TWO Words!

EEEEKKKK!!!  Today Stephen said his first 2 word phrase!!!

We were driving home from speech this morning and everyday we go past Ryan's work- 3M. 
So, every morning we wave to daddy, tell him good morning and talk about if he is; in a meeting, sending an email, talking on the phone, or reading "money books".  John is so excitedly interested in Ryan's work- I love it.
Anyways-  So, John was saying, "Hi Dad, Hi Dad, Hi DAD!"  and Stephen was saying "Hi, Hi, Hiiiiii!" When all the sudden I heard, "Hi Dad, Hi Dad!!!" from Stephen!!  Super exciting! 

These boys sure love their daddy- so hard working, handsome, and loving. <3

Other words Stepehn is saying:
Hi, Bye, Mom, Dada, Num-Num.   It will be fun as this begins to expand..... :)

Girls Night Out!!

Tonight I went out to dinner with some of my girl cousins on the Brown side.  What a fun group of girls!!!  We got piled into the suburban and Alana drove us down to Chino Latinos in Uptown.  We ordered a few of the main dishes and sides (?) and ate family style.  The food was SO yummy!!  The conversation was good... it sure made me feel super old! ;) .... or very cautious, sheltered and careful.... which is all true! haha 
It was such a great night, going out with girl friends is always fun! =)

Thanks Alana, Tera, Jackie, Mackenzie and Chrissy.  Lauren, we missed you!!  But, lucky for you, we want to do it again... when you can come too!! ;) XXOO

A fun weekend is planned.... Ryan, Jinette, Mark and Jill are coming over tomorrow after the Twins game.  Then on Saturday we are going to go to the Farmers market.  On Sunday we have an OH planned... Yikes, the forecast looks HOOOOOOOTT!  :D
Oh, and pray to St. Anthony.... tomorrow marks the one week mark of me loosing both sets of my car keys!!!  Ufta, I am having a hard time not having a vehicle!

Ants, Ants, Ants

The Ant Chant!!

I have been reading this book to John a lot lately! 
He has turned into such a bug kid-  Nothing phases him!  Nothing creepy, crawly, juicy, fast, slow, too many legs to count....nothing! 
He has every rock in our yard over turned daily, digs in the dirt for "SSssSSssSS" (AKA: snakes ... AKA: worms) and stomps any ant he can find.  His ant stomping is quite humorous-  as soon as he spots an ant the connectors in his brain start going a million billion miles an hour and before he can get everything in the right place at the right time he is already stomping, usually, each ant gets about 7-10 stomps.  (and by that time, the ant is safely hiding somewhere far from John's heavy foot! :)
When ever he finds an ant in our house (yes, we do have them... :/ )  he picks it up and throws it out the front door saying, "NO ENT! NO ME HOUSE!! OUT!" 
Oh, bugs!
I feel very protected with John around.  I never have to worry about a big spider getting too close to me! ;)

Summer Days = Play Days

This summer has been lovely!  We have been trying to keep it simple! :)
Other then John's therapy (4x a week) we have nothing else "in writing"   -- everyday we just make sure there is time for the boys to be KIDS! :D

We wake up around 8am and have breakfast- scrambled eggs, fruit, waffle/bagel and milk.  Then it is time to change diapers and put on play clothes.  I do sunscreen 2-3 times a day (morning and after nap; I re-apply if we are doing water activities)  most mornings we play in the backyard doing sand box, sprinkler, water table, tee-ball, find the..., pulling weeds, biking on the tricycle, oh and of course, squishing bugs!! 
I have the boys play inside while I make lunch (about 11-11:30).  They do books, puzzles, blocks or sometimes watch WordWorld.  They eat lunch and then it is time for books and naps (1-3pm).  Usually they both practically fall over into bed.  I try to run them in the AM so they will take a nice long nap.  While the boys nap I eat lunch and then clean up the kitchen, do a load or two of laundry and a quickie clean up in the whole house.  There is usually about 45 minutes of down time for me then, sometimes I take a quick nap, read the news paper, organize toys, plan meals schedules, return calls/emails.  Once the boys wake up I re-apply SPF and we go to the backyard to have a snack. I have been having the boys do their afternoon snacks outside so the house stays clean for when Ryan gets home from work.  :)  We just simply play then until the big ol' truck rolls into the garage! 
I think it is so important not to over schedule kids!!  I can say that now because our kids are still so young. :)  It is pretty easy to keep it simple right now- I hope I am able to try and stick to this as the kids grow up. 
Summer = PLAY!
:D

Mission Accomplished!

Stephen is officially done nursing.  He is 13 months and 10 days.  The important thing is that HE was ready.  I had made some changes to his nursing routine that made it possible and comfortable for me-  I cut him back to morning, afternoon and before bed.  However, the last 2 days he has had no interest.  I would try to nurse him and all he would to was push away and even cry a little. 
Tonight, I thought I would give it one last try.  I got John his cup of almond milk and vitamins to have before bed while I was going to nurse Stephen (like I do every night).  All Stephen wanted was John's cup of milk. 

