Clifford the Big Red Dog

Oh what fun we had at the Clifford exhibit at the "See Um" on Sunday morning!

Another weekend, GONE!

Where does the time go?
I'm working on getting some pictures from our past weekend. We took the kids to the Minnesota Zoo on Friday, to see the Farm Babies exhibit. Oh my, were those farm babies cute!
Saturday, we hung out at home and the kids played with their new Little Red Scooters. Emily's PT at school suggested that a scooter is a good way for her to strenthen her leg muscles. So, we got two of them. It's not worth the fight.
Yesterday, we had an exciting day! Louie's been asking to go to the Children's Museum (aka the See Um) to see Clifford the Big Red Dog. So, we headed over there after doughnut Sunday at Church. It was so much fun. We didn't go to any other exhibit except Clifford and we were in there for almost 2 hours. Everyone was getting tired, so we headed home.
Grace was coming over to babysit yesterday afternoon while I went to see Le Miserables at De La Salle High School (my nephew Charlie was Javert) and it was really great! Dan had a softball meeting up in Brooklyn Center. When I got out of the show, my phone had 10 missed calls! I got home to an empty house! Wondering where everyone was, I called Dan to find out.
Turns out, Grace had an exciting afternoon with Emily and Louie.
For some reason, Emily puts just about everything that will fit, into her mouth! Gross, but I got over it long ago. So, yesterday afternoon Emily was playing with her Bitty Babies. She's fascinated with combing their hair, etc. So, she's got this little Bitty Baby hair comb and she put it in her mouth and it got jammed in her mouth somehow and she couldn't get it out??? No clue how this all happened, but Emily freaked out and was screaming. Grace couldn't get it out of her mouth and then Emily was hysterical. (she must have thrown up because her clothes in the dirty laundry stunk) So, Grace called her dad, Bill. He told her to call 911 and then he drove like 80 mph down Cleveland to get to our house in record time of less than 2 minutes!
Grace called 911 and the police came, but Bill was there and had gotten the comb out of Emily's mouth by the time that time.
Poor Grace. I feel so bad for her. I don't think the whole thing phased Emily at all. Louie told me that he heard a police car . . .
Let's hope that Grace will actually come back and babysit again! Emily and Louie love having her babysit.

A Day in the Life of Louie

Last night at dinner, we were talking about Emily's school taking their second field trip today to the Eagle's Nest, at the New Brighton Community Center. She missed the first trip this winter because she was home sick. We have been there several times before, for the annual Rondo ECFE Family Night Potluck. Emily and Louie love it there! It is tons of fun.
Emily was really excited to go another field trip with school this week. On Tuesday, they took the city bus down to Leitner's to get dirt and seeds to grow their flowers. Lots of fun for the kids. Louie was very sad that he wasn't going on a field trip. Until he announced his own plan for today. It went something like this:
"After the sun comes up and mommy goes to work, Youie has lunch and Emily goes to school on the school bus . . . Youie can go to the Train Store." Currently, Louie speaks about himself in the third person "Youie." And in his short little life, having no concept of time, all time is measured by how many times the sun comes up and the sun goes down between now and then . . . .
I asked him, how he was going to get to the Train Store. He told me "Youie's Daddy is going to drive him to the train store. So Youie can play, play, play." (all the while signing "play")
So, today after Emily went to school, Youie's Daddy took him to the Train Store. This is Mecca for a 2.5 year old boy that LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine and all his friends on the Island of Sodor (and he can name all of them!).

I almost forgot . . . .

I received an e-mail last week announcing my brothers new job. . . .
check it out, very dramatic!

Kimley-Horn announces Mark Jansen, PE

The weekend wrap-up

We(I) had a fun weekend with the kiddos. Dan had a bad headache on Saturday, so Emmy, Louie and I played outside for the majority of the afternoon. We ran into a friend of Grandma's on our walk. She lives on the next street over. Her name is Judy Flahvan. We just saw her at the "Conversation with Books" up at St. Kate's in February. (it's and event where a panel of five ladies read six books and offer their reviews, likes and dislikes of each book. interesting discussion) We have been walking around the block several times a day with Emily, the PT at school recommended that so she can work the muscles in her legs.

