The Pike family

Playing pinball

2012-01-09T19:08:00.001-06:00

Alex turns 7!

2012-01-09T17:04:00.001-06:00

2012-01-09T07:16:00.001-06:00

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Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T11:19:00.002-06:00

The holiday season is already over! We had a wonderful Christmas and the boys had so much fun. They both got so many fun things and we have enjoyed playing with everything. No snow for Christmas this year-the weather has been very nice for me with little snow and warmer temperatures. I was able to take the week off between Christmas and New Year's and spent a lot of time with the boys. I also painted the living room with the help of my sister and it looks so great in here!

Alex is 7 now! He had a great birthday (the best ever he says). We went to the Mall of America and went on rides and went to Lego Land. Alex went on the big roller coaster by himself and loved it! It was a great time. We went home and ordered Chinese food and ate at our new table and then spent the night building Legos until midnight. He was able to stay up until the ball dropped this year. It was a very nice evening!

Fletcher is getting so big. He loves playing with all of his toys and with his big brother. His favorite thing is anything Spongebob Squarepants. He is talking a lot now too!

It's hard to believe that 2012 is here. I'm hopeful for a great year with lots of fun!

November already??

2011-11-01T07:00:00.002-05:00

This year is just flying by! We have had a busy and fun fall and now winter is right around the corner!

Halloween was a lot of fun. We spent Saturday afternoon at cousin Robbie's and Betsy's annual leaf crawl. The boys had a blast and got so much fun stuff. Fletcher really got into it and loved crawling through the leaves. We then went to a pumpkin patch on Sunday and picked out our pumpkins, saw all the animals and took a hayride. We carved our pumpkins and had a great dinner at home. We took the boys trick or treating last night and they had a great time and got so much candy! This was Fletcher's first halloween where he actually went up to the houses and he always said "trick or treat", "thank you" and "happy halloween". Of course he learned this from his big brother who did a great job as well. At the end of the night, they were both so tired and Alex finally said, "I'm satisfied with this candy that I have". LOL. Fletcher was Buzz Lightyear this year and Alex was Jango Fett (from Clone Wars).

Alex is doing well in school. He amazes me with some of the things he knows. He likes to do math problems, so we work on that at night. He continues with karate and is working toward his orange belt now.
Fletcher loves hanging out with grandma and great grandma. They go a lot of places and he loves playing outside in their big backyard! He is talking a lot, knows the alphabet and can count to 10. He loves following his big brother around and will copy just about anything Alex does!

End of summer!

2011-09-07T15:57:00.003-05:00

The summer just flew by! It was often too hot to enjoy it much, but we did manage to have some fun. The boys loved playing at the park and going to the beach. I hope we have an extended fall and short winter!

Alex is doing great with karate! He just got his yellow belt and did very well on his test! He was a bit nervous about it, but I think he'll be more relaxed next time since he knows what to expect. We took him to see his first concert last week at the State Fair (Toby Keith and Eric Church). We had a great time! School is back in session and he started first grade at a new school-Capitol Hill Magnet. I'm hoping that he will make a lot of new friends and be challenged with his school work.

Fletcher turned 2! We had a party at Chuck E Cheese with family and friends. It was a lot of fun and he enjoyed the food, games and cake! He loves playing outside and really liked going to the beach (in the water even when being held by mom or dad). He's growing big and he's healthy. Had his 2 year check up today and weighs 36# and is 37 inches tall.

Looking forward to the nicer weather and fall fun soon!

It's Summertime!

2011-06-15T20:19:00.002-05:00

It is so nice to finally have nice weather here! That snow and cold lasted way too long!

Alex finished kindergarten yesterday. He did so well in school this year and learned a lot of French! He made some friends and says he is going to miss them next year, but hopefully we can get some visits in over the summer. Alex will be attending Capitol Hill Magnet School for gifted and talented starting next year. He can go through 8th grade there and we are hoping that he will be challenged. We went to the open house last week and one of the girls from his kindergarten class was there, so he will see a familiar face in the fall. He does very well speaking French and will just starting speaking it out of the blue. He is still loving karate and working on his kata so that he can move up and work on his yellow belt. He is really looking forward to a fun summer!

Fletcher is growing so fast and becoming so independent. He really wants to do everything himself. He is chattering quite a bit and knows a lot of words now. He can count to 10 and is recognizing some of the alphabet, knows all his body parts and is pretty good at figuring things out. He loves Spongebob the most and gets really excited about the number 9. He adores his big brother (even though he's starting to try and scrap with him a bit) and he loves the dog (who tolerates Fletcher and is easily bought with food that Fletcher loves to give him). Clifford really is tolerant and gentle with the kids when I suspect other dogs would not be.

We have a lot of house projects to get done this summer, but our main goal is to have a lot of fun and get out and do everything we can!

Long Winter

2011-03-06T15:46:00.002-06:00

We are expecting another mound of snow to fall tomorrow. We have had so much snow this winter and I have had enough. Hopefully spring will get here fast!

The boys are doing well. Fletcher keeps growing and is so much fun! He really loves his big brother and although they are starting to pick at eachother a little, it is very easy to see how much they adore each other. He is saying some words-Mama, Dad, clock (gock!), and recently started saying ears and eyes when he points to them. It's hard to believe he is 18 months old already!

Alex is wonderful. He has lost another tooth! He now has a gap in the front on top and the other front tooth is now loose too. He is getting close to finishing up his first year of school and has done really well. He tested into Gifted and Talented and we are checking out some options for him. He may stay at the French Immersion school, but we have a couple of other choices too.

We have been talking about spring/summer and all the fun we are going to have. A lot of weekend camp outs and geocaching trips are in our future! Hurry up spring!

December

2010-12-13T08:57:00.002-06:00

Wow. December came up so fast! We spent the weekend mostly snowed in from this huge storm! Today is a snow day at school and since our alley is treacherous, we are all spending the day at home, hoping to get some Christmas decorations up and get our cars out. We're still waiting on the plows to come through.

In other news, Fletcher is walking/running all over. He is growing so fast! He says mom, dada, yes, hi, and wow. He loves playing with all his toys and his brother.

Alex is learning a lot of French at school. I am pretty impressed by what he can say and we probably should do some learning with him as he won't always tell us what he is saying!

I hope the roads around our house improve soon. We are getting a little stir crazy!

Alex's Kindergarten Picture

2010-12-13T08:56:00.000-06:00

Baby steps...

2010-11-04T22:04:00.002-05:00

We have been keeping ourselves busy this fall. Alex is still enjoying school and is learning so many new French words. Many times I have no idea what he is saying, but it sounds good! He is taking violin lessons at school as well and is starting to get the hang of it. He isn't a big fan of practicing yet, but I hope that comes soon.
We enjoyed the afternoon at Robbie and Betsy's annual leaf crawl. So many leaves, so many kids, an abundance of toys and treats! The boys had such a great time and so did we. Fletcher dressed up for his first Halloween as Superman. Alex was a very cool Optimus Prime.
Fletcher is starting to take some steps! He is very hesitant yet, but has started taking a couple steps here and there. He gets around very quickly by crawling, so he prefers that still. He is growing like a weed, has a mouthful of teeth, and loves to "chatter". He adores his big brother. The two are just wild together.
Wil is heading up north this weekend with his oldest son to hunt. Hopefully they have a good trip and get some deer. He will come back to a new job waiting for him and we are so happy that one has finally come around for him!
It's hard to believe how fast this year is going. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and then the countdown to Christmas/Alex's 6th birthday! I wish I had a pause button to slow things down a little.

