Hey Old Sister

It's no secret that we think Grandpa GG has the best pumpkins around so we took the Girls out to get some before they are gone!

Wow!! What a selection!!

We took the van out but the girls made sure they got to take the Rig for a spin before we left

I think this is my favorite picture of the day

Miss Quinnie and the 100th pumpkin she chose for the day

The Big One!

Our annual pose at the Pumpkin Patch!

Miss Ry

A new beginning

It feels like it was just yesterday that we found out that we were going to be parents for the 1st time and then in a moment she was here, our baby girl. Our baby girl is now almost 5 and recently headed off for her 1st day of school.

Rylee will be in Mrs. Hoff's 4k afternoon at St. Croix Falls Elementary School. She cannot wait for school to start and asks everyday if today was the day to go to school.

After many days of saying now, I was finally able to say,

Yes, today you get to go to school!

Rylee has been very ready to go and this Mom is not afraid to say that I had reservations about her going. I wasn't worried that she would be afraid or not like, I was more afraid about what it meant for me then for her. She was my baby girl and now she is turning into a big girl who is off to school. Oh, but how much I knew she would love it. I loved school and I think that Ry will probably take after me in her love for learning. Atleast I hope so

Miss Ry on her 1st day of school. Little Quinnie didn't want to be left out

Ah, there's my girl!!!

Rylee goes in the afternoon as the classes are broken up into 2 sessions, morning and afternoon. In the morning, Ry goes to daycare like a normal day and then the bus picks her up about 11:45 at daycare's door. Well, atleast the bus is suppose to pick her up. The 1st day didn't go so well in this area though.

I left work early and took my lunch hour so I could be there to watch Ry board the bus. I was so nervous that I was going to miss it, but it turns out that the bus missed us. I was standing outside with Ry along with Laurie and all the day care kids patiently waiting for the bus. Laurie first noticed it coming and as I turned to look, the bus went flying past us. I was surprised, but then Laurie said that it was turning left and maybe they needed to pick up someone else and then come back. So we waited. And waited. And waited.

At 11:55 I called the school and talked to the secretary who told me that all the buses were running late and to give it a few more minutes. So we waited, and waited and waited.

Again, I called the school and this time I got transferred to the bus manager . The man on the phone told me that the driver called in and said no one was at the stop and I was pretty upset by this point and I told the manager that the bus didn't even slow down so how could it see if we were waiting or not. 2 adults and like 12 kids were all standing together, but some how no one was there? The manager was not happy to hear the driver didn't even stop to see if anyone was there and apologized and assured me it wouldn't happen again. Then, he asked if I could bring her to school as there would not be a bus available to come back to get her.

SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?

Well, I pretty much threw Ry into the van as poor Laurie had to pull Quinn away as she was mad that I was leaving her and off to school we flew.RY cried almost all the way there as she thought she was going to get in trouble and have to go to the Principle's office. After much reassurance, she cheered up and we pulled into school. In a mass flurry of movement, we made it into the school, got her school shoes on and her outside shoes in her spot and in the classroom we went- LATE!

I think I was more upset over the whole thing then Ry was and I am thankful for that. I did feel terrible when Ry walked in and class was already started. Thankfully, Mrs Hoff reassured us both that Ry was fine and not a big deal to be late. I think I needed to hear that and hopefully she wasn't just trying to make me feel better.

Miss Rylee in her classroom. The 1 picture we got at school- thank goodness it turned out and wasn't blurry.

The 2nd day of school Chris went and met Ry to make sure the bus stopped for her. I got a text at work at almost noon from Chris as the bus was late and he wasn't sure how long to wait. Thankfully, as I was replying the bus showed up and Ry got on.

She made it to school and home on the bus safely. We had been playing up how fun the bus ride will be so she wouldn't get scared and she didn't. She loves riding the bus. When asked if she knew which bus was hers, she said "Mom, I ride the 20 bus on the way to school and the 3 bus on the way home". Well, I guess she does have it down.

She is growing up so fast before our eyes, but we wouldn't change it for the world at this stage.

Monkey break

The summer started well and then we hit a speed bump. We were at North Park in Amery at a work picnic and all was well until Ry fell off the monkey bars. She cried initially but then seemed fine after about 5 minutes. We finished the picnic and even went shopping to Menard's afterwards. Before bed, she complained that her arm was sore so we did some ice and Tylenol. She was able to move her whole arm and wrist without any pain or wincing. So, I put her to bed and said that we would see how it was in the morning.

The next morning she said her arm was feeling fine, so off we went to Woodbury to get shoes for Molly's upcoming wedding. She was fine until we went into Payless and I asked Ry to sit on her but to try on a pair of sandals. As she put her arm back behind her to sit, she screamed out. And when I say screamed, it was more like someone was beating her up and I think that is what the saleslady thought as she came running around the corner to see Ry holding her arm and crying. At that point, we packed up and headed back to Amery to the er.

