1st Day of Kindergarten

I can't believe that Victoria is old enough to start school! She is so smart and way ready. She'll do awesome but we will miss her at home tons! She's been my big helper forever! What am I gonna do with out you kiddo? LOL!

She got up and got all ready with the kids this morning. Then after we let the older kids off at the corner, we headed over to the Kindergarten Center. Victoria was very brave walking into the school and into her classroom, hanging up her bag and getting to her seat. She looked so grown up sitting there. Have a great day, Sis!

Victoria had a great day! She only got a little nervous one time on the playground! After school she rode the bus to the Elementary where she met Liberty & Justice and her friends to walk home. They had a little glitch with the bus driver today but she really liked riding it so hopefully tomorrow will go smoother. Way to go, Victoria! Good Luck at school, little lady! XOXO!

Home Alone 4

The 3 older kids are all up and gone to school. Good luck guys!

But that leaves #4... HOME ALONE with Mom. It will be an adjustment for sure. Not that little Glory girl doesn't love her Mommy but she's never been Home Alone all day before. This morning was rough. LOL! Perhaps it' because she didn't get her morning "coffee" (a good dose of Dora). I decided to have her do a bit of a reading program video instead. You know, be the good Mom and give her a head start on her learning. ;) Believe me... I won't be making that mistake tomorrow! She was so crabby and thought she had to yell at me for everything. Whew! This little girl needs her morning fix! She did come and help me take something to the school for Justice but she had to make sure she took her Backpack along. She even informed me that she "has a teacher too". Her name is Mrs. Sully (Say "sool EEE" as Glory would say) and she teaches at Mrs. Sully's school. So... Mrs. Sully, if you are out there... Glory's ready!
Luckily, the afternoon wasn't as rough. We had a picnic lunch on our "School blanket" [Thanks Aunt Kathie], read books and took a nap. She helped me pick out the menu and took everything out. She can be a very sweet helper when she wants to be.

Hopefully, we figure out a routine and have some amazing Mommy/ Daughter time this year. I think we will as long as we make time for a big cup of Dora every morning! LOL!

IIIIIIIIIIIIII Looooooooooooove Yooooooooooooooooooooooooooooou, Glory girl!

Sunday Scones

We had a couple new friends over tonight for scones. There have been soooo many neat people move into the area over the last couple months. What better way to get to know them than share some yummy treats together? Justice and Joshua have been dying to get together so tonight we made it happen.

Also, we met Karen at Church for the 1st time today. We're so glad we happened to meet her so we could have her over and get to know her better.

We even shared our fancy new jams we got in Medora-- Buffalo berry and Juneberry jam! Along with our favorite scone staples-- cinnamon & sugar, honey butter, homemade raspberry and starwberry freezer jam, nutella and powdered sugar. Sweet yummy goodness! Thanks to Karen and the Stephens for coming!

Back to School Lateover

In celebration of making it through our 1st week of school, the kids had a lateover tonight with their friends. Liberty went to the Larsens while Maggie & Soph and the Stephens kids came to our place. Lots of fun!
For dinner, Brett roasted hot dogs for everyone in the firepit. Thanks Honey!
The kids played outside the entire night. Most of the girls fun happened on top of the popup. They had chairs and stuffed animals up there. They even "sold" chips and rocks for free. Silly girls!
The boys jumped on the tramp, did the zipline and hung out in the hammock. Justice was so excited to have a boy over. Finally!!! (Not that he doesn't love the girls it's just boy playing is so different!)

What a fun night!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Fargo Favorites #48

I must be hungry today cuz all the things I'm grateful involve food! LOL

1. Kemp's Milk

I haven't always enjoyed milk but over the last couple years I love to have a large glass or two for dinner. AND my family (well at least my hubby) are Milk freaks! [He consumes at least 3 heaping bowls of cereal every night before bed all with their own filled to the top share of milk] We usually buy 9 gallons every 2 weeks! Yes, you read right---- NINE gallons! I know, I know... we should just buy our own cow. Believe me... we've talked about it! Well, here in Fargo, my favorite kind of milk has become Kemp's. So yummy! The funny thing is that I think a lot of them are made in the same factory because I can tell when the Cass Clay milk gets into a Kemp's bottle. Kuck! I guess we're not only milk freaks but milk snobs as well. LOL! Oh yeah & one more thing... we won't be having any "milk water" [Skim] at the Seamons. We go for the good stuff 'round here! Vitamin D, Baby!