Tooth Fairy time

2010-10-12T19:35:00.002-05:00

Alex lost his first tooth this morning. And now he has lost his second tooth tonight! He did very well with it and is quite excited about the tooth fairy coming. He already has a tooth growing in that was behind these teeth, so it isn't very noticeable that he has a big gap in his bottom teeth. I can't believe that he is such a big boy now! When I asked him how much he'll charge the tooth fairy, he thought $7 was a good deal!
He also started violin lessons today and did well. He was able to pluck the first line of Twinkle Twinkle. I hope he enjoys it and sticks with it. He was pretty happy about going today. He is making many friends in school and seems to have a great time. I love seeing the look on his face when we pick him up at the end of the day-even though he's having fun, he misses us!

Time Flying By

2010-09-12T09:01:00.002-05:00

It's been a great weekend! The weather has been beautiful and we've been enjoying hanging out together. Wil took Alex to see the Tartan High School football game Friday night. They stayed until about halftime and had a lot of fun. It rained a bit and it was a little cold, so they stayed as long as they could stand.
Fletcher got his 1 year pictures done yesterday and they turned out great! We also took him to get his first haircut at Kids' Hair. He didn't cry at all and got a very nice hair cut. I am sad to see his baby hair gone, but he looks very handsome with his little man cut.
Tomorrow is Alex's first day of school. I decided to take the day off so that we can take him together. I cannot believe how fast things are going. I swear I just brought him home from the hospital yesterday! So many big changes for us these days!

End of summer

2010-09-04T13:42:00.003-05:00

Summer is starting to wind down which means a lot of new things in our home! Fletcher had his 1 year checkup the other day. He weighed 28# 9 oz and is 32.25 inches tall! Everything is just fine and he is as healthy as can be. He zooms around the house, adores his big brother, and laughs a lot. He pulls himself up and cruises around, but is waiting to take some steps. He babbles a lot and likes pointing at things. He loves his big brother and they are super silly together!

Alex will be starting kindergarten on 9/13 at L'etoile Du Nord elementary in St. Paul. We went to the open house the other night and met his teacher. She seems very nice and Alex liked her. I am so excited for him to learn new things and make new friends. We have gotten most of his school supplies but need to hunt for a few more things. Apparently waiting until the end of August to shop for these things is a bad idea. Lesson learned for next year!

We have had a great summer and I am looking forward to fall. The cooler weather has been so nice!

Happy 1st Birthday Fletcher!

2010-08-26T21:30:00.003-05:00

Summer Fun!

2010-08-22T19:58:00.003-05:00

We've been keeping pretty busy around here this summer. We've hit a couple of the area county fairs (Ramsey and Dakota), gone to the park a number of times, and have just enjoyed hanging out. Alex has enjoyed swimming a few times and Fletcher has not. It's hard to believe that fall is just around the corner (and I'm very happy about it!).
Alex will be starting kindergarten soon and we found out who his teacher will be. Still have to get the school shopping done. I think he's starting to get a little excited about it, but he seems a little nervous to start something new. He is reading just about anything and is very good at sounding out new words. He had a fun weekend with his great aunt Cathy and his cousins.
Fletcher is growing and is very mobile. He crawls all over the place and rolls around. He is not one to sit around! We pulled out one of Alex's old toys today-a Leap Frog piano that you stand up at and it has all kinds of things to do. Fletcher stood up and kept standing there without holding on to anything! He's cruising all over the furniture and it won't be long before he's walking! I cannot believe how fast this past year went. He got to spend the weekend with gaga and papa and they all had a good time.
We're skipping the State Fair this year, but looking forward to heading out to the Ren Festival in the next few weeks. We hope to get one more camping weekend in this year and maybe a little more geocaching.

Recent pics

2010-08-07T19:43:00.001-05:00

What we're doing....

2010-06-22T21:28:00.002-05:00

We are getting ready for our big week long vacation to the Black Hills! We are going to take my parents pop-up camper and head out for a week of fun! It's been quite awhile since I've been out there, so I am very excited to go and take the boys (and Wil has never been either). Alex says he is most excited to play in the camper, see bears, and Mt. Rushmore. We plan to see just about everything and maybe do a little geocaching along the way.

Fletcher is scooting around everywhere and tries to get into everything he shouldn't. He is starting to "talk". He says "bye" and waves, says "hi" (which sounds like eye), mama, dada, and dog (which sounds like dug). Alex is enjoying summer and doing a lot of playing and reading. The two of them have a lot of fun together and no one can get Fletcher laughing like Alex can.

I'm looking forward to a fun-filled summer and our trip will be a good start!

Graduation and 9 month checkup!

2010-06-07T16:38:00.003-05:00

Everything checked out fine-we are lucky to have another healthy boy! At 9 months, Fletcher weighs 26#, 5 oz. and is 30 inches long! No shots today, so it was a smooth appointment.

Alex graduated from preschool on Friday. It's amazing how fast time is going and I can't believe he'll be starting kindergarten in the fall!

Fletcher is 9 months old!

2010-05-30T09:49:00.005-05:00

It's hard to believe how fast these babies grow! Fletcher has about 7 teeth coming in and is figuring out how to use them. He is doing well on chewing things and even tried a little taste of pizza at a birthday party yesterday. He's very close to crawling-gets up on all fours and rocks, but then goes into an inchworm type crawl. Any day now, he'll be taking off I'm sure!
Alex is going to graduate from preschool next week! This year just flew by. He made some good friends and even got invited to his first birthday party for a school friend. He is so excited to buy a gift and go. He is reading just about anything and figures out words that amaze me. He has currently been reading some books that range from the 2nd to 3rd grade level! So proud of my smart boy! We attended a birthday party yesterday at Brunswick Zone. He bowled for the first time and loved it. We also got to play laser tag (fun!!!) and he got to do the bumper cars. We had a great time!
Very happy to have a 3 day weekend. Happy Memorial Day!

2010-05-05T17:06:00.002-05:00

A few new things going on in our world. We've been working on remodeling our bathroom and are hoping to be close to being done. A few unexpected surprises came up (unfortunately including a trip from a plumber! ). I'm excited for it to be done and can't wait to see the finished result.

Fletcher is now sitting up alone and trying to figure out crawling. He is also getting his 3rd tooth, which apparently has made him not feel well today. He enjoys eating many different types of food, especially fruit!

Alex is finishing up preschool. We have him enrolled at L'Etoile Du Nord French Immersion school in St. Paul for kindergarten next fall! I can't believe how fast this is happening-I swear we just brought him home from the hospital yesterday! He is reading everything he sees and amazes me everyday with what he knows!

Looking forward to summer-lots of camping, geocaching, gardening and whatever else we can get in to.

Vote for Fletcher!

2010-04-30T16:46:00.002-05:00

Fletcher is 6 months old!

2010-03-06T15:08:00.003-06:00

6 month checkup went well. 25# and 28 inches long! Fletcher has 2 teeth coming in and I think he is finding it pretty annoying. He's doing some sitting up and scooting around a bit. Alex is such a big help with his little brother and they just love each other so much!
We have picked some schools for Alex to attend next year. Kindergarten already! I cannot believe how fast time has gone. We should hear soon which school he gets into and I'm looking forward to that. Alex has started floor hockey at Longfellow and seems to like it so far.

