June = Summer, and Summer = Party!

Let me just start out by saying that this post has a LOT of pictures. I tried to narrow down which ones I chose, but I just couldn't leave any of these out.  Sorry in advance!

I dreamed and dreamed of summer, and after what seemed like forever, warm days and blue skies came to Minnesota! It is so green and beautiful.

 One Friday night we went as a family to the Children's Museum, to be part of the grand opening of the Thomas Exhibition.  I mean, how could we not?  It was Thomas!  My kids absolutely loved the exhibit, with the exception of Logan.  He was completely terrified of these giant trains, and kept running away, saying, "They're scary!"  But there were lots of other things he loved in "Sodor."

 Logan went through a phase where, even though it was a warm June month, he would have to wear his Thomas hat.  He also could never leave the house without a toy for each hand.  He took this very seriously, as you can see.

 Claire learned to sit up this month.  I love this phase of baby-hood.  They're so happy to be able to see the world, and she would play contentedly for hours on end.  She really is such a happy, pleasant baby.

 Our neighbors have a cool inflatable pool they set up in their backyard, and we spent many fun afternoons at their house.  The boys loved it when I would throw them into the pool.  I thought it sounded painful, but they loved and begged for it.

 We got a special visit on Saturday from Chase's cousin Melissa and his Aunt Judy. They were on their way home from a family vacation in Minnesota. It was so fun to see them and their cute kids!  Claire and her second cousin Margot are such cute little babies, and I hope they get to hang out lots more in the future.

 I just had to include this picture.  We are at Pink Berry in Mall of America, and Claire is showing us how dainty she is, while Chase is completely wrapped around her little finger.

 Here is a picture of our spectacularly ghetto basement.  However, it's perfect for kids to play and make huge messes in.  We did a lot of garage and yard sale hunting this June, and there were some great treasures to be found, including this train table and tracks, a kitchen set, and a pirate's treasure chest.

 Our June 2014 family photos.  I love these people!

Claire, age 7 months

Logan, age 2 1/2

Mckay, age 4

May and our Nauvoo Trip

The benefit of having Mckay's birthday on May 1 is that the month starts out with a bang!  This year Mckay wanted a pirate party, so I made my little pirate a cool cake and had way too much fun picking out fun party-ware for the event.  The best part of his birthday was having his Grandma England visit, along with his aunt Cassidy and uncle Cody.  They arrived late afternoon the day of Mckay's birthday, so we met them at Mall of America, rode a few fun rides, went to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, and then headed home for cake and ice cream.  It was so fun to watch Mckay during this whole day, because he knew that it was his special day, and he got so excited by the smallest things.  He really is a sweet, naturally happy little boy.  We love him so much!

 Cassidy, Jeannette, and I at the Rainforest Cafe.

We were sad to see Jeannette leave after two days, but were so happy that Cassidy and Cody were able to stay for almost an entire week.  While they were there, we went lots of fun places.  We took them to the Mill Museum, and, as you can see from the picture above, they were fascinated by how logs were sorted and floated down the Mississippi River.

In no time at all, Claire had wrapped Uncle Cody around her little finger.

This is a picture of Logan reading to Claire.  Being my current two-year-old, this little boy is often the main character in stories of exasperation and desperation.  I'm afraid that because of this, I don't always give him credit for his thoughtfulness and kindness. This picture is a good reminder of juste how amazing and sweet Logan is.

Towards the end of May, Mckay graduated from preschool!  This preschool was such a great experience for both him and I.  It took a lot of work planning and teaching these lessons, but I learned so much, and so did he.  I'm so proud of him and how much he learned and grew throughout this year.

Over Memorial Day Weekend, we decided to head down to Nauvoo.  It was only a six hour drive, and  we figured we should go while we lived so close.  I'm convinced that going over Memorial Day weekend is the best time of all, because it's the weekend that all the summer events open, but it's not overly crowded and it's not too hot.  We had a great time.  Above is a picture of Claire and I enjoying the wagon ride tour of Historic Nauvoo.

One of our family's favorite places to hang out in Nauvoo is the section for little kids.  I can't remember what it was called exactly, but it's where they have replicas of toys that pioneer children played and used.  We stayed there for hours, and the entire time Mckay and Logan had a blast.

Logan decided to rock the old pioneer-styled hats they had for kids to wear.  He also liked the rope-climbing wooden bears.

I haven't been to Nauvoo since the temple there was dedicated.  I wish we could have done a session, or at least gone inside, but we were able to walk around the outside as a family and feel the spirit and significance of this marvelous building.

