The Exciting Days of the Meyers

A Weekend of Birthdays!

2012-01-29T20:07:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning I was pretty much feeling back to myself so Linnea and I ventured out to the Red Balloon Bookshop where there was a fun story hour event. The author of the Llama Llama books was going to read Llama Llama Red Pajama. I hadn't read the book but Linnea and I sure like to say the title! We had a good time even though we didn't really listen too much to the story. It was very crowded and hard to see. But it is a great bookshop to hang out in so that is what we did for just over an hour! I tried to get Linnea down for her nap a little earlier than usual since we had a birthday party to get to at Chucky Cheese's. It sort of worked. The party was going from 2:30 to 4:30...we got there at 4. But the girls hadnt opened their presents yet and weren't done partying so we all stayed until about 6! Very crowded but super fun! Linnea enjoyed some ice cream treats with her 4 year old friends Claire and Abby!

Sunday we went to the ice sculptures which will have it's own post, and then after nap headed to another birthday party! This time it was just up the road at our friends house in our neighborhood. We have a very fun group of people here in Como. Can't wait to get together more! The kids played lots of dress up and ate lots of cake!

Sick Mommy

2012-01-29T20:00:00.001-08:00

It is not too often I (Amy) get sick but boy did I get hit two Thursdays ago. I wasn't feeling great Wednesday but went to work thinking I was just overtired or something. I also really didn't want to miss Wed since we were going on a field trip to Orchestra Hall and I started Sign Language Wednesday night. I made it through all of those things but then Thursday morning came and my tummy really felt sick. So sick I didn't think I could bring Linnea to preschool. Luckily my dad came to the rescue and was able to swing by on his way to work and go out of his way to bring Linnea to preschool for me. Thankfully she was flexible enough to just go with the flow and not cry a bit. In fact, as she was leaving, she said, hope so you feel better mommy. What a sweetheart. After they left, I remained on the couch for an hour or so trying to watch some tv but then fell asleep there for a bit. Around 1 or so I made it back up to bed and stayed there until Friday morning. I felt too awful to read or watch tv. It was terrible. Again, my parents came to the rescue and took Linnea overnight since I didn't know how I would feel Friday morning. Chris was so nice to bring squirt out there Thursday after supper. By Friday night I felt much better. Chris bought me plenty of tummy soothing teas and I was able to eat and keep down saltines, toast and apple sauce. I hope I do not get that sick again anytime soon. NO FUN!

A Haircut and a trip to Target!

2012-01-29T19:56:00.000-08:00

We had a fun family morning last Sunday as we headed to Target to "pick up a few things" which next never turns out that way. Part of our trip was to buy baby items for one of Chris' co-workers. They gave us such a nice gift 3 years ago so it was nice to return the favor. All of Chris's co workers gave him money and then we got to pick stuff out! Pretty trustworthy, huh? I think the guys approved of our choices and it was fun to have Linnea with to "help" pick stuff out :) Anyways, a full cart later we left and went to get Linnea a much needed haircut! She did as great as she did with her first one and was so proud of it all day Sunday and all week at preschool!

NPC playgroup and GG's

2012-01-29T19:54:00.000-08:00

Two Saturdays ago after dawdling around the house a bit Linnea and I finally got out the door for our monthly playdate with our New Parent Connection group. It was at a house this time and it was so much fun! We played with new toys, had yummy muffins and fruit and made a snowman craft. When the playdate was over we headed over to GG's to have lunch with her and my mom. It was a very nice visit!

Congrats Mack!

2012-01-29T19:47:00.000-08:00

A few Sunday nights ago we got to see one of my best friends from childhood! There are a few other posts about our wonderful friend Mack since when she comes to visit it is always a big deal for us. She lives in Germany so she only makes it back to the states once or maybe twice a year. So we squeeze as much time in to the three or so weeks she is here as we can! Our first, but not last visit with her, was two Sundays ago for her graduation/welcome home open house at her mom's. Chris wasnt feeling well so it just Linnea and I who went to celebrate. My parents were also there so we all took turns playing with/entertaining Linnea. There were kids there earlier but by the time we got out the door and got there it was just adults. But had there been kids there, Linnea was all geared up to share. The whole way there (to south Mpls,), she was saying hope so I can share with all the big kids. Her way of saying hopefully is hope so. So cute! Anyways...we had a great time celebrating Mack's Masters in Music Therapy with her and her family and friends! I LOVE music therapy and see it working everyday! Mack has had a passion for music and helping others her whole life so I am so excited for her to start this new chapter of her life! GO MACK!

Mack and Timo made their way to our house last Thursday for for John's Pizza which we make a point of eating every time they are here. We always get the Veggie 2000! so yummy! We then watched Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice and had some ice cream and cupcakes before Linnea headed to bed. What a great night!

And tonight we headed over to my parents house for lentil soup and cheesecake and to see Mack, Timo and Mack's mom one last time before they head back home Thursday.

We sure hope we can get to Germany to visit them sometime!

Sick

2012-01-15T14:31:00.000-08:00

Well I'd say we have had about 2 plus months of being sick free which was wonderful! But Linnea caught a cough mid-week and it has now turned into a pretty icky cold and cough with a low grade fever...it's probably headed for a sinus infection and/or ear infection because that seems to always happen but who knows, maybe it won't this time. We were hoping to get her haircut Friday night and go to a train museum Saturday with grandma and papa and maybe an indoor playground Sunday (today) but those plans turned into G & G coming here and playing with squirt while we undecorated. Linnea at least has been overrall pleasant and still interested in playing quietly, coloring or looking at books and not just glued to the tv, however she has put in some more Yo Gabba Gabba and Tigger Movie time than she normally would. Hopefully she is well enough to go to preschool tomorrow because 1.) she loves it and 2.) I selfishly really want to go skiing with my dad at Green Acres where they have some fake snow nordic trails.

One more Christmas!

2012-01-15T14:27:00.000-08:00

We headed to Bellechester last Sunday for Christmas with the Bremer's. Chris' aunt Sue and Uncle rich have been working on their "man cave" so that is where we celebrated Christmas one more time. It was so fun to see all the kids and everyone that we only see a few times a year. Sue made hot pizza sandwiches and everyone brought a dish to share. We do an adult gift exchange and the kids even get to do a gift exchange! Here are a few pictures from the fun day.

Thanks Al!

2012-01-07T17:34:00.000-08:00

I should have posted this a LONG time ago...like on Linnea's birthday when she received this great gift in the mail from our dear friends and Gil. Here are the pictures and videos from that and when Al was here visiting for her sister in laws baby shower. Al came to our house after the shower to read a bedtime story to Linnea and watch Little House Christmas and eat Christmas cookies with me!

special day.

Choo Choo Bob!

2012-01-07T15:01:00.002-08:00

This morning we went to another new storytime. This time it was at Choo Choo Bob's Train store.

We had been in there to play on the train table before but never for storytime. It sure was fun and why wouldn't it be when your storyteller dresses as a conductor, sings songs about trains and reads books about trains! We will probably be going again, even though it is very crowded.

We watched the electric trains a bit before heading home.

What another fun family outing!

Maplewood Family Storytime

2012-01-07T14:54:00.000-08:00

Every Monday morning there is a family storytime at the Maplewood Library that I have heard great things about. Since I had Monday off and preschool was closed we decided to head out to this event. And it was PERFECT because all the stories, fingerplays and music were about snowmen, which has been Linnea obsession for quite a few weeks now! She walked in singing Frosty the Snowman. We saw some friends from our New Parent Connection group (NPC) too. We ended up staying a good hour and a half after storytime taking advantage of the fun play area for kids. Linnea loved the kitchen and setting the table and "eating" her food. We checked out some snowman books and also Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakel...maybe not my best idea. Linnea has wanted to watch it or at least have it on everyday! We have liked most of the movies she has and this one isn't awful, but it's definitely not our fav. It is due back Monday and we aren't renewing it. Those lil chipmunks are pretty cute tho.

New Year's Day

2012-01-02T14:14:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!

We hope 2012 brings all you plenty of joy and happiness!

New Year's Eve brought the second or third accumulative snow of this winter which is pretty ridiculous, but the flakes were indeed beautiful! Largest I have ever seen and I really wish I would have gotten a picture but I never went out and did. I did get some pictures of Linnea and I playing in the snow on New Year's day.

We were out for about an hour, walking up and down our street making"handprints" as she says, and then playing in our yard making, "sandcastles" and sledding! Our yard has just enough of a decline to allow her to go down with a few pushes from me. I definitely felt like I got a workout from our time in the snow!

After her fun with me in the snow Linnea got to have an afternoon with daddy while I went to Cinderella at the Ordway with my sister in law Megan. We did lunch beforehand and then made it to play just in the nick of time.

We LOVED it!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T14:09:00.001-08:00

We ended 2011 with having two of our best friends over for a yummy soup dinner and then lots of snacks! We also played Kinect Sports 2 while Linnea was still up, Linnea played with Chuck and DeAnna, and got a hold of the camera and took many pictures for us! I have posted a few here. After we got Linnea down for the night us adults played 3 rounds of Sequence, watched an episode of The Wire Season 3 and then hit the hay just after midnight and watching the ball drop in NYC.

We also made a gingerbread house that Linnea got at her bday party! Thanks Michele! Linnea maybe ate more of the candy than she decorated with but its okay, it was s till pretty fun!

YAY our guests arrived!

Here are some of the shots Linnea took...she of course had to get an up close one of her fav guy Chuck. That is besides daddy, Papa and Papa Dave.

and some of her Christmas artwork...I believe she also got a picture of the display on our dining room wall but I couldn't put all her pics up here. There were seriously like 30. And not all terrible either!

a goofy one of her goofy mommy...

her big puppy

her finger

her fav lady DeAnna...besides mommy and her grandmas ;)

and we had to take one of her drinking her sparkly fizzy grape juice! cheers!

Just one more trip to the ceiling before bed please!

Linnea had so much fun but went to bed without a struggle. She was worn out!

In fact as I gave her her final hug of 2011 she said, "you better go downstairs, Chuck and DeAnna are waiting for you. I will see everyone in the morning."

At one point in my life I thought it would be fun to be in NYC for the ball drop, now I am perfectly happy having a yummy dinner, snacks, a few drinks and fun with family and friends right at home.

Indoor Waterpark!

2012-01-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve the three of us had a wonderful time using a crowdcut coupon I had to the Great River Indoor Waterpark at the Oxford Community Pool just a couple miles from our house.

Linnea loved the two little waterslides when we helped her get down them but I think her favorite part was just walking around and around in the water. I took her in the big pool for a little while and swung her around which she also enjoyed.

Above you can see her going up the steps to the top of the slide...

ready, set, go....

YAY!

Along with our coupon came free drinks and ice cream so we just bought some hot dogs and nachos and ate lunch there before heading home to get ready for our little New Year's Eve party with Chuck and DeAnna.

GG and Fiona!

2012-01-02T13:49:00.000-08:00

Linnea and I spent our Friday morning bringing GG some gas station donuts and visiting with her for just over an hour and then headed to my friend Katie's house to meet her baby Fiona who is just a few weeks old.

Fiona was pretty sleepy while we there but we did get to hold her and give her some kisses. Katie has another daughter Isabelle who is just over a month younger than Linnea so they were able to play together while us mommies got to chat.

We had lunch with them and then headed home for the afternoon/evening. We had a pretty low key Friday night in preparation for New Year's Eve! However...most Friday nights have become low key these days ;)

Children's Museum

2011-12-29T20:28:00.000-08:00

Linnea and I once again took advantage of the library passport to plays and went to the Children's Museum for free. Since the pass allows 4 additional people who can get in for 2 bucks each we invited our friend Lisa and her twin daughters who are I think almost a year older than Linnea and the three always have a blast together and so do their moms! It was a great day! Very busy at the museum but we still got to everything we wanted to.

We were a little disappointed in the rainforest exhibit but LOVED the storyland room! We recognized three of the stories from reading them at home. The Snowy Day, If you Give a Mouse a Cookie and Chickachicka BoomBoom.

Linnea loved running on Peter's footprints from The Snowy Day!

peeking under Mouse's cookies

adding letters to the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree

and reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!

Linnea always goes in the doghouse...

but this was the first time she dressed as a doctor and checked out the babies.

The gorilla in the rainforest.

A Den of sorts that squirt preferred over the crazy ant tunnels. I know she will love the ant tunnels when there are less big crazy kids crawling through. we tried going together but the poor girl would get so stressed anytime a big kid wanted by her that she just stopped. so we got out of there ASAP so we didn't get trampled.

