The Crew

Addie, Hazel, Helene and Max – this is the daycare crew.  I took a picture of them the other day for a scrapbook for a friend and former coworker.  The story behind the photo is that Brian and I met Angela and Nick (Hazel’s parents) and Debbie and Jake (Helene’s parents) while I was an AmeriCorps member at Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.  I think it’s pretty amazing that we did not simply make amazing friends through this experience, but also there is now a group of us that all live in the same neighborhood and even send our kids to the same daycare!  Brian and I feel so blessed to have this network around us, because as we all know, it takes a village to raise a child!

Apple Picking

For the second year in a row, we were invited to Brian's coworker's house to pick apples. She lives in Medina and through the years has grown an apple orchard on the back of her property with about 150 trees! We had so much fun there last year so were very excited to be invited back again. We picked three different kinds of apples and taste tested many more... even Max got in on the tasting! Although once he got his first apple, there was no way he was going to give that up! After we picked our apples we got to make apple juice! Addie was very excited about this and could hardly wait for it to be her turn to throw in the apples and turn the wheel. The juice is delicious - better than any other kind of apple juice I have tried. This is something we all look forward to in the fall and hope that we will be able to be invited back to keep this tradition!

6 Month Max Stats

Weight: 15 lbs, 4 oz (15%)
Length: 27" (60%)
Head: 17.125" (30%)
Likes: Eating, watching Addie, peek-a-boo, food, playing in the exersaucer, scooting around the living room, putting anything he can reach into his mouth.
Dislikes: Being fed too slowly, people eating in front of him, naps with Dada, sitting still.

Max's stats again show him as a skinny little guy!  I was surprised by this because he eats so much!  We started him on solids around 5 months and he has taken to them so quickly that we have had a hard time keeping up with him!  He has tried oatmeal, rice cereal, apples, pears, bananas, avacado, peas, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, green beans, crackers, and puff cereal... whew!  He is still struggling with sitting up independently, but is getting close to crawling!  He will get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth for a while and then lunge himself forward, and he actually makes a lot of ground this way!  He has also recently started skipping his 2 am feeding which is making me very happy and much more rested :)  As always though, Max is still such a happy and easy going little guy who brings us more and more joy each day!

Dance Class

Addie started dance class tonight! We've been waiting to sign her up for an "activity" for a year now and ended up deciding on dance class to be the best fit. Most importantly, Addie has a strong interest in dance and has been excited about this idea for a while now. It is also fun for me because I also started dance when I was three. Parents are not allowed to watch, but based on the few glimpses we stole through the window we know Addie had a great time! I'm excited for her to show us all she learns at Parent's Night in October and at the big Holiday Recital in December!

A fun weekend!

We had a fun weekend enjoying the beautiful weather and fun activities around town. On Saturday we went to Hyland Park for Target’s Book Festival. We had so much fun walking the trails, listening to stories, dancing and playing games – Addie even won a toy for Max! We thought it was funny that by the time we got back to the car Addie was sound asleep in the stroller and Max was the one to was wide awake! Sunday we pulled out the pool for what will probably be the last time this year and had some fun on the “water slide”!

Labor Day 2011

We made our annual trip up to Crooked Lake for Labor Day weekend. The weather wasn't as warm as we had hoped, but even though we weren't able to go swimming, we still had a lot of fun. We spent our time going for boat rides, fishing, and playing at the park.

Happy Birthday Mama!

I was lucky to have a whole weekend of Birthday celebrations! We had dinner from Brasa, I competed in the St. Croix Valley Triathlon, and we relaxed at the cabin. I was also treated to some very nice and thoughtful gifts. So far year 32 is off to a great start!