April and Easter Vacation

I probably should have added this minor detail in March's post (because we technically moved March 28th), but this spring we bought and moved into our new HOUSE!  After driving all over the Twin Cities Metro, we finally decided to buy a house not more than a half mile from where we rented.  We just love the location, the ward, and the commute to work that we found in Plymouth, and are so excited to be able to stay here.  

Our new home.  And yes, this picture was taken at the very first of April.

One thing we did all during March before we moved in, was put up interior walls in our unfinished  basement.  We wanted a place for the kids to run around, but worried about the furnace and other equipment being damaged by curious hands, and we especially didn't want our little ones to get hurt in the process.  So with the help of a friend, we were able to put up walls that made this place a safe (and necessary) play place.

In April, we were able to fly to California to spend Easter week with our England family!  It was the first time since last August that we'd left Minnesota, and after a long winter, we were more than ready for palm trees and family.  Above:  Claire and her cousin Garrex (only 2 days older than her!) are meeting for the first time.

 One morning in California we took a walk to a doughnut shop nearby.  Mckay thought Cole's wheelchair was a great place to hang out, and I think Cole liked it that way too.

 Grandma and Claire are hanging out, being buddies.

One of my favorite memories of this trip is taking the kids to a cute little farm/carnival place (I can't remember it's name).  The kids loved petting and feeding the animals, but the biggest hit of the day was playing in the corn.

These were the grandkid's Easter baskets, but they doubled as hats for most of the week. Mckay, Logan, and their cousin Jax loved hanging out in "Grandpa's Crib", and spent hours watching TV and playing there.

 This picture really captures Logan.  He's a sweet, although very mischievous, little boy, who has kept me on my toes ever since he turned two.

 We had a fun Easter egg hunt Sunday morning.  Mckay loved sharing his candy with his Dad.

 We were lucky enough to be able to see Seth and Julie's family for an evening while we were in California.  We hung out, swam, and watched Walter and Logan hit each other (it was mostly Logan, who was in a hitting phase).  We had so much fun!  (And Logan passed that stage and he and Walter are great friends now!)

We left California and returned to Minnesota the Monday after Easter.  There, we were invited by some friends in our ward to do a post-Easter egg hunt.  The Gauthier's did an amazing job of hosting a fantastic egg hunt, and our kids were in heaven.  I loved it, too, because they got enough chocolate to share with their mom!

One other highlight of the month was visiting the Kid's Workshop at the Home Depot.  There, the kids got to use hammers, nails, and wood glue to make a fun racing car.  The boys absolutely loved it.  

March 2014

This March brought the first warmish rays of sunshine to our family.  I was so excited when the snow and ice began cleaning from our driveway!  Below is a picture of Claire the first time we took her outside just to "be outside."  I think she enjoyed herself even though she could barely move her arms and legs.

 One of my favorite things we did this year was this co-op preschool with some of our friends.  It has been a great learning experience for both Mckay and I, and it's been so fun to get to know some families in our ward better, and to invite them into our home on a regular basis.  As you can see from the costumes and artwork, they are all creative, fun-loving kids.

 Each month our co-op tries to go on a field trip.  In March we went to the New Hope police station, and there Wendy gave us a tour of the police station.  She was a good sport to handle all of our little kids, and they enjoyed their time getting their mug shots taken and walking through the holding cells and riding in the cop car.

 Bath time is never complete without us wrapping our kids as tightly as we can and then laying them on the floor.  They love the challenge of trying to get out of their towels.  It's a silly tradition, but every time we get them out of the bath, Mckay and Logan say, "wrap me!"  So we do.

 I couldn't resist dressing Claire up for St. Patrick's day.  As you can see, she's  still a thumb sucker.

Even though the snow melted off of the roads and driveways fairly quickly, there's so much snow piled up in drifts to the side that we are constantly getting puddles from the snow melt.  Logan loves it, though.  I had to decide not to mind that every time we went outside he would immediately go straight for the puddles and get soaking wet.  He was so happy splashing around, though, that I think it was totally worth it.

The Long Winter

One of my all-time favorite series is The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I remember reading These Happy Golden Years, set in De Smet, North Dakota, and thinking how hard it would be to be stuck in a place so cold that you could say "The sun was shining and it was only twenty degrees below zero" with a straight face.
This winter in Minnesota has made me feel like I'm starring in those books.  I have honestly had days where I was just grateful that the high of the day wasn't a negative number.  I've been told that this winter has been unusually cold, and that "polar vortex" isn't something that I should hear every year, nor should I be able to tell people that Plymouth, Minnesota reached temperatures that were colder than the surface of Mars all that often.   But man, people, how do you do this every year?!?  My hat is off to all of you!
Now that I've started this post with a little drama and "woe is me", I have to be honest and say that this winter has had lots of fun moments and that with a newborn, I wasn't going to be outside that much whether it was -35 or +35 degrees, so the cold didn't cramp our style a whole lot.

