Saturday, January 28, 2012

The House is Warmed!

We had so much fun throwing a housewarming party on December 10th! Nothing better than having our favorite peeps over to break in the new place - being surrounded by friends and family made it feel like home. E was a party animal and was showing off his new found skill - walking!

Playing hostess and trying to keep tabs on a toddler was a challenge so wasn't able to take a single picture. So instead, here are a few pics of the house:


Streetview - someday we'll replace the plastic mailbox with a cute one.


Main floor 'Office" - aka Playroom #1. Loving having a place to corral toys.


Upstairs bonus room / Playroom #2 - it gets rowdy up in here!


The bedroom furniture fit in the master nicely- dreaming of a king bed - someday!




Thanks again to everyone who helped us celebrate!

Up and Down

Daddy's New Toy



Brian picked out this bad boy and he gets excited if there is a hint of snow in the forecast. Go figure - the winter we buy a snow-blower it barely snows! E likes to watch from the window - next year maybe he'll "help" shovel :)

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Meeting Miss Allie



E has sure missed his Uncle Trent since he moved to Chicago last summer. Trent has been living it up in the windy city, and as luck would have it, a month after he moved, he met a girl...at a wedding in Chicago... who lives in Minneapolis. Ironic right? They've been doing the distance thing ever since, and we were so excited to get to meet this lovely lady over Thanksgiving. She is an absolute doll! E *loved* her and can't wait for their next play date! Our vote is for Uncle Trent to move back to MN asap...






Thanks for the adorable hat guys! Come over and play again soon :)

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Toddler Brain


I saw this diagram on Facebook and it cracked me up - so true! Especially the Elmo part, he LOVES Elmo! We're taking E to see Sesame Street Live, "Elmo Makes Music" on Saturday and I'm not sure who is more excited, me or him :)

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

MIA


Why hello there - it's been a month or so - boo! Life has been crazy since September and I just can't keep up with posting these days. No worries - I'm not giving up on it - I have 600 photos to widdle down and organize since Thanksgiving. So I'll be tackling that this next week but thought I'd give a run down on things that haven't made it to blogland yet.

*E's 15 Month Dr. Appt: Healthy! We love our little man - his growth trajectory is steady but he came in at a whopping 6 percentile for weight and 12th for height. He'll be a rockstar shortstop, kicker, or golfer :) Will be fun to see where he weighs in next month at the 18m appt - his pants are getting short and a cute little belly has popped out.

*Way back in May I took a new position at work. It was a long overdue promotion which was much appreciated and I get to lead our social media pilot which is cool work. The hours are much more intense and so is the stress but it was a great change career wise. I come home exhausted but do like the challenge.

*Never thought I'd say this but I've become a public transportation enthusiast. Granted the commute is still about an hour each way but loving riding the bus. Nothing like the adrenaline rush of dashing out the door each morning racing to catch it - I miss it at least once a week. But the 40 minutes of sitting peacefully with no work, no traffic stress, and no responsibilities at home are glorious! Saving a lot of money on gas and downtown parking as well. No worries - I won't be hugging trees anytime soon :)


*I discovered Pinterest. It's been awesome for daydreaming and getting decorating ideas! The few free seconds I get to be online tend to go here!

*Since moving in October we'be been busy hosting and entertaining. We love the house and it's been perfect for having people over and hanging out:

-We had so much fun throwing our house warming party the weekend of December 12
-The Quam family visited this same weekend - Ethan and baby McKinley had so much fun together and it was so great to see these guys!
-We hosted the Woods Clan from Iowa + Nebraska for an early Christmas celebration the weekend of December 17th. Thanks to 5 air mattresses and good sports we were able to sleep 10 in the house! E played and played with his cousins Eric and Cole. After spending 8+ months in the hospital this year we're relieved to report that Brian's mom is doing well - it was so wonderful to have her at the new house for the first time!
-Had a great Christmas in Burnsville with the Davis Fam
-The Bednarz family visited from DC over New Years Weekend. Baby Ava and E were too cute together!
-We hosted a post Holiday party with my work friends last weekend

*Found a church that has potential and have visited several times. Hoping it's "the one" and that we can get more involved this year. Luckily Open Door is super close to our house, although we seem to be late every time anyway!

*Keeping up with a big house sure takes a lot of time and work. Wouldn't change it for the world - we worked so hard to get here - but it sucks up the remaining free time after E goes to bed and on the weekends.

*In the blink of the eye our precious baby has become a toddler. A walking, talking, curious, busy busy toddler! It's such a fun stage - he constantly makes us smile and laugh! He is also starting to test us and show some attitude which is a good lesson in patience. So far his listening skills need some work - amazing how early selective hearing starts and when we try and be firm and discipline he bursts out in giggles! He needs constant supervision to stay out of trouble so the evenings after work fly by and Brian and I are wiped out by the time he goes to bed!

So... for all of the above reasons and many more I've forgotten to include, the blog has had to slip to the back burner. Hoping to get back to it in 2012 so will sneak posts in when I can. Thanks for visiting - cheers to 2012!


ps - E is still rockin the curls :)