Zach's Haircut

Well, Zachy needed a haircut and we just hadn't found time to take him anywhere to get this done.

(No Great Clips in Redwood Falls.)

And since we have a very good clippers that we had used to give Willie (our late dog) a haircut about 6 times a year I thought it appropriate that I give it a try.

After all I was pretty good at trimming a dog for the last 8 years and I now have seen Zach get a haircut at the barbers several times.  It outta be a piece of cake.

To my surprise Zach was very much on-board with this idea.

So a hair clipping I go and I think I did do a pretty good job.

So I suggested to Marty that I do his haircut too... he hasn't quite jumped on that bandwagon yet!

Rest in Peace Dear Grandma... You're the BEST!

My Grandma Maas Summers passed away last week at the age of 91. The news was a blessing as she had been battling the late stages of Dementia/Alzheimer's Disease for a number of years.

None-the-less it is still startling to hear your Grandma is gone from this Earthly life we all know. Memories rush back and I have a realization of what a wonderful lady she really was. She lost her first husband (my Grandpa) before I was born, so to me it was always just "Grandma". No "Grandma and Grandpa". She did wonderful things for us Grandkids. We stayed overnight at her house many times. She took us on some wonderful outings. 

I am lucky to say all three of my kids have gotten to sit on her lap.

The first picture is Gracie, then Zach and the third picture is Jared with Great-Grandma.

And this below picture is how I remember her the most.

She is at the prime of Grandmotherhood in this picture which was taken in 1991.

Thanks for being such a WONDERFUL Grandma to me!!!

I will always love you and I am so happy you are now able to play bingo, dance, gamble, and play cards again!!!   Have fun with Grandpa, Don, and your 2 daughters whom it has been a long time since you have gotten to see. Make them an angle food cake. I bet they have missed it. 

I will miss you and always love you.

Your Granddaughter.

And here is the entire Maas Family at her funeral.

Mommy's Little Helper

My Gracie has become quite the Mother Hen.

She always is looking after Zach at preschool and she looks after Jared too.

The other day I was busy trying to get supper going and Jared was crying because he was hungry... so I pulled Gracie close to him, showed her what to do and let her feed Jared.

It was soo cute. She was sooo excited to help him.

Any wouldn't you know, she did a great job!!

Jared maybe had some food on his forehead and all over his cheek... but the majority of it was in his tummy and that is what counts.

Zach was the cheerleader in the event.

Gracie did a great job, and I think we will let her help out again.

Soo sweet, sleeping baby

So the joy of downloading the camera is sometimes some random pictures show up that I did not take. (Usually I am the picture taker)

When I was downloading the other day I came across this picture.

My dear husband must have thought this was worth capturing. I am glad he did.

This frequently happens. Jared and I... we are snuggle buddies on the chair with our pj's on.

In the beginning (first 5 months or so) we did this a lot over night too.

I would get up to nurse him on this chair and then a couple of hours later I would wake up and still be on the chair with Jared sleeping too. This was when he was getting up 2-3 times a night. When this picture was taken (at about 8 months old) he was still waking up about 1x a night,  but lately (8 1/2 months old) he has been giving me a full nights sleep a few times a week. I tell you that is really nice! But when he does wake up it is generally only once and generally I stay awake for the nursing session and then he goes back to his crib and I go back to my bed.

I continue to get a little frustrated when I have to get up, but I try to remember someday I won't be able to be his snuggle buddy, someday he will probably be bigger than me and I will have to beg just to get a hug, so for now I will try to treasure these moments and cherish the feeling of holding my sweet baby and having him fall asleep in my arms. Babies are so precious and they grow up so fast.

Mr. Jared on the go - 1st attempts at crawling

Mr. Jared is officially on the go.

8 1/2 months and starting to crawl with hands and knees. He first started with the Army low crawl last week and now today I would say he has the real crawl figured out.

Also at 8 1/2 months he is clapping his hands, sitting up, and has his top two front teeth peeking through. The bottom two teeth came when he was 3 months old. The two eye teeth on the top are almost out as well. I would also say seperation anxiety is settling in. When Marty or I leave the room we tend to hear a little cry come out of our little guy. We come back into the room and the cry goes away!

Jared

I really don't think this guy could get any cuter.

In these pictures he is about 8 months old and he is learning how to get up on his hands and knees.

Also on his hands and toes... Is he already doing the Army push-up? Mommy starts them young!

Not quite crawling yet, but certainly thinking about it.

Gosh I just love that smile.

Here we go with the push-up again.

And here is just a couple more. Gotta love this little guy.

Duluth Trip 2012

This is the 2nd annual Cornish/Malecek trip to Duluth. The adventure was a day longer this year (Thursday to Sunday) and a month later, in hopes that we would have warmer weather for some outdoor hiking. Last year we went at the end of March, this year it was the end of April.  Well, the weather did not cooperate quite like we wanted, but we adjusted and still had a great time. We highlight for the kids was staying at the Edgewater Resort and Water park in Duluth. We spent lots of time in the water. We also got to adventure to Gooseberry Falls and to Split Rock Light House. We did some hiking there. We also did some hiking along side Lake Superior on the walkway. As you see below it was COLD and it was WINDY.  We were not expecting that so we scrambled to find some hats and gloves for us all. Luckily I had thrown in the kid's hats. We used socks for awhile for mittens, then we did end up finding some gloves for Gracie and Zach. Marty and I found a few items to that I had not taken out of the vehicle yet.

There are a lot of pictures here... but I just couldn't decide which ones to post!

We start with the water park. I think these kids never run out of energy.

Notice the water shoes on the boy's feet above?  Zach and Joe played so hard that they were rubbing the skin of their toes and bleeding... so a trip to Target to get water shoes was needed.

Above we got Gracie and her Daddy on the Lazy River.

Below we have Joe showing us his moves.

And we have Zach running below.

Above we have Gracie going for another round and below Marty and Jared.

Gracie and Zach.

Shelly and Jesse.

Then on to some hiking. Below is the steps is at Split Rock State Park. Even after all the water park fun we had energy to walk down and back up all these steps.

My Zachy.

The Young Gang: Joe, Gracie, Zach, and Jesse.

Below we are having a picnic in the back end of our vehicle. 

It was so windy and cold out.

The best we could do for a Malecek Family photo

 (notice the socks on Jared's hands to keep him warm!)

Above we have the little troopers gang again and below is the entire gang (minus me... taking the photo).

My sleepy heads.

My sista and me!

Out to eat at Little Angie's (a Mexican restaurant).

My Sweetheart and I.

Joe beating up his Uncle Marty!

Throwing rocks in Lake Superior.

Our stroll along the boardwalk.

Can't forget about the Malt/Ice Cream shop... even in hats and mittens!

Ahhh, such fun we had. Looking forward to next year.

Playing Horse with Daddy

So every now and then Marty gets brave and lets the kids jump on his back and 'play horsey'.  The kids adore it. They love playing with Daddy. The problem is they don't want to stop and then it end in tears as Daddy refuses to continue and the kids continue to beg.

At any rate it is so much fun for Mommy to watch.

 (Mommy's can't be horsey's you know... it is just the rule).

Love those faces.