A robot birthday party for our 3 year old.

After much anticipation and preparation, Sully turned three. My sweet, quiet, reserved little boy is growing up. He is talking so much, almost nonstop, he is feisty toward Greta. He is silly and goofy and loves to have fun. Im so proud of how far he has come.

For his birthday party, we celebrated at McKennan Park. We ordered pizza and invited family to join in the fun. Sully got so many cool summer toys as gifts and he had a blast playing with them with his cousins at his party. We are so lucky that he is ours.

Surprise cinnamon roll for his birthday breakfast. 

Birthday balloons. 

Matching shirt and cake. What a lucky kid.

A little cousin help opening presents. 

Family photo. 

Dave turns 53 and a staycation.

Dave had a week of vacation over Memorial Day weekend and we were happy to stay put. It has been a busy spring and it feels so good to just be around and catch up on things around here. Dave had a birthday, a very mellow 53 which primarily consisted of family time. We were able to go to dinner with my parents, but that was about it for excitement. He worked one day on his week off and I was able to get a shift in as well. We also filled up our days with house appointments, pool days, and a trip to The Children's Museum in Brookings. Overall, it was a great week.

Feeding the geese at Arrowhead Park on daddy's birthday. 

Pony tails for everyone! 

Swimming pool fun. 

Painting with Grandma at the Children's Museum.  

Obsessed with painting.

Grandma, Capri, Hudson, Owen, Isaac, Sully, Dave, me, Greta, Anna and
Maggie at the Children's Museum.

Frog hunting with Grandpa. 

Owen, Isaac, Grandpa, Sully, Anna and Capri frog hunting. 

Check ups.

We quickly got back into the grind around here after a week of vacation for Dave. Sully and Greta had 3 year and 18 month check ups this week, and fortunately, everything continues to be great. Stats are as follows: Greta, height: 31inches (24th percentile), weight 21lbs, 8oz (10th percentile): and Sully, height: 37inches (37th percentile), weight: 28lbs and 6oz (16th percentile).

Sully continues his obsession with any sort of outdoor sport and robots while Greta is also obsessed with being outside and helping with the dishes. They are both as sweet, and as busy as ever.

Big boy.

Silly girl. 

Finally, a girls trip!

My college girls were able to get together last weekend in St. Louis. Since Dave Winters died, we have not all been together. So much has happened. Sad to say, mostly difficult happenings. It was so so good to be together. We all arrived by noon on Friday and quickly settled on to her screened in porch. We sat and ate and talked for hours. We would relocate to various places (ie. the spa, a coffee shop, or restaurant) but the conversation just kept going. Many tears were shed, but we had a lot of laughs, too. I was sad to see it come to an end, but so happy to see Dave and the kids. It feels good to know that we are going to be back in the get together groove again. I love you, girls. You have made me who I am.

Leanne, Suzie, Stacy, Becky and Jill

Johnson City, TN

Dave did his residency with a man named Fernando Zepeda many years ago at Mayo in Rochester, MN. Fernando and his wife, Farissa became fast friends of Dave, they worked together and grew together during those years. Since I have known Dave, we have connected with the Zepeda family on two Anesthesia trips and have really enjoyed their company. Dave and I decided last year to take a trip to visit them in their home town and finally made it happen last week.

We had a great time. Sully latched on to their boys, Caleb (9) and Tyler (13) in no time. He loved to play soccer, basketball, and 'bat' (baseball) with them. They were great entertainers, too. They have a great home with a large amount of land behind it fully equipped with a trampoline, four wheelers, and plenty of room to run. Sully had his first real exposure to water guns and water balloons. He was in heaven. It was one toy after the next. Meanwhile, Greta kept us on our toes. From toilet bowl playing to bug eating, she is seriously such a handful. I don't remember Sully ever being so wild. She definitely has her mama's spunk, while Sully has his daddy's more reserved nature. It is so funny to watch their personalities evolve.