A great weekend

2010-02-21T21:24:00.003-06:00

We had a very fun weekend. We spent a lot of yesterday at Chuck E. Cheese with cousins and had a great time! Alex then slept at gaga and papa's, and Fletcher slept over at great aunt Cathy's. Wil and I got to get out for dinner and a movie and a nice night/morning of quiet!

We found Fletcher's first tooth poking through today. It's on the bottom right and you can just feel the very tip of it. It does seem to be bothering him a little bit-lots of drool and somewhat fussy. He is now enjoying a variety of baby foods!

Alex and Fletcher are finally sleeping in the same room together. It's been pretty hard for Alex to accept this change after being in his own room for 5 years, but we finally got it to work out tonight. They are both in there and sound asleep-hopefully it stays that way!

I'm hoping that spring is not too far away-I have had just enough of the snow and ice.

Sunday afternoon...

2010-02-07T10:54:00.002-06:00

I wish weekends were longer! They seem to just fly by and then Monday comes around super fast!

Fletcher is a big time roller now. It's hard to get him to be still now that he's figured out how to move. He is definitely not going to be one to sit around! We're working on some baby foods. So far, he seems to really like his rice cereal. We tried green beans a couple times and they were not a big hit. I can't believe he's already 5 months old!

Alex is still enjoying school. He got an invite from a little friend to go over and play sometime. He was very excited about that. We're searching for a school for him for kindergarten in the fall! I can't even believe it. So far we found a couple of interesting schools and have a couple more to look at in the next couple weeks. I am definitely not ready to have a school-aged child!

Not much else going on. It's super bowl sunday, so Wil will be focused on his Colts today. I'm hoping to just relax and play with the kids for the day.

Random January pics

2010-02-03T20:04:00.000-06:00

Ice Skating!

2010-01-11T05:09:00.003-06:00

Alex went ice skating for the first time yesterday with his great uncle Bob and Holly!

Hopefully the last visit to the Doc for awhile!

2010-01-05T17:28:00.002-06:00

Alex had his 5 year checkup today. 47.5 inches tall and 58 pounds! He will surpass me in height very soon I'm sure! Everything is fine-he did great for his shots, cried on the last one which burned. Fletcher got rechecked today and is doing just fine. We can just use the neb on an as needed basis. He was finally able to get his shots today and cried. This was the first appointment of either of theirs that I had to miss due to being in training today.
Tonight is a pizza night and we plan to just stay in and try to stay warm! I think it might be a Lego's night :)

The end of 2009!

2009-12-31T15:57:00.002-06:00

It was a very busy day! Got up and took Fletcher for a followup with the doctor. The radiologist took another look at his chest x-ray and they decided he does not have pneumonia! She said he is moving air better today and we can stop the antibiotic and just finish up the steroid and use the nebulizer. And for a bonus, Fletcher rolled over last night for the first time!!!

It's Alex's 5th birthday today! It's hard to believe that 5 years have passed by so quickly! I took the day off from work and Fletcher went to spend the day with Gaga. Alex wanted to go to Applebee's for lunch, so we did. The restaurant was full and the server's came over and sang to him and gave him a sundae. The funniest part of the day? At the restaurant, Alex asked what m-o-n-t-h spelled and I told him. He promptly read the rest of the sign independently- "Beer of the month". He's spending too much time with his dad and grandpa!!! Then off to the Children's museum and Alex had a great time! There is a dinosaur exhibit there and he really loved that. There was The Big Dig which was basically a pit with "fossils" in it to dig for. Alex was the one jumping in and saying "Cannonball!" We had so much fun. We got him his own Sansa MP3 player and he just loves it!

We're going to spend the rest of the afternoon resting and hanging out. We were going to have cupcakes for his birthday today (party with cake on Saturday), but came home to find that the dog had eaten them. Oh well!

Happy New Year and welcome 2010!

Fletcher is 4 months old!

2009-12-28T18:17:00.002-06:00

Fletcher had his 4 month appointment today. He is a big boy! 22 pounds and 27 inches long! We've all been battling colds the last couple weeks and the doctor didn't like the sound in his chest today. So, he got a chest x-ray done and there was a small spot on the right lobe of his lung. She looked at it, along with 2 other doctors, and they determined it could be a pneumonia, but it might not be either. It was decided to treat it as such just in case-with an antibiotic, steroid, and nebulizer. He had a nebulizer treatment while at the clinic, and man is that a pain! I feel for those that have to do that routinely! We've managed to escape any real illnesses since Alex was born, so we've been very lucky. The doctor thinks that he'll turn around quickly. I hope so. It's so hard to see a sick baby!

We had a wonderful Christmas. Both boys got so many nice things! Fletcher doesn't get it, but Alex really did this year and was just in heaven with all the great gifts he got. Santa brought him a Buzz Lightyear which made him squeal and jump and say "I'm laughing with joy!". We had so much fun spending time with family-thanks to everyone for all the cool stuff!

Growing Kids!

2009-12-22T20:28:00.002-06:00

Fletcher is nearly 4 months old already! He is getting so big and we are all having so much fun with him. He has tried a few bites of rice cereal now-he's not sure about it at this point. He's made a habit of waking up around 2am, so our streak of all night sleeping has ended for now. It was nice while it lasted. Fletcher is a big smiler and an even bigger talker. He can be very loud with his jabbering-it is very cute!
Alex is nearly 5! I can't believe how fast time has gone. He is such a good big brother and he wants to help with Fletcher so much. He helped feed Fletcher some of his cereal tonight. He is reading some and writing his letters and does a pretty good job of both. Our favorite new show to watch is "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader" and I'm pretty sure he soon will be!!
Both boys have their medical appointments coming up and I can't wait to see how big they are. Alex is so tall-he comes up to my chest already!
Work has been extremely busy but I have been enjoying my new position. I work with a really great group of people!

It's hard to believe Christmas is this week! The year just flew by. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas-enjoy your time with family and friends!

Almost Christmas!

2009-12-10T20:20:00.002-06:00

We spent last Saturday getting our Christmas tree at a farm in Oak Grove. It's Spruce tree and very pretty. Alex helped a lot this year with decorating it as evidenced by the clusters of ornaments near the bottom of the tree. Fletcher spent time with Grandma. It was a chilly day, but there wasn't any real snow, so it was nice to get it done before the snow storm this week!

Fall

2009-11-13T22:45:00.000-06:00

Fletcher is 2 months old!

2009-10-26T18:54:00.004-05:00

Fletcher had his 2 month checkup today and checked out really well. He weighs 16 pound 12 oz. and is 25 1/2 inches long! Everything looks good. He didn't handle his shots too well-really screamed and turned beet red. It took him awhile to calm down, but now he's been pretty sleepy for the day.
Alex spent the afternoon with us while Fletcher hung out with Gaga and Papa. We went over to Aamodt's apple farm and went through a hay bale maze and got apples to make some apple crisp with. It was a fun afternoon and the weather was great!

Last day at home for me tomorrow. Back to work on Wednesday :(

2 weeks old

2009-09-10T10:40:00.003-05:00

Fletcher is already 2 weeks old! He is a good baby and does his job of pooping, eating, and sleeping without problem. He had has 2 week checkup and his weight was up to 10# 10oz (he was 9# 8oz. when we left the hospital). Everything else looks good and he's off the charts for height, weight and head circumference just as Alex was. Alex has adjusted well and loves his little brother. He is a great helper and does a lot for Fletcher. His cord fell off on Sunday and we gave him his first tub bath Monday. Fletcher did not care for this at all! We are so lucky to have 2 healthy boys!!

