Summer haircuts

Here is Martin and the boys after giving them their "summer haircuts". Basically its cutting all their hair off. Isaac has such thick, course hair (like Martin) that he needs it cut every now and then. Josiah has fine, thick hair (like me) and this time Martin cut his really really short, which he's never done before. But it looks really nice. The boys love these haircuts cuz then they don't have to do anything with them in the mornings. Josiah's least favorite thing to do is his hair!!

I dont know if I've shown you a picture of the Infrared truck that Martin drove all summer last year, but here it is. This year he's training in a new guy to take that position so Martin can do our flat roofs and be our estimator for the flat roofing division. He's excited for that position, so this should be a great year for him.

Hope you are having a great week! We just got a bunch of rain that we really needed. When we were in our garden last weekend, the ground is very dry and was hard to til without messing it up with the shovels first. So hopefully this rain will help the farmers too and not hinder them.

Memorial Day

Josiah on his bike with his new bike helmet!!
Martin showing Josiah how to "till" the garden!
Isaac, Dad and I

Isaac, Dad and Josiah
a beautiful picture of Isaac!
Isaac again!
Martin showing off!
Martin and Isaac.

Today we decided to do all yard work. However, the upside was that it was a beautiful day for it! (about 64 degrees), and the yard really did need some attention. Once we got the lawn mowed, with help from Isaac and Josiah, my Dad came over with his tiller so we could till our garden and get ready for some veggies. In some other spots we tilled too, but for some flowers and then for some rock to be added with our trees and bushes. After all this work, Grandpa went uptown to have lunch with my Mom and we all went inside and took about a 2 1/2 hour nap!!!! We were exhausted!!

Hope you all had a great Memorial weekend. That it was a nice, safe time for you to do fun things, whether you stayed at home, or if you went somewhere.

Have a great week!!!!

PS - the boys have only 3 days of school left and then they are done!! Man do I wish I had the summer off too! :)

See you ~

Michelle

Bike Blessing at Solid Rock Church - Worthington, MN

This is Pastor Mike from the Cities who actually rode his bike into Church. He believes that all people need to be addressed for being a Christian - even "biker dudes". He's been a Pastor for 27 years in the same Church. He has tattoos and certainly has a different way of preaching, but he was very good. He did an alter call and had about 9 or 10 people come up to be saved yesterday. It was a very emtional time to see that.

This is our "caravan" from Mt. Lake coming into Wrtgn - Brad and Sherri Bargen, Darryl and Karen Bargen, Phil and Karen Buhler, Kevin Ratzlaff, Travis Ratzlaff, Kevin Dick, Bruce Friesen and his daughter Alicia and I believe Uncle Ron is in here too. These are skid marks motorcycles have made in years past - literally riding their bikes into the sanctuary for the ceremony!
Here is Travis and Kevin Dick getting ready to ride the "victory ride" after their bikes have been blessed.
My dear friends, Duane and RandyKay Hooge who are CMA leaders - they were here (this was a CMA event) to help bless the bikes! There were 198 bikes here today (not all needed to be blessed). By the way, this is RandyKay's bike!!
This is the sticker they got when they got their bikes blessed.
Here is my friend Marjorie - this was at her church in Worthington.

This event was put together by the Solid rock Church and CMA (Christian Motorcycle Association). And that is why Duane and RandyKay Hooge were there along with so many other people that are involved with CMA - wanting to reach out to the people who ride bikes. They have had the "sons of silence" at some of their events just to show themselves there - they would be similar to Hells Angels I guess. Sons of Silence don't believe in God, and would go to these events as a protest of sorts, but I know Duane has said that they have been reaching out to those people as well. CMA is a great ministry, and this shows it here!

I told my brother, Kevin that anyone on the outside of this would think that a bike blessing is dumb, and would wonder "why in the world would they do something like that?!". But now, being in it, it makes perfect sense. Why wouldn't a person want their bike blessed?! If they love to be on their motorcycle, what better way to be "protected", than to have you and your bike blessed. Kevin told me that it was a very humbling experience to have someone pray for you and your bike.

