Enjoying our Sunday afternoon

Today was such a beautiful day outside.  We decided to take advantage of the nice weather and spend most of the afternoon basking in the sun.  I can't believe how big Landon looks in these photos.  And yes, that is still lunch in the corners of his mouth and he is in desperate need of a haircut.  Don't judge.

hOuSe oF bOUncE

Today we headed up to Rochester to take the kids to the House of Bounce.  If you couldn't tell in the slide show above, it was a great time!  It was a little bit of stimulation overload, so an hour and half there was great plenty.  Needless to say, I have one very tired little boy on my hands tonight!  He also keeps saying, "I need to go bounce!"  Apparently me putting pillows on the floor and telling him to bounce is not the same thing! :-)

Final broken leg update

Today; Landon and I met with Dr. Winterstein for his one year check up.  It has been over a year since Landon broke his leg, and we were due to come in for follow up.  The last time Landon had xrays done, they did not go well. What a difference a year makes!  Landon was so inquisitive about the "big camera," and was super excited about getting a couple treats from the xray techs.  Then it was on to see Dr. Winterstein.   What seemed like we were waiting forever, we finally got to meet with her and hear the good news.

Patiently waiting...

Everything looks great!  The right femur and the left femur measure the same and the xrays are perfectly clean.  She said you can not even tell his leg was ever broke.  Dr. Winterstein concluded by saying that she would see us on an as needed basis.  I said to myself, I hope that's never again. 

Play dough

Every Mom's worst nightmare.  Or maybe it's just mine.  Play dough. 

Basement Progress and Farmer's Market

Landon and I began our Saturday by taking our Elke to the vet.  Yes, she was exited to go can't you tell?  Ok, not really, but it was just for her annual visit so we were in and out of there in less than fifteen minutes. 

We then headed to Decorah to do a little grocery shopping as well as a few other errands.  We can't go to Decorah on a Saturday morning without heading to the Farmer's Market.  A few weeks ago, we got our Mums. 

Now it was time to stock up on our pumpkins.  Here are just a few.  The rest are scattered about the farm.

I am finally feeling like I am back on track.  I learned from my super organized sister-in-law Cathy that planning meals a month in advance can be a huge lifesaver.  I use to be really good about this, and then fell of the bandwagon.  Last month when I was balancing the checkbook I realized that I went way over our grocery budget.  I blame this on not planning my meals out and making several trips to the grocery store in a week.  This takes time (which I don't have), and I obviously spend way more than I need to.  Hopefully by planning my meals out, I can have all the items on hand that I need for two weeks worth of meals and just make a quick stop once a week to grab our fresh produce.  Have I mentioned that I have banned Wal-Mart from our lives as well.  Well, that's a whole other post, but yes I have!  Haven't been there in over a month.

Ok, back to our basement progress.  With the help of my brother and Jeremy's cousin Jon, the boys set out to grout our tile floors in the basement.  Yes, it has been a while since the tile was laid, but we have been so busy!

The bathroom

They got most of the family room done before running out of grout.

I can't believe how different it looks.  I love, love, love it.  I now have the enthusiasm again to get this space finished. Unfortunately this cooler weather means winter will be here shortly and a lot of wood needs to be cut before then.  That means we probably won't be working on the basement again until winter.  

The night ended with supper with the fam and a bonfire.  Unfortunately I did not stay up for the Hawk's game, but recorded it and watched it Sunday morning.  Boo...

Roaarrr....

Ok, so I've been a little M.I.A.  Life has been busy, you know.  

Not busy enough to not play dress up with Landon this past weekend!  We've been discussing Halloween costumes.  Right now he wants to be Spiderman, Handy Manny and a Fire Fighter.  Only time will tell what he will actually be!

 We did dig out this costume that was a little too big and Landon has had a blast being a dinosaur.  Scary don't you think?!

Wooden Wonderland

We enjoyed Labor Day by heading to the wooden wonderland in New Hampton for a picnic.  If you haven't been there, you should!

The morning started out a little brisk.  Brrr.... but we still had a good time! 

Remember last time we went?

After a good ol' fashion picnic, the clouds parted and it warmed up a bit.  I was playing around with my camera and snapped a few black and white photos.  Those are my fave.

Spillville Celebration

This weekend, the community of Spillville and St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church are celebrating their sesquicentennial (150 years). The festivities kicked off on Friday, but we didn't join in on the action until Saturday.  

Since Jeremy was on call and couldn't attend, Landon and I headed to Spillville to watch the parade.  We didn't need to fight any crowds to find seating since the parade went right by my Brother and Sister-in-laws house.  Normally when you go to watch a parade you are on the main street which is wider than a normal street.  This super duper long parade went down main street and then circled around on the street where they live.  We were right in on the action!

It was the Hawks first game of the season as well.  All the kids, as well as Cathy and I dressed accordingly!  It was a nice win!

The parade was awesome and seemed to last f.o.r.e.v.e.r.  The kids all walked away with a ton of candy.  Landon soaked in some of the parade from the lap of his Great Grandma.  Aw, I love this picture!

And of course, what's a parade without Grandpa Sabelka and the Calmar Fire Department.

Look at these Czech dancers.  Their outfits were exquisite!

There were a whole lot of nuns in this parade, but just a few that had beards.

And this, well, I have no words.

Even Santa Claus made an appearance.

After the parade was over, we headed out to get some food.  Jeremy had a break in between calls and caught up with us to catch some skits.  I learned so much about Spillville, I had no idea.

The festivities are continuing today in Spillville. We will be heading down there a bit later to partake in a bean bag tournament.  Yippee!