Life getting back to normal!

Daddy home by himself with the boys cleans up the dishes and the boys are playing quietly in Evan's room. What does he find when he walks down the hall to check on them? UH OH! A BIG MESS!

The Shutterfly box arrived with our Christmas cars on Friday and Evan had to try and step in the box. Don't fall over:-)

Saturday morning both boys sitting on the couch with their blankets and animals.

I was recently going through some boxes in the garage and I came across these Mickey Mouse stuffed animals I had when I was a kid. The boys have acquired them. Evan has the big Mickey Mouse and Alex has the little one. Evan has the little Curious George and Alex has the big one. I thought this made a good picture! It killed the boys to have their animals sitting together like this on the couch:-) You can see Evan's hand and head in the bottom of the picture trying to snatch back his Curious George.

Eric was doing some vacuuming yesterday morning and he let the boys put their chairs up on the couch for a brief moment, so they would be out of the way.

Evan wanted to help out with the vacuuming, so Eric let him clean up his mess under the table. Smart thinking:-)

The boys this morning watching some Dora the Explorer in the recliner with blankets and animals. Its nice when they will sit nice like this together. Sometimes they just fight when they are this close to each other.

Winter too soon!

We woke up to white snow yesterday morning!! The weather forecast warned of this big winter storm, but I didn't believe it...or didn't want to believe it. Evan asked me...is there still water in the lake? I looked at him puzzled...oh you mean did the water on the lake freeze into ice? Probably not yet, but pretty soon!

So far Alex doesn't like winter. He hates putting on his winter coat and Saturday morning really hated putting on his boots and snow pants!

Evan thought he'd try to bring the tractor out into the snow. Why not?

I got out the sled and took them for a ride around the yard. They didn't really like this very much, because the sled tipped over when I turned a corner and they got dumped out.

I got out the wagon for them and put them in the garage, so they could watch me shovel the driveway. The trees were covered with snow and when the wind would pick up we got pelted with heavy snow. That is no fun! I got them to smile by making snowballs and throwing them at the tree. They thought that was pretty funny!




We stopped at Target the other night after swimming lessons and they had these Halloween cookies on clearance. We decided to buy them and give them a try. This is what they look like when they come out of the package.

This is how they look after they are baked.

Up Close!

Delicious! I guess he liked them, because he ate 3 of them and he is only now getting his appetite back after his surgery.

What is up?

We've had a busy week. Last Thursday night after our morning trip to the ER with Evan Alex woke up at 11:00 screaming and Eric went in his room and he threw up all over himself/crib and Eric. After getting him bathed and his bed all changed he managed to get sick again requiring another bath and set of pajamas. A stomach bug was going around the toddler room and it finally caught up with Alex. It didn't last too long, but it has taken him awhile to get his appetite back. Evan was waking up every hour or to during the night until the last couple nights(it reminded me of having a newborn again). He returned to daycare on Monday for half a day and has been going back full days the rest of the week.

Alex thinks the storage container for the hot wheels cars is for him to sit in!

After our trip to the ER we stopped by Costco to get Evan some frozen yogurt. Eric sat in back and said he got him to eat about 20 spoonfuls. We are still struggling with Evan to get him to eat and drink, but he is feeling better..so hopefully he'll start eating normal again soon.

When Alex used to build towers with blocks he would always just take the single blocks and now he is starting to make more elaborate! Go ALEX!



Sunday we had tickets to the Vikings game in Eric's company suite. I was pretty excited, because I haven't been to a game before and watching a game in a suite is a great way to watch a game. Eric woke up on Sunday and was feeling a little under the weather. We decided to go to the game as you can see from this picture. Two minutes before half time Alex's stomach bug caught up with Eric and we had to make an emergency exit out of the dome. We missed the most exciting Vikings game of the year! On they way home Eric had on a jacket, blanket and seat heater. He was pretty useless for the next day.


This morning Alex and I went to the Children's Pediatric Speciality Clinic and he took the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development test. A couple months ago Children's Heart Clinic called and said they were having a study on children with heart defects and tracking their development. We do not have any concerns with Alex, because he seems to be an active and talkative toddler. It was no surprise that he passed the test with flying colors!!! YIPPEE!! I was a little worried about how he would act, because his last couple trips to the doctor have not been a picnic. We got there early and I brought some of his toys to play with to ease his mind. The only two things he didn't want to do was kick a ball..he picked it up and threw it. He also wouldn't jump off a step. He cautiously stepped down. The Doctor was quite impressed with our Little Alex!