When we were done playing and starving we went to the McDonald's that is on the way to the parking garage and had lunch before heading home for naps. Our friends were so nice and brought Linnea a bday gift which just happened to be a flying Tinkerbell! She loves it and actually snuggled with it for nap! yep, a plastic toy snuggled up nice and close!

Bye Bye Binkie!!!!!

2011-12-29T20:13:00.000-08:00

I don't know how to start this post. Chris and I are sort of in shock at what is going on at bedtime around here. It began at my parents house Monday December 26th (I'm a little behind on the blog) when Linnea slept over there while we were at the Wild game. Apparently she was being VERY silly and squirrely for them before bed. Not putting jammies on, not listening to stories, and basically probably just not listening. We may have missed the terrible twos in the twos and we are seeing some sort of terrible three's, but nothing too bad yet...Anyways...so after trying and trying to get her to settle down and relax for bedtime my mom just sort of picked Linnea up and said somewhat firmly, it is time for bed, do you just want to lay down like this in your clothes with no stories? Her lullabies were on and the bed was ready. Linnea said yes I do just want to go to bed like this. So they let her crawl in, gave her hugs and kisses and left the room. Left the room fully expecting her to cry or call out for stories and especially for that darn binkie that she has still been sleeping at night with. Well none of that happened. They did not hear a peep out of her until morning (well a little stirring around 11pm but that's it.)

Sooooo when Chris and I heard this we decided we are going with it. She is going to be done with the binkie. She is three and she needs to learn how to sleep all night without it. She has been napping without it for almost a year. So we are now on night 4 (actually we are going on 2 weeks now since I am so behind) without her beloved binkie. She still asked for it the first 4 nights after we gave it up and cried about it a little while we were reading to her but we just reminded her that she can do it, she has done it for many nights in a row. We remind her if she makes it all week she will get yet another new toy! We also told her that her cousin baby Jake (and we emphasized baby) doesn't use one and that seemed to really make sense to her. We told her he just uses his thumb. We may eventually give her one and only binkie left to baby Kaylan or send it up to the babies in heaven on a balloon or we may just never look at it again. We expected this to be so much harder. We were preparing to do a countdown and read books about it and everything but so far we haven't needed to. The binkie has been her only form of comfort and soothing her whole life besides us or other loved family members. She isn't attached to any of her toys or blankets. She likes them and they are in her bed with her but she doesn't snuggle with them. Her other form of soothing is rubbing her side with her finger. I have read a book to her each night this week that ends with a picture of a little girl sleeping and sucking her thumb and hugging her teddy bear. The girl looks about Linnea's age and every time L sees this picture, she says, hey she doesn't have a binkie, just like I don't have a binkie. She is just sucking her thumb. I can suck my thumb. I think she may start out with her thumb but she doesn't keep it in her mouth all night. Whatever she is doing though, it is working and it is much easier than we could have ever imagined. Thank you mom and dad for just laying her down! Clothes and all but no binkie! hooray!

GOOOO WILD!!!!!

2011-12-29T14:26:00.000-08:00

The Minnesota Wild Hockey team have been having a great season so we decided to buy ourselves some tix for part of our Christmas gifts to each other and head to the rink. I had a great day off with Linnea before the game. This December has been so ridiculously warm and snowless so we headed to the choo choo park in her new wagon after playing with some of her new toys. We spent quite a bit of time there and then came home for our usual picnic of mac and cheese on the floor with a show before nap. She laid down for just over an hour and then we had to wake her to get her over to grandma a papa's while we went to the game.

They ended up losing but we still had fun...it's a great atmosphere and it was something we had never done together before so that helped too.

Quite a few of our friends were also at the game so we met up with them afterwards for some pictures at the arena and then I went out with them to Patrick McGovern's while Chris went home, since he sadly had to work Tuesday at his usual early time of 6:30am and had worked a full day before the game too.

It was so fun to see Melissa and Joe visiting from Florida and also Aliya, Andy, Mike, Erin and Stan. I think I got them all! Linnea was able to sleep over at my parents house and that experience is for another post!

Christmas Day 2011

2011-12-29T14:15:00.000-08:00

After opening our gifts Christmas morning we headed out to Bay City to celebrate Christmas with Chris's side of the family. We decided to get there before Linnea's nap and just lay her down there while waiting for Jenny and her family to arrive. Thankfully she slept great in Allison's bed once she finally fell asleep which took at least a half hour. We could hear her playing with her baby. Anyways....while she slept we helped get the food ready for the evening and also had time to watch National Lampoon's Christmas! When Jenny and family arrived the girls played with Ella's new train set, Peyton's princess barbies and Linnea's baby. We had a nice dinner shortly after that, took some family pictures by the tree and then opened more gifts! After gift opening we played some more, ate some more cookies and left around 8pm or so! A little later than we wanted since Chris had to work Monday but he survived.

Winnie the Pooh 3rd Birthday Party!

2011-12-28T12:42:00.000-08:00

Someone turned 3 a week ago and it wasn't me! It was Linnea April! Where does the time go??We sure had fun celebrating her special day! Our sweet lil Linnea had a super fun Winnie the Pooh Birthday party the Saturday before her birthday. On her actual birthday she went to preschool with some banana chocolate chip muffins to share.

As you can see from this picture below Linnea LOVED her Pooh Birthday cake. Daddy did most of this one, I just helped with the frosting.

Way to go daddy!

We put out lots of Pooh themed snacks, such as Tigger Taels (pretzel sticks with melted chocolate and then stripes with red frosting), Roo's Reindeer Mix (my fav holiday chex mix and Linnea's too, however she calls it Rudolph mix), gummy bears, Kanga's Kookies, candy sticks because I never found honey sticks, veggies from Rabbit's garden, Pooh Berry Splash punch, honeycomb cereal, teddy grahams and the main course was piglets in a blanket and Pooh-nut butter sandwiches!

Welcome to...

Red Balloons of course and one special Winnie and friends one for the bday girl.

Her friends got to bring home their very own "Hunny Pot".

Speaking of her friends/cousins guests, I think they all enjoyed our family friend Nate who came to perform and sing with his guitar. When I was home with Linnea, Nate "taught" a music class every Tuesday that we LOVED going to. When I heard that he did bdays I knew Linnea would love to have him over for her special day. All the kids had fun with his songs and enjoyed all the lil Pooh snacks we had out! A video is at the end of this post.

Linnea loving being sung Happy Birthday to by her "boy Nate" and all of her guests!

Ready for cake!

Linnea loves all her presents and is slowly getting around to playing with all of them. We gave her Winnie the Pooh and she got many more Strawberry Shortcake, Tinkerbell, baby doll nursery and Winnie the Pooh themed presents! So fun! She also got a HUGE super soft stuffed dog!

Thank you everyone for making her day so wonderful!

Santa came! Santa came!

2011-12-28T12:32:00.001-08:00

Well most of Christmas cards got sent out, most of the cookies and snacks we wanted to make got made, Santa was seen, a few parties were attended, some of the crafts I wanted to do were done, the tree and house got decorated, most of the Christmas movies/specials were watched and the gifts were bought and wrapped. We were ready for the big day!

Linnea was so excited to come downstairs and see her presents from Santa! He delivered a wagon for grandma Sarah and Papa Dave and he also brought her an art easel and of course a baby doll.

Linnea LOVES her baby Allison! (Well, the brand is baby Stella, but Linnea named her Allison).

We had a great morning as our family of three opening our gifts and stockings, the not so great thing was my attempt to make monkey bread. I tried making it years ago with actual flour and yeast and waited for it to rise. It didn't work. SO I tried the easier/quicker way with grands refrigerator biscuits. Well turns out I should have used a glass pan instead of an angel food cake pan. The recipe called for a bundt cake pan which we didn't have so I used an angel food cake pan but did not put a pan under it to catch the drippings so everything dripped to the bottom of the oven and we now have a big burned spot and there was LOTS of smoke! and no monkey bread caramel rolls. But I did buy some cinnamon raisin toast so we had that as a special treat instead.

Anyways...back to the fun of the gifts, Linnea got some more books, I got some cds, gift cards a Little House series and a few other thing and Chris got books (he actually got three of the same book this year!), Star Wars trilogy, a Wild hat, slippers, a travel mug with Linnea's pics on it and a few other things. Santa brought us Kinect Sports 2 and we are hoping to play that on New Year's Eve with some friends if not before. Chris and I also bought ourselves tickets to the Wild game on the day after Christmas.

It was a funfilled morning with many, "Oh my goodness"squeals of delight from Linnea. When were done opening we packed up and headed to Bay City to celebrate with Chris's side at his moms.

Here is a video of Linnea seeing what she got from Santa!

Church and Dinner on Christmas Eve

2011-12-28T11:49:00.000-08:00

We went to my parents church for their 5:00 service which was nice but lasted a little longer than we expected but we made it! We had Dylan, Jake, Linnea and Kaylan from our crew of kids and they all did just fine coloring, snacking and singing. They went up to the kids service as well. I think they all enjoyed the candlelit version of Silent Night. On the way back to my parents house we drove by some houses with a ton of lights to give Santa some time to drop off stockings for everyone. When we arrived at my parents house we had a wonderful time eating our ham dinner, playing, watching Papa's train, opening presents, eating cookies and like my brothers, cousins and I always did the kids got in their jammies from GG so they could go right to bed when they got home.

But not without leaving out some cookies and milk for Santa!

Children's sermon. They walked up holding hands (Linnea and Dylan.) so sweet!

Thumbs up to wearing a bib!

Kaylan loves opening gifts!

Linnea got this Tutu from Erik and Lisa and family and put it on immediately!

Jake opening his yearly ornament from me (his Godmom) with Grandma.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-28T11:27:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Eve and Happy Birthday to me!

I started the 24th (my birthday) out with a birthday run followed by some last minute gift shopping. No matter how many times we say we aren't going to be so last minute we always are. It was very hard working up until one day before Christmas Eve but we pulled it all together and were ready to head to GG's for our first part of the Christmas Eve celebration. I even got to open my bday gifts from Chris and Linnea before left! Chris is taking me to Cinderella and Linnea was sweet enough to give me some smartwool socks with snowflakes on them! Love it!

We had some yummy appetizers at GG's, the kids played and we did our adult gift exchange and before we knew it, it was time to head to my parents house to get Linnea down for a short nap before church.

I brought some gingerbread men for decorating and Ian and Dylan really seemed to like this! I also brought some small holiday sticker books that the kids also liked!

Kaylans first Christmas!

Jake and his cookie!

present time!

ride time!

writing on white boards together! thanks elves!

The tradition continues....all the great grandkids opened their jammies which were put on later in the evening before going home. Thanks GG! Pink and snowmen are two of my favorite things, Love, Linnea.

A Silent Night for Peef

2011-12-28T11:14:00.000-08:00

We started our crazy busy Christmas weekend on Friday night by taking Linnea to her first play! We were supposed to go with some friends of ours who got the free tickets for us but they got sick so it was just the three of us going to A Silent Night for Peef.

It was a very sweet story about Peef the bear who was made by Santa but then Santa left him with a little boy on Christmas Eve. The play then went through Peefs first year with the boy. It was just over an hour which was a good length for all the kids in the theater.

Linnea seemed to love it even though she started singing Santa Clause is Coming to Town in the middle of it :) She also occasionally would ask, "where's the show?" since we explained it to her as sort of a movie but with live people. SO maybe she was looking for the screen? Im not sure. She would also ask where different parts of the scenery went when they did their scene switches.

We are looking forward to going to some more in the coming year.

Chris and I also had a day double date during the day and went to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Chuck and DeAnna. Sort of for my birthday too I think...since we missed out on A Christmas Story at the Riverview this year.

Christmas Party at GG's

2011-12-15T21:13:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday night was the annual Christmas Party at GG's assisted living home. The whole family was able to make it...well almost. I got sick Tuesday night and stayed home Wednesday and then Chris got it so he was out of commission for Thursday nights festivities. He has made it to the past 2 years or so of the parties.

SO, almost the whole family was there for a "professional" picture (without Santa this year, usually he and his wife usually make an appearance. I guess they were to busy working on presents), some cookies and punch were served and the Woodbury High School Choir sang carols. Linnea showed off her dance moves for some of the songs and her and cousins sang along with some as well.

We were a little sad they didn't play her favorite...Santa Clause is Coming to Town...or as calls it, "You Better Not Cry." I think she thought they were going to play it at one point because it got very quiet and she said sort of loud with her lil face scrunched up with excitement, "My favorite song is next!"

