ZACH turns 13...My middle baby...

 Zach (formerly Zack) likes to spell his name with an h now.. Gotta get used to that as I always spelled his name with a k?  He is such a sweet, serving, loving boy. He TRULY is obedient, kind to his brothers even when they can be mean, he does as asked and always with a good attitude. He is smart, witty, funny, and looks just like his daddy. I am sooooo glad God gave me this boy.. He is special alright...But he did ask for red hair and tattoos for his birthday...A little rebellion perhaps, but I don't mind, it washes out in one wash...

Nick with his red hair and Zach with his mohawk. They looked cute, not rebellious...

Zach 13 today....

For Zach's special day, he got to choose what they would do andso they had some online battle..

Zach likes building things, I see an engineer maybe...???

Dad is going to help him build his robot...

He asked for a paddle for his birthday and wants to beat his brothers in number of hits.

 Not a good picture here, but the only one I could find.. We got him a bible with his name inscribed on it. That is what he asked for....

 Tattoo boys.

Nick showing his muscles and tats..

 Daddy helping them figure out how to build the robot..

Thanksgiving 2013 Flew by and Christmas is on its way...

 My mom and dad came out for a nice quiet dinner.

Papa and Josh just finishing up.. That is the look from Josh O.K. I am done eating, really a picture and really I want to go play some games..(XBOX probably!) But we did play board games first....

Mr. Compassionate....

A cedar waxwing had run into our window.. They are flying through this time of the year and every year we lose a lot of them to window incidents.. Well Nick picked this little guy up, put him in a box, put a warming pad which is under that tinfoil you see, fed him dried cranberries, banana and applesauce as these birds live off of fruit mostly. We syringe fed him water every hour.. He made it through the first night in the box. It was apparent his wing was hurt badly, but it was the weekend and no DNR, veterinary or anyone else was open..So, we tried to release him the next day. It didn't work, he couldn't fly.. At this point, mommy is getting concerned and really working on getting water in him.. We even downloaded chirping sounds on the computer for him to listen to and he perked up and whistled back to the chirpings. SO PRICELSS. Day two and we are still feeding him, but it is Sunday. No one is open. We try to let him go, but to no avail, he can't fly. Take him back in on the warmer and continue nursing him..Monday morning, calling the vet (almost) and Nick lets the bird out again and he flew..It was such a fun two days nursing that adorable cute little cedar waxwing and even more heartwarming to hear him respond to the sounds on the computer...

Halloween was anything but Normal this year.....Nic

Nick HATES spiders and so I was going to build a huge spider with glowing eyes and scare him or creep him out for Halloween, but he caught me and at first was perturbed but then got into it and asked if he could help me. I am proud of myself. I built this allllll by myself except for Chris cutting the pvc pipes, otherwise it was allll me and Nick.

It is coming along.. Need webs though...

The webs turned out reallllllly good and by morning, there was dew on them and it looked so realistic..

Don't like the scary look of a skeleton on my cutie, but this was our first year trick or treating and I am still not sure if I compromised, but we went with some friends in Bayport, MN...

 

 

OK.. Like I said, not sure if I compromised, but I knew because we live on 20 acres out of town, we would have NO ONE visiting us and I could get away with decorating scary for just my boys.. I have to admit though, Nick is only 10 and didn't really like the scary stuff, so I stick to what I thought. This is probably too much...I live to learn...

I made brain cupcakes, had body part, spiders and mice everywhere and scary music.. Actually the music was too gruesome for even Chris and I and we turned it off immediately and because Zach was a court gesture, we pretended we were eating dinner in an old mansion that had been abandoned during the middle ages...

lots of webs, mice etc.. FUN TO CLEAN UP  =(

My Court jester...gone alien..

He won the bet...J

Josh and a friend of ours, Gary Brown have been betting each other for years who could shoot the first crow.. They are extremely hard to shoot but Josh GOT ONE.... Sort of Yeah I think... Gross in a way and sort of cool. He is a good shot. Not sure what I think of it.. We have so many crows flying on these 20 acres that it is actually good target practice for him...

My Birthday Surprise....

My boys were so sweet.. Chris had gone to work and I ran Josh to school, and while I was away Zack and Nick hurried and found whatever they could in our Arts and Craft drawers and made a banner out of whatever they could find  and put colored shredds all over the house so I could have a birthday surprise. Not bad for a 10 and 12 year old boy.

They even put little strips of ribbon to make it festive...

They did say sorry about the duck tape, but it was all they could find, and we live out in the country and no neigbors or stores nearby so they improvised quite nicely.

Back to School (dungeon more like it) So they think....

Back to School donut morning. I used to make a cake, but they wanted donuts this year.. Fine with me...

Fourth of July Parade in Afton, MN 2013

Nick getting settled in for the Afton Parade.. They always get so much candy. freezy pops and all kinds of good things. We usually end up with the Bydlons and this year also the Leslies...If you can see in the background, Ben Bydlon is making huge, ginormous bubbles while waiting for the parade..

Daddy relaxing in the heat.. I was under a shade tree in a neighbors yard...

Handsome shmandsome man still.. Sitting next to Jman and Zach..

This is Dan's first day with his shaved head and FAKE mustache...

OK so it is downtown Afton.. Not a huge town but people EVERYWHERE for the parade, lining the streets, selling all kinds of vendor stuff and out of this tiny little patch of trees a fawn appears..It warms the heart of everyone.. Not sure if it lost it's mother or what but it was absolutely beautiful...