Halloween

I know it's January...but I am behind remember!! Mason is very much into baseball right now, so for his birthday in August he got baseball pants, socks and gloves...therefore he wanted to be a baseball player for Halloween, Joe Mauer to be exact.

Morgan had been a princess the last two years, so when I asked her what she wanted to be this year, she said, surprise, surprise, a princess.....I convinced her to be a witch, as long as she still got to wear a dress!!

Dawson got to be a dinosaur, although he didn't really enjoy wearing the head of it.

The kids had a great time going around Russell....it was acutally pretty nice so we let them walk more of the streets than they normally do. They had a few scares while out trick or treating....uncle Ron and a couple other people sat dressed up outside and scared the kids when they came to the door....the kids handled it pretty good and had a good night!!

It's been awhile.....

Wow....its been a long time since I've been on here...I guess I'll have to catch everyone up. First of all we moved the end of July to a new house. We are about 7 miles outside Russell. We have a bigger house as well as a bigger yard for the kids to play in, about 7.5 acres including the grove. The kids love everything about it here, Joe loves his big "shop" and I love that I can hide from my kids in the house!!!

Well, on to other things.....

Mason celebrated his 7th birthday on August 31st.....He got to have a friend party this year and below is a picture of his friends at the party.....they had a great time playing outside in the grove, looking for the perfect spot to build a tree fort....which has wait till next summer!!! He is in first grade this year and is having a good time....his is learning to read, add, subtract and much more....his favorite subject is recess....I tell him thats not a subject and he replies with, "So!!" (Math is his favorite subject) He likes spending lots of time with his dad....preferably outside in the shop or just outside if it's warm enough.



Dawson had his 3rd birthday on October 11th. He LOVES Handy Manny, and all he said he wanted for his birthday was a Handy Manny birthday cake, so he got to have a Handy Manny birthday cake!! He is kind of a little devil child at times....he is the baby and gets spoiled a little more than the others did...what's a mom to do???!!! We have spent lots of time on potty training over the fall and beginning of winter....he just couldn't seem to get it...especially #2....he always went to hide in the closet.....finally over the last 3 weeks he has mastered it....with only a few accidents here and there!! Dawson's favorite things to do are play with cars, trucks, his train tracks, cuddle with mom and spend time wrestling with dad or spending time in the shop with dad...he also loves to watch, Toy Story, Handy Manny and Thomas the Train.



Morgan had her 5th birthday this year. She is still the same old princess she has always been only in with a 5 year old attitude!!! Morgan is in preschool againd this year....it is in Russell 2 full days a week....with me as her teacher (I never get a break!! ha) She is doing really well and can't wait to start Kindergarten next year.
Morgan loves playing with her barbies, babies, pet shop, and polly pockets. She tries really hard to keep up with Mason outside and then gives up and does her girly stuff indoors......she is happiest when her brothers leave her alone.



Well, that's all the time I have for now, but I'll try to come back and catch you up on the rest of the year.

Eight Things

Just catching up on by blogging and saw this....it looked fun, so here goes!!

8 favorite tv shows:

1. House
2. One Tree Hill
3. American Idol
4. Criminal Minds
5. CSI
6. Fringe
7. Eleventh Hour
8. CSI: New York

8 Favorite dishes;

1. Prime Rib
2. homemade pizza
3. Roast
4. Salad
5. moms chili
6. brats
7. mashed potatoes
8. tacos

8 things that happened yesterday:

1. got out of bed
2. worked all day
3. Tanned
4. Took kids for a walk
5. read my book in the sun
6. ate supper
7. raked leaves
8. watched tv

8 things I look forward to:

1. camping
2. end of school year
3. watching my kids grow
4. spending time with friends and family
5. We Fest
6. spending time at mom and dads cabin
7. did I mention camping?
8. warm weather

8 things I love about winter:

1. making snowmen
2. snowball fights in the garage!!
3. watching the kids play outside
4. Christmas
5. Warm vacations
6. snow days at home
7. family movie nights
8. the end of it

8 things on my wish list:

1. happy, healthy children
2. happy, healthy family members
3. bigger and newer house
4. a maid
5. lose weight
6. live long and healthy life
7. eye surgery
8. can't think of an 8th!!

Tag....New game

I've been tagged to play along with this game...Here are the rules:
1) Go to your documents/pictures file on your computer
2) Go to your 6th file
3) Go to your 6th picture
4) Post and blog about it
5) Tag 6 people to do the same
6) Smile





Like Jamie, I was afraid of what picture I would find. This one was taken at Jim and Junes house. We went there for Maia's baby shower and I wanted to get some family pictures outside before we went in. We had just finished and these three were going to see Molly's grave....see Molly had died suddenly the night before and Joe had buried her out at his parents place. It was a happy and a sad day! I just thought the three of them looked so sweet walking away.