The "sermon" was incredible I thought. Pastor Mike is radical, but very good. The boys and I went with my Dad to this (Martin was in Albert Lea helping his uncle put steps on his house and my Mom was working). The music was very loud, but meaningful, and they attracted all sorts of "biker people" which is exactly what their intentions are. It was a service/event that I will never forget. My dad said that he wasn't ready to go out and get a tattoo, but he thought Pastor Mike had a very good point in wanting to reach out to people. He is trying to reach out to the people that "normal Pastor's" aren't. He believes that no one is better than others, and I like that. I was very comfortable there, where as at some churches, a person feels like they need to act a certain way because you are in Church. I know even in our Church there are people there for show and that's terrible. I thought Pastor Mike was really good - I'd gladly hear him speak again.

End-O-Line Railroad Museum

This is the caboose at the Museum. Quite the site!
This is the turn around that actually works! This railroad was literally at the "end of the line" (thus, the name - "End-O-Line") and they would turn the train around so it could go back. They turned this around for us today - by hand. Really cool!

This is Isaac with his class with Miss Fast. The other 1/2 was with another teacher, Mrs. Tusa.

We had a great field trip - the weather was fabulous today (65 degrees and hardly any wind). The kids had a blast touring all the buildings, and buying things at the gift shop I imagine was the highlight of the day (atleast it was for Isaac). The museum is in Currie, MN which is about an hour from Mt. Lake. Really cool. Everything in their museum has been donated by someone. They have a big engine in the one building (my picture didn't turn out very good), that had cost someone $200,000.00 but they donated it to the Museum. They just had to get it from Oklahoma. This site was supposed to be burnt down in 1975 when the local 4H group (in 1972) decided to refurbish it and so they saved it and made it into what it is today.

It was a really cool day to see this site! If you want to see more pictures, you'll have to go to my facebook account - I've posted them all there (there's about 60 pictures that I took and that's way too many to post here!). Anyways www.facebook.com and look up my name. You have to be a friend to see them (for privacy reasons), so just sign up and then ask me! And of course I'll accept you as a friend! :)

Gotta run. After today, Isaac needs a bath and I need a nap! :) Love to you all!

Michelle

Mother's Day

ok, so I should have posted on here by now about my Mother's Day, but I forgot my camera when we went to the Cities this past weekend, and I'm ashamed to admit that. I felt horrible as I realized when we were in Mankato that the camera was left at home. There was nothing I could do then, and we certainly couldn't turn around being an hour from home already. So as we went through our weekend, I kept thinking all the great pictures I could have had if my camera would've been packed with our things!

We got a great deal through www.hotwire.com for a hotel near the Airport in the Cities. Martin was online one day just checking around and we ended up staying at the Hyatt near the Airport for only $48.00 and it was a weekend rate!!!!! We knew we couldn't pass it up, so we booked it immediately. So the first thing we did was go to the Mall of America - one of our favorite places to stop when we're in the Cities. The boys totally love Legoland, as would all boys! This time we let the boys take $20 out of their savings account to spend at Legoland. Plus they had some money of their own, AND for them not wanting to do any rides there, Martin pitched in another $20 for them to spend. Isaac went gaga in Legogland, deciding what to purchase. His friend, Sam has gotten Isaac into the Mars Mission legos now, so that big on his head, but now they have also come out with new Indiana Jones legos!!!!!!! AH the choices!!!!!! Josiah found a lego of Indiana Jones and immediately snatched it up. Even though they had legos for Spongebob there, he didn't want them. As for Isaac, he found a great deal on clearance - normally $40, he got a huge amount of legos (around 700 I think) for only $23.99 so that is what Martin helped him buy. We figured we would walk around a bit and make Legoland our final stop before leaving in case they hadn't found anything else.