New Beginnings

2009-09-01T20:34:00.002-05:00

Fletcher Thomas Pike, born at 8:29am on August 26! Weighed 10# 4oz. and was 22 1/2 inches long. Apgars were 9 and 10. Very healthy and we couldn't be happier!

Dakota County Fair

2009-08-14T17:23:00.002-05:00

Changes!

2009-08-14T17:17:00.003-05:00

Lots of new things going on in our world. Alex continues to grow and grow. I can't believe he is closer to a 5 year old!! He did Tball for several weeks this summer and is excited about trying flag football in the fall! He is very excited to meet his little brother in a week and a half! I'm excited to have Fletcher out in the world!
My dearest friend Jen had her baby girl earlier this week (August 11th). Penelope Marie Uden-such a beautiful little baby girl! Our hope is that the babies grow up to be great friends.
Alex and Wil went to the Dakota County Fair today and had a great time. Alex went on rides and ate some fair food. He went down the giant slide by himself...twice! They were kind enough to bring home some mini donuts and cotton candy for me!
Life changes again in just over a week. We can't wait to meet the newest addition to our family!!!

My birthday present from Patty!

2009-07-02T21:10:00.000-05:00

Tball!

2009-07-02T21:07:00.000-05:00

Alex's new room!

2009-06-15T17:17:00.002-05:00

Just need to find a few pictures for the walls, but this is the end result!

New Things!

2009-05-29T16:19:00.003-05:00

Alex has recently had his first fishing outing and his first school field trip. We all got fishing poles, tackle boxes, and tackle and went to Lake Elmo to try some fishing on Memorial Day. Unfortunately it was too crowded and windy, but we had fun anyway. Alex got to go on his first school bus ride and field trip today to a farm. He saw many animals and did fun farm activities.

New Room!

2009-05-03T20:21:00.002-05:00

Alex (and eventually Fletcher) is getting a newly decorated room! The purple/Pooh baby room that we did for Alex came down and now we're working on a "Space" room. Alex loves everything to do with outer space and he knows all the planets! The space border should be here in a couple days and will be in the middle of the walls. We also found some cool pictures to order for the walls. Hopefully we'll have a finished project by next weekend!

2009-04-19T19:52:00.001-05:00

Great weekend!

2009-04-19T19:39:00.002-05:00

We had a nice long weekend together. I took most of Friday off and we did a bunch of stuff this weekend. Had my 20 week checkup Friday and baby is doing well. Alex got to hear the heartbeat and thought that was pretty cool. We took Clifford to the dog park in the afternoon and he really liked hanging around the other dogs. There were all kinds there and he got along just fine with them all. He really liked being off his leash!
We spent Saturday morning cleaning up the backyard some and burned some twigs. Alex and I mostly blew bubbles and watched Wil suck up the leaves.
Did some shopping today at Maplewood Mall and Dick's. Alex got his first fishing pole and is very excited about it! We went out back and practiced casting. I showed him what to do twice and then he threw out a perfect cast! He got the hang of it right away! Now Wil and I have to get rods/reels and some tackle so we can do some fishing this summer. It's been a long time for me and I cannot wait!!

Shrine Circus 2009

2009-04-04T17:31:00.000-05:00

Long time, no update!

2009-03-29T09:20:00.002-05:00

WOW! It's been a long time since I've done anything with this blog.

We are happy that the snow is gone and have had some warmer temps lately. Although It's back to being chilly now, but we know the good weather is just around the corner.
Alex is growing by the minute. He has been going to preschool with my mom a couple days a week and really likes it. He's made some friends and gets to do some fun things! He is also very excited about his new brother or sister arriving this summer. He tells us how many things he's going to teach the new baby, like going potty and playing with toys.
Alex had his first visit to the dentist yesterday. He did a great job! He didn't have any problem with the process at all and we were told that we're doing a good job keeping his teeth clean! I was very proud of him-of course, it didn't hurt that the hygienist was a younger, cute woman who he flirted with shamelessly!
We're going to try out a new theater by our house today and see the movie "Bolt". We've never been there, but apparently it's $1.50 for admission, $1.50 for popcorn and pop. And from the reviews, the popcorn is really good! So, I just hope it's clean and doesn't freak me out to be in there. We'll see!

2009-02-09T16:03:00.000-06:00

2009!

2009-01-01T15:37:00.002-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! It was nice to spend time with family and eating good food. Alex really had a good time, enjoyed all his great new toys. He got so many fun toys that we had to empty out his room to make room for it all. We've spent a lot of time this past week playing with everything.
And Alex is now 4! Wil and I took the day off yesterday to spend with him on his birthday. We went to the Children's museum and had lunch at McDonald's. Alex had a great time and we did too! We rang in the New Year with good friends, playing games and eating. It was kind of a whirlwind in 2 weeks, but worth all the fun.
We're pretty much all suffering from colds, hopefully they end soon! So, we're just spending New Year's Day hanging out at home and relaxing. We're having a party for Alex on Sunday and then the partying will be done for awhile!

Strep!

2008-12-18T17:00:00.002-06:00

Alex has his first case of strep throat. The poor guy has been miserable since Sunday. The first round of strep tests were negative, but we went back to the clinic today and even the rapid test was positive! So, he's now on an antibiotic and should be feeling better soon. I've spent a lot of the week with him and it's hard to watch your child feel so badly.
The nurse commented on how tall he is for a 3, almost 4, year-old. He is 44 and 1/2 inches tall and 48#. The PA we saw commented on how bright he is as Alex pretty much answered all the questions on his own. He did pretty well for the most part until it came time for the PA to look in his mouth with the light. Alex wanted no part of that. We tried everything and the PA finally got out the tongue depressor. He got it in just far enough for Alex to lock his teeth around it. So, that was the end of that.
It's been a pretty lazy week just hanging out at home. I am very behind on my Christmas shopping and will have to do some rushing this weekend to get it done. I had vowed to get it all done early this year, but I'll have to try for next year!

2008-12-05T18:19:00.000-06:00

I'm such a blogger slacker...

2008-12-05T18:14:00.002-06:00

It's been a busy month (and it flew by!). Wil's mother moved here from Indiana earlier this month, so we've been busy getting her settled in.
We had a nice Thanksgiving with the family-the food was awesome! Alex enjoyed playing with his cousins very much. It's hard to believe that Christmas and Alex's 4th birthday are just around the corner!
I realized that we haven't been taking as many pictures as we used to, but I'll post a few new ones anyway.
Looking forward to the weekend-we're going to get our tree tomorrow and get the house decorated. Hopefully then I'll get into the spirit.
Alex and Wil are going to the Dome tomorrow night for the Monster Jam. Alex cannot wait to go and is excited to see all the Monster trucks. I'm looking forward to a night off :)

October Fun!

2008-10-26T18:09:00.002-05:00

We had a great fall weekend! Spent most of yesterday just puttering around the house. Then we were off to the annual Leaf Crawl at Cousin Robbie and Betsy's! We had a great time as usual and Alex came home with some fun stuff. He picked out his own costume this year, a Black Knight. One of his new favorite movies is "Night at the Museum" and he wants to imitate a lot of the characters on there. Jenny and Jim came over last night and we had food and played cards. We also played 'Apples to Apples' and had a great time. We stayed up quite late, but it was worth it.
We probably picked the worst day to go to the pumpkin farm. It was very cold and we actually saw some snow! But, we got 3 pumpkins and are getting ready to carve them up tonight. I made a great turkey breast dinner and we kind of just laid around and relaxed today. Overall, it was a wonderful weekend!

