Teya's lullaby

You know that song that's like, "hush little baby don't say a word, Papa's gonna buy you a mocking bird..." Well the other day Teya came over to sing it to me and this is what she sang:

"Hey little Mommy don't say a word, Teya's gonna buy you a noxious bird, and if that bird don't sing, Teya's gonna by you a remote control, and if that remote control breaks down, Teya's gonna buy you a PINK DIAMOND!! (her eyes get real big when she sings "pink diamond" and a huge smile lights up her face. The volume then increases as she sings/shouts,) and that pink diamond's NOT EVER GONNA BREAK! (decrescendo with a loving pat on my leg) so you better keep it safe in your pocket."

I couldn't stop laughing and had to write that down. She certainly is a clever little girl : )

Weekend with the kiddos!

After two weekends in a row without the kids, we were ready for some good family time. On Friday night we took the girls out to eat, something we haven't done in 4 months! In fact, I think I can count the times we've eaten out as a family on one hand! Anyway, now that Brinley is older and can eat the food it's a lot easier. We went to Noodles and company and "carbo loaded" for our 5K the next day. (ha ha, ok, you don't need to carbo load for a 5K but I'll take any excuse to load up on carbs I can get!)

After dinner we walked down to Cold Stone to continue carbo loading. (Are there carbs in ice cream?) Teya picked blue ice cream to match her blue shirt. She's such a funny girl.

The next morning we were up bright and early for the Pioneer 5K and breakfast put on by our church. The course wrapped around a couple small lakes and was really pretty. Teya got to do the kids fun run too and did a good job for someone running in pajamas and crocs. (She's obsessed with her jammies and when we have to be out the door before 8, odds are we're not going to be able to get her out of them!)

After the 5K we cleaned up and headed to St. Paul to visit the Como Zoo. It's one of only 4 free zoos in the United States. I thought it would be kind of lame since it's free but we were surprised and how many cool animals they had (including Lions, Tigers and Gorillas!)

Teya on Daddy's shoulders at the zoo. Doesn't she look so grown up in this picture?

After the zoo we drove out to Burnsville to meet up with our friends the Hogges, who just moved out to Minnesota from Michigan. We took the kids to Chuck E Cheese and let them run wild while we caught up with each other. Their daughter is only 6 months older than Teya and the two got along great. She even convinced Teya to put on dress ups, I was impressed!

And the final highlight of the weekend was Sunday night's dinner. Taber decided to be ambitious with the grill and made his first attempt at cooking ribs. We were both amazed at how well they turned out. Every other bite I had to stop and say, "WOW!" I hate to admit it but now that the grill has come into play, Taber might just be a better cook than me. ; )

Friday Foto!

Okay, so I'm copying this idea from my brother Chris, who posts a random photo with a fun story every Friday. I like his idea so much that I thought I'd do it too.

Today's photo brings us back to 1983. My mom had scheduled an appointment to have the children's picture taken professionally. She couldn't be there and asked my dad to get us ready. As a mother myself, I know what getting kids ready for a photo shoot takes. Baths, hair styling, accessorizing, coordinating outfits, etc... But I guess my Dad didn't get the preparation memo because he just brought us to the studio as we were. My mom was furious at the time, but looking back, how can you not love the candid snapshot that was captured that day? My favorite details are our messy hairdos, the fact that I'm just wearing overalls with no shirt underneath, and that he brought Naomi (the baby) in nothing but a dirty onsie. No pants, no shoes, not even socks! Bless you Dad for undertaking such a tremendous task on your own. I have a hard time getting my 2 kids ready for pictures, let alone 4! You did good and I have to say, I think the picture turned out perfectly!

Ear tubes are in!

Today we had Brinley's eartube surgery and I'm happy to say it was a huge success. The trickiest part was just keeping food away from her from the time she woke up until her surgery at 11:30. I tried not to eat or let anyone else eat in front of her. I think that helped. Anyway, Here are some pictures of her in her hospital jammies getting geared up for the procedure. You can tell that the lack of food didn't have that big of an effect on her, she's still smiling.


They had a great little waiting area with tons of toys to keep Brinley distracted. Taber was able to come too and I'm SOOOO glad because one of us had to hold her when they put her to sleep and just hearing them describe it made me get all emotional. So Taber was the brave one who went back and held her.

The surgery went so fast. We were watching the progress on the screen in the waiting room and from start to finish I think it took around 12 minutes. The Doctor came out to give us an update. He said he was so glad we did this because when he went in there her ears were full of fluid and pus. He gave us some instructions and then we just had to wait till she woke up before we could come back and see her again.

She was really groggy and a little bit fussy when we first saw her. We calmed her down with her trusty old bottle.

After her bottle I rocked her till she fell asleep and she slept for over an hour on my shoulder. When she woke up we were discharged and she slept again for another hour in the car.

When we got home she was still kind of out of it for an hour or so but it wasn't long before she was laughing and smiling and climbing her way into all kinds of mischief. We're so happy that everything went well and hope that now she can finally have some relief from all those awful ear infections!

BEYONCE!!!

Last Thursday I got spoiled beyond spoiled by my awesome friend Wendy who hooked it up with Beyonce tickets!!! Her husband got them from work and didn't want to go so it was ladies night out baby!! (And I'm sorry for the multiple exclamation points but 4 days later I still cannot get over how awesome it was so I'm still just a little excited!!!) Beyonce was amazing. Her voice, phenomenal. Her performance, incredible. Her stage presence, out of this world. I went home that night and totally downloaded two of her new songs. Thank you Wendy for a sweet girls night out and thank you Beyonce for coming to Minneapolis!

