Family and Friends on the Fourth

Two months have already passed since our epic trip to North Dakota for the Fourth of July. Lots has changed- a new auntie has been added to our family, a new friend has been born, a beard has been lost... but I still need to pause and back up to that weekend among great friends and family before I move forward!

We are grateful that Patrick and Anne went to school so near Ryan and Maggie, because we could make just one drive and see eight amazing people! The first day we were there, Patrick and Anne generously offered to babysit all the kids so we could go out on a double date for possibly the first time ever. What a treat! Ryan and Maggie took us to a delicious spot for dinner in downtown Bismarck and we go to catch up without the interruptions from so many little voices... and Pat and Anne survived the evening. Good sign, good sign. 

Audrey and Edith fell in love with Mara and adopted her as their big sister. They were never far from her side the whole weekend, imitating her mannerisms and asking her opinion on every matter under the sun. She is a big deal in their book!

 

We kept ourselves busy during this visit, making two trips to two different lakes, visiting a fish hatchery (fascinating!), swimming at the public pool, watching a parade, watching fireworks, getting ice cream, and just being together. I'm exhausted thinking about it, but I'd do it again in a second.

We were well-fed throughout the week with amazing breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Maggie was Superwoman, keeping everything running smoothly even when pregnant! Patrick and Anne joined us for as many meals as they could, and Audrey and I even got to go flower girl dress hunting with Anne and find the dress Audrey would wear less than two months later for the big day!

As always, the visit went too quickly and it was soon time to return home. Edith still talks about her friends "The Rells", and we can't wait to see them again!

Renting kayaks at the lake

Feeding the fish at the hatchery

Soon-to-be-Auntie Anne painting nails on the Fourth

Red, white, and blue!

 Buddies

 

Our sweet Godson, Kieran

Up From the Waters

You know one thing I love about being Catholic? We have so many opportunities to celebrate! On October 9 at 5:00 pm, Blaise Lawrence was welcomed into the church through baptism, surrounded by friends and family. We don't ever want to wait long after our babies are born to have them baptized, so we picked a date that worked for us, the priest, and the Godparents and then hoped that others could make it too. We were so excited when we found out that Paul, Maureen and Liam, Monica and Glenn and their family, and Patrick and Anne could all make the trip and stay for the weekend! My Grandma and Grandpa (after whom Blaise Lawrence was named) drove up from Marshall, and close to fifty other family members, friends, and their children came to witness Blaise's important day!

Fr. Kyle performed a beautiful ceremony while making sure to explain what was happening in a way that all of the kids in attendance (upwards of 20!) could understand. Blaise's wonderful Godparents Angela and Luke stood by us and promised to pray for him. And as the water was poured over Blaise's head, every child in the room leaned forward in anticipation and excitment. It was an incredible moment.

The photos make it look idealistic, but actually Blaise was crying inconsolably throughout much of the ceremony. Everyone tells me that it wasn't that bad, but even Fr. Kyle took a moment to remind everyone, "Don't worry, this is his death day" in reference to his earlier homily referring to Baptism as a death to sin. I guess dying to sin can be painful!

After the ceremony, everyone came back to our house for a celebration. Paul and I both love to host gatherings, but we are not good planners. So it's great that every couple of years we are forced to get our act together and throw a party in honor of our children's sacraments! By the time we run out of baptisms and first communions, the older kids will be moving on to confirmation, and then... marriage? Holy Orders? Only time will tell! Like I said, it's good to be Catholic.

The Little Minecraft Party That Could

Three years ago, my sons discovered Minecraft. For awhile it eclipsed everything else in their lives; every waking thought was about creepers, diamonds, farming, mining, and building. I'm not saying that the game is bad in itself... in fact, it is very creative. But it took over and drove me absolutely bonkers. But over the years I have implemented some major changes in their Minecraft intake, and I'm happy to say that it has turned from obsession to one interest among many.

For Max's 7th birthday, he wanted a Minecraft birthday party. Since his birthday is on Christmas, and we were traveling, I totally dropped the ball and didn't plan any party at all. The next year, he and Lucian requested a joint Minecraft party... and again I totally failed to plan a party. Holidays, more traveling, winter, blah blah blah. Lots of excuses. First I thought I'd plan it for January, near Lucian's birthday, but we took two large trips in January and it just plain didn't happen.

Feburary? That's not too far from birthday season. But now there was morning sickness to contend with. No party.

March... still sick. No party. I told the kids we would try for a Minecraft Spring party.

April... May...  running out of excuses, but life just seemed so busy! I couldn't find the energy to make it a priority.

