Snowed In

I have to admit, the snow is pretty, but it sure puts a damper in any plans one might have. We didn't leave the house at all on Sunday. I was supposed to have an interpreting job that night but had to cancel  and yesterday me and the boys were stuck at home too.
But we made the most of our time inside. Chris and Charles went out in the snow and made a snowman and snow angels. We drank hot chocolate, stayed in our sweat pants, colored, and baked. Who can complain??
I took these pictures of the boys from the warmth of our apartment. Lucky thing we live on the first floor.
  
Behold, Pioneer Woman's French Breakfast Puffs. If you haven't tried them, please don't waste any time and go make them now.

Movember Moustaches and Morning Cafés

Auntie Rachel came to visit over Thanksgiving and brought these super cute bearded hats she made for Lawrence and Max. They are sooo cute!

  

This was Lawrence's first time meeting Auntie Rachel

I know I speak for Jess too when I say we are so happy our boys have Rachel for an 'Auntie' and that we miss her loads and loads. Ray and Jess took me out for a delicious birthday breakfast (and the best vanilla latte ever) at People's Organic Cafe that was so special to be the three of us together. Thank you friends. I wish we had gotten a picture! dang. I guess we'll just have to go again over Christmas. (right girls?)

While she was here we made a morning trip to Isles with Charles' other special 'Uncle' Ishabor for some puppy tails. YUM.

 

 I love my friends and I love cafés and when the two come together it is truly a wonderful thing. 

Family of Four

WARNING: this is a long one!

Lawrence is a month old- while that doesn't seem like a long time it feels like he has always been with us and yet I can't believe it's been a month already. Life as a family of four (and an at-home mom with two) has been going well so far. Yes, we are sleep deprived. Yes, I don't always get to shower. Yes, we feel so blessed and are thankful for our two beautiful boys!
What have we been up to since Lawrence came? Let me show you..

 We went on our first outing to the  lake


With the weather getting colder and the days getting shorter we have again started going to the playland at Ridgedale. It's a perfect place to take Charles in the evenings to get some energy out before bedtime. (Or anytime of the day as it gets too cold to go to the park!)


Charles has been getting to know his baby brother and helps me out at home with him- reading books, singing songs, and watching me change his diaper. ha! He has even on occasion shared his very special bear with Lawrence.
   

I love seeing my two boys together- my heart is full.

Of course we have been taking tons of pictures of our new little boy- they change so fast and I want to remember every second!

    

Charles turned THREE last week. I can't believe I have a three year old. He is such a big boy- so smart and sweet and funny. I love him to pieces. To celebrate we started off the day with a birthday donut just mommy and Charles. Chris took a half day so later in the afternoon we headed to the Minnesota Children's Museum.
   
Charles LOVED it. He especially liked the water/bubbles area and the little town with the shops and market and city bus. I foresee many more trips to the museum in our future- thank goodness for free admission once a month!

Great Grandma Betty visited over Charles' birthday too and met Lawrence for the first time.

Charles wanted a dinosaur birthday cake so after seeing some ideas on pinterest I gave it a go.. he was pretty excited!
 

Of course, Fall isn't complete without a trip to an apple orchard.
   

And that's what we've been up to.

Now and Then

A year ago, almost to the day, that we said goodbye..



.. and a year later we are together again!



Our boys sure have changed in the last year! I am so excited to have our friends Janet and Dion here and to spend a few days with them. Monday they came and helped celebrate Chris' birthday with us eating meat and hanging out at Lake Calhoun. Tomorrow.. the Fair!!

 
(Chris can't wait to have a baby in overalls again)

MN Zoo

To celebrate a little break in the heat we headed to the MN Zoo on Sunday with Nana and Papa.
To be honest, it was still pretty hot out, but we enjoyed ourselves!

 

I wanted to jump in the pool with this bear and cool off too but I also didn't want to get eaten, so I decided against it.

As always, Charles loved the fish and other under water creatures.

He likes the movie Happy Feet so seeing the penguins was really fun. These two were following his hand up and down.

And the most exciting part of the trip? The dolphin show! He loved watching them swim and jump and splash the water. If you live in the area make sure to take a trip to the zoo and see the dolphins this summer because they are moving the dolphins out of our zoo in the fall.

Fourth of July

This was our first fourth of July back in Minneapolis and boy was it a hot one! A whopping 101 degrees to be exact! We left the comfort of our air conditioned apartment and headed to a friends house to bbq. Luckily there were water balloons, squirt guns, and just plain old buckets of water to keep us cool.

 

This was the first fourth of July in four years I think that I didn't make 'my' flag cake (I say 'my' because I got the recipe from Pioneer Woman who got it from Barefoot Contessa.) In reality, with this heat, the icing stripes would have melted away within a few minutes. Instead I made chocolate chip cookies and lemonade cookies, both of which have been part of my cravings as of late. When it comes to cravings I have been wanting chocolate chip cookies and lemon dessert-y stuff. yum yum yummm.

While I don't have a picture of the cookies, I do have a photo of Chris' three meat creation.
Behold, a bacon wrapped burger stuffed with shrimp. oh yes

 

Despite the heat, we had a really good time. We are thankful to be back with old friends and for the new friends we have here too.
As the evening went on we could hear people setting off fireworks and Charles didn't really like the loud noise. He wanted to see them but not hear them. We got home just when the real fireworks were starting and could see some from the front of our building but after a few minutes he wanted to go back in. Perhaps next year he will be more into it.

 

"nothings says 'U.S.A.'s the bomb' quite like a bomb pop".. S. Kirby

Catch Up

I accidentally deleted my last post, maybe my last two? I'm not sure.. So I am going to attempt to re-post it. ugh.

In the last month we have...

Cooled off at the splash pad
 

Checked out local parks


Walked around Lake Calhoun with friends

 Had many visits with Nana while she was home


Settled into our new apartment

Ate at the Tin Fish with friends


Celebrated Daddy



Passed my glucose test!

Began my third trimester!

(I realize this belly picture is a bit weird, having been taken in the bathroom at my clinic but while waiting the hour for my test I was texting with my NY bestie and sent this picture to her. I thought I'd keep it since I haven't taken nearly as many pregnancy photos with this baby as I did with Charles.) 26 weeks