Fall Retreat

Our boys LOVE hanging out with college students, road trips and conferences. They had been talking about Fall Retreat for weeks and the weekend did not disappoint! Once again we were in Devils Lake at Lakewood Park Bible Camp and we brought 80+ students with us this year.

 The weather was pretty decent for mid October and we spent some time outside playing at the park, taking hikes and playing putt putt. 

The boys bonded with so many students! They are quite extroverted, inviting students to join us at meal times and initiating games of tag or wrestling:) 

 Our speaker for the weekend was Brandon Smith, a former UND Cru intern! He shared a story from in college before he started following Christ. One of his high school friends (a St. Cloud State student named Andrew) called him up to talk about Jesus one day and this was a pivotal conversation in Brandon's life. We used to be on staff at St. Cloud State and Tim was actually discipling Andrew. Tim and Andrew had been praying for Brandon long before Tim ever met Brandon! It took a while after meeting Brandon and then working with him to make that connection. Such a sweet reminder of how God works through prayer!! 

 Hanging out after a meal! The boys even joined us in some of the meetings. They love listening to worship music and even sat through part of Brandon's talks. Thankfully there was a nursery in the back of the meeting room so I could take the boys out if they became distracting (which they did at times!).

Cooper wrestling with two college guys that he loves!

Twenty minutes into our drive home!! They were so wiped! What a great weekend. They've already started asking how many days until next year's Fall Retreat!

Crosby's 3rd Birthday

Crosby Charles is three!! Wowza!

 He wanted to go to Cherry Berry with the family for his birthday party. Nice and easy:) The boys chose to sit right in front of a TV that had the Disney Channel on. Nobody said a word. Hilarious! 

Tim had to leave to speak at a conference on Crosby's actual birth date so we took the boys out earlier in the week. Then we just did a little dinner and cupcake celebration on the 9th.

 The boys always enjoy decorating for a birthday. Crosby wanted Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...I think his brothers might have persuaded him. Cooper informed me that we didn't do enough this year with the birthday decor. But Crosby didn't mind!

 Cros loved the attention, cards and gifts!

 He asked for cupcakes with blue frosting. Another easy request! 

 It's always hard to navigate three young boys around new toys on birthdays. Everybody wants a turn and it can get a little tense but Cros was great about sharing. It's hard to believe that my baby is three. This is all going by way too fast! We love you so much Crosby Charles!!

The Fence Project

Our fence was starting to fall apart with boards warping and falling off. We knew we needed to replace it and finally found a weekend do work on it. Thankfully Gramps just built a fence at their house this summer so he was able to come up and help us out. And Mimi helped a ton with the kiddos:)

The week before, Tim and the boys took off all the boards from the old fence. We were surprised by how much they wanted to help and how long they helped. What could have been an hour or two project took ALL DAY but it was fun to have the boys so involved.

Construction! The boys also wanted to help with this but we had to distract them so the men could work efficiently:)

Coming along...

...almost done...

Voila! Thank you so much Steve and Bev for coming to Grand Forks and helping us!!

Fall Soccer

 We are in the middle of fall soccer season. Crosby is still too young to play but we found an extra jersey for him:) It is a short season and they just have a 30 minute practice on Monday nights with a game on Saturdays. 

 Tough guys

 This is Cooper's first try at an organized sport. He seems to enjoy but spends a lot of the time wandering around while chewing on his jersey:) 

 Warming up 

 Mimi and Gramps came to town last weekend and got to watch a game. They cheered on the boys with Crosby's help!

 I just realized I have no action shots of Carter. He is super intense and goes hard after every ball! He is on a team with some buddies from school which is fun for him!   

This past week it was only in the high 30s for their games. Brrrr!

This is how Crosby spent most of the games:) True fan!!

Crosby's August and September 2014 Update

 You are almost three years old! Crazy! Your big brothers have been getting lots of questions about school lately and you almost always get in on the conversation and say: "I'm going to MOMMY school!" We have been having lots of fun together this fall! 

My friend Laura has a daughter named Rianna that is at the same pre-school as Cooper. Some days we'll drop the kids off and then take Crosby and her son Mason for a bike ride. Some days Laura and I will flip flop who takes the kids and who gets to run errands alone. It's been great!

Much like his brothers, Crosby loves costumes too! 

 As I was looking through pictures from the past month I kept cracking up at you, Crosby! Oh my personality!! You have enough for an army:) These four pictures pretty much sum it all up!  

 You watched your brothers head off to school and get their pictures taken so you wanted yours taken as well:) 

 You've been a good sport watching your brothers play soccer this fall. This past weekend was so cold but we bundled up and made the most of it.

Riding on his strider bike

Crosbyisms from the past two months:

-After a harder-than-usual day of parenting I was tucking Crosby into bed. I prayed for him and then he patted me on the head and said: "Oh Lord, please help this lady!"

-You make up lots of crazy words and give things random nick-names. Your favorite lately is this magnet that you call Boomowie. Boomowie the Cow.

-You made up a song that has one line: "You cannot come to my apartment." When I asked you why I couldn't come you said, "Because it is mine." I asked where it is and you said, "Somewhere far away. Like China. Or Fargo."

-I love how you pronounce words. My favorite is how you say Cooper. It comes out sounding like "Coe-pair".

-You now go to bed and nap with big boy underwear on. You occasionally wake up in the middle of the night to go potty but usually make it until morning. 

-You continue to win the hearts of many at church with your big hugs and smiles. You even hugged an old lady that passed us on the street one day when we were out for a walk. It caught her off guard but she said it made her day:)

Cooper's August and September 2014 Update

 You rarely go a day without dressing up!

 Awwwww so sweet:) You love your pillow pet and I love when I get to wake you up from nap and watch you sleep for a bit.

 "Hey Mom, do you want to take my picture?"

 "Look Mom! It looks like God is breaking through the clouds and coming to earth!"

 Sweetness

 We are working with you on writing letters. You are growing up so fast. Too fast!

 You love babies and got some snuggles in with Caroline the other morning.

 Hanging out with dad!

Mimi and Gramps brought up some Transformers costumes. You have said this is what you want to be for Halloween. I'm still trying to persuade you into being Buzz being that Crosby will be Woody. But if I know you, your mind is made up!

Cooperisms from the past month:

-Cooper: "Mom you look so pretty today. I love those pants. (Running pants, fyi)

Me: "Really? Why do you say that?"

Cooper: "They are black and look like something that Superman would wear."

-After Carter got home from his first day at Kindergarten...

Cooper: "Carter, will you read to me?"

Carter: "Cooper, you know that I can't read yet."

Cooper: "WHAT??! You went to Kindergarten all day today. What do you mean you can't read?"

-Cooper: "Sometimes I wish the whole world was made of bacon."

-Praying at dinnertime: "God thanks for being our King. If we didn't have a King, we wouldn't have rules and wouldn't know what to do. And I pray that you'd win the fight against satan. Amen."

-"I look like a free-style skateboard spaceship ninja turtle!"

-As I was trying to teach him to write one afternoon...
"You mean there is a rule for what direction the line goes? You have gotta be kidding me!"