Twig the Fairy

More of Twig the Fairy...she rocks! (I posted the link to her web site on the right under Web Faves)

Here's a cute Fairy Tale for you too. At Ren Fest, Twig the Fairy gave Riley a small glass star and blew fairy dust (fine glittery stuff) on it and on Riley. She loved it! She held her "fairy stone" the whole time we were there and most of the afternoon except to go out and play for a little bit before dinner. Last night when I went in to turn off Riley's lamp, I went over to her bed to give her a kiss and she wasn't quite asleep yet. She whispered, "I have to tell you something." I asked her what she wanted to tell me and she said: "My fairy stone is magic..." and then she was asleep. It sure is Fairy Princess...it sure is:) She had her fairy stone in her fairy box from Grandma Trish in bed next to her.

Ren Fest Pics

Josh's New Girlfriend

As mentioned, today was Ren Fest day....And Josh is offically in love with Twig the Fairy:) So is Riley! She gave her a special magic fairy stone (a glass star) and sprinkled her with fairy dust! We had a great day, had some bread bowl soup and went to Emma Krumbee's for pie with Auntie Jessie after a catnap in the car. Perfect Day!

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I am thankful that the weather appears to be cooperating for our annual trip to Ren Fest tomorrow! There WIILL be photos to come! So excited:)

The Spiders Are Coming...

Does anyone else have an over population of spiders this summer? This is just the most recent in the long list of critters I'd like to smash. Thankfully this one was OUTside!

Tourists in Minnesota

I have lived in Minnesota my whole life, but we rarely get the chance to explore parts of the state out west. In fact, most of the time that we have spend driving especially in the southwest part of the state, it has been to weddings of friends. On the wat to Cheri and Ben's wedding we found a few things entertaining as tourists. The town of Olivia, where the ceremony took place, proudly boasts that they are the "Corn Capital" and even have a huge statue of an ear of corn. I love quirky little things like this. I have even visited the World's Largest Ball of Twine in Darwin, MN (on the way to a wedding in South Dakota, I believe). I wanted to get a picture of the corn statue, but we missed it on the way out of town. But this sign was directly in front of the church. I also thought fondly of my Grandma Edie on this adventure...she would have LOVED the pink barn in Brownton!

It's fun to see other parts of the state...to see how my friends grew up, and to see the lifestyle changes along the way. I can't help but think about stuff like that and wonder what it would be like to live in a quieter, slower-paced part of the state...But I think I'm officially a suburbanite for one reason alone. It's a long way to the nearest McDonalds down there:)

Cheri's Wedding

One of my very favorite people got married this weekend and Josh and I were invited to be there. Cheri and I worked together at our first job out of college, WPI and have been friends almost 10 years.

Because Ben, her now-hubby is in the military and was in Iraq for a good part of their early years together, and then stationed in Hawaii, I never got to meet him before this weekend so I was super happy to see Cheri all smiles and sunshine when he was with her! Although it's sometimes weird to go a wedding where you don't know many people, we had a really great time! It was nice to see Cheri's mom, whom I have gotten to know, and the reception was at Jackpot Junction Casino, near Cheri's hometown Redwood Falls, so between the ceremony and the reception we played a little video poker and the slots, we chatted with the one couple we did know at the reception and then met a few of Cheri's friends whom I had heard of but never met. We even got in a little time on the dance floor! And then did a little more gambling:) Congrats to the Happy Couple!

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Couple things to be thankful for today. First, the ultrasound was today to reassure us that baby is fine. It went well. We have another ultrasound scheduled for Oct. 1st for baby measurements and that's the one where we can find out the gender...I still think Boy...

Secondly, today is Josh's Aunt Pam and Grandma Mary's birthday and my friend Jenny's b-day too...and My sisters Brother's-in-Law and Sister's-in-Law Anniversary. Happy Day to all!

What a Weird Week

I know I haven't posted a lot again, I'm failing the blogging world...Oops! It's been a weird week around here. Tuesday we were supposed to go to the zoo with my mom, sisters and the kids, but I woke up having some issues that freaked me out so I had to make a doctor appointment instead. Mom took Riley to the zoo with my sisters for a little while, but then she came back in time for my afternoon appointment. It turns out everything was "normal" and baby's heart rate was strong, so I freaked out for nothing, but we have an ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow just to reassure us. And just when I was feeling better about that, Riley spiked a fever last night...and this morning it's gone??? Weird! Needless to say, I'll be watching her all day for that.

We've been laying low all week and Riley and I are going a little stir-crazy. She woke up this morning and asked me what "the plan" was for today. She is starting to sound like her Daddy:) He always wants to know the plan too. I usually start our day by telling her what we're going to do, but she wasn't too happy when I told her we were going to "hang out" today. She also wants to play with her friends and they are all in school now, which she does NOT like! Oh boy! So that's the news from here. I'll try to post some pics soon, but since we've had to reschedule our activities for this whole week, we don't have much to show for it!

My Other "Big Girl"

I don't have pictures because this "little" girl now lives in Chicago with her family, but I have to say a VERY special HAPPY SWEET 16 to my Kelsey Marie Burlington today. For those of you who don't know, Kelsey and her brother Tyler were kids Josh and I babysat back in my parent's neighborhood a long time ago. Kelsey and Ty were even in our wedding...Now my little kids are all grown up! Kelsey loves to make me feel old:) Happy Birthday Kiddo!

