Cousin Elliot

This past weekend/week, Angie and Elliot came over to Eau Claire for a visit.  We had so much fun visiting and hanging out.  Normally when we get together it's just for a day or for a purpose, so it was great to just hang out for 3 days and play with that cute little guy!  He's so happy, and loves to jump!  His little legs never stop moving.  Jocelyn had fun bringing him toys and putting on a dance show for him.  Although she did tell him when she went potty, "Elliot - don't wear my skirt when I'm going potty."

State Fair

We made our annual trip over to MN for the State Fair over Labor Day weekend.  It was a very chilly day, although much better than really hot!  We had fun eating, seeing some animals, and of course going on rides.  We didn't spend nearly as much time as we did last year, so I felt we could have gone back for more.  Oh well - there's always next year!  Then Elliot will be ready to go on rides with Jocelyn and eat all the fun fair food....

Angie, Elliot and Jocelyn on the bus ride in

 Mom and Dad were up visiting Ella, so Jocey had to find a new partner for the slide this year. 

 Last year she was too little for the Little Farm Hands, but this year she thought it was great!  So did Bumpa!

 Kailee was a sport and took Jocelyn on the rides.  Although I think she secretly really enjoyed herself....

Jocelyn - the funniest girl

Here are some updated pictures of Jocelyn!  She's just a funny girl, has such a great sense of humor, and is really getting into telling stories about all sorts of made up things.  She has her two main imaginary friends, Hamia and Konkia, but she'll make up other ones randomly too.  Konkia is a baby in her tummy, and she's coming out at Christmas time.  That part of the story is always the same, but beyond that it changes all the time!  It's so fun to listen to all the creative things she comes up with!  She likes to read stories to her babies and is getting good at making up stories that do make some sense with the pictures.

She continues to like to dress herself and is very creative on that front as well. 

 She loves to color and draw, and is getting good at drawing people!  I have absolutely NO artistic ability, so this is just amazing to me!

This day she got dressed all by herself - the entire outfit was backwards!

A few weeks ago she fell backwards off a chair outside and hit the back of her head on a rock.  It was still bleeding pretty good at bed time, so I put this on her head so she wouldn't get blood all over her bed.  So of course she had to wear it the next day too!  And she likes to wear 'mitten socks' if her hands are cold.

 Making goofy faces while cutting - one of her favorite craft projects to do!

 She's been really into stickers lately - she'll sit for hours coloring and putting stickers on paper.  We have a LOT of stickers, so I'm glad she likes to use them!



First Day of Middle School (what?!)

Kailee is officially a big, grown up girl.  She started 6th grade this year, which is middle school here.  She was pretty nervous, but they had 2 days before school started of 'orientation' for the 6th graders which really helped - she was much more comfortable after that.  So far she's really enjoying school and I think likes the independence that they have now.  She has nice friends, and knows quite a few people from sports and stuff, so that has really helped.  We're so proud of our big girl!

At parent orientation - she did great with her locker combo!

First day!

Entry way update

Well, there's really not much to update, just a few cute pictures of Jocelyn painting.  We were working on getting the entry way primed when she woke up from her nap, so of course she had to help!  And we reaffirmed that primer is much harder to get out of hands, feet and hair than her regular paints are.

 Calvin did get one coat on the walls - we're changing the color a bit - the one on the right is the current color.  We have to repaint the whole living room (it needed it anyway) and we've both been really busy with work, so just haven't had the motivation to do it!  Maybe this weekend...we'll see.

Ella Marie

In August we headed up to Grand Forks to meet our niece, Ella!  We were so excited to see her and sunggle a new baby.  She was so tiny and precious.  She's a very content baby and we had fun holding her and even got to baby sit and give her a bottle!  Calvin & Brian worked out in the yard a lot, and us girls had fun just hanging out.  We went to the playground on Saturday - it was a beautiful weekend - and watched a few movies.  We wish they lived closer, but the drive actually went pretty fast and the girls are both such wonderful car riders, which makes all the difference!

 On the way up - this never happens!

Helping Uncle Brian make pancakes.  We ate so good - they spoiled us with wonderful food all weekend!

We brought up all of Jocelyn's baby clothes for Ella to borrow - Jocey kept taking them and dressing her zebra.

Kailee got a few guitar lessons from Brian....

The girl cousins

Jocey's foot looks like a giant foot....

She turned one month old while we were there - she was way more interested in looking at the bear than at the camera!

 So tiny....

We get to see them again in about a month, and I'm sure she'll have changed so much by then.

Kailee's new puppy

Don't worry - this puppy is NOT at our house!  However, she is very cute and cuddly....  Her name is Izzy, and they've had her for about a month.  Kailee takes her to puppy classes and is having a lot of fun training her and taking care of her.  I will never get a puppy, so it's really fun to see other people's puppies!