A Sommer's Tale

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2012-01-30T14:12:00.001-08:00

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2011-12-20T08:25:00.001-08:00

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HAPPY "1st" BIRTHDAY TO MY BABY!!!! :)

2011-02-14T09:22:00.000-08:00

Liam turned 1 on the 10th of this month and this is how he greeted me that morning :) (It is actually how he greets me every morning but I thought I would snap a few pics on my phone for his birthday :) )

He is such a joy to have around and is learning SO much right now!!!

He started walking about 2 weeks before his birthday and has now mastered standing up from the floor without holding on to anything!!! He has moved to the "I prefer to walk instead of crawl" faze.

He is a determined little boy that will figure it out if he wants to know about it and it does not take him very long at all!!!

We have started to ween off of the bottle, which I don't think will be a big deal at all. (Its just me I think??? )

Before I know it I will be sending my baby off to preschool like Reed will be in the fall!!! Yikes :/

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-21T19:05:00.000-08:00

Here we are another year almost wrapped up!!! We have had a lot of new thing happen this year.

*Gavin is 6 1/2 now and is in 1st grade and LOVES school (even thought he might tell you different). He is becoming a very good reader and speller and continues to excel in math :) Baseball still consumes all of his time in the nicer months and he continues to really hone his skills in that as well, funny how they can do that at such a young age!!! He has lost 8 teeth, 4 on top and 4 on bottom so he can REALLY say that all he wanted for Christmas was at least 2 front teeth :) And his 2 top ones came in over our vacation to FL in Oct. and took up all 4 spots on the top :/ YIKES!!! I have no idea where anymore teeth are going to go!!! And now he has one of his middle ones on the bottom that is poking through, so we will have to see how this pans out for him!!! I am sure that braces are in his future some time :) He still enjoys watching wrestling on TV and Nate bought him tickets for a WWE when they come to Rochester in Feb. so I am sure that Gavin will be flying high when he finds that out!!!

* Reed is 3 1/2 now and is by far the comic relief of the family :) He comes up with the darndest things all the time!!! He is always fixing things also, whether it be a broken bone or a car that needs some fixing. His imagination is a marvel!!! He has mastered going on the "Big" potty so that is a GREAT thing!!! He also seems well beyond his years, people are always amazed when they hear him speak that he is only 3 :) He continues to love being a Pirate or a Fixer Guy or a Cowboy or a Train Conductor or whatever he is feeling that day!!! His imagination never disappoints :) (Him or us!!!)

* Liam is our newest member of the family. He was born on Feb. 10 of this year at 6:56am via C-Section weighing 7lbs. 3oz and 18in long :) He has been a real joy!!! He was such a good baby from the very beginning, with sleeping through the night and being a great eater really making the transition from 2 children to 3 not to bad!!! He is now 10 1/2 months and has 6 going on 7 teeth and has taken multiple steps many times over the last couple weeks :)

* Nate & I, well we both are staying busy enough at work so that is good, but even more exciting is that we have been staying even more busy at home working on our new ADDITION!!! We are adding on to our house to make it into our "DREAM" home ;) Well at least a little more spacious anyways :) We are adding on to the main level with a basement under that. On the main level we are adding a Master bedroom, Laundry room and a Bathroom, and in the basement there will be a Family room, Bedroom and a Half Bath!!! We will almost be doubling the footprint of our house!!! I can hardly wait :) We hired the concrete work (Block and slab) done but otherwise we are doing most of the work ourselves with the help of our Dads and other family!!! I am so happy that God has blessed me with a Husband that is not only willing but enjoys doing these kinds of projects and also that family and Friends have stepped up the way that they always do to make this possible!!! Thank You to all of you that have been helping!!!

Well I hope that this update finds you all in good heath and spirits this Christmas season and I hope that the Lord blesses you in the year to come!!! The Sommer Family :)

Liam update.......

2010-11-09T06:31:00.000-08:00

Here is a little update on Liam (I am horrible at keeping up with this :( )

These pictures were just after he turned 8 months he now has 4 teeth with 2 more just about to poke through, the same morning I noticed his first 2 teeth with in a half hour he was pulling himself up and walking around the furniture!?!?!?! YIKES!!! He is now a crawling very fast anywhere he needs to go including up all the stairs and even tried to get outside the other day :/

He mostly walks while holding on to something where ever he wants to go but if he does not have anything to hold onto he will just crawl to something he can pull himself up on :) He is very smart for his age I think :)

2010-09-23T07:47:00.001-07:00

Liam 6 mo. old

How could you resist a face like that??? :) We Love him so much!!!

Its the Small things 1st.......

2010-09-05T20:11:00.000-07:00

Getting the driveway finally finished :)I think that it turned out REALLY nice!!! Nate did a great job!!! He has really been working hard at getting these small projects done while we are waiting to start the addition. He has gotten this done and the soffit and fascia done on the rest of the house and also the porch.

Then Nate got everything leveled out and rolled and seeded so we actually have a front yard with real grass that we had to water everyday and mow like every other day!!! I LOVE IT!!!

Garden........

2010-09-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

This is our 1st attempt at a garden this year and let me tell you we have REALLY been enjoying the bounty of it!!! I think we might even double it next year :)

2010-09-05T18:49:00.000-07:00

8 Weeks old

9 Weeks old and SMILEY!!! :D

Start of Summer......

2010-06-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

A little Boo-Boo that Reed got

when he tripped going up the stairs of our deck :( I looks A LOT worse than it really was and it has healed up really nice!!! The picture on the above left is how we found Reed after we got his tongue under control, I went inside to clean up and came back out and he had fallen asleep under the neighbors tree :)

Gavin has now lost 6 teeth ALL in the front :) I guess no Corn on the Cob for him this summer ;)

Addition getting closer???

2010-05-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

This is from Easter 2010 :) Shows how busy we have been!!! Time just gets away from me. Liam was almost 2 months old and it was a BEAUTIFUL day.

At this point we were getting closer to the addition being more of a reality :) (More on that in a later post!!!)

2010-05-03T07:15:00.000-07:00

Well where in the world has the time gone??? Sorry it has been so long since I have posted!!! There have been alot of things taking up our time lately and I will try to get you caught up on them :-)

Liam is now almost 12weeks old and is growing like a weed!!! he is about 14lbs and sleeping through the night!!! YAY!!! He is such a good baby :) I really have nothing to complian about with him!!!

Well I am going to post more in a second as I have alot to tell about upcoming summer projects at the Sommer residence!!!

2010-03-12T15:07:00.000-08:00

This is Liam at 3 weeks, we had a little photo session in my room :)

Liam has been a GREAT baby!!! I really have nothing to complain about at all!!! he is pretty much on an every 4 hour schedule which is ok....he had his 4 week check-up this last wen. and has gained 2lbs. in the last 3 weeks!!! So I guess whatever we are doing is working just fine!!!

The other boys are adjusting pretty good, they love him very much, but like to really put on a show when people come over : It can really start to get to be alot at times :) But this too will pass (all to quick I might add!!!) Well I just wanted to throw up a quick up-date, will post again soon!!! :)

Liam Douglas Sommer

2010-02-16T10:43:00.000-08:00

SURPRISE!!!

