Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

After a very fun 2nd Birthday Party at Just Jump (an inflatable jump area) for lil Ian, our soon to be nephew, we headed to Krueger's Tree Farm in the hopes of finding that perfect Christmas Tree to cut down.

Cut down being the key words here. It is definitely listed as cut your own tree farm on the website and in the paper and when we went there two years ago we were able to find one to cut down. Well...

needless to say after taking this cute picture and walking up and down the rows of trees and seeing that either the trees that were left to be cut down were way to be big or reserved we had to settle for a precut tree.

It is a very, very nice tree and the farm is cute and the people are super friendly who own it, but it isn't the same to me not cutting a tree down ourselves. Our family has always gone and chopped it down ourselves so as nice as this place is we will go elsewhere next year.

The other sad part of the trip was that that jolly old man in red was supposed to be there at noon. We waited until almost 12:30 and no Santa. So we will go elsewhere to find him too!

But we sure had fun sticking our heads in this tree!

Babies get thirsty tree hunting!

Stay tuned for pictures of our house Christmatized! We didn't get to it today. I was, well I'm not gonna lie, quite crabby about the whole tree situation so I didn't really feel like decorating and we were all pretty tired from the holiday weekend. I worked at Caribou very early three of the mornings and the days were go go go, so we took the rest of Sunday off to watch the Vikes pummel the Bears and play with our lil Linnea.

We will be back in action Monday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here we are celebrating our first Thanksgiving as a family of three! We have so many things to be thankful for this year and especially our lil girl you see below...

We started our holiday weekend at Cheryl and Dwight's on Thanksgiving Day. Chris had to work the overnight that evening so Linnea and I slept over at my mom and dad's. For a few reasons...one it would be more fun than going home and being alone and two was because I had to work at Caribou at 7am so someone needed to watch Linnea. And that lucky person was grandpa Keith since grandma Barb had to work. I am pretty sure they had a great time. However she slept in, so no Black Friday deals for any of us.

Linnea enjoyed all of the Thanksgiving food! It was so fun that she could eat the same things as us. Her favorite was the stuffing! We couldn't get it on her tray fast enough. She then had to relax on the couch in her cute Baby's First Thanksgiving 6 month onesie...yes some things that are 6 months still fit our 11 month old. Oh well!

She also wanted to show us her music skills on piano!!

Saturday was our second Thanksgiving feast at Julie and Bob's. This was just one of the tables...there was another full table of the family members without kiddoes.

After all that eating we walked to a nearby park to burn some of the meal off and make room for pie!

Linnea loves to swing and thoroughly enjoyed Thanksgiving.

Onto birthdays, Christmas and a wedding!

Linnea's "New" Nursery

SO we finally finished (well almost, it's finished enough to share) one of our remodels we are working on! This used to be our room. We decided to put Linnea in here because we were tired of creeping through her room to get to our room. I think we are all sleeping better this way!

I don't remember what color it was when we first moved in. I think it was just white. We painted it a light blue for us but thought Linnea would like two shades of purple. So that is what she got! I also put some decal on her armoire and a few on the wall. I will be stenciling around her big window. So stay tuned for those pictures. We also want to get new carpet put in.

Here is a good shot of us with my newest haircut and the different shades of purple!

The bedroom/bathroom we are working on downstairs is sooo close to being done as well. So pics will be up soon! Our house remodel list is shrinking...we still need to do trim, rip and lay carpet, put more art/pictures on the walls, redo the floors and really that may be it...for a while anyways!

Couple's Shower

Brian and Megan will be tying the knot the day after Christmas so their wedding festivities are beginning along with the holiday and birthday festivities! YAY! Bring on all the happiness our family has to celebrate!

We had their couple's shower this past Sunday. The above picture is them playing the "Almost Newlyweds Game." It was a good way for everyone to get to know a little bit more about them and they learned a little bit about each other too I think. However, I asked 14 questions and they matched 10 of them. so they know a LOT about each other already!

Way to go guys!

Here are their lovely fall centerpieces.

And the turkey of love. Everyone got to leave words of wisdom on a feather. I'm sure Brian and Megan enjoyed reading them together!

It was a fabulous day and we are all very excited for the wedding and for the cute couple to start this next chapter of their lives together.

Fun times!

Linnea has really been enjoying peering out of her crib. We lowered her mattress all the way down because we kept finding her like this on her knees after a nap or in the morning so we thought soon enough she will figure out how to stand all the way up so we better get it lowered and safer!

We got this barrel from Chris's grandparents. I guess his grandparents would keep toys in this and the grandkids would get very excited to come over and see what was in the barrel! We will eventually get some of her toys in it too but for now we thought we would put her in it and bring some toys to her. She really got a kick out of it.

