Fun weekend: Part I

We had a fun, busy weekend. In fact, it was so fun and busy that I decided to make it into two seperate posts instead of one, never-ending post. So this post will cover our fun events on Saturday, and I'll get to Sunday's events later.

Shakopee was having its annual Christmas kick-off this weekend starting on Friday night with a parade, carriage rides, and a visit from Santa. Our plans were to bundle up the kids and check it out, but when Friday night actually came, it was cold - not just cold, freezing cold and windy so we bailed on our plans and stayed home and watched the Jim Carey version of "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." The movie combined with some popcorn was enough to take Ryan's mind off of all the fun stuff I had told him we were going to do. Lucky for us, the celebration continued on Saturday with some more activities, so Ryan and I got up early, ran some errands, and got ready to have some Christmas fun Shakopee style. We started the morning off with Wendy's Wiggle Jiggle and Jam session at the library. It was a fun music show with lots of kid participation (I'm pretty sure Ryan was up front "helping" the majority of the time). His favorite was when he got to dress like a robin and flap his wings for one of the songs - he loved it. After the show was done, there were cookies and hot chocolate for everyone in the lobby - we of course took full advantage of this. Once we were good and full (and warm), we headed outside to track down the horse drawn carriage rides (this was one thing Ryan didn't forget about from the night before so we had to do it even if it meant standing outside in the chilly weather). Lucky for us, there were not too many braves souls waiting in line so it only took about five minutes to get our ride. Ryan liked the ride, but he was more impressed by the huge horse pulling us around. He wanted to actually ride on the horse, but after convincing him he would probably fall off and get hurt, he gave it up and decided it was best to sit in the carriage. With the carriage ride complete we walked over to another building to make some crafts. The crafts ended up being a bunch of cute little Christmas ornaments that were easy to assemble for kids. Again, there were not a lot of people out and about, so Ryan was able to take his time and make three different things - all of which are proudly displayed in our house. After the crafts, we were off to the best part of the day - a visit with Santa. Once again, when we arrived there was only one other family there so when Ryan got his time with Santa, he took full advantage. He jumped right up on his lap (which was surprising because Ryan has absolutely hated Santa until this year) and started giving Santa the important info - his age, 3, his name, Ryan, and his list off presents, a police helmet and fire guitar. I had to laugh as I watched Ryan on Santa's lap. To ensure he had Santa's full attention, he kept his face no further than 6 inches from Santa's at all times, and made sure to talk continuously so no one else could get a word in - the kid knows what he wants, and makes sure he gets it. We'll have to see if Santa comes through or not. To wrap up our fun, we headed over to the DQ for lunch and then went home for a long afternoon nap for both of us. It was a very fun day and was great to watch Ryan's excitement with each new thing we did. He is finally getting all the fun of Santa and Christmas and I'm not sure who enjoys it more, him or me.

Our horse drawn carriage rideRyan's crafts

Ryan was far too busy watching everyone else watch him to actually look at my camera - typical - so this is the best picture I got. Oh well, I'm sure we'll have many more Santa picture opportunities in the future. Maybe next year we'll get Lauren in there too. She was a bit too crabby and tired to join in the fun this year so she stayed home with Daddy and slept the day away - a fun event for both of them too.

A visit to Auntie's house

The kids and I headed up to Buffalo to visit Auntie for the day on Wednesday. The trip took a little longer than usual due to some snow in our area, but it was well worth it to check out Auntie's new house. Lauren slept most of the ride and Ryan danced along to Christmas music so it was a pleasant trip. Once we got to the house, Ryan as very excited. When we got inside and took our coats off, the first words out of his mouth were, "where's Grandpa?" We had to break the news to him that Grandpa Jim didn't move with Auntie and that he was back at his place in St. Peter - I guess Ryan assumed Auntie and Grandpa would always live together - too bad for Auntie that that isn't the case. Anyway, after the confusion of not finding Grandpa, we got to take a tour of the place and of course, Ryan was very excited about this as well. Everything was beautiful, pretty, or ridiculous (a new word he has been using lately which perfectly described Auntie's huge walk-in closet that was overflowing with her clothes) - ridiculous is right! After the tour, we each got to make our own little pizzas for lunch (which was delicious), and then headed out to take in one of Buffalo's finest stores - Walmart. Seriously, if you can't buy it at Walmart, do you really need it? I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Buffalo Walmart wasn't half as dirty and gross as the Shakopee one so I actually bought a few things and so did Auntie (word has it this is her new favorite hang-out). After a couple of more stops, we finished up our outing by taking a drive around the new neighborhood and then headed back to Auntie's place. The kids were both sleeping when we pulled into the driveway, but as usual, they woke up the instant we got into the house. Lucky for Ryan, Auntie was able to find some Diego cartoon on tv so he got to watch that for a while and Lauren kept herself busy with some toys. Ash and I took the opportunity to chat a while before the kids and I had to head back home so I could get to work. It was great to see Ash in her very own place and know that the last of the Loken kids is out on her own and doing just fine. I took a couple of pictures of the place. The first picture of the family room is my favorite . . . notice that Ryan is sitting on a blanket. Maybe you are thinking he did that by choice, but no, that's not the case. Ash and Mike have their priorities straight and opted to buy a new 32" flat screen tv instead of furniture because, who really needs furniture when you have blankets to sit on? I'm just kidding, they actually did buy the new tv, but not instead of furniture. They already have some, they just haven't gotten it moved in yet. I know Ryan and Lauren will be bummed when it comes though because right now the room is perfect for running around and playing, the furniture will only clutter it - something to think about Auntie. The other three are of the kitchen, and living room which are both still works in progress although I think they look great the way they are.

