our backyard

the hubs has been very happy with the results of all his hard work last year putting in the rain gardens and doing some landscape work out back. we have had lots of growth and some pretty wildflowers growing this summer. check out some pictures:

pro pics

thanks to a great groupon offer we were able to do claires one year pictures at jcpennys. after some awkward faces at the beginning claire warmed up and we got some pretty good shots! :) she is definitely NOT a baby anymore! (when did that happen?!?!?!)

wisconsin fiesta!

during the first weekend of august we made the trek over to wisconsin to celebrate claires 1st birthday and miles 4th birthday. and what better way to celebrate than with a lil fiesta? 

as usual there was a lot of delicious food, lots of presents and lots of good time with family and friends. after the party there were some friends who stayed and played a few games of kubb. (i wont even go into what type of game it is or the object or the point cuz lets face it, i have no idea) 

*sorry for the lack of posts lately. this writer has been in a funk lately and busy with life and prepping for a lil remodel. and by prepping i really mean mentally because im not the one doing any of the work. more on that remodel to come.

let the remodel begin!

have i ever mentioned our lovely bathroom upstairs before? how there are about 10 different shades of blue in the room? how dated it is? you dont remember? here let me show you....

so we have always known that we would want to remodel this sucker. something a little bit more updated. something with a lot less blue. so after lots of saving. and even more planning and researching on the hubs part the time has come to start. and with such a big demo/remodel project in general we have sorta kicked claire out for the time being. time at daycare and lots of time with grandma deb, auntie kenzie, uncle kyle and cousin si have really helped out too. 

heres some pics after the demo day.

  day 2: the hubs is busy working on installing a new window, changing the plumbing, removing the toilet and starting on some drywall. heres to hoping the next week or so remain free from injuries and free from too many unplanned discoveries!

other bday weekend fun

for claires birthday weekend we had some family and friends come up to help celebrate. we always love spending time with these guys and (of course) the fime always seems to go by too quickly.

we enjoyed lots of different things, and unfortunately i dont have a ton of pictures of everything we did. we went to the sculpture garden. lunch at psycho suzies. shopping & cupcakes at mall of america. grilled out. played jenga. and pass the pigs. and that was all on friday.

saturday was claires party so we prepped with that, partied and then napped. ha. we are definitely getting old. and then we had a girls night. typically the guys always get a guys night and then say "next time you girls will have a girls night" and when next time comes, guys get another night. so we hit up the boys 2 men, 98 degrees & new kids on the block concert. i wont go into details but man oh man...the hard core fans are a whole nother world. just saying.

and of course the kids got to play together. its always so much fun to see them play together and give each other hugs and kisses. i love seeing how each one has grown since the last time we saw them!



ps i love this picture of claire wearing daves ankle socks. they are pretty much pants for her!



first birthday