Speech and more....

C had another session this week with his teacher. He is doing so well and we are so impressed with how far he has come in such a short amount of time. He is now saying mama and dada consistently. He also has expanded his signing language. It is so cute to see him sign thank you. As he signs thank you he uses his inflections to say thank you. We are so excited to hear him start to try to talk. We have been teaching him through music. He loves to listen to music and has a few songs from his teacher that he loves to listen to. We play them over and over and over again, all day long.

We are getting ready for Christmas. It sure is a big task every year but I wouldn't have it any other way. This has to be my most favorite time of year. I do over extend myself every year and every year I say I won't do it next year. Well shocking but I did over extend myself once again this year. I always survive and I will this year too. We leave for Milwaukee tomorrow evening. We are all so excited to spend the weekend with Zak, Susan, Lydia and Helena. It will be so much fun to see the cousins play together. Hopefully the weather is nice so we can get outside some too.

Auntie Alli is coming home! We can't wait to see her either. We are hopeful that we will get to visit with her on Sunday when we return from Milwaukee. It has only been a few weeks since we saw her in Michigan but it still feels like it was months ago. I am so glad that she will be home for a few weeks. We have lots of movies we need to watch, talking we need to do and Wii games to play. I expect to see lots of Alli and I can't wait!! We now have a bunk bed for her to sleep in so she should be all set.

Uncle Graham will be home as well! We haven't scene Uncle Graham in a long....LONG time! I know that Auntie Patsy can't wait for him to come home tomorrow evening. I can't imagine being without my husband every night. It will be nice for all of us to have time as a family, if Sean will share his daddy for a little while ;)

Christmas seems to sneak up faster and faster every year. I remember as a child it took forever to come. Now that I have children of my own I would like time to slow down some. I just want to bottle up these last few weeks to enjoy them a little longer. The long winter sets in January 2nd!!

Here are the pictures I promised from Santa. We sure had a great time.

Busy Otto's

We are constantly on the go lately with sports, dance and running errands! It seems that we aren't home in the evenings as much as I thought we would be once school started. The cutest moment of the week is a phone call to Auntie Alli! My kids ask about her every day and miss her so much. C just lights up when we call her on skype and he can see her. He grins from ear to ear and wants to crawl through the computer. This week C has been battling another cold. He was so crabby yesterday. Auntie Alli called on my cell and he wanted to say hi to her. Instead of talking he waved at the phone. I decided to call her on skype so he could see her. He sat at the kitchen table like a big boy and waved, smiled and tried to crawl into the computer. It was the happiest he had been all day! Thanks Auntie Alli!!

I am hoping to have a quiet weekend but we shall see. It starts that way and something always comes up. Here are some recent pictures of the kids.

Look at that face! Can you tell he loves ice cream cones?

E all ready for dance

B's soccer picture

Fun weekend

This weekend we were finally home. We didn't have any plans so we got some things finished around the house! It was perfect. I really enjoyed finishing up the outside work and then organizing the inside. It always makes me feel better to check things off my long list of things to do!! We moved B to the basement bedroom Saturday. He loves it. We weren't sure how it would go and if he would like being in the basement. I wasn't sure I would like him that far away either. Well we all did great. He woke up Sunday morning and couldn't wait to move all his toys to his new bedroom. We spent the day yesterday moving everything into his room and getting him all settle. Now I just need to figure out a color to paint it and he will be set.

Saturday night we had movie night for the kids and the neighborhood kids. It was a lot of fun. I set out sundae fixings and let the kids make their own ice cream sundaes. They thought it was the best that they could put as many sprinkles, m&ms, chocolate sauce or anything else on as they wanted. My son called his a lava pile and piled on the chocolate syrup! They ate their sundaes outside and then we watched the movie. It was so much fun! I made them popcorn half way through so they had another snack. I don't think any of the kids went home hungry ;) After the movie was over Nick set them up with the Wii. It is so cute to see them all play and have so much fun. We will definitely have another movie night at our house!

Our weekend ended with soccer last night. Now we start the busy schedule again this week. E has dance tonight so here we go again! It never ends but at least our weekends aren't as busy now.

Weekend pictures

Go Vikes!

We took the kids on a walk tonight and then played at the park. We had to get home in time to watch the Vikings Preseason game. The kids were excited to watch the game and wear their jerseys. Check out the red cheeks on those kids. We played hard outside! They sure look cute in their jerseys though!!

Dancing Princess

Emma had her dance recital tonight. She did a great job and wasn't shy at all. We signed her up to continue dance throughout the school year. She has had so much fun this week and is looking forward to continuing.

Photographer

E got a hold of my camera and took a bunch of pictures. I had no idea she did this and the pictures are priceless!

Fun Weekend

We took the kids to the Mega Mall last weekend. It was a spur of the moment trip which was great! We all needed to get away for a little while. Everyone had a great time. The kids were able to ride on a lot of rides and stay up way too late. We didn't leave until 10pm! Sunday we spent the day at my parents' pool. It was a gorgeous day and it was great to be able to spend it at the pool. Hopefully we still have some more gorgeous days left this summer. They seem to be few and far between lately! Here are some pictures from our weekend:

Grandma Ruth's 90th Birthday Celebration!

This weekend was spent with Nick's family. His grandma turned 90 on Friday and there was a big party to help her celebrate. Relatives from all over the US made the journey to Mankato to be there for the party. It was a lot of fun and we were able to see a lot of family that we haven't seen in a long time. We spent the whole weekend at the lake and the weather was perfect. The kids played in the water both Friday and Saturday. B and E even went on the tube for the first time ever. I knew E would do it but was surprised when B said he would too. They both had a blast. Zak, Susan, Lydia and Helena also made the journey. It was great to see them and meet Helena. Lydia and Emma had a great time having tea parties at the lake. We hope to see everyone again very soon! Here are some great pictures from the weekend.

4th of July Weekend!

What a wonderful weekend we had. It was jam packed filled but it was a lot of fun. Friday we took the kids to their first Moondog's game. They had a blast! We went with Auntie Alli and some of our friends. It was a great way to start all the festivities of the weekend.

Saturday we spent the day at the lake. It wasn't as beautiful as we had hoped for. It seems that every time Nick and I invite friends to the lake it rains, is cloudy or is cold. We made the most of our day though. We had some friends come out for the afternoon along with my sister Patsy, Sean, Alli and my mom. We were able to go on a lot of boat rides and all the kids had a blast. Saturday night we watched the fireworks on the lake. It is so amazing to be sitting on the boat and watching the fireworks. I wish I could get a picture of all the boats that are out with us. There is over 100 boats at the minimum watching the fireworks. It is such a great site. This year the people that put it on also had WWII Planes fly over before the fireworks. It was an amazing site and the kids had a blast watching the planes. It was a late night but the kids all fell asleep on the boat during the fireworks and then again on our ride back to town.

Sunday we spent the day at the pool. It was a gorgeous day to be outside and poolside! B is quite the swimmer and loves the pool. E fell in last year so we are still working past her fears. C thinks water is the best thing ever. He would sleep in the pool if he could.

Now we are getting back to work. This coming weekend we will be celebrating Grandma Ruth's 90th birthday at the lake. It will be so much fun to see all the Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and friends!