Vacation - Day Two

Last night was much better! We moved the pack and play to a new place in the room and I slept between the two boys and since Taylor had been up so much the night before with hardly any nap, he slept wonderfully! Mom and Dad Henderson joined us today and stayed at the Edgewater Waterpark Hotel which was nice because they were able to get us extra wristbands. We met them at Perkins which is right next to their hotel for lunch and had a great time. Taylor is realizing the we are in a situation where we can't discipline like we would if we were at home so he is really pushing his limits. Which tends to get a little tiring when you are battling his wills. But he really is a good boy. Very polite and very kind! :) We then went with Mom and Dad down to the pier again to see if any boats were coming in. Dad suggested bringing the umbrellas and we all thought that was a bit overkill but boy did we end up needing them. It started sprinkling almost immediately and by the time we were done, it was raining pretty good. But that didn't stop us from getting icecream at the little ice cream shoppe in front of Grandma's Restaurant. They had this java chunk ice cream and it was heavenly! We ran back to the car, got the kids in and then headed back to our hotels. We decided to just spend in the night separately relaxing and that ended up being really nice. We took the boys to the pool and had a great time! Finally we went back to the room and turned on Kipper for Tay and reheated our pizza from the night before. It ended up being a wonderful day and I'm praying with all my heart that we have another good nights sleep! :)

Pictures of Us in Duluth

Vacation - Day One

So Taylor was running wild til 1am! What in the world! I don't know what got into him - had to be the hotel room and everything.....but wow. Finally he laid down on the bed with Mike at around 1am and then proceeded to kick and turn, then fall asleep just long enough to fall off the bed at 2:45am. Seriously? I got up, comforted him, prayed that Cole wouldn't wake up from the crying, laid him down in the packnplay, then I laid down again. But that woke Taylor up all over again, so at 4am he was still awake and still looking for toys and not wanting to go to sleep. I finally had to tell him that if he did anything else or got out again, that he would be in trouble. Not sure if that worked or not but he seemed to stay quiet for a while and then finally ended up sleeping. But of course, when Cole woke up at 9am then Taylor woke up. So yeah, the sleeping situation is not quite the most lovely it could be. We went to Do North Pizza and it was fantastic! Mike found a brochure in the lobby and I was afraid that it was going to be such a hole in the wall and not at all appealing from the outside but it ended up being in a newer strip mall and was very clean and inviting. My mom would have been so proud of us! Supporting the local businesses and all! I can't wait to tell her! :) We then went down to the pier to see the "ducks" which is what Tay calls the seagulls and watch the boats come in. We got some popcorn and pop, oh, that was after the stop at Caribou.....couldn't have lasted through the day without some good coffee! We were hoping to see some ships come in but they were coming in so much later in the day so we had to just leave and wait for another day. We were hoping to order Do North Pizza again but they closed at 8pm so we had to settle for Pizza Hut. Not quite the same but good still. I'm hoping for a much better night tonight with the sleeping......maybe, just maybe.....

First Day

We left today and headed up early this morning! We were actually on the road by 9:30 which is an amazing feat for us! We stopped at McDonalds for a very healthy breakfast :) and started on up the road to Duluth. I had thought maybe we could take the scenic route but I don't know what I was thinking with two little ones that don't like to be in their carseats any longer than necessary. We ended up getting to the hotel early but they let us check in early which was very nice of them. We got settled in and then headed over to Culvers for another healthy meal! :) I love vacations for that! I don't think I will be watching what I eat at all because what's vacation when you have to watch what you eat? Not a real vacation anyways. We will see how tonight goes with the kids......I wonder......

Vacation, Here We Come!

