Hangin' out in the yard

Me and the kids are at the cabin alone. Jamey is coming up this afternoon. This morning it was cloudy and a little cool, but not bad, so we just hung out in the yard. Yesterday was fantastic -- absolutely perfect summer day -- and we spent about an hour on the beach. Not long enough for me, but Ben & Maddie didn't want to stay out any longer.

Note that Ben is wearing his own clothes today! However, I should add that this is the third or fourth day this week that he's worn that same outfit. It's his new favorite. He calls it his "paint shirt." A little while ago "paint shirt" got wet, and he agreed to try "pirate shirt," and he was pretty excited about that!

Here are a couple pics from this morning:

From 2011-08-19

From 2011-08-19

Vacation week

I've got the week off from work, so me and the kids have been busy doing fun stuff (although I haven't done much picture-taking!). Jamey is working this week, partly on the rental property and partly doing a part-time/temporary gig videotaping for some training videos on how to service furnaces (or something like that). So I've been on mostly solo kid-duty. Ugh.

Yesterday the big highlight of the week was that I took the kids to the MN Zoo with our friend Sonya and her daughter, Clara. The kids had a blast. They ran almost the whole way! In the evening, Jamey and Kevin met us at our house and we had dinner. Ben & Maddie fell asleep so fast!

Sunday, I had a playdate with my friend (and former colleague) whose son was born 2 days before Ben & Maddie. We intended to go to the Highland Pool but when we got there we found that it didn't open for another 2 hours! So we hung out in her backyard -- kiddie pool, sandbox and toys kept the kids busy for a couple hours while we chatted.

Tomorrow I'm taking the kids to the cabin and Jamey will join us on Friday afternoon.

Today, Jamey's grandparents stopped for a visit in the morning and the kids played outside (gorgeous day!). Jamey got a few pics while we were waiting for Liz & Jack:

From 2011-08-17

From 2011-08-17

From 2011-08-17

Another cabin weekend

We came to the cabin this weekend to hang out with our friends, Roger, Chris and daughter, Masyn. They were here for only about 24 hours, but we're staying on til Monday afternoon since I've got a vacation day.

Ben and Maddie had fun playing with Masyn, who is 7 years old. Maddie followed her around like a puppy dog.

Unfortunately it rained most of Saturday, but it's gorgeous now. We're heading out to the beach when the kids wake up from nap.

Ben & Maddie are doing well. Both have really increased their vocabularies and how much they are able to say. We can actually have little conversations with them and they now tell us when they're hungry or need a diaper change, etc. It's kind of nice. On the other hand, they usually want whatever they want IMMEDIATELY and they will hound you until you say yes (especially Maddie). Ugh.

Here are some pics from this weekend (and yes, Ben is wearing Maddie's dress. He pretty much only wears girls' clothes these days)

From 2011-08-07

From 2011-08-07

From 2011-08-07

From 2011-08-07

Impromptu little party

Tonight we had an impromptu little party for our friend Sonya who got a new job this week. Their daughter, Clara, and Ben & Maddie had a blast playing together.

From 2011-08-04

From 2011-08-04

From 2011-08-04

From 2011-08-04

Rhubarb Bars

I made this over 4th of July weekend. I remembered my Mom making them, but I had forgotten how truly AWESOME they really are. I'm still craving them....

Rhubarb Bars

3 cups cur rhubarb
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cold water
2 TBSP Cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla

Combine all above ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until thickened; cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the follow ing just like a pie crust:
1-1/2 cups oatmeal
1-1/2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup margarine, softened
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Put 3/4 of mixture in a jelly roll pan. Spread rhubarb mixture over top. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over top.

Bake 30-35 minutes until golden brown

Quiet weekend comes to a not-so-quiet end

So the weekend was going along without too much excitement until the last hour or so on Sunday.

Our good friends, Sonya and Kevin, stopped by with their daughter, Clara, on their way home. We were hanging out and having fun. Me and Sonya took the kids outside to play.

