Meals From the Heartland

Zoe and I volunteered to package meals at the  Meals From The Heartland Annual Hunger Fight.  We were great volunteers!

Mommy (and Chris) were there with us.  We had a great time.

They had quite the setup going to package meals.  During this drive, 5,171,040 meals were packaged over 4 days.  We had a 2 hour shift.

We worked up quite an appetite while packaging all those meals, so we ended up going to Zombie Burger for lunch.  What a great way to spend a Saturday morning.  I can't wait until next year when Parker can join us!

Cars

Emery loves having the afternoon at home with Mommy.  He can leave his cars all lined up while he takes a nap and they will stay there until he wakes up!

First Day of 4 Year Old Preschool

I'm a little excited to be going to 4 year old preschool today!

This year, I'll be in Ms. Rachel's classroom again.  I'm very excited to have her as a teacher again this year as she was exactly what I needed for a teacher last year.  Ms. Rachel's room has changed location in the school and is now 2 doors away from Aiden's class.  I hope I get to see him every once in awhile!

Weekend with the Schneider

Emery liked to show Audrey all of his cars and how he likes to line them up.

Parker took to the drums!

We even started a little rock band!

Emery tickled the ivories.

We played a lot of different board games with Joe, including Chess and Sorry!

Parker and Emery watched a lot of frogs that liked to climb up the windows.

Of course, we had to practice our rock band more than once.  This time, I took the piano!


We're pretty good, right?  We can't wait to come back and practice some more!

Aamodt's Apple Farm - Stillwater, MN

 

 
Everyone got in on picking apples.  The apples ready for picking were the "State Fair" apples.  We assume the name is because they are ready when the Minnesota State Fair is going on.

Parker loved the goats!

I liked the pedal cars.

 
Well, actually, we all liked the pedal cars.  We spent a lot of time playing with all the different ones that they had!

The hay maze wasn't set up yet for this year, but that sure didn't stop me from climbing on the old bales of hay!

Herritage Square Park - Stillwater, MN

Last night we made it up to Big Joe's house, so this morning we are playing at a park before it gets too hot outside.

Parker wanted to make sure that Emery could make it up all by himself.

Oh no! Parker is stuck in the sand.

We played a lot of tag - even the adults.  Although, Daddy and Joe were the most fun to watch!

Emery even loved watching all of us run around!

First Day of Kindergarten

 

We are so proud of Mr. Aiden.  He is certainly ready for Kindergarten.

I had to get a shot of him at school as well.

He quickly found his desk and was ready to go!

After school, he rode his bike home as fast as possible, because he didn't want to miss the new Wild Kratts show on T.V.  So far this is what we learned about his day:

- he had a great time
- he loved  hot lunch, chicken nuggets, apples, and cucumbers for lunch
- there was a number song that he really liked, but he didn't listen to it until they had already counted to 11.  (I guess 0-10 are so Preschool!)
- he only knew 2 other people in his class, but one of them is someone that he had a great time with last year in preschool.
- he really wishes that Parker was in school, too

Play Time

We dropped Aiden off at school and decided to stop at the park on the way home from school.

Parker had a great time being the big brother!

Parker taught me all sorts of tricks, like how to climb the rails of the steps!

What could possibly make us stop and stare like this?

Construction equipment!

I really enjoy music, even if it is just me beating a stick on metal stairs to hear the clang!

Look, Mom! No Hands!

Perhaps we should be thinking about taking Parker's training wheels off his bike as well.......

Suitcase

All packed and ready to go!

Beautiful Hair

Aiden: Mom, your hair is beautiful.
Mom: Thank you, Aiden
Aiden: I really like this part right here that is shiny white. It is hair, but it is ALL white.

Friday Fun Day

Guess where we are?!?!?!

Reiman Gardens!  Of course, we are looking for frogs!

We met up with Logan and Gail to roam the gardens. Zoe is already in school.

It's a great morning for climbing trees.

Emery likes his new Kinderpack.


A new favorite of ours is rolling down the hills by the children's garden.

This was new.  There are postcards from all over Iowa on this board shaped like Iowa.  It's pretty cool.

The hot air balloon is still a favorite place.

We also spend more time looking for snails than watching the butterflies.

Mommy caved and took us to Hickory Park for lunch all by herself.  She must be brave!

On the way home, we stopped at another park in Slater.

Of course, it was a hit.

Emery has NO fear whatsoever.  He watches us and then just does it himself!

Proud boy to be able to keep up with his big brothers.

He also liked riding the horses with me.

Look what we learned to do today!

Emery couldn't do that, but he sure thought it was fun to walk over Aiden!  What a great day!