Fun on the river

Thanks to Grandpa Mark and Grandma Bonnie for taking our family out on the river in your new boat. We all had such a fun time tubing, swimming, playing in the sand; and, we even survived Jackson driving the boat! He-he.

Family fun night at the horse ranch.

Wild Winds horse ranch in West Salem, WI is home to about 50 horses. Aside from offering both group and individual riding lessons for people of all ages, they also offer family fun nights every now and then. After hearing from some friends of ours how much fun they had at this horse ranch, we decided to give it a try.
Thankfully, Grandma Barb offered to come over and babysit Lia, so Jason and I could have an easier time with just Jackson and Jessica.
The following 15 pictures are from our family night at Wild Winds horse ranch...


Jackson and Jessica are meeting the horse, Jasmine, and brushing her for the first time:


Jessica is making friends with Jasmine:


Jackson riding Jasmine:


Jackson feeding Jasmine some carrots:


Jessica feeing Jasmine carrots:


Of course, being inside one of the world's largest sandboxes is fun in itself!


Jessica riding the horse, Marcus:


Jessica riding Marcus, Jackson riding Jasmine:


Jackson riding Marcus:


Fingerpainting - yep, fingerpainting - Marcus!!


First, and probably only, experience the kids will ever have fingerpainting a horse!


Ta da! Here is the finished masterpiece:


Marcus is getting all cleaned up:


The kids are helping wash Marcus:


Couldn't leave a farm/horse ranch without getting a picture by a tractor:


It turned out to be a fun and memorable way for Jackson and Jessica to enjoy their first-time experiece with horses.

Pretty Lia!

Look out world...

We may have another fashionista coming soon!!

A good night's sleep...?

...ha, not in our house!

Don't let these sweet, sleeping faces fool you (except for Jackson) - both our girls typically have interrupted sleep patterns between the hours of 1 - 3 a.m.. Each of them getting up once, if not twice, a night, every night!

Jessica will get up at least once a night to use the bathroom (which we are obviously happy with, considering the alternative); she has also been known to have night terrors every now and then. The darkness bothers Jessica, and she will cry for one of us to re-light her twilight turtle. She has always been an early riser (between 6-7 a.m.), and we are currently in the process of phasing out her daytime naps (her choice, not ours); so, she really gets by on minimal sleep. In the words of some of the pediatricians I've spoken with, "some people just don't need as much sleep as others." I guess that's our Jess! We are just hoping she will outgrow this phase and become a better sleeper in time.

As for Lia, she has developed a bad nighttime feeding habit. She is 14-months-old and still wakes once a night to drink a bottle! Ridiculous? Yes.
Jason and I have postponed fighting this battle with Lia simply because we have been afraid her crying in the middle of the night will wake Jackson and Jessica (their rooms are right next to each other).
We have decided now is the time to resolve Lia's problem. Our 'plan A' is the nice and easy route; we plan to gradually decrease the amount of fluid intake in her nighttime bottle ounce by ounce until she thinks to herself, "this isn't worth getting up for!" Problem solved...hopefully. If not, we'll move onto 'plan B' - the not-so-easy, but a lot quicker, way to go. We would be forced to just let her cry it out.
Wish us luck. Night #1 of 'Project Sleep' begins tonight!

And, in case you were wondering, Jackson is just a wonderful sleeper. Thank Goodness!
He will use the bathroom and brush his teeth before going to bed, and we don't see (or hear) from him again until 12 or 13 hours later when he wakes up in the morning. It's wonderful. I am very happy sleep comes so natural and easy for Jackson. It is my hope to someday be able to re-capture for myself the "magical powers" a good night's sleep can give a person. As for now, nighttime for 4 out of the 5 members of the Mahlum household will remain to be - what it is for so many households with small children - somewhat of a chore.

It's that time of year again...

Our family gets family portraits professionally taken once a year, every summer.

I think it went well;we ended up with a few "keepers."

Here is a link you can click on to view the photos for yourself:
~P7 is the best family shot

Family portraits

Email: mahlumlc@hotmail.com
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