Category Archives: minnesota

Let there be snow!

I’ve never actually wanted snow as much as I do now. I’m not a fan of cold rain and would take snow over sleet any day. Plus, everything is just dreary and mucky right now. Where’s the snow, Minnesota?? I’m crossing my fingers that we get some before 2016, ideally over our 4 day weekend. We’ll be spending lots of time with family and hopefully hanging out playing games, relaxing and attempting de-stressing before the year comes to an end. I’m going to try and get as many snuggles as possible from my two munchkins this weekend. While it’s great that Phoebe loves her new big girl bed, I’m not gonna lie… I kind of miss waking up in the middle of the night with her snuggled up next to me. Enzo will sometimes come snuggle, but he’s super squirmy. Ha ha.

Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Holidays, everyone!

So Long, Fall!

There is a chill in the air and after several days of unusual November rain, we are about to get much cooler, so now seems as good a time as any to soak up the last of Fall. Last year it took a little time for Enzo to warm up to the idea of playing in the giant leaf pile Josh’s Dad prepares for all the kiddos. This time, though, he ran right into it and his cheeks were already getting rosy by the time his cousins came to join in on the fun. This boy runs hot, that’s for sure.

Phoebe, on the other hand, is like me and wasn’t too thrilled at the idea of playing in cold leaves. She was more content to sit and eat her snack, but eventually we managed to get her to at least sort of join in. I can’t blame her, I’d rather sit on the sidelines and just watch too. I kind of don’t want to tell her what’s in store considering she whines when it’s cold out at day care and they go outside to play.

If you’re Enzo, however, the highlight of a giant leaf pile is being tossed into it. I have a feeling if his thrill seeking continues, I’m going to lose just as much sleep in the years to come as I do now. I guess it makes sense, though… kids aren’t aware of all the dangers and worries that adults consider, so why should being tossed 6 feet in the air into a pile of leaves be at all disconcerting? Granted, even bloody noses and other bumps and bruises don’t stop him from jumping off things he shouldn’t and fearlessly climbing whatever he can.

While we’ll need to keep Enzo’s active side busy this winter, we’ll have to come up with a combination of inside and outside activities considering Phoebe isn’t a fan of being cold and wet. I loved sledding when we were kids and building snow forts, so hopefully we can do some of that with the kids and find other activities now that they’re older and not quite as affected by a late night here or there and an occasional missed nap. Last winter was a bit of a bummer, especially after we got back from a nice warm vacation in California, so I plan on making it as fun as possible this year.

If anyone has any tips on winter activities with small kiddos, do let me know!

Girl Time

We try to do things separately with the kids now and then so they each get their one on one time with us. Sometimes it’s planned, and sometimes someone gets cranky and misbehaves big time and rather than completely throwing all plans out the window, one of us just takes whichever munchkin is still ready to go. This happened a few weekends ago when Enzo was just having a rough day, so Phoebe and I went to a local orchard.

I took some photos with my cell phone of our little jaunt and it was a surprisingly nice day out. It got a little chilly as the sun started going down, but we made the most of no jackets for as long as possible. First we checked out some horses and then we wandered around and found a little play area.

It wasn’t overly busy, which was nice, and there was another little girl who was probably around 3 or 4 and was playing with Phoebe on the slides. She kind of wanted to boss Phoebe around a bit, but Phoebe would just kind of look at her like, “Who are you?” and turn around and do her own thing. I can’t tell you how many times she went down the slide… not the twisty one, the other one. She’s still on the fence about the twisty one.

The Luce Line Orchard was also the spot of a local tornado touchdown over the summer, and was a little close for comfort to our house. The Orchard is about 2 minutes away from our house and due to where it’s located, even closer than that. Granted, it wasn’t a big tornado, but it was still crazy to see the damage the winds caused and where it touched down.

