i love ball game

i attended a wedding in st. george in early september, and when i came home, maya knew how to say some new phrases. among these were:
"i love ball game."
"i love wolf chase."
the wolf refers to her and evan going to the zoo and running along the fence with the wolves. she still talks about it, saying "maya too fast."
and referring to the ball game, she will sit and watch football, basketball, baseball or hockey with evan. they went to maya's first minnesota twins game when i was gone, and we took her to her first university of minnesota game monday night. she sat in her own seat the whole time, and loved the mascot-the golden gopher. we took her home at halftime because we thought she needed bedtime, and she was not happy to leave. like father like daughter.

 

 

 

what mondays are good for......

while putting some clothes away in maya's room, maya spotted her swimsuit. you could just see the wheels in her head turning, thinking-
"i haven't seen this in YEARS!"
"i better put it on right now!"
and so she did, trying to put it on over her pajamas, and only when i convinced her we were going to the park did she take it off.

 

first minnesota visitors!

we LOVE LOVE LOVE when visitors come! especially when it's "ahno" and james. maya calls annie "ahno" and we call james her boyfriend because she has always had a crush on him. she had to sit next to him, hold his hand or go "find" him. she was so happy to have two people come and visit her. i'm sure she thought that they came just to see her. we had a great little visit, and the time went too fast, but we were so happy that they could come see us. we went to the farmer's market, mall of america, made lettuce wraps and apple pie, evan and james went to a hockey game, and annie and i saw the secret life of bees, all in all a fabulous weekend. thanks annie and james for coming all the way to visit us, we love you!

 

"ahno" and james

 

MY FIRST HOMEMADE APPLE PIE-this should be shocking to many of you who know that my mom is a fantastic apple pie maker and has a tradition of making apples in the fall, that it has taken me until now to make my first, but it was so fun and i'm happy to report the pie was quickly eaten.

 

maya doing her FAVORITE thing: throwing rocks into a river.

 

here is a picture of annie and i and my belly at 8 months pregnant. notice that not too many things are fitting. i have all sorts of great winter attire and it's ALL too short. boo.

Fall is here

 

 

 

 

Fall has definetely arrived here in Minnesota. Loving the fall colors, the lower temperatures (remind me that I said this when I'm FREEZING to death sometime around February, wondering when spring will ever come), the warmer clothing, although not much of mine fits anymore, apple pies, cider, and anything pumpkin. Maya and I have been eating cream of wheat every morning, I think it's a necessity here in Minnesota. We took Maya to an apple orchard where she ate her weight in apples, and we brought the rest home. And since then we've caught Maya hiding in the living room when she was supposed to be in bed, nibbling an apple. We have a little lawn now, and raked our leaves only to find that Maya had thrown about 50 rocks from our flower beds into the grass. She's the best helper ever. :) We raked and mowed, then the next day it looked as if we did nothing....that's enough to make you not want grass in your yard! But, we are loving fall and I'm not raking again until all the leaves are off the trees.

Good news

Found out this morning that Evan passed the bar! Hallelujah! We won't have to move back home with my parents! We're so proud of him....all the hard work of law school and spending an entire summer studying paid off. And he gets to keep his job! And we can now pay our dental bill that is crazy since we BOTH have to have some work done! Bummer!

Maya is busy writing on her feet right now. Although we have her write on paper, she LOVES to write all over her body.

We're getting a camera this weekend! Glory be! So I won't post any random pictures anymore. Yay! We're on a hunt to find some good apple cider and apples for making apple pie this weekend. The best thing about being pregnant in the fall is all of the deliciousness we have from baking. Made some amazing cinnamon rolls for conference weekend, which was incredible if you didn't get a chance to see it, and we'll have some apple pies going, some mulled cider and hot chocolate along with a list on my fridge just of sweets. I think my babies just really like sugar. Or is it me? :)

Heard tonight

"Dad," Maya says standing by her door. It's bedtime and Evan just put Maya in her bed and is in the kitchen hiding.
"Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad," in tiny little whispers getting a little louder.
A pause.
"Guys?" Maya says wondering where her parents are hiding.

Camping

We lived! Actually, not only did we live, but had a great little weekend. It was the last warm weekend on the horizon here in the freezing tundra so we opted to take advantage of it. We decided spur of the moment, as in Friday during the day to head out. We took little provisions, making it at easy as possible, and only ventured about 30 minutes away. We went to a great little park and had a scenic little campsite with a pond 100 yards away. Maya was in heaven. She sat herself down in the dirt as soon as we let her out of the car and went to town throwing rocks and other debris into the bushes. She thought she would be able to throw rocks into the pond from where she stood: we had Evan hold her to make her feel like she could "make the distance" better. :) We roasted hot dogs, Maya ate 2 whole ones....you know she has this thing for hot dogs only when camping and at ball games. We made smores and sang campfire songs, and I was trying to remember all the fun songs we sang at the Rawlinson campouts. It was a beautiful night. And Maya slept great. And I was even comfortable! A happy little weekend.

1st day of FALL

The leaves aren't exactly this bright, but I'm patiently awaiting them to turn these colors. The first day of fall found it's way to Minnesota, but was windy and warm. Yuck! I'm ready for the fall to actually happen. And although there really aren't mountains to speak of here, the lakes at sunset are amazing, and are quickly becoming a favorite of mine.

Loving

We haven't ever lived close to a Trader Joes. Now one is 10 minutes from home. Maya even gets to shop with her own mini-cart. She wandered around sneaking turkey, large chunks of cheese, pita chips and anything else she fancied into her own cart.

Bless Minnesota

There are a few things that I LOVE about Minnesota:

*We can leave any unwanted items behind our garage in our alley and by the next morning they have disappeared. Case in point, we moved up here with an old record player and stereo that didn't work. We set them outside, and the next day they were gone! Now, how's that for fast junk removal?

*On another note, in nice neighborhoods people throw out amazing treasures....I found an ottoman on the side of the road. I am not too ashamed to pick up things off of the side of the road.

*Fall is coming....the air is crisp and I can see the leaves changing. I can't wait to break out sweaters. Evan had a job offer in the south and I was so excited knowing we would be moving to a colder climate just to wear sweaters and such.

*I met a friend who happens to know EVERY amazing thrift, consignment, great music venue and truffle shops in the city. What more could I ask for?