Our Vacation in Michigan

On Saturday we got back from our vacation in Michigan. We went to Elk Rapids, which is near Traverse City, to visit my aunt. My sister came with her two boys and we had a lot of fun. We rented a pontoon boat for a day just like we did last year. My aunt has a big yard and the kids just loved playing different games outside. Alec learned about baseball from his cousins and as I type this, he is hitting a ball around the room with a spatula! Alec also enjoyed badmitton, golf and especially frisbee (which he pronounces "fwibee").
After we left my aunt's house, we went camping in Pictured Rocks in the UP. We stayed at a site that was right across from a beautiful beach. The sand in Michigan is amazing! I love the North Shore of Minnesota, but nothing compares to Michigan beaches. Annika seemed to enjoy camping more than Alec did. She was perfectly happy playing with sticks on the campsite, while Alec just wanted me to hold him and was pretty whiney ("Hold, Mummy, hold"). I think he would have enjoyed it more if we hadn't already been away from home for several days.
We stopped at some beautiful beaches on the way home and I was very sad when we crossed back into Wisconsin. This is a trip we plan to do every summer with our kids. My mom used to bring me to the UP every summer because that's where my grandparents lived. I have some great memories and hopefully my kids will too.



Alec and Aunt "Saysa" wearing matching shirts





Keith skipping rocks in the sunset.





Alec and Annika walking hand in hand on the beach.

Back to School for Mommy!

It's official- I'm going to be a college student yet again. I will be attending UW-Superior starting in September and I will be pursuing my English secondary education degree which means I want to teach either middle or high school English. When I first decided to major in English 10 years ago (yikes!) I wanted to go into publishing. Now I have a different view on life and also a new view of the economy (double yikes!). I feel that I am in a really good place in my life to go back to school and I have motivation in the form of my children to really kick my butt into gear. Keith's new schedule really helps, as I won't need daycare every day that I am at school. In fact, I may be able to "daycare swap" with a friend who's child I watch right now a couple days a week. That would really be ideal. I realize that it is going to be difficult to balance my time between my family and school, but I think it is going to go well. Wish me luck!

Baby Pics!

So I'm getting a little nostalgic about the baby days since my babies are going to be two on Thursday! When I was cleaning out my china cabinet today (a task long overdue- jumbled dishes and strangely enough, cigars, do not a pretty display make)I found a memory stick from my old camera that had pictures from my pregnancy and the first few weeks of my babes' lives. It was almost enough to make me think, oh my pregnancy and those first few weeks weren't so bad. But alas, they were incredibly difficult. I was very lucky to have a fairly smooth pregnancy compared to other twin pregnancies, but still eight months of not being able to breathe very well (gestational diabetes had that affect on me) and three months of bed rest and boredom were no fun. Follow that up with two needy newborns, one of which had a noisy breathing problem and the other who had problems nursing, well let's just say that I am SO HAPPY to be celebrating their second birthday. Moms of twins have told me all along that it gets so much easier around age 2 and it really does, for the most part. But let's take a trip down memory lane and remember what it took to get here.


Taking pictures each week sounded like a good idea at week 12.



I thought I put up a sign that said "No pictures of beached whale please!"



My babies together again.



I love this picture of my little girl.



Alec was showing us his personality right away.

A Choppy Fourth

Keith's dad and his wife came to our house for the fourth of July weekend. Keith had to work both days, but Saturday night we took the boat out to see the fireworks. Annika does not like to go fast in the boat. She kept saying, "No go Daddy. All done boat." But she loved it when we got there. People on the hill were setting off fireworks before the actual fireworks started and Annika was thrilled! "More! More!" Then when the real fireworks started, she was in awe. "Ooooooh! Wow!" Alec took in the whole thing as if we did it every day. He had his "I'm too cool" look. One thing we didn't like about watching the fireworks from the boat was how the boat rocked with the small waves. We were all a little seasick. The kids fell asleep in the cuddy cabin as we motored home and I layed in there with them. I did not want to see how we made our way back down the river in the dark. The kids woke up when I took off their life jackets and they screamed all the way home. I don't blame them one bit, poor things, getting woken up at 11:30 at night.

We enjoyed the holiday weekend and now we are having a hard time getting back into the groove of everyday life. Alec and Annika turn two next week and then we will have their party the next Saturday, so we will be busy getting ready for that. I love having family come over, but then I am always bummed when life continues as usual. Oh well.

Summer is Here!

Judging by the way my air conditioner is chugging along tonight, summer is definitely here. I had my doubts that it would actually come this year. Two weeks ago it was in the forties in the middle of the day. Then today, WHAM! 88 degree weather. We bought the kids a plastic pool today so we could all get some comfort from at least dipping our feet in. Alec and Annika have enjoyed the sprinkler that the neighbor bought for them. I do feel bad that we were blindsided by this heat and have not installed a fan in the kids bedroom yet. In fact, I'm sure Keith wants to put an air conditioner in their room this year.
We are headed to my dad's house in Lodi on Monday morning, following our trip to Spooner for Father Andy's going away party (our welcoming party!). My grandparents from Arkansas will be there so we couldn't pass up the opportunity. I have packed plenty of sunscreen, swim diapers and life jackets as my dad lives on a lake and the kids will live outside while we are there.
Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying the start of summer. Keep cool!

Back in Business (sort of)

Ok, well at least you can read this now, although I am not thrilled with the background, but I don't know how to change it. Maybe a tech savvy reader can help me. This is the last night of Keith's first 4 days of shift work and it has been hard on both of us. As I write this, Annika is still crying in her room, although I put her to bed 45 minutes ago and have checked on her many times. They don't like to have their routine changed, that's for sure. This evening I took the kids for a bike ride down our street. This was my first time hooking up the trailer to my bike. I was a little nervous about whether I did it right or not, so we stuck to our street. Our neighbors were out on their porch, so we stopped by for a visit. They were thrilled because they love the twins and the twins were thrilled because they got treats. It is so nice to live in a neighborhood that has such great people. We are really blessed. Exciting news from my friend Brianna. My fellow in vitro user had her baby boy on Wednesday. Everyone is healthy and I am so glad she had such a great in vitro experience just like I did (although she had three embryos implanted and had one baby and I had two implanted and had both!). I sing the praises of in vitro for allowing people like us to have the opportunity to have biological children and I am ashamed of people who abuse it and give it a bad name (Octomom). I know it is a hot topic for many people but I am thankful thankful thankful to have my precious babes. Off my soap box now. Disappointing news for our family in Spooner has turned into good news for us. Word has it that Father Andy from the Catholic church in Spooner is going to be the priest at the cathedral in Superior. We already drive to Duluth for church, so we will have no problem driving to Superior. We are so happy to have him nearby because he is a dear family friend. He married us and baptized our children and although it is sad that he will no longer be in Spooner, the family will still see him when they visit us (and maybe they will visit more!). So this means we will be leaving our church which is sad in a way because we liked the choir and the families there. But Father Andy is like family to us and we couldn't imagine not going to his church. That's the news for now. Speaking of Spooner, it looks like we will be going there the next three Sundays for basement cleaning and parties. June is a big birthday month and we need to get Keith's mom's basement finished. Enjoy the beginning of summer everyone!

Breezy Point Vacation

This was taken in our room. They loved sitting on stools at the counter.

We had a great time on our vacation at Breezy Point. While the weather was a little cool two of the days, we still went for walks and some boat rides. We played in the indoor pool as well. Our room had a balcony that overlooked the pool and the first day, Annika did not want to go to the pool. We said, "Ok guys, let's go to the pool!" and she started screaming, "No!" Well, we all went down there anyway, Annika kicking and screaming all the way. She lounged on my lap in a chair while Alec and Keith tried out the kiddie pool and the big pool. Alec seemed indifferent at first and then started to like it. I kept asking Annika, "Do you want to go in the pool?" Head shake no. Then Alec wanted me to come in the pool with him, so Keith sat with Annika. We splashed around in the kiddie pool for a while and all of a sudden, Annika came running over and wanted to get in too. She just couldn't resist the splashing. Then she liked the pool even more than Alec and liked for us to help her "swim" in the big pool.

