The Elwells' Weekly

Women of Faith Conference

2011-10-21T07:05:00.002-05:00

Good morning all! Guess what I get to do today! That's right...I'm attending the Women of Faith Conference here in St. Paul!

I was blessed to recieve 2 free tickets from Tommy Nelson's blogging site Book Sneeze! They just asked that I post about this before I go and after I go. You can see that I procrastinated a bit and I'm just getting this up literally right before I go but I've got to admit I'm really excited!

After I found out I had recieved the tickets I began to pray about who I should bring with me (since they were so kind enough to give me tickets for 2 people). I had a couple of different people in mind but couldn't really decide on which was the right person. Then about a day later, a girlfriend from work posted on my fb page asking me if I was planning on going to the Women of Faith conference and I knew then and there that she was the one I was going to bring with me! I'm super excited to see what God has in store for both of us!

It will be 2 full days (today and tomorrow) of teaching and music. Both Mary Mary and Natalie Grant will be preforming and I love both of them! :) I'm looking forward to posting about all the amazing stuff that we see and learn next week!

If you live in MN and are bummed that you missed this one...don't worry, they'll be back next year! And if you don't live in MN be sure to check out what dates are coming to a town near you. I'm sure you won't regret it!

Little L Update

2011-10-18T15:17:00.003-05:00

Well this is now a couple of months behind but Little L hit the 2 1/2 year mark at the end of July! She is turning into such a little girl and has definitely left the "baby" stage behind (although she still likes to pretend she's a baby these days!) I don't even know where to start with how much she's changed over the last six months but I can say that she is such a JOY to be around! We have our moments of tears and little tantrums (although no terrible twos for us praise God!) but truly she is usually in a good mood most days and she has such an amazing heart for people! Making friends is probably one of her favorite things to do!

We've had an extremely full summer but we have had lots of fun! Little L got to do some normal summer stuff like swimming, playing outside, bubbles, sprinlkers, etc. She also got to do a lot of "firsts" this summer, including dance class, pony ride, and a trip to the state fair (with a ride down the Giant Slide).

Little L has definitely blossomed in the area of communication! (She's taking after both her mommy and daddy!) Just in the last few weeks she's started really role playing with her toys, giving them names, having them talk to each other, and acting out different ideas. She loves to give directions to her mommy and daddy and anyone else that might want to do what she suggests!

Some Little L stories:

The gum situation...Little L wants to chew gum since mommy and daddy do but we decdided that we weren't going to let her chew gum until she is 5. Still, every once in awhile she will say "I older Mommy, I chew gum now!" She definitely has the concept of older down but not necissarily time!

Our little ballerina...Ever since we took dance classes (more on that in another post) Little L has been a little ballerina! She loves watching Angelina Ballerina and wearing anything that makes her feel like a dancer (dresses, skirts, clothes with ruffles, sparkles, etc.). She will dance or anyone that will watch (recently when we went to church, instead of shaking people's hands or giving high fives she would dance for them when they greeted her!)

Potty training...it's in full swing now although we are struggling with #2. It's a little frustrating since I know she could do it if she wanted to but it's a work in progress! :)

Making friends...Like I said earlier, it has to be on of Little L's favorite things to do! She will make friends at the church, the grocery store, garage sales, wherever! It's really nice though because she warms up to people extremely quickly! A few weeks ago we had some friends that I've know for years from CA come to MN for a trip and they were able to swing by our house for 30 min or so to chat. Within that short time Little L was climbing all over the guy and having him throw her in the air and sitting in his lap! Then when my brother came the other day from Norway (she hasn't seen him in person in 1 1/2 years) she started showing off (acting silly) and then he became her new best friend (she even told him that!) and they did puzzles and played catch and all sorts of stuff! She even cried when he left!

Reading stories...Little L has always loved to "read" but lately I've been really impressed with her ability to memorize books so quickly and "read" them back to me! She also loves to get our books from my bookshelf and "read" them outloud. They usually have a story that is about Jesus or someone getting stuck and her helping them out!

Singing...Little L loves to sing songs (some of her favorites right now are "Mr. Sun" "Baby Beluga" "Itsy Bitsy Spider" "I'm a Little Teapot" but she also loves to make up her own songs. Those are usually about whatever she is doing at the moment! Too fun!

Things Little L says:

Everything is "so cute!" or she "loves" it!

"I older Mommy" (see above story)

"Get me out" (usually yelled from her crib when she wants to get out...yes she is still in a crib but since she's not climbing out yet we are sticking with it!)

"Can I have some chocolate please?"

"I'm a ballerina!"

"Happy Birthday!" (this usually accompanies some type of "gift" that she is giving to you!)

"I love you SO much!" (That's my favorite!)

with daddy

She absolutely LOVES puzzles and she is really good at them! She does some of the 24 piece puzzles all by herself!

Grandma S took this picture when they went ot the mall...Little L loves to accessorize!

Art time!

Pretending to be a rock star with daddy!

When we bought the top we thought it was a dress so this was the first time we put it on her and we realzied it's a bit short to be a dress so it gets shorts or leggings underneath it!

first candy necklace!

More puzzles!

Grandma S's Vist and a Trip Up North

2011-08-28T21:08:00.000-05:00

My mom came to visit us and to attend my aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversery back in July. Here is the trip in pictures!

On my mom's first day here we took a trip to McDonald's for lunch.

Little L with a yummy cheese burger!

Mommy and Little L (love how her lips pucker from saying "cheese"!)

Little L and Grandma S (same lip pucker!)

After lunch we took a trip to the library to return some stuff and pick up a bunch of books on cd for Little L to listen to on our trip up North.

Then Grandma S and Little L had some fun in the yard!

Watering our flowers

Picking a pear from the pear tree

No visit from my mom is complete without (many) shoping trips! On one of our first ones we stopped at Target and they were in the middle of some awesome clearance sales. We got a bunch of things but one of them was a potty doll for Little L (at that point in time she was interested in talking about the potty but didn't actually want to do anything on it but just a few days ago she went on her potty chair for the first time and has gone a couple more times since then!). The doll is actually really cute and it came with its own toilet that flushes and all! I think the cutest part about the doll is how she "brushes" her teeth!

Like I mentioned earlier, the timing for my mom's trip was based around my aunt (her sister) and uncle's 50th wedding anniversery up in northern MN. It's about a 5 hour drive so we made sure to come prepared with audio books, a couple of dvds (although some were from the library and didn't work on our portable player) :(, LOTS of books and LOTS of toys!

Little L surrounded by her "stuff"

The drive was uneventful for the most part but unfortunately I was running on very little sleep and Little L decided not to nap at all in the car (or at my aunt's house when we got there) so it was very frustrating. The party was very nice (although we missed most of the actual presentation since Little L wouldn't sit still). After the presention we had a super yummy dinner in the church basement and then since it was so hot a lot of us went outside on the church grounds. Little L started "picking flowers"off the graves and once we explained that she couldn't take the flowers off of the graves she just started collecting all of the silk flowers that had blown around and weren't actually from any place in particular. So by the end of the night she had a pretty little collection of silk flowers from the graveyard! :)

Grandma S, Little L and me at the church for the anniversery party

Little L and my cousins daughter Miss H

My cousin's twin girls (only a few months older than Little L) and Little L ...this was the best picture we could get of three 2 1/2 year old girls!

The cake

Little L LOVED all the golden balloons and spent a ton of time running around in circles with them getting all sweaty! That's my aunt's wedding dress in the background! So fun!

Here she is all hot and sweaty with the balloons!

We stayed at my Aunt J's house and she had a great tub of toys for Little L to play with!

Looking at the Fourth of July decorations at Aunt J's house...Little L was in awe!

Here it is...the fiber optics changed colors and looked like little fireworks!

Little L playing in Aunt J's backyard

Checking out my cousin's horses

Playing at my aunt and uncle's farm with my cousins twin daughters

Uncle T's fishing boat

And for the trip home we stoped at Burger King so Little L could get a crown!

4th of July Weekend 2011

2011-08-20T06:50:00.001-05:00

Yup, I know the 4th of July was a loooong time ago but here are the pics! We went to my dad's lake cabin up near Bemidji and joined my grandparents, aunt and uncle and cousins. The weather was great and we had a ton of fun!

Fourth of July Boat Parade: Every year we decorate our boats and join a mini parade around the lake. This is my Grandparent's new pontoon boat that they just got. It's been great since it is easier for my grandpa to get in and go for boat rides now.

My cousin and her little one, one of my other cousins and Little L waving her flag!

Making buns with GiGi! Always an important part of visiting the lake.

Eating the dough is the best part!

Driving Great Grandpa's new pontoon!

Taking Grandpa and Great Grandpa on a "ride"

Daddy caught a big sunfish

Look at that guy!

Since the actual Fourth of July was on Monday this year we weren't sure if we were going to do our fireworks on Sunday night or Monday night. The weather for Monday was looking like a 50-50 chance of thunderstorms so we opted to be on the safe side and shot off all our stuff on Sunday night. We were glad we did since there ended up being a pretty big thunderstorm right around dusk when we normally start lighting our fireworks on Monday night.

As for our fireworks, my cousins always go to the same guy every year and he gives them great deals! We always make a list of all of the names of the fireworks (and seriously...who names those things?) and then using ipads this year (we have come so far from our old pencil and paper routine) we rated them all on a scale of 1-3. We have had varying scales over the years but eventually came down to this simple scale of (bad-ok-great! or 1-2-3!) That way we know what fireworks to get next year.

