Happy 7th Birthday, Sawyer!

Sawyer turned 7 today!  His party is not until tomorrow, but we let him open his gifts from us.

 He also go to pick out what we should eat for supper and he chose to roast hot dogs over the fire pit-he's my kind of boy!

 Plus, he had to have a candle to blow out on his actual birthday, so I picked up some Dairy Queen ice cream sundaes.  

 He wouldn't tell me what he wished for, though.

 The next day was his party and once again he chose to have it at the pool.  Since it was a pool party, I made him a cake with bears at the pool!  He LOVED it, so I was happy.  Plus, it was really fun to make.

 We all had a great time at the pool and his grandparents, cousins, aunts, and a good friend were all able to come.

 Sawyer and his good friend Elijah.

 Now for the best part~cake and presents!

 I love the look they are giving each other here.

 Then it was back to swimming! 

 And finally we wrapped up the birthday week with dinner at Applebee's.

Happy Birthday little buddy, you mean the world to us! We love you.

Happy 15th Alaina!

My beautiful first born turned 15 today! What an awesome young lady she is and I wouldn't change a thing about her.  She is still really into everything Sweden, so I made her a Swedish cottage cheese cake.  It was different but pretty good.  She loved it and that's all that mattered.

 Happy Birthday, Alaina, I hope all your wishes come true this year.  I love you with everything I have.

We had Alaina's cake the night before her birthday because we were headed to the Swedish Institute in Minneapolis on her birthday.  The Swedish Institute is a museum, a mansion a Swedish couple had built when they moved to Minneapolis, and gift shop, and Swedish cafe.  It was a great day spent with her! There are pictures somewhere, but I cannot find them...:(

Also, this same day, my sister-in-law (from Spokane, WA) was in Minneapolis for training for her new job and she brought my nephew Sam. This was our first time meeting him and I was so excited!  We drove over to her hotel and spent a little time with them before we traveled back home.

 He is a doll and looks just like my brother.

  We all fell in love with him!

 Alaina had a great birthday-Happy 15th!

Water!

Fun with the water table!

First time at the pool

 I had a rare day off from watching the baby, so we decided to take advantage of it and go to the pool.  It really wasn't that hot and it was overcast, but Cora was beyond excited as this was our first time there this summer! 

 Jonnie really is the best big brother a girl could ask for.

 Talking her into going down the frog slide...

  He convinced her!

 She did it!

 Over and over again (:

Last day of K

Well, it's the last day of Kindergarten.

My little guy is officially a First grader...sniff, sniff....

Kindergarten Field Trip

Today, I had the privilege of chaperoning Sawyer's field trip to the Amazen Farmyard. I had so much fun with him and all his friends.  He really has an awesome class and teacher and I am really sad it is ending for him.

Here he is with Ethan and Annie waiting to jump in the bounce houses.

His teacher, Mrs. Hulscher is right in there with all the kids!

His whole class went down the slide!

Next, we went through the maze, which I thought was very hard and confusing.  I even got a little nauseous going around and around.  We didn't complete the whole thing and eventually cheated our way out.

The rest of the time was spent looking at the many animals they have there,

going down the big slide,

and riding the train.  Here is a picture of his whole class.  I'm really going to miss these kids and especially his awesome teacher!

But Sawyer is an amazing boy and I know he will make great friends in first grade, too.

I am always so proud of him when I see him with others.  He is kind and friends with everyone.  He is also so respectful to his teacher and all the adults he is in contact with. Plus, he is really a funny kid-I love what comes out of his mouth sometimes!

I just love this boy and he makes my heart full.