Living Room Jungle Gym

This is a little longer video but Brianna was having a great time climbing into, onto, over, and down the laundry basket, ottoman, and sofa. She is so cute!

Not sure what spurred her to climb up the laundry basket in the first place, but she did - and completely unassisted! Check it out!

Regular Ocurrences

Each day is filled with many reminder, to both Brianna and Eko, to play nice and be gentle. I am SO grateful for a patient dog who will take just about anything and does nothing more than to turn his head and lay it back down again - in what seems like a gesture that just says, yup it's her again, no big deal. In our family room we have amazingly large windows that overlook our backyard and duck filled creek. Brianna (and Eko) loves to crawl her way to the window and sit in front of it for minutes upon minutes.

A short video to prove she actually gets up on her hands and knees... that is, when she feels like it!

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are also becoming more and more enjoyable. Not that it wasn't fun feeding her all sorts of new foods, but she is now more than capable to do the work herself and has such fun doing it. The other day I noticed she had a piece of food on her bib. Before I could clean it off I noticed her examining it. Next thing I saw was she began picking additional pieces of food from her tray, one by one, and putting the neatly right next to it, on the lip of the bib. After a few pieces made their way on, she thought that was enough and took them back off. No bother eating them, when they collect so easily! She has also caught on to the fact that she can reach over the side of the highchair tray to drop food - another great reason to have a dog/vacuum cleaner handy!

Bath Time

Brianna is fascinated with her new bath toys she got for her birthday. This got me thinking and remembering my bath toys as a kid. My favorite toy was a red boat (I think it was Tupperware) that had other boats in it. What was your favorite bath toy as a kid?

Eko meandered into the bathroom during Brianna's bath (as he usually does since he loves bath time as much as Brianna does!) to keep an eye on things. I can't tell who was more enthralled with the water squirting fish...Eko or Brianna. Eme would squirt it in the air and Eko would try and lick the falling water while Brianna giggled, laughed, and grabbed. It was pretty funny!

We probably sound like a broken record, but we are thankful and blessed to have such a wonderful baby (and dog). God is truly good!

Fresh Air, Vitamin D, and a Little Exercise

Eme and I love spending time outdoors whether on vacation, close to home, winter, spring, summer, or fall. Yesterday (about 5 degrees with a stiff wind and sunny) we took advantage of an opportunity that REI and Fort Snelling State Park put forth for National Winter Trails Day.

 

We strapped on some snowshoes, courtesy of REI, and hiked around for a while with Eko. All three of us had a fantastic time! It was the first time I had been on snowshoes and it was a lot of fun! Eme had been on them before and was tromping around with Eko like a pro!

We snagged some free giveaways (thermal insoles and a winter hat) along with a warming fire and hot chocolate. 

But, perhaps, the highlight (for Eko at least) was learning how to Skijor. You can learn more about it here or here. We had both heard of it before but had never seen it done in person. They had different harnesses to try on so we slid one on Eko and took the introductory course. Eko seemed to pick it up pretty quick! Now all we need is our own harness!

Here Eko is connected to a tree. But if we were really Skijoring Eme would have skis on, Eko would be hooked up to her and they would work together skiing and pulling.

Once we had our fill of snowshoeing and Skijoring we packed up and headed out of the park. But before we snuck out we spied a wild turkey (I think) just hanging out by the side of the road.

What a great afternoon! Thanks to Gammie and Gamfie for watching Brianna for us while we spent some quality fun time with Eko.

Turning One and Two

As you have read, this December was action packed and super busy. In the midst of the craziness, we celebrated two huge milestones: Brianna's first birthday and Eko's second birthday. Although Eko's birthday came and went without much hurrah, we are everyday reminded of the increasing infrequency of puppy behavior. Sure, he still has his moments and it's hard to overcome temptation of toys being shoved in his face by one helpful little girl, but it seems two is a magic number for dogs. He has calmed down to a noticeable point but still love his puppy nature and playful attitude.


On the other hand, two is not such a magic number for little kids, as I'm sure most parents would say. But let's not jump too far ahead... We are so thankful for an observant, curious, and calm little one-year old girl. She is so exciting to watch as she develops and discovers new things. Just today, we had her one year well-baby check. She now weighs (officially) 20 lbs 4 oz (34% - if you trust these numbers); her length is 29.5 in long (61%); and her head is 45 cm (46%).

