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.

little things make the difference

Sometimes it's the little things. Like watching your little boy enjoy his first hot chocolate. With 'shem-shallows'  of course (marshmallows).



A little sticker representing one vote out of millions. Did you get yours?


Making the most of our limited space and giving Lawrence his own little corner in our room. Little elephants, owls and prints make it a cozy place for our little mister.


I love every little thing about L, especially his little mohawk

Carrying the Banner

This is the first year Charles has really participated in Halloween. Chris and I weren't sure we were going to do anything but decided that we would give it a go. Our good friends the Hildens invited us over to their house for pizza and trick or treating in their neighborhood so after a stop and Nana and Papa's house so they could see Charles, we headed out for some Halloween fun.

I had wanted to dress Charles up as a garden gnome but he was not having it. What did he want (agree) to be? A NEWSIE! Be still my Jack Kelly loving heart. It was a bit last minute so I had to make do with what we already had. Good thing I snagged this hipster vest at Goodwill a few months back.

'neva fear, Brooklyn is here!'


We switched out his conductor's hat for a more newsie-esque one that Papa lent us. With a paper tucked under his arm the costume was complete. "a penny a pape!"

'what's a matta? You scared a Brooklyn?'

It was so fun to see the little kiddos dressed in their costumes. Max was Max from Where the Wild Things Are- isn't he darling?? I could eat him up :)

'let the wild rumpus start!'

'look at this, 'Baby Born With Two Heads'.. must be from Brooklyn'

Charles had such a fun time. Thanks Hildens for inviting us!


And Jess, this one's for you:
'dear me, what is that unpleasant aroma? I fear da sewer may have backed up durin' da night'
'nah, it's too rotten to be the sewers.'
'it must be... the Delancey bruddahs!'

I will most definitely be watching The Newsies today.

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.

Coming Up

As I am sure you are aware, it is now August. This month brings our one year anniversary of leaving Brooklyn and moving back to Minneapolis. I can't believe it's been a year. The anniversary sure comes with mixed feelings. I miss New York and our friends there, but I have also loved being close to our friends and family again here. It's crazy to think how much has changed in one year and looking at Charles and how much he has grown really puts it into perspective.


last day in Brooklyn


last week

To be honest though, I have not been looking forward to our moving-date anniversary. However, there are a lot of things that are coming up this month, (and next month!) that I am very excited about.

Yesterday some of our Brooklyn friends arrived in Minnesota and we will be seeing them soon. They will be here for a few weeks and are staying for the Fair- which is of course another thing to be excited about in August! (I have already made my preliminary list of Fair foods to eat.. have you??) I think it's really cool that a little piece of Brooklyn will be here over our one year anniversary.

What else is coming up that is exciting? Well, my husband turns 30 this month! woohoo! The beginning of September will bring another NY friend to MN for a little reunion with some more of our fellow former 5209 residents who now live in Iowa. And, of course, next month our family will grow from three to four!!

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