I tag anyone who wants to do it bacause everyone I know has already been tagged.

Aloha

Hey everyone!! I am sad to say that we are back from Hawaii. We had an awsome time, and only came back because we missed our kids so much....we even thought about shipping them there!! We spent a lot of time walking, drinking and just sitting around. Things move really slow in Hawaii....nobody is in a hurry to get anywhere. During our time there we went on a tour of the Island, went on a dinner cruise and a Luau. Other than that we spent our days on the beach.

Below, Joe and I are posing in Becky and Wades room after several drinks, waiting to go eat!!!




We went snorkling one day....it was called Captain Bobs Snorkle picnic. They pick us up and take us out to a sand bar....this is where you get your snorkling gear and practice....for those of you who have never been snorkling....Practice is very important!!! I had such a hard time putting my face in the water and not hyperventilating. After a bit we all got the hang of it and joined in the volleyball game they set up on the sand bar...except Joe of course....he was just a little fish out there....since there was nothing but sand in that area he finally got bored and joined the game. After volleyball, we had burgers on the boat and then they took us out to a coral reef. Once there they wanted me to jump in with all those fish, and I couldn't even touch!!!!!!

Needless to say there was lots of screaming and freaking out. Once I got away from the area where they were feeding the fish and there weren't so many I calmed down and had a really great time!!! Again, Joe was a little fish and of course was the first one in the water and the last one out. He says that snorkling was his favorite thing that we did while in Hawaii.
Joe and I are below after snorkling.

The sunsets in Hawaii are just to beautiful for words and a picture just doesn't do it justice. I put one in anyway just to give you an idea.....I came home with lots of pictures of the sunset and also a lot of pictures of the views, it is just amazing!!

View from Dukes bar...one of our favorite places to hang out!!

And of course we had happy hour a few of the nights. Below is Joe and I after several happy hours!!!

Christmas 2008

Dawson Just Chillin' in his new chair

Mom and Dad with all the grandkids

Where's the love?

Morgan in Christmas dress....her baby had a matching one, she was so excited!!

Mason, Morgan, and Dawson (wow....they are all looking at the camera)

We had a great Christmas this year.....Christmas Eve we spent at mom and Dads. We had supper and the kids opened gifts....it was great to see the excitement on their faces with each gift. Christmas morning we opened gifts with the kids and had our traditional family christmas breakfast...which Joe cooks!!! In the afternoon on Christmas day we went to Jim and Junes and opened gifts with them as well.....the kids were all christmased out by the time we were done with all our christmas celebrations. It took me days to get the house put back together and get all the new stuff put away. Hope everyone else had a happy holiday!!!

Catching Up!!

Mason Before his first school Christmas concert.

Below, Dawson holding his baby cousin Maia.....she stayed with us for the whole weekend....wow....what an adjustment....especially for "OUR" baby....Dawson didn't really like having a baby around!!

Mason and Morgan telling Santa what they want for Christmas!!

All the grandkids before the Lensing Thanksgiving/Christmas....we were so thankful this year to be able to spend the holidays with My grandpa Lensing.

Morgan on a hayride in November

Halloween

Mason the pumpkin

Morgan the princess

Dawson the Chicken

Mason, Morgan and I on our traditional walk in Camden....we go every year in early October for Grandpa Kors birthday

Birthday and Chucky Cheese

The above pictures are of Dawson's 2nd birthday. When it came time to open presents, he opened the first one and it was cars, he refused to put them down to open the next present. Needless to say he ended up sitting on Great Grandma Marilyn's lap to open all presents and we had to eventually pry the cars out of his hands so he could open each present. He got LOTS of cars, trucks, tractors, and trailers and has had a blast playing with them ever since.(Note: Rylie is in the dragon costume, she found it during the party and wore it the rest of the time)

October 11th was Dawson's 2nd birthday, so we took the kids to Sioux Falls and did family pictures and Chucky Cheese. Family pictures took way longer than we thought they would and the kids were getting VERY crabby, as well as Joe!!! Despite the long wait at pictures the kids were excited to get to Chucky Cheese. Above they are waiting for our pizza to come. Mason told me to stop taking pictures because we just did them!!

Dawson was fascinated with the mouse on the wall, he kept going up to it and putting his face right up next to it.
As I have said before, Dawson LOVES Cars and Trucks. There were a few of them that he spent lots of time in. This particular car had a man sitting in it and he was just loving him up!!! He would sit in the cars and I just kept putting coins in, he got really upset when other kids wanted to have a turn as well.

Needless to say the kids were worn out by the end of the day. Dawson was out in less than 3 minutes, and Morgan made it about 5 minutes!!

