Breally's 11th birthday....

We helped Breally celebrate her 11th birthday a few weeks early. We arrived earlier in the day on Friday and Larkyn got to meet a new friend, Harper. Harper goes to Janny's for daycare and is 3 weeks younger than Larkyn. The girls enjoyed sharing toys and reaching out for each other.

Grandpa Art came to visit on Friday too!

Saturday morning we sat in the rain to watch Cayden's double header football game.

Cute Cute Cousins!

(Cayden didn't even realize he was covering up the hawkeye on Larkyn's shirt!)

Great Aunt Kiki got to feed Larkyn lunch...

Breally wanted a Survivor Party. Survivor, like the reality TV show. We pulled buffs (headbands) to make the teams and completed many team challenges. We voted people off one by one, competed in individual immunity events, found hidden immunity idols, and more. Shea found the real hidden immunity idol and hid a fake one that Breally found and proceeded to play. The poor girl was blindsided by her own uncle and brother!

Team Espada consisted of Charlie, Janny, Sis, Shea and Breally.

Team Juego consisted of Kiki, May May, Kim, Gene and Cayden.

The final competition...Cayden was the sole survivor!

Iowa and Wisconsin played each other in football this weekend. Larkyn wore her Hawkeye onesie and Badger pants. Unfortunately the Hawkeyes lost, but we still secretly like the Badgers!

Larkyn Kate and Breally Kate with their matching outfits!

Breally's party also included a mystery dinner. Kiki and May May created a list of food disguised by different names and we picked our four course meal including our eating utensils. For example "A road decision" was a fork and "Fall Pickin'" was apple juice. Though our taco meal was all mixed up, it was very delicious!

Cayden and Larkyn had a blast together!

More pictures from the weekend...

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Auntie Megan's Marathon

We traveled to Des Moines on Sunday, October 17 to cheer on my sister Megan as she ran her very first marathon. We are so proud of her and her accomplishment of training for and finishing the Des Moines marathon. It was so much fun going from spot to spot and watching her run. Larkyn was a trooper and enjoyed all of the action as well.

This was right around mile 13...half way there Megs!

Megan's cheering section!

What a run!

More photos from the race...

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Our little Pumpkin...

We had some fun with Larkyn and a 30 pound pumpkin! We got the idea to carve it out and put Larkyn in it from our neighbors. (They did it with both of their boys.) Larkyn was a trooper. She wasn't quite sure what to think about the pumpkin. She stood up in it for awhile then we folded her legs criss cross to sit in it. She even took a little taste of the pumpkin!

Farmer Dan's...

We heard about Farmer Dan's chicken apple brats and had to go check them out. They were definitely delicious! Farmer Dan's is a little place down the road that includes a corn maze, petting zoo, hay ride, haystack maze, a little market, and good food. We spent most of our time in the corn maze hitting dead end after dead end and never making our way to the exit. We entered through the entrance and exited through the same entrance!

Gerten's Pumpkin Festival...

As the guys worked on the basement, the girls went to Gerten's for the Pumpkin festival. There was face painting, pumpkin painting, build your own scarecrow, caramel apples, a petting zoo, a haystack maze, and a spooky maze. We also searched through the stacks of pumpkins to find the perfect one to carve for Larkyn to sit in! It was a beautiful day for October!

"Sally the camel has 2 humps..."

Count Larkula, Witch Nicole, and Ghost Holly

Dead end...

The not so spooky maze...

The caramel apples were delicious...

Larkyn thought so too...at least the apples!

The big pumpkin with the flower on her head costs $7.80!!!

Twin Cities Marathon 2010

Shea ran the Twin Cities Marathon on Sunday, October 3rd. Though it started out a little cool in the morning, it turned out to be a beautiful day for a race. Janny and Charlie made a last minute decision to come up for the race and arrived late Saturday night. Sunday morning we all bundled up and headed up to South Minneapolis to catch Shea and his buddy Scott run by at mile 9. After seeing them run by, we got in the car and drove to mile 14 to cheer them on again. We met up with friends Mike, Katie and Luke, as well as Mat and Moses, who walked up from their house at mile 14. The guys looked great as they passed by us! We met up with them again at mile 17.5. We were cutting it close as quickly parked and ran down to the race road. We waited maybe 2 minutes before they passed us again! Larkyn was such a trooper getting in and out of the car many times. She ate between mile 18 and the finish line. We made it to the finish line with about 10 minutes to spare. Larkyn and I squeezed our way through the crowd and got front row view of Daddy coming into the finish line. Shea did a great job! He finished in 4 hours and 3 minutes. Though he is done running for a little while, he is already talking about running Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN next June.

More pictures from the race...

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Luke's Baptism...

Luke was baptized on Saturday night, October 2nd at Hosanna! Lutheran Church in Lakeville. We were very honored to stand up next to Luke as his Godparents. We look forward to watching him grow and praying for him as he grows spiritually. Katie and Mike like to remind me that the Godmother usually cuts the cake at their godchild's wedding, however it will be hard to do as the mother of the bride! No need to marry them off too soon!

Luke wasn't too happy with Larkyn pulling on his ear...

"Just me and my twin..."

Luke got a good snooze after the service while Larkyn sat and played.

Yes, that is her thumb in her mouth. Larkyn Kate has become a "thumb-sucker". She has started to do it more now that she has teeth, but it still isn't all the time.

"Come here buddy..."

I wanna be just like Daddy...

Larkyn found Shea's foam roller! Shea uses it to stretch before and after his training runs. Larkyn liked rolling it up on her lap and pushing it back down. She would then put her tummy to the floor and stretch out to grab it again.

"Strrreeeetch!"



"Hmmm...this tastes good!"

Probably better not taste that!