 The first weekend in February Todd and Jeannette came to visit us for Claire's baby blessing. We took them to the Fire and Ice Festival in Plymouth.  It's this cool festival that's held on a frozen lake.  While there, we roasted marshmallows, Mckay got pulled in a sled, we saw some ice sculptures, and we slipped and slid a lot.  It was really cold, but we had a great time with them and they were good sports!

It was so nice to have Grandma and Grandpa England at the blessing.  They were only able to be in Minnesota for about 48 hours, but we had such a great visit. Claire was so beautiful!  She wore the same outfit I wore when I was blessed, and made me feel like even though my parents weren't able to come, they played a part in the blessing anyway.

We also celebrated Chase's birthday with his parents in town.  The crown made him officially King of the Day, and his two little princes fulfilled their royal duties by helping him blow out his birthday candles.

 This shot is just a typical scene from our house.  Every afternoon around 1:00, they get to watch a movie if they've helped pick up their toys.  I'm not sure who needs this routine more, them or me!

 The last week of February Aunt Rachel came to visit us.  We took her to downtown Minneapolis to where Chase worked, and we met him there for lunch.  We stuck out like sore thumbs with our stroller and kids, but it was fun to see the hustle and bustle of downtown Minneapolis where Chase works.

 No first time trip to Minneapolis would be complete without a trip to Mall of America.  Aunt Rachel was a good sport and went on lots of rides with these two boys.  They're starting to remember this place well enough that they have their favorite rides, and they get so excited.

 We had preschool field trip the week Rachel was here.  We went to a Nature Conservatory and got to watch a puppet show about what different animals do in the winter.  The kids were pretty enthralled.  I like this picture because it shows a lot of the wonderful kids and families that we spend time with here in Plymouth.  We've been blessed with lots of wonderful friends and ward members who have helped us feel welcome and at home here.

 Here's little Claire bear the day she rolled over for the first time.  I feel like time goes by faster and faster with each child.  I can't believe she's already rolling over!  I love her sweet little spirit and her general happiness.  Even though I think I'm supposed to sooth and comfort her, I think she does that for me just by looking at her and holding her.  She's a great little addition to our family.

Terrific Two's

 As I am writing this post, my little Logan is sitting on my lap snuggling.  He does have the flu, but I'd like to think that he would be here even if he was feeling better.  This little guy loves his Mommy, and I love him.  I meant to write a special post just for him when he turned two years old, but of course, I'm only getting around to it a month later.  The pictures I posted below are snapshots not only of an event, but they capture the essence of Logan's likes and interests at this age.

 Logan is my tactile learner, which means he learns and explores through touching and feeling.  I can pretty much leave him with peanut butter, crayons, sand, paint, play dough, etc. and know that he will be occupied for hours . . . and the mess will be huge!

Logan also loves to dress up.  If there's a hat to be had, he wants it on his head.

 He went through a phase where he only wanted to wear other people's shoes, especially Mckay's. He would complain that his shoes were "too small" (even though they definitely weren't).  I think he loved the fact that he could put really big shoes on by himself, and that definitely fits his independent nature.  He also loves Mom's iphone.  He has a frightening knowledge of how to use it.  I think he's watched Peter Pan at least 20 times.

 Logan loves "baby Claire".  He likes to rub his head on her tummy and say, "soft". He also will give her kisses all day long.  I have to monitor his loves to make sure they're not too rough, but I'm so grateful that he takes such an interest in his siblings and wants to spend time with them.

Another hat and a chocolate ice cream cone goatee = heaven.  And of course, why sit on the couch the normal way?

"Buzz Lightyear" jammies and his favorite blankie.  Logan drags this blankie with us everywhere we go.  I call it the "Linus syndrome."  He loves how soft it is, and likes to snuggle it against his face.

This little boy is my pride and joy.  I wish I had the perfect picture to capture his mischievous smile, his funny laugh, and the mad dash he employs every time he thinks I want to change his diaper.  It's probably good (for my sake) that I don't have pictures of him running as fast as he can away from me everytime he's not strapped down in a store or a public place.  He likes to be free and independent, and reminds me of this every time we brave the world outside our house.
He speaks very clearly and deliberately.  It seems like each and every day he picks up ten more words, and he's using 4-8 word sentences regularly.  He is Mckay's little shadow, and doggedly strives to prove he can keep up with his big brother.
He's my delightful little two-year-old boy, and I'm so glad he's a part of our family!