Lake Minnetonka

After the scorching game on Saturday, we headed to Charles and Beth's to cool off in the lake.  It felt great after the heat!  We had an awesome day - spending time on the boat, in the game room, and in the hot tub. The kids are lucky to have such a fun place to visit (and so are we)! :)

Evan leading the boys down the dock to jump into the lake:

Rounding the corner:

Evan was the first to hit the water:

Then Ryan:

Followed by Kyle:

And finally Carter (he needed a little time to warm up to the idea of jumping in):

A quadruple jump:

Playing tag on the hill.  That is one heck of a workout going up and down that hill! :)

We spotted a loon right next to the boat:

And watched a gorgeous sun set on the lake:

What a FUN day on the lake:

First Game

Ryan had his first football game on Saturday.  It was mid-90s for the air temp, heat index near 100.  It was brutal for the spectators, I can only imagine how the poor players felt in their full gear.  Despite the heat, they did great.  We were so proud of Ryan - for his first game ever, he did awesome.  He is catching on quickly and loves football.  Go Bengals!!!!

 Ryan is #14:

Our first touchdown of the season:

Ryan going in for a tackle:

Got him!  :)

I found this picture on Ryan's football website tonight.  We made a tunnel that the players ran through at the end of the game.  A player's dad was holding a sprayer and misted the boys when they came through the end of the tunnel.  He also misted them throughout the game, whenever they came off the field.  It was a lifesaver in the heat!!!! :)

Coming Home

I am late in posting these, but here are the boys coming home from school on the first day:

Bus 544:

Carter was all smiles:

I asked Ryan why he looked so crabby and he told me he had to pee!  The bus took an hour to arrive from school (we live 2 miles from school):

I baked brownies for the boys and got 2 thumbs up from them on warm, fresh-from-the-oven brownies:

Glad their school year is off to a great start!!!! :)

Jewelry

I had a few gifts I wanted to make and an outside order I needed to complete.  My work schedule was off last week due to the holiday and extra hours at the office, so I worked on jewelry this weekend.  Glad to be caught up...but just for a short time.  Now that word is out that I'm doing jewelry again, the orders are coming in.  :)

These are baby spoons, stamped with the baby's name.  I made these for my previous jobshare partner, who had a baby last week:

I made these for each of the boy's teachers.  Carter has one teacher, but Ryan is in a triad this year, and has 3 teachers.  The boys told me the teachers loved them.  I wish I could have seen them when they received them.  :)

First Day of School

Today is the first day of third grade for Ryan and first grade for Carter.  I kept my composure through the morning amazingly well.  The boys were so excited, and I think that helps me to send them back, when they can't wait to see their friends and go back to school.

First Day 2013:

 I had to get in the photos with them for just a couple :)

How did they get to be so tall??
I dropped them off at A+ (before school care) for just a few minutes to get them signed in so they would know what to do on a regular "work" morning:

Carter and his BFF, Caeden:

I then went back before the bell rang to walk them to their classrooms.  Here is Carter in Ms. Hallstrom's classroom:

and Ryan in Mrs. Schuette's:

Last Weekend of Summer

We spent the long weekend up north at Mom and Dad's.  It was a relaxed, slow-paced weekend, just what we needed to wrap up our summer!  The weather was crazy - upper 80s on Friday and Saturday and only low 60s yesterday and today.  The temps dropped 20* overnight!

Carter riding through the tractor parade with Steve Marudas:

Checking out the animals at the Threshing Show:

Rabbits:

Huge muscles, holding up the train car:

My view every time I want to ride 4 wheeler now (I have a chauffeur):

Carter and Grandpa were on the logging trail ahead of us:

We went to a rodeo on Sunday night.  The boys both decided to do the calf chase.  There were about 100 kids (Carter with the 4-6 age group and Ryan with ages 7-8) chasing 4 calves with red ribbons tied on their tails.  Carter coming out of the arena after his turn chasing the calves:

Ryan excited to snag a ribbon, which he exchanged for a t-shirt:

The rodeo clown coming over with a t-shirt for Carter.  Initially he didn't know to trade in the ribbon for the t-shirt.  He almost missed out!

Both boys lucky enough to win t-shirts!!!! :)

The boys working on their "first day of school" interviews for their school year binders.  Tomorrow is the big day for my third and first graders - hard to believe!!!!!!  Summer went much too quickly for us!