Mike was given two weeks off work for paternity leave to use any time within twelve months of Cole being born so we decided to use one week for VBT and the week after for a short vacation to Duluth. We always go up to Duluth with Grandma and Grandpa Henderson at the end of September but thought it would be so fun to take an extra trip. I'm not sure how it will work out with the hotel room and two kids but we are going to enjoy the experience! More posts to come of our trip! :)

VBT

Oh What A Time! This week is always the busiest week of the year. And it seems to dominate every other moment of my time for weeks leading up to it! But I wouldn't trade any of it for anything! Vacation Bible Time is always so much fun and we love it! Mike always takes the week off of work so he can devote all his time to VBT and it makes it so much fun to have it different. Every night after we clean up from the activities and get everything ready for the next night, we end up going to Taco Bell! Every night! I'm pretty Taco Belled out! This year turned out so wonderful! We had our biggest night that we've ever had and the most children registered that we've ever had. God is so good! I'm so thankful for all that He's given us and how He allows us to serve. We have such an amazing church family too! We are so blessed! Everyone banded together and helped in so many ways without any complaint and boy was it hot and sticky! So happy to have such a wonderful week but so glad that it is over for another year! Now to start planning for next year.....wait, I'm gonna wait for at least another month! :)

Looks...

I get this look all the time!

A truck and a dandelion...

Odd choices for a ride to church but that's what he chose. And it's precious!

He's turning into such a little man and I love it!

It's Dark in Here!

Going to the Beach...

Cole got the cutest outfit from Grandma Henderson and I've been waiting for a really warm day where we could go to the beach and he could wear it. He's still too little to not wear a shirt but since this one is sleeveless, he will still be cool enough and I won't have to worry too much about sun. He's so chubby though! I have a feeling he is going to outgrow clothing very very quickly!

My Baby Boy...

The time is flying by way too fast and I want to hold on to each moment and somehow capture it to never let it go. I tear up at his little antics and grin when he smiles. He's so precious to me! Too soon he will be too big for me to hold and he will be to that point where he can do everything and doesn't need me anymore...if I can just capture these moments in pictures and video and somehow display them, I think each memory will live. I love you Taybear!

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Practicing Sitting!

Cousins

Heartbreaker

Playground!

Taylor loves to be outside and with Cole, we have to use every naptime as an opportunity to go outside and have fun. Especially now that the weather is nicer! Loving that summer is on its way!

Raspberries...

I've been trying to capture on video when Cole does raspberries and it's been the hardest thing. But I was able to get a few seconds of it! :)

I Love My Truck!

Nana and Papa got Taylor a dump truck for his birthday to play with outside and he LOVES it!

Taylor's Birthday Dinner

Since today was Taylor's actual birthday, and even though it was Sunday (we had an afternoon service so we were able to go out in the evening) we - Grandma Henderson, Aunt Angie, Uncle Andy, cousins Paigey, Campbell and Payten - all went to Bostons for pizza. It was so much fun to be together! Taylor LOVES his cousins! He asks almost every day if we are going to see Paigey and Campbell and almost always I have to say "No, they're at their house, but we'll see them tomorrow or on Sunday" or sometimes I get to say, "Yes, we'll see them tonight!" and he gets so excited....so cute! Anyways, we had a fun dinner and the waitress made the cutest dessert plate for him which was fun. I'm glad that we were able to do something special on his day.

Love you Taybear!

Taylor's 2nd Birthday!

Tonight we celebrated Taylor's 2nd birthday! His birthday is on Sunday and since that would never work to have his birthday party on Sunday we decided to have it the Friday before. It turned out to be a wonderful day weather wise and we had a perfect bonfire. Uncle Mark, Aunt Amy, Nick and Kaylee couldn't make it because they were heading up to the cabin for the Memorial Day weekend and Uncle Andy, Aunt Angie, Paigey, Campbell and Payten couldn't make it because they got sick so the party had to go on without them! We had a great time and Taylor received so many nice things from everyone. I really believe the kids had such a good time outside. And I was so proud of my cake - since I've never taken classes before, I thought it turned out pretty good! Happy Birthday Taylor! We love you!

