All the rest

Okay - here's the last of them!  Whew! 

Calvin goes every year to the Twins home opener.  He normally goes with his brother and some of his buddies.  They decided that they're getting too old for that (there may be some beer drinking involved when they go) and this year invited me and Nicole to come along.  We thought that was pretty nice, and I was excited to see Target Field - I'd never been there before. 

 However, it was about 30 degrees and windy the day we went.  Probably my first and last home opener!  Of course our seats weren't in the sun, although the wind wasn't bad where we were sitting.  I think my toes were numb for at least an hour after we left.  And I'm realizing now that I don't even know if they won or not!

 Grandpa built this beautiful rocking horse for the kids - it turned out so cute!  He stained it and sanded it so the nose looks great.  They'll get many years of fun out of this one!

 Finally last weekend it started getting warm...but notice the pile of snow in the background!  Jocelyn couldn't wait to get out in the dirt digging for worms.  Kailee helped her find one, but I think most of them were still sleeping! 

 First bike ride of the year - she loves to ride her bike.

 These are from yesterday - Grandpa and Jocey playing playdough ball bowling.  Grandpas come up with the best games!

So that's all for now.  Hopefully it won't take me another 6 months to put up more pictures.  I'm sure it won't - we have some fun stuff going on this summer that will require a lot of picture taking. 

Ty's Baptism

We made the trek up to Grand Forks for Ty's baptism on April 14th.  Jocelyn and I were going to come over to the Cities Thursday night so the drive wasn't quite as long, but of course we had a snow storm and the roads were better Friday morning.  Didn't think we'd have to think about that in mid April! 

The girls got right into their playing routine and of course had a blast all weekend!

Saturday we got to go to their nephew Rylan's birthday party!  The kids had a blast and it was fun to see Katie's family.  Jocelyn was excited to see Rylan and Mackenzie - she had so much fun with them at the cabin last summer!

Brian put me to work while we were there (okay - I offered - I can't imagine getting anything done with those 2 tiny kids) ripping out the flooring they had put in the office in their newly remodeled basement.  It was defective, so the glue did come up pretty easily.

Sitting patiently before church

So happy!  But you can't get him going too much - he'll either spit up or get the hiccups!

He did great at the baptism - smiled at Pastor Carla the whole time, and thought he might want to hold the candle himself.

All the grandparents

Katie's family

And then this is what we woke up to on Monday morning!  It had started Sunday evening, so we knew it was going to be bad.  Seriously?!  In April?!  So Brian put me to work yet again shoveling the wet, heavy snow.  I did miss my excercise class Monday night since we weren't back in time - this was my substitute.

We were able to leave after lunch on Monday, and the roads were fine by then.  Jocelyn never falls asleep in the car anymore, so I guess she had a fun weekend!

Grandpa's cheerleaders

Katie & Brian and the kids came down after Dad's surgery to help out while Mom was at work.  Luckily for us they decided to stay until the weekend we came over to help so we could see them!  Dad loved having them all around and I like to think it made his recovery easier.  Sadly I didn't get any pics of them with him, but plenty of the kids!

 Ty sure did a lot of growing from Christmas!

 Katie's birthday was on Saturday of the weekend they were here.  So they left me in charge of Dad and all 3 kids for the day so they could go out!  (Mom was at work).  Everyone survived!  Sure made me glad I don't have 3 kids under age 4 however.  We had a fun day and they did too.

 Mom & Dad got a new office chair, and the girls thought the box was great fun!  Dad even cut a little window and door handles for them.

January - March 2013

Snow, snow and more snow!  It surely was a snowy winter.  Which, by May, I'm definitely sick of, but I was a little sad last winter when we hardly had any.  Jocelyn loves to play outside, even in winter.  They go out quite a bit at daycare, and we tried to get out at least a few times every weekend. 

 Poor Carla wasn't dressed at all for the weather....

 She asked practically every time we were out if the dogs could pull her in the sled.  She finally resorted to pulling other things as we don't have sled dogs.

 Our first Lite Brite experience...not sure who had more fun, her or me....

Here's our other new nephew - Elias!  We haven't met him yet - these are pictures from Mom & Dad when they went out in January.  We're going to visit in a week and a half, and I can't wait!

 Poor Abel broke his leg while sliding.  From what we hear he was pretty good about figuring out how to get around despite the cast.

 Isn't he sweet?  I can't wait to hold him!

 Who doesn't love a playdough birthday cake?  This one Jocelyn made for me all by herself!

 Kailee got her braces off!

 Dad's first knee replacement

 Disney on Ice at the Target Center.  What a great show that was!  I was really impressed, and Jocelyn thought it was great too.  I'd definitely recommend this show.

 We spent the next day helping out Grandpa - Jocey thought the walker was pretty fun to play with.

 4 year olds shouldn't be allowed to use nail polish by themselves....

 Jocelyn's very into wrapping presents lately.  This is one she did - all by herself!  She is available for rent if anyone needs some presents wrapped.  Be sure to have quite a few rolls of tape available though - she likes to make sure it's good and secure.  So far the presents have mostly been toys or books of hers that she graciously shares.  But sometimes they are beautiful artwork - those are my favorite.  We went to Target a few weeks ago and she wanted to bring some of her own money.  We hit up the dollar section, and the first thing she picked out - wrapping paper!  What a goofy kid.

We now have an official teenager in the house!  Kailee turned 13 in March, which seems entirely too old.  We had a nice time having cake and opening presents - she had a friend party a few weeks before her birthday.

 We also celebrated Calvin's birthday - I won't tell how old he is.  He requested a DQ cake - I hadn't had that forever!



 Jocey and I going to Henry's 2nd birthday party - the theme was yellow!

 We went to Govin's this year to see the lambs and chickies.  We skipped last year, so Jocelyn didn't remember it.  She had a blast and could have stayed all day!  It was really cold and rainy that day, so it wasn't crowded at all, which was great.

 The chicks were her favorite - she would grab them and hold them so nicely.