Photo session

Funny girl

Sisters.... I don't know, is April going to catch Bethany soon in size??

Love :)

Serious

Our church recently had an opportunity to get your photo taken for the church directory. I'm really excited to get a picture directory so I can get better at people's names that I don't know! The timing we had wasn't the best as it was right before nap time, but the person after us cancelled and we got a lot of pictures taken! Scrolling through 100+ photos to see Bethany's different expression in each one is hillarious. Thanks, Daniel for all the pictures!

Summer fun

I should post titles like my last one more often - summer has finally arrived! I still have more pictures to upload but blogger is too slow tonight. We had a great weekend with family and friends. My aunt and cousin from Phoenix came and everyone came over to our house Saturday for a lake day, Sunday friends came by and Monday we went to the Apple Valley parade and later that evening went out on the boat with Dan's parents to watch fireworks. It was a fun filled weekend!

Dan and Bethany at the 4th of July Apple Valley parade - lucky girl gets a yummy sucker
Roger, Monica and Bethany ready to watch 4th of July fireworks from the boat

Bethany playing a frisbee game with Mormor and Morfar at Lake Harriet listening to a band
Aunt Lynette and Bethany - she's enjoying her watermelon

Summer, summer, where art thou?

I haven't posted since the middle of May, whoops! It has been a little crazy around here, mostly due to our move on June 11th, and after a break from blogging I realize that the thought of trying to catch-up on everything is a bit overwhelming so I think I'll just give you little snippets of what has been going on with us.

At the end of May we went on a family vacation to Riviera Maya, Mexico! It was HOT, HOT, HOT and when we arrived the first room had no a/c so I was feeling a little nervous and debating looking up the next flight home. Dan was trying so hard to try and make his emotional, pregnant wife happy while resolving the situation and we finally found a slightly cooler room that turned out great for the week :) Bethany did great and loved swimming in the pools and the ocean and we all enjoyed our last vacation as a family of 3.

Once we got home we quickly got ready for the move and on Saturday, June 11th moved the cabin things from storage and the things we needed from our current place into our new home! It turned out to be a great day and we had family and friends along with 2 movers to make things going smoothly. Even though I was only allowed to carry my purse, it was a tiring day trying to decide where to tell people to put things and make little decisions while walking around. We all slept so well that night.... in fact Bethany spent her first night in a twin bed! We had borrowed a bed rail from Joel and Erin and decided one big transition from a crib to a twin bed in a new house sounded easier than a few smaller transitions. She did great! She has since figured out that she can actually get out of her bed but when she's tired she goes right to sleep and on average sleeps from 8:30-6:30. Bethany has also decided that one nap is just fine for her so that is another big adjustment (more so for us I think!). My mom helped us find some big girl bedding so her temporary room while we get her room upstairs finished is all for her.

We're finally starting to feel a little settled, thanks to lots of help from Dan's mom the first week after we moved. She came over almost every day that week while we were at work and put things away, cleaned and did laundry which was so helpful! My mom helped sort through things one day too and things always go faster with help :)

My grandparents and the rest of our family came over to celebrate Father's Day. I think we're going to enjoy hosting get togethers here even more than the cabin because we can be here all week, not just the weekends!

Let's see... other news worthy items include Bethany's first hair cut this weekend! She did great during the hair cut but didn't enjoy the blow dryer all that much. She looks so grown up now with her baby hair trimmed, and yes, I did keep some for her baby book!

A few big purchases have also occured: Dan's dad found a riding lawn mower at a garage sale and so we bought it after we (ok, Dan) realized mowing our larger lawn with a push mower wasn't so fun. We also got a treadmill and the boat lift is being installed tomorrow. Boat lift is essential so we can start enjoying the boat - it hasn't been out yet this summer; and the treadmill will be key for my maternity leave this fall after the complications and caring for a toddler this pregnancy have left my workouts non-existent.

If I think of anything else I'll post again, otherwise I think we're pretty caught up! My aunt and cousin are coming from AZ next weekend over the 4th of July so we'll have lots of family time and other get togethers with friends to look forward to. I can't believe how cool and rainy this summer has been though this far, hence the title of my post. This week is supposed to be in the 90's and I say bring it on!

Mother's Day #2

Sunday was my second Mother's Day! Dan watched Bethany after she woke up so I could stay in bed awhile longer and then they made me breakfast and gave me a card and a gift certificate for some house cleanings. I'm really excited to use that at our new place prior to the new baby coming! Dan's parents joined us at church, for lunch and to watch some NBA playoffs. Then we went to my sisters for dinner that the guys prepared and cleaned up for us all on their own! I had been feeling dizzy this past week and my Dr said I had low blood pressure and needed to try and rest a little more. Just in time for mother's day weekend so I could really relax and let Dan and the guys pamper us. Thankfully I'm starting to feel better so I hope the dizzy spells are over!

Charlie and Bethany had fun together as always. We actually saw them three days in a row because we had house showings on Friday and Saturday and needed to be out of the house. Bethany gets so excited when I ask if she wants to go see Charlie and say "YeaH!" She nods and starting running towards the door to get in the car.

Saturday night we got together at Jeremy and Allisons to celebrate 2 birthdays, 2 new houses, 1 engagement, 1 new baby, finding out the gender of our baby, and Cinco de Mayo for good measure so we had tacos. I think we need to get together more often! Bethany has a fear of dogs right now because of her face to face experience with Bella awhile ago, but we're trying to get her over it. Allisons dog Bear was an older lab and really laid back. Bethany was brave enough to pet him and even walk near him without flipping out which is a big step! Bella is a nice dog so this summer at the lake we'll keep trying to get her used to her... she is just so excited to see Bethany I think and sometimes the extra licks face to face is scary for an 18 mo old!

