A weekend full of fun!!!

It was a GORGEOUS weekend! Weather in the upper 80's by Sunday, we got to spend a good amount of family time together and for the most part, everyone was happy!

Here is a run down of how we kept ourselves busy ... what did you do?

We laughed while we ate our veggies ...














And we laughed a little more ...














Then we laughed at each other ...







And got in a little cuddle time ....







We picked "flowers" all. weekend. long. (And gave them to mom because she's "pretty". Riley's actual word!)















We gave new meaning to the words "Family Bed" ...







We shared our toes to be munched on ...







Practiced our "Miss Hollywood" face ... (anyone remember the picture of me sitting on Uncle Donalds lap with the big sunglasses on?)







Cuddled a bit more before getting up to eat breakfast ...







Had friends over to play ... LOTS!







Helped mom work up the garden (thus the extremely dirty little boy) then took a break to play ...

That was our weekend ... hope yours was just as fun!

All is well again ...

Mom drove the Xterra to work this morning and Riley instantly reached over for his sisters hand ... excitedly announcing, "Mom, I can hold her hand again!!"

Ahhh, it's the little things in life ....

(And when we got to daycare he was still holding it ... I had to tell him to let go so he could get out of his carseat.)

The thoughts running through that little mind ... amazing!!

The following is the conversation Riley and I had in the car tonight on the way home from daycare.

And just to make things clear ... "Kiki", aka Charina, is an old neighbor of ours who moved to Becker. Riley loves her to death and would have no problem having her step in as his mom. If Riley was about 25 years older Steve, Charina's husband, might have some competition. :)

Riley: "Mom, I miss Kiki."
Mom: "I know honey. I miss her too."
Riley: "I think she should move back here. I don't want anyone else living in her house."
Mom: "Well, honey, I don't think she's going to move back. We're going to have to go visit her soon."
Riley: "Mom?"
Mom: "Yes Riley?"
Riley: "I miss Grandpa too."
Mom: "Too far away Grandpa?" (This is how we refer to Grandma and Grandpa Knudson)
Riley: "No, my grandpa that's in the ground." (Grandpa Zahradnik)
Mom: "I miss him very much too, honey"
Riley: "I wish I could talk to him."
Mom: "What would you tell him?"
Riley: "I'd tell him that my sister is cute."
Mom: "Oh really? Well ..."
Riley: "I don't think grandpa should have died ... grandma might be lonely."

*sigh* Sometimes his thoughts leave me speechless.

A little of Paige ...

"Pears? Mom, I don't think I like pears."









"Maybe if I wimper a bit they won't make me try them."








"MOM! I REALLY DON'T LIKE THESE!!" (And yes, she did hate them for the first day but then seemed to take a liking to them.)








Our big brown eyed girl














Caught in mid-yawn








Paige's question of the day is on her shirt. She'd like an honest answer please. (Click on this picture (and any really) to see it larger. If you can't read it, it says, "Does this diaper make my butt look big?" Thanks to Ryan's cousin, Sara, for the uber-cute shirt!!!)

What a person would expect from me ... pictures!!!

Our day at Silver Lake ...
































This is the look I got when I asked him to smile. Do you think he's sick of the camera yet? :)







And focusing hard on putting his car back together once we got home ...

Did my siblings ever love me this much?

Some of you know that we purchased a new (to us) car around Christmas ... a 2006 Chrysler 300. It's just a bit bigger than the Xterra.

Well, in the Xterra, the back seat is small enough that with Riley's mono-huge carseat, him and Paige aren't that far apart. So close in fact that if Riley really stretches his arm out and Paige has her hand in just the right spot, he can hold her hand. He'll hold her hand all the way to daycare in the morning or hold her hand all the way into town as we run errands. It's something he started on his own and does with no prodding from us. And I think she likes it too because she never pulls away from him.

This morning we took the Chrysler though. As Ryan was trying to get Riley buckled in, Riley was upset because there's quite a bit more space in the backseat and he couldn't touch his sister. Yes, my three year old was actually upset because he couldn't hold his sisters hand. I love it ... but how long does it last? :)

I don't think my siblings ever would have been upset about not being able to hold my hand ... upset about me wanting to hold their hand ... probably and more likely. :)

I'm thinking this love will last another ... oh, couple months max. Paige has learned to roll over and will soon be getting into Riley's toys ... at which point I think all hand holding may be over with. But it's sweet to watch for now. :)

Have a good weekend everyone! I think we're heading to the MN Zoo tomorrow.

Only in Minnesota ....

Well, you'll notice the posting right below this one mentioned the fact that we were getting snow. Only in MN could we be getting snow one week and have temps in the 70's the next week.

It was a gorgeous day yesterday. I don't think Riley even went in the house at all when we got home from work/daycare. I was inside fixing dinner when the door opened up and he asked, "Hey mom, can Wyatt come over to my house and play?" For some reason in that one moment he seemed so grown up. Long gone are the days of mommy and daddy being the fun people to play with ... now it seems we're best suited to be swing pushers while Riley swings next to his friends. *sigh*

So yes, Wyatt (neighbor boy) came over and then soon Braden (another neighbor boy) was over. Braden's older sister came over to talk to Paige who was in heaven in the baby swing. Pumba was chasing around the little people. And guess who the supervisor was? Daddy. :) Wyatt's daddy wanted to know if we were opening a daycare. :) I should have taken a picture ... it would be good advertising for Rainbow PlaySystems.

We rounded out the warm spring day with a walk around the neighborhood. I know I've said it before but I love our neighborhood. We know so many people in our development and everyone's so much fun. We got to talk with some people last night who we hadn't seen in a while and even found out one couple is pregnant. I seriously think I should start selling the water in our neighborhood ... 28 plus kids in just our little block ... it's CRAZY!

And quickly ... Miss Paige is now eating pears and green beans. I think she'd prefer to just skip this bottle stuff and eat solids all the time. We put her in her highchair and she wants to eat NOW. And if we're done feeding her but Ryan and I are trying to finish our dinner ... she expresses her dislike that she doesn't have anything for herself. Attitude ... don't know where she'd get that.

This is the way she rolls ...

It's happened! Paige rolled over from her back to belly last night ... and then after realizing she didn't like that much, kept on rolling and ended up on her back again. :) She'd been so close so many times ... but finally she got that shoulder and arm out from under her body so she could do that little "belly rock" thing that all babies do.

So that's it. Just thought we'd share.

PS ~ To all of the non-Minnesotians ... we're in the middle of getting a bunch of snow. Phooie! Isn't it the middle of April?

Update ... Pictures of the "Daddy Cut"

Before ...















Laughing at mommy because she's about to pass out ...















Well, it's too late to turn back now ...


















And for an after shot look at the Easter picture below. It's kind of hard to see ... but it's obvious it's MUCH shorter.

Did the Easter Bunny visit your house?

I think I should have taken stock in sugar before this weekend based on the amount of candy in our house right now. We have one basket, two pails and one bowl full of candy. And that's not counting the Halloween and Valentines Day candy we still have left over.



In reality though, the Easter Bunny was VERY practical at our house this year. Riley got a new movie, a book and a John Deere shirt (along with the obvious candy) and Paige got a new highchair and a pink John Deere outfit. There was also a bird feeder and bird food that was left. Yes ... VERY practical. :)



Riley enjoyed a weekend full of bunny related events. Saturday started off with an egg hunt at mom's work. There were 160 some kids and each kid got to pick up 18 eggs. Riley was elated to get candy, a necklace, erasers, etc ... Then we came home and him and dad argued about how to color easter eggs ... at which point mom had to remind dad who the child was and who was supposed to be enjoying the whole egg dying process.


Sunday we woke up to a table full of presents, headed off to church and then came home and ended up having an Easter dinner with Grandma Karen and Grandma and Grandpa Knudson. It was a nice surprise to have Grandma and Grandpa here for the day.