There weren't many people at the resort during the week, so we mostly had the pool to ourselves. We did meet a couple of different families at the beach with young kids who also liked to throw rocks in the water (probably Alec's most favorite thing to do in the world). Everyone was from the Cities (Minneapolis/ St. Paul to you non-Minnesotans). It's a popular place for those folks to vacation.

It was nice to get away and relax just by ourselves. I read My Sister's Keeper while we were there and can't wait to see the movie. But now we are back home and a mountain of laundry is waiting for me and Keith is out tackling the overgrown lawn right now.

One more note. Breezy Point is right near Brainerd and we found out last night that Keith's brother Scott got a job as a nurse anesthetist in Brainerd! He graduates in December and starts in January. We are so excited because it is such a beautiful area with so much to do. I hope they realize they will be hosting a lot of family in the summer.

Can't wait for our next vacation!

A Change for Us

Things are going to be a little different around our house in the future, as Keith is going back to shift work. There have been some changes in the mill due to the economy and they needed another supervisor, so Keith is going to be doing that again. Shift work means that he will work two days, then two nights, then four days off. At least it is a consistent schedule so we know what weekends and holidays he works, but it will still be hard the nights that he works (for both of us). The plus side is the 4 days off in a row, which for the summer means we can take camping trips in the middle of the week when it is less crowded. Ava goes down to coming only once a week starting in July while her mom is on maternity leave, so that will give us a lot of free time. And the kids will get nice chunks of time with Keith as well. So we are thinking positively about the whole thing.
If anyone wants to visit those nights that Keith is at work, you're more than welcome:)

Alec and Annika Kayaking

We're Going on Vacation!

My friend has a timeshare that she is only using for Memorial Day weekend and offered it to us for the remainder of next week. Keith was able to get the whole week off, so we are going on a family vacation. It is less than two hours from here, so no big deal travelling. Since we have had the kids, we have not gone on a vacation that is just our family. There are always other family members we are visiting, so this will be nice and relaxing because we are on our own schedule. We may bring the boat because it is on a lake. Otherwise, there is an indoor pool and a beach. Based on how much Alec and Annika like the sandbox, they will LOVE the beach!

Keith's brothers and sister-in-law are coming this weekend and we are very excited. Scott and Bri we haven't seen since Christmas. It is going to be nice weather and I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will build the picnic table I want! We sold our patio set in our garage sale.

Today is supposed to be hot, so we are going to head outside early. The kids like to help pull out weeds to prepare the garden. I would like to use the weed whacker, but Alec is scared of machinery lately, so that won't work.

I had four kids yesterday as I am watching a 4 month old baby a couple of times this week while his sitter is on vacation. He is so cute, so good, so sweet. I told his mom that everyone would want a million babies if they were all so calm and easy like him. Of course, having had two babies myself, I know they are not all like that! But I had a really good time. Alec needs to learn to be gentle around babies, but Annika was really good and wanted to help. Such a little mommy! I hope to be taking care of more babies in the future.

Alec and Annika were loving coloring on a piece of paper taped to the floor.

Our garage sale is supposed to be this weekend, but we are going to be having some crummy weather. Keith doesn't want to put it off any longer, so he has resolved to clean out the garage so we can actually use it for the sale instead of a yard sale. I'll believe it when I see it.

I spent the morning cleaning the basement with all the kids helping me. Ava (I babysit her a couple times a week) was here as well and did a nice job with the mini broom. They all loved it, because we don't get downstairs very often anymore (due to the mess) so it was fun for them to play in their playroom (slash garage sale item storage).