2. Fresh Corn on the Cob

Corn on the cob is my favorite food! I love to eat as much of it as I can in the Fall. Unfortunately we aren't going to get a great harvest of corn from our garden this year. If we're really lucky we'll maybe get a couple of 3 inch cobs. LOL! So sad! But we picked some up this week from a farmer and it was heavenly! I ate all my share and whatever else anyone didn't finish!

3. Snack Grants

This year our school got approved for a Snack Grant! The kids will get to try all kinds of fruits and veggies during the week. I'm only in charge of sending a snack on Mondays for Liberty. I think I can handle that! (Can you tell I was not very good at that last year? Dang! Slacky Momma!)

4. Fresh BLTs

Garden food is so much better. Don't you think? One thing that we grew good this year in our garden was lettuce. So we picked up some awesome tomatoes and made our selves so delicious fresh, BLTS. We teased that we should have been raising a pig and we could have had REALLY fresh ones! But they were YUMMMY!

5. Produce Stands

Every Fall the fresh produce stands pop up all over Fargo. I just had to stop this week. I came home with all sorts of stuff. But our favorites fruits were the Yellow Watermelon & Colorado Peaches. We are living on peaches and cream over here, people! Sooooo good!

So...

What do you find YUMMY?

1st Day of School 2011-12

Wake up sleepyheads, Summers over! LOL After a good breakfast, we decided to walk to school this morning. It was a bit chilly but the kids loved walking! They got their stuff in their lockers and off they went to class.

Looks like they had a fantastic 1st day of school! Good Luck this year! Love ya!

[PS Kindergarten doesn't start until Monday]

Last Day of Summer

For our last day of Summer and in place of our last Mommy & Me park day, Heidi & Brooke threw a little Party! Potters brought out their slide [which unfortunately is a goner-- it never did fill up the whole way] which the kids LOVED! They also enjoyed catching frogs, riding the zipline, wrestling on the tramp, playing in the sand box and getting their faces painted with Emily's makeup. It was the perfect Summer day!

In typical Playgroup fashion, we had the most fabulous lunch ever! There were so many choices. Delicious! And we even had humongous ice cream cones. Talk about a melty, yummy mess!

It made me laugh because we had all kinds of age-groups there. We had *The Baby Clan inside on the couches *Toddler Table in the kitchen *little kids at the mini tables *Medium kids outside *a whole teenage table AND of course *Mommies everywhere. Thanks Brooke for hosting such a fun, busy Party! Good luck to everyone in school tomorrow!

Ready, Set, Learn!

Supplies are bought, new outfits are picked out, back packs are filled, teachers are assigned. We are READY! We can't believe Summer is at an end. Now we just need to SET a better bedtime & wake up schedule because unfortunately school does NOT start at 10 am. LOL! Then we'll be ready to have a fabulous year of LEARNing!

Here's kids at Registration:

Here's the kids meeting their teachers:

Good Luck guys. You'll do great!

Go Wildcats!

Thunder Road

For our last Summer FHE, we went to Thunder Road Fun Park! We had a blast!
Racing Go-Karts:

Bumper Cars:

Little kid fun:

Mini Golf:

End of Summer Swim Party

One last swim at the Larsens before school starts:

Babysitting Group

We just got back from vacation, (we counted Bonanzaville Pioneer Days as part of our vacation) and jumped right back into things. Literally we got home from Bonanzaville at 4:00 in time for Babysitting group to start at 4:30. Crazy busy! Please someone remind me that time flies when your having fun! LOL! BUT I do love, love our Babysitting Group! The Summer's been hit and miss because of vacations and youth activities but hopefully we'll be back in the swing here soon. All the kids are great and it's so good to get out with Brett on dates. They need to stop growing up so we can do this forever!

Pioneer Days @ Bonanzaville

"Once a year Bonanzaville USA comes alive for Pioneer Days. It really is one of the best times of the year to visit this renowned attraction.

