Senior, not as in citizen

A highlight from last weekend was a visit from LeRae and my cous Braden. I had a great time taking his senior pics even though it took me nearly half the session just to accept the fact that I am old and that he is old enough to be graduating. I finally came to terms with it and enjoyed gallivanting around Fargo with him and LeRae, hunting down the perfect spot. We had fun! LeRae was the perfect assistant and Braden is a natural model. All I had to do was snap, snap, snap away. See?




Very handsome and cool kid, too.

The week in review

Another week, gone. Here's the highlights:

Gus stood on his own for about 5 seconds the other night. This is the one-finger balance stance, getting ready to let go.

Patiently waiting for his friends to come running down the sidewalk....


He loves these guys. Kole, Riley & Mya. They start school this week so no more late night parties at our house.

He borrowed Mya's pet puppy which actually barks. Very cool to a little boy.

Up where he prefers to be: with his dad, a great view from high above the rest of us.

He figured out how to open and close doors without running over his foot or toes.

What?, you ask, is G-pa Steve doing in a picture from this week? He made a quick 10 hour trip to Fargo to take care of some work related business. He stopped in to say hello, play and read with Gus, eat a BLT and he was on his way again! It was a nice visit, thank you for stopping.

We headed out to a park to partake in some slides and swings.


It was a good week!

Grandma, Grandpa, and swimming with friends

Grandma and Grandpa P stayed with us this weekend. We love it when they come to visit! Gus played and played, got rocked to sleep, and had an all-around blast with them.

We met our friend Jaime from Mpls and her 2 boys, Carson and Ashton, at the Holiday Inn for some swimming. Gus loved it as you can see.


Here's Carson on his 112,476th trip down the pirate ship slide. Or maybe this was the plank.

We had to peel Gus out of the pool. The towels they had there were the size of one toilet paper square. We bundled him up with all our towels so we were freezing! I think Gus was warm, however, which was the point of the multiple towels. Thank you for inviting us over, Jaime!


This was Gus' favorite moments of the weekend. Being rocked to sleep by Grandma.

First baseball game & the zoo, again

We went to our first FM Redhawks game last week, courtesy of Ross' office. Gus lasted 3 innings but that was plenty of time for us to eat 1 hotdog, 1 brat, 2 nachos and grab a kettlecorn to go!


This was taken between the 2nd and 3rd inning, on his last leg. We even brought out the books to try to keep him entertained but it didn't work.

Tragically, we dropped his favorite toy of all time, Speck the dog. Here's Speck, laying unconscious about 2 flights down, under the bleachers. I ventured down to save him. He is OK!


Here's proof that Gus is in love with this dog. Sorry for the poor quality, it was taken on Ross' cell phone.




We went to the Red River Zoo once again. This time it was for a small work gathering with my co-workers and their kids. We spent most of our time indoors. Gus rode the carousel with Ross.


He was happier on land! That carousel went pretty darn fast.

Going waaay back, 2 weeks

You'll notice the post date on this entry and the date these pics were taken are 2 different dates, far apart. Time has been flying by! I know, it's no excuse.y. OK, enough chitter-chatter, here's the happenings from last last week.

Gus playing with his toys, biding his time until his aunt and uncle arrived for Sunday dinner. I think he looks like such a big kid when he sits like this.


Playing with Aunt and Uncle Christy and Josh. Brown Bear was sitting in, too.

Reading with Josh.

After they left, straight to the bath!

Books and banana

Sometimes I set all of Gus' books out on the floor and let him dig in.

I always say "ok, pick your favorite book", and then applaud thunderously when he grabs one because I think it's so advanced that he can understand what I said.


After the book voting session, we had a banana. He liked the peel the best.

Day at the mini-lake

We headed to nearby Buffalo River State Park on Saturday for some swimming and relaxation. They have a mini, man-made lake which we thought Gus would like. Between crawling, standing, scoping out the people, and swimming, he wore himself right out and slept like a champ on the way home and again when he crashed for the night.

This is the best smile I could get while he was on the run.

Dipping the toe.

Slowly inching his way into the water and eating sand.

OK, OK....feel free to pummel me with the Forrest Gump joke at this point, I deserve it. In defense, once you become a mom, something takes over and all of the sudden, a cutesy picture that features both your husband and child, no matter how cheesy, is something you feel obligated to snap. You just do. And I don't regret it! Feel free to make fun of me now.

Ross had to hold him back towards the end.

Wicked sweet stuff from Boston

Grandma and Grandpa Steve & Debi just got back from Boston. To our surprise, they brought back some gifts for Gus. This is his new authentic Red Sox hat and Brown Bear. Yes, I know what you're thinking...thee Brown Bear? Yes, it's him, from the book of the same name.