Festival

The annual Old Fashioned Festival was held this past weekend here. There was a kiddie parade on Thursday that Ben and Eli got to be IN this year! It's a pretty cool tradition that our little town has - the kids are IN the parade and get to throw the candy. Ben rode his trike with steamers and daddy pulled Eli in the wagon with streamers and hand painted signs... At the end of the parade Ben had had enough of the police car tooting it's horn and we bowed out a bit early. Poor kid is *very* sound sensitive, so we got him some 'super-sonic headphones' to wear for the big parade on Saturday. He was actually pretty happy about wearing them. Eli made it for most of the big parade before conking out in the stroller (despite all of the loud music, sirens, etc.). Funny how different kid#2 can be, huh?

Minnesota picture extravaganza

We had a wonderful visit to Minnesota that seemed way too short. Our trip started off with a visit to Maple Grove Days with Hope, Chad and kids, then to Danielle's for a backyard BBQ - 10 kids 8 adults. Very fun. It is always so good to see my 'girls' and catch up for a short time. We headed up to grandma and grandpa's cabin afterwards so the kids could sleep in the car on the way. We saw at least 20 deer and 1 wolf on the drive. We had a great visit with g-ma and g-pa and Brent, Patti and Nick joined us, too. Very fun to see the cousins interacting.

Eli seemed to age several months in our 1 week visit. New for him: blowing kisses, drinking from a sippy (tipping all by himself), demanding the cup with a emphatic 'bah', na-na-na, guh for grandpa and grandma (repeated in the MSP security line to an older gentleman), his scoot has progressed to a near gallop when he's excited to get somewhere, he is pulling himself to standing, does a great "so big", also does a "I love you 'this much' thing" that is adorable, and has started to push his little scooter to practice his walking. All in the past week or so... My little baby is growing up so fast *insert tears here*.

Our cabin visit included: 4 wheel rides, boat rides, playing with grandpa's old trucks, squirt bottles, making giant bubbles, fishing, record heat/ humidity, visiting Turtle Valley park in town, pinecone throwing, Chutes and Ladders and CandyLand, watching Grinch with grandma (which Ben told me was his favorite thing from the trip), Andy chopping wood, train table, mini-trampoline jumping, lots of good food and wonderful company. My family rocks. I miss them tons.
































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Weekend update

After a week of getting the house ready for market, we got to "relax" a bit on the weekend. Saturday, we hung out for a BBQ and walked to a park in Portland with Lauren, Tyler and baby Camden. Our boys had fun, too. We then went to "Red Lobsters" (according to Ben), with Ben in his shirt with red lobsters on it to celebrate Grandma Jeanne's birthday. Too cute!
I was talking with Lauren asked about the how the second baby differs from the first, and she asked how much entertaining Ben provides for Eli... I would say quite a bit! Here's video proof that the boys have been really cracking each other up lately... I'm sure there will be many days in the future that I will want to reflect back on this "sweet, getting along pretty well" stage.

Happy 4th of July!

For the 4th of July, we went to Andy's step-mom, Barbara's, family outing. What a fun event!!

Summer is finally here!!

We broke out the shark pool for the first time this year! Eli thought - the water was much too cold. Mommy thought - No way am I putting on a swimsuit. Ben thought it was just right.

Nutshell

The last week or so in a nutshell...

I finished up school on Tuesday (a week ago)

Eli was home with the throw ups (Thursday/ Friday)

Had Eli in to the see an ENT doctor because of his crazy sounds that he makes - noticed by our pediatrition at the last visit... After a quick scope of his throat, diagnosis: laryngeal malaysia - a floppy voicebox. This is what has been causing his crazy (but, oh so cute) sounds from the past. Also probably the cause the weird gasping, hiccup-like sounds that followed intense crying. Also, had something to do with his yucky bout of croup... Anyway - no surgery required as he should grow out of it soon (usually by age 1) and its not impeding his growth and development. The ENT was surprised to still see it in an almost 10-month-old. We'll just keep an eye on it.

Got a bunch of house stuff done on Saturday - Andy and I cleaned out the garage, did some yard work - all thanks to a nice visit from G-ma Jeanne and Papa Doug.

Sat PM I came down with a dreadful flu-like virus that knocked this mommy off her feet (literally). I will spare most of the gorey details, but suffice it to say, that I spent a lot of time in the bathroom that night and a lot of time on the couch the following few days.

Unfortunately, Ben also came down with the same virus that next morning, so poor daddy was not only taking care of a very sick momma and son, but also a newly-mobile baby that is prone to throwing up easily. Daddy deserves a good medal for all of his efforts!!!

A lot of laundry had been done this past week involving a lot a bodily fluids. Yuck.

Here are some clips of our scooting Eli...

Leaves, dumptrucks, backyard, strawberries, scooting, feeding

Eli HATES being on his tummy and refuses to crawl at this point. His preferred method of transportation: the scoot.

Eli likes being fed by Ben... I think.