Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the three of us! We look forward to spending time with Katie's family this Christmas in Wisconsin and send love to Jason's family all over the U.S. this year. All the best for a happy 2011!

Snow Days

I case you haven't heard, Minneapolis (in fact most of the Midwest) got ridiculous amounts of snow last weekend. We got around 17" at our house on Saturday. This storm pretty much shut down the city: airports, busses, and lots of events were shut down on Saturday and Sunday. Schools did not reopen until Wednesday. I am relieved that the city is coming back to life. Traffic and temperatures have been horrible all week. I wanted to give you a peek of what our family did in the snow storm. Miles and I got up early to make daddy some pancakes and after breakfast Jason headed out for snowblowing round 1 and to help many of the neighbors who needed it. I've always loved this city, but this week I'm not so sure!

18 Months

Miles recently turned 18 months old and we are constantly amazed by how fast he grows and changes! He is at the stage where his motor skills are very developed and the language skills are just starting. Miles is very physical: running, jumping, galloping, marching, and climbing. If you turn away from him while playing the basement, he will climb to the 2nd step and jump off onto the floor. Miles' fine motor skills are also impressive. We started with a velcro obsession, then zippers, and now laces. He is interested in everything mechanical and studies to learn how things work. Thankfully, he is able to focus on things for quite a long time. On the language side, Miles understands everything we say. His own words are coming slowly including doggie, daddy, yeah, no, all done, right there, and just starting to say mama. Jason and I find it humbling as we realize that he mimics everything we do - all of the good stuff (like putting his napkin on his lap at dinner) and all of the bad stuff (like shooing the dog away from the dinner table.) Things continue to get easier as Miles gets more independent. We say "time to go upstairs to bed" and he says "yeah" and heads up the stairs. Same with putting his boots & coat on, going to the dinner table, etc. Such fun adventures watching him learn about the world! More to come as Miles learns about the holidays!!

Baaa Boo Boo, Waddy!

Here's a little peek into our living room after work one day. Miles found this book particularly funny, especially when the baby speaks to the dog in the story. He's starting to repeat words after us, and in this one it's "Boo Boo!"

Trick or Treat!

This Halloween was Miles first experience carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating - so fun to watch him learn! Grammy was here on Halloween afternoon when we carved pumpkins and although she hates carving pumpkins, she helped Miles to scoop out the seeds and Jason did the rest. Miles wasn't so sure he liked getting his hands dirty! We all headed out trick-or-treating around dusk and visited our friends in the neighborhood. Miles got a ride in the wagon. He got the hang of holding his bucket tightly and walking up to each front door, but he wanted all of the candy, not just a few pieces. When we got home and kids came to our door, he screamed and stomped his feet because we were giving away our candy. He wasn't in charge of answering the door for long! I'm sure next year will be a whole new adventure!

North Shore Getaway!

Good Lord, October has been busy at our house! As you can see from the string of blog posts, we've had lots of visitors, a week without day care, Jason switching jobs, and Katie's busy season at work all in October. We needed a break. We took advantage of Grammy's extra free time for Wisconsin's teacher's conference weekend. She came to play with Miles and we headed to Two Harbors to chill out. We stayed in the Northern Rail Traincar Suites - a very cool experience sleeping inside of a railcar! We also had one of the best meals of our lives at Nokomis Restaurant on North Shore Drive between Two Harbors and Duluth. This was the 3rd time we'd tried to eat there and were finally successful. We highly recommend the rail cars, the restaurant, and a kid-free getaway!

Stupid Storm

One of the things we love about living in an old neighborhood is the cover of old beautiful trees. Well, we lost one of our silver maples last week during a nasty storm with high winds. Thanks to great neighbors who called to tell us (we weren't home) and who cleared the road. We are bummed about the tree, but considering where it was, we are very lucky it didn't hit any houses, cars, or people! I guess we'll try to replenish the neighborhood with new trees very very slowly. :(