Summer fun!

The kids are having a great summer!

This year we biked to Verona Hometown Days parade and carnival. It was great fun. Kate road in a seat on my bike and Jared pulled Luke in the bike trailer.

Jack decided this year he was not scared of any rides and got on the big ones. It is always makes me nervous watching him go on rides that I won't go on because I am a HUGE CHICKEN...yep, I will be the first to admit it :).

Grace decided she only wanted to play games but we did get her to ride one ride (The Tornado)...then let her play some games. She came home with a stuffed bear that is only about 6 inches tall and cost us about $15 :).

Kate wanted to do it all this year...carnival rides, horse rides, play the games, eat the fair food...you name it she wanted to try it. She did get to ride some rides and take a pony ride before we left. She LOVED the pony rides the most. Her pony's name was Nemo...it is still all she talks about. That and the Alligator rollercoaster was too fast. She did ok for the first couple go arounds but by the 3rd one she was D.O.N.E and trying to unbuckle and get out so they stopped the ride to let her off.

Luke got to experiance his 1st fireworks at our neighbors picnic/4th of July party. He was ok for the first couple shots but after that he was not happy with the noise so Jared took him home so I could enjoy the fireworks...I LOVE fireworks! Kate loved them this year and sat in her little chair clapping and yelling the entire time. Jack took the paddle boat to the middle of the lake to watch them with some other kids. He is getting so big. Grace sat and talked to her friend Lydia, who was TRYING to watch the fireworks :).

We have had some bonfires in the backyard.  Jared was up north helping my brother in law build a shed so it was up to me to build the fire. Lots of cardboard and some sticks made for a great fire....for about 5 minutes. So of course I put more cardboard in....it works everytime! By the time the fire died down (10 minutes later) the kids were headed inside. We had a great time for the short 30 minutes we were out though.

Jack got his first babysitting job. He gets to go to our neighbors house while she plays an hour of summer volleyball and watch her 2 girls. Grace wondered why she couldn't babysit for them....um, maybe because Lydia is 8 months OLDER than Grace! Grace is about a head taller than Lydia so she is sure she is much older :).

I got to go out on a date with Jared for our 14 year anniversary to our old favorite restaurant, Porta Bella's. It is just as we left it many years ago and the food is still yummy!

I also got to out to see a movie and dinner with my friend, Jenn, for my birthday....with NO kids.  That alone my friends is a major accomplishment. From what I have heard, Luke gave Daddy a run for his money. Everyone survived but Luke was NOT a happy camper without his momma there to feed him as soon as he wanted.

So that is our summer so far and it is just the beginning of July. We still have horseback riding lessons (Grace), Vacation Bible School (Grace), Toby Mac concert (Jack, Luke & I), a couple canoe trips (all of us minus Luke) and Grace and Kate's birthdays to look forward to before school starts!

Brushing off the cobwebs...clearing out the crickets....

I can't believe I haven't been here since December! Time to shake it up a bit and get back on track. I love blogging...it is my way of scrapbooking while I am not scrapbooking. So let's catch up. Do you have an hour or two? Grab your coffee of choice (I prefer water)....
Ok, biggest news first. Luke Charles Holthe was born at home on March 31, 2011. He weighed in at 10 lbs 6 oz. of pure love.  He is now 9 weeks old and weighs right around 15 pounds. We certainly aren't known for our teeny, tiny babies around here :). He is smiling and cooing and has even started laughing. I could look at him all day long....so much more fun than looking at the dishes or laundry.

Meeting Luke

Our 1st 'Family of 6' picture



Luke 9 weeks old

Kate is LOVING being a big sister. She is very caring and loves to just sit and quietly (I know...I said Kate did something quietly...quit laughing) talk to him. She is still our funny little girl growing up way to fast. This summer we are working on pedaling a bike, potty training (she pee'd in the potty 1 time so far!), and taking less than the normal 2 hours to fall asleep at night when we put her to bed. Those are some pretty lofty goals but I am confident we can accomplish it...if Kate agree's and is willing and the sun and moon are aligned perfectly...pray for us!