Remembering Molly

This is Molly. Joe and I got Molly 8 years ago and she became our baby. I remember when she was a pup how she used to run behind us and try to bite our toes and how she used to chew on everything, including socks, shoes and other unmentionables!! As a pup she would whine all night because she wanted out of her kennel. Eventually we gave in and let her sleep with us occasionally. She always laid by us when we would watch tv, she loved to be close to people. Molly was always very hyper, she would bark at people outside and she would jump on people inside, but as she got older she calmed down a lot....people didn't always see that because she would still get very excited when people came over. But she usually just laid around all day, running away from the kids.

She was there when each of the kids came home from the hospital. She would sit by them and guard them from anybody who was visiting, like she was making sure nobody was going to harm them. She has been in a lot of family and holiday pictures through the years.

On September 26th, 2008, Molly died. She was always running around town if the kids left the door open to long. On this particular day she didn't get across the street fast enough and a car hit her right up the road from our house. It was very hard on Joe and I, we loved her like a child and it is hard to forget someone who has been there everyday for 8 years. Not a day has gone by since she died that I haven't thought of her. For the sake of the kids we told them that she got old and went to sleep. I know that someday they may read these blogs and they will wonder why we lied, but it was so hard on us and we didn't feel that they needed to know how it happened only that it did. We didn't want anyone blaming the others for letting her out in the first place.

I am writing this blog more for my kids than anyone else. I want them to know about Molly someday, because she was a huge part of our lives and she is missed very much.

Cheap entertainment!!

A few weeks ago, Joe brought home a large box from work.....the kids turned it into their fort.....it is just amazing that we buy them all these new and expensive toys and they want to play in a box!! Three kids inside was a little crowded so the older two kept kicking Dawson out, and he was having none of it. Mason even went so far as to write a note and put it on the door of the fort, it said, "only two people inside." Did he really think Dawson could read or that he even cared about Mason's rules? Oh well, Morgan got bored with it fast enough so Dawson and Mason could play in it by themselves.

These are a few of my favorite things

Pssst....Hi everyone, it's me Dawson!!! My mommy is busy and she is always on this thing, so I thought I would see what it is all about.

This lady here is my mommy.....she was my first love. I love her so much that I would hardly go to anyone else when I was little, even my daddy!!! Daddy always tried really hard to make me come to him and love him as much as my mommy, it just wasn't gonna happen, mommy's the greatest!!! I have lots of favorite things, but mommy is my all time favorite!!! I love to just sit on her lap or have her carry me around, although mommy says I am getting to big to carry, thats just cause she takes such good care of me that I keep on getting bigger and bigger.

This here is my blankie. Now, I love this blankie almost as much as my mom and dad...it's so soft and I love the little fringes on the outside edges....my mom says I wouldn't even go to sleep if I didn't have my blankie with me. I used to hold the fringes up by my face when I was little, but I'm big now, so I don't do that anymore. (Well, maybe sometimes!!) I love to cuddle on mommy and daddy's lap with my blankie, mommy says I am the most cuddly of all us kids!!

This is my daddy!!! It may have taken me awhile but he has become one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. Mommy says I was 20 months old before I even said "daddy." This really drove daddy nuts.....sometimes I wouldn't say it just to see how he would react....he tried so hard. My favorite things about daddy are his truck, his trailer, his truck, our wrestling matches, did I mention his truck....I really like his truck!! My daddy calls me "Thor." I guess it's because I am so big!!!

These are MY trucks....actually they are Mason's but I took them as my own. We have lots and lots of trucks at our house!!! I LOVE trucks, cars, and trailers that hook to the trucks!!! Wow, they are so much fun. Mommy gets a little crabby when I constantly ask her to "fix it", I have a little trouble hooking up the trailers. She also gets crabby when I sit on her lap with ALL my cars and trucks, but she lets me because she loves me soooo much!!!

This right here is another of my favorites....my cup!! I don't go very far without it, and I lose them in the house or outside lots and lots.....mommy is always wandering around looking for my cup.....it's really funny when I hide it really good and she doesn't find it for a few days.....she makes a really funny face when she puts it in the sink to wash it!!! You know I think I heard her say something about taking it away soon.....I don't get it, why would she do that?

This is molly!! She doesn't really like me much.....I think it may have something to do with me chasing her around the house with my 4-wheeler, or maybe because I really enjoy hitting her, especially with my cup!! I have lots of fun with molly!!!

Well, I think I hear mommy coming, I better go. OH.....Don't tell her I was using the computer...she gets really upset when I touch the buttons!!! See ya!! Dawson

Outdoor Fun

The kids have been enjoying the warm weather this week. Here we have everyone taking a ride on the 4-wheeler with dad. Morgan is never ready for the picture on the first shot, but was really getting into it in the next two. Dawson is always happy just being on the 4-wheeler and Mason, well he had just had a little fit and wasn't in the mood for mom's pictures, go figure!!!

Dawson working on his dunking skills!!!