Okay, so we're back on blogger. For those of you who have followed us from the beginning this is our old blog. The reason I first shyed away from blogger and went to wordpress was because I couldn't upload videos..but I have since seen some changes on blogger, thus we're back. As I perused the new blogger I noticed, that it is much more user friendly...so my new resolution is that there is no excuse for me to not post more frequently. I was talking with a friend who also blogs, and she said if I would blog more frequently, they wouldn't be so daunting! [This coming from someone who blogs 4 times a week!] But I'm realistic, I hope to to it once a week. Let's be honest, our lives aren't that exciting. But hopefully I can find one thing a week that will be enjoyable to all.
Since Blake is on the move, a lot of my hobbies have gone by the wayside, but hopefully we're back on track! Now I'm off to get all my pictures in order....to get everyone caught up!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
hot fun in the summer sun
We all know that summers are always busy with sleepover, pool days, weddings, work and travelling--well at least that describes our summer.
At the end of June Blake had his first sleepover, a co-ed sleepover at that! The little girl from daycare, Jaleah, came with us to spend the night so her parents could enjoy and evening out. Brian and I were really looking forward to it, and knew it would be a lot of work, but it was more fun than anything. The kids ate dinner and then played till they were so tired they didn't even know what to do. Husker was quite confused since she wasn't used to TWO little ones running after her. It was fun to see them play together at our house since they are so used to playing together at her house. So many new toys to fight over and new places to run around.
They really get along, and we are very fortunate for that. Blake really has a great little friend in Jaleah.
For Father's Day this year Blake and I planned a little outing for us to the Como Zoo. We have been once last year, but figured Blake would get much more out of it this time around. We packed a lunch and surprised Brian with our day at Como. It was really fun to watch him see the animals, and walk around. Topping it all off was a cute shirt I found for Blake so he could join Brian in supporting the Huskers!
It was a great day all together, but one thing we realized it that there is no goodway to get family pictures....so we each got our turn!
The next day we headed out to Buffalo to surprise my dad for Father's Day. He was filling in for their pastor at church so he was preaching. His sermon was about T-Shirt evangelism {supporting something by wearing a t-shirt}...so we thought Blake's outfit was fitting. Another great Father's Day under his belt
Blake and I were also lucky to have a few days off in June and head out to a friends pool in Buffalo. She had 4 grandkids of her own so there were plenty of things for Blake to play with in his pool. Although it was super hot out, the part of the pool we were in was very shady, so that was nice. He really enjoyed kicking his feet around in the water and floating. He was so relaxed that he actually fell asleep while floating.
After a little while I took him out so that he could dry off and sleep, however I selfishly wanted to use my day off and get a tan too! Not completely thinking these two things through I wrapped him up in a towel--so he wouldn't get sunburned--and the proceeded to sit in the direct sunlight and "tan" for about 35 minutes. He slept quite peacefully while roasting in the towel. So we moved into the shade before leaving. 
The next day he was quite lethargic, and just wanted to cuddle with me all day. And when I say all day, I mean litterally ALL DAY. We watched a movie, ate lunch all from the comforts of our recliner. He didn't want to move at all. He felt really hot, and then it dawned on me that he probably was suffering from heat exhaustion!!! Such a horrible mother I am! So I stripped him down to his diaper, threw on the fan and we realaxed and slept the rest of the day. Luckily by the next morning he was back to his old self. To top it off...through all of that I didn't get tan either :(
The heat exhaustion lead us into 4th of July weekend. Due to the recent events, we ended up just hanging out at home, which is exactly what we needed. We are very lucky that the Eden Prairie fireworks take place about 3 blocks from our house. Each year we just walk up there around 10 pm and see a great show...just in our backyard! We also spend this day celebrating Husker's "Gotcha Day" since July 4th is the day she joined our family 5 years ago. She loves fireworks, well more the people watching, but all the same it's a family affair. This year wasn't going to be any different. We planned to wake Blake up and plop him in the stroller so he could enjoy the fireworks as well. So as it neared 10 pm I picked him up, brought him outside and threw a light blanket on him to protect against the mosquitos. Since I had given him heat exhaustion, I figured I should really step up the mom game and protect him from the 'squitos. We start on our walk and I realize, while I'm in shorts, that I didn't put on any bug spray...big mistake! We made it to our watching spot, and I only made it about 15 minutes. I was getting eaten alive. Meanwhile Blake is chillin in the stroller with not a care in the world. Brian and Husker seemed to be fine too. So after my 10th bite I decided that Blake and I were headed back. We started on our walk home and the fireworks started...Blake was very intrigued, so I stopped walking and realized there was a clearing litterally 500 ft from our house that we could see the whole thing. So we stopped and watched the show...but lesson learned--bug spray! After it was all done we headed back, Blake went right back to bed and we were soon to follow.
