Our Week in Words...

This is the last blog of just words since our camera came today!!! hooray!

We are pretty sad we didn't have it this week though because we did some pretty cool things...

Saturday morning began early for me since I met my friend at a church in Afton around 7am for a food harvest...you get a ton of food for $8! Bread, veggies, more bread, more veggies and fruit! I think it is food that a grocery store can't sell anymore but it is still good enough for us! After I loaded the car up I went on a great 8.5 mile run from Afton thru historic downtown Hudson and back. Let the real marathon training begin!

After the run and putting the food away and playing with the squirt I got ready for my friend Aliya's wedding shower which was very nice! Lots of yummy food and great conversation and catching up with old friends. It was right during Linnea's naptime so I got to go alone. Don't get me wrong, I love bringing my sidekick just about everywhere but sometimes it's nice to just go alone and be able to eat in peace and talk in peace and just worry about me!

Sunday was Chris' 32nd birthday and he wanted to hang out with his two favorite ladies (me and Linnea in case you were wondering, heehee) and just have a low key day so that is what we did. We slept in and then had breakfast at Keys Cafe and stopped at Best Buy and a playground on the way home. Once home we played a little and then laid Linnea down and watched the Twins game and relaxed. I got a bike ride in while Chris had some Chris time and then he grilled us burgers and corn on the cob and I made a pasta salad. After dinner we walked to Conny's Creamy Cone for an ice cream treat! YUM! Happy Birthday Chris!

Monday Linnea and I and my friend along with her twins and niece went to something new to us this summer! We went and had a playday at the Midway! The Midway Stadium is where the St. Paul Saints play but on some of their off days they open the field up to kids! The bounce houses are open, the bases are there to run around on, the swingset is up, crafts are going, tee ball is set up, Mudonna the pig mascot roams and dances about and there are bubbles!!! Bubbles just happen to be one of Linnea's new fav things! We even hear her say bubbles every now and then when she is not speaking in her own language or signing more. She also loved Mudonna and gave many high fives!

Tuesday we had our music class and drove around a lot while Linnea napped and contractors put in two new doors for us! We also hit a new beach (Lake Josephine) in the afternoon because boy was it HOT!!!

Wednesday we made it to The Little Gym again. We will be going every Wednesday morning at 10:15 for Linnea's class! We haven't paid for many of our activities so we thought we would sign her up for this class. It is halfway done but we decided to do it anyways! We have friends from our New Parent Connection class who also go. Linnea and Allison have known each other since they were just a few weeks old so its fun to see each other at this class. The Little Gym will help L with her confidence and climbing skills and being even more social! They do different activities every week and the teacher is amazing. Linnea is so happy when we are there! The Little Gym is in Woodbury so we usually will bring grandma lunch afterwards and visit with her until Linnea needs to go to sleep.

Wednesday night Linnea got to have a sleepover at my parents house again and Chris and I stayed in a Bed and Breakfast in North Hudson called Escape by the Lake. And it definitely was an escape! I know we just had a trip to Chicago but this was nice to be just the two of us. There was a lake right outside our window, the house was beautiful, the hospitality was wonderful and so was her breakfast! We didn't eat again until dinner today! We wish we could have stayed longer. We were literally just there overnight. We ate dinner at Dolce in Hudson which was very yummy but the wait was soooo long for our food! We didn't get it until like 8 so we weren't back to the B&B until almost 9! Oh well...perhaps next time we will have time to take advantage of the paddleboat and relaxing view of the lake with a book!

I think that is it for now...as I said...most blogs from here on out will be with pictures again! Tomorrow we are checking out a new splash park in the morning provided it isnt raining! so stay tuned for those pictures!

Jacob Thomas Henjum

Chris, Linnea and I are happy to announce that we have a new nephew/cousin! He decided to arrive on the same birthday as his big brother Dylan! Which was also when we were in Chicago so we didn't get to meet him an hour after he was born like my parents.

The arrival of Jacob was pretty much perfect for Erik and Lisa though. Lisa's family was in town for some farming business and Dylan's second birthday so they all got to meet the new addition in his first few hours or days.

Linnea and I brought dinner out to Erik and Lisa on Wednesday night I think. Chris wasn't feeling well so he didn't get to come. Hopefully he will meet Jacob this week!

And hopefully we will have a camera by then so I can post some pictures of this sweet little boy. He has dark hair and was 7 pounds exactly. Linnea gave him many kisses and didnt throw too much of a stink when I held him which was nice.

Pitchfork Music Festival

Sooo it's been a little while since I blogged!!!

