Fredricksen/Fredrickson/Larson

Back in January at my Great Aunt Doris' funeral, it was decided that the Fredricksen clan needed to get together outside of funerals and weddings. So, the 1st cousins decided on a date, June 14! Yesterday we all gathered together at my parents house for games, delicious food and lots of visiting.

Cousins came from near and far: Stewartville, Rochester, Twin Cities, Des Moines, IA, Brandon, SD, Watertown, SD, and Bathgate, ND. It was SO wonderful to spend this time together.

You may be curious about the title of my post...the original Danish spelling of my last name is Fredricksen; however, one of my grandpa's brothers decided to change it to avoid all the misspellings, Fredrickson (at least that's how I understand the story to go). My grandpa had a sister who married a Larson, so that's where we get those Norwegians from!

My grandpa and all of his siblings have passed away, so this is our eldest generation:

My dad JR (that's what he goes by to his family), Connie, Lance, David and Richard.

Sometimes I forget that I fall into the 2nd cousin generation because I'm a bit younger than them! My dad's the baby of the cousins... Here is my generation going from left to right back to front

Brian, Eric, Ross, Bobby, Will and Jim

Annie, me, Beth 

After we finished generational pictures, we went into individual family pictures. Here's mine! 

 David's family. David's mom, Mary, is the only person in the grandparent generation. She married my grandpa's brother. It was nice that she could come and spend some time with all of us!

These are the crazy FredrickSON's. Richard, his daughter Kelly and her little girls were unable to make it. Next is Nancy. She was married to my dad's cousin Steve. Then we have Bobby and Annie who are Steve and Nancy's kiddos. Then we have Connie and her significant other, Lee. 

Here's Lance Larson's crew! They traveled the farthest and no one was missing! I won't go through with all of their names. 

 Here we ALL are! We had to call my uncle Mark to come over and take the picture because all my parent's neighbors were gone!

Here we have Lance and my Dad. Lance and Dad are very close because Lance was incredibly close to my Grandpa Clarence. We spent all of our summer vacations at Lance's house in Park Rapids, MN. They've moved away from there now to be closer to family. Lance had to make sure Dad was grilling just right! 

Before the big rain hit, we enjoyed some yard games. 

Sharing of stories

and tractor rides! 

15 month stats!

Charlie shared his 15 month birthday with his Uncle Will's 25th birthday, June 6th. Today we celebrated the only way Mayo Clinic knows how: vaccinations!

With those vaccinations though, we get some great little stats to show how healthy our little boy is! He is now exactly 24 pounds and 31 inches tall. The doctor said he is as healthy as can be! He put on quite a show for her. He walked around the entire room just like he's been walking for years. What a little stinker!

With his two shots came only a tiny little cry and 2 tears; then, he was good to go! He's such a little trooper. He must've gotten those genes from the Knutson side. It sounds like his big cousin Harvey is a superstar with shots too!

To celebrate our great check-up, I'll share a few of the early morning pictures that I sent to my dad recently. Yes, there's a lot, but I just couldn't choose 1!

Children's Museum Fun!

Yesterday, Tony and I decided it was a perfect day to give the Rochester Children's Museum a try. I sent Mindy a text, and before you know, a playdate for the museum and lunch was scheduled!

Charlie started off with the big legos. They are pretty heavy, so he couldn't do too much on his own.

Natalie and Harvey are playing a little golf at the ball exhibit. 

Charlie could've stayed here forever. He played with Aunt Mindy for quite a while there!

Dropping golf balls to shoot into target canisters

 Running to see if they made it!

Bouncing balls into the hoop

Tot Spot

Charlie really enjoyed this room!

Natalie got into the face paint...

and the shaving cream sensory bin!

Charlie got his hands dirty too

Walking through the maze with Aunt Mindy

and then Natalie

Dropping a golf ball into the tunnel

It was a really fun day! I'm sure we'll be heading back there again soon!

Natalie's Night!

 Wednesday was my niece Natalie's 7th birthday; so, we all headed to Berne to enjoy some woodfired pizza!

Charlie loved having a picnic supper!

and so did Natalie and Harvey!

There was lots of play time!

Being silly with Grandpa Alan's hat!

Natalie got to open presents. Do you think she liked them?!

and the best part, CAKE!

While the pizza is a little pricey, it was pretty tasty! We were glad we could celebrate Natalie's birthday with her!

1 Year Under my Belt

 Wednesday was my last day of my first year of teaching, and what a year it was! I really truly have enjoyed myself, and I'm excited to give it another go next fall. I have lots of new ideas to help improve my classes, and I'm excited to give them a try!

My coworker Steve, who was my amazing mentor this year, retired. Here are all the kiddos in our middle school program giving him a big hug! They are really going to miss him, and so am I!

He's going to spend a lot of his retirement fishing up north at his cabin. My cousins, Michelle and Hannah, made his adorable cake! 

This is me on my last day of school. I wore my Diet Coke shirt because it's what got me through my year. I always had a little caffeine pick me up on my drive to school. I did take April off however. No diet coke the entire month! 

We took our kiddos to Todd Park for our last day. We grilled out and had a great time! Here are my 6 that showed up. I had 3 kiddos absent on our last day. 

We had a guest student for the day. The kids were ecstatic to finally meet Charlie! 

They loved playing with him! 

I'm ready to relax and enjoy my summer now!

Delayed Mother's Day Post

This is post 1 of my "catch up" posts. I have been taking a lot more pictures using my phone when we do quick trips places, so I've finally downloaded the 500 pictures. Get ready for some updating!

On Mother's Day Charlie and I brought McDonald's to Grandma Jayne and Grandpa Bob. After Charlie scarfed down his happy meal, he had lots of time to play. Here you see Great Grandpa Bob making a ramp for Charlie's cars.

Great Grandma Jayne is playing blocks with Charlie. They all had a lot of fun playing that day!