2008-10-26T18:04:00.000-05:00

Fall is in the air

2008-10-12T19:36:00.002-05:00

The leaves are starting to fall and the temperature is cooling down (except for a 78 degree day today). This is my favorite time of year!
Wil was gone last week to take care of some things with his mom. She has sold her house and will be moving here within the next few weeks. Alex is pretty excited that grandma M is coming.
We've been kind of laying low, hanging out around the house and in the yard. I have the next two days off with Alex, so hopefully the weather will be nice and we can go to the zoo or something.
Wil is starting a new job with Quicksilver tomorrow. We're happy that he will be home nights and weekends now!

2008-09-27T10:11:00.000-05:00

2008-09-23T20:41:00.001-05:00

Probably the funniest skit to come out of SNL in years!

2008-09-15T21:18:00.001-05:00

Our anniversary weekend

2008-09-14T09:08:00.002-05:00

Wil and I are celebrating our 4th anniversary this weekend. We've made it a habit to take this weekend and go out of town somewhere while Alex spends the time with my parents. With a dog around now and Wil being injured, we decided to just stay around here. Friday night we went to dinner and ended up coming home and looking at pictures and tried to watch a movie (Children of Men-bad, couldn't even finish it). Saturday we decided to go to Stillwater for some wine tasting and antique shopping. Got through the winery and brought home 6 bottles of wine and hit a couple of antique shops before it started pouring. So, we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch and played some trivia. I won. Saw 'The Dark Knight' finally and have to say that we were really disappointed. Heath Ledger was great, but overall thought it was a way over-rated movie. I can't stand Christian Bale-awful! We also went and saw 'Bangkok Dangerous'. I kind of liked this movie, but hated the ending. Came home and watched 'Sweet Home Alabama' and went to bed.
Today we are going to the Dome to see the Vikings/Colts game. Wil is a big Colts fan and football isn't my thing, so it should be an interesting trip.
Too much rain for the weekend.

Happy Labor Day!

2008-08-31T18:44:00.002-05:00

Hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend (if you are fortunate enough to get one, that is). We have had a very quiet and laid back weekend so far. Wil fell at work on Friday and cracked some ribs and sprained his knee, so he and I spent most of Friday at the ER. We're just taking it easy and I'm getting some stuff done around the house (in between taking care of all the boys).
Alex has spent a lot of time playing around the house and outside. It's been pretty hot, so we got the sprinkler out yesterday and he loved that. I'm hoping that tomorrow Wil will be feeling well enough to go somewhere for a little while. It's been a little dull just hanging around here. We'll see.

Summer is wrapping up

2008-08-25T13:40:00.003-05:00

It's fair time and you know that means that the end of summer is near. I'm very much looking forward to fall weather!
Wil and I went to the fair last night to see Buddy Guy/Johnny Lang at the Grandstand. Alex got a sleepover with grandma and papa. We went late, quickly stuffed ourselves with some fair food and then met up with Uncle Bob, Rico, Angela, Samantha, Jason, and Dave for the show. Big Head Todd and the Monsters opened and they were good. I like their music. Buddy Guy was awesome! He put on a good show and was a lot of fun. Johnny Lang was okay. He didn't play any of his old stuff (that I really liked) and just went on too long. I really think he only played like 4 songs, just super extended versions that went on forever. It was a great night though and we had a good time!
Wil, Alex, Clifford and I went for a Jeep drive on Saturday. We intended to do some geocaching but didn't have much luck. But, it was a great drive anyway and an all around great weekend!

Fast weekend

2008-08-10T19:26:00.002-05:00

The weekend went by way too fast! We spent yesterday afternoon and evening at the Dakota County Fair. It was a great time! We went through the animal barns and some of the other buildings, ate some fair food, watched the Native Pride Dancers (and Alex even got to dance with them), and went on some rides and played games. Alex's favorite thing was the blow up climbing wall/slide and the ferris wheel. I really enjoyed myself. It was not so overly crowded or big that you couldn't see and do everything. I could skip the State Fair every year and do this instead. This county fair was reasonably priced ($11 to get in AND park as opposed to spending nearly $30 to just get into the State Fair). It was a beautiful day. Alex went and went until about 10pm and then crashed for the night.
We spent most of today just hanging out and then went to my great aunt Edna's 90th birthday party for a little bit.
So, we had a really good weekend and looking forward to the next!

2008-08-03T16:05:00.003-05:00

How did it get to be August already?

2008-08-02T07:19:00.002-05:00

The summer is just flying by! Nothing too exciting going on with us. Alex got his full size big boy bed this week and loves it. It's weird seeing him sleep in something other than his crib/toddler bed, but we couldn't keep him in it forever! We've been enjoying a lot of time outside and the weather has been great. We're going to take a little road trip today and do some geocaching, in Wisconsin I think. It will be a great day to put the top down on the Jeep and just cruise.

2008-07-20T15:16:00.000-05:00

2008-07-20T15:12:00.001-05:00

Another great weekend.

2008-07-20T09:46:00.002-05:00

We spent time yesterday shopping for Alex's really big boy bed. He's been using the toddler bed for awhile now, but he's getting pretty long for it. So, we shopped for a mattress yesterday so that we can convert his bed to to full-sized. He really enjoyed trying out the beds and we found a great deal on one that should last him for quite some time. It won't be in until Thursday, so we'll get it all put together next weekend. With that, we decided it's time to redecorate his room as well. The pale purple walls and Pooh border/pictures just doesn't fit him anymore. He says he wants racing stuff. So, we'll have to make a trip to Home Depot too!
Alex then went over to grandma and papa's last night for a sleepover. Wil and I realized that we hadn't been out together, just the two of us, since about April! We had dinner at Outback and then went to see Wall E. It was an okay movie, not my favorite Pixar film at all. Alex would have never gotten anything out of it and probably would not sit still through it. Despite that, it had a good message and there are plenty of people who could get something from it if they let that message sink in. We came home and had a few drinks and watched "Fool's Gold". Pretty good movie as well.
Alex got to go to Chuck E. Cheese and apparently didn't sleep much. So, Wil is now on his way to pick him up. Not sure yet what we'll do today, but it's supposed to be hot and humid, so I'm kind of hoping for a lazy day in the air conditioning!
We got Dish set up the other day (not happy with Direct TV). We now have VH1 Classics so now I can watch all the 80's stuff I want:)

Sunday night...

2008-07-13T19:06:00.002-05:00

The weekend has come to a close and we had a wonderful time. Despite the nasty hot and humid weather on Friday, we managed to find fun things to do. We spent some time at Ikea and got a few things for the house. Then we went over to MOA so that Alex could go on rides at Nickelodeon Universe. He had such a great time and LOVES the rides, especially the roller coaster. We spent most of yesterday out and about in the jeep doing some geocaching. We went to the Hastings/Prescott area and found 5 caches. It was a beautiful day and we got a lot of sun and exercise. Today was a low key day with the family. It was nice to have a mini vacation. Even though we didn't get to camping, we found such fun things to do!

