Happy Birthday Uncle Bran!

A couple weeks ago we celebrated Brandon's Birthday at Bucca with Grandma and Grandpa Thompson.  Mmmm so yummy.  Love that place!

Carter and I with the Birthday Boy!

The Birthday Boy blowing out his candle!

mmmmm rice cereal

More like....what the heck is this stuff.

I think more came out than went in.

This is kind of fun mommy!  I am going to spit all of it back out!

Camping!

4th of July Camping with the Chap Family and Friends!

We headed out to Cokato (Mel and Dave's place) and spent a night with Carissa, Eric and Cohen in their new camper!

We had a blast, it cooled off for us just as we got there and then the storms came through.

Carter had a blast on the hay ride.  And Cam who is Carter's favorite....got a surprise when Carter decided to have an UH OH... accident.

look closely at our little mans shorts....I couldn't even remember the last time he did this....he must have been having too much fun to think about using the bathroom :)

Thanks Cam for being such a good sport.  Carter was just marking his territory....you are definitely his favorite :)

Best pic I got of Carter and Cohen that night....I think we will have to wait a couple years to get a decent picture of these little guys together.

TROUBLE.

His absolute favorite spot to be.
On the Four Wheeler with Uncle Eric

Cohen with his Uncle Josh
I am surprised Josh even got to hold him....this little guy is GO GO GO all the time.
Busy busy boy (I forget how busy these little boys can be at this age)
Loving up all of that blonde hair!

Parker having a good time camping too!

UMMMMM Eric.....Don't know if I approve.  Carter DRIVING the mini four wheeler.
NEXT TIME THERE WILL BE A HELMET involved.
What a big boy!  And he LOVED it!

4 Months

Can you even believe it.

I can't.

Our baby girl is 4 months old! (well kind of 4 1/2)  I wanted to wait to post this until after her 4 month appointment.  Everything went very well.  She is a healthy little gal.  Growing like she should (just not as fast as her big brother).  Here are her stats:

13 lbs. 13 oz.  (50-75%)

25.5 inches (95%)

41 cm (50-75%)

She is one long little gal.

She wears some 3 month clothes and some 6 month.

The onesie she has on in the pic is 6.  Still a little baggy.

Reese did great at the doctor.

She got a couple shots and an icky oral vaccine.  Cried for a bit, but was all smiles after momma comforted her.  

She is such a GREAT babe.  

Sleeps through the night (however for this past week has been waking up, but is soothed with a re-insertion of a paci.

Our little gal LOVES to be in the front of the stroller.  

She is completely content when we go to the zoo and other places.  

Her FAVORITE person to watch of course is her BIG brother.  He can also make her giggle like no other!  She is extremely ticklish and daddy can get her in just the right spot.

She is rolling all over the place and loves being on her tummy.

I have even caught her sticking her bottom up in the air and scooting forward.  UH OH.  I thought the second wasn't supposed to move as early :(

She loves talking to herself, especially in the morning, I can just hear her cooing and babbling away.

Our favorite is her little scream/squeal.  She loves when she does it, surprises herself and does it some more.  She is incredibly entertained by her noises.

Reese loves grabbing for things and puts them directly into her mouth.  And this girl is a drooler!  I had to buy a bunch of bibs to keep her poor little shirts somewhat dry.

We are so in love with our little Reesey Girl.

And can't wait to see what she does next :)

The 4th

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!

We sure did!

We spent most of the HOT day inside (AC is a wonderful thing :)

Auntie Carissa, Uncle Eric and Cousin Cohen came over to play!

The boys played in the pool for a while, we went to Space Aliens and just relaxed all afternoon.

I got a call around 6 asking if I wanted to stay home for the evening from work.

(I was only going in for 4 hours)

And I said...."OF COURSE!!"

We went and got some ice cream at dairy queen and hung out with all of the neighbors.

And we may or may not have had a FABULOUS fireworks display in our very own backyard :)

Here are my little peanuts on the 4th!

All smiles!

Some cousin love!

Mr. and Mrs. Fortman!

Last weekend was amazing.

Okay that's really all I need to write :)

Well I will say a tad bit more.

My bestie from college got married!

Miss Amanda Ewald married Paul Fortman at Lutsen Resort off of Lake Superior in a GORGEOUS ceremony on 6.30.12

Carter and Lily were with Nana and Reese went with Grandma and Grandpa Remme

The kiddos had a good time and so did we!

It was great to have a weekend away, but by Sunday I was missing my littles.

Friday night they hosted a BBQ on the beach followed by a bonfire!

The Bride to Be and I.

Me and the Hubs

The Cute couple!

Wendy with two of Amanda's sisters.....Peacin all over the world!

St. Olaf Girls
Briony, Claire, Amanda and Wendy

And here she comes!
Dave Ewald walking his 1st of 4 girls down the aisle.

Just love her to pieces

So happy!

Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Fortman!!

Love

I feel like this blog post is going to be one of those "Erin Rambling Sessions"

But I just need to write, write and write some more.

I know most of the time I use this blog to post pictures of family and friends and keep people up to date about what is happening in our life.

But today I just want to write.

I don't know if it's because we had a couple things happen at work that shook me up, whether it's the death of a local 16 year old, whether it's because my best friend got married this weekend, whether it's the 15th anniversary of my Dad's death, if it's seeing a healthy sister of the bride celebrate the weekend after having clean scans and being cancer free for a year, or whether it's the diagnosis of a Trisomy 18 babe of my sister-in-law's girlfriend.

Life...so incredibly precious....and I am so incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful family.

I don't know if this is God's way of making me slow down and truly appreciate the loves in my life.

Well God.  You did a pretty good job because my mind was spinning and now I am sitting here just sitting and praising you as I listen to my 4 month old babble and my two year old play.

Tears.

Tears.

Tears.

I love all of you.

I hope each of you remembers to take time out of your busy day to kiss those you love.

I know there are days that I forget.

But it is special days/anniversaries/celebrations/diagnoses etc that help you remember.

Please pray for those who are hurting and need strength.

That's all.  I just needed to get that off my chest.

love