Welcome Landon Alexander!

Welcome Landon Alexander ~

Today our niece Katie and her husband Josh had their 2nd boy. Landon Alexander was born at 8:06 a.m. and weighed in at 7 lbs 3 oz.. He joins big brother Aiden Nicholas. They will have a busy household in the years to come. Congratulations Katie and Josh! You have a cute family.


I'm in Raleigh NC for work this week. The weather has been just wonderful! It's making me anxious for summer in MN. We've had such a long winter and then the month of April we had 3 big snowstorms that resulted in 50 inches of snow. That's about 45 more inches than I cared to see. Hopefully the nice weather will be coming soon and staying around. Have a good weekend everyone!

Happy Birthday Luke & Ethan!

Happy 12th Birthday Luke and Ethan ~

Well, as you can see the Seal's have a flux of birthdays all together. Today we celebrate our grandson's Luke & Ethan's 12th birthday. They are fraternal twins and their personalities are as different as their looks. But, no denying it they are both adorable and very lovable kids! We're lucky to have them for grandchildren.

Luke is on the left and weighed 10 lbs 2 oz when he was born. Ethan weighed 8 lbs 9 oz. Can you imagine carrying either of them as a single birth let alone as twins? Their mother Sandy paid the price physically for it. After some mending and additional surgery she's was good as new.
The past 2 summers they have spent time with at the lake and it has been such an enjoyable time for us to get to know them better as individuals. We knew this time would come but this summer will probably be a shorter visit. Luke is signing up for football camp and Ethan is signing up for a computer video class. Of course, they get out of school before the kids in MN and with our late spring the lake water won't be warm enough for activities until the middle of June. It's still up in the air as to when we'll see their smiling faces again.

I remember when they were born. Julie and Kristin were at the age where they loved being around babies and helping out. It was great as they both got one and no fights insued because of 'not sharing' them. :)

This last summer was very fun for them as they got to be good friends with another neighbor boy at the lake. Sleep-overs, fort building, swimming and games kept them all busy and they became fast friends. It will be a quiet summer without them around.

Gotta go...Happy Birthday boys! Grandpa and Grandma love you! xoxo

Happy Birthday Madeline!

Wow, I can't believe Madeline is already 5 years old! Madeline is our great niece and such a sweetie! Madeline was one of the flower girls in Julie & Nate's wedding. It was so much fun to watch her and her cousin Alyssa walk down the aisle together dropping flower petals. One of favorite pictures is of Madeline picking the flower petals up down by the alter (see Julie and Nate's wedding pictures in the post dated March 29th). Too cute. I wished Madeline and her family lived closer to us so we could get to know the kids better. Happy Birthday Madeline...we love you!

The ice is still on the lake up north here. It has melted alot today and with the wind picking up it will be gone soon...maybe tomorrow. It's been nice working from home this week. I've gotten up every morning and gone walking - 2 miles. That's pretty good for me. I've been wearing my pedometer trying to keep me on track and give me the incentive to keep moving. Work is having a 'contest' to get everyone to walk 100 miles in 8 weeks. Week one I walked 23 miles. Week two 19 miles. Not too bad - it's a start!

Last week I was in New Orleans for work. We had team meetings on Wednesday and Friday and then on Thursday we worked on a Habitat for Humanity house. It was very fun. There were 57 people from work that participated. I worked with 3 men putting up 'F' channell and soffitts. Not fun work. Working on a ladder and hammering upside down. Next time I'm going to grab a paint brush. :) Here is a group picture of us, a picture that tells the story about the new owners of the house I worked on and a picture of Terry. Terry is the main carpentar and heads up the organization for that site. During break time and throughout the day he would get his bagpipes out and play songs. Very nice person and a very fun day.