2010-02-13T10:42:00.000-08:00

So I had my 38 week apt. this last Tues. morning (I was really like 37weeks 4days) and I was just going to have him check if I had a Yeast Infection or something?? Something just didnt seem right, so he checked me out and said that there seemed to be some swelling due to the pressure from the baby pushing down but he was not concerned about that and he also checked my cervix which was not open at all so he really was not concerned at all!!! Sent me home with a time to be there bright and early at 5:30 the next Tues. morning for my scheduled C-Section!!! Bummer right??? That is kinda how I felt, I was just really having a hard time sleeping and over all was just not feeling very good for the last weeks up till then!!! So I went home and continued with the rest of my day and did a hair cut then went home ( I was supposed to be done with work now but you know how that goes!!) I let Nate put the boy's to bed that night as I was just needing to put my feet up and chill! so I was just minding my own business watch American Idol and at about 9:30 I had this weird crampy pain and all of a sudden my lap FILLED with WATER!!! YIKES!!! I just sat there not really knowing what to do or what had really just happened!!! I started to yell as quiet as I could as to not wake the boys but loud enough that my deaf husband would be able to hear me!!!! :) (I knew that he had fallen asleep and I didnt know if had shut his hearing aids off or took them out or what!!) When he finally came down he was really kinda annoyed with me for some reason, so I asked him to come here please and we both just sat and stared at my lap that had continued to fill with fluid!!! Wondering what we should do????? We thought we should call my Mom (we needed someone to come stay with the boys who were sleeping) oh wait maybe we should call the hospital 1st??! Yeah we should do that, so that is what I did and they said that I should probably come in as soon as I could, so I called my Mom and told her what had happened and she was going to bring someone right in!!! I had my bag all ready to go because I brought it with to my apt that morning in case he decided to keep me there, but I still felt so very unprepared!!! and the whole way to Faribault I kept asking Nate if he had remembered this or that which he of course had remembered everything!!! He is so good at stuff like that :) We got to the hospital at about 10:30pm and they got me hooked up to all the monitors and about 11:30 or so the contractions started!!! WHAT???? Are you kidding me??? now I have to sit here and go through all of this because they are not going to do surgery till the morning!!! :( So no I did not get more than an hour of sleep all night and yes I had contractions ALL NIGHT LONG!!! And then they came in to start prepping for surgery at about 5:45am and at 6:56am they delivered a healthy happy 7lb.3oz. 18in. baby boy!!! :) He has been the "Perfect" baby, more than we could have asked for!! Here are some pictures of the big day and those after:

Pre-Op Picture

Fresh out of the oven!!!

Nice Lungs :)

Love at 1st sight!!!

Daddy's Love

1st picture together thanks to my nurse :)

Hello World!!

Brothers checking him out

All my boys :)

1st bath

2010-01-29T08:12:00.000-08:00

Halloween 2009

Look at that form!!! :)

Look out Joe Mauer!!!

"I have wings!!! "
Cousins!!!

A day out with Mommy!!!

Going to check out the Geese at RCTC while we wait for Aunty Christine to get done with class

"Goose Poop Mommy!!! "

2010-01-29T07:36:00.000-08:00

Gavin playing Wii on vacation in the Dells!!!

Louie and Sally with there new son Simon Gabriel at his Baptism

Simon Gabriel Grove

Nice Christine!!! :) or should I say ;)

It is always intense for Nate to carve a pumpkin!!! :)

Reed really got into the whole carving thing this year!!! Gavin......Not so much :)
Finished products!!! :)

Alot of catching up to do!!!!

2010-01-05T18:03:00.000-08:00

In Oct. we went to the dells for one last trip before the busy time of the year came for me and also the baby!!! We took my brothers Micah and Aaron along with us and it was a very fun time!!! these are jsut some pics of the trip :) I have alot more catching up to do so I am going to try and get to it!!! (Bear with me:))

Cheese!!!

Loading up his marshmellows!!!

Going down the water slide with Daddy

Gavin and Daddy going down the slide

All by himself!!!

All my boys!!!!

Havin fun at the pool!!!!

2009-12-23T06:52:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!!!
Well where has the time gone again?!?!?! I looked at the calender and low and behold it
is DECEMBER!!! We have had a VERY busy year to say the least!! But when is it not??
We have been busy with a few things that I would like to touch on :

1.)We have been doing alot of stuff on the house (Of course!!) that never seems to be
boring. We put a new driveway in this summer, did some landscaping and more recently got
the garage heated!! We have some addition plans that we have been sitting on that we will
hopefully be able to take advantage of in the near future (I quit setting dates for when
we will start it because it seems that those dates always come and go, so, no dates, no
disappointments!!! )

2.) We are EXPECTING again (probably for the last time!)!! I only have 54 days left at the time of this letter!!! Feb.16th I am scheduled for a C-Section, if I make it that long!! So that will be another change for us, as both of our boys have been in the summer and this one will be
smack dab in the middle of the winter!!! We do not know what we are having as we chose to
keep it a surprise, so we are all getting very anxious to meet the new bundle :)
Both of the boys are very excited about the new baby as are Nate and I!!! :)

3.) Gavin started Kindergarten this fall!! Kenyon-Wanamingo has All Day/Every Day
Kindergarten, so my 5 year old has now started his full time school career already!! He loves it
and is excelling!! At his conferences his teacher said that he is one of the top readers in his
class and also LOVES math!! He is really coming out of his shell, which I am glad about because I was worried about how shy he seemed around people he didn't know. But he is doing great in
that department also!!! He has also picked up a LOVE for WWE wrestling which is SOOOOO funny to see!!! Cracks us up!!! He has to watch it every Monday night (also Fri night but that is Smackdown not Raw:))

4.) Reed is in the process of Potty Training , which is going.........Well as good as it can go I
guess!!! It is the one thing about parenting so far that I wish that I could send them away for!!! He is really doing very well for only being 2 1/2 years old, I cant (Or shouldn't)complain!! He has the BIGGEST imagination that I have every seen! He can pretend about anything, anytime anywhere. He is our little entertainer for sure! Reed is very excited to be Mommy's big helper
with this new baby, He practices all the time with anything that he can find that resembles a baby :)He has a great big heart and loves to "Make Mommy Happy"!!! (His own words!!)

All in all it has been a GREAT year for the whole family and I hope it has been and will be for
yours too!!! :) Till next year Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!!!

( I cant figure out why this is posting so weird with all the sentence breaks and stuff?? Very frustrating!!!)

Yearly Pictures (Well not the only ones:) )

2009-10-08T08:36:00.000-07:00

Brothers!!!

Gavin~ 5 Years old

Wow Gavin!!! Like I said 5 Years old :)

Reed (Aka: Reeder Rabbit!!! Thanks Grandpa :) )

2 Years old

Always checking something out!!! :)

Time gets away from you............

2009-09-28T07:10:00.000-07:00

Wow where does the time go?!?!?!? I think I say that every time I write again!!! Well the summer has been filled with lot to keep us busy!!! We have done alot of outdoor projects on the house as well as some not planned inside projects too ;)
We have put a new driveway in and done some landscaping out front and down by the garage and then in the middle of this driveway project our ONLY bathroom decided to spring a leak also, so that brought us to our unplanned indoor project which included tearing up the WHOLE floor to find where the leak was coming from, which also meant pulling the vanity, toilet and shower out as well!!! So we decided to go ahead and do it the way that we would want it to be for good instead of doing a quick fix and then having to redo it again some other time!!!

Also if you have not heard, we are expecting again!!! Very exciting time for us :)
I am due in Feb. and will have a scheduled C-Section again so I am hoping that it goes as good as it did with Reed!!! should prove to be a very busy time as it falls right in the middle of school season and I have always been off in the summer?!?!?! We will make due, thats jsut what you have to do :)
I have the big ultrasound on Fri. but we are not going to find out what we are having, keep with the surprise theme I guess!!! :) I have asked Gavin what he thinks would be good and he thinks that we should have a sister because he said that I am the ONLY girl!!! Awww.......He is always thinking of his mommy!!! :)

Gavin has also started All Day EveryDay Kindergarten!!! Of which he LOVES!!! I was very nervous about this I think for myself more than anything but it has been a very good thing!!! He went on his 1st fieldtrip yesterday (10-7-09) to Tweite's Pumpkin Patch in Byron and I was lucky enough to go along :) It was a fun day, it is really cute to see him interacting with his classmates!!! Too Cute!!! Here are some pictures of the day!!! Enjoy!!! :)

Sun. Night visit with Griffin :)

2009-06-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

Ben and Bekki's Nephew Noah Sjoblom, He would stare at my camera and I would go to take a picture and my flash would stutter and this is the face I would get :) Too funny!!! He is really getting a fun personality!!