Next time I’ll have to see about taking Enzo out with me. He’s usually a really good shopper and after he did so well at the movie theater, we’ll have to see about either his Dad or I taking him to see another one. Phoebe didn’t completely last for her first movie, she came close, but towards the end she got squirmy and wanted to run, so I had to take her out for a bit.

Now that the weather is changing we’ll have fewer outings, but I’m adamant that we go sledding this year! The kids are all about hot cocoa, and you can’t have sledding without hot cocoa. 😉

Prepare… winter is coming.

I can feel winter’s icy hand on the back of my neck and it’s time to prepare. We need to get the house in order and come up with some fun ideas for when it’s too cold to go out or we have zero desire to bundle up because we are not cold weather people. I know… it’s a mystery why we live in Minnesota when none of us really enjoy snow or frigid temperatures.

I think I need to do some Pinterest scouring to find good winter crafts, although apparently even a paper plate can be fun. Who knew that switching one simple artistic medium could do so much? I left out paper plates for about a week and both kids would climb up on the barstools whenever they were hit with artistic genius and color away.

I already know we’ll do plenty of baking, but I want to spend more time this winter crafting and making things and being creative with the kids. We should also actually take them sledding since they’d both enjoy it this year, but there’s that whole cold and wet factor. We’ll see. Maybe we can just watch a movie where there is sledding? I kid. Sort of.

One of my goals is to do some sewing – specifically a quilt. I’m going to start small and go from there, but first we need to do some major winter cleaning. I see many trips to Goodwill in our future. I need to go through old baby clothes as well. I wanted to try and sell them, but it’s getting to a point where the payout doesn’t seem worth the effort and I’m tempted to just donate the lot. Sure, some extra spending money is nice, but I could save myself some time and headache by just packing it all up in garbage bags and giving it away. I can already see the empty bins we’d be left with. I feel lighter already!

We also need to do some deep cleaning and prep our basement windows for their glorious annual plastic wrapping. While the wood floor looks nice downstairs, it’s not the best choice for Minnesota winters. Plus hot air rises and we have 9 foot ceilings which also does not help. Basically our basement is no-man’s land in the winter unless we wear warmer layers and remember to turn on the electric fireplace and space heaters an hour in advance.

First, though, I need to get my body used to the lack of daylight. This year especially it seems to have caught me off guard and the late sunrise and early sunset is taking its toll. By the time we get the kids to bed its already dark and the couch beckons me to curl up in its warm embrace. Sigh. Soon, motivation, soon.

Science Museum: Lost in Space

It was the last weekend that the Space exhibit would be at the Science Museum, so being the stir-crazy person that I am, I decided to drag everyone to see it because… SPACE. Plus, Enzo has had an on and off again interest in outer space, so it seemed like it might be something he would enjoy.

The exhibit was fairly busy and unsurprisingly both kids wanted to check out everything. There were a lot of cool hands-on activities that both kids were able to do, even though they really didn’t understand what it was all about. What kid wouldn’t enjoy pushing buttons and turning cranks and exploring miniature space stations?

The highlight for Phoebe, may have been the toilet, though. She did not want to get off the pot and was quite enjoying herself. Of all the things to grab her attention, it would have to be that. Josh took a turn on the rotating shuttle exhibit, while I volunteered to wait with the kids. There’s no way my stomach would have managed. Alas and sadness.

We did make sure to grab our two hooligans for some fun pictures. We were “those” parents who couldn’t seem to control their rascals as they played a one-sided game of Hide-and-Seek. They are most definitely not ready for any kind of art museum where one is supposed to be somewhat sophisticated. What? You want to quietly contemplate this historic piece of art? Let me scream in protest of my stroller imprisonment or run around shrieking at the top of my lungs. Not everyone enjoys yelling, not even if done in happiness.

After we finished up our tour in outer space, we wandered around the rest of the museum a bit, checking out dinosaurs and getting some fresh air outside. Phoebe managed to lose her beloved owl lovie but thanks to a miracle we found it waiting for us at Lost and Found officially making whoever found it the hero of the day.

Dino and Bunnies

Every day adventures