The Zoo

The moms at my church all met at the Minnesota Zoo on Monday. The zoo seriously rocks. They mainly only have animals that can live in all four seasons and they try to give them as much of their natural habitat as possible. This makes me feel good.We stayed mainly in the Russian Coast exhibit. Is that what it's called. The kids loved running through this tunnel. Some collided.

Watching the otters.

Here comes the Grizzly Bear.

This bear was looking for a snack. Seriously.
Calvin and Mado

We went to the farm area, too.

Getting Smarter...

Calvin learned how to snap today. He's very proud.

Also...I made banana bread and told him there was flax seed in it.
Cal said, "When I was a baby, I thought it was "flat seed!"
I said, "I didn't know that, Cal."
He responded, "I guess I'm smarter than you."

Yellow means: Caution

Calvin came running into the office and yelled, "Look mom! I'm a stoplight! Green means go, Red means stop and yellow means caution!"

Note: Please don't mind all the junk in the background of this picture. I tried to get Cal to take the picture in another room, but he really wanted to sit in this chair.

30

This is the only picture we got. Laura picked up the cupcakes and had a little mishap. It was Jacob's birthday a couple weeks before, so we decided to let him share in my glory.

My 30th birthday was Saturday and here are the highlights of my birthday weekend (in no particular order):

1. My amazing husband surprised me by having Giordano's Pizza overnighted all the way from Chicago. We shared with our friends and everyone seemed impressed with the deliciousness.

2. We couldn't find a babysitter Friday night, so Laura and Isaac volunteered to watch our kids at our house. They are good people.

3. We caught two of our visiting friends in traps. They will poop in our cupboards no more.

4. Spa day. Again- amazing husband. Massage, Facial, Pedicure. Aaaahhhh.

5. Roasting s'mores over the stove because it was raining outside.

6. Playing Citadels with our old small group (shout out to Anne, Joe, Brad and Sarah).

7. Laura and Jess took me to an amazing breakfast place. Colossal Cafe. Go check it out.

8. Sleeping in Saturday AND Sunday (Eric gets major props for the weekend).

9. Almost winning in kickball tonight. Then a couple brought cupcakes to share in the delight of me turning 30.

10. Art by Sarah Johannsen

First Day of School

And one from last year...

Beware: There are many more new posts below this one.

MN State Fair

I love this picture. Isaac is forever trying to do what Cal does. Luckily, Cal doesn't do very hard things. Haha.

Corn dog cornocopia. Or Cornocopia Dog. Ike ate his and half of Cal's.

Millions of dollars and a cookie later....

Matthew turns 2

We got to celebrate Matthew's birthday with a play-dough party. The weather was perfect and the kids had tons of fun.




There's really no way to look at this Adorable Asian baby without smiling. Is there?

Funny to me

Cal came upstairs announcing "Now I look like Mr. Michael!" Here they are together. I came into the dining room to find this: He had markers all over the table and his arms.

Isaac was seriously disgusting- too disgusting to bring upstairs. He loved being washed in the sink.

Science Museum

We are members at the science museum in St. Paul and I finally got around to bringing the boys! Most things were a little too advance for them (kids 4 and under are free), but we had fun.

Lola Girl

How could you NOT want this dog?

Since Lola has major anxiety issues, she will probably not be leaving us anytime soon. She is still up for adoption, however, so we are hoping that the perfect family comes along.

Calvin says...

Riding into the kitchen on a little car....

"Hi, mom! My name is Bonus! And it's Bonus time. You can call me Bonus Handsome if you want."

Alone

My mom and sister watched the boys one day while Eric and I took a boat tour on the river and even out onto Lake Michigan. It was very touristy, but really cool. We learned all about the architecture of the buildings and here's the most awesome thing I learned:

Everyone used to throw all their waste into the river- including factories. A long time ago. In the 20's or something, they decided that was really bad for lake Michigan, so the city tried to clean out the river. After two failed attempts, they actually reversed the river's flow! Then Indiana, Wisconsin and Ohio took Chicago to court because they thought that eventually, this would drain Lake Michigan. The trial lasted 38 years! So, they came up with a solution: The Chicago Lock. There is only one way in and out of the river, and that is through double locked sort of door, where they raise and lower the water to make sure not too much water leaves the lake. I thought this was really cool. Kudos to you if you read this far.