Owen's Baptism Weekend

Congratulations to our nephew Owen who was baptized this past Sunday. The baptism service was very nice, and we were happy that we could witness such a special event. The baptism took place in Alexandria, so we drove up on Saturday and stayed at my sister Nikki’s house on Saturday night. My other two sisters and their families ended up staying there as well, so it was fun to have everybody together. I really enjoyed watching the girls play with all of their cousins. At one point, we were able to send all of the kids outside to play and we parents were able to stay in the house and visit! (However, we could keep an eye on them in the backyard through the living room window.) Maya, the oldest cousin at age 6, was quite the mother hen and took good care of everyone. She even came up with the idea of trying to tie a wagon to the back of her battery-powered Jeep to pull the kids in. How creative! We cracked up watching her put this idea into action.

We had one mishap at Nikki & Brian's house. When we were all getting ready for church on Sunday morning, Violet somehow got her hands on a bottle of nail polish and tried to paint her own toenails. She had nail polish all over herself and the hardwood floor before we discovered her. Luckily, she did not have her church dress on yet and the polish was able to be cleaned off the floor. I was a little impressed that she actually knew what to do with the nail polish! We all went to church together for Owen's baptism, and then we had a delicious meal afterward at Nikki & Brian's house. We were all quite tired by the time we got home on Sunday evening. The girls missed naps over the weekend, woke up extra early on Sunday, and did not really sleep in the car on the way home, so they were quite tired and crabby.

Despite being tired, the girls were up early on Monday morning. And they were still crabby. Olivia found her swimsuit in her bedroom and wanted to wear it over her clothes to daycare. She threw a fit when I wouldn’t let her. It was one of those mornings where I felt a little bad about dropping them off at daycare because they were so crabby, but that’s what we pay them for I guess!!

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

The cousins trying to figure out how to pull a wagon with a motorized Jeep:

Violet, Mommy & Olivia before church: Olivia & Violet before church:

Family picture before church (the girls had already lost patience with pictures):

My sisters and me:
Thronson cousins:
The Klimek family (my sister Nikki, her husband Brian & four kids):

Full House

We had quite a nice weekend. We dog-sat for my sister Terri and husband Aaron who were out of town for a wedding. Our girls absolutely love Brinkley, a golden retriever, who pretty much lets the girls do whatever they want to him and doesn’t move a muscle. By the end of the weekend, he was stepped on, sat on, tackled, squeezed, hit, hugged and kissed. The poor dog couldn’t get a moment’s rest because the girls were constantly following him around and wanting to play with him. Violet even enjoyed listening to his heartbeat with her toy stethoscope.

We also had house guests over the weekend. Jamie’s sister Jill came down on Friday night with her two kids, Nicholas and Chelsey. Jill had a class reunion on Saturday, so they came down a little early to spend some time with us. We had a bonfire in our fire pit once they arrived on Friday night. It turned out to be quite a nice evening; even Brinkley sat out by the fire with us.

On Saturday morning, we all (except for Brinkley) went to the Como Zoo. We had a nice time. The girls wanted to walk around the zoo, so they had no desire to be in their stroller. It was a pretty chilly morning; we all had on pants and sweatshirts, which is quite odd for July. The girls were pretty worn out by the time we left the zoo, so they fell asleep on our way back home.

Jill headed out to her class reunion on Saturday afternoon. We kept Nicholas and Chelsey overnight while she was at the party. We spent a lot of time outside. We went to the park by our house. The kids had a blast at the park; we were there for almost two hours. The girls LOVED riding on the tire swing with their cousins. They had never been on a tire swing before! We also took Brinkley for a couple of walks. We looked like quite the crew walking down the street! It was Jamie and me with four kids and Brinkley. Wow!

We had a lot of fun spending time with Nicholas & Chelsey. They were quite helpful with Olivia & Violet, which was nice and gave us a little bit of a break. They left this afternoon, so we were on our own again with the girls and Brinkley. This evening, the girls were quiet wound up. They were being goofy and wrestling each other. While I was giving them a bath, they also had a contest to see who could yell “stop it” the loudest. They were shouting so loudly that Jamie came running into the bathroom because he thought something was wrong! They also discovered that they could dump water outside of the bathtub. I was not very happy about this because they decided to dump water on me as I sat by the side of the tub! They wouldn’t quit, so I made them get out of the tub pretty quickly. After their bath, they were wild again. It didn’t help that Jamie was spinning them in circles to make them dizzy, then they would fall over in a dizzy stupor and not be able to get up.

Aaron picked up Brinkley this evening; it was pretty quiet after he left since the girls were already in bed. Jamie & I were pretty tired out from all of the weekend's activity!

Violet checking Brinkley's heartbeat with her stethoscope:

Violet & Olivia enjoying Como Zoo:

Chelsey, Olivia, Violet & Nicholas when we arrived at Como Zoo:Olivia on the tire swing with Auntie Jill:
Violet on the tire swing with cousin Nicholas:

Fun Times

We took the girls to the Minnesota Zoo on Saturday. We met my sister Terri, her husband Aaron and their son William at the zoo. It was a beautiful morning to be outside; the weather was just perfect! Violet was a little cranky at the beginning, but she came around and enjoyed herself. Olivia had a blast the whole time. They loved the dolphins and fish, and they thought the monkeys were pretty funny too.

