Flooding

Minnesota is called the Land of 10,000 Lakes for a reason. We have a high water table and a lot of lakes. so, when 7 inches of water fall in less than 24 hours, we flood. Many towns are much worse than ours this time around, and the flooding here in Austin is nowhere near as bad as our 2004 flood. But, it is some major flooding all the same. To make it easier to understand what you are seeing, I've posted pictures of our town from other occasions as well as their current status today. You'll see the park where we had Charlie's birthday is flooded- as are both pavillions and the playground equipment. (The picture of Shawn grilling chicken the yellow park and pavillions) The park we had our picnic at by the bandshell is also flooded- (Emily on play equipment 4th of July pic, and from the top of Skinners hill, you can just barely make out the play equipment in the top left of the picture) as is the bandshell where we go for 4th of July fireworks. The Hill we always sled on is covered in geese, and the park by our library is also underwater. Though again, much less so than the 2004 flood. The library was even still opened today.

Spaghetti Tacos

It started innocuously enough. Lily simply asked if I'd buy hard taco shells for the tacos we were having for dinner on Friday. Of course I said yes- we hadn't had hard tacos in years. The tacos were great and of course there were leftovers. Then the real quest began in earnest. couldn't we have our weekly pasta in those shells? Could we have Spaghetti tacos like Freddie does? Of course I said no right away. What parent in their right mind says yes to spaghetti tacos. Over several days however, her logic wore me down. She would eat the spaghetti taco and LOVE it. We already had the shells. She convinced her sisters to agree to trying them, and then she turned those big blue eyes on her dad- who shrugged and said why not.

So last night my family has spaghetti tacos for dinner- complete with Mexican cheese on top. I had "regular" pasta and was convinced to try 1 bite of Shawn's. It wasn't horrible, but I can't imagine actually asking for it. In the end we all survived and Shawn and I realized that we truly need to live in fear of all of our daughters ' powers or persuasion.

being 14

Being 14 means going to dances. We don't allow our children under 14 to attend dances or under 16 to date. This weekend was Charlie's 1st dance. She went to Rochester with some of the prettiest and nicest girls we know and had a fabulous time. She can't wait until the next one.

We'll all sleep great tonight

Well it's Saturday and it's in September, so we must be playing Football. Today's game had a little twist - pint size centers. Lily and her friend Gage played centers. They did a great job hiking the balls, and they even got some touch downs. They also ran the whole length of the field over and over and over. Shawn had a lot of great plays today as well. He got 6 touch downs, several interceptions, and a whole lot of flag pulling. I did my part as well, catching the ball, a lot of defensive blocking and a lot of running. Emily was our ever inportant gold team cheerleader and Charlie, as always, was more interested in the babies and animals than the football. She spent most of her time playing in the barn with the chickens, the horses, and the dogs. We all had a great day and can't wait until next week.

Charlie is 14

It seems impossible that I've been a mom for 14 years. During those early months I thought I'd never sleep again, and that the warm drowsy afternoons spent snuggled up with my baby would last forever. Now I know, the next few years are just going to fly by. Charlie brings such joy into our home and family. She

sings like an angel, is (often) willing to help and is the kind of young lady who lives her values without embarrassment. I am so grateful to call her my daughter.

1st Day of School

All 3 girls had a great 1st day of school. They were all excited to go back. Lily couldn't wait to ride the bus and be a kindergartener. Charlie was excited because it was not only her 1st day as an 8th grader, but her birthday as well. And Emily was nervous to start middle school. They all had amazing days. Em LOVES being a middle schooler, Charlie loved 8th grade and Lily, who is quite tired, loved going to kindergarten. I hope my first day goes just as well!

Labor Day

With great friends who have truly become our family, we always celebrate birthdays. We're the smallest family with only 3 kids. Two other families have 5 each. (And no, we don't plan to "catch up" to them.) So, when the newest member of the clan, Griffin, was born last year- on New Year's Eve, We had to smile, because now each family has a "Holiday" baby. Our holiday baby is Charlie, who turns 14 tomorrow. Her actual birthday only falls on Labor Day every few years, but the cookout tradition has been going on for a long time. This year we chose to rent a pavillion rather than try and hold it at home. It was a great choice because we had cover and the kids had several great parks to choose from. I hope your Labor Day was as great as ours.

Lark's

With it being our final weekend of the summer, we decided to spend the afternoon having a little fun. So we took off to Lark's Toy Store. While we definitely spent some time looking at toys, really, a thip to Lark's is all about the experience. We were able to show the girls the toys we played with as kids- as well as toys our parents might have played with, rode the carousel, played mini-golf, checked out the Olde Curiosity Shoppe, and nibbled some candy. We followed it up with dinner in Rochester and finally got home around 9:00 p.m.

So, a fun afternoon excursion really extended itself, but was so very worth it. I hope everyone else who is still on summer vacation also had a great day as well.