Fall Fun :)

This past weekend was another crazy one! John had a wedding to shoot on Friday, so I worked and then had the kids all evening by myself. By the time I got them settled down and to bed, I was ready to relax and go to bed myself.

Saturday was a fun day. First of all, it was beautiful out, I am talking 75 degrees, sunny, and no wind. It was gorgeous. We decided to head to Luverne with Jim and Barb and watch Katie play in the Festival of Bands. It was pretty warm sitting in the sun, and the kids got a little restless in the end, but overall it was a really fun afternoon. After watching the bands, we decided to check out Luverne's city park. It was huge, and had just about anything you could imagine that a child would want to play on. Emma had an absolute blast, and Elliott had a pretty good time swinging and just playing in the grass.

Sunday was another good day. We started it off by going to church (which we barely survived with a crabby Elliott) and Emma had her first day of Sunday School. Emma was very excited for Sunday School, it was so cute. The teacher told me she did very well, and they were happy to have her. She was so proud of all the artwork and projects she did. She was so adorable about the whole thing.

After some afternoon naps for the kids (and watching the Vikings win) we headed out to Jim and Barb's to celebrate Jeff's birthday. Emma was very happy to ride her trikes around, feed the chickens, ducks, kittens, and just generally run around. She also got to ride a horse when great-aunt Judie stopped by on a horse ride. Emma was thrilled to get to ride a horse, and was grinning from ear to ear. It was pretty darn cute. Elliott also was excited to see the horses, and had to touch and pet them.

Once everyone started getting hungry, we fired up the grill and had some steaks. It was a great afternoon spent outside enjoying one of the last warm weekends of the year. The kids passed out on the way home, and we transferred them to bed, and counted it a win, as we had the rest of the evening to ourselves.

Riding Trike 

Three Generations 

Emma enjoying her horse ride

Elliott petting Jake

Enjoying the swing 

Twin's Game With the Siblings

This past weekend was a fun, crazy, busy weekend, with a lot of time spent on the road. Friday evening after work we headed to my parent's house. It's always an unknown adventure when you take a 3 year old and a 9 month old on a 3 hour car ride. You just never quite know how it's going to turn out. Overall, it went ok. Emma did very well, and was entertained with some movies, book, and just looking out the window. Elliott was another story. He slept a little, but otherwise he was a little fussy, and we had to stop twice along the way to Minnesota.

We got to my parent's house around 9:00pm, and after we unpacked and got a little bit settled, it was time to get 2 crabby kids to bed. And the parents followed shortly after.

Saturday was a fun day. After a morning of playing with the kids and visiting, Rachel, Ryan, John and I headed to the cities for a Twin's Game. Mom and Dad were nice enough to babysit the kids all day (and night!). We didn't really have concrete plans, and we decided to just wing the trip. We stopped at Fleet Farm along the way to the cities. We also stopped at a Liquor store for some beer (of course!) and then we got to downtown Minneapolis and checked into our hotel.

We did some afternoon drinking and relaxing, and then headed out and about to explore downtown. We stopped at an Irish bar for some drinks, and then went to a German bar for some beer and food. After all that, it was time for the Twin's Game. John and Ryan each got a $19 Bloody Mary drink that was horrible, so that was a nice, memorable moment. We all enjoyed the baseball game. The weather was perfect. It was about 70 degrees, sunny, and then became sweatshirt weather once the sun set. I loved it. The Twin's lost to the Anaheim Angels 5-2, but we still had a great time.

We headed back to the hotel to relax a little and freshen up, and the we headed downtown again. We headed to The Shout House, which features dueling pianos. It was really fun, and really good entertainment. But, by about midnight, we all were feeling pretty tired, and it was time to head back to the hotel. We visited and drank a little more, and then we all went to bed and called it a night.

Today, mainly consisted of traveling. We left the cities around 9:30pm and after a breakfast stop, got to my parents around noon. The kids had a blast with my mom and dad, and apparently were pretty well-behaved. Emma got a ride in the combine and we all played outside for a while and ate some lunch, and then it was time to hit the road again and get back home.

Thankfully, the kids slept some of the way back home, but Elliott was crabby again on the way home. I think he was short on sleep, and I think he is beginning to not like being strapped into his car seat and unable to move around as much as he would like to. Bummer. He used to be such a good car passenger. But anyway, we eventually made it home, and got unpacked and even got the house cleaned up a bit, in preparation for another week of crazy :)

We all had an awesome weekend, and I hope to make the Siblings Twin's Game an annual tradition. It was very nice to hang out with just my siblings for a weekend, it doesn't happen enough.

