Adventure Park

Yesterday, Elyse, Caleb and I joined our friends for a morning of fun at Adventure Park in Ham Lake. It's a large indoor playground with activities for infants to young kids. It was a lot of fun for both children.

I would totally recommend this place for other moms who have lots of children or people to go with. I probably would not go myself because I would have to either climb with Elyse or stay in the younger section with Caleb. It has lots of great climbing activities, slides and tunnels for the big kids. Little slides, toys and tunnels for the little ones. Overall, really nice!

Elyse playing in the tunnels, climbing area and racing her friends on the slide. In the slide picture with Elyse are her friends, Sarah, Landon as well as my friend, Angela.

Caleb playing in his area. Yes, he is walking in this photo. I have not blogged a video yet, but the boy walks around the house. He just needs a little more confidence to do it in unknown places. Hopefully any day soon he will be running and I promise to capture and post it soon.

Iowa Visit Part 2

As I stated in the previous post, Nate, the kiddos and I spent majority of our time with Nate's family. The reason it did not involve the entire time, was because we spent a few hours traveling north to Burlington, IA to spend time with one of my best friends and one of the most amazing woman I know, Mrs. Joni (Stauffer) Bowman. Not only did I get to see Joni and her home, but I got to hold her precious daughter, Jemma again. It was really quick but so great to visit in person. I love her so much and hope it doesn't take another six months till I get to see her again.

Cabin Magic

I often have read or heard Jenny Kuphal call their time at the cabin, "Cabin Magic", and I couldn't agree more. It's a place of conversation, no worries, no distractions, beauty and relaxation. Yesterday was 90 degrees (in September), and thankfully for the water and breeze, it was really a great day to be at the cabin. We spent our day watching the kids play, riding the pontoon, playing with reptiles, kayaking, eating and talking. Overall, I am exhausted, but I wouldn't have wanted to spend my day doing anything else.

Special thank you to Tom, Jenny and Aiden for having us. Also, to Jenny's parents, Kent and Dixie for opening their cabin up to us Klausers. We had a wonderful time and love you all.

Pool Party

Last week, Elyse's friend, Willow turned three. Today was her party and boy did Elyse have a fun and great time. The party was a pool and picnic party. Minneapolis has a ton of these little kid/low entry pools. Therefore, the kiddos got to play in the water while us moms observed from the side, talk about perfect.

Thank you for inviting us to your party Willow! Happy Birthday Willow!

The Kids: Mari, Aiden, Elyse and Mason, no Willow :( The Moms: Jenny, Nicole, Kelly, Natalie and Sarah Not the best picture of Caleb, but you can see all 6 teeth The kiddos could not get enough of the little fountains, they kept trying to sit on them.

Sprinkler Fun

Yesterday, Jenny and Aiden stopped over to hang out for awhile. While here, I suggested that the kids could run through the sprinkler. The video is them right in the beginning. I wish I would have done a video of them after they ate lunch; because, that is when they weren't running from the sprinkler, but running in it. Perfect day for it and super fun activity. Thank you Jenny and Aiden for some sprinkler fun today.

The Special Visitor

Like I mentioned in the previous post; while visiting Nate's parents, my best friend and maid of honor who lives 45 minutes from Keokuk stopped by to visit. Mrs. Joni (Stauffer) Bowman and her beautiful daughter, Jemma (2.5 months) came to spend the afternoon with us. Joni and I talk at least once a week, but nothing compares to talking in person. Those two hours flew by and both Nate and I were so sad to see her and Jemma leave.

Joni, I love you lots and can't wait to see you again, hopefully sooner rather than later. Thank you for coming down to see Nate, the kiddos and I.

Zoo Day

Today, Elyse, Caleb and I joined Jenny and Aiden for a day at Como Zoo. Not only was the weather perfect so were the kids. We had obedient, happy and respectful children. I asked Elyse what was her favorite part at the zoo, and she said, "Seeing Simba and Nala with Aiden." :) Thanks Jenny and Aiden for a great morning, hope to do it again soon!

(Poor Caleb, he spent his first time at the zoo asleep in his stroller.) The kiddos laughing at the polar bears swimming in the water. One of my favorite animals to see at Como, the giraffes.

Boxes of Love

Last night Nate and I joined the rest of our bible study to serve at Boxes of Love in downtown Minneapolis (HLIC). If you have not heard of Boxes of Love, it's a Christian run service project which involves boxing up food in order to provide food for the homeless/needy for the holidays. The goal for us last night was to complete 500 boxes in an hour; but with our group's dedication and determination, plus having a lot of people there, we were done in less than 30 minutes. We all were saying how we almost spent more time in the car, than serving. We really would have enjoyed packing up a few more since we were down there. It's always great to serve, but even more fun when you do it with friends.
Back row: Tom, Nate, Joren, Jill, Angela, Sarah, and Nick
Front row: Natalie, Kristi, Kris, Stephanie and Jeremiah
Not pictured, but did serve: Jenny and Ryan

Well, since we were done early and were childless for the evening, what did us adults do? We all went back to Tom and Jenny's for drinks, desserts, laughter and some game playing. Great way to end our night, that's for sure!

