of her visit - trips to the park, the zoo, the beach and out to dinner. Uncas and I got to go to the MN State Fair (for those who don't live in this state, the state fair is a HUGE deal around here) and do some solo shopping trips.  We also were able to celebrate JoJo's birthday which was the week before. I told her she could have any type of cake and she picked cheesecake. It looks plain in the pictures, but there was homemade raspberry sauce and whipped cream.

Helping blow out the candles

Post cheesecake snuggles are the best!

Riding the monorail at the zoo with JoJo

Edith and I on the monorail

Enjoying a convertible ride!

Sadly I didn't take many more pictures of the visit, but we enjoyed the warm weather and the company!

August Family Vacation 2013

This August we did a big family vacation to the same place in Northern Wisconsin. This year my mom, father-in-law and brother with his family all joined our crewed.  We got two cabins and it was a fun-filled week. The little kids had fun playing in the sand and rocks and fishing. The adults had fun playing games, eating and fishing too! In some ways it was a tough trip because my dad was very much missed, but we know that he wanted us to go and have fun, so we did. Here are a few highlights (cause I took a ton of pictures!)