[10th??] Annual Memorial Day BBQ

We've been doing the Eid/Jovle annual Memorial Day Bbq for quite awhile now. No one can exactly remember how long it's been but someone thought this might be the 10th one! Either way it's been a great tradition that we started and it always so much fun. Every year it grows as more kids are added to the group. In honor of Cran's Mom we did some fun kid pictures. One by age and one by height.

Age Pictures

Mallory (8), Leslie (7), Ellie (5), Mikayla (4), Sienna (3), Josie (3), Ariana (3), Molly (2), Kensi (1), Christopher (10 months) (Baby Ben 1 month, not pictured)

Height Picture - not even close to the ages!!

I thought I tried really hard to take more than just kid pictures but I apparently only took one. Oops! Next year I'll do better.

Pumpkin Carving

I love fall. The cooler weather, football Sundays, snuggling by the fireplace, and most of all the traditions that come with all the holidays. A tradition Justin and I have have always done is carve pumpkins. We switched it up a little this year and let Sienna paint her and Kensi's pumpkins. She was thrilled!

I let Kensi help for about 1 paint stroke. She watched from her chair for the rest. 

Last year Sienna wanted nothing to do with touching the pumpkin guts. This year she got over it and helped scoop some out...for a few minutes in between painting.

Justin and I did the actual carving. I did a zombie flower and he did a face with Sienna's traced hands. With the craziness of Halloween night I forget to get a picture of them lite!

Sienna & Kensi's pumpkins.

Apples and Pumpkins

Fall has been flying by. Rick came up for a quick weekend visit. Lucky for him we got one of the only nice, non-rainy weekends so we headed to Emma Krumbees Apple Orchard and Scarecrow Fest. Sienna had a great time riding the train, finding her way through the rope maze, peddling the tractor trikes through the track, and of course picking out some apples and treats from the store. Kensi tagged along in her stroller but didn't participate in any of the activities. 

We still needed to get our pumpkins. Another weekend, between the rain storms, we hightailed it out to a pumpkin patch. It did start to lightly rain on the way there but not enough to keep us from our task. Sienna and Justin braved the rain and picked out everyone's pumpkins. Kensi stayed in the van while I made faces at her. 

And just because she's cute and didn't get much photo time here's my baby. She's getting so big and pulling herself up on everything. 

A Few Significant Moments

Summer is still flying by. We've been enjoying every moment we can and had a few moments that had to be recorded.

Kensi is my new cooking helping. She's a little easier to entertain than Sienna. Wooden spoon and a couple of measuring cups and she's good.

Sienna takes after her mom [again] by loving her green beans and vinaigrette.  We have family friends whose favorite story to tell is of me when I was about Sienna's age. My Mom and I had dinner over at their house and they were serving greens beans. Once I saw what we were having, I immediately asked where the vinaigrette was. High maintenance at 3.

We went to our first (and probably only) parade for the year. Met the Moehrings at the Prior Lake Lakefront Days Parade. Perfect size for the kids to get right up close and get lots of candy.

Justin and I got to take Sienna to her first movie in the big theater. We saw Planes and she loved it. Especially the unlimited amounts of popcorn.

Where did July go??

Clearly this month has been busy because I haven't blogged at all! Get ready for a long one...

We had a wonderful 4th of July BBQ hosted by the Moehrings. I forgot my camera that day so I only got one pic with my phone!!

We had a long fun weekend filled with family fun outings. We went back to the Lorence Berry Farm to pick strawberries. Same one that we visited last year. Sienna again ate more than she actually picked for the basket, but that's the fun of going. They were so delish.

We spent our annual weekend at the Eids cabin. The weather was perfect and many upgrades to the cabin made it a very fun weekend. I won't quite say relaxing but us 4 adults spent a lot of time dreaming and planning the 10 year anniversary trip we are taking next spring - without the kids!

My sister had her baby boy!! Christopher Steelman Park. Such a cutie and so fun to have a boy in that side of the family. He was 20 inches long and 7 lbs 15 oz.

The rest of our days have been enjoying the sun. Sienna's been hanging out with her neighbor buddy, Chase, quite a bit.

Kensi's still loving the exersaucer.

Justin and I even got out for a date night with his work and enjoyed a dinner cruise on the river.

Spring came and went

Finally the first nice weekend of the year came! Last weekend was the first time we've had 70+ temps since last fall. We tried to enjoy every moment outside. We ate as many meals on the deck as we could, dusted off all of the outdoor toys, played with neighbors, and enjoyed the sunshine. I was worried what Kensi would think of being outside. Last time we tried she was not a fan of the wind - although it was quite a bit colder. Luckily she loved every second of it. We brought out her fishy seat (minus the fishys) and she took in everything.

For the 2 seconds she sat on it, Sienna had to make sure her chair was right next to Kensi's.

Showing Mom how she "rides" her new Strider bike. 

 In other news, Kensi had a big week! She hit a few fun milestones. She started really giggling. Bita says she does it at daycare all the time with the kids. Last week was the first time Justin and I got to hear it. Of course it was Sienna that got her to do it, not boring Mom or Dad. It was so cute to see them interacting. Last night she rolled over from her tummy to back. Hoping to catch it on video soon! We also tried out the exersaucer and it was a hit.

Sienna hasn't hit any milestones per say, but she's getting to be such a big kid. She's doing really well on the potty and I'd say she's close to being fully potty trained. I'm probably holding her back more than anything cause I'm not sure I'm ready to deal with public pottys and such. :) She continues to amaze me with her mind and all the random things she does. And of course she still loves her Micky and Minnie.

Snow Fun

The first snowfall of the year came! Sienna was very excited to see the snow. She wanted to stand outside and catch snowflakes in her hand. In the morning she helped her Daddy shovel the driveway.

After nap we quickly went outside before it was too dark to see anything. Sienna and Daddy made their first snowman. I'm not sure which of them was more excited. We didn't have carrots, coal, or a hat, but MacGuyver Justin found some sticks for arms and golf balls for the eyes. 

We also had to try out the sled. It went much better than last year. There were no face plants into the snow which helped. We haven't tried any of the big hills...yet. 

1 day and 12 plus inches later the snow finally stopped. I had forgotten how little snow we had last year. It was definitely missed by this family. 

Family Pictures

I'm still trying to avoid getting professional pictures taken this year, which also means I'm trying to learn Photoshop for picture editing. Still need some work there! This past weekend we had Cran help us take some family photos. I was surprised how many leaves had already turned colors! Here's a couple of my favorites without any editing. Some cropping, color enhancing, and some other fancy tools will help but I'm still pleased with how they turned out.

The rest of the weekend was busy.We tried to get out and enjoy the beautiful fall weather. I figured it was probably one of the last warm ones we'll have this season. We picked the other apple tree at my parents house Friday night before we celebrated Justin's birthday. Justin and Sienna had a father-daughter day packed full of shopping, visiting friends, parks and a trip to the pool. Meanwhile, I got to enjoy a full day of scrapbooking with Cari & Vicki. It was awesome and we got so much done! I got a great start on Baby #2s first year album. Between football games on Sunday we took our pictures and hit up a park. Another fun weekend!