The Friday Five

Here's what I'm loving this week.

1. Story Time
The St. Louis Park library had a special story time this week. The theme was trucks so of course we had to go. After several truck themed stories and songs, the real fun began. In the parking lot was a snow plow, fire truck and police car. E waited in line for each vehicle to take his turn sitting in the driver's seat.

It's amazing at how much kids go crazy for these vehicles.  I don't remember being so enamored with dump trucks and fire trucks when I was a kid but they were all in heaven.

2. Minnehaha Falls
We spent a morning at Minnehaha Falls. I had never actually seen the falls before and they were gorgeous. We stopped at the park to play then we came across a wading pool. We read about the wading pool but didn't know what to expect.  It was great, zero depth entry and went about two feet deep and there was a huge fountain in the middle. Thank goodness we packed E's swim trunks and we always travel with a shovel and bucket, you never know what you'll find.  E  was a little fish, barely coming out to have a quick snack.  I eventually had to drag him out. His lips were turning blue.

The falls.

We found the wading pool!

Cora at the pool.

3. Mike cooked dinner
Yes he did! Cucumber tomato salad with cilantro, grilled peppers and mushrooms and steak. It was delicious. And he did the clean up as well.

4. Father's Day
Mike requested waffles for his Father's Day breakfast and then we went to church. Afterwards, we went to Snuffy's Malt shop for burgers and of course a malt. Mike even got some time with his buddies Sunday night watching the NBA game.

The extensive malt list.

E went for a strawberry sundae. 

Happy Father's Day.

5. Stone Arch Bridge Festival
This festival is right along St. Anthony Main which is a gorgeous area right on the Mississippi. There are great restaurants, walking trails, and of course the Stone Arch Bridge. It's probably one of my favorite areas in the city.

The festival is geared towards the arts with various booths set up along the river. There's the standard festival food vendors as well and a beer garden with live music. Unfortunately,  the weather did not corporate and it was cold and rainy. We waited until evening to go hoping it would clear up. No such luck, we still walked around and had a beer in the beer tent waiting for the live music.  That was canceled because of the weather so we threw in the towel and grabbed dinner at Pracna, one of the restaurants on St. Anthony Main.

View of downtown Minneapolis and Stone Arch Bridge 

Mom and Cora in the beer tent.

Sandbox Art

I'm pretty proud of myself for thinking to do this project with E. I'm not good at coming up with art projects or even executing ones found on Pinterest. But I remember as a kid sitting at the picnic table in our yard making sand drawings and I thought this would be perfect for E. He loves his sandbox and always wants to use glue when he does crafts.

To make these awewome drawings, use glue to draw your picture.

Pour sand on the glue drawing.

Then dump the sand off, and hooray... a beautiful sand creation!

This kept E occupied for quite some time. We took turns drawing with the glue then eventually he told me what to draw and he became the official sand dumper.

Note, this blog will not be turning into a DIY/craft blog. Sandbox art is about as good as it gets!

My Husband the Father

When my relationship with Mike began to get serious, I never thought about what type of father he would be. Having kids wasn't important to me, I was indifferent about having them. I knew Mike was a good person and I loved being with him. That's what mattered to me at the time.

When I was pregnant with E, I had no doubt Mike would be a good father. But I didn't realize he'd be this good. He's real good at this parenting thing, probably better than me. Don't get me wrong, we both have our strengths when it comes to parenting. I provide the structure and discipline for the kids.  I'm also the social coordinator for the family, planning out our week's activities. But Mike is the rock, he provides stability and is more patient than I can ever imagine being. Mike can easily play in the sanbox for as long as E wants, I get bored and try to encourage a new activity. He isn't always trying to do multiple things at once, he is able to put complete focus on E or Cora.

When I ask Mike if he ever thought he'd be a stay at home dad, he says, "No." But seeing him with our kids makes me believe it was in God's plan all along. Mike is so good at seeing our children as individual people, not just as kids. He talks to E and asks him his thoughts, they have regular conversations. It's no wonder E says, "Daddy Evan best friends."

I love seeing Mike with Cora, he's completely at ease with her. He doesn't hesitate to change a diaper or feed her. He's the definition of a hands on dad.

