Insta-Weekend 9.25.11

home made coffee cake - yum!

P helping lick the bowl clean

The boys love my "going to grandma's" suitcase I had when I was young.

Mase-Face

We love Jamba Juice!

Feeding Gus tubbie water

Swim Shirts and Snow Boots

Born to type-A parents, these two know what they want. And today that happened to be their swim shirts and snow boots.


In a climate where both may be needed in the same week - these guys are PREPARED!

Homemade Applesauce

The first thing we did after we got home from the apple orchard?


Made homemade apple sauce and ate it while it was still warm. Yummm...

Mason

Mason

Prior
See that "ring finger" on P's hand? That's the one that was reattached. It looks great and even the nail has grown back. He still talks about it almost daily but unless you look really close you would never know. We're so lucky!

Insta-Weekend 9.18.11

"I do it by myself" is one of the most frequently heard statements in our house these days.
Mason

Rachel Ray's Buffalo Chicken Chili (with blue cheese on top). It's fantastic. And minus all the cheese I put on top it's healthy, too!

P making sure the settings are right on my camera (it's insured)

 Much needed hair cuts (before shot) (M)

Weekend nap time 

Dinner and dessert at the neighbor's house

Building forts

Now what?!

Silliness

Apple Orchard

On Saturday we ventured out to an apple orchard in Delano, MN, with our good buddies Katie and Carson. The dads stayed home (ours was working on installing new doors and trim upstairs). Yippee!


Luckily we had our jackets - it was a little chilly. I love it when we have the AC and heat on in our house in the same 7 day period.


While I was outnumbered, I did manage to take a few pictures (thanks to my peripheral vision!!)


Carson is a year older than the boys but we were asked twice if they were triplets!

My best friends...

I love how photography captures real life. And such real expressions. I love these guys. And I especially love how the boys are interacting with each other more and more each day. 

I love hearing them interact and play together.

And when they use their manners my heart just melts.

 "Here you go Prior...Thanks Mase". 

Seriously - can you see why they are my best friends!?

(photo courtesy of Erika!)

Au Pair Picnic

There is a get together for all of the au pairs and their families in and around the Twin Cities each September. Crazy to believe this was our 3rd picnic. The boys have met some great buddies and Ben and I have met some great friends as well.


I had my camera along but was only able to snap a few pics on my phone of the boys and their painted tattoos. I missed pictures of the ice cream truck, the playground, the splash park, and of course, our friends. Next year for sure!

Prior - he chose a snake. Pretty tough, eh?

Mase and his moon.

The Great Minnesota Get Together...and....

Ben and I have been married for nearly 9 years - all of which has been spent here in Minnesota.


*crazy!*


The comical part of that story is that when we met and fell in love he said he'd move anywhere with me....except north.


And here we are! [How we ended up here is another story for later]


We've avoided the Minnesota State fair intentionally each of the last 8 years. But with the boys interested in all-things-new, we felt we had to make a trip this year.

And now for the best part of this post. Blog friends, officially meet "Erika"! Erika is our new au pair and joined our family in July. Erika is great. She is from Columbia and the boys officially know more Spanish at the ripe ol' age of 2 1/2 than I do at 31. Erika is super patient with the boys and loves doing art projects with the boys and spending time at the park. And I absolutely love how they say her name (Ereeeeka).