Merry Christmas!

Our family was very blessed this Christmas – with gifts and lots of time with those we love. 

Christmas Eve

Cousins! (Mikko, Max, Addie, and Riley)

Cookies for Santa

The Scene

Santa Came!

Bounce!

The Corbett Family

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Traditions

We stayed busy this December with many of our family’s Christmas traditions.  We started a week after Thanksgiving by heading out to Bernin’s Tree Farm to cut down our Christmas tree.  We love Bernin’s because it’s simply a tree farm – no extra visits with Santa, no petting zoos, no hayrides; just a beautiful afternoon in the woods looking for the perfect tree.  

The following weekend we went to see the big guy, Santa.  Addie was so excited and knew exactly what she and Max were going to ask for.  Max fed off of Addie’s excitement until he got to the front of the line.  At that point he wanted to be held, and when we started walking up to Santa he broke down.  It was so funny watching it all from the sidelines – Addie was just chatting it up with Santa, all while Max is standing 5 feet away just screaming!  So long story short, this is the only picture we got of the two of them with Santa, and it’s just Addie and Santa in the professional shot.

Addie had two holiday performances this year.  The first was her holiday dance recital.  It was super cute!  They did a tap dance, ballet, and jazz.  Here is a short video of her dances:

Addie’s other performance was a Christmas concert at Nativity.  There were readings of the Christmas story, piano performances, and each class sang 3 songs.  It was really well done and made us even more grateful for being able to send Addie there this year.  Here is the video I got of Addie’s class.  (Sorry for the poor quality… it was quite crowded up front and this is the best view I could get!)

The last traditional activity we got in was our annual trip downtown to Macy's (Dayton’s) 8^th floor display.  This is something I have done every year of my life, and even though the theme hasn’t changed in 5 years, I still love bringing my kids downtown to see it!

A Few of My Favorite Things

This post is dedicated to my friend, Laura. :) 

She is the researcher type, and now that she is pregnant she is in full interview and research gear.  So in thinking of her, I decided to make a list of my favorite baby things.  Some are things we did together and others are just things.  Here we go!

Prenatal Yoga – With Addie I did this at the Yoga Center ofMinneapolis, and with Max I simply continued the Vinyasa class I was currently taking.  These classes helped me to decompress, focus my breathing, connect with my babies, and build a community of other expecting mamas.

Baby Yoga – I also did this at the Yoga Center of Minneapolis with Addie, but they discontinued offering those classes but soled the rights to them to Blooma (where I did BYOB with Max).  Baby Yoga is what I would rank as the #1 item on this list.  It got me moving again right at 6 weeks, helped me to connect with other new moms, and most importantly, my babies.  I also learned things like baby massage, and different stretches and poses that helped with Addie’s colic.  That alone made this priceless!

Breast feeding – So many good reasons for this and rewards from it, I can’t even begin to list them all.

Baby food – I purchased one jar of baby food total in my life.  With the help of our magic bullet and Le Petit Appetit I made all of Max and Addie’s food.  They are now two healthy children who are great eaters and I have to believe that feeding them fresh real food contributed to this.

Fresh Baby storage trays - Great for food and breast milk!

Hotsling/Moby Wrap/Bjorn – Baby wearing items

Sleep Sacks/Gowns – Great newborn sleepwear

Dwell Studio receiving blankets – larger than normal receiving blankets, which made swaddling much easier

Booster Seat with Tray – Saved tons of space over a highchair and it was easily portable to the cabin

Crib Aquarium – Gave the kids something to do when they woke up in the morning (they both still stay in bed until at least 7!)

The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems – This book helped us so much in sleep training our kids and getting them on a routine

I realize that this is not a complete list, and does not include all must-have items, but these were just a few things that may get left off of a standard list that made a big positive difference in our lives!

Before I finish, in committing to be honest, I do have to add my most hated item – our Baby Trend jog stroller.  If I had to do it all over again I would have purchased a slightly used BOB on craigslist.  Speaking of strollers, the last favorite item I will add to this list is our Burley.  Now having two kids it is great to use as a double stroller and has opened a whole new biking world to us.

And there you have it… A Few of My Favorite Things!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving that included relaxing, time with each other, and both of our families.  We were even lucky enough to eat two Thanksgiving dinners!  The kid’s favorite food over the weekend was clearly apple pie… a couple of sweeties for sure!

