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.

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

easter

we didnt do anything too crazy or exciting this past easter. just some quiet family time with my mom and siblings and a great lunch with some good family friends. 

claire wasnt quite sure what to think about these bunny ears, she knew they were on her and kept trying to look up to see them. 

claire also spent some quality time with a new friend too. im sure these two will be spending lots of time together growing up at "grandma camp".

"how was your sleep?" -miles

this past weekend we headed over to wi to visit some family on my last official weekend of maternity leave. claire did well on the long drive there. on saturday we just got to hang out with family. so nice! 

after miles taught uncle dave how to do some sit ups, uncle dave taught him how to do push ups. but he (and emma) quickly realized it was a lot more fun to use daves push up as a bridge. 

while the boys were busy well...being boys...grandma got lots of love from her two grand-girls. (is that a word? it should be) 

and of course claire loved spending time with her cousins and aunt shannon. 

that afternoon we got to go visit claires new (hopefully someday) boyfriend jameson. and then headed on over to see claires great-great grandma for a 5 generation picture! 

after that visit, da hubs and i were able to go on a little date while grandma watched claire (thanks again kelly!) and then sunday we all went to a 50th celebration of the school dave went to when he was younger. it was such a good weekend to see and spend time with family and friends.

baptism weekend; part 2

so after the fun of a parade, inflatables, lasagna and spending time with family we celebrated claires baptism. turns out this little one didnt make a peep even when the pastor got her hair wet. (this NEVER happens during bath time. just saying) 

Claire's Sponsers: Kenzie & Shannon

After baptism we again celebrated at our house with food, drinks, sequence and just spending time with each other. the weekend flew by too quickly in my opinion, but it was a lot of fun to spend the weekend with family and friends. 

mn baby shower

waaaaaay back on june 23rd we had our mn baby shower. it already seems like forever ago. 

we played a few games one in which i learned a lot of advice about everything baby related. 
you know like: 

a) whats the best thing daddy should do to the help with the baby? 
---pamper baby's mom

b) what do you do when the baby cries?
---run away faster than dave

c) what kind of diapers should you use?
---the ones with a coupon 

and since most of these ladies have children & grandchildren of their own...you know this advice HAS GOT to be right! so ladies, thanks for all the advice! i know it will come in handy! 


i even had a special helper to help open gifts...which is good cuz these days its getting pretty difficult to stand up & sit down gracefully...or just without a braxton hicks contraction. 

again, we were super blessed with the amazing generosity of everyone. but i have to say one of my favorite gifts was some beef jerky from my cousin. mainly because we always have arguments over who gets all the beef jerky. im surprised it lasted the car ride down to the shower! :) 

and check out this super cute diaper cake stuffed with accessories (spoons, forks, bottles etc) from my aunt!

more wisconsin fun

after the baby shower on saturday we got to hang out and relax some more with some friends and family. the hubs friend eric brought over the game kubb. (according to wikipedia its a swedish game, kind of a combo of horseshoes and bowling) 

and heres a little play by play. not sure if he was bored or posing for the camera...either way he put on a great show.

and while the guys were playing kubb, we got to relax with miles and emma. 

sunday was filled with more family time. a bunch of family and friends surprised kelly with a little retirement party --- and she was definitely surprised! 

 just like usual, we had an awesome time seeing everyone in wisconsin. but just like usual, time seemed to fly by too quickly. we are already looking forward to our next trip over there...but that time there will be three of us...(so odd!!!)