Our little model

Sophia helped out a photographer in our neighborhood who has a backdrop business. The bottom picture was the result of that photo session. The top picture was her 9 month photo shoot at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Who would have ever guessed that she screamed the entire time of the first session and never once smiled for the bottom picture. We got some great pictures!

Good Morning!

She is always so happy in the morning. Look at that face - I captured the moment she heard her brother walking into the room. Oh, how she loves him!

Chomp Chomp

What's that you say? Sophia sure loves her food. Right down to the last morsel. Her favorites are cherrios! And peaches, pears and applesauce. She is not a big fan of the green veggies, but this week I bought some combo meals so they are combing peas with fruits. Hoping that will get her to open up her taste buds to some new veggies! 

Sunday sports day

It seems like for most of the year Sunday's are filled with some sort of sporting event. In the winter and spring it is basketball at the Y. In the summer and fall, Travis and I play kickball. Bennett loves going to the basketball games and it helps that lots of other little ones come along to the games. The highlight lately has been at the vending machine. Here was a little game rolling the ball! 

Really?!?

We went to dinner last week at Green Mill. We ordered Bennett a kids meal and so you get a drink with the meal. He ordered a raspberry lemonade. The server comes walking towards us and I said to Travis... "You have to be kidding me." Sure enough she shows up with this. 

He of course was thrilled. I on the other hand was seeing red, sticky lemonade being spilled over everything we own. And then I said to Travis, try it to make sure it doesn't have any alcohol in it. 

He did and we were good to go. Bennett enjoyed every last drop! 

Party time

Bennett's class had a Valentine's party and I went to school to be the parent volunteer. I was in charge of the kabob table. Sound scary? 3 and 4 year olds with skewers?! Yes, it was. And the fruit was flying, the kids were poking themselves left and right and then one refused to eat anything other then marshmallows. But all in all it was a blast and Bennett thought it was great having me at school. 

Classroom

Oh, how he loves his school! Miss Cindy, his classmates, his classroom, Bethel! It is the best!! We could not ask for a better spot for Bennett to be.

The peach!

She just puts a smile on your face. We love you Sophia!!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

33 years with the best yet to come.

We love you to the moon and back!

Alicia, Bennett & Sophia

Ice Time

After our Friday night at PINZ we wrapped up the weekend skating at Hunt arena in River Falls. Bennett and Zander both have hockey in the future! I can see it now.

Arcade, Bowling and FroYo

We went out with Jason, Karissa and Zander for a fun night on the town with the boys. We went to PINZ bowling and had the boys play all kinds of video games. They had a blast together and we ended with a big bowl of Orange Leaf!

 

Daydreaming

Sitting with mommy, relaxing and dreaming the day away. No place that she or I would rather be! A little slice of heaven! 

Taking it all in

A Saturday morning spent looking out the front door, watching the snow fall and dreaming of all the things to come. A PERFECT WEEKEND!

All bundled

Look at the little burrito enjoying her warm stroller. I am pretty sure that she had a onesie, a fleece sleeper and her down snowsuit on. And she was packed in blankets - poor thing could not even move. But boy she looks comfy! 

Will you be my Valentine?

She loves you, she loves you not. By the look on her face she loves everyone. And we love her to the moon and back. Happy Valentines day to all of the loves in our lives. 

XOXO

Hair

He got ready all by him self. We told him to do his hair and put on some nice clothes. We were going to visit Santa. I think he did pretty good! No shortage of gel in his hair! 

Mall of America

In December, we took Bennett and Ethan to the Mall of America. They had a blast. They did all the rides, saw a bunch of characters and took in all the sites. The evening was topped off with dinner and a movie on the car ride home. 

Valentine's Love

The cutest combination of valentine's for preschool and teachers! We made cardstock print outs and attached with ribbon from the Dollar Tree. The pack of assorted mini cereals were at the grocery store for 3.50. Then got the free print outs for the soap and put them on our favorite scents from Bath & Body Works! Wishing everyone a day filled with love. 

Whaaaaatttt?

What is that you say Mommy? Are you looking at me?

Hot Air

Hudson hosts the Hot Air Affair each year in February. To go along with all of the balloon festivities, they hold a parade downtown Hudson. We are lucky enough to be able to enjoy it in the warmth of the Nelson & Lindquist offices. The kids had a blast watching out the windows, enjoying the treats and playing! It was -1 at the moment this picture was taken. BRRR!!

He kicks and scores!

Bennett has been doing the Soccer Shots program at Bethel for the past couple of weeks. He loves going to "soccer" and as a ball learning all the new techniques and playing games with his friends. The program is great - they walk over after the school day and play for 1/2 hour. Two other boys from his class are in the program along with one girl from Miss Clara's class. So nice to have four kiddos - they get a lot of attention! Here they are practicing a dribbling drill!

Board

We suprised Bennett with a new snowboard from Joe's. He is in love. He was so excited and the video of him walking into the bonus room and seeing the board for the first time is precious! Too big to upload at the moment. After he was taking it all in, he walked over to me on the video and said...
"When we were at Drew's Papa was looking at a snowboard for me, but it didn't have boots." Then when bed time rolled around, he asked if the board could lay next to him on the floor. I listened as he told Oliver all about the board and thanked Sophia for going to get it with his mommy and daddy!

Clearing the cars

Bennett loves all things involving snow. Including shoveling... and cleaning the snow off cars! We were at a party and when we came out Trav and Matt cleaned off all of the cars for our friends. Bennett got his very own brush and started in. He refused to finish until he had every last bit of snow off the vehicles! I stood outside and watched while Leah took the warm route... notice her in the passenger side!

 

Tooth Fairy

It appears as though the tooth fairy might be making a visit to our house sooner rather then later. Upon Bennett's last visit to see Dr. Klostner, we learned that he has three teeth that are loose. The bottom two and one of the top ones. This made me feel better because he kept talking about his loose tooth and all I kept thinking of was when he fell and hit is on the concrete causing a massive blood scene, loose tooth and all the crying that goes along with it. Of course in my mind when it happened, I was picturing our little guy running around for the next year or two with either no tooth or worse yet a big black tooth. Doesn't that make for lovely Christmas pictures?!? Neither of those things happened, but it looks like nature is running the course and if Bennett has anything to say about it, he wants the the teeth out now. A couple of shots from the dentist. This was his fourth visit and he is an old pro now. Hopped right up in the chair, laid on his hands as instructed and let Gina clean, floss and polish all of his teeth. To top it off he picked out the candy cane fluoride!

Doc

In November I took Bennett in to the doctor before our trip to ATL, just to make sure that his cough was not something more. Of course, the visit yielded nothing from the doc other then a diagnosis of a "cough.." drink lots of fluids and try some cough drops or Vitamin C. Oh gee, I am glad we paid 200.00 to get that recommendation. And did I mention that they had us waiting in the room for over 1 hour before the doctor came in. Luckily Bennett did some modeling while I snapped a few pictures. 

Sweet Dreams

We know that we don't have good sleepers. Bennett never slept through the night until he was one year old. Sophia seems to be following in the same path. However, once B turned one he sure made up for all the sleepless nights. Often times on the weekend you could easily mistake him for a teenager. Sleeping until 11:00 is not out of the ordinary! Either way when they are asleep they sure look like little angels! 

Black Friday

I get a huge kick out of shopping on black Friday. The deals, the people, the choas... I love it all. I know that you can do most of the ordering online now, but it just isn't the same. Waiting in line outside Target in Destin on Thanksgiving night. It was heavenly to think that it was 60 degrees and we were wearing shorts. All of our co-shoppers in the midwest were battling snow and freezing cold standing outside the stores. 

Travis and Troy claim to not like the black Friday shopping, but boy this picture sure looks like a guy who is enjoying himself. 

Two peas in a pod

Karissa and I talk about how neat it is that Bennett and Zander are the same age and such good buddies. They love playing together and get along so well. Zander was born the same week that we told Karissa and Jason we were going to have a baby. So the boys are 9 months apart. This picture was not taken on Halloween... just one of the play days that they had together. 

Hoping that these two will share in the special memories and friendship like the boys. Karissa and I have been friends for over 20 years! And now to watch our kids  grow up as friends - so special!

Again, Zoe is 9 months older then Sophia so they will be the same grade in school. Though Zander and Zoe will go to River Falls schools. 

Taken as Zoe was checking out Sophia's eyes. She has a thing for poking people in the eye. 

Brunch with the big guy!

The day the stomach flu struck we celebrated with Santa at brunch that was hosted at Tartan Park. Jeremy & Liliana joined us and the kids had a blast watching Santa stroll around, talking with him and eventually sitting on his lap and telling him what they wanted for Christmas. The food was great and after we finished eating we headed outside for a ride in a real Cinderella carriage. Of course the dad's thought the ride was optional and didn't want to wait in line. 

I told them otherwise... and the kids loved it!