Cheese!!

Updated picture of baby Griffin, I went over to visit on Sun. night and snapped a few pix.

Griffin Benjamin Bakken

2009-06-02T12:40:00.001-07:00

Ben, Bekki and new baby Griffin :)

Reed was lovin him up!!

Griffin Benjamin Bakken

5-28-09

My cousin Ben and his wife Bekki welcomed there 1st child into this world on Thurs. May 28th at 11:00pm. He is a total keeper!!

Where has the time gone???????

2009-05-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

Well I don't know what to say!!! I was so good at this before and now I have just really been sucking it up in the blogging dept.!!! Well there has been alot that has happened since the last time that I posted but I don't think I will be able to get to it all this time!!!

Gavin is getting ready to wrap up Pre-School '09!!! They have a "Graduation" for them on the 20th of May so I will be sure to post pictures of that, he also has gotten his Teacher assignment for KINDERGARTEN!!! I know, that's right I said Kindergarten!! My Baby boy is going to be going to school ALL day EVERY day in the fall!!! He has a Mini-Kindergarten class this Fri. in the morning that he gets to go to! They have like a little class time, snack, ride a school bus!! I think it will be fun for him!!

Reed is turning into quite the "Little" man also!!! He is almost as heavy as Gavin, I know that my not seem like much because Gavin is such a twig but there is 3 years between them :) He is very independent and last night and this morning he has had no bottle to go to bed or for his nap!! So we will see how this weening thing goes?!?!?!?!?! :) He just would not let go of that bottle, but he bit the top off the nipple yesterday so I told him he could not have it anymore because he broke it, he just wanted to see it and then he hugged it and he was fine with not having it anymore!! so we will see how the rest of the week goes!!!

I am puttin some of our Easter pics on here as that is the last Family one I have!! and then some other just cute snapshots!! Enjoy the GREAT day outside!!

Conversations with a 4 year old

2009-02-27T21:15:00.000-08:00

So Gavin and I were in the kitchen the other day talking over a snack of crackers and he proceeded to have this conversation with me :

Gavin: Mom is God the good one or the bad one?
Mom: The good one, Why?
Gavin: Just wondering...........does he have a HUGE clock up there or something??
Mom: Hmm.......I don't know why??
Gavin: Well....so he knows when people should die??
Mom: Oh well I think he just knows when it is our time........???
Gavin: I cant wait to die!!!
Mom: WHAT????? Why??????
Gavin: Well then I get to meet GOD!!!!! That is going to be AWESOME!!!!
Mom (under her breath) : Well I can wait for you to die!?!?!?!
Gavin: Mom cant you wait till you die???
Mom: Yeah I am excited to meet God and it will happen in his time!!!

Jeepers Creepers!!! How do you have these conversations with a 4 year old and how do they come up with these things?!?!?!?!?!?
I thought this was too cute not to document!!! And it also makes me very happy to know that my child wants to meet God!!! :)

Christmas Stockings!!!!!

2009-01-23T12:21:00.000-08:00

Nummy presents from Harriet :)

Stocking time!!!!! :) Reed checking out what "Santa" brought!!!

It cracks me up how Gavin still try's to figure out how Santa gets in when we dont have a fireplace!!!! :)

SWEET INNOCENCE!!!!!

Christmas at Aaron & Kari's

2009-01-23T10:22:00.000-08:00

Solomons 1st Sled Ride!!!

Having some playtime in the new Snow that we were getting that weekend!! (Good thing Daddy likes to play in it, because Mommy doesn't!!!)

Our God-Son Solomon........What a little doll he is!!! :)

So this would be what happened......oh........about 1 hour after we got to Nate's Cousin Aaron's house for Christmas on the 19th of Dec. Apparently it is way fun to run and jump on and off other peoples stairways even after Mom tells you to settle down!! Well he was running to jump onto the stairs and I heard a loud thud, we turned and looked at him and asked if he was alright and he was laying on the step holding his head and said that he was fine ( I think he was embarrassed..) I asked him like 3 more times and he kept saying he was fine so we went on with our conversation and about a minute late Gavin cam up to me holding his hand, that was completely covered in blood, out to me and he said that something was wrong!!! I tried to remain calm and get the bleeding under control and apply pressure so I could tell how bad it was and then Nate & Aaron came back from the store so we assessed the situation and also Aaron & Kari have a DR. that lives in there development, so Kari called him up to ask his opinion on what to do and he said that what I was doing was exactly right and that they really only stitch for 2 reasons 1) To stop the bleeding (which I had done) 2) For Cosmetic Reasons (no big deal there he has enough scars to show & his hair would cover it anyway) So after we got that out of the way we decided that we were not going to have it stitched and sent the boy's out to get some Steri Strips at the drug store and we just threw some of them on (after a small haircut with Aaron's electric razor!!) and he was good as new!!! but WOW what a start to the holidays!!! :) Never a Dull moment!

Solomon opening his 1st Christmas present EVER!!!! :)

"OK.....I think I have had enough of this present stuff!!! "

Reed taking over Murphy's bed!!! :)

"What is going on here????????"

Murphy getting his Christmas Present!!!

The Start of Christmas!!!!

2009-01-23T09:42:00.000-08:00

This was the 1st year that we had a REAL Christmas Tree in like 8 yrs!!! And it was the cutest little 5 footer I've seen :) So the boy's were helping me put the decorations on after I got all the lights on (700 lights on my little tree!!)

It was SOOOOO beautiful!! Nothing makes me smile more than sitting with no other lights on but the tree during Christmas!! I LOVE IT!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

2008-12-26T14:11:00.000-08:00

Well again it has been way to long since I have written, but not much has changed other than the fact that we just got over a nasty strain of the flu :(

Reed and I had it for about 3-4 days!!! YUCK!

Well I thought I would post some pictures of our Christmas and such! Enjoy and Happy New Year!!!

Big Changes around here!!

2008-11-18T13:01:00.000-08:00

Gavin is now a master Kung Fu Ninja!!!!

I can almost hear the sound effects that he was doing!!! :)

The Garage is coming down FINALLY!!!! Which means the Addition is going up in the SPRING!!!!!
Gavin w/ an attitude I guess!!!
Propping up the roof
Pulling it down!!!!!
Pull!!!!!!!
Pull harder!!!!

Gone!!!!

So hopefully if all goes well we will start the 2 bedroom 1 1/2 bath with a family room in the spring!! As soon as all the frost is out of the ground is when I will be pushing to get it started :) I am SOOOOOOO excited about it i can hardly stand it!!

Gavin's PRE-SCHOOL picture!!!

2008-11-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

So I guess that they take pictures even in pre-school!! and I just cant get enough of this one! It is sooooo Gavin I can hardly believe it......Too funny!!!

Pictures of Couples Date Night!

2008-11-18T12:16:00.000-08:00

The Girls : Michelle Stay, Reah Hedeen, Bekki Bakken, Katie Sjoblem, Jamie Sommer (blurry picture?!?! That's what you get for having your Husband take the picture! :) Love you Dear! but focus!!)

The Boys : Jamie Stay, Jeff Sjoblem, Rob Hedeen, Ben Bakken, Nate Sommer

He didn't make it!!!

The Boys into something? I wonder what it is?!?!?!

Oh wait there it is!!! Go figure :) Old school wrestling!!!

The Girls after a few :) (except Bekki!!)

All of us bowled :)

Jeff being very sexy :) I think this right after he also did the WHOLE Bye Bye Bye dance from N'Sync :) TOO FUNNY!!!

Bowling shoes now have Velcro!!!