We spent Mother's day at the Zepeda's and then went to Ashville, NC to see the Biltmore Estate on Monday. Farissa and I spent Tuesday getting pedicures, lunch and shopping before returning to host their family for a BBQ at our quaint little farmhouse.

We had a great trip and are thankful for our time with the Zepeda family. We hope to host them in SD in the near future.

Water balloons with Caleb and daddy.

How does this work, mom?

Breakfast with daddy. 

Sully and daddy playing 'bat' at the farmhouse. 

Sweet GG.

Tubby time at the farmhouse. 

Hiking with daddy. 

Swinging at the farmhouse. 

Group photo. Fernando, Farissa, Greta, Suzie, Dave, Sully, Tyler and Caleb, 

The daily grind.

Now that we are settled into the rental house, it feels as though we are resuming our routines and weekly schedules, which feels good. Sully is nearing the end of his speech therapy as his third birthday approaches and I seriously cant believe I just typed that. Greta turned 18 months yesterday and she is crazy, in every sense of the word. 

Sully's current obsessions are robots, basketball, and soccer. It is so fun to watch him turn into a big boy, and to see him gaining confidence in himself. Dave and I are so proud of him. We are still battling the sleep issues, but it has improved, slightly. And by slightly, I mean that one of us lays with him until he falls asleep, which, on a good night, is 15 minutes. But on a bad night, it can be more than an hour. It can be exhausting after a long day with the kids, but we are both holding out hope that when we get back to the house things will get better. 

Greta is wild. She loves to do dishes, or anything involving running water and she loves to be outside, that is usually her first request upon waking each morning "outside, outside!'. She is so sweet and smiley and pretty easy going. She is gaining a bit of independence, which is adorable. Her cozy blanket has turned into her favorite thing, right behind me and then Dave. She loves her cozy and will run up to her pack and play squeal at it until she gets it. She is able to follow rules and directions, and is the cutest little thing. 

Construction is underway. We had a 7 day delay waiting on sheet rockers which was so painful. I knew that every day we were delayed meant we would be delayed moving home, which is the most painful thing. The rental is going fine, it just lacks outdoor space and the homey feeling. I will be so thankful to be home which we are hoping takes place in 5 weeks from this weekend, but that could easily be 6 weeks after this last delay. We get daily calls from our builder with 5-10 questions in each call. So, it feels like things are moving. The addition and basement are being framed, sheet rock is going up on the second floor and in the attic, and kitchen/bathroom cabinets finally went into 

production. Tick tock! (I'm 15 weeks pregnant this week :))

Grandpa Paul and GG. 

Doing dishes (if you look closely, you can see the
train tracks outside the kitchen window).

Visiting Grandma Helen.

Playing in the construction zone.  

Framing of the addition.

My welcome home crew after a day of meetings. 

Grocery shopping fun. 

 

A shower for Lizzie.

The wedding celebrations have officially started. My sister, Liz, and her fiance, Matt are inching in on their wedding date of July 4, 2015. Maggie and I jumped at the opportunity to throw her a family shower. It was really nice. Due to construction and the size of the shower, Maggie and I decided to throw the shower at a restaurant rather than one of our houses. This was the idea of the century. We chose The Falls Overlook Cafe which was really nice. Although it wasn't quite warm enough to be on the patio, it was still nice to be near in the park and near The Falls. We also coordinated a group gift, which was a fun alternative to the traditional gift giving. We raised enough money to get her her dream vacuum and a hammock. She was thrilled.

We had a great turn out and spent the first half hour as a group showering Liz with great tidbits about her. Many tears fell out of gratitude and happiness. I cant think of a better way to celebrate Liz.

Im already looking forward to the next celebration.

Me, Liz, and Maggie

Liz and her MOH, Colleen. 

Connelly Ladies.
Mandy, Suzie, Liz, Mary Ellen, Maggie, and Shelley. 

Gift opening.
Lovely flowers done by my mom.