This Week...

This past week has been CRAZY busy as Paul and I have been working on our basement.  Our 1965 basement was full of cobwebs, bugs, spider eggs (ICK!!!!!), and junk from the previous owner, and we decided we wanted to make the space into a playroom for the kids.  Because its pretty hard to work with two kids underfoot, most of our work occurs after 8pm...which means some late nights!  It's coming along, though, and after many hours of cleaning, bleaching, washing, painting, etc it is getting cleaner!  Paul is putting down underlay and laminate flooring (looks like hardwood floor) over the concrete and it looks awesome!  We still have a lot to do, but here is a sneak preview :-).

Other things this week....

DATE NIGHT!
Paul took me out for my birthday this weekend and we had a BLAST with just us two...there were actually a few moments where I forgot we had kids!  (Our kiddos were outnumbered 2-1 with babysitters Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Eric, and Auntie Kristin).  We went out to dinner, got shakes at Annie's Parlor, walked around the Sculpture Gardens, and ended up at Uncommon Grounds for hot chocolate, the spot where Paul took me for our our first date.  YAY for date nights!

Dressing Up!

We took the kids to the Eagan Community Center this weekend for trick-or-treating, games, and other fun! 

My little zoo: Colton the monkey and Summer the elephant

What a cute little elephant!

My little monkey :)

 A few videos

Summer has been working on left vs right lately....

Colton has been having a blast entertaining himself with a balloon!  I love his giggle!!!

Meeting the Go Fish Guys!

This morning was seriously one of the coolest ever!!!!!  We got to meet the Go Fish Guys!

Grandma Kirkwood went to a fundraising auction a few months ago and bid on a Go Fish Guys package (Summer and Colton's favorite music group).  Part of the deal was going to a recording session.  They have their recording studio right in Lakeville (not far from us).  This morning we went and met them and listened to them recording a song for their new album that will come out sometime before Christmas.  It was so much fun to meet them!  Here are a few pictures and videos....

With Jamie and Jason

Thumbs up!

Jason recording

We learned about how they record each line of the song 3 times to make the voice sound more full

Tour of the Studio

Talking about the clip they were going to record

Jason recording a clip

 

Summer and Colton Dancing as they listen

Singing Wheels on the Bus with the Go Fish Guys

**Here is the link to the version the Go Fish Guys have on their "Party Like a Preschooler CD", which is Summer's favorite!

Thank you, Grandma, for letting us come with you!  Thank you, Go Fish Guys, for making Summer's favorite music, music that calms a fussy Colton, music that Mom and Dad enjoy, and music that is both fun and glorifies God!

Brother Sister Moments

It has been really cute to watch Summer and Colton interacting lately!  My top three moments in the past few days have been...

1) Watching Summer feed Colton puffs
2) Watching Summer "dress up" Colton with her high heels and crown
3) Watching Summer giggle as Colton "enthusiastically" eats his food!

I tried to catch Colton's enthusiastic eating on video, but after his first bite, he became more interested in Summer!  Anyway, if you watch how he ate the first bite on this clip, and then picture him doing it repeatedly....this is what had Summer and I laughing!

Grandma turns 50!

This past weekend we surprised Grandma Tommerdahl by heading up to Fergus Falls to celebrate her 50th birthday!  We started the weekend by getting to their church (where the surprise party would be held) mid-afternoon on Friday.  Grandma thought she was going to Applebees for dinner but "stopped at the church to pick up something".  When she got to the church at 6:30 we (along with lots of friends) said SURPRISE!  The party was fun, and then we spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with the family.  What a great weekend!  Here are a few pictures.

Getting balloons and pictures ready

Couldn't resist posting this picture of my handsome hubby :-)

Sibling teamwork to get the coffee ready!

The food line

Grandpa and Summer

Grandma and Summer

Eating

CAKE!

Colton enjoying rice cereal the next day.

Playing with Grandma's toys

Summer played her first ever "game" (Chickaboom) and did great!

Painting nails with Auntie Sarah

Blowing them dry

Uncle Jordan and Colton

Colton bundled up to head outdoors with Grandma!

Watching the guys shoot clay pigeons for target practice

Summer loved watching!

She would shout "yay" and clap every time they got one!

Summer and Auntie Sarah read books while Grandpa played with Colton

Colton loved when Grandpa spinned the top

Silly outtake....getting ketchup off of Paul's face before the real picture!

The kids and grandkiddos

Two videos and newsy stuff

I haven't had time to blog much lately, but wanted to share two videos from this week, as well as a few updates on each of the kiddos.

 

Colton

 

Colton has had a lot of firsts this week.  He said ma-ma for the first time on Monday (great birthday present for me!), we brushed his two teeth for the first time, he ate baby puffs for the first time, tried his first bite of ice cream (didn't like it!!!), and he is now eating (and loving!) oatmeal, rice cereal, carrots, squash, peas, bananas, and applesauce.  He is a great eater, eating 2-3 solid meals a day!  Colton has had a DRAMATIC turnaround this past week in being able to have fun and play on his own.  I am not sure whether it is the fact that he is 6 months now or that his teeth are finally in, but he has been SO much less fussy.  I can actually set him down to play by himself for a few minutes and he will do so without crying.  He is soooo much happier than he has been the past 6 months of his life--I LOVE it!  It is seriously such a dramatic change, and I really hope it is here to stay!  Right now, he has a magic "giggle button"...if I sneeze, he automatically laughs!  It is so funny!  I did a lot of sneezing during his 6 month pictures....!  I love that he and Summer are starting to share laughs together and I can't wait for them to actually be able to play together.  He is starting to babble a lot more lately and he just learned how to blow bubbles last night.  While he doesn't associate "ma-ma" with me yet, I like to pretend he does when he babbles ma-ma-ma-ma ;).  It was really hard for me to catch him saying ma-ma on video because he would stop everytime I got out the camera...this is the best I could catch on camera!   Here is a video of him saying ma-ma :-).