This last weekend Blake attended his first wedding reception. He's been to a wedding, just not any receptions. It was very nice...he had his own spot at the table with a highchair AND a goody bag. He loved the toys that were in it...they kept him busy for a while, but he really just wanted to get down and walk. It was a long night of chasing him around the Sheraton! But we had a good time.
The weekend ended with a trip down to Brian's aunt and uncle's house in Apple Valley. His cousin's wife was up with their two boys and the Oian's were there as well! It was fun to see all the cousins togheter, although of course I didn't get one good picture. The boys and Macie went on a boat ride, and Blake got his first taste of the life jacket...
Macie and Blake get along very well....well I guess most of the time, this is just a little video I took as we tried to get them to hug.
Since I posted last Blake has really starting walking/running more and more each day. I haven't seen him crawl in weeks. One might call him a "drunk little person" when he stumbles and bangs into the walls etc. It's funny to think we all had to learn how to walk! Some things that we do, we take for granted so quickly. Now I understand why he's so frustrated, imagine all you want is a drink of water, you are SO thirsty, but you can't figure out how to tell someone and worse yet you can't walk anywhere to get any. With walking comes less frustration for him, and a little more frustration for Brian and I. We are constantly living with all the doors shut, baby gates up and following him around our house just waiting to see what he wants, and that is mostly follow up with "NO!" He's slowly starting to understand the word, but with that I also think he's learning how to "push our buttons," in particular the TV buttons. It seems everytime we sit down to play in the living room with him, and pop on the TV...find a good show he walks up and turns if off! After he does that, he realizes that we probably are going to tell him NO, so he turns around bats his eyelashes and pushes the button again. Just to make good with Mom and Dad, after a few minutes of enjoying the TV he decides to start the routine all over again...I guess we're just suckers to that cute little face. But soon we're going to have to start the Time Out process. Well I guess we've started it, but not with much success. As the SuperNanny says, kids should sit in TO 1 minute for every year of age. So when we have tried it we put him in the corner and tell him to sit there. The first time he was really confused, then he just spun his feet around and sat there spinning in circles. Not much of a punishment I guess, but we'll have to keep trying. Until next time, here's another video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg4YFB-PZ9k
At the end of June Blake had his first sleepover, a co-ed sleepover at that! The little girl from daycare, Jaleah, came with us to spend the night so her parents could enjoy and evening out. Brian and I were really looking forward to it, and knew it would be a lot of work, but it was more fun than anything. The kids ate dinner and then played till they were so tired they didn't even know what to do. Husker was quite confused since she wasn't used to TWO little ones running after her. It was fun to see them play together at our house since they are so used to playing together at her house. So many new toys to fight over and new places to run around.
They really get along, and we are very fortunate for that. Blake really has a great little friend in Jaleah.For Father's Day this year Blake and I planned a little outing for us to the Como Zoo. We have been once last year, but figured Blake would get much more out of it this time around. We packed a lunch and surprised Brian with our day at Como. It was really fun to watch him see the animals, and walk around. Topping it all off was a cute shirt I found for Blake so he could join Brian in supporting the Huskers!
It was a great day all together, but one thing we realized it that there is no goodway to get family pictures....so we each got our turn!
The next day we headed out to Buffalo to surprise my dad for Father's Day. He was filling in for their pastor at church so he was preaching. His sermon was about T-Shirt evangelism {supporting something by wearing a t-shirt}...so we thought Blake's outfit was fitting. Another great Father's Day under his belt
Blake and I were also lucky to have a few days off in June and head out to a friends pool in Buffalo. She had 4 grandkids of her own so there were plenty of things for Blake to play with in his pool. Although it was super hot out, the part of the pool we were in was very shady, so that was nice. He really enjoyed kicking his feet around in the water and floating. He was so relaxed that he actually fell asleep while floating.
After a little while I took him out so that he could dry off and sleep, however I selfishly wanted to use my day off and get a tan too! Not completely thinking these two things through I wrapped him up in a towel--so he wouldn't get sunburned--and the proceeded to sit in the direct sunlight and "tan" for about 35 minutes. He slept quite peacefully while roasting in the towel. So we moved into the shade before leaving. 