Since this was Little L's first time seeing fireworks I wasn't sure what to expect but I was pleasently suprised! Other than one incident with our first fountain, she absolutely LOVES them! Her quotes of the night were "Fireworks make me happy!" and "More?!?" :)

Miss A and Little L with their glow stick flags

Little L with my cousin L and all of the fireworks!

Catching her first glimpse of a fire work...she LOVED them!

I LOVE this picture! It totally captures how she felt about the fireworks!

Another one of my favorites!

I just LOVE all the looking up shots! (My parents have one of me from this age and looking at these pics always reminds me of that!)

Below is the first fountain that we lit. We were sitting a little closer than we probably should have been, and the fountain was a little bigger than we thought so in trying to move back quickly I tipped my chair over and Little L got a little concerend and started crying, saying she wanted to go to bed. After we got her calmed down she was back into the fire work action!

Waiting for the next firework to light up the sky!

Watching fire works with Daddy...

and Mommy!

My cousin's daugter A wasn't quite as sure about the fireworks but after awhile she got into them too!

They sure did have fun waving their glow stick flags (seriously worth the dollar from the dollar store!)

My dad snapped this picture of Lydia sleeping with her glow flag after all the fireworks!

When my cousin L and I were little we had our picture taken with another cousin of mine (K) when we were in the 2-3 year age range. We were all wearing matching dresses my grandma had made and sitting together in the hammock. My aunt K decided that it would be fun to reproduce that with our little girls (K is still newly married and hasn't added a little one to the bunch yet so for this version it was just L and my daughters). So my aunt made matching dresses for the girls (she actually finished them up out at the lake) and then we used my dad's hammock to take the picture.

Hammock shot...this hammock is so big it was hard to get the girls in there sitting up!

So cute!

Caribou Coffee had a coupon for the 4th of July that let you get a kiddy drink for free with the purchase of an adult drink. So my cousins and I took Little L and Miss A into town to get "big girl coffee drinks"!

Little L's favorite part is the whip cream of course!

Sportin' momma's glasses!

Playing together in the Caribou kiddy area

On the actual Fourth of July we did some low key firework stuff like snakes, poppers (or snaps depending on who you are talking too!), bottle rockets and firecrackers.

Those are so loud!

Miss A wasn't too sure about the fire crackers...

This is what caused the girl's to cover their ears...it was a long string of firecrackers and once they burned up it lit the top ball on fire which caused it to rain down little exploding sparks...it was quite the show!

Little L hanging out with T

She LOVES her corn on the cob!

Eating our traditional 4th of July cook out with Grandpa M

Cousin hugs!

Miss A is such a little fish!

The hubby and me on my grandparents dock

Little L trying to do a handstand

"I wanna go wakeboarding too!"

Daddy waving bye before he takes off on the wakeboard

Little L and Miss A had a great time playing in the sand and "baking"

Sliding into the lake

After a nice long day on the beach you've got to use the foot bucket to get all of the sand off your feet...Little L sure is a lake girl!

Sorry for the lateness and the looong post with lots of pics but I hope you enjoyed them all! :)

Mini RA Reunion

2011-08-07T16:08:00.000-05:00

When I was in college I was an RA (resident assistant) for 2 years and got to work with some amazing ladies! One of the girls had the same first name as me and our last names both started with a K which made things rather interesting for us (we actually had to be distingushed using our middle initial or by the "blonde one" or the "brunnette one" or sometimes I was even refered to as the "loud one"...go figure!)

I don't think we had seen each other since we graduated (8 years ago now...ACK!) but we reconnected on fb awhile back when we were both preggo with our first daughters (her daughter M ended up being born only a week or two after Little L). She recently had baby #2 (the handsome Mr. C) and moved with her soon to be doctor hubby to Kansas City. I was super excited to hear that they were going to be coming through MN on their marathon road trip and we made sure to catch up!

I know they had A LOT of stops on their very long trip but I am so excited and blessed that we were one of them! We ended up meeting at (where else) the Children's Museum. E brought along another friend of hers that was an RHD (Resident Hall Director) with her which was after I graduated from college so we hadn't met previously. She brought her beautiful daughter along too so the three moms with their three girls had a blast!

We got there right when the muesum opened and I will for sure be doing that in the future. There was hardly anyone there which is great when you've got little ones. It's easier to let them run around in some of the more popular exhibits when there are fewer people (i.e. fewer of the bigger kids). Plus, all of the accessories for Our World were where they were supposed to be which made it a little more fun and less chaotic.

Here are some pics!

Shopping at the grocery store

Little L loves to drive the bus! She actually did pretty well with waiting her turn too!

Face painting

Doesn't she look thrilled! :)

That's my girlfriend E and her Miss M along with Little L

New friends are so fun!

Again...looking thrilled...can you tell she was loving the red for face painting? You can see she added some color to my face and I will say that I totally forgot about it and didn't wipe it off (although I cleaned Little L's face before her nap). Later that night we went to the mall and of course it wasn't until we got in the car to go home that I realized I still had the face paint on! Classic!

Twe E's with their two little girls!

Sidewalk chalk

Painting with water

Miss M and E in the outdoors craft room

Taking a little quiet break to read books

TA and her lovely daughter the Beautiful B checking out the Water Works area

All the girls loved the bubbles!

Little L loves to put the bubbles on her hands and then wash them off!

Blowin bubbles!

Beach Visit

2011-08-06T07:32:00.000-05:00

So I am WAY behind in posting my stuff here but I figured I'd start catching up!

Here is a little trip we took down to a beach in Eden Prairie with our friend S and her niece and nephews. We got there a little early and didn't realize the beach didn't officially open until later and there was actually a lifeguard training that was occurng so there with about 15-20 teenagers. We just had the kids stay to the side and they still had a ton of fun! The temp was a little cooler than we expected as well but Little L didn't even seem to notice (although the bigger kids had to get warmed up every once in awhile)!

R had to warm up on his auntie's lap since it was a little chilly!

You can see all the lifeguards in the background...at least we knew everyone would be safe!

Little L had a blast playing with G...he was running around with buckets of water and Little L kept copying him! She talked about playing with him for days afterwards!

Little L LOVES playing in the sand...she was laying down and rolling around in it which meant she was COVERED in sand by the time we were done playing!

Lunch break!

Fun Inside on a Rainy Day

2011-07-19T15:49:00.000-05:00

About a month ago we decided to try out the story time at Eidem Family Farm in Brooklyn Park. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and story time was canceled. However, the lady at the farm was nice enough to let us roam around a little bit to check out the animals since it wasn't really raining. Little L had a blast "feeding" the goats straw and checking out the other animals! She also enjoyed running around checking everything out but was a little bummed that we weren't going to have our picnic that I was planning to eat at the farm. So after we left we had a "picnic" in our living room! Later that day I made up some "Fourth of July" play dough and we had a grand ol' time! Here are a few pics I took!

Driving from the farm

Eating at our picnic lunch

We watched a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode where Minnie plans a picnic while we had our picnic!

Here's a pic of the play dough I made. I added food coloring to the two and I added glitter to all three. It is kind of hard to see the glitter in the picture but it made for pretty play dough!

This play dough is really great! Super easy to make and super smooth and fun to play with! I will definitely be making more in the near future!

My attempt at an American flag since we were learning about "America's Birthday"

Here is the link to the play dough recipe I got from Counting Coconuts. Seriously LOVE that blog!

A Trip to the MOA with Grandpa

2011-07-13T20:37:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago when my dad was here after Memorial Day weekend, we decided to take a trip to the MOA to check out the Sea Life aquarium. There was a deal where the tickets were the cheapest I've ever seen them and you know me and a good deal! Little L had a BLAST and was just running around checking everything out. You can see in a couple of pictures that my dad had to pretty much pull her out of the water!

Notice that Grandpa is actually holding onto her pants so she doesn't go head first into the pool!

After running through Sea Life, we were pretty hungry so we grabbed a bite to eat at Johnny Rockets! YUMMY!

And since Grandpa is a huge fan of all things Apple, we had to stop in the Apple store. I love the fact that they added a little kids station with computers and fun games! Little L was hooked and it was hard to get her out of there. Do those Mac guys know what they are doing or what!?!

A fun filled trip for all!

Fun at the Park!

2011-07-08T07:34:00.000-05:00

Here are some pics of Little L playing at a nearby park. There is a little pond that is surrounded by geese and ducks so after playing in the park we went over and fed them some bread. Little L loved them but I had to stop her from walking in, sitting in, and trying to pick up the birdie droppings! :)

Pirate Treasure Sensory Tub

2011-07-06T07:08:00.000-05:00

I love the idea of sensory tubs (I found them on a couple different mommy blogs, specifically Counting Coconuts) and Little L has been loving them too! I decided to do some pirates stuff last month and put together this tub to go along with the theme.

I filled the tub with black beans for the "dirt" and then put coins from the dollar store as well as some necklaces and bracelets. Then she got to dig through and find her "treasure"!

I had a hat and eye patch from the dollar store to complete the pirate feel. :)

Putting the black beans in her "hook"

I made the mistake of leaving her unattended while she was playing with the tub and this is what I came back too! Needless to say I didn't leave her alone with the tub after that! :)

We read a couple different pirate books including: Backyardigans Pirate Treasure, Shiver Me Letters: A Pirate ABC, Do Pirates Take Baths?, and Night Pirates.

Along with the books I used this Pirate Tot Pack from Homeschool Creations blog. The Bible verse that it focuses on is "Where your treasure is, there your heart is also" so it's been fun to include the Word on that while we hunt for treasure! And hunting for treasure is one of Little L's favorite activities that we did to go with our pirate theme. We take the "doubloons" that we used in the sensory tub and hide them around the house. Then we dress up as pirates and go around looking for our treasure! "ARRRRR" :)

This is a pic of the hubby with Little L after a treasure hunt!

