Happy Birthday, Freddie!

To celebrate Freddie's first year, we went to Edinborough Park this afternoon. It's an amazing indoor park that I would frequent every day in the winter if not for the price ($11 for both kids) and for the drive (20 min). Jess brought cherry cupcakes (I ate two) and we went to Chipotle for dinner. Thank you, Jess, for letting us share in your wonderful second born. We love having him around.



This picture makes up for the hilarious stawberry picture of you two, right, Jess?

Jess says he's not photogenic. How can she say that?! Look at this baby. Seriously.
Calvin went to the very very top by himself. Do you see him? He's wearing a yellow shirt and he's standing by that weird diagonal tree thingamabob. Are all of you non-Minnesotans so jealous that you can't go to this place? I couldn't even fit the whole thing in this picture.

Update on Ike

Isaac (at 18 months and 1 week) has finally started saying a couple more words. Besides "uh oh" and "mama", he says, "Mooooo" when he sees a cow and "On." So there you go.

And he's decided to start signing more. He knows: giraffe, cat, dog, elephant, tiger, bird, duck, ball, balloon, more, food, milk, drink, baby, shoe, outside, book, nose, belly, sheep, monkey.... There may be more, but I can't think of any more right now.

He's finding creative ways to climb up to get what he wants- chapstick, lotion, soap, remotes, cell phones, other people's food...

And he still loves Calvin, who is so kind to him. We are so thankful that we have boys who love eachother so much (so far).

Tough Kid

Isaac fell on the concrete steps outside. My friend, Aletha, got him (since I was cleaning off her daughter's poo-infested feet) and when I came downstairs, he wasn't even crying. He was just sorta whining, "maaaaamaaaaa...maaaamaaaaa." Eric and I decided that when he falls, we are going to teach him to flex and yell, "I like that! Uhhh!" This will be slightly different than what Calvin does (cries and cries and needs cuddling every time he trips, falls or steps on a bug).

Leah is still young; pt 2

Eloise Butler Wildlflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary

Sarah with Atticus and Dietrich, Laura with Mado and Elias, and Jess with Sammy and Freddie joined my crew at the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden in Minneapolis. We went there last year once, too, and I'm so glad we went back. It was a beautiful day to be outside and the kids had lots of fun (once I realized that Isaac needed to eat a snack). We then went to a park nearby and had a picnic (my third of the week. Hooray for working in the home!).



My attempt at getting a good pic of the three of us. Sigh.










Isaac climbed to the top of this hill, sat down with a smile and started scooting down, thinking it was a slide.
Cal running down the hill.Sarah with her little man. Sooooo easy-going (not to make it sound too easy for you, Sarah!).

I know Jess will not be too happy that I posted this, but it's hilarious. She is so grossed out by the strawberry slop that's protruding out of Freddie's face.
I asked Cal what his favorite part of the morning was, and he said, "Climbing in that castle! There was a place for me to crawl through and holes for me to stick my face in!"




Sarah got a little nuts with the kids on the swings. I'm not sure where her energy came from... It was quite amazing.

Backyard Fun

Brother Love

Beautiful Weather

Cal's been cheesing it up for me lately.

Isaac knows how to scale this wall all by himself and then he goes down that twirly colorful tube slide (in the background) sometimes head-first.

Happy Birthday, Jess!

We can hardly believe that Jess turned 29 today. Sigh.

Sammy and Freddie stayed with us for the morning while Jess got some much needed me-time at the mall. Cal still doesn't understand why she wanted to spend her birthday alone. Ha.

We finger painted for a total of 17 minutes and then played outside for about two hours. It was finally sunny and semi-warm! Here's some photos of us arting (and one of Freddie eating- because he's so dang cute).

In order to get this shot of Sammy and to get the next one of Cal, I had to give them a little speech on how saying "cheese" doesn't cover it. They have to look at the camera and smile, too. It worked. I should totally work at JC Penny Portraits.



Isaac was less than thrilled with this experience.