Our 4th Wedding Anniversary...

Shea and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on August 5th. It was a Thursday night, so we decided to stay home, grill out and enjoy it together with Larkyn! We were able to go out together the following Sunday for a "date morning/afternoon". The past 3 years we have made it a priority to golf somewhere we have never golfed and eat somewhere we have never eaten. Thanks to our wonderful friends (and neighbors) the Kunze's, we were able to spend a morning golfing at Emerald Green's Golf Club in Haistings and follow it up with fabulous burgers from House of Coates for lunch. It has been a wonderful 4 years and we look forward to many more as our family continues to change and grow!

Where it all began...Go Warriors:)

Yes, that is a 52 for me and a 44 for Shea:)

(That's what happens when you only play 2-3 times a year!)

Basically a small townie bar with fabulous bar food!

Falkirk Festival

Last Saturday, August 7th, we celebrated our 2nd Annual Falkirk Festival with our neighbors. Falkirk Festival was set up as a neighborhood party in order to get to know our neighbors in the Falkirk area better. Last year there were only 11 houses on Falkirk. This year there are more than 30! This area is definitely growing and there are very few open lots to build on!

We had a pretty good turn out this year. The weather was very different from last year. Last year we were wearing stocking caps, sweatshirts and jeans because the temperature was in the upper 40's, windy and cloudy. This year, it was 90's, sunny and muggy! Thankfully we have wonderful neighbors who brought down a couple tents which provided shade. The big tent worked perfect to shade the 5 newest members of Falkirk all born in the last 5 months!

The Lakeville Fire Department also made an appearance at Falkirk Festival this year. The kids enjoyed climbing on the fire truck, trying on the fire gear, and listening to the loud sirens and horns as the firefighters drove away.

Below are some of the Falkirk kiddos...

No longer the DINKS of the neighborhood...

Falkirk Fred

See more pictures below...

Falkirk Festival Pictures

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Teething???

Larkyn has been quite the drooler for some time now and loves to put things in her mouth. It is still a little early for teeth, but we definitely can't rule them out. One day she was a little fussy and gnawing and drooling on everything so I put an ice cube in a fresh food feeder (basically a small mesh pouch). She LOVED it! She sucked it down so fast.

"What? I'm not done yet!"

Sophie the Giraffe came in the mail the other day and it has been in Larkyn's mouth ever since! Sophie is suppose to be a great teething toy, made from natural rubber. It is small and really easy for her to grip, and has plenty of limbs to put in her mouth! It squeaks too! For some reason babies are super attracted to this toy. All of Larkyn's friends have been drawn to it and have liked to try it out too!

"Yum, Sophie's ear is tasty!"

"So is Sophie's nose and mouth!"

Larkyn has found her toes...

Over the past couple of weeks Larkyn has really discovered her toes. It started with her bending over while sitting on our lap. Now anytime she is on her back she puts her feet in the air and grabs her toes. Her toes have even made it to her mouth a couple times too! She is quite the flexible little girl and doesn't let her rolls get in the way:)

"Wow, my big toe really is like my mom's!"

"How does that go again? This little piggy went to the market..."

"Thumbs up for Daddy kissing my belly!"

"Look at how flexible I am!"

Starting cereal...

We decided to give cereal a try this week. Though it was fun to start, I'm not quite sure that she is ready for it yet. We are still working on the bottle business and swallowing from something other than what Mama provides! When given the cereal, we got the "bitter beer taste" look and most of it just came drooling right back out. She seemed a little more interested in the spoon than the actual cereal on the spoon! I think we'll give it a rest for a little while and try again in the next month.

"I'm here, wearing my bib, what's going on? What are they going to do?"

"Hmmm..."

"I don't know about this stuff..."

"I'd rather have the spoon!"

A weekend at the cabin...

We spent the weekend at my aunt and uncle's cabin in Stone Lake, Wisconsin. It was a very relaxing weekend filled with great food, company, conversation, and rest! Saturday morning I woke up around 7:00 thinking Larkyn would be up soon and ready to eat so Shea and I could go out for a run. 7:30 rolled around, still sleeping. 8:00...still sleeping! Finally we told Mary and Joe to go out for their bike ride and we would run when they got back. Larkyn woke up at 8:30 a.m. and went back down for a two hour nap at 10:30! When Shea and I returned from our run we saw Mary out on the porch taking notes for her infant study! She had just put Larkyn down for her nap and wanted to record what worked well for helping her settle down. We like to call Mary the "Sleep Doctor" and kept joking that she was the reason for Larkyn's well rested weekend! Other than rest, we spent time down on the beach/dock and watched Mary get up on one ski. We tried going for a boat ride, but unfortunately Larkyn didn't quite fit into the infant life jacket we brought with us! She got to play in the water a bit, relax on the sand, and take a nap in her pack n' play. Overall, it was a great weekend away with very little we HAD to do. It was wonderful to relax and not really do much except enjoy family!

Cooling off with some water from the sippy cup!


Larkyn wasn't too sure what to think about the water. It was a little cold, but after a couple times of being dipped she started kicking and splashing with her feet.

Mama Mueske and Larkyn

Mary's victory...getting up on one ski!

Daddy and Larkyn watching from the shore.

We aren't kidding when we said the "sleep doctor" must have had some influence on Larkyn. We figured out at one point she had slept 17 hours out of 25 hours that we had been there. It didn't matter where she slept...she was out! The pack n' play had a mosquito net, which worked perfect for her outdoor slumber:)

I absolutely love this picture! She is totally posing! Her arm is even wrapped around me!

Did I mention that Larkyn slept a lot this weekend???

While Larkyn was taking her evening nap, Shea and I headed down to the dock to watch the sunset.

We don't capture many photos of just the two of us anymore...

I love this picture too! I think she is starting to realize that Mama is a "scrapbooker" and is beginning to pose! "Say cheese!"

Larkyn and Aunt Mary

We played a "friendly"...okay, "competitive" game of Chinese Checkers. Despite his lack of interest in game playing, Joe decided to whip up on all of us!

Oh, is that Larkyn sleeping again?

Uncle Joe, Aunt Mary, and Larkyn

(I think Larkyn was a little bummed to be leaving)

Mama, Larkyn and Daddy

Yes, Larkyn slept for just over 2 hours on the way home!