At the end of the night Linnea got to open her birthday present from GG and she proceeded to play with for about 10-15 minutes while I got the car.

Snack with Santa!

2011-12-11T21:36:00.000-08:00

December 11th we headed to the Minnesota Zoo to take advantage of the members only Snack with Santa! It was so much fun! We got Linnea dressed up in her Christmas dress and new sparkly red shoes. We enjoyed our snack of donut holes, oj, milk and coffee and did a craft and some coloring while waiting for Santa to make his way to our table. When he did Linnea wasn't scared at all this year and hopped right on his lap. They had a nice chat about Santa's reindeer and what squirt wants for Christmas. She said a train and a baby doll.

Santa gave her a penguin for now which she LOVES! She barely put it down the whole day! We then had some time to walk around the Zoo before I needed to be home for a baby shower and Chris home for the Vikings game and Linnea home for a nap.

Looking at the penguins with her penguin!

Standing by the pretty Christmas tree at the Zoo!

It was a wonderful family morning!

NPC Book Exchange and Christmas with Dad's Side

2011-12-11T21:34:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday morning we had our annual new parent connection group book exchange. It was so fun to see where another one of our friends lives. Allison and her family just moved into their new home this past fall. The kids had a great time playing with each other and Allison's toys and the moms and dads enjoyed talking! The kids did cute lil craft too! After Linnea's nap we headed over to my aunt and uncle's for our first Christmas of the season. Linnea got to play with more kids over there and open some cute princess gifts from Santa who came early! We forgot the camera but I will try to get some pics on here from my dad and/or our cameras! For now, enjoy the playgroup pictures!

Neighborhood Party and Kids Christmas Dinner

2011-12-09T21:38:00.000-08:00

Tuesday night some of our neighborhood friends and kids got together for a Christmas craft and dinner night. It was so much fun and so full of girls! Linnea and I just met the host of the party and the other families there at the end of summer at the good old Choo Choo Park. Depending on how long we live here this group of giggling dancing girls could be lifelong friends, or at least start school together. We are going to try to make this a monthly thing and hop from house to house. It will be nice to see everyone through the winter even though we won't be at the park. Hope Chris can come next time. He was nice enough to do some much needed grocery shopping for us Tuesday. But us ladies would love our husbands to meet and get to know each other better too :)

Wednesday night we had another dinner party! Again it was just Linnea and I while Chris headed back to the doctor and got put on another round of meds for his sinuses. If this doesnt cure it for longer than a week he will be headed to a ENT and surgery may be in the future :( On to happier things...we had a very pleasant time out in Apple Valley at my friends house. Lia's kids were so sweet to Linnea and Linnea got a kick out of the too. We will be going to a play with them on the 23rd right before Christmas. Can't wait to see them again!

Baking, Singing and the Nativity Scene

2011-12-09T21:34:00.002-08:00

Sunday after playing in the snow L and I headed to my parents to bake cookies and nap. Well I baked with mom and Linnea napped after playing with papa for a bit while mom and I went to the store. Daddy stayed home to watch the Vikes and put plastic on the windows and a variety of other random things that need to get done in our house. I think we made three kinds of cookies and we both hope to make more but only so much can get done in an afternoon.

I'm just so happy I got to bake some with mom and most of my cookies for my cookie exchange got done :)

They of course needed to be tasted!

YUM!!!!

We had pizza for dinner and the buzzed over to visit GG before going home. Linnea helped put up the nativity scene. I think GG enjoyed watching her. She is becoming quite the little girl.

Here she is singing one of her fav Christmas songs.

I finally put up the Advent Calendar/Banner I made using random scraps and old cards and stickers I had laying around here. 15 Days til Christmas!

We still have a lot to do!

Holidazzle Parade 2011!

2011-12-09T21:34:00.001-08:00

After our fun day in Linden Hills and after Linnea's nap, Saturday night we bundled up and heading into the big, beautiful gently falling snowflakes and watched the Holidazzle Parade in downtown Minneapolis. It was the.perfect.night! And we found a great parking spot in the Target lot for only $5.00! Linnea was in awe at the lights of parade and the snow falling! She even got a sucker. On the way back to the car she discovered escalators and enjoyed going up and down those. Once we made it to the car and home we finished Polar Express once again and headed to bed.
What a wonderful day/night!

Linden Hills Reindeer Days

2011-12-09T21:33:00.000-08:00

The first Saturday of December Saturday was definitely a holiday fun filled day! We started out in the Linden Hills area for their "reindeer day" activity. There were live reindeer and penguins, our favorite bookstore "The Wild Rumpus" that Chris has never been to and our favorite guy in red...Santa!

When we were done walking around the cute area we had great sandwiches from The Great Harvest and then headed to the Holly Trolley. Yup. The Holly Trolley! The Lake Harriet Streetcar still runs and for two weekends a year it gets decorated with Holly, Santa rides and carolers sing on it. Linnea loved it especially since she is still into the Polar Express and thought she was maybe on that train. She sat happily on his lap and asked for something but we couldn't quite understand what it was...we will be seeing Santa at least two more times though so hopefully we will get it one of those times :)

Our cute little Christmas tree!

2011-11-27T21:28:00.001-08:00

On our way home from Bay City we stopped in Woodbury at a new tree farm to get our Christmas tree! I had found a coupon on Plum District for basically $10 off. It was a cute farm but we were really cold on the super windy day so we sadly didn't cut it down. Just picked one from the lot. but it fits perfectly in our corner of our living room! Linnea enjoyed looking at all the ornaments and hanging them up. I think she really loves the Christmas lights too!

I will get one up of it lit up soon!

Saturday with the Meyers!

2011-11-27T21:27:00.000-08:00

Saturday day I can't seem to remember what we did...must've just hung out around the house playing and cleaning. I do know I did go shopping to Micheal's and got some good deals for Christmas presents and I went on a run.

The night I remember clearly though....we headed to Bay City, WI to celebrate Thanksgiving with Chris's family at his moms house.

It was so fun to see the girls all play together!

We also brought the Kinect to share since Allison bought an XBOX360 sometime during the night on Thanksgiving. Everyone tried bowling and Allison and Naomi tried most of the other games too.

I brought some crafts for the kiddoes so we enjoyed doing that too.

Chris, Linnea and I spent the night so we would have more time together.

Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday!

2011-11-27T21:26:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving over at Cheryl and Dwight's.The weather was beautiful so after our feast we went on a nice walk around Dwight's neighborhood. Linnea decided she needed a nap though! She slept on Cheryl and Dwights bed for about 2hours!

She loved their piano, toys that we played with as kids and their cats!

and making funny faces across the table to Uncle Dwight!

We visited GG after squirt woke up and having pie. GG loved the leftovers!

And Linnea enjoyed running through the halls, riding in GG's lap and playing nigh nigh on the card table when it was laying down. However our night didn't end at GG's....

One of my dad's student workers from Ecquador was over at Ted and Kathy's (family/work friends) house for Thanksgiving so we went over there for more pie and visiting. Linnea had a great time with the animals at Ted's and with all the people there.

Linnea and I left a little before my parents to head to my parents house to get her down to bed. Chris had to work 2:30-10:30 both Thanksgiving and Day after Thanksgiving so it was easier and more fun for me to just spend the night at my parents rather than go home to an empty house especially on a holiday :)

Friday morning I got up and went running since my dad was at home to watch Linnea. When I finished running we had breakfast together and then kiddo and I headed home to see and play with daddy before he left for work. Since it wasn't too cold we walked to the neighborhood park and played for a while before lunch. Lunch was had (I believe it was a picnic on the kitchen floor) and then Chris headed to work and Linnea laid down for a nap shortly after.

I had some time to myself so I think I did some online Black Friday shopping (I didn't go to any stores this year!) and got out our Christmas decorations. When Linnea woke up she was pretty upset because for the first time she wet her bed during nap. She did this at daycare maybe twice but has never done it at home :( Poor thing cried and cried and was so sad that this happened. So I comforted her and said it was just an accident and easy enough to clean up, but reminded her that is why we always go potty before we fall asleep. She took a bath which she was still crying during. But then we put comfy clothes on, she helped make some dinner and played a little to cheer up. Then to really cheer up, we popped some popcorn and cuddled on the couch for one of my all time fav Christmas movies...The Polar Express. Linnea loved it and now calls it the Polar Bear Express and would probably watch it everyday if allowed!

We had a great mommy daughter night but of course missed Chris and he missed us but made us some good money :) We are so thankful for our time together during the holidays and all year long!

Oreo Turkeys!

2011-11-21T21:03:00.003-08:00

Linnea and I made these to share with my co workers and her preschool!

Gobble Gobble!

Daycare to Preschool!!!

2011-11-21T21:03:00.001-08:00

Linnea started daycare just over a year ago and started preschool a week and a half ago!

The time sure flew by!

Here she is just over a year ago on her first day of daycare...

And here she is on her last day with Karen and Jenny.

We also needed to get a picture with her fav teacher on the baby side, Julie. She did not go here as a baby but whenever she would wake up early from her naps she would go over there (just down the hall) to spend some quiet time together. The toddler and babies were also outside together sometimes too so all the teachers get to know all the kids.

And below she is all set for preschool in her Tink shirt and new easy to get on and off pink boots!

We were so happy with the daycare she received at A Child's View so we are sticking with them for preschool. Even though it's the same company, Linnea is at a brand new to her bigger building, with two new teachers (one from Russia, so she may pick some of that up soon) and about 10 or 12 new preschool kid faces! She recognizes three or four of them from about 6 months ago when they moved onto preschool so that has definitely helped. We really used them to get her excited to go and I truly think it helped!

She made it to the breakfast table and was happy to be there.

And maybe a little embarrassed I was taking a picture ;)

Here she is after her first day at preschool with her good job big cookie surprise from mommy and daddy!

When I dropped her off the first Monday which was the Monday of Thanksgiving week there wasn't a tear in her eye or any signs of nervousness! She walked in, took her boots and coat off on her own like a big girl and seemed so comfortable. It was great! However, I was sort of expecting that because I knew she was excited and really wanted to go. She was the oldest by about 6 months at daycare and getting bored there and being naughty which means some unfun time in the corner. She also is potty trained, which is a requirement for this preschool so yay Linnea!

She was pumped to move on but a little sad to be leaving her friends and teachers. We made her friends some little gift bags full of gummy bears and teddy grahams with a note saying, "here are some bear hugs from me. Thank you for being my friend. I will miss you and hope to see you in preschool." Her teachers got homemade cards, gift certificates to the movies and some soup in a jar and M&M's in a jar with a nice little poem I found on Pinterest about being marvelous and magnificent.

So anyways...back to the first week or so of preschool. We decided to do it Thanksgiving week so it would only be three days to start with rather than a full week. The first two days she did great but got a little shy on that third day and tried to cling to me and wanted me to carry her to the breakfast table. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving which you will read about in a different post. She made it through her first full week as of last Friday, she made it, but it wasn't without tears this time. She cried at every dropoff, but I did get a call from the owner who visits each of his daycare facilities daily. He called Wednesday to tell me she was doing just great and stopped crying real quick after I left so I shouldn't worry and should just have a good day. He said he gave her a hug and comforted her and she perked right up.

They have a music person come every Wednesday who I guess Linnea loves! She shows off her dance moves, which are really something to see. I will try to get a video. Chris meanly compares her to Elaine from Seinfield but I think she is better! So she loves that part, loves the older toys, new art projects, new puzzles, books and new friends. What she does not love is walking. And they go on LONG walks. At least a mile. I don't think she has ever walked that far. So if you can picture a line of 15 or so kids, the one hanging out in the back whining/crying hopefully not sitting down would be ours. Oh well. If that is all we have to deal with for now, I will take it. We can easily practice walking with her. And once she figures out where it is they are walking to I think she will enjoy it more! Because the destination has always been fun...either a book store, library, bank where they get suckers (her fav candy in the world) or a park.

We are so proud of our big girl and can't wait to continue watching her grow and learn!

Woodbury Lakes Holiday Open House

2011-11-21T21:02:00.006-08:00

After our morning in the first snow and a long nap we headed out to our first of many holiday events...The Woodbury Lakes Shopping Center Holiday Open House.

The Okee Dokee Brothers were performing and Linnea danced a little to them.

We cuddled cuz it was COLD!

We saw Rudolph...

and Frosty too!