Wanamingo Couples Date night

2008-11-15T19:44:00.000-08:00

So we had a couples date night last night where we went up to Lakeville and ate at Rudy's Red Eye Grille which the food was not all bad, kinda on the more spendy side for the type of food but it was more the service that really bombed!! There were 5 couples that ended up going, Jeff & Katie Sjoblem, Ben & Bekki Bakken, Rob & Reah Hedeen, Jamie & Michelle Stay and Nate & I .
Ben stopped and picked up his Brother Chirs' 12 passenger van so we could all ride together!! So we got to the restaurant at about 7:30 and it took about 20-25 min to get our drinks then he took our appetizer order and that took another 20-25 min then he took our dinner order and that took another 25-30 min, then we ate and they brought our checks and that's when the fun began!! ALL of our checks were WRONG!!! some had half of other peoples orders on there tickets and others didn't get charged for things and then when they did kinda get it right then people went there credit cards with there bills and some got charged to other peoples bill and some got things added to there bills !!!!! at least it was all in our party not some other table also!!! ( That we know of anyways!!) and it wasn't even real busy in there and its not like 10 people is a HUGE party either.....bad day for the waiter I guess!! But it really gave us something to talk about when we got out of there! Which was around 10:30!!! Then we went Bowling at this new bowling alley in Lakeville which had a 45 min wait to get on a lane!!! yikes , so we played some pool and conversed and then we were summonsed to bowl at around 11:30 which we did for an hour and then we just chilled for another half hour and then we Laughed pretty much the WHOLE way home and were dropped off around 2:00AM!!! All in All it was a great evening, I will try to get some pictures posted from the bowling and pool play soon...just thought I would get the writing part out of the way :)

2008-11-13T08:47:00.001-08:00

Ok so here are the Boy's in there Haloween costumes, Gavin was a Pirate and Reed was the cutest Skunk I have ever seen :)

Scurvy Pirate.......

Arrrrr Matey!!!!

My Little Stinker :)

My Nephew Jaedin as "The Incredible Hulk"!!!!

Best Buds!!!

Daddy and Reed

"What? I'm eating a bun" :)

The clan posing for a picture for the paper: News Record, Zumbrota the next week !!!!!

2008-11-07T13:40:00.000-08:00

The leaves on our Maple in our back yard, I think it is Soooo beautiful!!!!

Ok so I suck at this Blogging business! I think I have a slight form of OCD in the sense that I need to post things in order that they happened, well that would be fine but I'm stuck in July! and time keeps going on and pictures keep getting taken! so I'm sucking it up and going to step out of my box and post about Halloween and some pictures that I took of my Sister and her family and whatever else I feel like posting! enjoy :)

"Oh I found a really cool one!!"

"Mom look at this cool lumpy one!!"

Gavin just had to get this smooth one?!?!?!

Reed found the perfect Pumpkin

ok Reed with his baby pumpkin that the lady gave to him

He had to scoop out his own guts....that was the deal!!

Gavin working on his carving

Gavin decided it was more fun to cut up the scraps with the big knife

Finished Product :)

So we had to build a retaining wall down by the garage to keep the drive way from washing away and this is Nate working on it, He did it all by himself (with the help of some of my brothers) I am so proud of him!!!!

Dr. Reed!
Who could resist a face like that?!?!?!?!

Madaline Island '08

2008-09-05T10:23:00.000-07:00

Well Nate and I went on an Adult only trip the end of June and it was a great time, we went up to Madeline Island on Lake Superior with my cousin Alli and her husband Kurt and 3 other couples : Aaron and Sara Quam, Adam Ellingsberg and Kari Harbo and Karen Ronningen and Alvin Jones (aka AJ). We had a wonderful time on this long weekend, we rented a house up there that was very nice,right across the road from the Lake it was BEAUTIFUL!! We had really just one night of rain and it was a good thing Nate brought along ROCK BAND for that very instance :) we turned it into a rock band party that night!!! they had fun!!! we went sight seeing all around the island and tried to find some fairy's with no luck :( Some of us even went all the way into Lake Superior!!!! YIKES it was very cold, I think my body was going into shock actually!!! but all in all we had a wonderful time, Thanks Alli for the invite :) here are some pictures for you all to enjoy :

oh no!!! The cargo carrier
was too loaded down, we
had to unload a little in order
to get onto the Ferry!!!

Oh there, that should help
a little :)

Oh Come on Adam,
Smile,It's your world!!!

This is the Island that we were on

Oh Hi Babe!!!!

The Ferry

Very mature Kari!!!!

That's better :)

Seagulls

"Old Glory"

The name of the place we stayed at

The House

Our view from across the road

Ok so funny story here:
So we got to this place and it sleeps 8 supposedly and I guess that 2 of those 8 would need to sleep on an air mattress that was no where to be found but we needed it because we had 8 people along so we called the hotel that takes care of booking and maintaining this place and they told us where to look which we already had and then they said that they would bring one out to us, so this guy shows up with our Air Mattress but it turns out to be a Simmons beautyrest unopened REAL mattress!!!!! I have never seen or heard of such a thing :) It was too funny!!!

Creepy Adam!?!?!?!?

Rockin'

Chillin'

Sword fight: "On Guard"

Kari trying to stab a fly
with her ultra sharp
roasting stick :)

Oh Nate, got a little
Captin in ya?

Kari and the Travel mug
may it rest in peace :(

Lupins

some form of fungi growing on a log

Ahhhh..........The wild strawberries,
Yummmmm, they were delicious!!!

Picture time, in the middle of the road
I guess?!?!?!?!?!

The View

Joe Cool :)

What the heck is he doing? and Who
the hecks Husband is this?

Oh WOW, I see what he was doing now!!!

Yes we are CRAZY!!!!!!

Sand bar

YES!!!! Victory!!!!!
I successfully managed to
submerge Kurtis in the Lake :)

Footprints

Oh Kurtis!!! You look SOOOO cold!?!?
I wonder why:)

Sand bar again............

A group shot of all of us that went

Gavin turns 4!!!!!!

2008-07-31T08:48:00.000-07:00

Gavin turned 4 on the 27th of June and Nate & I were on vacation so we missed it :( but the boy's stayed at my Mom & Dads so I think they were alright :) (Pictures of our Vacation will be my next post) Gavin is really growing up fast, he is so inquisitive about EVERYTHING!!! "Mom where do clouds come from?, Mom why do people sin?, Mom where so we go when we DIE?, Mom why are the insides of our mouths all wet?" are you kidding me where does this stuff come from? He makes us laugh SO much I can hardly stand it :) Reed is also getting so big, he is running all over the place getting into literally EVERYTHING!!!! He does'nt like to play with toys for the most part, he just likes to play with everything he's not supposed to :) Yikes!!!! well we have to go to another baseball game today :) so I have to sign off

Catching up!!!!!!~

2008-07-03T20:03:00.000-07:00

Ok so I'm sorry its taken so long to get back to posting!!! The summer has been a very busy one already!!
So to start on June 21st I ran in my first 5k marathon and FINISHED!!!!!! I finished 135 overall but 65 of those were 10k runners also so more like 70th!!!! :) it was such a great accomplishment for myself!!! I finished with a time of 41.16 min I think.......not great but not bad for my first run!!! I didn't think :) I started taking this running

the starting line

Ok...nice

I made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok so funny story about this
Girl...... I was running the whole
last mile, so I was not really paying
much attention to anything but my running
and finishing, then all of a sudden this little twit
ran past me and got about 15 feet in front of me and
started walking then I would get right up by her
and she would take off again then she would stop about 15 feet
in front again, then she looked back at me and smiled and took off
again when I got just about up to her, I couldn't believe I was being antagonized by a 4 year old!!!

All done with the race and just
resting!!!

The whole running group from the class I went
to in Zumbrota.

Ok so I have a ton more posts to do but I need to get ready for the day........THE FOURTH IS HERE!!!!!!!!!

2008-06-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

Ok so a funny story form this morning: Gavin,Reed and I were sitting down for breakfast and Reed and Gavin had finished and Gavin was just sitting there looking at his foot and all of a sudden he says " Oh my I think my foot is pregnant!" I said "What?" he says " I think there is a baby in there!!!"
so he showed me and I about died laughing so here is some pictures of my sons pregnant foot!!! :)

Then he really got looking and said "OH MY I think this one is too!!!"
(his other foot!!!!) Looks to be about 6 1/2 months along :)
Hahahahahahahahaha just had to share that with all of you :)

The Day of Appointments!!!!