What I think about...A Reluctant Queen - The Love Story of Esther by Joan Wolf

2011-06-27T13:30:00.001-05:00

The book of Esther is probably one of my favorites so when I saw that Booksneeze had a fictional version of the story available for review in an ebook I snatched it up!

Here is a description from the publisher...

An inspiring re-imagining of the tale of Esther, a young Jewish woman thrust from a life of obscurity into a life of power, wealth, intrigue . . . and tender love.

See the story of Esther in an entirely new way—with all the political intrigue and tension you remember, but told as a passionate and tender love story between a young man and woman. Misunderstood by many, King Xerxes was a powerful but lonely man. Esther’s beauty caught the eye of the young king, but it was her spirit that captured his heart.

Imagine anew the story of Esther, one of our faith’s great heroines, destined to play a key role in the history of Christianity.

Now here's what I think...

If you are looking for a scripturally accurate recounting of the story of Esther with just a little fiction thrown in to fill in the detail gaps in the actual Bible then this is not the book for you. While I truly enjoyed reading the book (I actually had a hard time putting it down and got frustrated when my ipad that I was reading it on ran out of power!), I often caught myself saying "wait a minute, that's not what really happened" and I even went back to the Bible to double check things. Now I know this book is clearly fiction and isn't trying to pretend to be nonfiction but some pretty major things were changed (i.e. a whole new king was created for Esther to marry instead of Xerxes). My biggest issue is that it could clearly confuse people as to what really happened and how the scriptures recounts things. Also, I guess I just don't think the actual story really needed to be changed that much just to get a "good romance" out of the book of Esther. I think there's plenty of great stuff that's right there in the scripture! If you are looking for a more scripturally based fictionalized story of Esther I would suggest checking out "Hadassah: One Night With the King" by Tommy Tenney. (It's one of my favorite reads!)

To sum it up...It's a great book with well developed characters, a good plot, and a nice level of sweet romance. However, I think the author took a little too much liberty with the facts of the scripture when she wrote the book and that definitely disappointed me.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

2011-06-25T07:14:00.000-05:00

Memorial Day usually means a weekend at my dad's lake cabin. So we hoped in the car on Friday afternoon for the drive up. It's about an 3 hour and 30 minute drive if you don't stop but we figured with Little L we'd have to stop at least once...but thankfully we were wrong! :) She fell asleep about 45 minutes into the drive and slept for over an hour and a half. That meant that she really only had to be "entertained" for about an hour at a time so we were able to make the drive without stopping! WooHoo! One of the things that helped keep her entertained was V Tech Learning Tunes Karaoke toy that I had gotten for about $6 during a great sale at Toys R Us! Little L absolutely LOVES it and I have to admit it is one of my favorite electronic toys that I have ever gotten her.

Little L sleeping on the way up to the cabin

Unfortunately the weather was kind of yucky so we didn't get a lot of nice outside playtime in but the girls still had fun and even played in the lake for a bit while the guys put the dock in. We had to give them a warm bath afterwards to warm them up since the lake was still really cold! On Saturday night a group of us took a trip into town to go to the movie Thor. It was lots of fun with the family!

Here are some pics from the weekend:

The guys putting my dad's dock in

Little L and her "cousin" (really my cousin's daughter) Miss A

The girls watching the dock go in

Playing in the COLD lake!

Do you like that I just took Little L's pants off and let her splash in her raincoat!

HUGS!

Miss A and her Daddy B!

Miss A showing Little L how an alphabet ipad game works

Both of the girls on ipads! We're a very technically advanced family you know! :)

Daddy and Little L playing hide and seek behind GG's chair

Toddler Tuesday - Dancercise

2011-06-24T14:19:00.000-05:00

A few Tuesdays back we met up with a girlfriend of mine from Homemakers (K) and her 2 beautiful girls, Miss M (3 years old) and Baby J, for the Toddler Tuesday at MOA. This time around they were doing Dancercise with a pajama theme. So the little girls all went in there jammies! Miss M and Little L actually had *almost* matching pjs but I didn't end up getting a good picture of it! :(

The lady that was performing (I completely spaced her name) was a lot of fun and cute. Miss M really got into it but Little L wasn't overly interested at all. The two girls went and got their own carpet spots and when it started Miss M did all of the dance moves and sang along while Little L just sat there staring. About half way through Little L decided she was done and started to cry. I tried to get her to come over to me (we were sitting on the sidelines with strollers and Baby J) but she wouldn't move. So I had to go over and grab her. Once she got into her stroller she was happy as a clam! Silly girl!

After the show was done we went and ate at Soul Daddy's which is the new restaurant from "The Next Great American Restaurant" show. K was a fan of the show and wanted to stop by and even though I hadn't even watched an episode it was still fun to go! The food was pretty good and you certainly got a lot of it!

We had lots of fun with the girls and I'm sure we'll hit up more Toddler Tuesdays soon!

Little L's Ladybug Umbrella

2011-06-18T14:35:00.000-05:00

Little L loves umbrellas (which is good thing I guess since we've had so much rain lately!) I had some credit at an online store that I wanted to use up so I decided to get Little L her very own umbrella. I showed her a couple of options online and she picked out the ladybug one. She actually knew when the box came that it had her ladybug umbrella in it and she was so excited!

Here she is trying it out!

Outdoor Fun

2011-06-15T11:23:00.000-05:00

Little L and I planted a flower garden a few weeks ago. (I guess I should say I did most of the "planting" while trying to get Little L to not throw dirt and not pull on the flowers after we planted them!) She is absolutely in awe of our flowers and loves to water them! The morning after we planted them the first thing she did was run to the window to look at her flowers!

Here's what it looked like when we planted them (the middle is a daylily that I planted last year and now it is so big it is almost covering up the other flowers and has lots of buds although it hasn't bloomed yet). I was planing on putting in 2 more flowering perennials and some type of white annuals to fill in the triangle but since the daylily got so big I don't have too. My goal is just to have lots of color and once the daylily starts to bloom I am sure it will be filled with color!

Here is one of the lilies I just planted. The sad thing is that only a few days after I took this picture I went outside and all of the buds (including the one that was open) had been broken off. I'm thinking it was the wind but whatever, it made me sad!

Little L got a new tricycle and it is actually really cool because it comes with a handle so it can function as a stroller as well (and even has brackets to go around smaller babies but Little L is too big for them now). The shade is a great idea but doesn't really function that well since it tends to fly up in any amount of breeze. All in all though, a great first trike for Little L!

Little L has been eyeing Daddy's skateboard all winter long! She could see it in the garage when we went to get in the car and after seeing Jake skate on Jake and the Neverland Pirates she wanted to give it a go herself! We had to keep telling her to wait until the snow was gone and now that it is she really wants to ride it.

Pinkalicious at the MOA

2011-06-13T14:44:00.000-05:00

A couple of Tuesdays ago they had Pinkalicious at the MOA for Toddler Tuesdays. The Hopkins Stages Theatre was doing a production of Pinkalicious and so they came out to preform a few songs. I met up with a my girlfriend M and her daughter Miss E. The girls had lots of fun coloring their princess crowns and watching the show. The best part of the trip was the fact that the mall was so quiet! There weren't that many people there for the Toddler Tuesday and even the rest of the mall seemed empty! After the show was done we went over to Lego Land and walked around. For most of our time walking through that store we were the only people there! Total bliss! :)

Miss E watching Pinkalicious

Little L watching Pinkalicious

M and Miss E coloring

Pinkalicious with Little L and Mommy

Legoland

Checking out Woody

Sharing a stroller!

Display for Little L's Art Work

2011-06-07T19:41:00.000-05:00

Little L is getting to the age where she "creates masterpieces" on a daily basis and I wanted to be able to display them, at least for a while, to give them a sense of worth. I had seen a couple of different ideas for "Look What I Made" displays and decided to try and make one myself. Using some digital scrapbook paper and a fun font that I found online (for free of course!) I made a picture for each word (Look, What, I, Made). Then I printed it on photo paper and laminated them. After that I used a hot glue gun to attach a wooden clothes pin to the back of each word. This is where it got tricky for me...I debated a lot of different ways to hang the clothes pins (attaching to a decretive wooden board, putting magnets on them and sticking them to a baking pan or something similar, etc.). What I ended up doing is hanging up 2 3M hooks (actually made for hanging wreaths so they are green...think I will end up spray painting them at some point) and then I tied ribbon between the two hooks to hang the clothes pins on. Like I said, I think I am going to spray paint the hooks and I'm not too happy with the ribbon I have up right now so I will probably change that some time too but all in all I think it turned out ok! Now it hangs above Little L's table where she does a lot of crafts and hopefully it will inspire her!

A Castle Built for a Princess

2011-06-03T07:46:00.000-05:00

We were playing in Little L's room when she told me she wanted to build a castle out of her building blocks. I think it turned out to be a castle built for a princess! She wanted a door but we had already used all of the blocks so we just improvised and used a puzzle! Little L was pretty as a princess in her castle!

Ta Da!

Girly Fun

2011-05-26T07:39:00.000-05:00

The other day I put a braid in Little L's hair and when it came out it was all wavy, so being the girly girl I am, I wanted to see what her hair would look like if I covered it in braids! After a bath one night I put on Little Einsteins and filled Little L's head with tiny braids! She actually did really great sitting still (since she was basically zoned out on the show!)

