photo shoot

When Lydia was 1 week old, we got her newborn photos taken.   I wanted to post some of my favs here for all to see.  What a little doll - I love the pictures!  The photographer's name is Aleah and her business is called Created By Me Photography.    

weekend 'o fun

Last weekend, two of my aunts, Jackie & Jo, came to visit from Bismarck.  They got to meet Lydia, play with Henry, and of course get some shopping in too!  Oh, do they ever spoil that Henry.  They brought him a Hot Wheels track, complete with lots of new cars.  It was a big hit! 

Lydia had her first ever Girls Night on Saturday - pizza, margaritas, and games - we had lots of fun!  Sonja, Mary, and Katie all came over, because who doesn't love a good game night, right?!

Henry worked his magic in the kitchen, whipping up a red/green cake for dessert that night.  We said it was Lydia's 1 month birthday, and called it a birthday cake.  That big brother had to help her blow out her candle.....and eat her piece of cake too :)

Henry - 3 years and 5 months

Lydia - 1 month

MOA

 Phil had the fabulous idea of going to the Mall of America on Veterans Day for a family day o' fun.  It did not disappoint - it really was a lot of fun family time!  Henry made good use of his unlimited wrist band for all the rides at Nickelodeon Universe.  It was the perfect day to go - no lines on any of the rides!

His first choice - Big Rig :)

I laughed so hard watching him and this other little boy on this one, as it bounced up and down.  The boys couldn't stop giggling.  Too cute!

Henry had the bumper cars all to himself.  His "serious face" was on the whole time.  Apparently, he meant business in there!

After Henry rode every ride that his height would allow, we had lunch, and then off to LegoLand.  Henry has really been into Legos lately at home - he has one little fire truck set.  He could have played in the store for hours!  In the past I've asked him if he's wanted to use his own money from his piggy bank to buy a toy that he's wanted at a store and he's never wanted to spend any money (gee, I wonder where he gets that from).  Well, he must REALLY love Legos, because this was the first time he wanted to use his piggy bank money to buy a little Lego set - his choice was a police car.  It has been a big hit - it's the only thing he's played with for 2 days straight :)

Little Lydia was snoozin' pretty much the whole time - what a good little babe she is!

projects

Henry was pretty excited that Greta was in town for the weekend :)  These two are quite into their "projects" lately!  

First up - The Home Depot Kids Workshop.

Why not keep it going next door with a good turkey project at Michaels?!  

Well done, you two!

Happy Halloween

Somebody was pumped for trick-or-treating this year.  It's funny because he's really not much of a candy person at all.  I think he's eaten 1 mini Snicker bar from his bag-o-candy, and that's it.  For him, it's about the journey, not the destination, right?!  

Henry said he wanted to go to 10 houses this year.  Oma & Opa's house was #1 on the list.  

Then we headed home to enjoy our pumpkin pizza before going out around the neighborhood.  Our poor pizza looks a little rough this year :(

This little pumpkin came with to a couple houses and then she and I went home to hand out candy for the evening.  We had quite a few kiddos come to our door.  We ended up shutting off our lights at about 7:40pm as we were out of candy!  Henry even wanted to give half of his candy away too.  

That evening, Henry couldn't quite let go of Halloween, but was obviously looking forward to Christmas!  Too soon?  

The next morning, 7:30am - counting,  organizing, and admiring all of his loot!  Who didn't do this as a child, I know Phil and I both did :)

Fall fun

We've been keeping busy around here with all the Fall festivities and pre-Halloween events going on.  

Our neighbors across the street hosted the '1st annual 117th Ave flag football game.'  It was held on the afternoon of the Viking/Packer game, and you were supposed to wear your purple or green!  It was a beautiful afternoon outside.  Pretty sure this game was more exciting to watch than the actual Viking/Packer game that evening.  Poor Vikings. 

How cute are these fans?  Blake is the other Vikings fan in the middle and Nathan is the Packers fan.  Blake and Henry had a great conversation about how the Vikings were going to win that evening and they were both equally as excited that the Golden Gophers had pulled off a win the previous day.  

That evening, we went to Como Zoo for Zoo Boo.  We couldn't have asked for better weather that day!  Fire Chief and Fire Chief :)    

I took Henry and Lydia to Henry's Halloween party for school.  Here he's playing a version of the 'cake walk' with prizes instead of cakes!

Decisions, decisions!  It took quite a while to pick that perfect prize.  Henry had a blast at the party and brought home quite a few treats!

In other news.....

Henry's been such a trooper with the huge changes that come with a new baby in the house.  He's been keeping awfully busy with lots of projects inside.  Last week, he went through a coloring book every 2 days - markers, crayons, paints, stickers, you name it!  Thank you to Oma for taking such great care of him these past few weeks as well :)  

Miss Lydia had her 2 week appointment with Dr. Sakkal last week.  She was 8 lbs, 15 ozs and 20 1/4 inches in length.  I learned something - in the hospital they measure length from their head to the tips of their toes, and then when they start coming to the clinic they measure it from head to heel - not sure why?  Here she is getting her bowl bath at Oma's house :)  She's 3 weeks old today!

Up next.....Halloween!