2008-06-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

So our day started at about 6:30 yesterday morning, when Reed got up for the day, then I had to get myself ready, then Gavin had to get dressed for his FIRST dentist apt. !!!! we had to be there at 8:00 and he did Awesome!!!! I was a little sad after he got in the chair because I realized that I had forgotten my CAMERA !!!! and he was sooooo cute in the "Space Chair" the he got to push the buttons on :) oh and also he said that he needed to get his LOOSE tooth fixed, YES he has 2 loose teeth already!!! So here are the stats about his mouth :
No Cavities and he has 20 teeth!!!! The Dr. said that he is very advanced for his age because they don't usually start to loose there teeth till about 6 years old or so and he will be 4 in 2 weeks!!! nothing to be alarmed about he just said that every kid is different!!! and don't I know it!!!

All done but Nate dropped my camera off so I could get some pictures (Love you dear!!!!) so they had him hop back up in the "Space Chair" and he showed me his pearly whites :)

So the Reed had his one year check-up at 10:30 and also 4 shots!!! yuck!
so here are the stats on him: 22.55lbs and 29 3/4 in long!!!!

My Baby's not a baby anymore!!!!!!

2008-06-08T19:49:00.001-07:00

So Reed had his 1st Birthday on June 5th~!~!~! I had to work that day,and he had been kinda sick all day, so we didn't really make that big of a deal of it :(Oh well I don't think they remember very much of that stuff at this age anyways?!?!?! But I took some pictures today, he was lookin' so cute in his little outfit so I had to and I'll call them his 1 year pix!!! Enjoy!! :)

The outside of our house !!!

2008-05-30T18:15:00.000-07:00

Ok so you can kinda see how it was before,
it was ALL peeling paint like the far side there
when we bought it, then we started to side it
two summers ago and we are finally getting to
paint it!!!!!

And a little after, the garage on the side
there will soon be tore off and our new
addition will go in its place!!! Hopefully
next summer or so :)

My boy's helping out on Sun.

a little more of the front

All done with the front!!!!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE it :)

The Boy's new room :)

2008-05-30T17:43:00.001-07:00

A good shot of one of the walls in the
Boy's NEW room!!!

A shot of the new paint job and also
Reed's first night in his new big- boy
bed :)

Another shot of the walls

The built-in dresser that Nate made
for the boy's!!! I LOVE IT :)

Gavin Sleeping in his new bed :)

It has been a long but not too long of a project, but I'm glad to say that all we have left to do is strip and stain the trim and that room will be TOTALLY done!!
something that doesn't get said alot in our house.....seems that we start little projects and then the weather gets nice outside and there is something else that needs to be done or whatever it is :( so I am really stoked about this!!! and Reed has not climbed out of his bed one time yet!! and Gavin is sleeping in his bed more than our bed now, so that is awesome too! for about the last year or so he has gotten like a little separation anxiety or something he doesn't really like to be alone anytime ?!?! oh well I better take when I can get it right now, I'm sure that will change before I know it !!! It would just be nice if it wasn't at 3:00 am!!! oh well that's what we signed up for with this parenting thing right?!

Spring time fun!!!!!!!

2008-05-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

Well I have alot of updating to do!
We are so glad that it is getting nice outside! we have been waiting for this all winter!

Well Reed has been walking now for about 3 1/2 weeks now and he loves it :)
It is so cute to watch them get this independance.

Gavin is growing so fast also, I think he is getting so tall, I hope he isint having his growth spert now like I did or he's doomed :)

ok so this day we were enjoying the awesome
weather outside and Gavin had to pick me his
favorite flowers Dandelions! I noticed that I needed
to pick out the dead stuff out of my Flower pots outside
and I said to Gavin "we should go get new flowers to put
in my flower beds?!" and Gavin said to me " Mommy you don't
need to buy flowers we have ones that grow all by themselves"!!!!
oh my gosh he was talking about Dandelions :) I about died!!!

This looked like it spelled disaster!!

Gavin and Jaedin having a play date,
They are such good buddies :)

Reed's 1st haircut :)

2008-05-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

Well I gave Reed his 1st haircut lastnight after I was done with my clients, not that the sides and back were long (because we didnt even touch them!!) but the back was terrible, a perfect MULLET!!! yuck! and when he got mad or really tired he would just pull on it and it was really bad, so we buzzed it off and he looks so grown up now, he will be 1 year old in a little less than 2 weeks!!! I cant even believe it!!! a year old already!!! it goes so fast :)

Reed Before his 1st haircut !!

Ok, so he didnt like it at first, but then
he was fine :)

SOOOO cute!!!

All done!!! and SO much better :)

2008-05-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

My Brother

This is what happens when
a rock meets your eye!! Ouch!

Cheese!!!! :)

This is how the summer will go,
a baseball bat in one hand
and whatever else in the other!!!!

Gavin checking out some tunes!!! :)

The dresser coming together!!!!

Progress!!!

2008-05-05T08:41:00.001-07:00

Well here I am again........Longer than I expected it to be again but oh well!!
Ok so we have been really busy again (or wait, I don't think it ever stopped being busy!! :) ) we are ready to fix the sheet rock in Gavin's room then we can paint!!! yay!!!! we've had lots of baseball already too, not enough for me though!! I could just sit and watch all day every day!!! I love it :)
we went up to St. Cloud to watch my brother Noah and his team yesterday, they were in the playoffs, they lost both games and are done for the season,but it was still a very fun day!!!
It was Nate's 27th birthday on the 26th of April, we didn't do a whole lot, we gave him his present on Fri. night so he could use it on Sat. morning when we went down to volunteer in Winona with our Church, it like the 7th time that we have gone as a Church!!! It has been very rewarding and such a blessing to be able to help those that were devastated by the flooding a year ago this last Aug.!!
there is still SOOOOOO much work to be done down there I cant even imagine what it would be like to go through what they have and are going through!!!

It is our 7th Anniversary today!!!! 7 years!!!! I cant even believe it! it really seems like just last week :) (not yesterday, but maybe last week!!) it has gone very fast none the less, and it's really been a fun ride, literally! lots of ups and downs, but more ups than downs I would say!!! I love him more now I would say than I did when I married him :) if that's possible!!!

well I am going to post some pictures tonight when I get back from my running clinic that I'm taking ( it is soooooo fun)!!!

Spring is here!!!!!!!

2008-04-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

My Boy's

What? I'm Working!

Oh no!!!! You weren't
supposed to see me!!

My Master Planner!!!!

Gavin, ready for spring Ball !!!

So here I am again, it's been a long time since I have updated! So here we go:
So the beginning of March my Grandma Olson had a massive stroke and passed away (as you can read in earlier posts) then we got through all that and then had Easter with Nate's grandma the Sat. before Easter, the next day there was and outbreak of the flu at her nursing home and she never really recovered form it, so almost 1 month to the day of my grandmas passing, she passed away also.
So I am done going to funerals for a while I hope!!!
On a happier note, we started building a built-in dresser in the boys' room probably the middle of Feb.so after all of our busy march and April I think we are getting ready to wrap that project up!!!! I hope so, we have A LOT of outside projects to start as soon as the weather starts to stay nice for a bit!!!!
The boys are getting so big, Gavin can open the screen door at great grandmas now all by himself! he thought that was pretty cool!
Reed took 3 steps on his own yesterday :) it is so cute to see them gain there Independence :)
I am heading into the Prom and Wedding season starting tomorrow!!! yikes!
it is always a busy time of year! and this is proving to be no different.
Nate is also keeping very busy at work and at home! It's good, it keeps him out of trouble :)
Well it's late and I need to get my rest.......busy day tomorrow!

Family Easter picture

2008-03-27T08:34:00.001-07:00

Gavin, always looking off when he's not supposed to :)

oh well turned out pretty good I guess.

