Last Minute Recap

So I was going to get right to my Christmas post, but as I was looking through my photos on the computer, I decided I wanted to do a little more recap of the random summer / fall happenings of the Huinker household:  So, here's a bunch of pictures that give a little insight into it all!

PS - Based on the number of pictures included here, I bet you can imagine what one of my New Year's Resolutions is!

Poor Gracie - Never did a pre-school graduation post for her!  Needless to say, she was pretty proud of herself!  She's a huge fan of kindergarten too!

While the girls were at other activities, Grady and I had a little outing to visit the animals at the Winneshiek County Fair.  He liked the animals, but he loved his malt more!

Olivia earned the ability to go of the boards alone this year!  Grace, not to be left behind, quickly completed the ugliest swim across the pool you've ever seen (twice!) in order to be granted the same freedom!  They were pretty proud of themselves to say the least!

 

All the kids like visiting Dunning Springs and playing in the icy water.

One of our main summer highlights was spending time with the Browns (back from Japan) and the Hodens (back from Canada).  This picture is from Quinn's 1st birthday bash - which included a pony to ride!  It's nearly a complete family photo but is missing Tony as he was already back in Japan.  Our next family picture will have Tony and a new baby in it!

Lemonade stand with the Hoden kids.  They made enough to treat themselves and me to Whippy Dip!

Quinn and Grady watching Olivia and Grace at tennis.

Hanging out at the Kruse family farm.

Brian and I took Max and Mya to Niagra Cave for their birthdays - the kids had fun (and so did Grady despite his total scream in this picture).

 Just being silly and pushing Grady in the doll stroller - it's a good thing he had on a helmet because they were going fast, and I couldn't believe that stroller didn't break!

 Summer included lots of trips to the park - Grady decided it was time to be big and tackled both the tire swing and big-boy swings.

Late summer we took a trip to Northfield and the Minnesota Zoo.  The kids loved it and were troopers despite the very hot and humid weather.  It certainly helped that we hit up the splash pad before heading home.  We definitely need to repeat this trip again (x2) next summer!

 Not spring showers...fall showers and puddle jumping!

 

Grady and I took a couple trips up to the La Crosse Children's Museum this fall.  The girls came along on the second trip and had a fun time too.

Halloween!  This year we had a "Bat Fairy," a pumpkin (as someone refused to put on his costume), and "Bat Woman."  Grady figured out how to get candy pretty quickly, and the girls dominated the entire the neighborhood for the first time.  We had to break into two groups because they were moving so fast!

 The Campground:  This was Grady's and my favorite place this fall.  I would run him in the stroller to the park where we'd play for a bit before heading to the stream to throw sticks.  We made these trips weekly even into early December because the weather was so nice.  Our last trip there ended up with a ride home from Grandpa because Grady decided to take a dip...good thing I was watching closely, but I still can't believe it happened at all!

DuNord Recap 2015

Before I write my Christmas/New Year's post (coming soon!), I wanted to get one last recap down from the summer.  I've lost track exactly, but I think this past summer marked my 7th year going to DuNord, and I'm really excited for the tradition to continue next summer too.  It's fun to see how comfortable the girls have gotten at camp - they know their way around, they know what to expect out of Age Group activities, they know the Woitalla family and where to get gummy bears, and they know to expect a great time!  I'm sure it won't take long for Grady to start remembering this annual trip too.  As usual, thanks to my mom and Mark for hosting us.  I'm so glad the girls got this special time with you (again).  This next summer will feel strange without you, but we look forward to sharing a cabin with the Woitallas too!

Here are a few highlight pictures from our stay:

It was worth it to haul along the stroller - Grady did enjoy some nice rides and runs in it.  I know I'll leave it home this summer though because Grady liked walking along the paths with the girls last year so won't have anything else, I imagine, this summer.

 As usual, I enjoyed some great hikes throughout the week.  It's so awesome that Age Group gives adults some time without kids during the week.  This is one of my favorite pictures I took while hiking - usually the Lady Slippers are nearly done blooming when we're there so are hard to find, but last year they were everywhere!

There was a scheduled burn across the lake - so cool to see the flames and smoke - planes/helicopters flew over the burn area for 48 hours and of course firefighters/DNR were monitoring the area closely.  It was amazing to see how much organization goes into an event like that.

Olivia participated in the Polar Bear Swim this year...so, so did I!  Participating was her idea, and she had great fun with it, although this picture makes her look sad (she's in the rainbow swimsuit).  Olivia was always up in the morning getting everyone ready to go; she didn't complain about the cold but always wanted to be wrapped up the second we were done.  This picture is of the day Grace attempted the swim...she didn't make it and ended up standing on the side.  I think she decided it wasn't worth it when she realized she didn't get a T-shirt for just doing it on of the days!  I imagine her competitive nature will have her participating next summer!

