Club of Champions

The Monday after my birthday Eme, Carl and I had an A-Mazing opportunity from a subcontractor to sit and soak in the luxurious Champions Club 7 rows behind home plate at Target Field. It is a high class atmosphere from the moment you drive into the parking lot (which is adjacent to the players lot). It was certainly a far cry from our normal season ticket seats in the upper deck!

We had a front row seat to see Gardy get worked up and then tossed. I didn't get the picture, but this is the game he tossed his hat in the air as he was walking into the dugout. Priceless!

It was a fun evening which memories will long be savored!

30 on 20

August 20 was Jon's 30th birthday! I worked really hard trying to plan a really fun day and trying to keep my gifts for him a mystery. I say this because he has an amazing gift for guessing what is in the packages without even touching them. And, I suppose, have an uncanny ability of giving too many hints without even knowing it!

I think we managed both a fun day and a little mystery.

Testing out a new present.

Thanks to the library for a free pass - we went up the Foshay Tower.

 For dinner, we had the ever delicious Pizza Luce downtown. Our server was great and happy to have the table with the baby!

Carl at his first Twins game. I think he enjoyed himself!

I know we did!

It was fun to spend the evening with our friends Kent and LeAnn.

Check Out the Fun!

My sister, Margaret, regularly "makes a mess" on Monday's with her two boys. The other week, she kindly postponed her mess idea for Friday so Michelle and I and our little ones could partake in the fun. And fun we had!

Brianna wasn't too sure of what to do, so she did a lot of observing. She did, however, really like holding the paint bottles. She hardly let the blue color go!

Even Carl got in on the fun. Margaret took this cute photo of him slumbering away in his car seat. Such fun!

Back in Mid-August...

Brianna and I decided to try planting a few more marigold seeds. I have a few orange variations but I thought it would be fun to add a little yellow to the mix. She kept pulling up yellow marigolds from church and bringing them home anyway, so why not!

I thought planting them first in these little cups would help me by being more mobile and could easily water them. However... my daughter thought it would be better to use the cups as they are intended and drink a scoop of dirt! I guess you could say my plan backfired a little bit. On the good side, I think one seed may actually grow.

For Aunt Lori: The Books Are A Hit

This morning as I was getting ready, Brianna wandered out into the family room. After a few minutes of not hearing any noise come from her direction, I thought I better go check it out. I found her quietly sitting on the floor, in front of the couch (our usual reading spot), reading her and Carl's new books from Aunt Lori. She had already gotten to the last page of Maisy goes Shopping by the time I snuck the camera in to get this video!

And leave it to Eko to join the party!

Weekend for Dad

The first weekend in August, we headed to Jon's family cabin to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday. It was crazy at times with five kids under four but it still managed to be relaxing.

Carl, Brianna and I packed up everything and headed to the cabin. Since Jon had to work all day, I thought it would be nice to get out there earlier. That way we could take more advantage of the day and go swimming and such. Amazingly we got packed up and out the door by 9 am - it was a challenge but I was pretty excited we got out out of the house when we did. I only had to go around the block once because I forgot Eko's food!

We were able to go swimming, go for walks around the cabin, and Jon found a little lizard and brought him in for a little show and tell. (check out my sister's blog for more on our adventurous weekend)

It's always fun to see how well the cousins play together. Plus, my Auntie Mick took the kids on a few walks to get them out of the cabin temporarily. I think the term, Pied Piper - however all the children returned safe and sound and with less energy!

Although Carl did not partake in the walks and swimming, he did enjoy countless hours being held by his Gammie and Gamfie or one of his many adoring aunts and uncles. He is by far, more of a cuddler than Brianna is and ever was.

After cleaning up the cabin and packing up, my sister managed to remember to get a group photo before we all headed for home. Jon and I ended up not getting out of the cabin till about 11:45. We knew lunch would be right around the corner but decided to head out anyway so we didn't have to unpack then clean up everything again. Plus, we were trying to work around Carl's eating schedule. Both Brianna and Carl did great traveling and we ended up making it all the way to Taylor's Falls, where we stopped for a picnic lunch. It was such a fun way to end our weekend - a little family time enjoying the outdoors.

Garden Update 2

Brianna and I enjoyed weeding the garden and picking the green beans together Sunday night.

She is such an incredible helper! I'd hand her the green beans and should would firmly grip them until we found a safe place for them.

She would also take the weeds I pulled and gently add them to the pile of other weeds.

She even checked out a carrot (although it was a little too early). Just her size!

And then we spent a little time in the back yard checking out the creek (which is flowing pretty strong for this time of year thanks to all the rain we've had).

The Newest Bon Photos

My sister, Margaret, has recently taken a more active role in developing her photography skills. When she took my belly pictures, she mentioned if I was thinking about baby pictures, it was best to take them in the first couple weeks, so baby is more likely to sleep and be content to just lay still while taking pictures. So... this is what we tried to do. Although Carl wasn't completely content during the shoot, she still managed to get a bunch of good shots. Jon even walked over to our neighbors house to ask if we could borrow his wonderfully landscaped lawn as a backdrop for a few pictures, and he was excited it could be used in such a way. Brianna was napping for the first portion, but once she woke up she was excited to be included and get her picture taken too. She did almost everything we asked her to!

Without much more ado... here are pictures of our newest addition and our new family!

Was three - now Four!

Such a wonderful big sister.

More than willing to hold hands!

One of my favorites.

One of his namesakes.

The trunk, in addition to being a great photo element/prop, is also Jon's Grandpa's from his time in the army. You can see his rank and name on the top, and we thought it would be fun to relate the two since it is (partly) where Carl gets his name. We are so excited about how the pictures turned out and are happy to have such wonderful memories captured for his baby book!

Sleeping Babies

What is it about sleeping babies that makes them so irresistible? 

I love that Brianna wants to be around Carl, but like I said, she finds him irresistible, especially while he sleeps!

On a slightly different note, I've been loving the time I get with Brianna while Carl sleeps. I'm going to need to get a little more creative with what we do in that time, but for now, playing together is paying dividends!

Big Girl Upgrade

In June, we were finally able to finish painting the bedrooms and hallway of our basement. A big accomplishment after being that way for almost 3 years. One of these rooms downstairs became Brianna's new bedroom.

We made the decision to move her before the new baby was born, in order to negate any jealousy or other emotions of someone else taking over "her" space. We would already play around in that room before moving the bed, so it seemed like a natural move. In addition, I was feeling like she might be ready to transition out of the crib and put on just the side-rail. I was a little nervous doing two big changes almost simultaneously, but I'm glad I listened to my instincts because she has done an amazing job transitioning and loves being able to get in and out herself. It was a big step that made her seem to grow up instantly overnight!

We try not to "play" too much in bed, but sometimes I can't help watching her face light up when she climbs in.

She didn't want us to leave so she closed the door.

The curtains I made special for her new room. I think they turned out great and compliment her orange colored walls!