Z's stay at the Grins.

Oh boy Zach gets to stay over at the Grin farm again. For 2 whole nights!

Truthfully, I am so thankful for family to be able to take care of Zach, as I have been having more troubles with the miscarriage issue and ended up in surgery and hospital last night. Now am home and trying to rest and recover. I am OK and hoping this is the last big saga on my road to recovery.

Grammy just sent me pics of what they have been up to, so I am getting a little "Zach picture fun" therapy in.
It looks like they are putting him to WORK!


CLEANING HOUSE for GRAMMY



FEEDING THE COWS for PAPA

DRIVING the TRACTOR for ROSS

I see they know how to share the work load around there. :) All jokes aside, I am pretty certain they are taking some time out to PLAY!

Thanks to all 3 of you for taking care of our little or maybe not so little boy!

First Sleepover

Zach had his first sleepover at Grammy and Papa's house without Mom and Dad, and his first night away ever from Daddy.
Dean and I celebrated our anniversary (6 years) by going out to the adult prom again this year. It was fun to get out and dance the night away and also get to sleep in the next morning. :)
It sounds like all went well with Zach, and we made it too!
Guess that means our little boy is growing up and we will have to let him have more slumber parties with the grandparents.

Winter Pastimes

It seems once Christmas and News Year's passes...the winter slows down a bit. Here are some pics to show what we have been doing to pass the time. Thank God for a little warm snap so we could enjoy a little outdoor time too!

Visits from Grammy and Papa

Building Forts & Playing with Babies

Taking Naps!

Snow Forts and Sledding with Ross

The Big Hill with Mommy

"Scoop-it" with Loader and Truck

OH and Zach has been showing some interest in the horses too! - Yeah for Me! Zach likes Chester the best.

Thanksgiving - Like the Ol' Days!

This year we had a big gathering at the Grin farm with the Derry crew! Just like the old days - the whole gang came to visit with a few additions since the last Thanksgiving reunion (it has been so long we can't remember when it was. Although we know we were all in MN for Matt & Lindsey's wedding in 2005.)

We got in some of our favorite games (like Boggle) and a few new ones, had many a good laughs and eats, and a few naps too. :)

We are so thankful that it worked out for all to come celebrate together, despite the bad weather forecast.

Zach had fun playing with "boy" Sean (what a cutie!) and got to ride with Papa in the tractor to feed the cows. Of course that was a hit!

Tractors, Family and Fun

Labor Day Weekend we took a little trip to the Stump Lake Threshing Bee. We met up with Grammy, Papa and Uncle Ross. Zach had a BLAST! He loved the tractors, the parade, the CANDY, BALLOONS, and rides.

Birthday Celebration

This year I had a nice little celebration with my family for my birthday - thanks to my parents for the yummy ice cream cake and flowers. As usual Zach had fun getting all the attention from Grammy and Gramps.

Happy Easter 2010

What a wonderful Easter weekend! Christ is Risen! Alleluia! It really lifts one's spirits to sing out those hymns of Easter. Praise be to God, for the promise of Everlasting Life!
We had a beautiful weekend - enjoyed the outdoors and fun with family.
Holy Saturday was a "therapy" day for me. I got some horse therapy, which does me wonders. Chester and Sassy both got their pedicures and styles (aka hoof trim and bridle paths trimmed) and we all went for a horseback/4wlr ride around the block and through some fun mud!
We also got a few little odds and ends of outdoor projects completed and the house cleaned. That always feels good!
Easter Sunday we traveled to Grammy and Gramps house for some Easter family fun.
Zach was fortunate that the Easter bunny stopped by Grammy's too and left him some goodies there as well.
My aunt Ivy and uncle Tom came to visit - what a joy to have them as we do not see them very often. Tom was the chef and made some excellent prime rib! We were stuffed!
Our egg tradition of K-nooking (which Tom introduced us to years ago) was again a smash hit. This year Deano took the title for best egg.
We headed for home with one tired little boy - probably hungry too - no time to eat with all the excitement!
God has truly blessed us.
Happy Easter to all!

The Melt Down

What has been happen around here?
Seems to be lots yet all the same. Routines I guess.
Here are some of our recurring activities.
Racing cars across the living room, climbing into baskets, playing with water (in the tub or sink), visits from and to Grammy and Grampa's, trips to the barn, wagon rides and shoveling the drive. Oh and not pictured...shooting the deer hanging in our living room. :) Words are starting to come little by little, some of the most frequently used are "up", "all done", "more", "bath"(ga or ba) & "deer" (this is clear as can be).
We are gladly watching the snow melt away and turn into bare grass and mud puddles!
Now if only the sun would shine! Endless days of fog and overcast don't lift ones spirits much.

Christmas 09

Some of our Christmas Fun - so glad we got to see all of my family on Christmas Eve. The Ski side has yet to get together since we got all the stormy weather Christmas Day and on through the weekend.

Hunting and other Family Fun

Life has been really busy around here. Still have some projects at the new place I would like to get to and hunting has been taking up the majority of the month so far. We went to Grammy and Grampa's to hunt opening weekend. Dean and I walked with Ross and his buddies. It was lots of fun but no big buck for Dean. Then this past weekend we had a plan to find the big one...at Grandpa's shelter belt. We sat in some bales and waited. Fun to see the activity when the deer don't know you are watching. Grampa got his gratis buck - a nice fat forky, should be good sausage and the next morning Dean got his 5x5. Not bad, but he always has his eye out for bigger and better! We also got to spend some fun time with Uncle Wade and Ross as both of them have been back home for a bit this month.

A Year

Hard to believe how a year goes by so quickly. We are starting to get settled in our new place and things have simmered down enough that I have a little time to tinker on the computer. Instead of tricks and treats, we just enjoyed some time as a family at home today, it was nice.
I also feel like we finally completed the birthday celebration for Zach...cake mess and all. We had opened a gift with him on his actual birthday and he opened one from Grammy and Gramps when they were up helping move.
Today, I made him a birthday cake and we let him dig in! It was fun. Even though he went straight to the tub afterward. The mess on his highchair really wasn't much more than what he makes other times.
We love our little Zachary and are so thankful to have had one wonderful and busy first year with him!

Grandfathers and Grandsons

We went for our monthly visit with the A-family. And now I am doing a little comparison with the Grandsons and their Grandfathers. They definitely have some similarities.
We had a hard time getting some pictures this time as Zach kept trying to walk away. He is also a bit timid around Tressa and Luke as he doesn't see them often. We finally resorted to putting him in a box to hold him still. Then he bumped his nose and got his first bloody nose! Uff Da! Suppose he will have to jokingly blame that one on Luke. Who threw the first punch?
A fun time anyway!
Grandpas: Dean and Douglas
Grandsons: Zachary Dean and Luke Douglas

Summer Grins 2009

July 17-19 - the Grin family all got together. It had been since Christmas so we were all glad to get to see each other again! Zach also got to meet his Great Grandma and Great Aunt Ivy for the first time. We had lots of fun just hanging out, playing HORSE, Baseball, shooting 22, bonfires etc.
It makes me so sad to have to wave good bye to my brothers, wish they were closer so we could see them more often.

Independence Day 2009

We had a wonderful celebration with all our family this 4th. Grammy & Gramps came up and we went to the parade with all the Ski's and then to the fair for some more fun!
Later the Ski family had a pig roast picnic in Gramma B's backyard. Mmmm...Good. We ended our celebration by watching the fireworks!

Giggles with the Grins!

This past weekend we went down to spend sometime with Grammy & Gramps. It was such a nice time - it helped this Mommy get a little R&R.