As usual, the beach was a place we hit up as frequently as possible.  The weather was amazing and the bugs were basically non-existent which made the beach even more fun than usual...please let it be like that again this coming summer!  Olivia was the bravest with the chilly water, Grace did pretty well, and Grady...well, you can see he has on sandals in the pictures - this was because he hated the sand touching his toes, but at least he liked to play in it)!

 This is the only picture I have of our cabin which is truly a shame because it was the best cabin!  The layout was perfect for us, it was in a beautiful location (secluded yet close to everything), had it's own small beach, and had a great living room area for hanging out.  Wendy and I are crossing our fingers that we get this cabin for next summer.

This is the very fun fairy house my mom and I made with the girls' help/suggestions.  While we did most of the hot-gluing, etc., they were helpful with gathering stones, bark, and other nature stuff for us to put to use.  I have a feeling they'll want to do this activity again this year.

Canada Recap

One of my favorite memories of our family life is the trip we took early summer to visit the Hoden family in Canada.  We had a totally awesome time.  We started off the trip flying into Edmonton.  Then, we drove to Banff and spent a few nights there taking in the mountains before heading back to Edmonton for the last part of the trip.  

Here's a list of my favorite parts of this awesome vacation:

1.  Seeing the girls' and Grady's awe/excitement at the airport (and having everyone take naps on the plane).

2.  Watching Olivia, Grace, Max, and Mya all run to each other when we picked up Max and May from school.

3.  Experiencing the later sunshine and staying up playing cards, talking, and watching the NBA.  The kids stayed up later too because it was so easy to lose track of time, but we didn't mind.  They were so good despite random sleep schedules!

4.  Having the kids totally entertain each other as long as they were periodically offered food and drink.  The kids were amazing on this trip - they played together so well - seriously, I don't think we ever had to deal with even a minor argument.  It was neat to see how they would pair up sometimes but then also all play together.

5.  The mountains - wow!  I had never seen mountains before, and I'm not sure anything I'll ever see will top the Canadian Rockies.  Seriously, I could have just stared forever.  I want to go back!

6.  Hiking - my enjoyment of this definitely probably had to do with the views.  Brian wasn't as big of a fan of hiking with the kids - he was much more nervous than me when it came to the kids' safety!  

7.  Swimming at the hotel - good thing we decided to stay outside of Banff to save a little money because I'm pretty sure the kids enjoyed our hotel more than anything!  They had a blast in the pool, managed to create a game out of going on the slide, didn't mind sleeping four in a bed and one on the floor, and would have happily stayed for a week.

8.  Hearing the kids ask right when we got home:  When can we go to Canada again?  Even though they were sad to leave and sad that I couldn't really answer their question, it made me happy they asked because it shows what an awesome time they had.

Enjoy all the pictures to follow.  If you'd like to see my sister-in-law's post (which includes more details - and thank you Beth for so many of these pictures) on our time in Canada (written much more appropriately right after we were there), click here:   So Much to Blog About.

These pictures are all from the town of Banff and then Bow Falls by which an amazing hotel called Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel is located.  You can see the hotel in the pictures of us as a family.

This next set of pictures is from Johnston Canyon.  On our way there, a bunch of cars were stopped alongside the road - we soon realized why:  a bear just munching away on some tasty flowers! So cool to see for both kids and adults!  We had a really nice hike on the trail although it got crazy crowded on the way out.  As you can see from our clothes, the weather we had was totally amazing and unseasonably warm.  In fact, Beth's friend visited the next week, and they had to wear winter wear while hiking and it even snowed a bit.   Eighty degree temps was a definite bonus to the trip!

  

Another favorite place of mine was Lake Louise.  If we ever go there in the future, I would love to take the canoes out and paddle around.  The color of the water in the lake and all the rivers is indescribable - so amazing.  Beth said it has something to do with the granite.  I would like to paint a room this color sometime!

After visiting Lake Louise, we went to the Lake Louise Ski Resort.  We rode the gondola to the top and took in some amazing views and saw some of the mountain animals (stuffed) at the little museum of sorts at the top.  The kids thought it was pretty cool that they got to stand on snow while wearing shorts!

Before heading back to Edmonton, we went to Mount Norquay.  We ate lunch at the top of the viewpoint and took some pictures.  We were hoping to see the wild goats that sometimes are in the area but contented ourselves with the prairie dogs.  The kids were pretty beat at this point, so our stay wasn't long, but it was memorable.

I was sad to leave the mountains behind on our trip home.  I still have hope that we can take another trip in the future!  Now that Beth and Chris know their way around so well, it'd be awesome to have an adults-only tripwith them and Tara and Tony if we can ever arrange it!  Thanks for an awesome trip Hoden Family - I enjoyed writing this post and reliving the experience!  

Gracie Girl

Time for a little post on our Gracie Girl.  Spunky - that's pretty much the best word to describe her...along with wild, sassy, whiny, goofy, loving, and smart.  I've tried to include pictures in this post, that show these sides of her.

Grace has, by far, the most personality of all our kids so far - I probably say this mostly because I find her so hard to predict.  She and I either get along amazingly well, or we really butt heads.  She is our strong-willed and stubborn one, and, even though this is maybe an over-used phrase, she is definitely a "second-child."  Grace has grown up a lot in the last six months - she's gotten so much more independent with getting ready in the morning, is overall more eager to help, has developed more patience, and is a better listener.  However, she is still loses a ridiculous amount of stuff (not because it's lost but because she's the most non-observant person ever), is extremely demanding, gets her feelings hurt really easily, and likes to use a baby voice.  Grace is pretty predictable in one sense:  if she has a meltdown or is getting out-of-control sassy - she needs a break and possibly a nap.  If she spends some time along or just conks out - all will shortly be well.  Grace loves to laugh and to entertain.  She's a crazy dancer and has an expression-filled face!  She is a fantastic sister, eager to please, a total entertainment, and an overall great girl.

Grace's best pals continue to be her sister and brother and Maggie and Elsey.  She talks about a few kids from school a lot, and was absolutely thrilled to get her first official invite to a birthday party (to which Olivia was not also invited).  She loves having sleepovers with Mags and Els, and it's nice because they're together so much, sleepovers aren't really a stressful or (too) crazy experience.  Grace's super excited for her own birthday in a couple months and wants nothing more than to have her birthday party at the gymnastics place in town and to start jazz with Olivia.  Also, apparently she's learning because when we got so fed up with hearing the phrase "I'm not inviting you to my birthday party" every time she'd get mad, we threatened her with no birthday party - she hasn't said it since!  Whew!

Grace loves school!  She's doing really well; reading is going to be much easier for her than it was for Olivia.  Once again, probably a bit of the product of being the second, but she has really strong phonics skills.  She loves doing her daily "Reading Eggs" on the computer, and we usually have to tell her it's time to be done with it.  The teachers had nothing but good things to say about Grace at conferences - she's a good friend, does quality (but fast) work, cooperates/plays well with others, has really solid handwriting, and is learning what she should be.  However, she's also the first kid we've gotten a email home about - a little silliness in the bathroom with her gal pals coupled with denial (aka - lying) about what happened to her teachers.  This was both a humorous and serious situation - the bathroom stuff made me laugh, but the lying was not cool...especially when she told me that she had had a "great" day at school when I asked.  :)  We hashed it out, and overall, it was a good learning experience for us as parents and for her.  I'm glad school has been so positive for Grace - both she and Olivia enjoy seeing each other there and sometimes play together, but it's great to see how they are also independent and have their own friends/activities.

Speaking of activities - Grace loves to be busy.  She likes playing with her doll house a lot, reading books on her own, coloring, playing babies, playing kitchen, playing basketball, and just being active.    She's a pretty imaginative little girls.  She also likes to relax though - her favorite is a good movie with her blanket and her same two fingers stuck in her mouth...although this habit is lessening much more quickly than Olivia's thumb sucking!  Grace enjoys her dance (ballet/tap) but really wants to "be big" and start jazz, as I said earlier.  Grace has mentioned learning to play piano, but as she hasn't been pushing for this, I think we'll hold off.  Grace is relatively competitive, likes to blame her mistakes on others, can be really supportive or totally not, as has the makings of a great athlete - she's really fast and looks like a runner to me!

I'm sure there is plenty more to say, but as it's only a couple months away, her birthday post should cover the rest.  Grace Elizabeth:  undoubtedly, one-of-a-kind (except for the fact that her little brother is showing some distinctly Grace-like traits as of late!).  PS - This is a totally fake frown...can't you see the sparkle in her eye?

Happy 2nd Birthday Grady!

This weekend we had a great time celebrating our little buddy.  My family came down on Friday night, and then Pat and Roger came over Saturday evening for dinner and presents.  We also got a chance to FaceTime with both Beth and Tara and all the kids which was really great.  Grady enjoyed all the extra attention, would have been very happy with just one gift (we even saved a few till Sunday because he just wanted to play with what he had opened), sang Happy Birthday to himself, blew out his candles on the first try, and was so tired from it all he took a 3.5 hour nap on Sunday!