The next day he was quite lethargic, and just wanted to cuddle with me all day. And when I say all day, I mean litterally ALL DAY. We watched a movie, ate lunch all from the comforts of our recliner. He didn't want to move at all. He felt really hot, and then it dawned on me that he probably was suffering from heat exhaustion!!! Such a horrible mother I am! So I stripped him down to his diaper, threw on the fan and we realaxed and slept the rest of the day. Luckily by the next morning he was back to his old self. To top it off...through all of that I didn't get tan either :(
The heat exhaustion lead us into 4th of July weekend. Due to the recent events, we ended up just hanging out at home, which is exactly what we needed. We are very lucky that the Eden Prairie fireworks take place about 3 blocks from our house. Each year we just walk up there around 10 pm and see a great show...just in our backyard! We also spend this day celebrating Husker's "Gotcha Day" since July 4th is the day she joined our family 5 years ago. She loves fireworks, well more the people watching, but all the same it's a family affair. This year wasn't going to be any different. We planned to wake Blake up and plop him in the stroller so he could enjoy the fireworks as well. So as it neared 10 pm I picked him up, brought him outside and threw a light blanket on him to protect against the mosquitos. Since I had given him heat exhaustion, I figured I should really step up the mom game and protect him from the 'squitos. We start on our walk and I realize, while I'm in shorts, that I didn't put on any bug spray...big mistake! We made it to our watching spot, and I only made it about 15 minutes. I was getting eaten alive. Meanwhile Blake is chillin in the stroller with not a care in the world. Brian and Husker seemed to be fine too. So after my 10th bite I decided that Blake and I were headed back. We started on our walk home and the fireworks started...Blake was very intrigued, so I stopped walking and realized there was a clearing litterally 500 ft from our house that we could see the whole thing. So we stopped and watched the show...but lesson learned--bug spray! After it was all done we headed back, Blake went right back to bed and we were soon to follow.
This last weekend Blake attended his first wedding reception. He's been to a wedding, just not any receptions. It was very nice...he had his own spot at the table with a highchair AND a goody bag. He loved the toys that were in it...they kept him busy for a while, but he really just wanted to get down and walk. It was a long night of chasing him around the Sheraton! But we had a good time.
The weekend ended with a trip down to Brian's aunt and uncle's house in Apple Valley. His cousin's wife was up with their two boys and the Oian's were there as well! It was fun to see all the cousins togheter, although of course I didn't get one good picture. The boys and Macie went on a boat ride, and Blake got his first taste of the life jacket...
Macie and Blake get along very well....well I guess most of the time, this is just a little video I took as we tried to get them to hug.Since I posted last Blake has really starting walking/running more and more each day. I haven't seen him crawl in weeks. One might call him a "drunk little person" when he stumbles and bangs into the walls etc. It's funny to think we all had to learn how to walk! Some things that we do, we take for granted so quickly. Now I understand why he's so frustrated, imagine all you want is a drink of water, you are SO thirsty, but you can't figure out how to tell someone and worse yet you can't walk anywhere to get any. With walking comes less frustration for him, and a little more frustration for Brian and I. We are constantly living with all the doors shut, baby gates up and following him around our house just waiting to see what he wants, and that is mostly follow up with "NO!" He's slowly starting to understand the word, but with that I also think he's learning how to "push our buttons," in particular the TV buttons. It seems everytime we sit down to play in the living room with him, and pop on the TV...find a good show he walks up and turns if off! After he does that, he realizes that we probably are going to tell him NO, so he turns around bats his eyelashes and pushes the button again. Just to make good with Mom and Dad, after a few minutes of enjoying the TV he decides to start the routine all over again...I guess we're just suckers to that cute little face. But soon we're going to have to start the Time Out process. Well I guess we've started it, but not with much success. As the SuperNanny says, kids should sit in TO 1 minute for every year of age. So when we have tried it we put him in the corner and tell him to sit there. The first time he was really confused, then he just spun his feet around and sat there spinning in circles. Not much of a punishment I guess, but we'll have to keep trying. Until next time, here's another video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg4YFB-PZ9k
Monday, May 31, 2010
sorry for the delay...we've been busy?
Wow, I actually had to open up our blog to see when the last time I made and entry was....two months to the day![slight 2 week delay in posting [:(] So my apologies for those of you who check our blog looking for the most exciting [:)] and up to date info about our uber-exciting lives! We have been extremely busy these last few months, so I'll highlight a few things...
At the end of March one of my good friends welcomed a new baby girl, to our group, so Blake will have a new little girlfriend to play with. We are so excited to have a girl to spoil in our group of friends.
