Low Iron...

Got a note in the mail today from Zachary's doctor. When he had his 9 mo appt a couple of weeks ago, he had his blood tested. The results came back & his iron is low. So the doctor sent a prescription for me to fill. It'll be a daily dose of something to get his iron up.

I've never dealt with this before. Off to do some research to see what this is all about!

Potty Training....

Well, it's time for our 3rd child to make that BIG step!! I was gonna wait until the middle of Sept (and after school started) when Zander was 2 1/2 to start the process, but he has plans of his own!

For the last 2 days Zander has done #2 in the toilet. He is so proud of himself when he's done too!! We are still working on the pee part, but that will come too. This morning after he woke up, I put him on there & he said he didn't have to go, but he sat for a bit & then he went!! He was so excited!

Yesterday he had to call Grandma after he went to share his news with her...she wasn't home so he left her a message, did you understand what he was saying Grandma?!!?

I'm hoping this continues to go well and we will be diaper free soon!!!

Paddle Boat

It was an absolutey BEAUTIFUL day today at the lake. We took the boat out and Nick & I did some tubing. Then we took the paddle boat out. It was just perfect! We tied the tube to the back & you can see Lexi was getting a little ride from Nick & I. We did a little swimming and then it was time for lunch. We headed home around 2 or so so because Phil had a fantasy football draft to get to.

He left and after a while I noticed Kirby wasn't around. Ooohh oooo..I checked the WHOLE house & outside. Then the van. No KIRBY. Oh great. Could it really be?? Did we LEAVE him at the lake??

I called Phil at the football draft & he thought we had brought him with but wasn't sure. When we left the lake this afternoon, we were dealing with both Zander & Zachary crying, so we were kind of in a hurry to get OUT of there and get the van moving!

So I called JP to see if he saw a cute little poodle running around outside. Voice mail. Oh great, now I have to sit & worry longer! He finally called me back & I explained the situation to him & so he walked over to our place & didn't see him outside at all......then he walked to the dock & nothing down there. He saw a couple of kids, but ours were all accounted for. Phew. Of course all of our windows/blinds were shut so he couldn't see in the place to see if Kirby was there or not.

So when Phil got home from the draft, he headed over to the lake. Just got off the phone with him & Kirby was on the couch...boy was he excited to see Phil!! He was only alone for about 7 hours so he probably didn't think anything of it! I was more worried than him I'm sure!!

I guess when we do a head count for kids, we better include the DOG!! I've also TALKED about getting an extra key for them to have, guess now is the time to do that huh?!?

  

Fish Fry

Ok, this is why we do NOT go out to eat very often.

We decided to go to Jocko's in Cleveland for their Friday night Fish/Shrimp All you can eat night on Friday night. First off, I hate to go out to eat w/ the kids cause I can never enjoy my food, just have to scarf it down real quick because of the kids. Well we had to wait 45 mins before our food came!! They did bring the kids food out after about 40 mins and by the time ours came, they were about done!!

This same thing happened to us over the 4th of July week...we ate at a restaurant in Madison Lake & had a bad experience with the wait.

We want to know, is this NORMAL to wait that long for food? Like I said, we very seldom go out to eat these days & think if we didn't have the kids, well 45 mins wouldn't be THAT big of a deal. Nick said he won't eat there again..it took WAY TOO LONG TO GET THE FOOD. The kid that ate the adult size hamburger meal with fries and then needed a root beer float when we got home!!   

Happy Boy!
  

Patty Cake

Phil entertaining Lexi while we were waiting for our food!
  

TORNADOS

Well the bad weather swept through Thursday night. We could have had damage both at home AND at the lake. The one tornado was about 7 miles from our home (in Nicollet) & the other one was less than 5 miles from our lake home!

Our neighbors at the lake had their daughter/son in law visiting Thurs & he moved his car to a spot he thought was safe....but a huge tree branch fell on his car, which was RIGHT BEHIND our trailer!! His car was only a month old too! See picture for damage done on his car!

On our way to the lake on Friday, we drove by a dead cow on the side of the road. (Sorry Jennie, I know how you like to see pics of dead animals, but we weren't quick enough to get a shot of the cow). We had heard that 200 cattle were missing from a dairy farm. Well, we saw this one, so only 199 left uncounted for!

Friday night we drove around to check out the damage in the Cleveland area. Not a fun drive, that's for sure.


  

Trucks

This was the scene on our drive from home to the lake on Friday. Our lake home was without power until about noon on Friday. They said it would be 2 days, but they got it on much sooner!

  

Crops

I have NEVER seen crops look this bad. The corn was flattened like a pancake. Absolutely nothing left. This was in the Cleveland area....