Here are the "before" pics...

This is one of Little L's newest "camera" smiles

Here are the "after" pics...

Here's that closed eye "camera" smile again!

You can see it was a little crazy but kind of fun and it calmed down as the day went on. I'm sure we'll do it again someday soon!

A Little Rainy Fun

2011-05-24T07:25:00.000-05:00

I actually wrote this post before we had our crazy storms these last few days! I have to admit...we are a little tired of the rain now! :)

We've had quite a few rainy days lately and I really don't mind so much since it is turning our grass green and helping our flowers grow! Plus it is fun to watch Little L explore what rainy days are like! I know she's seen rainy days before but she really hasn't been able to play in them like she can now. Of course, after playing with my umbrella one day she fell in love and I had to get her one of her own! She helped me pick the ladybug design out online and she remembered it was coming so she asked pretty much every day for her ladybug "brella" until it came!

Here's another shot of her saying "cheese"!

A New Sandbox

2011-05-19T07:05:00.000-05:00

Little L just got a new sandbox and boy does she love it! Turns out she loves to dig in the dirt so the sandbox is great since she doesn't get quite as dirty and she doesn't disrupt our flowers either! Her favorite thing to do in it right now is play hide n seek. I picked up a couple of sand forms at the dollar store in the shape of Mickey, Goofy and Donald so we hide them deep in the sand and then she finds them! Hours of fun I tell you! Here are pics from her first day in the sandbox...

This is Little L saying "Cheese" :)

A Vist With Friends from ND

2011-05-17T08:57:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I found out that some family friends of ours were going to be in the cities over Easter weekend. So we went down to the hotel they stayed at near the airport to eat pizza and go swimming. LL and I grew up together and even though we lived states apart we always stayed connected and had a ton of pictures taken of the two of us in matching jammies. LL even brought matching jammies for her little girl M and Little L. Too fun! It was such a great time reconnecting even if it was just for a few hours!

Little L, Miss M and Mr. C hanging out on the bed

Playing with the ipad

Mr. C wanted in on the action too

There was a box of crackers that went from child to child that night! Here Little L is sharing some with her new friends!
That's LL just over by her son Mr. C

Watching the airplanes take off

Mr. C kept trying to climb into his pack n play...he even dove in head first one time!

2 little monkeys jumpin on the bed!

Showing off their matching jammies

They became friends right off the bat! Sharing a chair while eating pizza

Running down the hall to the pool!

Miss E, Miss M, Mrs. M and Little L
Miss E's flight was delayed so we only got to see her for a few minutes but it was still great to catch up!

How not to wear your bathing suit

2011-05-14T07:24:00.000-05:00

Little L loves to go swimming and she loves to wear her bathing suits. The only thing is she hasn't totally figured out how to put her bathing suits on by herself just yet. This is how she came out of her room the other night...

Kitchen time

2011-05-13T13:42:00.000-05:00

Little L is really starting to enjoy her kitchen and I love watching her actually pretend! She loves to run the water in the sink and fill up glasses for us to drink! And she loves to play with her phone. She is used to me saying that I've got to grab my phone before we go somewhere so then she has to grab her phone and bring it with her. Too cute! Enjoy the pics!

Grandma S's last minute trip

2011-05-11T06:46:00.000-05:00

When the hubby started working again and I had a trip out to Methuen for a trial at one of our yogurt plants we were stuck trying to figure out who would watch Little L while I was gone (we still didn't have her daycare figured out just yet either). Thankfully, my mom was willing to fly in for an impromptu trip. Other than baking and playing in the snow we also took a trip to the Mall of America and went to Underwater Adventure (or Sea Life or whatever it is called now!). Then we met 2 of my aunts and went to Ikea. Here are pics from our trips! And thanks again mom for coming on such short notice to help us out!

Touching something squishy from the ocean!

The room the jellyfish were in was dark and lit with black lights...so cool!

I love this shot!

Climbing on beds at IKEA...she wanted to climb on everything!

My Aunt J, Aunt O and my mom eating lunch at IKEA

Little L and me at IKEA

Snow Days

2011-05-10T07:02:00.000-05:00

I'm not going to lie...I am so glad that we are done with the snow for now. But it is a little fun to remember how much fun Little L had when it was warm enough to play outside! Here are some pics of Little L playing in the snow!

Making a family of snowmen with Grandma S

This was the best family picture we were able to get with us and our snow people!

More Baking with Grandma

2011-05-09T08:59:00.000-05:00

Since I am so far behind on posting I am going to just group a couple of baking session Little L had with Grandma S into this post! Enjoy!

Making yummy cookies!

Clover Leaf Buns

Her favorite part of baking!

Bless Your Mom...

2011-05-01T14:11:00.000-05:00

One of the few blogs that I follow with a bit of loyalty is Wendy Hagen's Tales from the Motherhood. She was a former child actress (and she posts about memories from that time on Wednesdays) plus she is a mom and she wrote a book about "keepin it real in the motherhood" called Totally Desperate Mom. I actually won her book on a different blog and that's how I got hooked! :) Anyway, right now she has a "Mother's Day Giveaway - Bless Your Mom" going on with some great prizes (some I'll give away as gifts and some I want to keep for myself!) so I thought I would enter! To enter she just wanted us to answer some questions about your mom so here are mine!

1. What is your best childhood memory of your mom?
Hmmm, I would have to go with all of our trips to go out of town shopping! I grew up in a smaller town in CA that basically only had a Walmart and a Mervyn's (and now that's gone too!) so we would always drive to one of the bigger towns that had a mall and do a day of shopping. My mom is a bargain hunter and that is something that definitely stuck with me! It was always fun to go to the different stores and go out to eat, plus the time in the car there and back made for some great conversations!

One specific favorite memory is actually from just before I went to college when we had a girl's trip and we went to Spirit West Coast (a Christian Music Festival) and then spent a few days together in Las Vegas while my mom went to a nursing class. It was a lot of fun!

2. Was she consistent in her discipline?
Honestly, I don't remember getting in trouble that often growing up (so she must have let me get away with a lot!) but I do remember one specific instance at church where I think she kind of lost it on me! I was talking back (I think I was somewhere between 9 and 12) and she grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the fellowship hall. Since that was kind of a one time thing that I remember I'm guessing that she wasn't always consistent but I know she tried to be!

3. Did you ever make your mom cry?
I know I did but I don't remember any specific instances (I'm probably mentally blocking them). I'm thinking it was more when I was rude or hurtful to her as opposed to just not listening to her.

4. Do you remember any of the special things your mom did for you?
My mom has always been one to give gifts whenever she can! She still does it to this day! My mom was also really involved in a lot of stuff I did growing up (Girl Scouts, church groups, and school stuff) so I think she was always trying to make things special for me.

One thing that she tried to make extra special for me that didn't go quite as planned was my 18th birthday. She ended up throwing me a surprise party and I know her heart was in the right place but it turned out to be such a mess. I was in one of those weird high school periods where I was involved with a lot of VERY different groups of friends and she invited them ALL to the party. Um...awkward!

5. Did she teach you anything really significant?
I think one of the most significant things my mom taught me that really stuck is that you have what you say. She would always get irritated with the parents who would say that teenagers never have a good relationship with their parents and they never listen, or any other numerous negative things that people say about their kids. She feels that if you expect your kids to not respect you than they probably won't. That has really had an impact on how I talk about my daughter and a lot of other things in my life.

Well there you have it! Those are my questions for Wendy's contest! I'm not gonna lie...I really hope I win! But either way it was fun thinking about my mom and how special she really is! Love you Mom! Happy Mother's day!

What We're Reading Now

2011-04-30T13:54:00.000-05:00

I've actually seen a couple of posts lately on other blogs that list the books that their little ones love and it gave me the idea to put one together of what we are reading right now!

Little L LOVES books! Which is good because my favorite thing to buy for her is books! I've discovered the books at Goodwill and Savers (a thrift shop). They are all $0.99 or less and I've gotten quite a few for $0.49! They're usually in pretty decent shape and it really doesn't matter that they aren't brand new since even new books don't look too new after a few reads through by Little L. :) So here are her favorites right now.

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

Little L absolutely loves this book! For months she made us read this book before every nap and every time she went to bed. She even took it to bed with her most nights! Her favorite part is when "all the little girls cried 'BooHoo! We want to have our appendix out too;" She always laughs at the sad face I make when I read that line. This is the first book that she really "read" to me. It is amazing what she can remember!

Corduroy by Don Freedman

I'm loving the fact that some of Little L's favorite books are "classics"! This is another one that Little L was having us read every night for awhile. I think her favorite part is when Corduroy accidentally ends up on the escalator and thinks he's climbing a mountain (I always make the book go up and she loves that!)

Shiver Me Letters: A Pirate ABC by June Sobel

This one has moved up the list to her number one favorite right now! I found it at Goodwill for $0.49 and thought it would be a fun read. It's about pirates that decide they need other letters (besides 'R' of course!) to help make them tough. The best part is both the hubby and I get to practice our pirate voices when we read this one!

Freight Train by Donald Crews

Yet another Goodwill find! The copy I got is actually an old library book but it is in great condition. This one has a really simple story but the pictures are so amazing! Little L loves pointing at each type of car on the freight train.

Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner

One of my favorite bloggers (Amanda at ohAmanda and Impress Your Kids) had mentioned this one in a post of hers and so when I saw it at Goodwill I had to have it! This is another one of those fun voice books. I get to use my best Hispanic accent when I read it to Little L and it always makes her laugh! (me too!)

Well, that's just a short list of some of our top read books in Little L's room. Now on to what the hubby and I are reading.