Bonanzaville USA is a pretty cool place. There are dozens of historic buildings relocated from across the state to make the “Pioneer Village.” Each building is filled with artifacts and exhibits paying homage to the good old days…the days of the pioneers & bonanza farms. While the attraction itself is one we could on and on about it all really comes together for their annual festival. This weekend enjoy live music, fully-costumed actors, farming demonstrations and samples of great food. There are over 40 museums on the grounds featuring everything from airplanes to vintage tractors and Indian artifacts to pioneer equipment. There is truly something for everyone. Not only is it a lot of fun but it is also a great educational opportunity!"

Our 1st stop was to check out all the Trains. Uncle Bud would be proud of us!

While we were waiting for the Parade, we ended up running into our friends so we spent the rest of the day with them. Thanks Elisa & Mia!

Watching the Parade:

Checking out the Museums:

They had lots of fun things for the kids to do:

We finished up our day by getting some treats and taking a wagon ride. What a great day!

Fargo Favorites #47

1. Ward FHE

I am so grateful for our Ward Family. I love that even last minute you can mention that a FHE at Buffalo River would be fun and a bunch of dear friends will join you. It the most awesome thing about Fargo!

The rest for this week is dedicated to the beautiful ND landscape:
2. Wheat Fields

Golden fields everywhere you turn. One of the songs they sang at Medora was Craig Morgan's International Harvester. I had to smile on the way home everytime we passed a wheat field being harvested. Too funny!

"But I’m proud to say

I’m a God fearin’ hard workin’ combine driver

Hoggin’ up the road on my a p-p-p-plower

Chug a lug a lugin’ 5 miles an hour

On my International Harvester!"

3. Sunflowers

I love Sunflowers! And right now in ND there are fields with thousands of sunflowers. Pictures don't do the sight justice. Gorgeous yellow rolling hills... They are go on forever!

4. ND Badlands
Beautiful! We had a chance to go out and enjoy a little western ND scenery this week.

5. Close up and personal with the Buffalo

There's nothing quite like being able to reach out your window and touch the back of a six foot 1500lb buffalo! Whew!

So.. what's beautiful where you are?

Medora: Ryan to the Rescue

At 9 o'clock at night and after a LONG, LONG drive, all you want to do is get home, right? Well... so did we. IS that what we got? NO!

Thirty four miles west of our West Fargo exit we heard a large clunk from the front of the truck. Did we hit something? Brett pulled over when the gages started going wacky. He popped the hood to check it out and came back with a very long hose and a mangled fan! CRAP!

We drove to the next exit and pulled off the side of the road. Without the fan, it overheated right away. So sad! It was starting to get dark so we called our Larsen friends and started transferring things to the trailer. (In hopes they could load us in his truck and haul the trailer back home). Ryan very kindly agreed to come rescue us! He was out on errands so by the time he dropped his fam off and drove to exit 310, it was about 10:30 pm. Our kids were so good and so patient! They sat on the trailer til the bugs and cold got to them, played games, told stories and drew pictures. We got some great kids!

Turns out that Ryan attached both the truck and the trailer and hauled it ALL home! He is amazing!!! Thanks Ryan & Lilly for saving us!

P.S. For those of you wondering... I am in denial that breaking down late at night after a trip has anything to do with me! LOL!

Salem Sue

We have drove by Salem Sue more times than I count over the last several years but I've never been able to talk Brett into stopping until... NOW! She is quite impressive! Everyone took a turn trying to milk her too. LOL!
Welcome to the World's Largest Holstein Cow...
Perhaps the most popular of North Dakota's giant roadside animal sculptures, Salem Sue - the World's Largest Holstein Cow (38 feet high and 50 feet long), stands large and in charge high above Interstate 94 just outside of the city of New Salem in western North Dakota. Erected in 1974 by the New Salem Lions Club to help promote area Holstein herds, Salem Sue was the second giant roadside animal sculpture built in North Dakota.
World's Largest Holstein Cow Fun Facts...
Fact #1: Salem Sue is constructed entirely out of fiberglass and is, therefore, hollow.
Fact #2: Salem Sue is so large that it can be seen from over five miles away.
Fact #3: The same artist that created Salem Sue also constructed the World's Largest Catfish in Wahpeton, North Dakota.