Here she is waiting for guests to arrive!

As mentioned, we celebrated her first birthday on the actual day. Leading up to that, it was fun to reminisce the same days a year prior and and all the feelings and anticipation that came with it. For instance, she was born at 3:03 on a Tuesday morning, so as we watched this year's Vikings Monday night football game, we couldn't help but think how much more I could pay attention this year than last year! All in all, I think we had 27 people over for a fun afternoon of celebration. She was a little slow (to be expected) but loved opening all of the gifts. Thank you to everyone who helped make her day so special!

The tunnel was again a huge hit. Thanks Oliver and Lucius for sharing it with us!

Giving Gamfie a hug.

Opening gifts...

more gifts...

More gifts... the stroller was a hit but we still need to work on balance before she goes it alone!

Ahh... cake. Thanks Grandma for making such a yummy special cake just for me!

Before the cries came out, we tried (unsuccessfully) to get a picture of the Gustafson side grandkids in front of the Christmas tree.

Photo Memories From December

Celebrating Grandma's birthday at the Hollidazzle Parade downtown Minneapolis.

Celebrating Christmas with all the Carlson Great-Grandchildren.

Great-Grandpa Bill enjoying Brianna.

Micah and Tianna holding Brianna.

Christmas Eve at Grandpa and Grandma's house. Cousin Justin is helping open presents.

Eme says, "Brianna! What does a duck say?" Brianna says, "Kack, kack." Grandma heard Brianna say "kack" one day at our house when the ducks outside started to fly away so she had to get her this cute ducky.

The grand-kids lighting the Christ candle at Grandpa and Grandma's Christmas Eve service.

Hanging out with Gammie on Christmas morning.

A car seat from Mommy and Daddy for Christmas? How magical!! (sarcasm) Practical "toys" for a baby's first Christmas isn't bad...is it?

Forget Christmas presents! I'll just take that nuk please!

Brianna sledding for the first time! She loved it!

Sledding with the whole gang. It didn't last long this year as 30% of the participants were less than one year old...but it was fun none-the-less.

"It's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you!" Actually, it was a bit chilly and started to sleet when we were on it. But the sleigh ride with my family was fun.

But I think Brianna had more fun inside the barn after the sleigh ride. She said hi to horses, donkeys, cattle, chickens and kittens.

Look Out World!

I know I have a deep rooted bias...but isn't she SUPER cute?? This picture is a great reminder to never stop chasing your dreams and to find your childish enthusiasm.

Bonkoski Christmas / Pinnacle Gathering 2010

My cousin Jodi and I got to brainstorming this summer as we climbed (via automobile) Pike's Peak in Colorado. We thought it would be fun to gather the Bonkoski extended family so the cousins could finally learn how to play Pinnacle. It was fun to have everyone over to our house for some food, laughter, football (watching), catching up, Bonkoski trivia, and Pinnacle learning. We look forward to hosting again next year!

Time Goes By

As I'm sure everyone is keenly aware, life seems to get busier and busier. This Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's season is no different for our family. It was tough for Eme and I to get into the Christmas spirit this year as I (Jon) was busy at work and coughs/colds struck our family multiple times over the past month. Speaking of which, Eme is laying in bed not feeling well and Brianna is napping so I thought I would take a moment to update our multitude (ha ha) of blog readers on the happenings of our Christmas season.

Here's a quick rundown of our December...

• We celebrated my mom's birthday by going to the hollidazzle parade.
• We celebrated Christmas with my grandpa Carlson and Aunt and cousins from LaCrosse in Mankato, MN.
• Christmas Eve with my family (Bonkoski's).
• Christmas Day with Eme's family (Gustafson's).
• Extended Bonkoski Christmas/Pinnacle gathering at our house.
• Celebrated my parent's 40th wedding anniversary on December 27th.
• Celebrated Brianna's first birthday on December 29th.
• Spent time at our family cabin over New Year's.

I'm sure everyone has been busy. But we hope you all took a moment to pause and reflect and the true meaning of Christmas. It's super easy to get caught up in all the shopping, cookie baking, family gathering. But Christ remains the central theme to Christmas. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May Christ be a real part of your life this year.