Extended weekend

2008-07-10T20:35:00.003-05:00

I took a half day today and tomorrow off with original plans to do some camping. The weather is not cooperating, so we ended up staying home. It rained and stormed a little today, but the evening has been very nice. We took Alex to see "Kung Fu Panda" and we really enjoyed it. Cute movie. Alex did pretty well (this is the first theater movie we've taken him to). He said he really liked the movie and even developed a few kung fu moves. He needed to go to the bathroom at the very end, so I ended up missing about the last 5 minutes of the movie, but it's one we will definitely rent or buy so I'll see it at some point. Had Chipotle for dinner and came home for a walk with the dog. It's Wil's birthday today and I think he had a nice day.
Not sure what we'll do tomorrow. It's supposed to rain and storm again and be really hot (over 90). Not my idea of great camping weather, so we may just hang around town again.

Happy 4th of July weekend!

2008-07-05T17:10:00.003-05:00

We took Alex to see fireworks last night for the first time. Jenny and Jim met up with us and we went to the Taste of Maplewood, which was basically a dinky festival with a band and some food vendors. We ate corndogs, fries, mini donuts, and ice cream and listened to the Lamont Cranston band for a little bit. The fireworks display was great and Alex absolutely loved it! He was so excited with everything going on and very intently watched the fireworks. He would clap and yell and say "Good Job!" It was such a fun night. We didn't get home until about midnight and he did just fine with that-crashed when his head hit the pillow. The rest of us stayed up until 2am playing cards. Of course, Alex woke up at his usual 7:30 so we're all a little sleepy today.
We also did some planting yesterday during the day around the tree in our back yard. We have some shrubs to put in today yet, so our plan is to work on that after dinner. It's pretty hot, so doing this when the sun is low is a better idea to me! We got the pop-up camper cleaned out today in preparation for camping next weekend. So, it's been a full weekend with a lot accomplished!
Hope everyone has had a nice weekend!!

It's raining and pouring....

2008-06-27T17:17:00.002-05:00

The dish is out, so I'm checking out some youtube videos. Love this one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgrrQwLdME8

One week....

2008-06-21T20:43:00.002-05:00

It's been a week now that we've had Clifford and we're just all fitting really well together. It's amazing how good and well trained he really is-I have to think that someone out there is really sad he's gone. We're just working on establishing ourselves as the leaders now and he's getting it. He saw my good friend, Dr. Jen, today for a checkup and she determined that he's really healthy overall. She showed me how to take care of his ears (Hound ears get buildup and infections easily) and he needs a good teeth brushing.
Clifford has a really cool howl and luckily he only uses it rarely. He's been howling at dogs that live across the street (I didn't know those people had dogs and it took me a couple days to figure out what he was howling at)-maybe he just wants to meet them! I used his howling as a good training tool tonight (since we wanted a watchdog afterall). The neighbors were outside and one of their friends came up into our yard, real close to our window, just talking away over the fence to others. It was kind of annoying, so I got Clifford over by the window and i gave a little howl or two. Clifford then just howled a few times and the guy moved away pretty fast. Good...just the way I like it. He stopped as soon as I 'shhhhd' him. Good dog.
Alex really adores Clifford and we're teaching him to be a good dog friend. He tried to touch Clifford's eye today and I caught him in time. I also caught him trying to get on him for a ride. He now knows those are big no-no's. Clifford is very tolerant and sweet, and while he doesn't seem to know what to do with Alex, he's been very good to him. I hope they become good friends.

Alex has expanded his Spanish vocabulary a bit. He just picks stuff up and absorbs it. He can count to 10 in Spanish, and knows Red and Blue. We taught him white and yellow (because that is all I could remember). We're really just enjoying the great weather! He's very excited to see his Gaga and Papa tomorrow, since they've been out of town for the past week-he's really missed them. If we went over that way for something, he would say, "Let's go to see Gaga and Papa".

It's finally quiet in the house. Wil is working. Alex and Clifford are sound asleep. So, I'm going to watch "I love the 80's" on VH1 and read my new book.

2008-06-16T20:59:00.000-05:00

On the move...

2008-06-16T20:45:00.002-05:00

Clifford is doing just great in our home. He lays around a lot, except when we go for walks or out in the yard. He seems pretty happy and content to just hang out and sleep. He slept all night last night and didn't make a peep when Wil came home from work at 2:30am (maybe not such a watchdog). We left him alone for a couple hours today while we took Alex to his soccer class and he did just fine alone. He's being a real good dog (except when he took some of Alex's lunch out of his hand today). So, now when we eat, he's banished to the living room blocked by a gate, but he did just fine with this at dinnertime.

Alex started soccer today. I really want him to just try new things, play with kids, and have fun! Unfortunately, there are always those parents who think their kid is the next David Beckham. Anyway, Alex did really well following direction, running and kicking the ball. He was NOT into trying to play an actual game. I think he got overwhelmed with all the kids running together to the ball and he didn't get it. There were a lot of kids and a lot of parents. The coach divided the kids up into small "teams" and I think he didn't realize that Alex is only 3 and put him with the older kids (the ages are 3-5). So, Alex had enough and just wanted to go home. So, we left and made sure he knew how great he did and that we were proud of him. He said he's going to try again next week.

So, here's where I can start my mini rant about organized sports (because I'm truly not a fan, but realize that Alex can learn something and get some exercise). There are always a handful of people who can just ruin it and turn it into more than what it is. All the kids were under 5 and it was obvious that most never played before. It was also obvious whose kids have parents who think their kid is the star (and there was the mother who is reliving her soccer playing days through her kid). These are the parents who would not shut up and just let the kids play and I think that is where Alex got a little put out. So, we'll try again next week and maybe Alex will be more comfortable. But, if he's not, that's okay too.

Clifford, the big red dog...

2008-06-15T16:11:00.002-05:00

We brought our new dog Clifford home today. It's a dog we've seen a couple times at the Humane society, but he wasn't ready for adoption until recently. He is a lab retriever mixed with coonhound. His name is appropriate because he's reddish in color. Very sweet dog so far and we're all just getting used to eachother. So far, we've played in the yard and gone for a walk. Now, he's finally settled down enough to lay down and relax on the floor while Alex watches a Spongebob episode before a nap. He knows some commands and is listening well so far-just tried to get up on the couch and when I made a sound for "no", he got right down. He really likes getting loved up and being outside. Alex is a little wary yet, but is okay and says he really loves Clifford.
Clifford has hypothyroidism, so he'll require medicine for the rest of his life. But otherwise he's very healthy! He has quite the Coonhound howl and I'm sure our house will be protected from now on. We're very happy to have our new addition to the family.

2008-06-11T17:39:00.001-05:00

2008-06-08T18:12:00.003-05:00

Weekends go by just too fast! We have been keeping ourselves busy, wanting to be outside more but with uncooperative weather. I had a nice birthday- I skipped out of work early on Thursday and Wil and I went out for lunch and a movie. We saw the new Indiana Jones movie-it was pretty good. Alex slept over at grandma and papa's last night and we went out with some friends. Today was just laid back with the family. Alex and I headed over to the park and within 5 minutes he had gone face first into the slide, cutting his lip so blood was everywhere. So, now we're just hanging out watching some Dora.
The other day we Alex and I were playing and all of a sudden, he starts counting in Spanish! He learned this from Dora apparently (which we really don't watch a lot of) and can count to 10 in Spanish now. He's doing so well with the potty and is now ready for a big bed (the toddler bed is just getting too small). So, I'm thinking that next weekend will involve painting and redoing his room fitting for a big kid. It's sad to see the pale purple and Pooh go away, but he said he wants baseballs and such now. My baby is growing up way too fast!
Wil found out this weekend that he passed his LSIT (Land Surveyor in training) exam! So, we're hoping that this will open up some doors in his field in a rather tough market right now.

