Summer's End

I have always loved 'Back-to-school'... the school supplies, new clothes, new shoes, fresh start, etc... but it is always sad to say goodbye to summer. It has flown by so fast, but we have had a fun, fun summer with our friends and family. Here are some, rather a ton of pictures from the past couple months (during which time I have been horrible about blogging so I'm making up for lost time).

Spaulding Family Reunion

The 2nd-Annual Spaulding family reunion was a great success! We camped at Lake Toqua in Graceville, MN. The weather was beautiful except for a nighttime strong wind as a front rolled through. We lost a few of our campers when they decided to drive home and sleep in their beds for the night, we created a quick 2-man fire brigade team when coals started whipping out of our fire, and we almost lost a few personal belongings, but the next day dawned with no damage, no losses, and very little rain. Addyson curled herself up in the corner of the pop-up camper and slept great all weekend... even through the wind storm!

Lots of campfires...

Playing outside in the chilly morning

Barb, aka Kevin's Mom, aka Grandma Barb

Les, aka Kevin's dad, aka Papa Spud

Kevin in front of the awesome pop-up camper we borrowed from his friend... it screams '1970s' and I love it! I could camp every weekend if I had a pop-up camper. Kevin's mom had a dream that she comes into a great deal of money and she buys pop-up campers for everyone in the family. Pretty funny, but I'm not holding my breath!

Addy and Aunt Nancy

The traditional golf scramble which I participated in for the first time this year because I finally bought myself a set of clubs.

McKenzie, Jordyn, and Jaycee at sunset

Jordyn and Jaycee at Lake Toqua

Addyson is getting driving lessons from Aunt Nancy

Dilworth Locodaze

Jordyn and her friends lined up for the ping-pong ball scramble

Jordyn's Annual Lemonade stand during the Locodaze parade

Addy and dad watching the parade go by

Jordyn and Addyson after the parade and lemonade stand.

Jaycee and Jordyn in their Superman tanks after the parade and lemonade stand.

Addy thought Penny & Pals was a pretty fantastic show... but she was not a fan of the show her dad put on. She cried everytime she looked at him. See previous post for more details of his performance.

Snapshots of Kevin's 2nd place winner karaoke performance

Barrett Lake Resort

We met our friends Jason and Elissa and their two boys in Barrett, MN at Barrett Lake Resort for a weekend in early August. Jason and Elissa live in Northern Minnesota and we don't get to see them nearly as often as we would like so it was a great chance to catch up and visit. There are a lot of families from the Chokio area who camp at Barrett Lake so there were people we knew at every turn... it was a great time even though the weather was not cooperating until Sunday when it was time to go home.

Jason and Caleb

Will on his way to the beach

Jordyn and Jaycee (who stopped by for a visit with her mom). Jaycee is doing her Superman pose.
Do you know how fun it is to stick your head in a box?

Addyson trying on Jaycee's glasses

I thought this hat we found at Children's Place was funny so Addy put it on, I snapped a picture, and we put it back on the shelf... am I really going to pay $8 for a hat that I know she won't leave on for more than a minute?

My grandpa celebrated a birthday in July so the family took him out for dinner... here are the girls with Grandpa Adolph.

Grandma Barb's Birthday

We surprised (sorta) Grandma Barb on her birthday and spent the afternoon in Chokio. We took her out for lunch at the Chokio Cafe (which I highly recommend if you are ever driving through - great burgers!) After lunch, we all went out to Papa Spud's pumpkin patch to see the pumpkins. He carved Jordyn's and Addy's name on a pumpkin and those were fun to see. Some of the pumpkins are huge! I'll take pictures once we have pumpkins and it will be easier to see how big they are.

Addy is showing Jaycee her new "I can walk if you hold my hands" skills.

Look mom! I can put my turkey on my head!

Happy Birthday Grandma Barb!

Mmmmmm... the cake is really good! I'm saving some for later.

Addy's pumpkin

Jordyn's pumpkin

Addy and mom in the pumpkin patch - those leaves are scratchy!

Hey mom, you know I don't like to sit on the grass... what is the deal?

Addyson loved the rocking horse at Grandma's house

Jordyn, Carly, and Kayla at the 5th-grade 'Back-to-school' picnic last night.

Two other big things in our life right now...

Addyson qualified for Early Childhood Services because of her delay in gross motor development. We have been getting services for about 2 months (very sporadically as this is their off time) but things will start being more regular once school starts. Addy has already show great strides. She will do a very slow army crawl if she is very motivated, she can pull up on many things, she scoots around the room on her butt like a champ, she will walk if you hold her fingers, she can transition from a standing to a sitting position, and she can move from lying on her back to sitting up. I have a feeling she will be walking within a month at the rate she is going. I doubt if she will ever crawl. If we put her on her tummy now she just rolls to her back, pushes to a sitting position, and scoots around. These are all normal things for most kids, but at 14 months, we haven't seen any of them with her so we are very pleased with her progress.

Also, I have accepted a part-time position at Park Christian teaching Art for K-6. It is between 7-10 hours a week so I will keep my full-time position at Summit Group and just start work earlier so I can leave a couple afternoons a week. I am really excited. This all happened very quickly. I interviewed for the position one week ago today, accepted the position last Tuesday, and I start tomorrow. Please pray for me to have a positive impact on the lives of the over 200 students who will be in my classes. Yikes!