A little farther down the road, we pass Sandy, the World's Largest Sandhill Crane. I've never talked Brett into stopping for Sandy either. And this time was no exception. LOL! So I snapped a picture out my window- picture on the right. [Then I found an Internet photo so you know what you're actually looking at- picture on the left] Maybe someday, we will stand under Sandy but that'll be a story for another day. Sorry Sandy!

Sandy, the World's Largest Sandhill Crane

Why did the residents of Steele, North Dakota erect a gigantic Sandhill Crane? Simple, it's to call attention to the fact that Kidder County is one of the best birding destinations in North America. The Coteau Rangeland of North Dakota, commonly known as the Prairie Pothole Region, is an area of glacial potholes located in the direct path of the migration flyway - making this area a favorite spot for migratory nesting birds including the Sandhill Crane
World's Largest Sandhill Crane Fun Facts...
Fact #1: The Crane is the oldest living species of birds existing unchanged for 2.5 million years.
Fact #2: In real life, the Sandhill Crane stands 3 to 4 feet tall with a wingspan of 6 to 7 feet.
Fact #3: The World's Largest Sandhill Crane was named "Sandy" by an area student in a "Name the Bird Contest".

Medora: Other Fun Stuff

We finished our trip off with a lunch date at the Medora Children's Park. They all (even my BIG kid) had a great time playing at the park. And we ate lunch at the pavilion. So great!
The Medora Children's Park is located on the east side of town, across the street from Mini Golf . The playground has a western theme with a false front town and a section that looks like an Old West fort. The play areas have western-looking equipment like a stagecoach and train engine. Children of all ages will enjoy their visit to this FREE attraction.

Before heading out of town, we picked up some souvenirs and buying some fudge!! Yummy!

Thanks Medora! We had a blast!

Medora: Camping

We decided to take our Popup with us and just camp while we visited Medora. It was perfect! Well except for the BEES! They were everywhere when any food was out! OUCH! Both Glory and Justice met their backsides once or twice. Stinky buggers! Thanks goodness we had somewhere to retreat to.

Brett and Justice made us some awesome meals. And at night we checked out the stars. I even attempted to take a picture of the Big Dipper. Looks pretty cool, I think!

They had a great playground for the kids to play at. I didn't get any pictures during the day but they played there a few times! And they LOVE to play/ride on the popup when it's down. Silly kids!

One night, we built a big campfire where we had hobos dinners and sh'mores! Thanks love- you are an awesome cook!

What kind of camping trip would it be if you didn't so any fishing? Brett took the kids down to the Little Missouri River with their fishing poles. They didn't catch anything but the girls had a blast in the sand dirt!

Oh yah AND... Glory decided she would be potty trained while we camped. Seriously! All on her own. She woke up dry and told me when she had to go. She was dry our entire trip. Silly girl! [P.S. She started wetting her diapers again when we got home. LOL! Guess we'll have to tackle that when school starts]

Medora: Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Named for the 26^th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt National Park covers 110 square miles of breathtaking vistas in the savagely beautiful North Dakota Badlands. Visitors to the South Unit are able to take a relaxing 36-mile scenic loop drive through the badlands. This paved drive includes interpretive signs that explain the park's historical and natural features. One can explore this rugged terrain by vehicle, on foot, or by horseback. Extensive systems of backcountry trails encourage viewing the natural habitats of a wide variety of plants and animals such as bison, prairie dogs, wild horses, mule deer, elk, pronghorn and numerous bird species. Over 500 species of plants can be found here. Optimum wildlife viewing times are in the early morning and early evening hours.

We decided to take the scenic drive through TRNP this evening. The Badlands really are quite beautiful! Brett really misses the mountains so the contour was right up his alley! And the colors were amazing!

Going in the evening turned out to be perfect to see the wildlife. We were a little freaked when we passed 2 feet from a huge buffalo. We could have reached out and touched him. The Prairie Dog Towns were the kids favorite! They wanted to bring them all home. ;) We also got to see a couple of deer and some wild horses.

The most exciting or scary part of the trip was when we came across the buffalo herd crossing the road. There were hundreds of them! They had tons of babies but some of those "papas" were HUGE!!! It took us quite a while to be able to inch our way through them. What an experience!

By the time we got out of the Park, it was getting dark and the Museum was closed. But Liberty and I went back in the morning to check it out. It had some neat things to check out.