A little of CMW

An update of CMW and her happenings. :-)

CMW was painting with her dad's supering vision.

She painted herself & her cardboard box house.

I'm thinking she had a pretty good time!

And CMW loves shoes, trying them on, walking in them

and it doesn't matter how big or if there is a heel or not.

She tries and it's great.

CMW is modeling a bib i made. I needed to make sure

it would fit a smaller baby. She didn't want to take it off

but we got it off and in the gift bag for our friends new baby boy.

And yes, she is vacuuming in her bathing suit. She insisted on wear

it one day and then because I love my new vacuum we vacuum lots

and he always get into the action. I love taking pictures of her trying out new stuff.

Way to Go !

Way to G CMW, you used the potty on your own!!

This evening CMW used the potty. And all of this was not prompted by us just to let you all know. She brought out the potty (we were in the living room), she took off her diaper, proceeded to sit on the potty and peed. It was pretty amazing and I was quite shocked because before or after bath time she usually likes to sit on the potty but it is never used. So I'm not sure if this will continue but it's okay because she is a little young. I say at least she is going in the right direction. :-)

Just one more accomplishment we can praise her for and we can be proud parents.

Visiting Friends

CMW and I went on a road trip! We accomplished visiting our friends Paula and Jon and daughter C who moved near the cities in June, we helped out G. Saccoman clean out her linen closets and visited college friends Chrissy and Dustin.

Our first stop was visiting my friend Paula and her daughter C and husband Jon. We stayed a couple of days/nights and had lot of girls time and it was great fun for both of us. I certainly enjoyed visiting since they have been gone for 4 months and Paula and I did lots of stuff together, I miss her. We enjoyed going for walks and playing at the parks. We walked to the local coffee coffee shop for coffee and sweets and the next day we walked to the post office and just couldn't resist stopping for a French Soda, it was delicious and they even had Black Cherry flavor. Sweet!!! And because I love participating in 'acts of service' it was great to be able to make some good progress on stripping wall paper boarder. It's in every room of their new house and it's all coming down. So after those little ladies were in bed, we jumped in. We got the kitchen finished and small entry way and worked on a bath room. I also got to see their new house, it is so nice and roomy. It has character, old wood floors, big trip, skinny staircases, and three levels. I'm so excited for them and to make it their home asap.

I also got to visit with Paula's sister Sharla. She flew in from Idaho for a wedding and it worked out well for us to see each other. I miss her much since she moved but we stay in touch quarterly. :-) The five of us went to a nice park near South Dale Mall for lunch (Paula makes a mean chef salad, so good!) and park play. The girls enjoyed swinging and a huge teeter totter and lots of other play items.

Then on to G. Shirley, Claire and I helped with cleaning lots of linens and towels and one large vanity. It was great fun for me, I love organizing and cleaning other peoples stuff and that is just what we did. We not only cleaned but we went Shopping :-) at Arbor Lakes in Maple Grove. It's a great open mall and it's just so fun for me to window shop and see all the new crazy stuff that is available. I love to shop with Shirley and I'm pretty sure I get my good tastes from her. My aunt and uncle and cousin Hayley came to visit too. It's been some time since I've seen them and it was a good visit. Sorry no pictures from our cleaning but let me tell you, one non-profit organization was certainly thanking my G'ma for her great donations. And CMW had a great time in the tub filled with towels. I totally wished I had my camera ready but it just didn't happen.

Me, CMW & Cousin Hayley

I also made time to visit a friend from college who is expecting soon. Chrissy and her husband bought a house about a year ago or longer and I have been in need of a visit. So CMW did well visiting with Sir Wellington the cat and she didn't break any break-ables. It was a nice sweet visit, didn't get lost on the drive down or back and their house is great. They have been doing some remodeling and updating. It will look even better when it's all finished. And best of all, it keeps Mr. Dustin out of mischief. ;-)

And one last visit before heading home was with my G. G. Aunt Jeanie. I was only planning to stay for about an hour and miss CMW and I were there for three hours and it was the best visit I've had in a long time. I love this lady and she recently got married so I got to see pictures and we got caught up on family and life. I was certainly sent off with lots of love and happy endorphins to make my way back home. It was great!