Riley's Big Girl Bed

This weekend we set up Riley's real Big Girl Bed...not just the crib with the front wall taken off. This is a twin set that we bought from a family friend this spring...we didn't get the rest of the furniture in the room, but the bed is all set up and she even napped in it yesterday...not today of course, that would be asking a lot of a magic bed, but she seems to like it! Please ignore the beach towel hanging from the curtains. We were trying to keep her sleeping longer in the morning and maybe get her to sleep in the afternoons by making it darker in her room. Not sure it's working...Doesn't she look tiny in this bed?

The End of the Birthday Pics

Here's a few more random shots from this weekend. Great Grandpa rocking Colvin, Uncle Dude and Zack, Sharis and Colvin, Dan and Ryan, Riley and Adrienne.

Kids at Play

Here's a few of the kids playing in the yard at Kiley's party. We were trying to teach Ryan and Adrienne how to hit the ball. Zack and Riley, being the oldest of the 6 kids under 3 at the party, are already pretty good at it...Riley even nailed Daddy with one hit! Oops, don't get too close when those two are hitting! Riley even claims she hit a home run:)

The Birthday Party

Yesterday was the big birthday party for Kiley's 1st and Grandma C's 87th. Grandma doesn't like her picture taken so I didn't get anything good to post of that birthday girl, but here's a few of the 1-year-old! My sisters probably got better pics of Grams!

A SHORT Break in the Action

We have a slight break in the Birthday action (well, technically, we're celebrating birthdays today but I won't have pictures until tomorrow) so I thought I'd post pictures of some late summer shots I took at Weaver lake earlier this week. The leaves are already changing around here...won't be long until we're looking for pumpkins and eating caramel apples!

And as mentioned...today IS actually a big day! Today we are celebrating my grandma's birthday that was yesterday, bon top of that it's KILEY MARIE's 1st Birthday!!! She's already taking some steps and she'll be walking everywhere in no time! Happy Birthday cutie!

And I'd be a bad friend if I didn't also mention, today is one of my longest lasting friend's birthdays...Happy Birthday Katherine Elizabeth Ann Marie L/K...but longest lasting, I mean, I've known her since preschool...not that she's the oldest I guess;)

Pregnancy Update

Ok, so you may have noticed, but probably not...My due date keeps changing on the baby ticker on the right. Originally my due date was Feb. 26th, they have since switched it to the 22nd and now it is officially Feb. 18 based on the ultrasound we had in late August.

That was not the "gender" ultrasound yet, we just scheduled that appointment for October 1st. And for those of you wondering, YES we will find out if baby cooperates. I'm not one for surprises and it's my philosophy that it's still a surprise when the ultrasound tech tells you if it's a boy or girl and you're surrounded by much less chaos at the time!

So far, all the wives tale tests are saying this is a boy. The heart rate at my doc appointment yesterday is slower, which tends to indicate boy, the ring over the wrist pulse point says I had a girl then a boy...etc...The baby is also pretty wiggly in the first ultrasound and he's a stinker when it comes to finding the heartbeat too...sounds like boy to me:) So for now I will probably refer to baby #2 as "he/him" just to have something better than "it" to call this little person!

That's were we're at right now. Not feeling anything yet...16 weeks and counting:) But not sick anymore either so that's good! Just tired...and I think a certain 2-year-old big sister might have something to do with that! I'll keep y'all posted after our next appointment in October. After that if you don't want to know, you might want to skip checking in for a while;)

A Break from Play Dates

This week we had a busy week but no play dates. A dentist appointment, doctor's appointment birthday celebrations etc. But I wanted to post some pics from our play date last Thursday with Jenny, Aimee, Ava and the Nolans. It was still warm that day so the girls ran through the sprinklers and did a little sunning:) Then we had lunch with our friends before Riley and I headed up to the Maple Grove Farmers Market and ran some errands. Fun day!

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Today is my grandma's 87th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA C! I am so lucky and thankful to have them still here so our kids will know their GREAT Grandparents:)

Last of the Birthday Pics...for this side of the fam!

Check out Riley's face in the top pic!

More from the Party

Riley had more fun catching the minnows in the minnow bucket than she did fishing with her new fishing pole.

Blog Overload!

I apologize for the mass quantity of blog posts this week. I would try to spread them out more, but we'd be into October if I did that. You see, September gets REALLY busy with birthdays, anniversaries, fall activities, etc. and as soon as I catch up, I have 6 more things to post:) I promise October slows down around here!

Today we ventured out to the State Fair for a day of family fun. Josh took the day off so the three of us could go during the much less crowded part of the week and it worked out great. We tried the Peach Glazed Pig cheeks...YUCK! and some of our regular favorites. Fudge Puppies, Josh's Pronto Pup, and of course the bucket of Sweet Martha's, but no cheese curds or chocolate malts this year...bummer. We checked out the Pet Barn, Education Building, the Grand Stand, DNR Fishies, Bizzzar, and Heritage Square and Riley got her annual trip on the Merry Go Round...We saw parts of the parade and Riley did a little dancing under the Grand Stand to whomever was doing sound check at the time! We had a great time, and Daddy pooped out before the kiddo! He took a little cat nap before having to go play a double header late tonight!