And Linnea saw fireworks for the first time ever! She was in awe for a while but then they got very loud so her and daddy went to get in line for the sleighride. The fireworks were put on to Christmas music which was very cool!

And the big Christmas tree was lit and Santa arrived!

All bundled up on the sleigh ride lead by real reindeer!

My dad joined us for this fun event and we also ran into many friends. We headed to Perkins afterwards for a super late dinner and some warm coffee!

First SNOW!

2011-11-21T21:02:00.005-08:00

We had our first snow of the season last Saturday on November 19th! Linnea was soooo excited! My mom, Linnea and I went to a craft sale in the morning and when we walked out it was getting whiter outside. The plan was to go home, have lunch, take a nap and then play...but somehow this sweet little girl convinced us to let her play first! She takes after her mama and LOVES the snow! We were probably out for 30 minutes or so and had a great time posing for the camera...

Peeking in between some trees...

trying to make snow angels...

and pulling a toy in her little sled. I tried pulling her but it tipped right over. I guess we know what to ask for from Santa!

We were so lucky to get her cute matching winter gear from her cousins! she may look a little marshmallowish but she sure stays warm!

She took a great nap after her time in the snow.

Thanksgiving Crafts

2011-11-21T21:02:00.003-08:00

Last Friday Linnea and I headed over to Brian and Megan's to do some Thanksgiving crafts with the boys. We knew we wouldnt get to see them on turkey day this year and it had been a lil while since we had played so we invited ourselves over and had so much fun! Megan made a great roast for dinner and we made turkey hats and Thanksgiving ready to bake cookies from Rainbow! Brian missed out since he was bowling but we got to see him for a little while before he left. It was very cute when he was leaving because Ian ran to him to say I love you, goodbye and good luck at bowling and Linnea toatlly followed in his footsteps and did the same thing :)

Dress Up and BVS Homecoming Week!

2011-11-21T21:02:00.001-08:00

We had some dress up time here at the Meyers's! I'd like to introduce Princess Linnea!

and Ballerina Linnea!

The ballerina also thought it was fun and clever to line up her stuffed animals here:

And I showed her this lil activity I found on my new favorite website...Pinterest. Who would have thought pipe cleaners and a strainer could keep a toddler busy for maybe 10 minutes! Thank you Pinterest for this idea and so many more. I may a little obsessed with you.

But just a little ;)

The week before Thanksgiving was also an exciting week for Bridgeview (The school I am at). They celebrate Homecoming in their own special way! I have LOTS of pics but am not sure I should/can share them the blog. I will just try to explain what a cool time it is...we have Homecoming royalty (and we had the princess in our room), circle wrestling, rope wresting, a pep fest and even a dance! It is so much fun to see the students having so much fun and to see the staff show such support and school spirit. We may not be able to play football but we know how to push students from another school (Linwood-Monroe) off the mat! This is during circle wrestling which involves a student (with special needs, because that is our whole population at BVS) sitting back to back with a student from the opposing school and they push with their backs trying to get each other off the mat. Its very exciting! We also can put on a great pepfest show! This year it was dancing through the years, starting with the 20s. Each decade had a different song and students wore different outfits according to their decade and did the appropriate dance from that decade. It was so creative! I like BVS and my job more and more each week, still wish my job was staying home with Linnea a few days a week tho :)

Vikes vs. Pack plus a little sunshine!

2011-11-21T21:01:00.005-08:00

My parents came over for Monday Night football when the Vikings played the Packers. We are fully aware the Vikes are having a pretty horrendous year but we still get our gear on and watch and cheer and thats always more fun with more people. So my parents came over to join us. Linnea stayed up for part of it and enjoyed some snacks, singing and cheering with us!

Linnea and I sing this every night before bed and it is the sweetest thing! I will try to get a better video but I always forget so this is what we have for now! dont mind the talking in the background!

Ian's 4th Birthday!

2011-11-21T21:01:00.003-08:00

Our nephew Ian celebrated his 4th birthday at Pump It Up which is a facility with tons of bounce houses and inflatable slides. It was great to see the cousins play and play and jump and jump! They got glittery/sparkly tattoos, crazy socks and root beer floats, pizza, ice cream and cake! What a fun morning! Happy Birthday Ian!

Linnea was doing this the whole way to the birthday party. Sitting like this, while shouting, look at me daddy, look at me mommy! what a goofball!

Our camera battery croaked after taking these three pictures you see on here or else I would have better ones.

Sorry!

The Blast and Open Gym

2011-11-21T21:01:00.001-08:00

I had Friday November 11th off (11/11/11, pretty cool) so I decided Linnea could have the day off of daycare too and we would go find something fun to do. And did we ever! We headed to Eagan since we had to pick something up anyways and checked out the Eagan Community Center. I knew there was a fun outdoor playground there and I also knew we could pay $3 for some open gym time and playtime in the Blast. It was pretty windy so we opted for the open gym deal and I am so glad we did! We had a BLAST in the Blast! I can't wait to go back!

The Blast is an indoor playground with lots of tubes to climb through and tube slides to go down. Squirt (being the shorty like her mommy she is) couldn't quite climb through on her own so I got to play too! We played until lunchtime when we headed to GG's for lunch with her and my dad too.

We had a very nice time and it of course made me miss being a stay at home more than ever, but that isn't an option right now so I will just continue to enjoy the days off, evenings and weekends as much as I can.

Speaking of evenings...we introduced Linnea to english muffin pizzas for supper after our fun day out. She was so cute helping make them and she ate them right up! yay!

Winnie the Pooh and Riverview Cafe

2011-11-21T20:16:00.000-08:00

Linnea finally got to experience my favorite theater in the whole world...The Riverview!

Winnie the Pooh has been there for the last couple weeks mid morning on Saturday and Sunday so it's the perfect time for us. We had time to get up and play a little and it was pretty cold a few weeks ago so we headed to the theater. With Winnie this time ;)

Just Linnea and I had a little date. Daddy was still feeling pretty lousy with sinus pain so he stayed home.

There is a cute little coffee shop across the street with a kids play area so we spent about an hour there afterward seeing Pooh for the second time on the big screen.

We loved it as much as the first time and I learned I love Nutella Hot Chocolate from the Riverview Cafe. The only thing missing was daddy.

Girls Day at the Minnesota Zoo!

2011-11-05T20:21:00.002-07:00

My mom, Linnea and I had a girls day at the Minnesota Zoo!

I lucked out and was able to check out another free pass from the library thinking we would either use it the Sunday before Halloween to check out HallZooween or this weekend just for fun. Well we did ZooBoo at Como so the pass got used for the Zoo. Chris had a terrible sinus infection and bronchitis so he stayed home and we steered clear of him so as to not get resick! My mom was able to come though while my dad continued to help Brian work on their garage.

Linnea thought the penguins were quite cute and posed with the statues. She also waited her turn to sit on this tortoise!

There was a tunnel to crawl through and see the monkeys! I had no idea this was here! YAY for grandma finding it!

Some of the scarecrows from the scarecrow alley event were still up by the farm too so that was interesting to see! I don't know why, but L loves scarecrows! One of the many creative scarecrows is pictured below...there was also a bear ballerina, a flamingo, A Vikings something, a pig, a peacock and many more!

She will always love goats.

And who wouldn't want to sit in this cool egg!

and pose with the chickens!

We ended our trip with a picnic lunch inside. Linnea fell asleep in the car on the way home, which as many of you who read this may remember is extremely unusual! I guess we wore her out! Her nap did not carry on into the house though. But we had some quiet time and sleeping 40 minutes is better than none!

It had been years since mom had been there so she enjoyed herself and Linnea and I just always love the zoo. Most of the animals we went by were out and about too, even in all the wind! Can't wait for our next visit to the Zoo when we have breakfast with Santa!

Trick or Treat!

2011-11-05T20:21:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween!!! We started our Halloween at Linnea's daycare after work. Last year squirt had only been there a week for the party and was one of the youngest. This year she has been there a year and is the oldest! Hard to believe! All the kids had their cute costumes and it was nice to see them interact together (well sort of, most hung out with their parents since they had been with each other all day. Linnea quite frankly was ready to go and was very confused why both her parents were there and werent leaving!) But it was a fun party with lots of yummy snacks and they even did a pinata this year!

Once that was broke and everyone got their candy/snacks it was time to go home and bundle up for trick or treating.

Two pretty princesses!

We put a pair of leggings over Tink's tights and a long sleeve shirt under her dress and she was good to go! We walked up the street to our friends and started out with them but then separated and found more friends!

There are kids coming out of the woodwork in our neighborhood and its fun to finally get to know them! We hadn't trick or treated in our neighborhood yet because L hasn't really been old enough and we always ended up in Woodbury visiting GG and the cousins but with it being on a Monday it worked better to stick around our own house. We had seen everyone on Saturday so it all worked out great.

Linnea lasted just over an hour and walked most of the time again and came home with a bucketful of goods! There are so many ways of dealing with eating all the treats and

we have decided to go with all three of us are sharing it and having 1-2 pieces a day! yum!

Cuddling in Halloween jammies with daddy while winding down before bed after a super fun day!

ZooBoo!

2011-11-05T20:20:00.002-07:00

We went back and forth as to whether or not to take Linnea to ZooBoo at Como this year. Would she get it, would she get scared, is it worth the money? She was still battling an ear infection, cough and runny nose...

But boy are we glad we went! We made a last minute decision to go and had a blast! Linnea loved looking at all the cute signs the zoo puts up and people in costume seem to usually make her day so she was in heaven.

There were lots of people dressed as Disney characters, she didn't know who they all were but she did see TinkerBell and since she was dressed up as her too that was pretty neat. She could not figure out these parrots. She walked up to every one and stared at it and touched it and stared some more as if she was waiting for it to move. Who knows if she ever realized they were not real. We told her they were pretend birds but the confusion remained ;)

She had some "tea" with Belle!

And posed at Linus from the Great Pumpkin. She actually posed with just about every wooden plaque with a character on it so we definitely got our moneys worth with the amount of time it took to get through :)

She walked most of the way which was nice and she got very good at saying trick or treat and thank you. I loved that they gave out healthy treats mixed in with the candy too :) We ended the night with Burger King since I had been busy baking all day for treats for her daycare Halloween party, it was late and no one felt like cooking.

Carving Pumpkins!

2011-11-05T20:20:00.001-07:00

We had so much fun celebrating Halloween in the morning we thought we would continue on into the evening after nap and carve our pumpkins! I decided to make a cat on mine this year, Linnea picked a face out of the book "Five Little Pumpkins", and Chris found a flame face online to do.

We were amazed that Linnea sat through the whole ordeal! She didn't care for cleaning the pumpkins out but she peeked in them, colored on them, ate an apple and just seemed very content watching her mommy and daddy hard at work. After we were done we made some trick or cheesy mac n cheese and hot dogs, watched The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and called it a day. It was a spooktacular day!

Fall Festival at Valley Creek Mall

2011-11-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

We did our first round of trick or treating at Valley Creek Mall in Woodbury. The mall puts on a great fall festival for families! Each store was handing out candy or a cute Halloween toy, there were some crafts, face painting (or hand painting which is what L preferred) a scarecrow, and a balloon artist. It was so much fun and a great way to have the cousins (well most of them) see each other in their costumes. We also were able to zip over to GG's and visit her so she could see her great grandchildren in costume. She also had some treats for the kids. We dropped GG off in the dining room so she could have lunch and we headed over to my parents house for a Jack-O-Lantern Pizza!

Yummy!

Here is our Tinkerbell all ready to go!

Most kids were afraid of him but she walked right up with her arms out to give a hug and then plopped on his lap for some pictures.

she chose a ghost for her hand!

Baby bunny Kaylan!

art!

Spiderman Ian, Skeleton Pirate Dylan and Tink.

Tink loves riding on her GG!

Pool, Catalina State Park, MoneyBall

2011-11-01T20:07:00.000-07:00

Chris and I had breakfast with the Clemens Monday morning before they left for Phoenix to catch their flight and then said our goodbyes and had a Chris and Amy day. One that did not involve Urgent Care :) Instead it involved the pool and then one more hike. We went to Catalina State Park and ended up finishing 2 hours later once again. We really planned to just go for about an hour and then go to a movie and dinner and get back to the hotel early. Well it was just too beautiful and we were having too much fun to just be there only an hour. We ended up hunting for 2 letterboxes finding one and seeing a few lizards along the way as well. There were some horseback riders who we ran into who informed us there was a mojave rattlesnake around the corner...thanks. We (well, I) was then nervous for the next 30 minutes of the hike. We thankfully never did see one :) After the hike we went out to dinner at the Thunder Canyon Brewery where we tried some of Tucson's locally brewed beer. yummy! We then went to see Moneyball and loved it. We were completely exhausted and ready for bed and to head home in the morning. Thank you for the fun Arizona! We hope to return in the next couple years! Pictures to come...

Wedding Bells!

2011-11-01T20:05:00.002-07:00

I have to say Barbara and Aidan's wedding was one of the most beautiful and touching weddings I have ever been too. They are definitely made for each other and we wish them the best in this exciting new chapter of their lives. They were married at Maynard's Market in downtown Tucson which had never hosted a wedding before but they did an amazing job. It was small and intimate and so sweet. A train even went by during the ceremony and quite a few during the dinner which was served family style and was lots of fun. All the speeches were super heartfelt and fun to listen to. Then came the desserts....yummy!!! It was the best dessert bar ever and took up the whole cafe that was in the market. The dance was also fun and there was a little "photo booth" where we could put on funny hats and costumes and say cheese!

The head table! cute!

Appetizers!

The guys.

The girls.

We sat at table 3!

The first dance. They danced to Brandi Carlile, "The Story". I have never heard that song used but it was very fitting for this couple. So sweet.

Us.

The Desserts!!!

The night ended singing karaoke at The Hotel Congress which is an awesome vintage hotel in downtown Tucson across the street from the wedding site. The Meyers and Clemens sang Buddy Holly by Weezer dedicated to Aidan, his brothers and Barb who all love Weezer. Chris and I sang Summer Lovin from Grease. Chuck may have said Weezer, Olivia Newton-John and Travolta all cried a little thanks to our singing but I don't care it was a blast! Our camera battery died before karaoke so no pics.

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Anderson!

Girls Hike and the Vikes!

2011-11-01T20:05:00.001-07:00

Sunday morning all us friends took advantage of the free breakfast together and then kind of did our own things. Chuck and DeAnna wanted to check out the Bio-Sphere, Carl and Chris wanted to relax and gear up for the wedding and definitely not miss the Vikings game. Lori and I were itching to hike again so off we went to a high rated hike called Finger Rock Canyon.

It turned into another 2 hour hike and we got a lil lost at the end but we made it to the car and back in time to watch the Vikings until wedding time.

Here we are at the top!

What a view of Tucson!

7K Race, Sabino Canyon and La Fuente

2011-11-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning began for the Wallins and me with a 7k race/run with the bride and groom to be. The run was very fun with desert all around! Chris slept in and went to breakfast and Target with Chuck and DeAnna. When we returned to the hotel we had more free breakfast and then got ready to swim in the hotel's Olympic sized pool! It was great to relax with friends and enjoy the sunshine.

We eventually headed out for another hike, this time at Sabino Canyon. I was very relieved to not see any wildlife besides cute lizards and rabbits and another tortoise. No more centipedes. I went hiking there like 15 years ago with family and friends and remember loving it and I still do!

Best friends we could ask for :)

15 years ago we found a great restaurant called La Fuente and I loved it. We found it again this year and I also still loved it. There are hanging plants everywhere, super colorful walls and mariachi singers! Oh and they make fresh guacamole at your table and delicious margaritas and pretty authentic Mexican food in my eyes :)

We had a great time and the Clemens and Meyers ended the night relaxing in the hot tub.

Urgent Care, Pima Canyon, B-Line and Happy Hour

2011-11-01T20:02:00.000-07:00

As luck would have it, my cough I talked about in the previous post continued to get worse through the night so we thought it would be smart to go to urgent care. Yes urgent care on our vacation. Our first extended vacation just the two of us in a LONG time. And we picked the slowest urgent care ever, but 3 hours later we were really glad we went. My chest was super tight so I got to use an albuterol breathing tube/machine to loosen everything up and also got some strong meds which luckily had no awful side effects to ruin the trip! Everything helped! By the time we got my meds we received a call from Carl and Lori that their plane had landed! We were still by the airport since we had rented our car from there before hitting urgent care. So we went to pick them up, ran to Target and grabbed lunch at Wendy's. Great fuel for our 2 hour hike we proceeded to go on. I know its weird to go to urgent care get diagnosed with a bad cough and still hike but I have been looking forward to this for a long time so I didnt want to miss out on anything :) Plus I think the air helped! Anyways...we found an awesome hike in The Pima Canyon and even found a letterbox along the way.

Letterbox.

Carl and Lori!

Beautiful view of Tucson.

Lori and Amy!

We also found something I absolutely hate. The largest, fattest, redish and blackish centipede I have ever seen in my life. I was leading the way and saw it creep under a rock and I bolted. I am not making it up either because the rest of the crew saw it briefly too and it was disgusting. It was an out and back hike and I thank God we didn't see it on the return trip! But we did see a wild tortoise. Very welcoming after that centipede! However it did startle us and we were very glad we didn't step on it thinking it was a rock!

Desert sunsets. One of life's most beautiful things.

After our 2 hours of fun was done we headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner. We chose to go to the B-Line which had wonderful burritos and a very fun atmosphere!

We had just enough energy left after that to go see Aidan and Barb and "the brothers" (Aidan has 5 bros) and some friends for a drink before heading back to the hotel for bed. Again, the 2 hours behind in AZ takes some getting used to. What a fun day (minus Urgent Care).

Sunny Skies of AZ!

2011-11-01T19:33:00.000-07:00

Chris and I headed to AZ without our sweet lil Linnea who got to stay with her grandparents for 6 days! My parents and Chris's shared her and everyone had a great time! Our main reason for heading to Tucson, AZ was for our friends Aidan and Barbara's wedding but we made it a couple's vacation as well and added a few days before and after the wedding. Our friends Carl and Lori were also able to come without their kiddoes and Chuck and Deanna were able to get away from work and their dogs and join the fun as well. It was so nice to have some time with just our friends and just each other and not worry about naps and bedtimes. We definitely missed Linnea everyday but knew she was in good hands so it was pretty easy to have some fun. The picture above is us on the plane ready to head out on Thursday morning!

Thursday Chris and I were on our own so we checked into our hotel and took their shuttle to 4th Street ( a strip in downtown Tucson with lots of shops and restaurants) and found Lindy's, a hole in the wall beer and burger joint. Apparently Man Vs. Food had been there since they offer a burger challenge :0) We did not try that...Chris had the Hawaiin Five O which was a teriyaki burger with a pineapple...yummy! I went out on a limb and tried a burger with a fried egg on it...not so good but once the egg was off the burger was great!

After dinner we had some time to kill while waiting for the shuttle and found this super cute cafe called the Chocolate Iguana! Look at all the candy above and the cute set up and paint below. If I lived in Tucson I would be a regular here. Their iced pumpkin latte was delicious as was their iguana blend!

We called it a night after that which was fairly early, AZ is 2 hours behind us so it felt like 11 or so when we went to bed. Plus, I was coming down with a terrible cough and Chris wasnt feeling one hundred percent either.

A pumpkin with a few infections...

2011-10-19T06:38:00.000-07:00

SO when we went to the doctor on Friday after trying to leave for our family trip we figured L had a sinus infection and were disappointed when the doc didn't find anything. They did say to come back if her condition doesn't improve in 2-3 days. So I took Monday off and brought her back in since her cold/cough wasn't getting any better. Turns out our thought was confirmed. She indeed did have a sinus infection and an ear infection! I am so glad I stayed home with her Monday and got that figured out. With Chris and I's 6 day trip to AZ coming up tomorrow we want her as well as possible for her stay with her grandparents. I am home with her again today (Wednesday) since she did not sleep well and said she didn't feel good when she woke up. Hopefully this day of rest full of movies and books will be just what she needs to get better.

Family Fall Trip

2011-10-19T06:11:00.001-07:00

This year we decided we would go to the Heartwood Conference Center for our annual fall trip. The Heartwood is the same place we have stayed at for the Birkie Ski Race the past couple of years. We had never been there in any season other than winter but knew winter was a blast. Well fall was too! There was quite a bit of storm damage from the storms at the beginning of July but we it was still a beautiful place to be.

Chris, Linnea and I tried to head up Friday after work/daycare and got about 1 hour out and Linnea said she didn't feel well. At first we thought maybe it was just motion sickness since we were doing a lot stopping and going thanks to traffic, mixed with her cold/cough she has been battling for a few weeks. Or maybe she was hungry. Well we stopped for food and she didn't eat and was getting "greener" by the mile and had developed a little fever. So we decided to turn around and head straight to the doctor. There was so much traffic on the way up but not nearly as much on the way back so we made it to the doctor in less time. Linnea miraculously fell asleep on the way to the dr but we woke her to go get her checked out. The doc didn't find anything so we went home thinking it was a mixture of carsickness, cold, cough, virus. By the time we got home it was close to 10 so we all headed to bed with hopes that we would feel better in the morning and attempt the trip again. And sure enough, we woke up feeling good so we repacked quick and got on the road around 10 and made it with no carsickness and no movie!! Linnea just colored and sang the whole way! couldn't believe it!

When we got there everyone was finishing up lunch so we joined in, unloaded our car and then we all played outside with kites and at the playground that was conveniently outside our door! yay! Brian and his family arrived on Saturday too.

Such a big girl climbing to the top of the slide and helping make orange rice krispie treats.

We all got to go on a hayride through the center grounds as well. So fun!

After the hayride we went on a treasure hunt, did some crafts, played and got ready for our delicious Rigatoni, salad and bread dinner. After dinner I think we just played some more (lots of playing involved when there are 6 kids 5 or under!) When we got all those kids to bed us adults were able to learn one new game and then get some rounds of Nertz in!

Such a proud big cousin to her baby Kaylan.

A musician in the making. She takes after her daddy with her musical talents!

On Sunday as we were packing it up it sort of seemed like we just got there. Our trips go so fast but it is always nice to get the whole family together and enjoy each other's company. We did one last craft after our pancake breakfast. Now all the nephews have Big Green Monsters somewhere in their houses!

We did extend the activities a little bit on the way home by stopping for two letterboxes. We found one, but failed to find the other. The one we did find was on the Trego Nature Trail which was a lovely trail that I'd like to hike all of one day! Even the kids could do it!

Playing in the leaves!

Thanks for super fun getaway everyone! See you soon!

Como Zoo, Java Train and Tutu's

2011-10-13T22:20:00.002-07:00

Linnea and I took a quick (very quick) trip to Como Zoo this past Sunday. I thought there was a scarecrow alley similar to the one at the MN Zoo which would be fun to see but apparently no one made any scarecrows to set up so we headed to the big cats instead. On the way we had to stop to pose on the giraffe.

Linnea has been asking to see a lion for many days so we were thrilled when it was out walking around. She also got to see a tiger up close by the window! We were literally only there for about 40 minutes, since we arrived at 3:30 and the place closes at 4:00.

We headed to Java Train afterwards for some ice cream together. There is also a small play structure and some trucks, cars and toys to play with outside. It was a great lil date mommy and daughter outing!

When we got home she found her tutu and thought it would be fun to have on her head like a lion...and mine!

Chuck and DeAnna Clemens!

2011-10-13T22:20:00.001-07:00

Our friends Chuck and DeAnna tied the knot in New York at Niagara Falls at the end of September with their immediate families. They had a wonderful time! We got to celebrate with them and our old gang of friends last weekend at one of our favorite neighborhood bars, Sweeney's! We all had a wonderful time. It had been a while since we had seen some of the people there so it was great to catch up and spend time with such happy newlyweds.

Aamodts Apple Farm

2011-10-13T22:19:00.002-07:00

Linnea and I went to Aamodt's Apple Farm together with our New Parent Connection Group. We all look forward to seeing our kiddoes in costumes so we decided to just have them wear their costumes to the orchard since we also wanted to go to an orchard together.

I was not prepared though and didn't have a great costume for squirt. She was happy to wear her tutu and carry her wand around though and we borrowed our friends wings so she was sort of a fairy, princess, butterfly.

It was a beautiful day to be at the orchard. We enjoyed a hay ride, "train" ride, hay maze, riding mini tractors, playing on the slide and having a picnic.