Easter was family filled down in Blue Earth and Iowa. Blake got to meet some of his second cousins for the first time. Isaac and Elliott were up from Iowa--finally some boys to play with. Although he can't really follow them around, he definitely got everyone's attention. You know his love for remotes...well Great Grandpa & Grandma Christ have these fancy chairs that go up and down with the remote. So Blake got a hold of Grandpa's and started monkeying with the buttons. Next thing you know Grandpa is ready to eject right out of the chair, just then Blake hits the next button and back down it goes. Luckily they move about as fast as a 2 toed sloth, so no one was ever in danger! It was fun to see all the Christ girls too, they had fun playing with Blake.
[caption id="attachment_199" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Taking great grandpa for a ride-- a slow ride."]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_192" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Second cousins...the little farmers!"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_193" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="One of our last football pictures!"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_206" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Our family picture at Amy's wedding"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_194" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Once you have a child....no one takes a picture of us anymore!"]
[/caption]
We rounded out April with Blake turning 1. The night of his actual birthday was just a quiet dinner at home, nothing crazy....that comes later...keep reading.
[caption id="attachment_195" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Our last football picture"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_196" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Opening a book from the Christ Family"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_197" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="He wanted to open gifts...who needs a family picture?!"]
[/caption]
Well that brings us to May already! The first weekend in May we celebrated Great Grandma Vriesen's 80th birthday down in Blue Earth. All of the kids, grandkids and great grandkids were there. Of course there were a bunch of Kodak moments all weekend. We spent most of our time at Jeff and Sharon's where Macie got a little taste of what it would be like to have a sibling. Blake is pretty used to "older" girls taking his toys away, but she wasn't too keen on sharing. But she had lots of hugs and kisses for him, so I think it all worked out in the end. Blake was also teaching Gavin, his other cousin, how to sit up and take notice of all the things around him. Husker went out to Buffalo to start her 2 week vacation...she gets so much more attention out there I think she would rather stay there than come back.
[caption id="attachment_198" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The matching outfits were a total fluke....no one planned that!"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_200" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="A few more year and this group is going to be trouble..."]
[/caption]
The second weekend in May was fun filled, I co-hosted a baby shower for one of my college girlfriends. It was weird to see so many "baby" things that Blake has already grown out of. It just reminds me again how fast time flies! After the baby shower it was finally time for Blake's big birthday party. We were very fortunate to have close friends and family celebrate with us. He was pretty overwhelmed by all the people, but was in good spirits most of the day. Some of the highlights during the day is him dancing for everyone to his favorite song...Behind Blue Eyes from The Who. We have it recorded on our DVR and anytime he's in a bad mood, we cue it up and he calms down. It's pretty funny. [I'll try to post the video soon] He wasn't to interested in cake, he doesn't eat much sugar, so I don't think he liked it very much. He was a very spoiled little boy, getting toys and clothes etc. We are so blessed with such great friends and family, it made the day really special.
[caption id="attachment_209" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Didn't really go for the hat so much..."]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_210" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Not a big sugar fan, so the cake was a little overwhelming."]
[/caption]
Meanwhile, all of this going on during the weekends, I was SUPER busy at work getting ready for my trip to Hawaii....YES for work. I left on Mother's Day and just arrived home this Sunday. It was a long week of work, but I guess I couldn't complain too much about the view. The planning of this trip was a ton of work, I'm still stressed out about it and it's over?! But that's the worklife I live, so I'm used to it. We were in the beautiful St. Regis Hotel, on Kauai. The island is very different from the Big Island where we honeymoon-ed. It's so much more green and the water is much more calm. Of course it was beautiful everyday, and after being their 7 days, I only got to lay on the beach for 40 minutes. My legs are still as white as snow.
[caption id="attachment_211" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="This is the view from my "desk" all week, I couldn't really complain."]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_212" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The sunset from our office room, yep we were working from sun up to sundown."]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_213" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Taken during my 40 minutes on the beach!"]
[/caption]
All in all it was a great time, but I was very excited to come home and see my boys. While I was there Husker celebrated her 5th birthday. I can't believe we've had her that long. Yet again, another reminder that time goes by SO fast.
[caption id="attachment_201" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="First time down the slide"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_202" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="A little sleepy after the park and the walk to Wal Mart~"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_203" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="First time without the baby bath"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_204" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Not a huge fan of grass...takes after Mom."]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_205" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Still loves to eat"]
[/caption]
At the end of March one of my good friends welcomed a new baby girl, to our group, so Blake will have a new little girlfriend to play with. We are so excited to have a girl to spoil in our group of friends.
Easter was family filled down in Blue Earth and Iowa. Blake got to meet some of his second cousins for the first time. Isaac and Elliott were up from Iowa--finally some boys to play with. Although he can't really follow them around, he definitely got everyone's attention. You know his love for remotes...well Great Grandpa & Grandma Christ have these fancy chairs that go up and down with the remote. So Blake got a hold of Grandpa's and started monkeying with the buttons. Next thing you know Grandpa is ready to eject right out of the chair, just then Blake hits the next button and back down it goes. Luckily they move about as fast as a 2 toed sloth, so no one was ever in danger! It was fun to see all the Christ girls too, they had fun playing with Blake.