Still waiting for the nice weather to get here so we can be outside!

The dog search continues...

2008-06-04T19:39:00.002-05:00

Unfortunately, we were not able to adopt Shelby the dog. Hopefully she went to a good family. So, we are still looking at dogs on petfinder.com and our local humane societies. It's amazing how many dogs (and cats) are just abandoned by their owners. But I know that we'll find the right one for us.

Potty talk.....and Dogs

2008-05-31T18:44:00.002-05:00

Alex has had a first great week of using the potty. Just a couple of accidents all week! He's even figured out how to do #2 the other day, so we're very happy about that. He's earned enough stickers now to get his bike! Of course, when we went to pick one out, Toysrus didn't have the one in stock that he picked out. So, we'll have to search a little more.

We decided to get a dog. We've talked about this for awhile, but kind of kept putting it off because we don't have a fence up yet. Spent some time on Thursday looking around and found a couple possibilities. Then we found "Shelby".(http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=10949246)

So, we took a drive to Spooner, WI to meet her. She is a great dog, sweet and friendly. She seemed to like Alex. Alex really liked her! He's seemed a bit afraid of dogs so we weren't sure what would happen, but after he got used to her today he was fine. We took her for a walk and Alex just wanted to walk right by her. He got close to her and pet her, which he's been hesitant to do with dogs. Shelby walked very well on a leash and knows how to sit. She kept her eye on Alex, never nipped at him and never barked after she initially came out of the shelter (a lot of new dogs there due to a local confiscation and she didn't seem to like that much). She's very much a puppy, but listened very well and was pretty calm overall. I guess I thought that if we liked her and had the cash, we'd be able to bring her home. But, that's not how it works. We had to fill out an application, as a few others have, and they will let us know by Monday or Tuesday if they pick us to take her. Made me sad to have to leave her there, but hopefully we'll get to go pick her up sometime this week. Keep your fingers crossed!

So far, so good!

2008-05-26T20:40:00.002-05:00

Alex made it through the entire day without a single accident! He went part of the day with undewear and part bare-bottomed. He went to the bathroom independently a couple of times and willingly went when I asked him. BIG IMPROVEMENT! We even went out for a couple hours geocaching and he kept his pullup dry. So, it seems we are on the road to really having a big boy now!

We found one cache today and could not find the second. It was an overcast day, but nice enough for walking around and enjoying the fresh air. I am so glad that winter is over-I'm ready to be warm.
Hope everyone had a nice memorial day-whether you were sleeping, playing, eating, shopping or whatever! I also hope that you took the time to think about where we are in the world today and the people who are sacrificing/have sacrificed their time and their lives. Everytime I look at Alex, I think about how time is such a precious thing and how lucky I am to have him and my family.

Progress! Potty training bootcamp Day2!

2008-05-25T20:20:00.002-05:00

We got somewhere today! The day started out rough-multiple attempts at sitting on the potty only to have Alex go afterwards on the floor. I tried just underwear and then bare-bottomed throughout the day as I didn't know which would work best. Turns out that having nothing on worked best. He liked wearing the "Cars" underwear he picked out, but he just doesn't seem to get that he has to take them off first before going. After multiple attempts today, it seems like it's finally clicking. He ended up going on the potty 4 times today (well, actually 3.5). Twice tonight he just walked in there and went all by himself! So, he was very happy to get 4 new stickers and a special treat of popcorn and juice.
The funniest part of the day? We were watching a movie and he was bare-bottomed. I looked over at him and he was grabbing his bottom and trying to twist around to look at it. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I'm trying to look at these big things!"
We didn't do much else today as our main focus was to get him going on this. I did some cleaning and we played games/puzzles. We're going to try and find a couple of geocaches in the area tomorrow, but mostly spend more time practicing the potty.
It's been a couple of intense days, so I'm happy to finally sit around and relax and catch up on some "Ghosthunters" episodes!

Potty training bootcamp-Day 1

2008-05-25T08:22:00.002-05:00

We have been having a hard time getting Alex to consistently use the bathroom. So, this weekend is training camp for him. Day 1 hasn't gone so well. He got to pick out his underwear and I just kept putting him on the toilet throughout the day. He would sit there and sit there and not go. Once we got back out in the living room...then he would go. We went through multiple underwear changes and didn't do a whole lot that was fun, but it didn't seem to bother him. Kind of a frustrating day, but hopefully today will go a bit better.

Freebie day!

2008-05-15T20:59:00.002-05:00

I had an unexpected day off due to our computers being down at work. So, Alex and I got to spend the entire day together. We went to Como Zoo and it was such a beautiful day for it. We saw all the animals and Alex rode some of the rides. We had a great time. We spent the rest of the day just kind of hanging out at home.
Dinner was low key. I feel like we've been eating out so much, so I just had a salad. Alex wanted macaroni and cheese. He specifically asked to have it "with peas". Then he was mooching off of my salad too! Such a healthy little boy! We planted 3 herbs in a pot tonight too. I think I overwatered it, so I hope it grows.
Alex went to sleep tonight quite readily after going through his astronomy flashcards. He just loves doing them and I was surprised at how much he remembered (we hadn't looked at them in quite some time)- How many 3 year olds know what the "dwarf planets" are? He amazes me everyday!

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T22:33:00.002-05:00

Long time, no blog. We've been keeping ourselves pretty busy lately. Wil is finishing up with school and will graduate this week! It's been a long 2 years, that's for sure. It will be nice for things to get back to normal.
Alex has been having a blast doing all kinds of things. He just finished up a tumbling class last week. He really enjoyed it and learned some new things and had fun hanging out with some other boys. He's really good at somersaults now! We're thinking about getting him into a soccer class this summer. We had a visit last weekend from my cousin Lora and her family. Alex got to meet Lora's daughter, Madison and loved hanging out with her. They got to go to Como Zoo and Chuck E. Cheese. He asks where she is now and we dig out the map and show him where Nevada is. He told me the other day that he missed her and he wants to go to Las Vegas!
It's time to start thinking about the yard and what kind of flowers we want to plant. We ran to Home Depot the other night and picked out a bunch of seeds. Alex is excited to help me plant them and he helped pick them out-he's especially fond of the Alyssum. The weather is finally getting nice and we're looking forward to summer.
Had a low key mother's day-it was nice just to hang out and relax for the day.

Random pictures

2008-04-18T20:35:00.000-05:00

Tumbling

2008-04-08T20:21:00.003-05:00

Alex went to his first tumbling class today at Longfellow Park. He goes for the next few Tuesdays at 5:30. I wanted to get him involved in things where he could meet more kids and kind of learn how to follow directions and participate in something fun. We had a blast and Alex really liked it! There are just 4 little boys and they were all very good. Alex did a great job and was interested in what was going on. The instructor was very good and did a lot of different things with them. Of course, they all started to get a little silly towards the end, but it was so fun. He did some somersaults, walked on a balance beam, did log rolls, and jumped around. He was so tired when we got home that we watched a Spongebob episode and he went right to bed, no argument! I'm very excited to go next week!
Spring is finally on it's way. I can't wait until we can be outside more doing things. We want to do a lot of camping and geocaching this year!