After our walk, the Ramos cousins came over while Paul and Tesa went bowling. We took another walk around the block so Lorenzo would stop crying. Then we had a pizza party and watched a movie. It was fun!

On Sunday, Dan was feeling worse so I took the kids away for the day. When we got back from Church, we walked up to St. Kate's to feed the ducks. That was fun! Louie wanted to throw the whole bag of bread crusts into the pond.

After that, Tesa called and invited us over for a BBQ. We went and Emmy and Louie played outside some more! We got home at 7:30, Dan was feeling much better. He helped get the kids ready for bed and into bed and they were crashed!

Louie must have been tired. He's our alarm clock, going off at 6:30 every morning. On Monday, he slept until after 8am. I was gone before he got up.

How does your garden grow?

Our seed starter greenhouse is really coming along. There are sprouts on every pod and so we got to take the cover off an put it in a sunny window. It's on the window ledge in the playroom. Emily is so proud of her garden. She still talks to it and wants to take care of it. Yesterday, she asked if she could have it in her room? Um, no. We've seen what happens in there behind closed doors and having that mixed in, would not be pretty. Yesterday, she emptied out her entire dresser drawer in her bed before she fell asleep for the night. What a huge mess that was! So, no on the plants being in her room.
Like everything else, Louie wants to take it to bed with him . . .another definite NO.














































































I picked up some cute shirts for St. Pattys Day at the Children's Place Outlet a couple weekends ago. They were so cute and impractical, but they were cute. . . . here's a picture of Sassy! And then the fighting over the Dora bike began . . . .





Also, I'm working my tail off to find a couple of independent scrapbooking stores in MN to sponsor a weekend of One Day Photographers' Workshops. The one day workshop is a super condensed version of her 10 week class. It has received rave reviews from people that have attended in the past.
I've found one that is on board in the Twin Cities, but need to find one outstate that would like to host one as well. The store needs to be 2-3 hours from St. Paul. If you have any suggestions, let me know.
We're on a mission to bring Karen Russell to MN to teach her amazing photography class!

A Visit to the Dentist

Yesterday afternoon, Emily and I had appointments to get out teeth cleaned at the dental office.
Karri, the hygentist, was so good with Emily! We have been taking baby steps to get to the point of a full cleaning. A year ago, she came along and watched me, then she sat in the chair when I was done. In July, she let Dr. Lee count her teeth. Yesterday, Emily climbed right into the chair, let Karri inspect everything, polish all her teeth and then she even let her FLOSS!
I can't believe that she was so willing!
Dr. Lee wasn't there so we got our checks done by Dr. Coates. I don't think Emily was too fond of him, she kept trying to clamp down on his fingers when he was looking at her teeth. But, she was very good and got a new Disney Princess toothbrush and some princess floss things.
Louie came along to watch too. It's his turn on April 1, but Karri got him all ready! He got a new Lightening McQueen toothbrush and Buzz Lightyear toddler floss things. He let me floss his teeth with it tonight!
I went to the appointment, so I didn't have the camera with me (and the point and shoot has a dead battery and we have no charger, waiting for Grandma to get home). I'll be sure to bring it along for Louie's appointment. We'll see what happens!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

When we got back from our walk around the block last night, Daddy had this big girl's new Dora bike put together. Grandma gave it to her for her birthday in December, she's asked about it every once in a while. But since she's learned to pedal a tricycle at school, we thought she could make the transition to this. I think with tennis shoes on, it will be easier for her.
Emily loved every minute of it though! Hopefully, it will stay nice all week so she can get out and ride. . . . Now Louie wants one too, anyone have a toddler bike with training wheels we can use?

A boy and his dog . . .

We went for a walk last night. I just love this shot of Louie walking Ted. He is such a 2.5 year old. Threw himself on the sidewalk when I asked to hold the leash . . . .

