Happy Birthday Libbi!

Okay, you silly little time thieves...do you remember this stroller ride? Libbi was 2 months and Penelope was almost a month old.

Just a year ago, Jackie Lee and Elliott (her 3 year old) slid down the stairs and her water broke. I would say don't try that at home, but well, she tried it at home. 5 hours later she had beautiful Libbi. The girls are already good friends. Over the past year, they've decided their moms are crazy with their silly cameras, barrette addictions, and ability to weave the topic of spit up, poop or drool into just about any conversation.

Look at these beauties now! Penelope is saying "Happy Birthday to my barrette twin!"Here they are standing. You can't really tell from this picture but Libbi is probably a good 6 inches taller than Penelope. Anyone surprised?Mommy and PennyChecking out the wading poolMommies and bouncing babiesPenelope LOVES balloonsHugging Libbi's Elmo balloon"Yes!! Clapping!" The moment I start singing "Pat a cake" she starts clapping. It is a really cool trick. Same with "How big is Penelope?" and "peekaboo!"Libbi was intent on moving around and getting up on the bench instead of opening presents. Penelope was quite content to read her books even though we have this one at home.Libbi, Nadia and Penelope playing with toys and eating blueberries.Isn't this cake adorable? It has one blue eye and one brown eye, just like Libbi. Jackie Lee says when Libbi needs her drivers liscense, it will say Eyes: Yes. Mmmmm....cake!

Becoming Me: My Garden

I haven't done a Becoming Me post in so long, but I've been working on them. Some things just aren't doable in a week...like a garden! When we were looking at houses our real estate agent said everyone in the Seward neighborhood likes to garden. In January with 4 feet of snow on the ground it sounded lovely to plant a few flowers and veggies. Last year while I was pregnant I did plant a few things but they were pretty much in the shade and I was too walrus like to get down in the dirt and take care of them. By October we got one pepper about the size of a gobstopper. So instead I wandered around the neighborhood drooling over everyone else's gardens. The pictures don't do these justice, but check out this front yard rain garden (garden meant to absorb a lot of rain instead of like our front yard with grass on a slope where it runs off into the street causing erosion and pollution in the nearby Mississippi.)

Sometimes I see the owner sitting on the chair with a cup of tea and I want to ask if I can bring my book and join her :) Hopefully next year I can find some good shade perennials to plant and make my own rain garden with cute garden chairs.

Now let me show you a veggie garden in our neighborhood:

This is just half of it! It is about the size of an entire lot, so yes, this is an extreme example, but there are some pretty spectacular veggie and berry gardens on every block. And now the city of Minneapolis allows chicken coops. We live in the city and I know of 5 houses with chickens! Crazy, huh? Thankfully no roosters since they are only raised for eggs.

I don't think I'll get a chicken coop. But I did start a veggie garden with Christopher's help when he visited in May. The garden is in the alley next to our garage because it is the only place with enough sunlight due to our huge mature trees. I got a rain barrel from the co-op so I've been able to water primarily with rain water. Unfortunately I only had one zucchini plant live from the whole tray of plants I grew from seed. I think I planted them too early. I don't know if the zucchini is going to actually produce anything. I'm pretty sure I planted it too close to a pepper plant. Lesson learned to actually pay attention to those spacing instructions. When I got the peppers from the farmer's market they seemed so small...I had no idea they'd get so big. And good thing my brother planted the tomatoes the full 18 inches apart. I tried to talk him out of it and I have a wall of tomatoes.

But anyways, we have had success! Chris and I said success would be growing and eating just one item from the garden and check these beauties out:

Just a small square this year, but I've got room to grow. We put the fence around to stop people from taking the turn too tight and rolling over my tomatoes. Our elderly neighbor is quite concerned that someone will steal our veggies. She told me she keeps watch during the day. That motivates me to make sure it is watered as these are very cared for plants with their own watchguard.

Here's Penelope with the sign she gave me on Mother's Day

And ahhh....look at that! This was just minutes after I picked them

Yes, I took a lot of pictures. They are just so darn pretty!Chris sliced them up with some french bread and mozarella cheese made at the co-op. A little olive oil and salt on top...Delicious! Now I need to take a canning class so we can save a little of this yummyness for winter.

A Summer Evening

The Hoefts invited us over for dinner last night because the Caslins were visiting from Virginia. These are all 3rd cousins or something like that of Chris. Anyways, it was fun to catch up with the Caslins since we haven't seen them in quite a few years.


Last time Penelope saw Grant and Evan she wasn't playing yet. But here she is having a good time with the big kids! "where's Penelope?""Peekaboo!"Grant was great at keeping her amused.He even offered her his lawn chair!
Here we are with the Caslins. Matthew definitly was not that much taller than me last time we saw them!

