Water cooler

When Paul was quite a bit younger, Ryan would push the buttons on the water cooler and let Paul play in the stream of water or in the water that collected in the tray. He still is intrigued by the water cooler and of course, (no pun intented!), knows which buttons to push! I can remember when he couldn't even reach the buttons and now he can without any trouble. He can't push them very hard so hardly any water comes out but I have a feeling he'll be able to in the very near future. My favorite photo is the second one where he's running away when I came around the corner asking him what he was doing..."Oh nothing, I wasn't doing anything I wasn't supposed to be doing"!

It's Back...kind of

Well, the transition with no pacifier started out very well and then we had some setbacks. A couple of weeks ago Paul was having trouble going to sleep at night and I caved by giving him our "emergency" pacifier. Well, this turned into several nights in a row and then I would struggle to get it away from him during the day. He started to get back on track with bedtime and the pacifier was gone again...yippee or so I thought!

Late last week, Paul started to get a cough that would become more present during the middle of the night and he would wake up so, I gave in again with the paci because it seemed to comfort him and help him go back to sleep. Well, needless to say, I couldn't get that pacifier away from Paul without a major meltdown. Oops.

Well, the good news is we've gone two days without a pacifer during the day/or night so maybe we're finally done...or not??

Just try and take it from me!

Eggs

Grammy gave Paul these eggs last year and they've been a favorite thing this week. He likes to take each top off and then put them carefully back on...he also likes to push each egg down because they make a funny noise. He will open and close the carton and say "Bye" when he closes it and "Hi" when he opens it back up. These eggs are also on his favorite Baby Einstein DVD which is pretty neat to him!

Time with the Aunties

Read it AGAIN, Auntie Megan!

Paul and Auntie Maira

Paul loved having Auntie Maira and Megan at the house...more people to show off his toys, his dance moves, etc. He took a few minutes to warm up to them but it really didn't take long before he was bringing them toys and books. He REALLY loved it when they would ride on his fire truck which I wish I would have taken some pictures of because it looked pretty funny! It was hard to get many pictures with this visit because Paul was really on the move the whole time.

My favorite part was when Megan and Maira both danced to "Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah"...it almost looked like a choregraphed routine. Hmm, have you two been practicing "The
Routine"? What a fun weekend!

P.S. The PJ's in the top picture are so funny...they're from the Halloween section at Old Navy and were 50% off so I couldn't resist. They say "MC Boo and the Tricky Treats" and show ghosts as a Run-DMC type group. The ghosts on the pants are "scratching" on turntables and are saying things like "Boo yaa". Too funny.

Weekend run

A pre-race photo!


Pictures from our train ride

Maira, Megan, and I headed to Duluth on Saturday morning to run a fall 5K...we had to leave at around 6 am so I had dropped off Paul at Diane's the night before. We headed out in the darkness to Duluth and saw a ton of deer on the way. We checked in at Fitger's to get our race numbers and then boarded the train that would be taking all the runners to the starting line. The train was pretty neat...there was a conductor in full "conductor attire" and also two people in full Stormtrooper attire!! Maira wanted to take a picture but couldn't get one without being really obvious. I never saw the Stormtroopers on the run but it had to have been uncomfortable to run in because these were authentic looking costumes!

We all had a great run with good finishing times and the weather was a little cool but perfect for running. It was a really fun race with a turnout of about 250 people. We then headed to breakfast at the Chester Creek Cafe/At Sara's Table which is always delicious! I had the best pancake I'd ever had...yum. We then did a little shopping at the mall and headed home. What a great day!

Post-race photo!

Great chicken recipe

Our friend, Tonja, posted a great chicken recipe on her blog a few weeks ago and I finally made it last night after thinking about it since she posted it on her blog. It is a terrific chicken and pasta dish! It also makes a TON so it would be great for when you have dinner guests. It was hard not to take seconds...or thirds. I will definitely make this dish again!

Pumpkin Patch

Sara and I took Paul and Isla to the pumpkin patch last Saturday. I've always wanted to take Paul but I missed our chance last year. We weren't able to go until early afternoon which would have been fine but the clouds grew darker as the day progressed. It was only sprinkling so we decided to still make a quick trip. It's a really neat place with a petting barn, haybale maze, a huge playground and a corn maze WHICH according to the paper has the likenesses of Obama and McCain. How we missed that, I don't know! Paul and Isla headed straight for the pumpkins and we were able to get some cute pictures. Renee (Isla's grandmother) also took the picture of all of us and the one of Paul behind the scarecrow.

