Somewhere over the rainbow...

Weekend at Bud and Betty's about a month ago...after a much needed rain came the most lovely and sustained rainbow I've seen. The origin of the rainbow seemed to be coming from the middle of Wood Lake. A sight to behold!

Fish

Anders Cole passed level 2--emerging from depths--touching bottom--front crawl (Phelps-like)

Anders and Kate eagerly awaiting the go-ahead from teachers to jump into the pool

Kate braving up to go under...

She's officially a fish!

Clorine in the eyes--ouch!

Braving up to try a few "scoops"

Anders and Kate just finished up another season of swimming lessons. Anders passed level 2 and Kate will be moving on to "Bubbles" next summer.
This is our last year of parent-child swimming lessons, which is kind of sad as the weather during week 2 was almost heaven like--but we feel Kate is ready to move on and swim on her own.

Anders is really strong on all of his strokes and had no problems jumping or sliding into the deep end. There is the problem with paying attention to the teacher while waiting, but he improved very much in that area as well.

Race day...

Kim waiting at the starting line
Adam, Kim and Kyle post race

Kim kicking it in towards the finish

Kyle closely trailing Adam

Adam in the red shorts sprinting to the finish

Anders and Ryan

Very spirited boys...

Grandma's weekend was a blast! I thankfully didn't get any photos of myself during the weekend, but here are a few of the 5K--

Adam was 1st in the 14 year old division and Kyle Jr. was 3rd. They both finished in the top 40 overall of 1,500 runners. I taught them everything I know :)

Kim ran an amazing race while Anders, Ryan, Katie, Liana, Kyle Sr., Brad and myself cheering on.

Locks of Love!

If there is one thing I could switch with my son, it would be his glorious mane of hair! Anders had his summer cooldown courtesy of Brad this past Sunday. I just wish we could grow it out long enough to share with a person in need!

Wacky photos of Katie in the day...

I've written about Katie's outstanding caregiver, Sheri before. She always does an amazing job documenting happenings in the home. Here are some photos from Ian's 3rd Birthday party...

Having a snack at the breakfast bar--Katie just loves it when she has an opportunity to eat at the breakfast bar.
Ian sporting the goggles that Katie picked out as his birthday present.

New perspective. Katie, Maiya and Spencer seeing how silly the world looks upside down.

8

Hard to fathom...Anders has accomplished another milestone--age 8! We celebrated it in style with family and friends.

First party was with Grandma and Grandpa Olson/tacos/awesome cookie cake designed by the birthday boy on May 2nd.

Second party was with friends at Pizza Hut in River Falls on May 7th--knight cake and games.

Third party at Pizza Ranch in New Prague after my half marathon on May 9th--knight icecream cake and cousins/aunts/uncles and Grandma B and Betty/Grandpa B and Bud.

Thanks so much to all who celebrated and here are a few photos of the occasions of celebration...

John, Reilly, Anders, Joseph and Rachel in action

Grandma Betty baked and Anders designed cookie/army cake

Anders at Pizza Hut in New Prague with melting icecream cake

Siri, Liana, Kate, Evan, Anders, Ryan, Kyle, Adam, Trenton and Thomas celebrating

Anders and his sweet teacher, Ms. Rasmussen

Imagination blooming...

Ian has been taking to giving Kate his blanket as a token of his love and affection. They are quite a couple. The other day we asked Kate if she had a boyfriend. Usually she replys that Jeff Wiggle is her boyfriend, but this time she said "Ian is my boyfriend and I just love him soooo much!"

Here is a photo documentation of some of their latest adventures...

Looking quite adept with new, matching legs

This was attached to the message with the photos, from Sheri.

The kids have another new made-up word for their vocabulary
"Munchkin"--which is a pile of blankets and pillows to jump in...that is
what they are doing right now, has nothing to do with the pictures, but if I
did not tell you, I'd forget... :)

I have always had a very active imagination and I am so pleased to see the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Recital photos

I swear that I didn't ask her to pose like this...I think Katie has had a few photos taken in her lifetime...this was pre-recital and the energy was oh so palpable.
Katie and her very good friend, Quinn


Free for all at the close of the recital...I'm seeing glimpses of future dancing times for Ms. Beata

Sweet Hope...isn't she just a baby darlin'?

Katie and her very good friend Maiya trying to find their place in the melee of beautiful dancers.

• Pretty toes and butterfly wings...sticky sticky sticky sticky bubblegum...we are the dinosaurs...when I grow up.
  
• Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Olson, Uncle Bruce, Anders and Daddy for coming to Katie's recital held at Meyer Middle School on Monday, April 6th.
  
• Thank you also to Sheri for bringing Katie all dolled up and for saving us some of the best seats in the house!

Preparing for the recital

Kathryn Grace is preparing for her second dance recital and the very best caregiver in the world, Mrs. Sheri Magnuson has prepared three young ladies for their afternoon naps by setting their hair in curlers...I will post photos of the dancers after "the dinosaurs march".

Katie, Maiya and Hope
with Ian peaking in the background

Katie in Dance Class

Thanks to Sheri for capturing this video of Katie preparing for her "PreDance" recital on April 6th...she's the little one with black clothes and white tap shoes.

Katie loves dance and never can wait until Monday for class. This will be the last class of the year, so I'm anticipating many questions about when the next class will happen throughout the spring/summer months. There will be a couple of mini dance camps, so hopefully that will quench the thirst for dance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcf8OIwgMc8&feature=email

MN Children's Museum

What fun to be had at the MN Children's Museum! Anders, Kate, Brad and I went on an adventure during spring break week and had an absolute blast. The kids painted their faces which was tons of fun--in the neighborhood section, Anders took his job as postal carrier very seriously while Katie opted for the rock star option for her career.

When we finished at the museum, we went to Red Balloon bookstore to shop and had an icecream at "The Grand Old Creamery" in St. Paul. Wonderful memories.