Playhouse

An early Christmas present has arrived for Gracie, Zach, and Jared.

This adorable Amish built playhouse came strolling down our driveway yesterday morning.

I have to say I think this is the cutest building ever.

It has been probably over two years that I have been looking at this playhouse.

You see on my monthly drive to Camp Ripley there is this shop near New London, MN called "3 Sisters."

They sell items built by the Amish community near by.

One of these items is the playhouse. Which again I think is the cutest building ever!

Generally when I am making my drive by this shop it is either in the wee hours of the morning or later in the evening on a Sunday. At both these times the shop is not opened. Numerous times I have gotten out to look at this adorable playhouse.   Let's just put it this way,  if the owners of the shop had a little toll box outside this playhouse and they charged admission to enter and take a look, they would have made some money from me!!  That is how many times I have stopped to look at this building.

But in all my times of stopping and admiring this beautiful creation, never did I make a call or actually try to contact the store to inquire about a possible purchase.

So what happened?  Well lets blame it on being pregnant in the worst summer ever.  I think I was in a moment of weakness and desperation being 8 1/2  months pregnant driving to Camp Ripley this last August for my last drill before baby was to be born. I see my beautiful building once again, AKA the cutest building ever.  The difference is this time I go home and look up the phone number and I make the call.  I believe I spoke to the owner of the shop who seemed on the phone like just as wonderful a person as this building.  I was on the phone and I was hooked and soon to be sunk. He said he has an agreement with the Amish folks in which they make the buildings and he sells them. The customer places the order, the Amish then do the construction with the color of roof you want and then the Amish do the delivery to the buyers home.  I couldn't say no and soon I was writing my check out for half the balance and placing it in the mail.

Two months later we have a playhouse complete with a loft.

Did I already say this is the cutest building ever?

The 'big' kids (that is what I have come to call Gracie and Zach) were at daycare yesterday so when I went to pick them up I told them there was a surprise waiting for them at home. I told Gracie is was a playhouse. She was all excited of course, but I really think she thought I meant a 'dollhouse' like in her bedroom.  When we got home the joy and excitement in their faces was a treasure. I made them pose for a picture before they took off running after getting out of the car.

And off they go as fast as those 4 legs could go.

And I have to say I am a resourceful lady, as I had recently found a yard sale and had made some cookware and shelving purchases for this playhouse. Seems an elderly lady had moved to the nursing home and her kids were trying to clean out their moms house and had everything imaginable from an elderly lady's kitchen for sale. So thirty bucks later I had the back end of my SUV jam packed with the furnishings for the playhouse.

 And the fun begins with the cutest building I have ever seen which is now sitting in my yard...
I am sooooo excited, I think just as much if not more excited than the kids.  If it hadn't been cold out and I hadn't had Jared to tend to I probably would have started to do some playing in the playhouse myself before the big kids got home.

Climbing the ladder....

Checking out the loft...

Playing with the dishes...

The fun has only begun.

Even little Jared got too join in.

Welcome to the new Malecek home.

P.S. I told Marty that this was his new home when he is in trouble with the wife. 

All he needs is a propane heater and maybe a blanket and he is all set.

Mankato 1/2 Marathon

October 22, 2011 marked the 2nd Annual Marathon event in Mankato.

This year my sister's Wendy and Shelly took on the crazy mission of training for the 1/2 marathon. This is the first time they have both run a race of this distance. My brother-in-law also trained and ran the race. He is a seasoned runner and has done this before.

The rest of us took on the mission of being the spectators and cheerleaders along the trail.

So we all make our signs, bundle up, and head out to find them!

Our first stop seeing Uncle Ted. Gracie and Zach don't understand why he ran by us so fast and didn't even stop for a little bit to talk!

And there they go, Wendy and Shelly are in this group!

More cheerleaders: The Daly family.

Here is Ted again.

And even little Jared came out. He cooperated really good!

Here are the novice runners:  Shelly and Wendy.

And here they go. They are about 1/2 way done.

The backside of them as they head for the finish line.

They were so determined they didn't even hear us yelling there names out!

And we have the finishers!!!!!

GOOD JOB ALL THREE OF YOU!!

SO PROUD OF YOU!

Great Grandparents

The weekend we were home to my parents for Zach's birthday we were able to visit all of the Great-Grandparents.

They hadn't met Jared yet so it was a delight to introduce them to yet another great-grand son and snap a few photos. I think it is so precious to be able to capture these moments. It is amazing that I have 3 living grandparents and they are able to meet my kids. 

