Once a season?

Okay, so we don't blog much anymore ... and I'm not even sure people notice that! Ha! Anyway, we had a great Christmas full of cousins, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts and uncles ... Oh my! Henry has FINALLY starting walking, which was a little bit of a Christmas miracle. We're doing great; the kids and I are home for a week, which was much-needed.

It's been a busy fall. Sorry for the lack of posts. Here are some highlights. The kids and I went to Great Grandma's over MEA and met Amber and the girls there for a bit. We also got out to cousin Erin's to see the great pumpkins! We have also spent out fall weekend at the Gustafsons' cabin. The weather was perfect and we're trying to encourage as much walking as we can with out little man. Finally, Halloween was a hit with Natalie, not so much with Henry who was out of his costume about 2 minutes after this pic was taken.

Labor Day Fun

We had a busy last weekend of summer! We started off Saturday morning with a trip to the State Fair. Natalie rode her own horse on the carousel this year and was very brave on the big giant slide with daddy. She even wanted to go back up the slide and go by herself! Right after the fair, we headed up to Camp Lake. Everyone came this weekend, at one point making 15 people in the cabin having dinner together. Natalie and Henry had fun playing with their cousins. It's been a few years and a few kids since we've all been up there together. Overwhelming at times? Yes. Worth it? Definitely. Tomorrow, it's off to school to show everyone that I'm no fool! Yikes!


Oh yeah, and here's Henry's favorite past-time lately -- causing havoc with a crayon in his hand.

So many places to go!

We have been gone for most of July, so I haven't been able to post much. We spent the fourth at Camp Lake, then soon after that Natalie, Henry and I went to Florida to visit the Menschners. The kids were AMAZING on the plane, and Natalie's first impression of the ocean was one filled with excitement and apprehension.


Charlie and Henry had fun getting to know each other. Charlie dwarfs Henry at his eight months of age!

Lucy and Natalie were fast friends too.

When we returned from Florida, the whole family went up to Judy's Cabin. Uncle Carl and Aunt Kiki couldn't make it this year, but with all the kids it was a full house! With swimmers itch being at the lake this year, Henry didn't get in the water much. But he doesn't know what he's missing, so it's okay.


I'm so thankful for the time I get to spend with my kids and see them grow.

July 4th

Another successful Fourth of July at Camp Lake! We started the weekend at the Camp Lake races where Natalie took first place in the minnow race. She was a little overwhelmed with her victory and started to cry a little when the crowd started cheering for her. But she recovered quickly when she saw her prize!



The time at the cabin was filled with many intense games of Blokus, Qwirkle, Cribbage and Nerts. Once outside, there was a lot of tubing and Jetskiing. Natalie even went tubing with Joey, but her highlight was when she got to drive the jetski!




Henry spent a lot of time inside the cabin, but he did get to swim in the little pool a couple of times.



Finally, even Sparkey got to enjoy a spin on the jetski for his 11th birthday!

Hot Daze!

It's been hot and the backyard pool has come in handy, as well as the Crystal Cove! So much so that Henry just HAS to get outside!

Henry's No. 1!

Well, it's been a whirlwind of a year for our little family, and the biggest moment was our little Henry joining our lives a year ago! We celebrated Henry at Grandma Lee and Grandpa Kent's yesterday. All of his family was there except for Uncle Matt who was stuck in NoDak because he had to work the next day. Joanie and baby Charlie even stopped by! It was a great celebration of a cute, smiley, sensitive, sweet little man we call Henry Thor Gustafson!



Natalie was very proud of the red velvet cupcakes she helped Mommy make. I think she liked eating them more than she liked making them!


It was a long party day and Annika and Natalie snuck away to cuddle with a movie when it was winding down.