What can I tell you about Grady:

At his well-child check yesterday, he weighed in at 25 pounds (16th percentile), was 33 inches tall (16th percentile), and had a head circumference of 20.5 inches (95 percentile).  Dr. Menke, whom he was super shy with, said he was looking good and doing great.  Poor little guy had to get two shots and his finger pricked.  It was all a bit emotional for Buster/Buddy (as we like to call him these days).  A few other size facts:  Grady wears size 7 shoes, 18 month-2T jeans with the bigger ones rolled over the waist and up at the bottoms, and 24 month-2T shirts.

I'm pretty sure (although I am obvioulsy bias) we have one of the happiest two year olds out there!  He loves being tickled and giggling, throwing balls of any kind (football, basketball, baseball), shooting hoops, jumping and dancing, playing cars, and going to the park and hanging off whatever possible.  He's clearly a pretty physical kid, but he's also so darn sweet.  He voluntarily tells me his "woves" me, gives the best fishy-face kisses, and gives great hugs - all this just about melts my heart. He gets so excited when Brian gets home and runs and kisses me when I pick him up from daycare.  He says "thank you" or wait, it's "hank you" often without even being asked these days, though we're still working on please.

Currently, Grady's also obsessed with my phone or the iPad and knows how to use them disturbingly well.  His favorite movie is Brave because of the bears, and he also likes to watch Diego, Sherriff Callie, and whatever else his sisters convince him is a good choice.  We try really hard to not watch too much television, but it's inevitable that its on a little bit every day.  Grady also really likes his books - we often read the same ones...anything about trucks, the fish book, Dinasaurompus, Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, Are You a Cow?, and Five Little Monkeys.

Grady has also started to show interest in puzzles and coloring, and I need to remember to get these things out for him more often.  He really likes helping me start the washer and dryer and is a great helper at the grocery store.  Overall, Grady's a pretty independent player - it works out well because if I need to get something done, he'll come along and do his own thing while I do mine.

I feel like Grady has been trying to be big for a long time - in fact my sister-in-law commented on this even back in summer.  Maybe this is because he's so vocal and so determined to do whatever it is the big kids are doing.  It's definitely not because he's a big kid as his percentiles show!  In terms of talking - Grady has a large vocabulary and says a lot of 2-4 word sentences - if I can call them that.  I understand him really well, and Olivia and Grace usually know what he wants if I can't understand him which is quite convenient!  Overall, he's really good at expressing himself, and while he occasionally gets frustrated because we can't figure out what he wants, he's decent at showing us and not having a total meltdown.  He's definitely "2" though, and I've seen more of the opinionated, occasionally stubborn, and sometimes naughty Grady come out as of the past month or so.

Speaking of naughty, one of my least favorite things right now is Grady's biting.  I know this won't last for too long and is totally related to his teeth.  Overall he's been our kid who bites, but usually this is related to teething.  He went through a spurt a few months ago - got his bottom 2-year molars.  He's been doing it on and off lately, and I spied his top molars last week.  Sometimes Grady hits, but mostly he likes to tattle - "Wivia (Olivia) hit Gady (Grady) head" or "Gace (Grace) push Gady."  Despite what those sentences imply, Grady loves his sisters big time, and the feeling is mutual!  They all play together really well, like wrestling, and Grady certainly seeks comfort from them.  He never really gets upset when we have a babysitter because he's just excited to play and knows the girls are there to mommy him - in fact, a few times we've come home to reports that Olivia put Grady to bed!

In terms of a schedule, Grady wakes up between 6:30 and 7, takes a nap around 1 (usually 2-2.5 hours), and heads to bed around 7:30-8.  He likes books before nap and bedtime, still loves his wabi (his paci) and blankets, and requests to sit and cuddle in the chair.  We put up his big boy bed this weekend, and he did sleep well in it for that one crazy long nap, but he's otherwise requested to sleep in his crib - so glad I didn't take it down.  He keeps biting holes in his pacifiers, so we're down to two, and I've told myself I'm not buying any more (we'll see if I have the self-discipline)!

I'm sure I could go on and on about this little guy, but I think I've got all the main stuff covered and then some.  Can't express how very shocked I am that Grady is two already.  How does time fly so fast? Brian asked Olivia the other day if she remembers when Grady wasn't a part of our family, and she said not really.  I love that.  So happy our little buddy is here with us.

Here are a few birthday party pictures: