Mowing the Lawn

Caden and Allyson love to ride on the mower with daddy. Caden likes to steer the mower while daddy runs the pedals. Just a few more years until Caden is tall enough and he will have a new job. ;>}

Sleeping in new beds

The other night, I went upstairs and took pics of the kids sleeping in their new beds. They both love their big beds.
(don't know what is on Ally's cheek - she must have been laying on her hand or something to make that mark - because is wasn't there before bed, and wasn't there when she woke up)

Daycare/Preschool Physicals

Today we had our annual daycare/preschool physicals. Caden was 40" tall and weighed 36 lbs.
Allyson was 41" tall and weighed 39 lbs. Everything went well and both kids are very healthy.

Same Dress - Different Generation

I was putting some things away in my cedar chest this evening, and found this dress. It was a dress that my grandparents gave to me and I had my 5 year pictures taken in. It was one of my favorite dresses. Probably because it was pink, lacy, and twirly.























I thought I would have Allyson try it on, since it is her size. Caden wanted to try it on too, but Broc wouldn't let him.

What a Wacky Night

Last night, we went to












for the kids to make a pal.
About 3 months ago, the kids got new teachers in the preschool room at daycare. At first, they both were unhappy when I would drop them off at daycare because they were unfamiliar with the teachers. I thought it would get better. Well, Allyson got a little better, but still would cry, or cling to me when it was time for me to leave for work. They both would start saying before we pulled into the parking lot for daycare "I don't want to go to daycare". Caden got a little better, but would copy what Allyson did. Also Caden had got a note home last week saying that he was having some trouble with listening, and was in time out more frequently.
I made a deal with both kids and told them that if Caden didn't have so much time out time, and Allyson didn't cry when I left to go to work, that they could each pick out a toy at the store. They were both excited about that. Through some great communication with the daycare, I got the report today that Caden has been doing very well with listening and has not had to spend much time in time out, and Allyson the last 2 days has been really good when I leave daycare.
We have started giving hugs before I leave them at daycare. I will ask them on the way to daycare how many hugs until mommy can leave. It is anywhere from 3-5 and then 1 kiss. Then they know they have to say "good-bye mommy" and I am going to leave to go to work.
I wanted to make the toy special, and since we have never done this before, it was just the thing.
Allyson picked out a Calico Cat, and Caden picked out a T-Rex dinosaur.

Filling our pals with stuffing and checking to make sure they are cuddly enough.














Next we got to use magic to give our pals a loving heart.

The gal asked how old the kids were. Allyson answered "3" by holding up that many fingers. Caden stated "4". He has this idea that he is four. We try to tell him differently, but it's not worth the fight. We had to pat our nose 3 times, wiggle our ears 3 times, touch our toes 3 times, etc and then had to close our eyes and hold our hand out. The gal put the heart in their hands and told them to make a wish. Allyson wished for "a kitty" and Caden wished for "a dinosaur". (Wow - their wishes came true! If only they could all be so easy!)















Giving the cat lots of love.
































Giving our pals an air bath - to get them all fluffy and soft.
Giving our pals a name for the birth certificate.
Caden named his dinosaur - RRrrr
Allyson named her cat - Princess Meow, Meow.
Next we got to pick out clothes for our pals.















A big dinosaur. Getting ready to leave with our new pets.

Allyson's New Room

I have been working on getting the kids in separate rooms for awhile now, and finally Allyson's room is ready for her to sleep in. With the help of my mom and dad for painting, it is Allyson's favorite color - PINK!
She is super excited about her new room and has been sleeping well by herself.





























This weekend we will be working on making Caden's room "cool", and getting him in his big bed!
He keeps asking me if I have bought the "tractor paint" yet. He is so proud of the tractor poster that Grandpa Rick gave him. By now I have you all thinking you can't wait to see this "tractor room" - but the colors in the bedding are actually red, navy, green, etc, and we will just add tractors and other things he likes into the decor.
Caden isn't quite as willing to sleep all by himself. He is very tenderhearted, and misses his sister's company. Both kids do fall asleep much quicker in separate rooms!
I will post pictures of Caden's "new room" hopefully soon! His persistence to get a big bed and you asking to see the pictures will be motivation enough for me to work on it!

Eatin' Snakes

This afternoon, I took the kids to the "candy store" after work. They each got to pick out 1 thing. Caden and Allyson both picked this snake sucker. Allyson didn't want her picture taken today, but Caden was fascinated by the candy snake.

We're in the parade

Saturday, we participated in the parade for my work. There were about 15 employees from the hospital and their family members. The kids thought it was neat that "Grandma Groen" rode on the trailer for the parade too for the "Manor."
Allyson rode in the wagon, and Caden walked beside it and they threw candy to people. They had a great time, and did a great job. When they got about 1 block from the end - they were out of candy, and would tip their buckets upside down and say "My candy's all gone. Sorry!"














After we walked in the parade, (we were #9) we sat and watched the rest of the parade. The kids had so much fun. Some of the floats had water guns and were shooting people with water. Caden thought it was so much fun to go into the street to stand there and get squirted.














This was one of my favorites. It reminds me of when I was little. Our neighbors had a St. Bernard dog and when we would ride bike past their house, we would pedal as fast as we could and hold our feet up because the dog would slobber all over us. Can you believe a dog like this would be scary?

Boating at Yankton

On Sunday, Caden, Allyson, Tyler and I went to Yankton with Grandpa and Grandma. We had a great time. The kids love being on the boat.














Allyson rode in the tube with me, but Caden didn't want to. He kept saying he would ride next time.














After riding on the boat, we played on the beach. I think the boys enjoyed this more than the boat. They found shells, and played in the water. Allyson stayed on the beach and played in the sand.

Fishing?!?

On Wednesday evening, Caden and daddy went fishing. They didn't have much luck, but they caught this with Caden's fishing pole.
Caden calls it a "biting, Snapping Turtle". He didn't want to get too close to it. (smart kid)

Freezing Sweet Corn

On Tuesday evening, we froze sweet corn. We cleaned, cooked and froze 14 dozen ears. It took all evening, but it is definitely worth all the work later.
Grandpa told Allyson we could eat the corn when it is snowy - so she can't wait for the snow to come!
Tyler, Allyson, Caden helped clean some corn.

Lake Benton

Today, we went boating at Lake Benton, MN with some friends.














I was able to water ski, and Broc learned to knee board. He really enjoyed this.














I tried to knee board, but it takes a lot of upper body strength, which I don't have, so I was unable to pull myself up.
The kids didn't want to tube, so they rode in the boat, and played on the beach. We all had a great time!