The Bartel's Est. 2004: 2011

It's been SO long since I've actually typed out a real post, that an ENTIRE year has managed to squeeze by! It's been a WHOLE year since I've told you about my precious babies and showed you pictures of our daily adventures. I will try to some it up with a picture or 2 of each month. I left off in August of 2010.
Zander turned FOUR and Gage turned TWO!

That was a great month, despite Jason's injury. That month ended the summer's adventures and brought on Fall's festivities. In August of 2010, Zander discovered his LOVE for fishing.

He just beamed when he caught his very 1st fish. It probably didn't even register at 2 inches, but Z's heart swelled with pride.

Zander also "caught" a very strange looking insect, and of course had to bring it in the house to show me. I had no idea what this weird alien looking bug was until I posted a pic of it on facebook.

Turns out it was a Cicada, and these things live underground for 10+ years, then come up for the last year or 2 of their life. It was like no other bug I've seen before. Zander carried the thing around for days in his bug box. Still not sure if it was alive or dead when Zander found it...

September...probably my most favorite month, was the month my beautiful Godchild Gavin was born! He's a spitting image of my brother!...(If you're reading his Brian, don't get a big head and think that I think you're beautiful.) ;o)
The Lepak name continues for our family!

It also marked Zander's first day of Pre-K. I am just thrilled that he LOVES school! (I'll remind him of this when he's older!)

October we ventured out to my first home away from home...Arizona!

I love that place!

McKenna especially loved reconnecting with her cousins Jersie and Sydnee.

I loved reconnecting with the SUN (and of course my brother and his family)! We drove up, around and thru the mountains to get to get to Heaven's playground, Apache Lake. It was well worth every heart palpitation to get there. It's been the most beautiful, peaceful and scenic place I have ever been. I literally felt God there. We flew back just in time for Halloween.
Trick-or-Treating consisted of a Funky Witch, Elmo and a Dragon.

Here's another (scanned) gorgeous pic of the kiddos taken by my BFF Sarah Gwidt.

If you haven't checked out her website, DO IT!! I love that her pictures grace the walls of our house!
November was the month of Elway....the most BEAUTIFUL, BEST dog ever! That's right, we adopted a 4yr old small Alaskan Husky from the shelter! This meant brisk morning walks, playtime, and SO MUCH love in our house!

Elway gave out kisses faster than he received them.

I'm SO SAD that Elway was with us for only 3 weeks before he passed away from complications of being hit by a car. Although he loved us, he also LOVED to run away. To this day, we still talk about our beautiful loving dog, who will always hold a special place in our hearts.

In late November, I also managed to sneak away for another Canadian Tenors Concert. Angelic voices!!...not to mention looks. HELLO FRASER!

December marked another year down in the books! If I was posting regularly at this time, I would have probably been complaining about the snow and cold already. I'm not a fan of Winter...at all. All of the grand kids received another pair of homemade PJ's from Grandma Bartel. Looks like this might be a tradition for her.

Here's a look at the Bartel Fam on Christmas Eve.

My "four" babies

January marked the end of McKenna's homeschooling, and her 1st day of "REAL" school! Needless to say she was quite hesitant when I dropped her off...tears were even shed.

Once I picked her up, she couldn't stop talking about how "cool" school was. Being the social butterfly that she is, she can't wait for school to start again. I'm so proud of her transition,...and mine. Mckenna lost her 1st tooth this month too!! My baby is growing!

February the Packers kicked some SUPERBOWL butt!! What a great game that was to watch! Everyone was decked out in their Packer gear!

Seeing the snow kept falling, the kids made many snowmen. This one in particular was pretty goofy. From the front, he was a nice, happy lookin' guy, but when we looked out the window, our view was him mooning us. The kids thought it was just hilarious.

We took the kids to their 1st hockey game. Zander was in awe. He didn't really know how to pronounce it, because he kept calling it "hawky".

Even now, he has his little "Zanderisms", like hangurber (hamburger), mazagine (magazine), hostaple (hospital), shelth (shelf). He can talk perfectly fine, it's just funny when he says these words, because he just can't seem to get them right. I suppose it would help if I corrected him instead of smiling at him because it's still a little part of toddler left in him that I don't want to see taken away just yet. Gage's funny thing, besides his adorable lisp, is when he talks about Boys and Grills.

