baby hug

We love our little guy and his sweet hugs!

Turtle Lake

Fun weekend with grandma and grandpa at the lake.  A few photos of our water-skiing kiddos...

that's not the dog...

Found this guy in our front yard this afternoon.  We later discovered that he'd been in the lower garage feasting on our supply of "deer food".  What a mess!  

Gotta love these big creatures up here in the north woods!  

Beach Picnic

Today the kids and I packed lunch boxes and ventured out on Minnesota Point to find the sandy beach.  It was a beautiful, clear day with plenty of sunshine.  Made us remember all the good times we had on the beach at Lake Michigan while we lived in GR.

Refresher course for me in beach rules:

1. Everything & everyone you bring to the beach will come home sandy.

2. Sand does not taste good in a sandwich or on apple slices.

3. Swimsuit or not - Kids will always get wet when they are near the water.

4. Making memories is worth the effort it takes to pack up and get out of the house!

sleeping sisters

Rachel climbed up on Hannah's lap and fell asleep yesterday, and this afternoon Della fell asleep on Megan's lap.  Maybe I'll curl up in the beanbag for a nap tomorrow...

Lake Fun

Our family had a great long weekend at Watab lake with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great grandma.  After a LONG spring we were so thankful for the hot temperatures and sunshine.  Hans was not lacking for attention or kisses this weekend.

 Hannah enjoyed a mocha from her daddy.

 Luke-man learned to ski this weekend.  Uncle Carl celebrates his victory with raised arms on the dock.

 Hans took a skinny-dip

 Proud 8 year-old

Daddy and Lars

Like Father, Like Son

patriotic toes

Sample of this week's artwork:

Hannah and Megan had fun painting their toes in preparation for lake time over the 4th.

an update... finally

We've been having so much fun that we've been too tired to blog.  Or is it that we just haven't loaded any photos on to the computer for a while? Or maybe we just forgot...

Here are a few photos of the last month -

Our beautiful ballerinas.  Hannah and Megan danced a beautiful praise routine to the Kutless song, "What Faith Can Do".  No other girls in their class this year, so they had precious time together as sisters and learned to work together and cooperate in new ways.

 Baby Hans catching a little snooze in the early morning light.  He is getting so big - rolling over, giggling and interacting with the craziness around him.  He can sleep through anything (including sirens, piano pounding and loud singing).  He's settled in to a great routine of eat, play, sleep, repeat.  

 Hannah learned to milk a goat at the Lemke farm last week.  We even made fresh goat cheese.

 Della and Henry hanging out with the baby goats.

While we were at the farm Matt was busy catching big fish in Canada.  We've been eating delicious lake trout and walleye.  

This is the mama checking in.  Just wanted to share a few photos of the recent fun up here...

 Sweet Hannah has been taking wonderful care of her baby brother.  She is so capable and careful.  It is such a joy to watch her grow up with a heart for caring for the little ones.  I tell her that she has more experience with babies and toddlers than I did when she was born.  We're learning together.

I snapped this photo last week when the sun popped out for a few minutes.  Luke grabbed his guitar and decided to practice on the deck while Lars ran circles around him on a tricycle.

 My parents spent a few days with us last week.  Baby Hans found a cozy place on grandpa to snooze.

Yes, he's really eight years old already.  We made him a key lime pie and spent the day playing legos.  We love you, Lukeman!