Tuesday, January 29, 2008
It's a Boy!
Two little feet
This morning we all went together to the ultrasound appointment. The baby was very cooperative, until it came to finding it if 'it' is a 'he' or a 'she', but the technician was pretty sure that it is a boy and showed us (briefly) what she saw (sorry, no picture). Luckily, we do have a boy and a girl already, so we'll be prepared if this 'he' turns out to be a 'she'. Eden was a little disappointed at first, but now she's eager to help us choose a name and thinks we should have picked one before we dropped her off at preschool. It was pretty neat to have see the 3D images, we didn't get to have those with Eden or Andrew, and she even put a bunch of images on a DVD for us in addition to printing out a few.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
How Cold is Too Cold?
Andrew had his own mittens this time,
but one of them kept coming off anyway.
Pyramid snow-lady, notice the pink ribbon Eden found
for her lips, and her 'hair'.
Pyramid snow-man
I now know the answer to a question which had never before crossed my mind: How cold is too cold to let your kids play outside? Answer (according to an article on msn's website): keep them inside if its below 10 degrees Fahrenheit, remembering to take into account wind chill). When the snow started this time, it was Sunday, and then on Monday it was a high of 4, which was better than the forecasted high of -1, but still too cold. Scott even had the day off! So, we stayed inside and played A LOT of hide-and-seek. (Andrew is still trying to learn not to answer when Scott ask "where are you?").
But yesterday and today it warmed up a bit, still below freezing, but no wind, so the kids and I headed out. Of course we spent at least as much time getting bundled and unbundled as we do actually outdoors. This was especially true on Tuesday, because Andrew's mittens were in Scott's truck at work, so he was trying to make do with some way-too-big cotton gloves, which significantly shortened our play-time. And of course, the snow is still too dry to make real snowmen, so we have settled for making what Eden calls "pyramid snow-people." Basically, we pile up a bunch of snow and then put a face on it. Eden would also like you to know that the little snow balls on top (which are as big as we could get to stay together with this snow) are the snow-people's hats.
Also, since they both got snowbibs for Christmas, they (namely Andrew) were much more willing to make snow angels too. And I finally got everyone a pair of really warm socks to wear in the snow. Maybe we'll even get to find a good sledding hill before this snow is gone, now that we are fully equipped in the bundling department.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Homemade Bread
On Saturday, I finally used my new grainmill (thanks Mom & Dad!) to make about 12 cups or so of whole wheat flour, then used some of the flour to make a couple loaves of homemade 100% whole wheat bread. The recipe book I used had directions for how to form the loaves, actually rolling it out into a rectangle and then rolling it up before putting it in the loaf pan (I had no idea there was any certain way to form loaves of bread), this loaf came out a little crooked. I think they were supposed to rise more than they did in the loaf pan before cooking, so we'll have to experiment with it a bit. But, it was so yummy, especially right out of the oven, and the other loaf is already gone!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Minneapolis & St. Paul
We decided to spend a couple extra days to do some sight-seeing. This is a picture from the Legoland in the Mall of America. We didn't even go inside the store, but they had some fun building stations right outside where kids could build and race lego cars or build lego castles. Notice the huge bandage on Andrew's head- he had a rough weekend. First he knocked his head while the kids were running around, then he slipped and went underwater for a few seconds at the pool, and that night he got sick (I think his tummy had too much water in it). To top it all off, he and Eden decided to try and hide in the dresser drawers while Scott and I were getting packed up for our big day out and pulled the dresser (and TV) over on themselves. The TV landed right on Andrew's head! He was OK (not bleeding like you might think because of the huge bandage), but he got a huge lump and had a couple of sort-of-black-eyes.
We went to the Como Zoo, which was really cheap (they ask for donations $2 for adults and $1 for kids). A lot of the exhibits are indoors. They had some baby tamarins and a baby orangutan. But, Eden was most excited to see the giraffes and zebras. We also got to see a special discussion on their polar bear exhibit.
Also at Mall of America we went to the aquarium. It was pretty good, but a little over-priced ($16 for adults and $10 for kids). One nice thing was that the pass is good all day, so went back after dinner. They also give you a schedule of different feedings they do throughout the day. The kids really loved the touch pool, and even got to help feed the stingrays (their 'stingers' were removed). We also went on a few rides with the kids at the amusement park in the middle of the mall. Nothing special, but the kids had a great time and it wasn't super expensive. We also heard the Children's Museum there is great (and reasonably priced) but it wasn't open on Monday, so didn't get to go.
Sorry it has taken so long to post about the rest of our trip. I wanted to get all the pictures together first (we had some on a cell phone, some on a disposable camera, and some on our digital camera (once I got batteries for it). All in all it was a great little family vacation for us.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Frozen Lake Minnetonka
Last weekend, we drove to Minneapolis for my friend Melanie's wedding. While we were there, we drove out to Lake Minnetonka. There are ton's of lakes everywhere and they're all frozen over. Some of them, like this one, people actually drive out onto (that's our car in the picture) and go ice fishing. We drove a little way out, then parked, and walked out further to get a closer look at the ice fishing. It was super cold out on the lake so we didn't stay very long. But the kids (and us too) thought it was so neat to be out on a frozen lake! Our pictures of the rest of our trip are spread out because I brought the wrong cord for our battery charger, these came from our cell phone, I'll post more soon.