Cheers to Grandpa Wally

My grandpa Wally passed away two weeks ago and we spent last weekend celebrating his life. He lived a long, productive life and was only one month shy of turing 100. I was selfishly hoping he would make this milestone as it is within days of our due date and I thought it would be the coolest thing if the birthdays coincided. It turns out, God had different plans, and it was his time. My mom was with him when he passed away. His health had been wavering since my grandmother's passing three years ago and ironically things had been status quo as of late. When my mom was there last Saturday, he simply laid down to go to bed and it was his time. What a peaceful way to leave this world.

He was an honorable man, both in business and in life. He valued The Golden Rule and did the right thing, because that just what you do. He instilled these values in my mom and she strives to pass them along to us. He was a strong influence in her life and in the lives of all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Maggie had started to compile memories from our extended Scott family about one week before his passing and intended to give them to him in a book for his birthday next month. She was able to use these memories and incorporate them into a memory board for his funeral. It was a really great tribute, and really nice to read each of the memories.

He was a great man and will be missed. He leaves behind a great legacy and a family who was honored to call him their own.

Sully starts preschool!

He did it! Off to school Sully went, and he was so brave. We celebrated with pre-preschool treat at DQ the evening before school started and really talked the morning up. He woke up excited and in a relatively good mood (he is not a morning boy :)), and really excited to show Miss Heather his robot backpack. He only started to get nervous when I parked the car and we started to walk in. As soon as we got through the doors and heard a couple of other kids whimpering, he tightened his grip. We made a swift drop off and he did great. Dave, Greta and I ran a few errands and couldn't believe how fast the 2.5 hours went. Greta really missed Sully, every 20 minutes we heard her sweet voice ask, 'where's Ayah?'. She was so happy to see him at pick up time. By his second day of school on Thursday, he gave me a kiss and ran over to the teacher's lap, just like and old pro.

He goes to school downtown at the Washington Pavilion, which is the old Washington High School, and his program is called The Graham Academy. We are really excited about the curriculum. The school incorporates the Kirby Science Center, the Visual Arts Center, and the Performance Series (when age appropriate productions come to town) into the daily routine as they are all in the same building. While all of these things are really neat, the coolest thing is that Dave went to Washington High School, so they get to share a common school. Lucky guys.

I also had an OB apt this week and was happy to get a good report. I am 33 1/2 weeks along and the baby's hear rate was 138, the baby measured 32-33 weeks. The baby is currently lying transverse, so that is a little bit of a bummer, but there is still time for it to move. I have an ultrasound on Wednesday to follow up with my low lying placenta, so Im optimistic for good news all around.

Sully's preschool orientation. 

Sully's classroom. 

DQ treat the evening before. 

Sully, beaming with pride. 

Greta getting in on the fun. 

Getting ready to walk in,
a slightly nervous smile from all of us, especially Greta  ;).

Finishing up summer.

We were all anticipating Sully's first day of preschool and for the first time, understood what it meant to wrap up summer. We did so with a weekend jam packed with chores, which included 96 hours straight of Heart Hospital call for Dave and emptying a storage garage that we filled back in February. Unfortunately, Dave was relatively busy for a call weekend, he got called in each day for at least a couple of hours. We had to work hard on the storage garage every chance we got, which was interesting with two busy toddlers. Sully also got the stomach flu and Greta had a trip to the ER amongst the business. Needless to say, we were so glad for Tuesday and routine.

While I wish the storage garage returning meant the end of our project, I am sad to say that it doesn't. We are feeling the pressure with the due date just around the corner to finish up some of the things we don't want to do when the baby is here. We basically emptied the garage into our storage space in the house, which will suffice for now, but we will be busy for months to come as we gradually unpack all of that stuff. Yikes.

'Cheese!' at The Falls after a Sioux Falls flood. 

Family photo op. 32 weeks pregnant. 

Shake your booty! 

Apple orchard with Anna. 

Baby prep, they all fit = no need for a new car...yay! 

Morning coffee with daddy
(notice the empty box...progress!).

ER visit for a dislocated elbow. 

Sully showing off his new favorite basketball shirt,
it was actually Dave's when he was a boy. 

The addition gets bricked! (I am standing where the old patio was.)

A weekend with the Gehlens.

We planned a weekend to Minneapolis to see my friend, Leanne, and her family many months ago. We had originally hoped to go boating with them, but as the weekend approached, I was placed on slight activity restrictions due to my placenta location, the Gehlen's boat suffered some damage, and the weather was cool and windy. Needless to say, our original plan completely fell through, but we went anyway.

We stayed at a hotel on Friday evening and made a quick (hectic) stop at Ikea before making our way to the Gehlen's on Saturday. We basically ate and played for 24 hours. It was really fun to get the kids together. I love quality time with my friends, I always feel so refreshed after our time together.  We look forward to hosting them sometime this winter.