Alec has been giving me a look today that reminds me of my daycare days. When I told him not to throw his food at the dog, he gave me one of those frowny, furrowed eyebrows look that says, "Just what are you going to do about it?" So I gave him a look that said, "You'll go right to bed if you don't stop it!" At least I hope that's what it said. Keith says I am a pushover and that's why the kids misbehave with me, but I know it's mostly because they are around me all day. I can be a pushover sometimes in situations like one more kiss before bed or one more cookie, but I do not tolerate bad behavior. Now that I got that out of my system...

I think I have put off going back to the basement long enough. Wish me luck and pray that I am able to overcome our mess and never have to do this again:)

Mother's Day

We couldn't figure out the timer on our camera, so we had to take separate pictures .

Of course the day that I want to sleep in, I wake up at 6:00 and can't fall back to sleep. So, I took a bath while Keith took the kids to Walmart to get some donuts. Then I got back in bed so I could fulfill my wish of breakfast in bed. Alec brought me a card and Annika brought me flowers. It was all going well until... Keith broke a window! Alec had just thrown Keith a soccer ball- a really good throw- and Keith wanted to reproduce it. He just threw it to the side without thinking where it was aimed and hit the window. (Side note: I do not keep soccer balls in the house as a habit. Keith had just bought it for Alec that morning.)

Keith cleaned up the glass and the rest of our day went pretty well. Alec melted down at church and I had to take him out, but that's typical lately. We took the new bike trailer for a test ride and the kids really enjoyed it. Poor little Annika was a slightly squished next to her brother, but she was a trooper and didn't want to get out when we got home.

We grilled some Isle Royale steaks, which are meat rolled up with peppers, onions, mushrooms, olives and cheese. They were very good. And of course we had chips and dip as an appetizer. Alec loves dip! Annika likes to dip, but she doesn't like to eat it, so she dipped all my chips for me. What service!

We had beautiful weather and the whole day made me thankful for my family. Since the weather has been nice, I find myself in a good mood everyday and I enjoy my kids even more. They have so much fun running around in the yard and woods and they are great helpers in the garden! In fact, we are going to go out right now and do some weeding!

Poor Keith. He worked until midnight on Thursday night. He was supposed to have Friday off, but they were still having problems on the machine, so he went to work at 7:00 and came home at 3:30 to sleep, then went back to work at 10:00 pm and is still not home yet- at 8:30 Saturday morning. Hopefully, he will be home soon so he can sleep. While he catches up on sleep, I'll take the kids shopping with me. I posted an ad on Craigslist saying I was looking for a bike trailer and have had 5 responses so far, so we will be checking out those trailers today. Then we need good weather again so we can use the trailer!

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and my one wish was to sleep in and have breakfast in bed, but if they don't fix the machine at Keith's work today, that won't be happening. I should have requested diamonds instead:) Actually, Keith gave me diamond earrings for Mother's Day last year- one diamond for each child. As long as we can get to church, I'm sure it will be a great day. We really enjoy the music at our church and there are a lot of young families as well. The church has an 11:00 am service, which means we can still have a lazy morning and then do errands after church.

Happy Early Mother's Day. I will try to write again tomorrow to tell you how my Mother's Day went and I'll post some pictures.

My Daughter

Annika loves to play dress up and be Mommy's helper. But watch out, she's sneaky!

My Son

Such a ham! He put all of those stickers on his shirt and was very serious about it.

My First Blog

So here it is, my first entry on my first blog. I started this blog with the thought that if I have a place to write about my life, I better make sure my life is worth writing about. So, this blog starts my journey. I want to teach my kids more, I want to visit new places (even if they are in my own town), I want to spend time with my husband, I want to be inspired and maybe inspire someone else. Hopefully, this will all happen and if not, at least you'll get to see pictures of my cute kids!
Here we go! I hope you enjoy following my family's life, because I sure have enjoyed being a part of it.