Texas to Minnesota: Sun to Snow

QC with me playing with the camera settings...love the blurred background!

The Pengu House!  I didn't even get a good shot.  Auntie Debbie's backyard...well, part of it!

"Just one more turn, Quinn, really this time, see the white fence?"

"I DON'T SEE IT!  ARE WE THERE YET!?"  A less than mile walk with Auntie Debbie--actually it was a mile and half!  Oops!

Mike hanging out

Sand Balls!  Since we would miss the first snowballs of the season in Mn.

Hee hee..this is Quinn's shirt!  The little sleep and long drive had me mixing clothes up!

2 people pushing Q...and no one for Vince?

"Oh, Auntie Debbie, it's a SAND pedicure...this will really help you a lot!" says Q

Counsin Marshall's wedding cake!  It was coconut and was delic!

Kisses for Mommy!!  MU-AH.  I believe he was saying "uggah muggah!"

Yes, pool in December!!!

"DOGGIE!  GO AWAY! MINE!" SAYS V.

Yep, we were drunk.  This picture seemed clear...should've turned on the auto-focus!!!  Uncle Jody and Vince and "the baby" playing bean bag toss.

"HIEEE MAMA!!!!"

A nap after a late afternoon snack.

"So, I'm having fun playing games, but I don't really have any money.  And I already have an iPod but I left it at my home in Minnesota." says Q as the saleslady asks if she has questions.

New BFF!  Welcome to the family, Abby!

AND, Home again!  LOVE that the camera caught this jump!!

Snow angel!

"It's sooo cold, Mom, make it stop!"

Counting

Vince is counting!  If you start with ONE, he goes until eight...sometimes ten.  Too exciting!

His favorite letter is "H"...everything is "H!" ("aaaaaaa-cchh!").  "H I J K LMN OO  no no no no no no....PEEEEEEEEE"

Quinn is loving the olympics "trampoline is an olympic too mom?  We have one of those!!"

Lovin' life.  Slowly detaching from work.  I may stick around longer than anticipated as the new guy has a wife expecting SOON, so maybe I'll lend a hand.  :-)  Feels good having NO texts, emails or calls about work for TWO days!

Too bad those two days have been the head cold of head colds...feel better today.  The kids kept me busy and moving (always do).  It was particularly awesome that it is GORGEOUS outside!  Perfect day for the tour de tonka (except that we did not participate...or see the tour this year...usually they ride by the house and through the park...hmm....).

Back to shower time for QCB.

I missed you, world!

So, we are all 4 still alive.
Apparently I haven't used my camera since I got the I-phone back in December because there aren't any photos to share on the laptop...they're all on the mac...one of these days I'll post from there too.

Quinn starts pre-school this fall in Minnetonka-land.  She's super excited.
She's in swim and dance and could possibly be a swimmer or diver...if only she'd catch on to the swimming or diving part!  Dance--her short attention span is not a good thing for her! But she surely has a wonderful memory as we downloaded her dancercize songs and her and Vince went crazy this morning.   :-)

We have few plans over the next week so it should be wonderful to "just" get to be a family!!

I gave my 30 day notice at work in early April...and I'm still working!  I couldn't 100% get up and leave with no one to step up; who knew it would be so hard to find a new "me"??!! Our busy week days in July will give me a great eye-opening view of what my life as a SAHM with 2 kiddos will be like!  I'm so super excited and life should be super great. 

I will be taking my diet technician exam soon so that should allow some possible part time work if so desired.  I also am on the board for a dietitian group for Mn, Twin Cities group.  It's a lot of fun and should help me decide to truly go forward for my RD, or stay as is, or change professions entirely!  Speech therapy continues to call me name from time to time....time will help tell!

The kids are awesome. Terribly adorable, energetic, disobedient, intelligent, and active.  We had a 2 hour meeting the other day at work and halfway through I got up, jogged in place, and sat down again.  I AM NOT used to getting to sit for such a duration during the day with the kids--it's painful some days to say the least.  But I continue to love who I work with and what I do, so it keeps me going back each week! 

Family should be in town for the days after the 4th, so that'll be fun!!  Hopefully the weather will be awesome so we can get to the lake, canoe, fly kites; all that jazz. 

And life continues to be busy...but we're lovin' every minute of it!!  :-)  Hopefully my life of blogging has returned!!  :-)

Kids are Smarter

Q has turned 4 since my last posting! (she really likes the ice cream cone outfit).



Apparently hard boiled eggs explode in the microwave after about 30 seconds--yeah...I do have a food degree, shut up.


Q and I took a girls trip a few weeks ago to visit my best friend in Maryland. We had a great time and it was tons of fun just spending time with my eldest child. She's brilliant and I can't wait to see where else she goes in life.

Baltimore
Aaron!! He gave us plenty of smiles (and cries, but mostly sleep!)
Q at the Science museum "there is a really big hair drier, Mom, you have to come see it!!"
Yep, She wore this on the plane, flowered shirt, ice cream cone tank top, ice cream cone tight capris with a pink tutu. It was awesome.
Monkey wore her sunglasses. It was apparently hilarious!

Well, it's happened already.
I already can't help my kids with their homework.

I looked at Vince's daily sheet when I picked him up on Thursday. He apparently knows about 15 signs and does them appropriately. I guess all his crazy hand waving at home that I thought was nothing is something! He's already smarter than me in one area--Granted, it's sign language and he gets a little upset when I have no idea what he's signing, but it's getting better for me. :-) I actually had to look up some signs the other day to see what he was trying to tell me!

And Q makes up her own signs for everything, so I can't rely on her input, either. :-)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We went to Grafton for Tuesday-Friday; missed all traffic--we should apparently be very greatful we did not come back Sunday--back ups near Menomonee were apparently hours long!!

Vince is growing quickly. Attempting more words. Walking like a champ. Loves cooking, cars, and tupperware. And milk. And eating. And drums. And his sister. And our cats!! He's so gentle with them; it's wonderful.