Our Kids Blog

The Maloney’s had us at their house for some 4th of July Festivities. We spent a little time by the lake, ate some good food, and everyone stayed up for some fireworks. Fun the whole time.

Emma had lots of fun riding the Sea Doo with Uncle Tracy.

Kenny never left the dock.

Kenny did have fun watching from the dock though.

Somewhere there is older picture of Aunt Tessa with all her nieces and nephews, but I can’t find it . Here is the current one though.

Oklahoma City has a nice science museum and the four of us spent the whole morning learning and playing there. Emma really enjoyed the gymnastics exhibit and then the kids’ area where she could do her own face painting. Emma also got to ride on a Segway. Kenny enjoyed the water area and the bubbles.

In the afternoon, we decided to try going to a movie with both Emma and Kenny. We went and saw Toy Story 3. Emma did a great job, but Kenny being only 20 months needed to get out of the theater for a while to stretch his legs. It was a great Father’s Day.

Memorial Day in Eau Claire means a parade. Papa Swany (who was drafted during the Viet Nam War and served in Oklahoma joined us). The last picture is of cousin Carter who actually walked in the parade handing out Express Baseball schedules. Mom and Emma were in the cities getting Uncle Joe from the airport.

After all of the festivities the kids still had a little energy to play outside for a bit.

Here were all of Emma’s Easter Projects. Her mom finds some great projects for her to do.

This paper mache egg ended up taking days to complete. There needed to be enough layers so that it would be strong enough for painting. After each layer, it seemed like it still needed more. In the end it turned out nicely.

Tammy was giving Kenny some spins and dips.

A dad is basically required to throw his children into the air when they are young. You can also see Kenny’s new shoes.

We celebrated Easter at the Ternberg’s house. It was also Carter’s birthday so we celebrated that too.

Here is a picture of all the kids. This was taken just before the Easter egg hunt.

Kenny found one egg. His cousin Avery did the hiding and set the rules so that they big kids couldn’t take any of the eggs that were easy for Kenny to get.

Kenny quit after his one egg, and did a little posing for the camera.

We couldn’t get the best pose from the two of them, but you can at least see thier Easter outfits.

Uncle Ryan and Aunt Tessa helped us get a family picture.

Landry and Emma had lots of fun.

The Boy and Girl Scouts of Eau Claire put on a really nice Easter Egg Hunt for the community. It was a lot of fun.

Kenny did a nice job waiting for the hunt to start. The coloroful eggs were tempting.

Kenny and I set the goal of getting one egg. I placed him in front of a blue one. He just stood there for a moment mesmorized by all of the other kids running around. Finally he reached down to pick it up.

Next was getting the egg into the basket. It looks like he is on his way, but what actaully happened right after I took this shot was that Kenny saw another little boy put an egg into the grocery bag held by this little boy’s mom. Kenny decided that must be the thing to do, so we walked over and with out the mom seeing he put his blue egg in the the bag. The mom did end up noticing and gave the egg back to Kenny and he got it into his basket.

After getting his one egg we went to the egg trading post where eggs were traded for a bag of candy.

If you look really close you can see his bag of jelly beans. Kenny really likes jelly beans.

The hunt was divided up into age groups so Emma and Landry went with Tammy to the 3-5 year old area. The compitition was stiff, but with a little sharing, both girls ended up with 4 eggs.

They too traded in their eggs for candy.

They both like jelly beans also.

Besides just the egg hunt, there were some inflatable jumping areas and one had a slide.

The girls loved the slide and had to do it twice.

We waited in the short line at our local mall so Emma and Kenny could meet the Easter Bunny. Emma was so excited and Kenny was too.

No crying or fussing from either of our kids. And we did get some nice smiles.

Kenny did have to check out the bunny every once and a while.

Emma even gave out a hug to the big bunny.

Last year we colored eggs up at Dayle and Jeannine’s house. We did the same this year also.

After a little soak, it was time to get the eggs out.

Most of the time the eggs made it out just fine, but that yellow one is just about to hit the table after flipping off of the egg holder. It did crack a little.

Emma is using a candle to put some wax on the egg. Where ever you put wax stays white.

This is one that had some wax on it.

Kenny didn’t do any egg coloring, but he did eat strawberries.

Here is the line up.

The one in Emma’s hand is the one that got cracked. It still turned out nice though.

Emma and Jeannine really enjoyed the egg coloring.

It was really nice outside so we spent a little time out on the deck after coloring the eggs.

Kenny liked to go in an out of the house through the sliding door.

What a fun day!

For St. Patrick’s Day (which is also cousin Avery’s birthday) our family went to downtown Eau Claire for the city’s St. Patrick’s Day parade. We now know that Eau Claire must not have a very large population of Irish as the parade ended up being a quite small walking sidewalk parade with a route of one city block. It still was fun and the weather was great.

