An Eli"ism" and a Sadie"ism" too!

The Eli "ism": Last night we were dancing in the kitchen to some pretty groovy tunes and Eli was showing us his funkiest moves. I asked him where he got all of his moves from. He stopped, looked at me very seriously and replied, "from Target!" and then went right on dancing.

The Sadie "ism": We were in the car. Eli started the conversation, "Some cars are old, some buildings are old, some roads are old." Sadie added, "and dad's old..."

A Wedding

I know that this blog is supposed to be about the kids, but it isn't very often that Dennis and I are in the same picture, let alone a picture when we're all dressed up and looking pretty good! How lucky for us to go to one of Dennis' very good friend's wedding this weekend in Minneapolis/St. Paul without the kids! Yes, for the first time since we've had the kids, Dennis and I got to spend a WHOLE WEEKEND alone while Grandma watched the kids. OK, so we weren't really alone, we were hanging out with all of Dennis' college friends and we had an awesome time. In fact, I can't remember the last time I've had so much fun (or the last time that I stayed up past 2:30 in the morning partying). We ate good food (Nye's polka bar, which is completely still in it's perfectly retro form which was perfect for my current obsession with Mad Men and they had really awesome liver pate which rivals Whitey's, and breakfast at Keys with Dennis' sister and brother-in-law), I did some shopping in Uptown while Dennis watched the Vikings game with the guys, caught up with great friends, and partied like it was 1999!

The bride and the groom went all out. On Saturday night, they rented out the bar at The Turf Club and had 2(!) bands one of which was an ELO cover band, and was such a blast (Dennis even danced, and for those of you who know Dennis know that that rarely happens). The wedding was on Sunday at Nicollet Pavillion and was whimsical (you should of heard the string quartet playing Sweet Child of Mine), the bride was dressed beautifully as a 1940s starlet and, of course, Chuck made everyone laugh. They even had a photo booth for pictures (you can see ours here).

I guess this my really long way of saying that I really love my kids, but it's really great to get away from them every once in awhile. I promise that we won't be doing this every month, but hopefully our next getaway won't be four years away!

Welcome Home Jewel!

Jewel made it home on Friday, September 11. There has been no lack of love for this kitten. She has been pretty much held non-stop for the past few days and we all adore her to pieces. She has been the source of many arguments: "It's my turn to hold her." "NO! It's my turn."

We plan on Jewel being an indoor cat, because we live on a very busy street. But, we had to take her outside for a photo op! When Dennis first met Jewel at the Humane Society he called her "the laziest cat ever" because she was super mellow. Well, she's livened up a bit, but she still lets the kids do pretty much whatever they want to her without even a meow. She just loves all of the attention.

The Mighty Mississippi

When we lived in Ohio, people would ask me where we planned to live after Dennis finished school and my reply was usually "west of the Mississippi" not thinking that we'd end up living NORTH of the Mississippi. Itasca State Park is known as being the "headwaters of the Mississippi River". And here it is folks in all of its glory. The headwaters is shallow enough so you can say that you "walked across the Mississippi River."
Here is Sadie walking across the Mississippi. Crossing the river on the rocks:Crossing the river on a log (it doesn't look like it, but about 1 second after this picture was taken, Eli was trying to push his sister in. Sadie screamed like only Sadie can scream. They make their mother so proud!)This is the tallest white pine in the United States...Ohhh, Ahhhh....
If you come visit, I promise that we'll go. You can even get a ribbon that says "I walked across the Mississippi." Seriously. I know you want one!

The Fire Ring

The latest addition to our backyard is a fire ring that Dennis and kids built. We've been enjoying it quite often considering how cool it is in the evening in Minnesota.
The kids like to roast marshmellows, but they do not like to eat roasted marshmellows. They like their marshmellows straight from the bag!Mmmm.... SMORES!!Enjoying the fruits of his labor: