Magic Moments

Sage, you are 7 months old today! How can that be? It feels like just yesterday I pulled you into my arms.  There is no greater joy than having a baby in the house and seven months is my favorite age yet. Sage is crawling...fast and furious and for real.  He can pull himself to his knees and go from sitting to crawling and crawling to sitting with ease.  Just yesterday he began to babble. Dada, ya ya, and la la frequently come out of his mouth.  He weighs about 16 pounds and 5 ounces and he is 25 1/2 inches long which is actually 1/2 shorter than what he was at 4 months.  Either Sage shrunk or the nurse can't measure accurately. One bottom tooth has poked through and I'm sadly saying goodbye to my toothless little smile. This month Sage started eating Oatmeal for breakfast and dinner.  I tried carrots but they made him vomit so we are holding off  on other foods for awhile.  Sage also had his first trip to the ER.  I'm hoping that was his f...

Today felt like a field trip of sorts.  We met up with some of Aiden and my friends at Oliver H. Kelly Farm in Elk River.  This historic little farm has been preserved and runs everyday like the farm in was in the 1800's.  If life was "survival of the fittest" in the 1800's I would not have made the cut, for sure.  The people who work on this farm, like our friend Jill the Gardner, work really, really hard.  I was impressed by the  massive garden (maybe an acre), the wash that was being done by hand and the cornbread that was being made in an old cookstove all while wearing traditional 1800's clothing even in the oppressive heat that was today. Aiden doesn't understand time yet so I think all my explaining that this was how life was like before cars, before electricity, before toys, computers, and modern conveniences probably didn't sink in.  What did sink in was the big horned cow (the highlight of Aiden's trip) and the water pump. ...

I'm not a schedule Nazi.  We have a routine and I just try and make sure that everyone eats and sleeps fairly regularly.  With that being said, I can easily fall into a funk where I feel like we're all a bunch of couch potatoes.  At the end of the day I sometimes wonder if Aiden had any fun at all today.  Sometimes I wonder if I had any fun at all today.  And it's those days where we are all a bit grumpy and edgy and I go to bed with the worst Mommy Guilt ever known to man.  I'm just coming off about 4 of those days so tomorrow I've resolved to remedy that.  Without being a Nazi about it, it is sometimes helpful to roughly plan the day.  It takes the pressure off me if I plan on doing a certain task at a certain time so I don't constantly feel like I should be cleaning this or that.  Plus, if I plan right I accomplish what is most important during the day and that is investing in my kiddos.  Summer time is usually a time when we go a l...

  MVI 0259 from Jenny on Vimeo . MVI 0246 from Jenny on Vimeo .

A whole new world is opening up for Aiden! Tom has been reading him chapter books and Aiden is soaking it all in!  We still read tons of picture books and we will continue reading picture books until Aiden moves out or refuses (whichever comes first).  But Tom and Aiden have been traveling through chapter books at bedtime for a few months now and I just love it.  I've read that the number one predictor of academic success is reading aloud to children. Thankfully, I have a little boy who loves to read.  We started with the A. A. Milne Winnie The Pooh series.  I would recommend using these books as a gateway to chapter books.  This series still has some pictures and each chapter is a different story.  Your young child doesn't have to track all the way through the book following just one story, but can learn to absorb the story and all it's details in shorter form.  Just last week Tom and Aiden finished the book Peter Pan.  Aiden adores Peter Pa...

Both Tom and I were home from work today...which doesn't happen often but hopefully will happen more in the not so distant future.  We ventured down to Como Zoo and found it not nearly as busy as a couple weeks ago.  We enjoyed the Sparky Show (even though it was raining), saw all the animals, had a picnic and then went on some rides. Which one is the Monkey? Sometimes it's hard to tell. :)  In the past Aiden has refused to even get on the Carousel. This year, or since he turned four, he has a new found bravery.  We have a surprise trip planned for October so we did some rides at the Zoo today hoping to "break him in" so-to-speak.  Aiden loved the rides he chose.  He loved them more than Tom and I did as neither of us are ride lovers. :) This is me mentally preparing myself for the spin and puke ride. :)  Aiden kept saying, "Mama! I'm so dizzy I can't even see!" When we got home all the boys played in the tent. I'm not sure h...

There is a Winnie the Pooh story that involves Christopher Robin leaving a note for his friends saying he will be "back soon."  Since Owl is the smartest friend (which isn't saying much) the animals take the note to him to read. Owl misinterprets "Back Soon" to read "Bakson" (I'm guessing Back Soon was misspelled). Anyway, the animals are convinced that Christopher Robin was captured by a Bakson. This is Aiden's favorite story since it involves a mystery and talking little animal friends that are trying to capture this mysterious creature. So, it's no surprise that most pretend games at our house involve capturing the Bakson.  Sunday was So. So. hot. It may as well have been negative 30 degrees because we didn't step a toe outside. We had to be creative thinking of things to do and I found Aiden all dressed up and looking for the Bakson with the help of some of his "friends." I love pretend play.  I love 4 year olds.  This was...

I'm sure my Dad planned it this way (because my Dad plans everything ) but one of the best things (if not the BEST thing) about the lake is that it gives us all a place to gather.  I think we see each other more since we all have the same destination: the Lake.  We were lucky enough that Great Grandpa and Great Grandma's destination for this week was the Lake. We had a lovely (although windy and hot) day at the lake on Saturday with them and Sage got to meet them for the first time. Aiden thought he was lucky cause he got to stay up "late" until they arrived. We spent the day hanging out and trying to get Sage to take a nap. :) It was wonderful for Sage and Aiden to spend the day with their Great Grandparents and I hope we have another day not too far away to do the same thing!