After maybe a half hour -- at most -- Sonya got bit in the hand by a black fly and her hand started to swell up right away. Just a couple minutes later, Ben started crying and was pointing to his index finger.

We weren't watching him, so we had no idea what happened. I assumed Maddie had hurt him (that's the primary reason he cries these days), but he couldn't seem to communicate to me what had happened.

We all went inside and Sonya's whole arm started to hurt and turn red. Ben's finger swelled up and was about three times it's normal size. So we decided it was time to go to the emergency room.

The guys stayed home with Maddie and Clara and I took the injured two to the Spooner emergency room. thankfully the place was quiet and we both got in right away.

The doctor thought both were bug bites -- possibly the same type of bug, but we have no idea what it was. Ben and Sonya got medicine and prescriptions and everything seems to be ok.

By the time we got home, fed the kids some McDonald's and packed up the car, it was after 6 pm. So we were late getting home for bed and I'm sure we'll have cranky kids today, as a result!

Quiet weekend at the cabin

Jamey and the kids stayed at the cabin this past week, while I went home to work for a few days. I came back Friday afternoon to three people thrilled to see me.

So far, our weekend has been quiet. We didn't do anything exciting today since all of us were tired and a bit crabby. I got a few good pictures, though:

From 2011-07-09

Here's one where Ben is trying to give Maddie a hug:

From 2011-07-09

From 2011-07-09

And here's Maddie -- clearly she likes powdered sugar donuts!

From 2011-07-09

Fourth of July 2011

We're at the cabin for a long weekend for the big holiday. My good friend, Janelle and her husband, Dabe, are staying with us (they live outside of D.C.) and we've been hanging out with our friends from the Cities (Sonya, Kevin & Clara) who have a cabin nearby.

Today was packed with excitement, although the kind of funny part is that we never made it down to the lake even though it was possibly the most gorgeous day of the year. Not sure why. But the kids had tons of fun....

From 2011-07-03

From 2011-07-03

From 2011-07-03

From 2011-07-03

From 2011-07-03

Here's a picture of Janelle and Dabe:

From 2011-07-03

Fun times with our friends

Yesterday and today we've enjoyed spending time with our good friends from Lacrosse -- my college friend, Dani, and her husband and two kids. The kids are 4 and almost 2 1/2, so they are the perfect age for playing with Ben & Maddie.

Today I took the day off from work and we all went to Como Zoo. It was chaos there and Ben & Maddie were kind of banshees. As a result, we didn't get photos taken.

But tonight I snapped a few of the chaos in our living room just before bedtime...

From 2011-06-29

From 2011-06-29

From 2011-06-29

From 2011-06-29

From 2011-06-29

Lacrosse trip

I took Ben & Maddie to Lacrosse yesterday and today to visit my good friend Dani and her family (she has a son who is 2 and a daughter who is 4). We hung out for the better part of two days, chasing around the little ones and catching up on life since we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like.

The highlight was visiting the new baby chickens, which they got last week. But Ben & Maddie were enthralled by everything -- all the toys that they had never played with before, the new sights and sounds, the new friends to play with. Then there was the swimming pool, the Barbie power wheels, the bubbles, eating dinner outside, and having popsicles AND ice cream all in the same day!

On the way back tonight, we had dinner with my brother in Rochester. Ben & Maddie kept trying to say "Uncle David" but it kept coming out like "unkie". It was hilarious.

Here are some pics....

From 2011-06-08

From 2011-06-08

From 2011-06-08

From 2011-06-08

From 2011-06-08

From 2011-06-08

From 2011-06-08

From 2011-06-08

From 2011-06-08

From 2011-06-08

From 2011-06-08

From 2011-06-08

From 2011-06-08

From 2011-06-08

From 2011-06-08

From 2011-06-08

From 2011-06-08

From 2011-06-08

Here are a couple videos: