Minnehaha waaaaah

We had been talking about renting these bikes all summer. We finally met up with the Nash's on Sunday! (it's hard to coordinate three kids' schedules) If you have never been to Minnehaha Falls, I would highly recommend it! Lots of good sites to see.

The falls to the left of us

Sally was not.a.fan of the bikes. We're still not sure what it was that she was afraid of. As you can see, she was even sitting in my lap and that still didn't help. She screamed off and on for the entire hour bike ride. She'd stop for a minute or two when we would see the river or a puppy.
These two were perfect angels. Sally started out up front, but didn't last too long. Maybe if we would have sat her next to William she would have done better. She couldn't get enough of him!


Happy as can be once we were off the bikes. Waiting in line to order at Sea Salt Eatery.


Loved her some cousin William!

Sibling love...

Can't believe he's already going to pre-school!

She just got done dumping water on herself

Sleepy little lady

Showing us what you do when you get surprised...

Friends

Remembering what it was like to be a Johnnie...why did he ever leave in the first place?

Good to have Deli in town!
Cheers!

The lovely ladies with their props!

Skyping with Casey and Shawnna as they'd usually be here with us! We miss you!

Reid rocking his cell phone case, oooor Deli's beloved camera case

Many more fun pictures from the weekend to come! We were busy, but it was a fun busy and we didn't have to travel anywhere so that means Sally slept in her own bed and kept her schedule which makes everyone happy all around!

Sloppy & Slobbery

Have I told you lately how much I love this girl?! Are you kidding me, who wakes up this happy, every.single.day! I get so excited every morning when she wakes up, to see what her hair is going to look like, what new word she's going to spit out as I change her diaper, and especially the extra sloppy slobbery kisses she gives to her mama.

We hope you have a wonderful weekend filled with happy mornings with slobbery kisses!

Peeeeek

We have a new game we've been playing, Peek-a-boo under the door. Sally thinks it's soooo funny!

Reminds me of the red ruby slippers...

Peeeeeek, I see you Mommy!

Airplane

Can you tell from the video what Daddy has been teaching Sally?

The other day we were picking Reid up from work downtown and we were coming in on 35W North, a great spot to see planes flying over. There was one really low and I was about to turn and tell Sally to look. She had already spotted it and the look on her face was priceless, she was shaking she was so excited! I told Reid we'll have to search out a spot to watch planes take off and land!

That's a BIG Cherry!

We finally had a lazy Saturday morning to spend as a family. We decided to go visit the Sculpture Garden. Sally kept saying "Num, Num, Num." If only she could have taken a bite!

Reid's pretty proud of this picture...

Thankful

Yesterday I treated myself with a run around the lakes. The sun was setting as I was finishing. It allowed me to reflect on my own my thoughts from the weekend. Throughout the weekend I kept thinking that a year ago, I was preparing to go back to work. By preparing, I mean tears rolling down each night before I'd put Sally to bed, with a knot it my stomach. Don't get me wrong, I loved my job, my coworkers, and everything that came with it, but my daughter, our family was more important and being at home with Sally was more important. Some people are able to make it work, some people aren't as blessed as we are, some people need work, and that's just fine. But for us, this is what we needed.

We are so blessed and fortunate to be able to have me stay home. It too, is a sacrifice in some aspects, but so much more a blessing! I am glad I had to go back to work for a few months, because it allows me to be oh so thankful for where I (we) am at!

I do have to say that it's a little weird this school year, as it's my first time since going to Pre-school that I haven't been a student or a teacher. To help fill the void, I bought a brand new notebook and a box of fresh crayons...for Sally of course. I was also able to help my good friend get her classroom ready, like old times.

I'm not quite as sad to see the summer go, because I know I still get to soak up those perfect Fall days when I would usually be stuck inside the classroom. I'm sure there will be days where it will take everything in me to change one.more.dirty.diaper. But they will be followed with days of walks outside, belly laughs from the little girl, dance parties in our living room, story time in our pj's, lazy rainy movie days, and evenings that can be spent enjoying our family together instead of the hustle and bustle of getting prepared for the next work day.

We're happy, very happy and so glad with where we're at!

Sally's reaction when I asked her if she wanted to start getting up early and go to daycare...

Feeling Secure

We've been soaking up the summer days, because we know what's right around the corner...

When you tell Sally we're going outside she gets soooo excited! I think she may have jumped the other day because she just couldn't wait.
They say you know when you've given your child enough love, so they feeling comfortable and secure enough to walk away. Sally doesn't hesitate to make her way over to her best friend Kellen's house the minute I let her go outside.

Wasn't it just yesterday that she was learning to hold her head up by herself?

Our Little Conversationalist

Sally has become quite the chatterbox. She's understanding the dynamics of a conversation, if only she'd speak in plain English!

What a Game!

Oh my goodness, we had so much fun! The first ever walk off home run at Target Field! Yahoo! We could not have asked for a more perfect night! It was absolutely gorgeous! Thank you so much to my cousin Greg who was so willing to let us pick any game...we're feeling a little guilty it was such a good one! What fun people we got to sit by as well!

After seeing it from his office window, he/we, finally made it!

We tried quite a bit of food...maybe a bit too much :)

Go Twins!

Playing with the settings on my camera

"Big Bopper, Big Bopper, who wants a Big Bopper?!"
"We'll take two Big Bopper's over here!"
I feel a new nickname coming on...

Perfection...

Weddings

We have been having a lot of fun at weddings! A common thing that gets brought up by Reid is, "How am I going to do that? How am I going to be able to give Sally 'away'?" I guess we'll just have to trust that when she's ready, we'll be ready too! The father-daughter dance has a whole knew meaning to Reid!

I love weddings. I especially love weddings now, because our wedding is over. We don't have to worry about what we will and won't do. We can just sit back and enjoy ourselves and remember memories from our big day. Yesterday, we sipped on some bubbly and watched our wedding video. How quickly two years have gone!

I also watched our slide show that I spent much time (too much) creating. As I was watching I was thinking wow, the pictures and memories we are capturing today will most likely be part of Miss Sally's wedding day slide show. I decided to attach it the blog, kind of fun to see how much Sally looks like each of us. We have many more memories and much love to give before we're ready to "send" Sally off, but I'm sure it's going to be here before we know it. Excuse me now, while we go snuggle and read some books to soak up her sweet sweet innocence!

Two Year Anniversary!

Today Reid and I celebrate our two year wedding anniversary! It has gone so fast, yet at the same time, it feels like yesterday. We are going out to dinner as a family tonight. Tomorrow Uncle Joe Joe is coming over to babysit and Reid and I are finally making it to Target Field! Go Twins!

Below are the pictures from our wedding album that I created (with a little help from Reid) and our photographer put together.