Fall Photo Shoot

These pictures were taken on Jack's 6 month birthday. Amy and I had a little photo shoot out in the front yard of our parents house. The big pile of fall leaves was the perfect place to prop up the little man to take some great shots. Amy took all these on the digital camera while I was snapping away with my 35 mm. I've yet to get those developed so I can't post any yet. Ajha and Mazzy were great assistants and Walter the monkey even made a few appearances. Enjoy!

Walter and Jack wrestling in the leaves.

Yep. This was how interested Jack was in what was going on.

Some how he never actually got any leaves in his mouth! And do you think we could get him to smile? Even with Mazzy and Ajha doing the crazy things they do he was a stoic little Scandinavian throughout!

Halloween 2008

How's this for prompt? Jack's first Halloween went off without a hitch. I think he had a good time. I know all the grown-ups around him were having one. For some reason I didn't want to just buy him a costume and I couldn't really find one I liked anyway so I took some inspiration from what we already had. Chanda gave him the Twins cap this summer and I thought that a little Twins player would be perfect! Little did I know that finding a plain white t-shirt and pants for a 6 month old would be so hard. But I did plenty of shopping and found what I needed. So this costume is made from regular clothes, iron-on t-shirt transfers and Sharpie markers. And it looks pretty good if I do say so myself!

One of the only smiles of the evening!
"What's goin' on over there?"

I was debating over who's jersey I should copy... Justin Morneau or Joe Mauer. I was leaning toward Mauer because he is a fellow Minnesotan after all but went with Morneau because of the hair. Morneau has blonde hair like Jack and Mauer has dark brown hair with long sideburns. And a Joe Mauer costume just isn't complete without the sideburns so it came down to the fact that I didn't want to have to wash off make-up sideburns at the end of the night!

Derek and Caleb

Caleb went as Ozzy Osbourne. He loves Ozzy! And I love the fact that he actually posed for a picture with the duh-Ozzy expression on his face. As for Derek, I'm not sure what or who he's supposed to be. I was going to fix his red eyes in this picture before I posted it but I think it adds to the costume. Right?

Ajha and Mazzy

Ajha is a snow queen- which is very fitting for Minnesota. And Mazzy had her heart set on being a cheerleader. The only costume Amy could find was one of a Bratz cheerleader so here she is... bratty expression and all!

Ryan and Jenna

And finally my cousin Sara's cute kids. Jenna was an adorable thumb-sucking pirate. And what did Ryan say when asked what he was dressed as? "I'm a cow!" Wow! That's one skinny cow!

He's a big boy now!

Grrrrr!
I left Jack with Grandma Donna tonight so I could do a major grocery shopping trip. So there I am putting flour tortillas in my cart when my phone rings. I see it's my mom so I answer it and she tells me that Jack just bit her! That's right, just grabbed her finger, stuck it in his mouth and bit her. So that explains why he hasn't been eating much lately! He's on his way now! Tomorrow we're going to go and get him a big boy car seat.

Mazzy- A One of a Kind Girl

Can you believe this pretty girl is only 5 year old? Sometimes she seems ages beyond her actual 5 years. Like when she's talking about the Jonas Brothers and she says, "They're so hot!" But then on the flip side she'll break down in tears if Ajha doesn't share a toy with her. This girl's an enigma.

I wonder what she wished for?

Opening her birthday present from me & Seth. Years ago we stopped buying toys which may sound boring but I think most of you out there understand the decision. We always add small fun stuff like bubble gum and hair clips though to keep it interesting for the little ones.

This year Mazzy got a pretty bedding set that as you can see she loves. I think one reason she liked it so much is because she now has a pretty blanket and pillow and her big sister doesn't.

She can and does fall asleep any time, any where. This is her and Jack taking a snooze one afternoon.

You've never seen such a girl that loves to eat as much as Mazzy.

This is her tucking in for dinner.

And this is her as a part of the clean plate club. That pile on the left of her plate is the skins of the roasted red potatoes we had that night. She picked them up and ate them like an orange slices.

The Invasion!

So for about 10 days in August the tranquility of small Two Harbors was disrupted by the Georgia contingency of the Kempffer family. In a small house on 11th Avenue stayed 5 adults, 5 kids under the age of 11, 2 dogs and various others who came and went including me and Jack who showed up by 11:00 most days. Bikes were ridden, the pool was almost never empty and lots of fun was had by all. The snaps that follow are a small sample of not nearly enough pictures taken.

Memories were made.

On a bike ride break at my house we lounged in the grass to catch our breath.

Ben plotted his stradegy for the foozeball game while the girls played on the swing set...
and Chris, their new favorite playmate.

Chris has always been a magnet for the girls. Mazzy and Ajha couldn't resist him!

Oops! Even though I couldn't figure out how to format this picture so you could look at it the right way it's still one of my favorites. Tara was practicing for when her boys come along and Jack, as you can see, was happy to oblige.

Caleb and Ben adding to my kitchen wall.

Mick, Sam and Leanna leaving their marks.

Our evening at the beach building rock castles at Burlington Bay. (There's not much sand at this beach.)

Run Sam run!

The gang of 5- Ajha, Mazzy, Caleb, Ben and Sam. Do they look cold? It is Lake Superior after all. Even though the water was cold, they still didn't want to go home.

Ben just couldn't hold out any longer. He crashed after having too much fun.

All in a summer's day!

See that fuzzy little blond head on the left of the picture?

That's Caleb hard at work.

Caleb learned alot from Seth while they were working on our new deck. How many 11 year olds do you know that can use a miter saw? And he still has all his fingers and toes!

Who says girls don't like bugs? Ajha and Mazzy found this white catepiller and were captivated. It had pink spots on it so it was very girly.

Wearing skirts and playing with bugs. Now that's what I call

all-American girls!

Jack took a snooze on Grandma's swing. Don't you wish you could do that sometimes?

A day on the lake.

Rick and Gloria have a cozy cabin up on Lake Vermillion and they invited some of us crazy Dairy Queen people up for the day. Their family from Florida, Marc, Amy and their boys Austin and Dalton, were there to join the party (and pull everyone around on the jet ski). Caleb even came along for the ride. The cabin is on a small island so Jack had his first boat ride that day. We even found him and itty bitty life preserver to wear.

Lots of fun and food were had by all.

Thanks Rick and Gloria!

Jack's first boat ride put him right to sleep.

Papa Rickey and Grandma Ladybug, our wonderful hosts.

This was where Jack was most of the day. Every once in a while Grandma Ladybug would share and let Jessica hold him but that never lasted too long!

Dan, Jessica and Evan waiting to go. They found out soon after this shot was taken just how cold Lake Vermillion is in mid-June!
Dalton "playing" with Brinkley the dog. Smile pretty!

Seth with Caleb and Austin.

Marc was busy all day pulling people around with this get up. When the 3 boys were on here anyone flying off the back was accidental although it did happen a couple of times. However, whenever he was lucky enough to get 3 adults on here, his goal in life was to buck someone off.

This is more Gloria's speed. No jet skis for her! She'll jump on this very strange contraption and take a couple of laps around the island. Go speed racer!

DQ Danno on Grandma Ladybug's bike.

Action shot! On this pass by the dock Wade had decided that he had had enough and decided to jump off. Seth had great timing with this picture!

This shot was at the end of the day on the boat ride back to the car. Can you tell Caleb had a good time? You can't see them well here but he was smiling so much that day that he had laugh line tan lines! And he slept most of the 2 hour car ride home too.