Ye Old Wharf!

I was lucky enough to have a fabulous husband that was willing to be a single parent for the long weekend so I could get away to the Cross Lake area to scrapbook with some girlfriends.
This was the only picture that I managed to take all weekend! Missy and I went to Ye Old Wharf on Friday night for a walleye sandwich (because it is Lent). I hadn't been there for 10 years and couldn't remember exactly how to get there. We found it and holy cow! We both agreed, it is a better sandwich then the Tavern on Grand has. So delicious! The only thing missing was the sunny summer weather and eating out on the deck.
So delicious! If you're ever in the Cross Lake area, take the left turn at Moonlight Bay and you'll run into The Wharf. Yumm-O.

So Long!

I'm heading out of town today for a long weekend of scrapbooking with friends.
We're going up to Sugarleaf Retreat in the Cross Lake, MN area. It is so beautiful up there. We're not in the lakeside cabin, but it is really lovely!
We had Emily's IEP meeting with her teachers at school last night, they were all happy to report that Emily is really doing great at school and is showing so much improvement. Dan and I were very pleased to hear her progress. She's also been doing really well with using the potty. She's not had an accident since last Thursday! Yay Emily!!!!! You don't even understand how happy we are with that progress. (both #1 and #2 in the toilet!!) Now, if we could just get Louie doing it. It's a done deal though, I sent in the deposit to Nativity Early Learning Center Preschool for him and he's got to be totally trained to go there! (It's non-refundable!) Dan is taking him over there to check it out again to get him interested.
We talked to Grandma last night. She's staying at the Ron Jon Resort near Cocoa Beach this week. It is actually located in Port Canaveral, right next to Jetty Park, which is across the port from the Kennedy Space Center. Perfect viewing point for the Shuttle Discover ISS 15A launch this weekend. She said that the place was PACKED with people waiting to view the launch, but it was cancelled due to a hydrogen leak that was found shortly before lift off. The next targeted launch date will be Sunday evening. That was always the highlight of my Dad's trips to Cocoa Beach, when they were lucky enough to be there for a shuttle or rocket launch. Very exciting! The first time Dan and I were there, the first launch after 9/11 went off and it was pretty spectacular to see. Of course, we didn't have a camera back then, so no photos to document that site.

Spring is on it's way!

Yesterday, when we were driving back from shopping, I was listening to the Twins' preseason baseball game that was on the radio. I love listening to the Twins' games on the radio, so reminescent of my childhood, when the announcer was Herb Karneel. Anyhow, it got me ancy for spring to just get here!
So, today we ran errands and then ended up at Pei Wei for lunch. My favorite!
The purpose of our trip was to go to Fleet Farm out in Oakdale. Louie was in need of a new pair of rubber rain boots. Every kid needs to have a pair of these on their feet when they walk out the door in this weather. There is an invisible magnetic force drawing them to puddles of every shape and size!

I knew that Fleet Farm has really great prices on the nice Western Chief rain boots (that sell for $35/pair at Nordstrom). I had seen a cute pair of fire fighter rain boots (to go with the cute rain coat that he got for his birthday!) there in November. So, we went to get Louie a pair. It was funny, back in the corner of the store there is the section with the giant cow and horse. When we walked by it, Emily said "Mom, I think that cow is peeing!" I really don't know where that came from? But we're at the stage in our house where our kids think that any sort of burp or toot is hilarious and something really special, Louie's figured out how to make himself burp?? How?? He's only 2.5 . . . what do we have to look forward to??
We also got a window sill seed starter greenhouse. I wanted to start our watermelon seeds early this year so that maybe we will actually get an edible one . . . so Emily and I planted Sugar Baby watermelon, beef steak tomatoes and flat leaf parsley seeds in our green house. She is very excited to watch them grow, but doesn't really understand the time factor of it taking a couple weeks.

Louie got a Mr. Potato Head (aka: Spud) at Fleet Farm too. He has been CRAZY about Toy Story since last fall and we haven't gotten any toys from that movie. He was very excited to welcome him to his collection of stuff that he stores in his crib . . .

