Summer Fun!

Since I haven't been updating much, here are a few pictures from our summer.

Here is Sam watching the fireworks with Papi - he loved them! Elena didn't care for the noise this year, but she still had fun playing with all of her friends in the park for the 4th of July.

Of course the past few months have been full of water and ice cream - especially with the heat and humidity we've had!

We brought the kids to the Lyon County Fair to watch the rodeo and go on a few rides - Elena was a big fan of the rides.

Sam especially liked the tractors - Elena was happy to just sit on one, but Sam went right to work trying to drive it.

There's nothing like a good swim to exhaust the kids. I was washing the dishes after we got back from the pool and saw Elena on the floor like this. I think she couldn't decide whether she was too tired to eat or too hungry to sleep.

Let's hope common sense improves with age and experience

Last night, Elena went to the bathroom and came out a few minutes later, looking very calm and normal. Normal, except for the fact that her chin was covered in blood. "Mom, something happened."

Seth and I immediately made "Oh-my-gosh-what-on-earth-happened??!!" faces, and I'm sure something similar came out of my mouth. Seeing our faces, Elena started to look scared, so we had to quickly switch back to our "everything's-fine" faces. She obviously wasn't in pain at all so we weren't too worried.

So I asked as calmly and cheerily as I could, "Why are you covered in blood, sweetie?'

We went into the bathroom to investigate, while Elena explained that she had noticed some chocolate on her face when she looked in the mirror. When she was trying to clean it off, she started to bleed and came out to find us.

Looking down at the counter, I asked, "Did you use this to clean off your face?"

"Yes."

Then Seth informed her, "You know, using my razor to clean your face probably wasn't the best idea, honey."

Fortunately, it was a small cut on her lip - it just bled a lot! We're lucky that Elena is not squeamish at the sight of blood.

Top on our "to do" list: find a less accessible place to store Seth's razor.

I have 2 toddlers.

That's my excuse for not writing on here more often lately.

Two toddlers with loads and loads of energy. And minds that seem permanently set on "destruct." On the upside, my children are never, ever boring:)

Also, it's summer so we are outside as much as possible, limiting computer time. Life continues to be beautiful here, but a small piece of me is perpetually mourning the passage of summer. I have no idea how we are going to survive the winter.

The long, Minnesota winter.

Inside.

With 2 toddlers.

I think I will just need to get used to bundling my kids up on a daily basis (that should only take an hour or two) so I can go out in the frigid weather watching them burn off some energy.

Enough talk of that! It was in the upper 90s here today so here are some pictures of the kids trying to stay cool!

Too Much

Elena was lucky enough to get a Sprite at the baseball game we attended the other night. Not wanting her to drink the entire can, I drank some and told her she had to share with Sam, who was desperately trying to get at the pop. Her response?

"Don't give Sam too much; just give him a little....The too much is for me."

Fighting over girls already

We spent a weekend at the lake house with Seth's family. The three little boys (Sam, Ian and RJ) all had fun playing together. At one point, Sam and RJ were fighting over a Barbie doll. I caught a picture just as Sam won the battle. In RJ's defense, Sam does have a 7-month advantage....

...but it wasn't long before RJ found his own doll to play with.

Here's a video of "the three amigos" - as we like to call them - doing a slightly more masculine activity.

Oh Dear

The other day we were driving over to see Elena's friend, Ana, who was not feeling well due to allergies. We had something that I thought might help so we brought it over for them to try. I had hard time explaining allergies so Elena would understand so I just told her we were bringing Ana something to make her feel better.

Quickly forgetting what I had just told Elena, I stopped at the discount liquor store, which is on the way to Ana's house, since we were almost out of beer. When Elena found out what we were stopping for, she said:

"Oh! We're going to bring Ana beer to help her feel better?"

"Ummm...she might be a little young for that particular treatment."

Celtic Fest 2010

Friends of ours from Lakeville started an annual Celtic Fest last year, which we attended on June 12th (a great way to spend our 6th anniversary!) It's basically a big barn dance with various musicians playing (mostly Celtic music) along with food and games.

Seth got 2nd place in the caber toss. He and his friend, Adam, had to toss the caber 3 times each before Adam finally won. It's just as well - Adam is Scottish; he wore a kilt and everything. It wouldn't have been right for a Norwegian in jeans to win the caber toss. Here's Seth's first toss:

They also had a tug of war tournament - maximum weight for teams was 1,000 pounds so I got to join Seth's team since they had just enough room for a little person. We were a very close 2nd. Seth's brother Craig was on the winning team, so at least 1 Myhre won.

We stayed the weekend with our friends Adam and Melissa. Their youngest daughter, Adrianna, and Elena were born just 27 days apart; and the two became fast friends. (Sam apparently liked her quite a bit, too). Coincidentally, we dressed them in matching dresses for the Celtic Fest. The kids had a great time watching the caber toss, dancing and catching fireflies in the evening. Let me just say, fireflies don't look quite so magical once you bring them into the light.

Photo Shoot

We decided we couldn't let Elena's toddler-hood pass without at least a few professional photos, considering how cute she is :) I really just wanted an 8x10 for the wall and some smaller pictures to pass out to family. Even though I wanted to buy every pose, I managed to limit myself to 3 poses and we walked out of the studio for under $18 total! I was very proud of myself.
Check out Elena's 3 year pictures here.

Say Cheese!

I'm happy to announce that Sam's camera smile is gradually improving. Here is a sampling of his progression:

"Adaptations" by Elena

Elena shares Seth's knack for inserting her own lyrics into songs and nursery rhymes when she doesn't quite know the words. Here are a few:

1) The sun'll come out/tomorrow/bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow/happy sun

2) Brrr, brrr, brrr - oh let us have some pie! (she says this when she's really cold)

3) Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way/ oh my farm it is to ride....

4) The fridge is falling down, falling down....My fair lady!

5) Row, row, row your boat /gently down the stream /merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily / life's a butter stream