I'm not sure what I expected when we began looking at homes to buy. Since I didn't have any expectations I can't say that I'm necessarily disappointed that we are still in the looking process.  I will say that I am ready to be done looking, but I'm not disappointed that we still are.  I've determined one good thing to come of old age.  The longer you live the more times you have seen God's faithfulness.  I can look back and count God's faithfulness over and over and I know there are countless times that He was faithful without me even knowing. I have peace that God is faithful and has our house just waiting for us to find it.  As we've looked as houses we've learned a lot.  Our criteria hasn't changed in terms of what we want, but as we look we've narrowed down our search. I refuse to look at homes with pools.  I hate split level entries, walk out basements, and tri-level splits.  I really don't want to buy anything built after th...

Aiden has a 16 inch bike, which in reality, is probably the perfect size.  However, I do think that next year he'll probably fit into it just a little bit better.  The summers are so short that I had no intention of buying a 12 inch bike just for 3 short months of bike riding weather. So Tom thought he struck gold when he found this 12 inch bike in a free pile up at the lake.  That's how things work at the lake.  If you don't want something you simply put in on your curb and someone will take it.  It's better than dragging stuff to the Salvation Army or the dump...you'd be surprised at the stuff people take.  Tom and my Dad think it's just a big junk exchange but you never know what you can find.  Anyway, Tom found this little 12 inch bike and brought it home.  It was in good working order even though someone had spray painted the whole thing a really ugly shade of green.  I think the little thing is quite cute and I got it in my head that it...

Very few mothers understand why Aiden is allowed to jump on the couch in the toy room.  I never thought I would allow jumping on the furniture, but I do.  I also allowing ball throwing in the house.  I've also caught Aiden climbing up the banister and I allow that too.  All of this didn't happen at once...it's been more of a slow surrender.  You see, I'm a mom of boys.  And at some point I just stopped saying "no" and embraced the fact that I live in a zoo. Little boys have to have space to be little boys.  They have to run, jump, bounce, roll from place to place.  Little boys do not walk.  They just don't.  They sprint...full speed ahead.  Instead of trying to reign them in I've decided to lace up my running shoes and keep up.  Their energy shouldn't be harnessed...it needs to be let out in wide open spaces.  Those wide open spaces should be filled with and is not limited to bugs to catch, trees to climb, creatures to ...

At night when I'm rocking Sage to sleep, if I'm not in the middle of some cheesy drama series or documentary on Netflix, I surf from blog to blog on my ipod looking for recipes or interesting articles to keep me entertained. If I find a recipe I copy it and send in to my email for future use.  I do have a pintrest account but have never used it because a) I don't have the time and b) I can't figure it out. So this little method is my old fashioned and unsophisticated way of "pinning." Anyway, somewhere I found tonight's dinner: Stuffed French Loaf.  I got the go ahead to make it again sometime so I'll share the recipe.  Mom and Ashley, I think even Dad (a food simpleton) and Will (a meat lover) would like this. Stuffed French Bread   -1 loaf French Bread (Buy something kind of big...not the demi size.  I bought a traditional soft loaf but next time I'm going to try something more Tuscan) -1 onion chopped -1 pkg Lipton onion soup mix ...

Sage hasn't had any "big people food" yet.  I'm kind of dragging my feet.  Since all of a baby's  nutrients the first year (and longer!) should come from breast milk anyway, and since Sage still seems to have a lasting full belly with milk, I just figure why start that messy baby food phase that is nothing but a hassle?  I'm highly considering doing Baby Led Weaning anyway so that contributes to my not being in a hurry.  I like that in other countries Baby Led Weaning does not mean weaning from milk, but rather just offering complimentary foods when baby is ready (skipping the whole mushy food, spoon fed mess). To get to the point, I have a hunch that when he is ready Sage is going to embrace food with arms, or mouth rather, wide open.  I could be wrong but he shows so much more interest than Aiden ever did.  In fact, when I eat he is moving his head around with his mouth open trying to take a bite of my food. Silly boy!  This week I let him ha...

This morning we packed up the kiddos and headed to the Zoo.  Tom and I know better than attempting the Zoo on a weekend so we should not have been surprised when there was no parking within a 2 mile radius.  We were frustrated just trying to park let alone navigating a small zoo with tons of people, so we told Aiden the Zoo was closed and promised to go back in a couple days.  Instead, we went to the Nature Center which proved to be the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon in peace.  And it was the perfect place to let little (& big) boys be boys. :)

I pack Tom's lunch everyday which is a trial in and of itself because he is picky.  If that wasn't enough, I also have to pack a couple breakfast items.  Tom doesn't eat breakfast, but at 10 AM he is starving.  Thankfully, he likes yogurt.  But I need to pack something substantial with nutrients that isn't loaded with sugar.  Enter the Larabar.  These bars are essentially made from nuts and dates.  They are packed with nutrition. The dates (which are the basic base of the bars) are sweet AND healthy.  A date contains only 23 calories and are loaded with carbs.  They have NO cholesterol, are high in fiber and contain nutrients like Maganese, Copper, Iron, Zinc, Phosphorous, Potassium, Magnesium and Calcium (32 mg per serving!!!).  They contain vitamins such at A1, B1, B2, B3, B5, C.  There are also over 20 different amino acids which our bodies need. What more could you ask for? Larabars come in a variety of flavors.  I've b...