Minnesota State Fair

Ray and Connell went to the State Fair today. They saw some animals and went on a few rides and saw the Splatter Sisters put on a performance. The highlight was the food -- corn dogs, mini doughnuts and a big glass of chocolate milk for Connell! I think that Connell had his fair share of fairs this year --- no pun intended :-)

Teething Is Now Completed!

I couldn't be happier to report that with the breaking through of the sides of Liam's last 2 yr molar in the last few days, we are now done teething with both boys for several years now. I constantly mention that teething was one of the surprises of parenthood for me --- or that my boys were poor teethers (or a combination of both!) Even though we instilled great sleeping habits in our boys from the age of a few months, every time new teeth were hurting them, we would have night wakings or need to give Tylenol. It was very frustrating to have the interruptions every few months. And then I always had the excuse of "I think he's teething" when one of them was crabby or behaving poorly in public. We can proudly say that the boys have now cut 40 teeth! Here is Liam showing off his pearly whites...

Rainy Day

Of course our "playgroup in the park" got rained out today and so we have been housebound. I took out the Lite Brite Cube that I had purchased years ago and was looking for the perfect day to introduce it to the kids. Connell absolutely loved it! He chose to start with a cat and it took him 50 minutes to get all the pegs in just right. I knew that he would love following the code ("V" means to put in a voilet peg and "G" means to put in a green peg, etc.) What seemed to be a nice quiet activity in my mind turned out to be a little obnoxious as he talked through every move he made... "This is a "P" which means I am going to put in a pink peg. Where is a pink peg? Oh, here it is! Mom, next I need to find an orange peg. This one isn't orange - it's red...." (you get the picture). My head was spinning by the time he was done and I kept trying to tune him out. Liam wasn't very interested in the activity, but sure got his share of pegs all over the floor (it starts with 400 pegs and so I will have to keep you posted with how many get vacuumed up, etc.) All in all it brings back memories from about 25-30 years ago when Neysa and I played with Lite Brite and really loved it.

Just Hanging Out

I thought that I better post something or else you might think that we have dropped off the face of the earth! Our life has been pretty mundane lately -- especially in anticipation of preschool, church programs, ECFE and all beginning within a week! Here is a photo of the boys at the Meadows Park in Rosemount. They love the fire engine and I caught them both taking it easy in the large tires!

The Three Musketeers

We got together with Rachel and Gavin this morning (it was a reschedule from our June 27th playdate that got rained out). We met at the Rosland Park in Edina which neither of us had been to before. It was quite a unique park with lots of shade and a sand pulley toy that Connell fell in love with. The three boys pretty much kept to themselves although a few times we caught them playing together or at least side by side. It was a beautiful day and a fun morning.

Big Boy Bed

Since Liam was continuously crawling out of his portable crib (Pack 'N Play), we felt that it was time to move him into a big bed. He certainly got out with much more grace than Connell ever did, but since he was longer than the crib was long and it wasn't really necessary to keep him in the small Pack 'n Play, we bought a bed set this weekend for him. He seems to like it. It helped that I put on sheets with cars and trucks (police cars and fire engines, etc.) since he is our kid that is interested in vehicles. We moved Connell into a big bed at 2 yrs 7 months and here Liam is only 2 yrs 2 1/2 months. So as adventurous as Connell was as a toddler (for those of you who know him, you know what I mean), Liam beats Connell in that category. In fact, while still in his Pack 'n Play the other day, Liam climbed out, opened his door, went downstairs into the living room and was looking for me! This was at 6:05 am while it was still dark all through the house and it didn't even faze him. I was amazed as I was still in our bedroom and had a slight sense that something was going on. Now we have the heavy duty baby proof contraption on his door knob so that he will be confined to his room until I get him at 6:10 am.

The Fair -- reprise

Saturday we went to the fair again with my mom, dad and sister. This time we looked at the animals (and fed some food to the deer). Connell enjoyed getting to eat some dairy foods! The boys went on a lot of rides again before the lines got too long.

Off to the fair...

Today the boys and I drove down to Owatonna to the Steele County Free Fair. If you haven't heard of it...it's the largest county fair in the state. And coming from a dollar store and thrift store junkie...I love this fair because there is no admission! We grew up going all 6 days/nights and my parents and sister still do that. My parents' townhome is about 3 blocks from the fairgrounds and so we walk over and don't have to pay parking costs. My mom bought each of the boys a ride wristband and so they went on about 12 rides this afternoon. Liam really is a "ride novice" and yet he was eager to ride almost everything and because he is over 36 inches tall, he didn't need a parent to ride. They had a blast! We also met up with my friend, Emily, and her two children, Caleb (almost 7) and Alayna (almost 3).

