This Early Winter STINKS!

I look out the window and see blowing snowing and icicles hanging from the neighbors house. It's Nov 17th.  Does this really have to be the case?  ERG!  It's going to be a lovely long winter.

Here are a few updates and pictures.

• Lauryn continues to enjoy school, more the social aspect.  We have conference tonight so we will see what they say!!  (Here is our guess- She is a social butterfly and has a big heart.  She loves to pretend play and read books.  She's off task when it comes to sitting down, journaling, and working on academic stuff.  She likes to tell the kids what to do, but is nice to everyone. She needs to work on listening and following directions.)
• Lauryn is very interested in numbers right now.  Points out any and every number and wants to know what every 3 digit number is she sees.  It took us quite a while to get into school the other day, as she wanted to know what every bus number was. "Mommy, what number is 6-8-7?  Mommy, what number is 7-5-4?  Mommy, mommy, mommy...."
• Ethan now has 8 teeth.  He's eating anything in sight.
• Ethan started the army crawl just this last weekend.  He's definitely into exploring.
• We had great trips this fall to two apple orchards and a pumpkin patch.  It is so fun to watch Lauryn teach Ethan about things.  She is a great second mom. 
• With the early arrival of marketing for Christmas, Lauryn is back on the FROZEN train, and wants everything that she sees in the adds for Christmas.  It's the first time we've done early Christmas shopping, with the fear that if we wait, all the FROZEN stuff will be gone!
• Lauryn finished up another round of swimming lessons and couldn't enjoy it more.  We are now on to gymnastics again. She loves running around, but will certainly never be a gymnast! 
• Ethan might be getting into basketball early - he's able to palm one of his toys pretty well.
• Lauryn and Ethan did a few events for Halloween.  Unfortunately, Lauryn wasn't feeling the best on Halloween night, but that is OK.  She had fun going to a few houses and handing out candy at the house.
• We carved some awesome jack-o-lantern's with the help of Grandpa and Grandma McMahan. 
• Mommy, Ethan, and Lauryn continue to enjoy their Tuesdays and Thursdays together.  We've had lots of play dates and trips to random places. 
• We had a great trip to see Grandma Sue in Brookings last weekend.  But could have done without the cold weather, wind, and snow storm.  Yuck!  Made for a not so great trip home, but we made it safely.
• Eric decided it would be a good idea to put his phone of the roof of the van while unloading our stuff at the hotel.  That does not equal a recipe for success, and thus, has a new phone. 

Pajama Day at our house!

Lauryn jumping off platform at swimming lessons.

Clever.

The sunflower patch at an orchard.

Yippie for pumpkin picking!

Think he can dribble yet? He can certainly drool on the ball!

The BIG FISH Lauryn caught at Fleet Farm.

Swinging!

Lauryn's leaf pile!

Halloween event at the Arboretum.

Bat girl and a monkey, sitting next to mindcraft and Pippi Longstocking.

8 month picture

The big pumpkin for carving!

Happy Halloween!

Ethan being a trooper as we did our fall lawn work!

Palming that ball!

Go Big. Go Blue. Go Jacks.

Lauryn says "Mommy, daddy, look at me!  I have a hat on my head!" Clever, Lauryn!

7 months!

Ethan is 7 months!  We need to weigh him, but we are sure he is over 20lbs.  He was 19.2 at his 6month visit, and nearly 28inches.  We'll have to measure and weigh him soon!

He has 4 teeth, with the other 2 sure to pop through any day.  He'll be eating a hamburger before we know it!  He's getting really good at rolling to where ever he wants to go, and you can tell he is understanding cause and effect.  It's good to have a big sister to help with this!  She just loves to play with him and his toys.

After church yesterday, we drove by a house that had 4 HUGE pumpkins on a trailer.  We stopped and talked with the guy and Lauryn took her picture with the pumpkins.  The one she is standing next to was 1,056 lbs.  The largest was over 1,200 lbs!! 

7 months!

HUH?!?

HUGE Pumpkins!

SKOAL Vikings!

Ethan was threatening the Vikings with a hammer...is this what helped them win?

Update

Since the last update, we've had quiet the fun times in the Gruis household!