I dropped Linnea off at grandma and papa's afterwards for a sleepover while Chris and I went out to celebrate Chuck and DeAnna's wedding celebration which will be a post of its own! My Uncle Brad was also in town this weekend but I sadly got no pictures. I know, what a surprise, me no pics? We had dinner at GG's with him Friday and Linnea got to spend Sat night and Sunday morning with him too since he was staying at my parents too. It is always nice to catch up and hear about what he and Sophie are up to in Utah. Hopefully we will get out to see them sometime.

painting toe nails and goin potty

2011-10-13T22:19:00.001-07:00

Linnea has a VERY hard time getting her toenails clipped. Like very hard. The way she cries and screams and fights it is worse than when she gets shots at the doctors. We have tried everything...pretending the toenails hit us in the head when we clip, painting the toenails, clipping before and after the bath, putting her fav show or movie on while doing it for a distraction, clipping her favorite stuffed animals or dolls toes, giving her a sucker, giving her an m & m after each toe...everything. If anyone has other ideas please let me know! As you can see in this picture we have also painted and clipped ours in front of her, yes our, daddy's toes look so nice with pink on them! SO for now we just struggle through it and daycare has helped twice as well.

We are also moving right along with this potty training business! Still have to figure out when #2 is actually going to happen. She always thinks she needs to go, sits down for a second and gets up. She will do this plenty of time before the real thing happens. Its better than poop in the pants though!

Twin Cities Marathon and other first weekend of Oct. festivities!

2011-10-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

Friday night after daycare Linnea and I did some errands right after daycare while daddy cooked some yummy ghoulash for dinner. It was delicious and afterwards we just kinda played and had Tinkerbell on, yes Tink again. She loves it still! Saturday I had high hopes of getting up early, running and then going to a new park by the Midway Hamline Library and then the library for their fall festival...BUT Linnea had a rough night which means we had a rough night so we ended up sleeping until 9 and then I ran with Linnea at Como and played at the Choo Choo Park basically until lunch time. Daddy and L had lunch and the spent the afternoon together while I went to my cousin Tonja's baby shower.

I was home when she woke up from her nap, put dinner in the oven and then we headed to look for a letterbox by a playground near the Como Zoo. We didn't find the box but sure had fun at the park! Dinner was a hit (turkey, mashed potatoes and mixed veggies) and then it was more playtime/show watching and then bath and bed. Chris and I got caught up on Fringe and tried to catch up on house work after she went to bed. No pictures of any of those activities but I do have some for the rest of the blog!

I tried to go to bed early so I could get up early and run before cheering the 10 milers on but that as usual didnt work. I went to bed late but still got up early to go cheer. I was looking for 5 people and ended up seeing 3 of them so thats pretty good! Megan was one I was looking for and Brian, the kids and my parents ended up meeting me at my post at mile 7 and cheering too so that was awesome! They even made signs for us to hold! She had a great run and had pretty perfect weather in my eyes! Every time I watch a big race/run it motivates me to do more of them...I just wish they didn't cost so dang much! We (Brian, Megan, myself and maybe my hubby) do think we will be doing the Disney Marathon in Jan of 2013 though! Sadly I didnt get any pictures of Megan but we really did see her!

It was a super fun morning followed by a fantastic afternoon...we headed to Colvill Park in Red Wing to meet Chris's family including his grandparents whom we haven't seen in months. Jenny was able to bring some of the twins' clothes so Linnea has another new wardrobe again. We are so lucky to be able to get so many hand me downs! I love it! Linnea and her cousins played for about 3 hours at the park and then we decided we better get home. She of course didn't sleep on the way home but we laid her down at 4 for a nap anyways when we got home...actually she laid herself down. We asked do you want a nap or to just go to bed early and she headed upstairs and laid down and didn't want any books, she just wanted me to sing and then she said I go nigh nigh now, you go bye bye! So I did and was able to get my run in and Chris started the laundry of the "new" clothes.

Family picture!

Linnea and Naomi

Linnea and Ella on the bee!

Yummy! A Pizza Picnic!

Perfect weekend. 5 more days til the next one. At least new fall tv shows are on so I have that to look forward to as well as my fam while I am at work.

Apple Crisp!

2011-09-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

We bought a huge bag of Zestar apples at the orchard fully intending to bake something with them the same day but I just didn't have the time or motivation for that, but for some reason this Monday evening I did! So I got my lil helper away from Bert and Ernie's Great Adventure and she helped me slice the apples with our twisty apple corer thing and stir and sprinkle the toppings. It got finished just in time for Linnea to have some as a bedtime snack, however she preferred just the side of ice cream. Chris and I sure loved the special treat though! We also had turkey chili and corn bread for dinner...I love fall food.

Afton Apple

2011-09-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

We decided to go to Afton Apple Orchard this year for one of our fall activities. Erik and Lisa and their boys were free on Saturday too so we all got to go together and it was so. much. fun. I just love apple orchards and it was perfect weather to be outside all day! We hadn't been to Afton Apple since our wedding 5 years ago so it was neat to see it now. The kids enjoyed a cow train ride, playing at the playground, petting/feeding the petting zoo animals and climbing on the hay and big tire mountain. We all took a hayride together and then had lunch. It was a wonderful afternoon! Linnea took a good nap and then when she woke up her and I headed back out to the Afton area to celebrate my friend Katie's husband's 40th bday. Linnea enjoyed swinging on their hammock and playing with Isabelle and her toys. We got Linnea down and then Chris and I got to have a movie night of our own. We have been wanting to see Bridesmaids since it was in the theaters so we rented that from Amazon and laughed hysterically for almost the whole thing.

Baby Kaylan and Doodlebops!

2011-09-26T20:29:00.001-07:00

We got to babysit baby Kaylan for a few hours this past Friday! She was a sweetie and we would be happy to do it again anytime. Linnea thought it was pretty fun too and gave her many kisses and pushes in the swing. On a side note, we tried making buffalo burgers with ground buffalo from the Farmer's Market, however we sadly added enough salt for 2lbs instead of one. The recipe we found online was for 2lbs and someone forgot we only had 1 pound. And by we, I mean Chris. Oh well! I tried making zuke fries to go with them, but didn't like them very much either. So it wasn't our best supper. It happens. We had a cute baby over to cheer us up! Kaylan is growing so fast and doing so many different things! Her smile fills her face and lights up the room!
Saturday morning when I went to get Linnea before my run she asked where her baby Kaylan was but then quickly remembered, oh yeah, uncle Brian picked her up. She decided she wanted to snuggle with daddy instead of run with me so off I went on my own. Chris and her made their way downstairs shortly after and found her fav Saturday morning show, the DoodleBops! I think it's a very strange show and am happy it is only on on Saturdays at our house :) She had her breakfast in front of it while we got ready to go to Afton Apple.

Cousins from Colorado!

2011-09-26T20:22:00.001-07:00

Kim, Eoin, Eloise and Owen were here for a couple of days visiting. We saw them almost every night they were here. I couldn't take a day off since school just started and I just know I will need my vacation days for our trip to AZ in about a month and Im sure I will get sick or Linnea will get sick and I will need a day or more then. We made the most of the evenings and Linnea and I even slept over one night too! We had a movie nigh nigh with popcorn and Eoin and Eloise the second night they were here. The first night we had fried chicken from Rainbow at GG's and their last night Kim made yummy enchiladas and then we visited GG quickly before bedtime. Linnea and I headed home even though I was tempted to sleepover again. Linnea had a great time with her cousins and kept asking where is my Eoin and Eloise? And I just always love seeing the visitors from CO! Hopefully we can go out there sometime sooner than later!

Our Weekend (sept 17th and 18th, Im a little behind)

2011-09-19T20:22:00.000-07:00

This weekend was soooo needed! it was a long first full week at work. Friday I had to sub on the bus so didn't get home til 5:30 and did not feel like cooking so we used our Quiznos Groupon and had a picnic and gave Linnea some playtime at the park, which these days means swinging. She is obsessed with it! It was quite chilly though so we didnt stay long and headed home to have our first hot chocolate of the season, with a little bit of Tinkerbell before bed. Tink is Linnea's new favorite movie/character. Could make a cute Halloween costume, but that is still a little ways away and her fav character could switch again! Before Tink it was Winnie the Pooh, before that Despicable Me and before that I believe it was Toy Story. So who knows where we will be come Halloween. Anyways...so Friday night's activities put me in a better mood. And Saturday helped even more. Linnea and I were able to meet our New Parent Connection at Carpenter Nature Center. Again, it was a little chilly but we stayed warm in the nature center learning about owls and seeing them eat mice (yes, real dead mice, sort of disturbing but real life) and looking at the other displays. We then had a cold picnic and went on a nice walk. Saturday night we dropped Linnea off at my parents fully intending to go to Stillwater to use another groupon but thank goodness I called the restaurant we were heading to see if we could walk in, turns out it was a full house and they werent taking more reservations! So I quick printed off yet another coupon (Livingsocial this time) to a place in Hudson. So Chris and I still got our date in, but I am pretty bummed we wont get to use our Groupon in Stillwater. it expires this Friday :( Linnea and my parents had a great time. They took her to eat at GG's and they also got to watch Tinkerbell! I guess Linnea had GG laughing out loud! Yay! Chris and I enjoyed our time out just the two of us too.
Sunday was a pretty lazy day and very drizzly. So we did some art inside, playing catch and in L's kitchen and watching Tink and the Vikings. Linnea kept asking why the guys were falling down and if that was "her" guy. Meaning Adrian Peterson. She was also concerned when he players missed the ball. I went for a rainy run while squirt napped and then picked up pizza for dinner. It finally stopped drizzling and Linnea and I went for a short walk around the block. I barely needed the stroller! She had a blast playing in the puddles and throwing a walnut up the hill and then watching it roll down and then chasing it. We also found a basket full of apples a neighbor was giving away. How nice! They were small enough that Linnea just ate one whole. I didn't even have to cut it up! Love it!

Trout Run

2011-09-18T22:30:00.000-07:00

Well even though my school weeks have been hard, the weekend have been awesome! So I always have that to look forward to an of course seeing Chris and Linnea after work. On Saturday the 10th I ran in the Kinni Trout 10k Race in River Falls. It was pretty hard running on the trails since I havent done that in a while but so beautiful and fun! We spent the night at Erik and Lisa's on Friday since the race started at 7:30am. That's pretty early for us! The route went right by Erik's house about 5 minutes in so I got to see my cheering fans! Chris and Linnea got up early for the occasion. About an hour after my race there was a kids Trout Trot! So I headed back to Erik's to help get the kids ready for it. My parents were babysitting Dylan, Ian and Kaylan while Brian and Megan ran the Mudrun so they brought them out and all the cousins got to "run" a race together. It was Dylan Henjum's 2nd but the first for everyone else. They were so proud of their medals and Ian kept saying, we are all winners. It was a 1k around Glen Park which is a super nice place! So many playgrounds and shaded and it even has a wading pool (which wasnt open but hopefully next summer we can go in it) So a 1k is pretty far, Linnea made it a couple blocks running, then maybe walked one more and then went on Daddy's shoulders. We played at the park a bit afterwards, I won a raffle to a restaurant in RF and then we headed to Erik and Lisa's for a lunch of Mac and Cheese and then headed home. What a fun morning/afternoon!

Back to Work

2011-09-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

Well we have survived the first two weeks of me being back to full time work. And I don't use the word survived lightly. It has been HARD. I am with elementary students this year so they are smaller than my middle school kids last year but if possible, their behavior is worse than middle school students. I constantly have to remind myself that they are at BVS for a reason, their needs are severe to profound. There is always a reason behind their behavior and how to deal with it won't be solved in two weeks. But we will get there. I also need to get used to working with my new staff members. I was placed with a new teacher (but I knew her since she was a student teacher in my room last year and she is awesome), an aide from the high school part of BVS who is new to behavior problems, and another aide who has been with BVS for 7 years but definitely has a different outlook on working with the students at BVS than I do. We also have a new time schedule at school. I am now there at 9:15 until 4:15 versus 9 and 4 last year. Not extremely different and it makes for an easy morning not having to get up early but for some reason leaving at 4:15 seems a lot later and it makes getting a run in, dinner made and some quality time with Linnea before bath and bedtime very difficult. There are also fewer bus aide subs and I have already had to ride the bus once, make me get home at 5:30pm and waking myself and Linnea up an hour earlier. I don't like it. But we will get used to it and it will get better or I will try to find a different job where I am happier, but for now this is where I need to be. Chris was also doing some research in the Lab at the U of M 3 times a week to finalize his degree so that was hard too. It helped having some premade frozen meals in our freezer and a groupon to Quiznos and a meal with my parents and GG once too! Linnea had some better dropoffs at daycare which helped and she continues to make me smile everyday. Potty training is almost complete...just have to figure out when she needs to poop before she is actually doing it! She usually makes it but every now and then we need to change the undies. Preschool is just around the corner! whoa baby! Sorry for no pictures...in the busyness I didnt get any and I didnt get the camera charged :( but here is a video from we left for the Weezer Concert...she was really into that wand, playing her cat piano and having Winnie the Pooh on. All at once. she would also sometimes try to say abracadabra, you're an elephant (or whatever animal she wanted us to act like).

