Bye bye July...

We've had a busy couple a weeks. Day Camp and funerals...ahh the life at church! The week where both mommy and daddy were working full time hours was hard on Greta and we're wrestling with a resurgence of Greta's Two-ness (oh man, she is strong willed). In between those busy moments we've had some fun. It seems these days Greta is trying out all her funny faces. She's also still attached to her dear lamby...see the picture above as proof...note that she is still holding lamby's hand in her sleep. We've had a few funny conversations of late. Here's a sampling of some of the funnier exchanges.

"No no mommy. Do not pinch my bottom. My bottom is not a toy." (After I playfully gave her a pinch on the rear)

"Daddy...a synagogue is a church for too much people. We can not climb on the synagoge." (The synagogue in question has a large sloping metal roof that bears a resemblance to a monster slide. Also "too much" is how she heard Jewish)

"Let's snuggle noses." (eskimo kiss...forgive my lack of p.c.-ness with the term)

Daddy: "You are my G-booey" Greta: "No Daddy, I am not your Gbooey, I am your peanut."

Hope you are all enjoying the summer as much as we are. I can't believe it is almost Aug. Don't remind me.

Waterpark with Grandpa Jay

The title says it all...we cooled off today in a local waterpark (St Louis Park- kudos on a fun and FREE water park for tots!). A few pics of Gboo, Grandpa, Kelly & Kelly's 2 grandkids Brooke and Evan. How fun!

Friday Friends Fun-day!

We had another fun Friday morning with some of our friends from church. The throng of girlies played great together in Greta's room (there were surprisingly few squaks given the small space for 5 toddlers/preK kiddos!) and then they moved outside to the pool, swingset & lunch. We made some summery cupcakes for dessert...beach themed. I may have loved them more than the girls. I think Jersey loved them more than all of us combined (aka stealthy cleanup crew). Enjoy a few pictures from our morning. As they were pulling out, Greta asked, "when can Z, I, J & C come back and play....tomorrow?" It has been great watching her develop friends and I about die every evening when she includes them in their prayers. That's right, they make it more regularly than me, the woman who carried that child for eternity. But truth be told, I love how attached she is to these girls and the momma time is 2nd to none. A great way to kick off the weekend! Have a good one!

Just when I think I know my kiddo...

she goes and changes things up!

So we conquered slides. I wouldn't say we were fearless...but they were definitely in our toddler reportoire. Recently we've regressed and slides have been our ultimate nemesis. That is until today. You can imagine my surprise when my child begged to go down this slide:

I of course spent 30 minutes trying to talk her out of this insanity. I did not want to be that parent who makes her kid go down the slide kicking and screaming once she's at the top and changes her mind. Luckily that's why God made Daddy's. The Preacher agreed to take her down and........she loved it. Well, she loved it the 2nd time. The first time, Daddy asked "Greta are you having fun" as they slid down the blue flume. Greta's response: "No, it is not fun" (in complete sentence form which cracked us up even more). But once at the bottom she told me, "that was fun. Mommy's turn!" There were 5 more turns after that. Go figure.

Happy Fourth of July!

We had a great weekend. Shew we're tired! Friends from Chicago (now Santiago, Chile) came up for a visit. They brought with them their little guy who is just a hair younger than Greta so you can imagine what it was like in our house....absolute mayhem! G & R played like fools in the backyard all weekend. The freezing baby pool, the Dora tent, the sandbox, the bathtub...serious fun was had by both.

We polished the weekend off with a family cook out with Grandpa Jay and Kelly in the park. Greta loves being with Kelly's grandkids and her aunts and uncle! Enjoy some fun shots from our great weekend.

Happy Father's Day!

We had a terrific Father's Day celebration even though it wasn't quite what we had planned. Tyler really wanted to go camping for his special day. However, tornados put the kibosh on that plan (mommy is grateful that she wasn't trying to put a toddler in the car, help daddy fold up the tent and dodge funnel clouds). So instead we bought 2 lovely fillets to grill and relaxed at home all together with a glass of wine. Well, we had a glass of wine and Greta had water but thinks it is awfully fun to say "cheers" and clink glasses. Greta LOVED presenting the preacher with his "mother's day card" (she is still stuck in May, but Gboo seemed to get that the card was for daddy and not mommy). She made it herself complete with a handprint for daddy to cherish. Gboo made daddy giggle when she pointed out her "pawprint" that she made for him.....we always wondered if she was part werewolf.... We hope all you daddy's out there had a great day, along with you men who have lovingly taken on the job of caring for our child and other children by your own choosing. We are grateful!

So our most recent silliness...we're *trying* to potty train Greta. We're only about 50% successful so far, but it's a start. We're posting a few videos of one of our potty training afternoons in the backyard for your enjoyment! Fear not, the videos are not of G trying to use the potty....it just explains why our child is running around in her underwear in our backyard.

Enjoy!

For all you Raffi lovers....G's rendition of "Baby Beluga"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL4rJMLDOsw

Greta olympics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_XYMfEGk9I

Everybody loves the weeeeekend!

We kicked our weekend off with a picnic in the park with friends yesterday. The girls discovered the tire swing which was a HUGE hit as you can see!

Today we've got some funny stuff going...

1) Greta has figured out that when the "plugs" (pacifiers...I know, its a horrible name) fall out in the middle of the night that they often end up under the bed. So...I've caught her under the bed with a recovered plug in her mouth in the middle of the day (plugs are only for bedtime now...). Today we caught that effort on film for your enjoyment. And yes, it appears that mommy needs to vacuum under Gboo's bed!

2) We're giving potty training a go today. We've been outside "al fresco" with no luck and now we're watching a little Sat morning TV whilst sitting on the potty. WISH US LUCK. I'm ready to be done with diapers!!

3) Funny story from yesterday, that is a bit of a dig at daddy (and if you don't like potty humor, do not read on!). Well, the preacher awoke with some rockin' gas. And by rockin' I mean it would make paint peel and noisy to boot. I had complained quite a bit about it, but Gboo had said nothing. Then daddy took Greta into the kitchen for breakfast. He tooted....again...and they laughed at the sound. Greta tried to "sniff" but didn't smell anything. Then all of a sudden she hit the wall. She wrinkled up her nose and said, "Oh noooo Daddy...I smew (smell) it now...it is very very very very stinky. Go use the potty." Ahhhhh, a girl after her mother's heart!!

We hope you are having a beautiful weekend.