Grace is just finishing up 2nd grade and does not want school to end on Friday. She loves school and her teachers and her friends. We are chopped liver around here! She is excited for summer because she gets to take some horse camps at the stables we celebrated her 7th birthday last fall. She loves, loves, loves horses...actually any animal.  Hopefully we can get some friends over for some play dates so she isn't too bored hanging out with us. I think one of her highlights since Christmas was being able to be there when Luke was born. Jack didn't want to be and Kate was sleeping but Grace was my helper and did great. We did a lot of preparing her before the event occured and she did great.  She loves Luke so much and is going to be a great mom someday...a long, long time from now :).



Grace holding Luke when he was only 15 minutes old!



Grace doing some gardening...in WHITE shorts.



Goose and Luke

 Jack is just finishing up 5th grade and CAN'T WAIT FOR FRIDAY...yep, he is pretty much done with elementary school. He is almost a big middle schooler...YIKES...pray for us! We have gone through middle school orientation and he is very excited with the classes they get to take and even more excited they get LOCKS on their lockers.  Little does he know the anxiety that comes with those stupid wonderful locks...or maybe it was just me that would have dreams the week before school started that I couldn't remember the combination and then forgot my class schedule? He had a great time going out with Jared turkey hunting this spring and is really ready for deer hunting this fall. He has taken hunters safety (and passed). This summer he really has no plans other than to tease and torment play with his sisters. Football doesn't start until the end of summer. Oooo...he does have summer plans...SUMMER BAND LESSONS...how could I forget! Tonight we have his middle school band orientation and we get to pick up his instrument...The Bells. It is the first step to playing percussion.



Jack and his brand new brother!




Happy 11th Birthday Jack!




Jack will only allow us to take pictures of him when he has Luke.

 Jared is working hard at both offices still. We both feel so blessed to have been able to move the office back into the house. The kids are happy having us home all the time and I love being able to have the little kids take naps in their own beds. He decided to try turkey hunting this spring for the first time. He found it to be a bit different than deer hunting...those turkeys are...turkeys. With the brain the size of a pea, they were still smart enough to stay just out of shoot distance...until the last day. Jared was so excited when he called to tell us he got a turkey on the last morning of the season.  So far he has made some wonderful Turkey Noodle Soup for us and it was YUUUUMMMYYY! If you want to see the hunt and kill you can look it up on his facebook page.

Jared & his turkey

Jared and his other turkey :).

As for me, I am happy that school is done (or at least the homework part) and am looking forward to days playing in the sprinkler and sand box.


Me and my crew!




Me and my Lukey!

 Life just got a little crazier but that's how we roll the best!

So, now that we have had a chance to catch up I hope you will check back again because I really want to start posting here more often...seriously, I need this so I can remember all we do each year.

O Christmas Tree!

Thanksgiving was over. We made it back from Nana's and of course the kids know what the next step in the holiday process is....Putting up the Christmas Tree!

Last year we decided not to put any ornaments on the tree because Kate was so.....busy. Instead we let the kids make ornaments and we decorated with those. It actually turned out quite nice. We strung popcorn...and that was nice until I found Kate eating it off the string :). Our tree ended up fully decorated with beautiful creations from the kids.

Well, this year we decided to get the ornaments out and keep the less breakable ones to the bottom for Kate and all the others to the top for the big kids.

All 3 were so excited and could hardly wait for Daddy to fix the strings of lights at the top of the tree that were not working for the past 2 years. Time was spent playing in the tree tub and looking in the ornament bin.

Finally it was time...let the decorating begin!

Kate started with her favorite ornament. A wooden rocking horse....she did great getting it on the branch all by herself.

Then, it was Grace's turn. She chose an Ariel ornament...the one that sings :).

Finally, it was Jack's turn. He picked the Weiner-mobile ornament....funny :)



Then it was a free for all. I tried my hardest to keep up with the kids. My job was to unwrap the ornaments and pass them out...making sure no one got to put on more ornaments than the others. We stopped many times to talk about where an ornament came from, whose ornament it was, why we got it....I love that part. There are MANY ornaments on the tree that were mine when I was a little girl. Grace loved being able to put my childhood ornaments on the tree just like I did when I was little. 

Finally, it was time to put the star on the tree. Jack and Grace thought it was would be fun to have Kate do it because she has never gotten to put the star up on the very top. So, with help from Daddy the star was placed on the top of the tree and it was done...until Kate started re-arranging her ornaments!