Today, we spent a lot of time outside. Over the course of the day, we made two trips to the park, went on a long walk and Jamie took them for a bike ride (he pulls them in a covered cart behind his bike). We also let the girls play out in our yard. We put them in their swimsuits and gave them various sized buckets to play with, which were filled with water. They had such a great time. They liked to stand with their feet in the buckets. We tried turning on the sprinkler because we thought they would enjoy running through it, but Violet got completely freaked out and ran away crying. So the sprinkler was short-lived! Jamie also assembled one of the tricycles we gave them for Christmas. The girls’ legs aren’t quite long enough to peddle, but they had fun sitting on it and ringing the bell.

By the time the girls went to bed tonight, we were completely pooped out. It is amazing how two 19-month-old kids can just wear you out. Olivia has become a big talker. If you say a full sentence, she will repeat the last word in the sentence almost every time. She also loves to hear herself talk, and will say a word over and over and over and over until we get tired of hearing it and find a way to distract her with something else. They both love to talk on the phone now. They say “hello” over and over into the phone. It is crazy how much they know. Olivia had a Dora the Explorer ring on her finger that she got as a present, and I asked her who was on the ring not expecting her to know the answer. Well, she said “Dora” and I just looked at her in shock because I have no idea how she knew that. They don’t watch much TV at home, so I don’t think they’ve ever seen one of Dora’s shows!

They still love to eat too, especially fresh fruit. They can pack more fruit into their bellies than I can. And Violet loves milk. Sometimes she will drink three or four glasses of milk in a sitting.

Our latest challenge has been trying to discourage their tendency to hit. They don’t quite listen to us when we explain that hitting is not nice, although I think they feel bad after they do it. They will hit you and then give you a hug right away and say “sorry.” So we just have to figure out how to teach them to not hit and just be nice in the first place! Ah, the joys of parenting.

Daddy, Olivia & Violet in the chicken barn at the zoo:

Olivia in the chicken barn at the zoo:
Violet in the chicken barn at the zoo: Violet enjoying the zoo: Olivia & Violet at the zoo: Family picture in front of the Africa exhibit at the zoo: In the goat barn at the zoo:

Olivia with her Auntie Terri at the zoo:Violet playing with buckets of water:

Violet & Olivia playing with buckets of water:

Olivia:

Violet & Olivia on their trike:

July 4th Weekend

We had a very fun July 4th weekend starting on Friday, July 3rd. Jamie & I both had the day off from work, so we drove up to the Suchy farm that morning. Jamie's siblings and their families came out to the farm, so we spent a lot of time outside together. Jamie, Joey, Luke & Nicholas planted an apple tree by Jim's deer stand in honor of his memory. Nicholas didn't have any pants with him, so he hiked his socks up to his knees which we had to tease him about. The girls loved to chase the chickens and kittens, but couldn’t catch any of them. Grandpa Suchy is building a wagon, so they sat on it with Daddy. I also pushed them on the swing; they both wanted to sit on it at the same time, of course. The weather was beautiful, so we enjoyed being outside. After it got dark, Joey shot off some fireworks. It was very relaxing and fun to spend time with the Suchy family.

We participated in the annual Suchy golf tournament the morning of Saturday, July 4th. My team ended up shooting a 1 under par and we had a lot of fun. Jamie's team ended up tying for first place with a score of 3 under par. You may be wondering why we aren't on the same team. I'll just say that we golfed together the first year, and then decided we were better off being on separate teams! :) It was beautiful weather for golfing. We went to the parade in Evansville in the afternoon. The girls looked very festive in red, white and blue. I thought they would be scared of all of the parade noises (fire truck sirens, tractors, etc) but they both did very well and seemed to enjoy the parade. Olivia was pretty tentative and did not want to go out into the street to pick up candy; she mainly wanted to sit on somebody’s lap and just watch. Violet loved running out into the street and picking up candy as people tossed it from their floats. Grandpa Thronson and Uncle Aaron marched in the color guard which was neat. Violet even put her hand over her heart as the color guard passed by with the flag.

After the parade, we went down to the park where there was a petting zoo set up. The girls went into the pen with cousin Maya to pet the animals. Olivia loved it! She was smiling and trying to pet the goats, little horses, and sheep. She almost got knocked over by a horse, but didn’t seem to mind. Violet was scared and wanted to come out of the pen right away. I think she was overwhelmed by all the animals and kids in such a small space.

We went out to the Thronson farm after we left Evansville. All eight of the Thronson cousins were there, along with a few of Maya’s cousins from the Klimek side. The girls had a blast! Grandma Thronson had many fun things for them to do. It was very warm outside, so they had a lot of fun playing in the pool. We all went for a hayride later in the afternoon. We attempted to line up the eight Thronson cousins in age order for a picture, but it was tough to get all of them to stand still! This was a tradition with my cousins when I was little, so we hope to continue this each year with the Thronson cousins. The girls were so tired out that they weren’t able to stay up for fireworks, but I went into Evansville and watched them with some of my other nieces and nephews. It was a fantastic weekend.

Olivia walking around the Suchy farm:

Violet on the Suchy farm:

Violet smelling Grandma Suchy's flowers: Nicholas, Joey, Luke & Jamie before planting the apple tree by Jim's deer stand:
Olivia with her Auntie Jill:
Mommy pushing Olivia & Violet on the swing:
Violet & Olivia with Daddy on the wagon built by Grandpa Suchy:
Violet & Olivia at the parade with Grandpa & Grandma Suchy:
Violet & Olivia waiting for the parade to start:

The color guard heading up the parade (Grandpa Thronson is on the far right in the front row, and Aaron is on the far left in the front row):

Violet showing allegiance to the flag:

Going for a hayride on the Thronson farm:Thronson cousins in age order:
This is what it's like trying to get 8 kids to stand still for more than one second:
Looking at the cows in the barnyard:
Violet & Olivia in the pool:
Olivia:
Violet & Olivia with Grandpa Thronson: