the dells

July was busy! Shortly after returning from up north, Krystal, myself, my parents and the two kiddos packed up and drove to Wisconsin Dells (yes, the dads had to got to stay home). Yet again...there was really little to no relaxation (although Krystal and I snuck a massage in!), but loads of fun! Connor gets more and more comfortable each time he's in the water, but he's nothing like the 'fishes' of Ashlyn, Grayson and even Kaelyn.

seriously just loves the water, so happy about this!

me and my boys!

Kalahari, where we stayed, had a new little kid section within the indoor park, kid-sized lazy river and all! The kids loved it.

Ha. Connor is NOT so sure of this.

Definitely better second time around.

ha.

4th of July!

Only six months behind in blogging....oops. Although (enter sounds of a broken record) I should be able to post more often after this one, it's been this post that's been preventing all other posts because of it's sheer number of photos...so...here goes, prepare for a bazillion photos, unedited (which I should note, don't expect too many edited photos on this blog! sorry! You'll have to pop over to christybode.com for edited photos, they just won't be of my kids, ha) Also, these photos aren't in any great order.

We once again went to my Aunt Mary and Al's cabin near Turtle Lake, WI for 4th of July. If I remember correctly, we stayed an extra day and it was great! I always anticipate vacations to be uber relaxing, but I've officially figured it out (not sure what took so long), vacations with kids are not relaxing :) But, it was a blast, the kids had a fabulous time! Thank you, Mary and Al!! Looking forward to next year! (and thanks for as always, documenting our time together with photos!)

a rare moment!

lots of throwing rocks

we don't travel anywhere without some heavy equipment

the men

and eating rocks

such focus while fishing! And we forgot his hat at home, so we made this adult sized T-wolves one work!

we played baseball

we drove the boat

washed our gator

tried to not choke on random things on the floor

this is SO my child.

we jumped into the lake

showed off our swimming skills

I think Grayson will be my fish! (although a few of the pictures above show Connor liking the water...you all know he doesn't LOVE the water. Grayson, LOVES the water :))

classic 'at the lake' shot

waiting for Connor to come give him a ride

Beaver Two-Five

at least rocks don't pass the taste test

Again, looking forward to next year!

summer parade

I am starting to make the attempt to get caught up on blogging (gasp!). My life over at Christy Bode Photography is slowing down (although don't look at that blog, that's way behind, too), this coming weekend is full of sessions, a wedding next weekend, and then...I think I can start breathing again :) However I must say, I still love it. (Dear future self, when you're looking back at your blogging from 2012, just a reminder that these posts were all created many many months past the events, so memory might be a little foggy on the details) So with that, a quick shot of the boys from the Friendship Days parade over the summer.

harvest!

Connor loves harvest time...since that means rides in the equipment. He's been out to Stan's and also with Uncle Aaron (who was helping out a buddy) and we'll get out to Uncle Joe's soon, too! 

 Guess he's a few years from being able to actually 'help'.

Thanks for the pictures, Aaron!

frankenstein? harry potter?

Warning (although, this post won't be long enough that you'll be scrolling for the photos, so, sorry if I've grossed you out!). This post contains some minor graphic images.

Connor had his first fall that resulted in stitches yesterday. I was at a management retreat all week so Bryan was the one to pick him up, take him to Urgent Care, etc. He called me at about 830AM yesterday morning as he was on his way to daycare. They had called saying Connor had fell and might need stitches or glue. I told Bryan to call me as soon as he got to daycare and to send a picture.

My concern rose once I saw the photo.

But, Connor was tough and doing great. Bryan went right to Urgent Care where they cleaned him up and got four stitches.

What happened next? Connor got to spend the rest of the day driving around with dad, running backhoes, skid loaders, etc. Hopefully he doesn't now purposefully fall so he can play hooky more often...

And, I guess we'll have some natural inspiration for his Halloween costume this year?

I'm in it for the shirt.

I am not a natural born runner. I also don't particularly LOVE running. I do it (on occasion, let's not kid ourselves, ha) because it's exercise and because it allows me to get new shirts when I participate in races. When considering a race (and again, we're talking MAYBE one a year), the first thing I review is the apparel. I ran a 10k in London when studying abroad and didn't get a shirt. I repeat. I.Ran.A.10K.In.London.And.Didn't.Get.A.Shirt. Still bitter.

So, when my friend Desirae' suggested a few of us run a 10K in St. Paul that came with a JACKET, a performance material jacket, I was all in.

Come to find out. It's a wind breaker. It says 'WOMEN ROCK' on the back (which I knew going into it that it would, but I was trying to overlook that detail)  and on one of the girl's jackets, the R was missing. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. Forget the half naked firemen at the finish line handing out our sapphire necklaces and the glass of champagne (not kidding), the jackets were a let down.

What do I do? Signed up for the Mankato 10K in October because it comes with a gray, long-sleeve technical shirt. Yes. I am in it for the shirts.

Oh, and on a brighter note, I ran this 10K faster than I ever could have imagined! Goal was between 60-65 minutes and I came in at 59:25. Whoot! I came in 388th out of 2166 people. I think 10K might be 'my' distance from here on out. Maybe a 10-miler someday, but I might be done with half marathons...sorry, Anne.

Jess and I. She just had a baby two months ago and finished around 54 minutes. She rocks.  

At the start, Chandra, Sarah and myself. Love self-taken portraits where your own head looks ginormous.

Until October! 

(until I blog about running again, that is)

first and last first

Today was Grayson's first day of being in the Toddler room and also Connor's last 'first' day of preschool. Words spoken by moms everywhere...but I just can't believe he'll be in kindergarten next year. Although it's a year away, it feels like it'll be here before we know it. However, I will admit, I am SO excited to go school supply shopping!

Because I've been a horrible blogger lately, and recently I submitted my own back to school photos for a work thing...I figure I'll document a bit of our day here. Apparently I had a mind of my own back in the day and refused to wear the dress my mom wanted me to wear. At least I smiled for the photo :)

I tried to get Connor to wear 'church clothes' for his first day as a Big Bird, but he was not having that. He had on his yellow comfy shorts and some typical Connor shirt (backhoes, transformers, spider man, etc.) as he typically dresses himself these days (which, is amazing). I expressed that I was a little sad, showed him what Grayson was wearing, told him that he'd probably have his picture taken for his first day...and five minutes later he comes running out of his room with the shirt we had compromised on last night, not a collared shirt but at least not a super hero shirt. He was so proud to show me he had it on to make me happy. He even then fully agreed to take a picture!

So, Connor's last first day of preschool was a success!

Grayson, well, he's pretty chill about everything. Rewind back a few years when I dropped Connor off at Toddler's for the first time. Two straight weeks of horrible drop offs. The teachers had to literally peel him off of me everyday. Horrible. Grayson? Thoroughly enjoyed standing on the step to wash his hands, grab a paper towel, throw it away (he missed, but he's got lots of time to work on that) and then waddled (yes, still a little wobbly on the walking) on over to the toys, didn't care one bit. THANK GOODNESS. He was a little sad when I went to pick him up, I think the first day is always a bit overwhelming. Only took a 45 minute nap or so (compared to 2-3 hours) and probably just a lot going on in the first day, but calmed down as soon as he saw Connor and I and we headed home. 

So in love with and proud of these boys!