Wordless Wednesday

Twins Territory

Saturday afternoon, after Terry and Emily arrived, we headed downtown to join 25,000 other Twins fans eager to check out the new stadium.

Its a beautiful new stadium, complete with a great view of downtown, heat lamps, escalators and any kind of food you could want.

Our favorite part is the old school logo of "Minnie and Paul". Throughout the season, whenever a Twin hits a home run they will shake hands over the Mississippi.

Kaden enjoyed taking in the sites while strapped to Mommy's chest.

While big brother Karter enjoyed the sites from everywhere!! He absolutely loved being at the stadium and watching the game from his own chair....

...and Daddy's shoulders!

Karter especially loved being able to run free!

Hopefully our family will be able to make it to a game this season...but I think we will wait until it is a little warmer!

Big Boy, No Pacifiers

A few weeks ago we tried to take Karter's pacifier away at bed time. I had gone to the doctor that day and I had her tell him what a big boy he was and that he didn't need a pacifier. It worked...until bedtime! He screamed and became totally hysterical, so in a moment of weakness we gave it back to him. We took this as a sign that he wasn't ready to give them up, but continued to tell him what a big boy he was and that he didn't need a pacifier anymore. (He only gets it at bedtime.) Well, yesterday morning when I got him out of bed he handed me his pacifiers and I asked him if he wanted me to put them away or should he throw them away in Grandma's bathroom (that is what he calls our guest bathroom). I totally didn't think he would do it, but he got right out of bed and threw them away! We waved bye-bye to the pacifiers and I took the trash out. I was really nervous, because we hadn't really talked about taking the pacifier away but figured if he was willing to throw it away we should do it! This time I knew what to expect, he would cry and scream but Kristoffer and I needed to show a little tough love. At nap time he cried for 10-15 minutes and then went to sleep for his normal 1 1/2 hours. Bedtime was a little bit more rough, he got out of bed and was crying and banging against the door, but after 10 or so minutes he was quit. When we went to check on him, we expected him to be asleep on the floor or something, but he was back in bed asleep...and we haven't heard from him all night!! I am so proud of our big boy!
Here is a little video of what Karter was saying all day yesterday, but Kaden kept trying to upstage him!

Big Brother, Little Brother

Karter has a book called Big Brother, Little Brother that he loves...honestly the book is a tad on the annoying side, but he LOVES it. When we are reading he will go to his cabinet and while searching say "brothers" over and over, we have read this book a lot! While it isn't my favorite, it is kind of a glimpse into the future about the mischief these two brothers might get into one of these days...they are pretty good buddies already. Karter likes to do tummy time and help push Kaden in the swing, while Kaden just likes to watch his big brother play and take it all in.

You never know what Karter is going to do while playing with his little brother, but one thing is for sure...it will end with a smoochy!

Karter doesn't have the best attention span, so whenever something else catches his eye he is gone.

Poor Kaden is left wondering where his big brother went!





"Big brother, little brother, our adventures never end.
We'll always have each other and you'll always be my friend!"

Wordless Wednesday

He's a Good Dog

Our Rascal is a good dog, and like we've said before, he puts up with A LOT from Karter. Rascal is a pretty mellow dog and is always laying around somewhere, which makes him a pretty easy target for Karter. Whenever Karter spots him he always has to either hug, sit or jump on him...sometimes all of the above!

Last week I was taking pictures of Kaden and Karter asked/demanded that I take his picture too...so he ran to sit with Rasc and said "picture".

It doesn't matter if you are human or animal...watch out for this mischievous look!

In the mornings, Rascal tries to hide out in bed for as long as possible, but is only a matter of time before Karter starts yelling "Rascie, Rascie" up and down the hallway.

When he finds Rascal in bed, the torture, I mean playtime begins. It's never to early for Rascal to be jumped on and then kicked out of bed!

This little boy sure does love his puppy dog...and truth be told, Rascal is pretty fond of Karter too and sometimes instigates the playtime!




This next picture is completely off topic, just super cute! I laid him down for two seconds to grab something and came back to this....

The Artist

Karter is quite the little artist lately, almost every day he creates some sort of artwork. For Christmas he got a few Crayola Wonder things and they make his creativity a little less messy (the paint only works on the special paper), so it is fun to sit back and watch him work.

He prefers to work with two brushes at a time.

"Here mommy, you try!"

Karter Playing

Our fridge is covered with magnets that Karter likes to play with. They come in pretty handy when I am trying to cook dinner or clean up the dishes. Yesterday morning I was able to get this video of Karter playing with all of his magnets...I just LOVE this video because it is totally unscripted and is just Karter doing what he does. He is a super smart little fella, and you may not be able to hear it but he is saying what every letter is and what letter he is putting it next to and also what color each of the vehicle pieces are....Enjoy!

