Look Who's 1!

Sammy turns 1 today! We managed to squeeze in a birthday party for him this weekend in addition to Thanksgiving, the Minneota football team winning the state championship and a wedding.
It turns out Sam is a much bigger fan of cake than Elena.
Happy Birthday, Sam!

OK. Now I'm ready.

Seth and Elena went to watch the Minneota Vikings football game in the Metrodome on Saturday. It sounds like it was a great game - the boys won and will play for the state championship on Friday.

Elena loves going to football games and, after coming home, she got out her football to play with Seth. As he was about to throw her the ball, she said, "Just wait!" She then went over to her toys and dug out a "helmet" - she couldn't catch the ball without it.

Lounging

Don't let him deceive you. Sam's about as opposite from "couch potato" as a kid can get. I just happened to catch him during one of his occasional 5-second breaks.

Thank Goodness for Grandmas!

The kids both got sick on Friday. Much like last summer, they both puked for about 6-8 hours and we have 5 loads of laundry to do the next day. After 2 days, Seth and I thought we had managed to miss catching whatever they had.

And then my stomach started to rumble. "No problem," we thought. As long as Seth can watch the kids, I can spend the evening with the toilet.

And then Seth's stomach started to grumble. And that's when we had to call in reinforcements.

Fortunately, Grandma Myhre was able to come and take the kids for the evening so Seth and I could have a nice "romantic" evening lying immobile in the living room, taking turns puking in the bathroom. At least our aim was much better than the kids so we didn't generate as much laundry.

Hats off to all of you who are raising kids without family nearby to come in and rescue you at times like this!

Is it really November?

I'm having a little trouble believing that we are currently 1/3 of the way through November. We have been having no-jacket-weather on a regular basis for the past 2 weeks. Considering it snowed the first week of October, this comes as a pleasant surprise! The kids and I have been soaking up as much fun in the sun as we can before the cold hits. Here they are playing in a leaf-pile with a few of the neighbor kids.

First Steps

Sammy took his first steps Saturday night to Aunt Tina! At 11 months, he's walking a full 7 months sooner than Elena did and it makes a big difference. By the time Elena walked, she was coordinated enough that she rarely fell. Sam is very determined to walk (half the time he's trying to run) and now that he's getting the hang of it, he practices all the time. Which means he's also falling all the time. He gets pretty proud of himself though when he does it and starts clapping whenever he manages to walk a few steps.

Tomorrow! tomorrow!

I hear they're doing Annie next summer at the community theater in Marshall. It's too bad Elena's not just a few years older - she's already practicing the song "Tomorrow."

The phrase "Bet your bottom dollar" is a little abstract, however, so she replaces that with "Fetch a pail of water." The funniest part is that she knows it's not right so she always stops as soon as she says it, but she isn't sure how to fix it.

Happy Halloween!

It's great getting to a point where the kids can be actively involved in the holiday celebrations. Elena helped me scoop out pumpkins (Sam did his best) and then helped Seth make our first jack-o-lanterns (she picked out the shapes for the eyes and noses).

Then she sang "happy birthday" when we put the candles in the jack-o-lanterns.


Here are a few pictures from a "pumkin hunt" a friend of my Mom's had for the kids in her back yard. Elena found the pumkins, Alex threw them in the wheelbarrow and Sam was just happy to be there.