The rain really started to come down so we passed on paying the admission to the barn, maze, etc. I will definitely take Paul back next year! Even though the weather didn't cooperate, we still had fun!

Yummy treat

My mom gave me the recipe for this delicious AND easy little treats...I'll call them
"turtle pretzels" because I don't know the official name. They are so simple to make and they taste yummy! They are the perfect amount of sweet and salty, I made them for an open house we had at the bookstore last week and they were a hit! The hardest part is unwrapping the Rolo's, which aren't as bad as Hershey Kisses.

Twist pretzels
Rolo's
pecans

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and cover with as many pretzels as you'd like. Place one Rolo (bigger side down) on each pretzel and then, place a pecan on top of the Rolo. Carefully, put sheet into oven for 5 minutes. After taking sheet out of the oven, immediately push each pecan down into the chocolate. Done!
*I put my "turtles" into the fridge after they were done in the oven to set up a little better.

I made these treats 3 days before the open house and they were still perfect. Good luck only eating one!

Go, Dog, Go!

Quit bugging us with the camera, Dad! We're trying to read!

Go, Dog, Go! has become Paul's favorite book this past week...he loves to read it by himself OR have it read to him. He has started to select bigger picture books instead of his board books and seems to enjoy the longer stories. This week it's Go, Dog, Go!, who knows what will be his favorite next week?!

Need sleepie

A few weeks ago we were invited to Ann's for dinner with her and my dad. I debated against giving Paul an afternoon nap but I thought I'd try to let him sleep for a little bit so he would be refreshed and ready to "socialize" during dinner. We were going to try to be at Ann's at around 6:30 and I had to meet Ryan at the clinic to pick him up. Well, of course, Paul didn't end up falling asleep until close to 5 so I had to wake him up from a dead sleep at around ten to six. I put him on his changing table to change his diaper and you can see from the photos what happened. He was obviously still tired because he rolled right on to his side and fell back asleep!

It couldn't have been very comfortable but I don't think he cared. Anyway, with a little bit of fuss, I was able to change him and get him out the door. We ended up having a great time at dinner...the food was terrific and Paul enjoyed Ann's toys!

Yee-Haw!

We've been working downstairs trying to get things organized, cleaned up, etc. Paul found this cowboy hat while Ryan and I were gathering up the boxes that needed to go to Goodwill. Yee-haw! He looked so funny with it on and by the time I got the camera ready he was pretty much done wearing it but I got one last shot! This room is our guest room...now doesn't the lovely carpet/tile combo and a stack of diaper boxes give off that inviting feel??!! Much work is to be done on our downstairs but oh well, one room at a time. My sister Megan will be the lucky one to use this guestroom next weekend...we DO however, finally have a door for this room. Yee-haw!

Auntie Marissa

Auntie Marissa stopped by on Sunday on her way home to Duluth. Paul and Marissa were able to spend some time together on Saturday and had a great time! He had several books he wanted Marissa to read...then they started playing a fun game where Marissa would move him from side to side saying "tick-tock" and then would shake him and say "Brrring" like an alarm clock. He loved it! He would run back to her repeatedly to play this game and Ryan and I just couldn't do it as well as Auntie. I didn't get any good pictures of the tick-tock game but the few I did get of the two of them are pretty great.

Knock-Knock

One of Paul's favorite games is to run into his room and shut the door...then (all the while saying, "Where's Paul?") we knock on the door and listen to him giggle and get excited. Then we quickly open the door and say, "There you are!". This game can go on for quite some time! It's funny to watch him get so excited and he face is priceless when we open the door. He's almost giddy with anticipation of waiting for the door to burst open! Click on the middle picture to see his funny expression.

Shall we dance?

Ryan gave me a Sirius radio subscription for my birthday which works in the car as well as in the house. There are a couple of kid stations that Paul really likes...he loves to listen to music and will start dancing when a song starts. Mostly he just spins around in a circle and then laughs when he becomes dizzy but sometimes he'll do some actual dance "moves". I thought these pictures captured a few of his best moves.

Finished with the pacifier??

While I was in the cities last weekend, Ryan and Paul went to, (of course!), the camp. I forgot to send a pacifier in his bag but I guess he had no trouble taking his naps or going to bed without it...could getting rid of the paci really be that easy? Seems so! We've made it the whole week without it and it's been going well at daycare too. The only problem is we know there are an abundance of them hiding around the house which Paul will probably find. Oh well, we'll distract him and then get rid of them! Wow, first the ease of getting rid of the bottle, now no problem with the pacifier. Bring on the potty-training and the tantrums...that's easy, right??!! Ha!