11 months

11 months old!  What's new with Miss Lydia this month?  Hmmmmm, let me think.  You're speed crawling everywhere you go.  Not taking any steps on your own yet, just standing at the furniture and walking around the coffee table or window ledge.  Favorite toy - still loves the kitchen and can play up in the loft happily by herself for quite some time.  Is really getting into the magnetic board with letters on it too.  Loves to simply stack/unstack, put little things into big things, etc.  She's getting into all my cupboards now, and brother is NOT happy when she gets into his "project" cupboard in the kitchen.  Continues to enjoy playing/snacking outside in the grass, going for walks in the stroller, and playing in the bathtub.  Can squawk pretty loud and loves to hear her own voice.  No new words that I can think of, says Dada much more than Mama lately.  Such a smiler, waves to people that drive by our house when we're outside!  She gives big-wide-open-mouth kisses and lean-her-head-on-your-shoulder hugs too :)

I think she has 12 teeth now, quite the set of chompers on her.  Still wearing size 3 diapers and now in all 12 month clothing.  Had another rough stretch of sleep/naps, I'm guessing because she got a few more teeth in a short amount of time, but everything is back to normal now.  Is pretty tired by 6:45pm and sleeps until 7:15-7:30am.  Most of the time, gets 2 naps in.

Meat and Cheerios are definitely her favorite foods.  Goes in spurts with what she likes/dislikes and I still can't really figure it out.  Does not care for much in the veggie department.  In fact, just last night when I put 3 little pieces of green beans on her tray, she didn't even try them, just picked them up and threw them right off the tray as quickly as she could.  She can eat an adult size portion of lasagna - can't get enough of it!  I'm officially done breastfeeding, so she's drinking up all the milk I have stored in the freezer now - 4 bottles/sippy cups each day. 

You're going to be 1 year old before we know it, yikes! 

Preschool - take 2

Henry started his 2nd year of preschool last week.  The boy was pumped to get this year going!  I requested the same teachers that he had last year, Ms. Stacie and Ms. Sara.  I figured that as excited as he was to go to school every single day, they must have done something right :)  He's now going 3 mornings a week.  Unfortunately, they had to kick Preschool out of the school that's 2 minutes from our house, in order to make more room for all-day Kindergarten, and move it to a school that's about a 20 minute drive away.  He asks me every morning if he's big enough to get on the bus that the neighbor boys get on!  One of these days, I'm afraid he's going to try to sneak on with them :)             

There are 2 kids in his class from last year.  I've been asking him everyday about the kids' names in his class, and he always refers to those two as his "old friends," A.J. and Quinn.  Then he goes on to talk about his "new friends" too.  Cute :)  

summer has come to an end

The great MN get-together.....Labor Day weekend.....the end of summer, all one in the same.  

We made our annual trip to the State Fair last week, and had a beautiful morning for it.  Let's see, we hit up all of our usuals.....The Miracle of Birth Center, to see all the baby animals.....the Big Slide.....cheese curds.....Sweet Martha's cookies.....  

.....the Alphabet Forest.....

.....and Henry's favorite, Little Farm Hands :)  We put Lydia to work on the farm this year, too!

On Labor Day, 117th Ave held its 2nd annual flag football game.  Cast and everything, even Henry got to run the ball :)  Lydia was the cheerleader.  Daddy & Henry's team came away with the victory! 

And one more photo.....it was spaghetti & meatball night in our house the other night.  I'm pretty sure the girl even had spaghetti sauce in between her toes :)  She only ate 4 huge meatballs - her favorite food group, meat!  

more summer fun

Last weekend, we checked out the Tamarack Nature Center, which is up here in the north metro.  That place is a hidden little gem.  It has various rock structures for climbing, a little river/beach area for playing, a garden where the kids can water the plants, trails for hiking, and a few other play/picnic areas.  Funny thing, we saw 2 other kids with casts on their arms when we got there (one must have been put on by the same guy that Henry had, it was black and white stripes, a replica of Henry's dark blue and light blue stripes).  We noticed this lady who was so nervous for Henry, watching him climb up and jump off these rocks with his broken arm.  I'm used to it by now!

Lydia just wanted to eat sand for lunch, yum yum.  

The views were great out there!  

A few weeks ago, we had a beautiful night to go to TCF Bank Stadium, sit right down on the field, and watch the LEGO movie on the big screen.  What a fun event :)  Henry had an absolute blast and did NOT want to leave!  This was the night before he went back to the doctor and found out that he needed a cast.  He had plenty of artificial turf in his splint when it came off at his appointment, oops.  

Auntie Jackie spoiled Henry with a gift card to Burger King, which is his FAVORITE restaurant in the whole wide world :)  He had it all planned out when we went for lunch one day - he wanted to order his own food, "pay" for it himself, and carry his tray to the table.  Oh, he was so proud!  Too stinkin' cute :)