Blog Facelift - It's About Time!

A blog makeover was long overdue! I'm slightly obsessed with navy and anything nautical right now. I never liked the previous background - I actually was in the hospital in labor with E and my first background expired and I got in trouble for sneaking on my laptop in-between contractions to throw up a new background that I was less than thrilled with. (I know - ridiculous) Anyway - hope you like the new look - it'll probably be another couple years before I get around to updating it again ;)

Checking Out the Snow

Someone Stole Daddy's Spot

Brave little man - this has been Brian's favorite spot for years :)

Snow Day!

We finally got a "big" snow storm last week - it's been such a mild winter - can't complain! 7" would normally be no big deal, but it was mixed with freezing rain and hit right before the morning commute and snowed us in. Osseo schools closed, so daycare closed. Cars were stuck in the middle of our street - we were going nowhere. At least Brian got to put his new snow blower to good use. E was glued to the window watching daddy dig us out - I bet he spent 45 minutes like this. E loved his day home with daddy and I was able to get a ton of work done without the typical office distractions so it was a win win! Was fun to see all the neighbor kids playing outside - hopefully a preview of what summer is like in the new hood!

Reading with Miss Molly

The Lacks were in town from KC last month and swung over - no visit would be complete without reading Elmo these days :) So great to see them - we really miss our college friends - they are spread out across the country so it's such treat when we get to catch up in person.

Elmo Makes Music!

Santa's big gift was tickets to "Sesame Street Live - Elmo Makes Music" on January 14th at the Target Center downtown. We had so much fun on our big night out in the city. We had great seats and E was fascinated! We were able to get our wiggles out during intermission and did a great job sitting on mommy and daddy's lap the entire show. We let him run free in the skyway on the way back to the car which made a perfect playground for a toddler!

New Boat Bed!

Since I never got to decorate a nursery, I'm hoping to go all out on E's big boy room this summer. This will be no surprise to my Pinterest friends, but I'm going to do a nautical themed room so there will be navy & white everywhere and lots of boat themed decor.

Our friend Stef made this adorable "E" sign for his room as a housewarming present- she knows me too well :) Pop over to Making Hillsboro Home to see all her brilliant creations!

While I'm in love with this Pottery Barn bed I realized the price was ridiculous so found a knock-off that will do. Lucky for me Amy stumbled upon the exact bed I was looking at on Craig's List so we trekked over to check it out and got a great deal on it! Will keep E in the crib as long as we can as we like the idea of him being contained, but when it's time to transition I hope he loves his new bed! For now it's a great place to read books and play.

Wow - you're probably blogged out. Feels great to clear out the rest of the 2011 photos - I feel so guilty when I get behind. Cheers to 2012!

A Trip to the Sea

No visit to MN is complete without a trip to the Mall of America. We packed up the strollers and headed over on Monday and had fun taking the kiddos so Sea Life Aquarium. E was pretty enthralled in the underwater tunnels with the creatures swimming overhead and there was lots of pointing and squealing "ishies!"

Dinners Out Are A Little Different Now

Our days of checking out new swanky restaurants are numbered. Instead we opted for the closest kid-friendly place in Maple Grove which also happens to be Brian's favorite - 3 Squares. They had goldfish crackers and crayons to keep them entertained in their highchairs long enough for us to quickly eat dinner and scoot home before any meltdowns happened. Still fun to get out, just a little different now :)

New Years Fever

Little man was running a low temp and was crankier that usual which was a bummer, but thought he looked a little like Linus from Peanuts dragging his lovie around with his hair disheveled. Ava let us borrow her Elmo movie during our lunchtime meltdown and it did wonders, so we have quickly expanded our DVD collection over the last month as he is hooked.