Watching "Pixars Short stories" that

Gavin got for Easter. It must have

been good :)

Too Cute :)

Moving Grandma (Nate's)

2008-03-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

So today we got up early and got everyone ready and got in the van for a 3 hour drive to Nate's Grandmas in Lamberton, MN, she has been living in this assisted living apt. there for a while now and has moved into the nursing home attached to it, so we headed down there to help move her things out of the apt and to go through things that she wanted her Grand kids to have (all 3 of them!!!) All in all it was great day, so of course there were many photo opps!
So here are a few!!!

The Grand and Great-Grand kids
front row: Grandma Bruns and Reed Sommer
back row: Aaron Kopel, Laura Whalen, Nate & Gavin Sommer

Reed getting all boxed up
Laura was going to take
him home with her (She
would have called me by
2am to come get him :) )

Gavin with some of his
treasures for Great Gram,
some of her "Transformer"
sewing scissors :) too funny!

There are so many cool farms and
buildings down there, so I decided
to snap a few.

This sun shot I couldn't
resist, it had been cloudy
and snowy ALL day long
so this was very welcoming!

Some random pictures from today :)

2008-03-21T23:01:00.000-07:00

Just a few shots from our day.....I had to go out with the boy's this afternoon so I thought I would make the best of it and take some pictures (see I'm not an outdoor snow lovin' kinda girl!!!) :)

Long Lost Pictures!!!!

2008-03-20T17:09:00.000-07:00

Ok...so this story that I have to tell you had pictures to go with it but I lost them somehow (miss placed them on one of my memory cards:) ) and last night I found them on one of my memory cards and I was STOKED!!!!!
Ok so here is the story, I bought a new treadmill right after the 1st of the year and my brother Noah came over to help us lug the big honkin' thing to the up-stairs of our garage and then we were setting it up and I had the boy's down there with us and it was kinda getting late and Reed was getting PRETTY crabby! and then I noticed that he had stopped squawkin' so I turned to check on him and this is what I found ( I about DIED I was laughing SO hard!!!!) :
I guess it's the true definition of "putting a cork in it"!!!

So here Gavin had given Reed what he thought was a "Nuky" but it was a Champagne cork that we must have overlooked from new years! oh my gosh I still about die when I see this!!!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! When I asked him what he was doing he said that Reed was crying so he gave him his "NUKY"!!!! sweet innocence!!!!! Reed would not stop sucking on it either! I tried to pull it out but he was not having it, funny thing is though that he didn't take a nuk very much at all before or after that!!! I guess he only likes the "Special" ones!!! :)

Lennon-wanna-be :)

WOW Who's kid is this anyways?????? It's all Nate! :)

Grandma's Funeral

2008-03-08T18:10:00.000-08:00

So I write with a heavy heart right now, I think it is all starting to set in:
No more Christmas, Easter, coming to christmas programs or vbs programs (which she was SOOOO good at doing), no more coming to baptisims,Weddings ect.......... It is never easy to say good bye to someone you love! but I know we will see her again soon! and that makes it kinda easier (Kinda!).
But I thought I would let you know about the funeral and such: Wake (Reviewal) Mon. 4:00-8:00 at Bayview Funeral home in Albert Lea, Mn, Funeral Tues. 11:00am at Centeral Freeborn Lutheran in Albert Lea, MN.
Thank you all again for all the prayers and support in this hard time, you dont know how much it means to my family!!! JAMIE

Final Goodbye!

2008-03-07T06:32:00.000-08:00

So my Grandma passed away this morning at about 5:30, and she went in peace! and with almost ALL of her family right by her side! As sad as this all is it has really been very nice to have this time with family and friends that we dont see very often and even ones that we do!!! it has really brought us together and Grandma would be proud of that!!!We thank you for all your prayers and support in this hard time and I would ask you to continue to pray for us but especially my Mom and her family, this has been very hard on her and them! I will keep posted about Wake and Funeral times for anyone that would like to know! again Thank you for everything and God bless! JAMIE
P.S. : her husbands name is Don and is also struggling very much so uphold him also! Thanks

Please Pray!

2008-03-05T06:27:00.000-08:00

So I have some sad news: On Mon. night at about 10:00pm my Grandma Olson had a massive Stroke and is now in like a coma of sorts, she is non responsive and has a major bleed in her brain, I went down to Albert Lea with my brother Nate at about 1:15am on Tues. morning and was there all day yesterday till about 10:00pm, nothing really changed yesterday, the Doctor came in and showed an image from the CT scan and the bleed has taken over her whole brain now and she has no reflexes, so now it's just a waiting game for her body to give out.
It is just so unexpected and this is so hard, she would be 72 this year and just had a physical on Thurs. and was told she is a picture of health!
I would really appreciate prayer's for my Mom Joan, she is not taking this very well and is very emotional (as is to be expected!) right now, and also for the whole family: there are 2 of them as my Grandma was re-married after my Grandpa died, so that everything would go smoothly after this is over as far as the "STUFF" (you know how that goes).
Well I know yesterday morning her pulse was not strong at all and hardly there in her feet and she was very cold and last night when I left she was running a low-grade temp. and had a VERY strong pulse in her feet again (?) so that was very promising for my Mom but the doctors didn't really think anything of it! I just think that you (as a person going through something like this) just take everything as positive and don't like hearing anything negative! the low-grade temp is because of the large amount of blood in the brain, it's putting alot of pressure there and the body does not know what to do about it so that's how it deals with it. Kind of like spilling water on a circuit board, is kinda how it was explained to us.
So that's all I know right now, I haven't heard from my Mom this morning, but will update when there is some change. Thank you for all you prayers and please keep them coming! JAMIE

New Project!

2008-03-03T17:02:00.000-08:00

Soooo........We have started our small last-of-winter project, we are taking out a wall in the boy's room and making a built in dresser like we have in ours, so Nate & Gavin and Micah and Aaron are up stairs working on that right now and I hear Gavin ask Nate " Daddy, can we just tear the whole house down?" Nate : "What ? Why? " Gavin : " Then we can just live in the GARAGE!!!"
I about lost it !!! WOW 3 year olds just about kill me!!! :)

Uncle Micah Helping out!!

And so it begins!!

Progress

Uncle Aaron and Gavin Havin' at it!

Oh It's ok Reed!!! It will all be better soon :)

Like Father, Like Son!!!

Oh Poor Corner Bead :(

There that's better Reed!!!!

"Foreman"

My Boy's (Oh Boy!!!!)

2008-03-01T19:12:00.000-08:00

Well here are a couple of small video's that I did, one the other day and the darker one just tonight, Reed's new favorite thing is copying what you do, so Gavin was screaming at him and Reed was copying him, It was sooooo funny (but you might want to have your sound turned down a little!) He was just going crazy! Of course I would to if someone was screaming at me! I wonder if Baby's really think things like that are funny if they are laughing at them or do they not know any better? Hmmmm...............oh so we are changing it up at our house a little, Gavin and Nate & I are trading rooms :( I guess that's what happens when you have more than 1 kid and only 2 bedrooms, It's either that or all of us in one bed!!! YIKES it's only a full!! we don't want to set up the big crib for Reed now and I don't think he is quite ready for the big bed with Gavin so we will put the toddler bed in our old room and Gavin's full bed in there also and they will still have plenty of room to play and such in there! I guess Nate & I only use our room to sleep now, so as long as our bed fits then we will be fine till the addition! the house addition that is! :) But that means Painting and finishing small but tedious jobs in both rooms now (sometimes we all need a swift kick in the pants to get things done!!!) so it should be a nice and busy rest of the winter for us!.................................all for now :) JAMIE

My (Youngest) BIG boy!!!