Special thanks to our group for stepping up and serving last night. We had a wonderful time and hope you did too. Also, to my mom for watching Elyse so Nate and I could get out and have some grown up fun.

Not A Typical Thursday Night

A typical Thursday night for Nate and I includes, dinner, playing or reading books with Elyse, tucking her into bed and vegging out on the couch while watching television. Last night involved non of the sorts. That's because, I joined my good friends and headed to the city to enjoy our annual (I know it's just the second year, but I have a feeling this tradition will not die) fondue desserts at The Melting Pot. We spent the night talking, eating wonderful food and laughing a lot. While the men headed over to our house for some good male bonding time. Meaning they spent much of the night interacting with the kiddos or getting in some video game playing. Overall, tonight involved two totally different ways Nate and I spent our evening, but yet, we both went to bed saying, "What a blast tonight was!"

The ladies: Stephanie, Angela, Jill, Kelly, Kristi, Nicole and Jenny
(We did miss you Sarah.)

The gentlemen and kiddos: Nate, Elyse, Tom, Aiden, Joren, Seth, Mariana, Jeremiah and Dieter. Not pictured, but did attend, Nick

We LOVE our friends from church and feel so blessed. Thank you all for a great and perfect Thursday evening.

A Halloween As "Sweet" As Can Be

As you can see from the picture below, Elyse and her friends all went as M&M's this year for Halloween. My friend, Jenny and I made the costumes. I don't think they turned out all that bad and the kiddos looked so adorable in them.

The Sweetest M&M's ever: Dieter, Aiden, Elyse, Mason and Willow
The M&M's and Mari the ladybug right before trick-o-treating. They were troopers, going almost an hour in 40 degree weather. They LOVED it and their pumpkins sure were heavy at the end.
Overall, it was a very successful and super fun Halloween. We had all our friends over for some great fall foods and then spent the night celebrating with the kids. Nate and I feel so blessed to be surrounded with such amazing friends and neighbors. I could keep going on about this evening, but after taking the decorations down, doing this post and getting ready for tomorrow, I'm exhausted. Good night and hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Triplets Trial Run

This morning I had the opportunity to help out two friends of mine by watching their children. Therefore, I had three all under three by myself. I felt like I was a mother of toddler triplets. They sure kept me busy, but they too also entertained themselves which was nice. It ended up going really good! However, I have decided I will stick to being a mother of one toddler at a time, that's exhausting enough.

We spent much of our time reading books, playing outside, dancing,
coloring,
camping in the cardboard box fort, and
playing dress up. Aiden loved wearing his high heals, always had the blue ones though :) and Mari was a bigger fan of carrying her pair around.
Thank you ladies for trusting me with your child, we had a great time!

Enjoying the 60's

That's right, today's high is 67 and partly cloudy. Talk about a perfect fall weather day. So Elyse and I took advantage of it and joined our good friends, Sarah and Mason at the Como Zoo. Since it was cooler outside and students are back in school it was dead, and probably the best experience I have had there. The animals were coming up to the windows like crazy and were constantly on the move, minus the lions. Sarah informed me they sleep more than awake, must be rough.
Even though Elyse appeared to enjoy herself I believe the animal statues were her favorite thing today. She voluntarily sat and took a picture of herself on each one.

Thank you Sarah and Mason for joining us today. We had such a wonderful time and look forward to doing it again soon.

Minnesota State Fair

Nate, Elyse and I joined Tom, Jenny and Aiden and spent the day at the MN State Fair. I would have never thought that spending just under seven hours in 90 degree heat with two toddlers would turn out to be such a wonderful time. We got a good share of fair food, but not enough, there was so much to choose from. It was not only Elyse's first time, but Nate's too. Overall, I believe it was a success. However, I don't think we will be returning anytime in the next week :)
Kiddos playing at the Big farm and the little farm. So much fun. They saw cows, horses, sheep, and baby pigs. They also dressed up like little farmers and planted seeds, fed their animals and bought some food that they grew. Aiden driving the tractor, Elyse carrying their buckets next to him. Elyse at the children's train station. Closest Jenny and I got to seeing Sven (Kare 11 Weatherman)
Nate and Tom mocking Jenny and I, or are they???? :)

Destined To Be Together

Jenny posted this post a few days ago and for some strange reason I missed the entire post. Saw it tonight and LOVED it. You can click here to see Jenny's entire post, but the video is by far my favorite. Therefore, I had to post that on our blog. Thanks Jenny! I too agree that they are destined to be together.

Untitled from Jenny on Vimeo.

Nite to Unite

Tonight was national "Nite to Unite" celebration. Meaning neighbors are suppose to get out of their houses and meet somewhere on their block for a get to know your neighbors and have great food and conversation. Our neighbors are wonderful and we look forward to participating every year in this event. Last year was a lot harder since Elyse wasn't fully walking yet, but this year she had a blast. Even though the weather was in the 90's plus humidity, we still enjoyed ourselves and had a good turn out. We feel very blessed to live in our neighborhood and have the neighbors we do!

The firemen and firetruck always make an appearance too. (Probably helps that we have the Fire Marshall as our neighbor.) Elyse bonded with this neighbor since she let Elyse eat her popcorn. Popular place for the kids to be, free snow cones all night. Of course, Elyse had to spend some time petting the neighbor's dog.