Labor Day Picnic!

2011-09-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

We headed to Willow River State Park where Brian, Megan and their kids had been camping all weekend for an end of summer picnic. What a great day it was! It made me want to go back to work even less...more about work in another post. We enjoyed our sandwiches, fruit, veggies, some chicken and a new dessert made by me...it looked like apple cobbler, tasted like apple cobbler but it wasn't! Believe it or not it was zucchini cobbler of all these. sounds wierd I know, but what a great way to use up zuke! it takes 8 cups to make it! Even Chris and L liked it who dont eat zucchini in anything other than bread, muffins or cookies. The kids had fun playing their version of "catch" or "pass" and then we took a very short walk to the dam. I love it when we all can get together!

State Fair and Weezer!

2011-09-11T20:55:00.000-07:00

WARNING! LOTS OF PICS OF OUR FUN AT THE FAIR! SUMMARY FOLLOWS! ENJOY!

Chris, Linnea and I went to the Fair on our own this year! I don't think that has happened before. It just didn't work out to meet the siblings, parents and cousins this year, but I think a family reunion is already in the works for next year and it involves the Fair.
We were able to park for free at a friend's house only a few blocks away so that was nice. We started the day by getting breakfast, a chocolate dipped waffle on a stick! YUMMY! This may be a new fav of mine! We then headed to the animals, Linnea's fav thing! We saw cows, sheep, pigs, goats and horses. It was about lunchtime so we got the hot turkey sandwich, a corndog and some custard. While the corndog was cooling off Linnea and I went into the Miracle of Birth Building and saw lots of cute babies. I think Linnea liked petting the little lamb the most. She also loved her corndog and the custard she devoured afterwards. Loved it so much she forgot she had to pee and she had her first potty accident in weeks. We were so surprised, she just stood there and peed. Oh well, we didn't make a big deal about it and just changed her right there and went on with our day. Of course reminding her to let us know if she needed to go :) Next we headed to Little Farm Hands where Linnea got to be a farmer. This was her third time through in her short life and she definitely got the most out of it this year. it was a good way for her to get out of the stroller and walk a bit too. She had been sitting for a lil while, while we tried to find it!
We didn't get her on any rides this year so we will try for next year. I also didn't have my usual foods, I tried almost all new things and thank goodness loved them all! I hate it when I spend money to try something new and it's gross. We wanted to take her on the yellow slide but just as we were heading there it started raining so they had to stop it. We didn't have time to wait for it to reopen since we had just waited in line for Sweet Martha's Cookies so we will hit it next year for sure. While Chris and L waited for cookies, I waited for deep fried pickles! YUMMY! However, next year I need to go with someone who will share them with me. I didn't feel so good after eating almost the whole tub of them myself. I didn't get my favorite Australian Fries because Chris and L wouldn't want any and they are far too expensive and big to eat on my own. We also surprisingly skipped the dairy barn malts too since we got the custard. The final thing I tried was fruity salsa with cinnamon and sugar chips. Delicious! Linnea liked it too. Oh we did get our usual fries since we all love those! We headed home around 2 so Linnea and Chris could nap. Chris was getting a headache and squirt was tired.
Chris and I headed back to the Fair around 6 for the Weezer Concert with some friends, one visiting from AZ. So we got to try more food! I got a chicken torta and Chris found a BBQ Chx sandwich. After the awesome concert we tried the pot roast sundae! So needless to say we spent far too much money than we wanted and ate too much, but had a blast. I don't think I have ever been to the Fair twice in one day. Still came far from seeing it all and trying all the food we wanted too! I hope the Deep Fried Cookie Dough returns because I'd love to try it next year.

Minnehaha Falls

2011-09-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to take Linnea to Minnehaha Falls for a while now and finally did it! Chris wasnt feeling too well Friday night so we got out of the house for him and headed to Minnehaha Falls for an evening walk and picnic. Tried to find a "mail/letterbox" but couldnt, plus trying to do it with a toddler alone isnt always easy. So we just walked to the Falls from where parked to find the letterbox. There is a small old and I mean old playground there so Linnea swung a little bit before heading to the Falls. By old I mean, all metal and a very steep staircase to the top of the slide. L managed to do that but I was nervous the whole time! She thought the Falls were really cool and there were lots of dogs and people to watch too. I think it was one of the last nights of music and movies in the park. Next year maybe we will make it to some of those! We also saw some of the surrey bikes we rode in Duluth and she wanted to do it again! We had a nice date, me and Linnea, but hope daddy can come next time :)

week of Mon. August 29- Fri. Sept. 2

2011-09-11T20:34:00.000-07:00

The plan was to bring Linnea to daycare on Monday after our trip to Duluth and then Chris and I would go spend the day in Stillwater. But since the poor girl still had diarrhea we had to keep her home. Turns out I had a meeting at work from 9-12 anyways. We ended up bringing Linnea in to the Dr. Monday night because her BM's were just not getting solid. It wasnt awful. She was overrall still making it to the potty chair or just doing it in her pull up (we decided underwear wasnt a good choice this week, and she thankfully was okay with it). The doctor said it was just a virus and until she has a solid poop we should keep her home. Well that took until Wednesday night to see one! Poor girl! so anyways, I got to stay home with her all week. Even though she was sick for half of it, it was great and made me miss being a stay at home mom even more. boo. Someday maybe we will make enough for that to work out. But for now, we will just continuing loving our evenings and weekends together. Since she was well most of Wednesday we kept super busy on Thursday and Friday and through the weekend.
Thursday we went to Como Zoo and met Maggie, Rylie and new baby Hank! Maggie is Linnea's Godmother and Chris's cousin and just so fun! She had two other friends and their kids with and everyone got along just great. It was quite a bit hotter than we wanted so we were outta there around noon after our picnic lunch. Linnea and I did stop and ride the historic Carousel on our way out and it was a blast! Way faster and higher than any we/she had been on so that lead to a huge grin from ear to ear. I wish I would have brought my camera.
I did however bring my camera on Friday when we went to the Minnesota Zoo (I know two zoos in two days and if you include the Lake Superior Zoo, it's 3 zoos in 8 days, oh well, we have an animal lover on our hands). We met Brooke, one of my best friends from high school along with her new baby Annabelle! Brooke's cousin and her cousins daughter were also there. It was a great day! Still a little warm but more tolerable. We made it through most of the animals and Linnea even walked most of it! That was a new experience for me. She generally wants to ride! So we will have to figure out how to keep her on track a little better :) It was great to catch up with friends and see the new penguin exhibit. We hadn't been to the MN Zoo yet this summer so it was perfect. We are hoping to find a free pass at the library for Chris this fall and go ride the monorail to see the fall colors. We have a membership but just for me and Linnea this time. We didn't do a guest because we only used the guest twice last year. So it did get paid for, but barely.

Enger Tower

2011-09-11T20:15:00.001-07:00

We packed up Sunday morning after another great free breakfast at the hotel and headed out with my parents to the Enger Tower to find two letterboxes. And we found them! Hooray! We also found a beautiful view of Lake Superior! Linnea made it quite a ways up the Tower too. She also decided that letterboxes were mailboxes and said, lets go find that mailbox! cute! There were beautiful Japanese Gardens and flowers all over the place. I would highly recommend doing this tourist attraction in Duluth! There was a peace bell that Linnea enjoyed ringing and ringing and ringing. From here we started our long journey home. It was already lunchtime so we stopped at a little playground in Superior for a picnic and then continued on. We tried to avoid 35 as much as possible since there was lots of construction on it but this made for a much longer way home. Thank goodness Linnea had her dvd player and we had lots of kids music. We had to stop a few times for bathroom breaks but finally made it home in time for dinner and a little unpacking. It was a wonderful trip overrall, even with a sick kiddo. We did almost everything I wanted and had planned on doing. I am still wishing I would have remembered our letterboxing stuff when we were on the Wheels of Fun! Oh well...Im sure we will be at the Lake Walk again someday and can do it then. Chris and I are looking forward to continuing our anniversary celebration with a trip (just us two) to Arizona for a friends wedding at the end of October.

5 Year Anniversary Date!

2011-09-11T20:09:00.000-07:00

My parents arrived at the hotel around 4:30 or so to watch Linnea for the evening while Chris and I went on a date to celebrate our 5 wonderful years of marriage! I cannot believe it has been 5 years! They have flown by and we have had so much fun and cant wait to see what the 5 bring. We ended up eating at Fitger's and loved it! We tried a few different kinds of beers and each had a burger. Super yummy! Id love to go back...they have a good menu!We then shopped a bit and walked a bit to find a letterbox but it got dark much quicker than I thought it would so we didnt find it. We also walked through the rose gardens which were beautiful! We stopped to get some ice cream on the way back to the hotel from a place called The Malt Shop (I think). Linnea had fun with her grandma and papa swinging at a park and watching some shows since she still wasn't 100%. We played a game of scrabble with my parents before all hitting the hay.It was a very nice anniversary.

Park Point Beach

2011-09-11T20:04:00.001-07:00

Saturday morning we took it easy to figure out how Linnea was feeling. When we decided she was good enough to go on an easy adventure we packed up and headed to Park Point Beach. We had heard great things about this place so we drove back through downtown Duluth and over the liftbridge and kept going and going! When we thought we had missed it we found it! It was a bit warmer than we thought so we just lasted a little while at the playground and playing on the big wooden ship. Then we headed to the beach! It was a beautiful sandy beach but far too cold for us to enjoy swimming and Linnea seemed to not be feeling so well. So we took some pictures and headed back to the car to go back to the hotel for lunch and naps. Yup, naps, we all took one!

Wheel of Fun!

2011-09-10T13:08:00.000-07:00

Friday morning we used one my groupon coupons and rode a big surrey bike along the lakewalk. Linnea was so excited to go on a bike ride and proud to be in her cute helmet! It was a great way to see Lake Superior and the shops, hotels and restaurants along the way. We stopped to dip our feet in the Lake and look for rocks but it was mighty cold! So we got back on the bike and continued on our way. We rode out to a lighthouse and then swung into eat at a Grandma's stand at which point happy Linnea was turning into tired and somewhat crabby Linnea so it was time to be done. We loved the activity though and hope to do it around Lake Calhoun here since we have another coupon!

We were able to check in early to the Marriott Residence Inn where we would finish our stay and Linnea got to take her nap and Chris and I did too! Chris unfortunately had to drive back to the Inn since we forgot a part for the computer :( Linnea woke up while he was gone and she didn't seem quite herself. She wanted to try to swim in the hotel pool anyways though so we got our suits on and went down but the water was way too COLD! So we headed back up to warm up, have a snack and watch some new shows we checked out from the library for the trip. She fell in love with stories on dvd which is fun. But she still wasn't her peppy self. Lots of cuddling and then she was getting warmer and warmer. We forgot the thermometer but I knew she had a fever so I gave her some motrin and we snuggled til Chris got back. He returned and Linnea seemed a bit better and was adamant about going to a park. I had one in mind from my searches for things to do in Duluth so we headed to Bayfront Bay playground which was lots of fun. We ended up ordering food to be picked up at the Texas Roadhouse up the road from our hotel and we just ate in our room after Linnea went to bed. She started to feel icky again by the end of the playground time and pretty much hit the hay as soon as we got into the hotel room. We enjoyed our food and were happy that a new to us True Blood was on HBO! Usually when we have HBO in a hotel nothing is on that we want to see but we lucked out this time. Overrall it was an AWESOME Friday, if only squirt didnt feel so icky.

