Friday After Thanksgiving

We drove back up to MN Friday and were able to join the Davis Fam for our traditional Friday night out after Thanksgiving. It was our first time hiring an actual babysitter which was hard for mama but E did great and a couple glasses of wine calmed my nerves ;) Katie hosted a fabulous pre-party at her loft in the North Loop:










We had a great dinner at Red Stag in Northeast Minneapolis and celebrated Caden's 2nd birthday!


Then the crew headed over to the Shout House - nothing like some family bonding at the dueling piano bar!



The highlight of the evening was when they brought all of the veterans up on stage for Proud to be an American. Gpa got a standing ovation and the young guys treated him like royalty - such a proud moment!

The cousins kept the party going late into the evening and Trent & Brian had an impromptu wrestling match to wrap up the night back at Katie's place :)

Turkey Coma

We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at Brian's aunt and uncle's house. All that yummy food and skipping a nap caught up to E as he was falling asleep in the middle of playing.

iPad Fun with Aunt Amy

Fun at Legacy Point

We had a lovely trip to Des Moines over Thanksgiving. We had turkey dinner #1 at Great Grandma & Grandma Grothe's Assisted Living Complex. E loves this place - long open hallways to cruise, lots of kind elderly folks to wave at, and great grandpa even took him on electric wheelchair rides. Does it get any better?

Hanging with Sam & Tana

Good thing Tana is veerrryy patient!

New Stairs

I didn't know I married such a handy man! I've been so impressed with the home projects Brian has tackled since we moved in. Love his MacGyver like approach to problem solving - the guy can jerry-rig anything! The former owners never put a deck or patio on the house so we were left with a 4 ft drop off from our back sliding door. Bella loves her new steps! Thanks Dad, Sam, and Nate for your help as well!

Thanks Veterans!

E's so proud of his great-grandpa Grothe and all of our Veterans!

What a Tantrum Looks Like

Step 1: Dramatically Flings Himself on the Floor


Step 2: Look Around to Make Sure Mom or Dad is Watching


Step 3: Let er Rip


Luckily they have been few and far between and are easily stopped by distraction or scooping him up. We have to turn around so he can't see us laughing because it's so darn cute. Need to practice our game faces!

Have you seen my baseball?

E is obsessed with balls! He loves to throw them and then chase them down. He has quite the little arm on him and his aim is getting better - Bella makes a good moving target - poor puppy. We have all his sports toys in the playroom upstairs - as soon as we climb up the last stair he starts pointing and yelling "balls" excitedly until we take him in there to play.

The Curls Are Back!

We cut them off in September but they're baaack! They look adorable right after bath time but they get smashed as soon as he rolls around or sits in his carseat which leaves his hair just long and shaggy :( Found a super cute looking kids haircut place near us so if he is mistaken for a girl again they'll be gone stat...

Ikea Toys

Ethan got some toy money from Grandma Jan for Halloween and it was burning a hole in his pocket ;) I was at Ikea picking up shoe racks for our closet and walked through the kids department for the first time since having Ethan. They sure have a lot of fun toys and the prices are great! He finally mastered the tunnel a couple weeks ago chasing after Bella as we threw balls in it for both of them to fetch :) He loves pounding the "nails" through the holes in the block and hammers just about everything in sight.

Ethan's Drawer

Tried to be very strategic in setting up the kitchen so that all of the lower drawers and cabinets were safe for baby so we wouldn't have to put any annoying safety locks on. It's working pretty well so far - it didn't take E very long to find his favorite drawer ;)

mis·chie·vous

Heaven help us our sweet boy is getting a little feisty! He has learned how to say "no" and purposely is doing things he knows he shouldn't. It's so hard not to laugh because it's so stinking cute. He gets this sly grin and twinkle in his eye - he's officially a Woods boy. His Uncle Eric grinned like this and it's the same look Brian has when he is intentionally pushing my buttons - drives me crazy and I love it all at the same time ;) These pics are the closet I've gotten to capturing it on camera - he likes climbing on the back of the highchair - silly monkey - he likes to tell me "no" as he does it. When he gets frustrated he reaches for my hair to pull it and he's been winding up and "hitting" me lately and giggles afterwards - I think he picked this up at daycare :( Biting will probably only be a matter of time, seeing that he now has 10 teeth and all! Bella and I are his only targets thus far - he's an angel for his daddy.

Our (late) Halloween Monkey!

Better late than never! E was super mellow after his nap on Sunday so we were able slip on his costume without much fuss. Such a cute little monkey!


It was looking like we were heading towards a tantrum but luckily Bella distracted him first!




Have you ever seen a monkey and a puppy kiss?


Had to get a tail shot :)