When we got to the hospital, Grandma Annette met us and took Quinn home with her to help out. As we were walking into the ER, Ry tripped and put her arm out to catch herself and another scream came out. Once in the ER, we did a few x-rays and sure enough, it was broken. I thought for sure that it was just a sprain or something so I was quite surprised with the news.

Miss Ry and her splint. We had to wait 4 days to get it casted for swelling. It is not easy for someone, yet alone a 4 year old to get used to a splint and a sling on top of it.

After the 4 days, we headed back to the hospital to get a cast put on. Grandma Annette told Rylee that she once had a pink cast so Ry had her heart set on pink. Guess what! No Pink!!! What the heck! It took some working, but she finally agreed the purple was just as good as pink.

An arm full of signatures.

Such a trooper, I think I was more nervous about the case coming off then she was. She sat so still and just took it all in.

Ahh, the summer can now get back on track as the cast is off!

Holy smokes, 4 weeks with a cast and the arm was the stinkiest thing on the planet. Whew!! Glad we didn't have to have it any longer then it did.

Random Thoughts!!

So, it has been a long time coming but I have finally put some new pictures up. It has been a super busy summer and I have fallen behind, so here we go!!

Here are a bunch of random shots from the summer!

With Ry's broken arm, it wasn't fair for us to be able to swim in the big pool when she couldn't, so we did our best to make sure the girls still had fun when it got pretty hot!

Having a little one- armed fun

Hamming it up at the Polk County Fair

Cheese!

Look at me!

At work the MN ZOO came to put on a safari so we were luckily able to go. The girls were super excited and the dressed the part

The newest additions to our family in the big tank. Gus Gus, Jacques and Lucifer. Cinderalla anyone?

Silly girl

Apple tasting at the orchard by our house.

Us girls

A nice picture of us for once

Our attempt at a family picture.

The St Croix Public Library put this on and I think everyone had fun.

4th of July Fireworks in Balsam Lake

Hanging out at Grandma's lake

Camping at Lake Owen

Big Girl beds. Quinnie moving to a toddler bed

Miss Ry and her new big girl bed

Fishing in the Bute

With a neigh and a quack

On Memorial Day, we decided to surprise the girls and we all headed down to Fawn-Doe-Rosa for the morning. We didn't tell them where we were going but when we pulled in Rylee got so excited and started shrieking. Poor Quinn didn't know what to do with all the noise until she saw a horse and then it was all smiles for her

The face when Quinnie saw a "neigh", aka a horse.

The first thing we saw when we walked in was the bunny table and of course Ry headed strait for it as she knew what would be on it. She LOVES that you can man handle the bunnies. I think she would have tried to put one in her pocket if she could have.

I think the girls and Daddy were all excited to see and feed the deer. At first we didn't see any that were on the trail and weren't down the hill by the pond but we no more said that when up comes a "mama" deer for a little snack. Ry knew what to do and dug into the feed bag, but Quinn was just staring at the deer, not knowing what to expect.

The "Daddy" buck had to come and check out the scene too. By this time Quinnie knew what to do and got right into it.

Oh, the farmers in the dell.

Feeding the donkeys, or trying to. One particular donkey kept butting in to take the treats from the girls and not letting the other little donkeys have a treat too. A donkey bully!

The horses- the animals the girls were the most excited to see and feed. Quinnie doesn't say horse but she knows exactly what they say, so she was screaming "neighs, neighs"! We had to walk away for a minute so she wouldn't scare the horses.

The greedy goats!

Miss Rylee petting a baby fox, also named Riley! She thought that was super cool that they would name a fox after her. Too cute

The girls putting up with Mom's endless requests for a picture together. It is such an effort to get them both looking even closely in the same direction.

Miss Quinnie in all her glory on her "neigh" Skippy. Skippy got a little feisty and the staff had to get him under control which made me a little nervous, but Quinnie didn't seem to notice. Hence, the full on smile on her little sweet face.

Miss Rylee on Cinnamon. She was such a big girl all by herself on that horse. She kept telling it "yiddy up". Too funny!

Miss Quinnie finally getting her chance to pet the bunny.

2 fun filled non stop action packed hours at Fawn Doe Rosa let both girls pretty tired out. Quinnie took over a 3 hour nap and a normal nap is about 1.5 hours. We had to wake her up or she probably would have slept a lot longer. Both girls continue to talk about it this whole week. Yesterday morning Quinnie walked around the house "neighing". It was so funny and precious. If I only could have found the video camera in time. Priceless.