I have been having a hard time motivating myself to do it because I have no pictures to blog with which sometimes makes it hard to remember what I've done.

Sadly, I am pretty sure I left our camera on the brown line last weekend on the EL in Chicago. Other than losing the camera and getting confused about which train to take a few times we had a FABULOUS time in Chi-Town as some call it.

This was my second time in Chicago and I got to see much more of the city than before (the last time was basically a 24 hour trip to watch the Chicago Marathon and go to Navy Pier)but still haven't done much touristy stuff so I'd be happy going back at least once more to do that. What I'd really love to do is throw touristy stuff into a Chicago Marathon weekend where I run the marathon instead of cheering the runners on. I ran two times with Chuck on our getaway and it totally made me want to run the marathon to see even more of the city!

Our main reason for going to Chicago was to attend the Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park. This festival was from Friday afternoon to Sunday. Pretty much 1pm-10pm each day so that is why we had no time or energy for touristy stuff. I had never been to a music festival before so I didn't know what to expect. I also hadn't heard of many of the bands (mostly indie stuff) that were performing but going on a 4 day trip was much needed and it turned out I really enjoyed lots of the music! There were about 45 bands spread out between the three days. There were three stages and lots of yummy food and vendors and also a ton of heat and sunshine!

We made sure to stay hydrated with water and lemonade!

By the end of the night we were usually starving or wanting a drink so we tried two fun Chicago based restaurants before hitting the hay for the night. Friday we went to Portillos which serves Chicago dogs and Italian Beef Sandwiches so the boys tried those. I had a Pina Colada since I wasn't too hungry but very hot!

Saturday night we tried Gino's East Pizza of Chicago and LOVED it! We went to one of the original restaurants too since it was so close to our hotel. Many movie stars had been there and people signed the walls! It was pretty cool.

Sunday we pretty much struck out at every attempt to try something new. On Chuck and I's first run we went by this very cute looking coffee shop on Michigan Ave. and thought it would be fun to go there before the festival. Well they were filming Transformer's 3 while we were there and apparently filming it right by the coffee shop on Sunday morning. So we had to hunt around for somewhere else and ended up close to Navy Pier and ate at a place called Cosi's which was quite tasty anyways.

Sunday night after the festival and me losing the camera we tried to find somewhere to have a drink but everywhere close by was closed or too fancy for us after being outside sweating all day! So we ended up at McDonald's and some of the guys had a treat. I pouted and had nothing.

Some of our favorite performances were Modest Mouse, Robyn (someone crazy from Sweden), Local Natives, Free Energy (the Chris, Chris Corey and Chuck know two of the band members which is pretty cool), Broken Social Scene, LCD Soundsystem, Wolf Parade, the list goes on and one of the whole reasons we went...Pavement.

I hope we can find more music festivals to go to!!!

We had a blast but after 4 days and nights away from Linnea we were ready to come home! She had a great time with her grandparents. She had two nights and two days with each set so it worked out great!

Happy 4th Birthday Dylan!

It's Linnea here~

I went to a super fun birthday party on Saturday. It was for one of my cousin's named Dylan. He turned 4!!! Here is his bday cake! It was marble inside. He picked it out all by himself.

Nothing like cake with friends and cousins. We had pizza and cheeseballs before the cake which was a big hit for everyone involved!

Dylan had a pile of great gifts!

Their backyard was a regular old waterpark and even had a jumphouse which I flew out of once but was okay! I also could only go in if little kids were in there. And I only liked this slide on this raft with someone helping me. The water was FREEZING so I really just preferred the sprinklers...

or this cool wagon stroller thing mama pushed me around in!

And I found my favorite thing.

A ball which I delivered with all my might to mommy!

Happy Birthday Dylan,

Love Linnea (and Amy and Chris too)!

Elena and Allison!

Meet Elena Elizabeth Potts.

She is an adorable and sweet infant that Linnea and I watched for 3 weeks!

Elena's mommy had to go to back to work early and we had decided a while ago that we would do "daycare" for Elena. Turns out, Linnea and I are not quite cut for an addition quite yet.

Linnea had her jealous moments of throwing herself on the ground crying out no mama when I would hold Elena or feed her. But she also had her helpful moments of gently pushing Elena in the swing, rocking her carseat, bringing Elena her pacifier and bottle, throwing her diapers away, taking wipes out (all of them, but still helpful in her own way!). Elena even got a few kisses!

I know when the time is right she will be a great big sister and mommy's little helper.

But even with Linnea getting used to her, it was was still very hard to keep up our very busy schedule and routine. There are a lot of little things that helped me make this extremely hard decision but I know I did the right thing for our family.