Great-Grandma Lela Sohre above and Great-Grandpa Elmer Sohre below with baby Jared. 

 Great-Grandma Irma (Maas) Summers above with baby Jared.

Grandma Summers lives in the nursing home and maybe isn't in quite the health we would like her to be, but none-the-less she is very special to me and I wanted Jared to be able to meet her as well. 

I was able to prop Jared in her lap and Jared cooperated to get a couple good pictures. 

Tractor Ride with Papa Sohre

The weekend we were at Mom and Dad's for Zach's birthday we got to do all kinds of fun things.

It is harvesting season in MN, so that means combines, trucks, tractors, and manure hauling.

My Dad was hauling that lovely smelling stuff that weekend so Zach went over a ride in the tractor. Cousin Spenser was along too.

The '806' is the red tractor here which is used to pump out the manure from the barn pits.

Then they head over the big John Deere for the actual tractor ride. This tractor pulls the honey wagon (aka poop wagon).  Apparently this is a new wagon this year according to my Mom.  I guess they got a good deal on an upgrade or something!

So we have my Dad, cousin Spenser, and little Zach.

Here they go.

I remember riding with my Dad when I was little. He didn't have this big fancy tractor then. Now the tractors have an extra seat for the passenger.  I got a spot on the floor or on the arm rest.

Zach had lots of fun.  Hopefully we get a combine ride too before the harvesting is all done.

Zach turns 3!

October 1st my Zachy had his 3rd birthday. He is getting to be such a big boy.

His birthday was on a Saturday so we decided we would make a trip to the farming area of Good Thunder, MN (aka Grandma and Grandpa Sohre's house) and have all the Sohre cousins and Aunts and Uncles over to celebrate.

A few weeks ago Zach came up with he wanted a "Rocket Ship" for his birthday. Every time I asked that is the reply I got. So I try to figure out what he means by this and where he got the idea of a rocket ship.

The best I could do was that we have recently be watching the Toy Story movies, all 3 of them. And in the movie Buzz Lightyear is sort of a rocket ship. So I went with that.

Auntie Shelly got all on board with this and volunteered to design a ROCKET SHIP cupcake for Zach.

He is her Godson after all so, it seemed appropriate!

They turned out sooo cute!

And Zach was delighted and ready to dig in.

We did some Toy Story decorations...

And again the aftereffects of the Rocket Ship cupcakes.

For the most part the whole Sohre family was there and we even were able to WebCam Uncle Darrin from DC.  We have never done this... so we were all pretty darn excited to be able to see him and talk with him.

I think he got to talk to everyone at the gathering which was like 20 some people!

Apparently there was a 'girls only' table for supper!

Then on to opening some presents.

I think at the age of 3 is when they really start to get what a birthday and presents is really all about. Zach was so excited to open his presents and celebrate his birthday.

Since his only requests for weeks was a 'rocket ship' I did the best I could. I went with the Buzz Lightyear, which he really has enjoyed. And then I found Buzz in the ship above, which kinda looks like a rocket ship. The end result was Zach was happy and delighted to have play with the toys.

In Zach's 3rd year this is what he has accomplished:

• Can hold a crayon, marker, ect and use it (mostly scribbles).
• Sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
• Can say for the most part the table prayer and bedtime prayer.
• Hit a ball off the T-ball stand and use a baseball glove (kind-of)
• Count to 5 and sort-of say his ABC's (still needs some work)
• Learned his name and how to say and what letter it starts with, "Z".
• Talks in full sentences.
• Says please, thank-you, sorry, and your welcome (doesn't always use them, but knows what they mean and that he should use them!)
• He can feed himself and drinks from a cup all the time (no sippy cups).
• Completely Potty-trained (night-time too).
• Gave up his crib for a the bottom twin bed of bunk beds with his sister.
• Started Pre-school and Sunday School.
• Took a trip to Washington DC.
• Decided his favorite color is Blue.
• Plays very well with his big sister and also fights very well with her too.
• Learned to swim with arm-floaties on.
• Learned how to ride a tricycle at the beginning of the summer and by the end of the summer can ride a  bicycle with training wheels.
• Welcomed home a new baby brother and loves him dearly. So far has never tried to purposely hurt him. Only tries to help and love him.
• He loves to play with tractors, his train set, trucks, and his sister's dolly toys too. His favorite stuffed animal is Sharky.
• Loves to look at books and sleeps with them too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY!