What you Talkin About?

Our little Halloween giraffe.

Getting closer to done painting!





Talking! Vince is slowly starting to take after Q. Why learn how to say one word at a time when sentences are so much more impressive?

Walkin

Some select few from our New Orleans trip!

Cruisin' around he is!! He'll still crawl, but walking is slowly becoming more exciting to the lil' man.

Vince's birthday photos

This is Quinn... lol
Loves to help cook! Here she is browning the hamburger.

"I want the phone, Mama!"


"Aww...yeah!"


Marshmallow time!!

One

He's one.
Officially.
Insanity.
His vocab has exploded this weekend.
We were outside enjoying our campfire last night (yes, we purposefully set a fire in our backyard...kinda inconsiderate of BWCA? I don't know. To my defense, it was very close to where the hose was watering our lawn and "evergreen" trees. Also, there was potential for 15 people to be here last night and they all cancelled as the day went on! Mid-week spur of the moment parties don't go well! :-)
Regardless. I'm roasting mallows for me and my kids (yes, just us 3) and I hear Vince behind me, "ka, ooow, ma, ka owww ma, ka oww, mama, KAAAA OWWWWW MAMAMAMAMAMAM!"

Anyone?

Anyone?

Anyone speak toddler?

"Cat out mama." Killer got out when Quinn came out with the mallows and chocolate and I had NO idea!

Crazy!

Photos and videos of various "happy birthday" videos to come!

Boo

Birthday

Fair!

First First Birthday

We're off to Eagle Lake today for Vince's first first birthday party---what a fast year! I am currently hoping the frosting for the cake turns out! Lots to do in a few hours to get to the party on time!! Wish us luck!! Photos to follow!

Anything becomes a walker....

Both kids crack me up with their instantaneous "IT'S NOT DOING WHAT I WANT IT TO DO" meltdowns....

Almost One?

Can not believe I'm planning a party for my baby boy! We'll most likely have a little fiesta with Mike's family this weekend in Eagle Lake area--time goes sooo fast!

We were in the front yard today cleaning up plants and unsuccessful potted (weeds) believed to be plants.

As I pulled what I thought were weeds---this came up!



Honestly, I thought it was parsley..apparently it was carrot!! I was hoping for more carrot successes, but I'll take one! Quinn sure did enjoy it!!

And we shared cookie dough...

And Mike and Quinn went to the Twins "game" the other night (I think the score was Baltimore 8 Twins 1)...which led to enjoying the stadium, I guess??



Vince is still not walking, but it's not far away. Looking at these photos on blogger make me think we need a new camera...maybe it's the computer screen??

Off to finish outside tasks before company comes over tonight! RING OF FIRE! It should be cool enough to actually enjoy the fire!!

Stair Master..

We've had a busy couple days. I just want to nap...but the kids have different ideas! Hopefully our backyard and our lunch trip to Arby's will be enough for them!

Friday I got a call from the In-Laws-- 'where are you, we're going to Owatonna and you should to.' "uh, okay." 3/4 from Farmington to Owatonna I realized the trip home would be rough, but a night at the fair with the kids should be fun. And it was! Vince stayed awake for the duration; most likely from wanting the food he saw everywhere! Quinn got to enjoy several rides, ponies, and a stomach tattoo of "hello kitty" (shocking she passed up Ariel, butterflies and flowers!). Got home about 11:30pm--exhausted. Kiddos only slept until 7!!!

...by about 7:45 Vince was ready for a nap! At 9am, we got a call from some friends, "let's do something" "okay" "we haven't seen the penguins yet" LET'S go to the ZOO!!! So we did. It was fun. Penguins were more active first thing than when we left, but it was good. The visitor's center area looks nice and we're officially zoo members again! woohoo! OOh, and both kids napped on the way home. Q stayed napping until I woke her up at 5:15--only woken up with promise to see Ted-do for dinner. "I will only wake up if YOU PROMISE we can sleep by Teddy". "I do not PROMISE anything, we'll see how you are at dinner." Dinner went okay--but not well enough for Vince and Q to make it long for a visit, so we came back home. Vince went right down; not so lucky for Quinn, but it was nice to have a night at home anyway.

SO, we get back from our lunch at Arby's and I set Vince down while I take off my shoes. 2 seconds later...he's 4 steps up and away from me!? When did that start?!

Also, yesterday, he tried several times to just get up and start walking. he'd be holding onto my fingers and just let go and start walking but his feet wouldn't move right and he'd fall, give me a look as if my fault and cry. Today several times he'll be holding onto the table/bookshelf, turn around and try to walk..unsuccessful but I know one of these days it'll just come to him!!!

He's a silly lil man, but a lot of fun.

And our big news of 3 weeks ago--POTTY AND POOP TRAINING COMPLETE! It's been good and I haven't wanted to jinx anything. But, our day care lady promised a camping trip a few weeks ago and has been on vacation and moving since; let me tell you--Q remembers she's due a camping trip! Maybe I'll set up the tent for her in our backyard.....

Off to play some more!!

It'll be here before we know it....

...walking without the walker!!

Hair Cut!!

Our lil bug got some hairs cut yesterday...

..but first...

Quinn at 10 months waiting for daddy...


Vince at 11 months waving at daddy outside!!




They may be siblings!! :-)


Vince before (bangs comb-over syle)...
"Please don't cut my hair mama, PLEASE?!"
"AWWW, yeah...I'm hot stuff now!"

Writing her Name

Along with potty training and talk of preschool comes Quinn writing her name!! Here was Auntie Dannie's birthday card...several weeks (months) late...but hey! There was a card! :-)

Quinn Fishin'

Not sure if I mentioned it, but Quinn got her first boating experience (I think....) ... at least on Papa Chuck's boat. And her first fishing experience. What a 3rd of July 2011 it was for her ... this is what happened....



In case you can't make it out...Q's phrases are

OOH, it's doing something!
I can't wait to eat it right now!

Da crawl...walk....cralk....

Molars

He's got 2 molars!! He's been cranky, and I guess that's why! Total count, then, is 10 teeth.

Since a weekend visit with Grammy and Papa, Vince's desire to breastfeed has started to decrease---not to mention the fact that he is not with me all day and has been lucky to feed 2-3x/day. So, my production went WA-AY down and I didn't have as much to pump. So, more formula has been given the last month or so.

Well, tonight he broke my little heart. He saw the bottle on the counter and cried; so I thought, it's bedtime, time to eat and go to bed. Tried to breastfeed and he drank for about 30 seconds--then cried...until a bottle was made. :( We've already flown through this container of formula. cha-ching. And only a year. Hopefully he likes cow's milk, or else the cha-ching will continue! At least Target brand formula isn't terrible expensive!!!

U2 concert this weekend--still working for daycare options.

And we get to be in Mankato at 10am on Sunday for the newest addition to the family's baptism! We'll hopefully make it. We can barely make it across town in time for a meeting, so making it to Mankato by 10am should be fun! Mike's cousin Tricia had a little boy last week. He's an adorable lil man who I can't wait to meet!! Welcome to the world, lil man! So, whereas the 1st cousins were nicely "boy, girl, boy, girl, boy, girl, boy, girl, boy" (I think that's it)--2nd cousins have been "girl, boy, boy, boy..." with more to come someday, I'm sure (not from us most likely!!)--from the others listed above!

Lil man is doing a walk-crawl attempt and it cracks me up! He sticks his little butt up in the air and gets to his toes while trying to just stand up without help pushing up on his hands--it makes me think it'll be just a few short days/weeks before he's straight up walking!!

We'll see....you'll see soon as long as I get a chance to capture it on camera...and then post it!!

Out to Lunch?

Nah, we've been around--really!!

My brother and niece were in town for the weekend...and I don't think I took one single photo. It was a good weekend! I always enjoy company---and a reason to put off the "to do" list items. This weekend, my only "to do" was enjoy the company, kids, and...well heat as much as we could!

The forcasted "feels like" temperatures may hit 115F today!!!

So, we've been enjoying our neighbor's pool, lake, and a/c.

Vince is crawling, sitting, and being all sorts of cute. Suddenly last week he's as mobile as mobile can be without walking. And, well, I think all the new found cruising has helped the lil man develop an infection of some sort--he was up until about midnite (slept from 9-10ish), napped little yesterday (reported from day care), and was up at 4am-5:15am---so I've been up since 4...and didn't really go to bed until 1. Oddly enough, the capital also passed the bills to end the shut down around 4 am--irony/coincidence? Who knows...if I am raising a mini-politician, I can't even think about that right now.

I found V in his room the other morning (as that's where he sleeps)...with all his normally beloved blankets and music tosy on the floor. He was trying to pull up on the side of the crib to continue to get my "I'M AWAKE MOM, FEED ME, CHANGE ME!" attention. And brilliant me didn't take a photo. Oops.

I have some cute weekend photos on the i-pod. We had a birthday party on Saturday and Vince and Quinn devoured cake with their fingers--thanks purple frosting! Vince is practicing for his first (gulp) birthday just weeks away!

..some day I'll get them to the computer from the i-pod...maybe Mike could help with that.

Q still hates the toilet. Currently accepting ANY techniques that actually work with an almost 4 (double gulp) year old. She HAS gone weeks with rare accidents and keeps reverting. She's super excited to get new underwear when she's poop trained--but as she poops she says, "No thanks mommy, I don't want the new underwear right now. I like being the baby best."

I fear for no fantasy football this year. "....sigh..." per Kluwe...ha ha! I would be that guy.

u2 this weekend! anyone want tickets? we'd love to take 2 people as we have 2 extra tickets.

okay.........back to work. Well, to finish getting ready for work!

A MONTH?

And some photos from our month...


Hailey and Q ... best friend cousins. She'll be visiting us again really soon!!!!


Yep, he's driving already!Birthdays (including Auntie Carol's last week!)
Not sure what was going on here....OH, the GATE has officially been up over the stairs d/t our mobile dude.


The fire was too hot....

My kids never cooperate....my nieces and nephews and kids and brother (who somehow got nominated to hold Vince for the photo....
Papa's new wagon assembly
STANDING at the table playing!!!
SOO tired after the busy weekend in Grafton...

Best Buds Q and T
Splash pad: first attempt: unsuccessful. He was crying in this photo! And clinging to me for dear life!
OOOH, so refreshing!


Yes, crazy month it has been.

Vince is "crawling", crying and cat napping...the three c's I guess.

We've finally had some nice weather to enjoy time outside.

Visited my family.

And Q and V have spending some great quality time in Eagle Lake.