May be going webless

Just wanted to let people know that we may be going without the web at home for a while, so our posts may have a pretty big gap. That just means that I might have more stories to tell when we're back online! I'll keep going as long as we're hooked up-I don't know exactly when the disconnect will happen. We had our phone turned off today and expected that the net would go with it, but yet here I am. I emailed everyone the new phone number to contact us at and let everyone know we changed to a yahoo address, so you should still be able to get a hold of us. If this is the last post for a while...we'll see you in the near future!

Meeting George

JJ got to meet Curious George yesterday at MOA. He watched him with great interest because this George was quite a bit bigger than he is used to. We got our picture taken with George, had a snack (more of those wonderful Oreos!) and listened to CG stories. We also met Ace the Moose from MOA's Moose Mountain mini golf and Bubba Gump Shrimp. JJ certainly has developed some cautiousness around these mascot critters! He was a bit shy around all of them. His imagination has definitely kicked in. We've discovered that even Finding Nemo might be a bit much for him at this point. He becomes quite distressed when Nemo gets sucked into the fish tank filter. We'll be fast forwarding through that part next time we watch it! Ally went through the same thing, except her thing was the part where Mufasa gets killed in Lion King. I guess I never realized how brutal kids movies really could be! Thankfully, Baby Signing Time and CG are still his favorites!

State Fair

We went to the state fair today. It was pretty fun. JJ's first trip was last year and he slept much of the time. He got lots of coos from people we walked by. Just a year later, he's walking around and participating. Ally and JJ got to play at farming. Ally pedaled a tractor around then they fed fake chickens, planted fake seeds, collected fake farm products to sell and got fake money from which they purchased items from the farm store. Ally bought a snack (cinnamon toast crunch) and JJ got a stuffed baby lamb (0bviously provided to the store by Serta). It was actually pretty cool! JJ didn't seem to know what to think of thestate fair mascot, the big robot that was walking around, or Goldy the U of M mascot (who hid my eyes then pretended to steal my deep fried pickles-damn gophers!). Ally got to pet a duckling, a lamb and a baby pig in the Miracle of Birth center. JJ was a little weirded out by petting the pig, but liked the lamb. The kids both seemed to have a lot of fun!

Chasing JJ

We have seen a resurgence of the chase game! JJ greatly enjoyed when he would crawl and we would crawl after him. He even enjoyed having the tables turned and chasing us! It was hard on the knees, but still fun. Since he has begun to walk, the game has taken a new twist...his hands are free to hold things. He grabs the remote off the couch and takes off giggling! This is more about the chase than what he actually has because he uses toys for it too. Thankfully, he doesn't think it's funny to run away with things he shouldn't have...yet.

Random stuff

I just added a couple of fun things to the blog. One is a hangman game on the right side and the other is a kid-related quote at the bottom of the page. These are supposed to change everyday, I think. I just wanted to point them out because they are not ads and won't send you away from the blog. They are just for fun!

Also, if you right click on the pictures, a menu comes up and you can click "save as..." in order to save pictures from the blog if you want to.

Happy reading!

Minnehaha Falls

We took a little trip to Minnehaha Falls today. It was beautiful as usual. The falls weren't as large as they were the last time we went (2 years ago). Someone said the falls are bigger in the spring than in the summer. We also discovered a little gem on the other end of the park. They have a wading pool that appears to be free. You do have to pay for parking though. We parked on the other end of the park-a bit of a walk, but we paid 50 cents per hour and got our exercise. JJ enjoyed himself quite a bit. The wading pool was listed on the website so, I packed lil swimmers and a towel for him and wore clothes I wouldn't be too worried about getting wet. I didn't know if we would go to the wading pool for sure because there wasn't much info about it on the website. In truth, I wasn't really prepared for this little adventure. JJ loved playing in the little fountains of water and walking under the waterfalls. Of course, I held his hand almost the entire time for safety. He did me in. I was absolutely soaked after he led me under the waterfalls! But, after seeing how bold he was, I will be much better prepared for our upcoming trip to Bunker Beach!

First Birthday party (and more)!

JJ had a great birthday party yesterday with family and friends. We were joined by Poppa Henry, Gramma Laura and Poppa Lyle, the Rosenaus, and the Callisons. Gramma Laura made a great Curious George (banana flavored) cake. He greatly enjoyed that! He also learned that Oreo cookies are fabulous! JJ had lots of fun playing with bubbles. We discovered that toddlers enjoy pouring them out of the pan more than blowing them as the pan was dumped by Collin, then JJ, then Ashlyn (twice!). Oh, what fun! And JJ appreciated his friends pouring them out because then he could play with the bubble solution and lay in it! It works out for me...his shirt is going to need all the soap it can get after his Oreo and cake mess!

Along with turning one, JJ is meeting the normal milestones. He enjoyed his first car ride facing forward the other day. He has also discovered the entertaining properties of putting things inside other things. I gave him a small tub to put things in this morning so he would stop putting his paci-and other toys- into the garbage can. I guess this sorting includes himself! I was quite surprised to glance down to see him climbing into his bucket. I guess he figured it was a good size for himself!

The weekend was full of fun other than his birthday party. We also went to the Irish Heritage Fair at Harriet Island on Friday. He and Ally both enjoyed the music. In an effort to get a shorter video to post here of them dancing, I was dancing and bopping around. Click on the second video to see his reaction! I do believe my son just called me a loser! Ahh, well... I knew I wasn't that great of a dancer!

More teeth and other adventures

JJ may be done teething for a little while! Yea! He now has four teeth on top and three on the bottom-we still think one might be coming on the bottom. He's also walking more and more. He likes to take us "bye-bye" down the hall and gets mad when mama tries to do laundry without him. He turned 1 year old yesterday! I can't believe it has already been a year. It went by so fast. At times I miss holding his tiny little body and staring at his tiny little hands as he sleeps. He's not so big that this is a far gone occurance. He's still pretty little and still very cute when he sleeps! He really is a lot of fun right now. He's learning so many new things. His laugh is infectious. He is quite mischievious. All these things were only hinted at when he was a tiny baby. He's come so far in a year! We're having so much fun!

Finally, Teeth!

7/31 ushered in a new front top tooth. 8/2 brought a new top tooth next to that. From the looks of things, the other top front tooth will break through in the next day or two! On top of it all, the poor little guy has a very runny nose! I hear that teething can bring on a runny nose, but I've also heard that it's a "wives tale" or some such thing. All I know is that JJ is having quite the week. He's becoming braver with walking, but still insists on holding a hand as he goes. He ushers us around the house with a vice grip on our hand! Even Poppa Henry gets to travel around the apartment as JJ practices his walking. Even so, he's doing more and more walking all by himself!