Elliott falling asleep on a stroller ride

Very excited to try the purple sparkly drink, and it was awful 

Siblings :)

Me and the hubster 

Drinks at the bar

Pre-gaming 

German Bar

The lovely German food we had 

The awful bloody marys

Cheering on the Twins

Beautiful night

Family :)

Elliott loved Zander

Labor Day Weekend 2015

Labor Day weekend has come and gone in a flash. Luckily, it was both my weekend and holiday off, so I had a nice long weekend away from work.

My mom came to visit for a couple days so she could see and play with the kiddos since it had been a while. She came Saturday and stayed through Monday. It was really nice to have a babysitter on hand. John and I took advantage by doing some kid-free grocery shopping, yard work, and we even went to a movie (I don't know the last time we got to do that!) We went to the Wells Fargo Cinedome and saw Jurassic World. It was a pretty good movie, but overall it was nice to just have an evening out.

Emma has been fighting a cold all weekend, so we had a couple miserable nights with her over the weekend, but she seems to be getting better. I just hope Elliott stays healthy, and that I have some good nights coming up with the kids, since I will be by myself.

Today, mom went home around noon, and John and I caught up on some things around the house before he is gone for the week, and another week of work starts for me. After some naps (for everyone) we decided to take the kids to the Butterfly House and Sertoma Park.

Emma really enjoyed looking at the fish and running around like a crazy toddler. She also enjoyed all the butterfly's in the Butterfly House, and kept saying "hello butterfly".

Elliott loved looking at all the fish and different colors. He was a littler overwhelmed in the Butterfly House, but he did well.

The park was a great hit. Emma played in all 4 parks, and really enjoyed herself. Elliott napped in the stroller some, and enjoyed some swinging.

It was a great Labor Day weekend, and I really enjoyed all the family time. Hope everyone else had a great holiday weekend :)

The Butterfly House

Emma having fun

Elliott enjoying the fish

Walking through the Butterfly House

She though about touching a butterfly, then chickened out

Dinner and a show

Tire swing!!!

Swinging!

Elliott and daddy

Hello September!

September is officially here, and with it marks the ending of summer, and the beginning of fall. Although, this week has been very humid, and in the 80s, so maybe summer is sticking around just a little bit longer.

Not a whole lot to catch up on in the Nelson household. Another week and flown by. This week consisted of a lot of working, and juggling the kids around.

Thursday was my day off with the kids, and it went ok. They were both a little bit naughtier than usual, and it was a long day. It was super hot and humid, but I was tired of being trapped in the house with them, so I brought them to the mall to play in the play area and just get out of the house. It was sort of a disaster. Elliott was fussy and grumbled about being in the stroller the entire time. And Emma proceeded to play in the play area for 10 minutes before being done with it, and then pooped her underwear, and 10 minutes later peed her pants. It was great.

Luckily, Emma fell asleep on the way home, but Elliott did not. By the time Elliott went down, I heard Emma crying upstairs. I just could not win.

Jim and Barb took Emma to Wild Water West at around 4:00pm. So, that was a nice little break. Once John got home, I took off to meet some co-workers at the Attic, and have some well-deserved drinks.

It was such a long, crazy day. Emma is in that super-annoying stage where everything is "why?" "why Mommy?". I know it's just a curious toddler thing, but it can really get old sometimes. And I think Elliott is both teething and going through a growth spurt, as he is tired and crabby a good portion of the day lately. Combined, it made for an exhausting day.

Yesterday, we took the kids downtown for the last block party of the summer. It went pretty well. Emma enjoyed the food, music, and the free candy and balloons. She could have been entertained down there for hours, and she was kind of devastated when we had to leave at around 8:00pm.

Elliott did ok with everything. He had a good time just people watching, and then sitting on the picnic table playing for quite a while. About 7:30pm he started getting really fussy and tired, so then it was time to head home. It was a nice evening downtown though, and it was great to mix up our routine and do something different.

Today was pretty low-key. We did some cleaning, a lot of playing with the kids, and also some shopping. My mom arrived in the afternoon to visit the kids, and Emma was super excited to have someone different to play with. Elliott didn't know what to think of the new face. Being that we had a babysitter, John and I did some kid-less grocery shopping, which was amazing.

That about wraps up what's new around here. We don't have big Labor Day plans. We will probably just play things by ear and make plans the day-of. Next week, John goes to Boston for a work conference, so I am single-momming it for the entire week. I just hope I survive it! In all honesty, it shouldn't be too bad, but I am going to be one tired momma by the end of the week!!!

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Emma being Emma 

Emma's awesome balloon tiara 

Peek!

Me and one tired little boy