The hubby is in the middle of reading Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back by Todd Burpo

He said it was a little slow to start off with but he has been enjoying it a lot! Last night he read about the Throne Room of God and said it was just amazing to read! I'm planning on reading it when he's finished.

I have been feeding the 12 year old girl that lives inside of me by reading the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery.

I actually found the first three books (Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, and Anne of the Island) in a box my parents had brought me from home a few years ago. I thought I had read them before but when I started reading them I realized I never had! They have been such great reads that I haven't been able to put them down! (And I was greatly relieved when Anne and Gilbert finally got engaged at the end of Anne of the Island!) Now I just have to go get Anne of Windy Poplars from the library since they don't have it as an ebook on Amazon (they have all but 2 from the series as free ebooks). This is definitely a series I will be reading with Little L when she gets older! (Along with The Chronicles of Narnia and The Little House on the Prairie books!)

Well, I hope this gave you some inspiration to go pick up a book!

Little L's Elmo Second Birthday Party

2011-04-25T10:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long delay in posting but we have been keeping ourselves super busy (posts and pictures to come)....

For Little L's 2nd birthday party I decided to keep it pretty low key but I wanted to make sure she knew she was being celebrated and I wanted a theme! Grandma S flew into town that morning and then we started the day at the MN Children's Museum (yes, I will never stop singing the praises of that place!) and met our friends Mrs. M, Miss E, Mr. E and Papa J! Then we had a "special" McDonald's lunch!

Grandma gave her gummy bears and they ended up on her face!

This is the cupcake shirt I made for her...it turned out better than I expected but not quite as cute as I hoped!

McDonald's Birthday lunch!

She LOVES the water!

Grandma S got Little L her very own kitchen so we put it together while she was sleeping and this is her checking it out!

That night we had just a few people over. Little L's Grandpa G and Grandma C (the hubby's parents), Grandma S (my mom), Mrs. M, Miss E, and Papa J, plus S and D! Not a huge party (and only one other kiddo) but still lots of fun!

Like I mentioned earlier, I decided to go with an Elmo theme, which mostly just meant an Elmo balloon, some printouts of Elmo on the wall and, drumroll please.......... Elmo cupcakes!

They really didn't take that long to make and it was fun (although the icing never really got to a true "Elmo" red!)

The girls eating supper at a table that is just their size!

The innocent start of the cupcake eating....

My girlfriend kept egging Little L on until she got the red frosting all.over. which led to...

an impromptu bath!

Little L had so much fun and got so many great gifts! She is so high tech we even opened gifts with Grandpa M on ichat! One of the best parts has been listening to her talk about her party in the days and weeks after it happened! She wanted to keep getting presents in the days that followed (if you even mentioned the word she would pipe up and say "more!") She also kept talking about her "birthday cake"! My favorite was when she started talking about the cupcakes..."Eat Elmo's eyes", "Eat Elmo's nose", "Eat Elmo's mouth"! I never really thought about that fact that making Elmo cupcakes meant she was eating Elmo! It was too funny! :)

All in all, we had a great time celebrating Little L's big day!

What I think about...The Velveteen Bible

2011-04-15T20:23:00.000-05:00

I recently had the opportunity to review Thomas Nelson's newest children's Bible called "The Velveteen Bible".

First, here is a little blurb from Thomas Nelson's website about this Bible.
"A sweet addition to the Tommy Nelson Baby/Toddler Bible line, using an adorable image of a flocked velvet bunny.

Inspired by Baby's First Bible with the adorable fuzzy duck cover, this new offering for little ones, The Velveteen Bible features soft fur and a fuzzy tail! Inside, the New King James Version scripture is accompanied by whimsical images of bunnies and other baby animals, colorful borders, and lovely sentiments from the scriptures. The Bible is packaged in a keepsake treasure box."

This Bible is so sweet looking and a great size for little hands. The velvet flocking in the cover is a sweet touch that really makes you want to run your hands over it! Inside there are 3 sets of 4 pictures painted in watercolors that have a bible verse to go along with them. They are so fun and add a little color which is always good in a children's Bible.

At the front of the Bible there is a dedication page and then a place to write in the child's brothers, sisters, and grandparents names and birth dates. There is also a page for the important dates in the child's life like dedication, confirmation, etc. I think that addition makes it feel a little like a grown up's bible in a fun way.

This is a full Bible in the New King James Version so it is not something that Little L will be reading on a regular basis just yet but I still think it will make a nice addition to her Easter basket this year!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

We're Back!

2011-04-11T08:17:00.001-05:00

I know that there aren't a ton of you out there just sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for me to post something again but I do know that a few of you actually look forward to seeing pictures and hearing what we've been up to (especially Little L!)...so to you, I apologize for my lack of posts. But I'm back now and will hopefully be posting on a more regular basis! (Oh, and I hope you like my new background...I think it really represents how we all feel around here about the weather!)

First I'll give you a quick recap of everything that has gone on in the last three months!

Little L turned 2!!! (I'll have a post for her party up soon) It is hard to believe but she is definitely leaving behind the baby stage and turning into a full fledged toddler! Her vocabulary is crazy! She is entering the parrot phase and it is so fun to hear her using phrases like "See you later". She loves to say hi to everyone we see at the grocery store (and if the person she is talking to doesn't hear her she will just keep saying hi until they do!) I think my all time favorite though, is that lately she has started praying over her food. It usually goes something like "Dear God, thank you mumble, mumble, mumble, mumble in Jesus name. Amen" Cutest.thing.ever.

Singing is also a new hobby that Little L has picked up! She loves to sing a lot of Veggie Tales songs (the theme song, "Barbara Manatee", "Song of the Cebu", "I Love My Lips", and "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" are some of her favorites). "Frosty the Snowman", "The Eitsy-Bitsy Spider", "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and the ever popular "ABC's" are some of the others that are in heavy rotation.

In other news...the hubby started working full time as a union electrician again just over a month ago. The job is a real blessing since it is located only 10 minutes from our home, is an inside job (so no working in the yucky weather, hot or cold), and it looks like it could last for a while. While we are thankful for the new job, it definitely put some twists into our daily lives. For one thing, my daddy daycare had to close up shop so we needed to find a new place for Little L to hang out on the two days that I'm at work. I also had to travel to a Yoplait plant out near Boston right after the hubby went back to work so my mom ended up flying in from CA to spend a week with us and watch Little L while I was gone. It was a huge blessing and a lot of fun! Little L always loves it when Grandma K comes to visit since she knows she is gonna get a little spoiled (for instance, now Little L has a favorite new treat...Jelly Belly Jelly Beans! Thanks Grandma!)

After some research and about 5 interviews, we found a great spot for Little L to go while I'm at work! She is at an in home daycare that Mrs. K has been running for almost 30 years (and bonus...it's directly on my way to work only 5 mins away)! There is another little girl that is just a month older than her plus 2 that are younger and a few more that are older. Mrs. K is great and even does letters, numbers, books, crafts, etc. Little L had so much fun her first week and I know she is looking forward to going back next week!

Well, I guess that is about it for all the fabulous stuff that has been keeping us on the go! Here are some pictures of Little L to leave you with until my next post!

So stylin!!

Who me?!?!

This is a classic Little L look when she is trying to get away with something!

Dialing some friends

Driving the van! (one of her new favorite things to do!)

What I think about...Read and Share: Stories about Jesus

2011-02-15T09:09:00.000-06:00

Recently I was sent the children's book Read and Share: Stories about Jesus by Gwen Ellis to review for the BookSneeze program. I absolutely LOVE getting new books for Little L (you should see her book collection) so I was excited to see this book is a big board book which means it can take the beatings that she sometimes dishes out on her books.

Here is a description from the BookSneeze website about this book:

From the bestselling Read and Share® Bible, 13 stories from the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. These time-honored favorites include: The Man Who Ate Locusts, John Baptizes Jesus, Jesus Heals a Sick Boy, Jesus Brings a Girl Back to Life, Jesus Walks on Water, Jesus Loves the Children, Zacchaeus, A Blind Man Sees Again, Jesus Stops a Storm, One Lost Sheep, Jesus' Best Friends, One Man Says Thank You, and Jesus Goes to Heaven.

One of the things I like about this book is the fact that each story is only a page or two long which makes it just the right length to keep my 2 year old daughter's attention. She isn't quite at the point for wanting to read through the whole book at once but it is set up quite nicely to be able to just read one or two stories at a time. I think my favorite feature is the think about questions that they have after each story. While they are a little too much for my daughter now (and some are a little bit much for even a 4 year old in my opinion), I think they will be great conversation starters in the near future! They are simple questions that really get to the heart of the story and help apply it to a toddler's life. This is definitely a great addition to our book collection!

Little L's First Hair Cut

2011-02-12T15:27:00.000-06:00

About a month ago, I finally took Little L in for her first haircut! I had been putting it off because I wanted her to have her bangs grow out (and not have to keep getting them trimmed all the time) and I was really loving her hair getting long. However, she was definitely getting a duck tail going on in the back and since those kind of went out with the 80's I decided to clip it off before I got her 2 year pictures taken (I'll put those up in a few days!). Since I am NOT a hair stylist and Little L's hair is so fine, I do not trust myself to cut it so we went into a kid's salon in Maple Grove called Snip Its. It's a really cute place and since it was our first time there I had a coupon (of course) so it was very reasonably priced. Plus, they even gave us a little certificate with a lock of Little L's hair!