I truly admire all you mommies of two kids under two!

It is a lot of work and we just aren't ready for that quite yet. Linnea needs so much still and a 4 week old also needs a lot. We had Elena from when she was just 4weeks old to when she was 7 weeks and had a lot of fun going to the zoo, to music class, on walks, to the beach and just playing at home.

My sister in law Allison came to help a few days of our last week together which made the beach outing and bottle giving and me just getting stuff done in general much easier.

While Allison was here the camera was missing so we dont have many fun pictures from that week. I wish we did though because we took her a Saints Game and the River Falls Days Parade with my brother, sister in law and nephew Dylan. Dylan and Linnea LOVED running out to get candy, the bands and getting sprayed with a hose during the parade! It was a cooker but still so fun.

Allison also helped me bring the two kiddoes to the Little Gym. Linnea had her free trial class and we liked it so much I think we are signing up for the remainder of the session. It will help Linnea with her not so existant climbing and stairs skills and confidence in general.

Pictures from the 4th of July Weekend!

I found my camera so here are the pictures from America's Birthday Weekend!

Strawberry Shortcake above!

Linnea didn't quite get the sliding on the slip and slide so we took turns walking/running with her. She went down a few times on accident and hated it. But on her feet she was fine!

The boys on the other hand couldn't get enough!

Swimming at Lake Johanna

Making the flag cake.

Linnea in her 4th of July dress!

Dylan and Ian's first fireworks experience!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy 4th of July!

Sadly this post will be without many pictures but here is one new one of our lil girl in her new pjs from daddy. She loves the giraffes on them! I have managed to misplace the camera! Boo. I know it will show up, it always does so when it does I will do a picture post. For now, you get to read what we did for the 4th of July weekend!

It was fabulous! Saturday the 3rd I got up early and got a 5 mile run in on my own which was was wonderful! I do love taking squirt in the jogger but sometimes its nice to run and be with just me! So after that I woke Linnea to go to the strawberry patch with my whole family. Chris decided to sleep in and meet us at my parents house for the strawberry processing. It was so cute to see all the kiddoes picking or moreso eating the berries together! We got $45 worth of berries which was enough to make strawberry jam, strawberry bread, strawberry sauce and have some berries left for cereal and just eating. YUM!

While the ladies worked on the berries the dads got to play in the water with Dylan, Ian and Linnea. Well I played in the water some too. It was soooo hot! My parents put up a slip and slide, a wading pool and a sprinkler! It was a regular old waterpark in their yard.

For the actual 4th we had planned and hoped to go to Willow River State Park to hike, picnic and play in the water again with the whole family but the forecast didnt look so good so we cancelled those and each family did their own thing for most of the day. Chris, Linnea and I still went to a beach and playground for a little while, then did some cleaning and baking for my parents who came over for a cookout and a walk.

Linnea and Chris went to bed shortly after that, but I got a secondwind and met Brian, Megan, Dylan, Ian and my parents for the fireworks.

Monday Linnea and I helped my parents at my grandparents old house in Richfield. Chris helped after work. We are working hard to go through grandma and grandpa's things and clear the house out. It is quite the project but we are believe it or not getting there!

It was a perfect 4th of July Weekend!

Cheese Curd Festival

I don't know what it is about goats that makes our daughter smile and laugh so much but it never fails. Any time we are by a goat she just gets gitty! It's so cute and fun!

This goat and Linnea interaction you see above took place last weekend when we met up with Erik, Lisa and Dylan at Cheese Curd Festival in Ellsworth, WI. After enjoying some fried food, Chris's mom and sister also met us for the parade.

Here is Linnea trying to figure out the fainting goat!

Dylan did a great job of feeding the goats out of the bowls. Linnea preferred to try and hold a teeny tiny piece of food in her fingers and give it to them that way. It didn't go over so well but she had fun nonetheless.

And then we went to the parade! The last parade Linnea went to she was just learning to walk. It was the St. Patty's Day parade where there was some candy, but like I said, she was just learning to walk so she didn't really get out there.

Saturday however, both kids practically ran out to get the sweets.

They also clapped and danced for the floats and pretty princesses and tractors and fire trucks. We had a great day!

The whole weekend was quite fun...Friday night Chris and I got to go out in Northeast Minneapolis on a pub crawl for a friends birthday. We hadn't been out with friends babyless in a while so we really lived it up and didn't get home until like 3am!!!! We are too old for that but we had a wonderful time still.

Thank you to Grandma Sarah and Aunt Allison for sleeping over and watching Linnea!