++Twenty Images++

We had a wonderful trip to the Midwest.  I took lots and lots of photos.  I actually spent a lot of the free time that I had on my hands at the in-laws to go through years and years of photos and just try to get them a little more organized.  If I did a posting for each detail of our event I'd never get caught up.  So here's a quick recap of some of the highlights in twenty images.

1. Remember last summer when I had a fun little outing with two of my girls?  Well they have each added to their family since then and I got to meet the newbies.  Stella:

 2. And Dexter (who was like 13.5 pounds when he was born or something crazy like that):

 3. Wyatt kept Uncle Matt busy with games like corn hole.  You know you live in Washington when the small yards in Saint Louis Park (and like we used to have in South Minneapolis) are HUGE to your kids.

 4. We got to spend some time at the coolest park ever with some of our very favorite people. 

 5. I told you this park was cool.  The kids could have played there all day.

 6. Corralling them for a photo was not easy.

 7. I got to spend some time with my girls at a baby shower for our friend Janet.  How pretty is the table the set up? 

 8. Seriously.  Such a treat to get back with my girls.  They know how to do it up right...and they are pretty fun ladies as well!

 9. Claire got some time in with her Uncle Matt.  She got in some Aunt Taylor loving too but for some reason that never got documented on film.

 10. We left Minneapolis and headed for Camp Grandma and Grandpa in Wisconsin.  Wyatt wasted no time getting busy in the wood shop with Grandpa. 

 11. For some reason the Midwest decided to pretend it was Seattle so it was cool and rainy a lot of the time we were there.  What do you do when it's cool and rainy?  You take the kiddo for his first bowling outing.  He was a natural!  Bumpers make me a far better bowler as well for the record!

 12. I just love this shot. 

 13.  Mark and I spent some fun time away from the kiddos and headed to Door County.  I didn't take a lot of photos (for some reason my kids are more fun to photograph than Mark...) We did visit this pretty lighthouse though.

 14. We returned just in time to surprise Mark's parents with a 40th wedding anniversary dinner.  The greatest part?  The place where the had their reception is still in business so we were able to celebrate there. 

 15.  Taylor's talented sister made the cake.  Notice the missing flowers? I think some kiddo hands may have been busy before I shot the picture.

 16. We invited Rick's siblings and Busha.  It was so nice to have everyone together!

 17.  This one made me laugh.  Leaving the restaurant.  Two hot convertibles.  One belongs to Mark's Dad, the other to his Uncle Doug.  Mid-life crises must run in the family.

 18. Speaking of Uncles and their toys, we returned to Minnesota and spent some time with my aunt and uncle.  The kids had lots of fun going for tractor rides behind Uncle Dick's lawnmower.

 19. We also discovered another super cool park.  Have I mentioned I can't get enough of that smile?

20. Seriously, my lens wasn't wide enough to capture the entire tower.  They don't make them like that here.  I guess that's a casualty of having mountains and oceans in your state.  They make you play with the real thing. 

And then we went home and rested.  And talked about how much fun we have when we visit. 

++Last Day of School!++

Another year has ended.  I must be honest.  I really don't look forward to this day as a parent.  We thrive on the schedules that school guarantees us.  Wyatt loves the social interaction.  I love the time alone with Claire (Wyatt had 2.5 years of me all to himself so we have a lot of catching up to do!).  He really had a great class this year.  Lots of boy buddies to pal around with. 

I do love to do some comparing.  Here's my buddy on the first day of school:

And here he is on the last day of school (and loving every minute of his mother's photo session):

We had a couple of parties at the end of the year.  The first was a class picnic.  I didn't take a lot of photos as I was busy organizing it. 

 Wyatt is hanging in the back.  His best buddy Isaak is to his left. 

 On the last day of school we were invited into the classroom for the last few minutes to celebrate.  It was fun to see Wyatt in his element with his friends.  They were a tad wound up. 

And that ends Wyatt's third year in preschool.  Onto the fourth.  I'm thinking this kid is going to be plenty prepared for kindergarten, how about you?

++Model Material?++

Ever wondered why I haven't updated the header on my blog?  More than the fact that I just haven't gotten around to it, is that that was the the last time they cooperated for a photo together.  They must know exactly how to push my buttons.  I'm sure you are thinking that it really can't be that bad, that I must be a perfectionist.  Nope.  Here's evidence.  Once we get them close enough to each other that they would be in the same frame, they pull out this stuff:

 Really?  who replaced my child with a surprised doll?

I Love them.  I really do. 

++Rosy Red-handed++

"Claire, did you get into Mommy's make-up?"

 "I have no idea what you are talking about.  I'm innocent"

 "Maybe If I show you a trick you'll let me off the hook."

Maybe.

++New Car Smell++

After months and months of talking about it, and about two hours of looking (because I hate car dealerships), and many more hours of Mark putting the screws to the guys (because he likes that stuff) we finally bought a new car.  We wanted something with a third row a seats for when we need them...but not huge all the time.  We landed on this:

I think it suits our family well.  It's actually really fun to drive and so far...it smells so good inside!

 Neither one of us has ever had a BRAND NEW car before.  I had to take the picture of the odometer showing less than 100 miles. 

 Of course, it meant saying goodbye to a member of our family that had been there longer than our kids and through three states.  I was sad.  Here we were on it's day of arrival when it was dubbed "Bruiser's Chariot". 

 Here we were on it's day of departure.  Bruiser's got a buddy...who for some reason is wearing a cowboy hat.   Oh--and our Bruiser sure didn't turn out to be much of a bruiser did he?

Time flies.

++Life these days++

Caring for your baby is very hard work.  It involves moving her from the trunk of the car...

 ...To the shopping cart where you will go "lots of places".  Sometimes it's "Costcoooooo" or "Target" (what is your mother modeling for you?). 

 Sometimes the car is driven.  Other times, pushing it just easier in the event you take the road less traveled.  (side note: this car was the best $0 investment EVER.  Remember this?)

Not sure what was happening here.  But it sure looks important.

Being two...hard work.

++T-ball++

Sometimes I think this blog should be renamed "adventures of the family with the boy who refused to wear what he is supposed to."  The funny part is that, while annoying at the time, it really isn't a big factor in our lives.  In fact, I almost forget about it.  Until I open up the photos and then I have to chuckle when I see this:

Onto the more important details.  We play a very relaxed season of t-ball with the local YMCA this spring.  It was for 3- and 4-year-olds.  Due to the lack of any other volunteer, Mark was the coach.  We just played in a grass field.  Thirty minutes of practice followed by thirty minutes of a "game". 

As you can see, the parent to child ratio in the field is about 1:1.

 We had to work on the teamwork aspect quite a bit as most of the time fielding when like this: ball is hit, all boys in field rush toward ball and dog pile on each other to see who gets to throw the ball to first, s struggle ensues, someone comes out with the ball, celebrates for a bit, and then throws it in the general direction of first base.  Usually one (or more) of the non-victorious fielders emerge in tears.  This would be a huge problem if it weren't for the fact that the batter often stands for about thirty seconds to admire how far the ball went when he hit it. 

 By the end of the season we had made a little progress (notice the shirt!).  It may look like we thinned out the dads in the field but I think that week there were only 3 kids and 2 dads there. 

 Looking official.

 The siblings resided in the dugout. 

 Until the team took over for the most important part of the day: snack time.

Wyatt with his buddies Braden and Sawyer to his left.