Confirmation

Today Greyson and I went to the allergist and received confirmation of something we already knew.  After 10 pricks in his back and a blood draw, we confirmed that Greyson is allergic to peanuts.  To avoid any confusion with Greyson or his care givers, we will be treating it like he is allergic to all nuts.  There is a 1 in 5 chance that he will outgrow it if we keep him completely off peanuts for a time (could be years).  That would mean no eating of products that could have traces of peanuts or cross-contaminanted with peanuts.  Wow.... we have a lot of learning to do and labels to read. 

 

Please Lord, help us in this endeavor.  We would rather have Greyson worry about how to worship you than about what is being served to him.  However it happens though, use this situation to YOUR glory.

Footbridge to Happiness

My kids, especially Madelyn, has been asking to walk on a footbridge for ages. I keep saying, "we'll go soon, I promise." Then one day, I found myself saying, "we'll go before the summer is done." So, now I was on the hook. I woke up last week thinking, "this is the day", and so we packed a lunch and went to a footbridge in Minneapolis. It connects the Sculpture Gardens to Loring Park. Here are the kids going up the steps to the bridge from the Scuplture Garden side.

Cute picture of Madelyn, right? You see that speck of a kid in the background? I had to catch up with him just before he got himself in trouble on the other side of the bridge!

The side view of the footbridge.

Running back to show me the ducks (as if I hadn't seen them) during our picnic lunch. The woman there had shared her bread that she was throwing to the ducks with the kids. It was very nice of her, since we didn't bring anything extra to throw to them.

Madelyn joining the fun.

I good pic of the three of us - I love it when people offer to take a picture of me with my kids while we are out!

The Minneapolis skyline

The Basilica (taken from the footbridge)

Madelyn and Greyson loved looking out at the cars and the tunnel just to south of the footbridge (the one that they "chomp" on the way to church).

And they came home happy (albeit tired!). And I was happy to have taken them on such a beautiful day.... promise delivered.

Seeping Booty

Greyson has been adamant about reading Sleeping Beauty (or as he says it, "Seeping Booty") at bedtime lately. Ben and I were both wondering about this new fascination... maybe he's been forced into dressing up by Madelyn too many times? maybe he associates the word "sleeping" with bedtime? Then Ben figured it out a couple of nights ago when he was reading it to him. Greyson isn't so interested in the princess or the good or evil fairies. He loves the battle between Prince Philip and the dragon. He especially loves the part where Prince Philip is wielding a sword (or "tord"). Now, I understand why his nerf sword has been such a favorite lately! Our boy is ALL boy...

Ben's Bday Outing

Feed My Starving Children was great! We had a great time visiting over filling bags of food for starving children. I was also surprised at how well Madelyn did with helping! Afterwards we came back to our house for homemade pizzas (one of Ben's favorites). Yum!

Baby Itch

We watched "baby Arya" recently and had a great time! She is so cute and (when rested) a very happy, smiley baby. When not rested, well let's just say that she like to fight sleep and becomes kinda grumpy. No problem though, after some rocking, she got some sleep and was right back to her happy, smiley self again. The kids loved the time with her. Madelyn and Greyson had a great time playing and loving on her. They especially loved it when Ayra held onto their fingers.

I loved having Ayra over too.... a little too much I think. I am back to having my baby itch again. I really think that we are supposed to have more children in our house. Ben and I pretty much agree on that, but he thinks we can find one (or more) without me getting pregnant again. Hmmm.... got some work to do there!

Madelyn's Bday Dinner

In case I left you hanging, Ben and I decided that Chuck E Cheese is mostly the same as it was when we were kids, except it's not as dark. Just so you know....

Madelyn and Katie (and especially Greyson!) had a great time at Chuck E Cheese playing, eating pizza, opening presents, and then playing some more. Madelyn made out on the presents front - a scooter, 3 Barbies (one a mermaid and two with the requested purple hair), a bunch of craft supplies, a snow white polly pocket, and a tinkerbell puzzle. Very exciting!

No way.... Madelyn's 5?!?!!