Finally at the end of May, I sent out an email to a few friends with a possible date for a party. Amazingly, everyone was able to make it! I got to work on the cake (the number one priority in my boys' minds), bought a bunch of food, and planned a few silly Minecraft-related games.

The day of the party arrived and the boys were ecstatic! They decorated the house with Minecraft themed drawings, they set up all of the games, and they both dressed up as Steve (the main character in the game). Their friends came with their families, and it was actually fun and fairly relaxing, even for me! There was a pinata, Pin-the-Sword-on-Steve, and Enderman Tag. There was Lava to drink, themed snacks, and The Cake. My normally impossible-to-please eldest son told me that the cake was absolutely perfect. I can die happy now.

Max was so excited, he had to capture the making of the cake

My cake

A Minecraft cake... see the resemblance??

I'm pretty sure the kids had a good time too, snacking and running around and snacking some more. And now, after what seems like years, the party that has been hanging over my head is in the past, checked off as complete! No more worrying about when the Minecraft Party will finally happen, it happened! And it was a blast. 

Lava to drink, redstone (strawberries), experience orbs (green grapes)  and much more!

A Princess Turns Four

We have a princess in the house! A far cry from her Thomas the Train party for her third birthday, this year it's all about FROZEN. Princesses, tiaras, swirly skirts, the whole shebang is what she wanted. What she got was a homemade Frozen cake, which she helped to decorate, and a plastic tiara to wear while swimming at her pool party. Good enough? Good. 

Audrey's fourth birthday was on a beautiful Friday in mid-June, and we celebrated by making a cake for her party the next day, opening one birthday present from her brothers, and having McDonalds for lunch. Paul was leaving for the Grandma's Half Marathon in the afternoon, so we were on our own for the evening and most of the next day. The kids played outside and we had a relaxing day... and I think we probably watched a movie in the evening. Probably a princess one that Audrey chose. (I'm not going to apologize for my lack of memory!) 

 

In the morning we got up right away and went out for donuts at our favorite stop, Granny's. We walked into the donut shop and what did we find? A clown making balloon animals! Now, if you're not familiar with Granny's, this is about the last thing I expected in this little hole-in-the-wall hidden gem. But apparently just for Audrey's birthday, they pulled out all the stops! She was in heaven. 

We then got all packed up and headed down to Grandma and Grandpa's for the big birthday party! When asked who she wanted to invite, she told me, "Gianna and Josie and my cousins and all my grandmas!" which is (almost) exactly what she got! Gianna and Josie, her two little friends, came with their families, her cousins came, and so did two of her great-grandmas! The only grandma missing was Grandma Yantes, but thankfully we got to celebrate with her in Rapid City a few weeks later. And Uncle Patrick did an OK job of filling in the gap.  

It doesn't sound like a long list of attendees, but when you count up all the children in all of the families, we had 13 kids at the party! It was a little crazy... especially seeing as Edith decided that that day she would suddenly become completely fearless around the pool. And decide not to nap. I spent much of my time trying to keep my youngest child alive, and my mom had to take over a lot of the meal preparation that I had planned to do while my afraid-of-the-water two year old was napping. Ah well. She's a saint, and she took it in stride (thanks a million, Mom!)

Paul arrived with Patrick and Anne in the late afternoon, just in time to grill up hot dogs for the hungry masses. Everyone piled out of the water to eat, and then piled right back into the pool after cake. Audrey was super brave, tooling around with her life jacket and a pool noodle... I think she wanted to be in on all the action, but she's still a little small to play water games with the big boys. She made a rule that there would be no battling at her birthday party, so her brothers and the boys had to put aside their Star Wars games for the day. 

All in all, it was a successful party! Audrey had a blast, and that's all that really matters in the end. My sweet little girl with the big personality is getting bigger by the day! I'm so thankful for her.

 

Viva La Mexico

In January, Paul and I had the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to Mexico with fourteen of our closest friends, all in the vicinity of our tenth anniversaries. Fourteen of our closest friends, you ask? I know, it's hard to believe that we have been blessed with so many great friends. For years now we have shared all of the joys and the difficulties of marriage and family life, and we decided it was about time to celebrate! The idea of a trip together had long been tossed around as a fun possibility, but I never dreamed it would actually come together, much less that all of us would be able to make it! Childcare, time off from work, all the crazy logistics... everything seemed to fall together to make the trip possible. It already seems like a dream, that week on the beach in the sun with my friends. But it was no dream, and I have the photos to prove it! So without further ado, our Pre-Tenth Anniversary Trip to Mexico!