The salon is super fun looking with lots of bright colors and cartoon characters so that made it really inviting. We were the only ones there at that time too, which made it easy for Little L to roam and kind of make herself at home. She wasn't too interested in sitting in the chair at first but once we got her a dumdum sucker and a puzzle, she was good to go! The stylist did a great job and I am loving Little L's cute little blonde bob!

The first cut!

The fun animal puzzle kept her busy!

Like her blue lips!?!

Checking herself out in the mirror

And they even added a cute red bow to top off her cute cut! (Unfortunately that bow didn't last in her hair too long!)

Jump Around!

2011-02-09T18:37:00.000-06:00

To celebrate my birthday my girlfriend invited us over to their house for dinner, homemade cheesecake (YUM) and fun. (this was a few weeks ago of course so please excuse my tardiness in posting!) As a Christmas present for their kids they had gotten an inflatable jumping house and they had it set up in their living room that night. So while the adults were chatting and playing the game "would you rather" (you know, "would you rather live in a mansion you could never leave or be homeless and free to roam the world"), the kids were jumping around!

All the kids had fun but I think Little L was the most hooked that night! She was junping so much she got super sweaty and we had to take her sweatshirt off! After the kids were all worn out my girlfriend went to deflate it and Little L got really sad so we left it up for her to jump in for awhile all by herself. If we had a finished basement or we lived somewhere that was warm more than it was cold (which is not MN! Hello negative 6 as the actual temp this morning!) we would definitely be putting one of these on our wish list!

Here are the pictures from that night!

Yet Another Trip to the Children's Museum

2011-02-02T07:11:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago, I met up with a girlfriend of mine that I met back when I worked at Club 3 Degrees. Her daughter, Sweet S, is 3 and such a cutie! We met at the children's museum and since it was Sweet S's first time at the museum Little L was excited to show her all around! It was so fun to watch them together! They were holding hands and gave each other such nice hugs when we left! So fun! (And if you can't tell, we are LOVING our membership to the MN Children's Museum!)

I have to explain this picture...Sweet S wanted to take a picture of us and we didn't think she was doing it right since it wasn't flashing...it turns out she had been taking a video of us! It was too funny! After we figured that out she snapped this beauty of the two of us!

We went into the craft room since we knew Sweet S would be lovin the crafts. Little L had lots of fun too! Especially since they had ping pong balls, puff balls, balls made out of aluminum foil, balls made out of paper... (are you seeing the pattern!) :)

Christmas Crafts

2011-01-30T14:35:00.000-06:00

Here's another Christmasy post when we are almost into the second month of the year! Oh, well!

These are the Christmas crafts I did this year! I got into doing some simple applique so I made them for Christmas presents!

I made the deer towel for my mother-in-law and the Christmas tree towel for my mom!

This one was for my sister-in-law who loves mushrooms!

I made this for my dad (unfortunately the glass broke during shipping!)

Little L's footprint made into a snowman!

Christmasy Family Pictures

2011-01-25T14:42:00.000-06:00

I know Christmas is long gone by now (or I am sure your Christmas tree has been down for at least a few days...right!) but, I thought these pictures that we took a day or two after Christmas were too great not to share! So just pretend I posted these about a month ago! ;)

3 Generations!

Cuddle time with Daddy!

Fun in the Snow!

2011-01-24T13:20:00.000-06:00

Since it has been absolutely FREEZING outside for the last week or so, I thought I would post some "warmer" snow fun photos! (Poor Little L hasn't been able to use her sled for soooo long!)

Getting all bundled up!

New snow boots!

Ready to go!

Grandma S pulling the sled

Playing in the snow banks

Our back yard

Do you see that the snow reaches almost all the way up to the bottom of the swing! And that's not even drifts!

No NightNight!!

2011-01-16T22:18:00.000-06:00

Tonight we met a feisty side of Little L! She decided to skip her nap today and just played in her crib for 2 hours while occasionally calling out "mommy!" This, of course, put her in a fabulous mood for the rest of the evening. She was super whinny and got really upset at the drop of a hat so we started to put her down to sleep a few minutes early. It seemed like it was going ok until we got into her room and started to pick out books to read. Once she realized what was going on she went and opened up the door to her room and ran out into the dining room and then threw herself on the floor screaming "No NightNight!"! She literally turned red in the face she was crying so hard! Thankfully after some hugs and kisses she calmed down and actually went to sleep pretty quickly. Ah, the joys of parenting! :)

I'll leave you with a pic of Little L when she is in a less feisty mood! She wanted every single one of her hair clips in her hair at once! :)

What I think about...The Portable Patriot

2011-01-15T20:58:00.000-06:00

I recieved this book from the BookSneeze program at Thomas Nelson a LONG time ago! (Back before we were thinking about snow!). I kept meaning to post my review but life got in the way! So here it is now...better late than never right!

Here is the book description from the website:

An accessible and unique collection of foundational American documents, speeches, and sermons that shed light on where we came from and where we might go.

The American soul was forged in the smithy of the spoken word and printed page. Our reliance on the word goes back to the Pilgrims and the Mayflower Compact. It continues through the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights. It emerges in the political struggles of the Revolution and the ratification arguments of our national charter. Americans needn't turn to biased media to find our national identity. It's already written richly into our history. The Portable Patriot makes the choicest and most valuable selections accessible again.

So here's what I think...This is such a great collection of pieces about our history. There was so much I learned just skimming through it. I wouldn't say this is a book that you would necessarily want to sit down and read cover to cover (unless you are a huge history buff) but it certainly is fun to pick it up once in a while and read a piece. I could even see this being used for homeschoolers as extra reading during history lessons. If you are looking for a book with a lot of rich history of our country you should check this one out!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Christmas Cards Revisited

2011-01-04T22:35:00.000-06:00

On my last post I embedded my cards that I was able to make from the blogger offer Shutterfly did before Christmas. I had some issues trying to post it (couldn't really get any of my own text on there) and then when you actually click on the link I thought it would take you to the card so you can see how cute they turned out but it just takes you to Shutterfly's website. :(

I am going to be completely transparent here and let you know that I posted that link to qualify for a $25 gift certificate to their site. But I must say that I really did LOVE my Christmas cards that I made and I wish you could see the inside! I was able to stick even more pictures in there, along with a quick update on our family over the past year. I would definitely recommend getting your Christmas cards from them (although they are a bit pricier than the regular flat photo cards that most people send but definitely worth the up charge if you have the budget for it!).

Since I only got 50 cards from the Shutterfly blogger offer and since the hubby and I both have bigger families, we used up all those cards really quickly! So in order to send out some more cards to friends I ended up making a 4x6 photo card with pictures of Little L.

Here it is:

(Don't mind the blur in the bottom...I just took out our names...I'm not overly paranoid but I figured it's better safe right?)

And I'm sorry if you are reading this thinking..."hey, I didn't get either of those cards...don't they like me?...why didn't I make the cut?" Here is my answer...our budget is still a bit tight and even if the cards themselves are pretty inexpensive (I was able to get 24 of the card above for $2.50 shipped!) its the almost $0.50 a card stamp that starts to add up really quickly! :) So I apologize if you didn't make the list (I did try to send one to everyone that sent us a card)...I wish I could send out even more (and hopefully next year I'll be able too!)

2010 Christmas card

2011-01-04T22:11:00.001-06:00

Good Blessings Religious Christmas 5x7 folded card

Create modern Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Christmas Recap

2011-01-03T23:45:00.000-06:00

It has been FOREVER since I have posted but we have been keeping busy! Here is a quick recap from our crazy fun Christmas!

My mom was able to join us for a few days but unfortunately she was delayed over 8 hours which meant we didn't get to bed until 3 am on the 23rd! But she was here so it was worth it! It just meant that we all used a little extra caffeine on the morning of Christmas Eve.

We went up to the hubby's parents house on the morning of Christmas Eve in order to see his sister and her husband. (They drove up from Madison, WI and were spending Christmas Day with his family so Friday was our only chance to see them.) There was some yucky weather which caused some slow driving (along with a semi-truck in the ditch that slowed us down even more!) but once we got up there we had a great time! :)

Little L with with Grandpa

Little L with her Uncle

Opening presents from her aunt and uncle

Aunt A and Uncle L watching Little L open her presents from them! She got books, coloring crayons, coloring books and pjs!

The hubby was getting TONS of kisses from his sister's puppy!

After we left to go back home we decided to not go to church, even though we really wanted to go. With Little L's late nap we weren't going to have time to make it and still have everyone (especially Little L) be in a good mood for the rest of the night. So instead we finished wrapping gifts and then moved them upstairs for a gift opening bonanza! :)

Look at all those presents!

Little L didn't waste any time digging into the gifts!

Little L took a break from opening to see what Grandma S got!

Opening a Mickey DVD from Grandpa M...she wanted to watch it right away!

Mommy and Daddy got Little L her very own guitar so she doesn't have to try and play with Daddy's video game one!

She got a set of magnetic balls and she wouldn't put them down while she was opening all of her other presents!

My dad got the hubby the lamp from "A Christmas Story"...It's a major award!

Playing with the train set Uncle E sent from Norway! It's vintage and we LOVE it!

This is what the stockings looked like before Santa's arrival...

And here's what it looked like after he left!

Eating chocolate that Santa left...YUM!

The BIG Santa gift was a Playstation 3! The hubby LOVES playing Batman!

The hubby's parents joined us for Christmas dinner. I made ham (with super yummy glaze if I do say so myself!), green bean casserole, cheesy potatoes, and rolls. We ate, opened presents, and played a little Mexican Train (a domino's game) during Little L's nap.

