Week at a glance

Over the last week we...

visited GGs

picked a flower girl dress for Emily

visited uncle Pat's new place and took Emily to her first fireworks display

spent time at the park (indoor and outdoor!)

witnessed nature in action

visited friends

perfected our bubble-beard technique

spent time just hanging out together

and worked on our stage presence!

This is the week we've been looking forward to for over a month.  Karen, Marcus and William come into town tomorrow and we'll all head to Lake Mille Lacs on Wednesday.  Enjoy the end of July, I know we will!!

Basement overhaul

This week we decided to put up the shuffleboard table on Craig's list. We knew we had underpriced it when, in the first few hours, we received no less than 10 responses and not one wanted to negotiate price. I really loved it - or at least the idea of it. We haven't played it at all since Emily was born so it was time to get it out and free up some space in the basement.

If you've been to our house you know Emily is not short in the toy dept. and I wanted to get some of those toys out of (immediate) sight. So on Saturday morning we took a family trip to IKEA to shop for our would-be playroom! We had ideas already but as it goes, we ended up with more than planned and after a lunch of Swedish meatballs we finally ended up leaving about an hour and a half later with a FULL car!  While Emily was in her IKEA coma (aka nap) Patrick got to work! After a couple of hours, we had a new room all ready for playing!

We still have some more work to do but the bones are in and I am happy to start moving toys downstairs!

Baseball and birthdays!

This weekend we went to the St. Paul Saints game with the Mulfort side of the family.  We took Emily's friend, Eloisa, with and we were surprised to make it to the middle of the 6th inning.  The girls could probably have made it longer but it was already 9:30 and the Saints were losing 10-1 so we called it a night.  We had a great time but the highlight for the 2 year olds was definitely the assortment of treats!

She really did like the pig
although you can't tell!

Gotta love freezies the size of the kids!

We spent Sunday morning at a nearby park celebrating Emily's friend's birthday.  It was a fun party and we feel very lucky to have met so many great kids and families through daycare!

Post Party exhaustion!

Exciting day!

Last night was Emily's first night in her new big girl bed. She came out of her room 3 times so on the third time I went in and stayed until she was asleep.  She did great through the rest of the night!

She'll love me for posting this picture later in life!

In September, Emily will be a flower girl in uncle Johnnie and Kim's wedding so today we went with the bride-to-be to look at some dresses. We ultimately ordered a dress online but we had fun trying on dresses! 

We also purchased some fake flower petals to practice at home before the big day. Someone better tell that girl that they don't need to be in a line - could be a long prelude to the bride if this happened at the wedding!

More summer adventures

Emily and I are still enjoying our time together and finding lots of ways to fill it! Below are some of our most recent excursions!

Emily still loves swimming lessons and is learning a lot and getting better!  We're also spending time practicing her new moves on nice days.

We have also (finally) got Emily a bike! She seems to like it after first use.

We saw a sneak peek of The Wiz (showing at the Stages Theater) at MOA on toddler Tuesday last week. Emily was really into it and also liked the meet and greet afterward!

We have also enjoyed some shopping and lunches together :)

Playing around at home is a great way to spend time too

We also like meeting friends for playdates so give us a call if you're out and about!

Today Emily and I stopped in to Target to get some pool toys and were surprised to see this already.  I'll have to avoid this section of the store for the next month and a half!

We're looking forward to another playdate tomorrow and going flower girl dress shopping on Friday!  

Fourth of July weekend

We had a great weekend celebrating the fourth as well as celebrating birthdays!!

The fourth fell on a Friday so we were treated to a three day weekend with Patrick! We began the day Friday with Edina's parade. We have now gone two years in a row and Emily has loved it both years. She loved seeing everything in the parade and running out to get candy! This is definitely a tradition we'll keep.

Enjoying a pre-parade smoothie!

Ready!

On Saturday we ventured out to the Carver County Fairgrounds to the Taste Of MN. We had a good time wandering the grounds while sampling the food and getting Emily on some rides.

Sunday was a busy day that began with brunch to celebrate Katie and Laura's birthdays. As always, we had a lovely time with family and wish them both a great new year! 

We wrapped up the day with Emily's friend Abby to celebrate her 3rd birthday. We went to MOA and the girls had a great time going on all of the rides geared toward toddlers. We followed that up with dinner, presents and cupcakes. It's amazing how fast time goes when you're watching a baby grow up, I still remember that day three years ago when we met Abby for the first time. Happy birthday little sweetie!

Happy birthday Abby!!

We had a great weekend and are looking forward to the Saints game next week and our Mille Lacs vacation at the end of the month!