Caleb's Recital

Caleb had his end of the year violin recital last night.  It was a lot of fun.  We really like his teacher.  She knows just when to push and when to let off.  It's been amazing to watch his improvement this year under her tutelage.  She has some students that she teaches at home, some she teaches at a music school and some at an area college.  Last night was just her home students.  With all of the students playing, the whole thing lasted about an hour.  That's my kind of recital.  Caleb played three Bach minuets and did a great job.  Also, thanks to his accompanist.  She did a great job too.

A Busy Little Guy

Nathan is now ultra mobile.  He is getting around and getting into everything.  He is figuring out how to express more of his opinions as well.  He is still full of smiles and likes to pull out his tricks: waving hello, pointing at the basketball hoop, clapping and pat-a-cake.  He'll get a little taste of that from this video.

Art Week

Last week Amanda and Shirley did an Art Week with the kids and some of their neighbor friends.  It was a lot of fun.  They created a still life, mosaics, a bead sun catcher, paper mache and a few other things.  Then on Thursday night we had all of the parents over for a gallery night.  Amanda is amazing when it comes to organizing these things.  She takes care of every little detail.  The kids all had a good time.  It was fun for us to see all of their art aptitudes.

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.