The Children's Museum 1/08

2008-02-16T13:30:00.000-06:00

Been awhile

2008-02-10T14:47:00.000-06:00

I just realized that I haven't blogged in quite awhile. We've been having some computer issues , now it seems everything is in working order.
Alex turned 3 on 12/31/07! I can't believe what he big boy he is. We're working on potty training and he's starting to get a little better with it. He just really doesn't want to interrupt whatever he's doing to do it. We finally took his crib down and turned it into a toddler bed. So far, so good. He's napping in it right now.
Been keeping busy with various things. Alex really likes the Children's Museum now, so we are thinking of getting an annual pass. He really loves Spongebob these days. He is always so busy doing different things. He gets smarter every day! We sure have a lot of fun.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T20:43:00.001-06:00

We had a wonderful 3 days of Christmas! It was a lot of fun to spend time with the family. Alex had a blast! He barely slept and just kept going and going! He got so many nice things from everyone and just loves everything! We're going to have to really thin out all of his old toys to make room for all the cool new stuff he got. I guess I'll have a busy weekend!

Mom and Dad also got very nice things. Games, kitchen stuff, dinner giftcards and a certificate to Acme (we've never been there before!). Lots of fun stuff! And, Wil is taking me to Las Vegas in March during his spring break.

Hope everyone had as nice of a Christmas as we did!

3 year checkup!

2007-12-14T11:49:00.000-06:00

Alex had his 3 year checkup on Wednesday. He's 41 inches tall and weighs 43#!! He continues to be off the charts. The doctor said that everything is just fine and Alex is doing quite well (the doctor said something like, "he's 2 going on 20, right?" We got some tips on potty training that I'm going to try. He wants to go sometimes, but other times he runs screaming from the toilet. I took him to Target to pick out some big boy underwear so I'm going to try that this weekend (Cars underwear of course). I can't believe that he's going to be 3!! He wants a brown cake for his birthday with spongebob on it. He is really into music, loves to play around on instruments and listen to the radio. He still loves Taylor Hicks and Van Halen. He also likes Kurt Jorgensen. I'm sure we have the only kid that would rather go to sleep at night listening to Taylor Hicks rather than a lullybye. And he knows many Van Halen songs by the first few notes. We have a lot of fun playing and reading books, and dancing!! He'll often go in his room, turn on the Taylor Hicks CD and dance. He's very independent and wants to do pretty much everything by himself.
Wil almost has my laptop going again, so new pictures soon!

Thanksgiving Fun!

2007-11-30T11:45:00.000-06:00

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving day. We went out to my cousin Kelly's house and had a huge turkey dinner. It was nice spending time with the family. Alex even got to take his first ride on a 4-wheeler! Shane (kelly's husband) and William (Kelly and Shane's 7 year old) sandwhiched Alex in between them and rode around the cul-de-sac and the yard for a little bit. Alex really liked it! It made me nervous at first, but they went really slow. We had a great day!Wil went to Circuit City on Black Friday and got his new stereo for his jeep and he stopped at Office Max and picked up a label maker for me. (You couldn't drag me out to shop today-people drive me nuts) I love it! I just want to find more things to label. So far I've labeled the bottles for some cleaners I made. I decided that I didn't want all the nasty chemicals in my house, so now I use borax, baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice and water. It's great-makes the house nice and clean and it's totally safe!And apparently a thanksgiving dinner yesterday wasn't enough. So, I made one today! Just a turkey breast with potatoes, green beans and stuffing. And pumpkin pie, of course! It was wonderful!So, yeah, it's pretty sad that I get super excited about a label maker and making household cleaners. Oh well......:)
Alex is doing great. He's been learning more and more and just soaks in everything. I'm amazed at what he knows.
We are getting excited for Christmas-going to get a tree and decorate tomorrow. We went out one night last week and looked at lights and had a lot of fun.
Hopefully I can get new pictures up soon. My laptop has died and hopefully Wil can fix it.

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-03T08:05:00.000-05:00

Alex had a blast this Halloween. This was his first year trick or treating door to door. He did a great job and got some nice things! We were out kind of late and he went right to sleep when we got home.
Wil is off hunting this weekend, so it's just Alex and I hanging out. We're having a good time so far. He got a cold the other night and so we stayed home yesterday because he said, "I don't feel good-I want to stay home."

2007-10-29T20:58:00.001-05:00

Leaf Crawl!

2007-10-29T20:31:00.000-05:00

Alex had a lot of fun at Robbie and Betsy's annual Leaf Crawl! He loved playing in the huge leaf pile, found some fun toys and snacks, and jumping around in the bouncy house. It was a beautiful day and he looked very cute in his pumpkin costume (he picked it out all by himself!)
Patty, Alex and I went to Albertville outlets yesterday to get him some new shoes. 11 1/2 W now!! His feet just keep growing like crazy!!
We're still having fun geocaching. Found another one today at Battle Creek Rec Area. Great place for a walk and Alex loves 'treasure hunting'.
It was a great fall weekend!

2007-10-21T20:31:00.000-05:00

Fall

2007-10-21T20:26:00.000-05:00

Fall is just flying by. We've hardly noticed it with the kind of weather we've been having. We've done a little more geocaching when it wasn't raining. Seems like we've spent a lot of time inside!
Alex is doing great. He's getting to be so big! He's curious about everything and just retains so much. He knows all the planets and some other terms associated with the solar system (flashcards). We're so lucky to have such a bright and healthy boy.
We're all ready for Halloween. Alex decided on his own that he wanted to be a pumpkin. He would not be swayed by any other costumes. He knows exactly what he wants. Seems quite excited about going trick or treating. He's got the idea that he has to knock on the door and say "trick or treat!"
Still working on the potty training- he goes occasionally on the toilet, but not consistently. He does nap at gaga and papa's now without a crib, so we're thinking of turning his into a toddler bed. Not sure we're ready for that!
I hope we get a few nice days out of fall yet!

2007-10-04T16:11:00.001-05:00

Our 3rd Anniversary!

2007-09-17T14:02:00.000-05:00

Wil and I spent the weekend in Sioux Falls, SD for our 3rd anniversary. We decided to do something a little cheesy, but a lot of fun. We discovered that Sioux Falls has a Sonic and a Pizza Inn (2 of Wil's favorite eating spots from back home). So, we made the drive on Friday and spent the weekend in a great hotel with a jacuzzi, wandered around the area and relaxed. We drove to Mitchell, SD on Saturday to see the Corn Palace and a prehistoric indian village. On Sunday we sent to Falls Park for a little geocaching (1 solid find and 1 not so sure yet). It was a great park!
Alex spent the weekend with Gaga and Papa. He spent a lot of time at a local church carnival and it sounds like he had a great time! I was very glad to see him though-I really missed him.
We also took today off (Monday) and so far we have found 2 geocaches with Alex. It's been a great weekend!!

2007-08-26T20:55:00.000-05:00

Weekend in Duluth

2007-08-21T18:36:00.000-05:00

My best friend Jenny got married Friday. It was a great day and she looked beautiful. Alex had a blast at the reception. He looked so handsome in his shirt and tie and slicked down hair. He was a very good kid. And he danced and danced and danced until he was practically falling down! It was so much fun watching him. He even danced with a young lady (Jenny's niece Alexis). It was too cute.
We decided to head up to Duluth for the rest of the weekend. It wasn't very nice, but we had fun anyway. Alex had his first hotel stay and he slept in a big bed all by himself. We swam in the pool and sat in the whirlpool for awhile. It was a really good time. Wandered around Duluth a little on Sunday (very windy and cold!). It was nice to just get away.
Alex is now a big Van Halen fan! Every morning in the car we listen to a few songs and he pretty much recognizes them all!