He's a boy, and I'm a Grill.
Zander also lost his 1st tooth!

March my little baby, my first born, turned SIX! One of her gifts was a Karaoke machine. If you you're my friend on fb, check out her version of Celine's "All By Myself". HILARIOUS! I can't get over what a beautiful soul this girl has! All she talks about is being a Mommy and a Teacher when she grows up. Little does she know that she's taught THIS Mommy SO much!!

April was the month of our beloved cat Tanqueray aka "Tanq"! (okay, I thought her name was cool when I was in college) I've posted about Tanq before, as she's been my first true love. After all, I've known her before I even knew Jason! When I first bought her I took her to my Grandma Lepak's house and my Grandma fell in love with her too. My heart smiles when I think about it, because my Grandma could NEVER get her name right. Even before my Grandma passed away, she would ask how "Tangerine" was doing. I remember missing class, just to sit and watch Tanqueray play with a candy wrapper. She had the most beautiful BIG blue eyes I've ever seen on a cat.

I couldn't look at her without going up to her and petting or snuggling her. I loved how she laid on her back to sleep too...just like a dog.

Once I had babies, I would measure their growth by laying them next to her.

McKenna

Gagers

Our blue eyed beauty is now buried in our backyard, with a blue solar light, among other things, marking her grave.

What I would give for one more snuggle and chin-nudge from her...

Easter Family Pic

Our beautiful niece Emery was born in April!

May flew by! Probably from the anticipation of Summer's arrival. I don't even have many pictures taken from May. McKenna and Zander continue to lose teeth and grow them just as fast. McKenna has now lost her 2 top and 2 bottom teeth, and Zander is catching up with 2 bottom. The Tooth fairy knows her way to this house!

I did manage to see another Canadian Tenors Concert too! (insert drool bucket)

I think I've got my CT fix for the rest of the year...maybe.

June marked the end of the school year for McKenna and Zander! Kenners graduated from Kindergarten and Zander proudly accepted his Pre-school graduation diploma.

When receiving his diploma, his teacher asked him what he would like to be when he grew up. He looked up and stared at his Daddy for a bit, then turned to the teacher and said, "CHEF!" Huh? I didn't even know he knew what that meant. I was expecting a response like "Spiderman or a Fire Chief, like some of his other classmates.

June was a bit chilly this year. During a windy day, we found a robins nest that was knocked down. 2 of the 3 didn't make it, and I couldn't stand to watch the 3rd just freeze to death...so naturally I scooped up the little fella and wrapped it up in some warm towels and fed it some syringed worms. Zander loved my request for him to dig up some worms!

Within an hour the little guy was feeling better. I can't believe how much these things eat and POOP! Every 20 min from Sun UP to Sun DOWN!

FEED ME!...which Zander did! Z LOVED this responsibility!

We named him Harry. By the evening we made a nest and put him back outside. HE SURVIVED! His parents came back! I felt such a sense of accomplishment and purpose that day.

ALL 3 kiddos played T-Ball this year!

Gage was SUPER excited! Their cousin Brecken was on the Sliders Team again this year too. Jason even coached! Here's some pics from the TBall season.

The kids just had a BLAST!!

My awesome Mom turned the BIG 6-0 too!

LOTS of family bdays during the summer!

July meant my youngest babe of them all, turned another year older. Tissue please!

Gage turned THREE!!!

Since every summer seems to be booked with festivities, this one being no exception, we managed to celebrate Gage's birthday while camping "Up North" with the Bartel side for our annual camping trip. This year he picked out a Buzz Lightyear theme.

We celebrated his birthday again last week at Bay Beach with Zander and his cousin Shannon. I'll post pics from that next!

The kids also started their annual swimming lessons at Marble Park. This meant splish-splashing, water slides, jumping off the dock, and loving EVERY SECOND of it! Zander can officially float now! McKenna's almost there. Gage, well, he just enjoyed playing in the water trying to catch the tiny minnows.