Northfield Minnesota Flooding Sept 24th 2010

To get inside a child's brain

Eric and I managed to make it to church yesterday after a summer off from the 10 am service. Admittedly, it felt good to get back. While Henry enjoyed the new toys in the nursery and the undivided attention of Tammy (the nursery lady), we got back into the groove of worship. Eric and I found ourselves [almost] crying and laughing. Crying because a lady expressed a heartfelt family concern to the congregation through tears. Laughing because the children brought a special gift the service. During the children's sermon the conversation went something like this:

Preacher: "How could the adults show you that they care and love you?"

Child: "By eating the broccoli and spinach off of our plates for us!"

Ha! Of course, that is not quite the answer they were looking for. But let's be honest. Eating the veggies off of your child's plate means love.

This also made me think of my three year old nephew Marvin. While hanging out with him last week he pulled a few funny comments. And my favorite: (setting: we were leaving and going our own way)

Anna (a.k.a. Marvin's mom): Okay, Marvin. What do you say?

Marvin: Sorry

Hmmm...does he get into trouble much? He didn't really understand why we were all laughing. But then he picked up on the proper response and bid us farewell. Ah, kids.

Happy baby

He's so happy.

Dogs

Henry has a mild obsession with the dogs. Whenever we head downstairs, the dogs are typically waiting for us. Henry will flail his arms and screech in excitement... and the dogs scratch at the baby gate with equal excitement. Walter's excitement stems purely from his need to lick. He can't wait to get to Henry to give him a proper bath--Henry takes it like a man and will clench his eyes shut with the random hand swat toward Walter's tongue. Then there's Ardy...he does whatever Walter does: "Walter's excited? Well then I'm excited too!" (that's me pretending to get inside of Ardy's little head). Anyway, we often get asked how the dogs are around Henry. Walter loves him. Ardy tolerates him. Henry loves to [aggressively] pet them.

Labor Day Weekend

We were supposed to join the Swiderskis at their cabin for Labor Day weekend, but a "mis-read" in Eric's schedule meant that the trip wouldn't work and we were staying home.... But it so happened that one of Eric's good friends, Ryan, was able to make the trek from Texas to visit for the weekend.

It was a relaxing weekend full of "showing off" Northfield and just plain enjoying life...

The three of us before our big night out. We were home by 10:00 pm.

We love Ryan for many reasons. One of them being that he has the best action shots. It's an important quality in a friend.

Mmmm....banana bread!

Walter and Ryan have always had a special connection. Honestly, it's a bit odd. Walter consistently waited for Ryan at the bottom of the stairs all weekend. And when he wasn't waiting for him, he was in his arms, on his lap, at his feet....

Henry shot....

A note to all friends: If you come visit us, we will put you to work. Our fantastic neighbor gave us a heads up on a FREE swingset on Craigslist...we swiped it and the guys set it up. Here's Eric in his classic "Ta da!" pose with the finished product.

Northfield has an awesome Saturday market. As a true Texan would, Ryan purchased the jalapeno jelly from Ruthie.

Root beer envy...

Crabby man on campus (a.k.a. "The Teether" in the wrestling ring)

Big man on campus (a.k.a. "Lean, mean fighting machine")

Stroller pushing boot camp

BBQ Group Photo

Thoughts

A fellow Northfield mom and friend, Emily, recently posted something on her blog about her family's anniversary of moving to the town of cows, colleges and contentment (a.k.a. Northfield). I just got done reading the entry and feel like echoing her sentiments... I mean, Henry is napping, so what else is there to do, right? I'd rather blog than be domestic. That's what husbands are for.

When we told friends, family and work colleagues of our decision to move "south" the reaction was often words of excitement partnered with looks of horror. We also heard, "Northfield? Where is that?" and "How long of a commute is that going to be?" Of course, we knew we were moving out of the 'burbs. But we didn't really think that we were removing ourselves from the Twin Cities that much. After all, we were previously living in Chaska, which wasn't a suburb until the recent past.

For the first few months living here, we drove to our normal destinations in the 'burbs. Clearly, this was our way of not assimilating to small town life. As the weeks and then months passed, we found ourselves preferring our local boutiques over mega malls, Greek pizza over chain restaurant steaks, and our favorite...the local co-op over the traditional grocery store....

It's official. We've converted. "Downtown" now refers to Division Street rather than Nicollet Mall.

Subsequently, we've adopted a simpler lifestyle: Our interest in food and cooking has grown; without a doubt, this has been fueled by our purchase of a farm share this summer. We love getting out and enjoying our natural surroundings. We walk to most of our destinations. Choose to "be local. buy local" (for the most part). And a favorite past time is us just sitting on our front porch with a cup of coffee, wine or an extra dirty martini.

Eric and I often chuckle when we think about how our mindsets and lives have changed over the course of the past year... I've recently thrown the idea around that we should get some hens for our backyard. A year ago, we would have said it as a joke and laughed at the thought of us actually pulling such a thing off. But now we consider it with excitement...and laugh at the thought of us actually pulling such a thing off!

As Em mentioned, tonight's our first annual BBQ for the moms [and other family] members that get together each week for playgroup. The moms in this group have been a huge resource for me. Not only were these moms an instant focus group for me to poll on baby issues, but they also have made this [almost] first year of being a mom entertaining and less stressful. I feel blessed that these beautiful women and their adorable little ones were brought into my life. And I'm going to show my appreciation tonight for these lovely ladies by bringing a large vat of margaritas. Cheers. :)

Correction: Per Em's comment, I need to pay tribute to Amazon and free two-day shipping. This has made living "45 minutes south" even more bearable.

Attack of the Baby

Did the little piggy really go, "Wee wee wee" all the way home?

Our new favorite commercial....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F_G2zp-opg

Duluth

In an effort to "get out of Dodge" we went to Duluth for a couple of days to relax.Henry wasn't too pleased with us after we dipped his toes in the icy cold Lake Superior water. I really don't understand how they say the water is reaching record high temps this summer. My feet were numb after about two minutes.

We had breakfast one morning at a quaint cafe called Takk for Maten. This place was a must for me as I hold on to anything that reminds me of my time in Norway. Eric's breakfast was unreal. He always out-orders me.

We went aboard the Vista Fleet for their happy hour cruise. We missed the bridge so we just circled around the harbor and saw the massive ships.

We spent the majority of our time walking along the lake. The weather and view were amazing.

Some of you may have heard that the tall ships were going to be in Duluth while we were there. We did hang out at the canal for a couple of hours to watch two of them come in. It was a pretty spectacular sight to see the ships sail in.... During that time we also befriended a retired couple from MD who taught us about Henry Schoolcraft.

All in all, a pleasant couple of days.