More to come soon!

I plan on going back and updating text and images on previous posts but just thought I would add a few placeholders for now.

8 Day Cruise to Paradise!

2008 Magic Kingdom Adventure

Merry Christmas

yes I need to get back to this...

Jingle Bells Bat man smells!

We have really been a festive household this month and are all in the holiday spirit. The kids are constantly listening and signing Christmas songs. Jenna has been singing Jingle Bells and Santa Claus is coming to town on a daily basis for the past few weeks. A couple days ago the Jingle all the way changed to the Bat man smells version. She knows her brothers love this and loves to impress the big brothers. The kids are also enjoying playing in the snow, baking, dancing, holiday crafts, Christmas books, wrapping gifts, Christmas shows and playing with their monorail and train that is brought out this time of year. All three kids had Christmas parities today. Jenna's was with our mom's club and the boys each had a party with their class. Jenna and I were able to visit both Joshua and Jake's party for a while. The kids all loved the parties and are full of energy this time of year. The boys both have wonderful teachers who really go out of their way to make sure the kids have a lot of fun on these party days. Jenna has one more Christmas party where the kids will be making gingerbread houses. I have my mom's club holiday party tonight and am really looking forward to it. The five of us will head downtown to Minneapolis this weekend to the annual Holidazzle Christmas parade and Animated display at Macy's which is the nutcracker this year. We will really miss seeing family and friends for Christmas this year. This will be the first year we will be in our Minnesota home for Christmas which will be nice.

Holiday fun!

We visited Mall of America and saw Santa earlier this month. The kids really enjoyed the rides at the Mall. We were all surprised that Jenna wanted to go on every single ride that her brothers went on. She was able to go on the airplanes and trains alone with the boys and then went on a small roller coaster, merry go round, and haunted house ride with Bob and I. Jake and sometimes even Josh were careful about what they went on so this was new for us. She actually just about had a fit when we told her she could not go on the roller coaster with her brothers but then was able to ride with me. Jenna was so cute running around and getting excited about all the rides. It was like this was her first time at Mall of America but she was just there for her birthday in August.

I wanted to post this photo even though you can't see Jake real well. Something about Jenna going on these planes with her brothers just hit me how much she has grown up in the past few months. For the past three years we have been holding her or pushing her in the stroller while the boys go on the airplanes and now she was running with the boys and got on the ride with no hesitation. The boys also loved all the rides but for Jenna it was a new experience so something fun to document. I have not been scrap booking like I used to so I am hoping that I can document some moments in this blog to use in my scrap booking once I get back to it.

Family Photos - Photo in header of blog

We just love our backyard in the fall and I try to get lots of photos around this time of year. This was a something that we planned on doing last minute. We just set up our tripod and the kids would watch with happy anticipation for the timer to go off and then run and see how the photo turned out. We actually saw four deer run through the snow while we were home eating lunch today which was very exciting for Josh and Jenna. It was such a pretty site with the snow covering the trees. I thought about trying to grab my camera but it was just one of those moments that I wanted to just focus on the moment and enjoy the experience rather than run and try to find my camera.

Bears tackle Vikings (oops)!

It was the other way around last night but Jenna does seem to tackle the boys in her Bears jersey quite often. The photo says it all! Bob and I have managed to keep our little girl a true Bears fan but there is no hope for the boys. They have had Vikings Fever since we moved here and are huge fans. They were not able to stay up for the entire game on Monday night but they watched the replays online as soon as they woke up and were thrilled that the Vikings won. I told Jake he had nothing to worry about because the Bears don't have a good record for Monday night games. It is tough for me because I will always be a Bears fan but of course like seeing the boys so happy about their team.

Christmas Cards 2007

I just received our cards back from the lab and will try to mail them out in the next couple of days. I am always so last minute but for some reason seem to always work better with a little pressure or maybe it just moves up in my list of priorities. We are enjoying all the cards, photos and letters we have received and love hearing from everyone this time of year and getting to catch up a bit. I knew I would never get my cards out before the holidays if I tried to do a letter and just took the photos for our cards at Mall of America on December 8th. We just added some highlights to the card and figured we would try to share a lot more on our blog. The last few months have been very crazy for me and I have not had any extra time to update this site but added some placeholders in hopes to go back and update it over the winter months.

A little about Bob and Shelly

Bob has been very busy at his operations manager position at Wilson Art. They recently implemented a new system which meant long days and some weekend work. We were both very spoiled our first ten years of marriage when Bob got home late in the afternoon instead of the evening. I should not complain to much because most days he is still home by 4:30pm which works out well with the kids activities and sports. Bob took one class this past semester and will be taking two next semester. It seems like a slow process but he will get there and family and work have to come first.

I started up my photography business which I have been in a lot of ways planning for five years. It took off a lot faster than I imagined. It has been such an amazing experience for me and a lot of fun. I photographed 50 preschool kids, 4 high school seniors, and more families than I can remember over the past few months. I also had the opportunity to do some sports freelance work and photograph a dance studio this year. My business site is http://www.LilliePhotos.com in case anyone wants to take a peak that does not have the link. I have always had this passion for photography and a desire to learn as much as I can. I was fortunate to be able to attend a seminar, a workshop, and a photoshop CS3 class this year and look forward to going to conventions in the future.

I keep really busy with the kids activities, sports and school responsibilities. We have a great neighborhood where we are all out quite a bit and can chat while the kids play. I do crave that adult conversation and have enjoyed getting to know our neighbors. I do manage to get out for some fun mom's night out evens and also some movie nights with neighbors and friends. I have not been scrap booking in a while but really hope to get back to it as well as working out. The kids really keep me on my feet and I will say there is never a dull moment around here.

Minnesota Snow!