Shopped til we dropped!

Emily and I drove up to have some fun with Auntie Drea and Becca on Saturday. We haven't seen them in a while and so earlier in the week, we made plans to meet them at the Albertville Outlet Mall to do some damage. I realized when I looked in both kids drawers, we needed to make a trip up there soon to get some new pajamas. All of Louie's jammies have turned into belly shirts and it's really not a good look on a little boy.
I had some coupons that needed to be used at The Children's Place and Stride Rite and Auntie Drea had some for the Carter's store. We really did our best to stimulate the economy.
Before we left, I was digging around in Emily's closet for some shoes to bring to Becca and Emily came across the purse that Dan and I brought her from Hawaii. It's her new favorite thing, next to sunglasses. She packed her hair brush, a glass of juice, a book and I put in a peanut butter sandwich for her to snack on if she needed it.
When we were done shopping, we went back to Drea's house and had some lunch and then we headed home. Emily didn't eat much lunch, so she ate her sandwich in the car on the way home.
We got lots of cute stuff for Emily and Louie. The Children's Place and Baby Gap (my two favorite stores) had lots of stuff, I was disappointed with Stride Rite, not a lot in there this time (I refuse to buy my kids shoes that light up!) I did get a pair of Keds for Emily though. It was fun, Emily was helping pick out clothes.

Let's Eat!

You'll notice a new blog listed on the right side, it's called Let's Eat.
I'm just trying to keep the various recipes that I have found on line or hand written somewhere semi-organized.
If you have any recipes that are favorites and would like to share them, send me an e-mail. I'll get it posted.
questions, comments or concerns, send me an e-mail.
I'm going to try to have a picture of the finished product for each recipe, so if you send me something, include a picture . . . I'll pictures of the stuff out there as I make them again . . .

All I ask is that if you got the recipe from a cookbook or another blog or website, include that info. People get weird about that kind of stuff.

Emily's Art Projects

On Friday, Emily came home from school with her art projects from the week. Her teachers comes up with some of the cutestt ideas for projects. In January, their project was "The Mitten" based on the Jan Brett book. They made a mitten out of a manilla folder and stitched it around the edges with yarn. Then each kid made an animal that goes inside the mitten in the book. We have a copy of the book and Emily has the best time telling the story along with the book. So cute.

This past week, their project was about a song abou their own family. She had a mommy, a daddy, a brother, a grandma and a papa. Very cute. She was showing me each of the family members and explaining who they are. This was her mommy. She said that her mommy has lipstick because "my mommy always wears lipstick" then she whispered, "only girls wear lipstick."

I will have to post a picture of the daddy, she made pipe cleaner glasses for the daddy. So cute too, but she wouldn't hold it to take a picture.

Another sicky

After Emily feeling sick on Wednesday, she felt pretty good and went to school on Thursday and Friday. Saturday I went to Tesa's to work on scrapbooking stuff. I'm getting ready for a weekend get away up at Cross Lake to scrapbook. It seems that I only scrapbook twice a year now . . . up at Cross Lake. I got all my pictures and paper organized and figured out a game plan to get lots done. Last March, I got 18 2-page layouts done. In September, I wasn't nearly as productive, due to lack of planning. Not going to happen next week. Lots of stuff to be done.

I got home from Tesa's house around 9pm and heard Louie whining in his room. I went to check on him and he'd thrown up all over everything and himself in his crib. Poor kid. Oh how I love that smell! We got him cleaned up and settled down, he was laying on the couch with Dan and he did it again . . . this time all over Dan. Again, got him cleaned up and finally back to bed. He was up at 2:30am, just thirsty and then he slept until 9am! We thought he was feeling a little better. He ate a banana and drank a little and got sick all over Dan again! Ugh.

Got him all cleaned up and then Emily started to feel crappy! she complained of her tummy hurting. We all took naps and the kids seem to be feeling better today. They're staying home from ECFE just in case though!