The Inn on Gitchi Gummi

2011-09-01T18:55:00.001-07:00

We were happy to get to our cute little Inn on Lake Superior after the zoo. Linnea was pretty tired so she rested on the couch a bit and we looked at the beautiful flowers all around the Inn. We were hoping to order pizza but couldn't find anywhere that delivered to this place so Chris drove back to Duluth to pick up Pizza Luce. In the meantime, Linnea and I took advantage of the whirlpool in our room! She looked at it as swimming in bubbles and even used her her lil tube! It was pretty fun. We got out just in time for daddy to arrive, put Despicable Me and ate our pizza and L danced a bit of course too.
As you can see there was just one room with one VERY high bed! We opted not to put Linnea up so high and we thought the mattress of the pull-out couch was terribly uncomfortable so we just used the cushion from the love seat and stuck it on the floor at the end of the big bed and she slept there. All night! way to go Linnea! It's so nice not to have to bring the pack and play or have a third person in bed with us sleeping horizontally!
Once we got squirt down, Chris and I played some scrabble with the mosquitoes on the little patio until it got too dark. We finished the game inside and then watched a lot of Man Vs. Food on tv before reading and hitting the hay. I got up and ran with Linnea along the Lake before our homemade breakfast. When I made these reservations I was not aware that they made breakfast that is why we bought Tobies Cinnamon rolls on the way up. Oh well, it was a super sweet surprise and I still had a roll with my omelet and Chris didn't like his omelet so it was good we had them. Linnea had her own special pancake with her name on it! fun fun fun!
We liked this place but next time would pay a little more for a bigger room if we have Linnea with us or just go the two of us. They did have a swing for her as you can see in the pictures and a slide. But the slide was very rickety and when I went down with her we both almost went over the side. So we only did it once!

Lake Superior Zoo

2011-08-30T22:18:00.000-07:00

After a fairly quick drive up to Duluth we made it to our first stop which was the Lake Superior Zoo. We didn't get there quite as early as we wanted but that is to be expected with a potty training toddler traveling with you and a husband who also needs to stop and pee and a wife who planned to stop in Hinckley regardless if anyone had to pee because she really wanted some of their cinnamon rolls for the trip! We also needed to hit the bank in St. Paul before we actually left. Oh well...we made it and had a good time even though it was hot and right over Linnea's usual naptime. I think this Zoo is very comparable to the Como Zoo by us. We ate our picnic lunch by the grizzly bear, saw some sleeping otters, wolves, monkeys, deer, kangaroos, prairie dogs and a whole bunch of nocturnal animals in a dark building which Linnea loved. She also loved the train we got to ride around. it was just a short 5 minute ride around a path we had already walked on but she was in heaven being on the choo choo. And she thought she was a queen since she waved at everyone we went by! After getting hot looking at the animals and playing briefly at the park it was definitely time to get a cold treat and head to our lil Inn on Gitchi Gummi on the scenic drive between Duluth and Two Harbors. Next post will be about that cute place!

One last parade and GG's

2011-08-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

Linnea and I headed to the Vadnais Height's Heritage Days parade today with a Lori, Sophia and baby Isabelle while daddy worked on the garage. We also got a run in before that. We may or may not make it to the Woodbury Days parade since we will be coming home from Duluth on Sunday and that is when it is. And we may or may not see the Parade at the State Fair either so this could be the last one of summer. They sure have been fun with a toddler with quite the sweet tooth! It was a nice day to be out at the parade. Linnea came to Target with me after supper too. She chose a different kind of cart today. I should have taken a picture but forgot. She was sitting on sort of a chair out of the cart. Last night when we went to get ice cream my mom and I thought we would let her try the cart with the car the car attached in front so she thought she was driving. I think she loved both! Im pretty sure when she was driving the car she was honking and saying watch out! funny girl.
Tuesday we went to visit GG. I brought some homemade chicken zucchini casserole to share with GG and my parents. Chris doesnt really like it and couldnt come and my parents do like it, I like it and GG always looks forward to a homecooked meal rather than the dining room food. Linnea had chicken fries, grapes and raisins instead. My parents also brought chocolate zucchini cake. Can you tell we are trying to get rid of our zukes? We head to Duluth tomorrow for our 5 year wedding anniversary (boy that went fast)/summer trip so I wanted to use as much of it up as I could! I also made two other zuke casseroles. one to freeze and one for my parents. We have never tried this one so hope its tasty. and of course I made zucchini bread!
Well have a great couple days everyone, we are off to have some fun in Duluth! Pictures and stories to come...

Uncle Brian's

2011-08-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

We had a somewhat low key (for us) weekend. Friday we went to a few garage sales after running and playing at the choo choo park and then after nap we brought peach crisp to some dear friends. One of our friends was hit by a car walking across the street in the crosswalk at the beginning of August. She is healing amazingly well and it was so nice to go visit. We even brought the potty chair since we are still working on potty training. It is still going great but she is just most comfortable on that chair so we sometimes bring it with sometimes dont. Daycare has sent home her diapers though! So thats huge! Go Linnea! Saturday I got up sort of early and got a run in on my own. I enjoy running with Linnea in the jogger and know she loves it, but its nice to sometimes go on my own too. I can go a lil farther and its easier. I do miss the squeals of delight whenever an animal of any kind is spotted though. I dont miss hearing, run mommy run. When I am running! guess I sometimes don't go quite quick enough for lil miss. After my run Chris left for the project of the summer...building a garage at Brian and Megan's. Our cousin Gabe who does building for a living was able to come lead the project so Chris spent Saturday and Sunday working hard over at Brian's. Linnea and I visited for lunch and supper. We did some garage saling on the way over and found her a cute tutu! Not many other great things but oh well. We had a good time still. After lunch we came home and I made oatmeal butterscotch cookies while L napped. She really wanted to go back to Uncle Brian's and see uncle Brian, her daddy, papa, grandma, her baby Kaylan and Megan so we did and we brought the cookies. They were really appreciated by the workers! We also went to get the Papa Murphy's Pizza and ice cream for the hard workers. The garage looks great. Still some siding to do and doors to put on but it is up and looking awesome! good job boys! what an accomplishment.

Waterworks!

2011-08-21T20:34:00.000-07:00

On Thursday Linnea and I met four of our "new parents connection" friends for some waterpark fun! It was the one in the Battle Creek area not far from my parents house so we have driven by it plenty but never gone. It was a great time! We had swam, had a picnic lunch, swam some more and then had popsicles before heading home for her nap. Im not sure we will get to another waterpark before the end of summer ( I cant believe I just typed the end of summer. It had truly flown by.) Her nap went pretty well for the first one in her big girl bed! I had totally forgot that this would be the first one not in a crib at home. I tried not to make a big deal out of it and she seemed to think it was just normal (besides being about an hour and half later than usual, oops too much fun, I guess!!) She did make some funny noises and talk to her stuffed animals for about 10 minutes but then I didnt hear a peep and had to wake her about 2 hours later. This girl takes after her daddy and LOVES to sleep! And Im not gonna lie, I love her naptime as well. It is two hours I can either workout if I havent already, clean around the house, do laundry, cook, look online for recipes, crafts, organizing ideas, trave ideas, facebook or all of the above!

Coin Carnival!

2011-08-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was a very fun day for the two of us and the friends we met up with at the Coin Carnival in Woodbury. Linnea played just about every game there, got her hair crazy painted, jumped in the bounce house, had suckers and tootsie rolls, "participated" in the puppet wagon show and randomly saw Dylan and Ian and a few of our other friends too! By participated I mean she was roaring like a dragon just because she saw a puppet dragon (I didn't know dragons and lions sounded so similar) and showing off her dance moves over to the side of the wagon where no one else was. by the way, no one else was roaring. She was a piece of work. I was very proud of her for trying every little game there and waiting her turn which can be very hard sometimes. We definitely got our money's worth!

Pierce County Fair

2011-08-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

Saturday after Linnea's nap we got out the door as quick as we could to head to Ellsworth for the Pierce County Fair. What a fun time it was! Jenny, Naomi and the twins were there and so was Papa Dave, Grandma Sarah and Aunt Allison. We ate fair food right when we got there and then found the petting zoo and pony rides. What a blast! We walked around a bit after that had some corn sold by Dave and Sarah's church, had some ice cream and then walked around a little bit more to see the horses and then we had one tired girl so we headed to Grandma Sarah's house and had a sleepover. And guess what Linnea did? Slept on just a mattress on the floor...pretty close to a big girl bed. She did great. We were even in the same room as her and she didn't get up to "visit" us. Yay Linnea! We woke up and walked down to the cute coffee shop about two blocks from their house. Papa Dave cleaned off his old wagon and L thought it was pretty fun to ride down in that BIG wagon! Sometime we will have to get all the kids in. Im pretty sure 3 little girls would fit just fine! After breakfast and playing inside and working on our sommersaults we decided to go the playground near gma Sarah's. Linnea has lots of fun climbing, sliding and of course swinging. She also tried the outhouse...she tried it at the fair too. I have to say she is pretty brave for going in them. She hasn't actually peed in one yet but she is darn good at trying. She is darn good at this whole potty training thing actually! More on that in its own post. Its a big deal. We had lunch with Grandma Sarah and then headed home. Linnea stayed awake almost the whole way home but zonked out about 5 minutes from home. She was able to get back to sleep for her nap. After nap we had some cereal for dinner and headed to the Central Park Amphitheater for the Okee Dokee Brothers free concert again. Lots of dancing and fun was had by Linnea and I while daddy stayed home and converted her bed to a "big girl" bed. We figured since she did so well at Grandma Sarah's we may as well go with it! Again...I will have another post on that big deal dedicated just to her and her big girl bed! Fun times but a little sad at the same time...she is growing so fast!

Saturday Live!

2011-08-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

Saturday Live! is Linnea and I's new fav activity on Saturday mornings. I wrote about it one other time because we have just gone one other time but have been so happy with it both times. The Central Library in St. Paul hosts it and it is a great library for kids. I havent had a chance to check out the adult section but Im sure thats nice too. This past Saturday it was fun with Wendy's Wiggle Giggle and Jam show. Linnea really got into it! Here is a video.

A busy week!

2011-08-14T21:23:00.000-07:00

Monday night we went to the library, Tuesday night was the Twins game, Wed was something but I can't remember what and Thursday we went to visit GG and bring her DQ since it was the Childrens Miracle Network day! Linnea also brought her very own pink bag. I really need to get a picture of this. She so badly wants to wear it as a purse and so badly wants to put a bunch of books and movies in it. However, when it gets so full, it gets very heavy so then everything needs to come out because she isn't strong enough to carry all of that. Then it is too light and it falls off her sort of nonexistent shoulder...so we eventually get about 3 things in it and it sort of stays up. Sort of. Enough to make her happy and feel like a big girl. So off we went to GG's with her pink bag. We had an okay visit. Linnea was running back and forth to the potty which is fine at home because we have her lil potty chair. I didn't bring her potty chair because it was just me and I had to also bring in all the food and Linnea's diaper bag (which now has just extra outfits, snack and activities in it!, photo albums for GG to look at and sometimes I end up carrying Linnea so I could not carry a potty chair too. Anyways, needless to say we spent more time in the bathroom than visiting with GG. At least we did have luck once going potty on grandma's big toilet! Linnea rode on GG's lap to the elevator to end the evening. Thursday during the day we went to a Puppet Wagon show which was at a park so we spent most of the time playing at the park and then having a picnic. All with my friend/coworker/teacher I worked with last year! Deb heard so many stories about Linnea and wanted to meet her so we finally got together and they met and really hit it off. L called her Debbie! very cute! I unfortunately don't have many pics besides this one of the puppet wagon...I will try to get a picture up with her bag!

A Much Cooler Twins Game

2011-08-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night we went to the Twins Game again. They lost again...but it was a good game at least. And it was against the Red Sox, who are a very good team. We had a great time and were much more comfortable weather wise! the last time we went was one of those 100 degrees days with 100% humidity or something ridiculous like that. Tuesday it was about 50degrees cooler. I even put my sweatshirt on near the end! oh how I love cool summer nights! My parents had 8 tickets to the game. Four in their normal season ticket spot and 4 in the lower level. So we all (Erik, Dylan, my mom and dad, Brian, Megan, Kaylan, Chris and I) took turns in each spot. Linnea stayed home and had a movie nigh nigh with Grandma Sarah and Aunt Allison. She may or may not get to game this season. She certainly has been to a ton in her life, I feel like we need to keep the streak alive of at least a game every year of her life so hopefully we have one more game in us. And hopefully the Twins can win a few more!

Once Upon a Time...

2011-08-07T21:08:00.003-07:00

Just a cute story to share. One night last week as Linnea and I were doing our bedtime stories I finished reading our pop up Halloween Book. yes a Halloween Book, I never put it away so sometime she picks it out...all year long! Anyways...it is a super simple book and Linnea decided she wanted a turn to read it to me. So she opened it up to the first page where there is a pumpkin that pops up and she confidently in a playful say, "once upon a time, there was a pumpkin!" And she did this on every page but changed pumpkin to whatever to the picture was! so cute and creative since not many stories we read begin with "Once Upon a Time."