Trip to the ER

Last night and this morning Evan had a fever and was dehydrated from
not drinking enough. 3 hours in the ER and he got some IV fluids and
they checked him out and he's going to be fine. His temp was 103 when
he got up and by the time we got here it was 99.

Evan's Surgery

Last fall we visited an Ear, Nose and Throat Doctor with Evan. He was drooling unusually, breathing through his mouth and snoring very loud at night. At times he seemed very restless at night and was breathing irregularly. His restlessness would cause him to be tired in the morning sometimes. The doctor agreed that Evan needed to have his tonsils and adenoids removed. He wanted to wait until Evan was 3 years old or he would only do the surgery in the hospital rather than out-patient. This morning we brought Evan to Children's to have surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids.

The surgery itself only took about 30 minutes. We waited with Evan for 2 hours in recovery before they let us go home. While we were waiting we got him to drink some apple juice and eat some ice chips and a freeze pop. He would not move much or talk at all and just sat on my lap.

He got to ride out to the car in a wagon from the recovery area when we were ready to go home. On the way home we stopped at Dairy Queen and got him some ice cream. He fell asleep in the car, so we had to save it until later. We got home at 11:00 this morning and Evan was jumping off the walls. It was amazing that an hour earlier he looked like he did in the photo above. The minute we got home he insisted on having milk. I gave him half a glass and he said "I want a full one". He got some Tylenol about 11:30 and took a good afternoon nap.

So tonight for dinner you can see he had ...ice cream, yogurt, juice and a freeze pop. Of course he ate two bites of everything and was done.

This afternoon we played his game that he got from Chris and Jennie for his birthday. Bob and Gay picked up Alex from daycare and took him to their house, so we didn't need to worry about him tonight. So Evan could rest...hahaha. We couldn't get him to stop moving around tonight.

He brought all his stuffed animals out of his room and had them on the couch with us tonight.


This afternoon he was OK taking just Tylenol, but tonight he was really in pain so we broke out the Tylenol with Codeine for bedtime. He is sleeping peacefully now, but he will probably wake up tonight needing some pain reliever. The doctor worries about dehydration and so far we are keeping him hydrated. Hopefully his love for milk will keep him drinking to stay hydrated.

My complaint for him recently is his constant desire to watch a Thomas the train DVD. I find the movie very boring and don't want to watch it over and over. Toy Story 2 I can live with 3 times a day, but this Thomas has got to go. Maybe we need to get a different Thomas DVD that is not so negative. The trains seem to dislike each other play pranks on each other. They seem sad and depressed and not very positive. Maybe that is all Thomas movies, but give me some Mickey Mouse or Dora the Explorer(PLEASE)! I think he knows I dislike it, so that is why he always wants to watch it. My saving grace might be that Toy Story 3 comes out tomorrow, so hopefully he will want to watch that one over and over(at least Disney/Pixar throws in some jokes for the adults!):-)

Happy Halloween 2010!

Tonight we went trick or treating at the Mall of America (MOA). It was nice to trick or treat out of the elements, but it was pretty crowded. We approached some stores, at first, with 20+ people in line to get "a" sucker or tootsie roll! CRAZY! Not every store hands out candy, so the kids didn't get very much candy and we covered two levels. They got more candy at daycare on Friday trick or treating than at MOA. I think we'll hit the streets next year:-)

I'm Buzz Lightyear!

I'm a monkey!

Evan did do some walking or I carried him some. He is really getting too big to be carried!

Today Eric and I finally got a chance to carve our pumpkins! They look pretty good! I think we haven't carved pumpkins in 5 years...since we first moved into our house in 2005.

Today I was doing some dishes and Alex was really quiet. I checked on him and he was reading this book in the recliner. At least the book is the right direction:-)

Evan decided to pile the chairs and pillows up on the bench today. At least he didn't try to sit on them!

Animal Bed? This morning Evan brought all the stuffed animals out of his room and put them on the living room floor and he and Alex laid down like it was their bed and watched Toy Story.

I finally got Alex a pair of sunglasses. They didn't last very long on his face, but he was pretty cute.

Evan in his sunglasses!

Pumpkin carving Take 1

Sunday we picked up some pumpkins to carve. We put them on our front step it has been raining and very windy the past couple days. Tonight Eric brought them in and wiped them off. Evan helped him to take the guts out of the pumpkins. He pulled his high chair right up to the counter. Alex thought he was going to be a part of this too, but he was more interested in dumping out his Mr. Potato Head!


He said "I want to put my head in the Pumpkin Daddy"! I think Daddy didn't make the hole big enough. Good thing!

Stay tuned for Take 2. Carving will likely take place on Friday night.