I got money for Mother's day, so I visited Lane Bryant (one of my favorite stores), and got a few tops. Martin then insisted on me buying new sandals too, so next was a trip to Famous Footwear where the deals were buy one, get the 2nd one for 1/2 price. So I found a pair of sandals to buy, Martin found some and Josiah found some old style Converse tennis shoes he wanted badly. He was so funny to watch - he was trying on all kinds of tennis shoes that he wanted to buy - all $49.99. SSHHEESSHH He had just gotten new tennis shoes about a month ago too, so its not like needed any. But these Converse shoes were black cloth and a little bit of a high top - I Know you would remember them if you saw them (which reminds me to post a picture of them later). So, with his last $21 (they were $24 so he had to borrow $3 from us), he got his pair of shoes! And Isaac ended up buying some more legos before leaving the Mall. They were in heaven!!! :)

If you have ever been to the Mall of America - it is simply huge. And instead of having Camp Snoopy for their amusement park, they have changed it to Nickelodeon themes - The back yardigans, Dora, Diego, Spongebob, Avatar, you name it, they are there! One of the cutest sites I have to share is one where we saw Spongebob in a pool of water (and no, he was plastic). It was a wishing pond, so Josiah got a penny out and made a wish. He wanted Spongebob to come to life. Martin and I looked at each other and just shook our heads. I couldn't believe I heard him right - he would watch Spongebob 24/7 if we let him, and he wanted this creature to come to life! Josiah is 7 years old?!?! I couldn't believe he was wanting that, but oh well. And then once again, as we went through the Park one last time before leaving, he made another wish - that Spongebob would come alive right now. What a guy!

When we got to the Hyatt - we were all too tired to go out to eat, which was the plan. So we ordered Godfather's to eat at the room, and we devoured it! The room was beautiful - nothing too big, but certainly nice. The bed was a king size bid with a pillowtop mattres (which is the kind we will be getting for our bed sometime soon!). The bed was so comfortable to sleep on - I was amazed. Martin has slept on them before - last year actually when he was on the road for work. He would come home to our mattress and complain about how he slept - now I knew what he was talking about.

Sunday, after leaving the hotel, we made a stop at Cabela's in Owatonna which was fun too. The boys always enjoy watching the fish there in their tanks, and looking at their stuffed animals they have on display. Then we headed to Mankato to get some groceries (that's a never ending thing too), and then to home. We were all tired when we got home, and the animals were so pleased to see us. Cadillac was meowing up a storm and Rascal was so happy to see us home too! Josiah had taken his bike to Grandma and Grandpa's house, so he took Rascal home on his leash while Josiah rode his bike. Believe me, Rascal knows his way home from G&G's house - he's escaped on them before and ended up at our house!

One other thing I saw on Sunday after leaving our hotel, was the Race for the Cure taking place in the Cities. I have never before witnessed an event like that and I was in awe of all the people involved with it. At the Mall on Sat., there was registration for the race, and lots of people were wearing their pink or blue t-shirts for it, but I never in my life imagined all the people that would be there for it! One of the roads we went on, took us right next to the people walking, and we got to see it first hand - it was an event of a lifetime to see! And I so wished I had taken my camera! The one street was so packed full of people, that all you could see were people walking, it was just breathtaking! I hope they raised lots of money for the cure! It was an amazing event to see!

Happy belated Mother's day to all of you! I hope your day was a great one - you deserve it!

Love you all! ~
Michelle

Turkey vultures?

Ok, so how can you tell what kind of bird is flying overhead when you can't really get a good, close look at it? That is my question when I post this. The boys were playing outside yesterday when they came running into the house wanting the camera. They also were insistent that I came outside as well to see what they were seeing. Here it was these huge birds. I thought maybe they were hawks, but Martin saw them too, and he said these were much bigger than hawks. After a while, Martin started drilling the boys as to what else they saw on them. For colors and such. They concluded that they had red heads. Isaac had his bird book out, and Martin and the boys concluded then that they were turkey vultures. Now I'm a little skeptical. I don't know anything about turkey vultures, and I can't say that they weren't turkey vultures, but when I saw them flying overhead, I couldn't tell what colors were on them.

