Costco Chocolate Cake + Gammons Kids=Animals

Moments like the one pictured above have to be documented.

We love the chocolate cake from Costco.  Brad and Sarah gave us the leftovers from our Mothers' Day picnic.  But when the kids get into it they kind of make a mess.  So when we were down to the last dregs of the cake, we sent the kids out to the driveway with forks and said, "Go to it."  The picture doesn't do justice to the fun and comradery that they enjoyed.  I sure love my family.

Nathan John at 9-Months-Old

Nathan turned 9-months-old last week.  He has become a climber.  And he is finally (for the last three nights) not getting up multiple times a night.  We are so thankful for him.  He has been an amazing addition to our family.  We love you, little buddy.

All of the kids love to be around Nathan.  The boys are a huge help with him.  Here's a video from today when they had him up in their room.

Country Livin': Muddin'

One of the funnest things that we have done this spring is driving the Rhino through the many mud puddles on the property.  It usually starts by us just driving slow through them and watching the water spray up on the side.  Then just before we go in, I do a couple of runs through the big ones, listen to the kids squeal and grin myself as the mud sprays up into our faces.  It makes you want to put on some country music, crack open a cold one, and hoot and holler.  As you can see, I already have the cut off jeans to get us started.

 Close up of the mud.

Minnesota Spring

This spring has been crazy.  When we got a huge snow in late April we thought, "Wow, this is late.  That's okay though.  It won't last long."

It didn't last long.  We were actually able to get the chicks (now almost full grown chickens) out to the chicken shed and out of our basement.

We had a stretch of beautiful spring days with temperatures in the 70's.  We were all outside for almost every waking hour.  The last two days have been much colder though.  And today we woke up to this.

We shouldn't be too surprised.  This is Minnesota after all.  It will be 70 degrees again on Monday. 

Quotes: This is not funny.

When Lucy was a baby we always said, "She is going to have a lot to say when she learns how to talk."  We were right.  It is great to learn what is going on in her sweet little head.

We were talking about a pretty serious topic today at lunch and Lucy said the following in all seriousness and completely unrelated:

"And if you get lost the police will come."

The kids all started laughing (and I tried to hide my laughter.)  She replied,

"You guys,  this is not funny."

A Caleb Video

Boys in the hood

We found a bunch of pictures and videos on my mom's computer of the boys from the past few summers. This is what happens when we leave them alone at Gigi's. I'll try to post a few more in the coming days.