We did all wear green though there is no Irish blood in our veins that we know of. The kids enjoyed the small little parade even if it didn’t meet their parent’s expectations. The only disappointment for them was that no candy was thrown.

Happy Valentine’s Day everybody.

Emma has figured out that if she poses nicely that we can be done with pictures quickly.

Kenny still doesn’t know that pictures aren’t supposed to be fun.

Further proof of what I just said. We’re sure this will change soon though.

Emma had 7 of her friends over for a birthday party. They all dressed up like princesses and princes. They ate pizza, cake, and did some fun little crafts. They all seemed to enjoy themselves.

One of the crafts was to decorate a picture frame.

The knight in shining armor got tired out. I don’t know if it was from fighting off dragons or from fighting off all the princesses.

I got in on a picture with our little princess.

You can’t quite see it, but Kenny was dressed with the theme. He had a shirt on that said “King of Hearts.”

Emma and Breely where told to wait until the other girls where done eating so this is where they waited.

Sleeping Beauty lived in our garage the last few days, but she still looked and tasted good.

One last time to blow out some candles.

Here is everybody that made it to the party. It was a lot of fun.

We celebrate Christmas in Colorado on December 27th. Great Grandma Howard came over for the presents and for Christmas dinner. It was nice to have arrived safely and celebrate Christmas together, even if it was a day later than planned.

Tammy was able to buy a used toy dishwasher via Craigslist. It was being sold in Colorado, so Tammy’s mom picked it up and then we gave it to Emma in Pueblo. The only challenge left is how to get it back to Eau Claire. All this work to complete Emma’s pink kitchen set.

Grandma Fishback made Emma some nightgowns. Here is her “Little Miss” nightgown.

Grandma Fishback opened an ornament picture frame with a picture of her and Kenny in it.

Grandpa Fishback and Kenny doing a gentle head butt while eating some kiwi. Male bonding.

Kenny and Great Grandma Howard.

Christmas Day was going to be spent getting up really early and driving on slippery roads to get to the Minneapolis airport and then flying to Colorado. But, it what seemed to be a “too good to be true” situation we were able to switch our flight to December 26th and it didn’t cost us a dime. I don’t know if Northwest always allows this when there is a big winter storm, but that was their reason for allowing us to change without any change fees. As a result we stayed in Eau Claire and had lunch at Fanny Hill with the Wisconsin family, and then we were able to travel when the snow had stopped. It all worked out very well.

Landry and Emma didn’t sit by each other, but they still had lots of fun.

Kenny is enjoying all that is left from the cherry that his mom ate.

Kenny and Great-Uncle Dayle have lots of fun chuckling at each other.

Kenny and Grandma Swany.

It rained on Christmas Eve in Eau Claire. That doesn’t happen often. Everyone was able to make it though. Christmas Eve traditionally has been celebrated in Mondovi at my parent’s house. This year it was at their new house just blocks away from where we live. The traditional Swanstrom dinner of Swedish Meatballs and ham was served and enjoyed by all (even Tammy because of some gluten free substitutions).

Here is the family in their shades of gray.

Emma and Landry got to sit next to each other at dinner. They are really started to act like good friends. Not as much fighting as when they were younger.

Here are all the cousins on the Swanstrom side of the family.

Kenny was in good spirits the whole evening.

We all had plenty of presents. Kenny is ready to hit his pile.

Kenny need to cool off a little so he lost his sweater. Here he is playing with a new toy airplane.

You’ve got to love the princess stuff.

Emma gave out canvas bags with her artwork on it. Here Grandma Swany is opening her red one.

Kenny and his Daddy.

Kenny doing a little walking for the camera.

Kenny and his Mommy.

We received about 4 inches of snow last night, with another possible 10 inches to come tonight and tomorrow. The weather was nice enough though after present opening to head out on a walk and to do a little sledding.

So here is the setup, two kids, two sleds, one rope, and one dad.

Mom was mainly the photographer on the trip, but here she is and we did get her on a sled, so there will be pictures of that later on.

Just getting out of the driveway.

The street’s been plowed, but the snow never comes all the way off on the first pass.

Just a nice morning to walk in the snow. Temperature around 32 F (0 C).

Kenny was a little concerned as I pulled him us the snow back on the side of the road. He was buckled in though.

Here we are getting ready for the first run. Kenny is going to sit this one out.

Emma’s getting a little bit more pumped. She likes sledding, though she still remembers last year when I sent her down the hill herself. She crashed and actually bled. It was almost a year ago, but she still remembers.

First run through the fresh powder.

The sledding area is actually a drainage area that never has had water in it. The hill is just right for little kids.

Kenny joined us for a few runs.

Here is another run. After a good path was laid, we got some pretty good speed.

Just the girls did one run. Kenny again watched.

Tammy has done some sledding, but she still is a southerner (Oklahoma) at heart.

The two of them did go off the path and into some fresh powder and actually over a small jump.

This shows the effect of fresh powder a little bit better.

No injuries and smiles as we head for home.