So after 6 days of visiting with family, friends, working and shopping we ended up back home ready to start a new week. And even though i was wiped out, I'd do it all over again. Thanks for the hospitality from all my family and friends, you are the ones who help me make it though each day, Thank You, Thanks You!

The Parents !

My parents were here to visit us & brought us fire wood and plants for landscaping. It was a great weekend and we got a lot done. It was just so fun!

My dad was once again the supervisor (he was in need of a hernia repair) but my mom was about worked to the brink. She helped with me with tearing out our lettuce and Romain and Jim dug up our potatoes.

I should of had a picture of them in the sun, they are beautiful baby red and regular large red potatoes. We are so excited to eat them up.

My mom and I also transplanted about 15 different plants around our house and Jim finished up the landscaping. Sweet!

And one more thing, my mom helped me with canning tomatoes and she made us 6 pints of salsa for Mr Jim. And Jim also unloaded the trailer of wood and we are stocked up for winter.

I also got brave to let my chickens out to roam. I decided that since we had 2 extra adults to chase after them if need be, this was a good time to try them out. They did great, no dog got them or large birds of prey and they all gathered in their coop once the evening was finished. My chickens are just so fun!!

The new toy

This little truck is Jim's dad new toy. Miss CMW loves riding with Jim.

It's a little flat-bed, 4 wheel drive, European style driving mini.

It's home in Prosper now, but it will soon be at the lake for future purposes.

(if you look close, both of them have super big smiles on their faces.)

Itasca State Park

The three of us took a small family vacation in August with my parents and sister's family to Itasca. It was a great weekend!! A large 3 bedroom cabin was rented with campfire cooking only and lots of adventures. The weather was a bit chilly but it was still fun. It was perfect for riding our bikes which was nice. My dad was the cook for breakfast and always the supervise for the other meals. If you know him well, he says he always has to supervise to make sure we are cooking right. We each brought meals to share and cooked for one another. We also went for one bike ride and visited the head waters of the Mississippi and took a group faimly picture. The one bike ride we did, we ended up riding 16 miles and it was a bit long for everyone, let alone our bodies that took all the abuse. But we made it and our muscles repaired themselves.

Sunday was a great day to spend at the waters and have a picnic at the park. The kids all got to play at the park and then we all headed on our way home.

I think we voted to do this again next year which we are all looking forward to doing!

My sister and son Z, starting out! And they made it the 6.5 miles to the head waters.

Here is the crew + me who made it the 16 miles of bike trail and we vowed never to do this again!! BIL Jake with son J and A in the green helmet, Jim and my mom had CMW and my niece G in the bike carrier & riding the 'ever so sweet' tandem bike. :-)

Miss CMW fell asleep on the ride and used her cousin for a pillow.

My parents, resting at the head waters.

CMW and her dad at the head waters. It was a gorgeous day.

3 years !

Our 3 year anniversary was just this month and we went out to celebrate. :-)

We went for dinner, mini golfing (i just about smoked Jim, but he pulled it together in the end, maybe next year) and go-carting and it was super nice to get out by ourselves.

Auntie Julie watched CMW and I know the night went well for both of them as well.

I think the most fun we had was taking these pictures together,

we have many more but these are just some of the fun ones.

Rollage

One of our favorite events of the summer is WMSTR and we have to wait all summer to go.

What is WMSTR? It's located in Rollage Minn & the it's the Western Minnesota Steam Thresher Reunion! This is one of Jim's favorite events because the steam engines and I love this event because it's so old. It has the old steam engines, a full size train to ride, horse drawn wagons and plows and the tractor parade. It also have the kiddy train for CMW to ride! The ladies of the event are dressed up in old dresses and quilt by hand and make all hand made goods and good food. It's dusty, usually hot, lots of tractors, people everywhere, lots of steam, and very talented people who know how to run their engines. All the workers volunteer and most families who participate and are 'members' have been for many years and the machines just get passed down to the next generation. It's great to see familes working together.

Yes, they have a carousel powered by a steam engine and it has real wooden horses, real player organ and very loud music. Miss CMW did not want to leave her horse, but we all have to take our turns.

A Chic Little Purse

I made up this chic little purse today, isn't it fun!

It's for my sister, who fell in love with the fabric and before i had an idea for how I was going to use it, she commented about making a purse, so waa-laa.

Just a simple little purse with a pocket and snap.