In other news we've had 4 friends have babies in the last couple weeks with one more left any day now. A few more this summer before we're due in September. It is a baby boom! I love having an excuse to bring over meals so I can snuggle with a newborn, I can't believe Bethany was that small such a short time ago! We have her 18 mo apt tomorrow so I'll update soon with her new stats.

Well, we are experiencing severe weather here in MN tonight. Hail, tornados, it was 88 degrees tonight with like 100% humidity so prime weather for a storm. Since all the tv stations are talking about the storm I decided to get caught up on blogging!

Happy Easter!

It was a beautiful Easter Sunday outside! Bethany was so excited it was sunny she woke up at 5:55 a.m. this morning.... boo. At least she went down for an early nap and we made it to the late service before going to my parents for the day. My Mormor and Morfar (Swedish for mother's mother and mother's father) were here from CA and my Aunt Lynette came too. The food was delicious and the kids had fun searching for the Easter eggs and baskets. They are so fast now that they are both walking, I didn't get one of both of them looking at the camera and smiling. I'll have to get better at taking faster pictures I guess!

Thanks mom and dad for the fun day and Mormor and Morfar for the strawberry pie - yum!

Bethany loved finding the eggs and putting them in her basket but sometimes took the eggs back out before putting any new ones in.

family pic - we need the one where we were facing the camera!
Bethany and Charlie hanging out in their Easter outfits

18.5 weeks

I have zero pictures of both kids looking at the camera and there is always an extra arm in every picture trying to keep them on the couch!

Morning snuggle time - now that she doesn't have a bottle, we have a sippy cup or pacifier time while waking up in the morning while watching cartoons. We started it as a way to get rid of the bottle but now if we don't turn on the tv she points at it or the remote and looks at us. Ugh, at least we don't watch tv much otherwise with her! I can't believe how big she is getting... it took this picture to see how long she looks there, I wonder how tall she'll be at her 18 month apt in a few weeks.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter with your family and friends too and remember that He is Risen, He is Risen INDEED!

Changes ahead

2011 has started with some pretty significant changes for us. Most of them pretty exciting, but a little scary none the less. This week in particular will be interesting because by the end of it we may be looking for a new home. We've been close before, but this time it might be the real thing. More details to come and a post soon about another significant change coming for us later in 2011.

Christmas pictures

stealing all the bows

ready to go in

ooooh, snow

Hi

cozy cousins

Charlie all snug in his new hat and scarf

Make shift sled... or the luge!

Bethany and mommy

Bethany and Daddy

Time with Morfar

Christmas in Kerkhoven

Sunday we went to my childhood hometown of Kerkhoven to celebrate Christmas with my grandparents and family on my dad's side. Last year Bethany was just 2.5 months old, so this year she was into everything! She liked having it at the Civic Center because she could run around without getting into trouble. It is always fun as nostalgic to go back to my hometown and remember all the childhood memories. Grandma and Grandpa gave Bethany and Charlie very special gifts.... at Hallmark they have the recordable storybooks and they recorded them reading a story just for their great-grandkids. It is about a little princess and my grandpa sometimes said Bethany instead of she when referring to the princess in the book which was so sweet. We read it when we got home and Bethany kept running over to the book to look at it when it played their voices on each page. Thank you for the wonderful gift Grandma and Grandpa, we will cherish it always!

Bethany "helping" pass out the gifts - she is saying one of her new favorite words "oooooh"

yeah, we can share food again!

Bethany, me and Great-Grandma

We are celebrating our third Christmas on Christmas this weekend with my family at the cabin. With all the snow we are getting I hope the roads are safe for everyone this week!

Cousins!

Dan's sister and family came a couple weekends ago when it was so warm outside and Bethany enjoyed the extended time with her cousins! We went to the park, an apple orchard, jumped in leaves and carved pumpkins. She had so much fun trying to keep up with the boys running around and Emily thought watching Bethany walk was pretty neat too.

Bethany jumping in the leaves
The girls trying some lemons

More leaves

The pumpkin carved with Bethany's current "teeth"

Thanks for the lemon Grandma!

walking on a mission

At the orchard on a wagon ride. The boys were so nice to hold Bethany, but almost immediately would say "she is getting wiggly Aunt Heather!"

Paul's design (and my work) on the left, and Bethany's teeth on the right

Papa was busy trying to keep all 4 grandkids going on the swings

The babies are getting soo big!

Bethany was lonesome after they all went back to Chicago but she has fun memories from your visit! Come back soon!

Father's Day

Hard to get us all looking for family pics, oh well!

Auntie Amber and Bethany

Just me and my dad

Today we had Charlie's dedication at Amber and Brents church and Charlie had a little accident while on stage.... Amber quickly got a blanket to wrap around him but it will be a very memorable dedication! Afterwards we hung out with yummy food and celebrated all of the fathers. Then Dan's parents came over for dinner and we grilled bacon wrapped steak, potatoes, garlic bread and salad. Lots of good food today!

I made Dan a card from Bethany with some recent pictures of her. She loves her daddy so much and I think its cute how excited she gets when she sees him. You are such a great dad to her and I love watching you as you care for her and teach her new things. Thanks for being such a great role model for her - I love you!