2008-02-29T09:23:00.001-08:00

So I had a little photo session with Reed the other day and thought I would put some on here! I just cant help it, I think he is just too darn cute!!!! :)

Patty-Cake Patty-Cake Baker's man :)

2008-02-21T09:07:00.000-08:00

So Reed started doing this when he got up the day before yesterday and I finally got it on a little video yesterday morning, it's not very good but it will do, I will try again later maybe! The first responders were going by when I started the video so he is more interested in the siren then patty-cake but then he gets into it! it is just too cute! he really gets into it some times too and then I think he gets going so fast that he hurts his hands, he will just stop quick and just look at his hands like " wow that really hurts!" too funny!!! I also got on this video him doing his Bye-Bye wave, he wont do it all the time but it is also very cute I think! but I'm kinda partial :)

Our Valentines Day!!!

2008-02-15T15:59:00.000-08:00

So an update on our little get-away :) We had a wonderful time together!
We left at about 6:00 on Wen. night and got down there at about 9:00 and got ourselfs checked in and we just turned on the fireplace and relaxed (it took us awhile to get used to no boy's running around!) Then we went and sat in the Jacuzzi tub (we both fit in it!!) Then we hit the hay :)

Our timeshare in the Dells, Its so fun to come here.

Then at about 8:00 the next morning I noticed that Nate was getting up, I thought that he was just going to the bathroom, but he went down stairs and about 1/2 hour later came upstairs with this:

It was sooooooo nummy and I could not believe that he was able to sneek ALL the ingredients along without me noticing. He is the best!
Then we popped "Step It Up" into the DVD player and chilled with eachother.
Then we went to an owner update ( they do these to try to sell you more points to vacation with) But by doing this they gave us a $50.00 visa gift card and a $40.00 Wal-mart gift card! So not to bad for an hour of listening! Then Nate told me that he had dinner reservations at this place:

It was very good, I had Chicken Parmesean and a Key Lime Martini! and Nate had Salmon and a beer! Yummy :)

Then after we got back to the resort we decided to go to the hot tub which was outside (very cool!) and we were the ONLY ones there!

They got about 12-13 inches of snow on Valentines Day down there which made it kinda yucky to drive but very pretty to watch!

WOW I think winter is getting to both of us! :) We are really out of our minds!!

So then that night we watched Survivor and "Smokin Aces" and sat in the jacuzzi tub, then called it a night! In the morning Nate made breakfast again and we checked out and headed home....We both hated to see it end but we were anxious to see the Boy's also! I have the best Husband in the WORLD!!! and I love him very much............................JAMIE

2008-02-13T06:20:00.000-08:00

Sooooo...........Nate is taking me away for Valentines Day! and I found out where! Because someone called to confirm reservations on Sun. night and asked for me! He is taking me to our timeshare in the Dells: Christmas Mountain !!! again NO KIDS!!!!! We are going tonight after he gets home from work and we will be home Fri. sometime!!! It will be so nice to get away for a couple nights :)
Keep you posted (well the G-Rated version!! :) )
Happy Valentines Day :)
JAMIE

a Little update!

2008-02-08T13:46:00.001-08:00

Well looks like Feb. is shaping up to be just as busy as Jan. was !!! I dont even remember the last time we didnt have anything going on on the weekend or during the week!!
Well Reed is now pulling himself up on anything he can and also walking around anything he can when he is up!!! He will definitely be walking around by himself by this time next month I would guess!!! good grief dont they just stay kids anymore!! he just turned 8mo for pete's sake!
Gavin just got back from a week with my Mom and some of the kids, they went down to the Dells on Mon. and just got back today! so it was very quiet at our house for a while till Reed realized that Gavin was not here and then he had just been a bear till Gavin got back today, then you could just see his whole mood change! he was very excited to see his big bro!
This last Sat.was my birthday and Nate gave me tickets to go see Matchbox Twenty this last Mon. night and it was AWSOME!! thank you and I love you !!!
(Nate that is :) ) Mutemath and Alanis Morissette opened for them and they were also very good, Mutemath was a very entertaining band to watch, throwing stuff and breaking stuff , you know all the stuff you only see on TV....well they did! :) it was a blast!
Tomorrow we have my cousin Teri's wedding open house, and it's supposed to be FREEZING again (I am so ready for winter to be over!!!!!).
Well just thought I would give a little update, talk to you later! JAMIE

2008-02-03T16:18:00.000-08:00

Well Jan. was full of many things to keep us busy, we had Nate's work Christmas party on the 5th, we went to the Holiday Inn in Owatonna and they have a big water park that the boy's just loved :) and my Mom & Dad left for Hawaii that day also so we had Ruthie and Micah with us also for that weekend and also that next week, which Gavin just loved, after they got back and the kids went home Gavin kept asking if someone could stay overnight every night!! I think he got pretty used to having some older kids here!

During that week we had our nephew (and Godson) Jaedin over for a sleepover!
that was also fun, him and Gavin are only 8mo. apart and they are very good buddies!

Gavin and Jaedin hangin out watching
movie in Gavin's room.

"CHEESE" Auntie and Mommy!!

Reed just chillin in his jump-a-roo :)

we also went Ruthie's
basketball tournament
in Faribault that weekend

Gavin keeping close tabs on
Ruthie during the Game.
We also took Gavin,Micah,
Aaron to the Chipmunk's movie
in Lakeville as a reward for Gavin
using the potty :) (hey...whatever works!)

Christine TORTURING!!
Gavin

Yeah......that's Gavin's new
thing to do ? dont quite now
what that's about.

Gavin trying his hand at being a big
brother, and doing a good job at it.

yes Gavin, Water comes out of those!!

Reed is continuing to grow SO fast, he now has 5 teeth and working on number 6, pulled himself up in his crib and is also crawling!!! WOW it so seems like it goes faster the second time around, it is so funny to watch him and Gavin I think they will be good buddies as soon as Reed can really get around ! I would not be suprised if he is up and walking by 9mo. he really does not like to be on the floor, he would rather be standing up and looking at what's going on!!

Gavin is also doing good, the whole potty training thing is going awsome! he is in underwear all day now and in a pull-up only at night and wakes up dry about 4 out of 7 day's of the week I would bet!!! HALLELUJAH!!! I thought that it would never end (REALLY!!!) but I am so proud of him!!
I think he is kinda excited about maybe going to school this fall.....can you believe that my first born going to school already! well pre-school but still school! we have not decided if we are going to send him or not but at least he is talking about it now! before anytime I would say anything about school he would just start crying!! it was kinda funny :)

Well it was my birthday yesterday and Nate and I went with our church down to the Winona area to help some more with the flood victim's, I think that is the 4th time that we have had a group go down and everytime I am amazed at how much more there is to do! it is so.......I dont know what the word is I'm looking for but it would'nt be good, anyway's Nate gave me my birthday gift on our way, it is tickets to the Matchbox Twenty concert :) it's tomorrow night and I am sooooooo excited!!!!! I will let you know how it goes!
Then he has Valentines Day plans that I dont know anything about except that he has taken off early on the 13th and taken the 14th and the 15th off and I dont get to know anything till the 13th I guess!!! :) I'm also excited about that,will keep you posted as to what that involves:)

Well that's all for now will post again soon! take care and goodnight!
Jamie

2008-01-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

Just a few more Christmas pictures I thought I would share, there are more,but all in due time!!

Reed SO excited about his presents :)

"SO BIG"

My little Luke Skywalker!!!

Fighting the evil Darth Vader :)

2007-12-28T09:49:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas went very good, not to busy or hectic and that was nice.
We spread out the stops over the weekend and that seemed to work good!
We did end up skipping the Bruns side get together (Nate's Mom's side) because it was in Mound on Christmas Eve. and that is just too much to cram into one day!! I am hoping to get it set up so we can just have it every year on like the Sun. before Christmas and just have it the same every year then there will be no question about when we are getting together :) (we'll see how that goes!!!) I'm kinda glad we didn't go though because Doug and Eileen (Nate's Mom & Dad) got the flu the next day!!! YUCK.....And we have already had that here and we don't want to again!!!! I don't know if they got it from there or somewhere else but that's OK I didn't care to find out!!!
Anyways, The boy's had a good time this Christmas, Gavin really got into it again and also kinda embraced the whole Santa thing on his own for the first time (something we have not ever encouraged) it was really cute, so we will see how many years this lasts :) He was being really kinda naughty on I think Christmas Eve. so I told him I was going to call Santa and tell him to come get his presents and he looked at me with all seriousness and said "How are you going to call the North Pole" HaHaHa.....That kid never ceases to amaze me!
Reed Really got into his 1st Christmas, The whole Wrapping paper thing was very entertaining to him :)
Nate and I survived another Shopping Season that I think both of us are glad is over!!! And we are doing well.
Maybe looking at taking a week off in Jan. and going on a family trip!!! We will see how that pans out !!!
Well that's about all for now....I'll post again soon!!!(maybe New Year's!)
Jamie :)

At Grandma & Grandpa Sommer's
the boy's made Ice Cream, Grandma
wanted to try something that they
used to do when Nate was little.