Getting ready for lunch...That's right, I used paper plates! :)

Grandma C and Grandpa G handing out the Christmas gifts

Playing with the toy her Great Aunt sent her!

We had so much fun!

Hope your Christmas was filled with Love, Joy and Peace! And most of all, I hope you took at least a few minutes to think about the One whose birthday we were celebrating. Jesus truly is the "reason for the season"!

First Santa Picture

2010-12-06T09:27:00.000-06:00

This past Saturday my work had a "Breakfast with Santa" that they hold every year in our cafeteria. (This is yet another reason why I LOVE where I work!) We didn't go last year since Little L wouldn't have really been able to enjoy it but we knew she would love it this year. They do a fun breakfast for everyone with french toast sticks, fruit, yogurt, cheesy scrambled eggs, and yummy donut holes! There is a choir and small orchestra made up of people from my work and they sing and play Christmas songs to keep the mood festive! There are also tables that have information about how Christmas is celebrated across the world that are staffed by employees from that country (for instance, my boss is actually from Germany so she was working at a table that had fun traditional German desserts, decorations, etc.) And last, but certainly not least, there is Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the Elves!

I had heard in years past that this event gets extremely crowded and the lines can get really long so we decided to try and get there right when it started at 8:30am. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans and it snowed a good 6 inches on us the night before so the hubby had to get up and snow plow before we could go anywhere. That meant we didn't get to the breakfast until almost 9:30am but it turns out everyone was deterred by the snow. The lines were never long for anything which was really nice but we still decided to go get our picture taken with Santa first thing so Little L wouldn't get too messy after eating breakfast. While we stood in line we got to talk to Mrs. Claus, who gave Little L a cookie and then it was the big "moment"! Little L was actually excited to see Santa but as soon as I tried to put her on his lap she lost it! So we were able to capture the "classic" first Santa picture in all its glory!

Sorry for the not so great quality of the picture! They actually gave us a polaroid that I scanned in. The hubby took some pictures too but none of them were as perfect as this one!

You can see the donut hole and the cookie we gave her to hopefully distract but that didn't really work! :) After the ~~baby torture~~ picture taking was over, they gave us a bag full of "goodies" (mostly fun little leftovers from the stuff they put in cereal boxes as prizes...race car, book, markers, squirty toys, and even a VHS tape!). Then an "elf" made a balloon animal kitten for Little L (which I think was her most prized gift of the day!). After eating and saying hi to some co-workers (it's always fun to meet co-workers' spouses and offspring!) it was time to head home. As we left the cafeteria Little L started saying "more, more, more"! She was having such a great time she didn't want to leave! Unfortunately, both Little L and I had the sniffles so we had to get home and rest up. We were also planning on attending our church's Christmas show, which is AMAZING, but with the two of us not feeling very great we decided to stay home for a low key weekend. (We are both feeling much better today! Praise Jesus!)

So, while this picture won't make it onto our Christmas cards (which I still need to finish!) I know it will be a picture we treasure for years to come and I hope it made you smile!

Remember, only 19 days til Christmas! Make sure you soak up some joy and laughter while you wait for Baby Jesus' birthday celebration!

A Full Day of Fun!

2010-11-21T13:58:00.001-06:00

Two Fridays ago I had such a full day but it was so much fun!

It started out with a trip to the Children's Museum. It was Little L and me along with my girlfriend C and her darling boy J! I think this was Little L's 5th trip to the museum so she is starting to feel at home but C and J had never been before so it was fun to experience the newness with them!

We started off in the Habitot room which is strictly for kids under 48 months. Usually that is the calmest place in the whole museum but there was at least one if not two, Head Start groups there so it was hoppin'!

Miss C with her Darling J...He loved whipping the rain stick around and around!

Darling J

Little L took a break from the chaos of the Habitot area to go read a few books!

It was a pretty short lived break though!

After the Habitot room we moved on to the Japan and Nature exhibit. It was a neat exhibit that showed different aspects of the seasons in Japan and focused on everything from food, school, and cultural celebrations.

Darling J and Little L pretending to eat sushi!

Little L making music on the drum!

Darling J's turn to beat on the drum!

Lunch was next and after that we went into Our World which is a little mini town with a grocery store, post office, restaurant, bus, and more!

Little L driving the bus! One of the volunteers was so sweet and he got on the bus so the kids could drive him places!

Miss C with her Darling J!

Darling J and Little L both trying to drive at the same time!

Darling J shopping for groceries!

Little L checking people out! "Do you have any coupons?" :)

The last stop of the trip for us is always Water Works! We have to go there last since Little L usually gets pretty wet but it is her favorite part of the museum! When I told her we were going to the museum that morning she said "water, water, water!" Darling J had a blast too!

Miss C and Darling J racing boats!

Look at that boat go!

Darling J and Little L playing with the bubbles!

Darling J would make a bubble and then jump up and down and say "I did it!" It was too cute!

Amazingly, Little L didn't get that wet (at least not as wet as usual). I'm not sure if she is just getting older or just more comfortable with the water area and not as frantic to splash. Who knows! She still had a blast!

After Water Works we packed up and headed home. We carpooled there so it was fun to watch the kids interact in the back seat! Darling J had some snacks that he was sharing with Little L and it was too sweet! Since it was naptime, Miss C and Darling J went on there way and we headed home too!

My girlfriend Miss N is the sweetest and she was waiting at my house for me with a HoHoMint Mocha from Caribou! We let Little L run around a bit and calm down and then it was naptime for her and girl talk time for mommy and Miss N! I had such a blast catching up with her and I'm looking forward to doing it again soon!

Like I said, it was a pretty full day but it was filled with fun, memories, and blessings!

Christmas Cards

2010-11-21T13:53:00.000-06:00

Can you believe it's already Thanksgiving week!?!? It seemed to come fast this year! As much as I love to actually celebrate Thanksgiving I mostly just seem to be mentally preparing for Christmas. Especially things like decorating, gift shopping, and of course, Christmas cards! With finances being tighter this year, even doing Christmas cards can add up quickly but I feel it is such a great way to reconnect with friends and family, especially now that we have our little girl who changes so much each year! Thankfully I came across this fabulous deal for bloggers to get 50 free photo cards (I just have to pay for the shipping and handling) just for writing a quick post about Shutterfly! So here it is! (And while I am getting free cards for writing this post, I want you to know that the opinions are all mine!)

Once I found out about this opportunity I started looking at all of the options Shutterfly has for their cards and I was blown away! In the past I've felt like all of the companies have the same designs, and while some are cute, they basically all look the same. Not so with Shutterfly's options! Here are some of my favorites:

Snow Flurries Cocoa Christmas

Family Wall Noir Christmas

Retro Plaid Christmas

Now, I didn't put my #1 favorite up here because then the folks that are getting it in the mail won't be surprised! :) As cute as the front of these cards are, my favorite part is the fact that you get to personalize the insides as well with both pictures and words (you can even pick different layouts for the inside on some of the cards). That means that I don't have to worry about writing on the back of the cards (like I would on a regular photo card) or even writing a letter. Instead I can just add a brief note to personalize each one. I can't wait to start creating ours!

Shutterfly doesn't do just Christmas cards. In fact they do birthday cards, invitations, and even photo mugs! My favorite Shutterfly product is their photo books. I made one for the hubby for his first Father's Day last year and it is truly something that is a keepsake he will treasure for years to come! While I do like to do traditional scrapbooking, I've found that the photo books on sites like Shutterfly are much faster to do and definitely less expensive while still being cute and one of a kind! If you are looking for an easy to use online photo shop I would definitely recommend Shutterfly!

Just another reminder that I will be getting 50 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly for posting this but the opinions I put up here are all mine! And if you have a blog and are interested in this promotion check it out here!

Snowstorms and Power Outages

2010-11-20T14:03:00.000-06:00

This past weekend was certainly an interesting one! It all started with snow falling on Saturday morning that we expected to be just a light dusting. However, the snow just kept coming and it was wet and heavy! I had my day nicely planned out with all the errands I wanted to do and the hubby had plans of Krav Maga training but that all changed when he went to leave for training and couldn't even drive because of the snow. So instead of Krav Maga he spent the day snow plowing and we spent the day indoors watching Christmas movies!

The hubby was set to volunteer at church that night so we decided to all leave together around 3:30pm. As we were getting ready, the power went out (right around 3:10pm). We figured we would go to church and by the time we got home the power would be back on. Well, we got home around 7:30pm and there was still no power and the inside temp was down to 60 degrees. I called the energy company and they told us they had people working on the problem but they couldn't say when it would be back up again. So we decided to go to bundle up and go to bed. Thankfully, Little L adores her "bankies" and so she sleeps with 6-8 blankets each night (we knew she would stay nice and toasty even with the lower temps). After Little L was all tucked in, the hubby and I put some extra layers on with some extra blankets and tried to fall asleep. We figured the power would come back on sometime in the middle of the night so we left the lights next to our beds on so we would know when it did. We didn't sleep that great since we kept hoping the power was going to come back on, but when our alarm went off at 6:30am it was still dark and cold.

You can kind of see Little L checking out her flashlight in this pic (it actually wasn't quite this dark in the house since the nearby lights that were on were reflecting off the snow)

I used a flash on this one so you can actually see!

I gave the energy company another call that morning to try and gage the situation but all they could tell me was there were 6,000 customers of theirs (we get power from one of the smaller energy companies in town) that still didn't have power and they had been working through the night to fix it. We didn't want to sit around in a cold house (it was now down to 50 degrees) with no electricity for who knows how long so the hubby called his parents and we asked if we could crash at their place for the day. We stopped at McDonald's on the way up for breakfast since we couldn't even boil water (our stove is electric) and I didn't want to be going in and out of the fridge.