She loves this radio below. I mean really LOVES it. She turns the music up and down. Opens and shuts the cd lid and the tape deck thing. I don't worry too much about it breaking. It is very old. Hence, the tape deck. She has pinched herself a few times though. But she is a tough cookie and just briefly wails and then wants to play with it again. I make sure I am right there with her though. When a good song comes on we always get up and groove around the room. She just smiles and smiles. She is probably laughing at me though since I have zero rhythm, which most reading this blog know. That's one of the many beauties of babies. They really don't care!

Speaking of my bad rhythm, I have been trying to do workout dvds while she naps because getting out to run when Chris gets home hasn't been working very well and the walks with the stroller are good but I feel I need to do a little bit more. We have been done nursing for 2 months. The weight was just falling off during that, but now, well, I'm just not quite the size I would like to be and just don't feel as in shape as I would like. I'm also doing a few ski races this winter and want to do a marathon the end of May so I need to step it up. But back to the rhythm, I have none, so the videos are interesting to say the least. I found a few I like and I feel I get a workout so that's been a fun thing to do during her nap! Well enough about me...back to the squirt...

Here is a video of us having some fun after dinner! Linnea loves her high chair and eating and hanging out in the chair watching us scramble around the kitchen. It is the best way I get dishes done. Just leave her in there with her sippy cup or food and she lets me do what I need to do!

11 Months Old

Here is our lil Linnea. 11months old. Only one more month of these pictures with her elephant which means only one more month until she turns the big ONE!!!! I am getting very excited for her special day. (Not to mention my big day a few days after hers. Then Christmas. Then a wedding. We have lots of happiness in our lives right now!)

She is such a joy to be around. I cannot believe we have been parents for almost a year. We have learned a lot and had so much fun with our lil lady. She has been discovering all kinds of new things lately. She kisses her toys. All of them. Sometimes even if they don't have a face, she thinks they deserve a kiss. What a nice girl. She has figured out how to cruise along all of her toy tables and sometimes in her crib. Just last night she figured out how to sit up. Now this would be great news if it happened during the day when she could stay sitting up and play. But it was bedtime and she was alone in the dark in her crib which lead to a terrified scream. She didn't know how to lay back down. SO I went in to help her. I know I am not supposed to. I know she would have eventually gotten tired enough and tipped over to fall asleep. blah blah blah. I even decided to break all the rules and pick her up and rock her back to sleep. I laid her back down and guess what? No harm done! She stayed asleep. She had one outburst at 11 but put herself back to sleep. She isn't going to let me rock her forever and the next baby may hate being rocked so since Linnea likes it and it works for us we are doing it.

What else does she do? She scoots, (crawling is for the birds), she usually takes one 1-2 hour nap a day (apparently 2 naps a day are for the birds in her eyes too, I keep trying and she keeps winning and is up not napping), she claps, she dances, she waves, she says mama and the occasional dada and random happy screams/yells and she laughs a LOT! She is a social butterfly like her mommy. She is so happy when we go out and about! Peekabo is one of her favorite games and she is realizing she has favorite books.

We love you Linnea!

Playdate and Babysitting

So here is Linnea and her good buddy Simon above and Ashlyn below. They have been friends since they were just a few weeks old when their mommies and I would go walking at the Mall of America. Those moms and the other parents from my new parent group still get together every second Saturday or Sunday of each month. The oldest girl in our group just turned 1!!! I cant believe. It seems like yesterday we were all very new parents meeting every Tuesday with teeny tiny babies. Now we can almost say we have toddlers! CRAZY.

I haven't been able to post or take new pictures this week because I forgot my camera at this playdate but now I have it so I will catch up!

I had the fun fun opportunity to babysit my cousins little boy (almost 2.5 years old) a few weeks ago. Megan and her boys were able to come and play too. All the boys wanted to take turns holding Linnea.

Ian really did have her but I wasn't fast enough to get a better picture. However here is a very nice one of Dylan holding baby Linnea.

And Caleb was so good at holding her too. We are lucky to have such nice boy cousins!

The holding the "baby" period only lasted a few minutes, then they played and played with all the cars, all the blocks, all the legos, all at the same time! The house was a mess but we had a blast! We also had a bit of a dance, chasing party. And then relaxed with Elmo and Thomas the Train.

Good times!

5 Things

My friend Kristie answered these questions on her blog about a week ago and "tagged" me in it, meaning it's my turn!

So here I go...

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?