Blogs I like

I've reconnected with my friend Christen from college. We were both english majors and went to Ireland together. She recently started blogging and I love her blog Check it out at La Vida Lista Not only does she have fun, interesting posts, she is kind of like a connisoeur of blogs and has found some really good ones. Anyways she bestowed a blog award to me as one of her favorite blogs {blush}. After looking at the other blogs, phew, tough competition out there in the blogworld! I mean I have some friends with some pretty snazzy blog layouts, but some of these bloggers go to conferences, copyright their blogs and pictures, blog daily...phew! And I just started blogging to keep all my out of town friends and family up to date on our little family's adventures.
So as winner of this award there are some rules to follow, but I'm not sure how to make them as neat and pretty as on Christen's blog...
1. Thank the award giver--"Gracias, la vida lista!"
2. Copy the logo and place on your blog...Shoot! Can't figure this one out. Why doesn't CtrlC CtrlV work on blogger...darn google tool. Do I really have to save and then add as a photo? I'm way too lazy for that. Head over to Christen's blog to see my award!
3. Link back to the award. Okay I already did this, but here it is again La Vida Lista
4. Name 10 things that people might find interesting about you. Can you refer to the 10 random things about me note on my Facebook page? I really shouldn't have waited until 10 pm to do this post. Maybe I'll come back to this later. Once again, it'd be nice if I could figure out copy and paste where it doesn't end up all funky.


5. Nominate and link up to 10 other blogs for this award. So here's the thing on this one. I really really try not to follow strangers blogs. I'm addicted to my friends' blogs (see side bar). I check those daily and pretty much have to nominate all of them. If you want to see the cutest pregnant woman ever check out B&N, or hear about my cousin helping out at risk youth in the wilderness go to Chief Will, or if you want to peek in on an adorable kindergarten teacher talk about her two sons look at the Forden's blog. Love all of them and I know I could read blogs all night long if I didn't put some limits on myself! It's kind of like my love of reality tv. In college I could watch TLC all day long and then think "Did I just use a day of my life watching bad dates, boring weddings of people I don't know and babies being born?" But blogs are much more interesting then those shows. With that said there are some "strangers" blogs I do read. In fact I spent a whole hour reading Little Red Roost last night (another blog Christen nominated) and decided I have to follow that one. But anyways, here are the few blogs I check in my google reader about once a week for new posts:

Etsy.com blog. I know I've mentioned it before as a website where people sell handmade and vintage stuff. Before you blow it off as craft crap like crocheted toilet paper covers I think you should check it out. Some of the stuff is so amazing and really unique. I've got a list of favorites on my etsy site just from reading the blog.

Oursuburbancottage Great house decorating blog. This woman has wonderful tips on DIY projects. In fact, I'm using her step by step instructions to paint my cabinets.

Keepinghercool This is the blog that inspired my Becoming Me posts (I'm planning another one soon!) She has done some really cool things, but if you read her most recent post get some tissues ready.

Makeitandloveit My friend Ashley's craft blog (button on the side) Even if you aren't interested in DIY craft projects she has sponsors do giveaways on her blog about weekly.

Themusicalkitten This is a coworker's blog I just started following. She makes fun guitar pick jewelry. Her most recent post is about our hula hoop contest at work.

Well, there's my post. I guess I didn't follow the rules. Thanks to Katie for showing me how to make links to the blogs. Much prettier now that it is fixed.

A Sunday at the park and a last minute visit

"What did you say Mom? We can go to the park?""Yes!! We are going to the park!""Woo hoo! Now I can play on more than the swings"

"And slide with Mommy""But the very best game at the park?" "Flying through the air with Daddy, of course!"

"Then on Monday, Mommy got a call from Great Uncle Mike that he was going to be in town. I had a great time. Last time I met him I couldn't even hold my head up and now I'm a giggle bug. He even took us out to dinner AND I got to stay up past my bed time. Uncle Mike you can come anytime!"

Dear Virginia Woolf

Oh my dear Virginia! I am writing you to say we must part ways for now. You know I'm one of your biggest fans. I've read To the Lighthouse and Mrs. Dalloway twice. I rarely re-read books. But I'm sad to say it took me 6 weeks to get through Orlando. I will admit that it was a strange plot...a man turns into a woman and lives 400 years? But I know you were playing with the idea of gender and what could be more satirical then to have this character live through 400 years of English society so you could poke fun at it? Yet the writing was not as intricate and difficult as your other books, but even still, I don't think you wrote this for a mom of a 10 month old baby. I don't know how many times I had to go back 3 or 4 pages to reread. Definitly not a book I could read at breakfast, clean a load of diapers, paint a cabinet and then pick right up at lunchtime. I used to be sad that my favorite authors like you are deceased. Once I finish all of your works, that's it. Nothing to look forward to, no "what's Virginia working on next" interviews or anything like that. But now I don't have to worry about that because I'm going to leave you on the shelf till a different time in my life, which is probably when you meant your works to be read anyways. Don't worry. I'll be writing the same letters to Elliot, Tolstoy, and James.
So I'll see you later, Ginny!
Laura

She loves us

Every morning I call Chris to get the update on how day care drop off went. Pretty much the same every day. Although, last week he told me "wow...I've just got to say I know Penelope likes me, but she loves you!" We have entered the "I only want my mommy" stage. When I leave the room she goes beserk, even if she is sitting in the highchair and can see me in the kitchen. Poor Chris has to deal with a bawling baby every morning when I leave. One day I dropped her off at day care. Chris told me she is so happy and "talking" to the other kids that she doesn't even notice when he leaves. Hmmm...that wasn't quite the same experience for me. The teachers told me "she never acts like this when Chris brings her." So to turn this into a positive experience I'm just going to agree with Chris that she is showing her love for me. And I know she loves Daddy too. All those belly laughs that only he can get out of her is proof!