At times I feel jealous at how much time Mike gets with the kids because he stays at home, especially with how close he is with E. But mostly I'm grateful for the special bond those two have. I realize that Mike and I will have different relationships with both our children. Each relationship being meaningful in its own way, not one better than the other. 

So on this day we celebrate fathers, I wish my husband the happiest Father's Day because he truly deserves to be celebrated. Happy Father's Day to my husband the father.

The Friday Five

Here's what I'm loving this week;

1. Sunday Funday
Sunday was a gorgeous day and we were ready to be out and about. After church we headed to the Linden Hills Farmer's Market. I love the Linden Hills neighborhood and wanted to check out their farmer's market. Unfortunately, it was disappointing, there was no produce there! It was only the second weekend the market was open for the season. I'm hoping it's still early and it will get better. There were free crafts for kids though and E made this awesome hippie necklace.

Since the farmer's market didn't take long to check out, we headed to Great Harvest Bread Co. to regroup and split a cookie. We decided to walk the few blocks to Lake Harriet and stroll around the lake. We haven't spent much time around Lake Harriet but it's known for it's live music and outdoor movies during the summer. We also discovered a pretty sweet playground. There's a water pump that pumps water into the sand area creating a nice little stream for kids to play in. Of course that's exactly where E wanted to be. As I watched E play, I couldn't help but notice that my kid was the dirtiest. He had wet sand everywhere and his shirt was pretty much soaked. None of the other kids looked like that, how does that happen? Oh well, E was having fun and everything is washable.

This is how Cora spends
her time at the park.

2. I Finished a Book
I love to read but haven't found much time to do so lately. Reading in bed at night is one of my favorite things to do. However, these days I crash as soon as my head hits the pillow. Now I usually read while I pump so it takes a while longer to finish a book. It took me about two months, but I finished Chelsea Handler's latest book, Uganda Be Kidding Me. I'm a Chelsea Lately fan and have read all of Chelsea Handler's books. I think she's hilarious. If you're not easily offended, Uganda Be Kidding Me is a pretty funny read.

3. Our Day at MOA
Mall of America is a pretty popular Midwest attraction right in our backyard. I never go there. In fact, I hated going there when I first moved to Minneapolis. It was always crowded and I don't think it's a good place to go for some serious shopping. However, my mind has changed since having children. I've been there more in the past year than I have in my 10 years living in Minnesota. There's plenty of space for kids to run around, fun unique stores to check out, and Lego Land. All these things are free! Of course there's the aquarium and the amusement park there too.

We spent a day at MOA this week and we had a blast. We did take the kids to the aquarium. E loved it and Cora slept through it. E got to go on one ride, the Big Rigs ride, we spent a good chunk of time in the Disney store and we finished the day off with ice cream.

4. My Daddy's Boy
E loves to mow but we don't let him outside when Mike mows, it's too dangerous. Mike pushes the mower around when he's done so E gets the chance to mow with Daddy. Love!

5. Cora Smiles
We're getting some true smiles from Miss Cora this week. I love trying to get her to smile, it's how I spend a good portion of my day.

The Friday Five

Here's what I'm loving this week;

1."I've Got Your Lifestyle Blog Right Here"
Such an honest and hilarious piece by Kristen Howerton who blogs at the very popular Rage Against the Minivan. She's keeping it real by showing the lifestyle she knows and it's similar to mine. Here's what my real lifestyle photos look like.

Clothes basket has been there for almost a week,
at least they're clean, lots of random stuff that gets
thrown in our room when we have people over,
and yes, that's my 2 year old in my bed because
he prefers it there.

My living room is a constant obstacle course of toys.
The picnic table was meant to be for outside use but somehow
became a permanent fixture. 

2. Eating Outside
There's something about eating outside that makes mealtime so much better. Whether it's picnic lunches, dinner on our patio or a restaurant patio; it's the season for eating outside.

Picnic at Lamplighter Pond.

Cora eats dinner in her car seat,
she loves that thing.

Dinner at Tin Fish on Lake Calhoun. 