I can't belive that my girl is 5 years old. The years have gone by faster than... I can't think of anything fast enough. Madelyn has grown into a lovely, intelligent, beautiful girl. Ben and I had decided that we would give Madelyn the choice of birthday party or a dinner out and a big present from us. She chose the dinner out and present. Fortunately for Madelyn, though, the Como Park Carousel was running for free today. Como Park is an awesome place, truly. It has a zoo, a conservatory, an amusement park, a huge playground, mini-golf, a carousel, a golf course, and more. We met several of her friends (and their parent and siblings) and went to the zoo and the carousel. It was so much fun to see her interacting with them and she had a great time, except for 30 minutes where she was having a hard time holding it together. That 30 minutes reminded me of when she turned one and cried the WHOLE day. Her daycare teacher told us that she surmised, "It's her birthday and she'll cry if she wants to!" The cranky mood was broken by the two girls that are holding her hands below. I told them to hold her hands and make her laugh... and it worked! Even though it wasn't a party, just an outing, I brought cake and juiceboxes for everyone's snack. That doesn't make it a party, does it? Tonight we're going to Chuck E. Cheese's with one of her friends, who will then spend the night. I don't think I've been to Chuck E. Cheese's since I worked there in high school. I wonder if it's changed any.


The birthday balloon (a family tradition)


waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive


beautiful girls


playing in the zoo


Madelyn refused to be in this pic... it is a great pic of several of her friends though.


The girls that cheered up Madelyn


On the carousel


Snack time


Happy 5th Birthday, Madelyn!

August Birthdays

Our family has a habit of having August birthdays. It was "just" my mom, my grandma, my daughter, and my husband within eight days of each other causing me birthday overload. But things change. I lost my grandma three years ago. Since then though, my nephew was born in August and my sister's serious boyfriend (meaning - it seems he'll be around for a long while) not only has a birthday in August, but it is the same day as my husband's! [Sidenote: My sister, Liz, called me just two days ago and said that she had just realized it and was completely weirded out by that fact that our husbands were born on the same day. Truth told, I am a little too.] All this to say - I am in birthday overload again! I can hardly even think straight to keep the details together. I'm hoping writing this will help me get my head together.

My mom will be coming to the cities end of this month with my dad. It is her 60th and I know that I need to come up with something super. I got nothin'... yet. I will. Promise. I did make her a homemade ecard for her actual birthday yesterday. You can see it below.

Madelyn has chosen to keep her birthday pretty low-key. No party, meeting a few friends at the Como Park, Chuck E. Cheese for dinner with a friend that sleeps over afterward. It has been a little hard for Madelyn to stay quiet about the sleepover. She doesn't quite understand that it is rude to announce that to your other friends...

For Ben...he would like to go to Feed My Starving Children for an outing and then to a nice dinner. I'm trying to figure out when and with whom.... just us, wait until my mom, dad, sis, and her boyfriend arrive in Sept, with local friends, or ??? I am also eyeing a couple of things for gifts too. i won't disclose them here for secrecy reasons.

My nephew, Sam, will be turning one this year. I can't believe how fast the time has flown. I will send him a gift. I need to get it off soon. Steph, any ideas?

And Nick, the boyfriend.... I think a card will work for this year. Don't you?

Whew... thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

3-week count down

I got to canning my pickles a little later than expected.... about a week later.  Time seems to speed by these days.  However, here is the end result of today's pickling adventure.  It is the first of the season.  I pickled cukes last year too but I haven't been wowed by their taste so I tried a more simple, traditional dill recipe this time.  Now, I have to wait the 3 weeks until their done pickling.... I think I can wait that long. I think.

Who needs training wheels?

Wow.... this last couple of weeks have a been full of milestones. I don't know exactly what has motivated my kids (or was me that was somehow motivated?). The newest milestone - Madelyn is riding her bike WITHOUT training wheels! I am amazed at how well she is doing AND at how easy it was to teach her. She has a couple of friends that have them off and I think she felt challenged to get 'er done. I took them off sometime last week and she had gotten some spins around the yard several times with us jogging with her. But today! Today she "got it"! It is amazing the difference between how she was riding yesterday and today. I think I backed off more today and was letting her figure it out more on her own (in the grass at first). Over the last couple of years, that is something I have figured out about this girl. She needs her own space and ownership in something before she'll really put her mind to it. (Sounds a lot like someone else I know.... me.) Now she is speeding around the front yard like it is no biggie and wants to graduate to our back street. Maybe tomorrow we'll try that out.

I am adding this picture of Greyson mostly to give you a visualization of the biggest issue we had with Madelyn learning to ride her bike today. He wanted to be right in the middle of it! She just about mowed him down once because he was in her path. Madelyn finally figured out that she could steer well enough to miss him - thank God! You can see his beautiful drawings on the driveway, which we decided was a superhero genie. By the way, as an update on Greyson's potty training - He is completely out of diapers during the day! (Again, amazed at how easy it was!)

Cirque du Soleil

I've been wanting to go to Cirque du Soleil for a LONG time. I love the whole idea of a circus type atmosphere with more of a formal type performance. I know that some of their shows are pretty racy but I had heard that their Kooza show was less so and in the Twin Cities for a month over the summer. I was dying to go... then one of my BFF's called out of the blue and said that she could get ahold of tickets for a steal! Man, it was a great show! Ben wasn't so sure that he would like it and was going only because I asked him to. But even he was impressed. Thanks Helen for inviting us to go with you!! It was so much fun!