Addie, hard at work coloring her turkey

 Addie and I talked a lot about what we are thankful for, and her reply was consistently "The turkey dinner we are going to eat.  Gobble gobble!"  I hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful and delicious as ours!

Happy Halloween!

We were very busy with many different Halloween festivities this year!  During MEA, we made our annual trip to Pine Tree Apple Orchard to pick out our pumpkins and have some fall fun!

The following weekend we took advantage of the 60+ degree weather and attended Zoo Boo for the second year in a row.  It's Como Zoo's largest fundraiser and a great family friendly Halloween event.  The kids got to trick-or-treat, see some animals, dance, and ride on the carousel!

When the big day arrived Addie got to wear her costume to school and do some trick-or-treating with her classmates.  All the fun must have finally worn on her, because she was complaining of not feeling well when I picked her up and then felt worse and worse throughout the night.  She was able to make it to three houses, but then headed home with Brian... poor girl!  I stayed out with Max and our friends, circling the block and going to "The Scary House".  Max had a great time and enjoyed the process of walking up to each house, holding up his bag, and then running back to the sidewalk.

Happy Halloween!

 

School Pictures!

Addie got her first school pictures this year!  Here are us two school-going girls!

Marathon Weekend

This weekend Brian competed in the Twin Cities Marathon!  This was his secondmarathon, and we really wanted to get more involved in all the activities around it this year.  So we signed Addie up for the kid’s ½ mile run.  Even though it was a chilly morning, we all had a lot of fun cheering her on.  The next morning, the kids and I got out the door early excited to cheer Brian on!  We were able to see him twice along the route – once along Minnehaha Parkway, and then along Summit Ave.  We then met him at the Capitol grounds to congratulate him on his finish.  What an accomplishment!

Max and the finishers!  We are proud of you!

Speedy September

Not only did the summer fly by, but so did September!  We were also very busy but also just getting used to our “new” routine.  I started back to work, entering my 3^rd year at Highland, and with that teaching two brand new classes.  It was a welcome change and I am really enjoying the new students I am working with, but it has come with a lot of work.  One of my new classes is a technology elective that rotates every 6 weeks.  Now that we are in rotation #2, the workload is already decreasing and I am able to just enjoy my time teaching.

Addie had a big transition this September with starting a Pre-K program at Nativity in St. Anthony.  We are very happy with our choice of sending her three days a week.  She is learning so much, and is able to interact with a lot of different kids, yet still get time with Max two days a week at Tina’s.  They have already done many art projects, taken a field trip, and been over to Water Tower Park.  She is loving school and always comes home with many stories from her day!

Addie's first day of Pre-K!

Despite all the work and transitions we were able to have some fun in September too!  We met some friends at Target’s reading festival at Hyland Park, made it up to the cabin, and played with many of our friends.

On our way to the reading festival... Max's first bus ride!

North Shore 2012

I think the biggest highlight for me this summer was our camping trip up to the North Shore.  It was Max’s first camping trip, so we were a bit cautious in our planning knowing that things may not go as smoothly as we plan, but we were pleasantly surprised to find out Max loves camping as much as we do!  We spent one night in Schroeder, MN at a place called Lamb’s Resort, and it was amazing!  Our site was steps away from the lake and we could hear the waves crashing all through the night.  The kids loved it as well; they were able to climb on the rocks, look for agates, and put their feet in the water.  We spent our days hiking in various locations along the North Shore, and even took a day trip to Lutsen to ride the Tram and have lunch.  It was an amazing trip and we have already marked our site number at Lamb’s and plan on spending three nights there this next summer!  

 The view from our site at Lamb's

 The kids searching for agates

Max liked exploring in the backpack and by foot.  He loved splashing his feet in the water!

 Addie loved climbing on the rocks and putting her feet in the water.  These two things were, by far, her favorite part of the trip!

Family picture from the top of Lutsen Mountain

 Literally, two happy campers!

Where did summer go???

Our summer was busier than ever!  As you can tell from the lack of posts, the time just got away from us.  Here are some of the highlights of our July and August and some more of the items we checked off our summer to-do list!

 Addie's first game at Target Field.  She and her friend, Isaac, even got to run the bases after the game!

 VillageFest!  The kids had a great time at all the festivities, including the parade and Addie's first race!

  The kids celebrating Papa Wes's 100th Birthday!

We checked off almost everything on our summer to-do list!  Including swimming lessons, waterpark, Como Town, State Fair, Teddy Bear Park, and Block Party!