moa

this past weekend we were planning on going to an indoor water park about 3 hours outside of minneapolis. however, joel, caught a cold which then turned into a horrible sinus infection. so we had to cancel our trip. we were really looking forward to doing something fun this weekend and were disappointed by the change in plans. so to make up for not doing the waterpark, we ended up taking lauren to nickelodeon universe at the mall of america. she loves rides and had a great time going on as many as she could. joel and i had to accompany her on a few which was "fun". we all really had a lot of fun, and joel and i were thrilled that her favorite rides were a huge inflatable pineapple that kids jump around in and a bench like thing that goes up in the air and then slowly drops down. she must have gone on both of those rides about 5 -10 times each and she was able to do it her herself, no adult required (yay!).

gramps' birthday

this weekend was my dad's, aka gramps, birthday. to celebrate we went out to eat with my parents, brothers and sister-in-law. joel and i then went out for a quick date before going to my parent's house for cake and ice cream. we had a nice time with the fam and celebrating my wonderful dad's special day!

jer and missy

me and pres

ryan and gramps

my dad reading a poem cody wrote for him.

baby ry

wow, the time has flown! ryan will be 8 months on march 7th. he is the sweetest little guy. he's not in a huge hurry to grow up, and in fact has just decided he's ready to try and sit up by himself. he rolls here and there, but other than that he's not too mobile. but no worries here, it will happen when he's ready. what he is very good at is eating. this boy LOVES food. he scarfs down his baby food as fast as he can (orange veggies are his favorite if you couldn't tell from the color of his nose) and then he wants whatever we are having. the other night we were eating papa john's pizza, and he was chewing on some crust. joel and i didn't notice that lauren had ever so thoughtfully dipped ryan's crust in the garlic sauce that comes with the pizza and gave back to ryan. it didn't seem to bother him a bit! he gets lots of attention from his big sister, and if he could speak would maybe say a little too much! :)

counting down the days until spring

we have been buried in snow here since november. however, the roads are all clear which allows us to take walks around the neighborhood in the stroller. the forecast for the next week is sunny and low to mid 30's. yay! nothing makes us more excited than watching the snow slowly melt.

dinner time

ryan has been a great little eater. he started eating solids around thanksgiving time. he loves his baby cereal and veges (except for peas). he hasn't taken to the fruit yet. he can get a little impatient if he's not fed fast enough, and lets you know he's enjoying his meal by humming while he eats. he was trying prunes for the first time in these photos. he wasn't so sure at first, but decided they were worth eating. at almost 7 months he is weighing in at 17lbs 4ozs. he has been happiest little guy, and we are having so much fun watching him experience all these new things.

fresh snow

we haven't seen the ground here in mn since sometime in nov. and after a while the snow gets so dirty and dingy looking. on monday we got another few inches which makes our neighborhood look like a winter wonderland. however, it's been pretty chilly lately, usually in the single digits. yesterday i think we made it to 20 degrees, yay! so lauren and i bundled up and took a brisk walk which felt so nice. she had a great time and wasn't ready to come in even though her gloves were soaked and her cheeks were bright red. i'm glad someone is still enjoying winter!

christmas eve

we are having a very low key christmas this year. just the 4 of us. and even though we will miss being with family, we are very glad that we won't be spending any time in an airport this holiday season (the first time since we've been married). we are also experiencing record amounts of snow, which makes staying home all the more appealing. so today was spent wrapping the last few gifts, cleaning, snow shoveling, listening to christmas music, checking the depth of the snow every now and then, and making christmas cookies. making the cookies was a little more trying on my patience then i was hoping. lauren did pretty good, but had a little trouble listening and was making bigger messes than was necessary (involving water). so after tears and time spent in her room, we finally got them done, phew! as she and i were standing in the kitchen washing our cookies down with some milk, she took her glass, gently tapped it against mine, looked up at me and said, "cheers." such a good reminder that life's too short to sweat the small stuff. wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!