Today's Science Moment

I was looking through my fridge today and realized that my garden peas looked a little strange.  I had been avoiding them because I let them get too ripe, which makes them kinda chalky (it's my first year doing peas), and we have so many other garden things to munch on.  I guess I avoided them MUCH too long because they are starting to root...  wow.  I didn't think they would do that right there in my fridge.  So, I decided to make a science lesson out of it.  I asked Greyson and his friend, who was over for the day while Madelyn was gone, what was different about the peas and the friend, who is 5 months older, answered, "It has a string on it."  (And Greyson agreed.) Yes, something that looks like a string.  Then I told them it is actually called a root and asked if they knew what kinds of things had roots.  She answered, "Food?" (and Greyson said, "food?")  Yes, in this case, the food does have a root.  I explained that plants have roots.  Next I asked why a root might be coming out of the pea.  (Blank stares)  The pea is a seed!  And then both of them got VERY excited because they both know what seeds are since both households have big gardens.  It is amazing to literally see concepts come together in their eyes - I love it!

Stop! Bulldozer Time

As we were walking out of church yesterday morning, there was a bulldozer parked near our car. It wasn't a surprise because we are having a pretty big addition being built on our church. However, I still thought it funny that it was parked in spot along with other cars and that everyone was walking past it in their Sunday garb like it was normal. So, I did what came naturally to me - I took a picture to capture it.

Garden

Here's my harvest this morning from the garden.  I only pulled a couple carrots and an onion to use in the next couple days.  I haven't gotten out in awhile to pick the pickling cucumbers.... and it shows.  Some of them are a little big.  I wanted to pickle whole ones this year instead of cutting them down, but I think some of them are too big to share a jar.  I guess I'll have to slice those.  Any other ideas of what to do with them?  Also, anybody have a great dill, sweet, or B&B pickle recipe?  I'm looking forward to canning in the next few days!! 

Cubin Dabid

Ben's cousin David (or as Greyson says, "Cubin Dabid") came to visit last weekend. Fun was had by all! I don't think that it is possible to not have fun when David is around though... he is such a funny, lovable, all-around great guy. One thing I learned about him over the weekend though, was how great he is with children. Wow is all I can say. My kids really showed their colors and he was super with them.

While David was here we did some tourist-y stuff that we haven't done much of before - the Sculpture Gardens, seeing the St. Paul Saints (a local minor league baseball team), and Mall of America, included the indoor theme park there. At the Sculpture Gardens, we had fun taking interesting pictures and just letting the kids run some. The baseball game was tre' fun! Their games aren't just the normal stuff - they have funny skits and games and a pig that tromps around the home plate between innings. Greyson brought his toy bat and kept asking "my turn?" Too funny... We went the Mall of America (or megamall as the locals call it) on Monday while Ben was at work and David treated us to a few rides at the theme park there - the ferris wheel, a roller coast, and the carousel. So fun!

We also ate really well while David was here. I don't remember the last time we ate so many of our favorites foods in the same weekend. For lunch after going to the Sculpture Gardens, we went to a restaurant/ethnic grocery store that we love - Holy Land. It is middle-eastern and has really great food! I need to go back some time and just look around the store (with little hands). That night, we went to Famous Dave's (awesome BBQ) in Uptown and enjoyed listening to a guy playing the guitar and singing like Leon Redbone. When Ben and the kids went up to inspect his setup (Greyson wanted to check out his guitar), he even played "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" for them. The next night we went to check out new place looking for walleye; a place called Tavern on Grand. The boys got battered walleye and I got the blackened walleye. I have to say all of it was good but the blackened walleye was phenomenal! I was surprised because it is unusual to have good blackened anything here in the great state of MN. We'll be going back....

All said, it was a great (and exhausting) weekend. We feel so priveleged that he would drive here from Dallas to spend time with us. Thanks, Cubin Dabid!! Come back and visit us again! You are welcome anytime!

The infamous "Spoonbridge and Cherry" and the (sometimes) loving siblings

David holding a "picture" of the Basilica's steeple

Another loving shot... awww!

the boys

i forgot to mention that we went by the "Grand Creamery" after our walleye... yum!

on the ferris wheel in the MOA theme park

madelyn being chaffuered around

riding a roller coaster on Dave's dime

SpongeBob and .... who's that other one?

At this point, Greyson was quite cranky and I thought this was ironic.

Lego car building and racing... fun for all!