Our flight left before sunrise on a Wednesday in January, and as we packed our gear and our shivering bodies into the car to head to the airport, it was hard to imagine that in mere hours we would be trading our winter jackets for flip-flops. After a quiet and uneventful flight, during which I almost finished an entire book (in one sitting! That hasn't happened since before children!), we disembarked into the Cancun airport. A bus drove us the hour to Playa del Carmen, when we finally got our first glimpse of the resort and the ocean. The ocean! Oh my goodness, I could have stared at the ocean for the whole week straight, it was so beautiful. 

The forecast had been predicting a lot of rain for the week, but thankfully we only got poured on a couple of times early on. Then the temperatures started to rise and we spent the majority of the time basking in perfect beach weather. Most of our days had a similar pattern: wake up, eat breakfast, go to the beach all day, take a quick break to grab lunch, stay at the beach until dinner, change for dinner, hang out at the bar in the evening. Paul played a lot of beach volleyball and beach soccer; I preferred to float in the waves and relax with a book. It was almost overwhelming to have so much free time and no little people to entertain... I almost didn't know what to do with myself! There were two pregnant ladies on the trip (would it be a group of Catholic couples without a couple pregnancies?), and we constantly had to be explaining to the bartenders why on Earth we were ordering virgin mojitos at an all-inclusive resort?! When they found out that the combined total of children between the eight couples was twenty-eight, with two on the way, they (and everyone else who overheard) were completely floored. 

On Saturday, we changed things up with a Mayan Adventure Tour. I was not at all excited about the prospect of riding an ATV, especially with a long van ride to and from the location. My morning sickness hit me pretty hard mid-week, and I was worried. Thankfully, the adrenaline must have kicked in because I felt great the whole day! The ATV was, to be honest, completely terrifying. Paul will laugh at me for saying that, but I'm not ashamed of my wimpiness. But the rest of the tour was amazing! Ziplining into an above-ground cenote, snorkeling in an underground cave, flying above the jungle on a zipline... so many things I never dreamed I would do. 

Before we knew it, we were packing our things and flying home to frigid Minnesota and our waiting children. The trip was incredible, but I was definitely ready to see all of my munchkins. We had sent the boys to Rapid City to stay with Grandma, Grandpa, and Liam. The girls stayed with my parents in Burnsville. But they were all waiting for us when we arrived home! Thanks to our amazing parents for making this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity a reality! We couldn't have done it without you! (Who else would take in our crazy children for a week?!) 

Cheers to our first ten years, honey! May there be many decades more!

Ready for takeoff!

Yoga on the beach

Jump in the ocean at night fully clothed? Why not?

Beach volleyball

Beach Bums

On the balcony of our room

Snorkeling in the underground cenote 

Ready for the ATVs!

Paul was in his element. I hung on for dear life. 

Zipline success

I'm flying!

Sunrise on our last morning

Abundant Blessings

In July we welcomed our beautiful new baby Edith Clare into our family, and in August we enlisted the help of a pile of friends and family to welcome her into the church! Paul's family came from far and wide (South Dakota and Chicago, to be exact) to celebrate with us, and Edith's Godparents, along with their three children, traveled from the far reaches of North Dakota to stand with us at her baptism. What a blessing, what a joyful time!

My parents opened their home and pool during the visit, so we made good use of it. I can't think of a time when there have been more children piled in that pool! Max and Mara reconnected and became fast friends again, and they've now begun exchanging pictures and letters. Maybe a few too many hearts drawn on the pictures for my liking, but hey, at least they're separated by hundreds of miles!

We shared a baptism day with our dear friends John and Sara, who were baptizing their new twins! It was such a beautiful blessing to be able to share that moment with them. The baptismal font was surrounded by little kids elbowing and jostling to see the action; it was perfect.

Then the celebration continued at a nearby park for brats and hot dogs. The kids played on the playground and the grownups sat around chatting and enjoying the food. For a day that had over a 50% chance of rain, we were amazed that we only had to contend with a few drops right at the end of the day!

We made a point to gather the four CYC couples for a ten year reunion picture. The eight of us met their spouses in the summer of 2004, working as counselors at Catholic Youth Camp in McGregor, MN. We all got married in '06 or '07, and we have remained friends since then. Now, fourteen kids later, we are sharing wonderful- and busy- lives together. All of us ended up in the Twin Cities except for Ryan and Maggie, so when they made it to town we had to seize the opportunity. Pretty stellar work for a decade, if I may say so myself!

It's only been a few months, but I wish I could go back and live this weekend over again! Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate the most important moment in Edith's life so far. And thank you especially to Ryan and Maggie for agreeing to the important role of Godparents. She is blessed to have you.