Ella

I like cats. I'm soooo not a dog person at all, but my hubby is and he has been begging me for a dog for about 10 years now. Bren has been begging me for about 6 1/2. And Nash...well he's a cat person too. He was more interested in the "sad kitty" at Animal Allies whose ears were frost bitten off & who also had a tumor removed from her chest resulting in a very large sutured up scar. The whole time we were in the room at Animal Allies deciding whether or not to get Ella, all Nash talked about was how bad he wanted the "sad kitty". "That so sad Momma, me want the sad kitty". I so agreed with Nash. But after 45 minutes in the room with Ella, I new I was in trouble. The big boys were in love. How could I say no to Mr. 'Blue Eyes' & Mr. 'Has put up with my cat obsession for all these years'? I just couldn't. It made me so happy to know that the second I said "yes" the boys were going to FREAK! And maybe I had fallen in love with this sweet little puppy too. How could I not?

Happy 95th Birthday Grandma!!!!

95 years! She is amazing. Here is a quick peek back at her 94th year!

Grandma with her 3 kids & almost all her Grandkids & Great-Grandkids at her daughter Maureen's cabin this summer.(missing-Derrick, Michelle, Sam, Teri, Michael, Michelle, Nathan, Ella & Marissa). All these people in this picture-all because of her :)

The boys think the world of their Great-Grandma! I love that they know how special she is.

This is us on Sanibel Island! We snuck a cocktail on the beach. I will never forget this day...just knowing how happy she was on the beach with us watching her Grandkids & Great-Grandkids playing on the beach & splashing in the ocean. Hangin' at the beach...94 years old!

Swimming in the pool at my Uncle John's & Aunt Bev's house in Cape Coral, Florida! Who swims when they are 94? My Grandma!!

They are just happy when they are with her. How cute is this?

94.5 years old and INSISTED on climbing all the way to the very top of the Split Rock Lighthouse!



Enjoying the view from inside the top of the Lighthouse with Nash & Sam!

My Grandma with my family- Josh, DeeDee, Bren, my brother Dan, Nash, my brother Derrick, sister in law Michelle, nephew Sam & my Mom & Dad.




This could be my all time favorite picture of my Grandma! Riding the Timber Twister Coaster at Spirit Mountain with my brother Derrick this July. For real...94.5 year old!!! How freakin' awesome is she?



Feeding the Llama's at my Mom & Dad's farm.


The boys sharing their Silly Bands with her!! This just cracked me up! Nash is infatuated with her hands. Can you imagine all the amazing things those hands have done?


Isn't she the best? I love her so much! Happy 95th Birthday Grandma!!

The Magical Trail

Nash & I checked out a trail we had never been on today. We didn't know where it would take us...so you can imagine his excitement in finding out. And to my excitement, there was a special surprise awaiting us at the end, and so many special fall surprises along the way. And a few lessons learned from my little boy. Take a peek at our "Magical Trail".

Come on Mom, let's go!!



How pretty is this? Magical. (Lesson: Take a deep breath & enjoy the view.)



He almost fell off his bike about a million times checking things out...he didn't miss a thing! (Lesson: Don't blink, you might miss something.)



He hit every single puddle! (Lesson: If life gives you puddles, put a smile on your face and splash right through 'em.)



"Look, me find special rock Momma. You hold dat for me." (Lesson: The best things in life are free.)



This beehive was HUGE! "Me want to catch dose bees Momma". (Lesson: It's not always bad when things are out of your reach.)



"Me love dis day Momma. Me love our field trip. You me best friend Momma." (Lesson: I am so blessed to be this precious little boy's Mom.)



Cat tails. (Lesson: Don't take things too literally.)




Woody the woodpecker. (Lesson: Pick what you peck carefully.) And yes, I do crack myself up. :)



The smile on his face once he saw what was waiting at the end of the trail. "Me see park Momma, me sooo happy"!!! (Lesson: The road less traveled will lead to good things.)

How Do I love Him? Let Me Count The Ways.

Every year I take pictures of the boys in Josh's blue button up shirt. I got the idea from my girl OPRAH!! I have been doing it every year since Bren's first birthday. (Bren's pics to follow) The blue shirt of Josh's has a story behind it :) One month into our dating, it was Josh's birthday. I was BROKE but went to Structure to get him a gift. I bought the blue shirt. I bounced the check. That blue shirt that was $45 ended up costing me a flippin FORTUNE !! He gave me so much crap for it. But boy did he look good in it. And I loved him dearly. And it was worth the flippin fortune. So the blue shirt was the PERFECT shirt to take the yearly shirt photos of our beautiful babies in.

Today was Nash's turn. His 3rd time in the blue shirt. And it's amazing that I got even a couple good pictures. It was kind of a National Lampoon's type of photo shoot. First of all, we decided to go to Bunker Park (about 10 minutes from our house). We got there & the lighting was PERFECT. I said "Quick Josh, put Nash RIGHT THERE, the lighting is AWESOME". So he put him there and and I snapped my camera, only it didn't snap, cause I had just charged the battery and forgot to put it back in the camera!! So we packed the kids back up, ran home, and came back. The lighting was still perfect. And again I said "Quick Josh, put Nash RIGHT THERE" so Josh did. And Nash SCREAMED "Ouch" and the tears flowed and Josh screamed "Ouch". There were sand burs (sp?) everywhere...all over Josh, and all over Nash's poor bare feet! CRAP!! So Nash did not want to be set down for the rest of the photos...and he was petrified of "sand birds" getting him. (I didn't edit any of these photos cause brain-e-ak still can't figure out photoshop).

How do I love this boy? I can't even begin to tell you. He is sunshine. He really is. Pure sweetness.



And when his big brother gets him laughing it's contagious. "Bren Eddie, do dat again. You so funny Bren Eddie". Melts. My. Heart. I love his adorable laugh. I love the way he laughs with his brother.




The curls. "Me want me turls all gone. Everybody lookin' at me turls." But the curls are here to stay. And Momma loves those crazy curls.



My green eyed boy. Love those green eyes. Love his cute little expressions.



The oh so kissable cheeks. I wonder how many times I have kissed those big squishy cheeks. I love them. And that tiny little nose.



Someday he will grow into this big, huge shirt of his Dad's. And his Momma will have a million more ways that she loves him.

THE PERFECT DAY
&
MY FAVORITE PHOTO OF THE SUMMER

This is my brother (Uncle Dan) and Bren. A GORGEOUS day at the beach this summer on Lake Superior in Duluth. Since I don't know how to use my Photoshop, it's an unedited photo
and I just LOVE it! I wish I knew how to edit it! Someday I will learn.

MR. BIG GREEN

MR.BIG GREEN



The boys were playing outside a few weeks ago & Bren found this HUGE caterpillar. I have never seen anything like it. Bren was THRILLED and Nash was screaming bloody murder. Once Nash calmed down, we played with this little guy for an hour. Bren wanted to name him "MR. BIG GREEN".





Bren studied MR. BIG GREEN and told me how he'd make him a home & keep him in his room. He promised to feed him. Ummm NO. No worm-like creatures in my house, thanks!

Mr. Curls (aka Nash) warmed up slightly to MR.BIG GREEN "Me no touch dat biggie green thingy, me look at dat biggie green thingy." I had to agree with him. Me no touch that big green thingy either!

Mr. BIG GREEN was pretty cool though. He had a head that he would tuck in like a turtle when he got scared. He didn't like loud noises, and he didn't want you getting to close to him. When he popped his little head back out, he could turn it...just like we do....so weird. Anyone of my 4 followers know what MR. BIG GREEN is? We decided to set MR. BIG GREEN free...Bren put him back where we found him. And I slept well, knowing there wasn't a big green thingy in my house.

Family Weekend At The Lundberg's Cabin

We had such a fun weekend at my Aunt Maureen and Uncle Larry's Cabin last weekend. My cousin Kristi and her husband Kyle and their adorable little boy Brady were all in town from Montana. It was so much fun hanging out with them! They have the cutest little cabin with a wonderful sauna and the clearest spring fed lake water you have ever seen! I have so many fond memories at the cabin from when I was a kid...it was fun seeing my kids having so much fun & creating lots of fond memories with their second cousins. The weekend was a bit bittersweet though. My Uncle Larry was just diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer last Monday. He starts chemo this week....we are praying that it will buy him more quality time. My Grandma was also diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in March. We are definitly thankful for wonderful weekends like this to enjoy time with them The picture above this one is my favorite "jump" picture! I cannot tell you how many times Bren & Parker jumped off the dock but it had to have been hundreds! We all went swimming..the water was sooo warm & it's so nice & clear. The sauna was HOT...but perfect for taking a 'cabin bath'. Brady & Nash had fun swimming too....I bet next year they too will be jumping off the dock.

This picture is my favorite fishing pic of the weekend. The boys had a blast fishing off the dock. The water is so clear that you can see all the little sunfish swimming around. You can pretty much pick out which fish you want to catch & throw the line in & get it. Nash was especially excited about all the fish he caught. If you asked him how many he caught...it was his typical numerical response "four-nine-seven"!

This one is of Bren taking a time out on the "naughty step". Little did he know that cabins have naughty steps too!

Kristi, my brothers & I used to have endless sap boat races when we were kids. You just take a little stick and pop a sap sack off a pine tree and then put it in the water. It was fun to create these little sap boats and Nash & Bren thought they were pretty cool too. The colors were amazing...if I had a clue how to use my fancy camera I probably could have gotten some pretty neat pictures!

The whole family (minus Derrick & Michell & Sam in Montana) came up on Sunday. We had a delicious fish fry. My Uncle Larry & cousin David are crazy fisherman & always catch a ton of delicious fish. It was fun having everyone there. I also have to mention that on Saturday we were lucky to have Kyle's freakin' awesome ribs...he cooks ribs like no other. Hands down the best I have ever had!!!! Did I mention all the delicious food we ate? Nothin beats cabin food!!

The weekend ended beautifully with me WINNING the CHAMPIONSHIP game of Querkle (not sure how to spell it). My Aunt Maureen & Kristi are pretty fierce competitors so it was awesome to go home with the win! I am making a special trip to Target today to buy the game. It's so fun!

We had such a wonderful time at the Lundbergs cabin & are thankful to have been able to spend it with our family! Please keep my Uncle Larry & my Grandma Mabel in your prayers.