 

 

Summer

 

I have been having so much fun with Summer lately.  I love talking with her and she makes me laugh so much!  I love hearing how she explains things in her own words....for example during bathtime one evening she noticed Colton's "fountain" when he went to the bathroom in the tub and she said, "Mama, Colton's bottom is squirting!"  I love seeing the associations she makes with words, for example when reading Snow White and naming the Dwarfs, when we got to "Doc" she said, "just like at Grandma's cabin"...(i.e. the "dock" at Grandma's cabin) or when she relates Bible characters to people she knows with the same name.  I love being able to ask her about her Sunday school class or her time with Daddy at Dad's Class and she can tell me what she did or who she played with.  I love snuggling with her and reading a library book, especially now that we can get the longer books with more of a story plot instead of just the board books.  I love how she really can help now with getting things for Colton and helping clean up.  I love her sweet little conscience, where she immediately tells me if she does something she shouldn't (such as sticking a sticker on the floor or coloring on the table or saying "no" to a teacher at Sunday School).  I love the little face she gets when she is suuuper crabby but I tell her to "be happy" and she (in mid-cry) will stop and pull herself together, saying "I will be happy"!  I love hearing her pray (and I am SURE God does too!)  This past week, after finishing reading through her Beginner's Bible for the 6th or 7th time we started a reading the Big Picture Story Bible during her morning Bible time.  I like how this one is set up because it helps kids connect the stories together into the "Big Picture" of the Bible.  It is fun to watch her understanding of God grow.  Here is her randition of what she learned during her Bible time.

 

 

 



Colton 6 month pictures and stats!

Colton Paul, 6 months

I am 26 inches tall (33nd percentile)

I weigh 16 lbs & 3oz (25th percentile)

My head is 16.5 inches around (12th percentile)

Colton is 6 months!

My little buddy is 6 months tomorrow (at 10:23am!), so I thought I would document his day today with pictures to remember what life was like with him at this age....


6:00am: feed Colton, put him back to bed for a bit more sleep....

 ***Mommy does a P90x workout***

7:30am: get him up for the day and read him his Bible story

"Woah, look at those dudes..."

"What's going to happen next?!?"

"Great story!"

 7:45am: I take a shower while Colton hangs out in his jungle.

(In actuality, this was the only smile I got from him....he was pretty mad about me getting in the shower and not holding him!)

8:15am: Summer is awake!  Time for Colton to play in the bouncer while Mommy goes to get Summer

"Mom, I am not too happy about being put in here right now...."

 8:30am: Time to eat breakfast!  Colton got to try applesauce with his rice cereal for the first time.

YUM!

8:45am: All done eating and time to jam with "Party Like a Preschooler" by Go Fish Guys.  Colton's face at my "dance moves" was priceless!

"Wow, mom, you need to work on your dance moves!"

 9:00am: Tummy Time!

9:15am: Nap Time

***Mommy cleans up breakfast dishes, folds laundry and Summer and Mommy read some library books***

10:00am: Colton wakes up and reads library books with Mommy and Summer

10:15am: head out on errands

11:00am: Library story time.  Today's theme was transportation so we sang songs and read books that had to do with trucks, buses, cars, etc.

Sitting on the story mat at the library

12:00pm: Lunch at McDonald's with some friends and playtime for Summer at the play place--great for a rainy fall day!

My two kids in high chairs :-)

 1:00pm: Home for Colton's nap.

***Mommy and Summer cleaned up and then colored til Summer's naptime***

2:30pm: Colton wakes up!  (I was going to take a picture but he wasn't too happy when he woke up!!)

Our typical evening includes one more nap for Colton, dinner around 6:30, fussy Colton from 7-7:30, bathtime at 7:30 and betime at 8.  Tonight Grandma is coming to babysit while Daddy and Mommy go to Bible study.

At 6 months, Colton:

-has two teeth, loves to be held (and can be fussy when set down), loves Go Fish music, is now sleeping unswaddled, almost always is sucking on his fingers, has had his hair (i.e. his "spike") trimmed once, takes roughly 3 naps a day, is very tickleish, loves to hear himself cough, and has the best smile! 


Every day is different, but here is a snapshot of Colton at 6 months!  We go in for Colton's 6 month check-up on Friday and I'm excited to see what he weighs!

Love you, Colton buddy!

Silly Summer

Summer's latest two quotes:

1) "Baby Noelle is in my tummy" (her dolly's name....she was referring to the fact that she was pregnant with her baby doll!)

2) After nap today...."I have playdough on my finger."  (It was a goober!)

Silly Summer enjoying dressup and looking in the mirror!

Summer fed Mommy and Elmo lunch today and we all wore bibs :-)