So, now we patiently wait for Santa to fill our stockings and put some presents under the tree. Kate is not too sure about the whole Santa coming to her house thing. A patient asked her if Santa was coming to her house and she very boldly said "NO WAY"....obviously we won't be going to visit Santa at the mall this year too! If you ask Kate what Santa is bringing her she says, "toys and bubbles"...He just better leave them somewhere for us to pick up because he is NOT coming to her house!

Football!

Looking pretty tough mister!

Ok....not so tough! My favorite picture!

Jack couldn't wait for 2 things this year. Hunting and Football. This year he played for Verona White. He had a couple kids from his class on his team so he was happy. Since there are SO many boys that go out for youth football in Verona they have to have 3 or 4 teams per grade. Verona Orange, Verona White and Verona Black (and sometimes Verona Gray...or Grey..).

The season is now done. It wasn't a great season...they lost every game. BUT, Jack loved it. Never complained. Never got discouraged and never wanted to quit. He loves the sport. This year he had practice 3 days a week and a game every Saturday. They were a good bunch of boys but unfortunetly they were a slow team. They just had no one to run the ball or stop the other team from running the ball past them. And most importantly, Jack is still cute in his uniform...don't tell him I said that, OK?

Jack in action

He doesn't look to tough when he is smiling :)!

The first game was raining...Kate was ready!

1st game vs Waunakee

Jack getting tackled by his sisters after his 2nd game....he loves it!

Jack's biggest fan

All in all...a good season. Good weather and Jack had fun...that is what it is all about!

I am almost caught up on posting so keep reading after this post...this is my third post today so don't miss: Hunting and Kate's 2nd birthday :).

Birthday done...now onto to HUNTING

**Warning: This post contains images of dead deer, cute mud babies & silly faces....continue at your own risk :)!***

Wisconsin has a new rule. A rule that has made my son's world a better place. A rule that states you can now hunt, with a real gun, at the age of 10. No more waiting until you are 12. Granted the rule also states that the 10 year old hunter MUST be within arms reach of a licensed adult hunter and only have 1 weapon between them. It is called the mentorship program and it has made our hunting season VERY fun so far :)

Jack saved every penny, nickel and dime he was given. He also did chores...lots of chores...dishes, garbage, cleaned bathrooms (yay for me!). All of this for his very own gun. It took him a year but he saved up $427 to be exact.

All this work paid off. Youth Deer Hunt weekend was finally here. The gun had been sited in weeks before at Nana's house.

He hit the inner bullseye every time!

Grace thought it was a little loud!

The bullets were bought and the jr. hunters were dressed in blaze orange. Ready to go at 5 am. They had a bet between the boys (each put in $5.00)...the first boy to shoot a deer would get all the money. $20 total. The game was on!

We waited and listened for gun shots. The only shots we heard came from neighboring fields so I was pretty sure the bet would still be standing for the evening hunt, until I got a call about 10 a.m. Jared said we have an official deer slayer! Yep, Jack shot a doe!

They were just packing up the gun (took the bullets out) and put away the camcorder (Jared was hoping to videotape Jack's first kill). They were JUST going to get out of the stand and Jared saw 2 doe come over the ridge. He quickly told Jack to get a bullet back in his gun. The first doe shot by and the next doe was coming just as fast. Jared made a grunt noise and the doe stopped...Jack took that 2 second window of opportunity to take a shot. The deer ran about 30 yards and dropped.

The rest of the morning was spent getting the deer ready for processing and getting it to the processor as soon as they could. It was 80 degrees that day. Jack was so excited to win the bet but even more excited that he shot his first deer and provided food for our family :).

And what did Kate do while the boys are out sitting in tree's, waiting for a deer to walk by? What else, but PLAY IN THE MUD! Oh yeah...both of my girls are drawn to mud. They can't stay away from it. Grace had spent an afternoon making "soup" in a bucket. It keeps her busy. All was clean until Miss Kate figured out what she was doing. They had so much fun and her clothes actually got clean :).

I am trying to catch up on posting so keep reading for the post I just put up on Kate's 2nd birthday :).