3. Exploring Our City
We spend a lot of time at parks in the summer. E was getting a little bored with the ones in our neighborhood so we decided to branch out. We headed to Theo Wirth Park which is just outside of downtown Minneapolis. What I love about this park is that once you enter, it almost feels like you're in one of Minnesota's state parks without leaving the city. I had been to Theo Wirth before to walk on the trails but never paid attention to the playground. There's a fantastic playground and beach area at the park. E loved it and wasn't the slightest bit bored.

After the park, Mike and I needed a coffee fix and instead of our standard Caribou, decided to continue our adventure and hit up a local place near by. We ended up in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood at Cuppa Java which was delightful.

We found this on our walk.

Mike and I both agreed we need to branch out more and take advantage of all our city has to offer.

4. Morning Coffee and Sandbox

Great way to start the day.

5. More Sibling Love
E is such a good big brother and my heart just bursts when I see him interact with Cora.

E helping put Cora's play mat together.

Cora at One Month

Cora had her one month check up today. She's actually six weeks today but since she had to go in for a weight check, her check up was pushed back. It worked out well because we were able to combine the one month and two month visit and don't go back until August for her four month appointment. Cora had to get three shots today. I swear, shots are harder on this Momma than on my kids. She cried pretty hard but after a little snuggle with Mom she was fine.

Everything went well at her appointment except her belly button wasn't healing properly. The area where the cord fell off was not drying up. The Dr. gave it some treatment and he said it should be better in a week. Otherwise, she is perfectly healthy.

Here's Cora at one month:

• Weighs 10.2lbs
• 21.75 inches
• Wears nb diapers but ready for 1's.
• Wears mostly 3 month clothes. A few nb outfits still fit. 
• Eats 4oz about every 4 hours.
• Sleeps for about 5 hour stretches at night. Went 6.5 hours last night...yay!
• Loves to be outside like her brother. 
• Is quiet but very observant, your big blue eyes are always looking around when you're awake. 
• Pretty easy going baby, we take Cora everywhere. 

Cora after her shots.

Trying to hold her own bottle. 

E's 2nd Birthday Party

On Saturday we had family over to celebrate E's birthday. Since he's obsessed with construction equipment, I did a construction themed party. I used a lot of his toys for decorations. E was pretty good about me using his toys around the house to decorate. He was so cute and said, "Mommy decorating." He must have overheard me talking about decorating because I'm pretty sure "decorating" was not in his vocabulary before.

Being a lover of all food, the menu was key. My dad grilled BBQ pork steaks which we used to make sandwiches and he also made his famous baked beans. We had coleslaw that my mom made and I made a veggie pizza. And of course, no summer BBQ is complete without watermelon.

E's birthday cake was pretty spectacular. Mike's mom is the designated cake lady. She made our wedding cake, E's birthday cake last year, and has made other wedding cakes as well. I found a construction site cake on Pinterest that I wanted for E's birthday and she didn't disappoint. E was in love with it and all he wanted to do was drive the trucks through the cake. We eventually had to put the cake up which caused a minor melt down.

Speaking of meltdowns, E had several during his party. Lesson learned by this Mommy, plan birthday parties before nap or well after nap to avoid a crabby kid. The party was 3pm - 6pm, which in my mind would be perfect. E would be getting up from his nap by then, guests could have some drinks and snacks and then we'd eat around dinner time. Well I didn't consider that it might be overwhelming for a 2 year old to wake up and have a house full of people all waiting to say "Happy Birthday!" Which is exactly what happened. E woke up from his nap before he was ready probably due to the commotion in the house which meant he was a little touchy. He cried when we all sang Happy Birthday and also when I wouldn't let him eat cake and ice cream right away. I finally gave in let E's birthday meal consist of cake and ice cream. Once he got his sugar fix, E was in party mode. He was into opening presents this year and stopped to play with each one. We even got a few "Thank you's" out of him. After presents, he had enough of his party and was ready to go outside and play.

Because I was in meltdown prevention mode, I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted. I didn't even get a nice family picture to document the occasion. Here are the few I did get:

Construction Decorations

E's Birthday Invite

Driving trucks in the cake.

E's construction cake.

Good enough family picture.