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Cole & Auntie Amy

Every time that we are with the family, it seems that Cole ends up in Auntie Amy's arms! We feel so blessed to have such a wonderful auntie that loves our boys! And she will hold him until her arms ache which isn't too hard since he's a pretty hefty little boy.....but she hates to put him down. I was able to get these pictures of them together! So precious!

So Solemn...

I had my camera with me this morning at church and snapped these pictures while we were in the nursery. How solemn is he!!! I think he was just about to go to sleep and I made him stay awak for a picture....I'm so mean! But he's so cute I can't help myself! :)

Paigey's Party!

Today we celebrated Paigey's 8th birthday! I can't believe that she's already 8! Wow! I remember when Angie was pregnant with Paigey and we were talking about what we thought she would look like and what kind of little girl she would be and Paigey has turned out to be the sweet lovely girl that I thought she would be! The party was suppose to be at the park but since a thunderstorm came through at the time that the party was suppose to start and almost blew everything away, Angie packed up everything and brought it over to Melissa and Steve's and we had it there this afternoon. The kids really enjoyed it and it was an awesome party! Angie's so good at planning parties and activities! Happy Birthday Paigey! We love you!

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Random Nana Day!

So I guess the best days are the unplanned ones, right? A couple days ago, we all decided to plan without planning a day at my mom's with everyone and it all worked out that we could all be there. Ended up having the best time and just hanging out, playing scrabble, letting the kids run through the sprinkler, eating outside picnic style and sun bathing. It was great and totally relaxing! It happens too few and far between.... The highlight of the day was the cake that my mom made - she thought the grandkids would love it and of course they did! Hope that days like this happen more and more this summer!

Park Time

Today we had plans to go with Jess, Blake and Keira to a petting zoo but when Jess got there they were closed. I don't think petting zoos are thriving in this economy for some reason....:) So we decided to go to a park right off Forest Lake and it was beautiful! I took a ton of pictures and we had a great time! Hoping that we will have many more afternoons like this one!

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It's not working...

So for some reason, the size of my pictures are too big for me to mobile upload. Bummer. And I have no idea how to adjust the size of the pictures when I take them. You would think that Apple would make it a little easier to figure out.....hhhhmmmmm.....but that's the lowdown. So yeah, I'm bummed.

So now that I know that it works here come the pictures!!! Enjoy!

My First Mobile Blog! Just signed up and trying it out to see if it will really work!!! This is going to change how I update my blog forever!!! So many pictures stay on my phone when I wish that I could post them!!! So we shall see how this works!!! Yeah!!!

Mommy & Me

I wanted to post some pictures of Taylor and I that I've taken recently! I can't believe that in just a little over two weeks, he will be 2!!! Amazing to me how the time flies by so quickly and eventfully! I've enjoyed learning to be a mother and though there are many more lessons to learn, I'm looking forward to each and every one of them! I love my oldest little boy!

Serving Together...

I've heard it said before that when a husband and wife are both serving God, as they get closer to God, they get closer to eachother. I know that over the past eight years, as I've served with Mike in the bus ministry and youth ministry that God has blessed our relationship in more ways than I can count and has truly brought us so closer. He has been so kind to us and has nurtured our relationship in a way that I believe only serving Him together could do. Thank you Lord for what you have done in our lives, our marriage, our relationship. You alone get the glory for what You have done, are doing and will continue to do!

Mother's Day Trip!

Every year, my sisters and I celebrate Mother's Day with my mom by doing something special either the Saturday before or near Mother's Day. This year we decided to go to Rochester and then Nelson WI to eat at the Nelson Creamery and then see if we could hit the 100 mile garage sale on the way back. It was so much fun! We met at a parking lot at 7am to start our trip and we didn't get home until 9:30pm! Even though we spent the whole day together, it still wasn't long enough! I love my mom and my sisters! They are my best friends!

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Our "Kids"!

God has allowed us to minister to the most special group of kids! They are some of the most faithful children that I have ever had the blessing of working with....God is so good! Just had to post a picture of the group we had this morning! Thank you Jesus!