We have plans to make the trek again this weekend so that Daddy Ray can get his "fair fill" -- he is mostly interested in all the fair food, but will probably enjoy watching the boys continue to use their week-long ride wristbands and show them some animals, too.

(P.S. In the second picture -- the swings -- you can see my mom in the white shirt and my sister, Neysa, in the yellow)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, I caught up to Ray now in turning 36. The boys had some presents for me first thing this morning (some accessories for my MP3 player that I use when I walk/run).

You're Not Imagining Things

This is indeed Connell taking a big bite out of a piece of colby-jack cheese! I talked to the nurse at the allergist's office today and his dairy test came back negative! The doctor has approved that we slowly introduce dairy products into Connell's diet and see how he tolerates them. He was so excited to have a piece of cheese (after 10 1/2 months of absolutely no dairy -- no Goldfish crackers, no chocolate chip cookies, no milk chocolate at all, no sour cream dip, no mashed potatoes, no prepared gravy, no Cheez-Its crackers, no yogurt, no Nilla wafers, no sherbet, no ice cream, no pudding, no McDonald's French fries, no pizza, no product with the slightest amount of dairy in the ingredient list. It's been tough especially when eating out and going to others' houses to eat.

Connell still has tree nut and peanut allergies which alter his diet, but nothing compared to this hurdle! Hooray!

My Dad

Here is a photo that my cousin, Carrie Waldrop, took of my dad this weekend in Owatonna with her two girls. (If you didn't follow that, my dad would be a great uncle to these girls). Sydney just turned 5 and Keira just turned 2. They were celebrating my uncle's 62nd birthday on Saturday and today is my dad's 86th birthday!

Chuck E. Cheese's

The four of us went this afternoon to continue (and end) the birthday celebration for Connell. We decided to spend $10. and that was it. The boys had fun on the rides and playing skeeball. Ray and I even played a game or two. We never got a call back from the allergist and so we couldn't eat there not knowing Connell's situation.

So the birthday cost us about $15. ($10 at Chuck E Cheese's and $5. for the cake you see below) plus the scooter that we bought at the beginning of the summer as an early birthday gift (so that Connell could get some use of it in June and July). Our big mission is simply to keep celebrations simple and yet memorable in some way and also a time for our family to be together. I think we succeeded again.

The Pretend Party

Here are some photos from Connell's pretend party at the park. I baked a dairy-free cake and although Connell had requested that I decorate it to look like a piano, I opted for this easy alternative. It did the trick. The cake was a yellow cake mix with apricot filling and a canister of store-bought frosting. It can't get easier than that! I made him a crown of music notes to go with it.

The Staged Guests

Since it was our usual "playgroup in the park" day and we don't do regular parties for our kids (by choice), we didn't really advertise that it was Connell's birthday and just surprised the guests instead of Connell. That way we avoid getting presents (for the most part) and it's an added element of fun for the kids. Here are the kids who ended up attending the "party" that "birthday boy Connell" knew about, but they did not!

Here are the guests in order of the photos above....1) Liam of course 2) siblings Maddie and Noah 3) sisters Elena and Carmen 4) sisters Sarah and Kaiya 5) siblings baby Grace and Alex 6) brothers Nathan and baby Nicholas (with mom, Katie) 7) Amy 8) siblings Brooke and Riley

Unfortunately siblings Jack and Kirsten had a lunch date and had to leave before the cake was served and therefore didn't get into any of my photos.

Connell Turns Four Years Old

As of 4:22 am this morning, Connell is officially 4 years old. Stay tuned for more information and pictures as the day progresses. We have plans to have cake with our "Playgroup in the Park" friends and then to go to Chuck E Cheese as a family this afternoon for the boys to play some games. Unless the allergist calls with news of Connell outgrowing his allergy before we leave for Chuck E Cheese, we probably won't be having any food there! (Connell was tested again for dairy last Tuesday although we aren't really planning on the news being positive -- although we could be surprised!)

Muscle Men

Ever since Connell found out that I went bowling with my Ladies' Night Out group, Connell has been trying to prove to us that he is "strong enough to go bowling". He shows us his muscles although he does it in a peculiar way. He usually has the squinty eyes to go along with the pose as you can see in the photo. Liam has also started to "show his muscles" as well although he holds his arms forward. It doesn't matter how many times Ray and I show the boys how to really pose to show off muscles!

Playing with Zachary and Tyler

We have been having several playdates this summer with some friends we met at church. Kelley (the mom) is on the CAPPstone steering committee with me (she is the speaker coordinator and I am the prayer leader for the group of 50 ladies). Her sons are right in the age group of the boys (Zachary was born in March of '05 and Tyler was born in June of '06). Here are some photos from this morning at their house. My boys love riding the trike and Cozy Coupe cars and playing basketball as well as playing on their playground equipment and simply running around. Getting all four to share and take turns in always a chore as you can imagine.