Happy Birthday Madalyn

What a great day. Madalyn is celebrating her 11th birthday.

Maddie is such a joy. She has been the poster child for being the oldest, Big sister.

Maddie is so helpful to her sisters, and brother. She is willing most of the time to lend a helping hand.

When we found out we were pregnant with Maddie it was a fun surprise.

Delivering her was a long 24 hours, yet the end results were perfect. It is hard to put into words the first moment of seeing your first child, and becoming instant parents to this little one.

One thought that comes to mind is love. We love Maddie and we are happy to be celebrating her big day today. Happy Birthday Mads.

Fathers Day

Maverick in charge of buttering the pancakes

The Girls crisped the Bacon, and scrambled the Eggs to perfection.


"Dad are you going to eat that all by yourself?"


We had a great Fathers day. It all started off with a Bang...clatter, and a fight about who was going to deliver the Breakfast in Bed. I was a bit nervous about this, I am not a big advocate for Breakfast in Bed for fear something was going to be spilt all over my new comforter set, but lack for a better planning this was HIS big gift. The kids did a great job, and the bed went unscathed.


Happy Fathers day to a great Husband who makes being a Mom a bit easier.

Mall of America

Well in just a short drive up North we are blessed with the 8th wonder of the World. Mall of America! First we parked across the street and went to IKEA! Our big purchase there was 6 Hot dogs @ a buck a piece. 3 Sodas, a bag of Swedish fish, and a pan of cinnamon rolls. We were saving our big spending for MOA. So we trot on over to the Enormous building. 3 Stories high, and first thing that we walk into is the amusement park! No! we tell the kids, we just got back from Disneyland. So we keep walking. Next we see a Karate demonstration. They plead to start Karate. No! we tell them Remember the stories I told you of when Uncle Ralph would practice Karate on me and aunt Becky with his Num-chucks; pain and a broken leg. So we walk to the nearest map stand and find out just where we should go the Shark tank! So as we are looking over the pricing we realize....we are a Large family and it is now beneficial to our family to buy the annual pass and we will SAVE some bucks! Alright! So we spent a few hours wandering thru, and the kids had a ball petting the Sting Rays, and Sharks. Then we took a ride on an underwater virtual ride. And now it's time to head home, so we start to reverse our steps, past the Karate Kids, past the Amusement park which came with moans and complaints, past the map stand cause we know where to go.....and then realize we can't remember where we came into this massive building with a million stores that we didn't step into. Eventually we found our way out, and back on the road with all the kids snoozing within the next few minutes. It was a fun day, and maybe next time we can even buy something!