Getting everything ready to go

Gavin putting the salt in
the churn bucket

Gavin helping put the ice
into the churn bucket

The Ice Cream after they
are done

2007-12-20T09:28:00.000-08:00

Well I have Got our Christmas Picture's done and most of them Mailed out Already! That's pretty good because I have tried to get them out for about 4-5 years now! :) so I guess better late than never Right?
well everyone is pretty good......Reed is now sitting up on his own and pushing up on his knees and rocking back and forth, So I don't think it will be long before he is MOBILE!!!! Yikes He has also put on all the weight that he lost when he was sick, almost 21/2 Lbs. so that is good too.
Gavin is doing very good at potty training, he is consistently pooping in the toilet (Finally)!! so that is a huge blessing! it's kinda been a long haul!!!! He Pooped 3 times in one day Last Sat. so Nate & I took him to a Movie in the Theater,we went and saw "BEE MOVIE" and it was fun to see what he thought!
when it got dark before the movie started he goes"oh no..it's really dark in here"
it was so funny:)

Reed 6Mo.Christmas Picture

Gavin 31/2 Year Christmas Picture

My big Boy's "Merry Christmas"

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year if I don't get back on here before! Love The Sommer's

2007-12-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

Well we have had the flu at our house now since Thurs. night of last week! I have never had to deal with the flu like this in my life!!!! On Thurs. night we had "Light up the town in Wanamingo" (Christmas in Wanamingo)
and the boy's seemed fine then my sister and I went to the town talent show and when we got back I guess both of the boy's had been puking since I left! poor Nate :( It proceeded to all night long tag-team puking every 5 min. Gavin would puke then I would pass the bowl to Nate because Reed would be puking!!! ALL NIGHT LONG!!!! so now it is Tues. and I think we aer getting to the end of this (I hope!) I had it yesterday and I'm still a little shaky but I think I will be able to go to work today!!
Well just thought I would lat you know how crappy it has been around here!!! :)
Bye for now: JAMIE

2007-12-01T17:06:00.000-08:00

WOW I cant believe it's December already!
That time has gone so fast!
I've decided that's what happens when you have TWO kids instead of just one, the time does seem to go alot faster! Reed is 6 months old now and getting to be so BIG......2 teeth and about 18lbs already..Rolling over and pushing himself up onto his knees :) Gavin is 31/2 and is also getting so BIG.....OK well maybe tall but that's about all :) he is holding steady at about 32lbs. We are in the process of potty training :( WOW if there was one thing I could send them away for it would be this...NOT FUN!!!!!!! and if one more person tells me that "BOY'S ARE HARDER TO TRAIN THAN GIRL'S" I just might go CRAZY!!!!He gets the Peeing thing down pretty good, it's just the pooping thing that's not so good! but this too shall pass!
(no pun intended:) )
Well we FINALLY have the garage pretty much done...I think that project took way longer than we both thought it would, But it sure is Nice to have! We could pretty much live in it I think!
Well I have to get off to work now so I'll try to post again soon (although I don't know if anyone besides Bekki reads this but oh well - for you Bekki! )
Bye for now! JAMIE

Gavin and Nate on the AWESOME
Teeter-Totter that Nate made for Gavin
as a surprise while the boy's and I were
down in the Dells with my Family!!!
Gavin just Loved it!!!!

My big Boy's :)

Auntie Lindsey's deer she got by 7:00
Opener Morning! And Gavin checking
it out!

Gavin didn't quite know what to think
of this dead animal, but he was very....
Curious!

2007-08-28T21:02:00.000-07:00

WOW Aug. is almost over already! I don't have any idea where it went, we have had a busy time of course......we have now officially gotten our final inspection on our Garage!!!! YEAH!!!
We also had the 1st annual Grove Family Reunion on the 18th
(direct descendants of Arvin & Elaine) I think there were only 14 that didn't come! Total of 97 there!! Big Family :)

Grandma Grove with her 3 youngest Great-Grand kids
Knute (standing) Brady(Left) and Reed(Right)

All of us in attendance!

family Photo time! :)

"Look Mommy, I got you a flower! "

Just the Grove Kids! all 15 of us.

Then on the 19th we had Baptism for Reed with more family spending that special day with us (Thank you all for coming!)

Nate,Jamie,Reed and 2 of his Sponsors
Maddie Anfinson and Ruthie Grove

His other 2 sponsors, Jerrod and Lindsey Johnson

My new little Big Man :)

I am also back to work now ! :( oh well all good thing must come to an end!
No its good to be back and to be busy! I guess that people missed me, so that's good .

2007-07-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

2007-07-27T09:26:00.000-07:00

So......Summer is flying by! We have had a non-stop one! to say the least:)
With the Family,the Garage, Baseball (my brother) there doesn't seem to be enough time in the day!
Reed is growing like a weed!he is just about 8 weeks now and I just weighed him and he is 13lbs. now!!!!! WOW! So I don't think he is starving! :)
Gavin is also growing so fast! He is 3 years old now (going on 20 he thinks!)
he finally broke the 30lb. plane!!! HOORAY!!!! 30 and 1/2lbs. Good job Gavin:)
Nate and I are also growing but I guess it's not as cute for us! :)Hehehe

Gavin is such a Proud Big Brother! it is so cute and he is usually a good helper also, which has been very nice to have!

We just had our final electrical inspection for our garage this morning, and passed !! YES!! We will be painting in the down stairs tonight (the upstairs is pretty much done!) I am so excited ! That means we can start moving stuff into the garage from the old one this weekend! and then we can start tearing down the old garage so we can paint our house!! its going to be like a domino effect now, it seems like everything has been hinging on the garage getting done! and it seem like it has taken FOREVER!!! a good lesson in Patience (for me!)

2007-06-26T14:04:00.000-07:00

Well our Summer has been very busy to say the least!
with Baseball Games, remodeling, the Garage (building and finishing) , the new addition to our Family....Reed and keeping up with Gavin who never STOP'S !!!
I'm glad i'm on Maturnity leave till the middle of Aug. :)
Reed is kinda starting to be a little Colicky now starting at about 10:00 and lasting till about 12:00-1:00-2:00 :( but I can say that you get pretty resourceful in times like that :) I find that his lungs will be very developed!!!!

My brother Noah is continuing with the baseball thing this summer, playing Legion ball and also signing with the Cannon Bears an amature baseball team that will help him in his continuing desire to learn and better himself in his love for baseball !!! it has kept us busy watching we dont really know what to do if there is no game (which has only happened a couple of times!) we just look at eachother like "now what?" :)

well enough for now I have a crying baby on my hands :) a mommy's job is never done!!!!! Jamie

2007-06-23T09:27:00.000-07:00

Things have been going better.....at first he had his day's and night's mixed up,
he wanted to sleep all day and be up pretty much all night :(
but we have been working on that and he is starting to be up more during the day and he gets up 1 time at about 2:30-3:00 in the morning to eat and then goes back to sleep :) so we are getting there!

2007-06-21T15:35:00.000-07:00

Reed Nathanael Sommer~

Born June 5th at 1:11 pm

weighing 8lbs 8.7oz

20 inches long

Welcomed home by his big Brother Gavin who Loves him very very much :)