I am OK with this.  My goal was to make it to one year.  I did! I decided that anything after a year was a bonus, and everyday I made it extra I would give myself a little pat on the back. ;)   It is a little sad because Stephen is growing up!  I can't believe how much his is growing like a weed!! I guess we are moving on to the next chapter... what ever that is. :)

<3 <3 Bitter Sweet <3 <3 

Hot Chocolate???

Before I begin, I need it known that I am NOT complaining- I wait ALL winter for it to be this hot!! :D

It has been very hot here lately!! In the high 80's and 90's.  Our 100+ year old house does not have the best insulation, so if it is 92 outside, it is 93 in our house.  We have no trees to provide shade, just metal siding. ;)  I love it, the boys and I play outside all day, every day... I am dreading our water bill.  Every time I check the mailbox I cringe as I am watching for our City of St. Paul Water bill.  Gulp!
Anyways, back to the point.  I have been a bit crazy about everyone drinking enough water.  I am practically following the kids around with their cups to be sure they are drinking enough.  Today, John was refusing to drink anything and I was desperately pleading with him, John, do you want chocolate milk??  Pink juice??  A juice box?!  Ice cubes?? Anything?!!!  He looked at me and pointed to the cabinet, THIS!!   As I looked to see what he excitedly wanted I cringed as I realized it was HOT Chocolate!! WHAT?! 

So, yes, John sat on the back steps drinking "hot" chocolate and Stephen and I guzzled our ice water.  :/  LOL

4th of July 2011

Well, our weekend was full of ups and downs....

On Friday morning, I forgot to take John to therapy- it was a long (hot) night at the Patrick's! Both boys had trouble sleeping in the heat and I put them down for naps at 10am!! I called Ryan at work and asked if he wanted to take a 1/2 day of vacation and we could head to the cabin a little earlier then planned. He said he needed to wrap a few things up and he would be on his way home! Yahoo! :D I quickly packed the boys and we loaded the truck. We wanted to try and spend the night ... I thought maybe since the Beach and Peterson kids would be there, John would be able to sleep??

We have had such a great time catching up with the Beach's- I sure wish they really lived here!! ;) We had a very simple dinner of burgers and fruit pizza, the kids swam and played all afternoon together. Peterson's got there around 7pm and just as we were beginning to feel "moved in" for the weekend, it started getting really dark out. I suggested to Ryan that it looked like it was going to storm and he should go clean up the beach toys etc. He ran down there with John and with in minutes it was full force storming out. It was like nothing I have ever experienced. The wind was so strong it was almost blowing us over as we ran to the basement. The lake had white caps on it, the power went out and a huge tree fell on the cabin, right by where we were. A couple other trees on their property fell too. Once the storm was over, went to access the damage. There were at least 40+ trees down and power lines laying on the little road that connects us to a main road. Ryan and I knew, we were sleeping at the cabin!! ;) John slept until about 3:30. He woke up and was ready for the day. Stephen was loving the cabin air and snuggled all night in his crib. I sat with John in the truck, reading books, singing songs and swatting mosquito's! Around 7am he and I both fell asleep in the truck... just in time for Ryan ans Stephen to wake up! HA We thought we better go look at the roads now that it was light out and try to get ice. There were crews and residents all over the roads with chainsaws and trucks. It was very sad to see; not only the beautiful trees that had fallen, but the homes crushed, you could see the devastation on their faces- many of them probably one major bill away from a financial crisis. It was hard to see.

We made it to the town of Danbury- they were letting one person in the store at a time, and all they could buy was ice- cash only. Well, we had no cash so we called Jana ans Steve to let them know what was going on and to get ice on their way to the cabin.

We quickly realized it was time to head home - no power, no water, and no sleep (for me) was not a good combo. It was time for us to hit the road- we drove home.

Ryan got caught up on homework and mowed the lawn while I started the laundry and took a nap with the boys.

On Sunday we went to Patty and Dan's for dinner and fireworks. It was nice to get the boys out in the fresh air! As we drove home we watched all the firework displays that were happening. Stephen slept and I sat in the back seat with John helping point out the "sparkles"

On Monday, we went to the Patrick's for a summer dinner- burgers, a few salads and ice cold water! :) Just what we are all always looking for lately! haha. We didn't stay for the "sparkles" at Mendakota. We were very tired and Ryan had to be up for work bright and early the next day. It was lights out by 8:45 here!! :D

John was "fixing" the tree that fell on the cabin--- hmm...



I took these from Chrissy's blog.... :/ I didn't take ANY pictures of the 4th 2011!! It was a pretty hectic weekend. Ufta!

(Thanks Chrissy!!)