Lester Rupp would surely know. He is our local bird watcher in town, and the newspaper has had articles on his bird watching before. Like when we had certain owls in our town, they had an article on it. (I know what you're thinking, that there isn't any better news to report than on birds? when actually I find that comforting. Comforting to know that we have such a quiet little town, that that is the excitement we get. I know, that is still boring, but a pleasant boring!) Isaac didn't zoom in on them flying overhead, so the pictures we got are pretty far away. So who knows what those birds were, unless the paper decides to write about them this week. Guess we'll have to wait and see!

Josiah's new cut

Well, you know how it is with boys right?! And Josiah has certainly proven to be our daredevil. With him breaking his arm when he was 4 (and we didn't even know he did it until we took him in?!), and all the scrapes and bumps he has gotten - he's certainly a lot more daring than Isaac ever was. Well, this is no exception!

The other day Martin fixed Josiah's fishing pole so he could practice casting in the back yard. He fixed it by straightening out the line and then adding a big nut on the end so it would be heavy enough to cast. Good idea right? Well we thought so, and so did Josiah. Off he went to practice in the back yard. We were watching him from the kitchen window and Martin was impressed with him casting. He was doing pretty good.

So yesterday Isaac and Josiah were both out there goofing around I suppose, and casting at the same time when they came in the house and Isaac is telling Josiah "let me see it" and Josiah abruptly says "NO". So I come downstairs wondering what in the world is going on. Here Josiah has a bloody washcloth on his hand and I'm wondering what in the world did they do now?!?!?!?! Here Isaac was casting out when it went and hit Josiah in the head. right about his left temple. A cute little gash if there ever was one. Completely clean cut and right through the skin, bleeding like a sieve (spell?) Apparently it knocked Josiah to the ground and he told me that he felt like the top of his head had come off. No crying or fussing was made by Josiah (if that had been Isaac, he would've lost it completely). So we got Josiah in the tub, washed his hair and tried to clean it up the best we can. Meanwhile I'm calling "Nurse Krystie" (like she can do anything when she's in Texas?!), and my Mom to see if my thoughts of not taking him in are ok. Mind you, its Saturday night which means a visit to the ER and about $500 later! I still think he could've used stitches - its not a big wound, but it is right through the top later of skin. The one picture shows it perfectly clear. When I went to put peroxide on it, it didn't even bubble, the solution went straight inside the wound. That's when I realized how deep it was. Now this morning it looks pretty good. I trimmed the hair in that spot so a bandaid would go on, but that still came off. But atleast no hair can get in there for now and irritate it. He didn't mind the trim there, and he was watching me do it with a mirror and he said it looked pretty good.

This morning he says it still hurts a little as I suspected it would. So far he's fine, but he'll have a scar there I'm sure. This is the 2nd one he'll have on that little 7 year old head of his. And I'm sure there will be more scars (but hopefully no more on his head).

AWANA awards night

I know the pictures aren't the clearest, but they will have to do. I have a terribly hard time getting indoor pictures to turn out - like here, or when they have their concerts in school. They always end up being so dark and even when I enhance them, they are fuzzy. Oh well.

The boys love AWANA - especially Josiah. He's in Sparks and loves going. If we ever want to take something away from him as a punishment, AWANA is it and he will be devastated. Isaac on the other hand doesn't mind staying home from AWANA if he has too much homework, or even if he just doesn't feel like going. He's too much like me - a home body as Martin calls it. Isaac likes the peace and quiet of things, not the hustle and bustle. Plus Isaac is in TNT now and has realized how much harder it is than Sparks. Guess that's an area we'll have to work on this fall for him. He didn't get any awards this year, but then lots of others didn't either, including some of his friends. So he wasn't disappointed when they didn't call his name. Josiah on the other hand got a patch for reviewing his book which he is very proud of! He had to put that on that night already!

Anyways - these pictures are for Martin too since he was working late and couldn't make it here - just Mom, Dad and myself were there. Mom and Dad are so good - they come to so many things for the boys. And the boys love seeing them there too. Its nice to have them be so close so they can enjoy these little things too.