• Ethan started getting his top 4 teeth. He is incredibly crabby and we are just waiting for the last two to break through and we should be back on the up and up.
• Lauryn lost her first tooth on September 4th.  Yep, she lost it... a combination of a loose tooth, biting on a hard piece of Artisan bread, and opening her vitamin box with her teeth... that all equals the unexpected tooth fairy!
• Lauryn got her first bee sting on September 4th, too.  Glad that is out of the way and that she did not have a reaction like her daddy.
• Ethan is getting rounder and rounder.  So much so that his sitting up skills have digressed!  He might just skip sitting up and go right to crawling to get rid of that tire around his belly.
• Ethan has started to eat lots and lots of foods.  Just wants to chew!  We've been trying bread, cheerios, and some teething crackers.  He loves anything he can eat, besides pureed chicken!
• Lauryn started swim lessons again.  She just loves to swim so we are taking her to the last lessons she can have until she is 6.  We might take her somewhere else in the meantime, just not sure we want to spend our life savings on swim lessons...ha!
• Lauryn and mommy had a mommy-daughter day, with a FROZEN princess party and all.  What a cute event to see all the little girls dressed up.  Lauryn had a blast.
• Lauryn got her hair cut into a cute little bob.  The neighbor girls say she got her hair cut like her mom.  It is similar, but it was Lauryn's idea!!!
• We were going to attempt our first overnight as a family in a hotel room but got out of that one.  Eric's cousin was married, and we were close enough to a friend's house, Megan and Ethan just opted to stay there instead. Daddy and Lauryn had a fun daddy-daughter time.
• Ethan got to meet Uncle Brad, cousin Adrian, and Uncle Tim.  It was great for Lauryn to spend time with Adrian, they seemed to have a great time together!
• Ethan's future wife was born :-)  Megan's best friend from college, Tara, had her 3rd and finally had a girl.  Ethan and Autumn will be married in the summer of 2039!!!

The little carpenter at the library!

Lauryn as she lost her first tooth!9/4/14

FROZEN princess party with Princess Anna!

Face painting by Princess Anna.

Princess Anna, Olaf, and Lauryn

A cool fall day at the Orchard.

Daddy is the best to pick apples with!

A crazy-painted tractor at the Orchard.

Lauryn and her rollerblades.  She's getting better!

Ethan loves to chew on cloth!

Lauryn with mommy's swim cap on!

Cousin Adrian, Lauryn, and Ethan in the pool!

Lauryn and Ethan on Great Grandpa Gruis' 1953 Farmall.  The first new tractor he bought. 
Refurbished for cousin Brandon's wedding 

Kiddos with Grandpa Stan!

Fun with the scarecrows at the Arboretum.

Daddy, Mommy, Lauryn and Ethan all as scarecrows around the fire.

Lauryn & Ethan with Grandma Pat and Grandpa John!

Indeed, Lauryn loves her brother!

Lauryn is Starting Pre-K & Ethan is 6mo - all in one day!

What a crazy morning, trying to get Lauryn off to pre-kindergarten today!  She was so excited to go.  She wanted to get dressed right away and have a good breakfast so that she would have a good day.  And she had to help pack her lunch, because she "knows how to do it."  I think the teacher will get a run for her money this year with Lauryn! She's definitely Ms. Independent and Ms. Know-How-To-Do-It, along with Ms. Gotta-Have-It-My-Way.  Although it is currently challenging, she has such a big heart and does and says things that just make you melt.

And on the same note, our little baby boy isn't so little.  We can't believe he is 6 months old already!  Where oh where did the time go?  He can sit up on his own for a few minutes at a time, and loves to put everything in his mouth and babble with Lauryn.  He grabbed a paper for Lauryn's preschool this morning...yum!  He's obviously so different than Lauryn.  We've finally had a good few days of him sleeping and not waking us up with all his crazy noises and needing us to come check on him.  We will take these last three days!  Seems like he slept through the night good from about 6-10weeks, and it's been a battle ever since.  Hopefully we can get into a better routine. It's been 8:30-5:00 the last 3 nights.  We will take that over sleeping later but up a few times a night any day!  Mom and dad just need to start going to bed earlier!

ALS Challenge

Lauryn was given the ALS Challenge by her friend Katie and family.

Here is her challenge to others!

 

Is it really the middle of August?

It's 75 degrees...is it really the middle of August?  Seems like we haven't had much of a summer with this weird weather.  Now, we are not complaining that it hasn't been in the 90's, but the weather has certainly limited our time at the beach and in the pools!

We've been enjoying our new bikes and bike gear quite a bit lately.  It is definitely a great workout when carrying Ethan behind one bike and Lauryn behind the other!  We got caught in a down-pour that came from no where a few days ago.  It was really quite the fun, wet time! 

Lauryn has been busy swimming like a fish!  She has definitely taken to the water this summer, and we are loving to watch her swim.  We broke down and got a pool for our back yard that we can enjoy as a family.  She wants to be in there every chance she can! 

We've been blessed with lots of visitors the past week!  Grandpa and Grandma McMahan were here babysitting, as mom and dad both had crazy work schedules.  Grandpa Stan and Uncle Sam visited and we enjoyed a nice fish fry with them.  And Uncle Buster joined in on the fish fry and stayed for a neighborhood movie night in our driveway and a bike ride along the Dakota Rail Trail.  Lauryn won't know what to do with just having mom and dad around! 

Here are a few recent pictures!

Lauryn practicing her freestyle stroke!

Ethan at 5months with Big Sissy

Ethan's 5month picture

Home from getting caught in the rain storm while biking!

9 years later...checking out the Golf Course where we had our wedding reception. 
It has been remodeled inside and out and is gorgeous!  The A/C even works!!

National Night Out - Ethan and the fire truck

Swimming in the pool!

Ethan with Lauryn's new pink International Harvester hat from Grandpa John & Uncle Buster!