Our Sleep Habits

Here is the early bird (check out that hair! this is what happens after daycare puts her hair in a ponytail). She likes to greet the day at 5 am. We've tried to push her bedtime to 7:30 in the hopes that she'll sleep longer, but we just have a very cranky baby in the evening who still wakes up at 5 am. Then here is the night owl. He would be very happy playing video games every night until 3 am and sleeping in, but alas, the world requires him to make a living and so he reluctanly goes to bed around 10 or 11 and rolls out of bed at 6:30.

And, well, then there is your author, also known as the mid-day squirrel. This is what Chris called me the other day and said I'm at my best between 10 and 2. Really, though, I need a good 8-9 hours of sleep to function...and that silly early bird will babble in her crib for about a half hour and then wants her mama to come and get her by 5:30...then I get all wound up after work and want to get a ton done while also spending time with the darn night owl who will always turn on some horribly addicting show and sit down with a bag of popcorn...or I'll spend a precious hour on facebook or reading blogs. Do not be surprised if you call on the weekends and find the mid-day squirrel taking 2 naps a day with the early bird. I've got to refuel to start up the week!

Our Little Firecracker

We had a pretty lazy 4th of July weekend. We started some home improvement projects that will probably take a few weeks to finish. Besides that Chris made some yummy meals and we went on quite a few walks around the neighborhood. Since fireworks don't start until 10 pm we decided to pass this year. Instead we watched How To Lose Friends and Alienate People. Highly recommend it...really good romantic comedy that men will like. So we are all rested up to start a busy week at work. And onto the pictures (I'm sure Mom has skipped down there already)

Here's Penelope on Friday. She hasn't mastered crawling, but kind of scoots around on her tummy. Chris describes her as a canoe with only one oar because she pulls herself around in circles, but eventually gets to what she wants:

Chris made red, white and blue pancakes with blueberries, strawberries and bananas (and a little food coloring). Penelope enjoyed her first pancake:

We got all ready for a 4th of July photo shoot outside and then it started raining cats and dogs. Ahh well, the red chair always works well for photos

Our little starlet! It cleared up in the evening and Penelope got to try out her new swing.

Look at that cheeky smile! Then this morning we were back out in the swing again!Chris made a great breakfast...who needs to go out of town when we can sit on the deck off of our bedroom and have Eggs Chris (florentine and benedict combined), a cup of coffee and a bloody mary! Yummy
Cece entertained Penelope while we ate

Penelope sat in her pop up tent while I weeded.

And I had to take pics of Penny with her adorable new barrettes. This was my first purchase off of etsy.com. These are crocheted barrettes made by hand. I got a set of them and this one matched her little knit dress I got in the middle of the winter. "Okay mom! I've gotta take a nap and you keep taking pictures!"

The rest of the visit

Saturday morning my mom and dad ran in Time to Fly. Dad finished 6th in his age group for the 10K averaging a 8 min 20 sec mile. Phew. In my wildest dreams I could run one mile that fast! Mom forgot to put her chip on her shoe so we'll just say she won her age group in the 5K since we have no clue how fast she went :) Most importantly they got to meet everyone from my work and see some of the kids and families who benefit. $175K went to Children's Cancer Research Fund for the race which is more than last year!

Throughout the morning we dealt with rain showers. Here we are in the pavillion waiting for the skies to clear.
When we got home we had a very very tired Penelope. She has started to sleep with her butt in the air. I don't know why she doesn't figure this out when she is trying to crawl. If she did this during tummy time she'd be cruising everywhere.

Every time Penelope slept, Mom and Dad played the Wii...well, actually Dad played it constantly. He wanted to beat my brother's scores so most of the games have my brother at 1st place and then my dad at 2nd-9th place. (this would be the competitive problem that runs in my family. ) Mom only played it a few times. We need a much bigger house to play Wii with mom. She treats Wii tennis like the real thing. Dad got thwacked with a few backhands. Here they are bowling:

This picutre is actually from our date night on Friday. It is only the 2nd time date night since Penelope was born. We went to a great restauarant called Burger Jones and then saw the movie Away We Go. Yes, we left Penelope to go watch a movie about a couple becoming parents. It was really good. I would even buy it and watch it again which I rarely do. If you like Juno or Little Miss Sunshine you'll like Away We Go Penelope loves her jumping johnny.