Happy Baby

Kaden was 6 weeks old on Monday, and he started expressing himself a little bit more. Lucky for us, his expressing himself is a happy thing...with super cute baby smiles! Lately he has been "talking" to us and giving us those awesome, gummy smiles. Here are a few pictures of our bright eyed boy and his many expressions!

Wordless Wednesday

Outside At Last

It rained all last week, melting away the foot of snow we still had on the ground. Yesterday, the bright sun finally came out from behind the clouds and it was a beautiful 60 degree day! We couldn't let such a gorgeous day go by with coming out of hibernation, so we went across the street to our brand new park! Karter was pretty excited to be able to run free, and took off as soon as he saw the park.

It was during Kaden's normal afternoon nap, so I just bundled him up in my wrap and he continued napping.

Rascal was a crazy man for the first 20 minutes or so. With all of the snow gone there were so many new things for him to smell and he just couldn't wait to get to them.

Karter loved the new park and is big enough this year to do most of it by himself. Here he is eyeing his favorite part....

...going down the slide is definitely his favorite!

After playing at the park, we took Rascal for a walk around the block....boy did it feel good to be outside again! This was Karter's first walk without the wagon or stroller and he did great!

Storytime at the Library

Last Monday, Kaden got to experience one of his brother's favorite things...storytime at the library! I was feeling brave last week and went to both Target and the library by myself with both boys and were completely successful on both trips!

Karter was pretty excited to go back after taking a month off to see all of his friends. I told him when he woke up that we were going to take a car ride to the library and he kept saying "car ride...library...walk" until it was actually time to go. (Whenever he says walk I tell him that it is too far to walk, but he actually means that he wants to walk down the stair to the car.)

Storytime is about an hour, the first 30 minutes are for reading books and singing songs and the last half is just for the kids to play and run around. Miss Barb just got these new building blocks and they were a huge hit.

It is so fun to watch Karter play with all of his friends. It is really hard to believe we have been going to the library for over a year now. I remember last year, Karter was one of the little ones and he was always getting run over by the older kids. Now he is one of the oldest ones there and is the one running around all the time. I am so glad our library has this program for him to be able to interact with other kids his age.

Here is a little video of Karter as we were getting ready to leave....

Passing It On

Every morning, after Karter takes attendance of everyone in the house, he goes straight for his cards and books. Most mornings he asks to be quizzed with his animal cards multiple times before breakfast.

He takes great pride in knowing what the animal and letter are on each card.

And Karter has taken it upon himself to make sure Kaden knows his animals and letters too!

Kaden is lucky to have such a caring brother who wants to pass along his knowledge!

Wordless Wednesday

A Birthday Celebration

Last week was my 27th birthday, it was a great day, but our family celebration wasn't until this weekend when Kristoffer would be home to prepare my feast! What a meal he prepared for us...steak with mushroom and onions, broccoli with cheese and baked sweet potatoes. Oh my, I think I am still full from last night! Of course, I enjoyed my meal on our "special day" plate!

Since I am not a real cake fan, Kristoffer made a delicious apple crisp for dessert...with extra crisp!

Kaden realized he wasn't really going to be able to partake in the feast, so he decided to sleep through dinner.

I am blessed with an amazing husband who spoiled me with a great meal and a great gift too...I get a mini shopping spree while he stays home with the boys next weekend! I am a very luck woman, who is now practically 28!!

Somersaults

Karter has been trying for the past few months to do somersaults. He really likes for us to flip him over, but then wants us to demonstrate....we are a little past our somersaulting prime! The other day I was feeding Kaden and I heard Karter yell "Mommy" (which isn't a surprise, I hear him yell my name 100 times when I am feeding Kaden), but this time when I looked over his head was on the ground with his tush up in the air. He pushed with his legs and flipped himself ever and stood up so proud of himself yelling "YAY Karter!" Here are a couple of videos of our future gymnast....Enjoy!

This next video has nothing to do with the post, but it is Kaden making his video debut!

Saturday Adventure

Last week we had plans for the boys and I to meet Kristoffer downtown on Friday after work for dinner and a little shopping, however, Kristoffer's car had other plans for us! He came home from work on Wednesday and said that the brakes on his car had just gone out, luckily he was in the driveway and not on the highway! After becoming AAA members, getting a tow, spending two days in the shop and spending more money than we wanted the Tracker now has new brakes and is safe to drive again. Kristoffer drove my car for the rest of last week, leaving me without a car, so our downtown trip got postponed a day.

It actually worked out better, the skyways weren't busy and Karter could run free most of the time. There are 8 miles of skyway in Minneapolis and I think that we walked just about all 8 miles of it. It was fun to explore some new territory and check out the new Twins stadium (Target Field).

Kaden seemed to really enjoy himself...he slept most of the time! He woke up once to eat and just looked around completely confused as to where he was.

This trip was the first time I had left the house all week, so I was very happy to be out amongst the living again and to spend some quality time with all my boys!