We got hit with snow much earlier than last year and have had snow on the ground since the end of November. The kids love playing in the snow, sledding, and making forts. The boys have started to snow board with some of the neighbor boys and are asking for a snow board for Christmas.

Thanksgiving!

Halloween!

Family and Friend visits!

Happy Birthday Jenna

Jenna is turning 3!

It seems that I post quite a bit and then don't get back to it for a while so should start a quick birthday post for our big girl.

We went to toys r us the other day and let Jenna pick out her gifts. She really knows what she likes and went around just putting things in the cart. She picked out a doll house with two rooms for it, two different playdoh sets (wow they just get cooler each year), and a pink umbrella.

Jenna is very attached to her big brothers. Her favorite phrases are "Brothers" "Where are brothers? "I want to play with brothers" She cried just about every night when the boys went to bible school this month. We are hoping that she will adjust to the boys being gone at school a little better. She will do things to get a reaction from her brothers and loves to make them laugh when she is being silly. They all just feed off each other and have so much fun as siblings. She is very tough and will not put up with being picked on at all by the boys. Jake and Jenna get along without much conflict at all. There are times that Josh and Jenna have their moments as most brothers and sisters two years apart. For the most part Jake, Josh, and Jenna play together very well and really enjoy spending time together. Jenna really thinks she can do anything that her big brothers do. If they start to climb a fence, she is right there with them climbing away.

Jenna will be starting preschool in the fall and also starting dance. Jenna loves being outside riding her little pink trike, playing on the glider on our swingset, playing with chalk, bubbles, and just running around with all the neighborhood kids. She has the sweetest little personality and always has hugs and kisses to share. She is tough like the boys but her personality is all girl! She loves taking care of her baby dolls, playing with her ponies, coloring, and is starting to want to wear pretty dresses more and more. Jenna told us last week after a fun day at the zoo, that she wants a turtle, pony, kitty, and dog. She said that they will live in her room with her.



Pretty Pony is her birthday theme .. More to come....

Last weeks of summer and Photography

Well we are in the last stretch of summer and already planning fall activities and purchasing school supplies! We have all been enjoying the great weather here and actually have a rainy day today to get caught up on a few indoor projects. The kids want to always be outside and doing things all the time and are very active. Josh ran two more fun runs this month and Jake participated in his first run. We have been busy with festivals, visiting the zoo, parks, sports of course, moms club events, neighborhood night out, and vacation bible school during the past couple of weeks.

Jenna must watch mommy a lot because she is very good at following how I photograph! The boys also have fun taking photos and love using my camera.

I have been working on building up my photography business over the past few weeks and now have a website up and running. I have been planning this business for years now and just having a lot of fun with my photography hobby. Now that all three kids will be in school at least part time I am finally ready to really get the business going this fall. I was just asked to take preschool individual and class photos for Jenna's preschool and am really excited! I will also be taking photos of a new dance studio nearby. Jenna will be taking classes there this fall.
My site is http://www.LilliePhotos.com

Duluth Minnesota Vacation

We have lived in Minnesota for almost three years now and just took our first Minnesota vacation earlier this month. There are so many amazing places to visit up North so we look forward to more of these adventures.

We drove up to Duluth which is an industrial city right on lake Superior and about three hours from our home. It is home to the 4th largest port in the United States. Lake Superior is the largest largest, deepest, cleanest, and also coldest lake out of the great lakes.

We took a sunset cruise on Lake Superior, visited the popular aquarium, and took a 2 hour scenic train ride during our trip. We also drove up to Gooseberry Falls and Two Harbors Minnesota along the Northern shore of Lake Superior. We were able to see lighthouses and walk right up to the falls which was a cool experience. We also swam twice at our hotel and spent time watching the enormous ships go right past us under the Ariel bridge and through the canal. The kids loved watching the bridge go up and we were all amazed by the size of the ships.

Summer Time!

We had a fun weekend enjoying the nice weather and outdoor festivals. We went to the Aquatennial Days fest in Minneapolis on Sunday the 15th where the kids enjoyed swimming, sand, games, and the kids first canoe trip. Jenna paddled the wrong way the entire time so the boys had to work very hard. We all enjoyed this first experience!

There was about 15 very cool sand creations at the beach. They all got different awards but Jake liked this one the best. We thought that maybe we could trick people and see if it looked like Jake built this one. He did not enter but we may have to look into creating one down the line since the kids seemed very interested.






Above are a few from a festival we went to on Saturday the 14th called Maple Grove Days. They had tons of kids activities and rides, business expo, big trucks, and a .8 mile fun run that Josh participated in. Josh really likes to run so we will be checking out more of these fun runs with the kids. This is such a great way to keep the kids active and wear them out a little which is really hard to do with all their energy at their ages.






It would take me forever to document everything so here are some of the activities that have been keeping the kids busy this summer. They love playing with all the neighbor kids and spending a lot of time outside:

Nature Walks, Fishing, Tennis, Soccer, Baseball, Flying Kites, Swimming, Super soaker fights, chalk, sidewalk paint, swing set, parks, tag, bike rides, scooters, bubbles, parades, festivals, fireworks, light sabers, shopping, ball games, movies, moms club events, strawberry picking, rides, games, BMX jumps, sandbox, inflatable bouncer, slip n slide, running through sprinklers... and more....

Update

The boys started swim lessons today and love it once again. Jenna started taking off her shirt as soon as the boys started getting ready to go in the water. I told Jenna she could take lessons when she was bigger and she said "I am bigger mommy". I am sure we will need to sign Jenna up before I planned to. We also checked out a dance studio today and will look into that for Jenna for the fall. The top one is of Joshua and the bottom one of Jake. They both love the water and do so well with these lessons.