She walks!!

I was talking on the phone today when Lauren just decided to start walking. I obviously hung up (it was my sister so she didn't care) right away and got out the camera. I love that Lauren laughs and gets all worked up while taking her steps. When she finally made it to me, she wouldn't stop hugging (her version of hugging is ramming her head into me) and smiling - so cute - she was almost as happy as I was. Yeah baby, we are so proud of you! We'll see if she sticks with walking, or goes back to crawling later today.

The basement is done!!

Our almost two-year basement project is officially (well, everything but the tile being sealed which is a minor project) complete! Trav, Grandpa Doug, and Brian (Trav's uncle) have proven their worth when it comes to being weekend warriors. If anyone is interested, I will be taking bids for the three of them to do some contract work in the future. The project was a long, painful, and very messy journey, but we got through it all with just a few (pretty much every weekend) arguments about what to do and not do to. Lucky for everyone, Trav won out on most of them and the basement looks great because of it - even I can admit when I'm wrong every once in a while. So here is a preview of the basement. The finishing touches were just put in - the table, and the final two doors (one of which is my absolute favorite because it closes off the basement from the laundry room and keeps curious little babes out) - during the past couple of weeks. Having them in place along with everything else just makes the basement feel completely different - it finally feels like the basement we have always wanted and not just a construction zone - yeah! Check it out.

My favorite door

the basement shower

And a picture of the kiddies just for fun. Maybe Trav and I will finally have a house warming party one of these days now that we have more room for everyone - we'll see!

1 year check-up

If you couldn't guess by the title, Lauren had her one year check-up today and passed with flying colors. Here are some stats on the babe:

Weight: 24 lbs 3/4 oz - 92%
Height: 33 1/4 inches - >95%
Head: 18.3 cm 80%

It is now officially confirmed, we have ourselves a BIG baby girl! She seems so petite and small to me usually - just kidding, I was totally expecting these results, but what I wasn't expecting was the fact that she is actually bigger than Ryan was at 1 year old. He only (and I say only because it was less than Lauren, not because it is small for the average kid) weighed 23 lbs and was 32 1/2 inches tall - that means she has almost two pounds on him and almost an inch taller - holy buckets, what have we gotten ourselves into?! It will be interesting to see if she continues to surpass him, or if she'll level off sometime and actually be the "little" sister - we'll have to wait and see.

Along with the routine exam, the babe also got four shots - hot fun! Lucky for her, Ryan was right there rubbing her back and telling her, "it will be all fine" until she stopped crying - such a nice big brother. After the shots, Lauren still had one more bit of torture before we could leave - a finger prick to check her hemoglobin. By the time that was done, she was pretty mad and just wanted out of that place so we headed home and she went straight to bed where she slept for almost two hours - shots take a lot out of her. After a quick dinner, it was bath time and then off to bed (a nice early night). Ryan has school tomorrow and is very excited about getting back after missing last Thursday for Thanksgiving - he said he needs to see some of his friends again - it must be tough to be such a popular 3 year old!

Lauren's birthday party

We celebrated Lauren's one year birthday today by having a party at Grandpa and Grandma Quast's house. Grandma made one of her special birthday cakes, and Lauren came away with more gifts than I can count - lucky little girl! I highly doubt Lauren knew that the celebration was for her, but she did her part by entertaining the guests and playing with all the great gifts she received. When it came time for the cake, we got her naked and were ready for a mess, but like her brother was at his 1 year party, Lauren was a little hesitant, and took some time to warm up to the idea of digging into the cake. Once she got a taste of it, she did eat it all, but still managed to come away very clean (what else would I expect from my kids). It was a great way to end a very busy and long weekend. Here is a slide show with some highlights from the day.

Happy Thanksgiving

We hosted our first Thanksgiving Day at our place this year, although, it would be a real stretch to say that I actually did anything to help with the food preparation, or was even a good hostess as we had a bit too much fun the night before, and I was really feeling it. Lucky for me, my mom was staying at our place so she picked up the pieces and pulled together another great Thanksgiving Day meal/celebration. We also had a mini-birthday celebration for Lauren (whose actual birthday was the following day) - she got her first baby doll, a Princess suitcase (a necessity for any one year old), and some birthday money - not a bad day for a little girl. Ryan managed to sleep pretty much the entire day away as he was up late the night before while the rest of us enjoyed spending some time together. The day wrapped up pretty early as we were all tired and another big day was coming - Auntie's move into her new house! Unfortunately, Trav and I were not able to help out as we had to stay in town so I could work that evening, but the rest of the family made their way to Buffalo to help out with the big move (not sure how it went yet, but I'm sure I'll post some details later). We spent the following day telling Lauren "Happy Birthday" about a hundred times, and working on some projects around the house with Grandpa Doug's help. That evening the kids headed home with Grandpa where we will meet up with them again on Sunday to have another birthday celebration for Lauren - the fun just never ends! Here are some pictures of the babe opening one of her gifts and a couple to show how much she has changed in one year - so sad to think she is no longer our baby girl.
See how much your eating skills have improved in one year - now only the lower half of her face is covered instead of the entire thing - we are so proud.

Here she is getting ready to come home for the first time from the hospital - hard to believe it was a year ago already.