  

Corn field

  

Farm house

This was taken just a few miles from our lake home. Nothing left of this farmhouse. We were on a road we probably shouldn't have been on...power lines were STILL down Friday night & tons of clean up to do yet here.

  

Oshawa Township Hall

This was a new bldg built in 1998 after the St Peter tornado...it was hit again on Thursday night. The roof was just blown off, but the talk on the radio was that it was destroyed.

  

Nicollet house

I'm pretty sure this is the house that was in the paper today. The guy that lives here...lost his house to the St Peter tornado, in 1998. He then moved to Nicollet. Now he lost this house to a tornado. What are the odds of that?? We took this on Friday, on our way to the lake.

  

TORNADO - Nicollet

Tornado sirens sounded here in Courtland around 5:00...nothing came from it here. No rain, wind, or anything. A tornado was reported to have touched down in nearby Nicollet....6 miles down the road. We took a drive over to check out the damage. We didn't get to see much, they had all the roads into town blocked so we just drove on Hwy 14 & turned around.

If you are familiar with Nicollet at all, there is a pool on the left hand side (if heading towards Mankato) of the road. It has a red fence around it & that fence is now gone. I guess there were a couple of homes that were leveled as well.

Here's a picture of what remains of the pool.

  

Damage by the Pool

  

Tornado

Downed Trees
  

Computer Crash

  

Free Press Article

This article was in the Mankato Free Press today....

The Outsiders

Getting Ready!!

We had the party at the lake on Saturday & of course they had predictions of rain.....they had finally changed it to rain in the morning & clear in the afternoon. Guess what, the weatherman was WRONG. Imagine that! No rain whatsoever on Saturday & it turned out to be a beautiful day at the lake.

It took a little while, but Phil figured out how to put the canopy together. Grandma said we really should have one...so we borrowed Uncle Jerry's & got it set up for her. And I don't recall seeing her ever sitting under it!? What's up with that?!?!

We had 35 people....25 adults & 10 kids. Three states were represented....Minnesota, Wisconsin, & Texas!

I got some lottery tickets from my aunts & I was looking them over today & I actually won more money than I thought. At the party I thought it was a total of $8.00........but I won more!! I better not say or I may have to share!!! Thanks for the tickets!!!! I suppose cause I'm not working anymore, I lost my accouting skills over the last 2 years huh?!!? But dang, some of those tickets you really had to study!!

Thanks to all for coming! We had a great time & I'm glad so many were able to see our place & where we hang out all summer!!

***I posted a bunch of pictures.....but if you would like to see more, go check out the Walter blog (link on the left)

  

Strawberry Shortcake!!

  

The BARBIE Cake!

  

Paddle Boat Ride!

Marty & Grandpa took the kids out for a ride. I'm not sure if they made it past the end of the dock or not. They sure had a heck of a time for some reason! I didn't stick around to see and it looks like Nick is ready to bail out too!

  

The Life......

Ahhhhhhh the life of a college student!!!!!!! (Ashley, Carly, & Erika)

  

Libby was doing something for the crowd and of course I missed it! I don't know if she was reading a story or exactly what she did!

  

Present Time!

Lexi opening her presents!

  

College Girls....

Grandpa & Libby sitting with Ashley & her two friends from college. Ashley is in the middle, Carly on the right & Erika on her left. I have to share this & I'm sure Ashley will like me to share this story! LOL Anyhow, as I was getting the food ready, the girls came in & Ashley asked if they could help. I said SURE! I gave her a watermelon & said "here can you cut this up?" She says ok. And then she says to her friend "I don't know how to do it, you cut it up". So I think Carly cut that up. Then I said, here Ashley, cut some tomatoes up. Then I look & she passed that on to Erika to do! She did do a few though I think. I wonder how they will survie this year in an apartment...no dorm cafeteria........they have to cook themselves!!! Glad you could come Ashley!! I think Phil enjoyed taking you & your friends out tubing. I told Fred to go keep an eye on Phil, he just took three girls in bikini's out on the boat!!

  

Fruit Pizza...

It just so happened that our neighbors across the road had an hors d'oeuvre party on Saturday. We were invited but I didn't get a chance to sneak over. You can see where it was if you look at this picture....it's on the path we take to get to our dock. Look to the left of Phil's head & you can see where the people are sitting. Anyhow, Phil managed to sneak over there (which lead to him getting behind in frying burgers!) and he came back with a piece of fruit pizza.....and said how good it was. So I asked for a bite & no way was he sharing! Nice huh?!?!   

Cake!

Lexi with her cake!