[caption id="attachment_199" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Taking great grandpa for a ride-- a slow ride."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_192" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Second cousins...the little farmers!"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_193" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="One of our last football pictures!"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_206" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Our family picture at Amy's wedding"]
[/caption]After Easter activities we were onto a wedding of another great friend of ours-- Amy and Mike had a beautiful wedding out in Buffalo. This was Blake's first wedding and he looked so cute I thought I was going to cry! He's growing up so fast. He was very intrigued by all the people and the music, so funny to watch him people watch. You have to wonder what he is thinking! Brian and I used the wedding as our "date night" and stayed out till 11 pm....yeah sounds early but not for us. That was late for us, but we had a great time.
[caption id="attachment_194" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Once you have a child....no one takes a picture of us anymore!"]
[/caption]We rounded out April with Blake turning 1. The night of his actual birthday was just a quiet dinner at home, nothing crazy....that comes later...keep reading.
[caption id="attachment_195" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Our last football picture"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_196" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Opening a book from the Christ Family"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_197" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="He wanted to open gifts...who needs a family picture?!"]
[/caption]Well that brings us to May already! The first weekend in May we celebrated Great Grandma Vriesen's 80th birthday down in Blue Earth. All of the kids, grandkids and great grandkids were there. Of course there were a bunch of Kodak moments all weekend. We spent most of our time at Jeff and Sharon's where Macie got a little taste of what it would be like to have a sibling. Blake is pretty used to "older" girls taking his toys away, but she wasn't too keen on sharing. But she had lots of hugs and kisses for him, so I think it all worked out in the end. Blake was also teaching Gavin, his other cousin, how to sit up and take notice of all the things around him. Husker went out to Buffalo to start her 2 week vacation...she gets so much more attention out there I think she would rather stay there than come back.
[caption id="attachment_198" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The matching outfits were a total fluke....no one planned that!"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_200" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="A few more year and this group is going to be trouble..."]
[/caption]The second weekend in May was fun filled, I co-hosted a baby shower for one of my college girlfriends. It was weird to see so many "baby" things that Blake has already grown out of. It just reminds me again how fast time flies! After the baby shower it was finally time for Blake's big birthday party. We were very fortunate to have close friends and family celebrate with us. He was pretty overwhelmed by all the people, but was in good spirits most of the day. Some of the highlights during the day is him dancing for everyone to his favorite song...Behind Blue Eyes from The Who. We have it recorded on our DVR and anytime he's in a bad mood, we cue it up and he calms down. It's pretty funny. [I'll try to post the video soon] He wasn't to interested in cake, he doesn't eat much sugar, so I don't think he liked it very much. He was a very spoiled little boy, getting toys and clothes etc. We are so blessed with such great friends and family, it made the day really special.
[caption id="attachment_209" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Didn't really go for the hat so much..."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_210" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Not a big sugar fan, so the cake was a little overwhelming."]
[/caption]Meanwhile, all of this going on during the weekends, I was SUPER busy at work getting ready for my trip to Hawaii....YES for work. I left on Mother's Day and just arrived home this Sunday. It was a long week of work, but I guess I couldn't complain too much about the view. The planning of this trip was a ton of work, I'm still stressed out about it and it's over?! But that's the worklife I live, so I'm used to it. We were in the beautiful St. Regis Hotel, on Kauai. The island is very different from the Big Island where we honeymoon-ed. It's so much more green and the water is much more calm. Of course it was beautiful everyday, and after being their 7 days, I only got to lay on the beach for 40 minutes. My legs are still as white as snow.
[caption id="attachment_211" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="This is the view from my "desk" all week, I couldn't really complain."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_212" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The sunset from our office room, yep we were working from sun up to sundown."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_213" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Taken during my 40 minutes on the beach!"]
[/caption]All in all it was a great time, but I was very excited to come home and see my boys. While I was there Husker celebrated her 5th birthday. I can't believe we've had her that long. Yet again, another reminder that time goes by SO fast.
Thanks again for waiting for the updated blog, I promise to be a little more dilligent...but her are some pictures just for fun that we've taken in the last few months!
[caption id="attachment_201" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="First time down the slide"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_202" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="A little sleepy after the park and the walk to Wal Mart~"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_203" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="First time without the baby bath"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_204" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Not a huge fan of grass...takes after Mom."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_205" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Still loves to eat"]
[/caption]
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