Silly Pictures

Here is Milena either trying to throw or catch two frisbees at once.



Here are Koleman and Kelson sleeping in the same bed at Grandma Karen's house a little while ago. Just before I took the picture, Koleman was hugging Kelson like a teddy bear, but this is still cute, if a bit awkward looking.

Bella is Home!

We picked up our puppy today! Here is Bella Rose Lund, on the loose.



Ahhhh, look at the big sister give a big hug.



I think this is a sneaky hug.



Isn't Bella cute?

New Cousin

The kids have a new cousin! Nathan Betty-Lou Koltes was born recently (within the past year or so, I think). We got to visit the little fella at his house.



Awwww, that's cute!



Speaking of cute, here is how good parenting is done in Bismarck!



Go get 'em, Jon!

It's 2002, and chaos ensues

Five little kids on a bed, having ... fun?

Sorry Kelson, Josiah and Jack - it's not my fault if you were unable to be born yet.

Catching Up

OK, how about some pictures? Here's a good one of Jorgen, which will show his mom and dad that we only let their kids eat good, wholesome, healthy foods while they were with us.



And this is just plain cute.



Summer fun! There are some perks to being the daddy, like getting to use the super huge squirt gun.



He's ready for the pool!



We hate birds! Shoot them all down!



I think Kelson is trying to get me wet!



In a couple of years this pool definitely won't be big enough...

Another Blast From the Further Past

OK, enough of dogs and cats - I've got a new target. While copying video to my computer, I found the tape of our wedding. Now, I'm not foolish enough to show myself in any detail, but I am willing to include video of my brother singing. This was a very big deal, since Jason, despite the fact that he had a great voice, never let anybody hear him sing. His parents said that it was the first time they ever really heard him sing.

I think there was blubbering involved.

Anyway, here's the video.

See, it's very good. And, in all seriousness, Michelle and I were honored and delighted that he would sing for us. Of course, he is kind of mushy and sentimental.

A Blast from the Past

A long time ago we had two cats, Tyk and Stealie. At one point when we had these cats we dogsat Jon & Steph's dog, Cinco. We managed to videotape their first (and only) meeting.

I have a new computer, and wanted to see if I could access old videos from my video recorder. Success! You'll be happy to know that I skipped over cute video of a 4 month old Koleman in order to bring you a dog and cats fighting.

The end of San Diego

Well, I've milked it for as long as I can, but I now have to finish the San Diego pictures. One rule of San Diego is that you can't leave the city without having margaritas in Old Town. Michelle and Grandma Karen show that they were so good on the trip that they deserved really BIG margaritas.



Yum, yum!



Before Margarita...



... and after Margarita!



We made a new friend.



And, finally, we show the proper way to supervise your children at all times.



And then we went home.

Our New Puppy

Well, not yet, but soon. We went to Hutchinson on Saturday to choose which puppy from a litter of seven will be ours. It's an odd thing to do, since how much can you tell about a puppy when they're five weeks old? If my parents had seen me and a bunch of other babies at five weeks of age, would they have chosen me?

On second thought, let's not explore that idea.

Anyway, we went about trying to pick a puppy. Here you can see one of our rejects, Little Miss Chompy Chompington. Not going to choose a man-eater.



Kelson and Eli fight over a puppy. Our dog better be prepared for a lot of this.



We did finally pick a puppy, who will forever be named Bella Rose. Here is Kelson, the proud big brother.



Milena already has perfect puppy holding technique.



Eli gives a nice hug.



Koleman thoughtfully contemplates life with a new puppy.



Michelle is giddy.



And here is the new happy family.



Of course, then we had to leave Bella there. She needs three more weeks with Mommy before she's ready to be shipped off to us. She'd better enjoy those three weeks of relative peace and quiet.

Hey, More San Diego!

One of the last things we did in San Diego was go on a harbor cruise. It was quite nice, and very educational. Here is the boat we were on.



The first part of the tour went by the Naval base, where they were working on building ships. The boat in the dry docks in this picture is the USS Thurston Howell, III.



Here is a Lewis and Clark class dry cargo ship being built. Larry's work worries about terrorists because he posts a picture of his workplace, but the US government allows anybody to get close to their warships and know all the specifications about them. Kind of odd.



The USS Ronald Reagan.



Another view of our boat.



Remember that Lewis and Clark class boat? By the time we completed the cruise they had finished it. Here it is, the USNS Lewis and Clark. Whoopee!



It doesn't make me happy to do this, but I have to finish up this post in the only way I know how: Here are some Navy Seals.



ROTFLMAO!!!!

LOL!!!11!

Reading Break

One of my best parenting implementations has been Reading Break, which occurs after lunch on days when we're home. It started out as a time when the kids would sit in a spot by themselves and read books, but has changed a bit, so now there is less reading and more playing. The "by themselves" part has stayed the same, though, which is the important bit.

Reading Break worked very well when the Deitz cousins were staying with us. By Monday (their fourth day here) the kids were starting to get on each other's nerves, so we had reading break after lunch. Eli didn't get any books, but he did have his GameBoy. He was in the reading area by the kitchen.



Josiah didn't understand what Reading Break was, but I told him that he had to stay in Eli's room and play until I said he could get up. I gave him a little LeapPad, and he was fairly content.



Milena was in the upstairs living room, playing her Leapster. Headphones on, to keep the volume down. Basically, Reading Break is a time for me to either get some things done, or to just relax without having the kids demanding things from me. Sometimes I'll even take a shower. (although I try to keep that to a minimum)



Kelson was in his room playing with foam animals and Star Wars people. A natural combination.



Jonny was in Koleman's room playing with the big LeapPad. He was very good about Reading Break, but he was also the oldest one at home (Koleman was at school).



Jorgen was downstairs playing with Imaginext. He wanted to know when it was going to be done, so I told him "Fifteen minutes." That's pretty much my standard answer all the time. It's great that these kinds can't tell time. Reading Break essentially lasts as long as I think I can drag it out for. If they are getting antsy, I'll tell them that it will be done in two minutes, which generally will settle them down so I can get another ten or fifteen minutes out of it.



On this day Reading Break was over an hour long.

Good times.

Preschool Graduation

I know, I know, I'm completely behind on my posts. I haven't even finished San Diego pictures yet, and we came back from there over a month ago. Oh well, I do my best.

Anyway, Eli and Milena graduated from preschool this year, and are ready for some big kid kindergarten fun next year. But first things first.

Here is most of the class lined up for the ceremony.



Bennett runs interference between Milena and Eli.



I love the interactions between the kids. They can only pay attention to what's going on for a short time, and then try and figure out how to best occupy their time. They had to be a little bit careful, because the graduation hats they made would come off their heads if they moved too quickly.



Milena gets her diploma from Miss Diane.



Something funny happened. I don't know what it was, but Eli enjoyed it.



The boys are thrilled about their flowers.



Milena with her diploma and flower.



And Eli with his.



The two graduates, very prim and proper.



It was a cute program for them, and all the kids were very proud. And after the ceremony, we got to eat treats, so it was all good.