Joey, Sully, Greta, Natalie

"Say ROAR!"

Lots of fun = 2 hours car nap, yay! 

Connelly Family Vacation to Leech Lake

We headed north to Leech Lake and had a great time. After spending many summer vacations at Leech Lake as a child, it was really fun to return as an adult and to have my own kids and husband along. Most of the Connelly family was able to make the trip, which coincided with my dad's 75th birthday. What a great week of celebrating.

The kids had a blast. Activities and sleep overs (for the older kids) were constant. We stayed at a family friendly resort which was perfect for the kids. We had a beach day, a pool day and a couple of pontoon days. We also watched turtle races, participated in a fishing contest, sat by bon fires and ate one years worth of s'mores in one week. Both of the kids mastered water wings and loved being in the water. We did, too, as it was in the 90s and so humid. 

We were thankful for the week away from house work, and were excited to come home to some progress. The kids did so well in the car making the 7 hour drive really not so bad, thank goodness.

Road trip! 

Fishing contest and Sully's first fish (Isaac is supervising).

Sully and daddy on the boat. 

Sully, post little boat ride. 

Pool day. 

Sully playing with the big boy and gaining some water confidence.

Greta and Sully at the beach. 

Captan Sully!
(This was the only way we could keep him awake on boat rides.)

The whole crew. 

Anna and Sully with their Huddles gear on.

Family photo. Im 30 weeks along. 

The boys go camping.

Dave and Sullivan put their first camping trip on the calendar early this summer and we did lots of talking about it to Sully in order to prep for the actual outing. As the evening approached, all eyes were on the weather in fear of rain or something worse. Fortunately, August 1st turned out to be a perfect evening to camp.

Greta and I joined them initially to make sure they got the (borrowed) tent set up (our tent is packed away in the storage POD along with so many other things). We then grilled hot dogs and s'mores with them and made our way home when it was close to Greta's bedtime.

Dave and Sully had a great time. They played on the jungle gym, met other campers and grilled jiffy pop before a 9pm bedtime. They had books to read and a comfy blow up mattress to sleep on equipped with all of their favorite things from home. They made it through the night without a hitch and Sully slept until after 8am. The only issue they had was that Sully wasn't ready to come home the next morning. It was a success. Dave is scrambling to get another camping date on the calendar before October.

Dave prepping the campsite.

The campsite. 

Sully's chair, and only his chair.

Smiles by the campfire. 

Donuts in the morning (in his red chair). 

A full and fun week.

What a wild week last week was. I feel like Im finally catching up (and its the following Friday!).

Sully and Anna were in Kindercamp together and had an absolute blast. Every day when we picked them up or dropped them off, the instructors would rave about how they share their lunches, sit together, play together and take care of one another. How heart warming. Sully is mostly a timid boy, so its great for him to have a buddy (especially his cousin) around. I know that when he feels safe he is much more himself. Greta and I enjoyed our one on one time together. I can't believe how easy it is to manage one child. She is so sweet and giggly. I crave her sweet little voice. She is talking so much and it melts my heart. She refers to Sully as "Ayah" and it drives him nuts. She will say "Hi Ayah!" and he responds with, "I'm NOT Ayah, I'm Yully!" (we are still working on some speech things ;)). Its hilarious. They are so insanely busy, but so adorable at the same time.

Immediately after Kindercamp we hit the road to Okoboji for the weekend. Dave, Matthew, Lauren, and Cassandra had planned to run the Okoboji 10k several months ago and as the weekend approached, Maggie and Jeff decided to go a day early and invited the kids and I along (Dave and I and the kids were going to stay at the Oliver cabin). Dave came after work on Friday and the race was on Saturday morning. We had a great time boating, swimming, napping, eating, going to Arnold's Park, and just spending time together. We hosted a pasta feed for the racers on Friday and a BBQ for the group on Saturday evening. Jeff and his brother Joe also ran the race. It was a hot day and everyone finished and did great. Way to go! And thanks to the Olivers for a memorable weekend, we feel so lucky, xoxox.

We were tired and happy to get home on Sunday. I was in major need of some down time. I am approaching my 27th week of pregnancy and boy do I feel it. Between really hot days, two busy kids and this construction project, we are nonstop. On a very good note, I had recently had an OB appointment and the baby is measuring right on, and its heart rate was 146. I am so grateful for an uneventful pregnancy.

BK fun with the Oliver kids. 

Camp fun with Anna. 

Full hands at Arnold's Park. 

The kids on the roller coaster,
it may have been too soon for Greta. 

Maybe a more appropriate ride. 

Dave and the kids after the race.
Sully was a really good sport about the photo ;).

Prerace photo of the group. 

Sully, Maggie, and Anna.

First class view. 

Sweet Sully and his amazing cowlicks. 

Boat fun = boat nap.

Story time.

The kids feeling for the baby.