The Bat Cave, er, I mean MAN Cave

Trent is in heaven. His new garage is going up! I've got to say, I'm pretty excited as well. When he "moves out" of the current garage into his new Man Cave, I get a whole stall to myself. (Or so he promises me.) I already have my gardening stuff arranged in my head. And maybe even a little spot so I can paint?!?! Wouldn't that be fabulous!

We have had such excellent help from our manly, muscular, dutiful neighbors. Adam is "the boss" as Sean tells me. He works for Nor-Son construction here in Brainerd, and is very cool-headed and calm. He is really the guy who is getting the job done! SOOO glad for his help. His dad came up and helped out Friday and Saturday, too. Then there's also Jason and Ian. Both gave the whole day yesterday to the cause. Now there's tar paper, shingles, and siding to go, and we'll be really cookin'. The garage looks really nice where Trent located it. (I know, I was wrong.)













And in other Baumann related news, I have been BUSY. I promise to get some July randoms up soon...

Oh, and the Art Blog is in full swing too, so stop on by: Art Each Day

Froggies, Daddies and Sissies (well, sisters, but you get the idea)

So I finally got around to painting the art on the walls of the boys' room. I have to say thank you to my neighbor Bre for lending me the old school projector from her daycare. Without that thing, this would be much less in proportion and very surely a train wreck on the wall. But overall, I really think it turned out pretty cool! Sean got into it and helped me paint the fly buzzing around in front of the frog. He insisted that the frog had to be going somewhere to eat something, so it made sense. Will got out the paints too, and did a fabulous picture for the art wall on the other side of the room.

And in honor of Father's Day, I need to give my husband a lot of credit. This weekend I and my sisters went on our merry way to a concert in the Cities (which was AMAZING, by the way). He took both boys up to Walker to see his Mom & Dad for the ENTIRE WEEKEND ALL BY HIMSELF! And they came back in one piece... a little scrape on the knee and some sunburnt cheeks, but that was minor. :) I just wanted to say happy father's day to a man that has truly become a wonderful father. Your boys adore you so much, and we all love you tremendously! Hugs and kisses Trent! This pic is from last summer, but I wanted to re-post...



Ok, and a couple from the concert. Once again, we had sushi, got a little (lot) lost - hee hee - and had an amazing time just hanging out on the big grassy hill enjoying some incredible music. {It's Sue's turn next time, as she hasn't really had much of a chance to pick what we do... ) Had so much fun girls! Love you both. :)

Ahhh. Summer at the Lake.

I think it is finally here ... summer! The boys definitely think it is. They were swimming around in the lake like it was a bath tub. Even though the water felt about 50 degrees. Brrrrrr. Keep in mind that Rose Lake is probably one of the last lakes in our area to ice out, so it's only been ice free for about a month.

Anyway, they had a blast. Fishing, swimming, and generally just living outside the whole weekend. The weather was fabulous. Got a little sun too! Oh, and Will learned to cast! Check him out!!!

My aunt and uncle came over to Mom & Dad's too, and they brought their grandson Caleb. He is about 7, and he and Sean became fast friends. He had only caught one fish in his whole little life, and the photos shown here are his second! He was elated. They came back on Sunday and Dad took them out fishing in the boat. I bet he was in seventh heaven.

How blessed we were to grow up on the lake! It's now that you're older that you realize how lucky you were. At least we have a nice place to stay (with good food, beds and company) when we do come home to the lake. Ahhhhh. Summer.

In Honor of the Graduate

Sean is officially a little man. Done with Preschool! I did NOT shed a tear, although I felt one coming as they played some sappy music as the kids walked into the little gym. He wasn't phased at all. I suppose you aren't when you're 5. He was much more excited about running around playing with the gigantic bouncy balls and jumping on the mini-trampoline. He is also pictured here with his best friend...TRENT. Yes, it was friendship at first sight. They both share a love for Star Wars, Legos, and any type of hunting and fishing. It's too bad that they won't go to the same Kindergarten next year. I'm sure Sean will make new friends and have conversations about frogs and lightsabers with other kids. He has grown leaps and bounds physically and mental this year, and has made us very proud parents. :)

The Baumanns See Thomas!

What a fun time we had yesterday and today! Yesterday we took about 1/2 a day off work and drove down to Elk River and stayed at the Holiday Inn Waterpark. The boys had a BLAST! We swam for about 2 hours, ate dinner at Denny's (where Will slept on my lap the entire time), and then back to the hotel. We decided around 8:30pm to let the kids swim again, so we were up until 10pm in the pool again. I had some fun going down the water slides, as did Trent and Sean. Will pretty much kept to the kiddie pool area. We seemed to have fun just piddling around in the shallows.






Then this morning we went to see Thomas the Tank Engine, LIVE! It was a pretty cool production. Actual engines on stage. It got a little bit long for Will, as it was an hour and a half long show, and we basically sat at the Target Center for over 2 hours. But nonetheless, it was an adventure! We all had a really, really good time and we've decided we need to visit the waterparks here in Brainerd soon.

Good time had by all, and no injuries or major fights! Victory!

Easter 2009

You'd think by the photos that we lived a lot further north than we do. Back at my parents' house they received about 18 inches of snow a little over a week ago. So there's still plenty of the white stuff left. Will and Trent actually did a little snowmobiling, can you believe it? (I forgot that pic... I'll re-post soon.) I remember days of playing baseball out in the field on Easter. Oh well. No kites or baseball this year. It was still nice though. (The breeze off the lake is always a little chilly, too, thus all the winter gear.)






Sunday we got the kids all dressed up and went to church in Vergas. Sean and Britt colored Easter eggs. We had ham and scalloped potatoes, and lots of other yummy food. William is a HUGE fan of the little Milky Way bites (which he carried around all day, and even slept with one). They turned into little bits of warm goo . . . luckily they stayed in their wrappers.




Overall it was a nice Easter. Got to see the whole family (minus Erica, who we hope to see soon!). We are now hoping for some warmer weather and to get rid of the big hats and mittens! Spring, we're ready any time you are!

Spring is Here, Time to Clean the Blog!

Ah. The sun is finally shining. Was it a long winter, or was it just me? I have probably just jinxed us all by saying that. Expect 10 inches of snow tomorrow. Anyway, the blog was looking a little too dark for my taste, so I decided to "spring it up." New colors can really make things look a whole lot different! Fresh. Nice.





Anyway, I know many of you are my facebook friends and have already seen these images, but since some of you aren't facebookers, I thought I better post some of the beautiful photos my sister Britt took of the boys and I. I immediately posted them there, but not here. So for those of you wondering what I look like these days, I finally had someone take pics of me, and not the other way around! Now to get Trent in here somehow... hmmm. Spring is in the air, so no doubt I'll catch him outside.

Happy Spring, all!