Hmmmm....lets see 10 years ago would be 1999. I would have been a sophomore at St. Mary's University in Winona, MN. Ski season must have been starting so after classes I would be out practicing with my wonderful team. I'm pretty sure I was super excited it was holiday season too!

2. What five things are on your to-do list today?

1. Take care of Linnea...snuggle her, feed her, play with her, walk with her!

2. Take care of myself by doing some sort of workout...a video or a run or simply a walk with L

3. Fold and put away (put away being key here) laundry

4. Make spaghetti with my parents canned tomatoes!

5. Read Twilight before bed

The list could go on and on but I think these are top!

3. Snacks you enjoy

I am not going to lie. I have accepted the fact that I am definitely a snacker, but I am going to try to snack healther! But really I love chips and dip or salsa or just plain old cheetos or popcorn! M & M's are up there as well!

4. Places you have lived

South Minneapolis, Woodbury, New Orleans, Woodbury again, a variety or areas in St. Paul...sort of the Summit area, Highland and now Como. Where will be next??

5. What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire?

1. pay off all of our stinkin debt!

2. buy Chris his Equinox and me a new wardrobe (Kristie I had to use that one as well...everytime I look in my closet I cant find anything to wear!)

3. make our house re-sellable and buy a new ready to live in one!

4. travel, travel, travel!!! Some trips with Linnea, some with just Chris!

5. donate to so many organizations!

Okay I hope everyone enjoyed this non Linnea and no picture post! Now I am going to tag 3 people with blogs who I think read this: Lisa Henjum, Lisa Lambert, and Alison

Consider yourself tagged and if you have time you should post your answers...it's really quite fun!

Odds and Ends

Here are just a few cute pictures of our lil girl who will be ONE before we know it! I suppose I should say here are a few cute pictures of our lil baby since she won't be a baby for much longer!

Linnea has made some pretty fun leaps and bounds this past week...she now dances...I will try to get a video on here soon. It's hard to catch though! She also claps and scoots and makes lots of new sounds, but mostly she sticks to the ma ma ma's! We are working on da da!

She loves loves loves picking things up and showing them to us as you can see with this leaf. She does that with just about everything she can.

And she just loves to look around in amazement at all the new things!

We have been up to our usual fun stuff. Going to a free music class, art class and playroom time, walking and napping (she now takes close to 2 hour naps sometimes...I can't believe it.) We tried out swimming with a friend and her baby at the Y. My friend has some free passes to use by the end of the year so I'm hoping we get to go again because it was very fun! I took her to visit the kids I used to work with which was wonderful. The students loved seeing both of us and I was so happy they remembered us. We went to the Como Zoo again this past weekend with grandma and grandpa and cousin Dylan. I think she had the most fun this time since she is so much older than the other times. She definitely saw the animals and was waving at them and sometimes screeching for them too. It was great!

She has always loved apples. This week I let her pick up the core you see below and she loved it! However it of course went directly to her mouth which had me worried because the girl has got 5.5 teeth so she could for sure chomp it in half and that would not end well.

We are getting very close to finishing three of our room makeovers so stay tuned for pictures...

And this is the end of my random blog!

Happy Halloween!

So I uploaded these in the complete opposite order I wanted them on the blog and am not computer smart enough to figure out how to fix it without completely redoing it so we will start from the end of the night on Halloween! As you can see we wore our little mouse out!

We spent some time at my parents house having dinner, posing with their scarecrow and...

trick or treating! We put our mouse in a Winnie the Pooh costume for the trick or treating because as you can see it was MUCH warmer! We would like to thank Linnea's cousin Riley for letting us borrow this! She was sooo cute, warm and cuddly in Winnie!

The above picture was before we went outside...mommy and her lil bear!

This above picture is at Grandma Thomas'. We all went over there in the afternoon for some treats and visiting. Erik, Lisa and their monkey were there after this picture was taken so at one point we had a football player, pumpkin, mouse, and monkey all in the same room!

And a grandpa with his grandkids in costume.

A great grandma.

And Minnie Mouse!

On Friday morning Linnea and I met some friends for a Halloween Sing a Long at Pottery Barn for Kids. As you can see our lil pumpkin and her mouse friend loved the music so much they couldn't look at the camera!

And Linnea loved it when daddy came home from work and she was still in her pumpkin costume.

We decided to show her what she was!

She loved the pumpkins!

And the pumpkin guts.

And sitting on them.

And she loved her jack o lantern. What a fun first Halloween! We can't wait for the upcoming first holidays!

Linnea slept very well Halloween night and so did I, even after Chris made me watch one of my few scary movies a year. We enjoyed our extra hour as well!

Happy November everyone!