Me and Wendy trying to channel our inner "Sasha Fierce!"

No ladies night out would be complete without awesome food. Nachos supreme with all the fixins. We were turning heads with those nachos, let me tell you!

When she sang "single ladies" We made sure to change the lyrics to "married ladies" before we put our hands up. ; )

First steps and 12 month stats

Brinley had her 12 month check up yesterday, here are the stats:

Height: 28 inches, 16th percentile
Weight: 20 lb 5 oz, 36th percentile.

She is officially old enough and heavy enough to sit in a front facing car seat but since she's so short she still fits nicely in her rear facing carrier so we'll probably leave her in there as long as she's happy.

She also had yet another ear infection at her appointment but is scheduled to have her eartube surgery next week so we're definitely ready for some relief in that area!

She's saying a few words now, including Mommy, Dada, Eya (Teya) Da (Dog), No, dont! baby, and Mo (more)

Also in the exciting milestone category, she took her first steps yesterday. She's still very wobbly and I'm sure won't really be walking for awhile, but she's on her way. Here's a little clip of some of her first steps.

10 Reasons why last week ROCKED!

Okay, really it all comes down to one reason, Grandma Karen came to stay for the week which means total awesomeness ensued! Here are some of the highlights of her stay with us.

She taught Teya how to play hopscotch and Teya loved it!

We got to go see the sculpture gardens by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

Here are a bunch of pics of us by the famous spoon and cherry, one of the most eye popping sculptures in the garden.

Teya actually liked the sculptures and had a great time running around and asking us if the "vultures" were going to eat her stuffed animals.

We also took Grandma to the Mill city museum and learned all about the flour plants that made Minneapolis the largest flour milling city in the nation.

The biscuits just looked too good. : )

Here's the fam at the top of the flour plant.

And one of the biggest highlights was that Grandma watched the girls for 2 1/2 days while Taber and I took a weekend getaway in downtown Minneapolis! While we were gone Teya and Brinley had so much fun with Grandma they didn't even know we were gone.

Here are some pictures that Grandma took while we were away. Stickers, goggles, slides, parks, push toys, bubbles, books, coloring, and abc's are just a few of the things that Granmda used to entertain them .

Meanwhile Taber and I thoroughly enjoyed relaxing on the beaches of Lake Harriet, hitting some great restaurants downtown, bowling, going to the movies, staying up late, sleeping in late, and exploring downtown without a care in the world.

A million hugs and a millions thank yous to a wonderful Grandma for a wonderful week!

Happy 1st Birthday Brinley Grace

Today we celebrated Brinley's 1st birthday.

She opened presents

played with her new toys

Ate her first cupcake

And graced us with her gorgeous smile.

Happy Birthday to our sweet little girl. Our lives are brighter and happier because of you!

All American Weekend

The 4th of July is probably one of my top 3 holidays. Maybe even top 2, especially when celebrated in Minnesota where the temperature stayed in the comfortable 80's, giving us some perfect summer days without scorching heat. Here's how we celebrated.

We started off by hitting the strawberry patch on Friday morning. Teya loved apple picking and it got her to eat apples, so I thought maybe the same would be true with strawberries. To my delight, she actually ate some! (she's NEVER eaten a strawberry before) So that was a big moment. Brinley ate some too and made quite the mess. It was lots of fun though and I made 6 batches of stawberry jam, should last us till the end of the year! Woo hoo!

After berry picking and making jam Taber wanted to go on a run. My legs are still recoverying from the marathon so I followed him on a bike with the girls in tow. It was awesome! We finally figured out how to "run" together without getting a babysitter. Now I just need to buy my own bike! (the one I used was borrowed ; )

Every time I looked back and saw those two it just made me smile! At one point Brinley got tired and laid her head on Teya's shoulder. sweetest thing I've ever seen!

The next morning Taber was up bright and early to put the pork on the grill. He got a new grill for father's day and under the tutelage of our amazing neighbor Taylor (who is pretty much an undercover gourmet chef) Taber is becoming quite the cook. Taylor lives right across from us so he was over every hour to check on the meat, help change the woodchips, gauge the temperature, stuff like that. Then they'd go over to his house and check on the ribs. All day back and forth, flipping and poking and smoking and grilling. I think Taber may have found a new hobby, He loves the grill!

When the meat was done we gathered with more friends at Taylor and Kara's place and ate the feast of feasts! The pulled pork and BBQ'ed ribs were the stars of the show. We also finished off with homemade apple pie. (yes I gained 5 lbs, but it was soooo worth it!)


Here's Brinley and her buddy Noah. I had to post these pics because this was Brinsies first watermelon. Kept her busy for AGES! It's also really cute because she just learned how to smile and say "Geeez" for the camera.

Also had to throw in this picture of Taber walking with Brinley because it makes me smile. Brinley's watermelon stained American flag shirt, her dirty knees from crawling on the ground, her bare feet and rolly little arms make this picture perfection!

After stuffing ourselves silly we went outside for a couple rounds of badminton. The kids kept running (and crawling) onto the court but we managed to get in some games without accidentally swatting anyone so that was good. : )

To finish things off, our friends Patrick and Maria (Who are like the cool aunt and uncle that kids always want to hang out with) brought a fat load of fireworks to light. Teya was so into the fireworks this year, she even held a sparkler and kept asking for more. My camera battery died after the sparklers but it was a great show and the kids loved it.

So yes, wonderful 4th of July and definitely beats last year when we didn't make any plans because I was sure I was going to go into labor that day. ; )