Going to Grandma and Grandpa's was the fun treat that the power outage gave us! Little L loved running around while we watched the ~~fabulous~~ Vikings game and ate yummy leftovers. Of course, something else had to happen to make things more exciting for us so Little L ended up having a leaky diaper and, the wonder mom that I am, I had forgotten to grab an extra outfit as a "just in case". Thankfully, we are a creative bunch! I quickly rinsed out Little L's clothes and threw them in the dryer and while we were waiting for them to be done, we made a makeshift dress out of one of Grandma's shirts! Hey, it worked! :)

After the game was ~~lost~~ done, we gave our neighbors a call to see if the power had come back on yet (the neighbors to the east of us actually had power the whole time so they were extremely gracious and went over to our house to check on it every once in a while!) Unfortunately, at 3pm we were still dark. Around 4pm the hubby and I were trying to figure out what we were going to do in case we didn't regain power that night. Thankfully, just as we had agreed upon our next steps, we got a call from our neighbor with the awesome news that our power was back on only 25 hours after it had gone out! So we packed up our things and drove home. Little L wouldn't nap at Grandma and Grandpa's but she did get a short one in on the drive back to the house.

By the time we got home, the power had been on for a little over an hour so the house was actually pretty toasty! It felt so amazing to be back home and I was just overwhelmed with thankfulness for all of the blessings we have in our lives. There are so many that don't know where they will sleep tonight or, even if they do have a place to call home, they don't have all of the fabulous amenities that we take for granted everyday. We found out after the fact that at the peak of the storm there were over 200,000 customers without power and some of them (I think around 10,000) lost power Saturday morning and didn't get it back until Monday! And even though our weekend didn't end up looking like we thought it would, we were still able to have some unexpected fun with family and make some memories too!

Some Random Pics from October

2010-11-16T21:42:00.000-06:00

I had a couple of pictures from October that didn't really merit me posting their own blogs but thought I would share them here! Enjoy!

Carving pumpkins with Daddy!

At the Children's Museum when I was out of town for work...I LOVE the Pebbles hair-do that is Daddy specialty!

Coloring...one of Little L's newest hobbies!

Little L loves to put on Daddy's hats!

After Halloween I was able to pick up a Fireman's outfit and a Princess outfit for super cheap...the funny thing is she wanted to wear them both at the same time! I guess that makes her a Renaissance Firefighting Princess!

What we did for Halloween

2010-11-11T06:33:00.000-06:00

With Little L getting bigger, this year we were faced with the decision of what to do for Halloween. I know there are lots of valid opinions out there and so I'm not trying to say one thing is right or wrong, we just wanted to find out what is right for our family. The main thing I knew is that I wanted to keep anything that could be scary away from her sensitive eyes. The last thing I want to do is put frightening thoughts into my daughters young and impressionable mind.

So with those thoughts in mind we originally decided we were only going to go to our church's Kid's Studio presentation of "Eddie's Shake Shop" on Friday night. Kid's Studio is a live show that is made especially for families. The hubby had actually filmed a video short awhile back that was going to be shown during Friday night's show so we decided to dress Little L up in her Bumble Bee costume and head over. There were lots of cute costumes and excited kids! We didn't stay for the whole show since Little L was more interested in running around than watching it but she did sit still long enough to see Daddy's video. (If you want to see the video you can click here and watch episode 802 and the Hubby's video is about 15 or 20 minutes into the show I think)

Here are the pictures from Friday night:

Running around church likes she owns the place!

Headed up to Kid's Studio

Here's one of the few shots where I actually got her face! Again, she was running like crazy so they were mostly shots of her from behind!

Getting ready to watch the show (and sitting still for a few minutes!)

Totally captured by the show! (at least for a second!)

Friday night was originally all we had planned until my girlfriend asked if we wanted to join them on Sunday night for dinner and trick or treating in their neighborhood. They have a great new neighborhood with a good number of young kids so we thought we would join them. We had a fun dinner and then took out the three little ones (Miss E (the dragon) is 3, Little L (the bumble bee) is 21 months and Mr E (the monkey) is 18 or 19 months). We kept the 2 youngest in their strollers until the end of the night which was a very smart move on our part! We let them out for the last two houses and they were off! Little L loved getting stuff in her bag (she wouldn't even let Mommy hold it since it was "hers!") She got some great candy (which Daddy and I graciously helped her eat!) along with some cute little playing cards and play-dough! While I'm not sure if we will trick or treat in the future, we definitely had a great time and I don't regret it one bit!

Here are the pictures from Sunday:

Little L playing with Miss E

She loves their "rock garden"!

Getting ready to head out!

Candy collecting for the little ones!

We kept them constrained for a good reason!

Mommy and Little L at one of the last houses

Ready to go through their bags and look at their goodies...oh wait...Mr. E already went through his! :)

We made the mistake of trying to get a family shot at the end of the night. ..this is the best we could get even with my girlfriend jumping around and screaming trying to get Little L to smile! At least she made me laugh! :)

Pinehaven Farms Part 2

2010-11-09T07:16:00.000-06:00

Here's batch #2 of the pictures from our trip to Pinehaven Farms. Like I said before, we had a blast!

The hubby as a "pumpkin bandit"

A scarecrow band...they are motorized so they move to some down home bluegrass music!

Little L in one of the many different mazes they have. This one is made out of hay bales.

One of the few shots I got of her face from this day...she never really stopped running!

Walking with Grandma

The kiddie hay bale maze!

A wiggling Little L with Grandma and Grandpa

The hubby and me!

This is the best shot we could get of the "How Tall This Fall" sign. Like I said earlier, Little L was not interested in slowing down for a measly picture! :)

Climbing on the hay bales!

Little L and Grandpa on the trolly ride through the pumpkin patch

This is the pumpkin cannon...it was A.MA.ZING. It literally shot a pumpkin something like 1/3 of a mile!

This is the "pumpkin eating dragon". They do a little show where they "feed" him a pumpkin and do little jokes. It was super cute!

Little L watching the "dragon"

She was just in awe!

Riding a horse swing made out of tires. This was over in the playground area.

Sandbox in the playground area too...I'm telling you this farm has a little bit of everything!

We had so much fun and are looking forward to going back next fall!

Pinehaven Farms - Another New Family Tradition - Part 1

2010-11-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

A couple of weekends ago we met up with the hubby's parents and went to Pinehaven Farms to start another new fall family tradition! Pinehaven is a great pumpkin patch (among other things) near where my in-laws live so we met them there on a Sunday morning right before they opened up. It was a dreary morning and had been sprinkling but we were bound and determined to have fun at the pumpkin patch! We're Minnesotans for goodness sakes! We couldn't let a little cold, rainy weather stop us from our fall fun!

I'm really glad we went because the weather kept most people away so we basically had the place to ourselves! It was a little wet and cool but we kept moving and that helped keep us warm! (Plus Little L was having so much fun she didn't seem to notice the weather at all!)

I took LOTS of pictures from this day so I decided to do 2 posts. Here's the first batch!

Just like any farm there are kittens every.where. Little L was super excited and thankfully they were all really nice and cuddly! Plus, they didn't seem to mind being chased!

Pinehaven has a fabulous area called Kritter Korner that is full of all types of animals. Of course we had to buy the food and feed them!

Little L was so brave and she had a lot of fun feeding all the animals! She would feed them and then yell "yummy"! It was so funny! Here she is feeding goats...

horses...

chasing chickens...

more goats...

cows...

ducks...

donkey...

baby goats...

I think this was her favorite baby goat! She kept trying to feed it even when it was clearly done eating! :)

Grandpa, Grandma, Daddy and Little L

There was even bunnies in a hutch that you could hold!

She was a little more interested in the kittens though!

Part 2 of our trip to Pinehaven coming soon....

A Quick trip to the Children's Museum

2010-11-03T06:22:00.000-05:00

My mom blessed us with a year's membership to the Minnesota Children's Museum (which has to be one of my most absolute favorite places to take Little L!) She had gotten a GREAT deal on it on one of those deal sites but it was in her name so we needed to make a quick trip down there to get it all set up for us. I thought the museum was open on Monday so we were all set to spend Monday morning there until I checked the site and apparently, during the school year they are closed on Mondays! So instead we made a super quick (I'm talking less than an hour) trip on Tuesday morning so we could get the membership and my mom could see the museum. Of course, we still got lots of pictures of Little L in that short time! Here they are!

Little L loves looking out the big windows into busy downtown St. Paul!

Right now there is a special exhibit on the space station so this is a replica of what the toilets look like! :)

There is one room full of different dress up outfits and Little L went straight for all the different hats!
Firefighter

Construction Worker

Park Ranger

Airline Pilot

Fun with gears! :)

And back to Little L's favorite place in the museum! Water Works!

LOTS of bubble making stuff!

Little L was more interested in splashing than Mommy's mad bubble making skills!

She just needed to see if her head fit through the bubble wand...it didn't!

Grandma S and Little L

Back to the bubbles! Too fun!

Baking with Grandma

2010-11-01T14:05:00.000-05:00

My mom is a bun maker so when she comes to visit she likes to bake us a batch. Now that Little L is old enough she got to help out! Here are the pictures from Little L baking with Grandma!

My mom tried to have her add the flour to the mixer with a measuring cup but that ended up being WAY too messy so she just used her hands!

Flour on her nose makes it look like she's working hard in the kitchen! (Anyone remember the old Rice Krispie treat commercials!)

I'm sure she is thinking "Can I eat it yet?" :)