Our birthdays.

Yes they were in september, I know, we will get to october soon. I will be caught up by the new year! Elijah was so excited for his birthday. He had been asking for things for his birthday for months. Anytime we would go to the store, "MAMA!! can i have dis for my birfday!!?" That started probably in May.
He would get excited to check the mail once he realized he was getting cool birthday cards from everyone

 

 I made him a #4 racecar lightning mcqueen cake, just like her requested.  I would let him look through pictures of Lightning Mcqueen cakes on my phone and he picked something similar to this as his favorite.  It was a hit. Of Course. Mom is awesome.

 For my half of the birthday fun, I just wanted to eat something.  We went to a stir fry place at the Mall of America and went crazy with noodley goodness.

 The kids were actually quite successful with the chopsticks. We like to think they are very cultured.  Until they start whippin noodles at each other.

Birthday win.

Evie loves Papa's shower and Elijah disappointed

Evie is a ddancing fool!

 

We had a mini birthday celebration while in VA for Elijah turning 4.  He was not amused.

Now we know.

Did I mention we DROVE to VA?

Yeah, we road tripped with Papa, old school 20 hour drive to VA.Unfortunately Elijah got sick basically the day before we left and experienced the worst of it over the next few days of the trip. Overall, the kids really did great, only one Evie and Elijah meltdown that may or may not have involved a peepee emergency and 15 or so miles to the nearest exit.
 Anyways, there was a lot of this:

 

And some of this:

Mostly this:

Back in the saddle again

OK! ok.  I know it has been awhile.  But at least you know that when I actually DO put up a blog, there will be at least a few more to follow throughout the week.  Playing catch up and all. 
Lets start back in september, shall we? We went to VA. To see, what else, BABIES! Mary had a little boy in july, Jen had a baby boy in june and Julie had a baby boy the previous Nov. I lovey the babies.

 Baby Lincoln

 Baby (big boy) Henry

 Baby Ronan

 Evie was almost convinced that she was solely responsible for baby Henry, she wanted to hold his hand and play with him.

 And snuggle him.  She loved being the big girl amidst all the babies.

 We made our usual trip into DC to catch a few cool sites.  Mike and Amber and their kids were able to join us in VA for the week and Tanner really wanted to see the library of congress and go to the national archives to see the Declaration of Independence (a la the movie National Treasure)

 I have to admit, I cant recall ever going to these particular places before, even though we have gone to DC countless times.  The Library of Congress was really beautiful and interesting.  Some of us went on a tour while others of us just wandered and admired.

 Outside of the National Capital (right across from the LOC)

 This happened.  After a long day, I guess pj's were too much work and some snuggles were in order.

Papa came to visit

At the end of August, Papa came to visit us again!  We were all very excited to say the least, but Elijah was waiting by the door for days.  He would keep asking, "Can I go wait out on the porch for Papa?"  Up until the day he came, he would ask every morning for like two weeks.

 Naturally, we wanted to show Papa what people do here in the North. We go to the Fair.  There really is nothing like the MN state fair.  You could go every day for the 10 days or so that it lasts and still not get bored.  Mainly, we looked around at cool things and ate food food food.  Lets just say, Papa ate Cheese Curds.  and he loved it.  I could list off everything we ate, but you might barf. 

The kids went through a little mini farm land and 'helped on the farm"

 One fair vendor was smart enough to pull out the bubble machine. Needless to say, everyone with a child stopped at this booth.

 We snuck in a few rides.  Evie was excited for the swings, but then she wasnt and her face turned red and she screamed, but by the end, I think I heard her laugh.

 She mostly enjoyed rides that she could do with elijah.  Elijah liked anything that moved.

 And somehow they would all end the night like this.

Anniversarily awesome.

 Tony and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary last month and since Tony had the day off (what!) we took the kids to Como Town for family fun.  Como town is attached to the small Como Zoo so everytime we go to the zoo, Elijah begs to go on rides at como town.  I had been waiting for a day that we could all go together.

Now, Elijah was excited and ready to get painted up like a super hero, but evie was unsure.  She liked looking through the pictures and saw the other little kids getting their faces done and liked it, but I didnt know if she would freak out while they were actually painting her face. 

 She was wary, but they both did great! Sat still and were very patient.

 Evie still can get nervous on rides by herself, but she LOVES riding ones with elijah!

 

Super hero dance break.

 

Later that evening, we did get to go out on a dinner date by ourselves, but the day out as a family is always special.  Happy anniversary to us!

Wis Dells

 In July, we were able to join much of Tony's family in a trip to waterpark capital of america, Wisconsin Dells.  In preparation, we got elijah into some swimming lessons!

He loved loved loved his swimming lessons.  He was so excited to go and get in the water.

 He made a few little friends in class, but mostly he was the troublemaker.  He was the one wandering a little too far, the one trying to do things the teacher said not to or to wait his turn for, grabbing at the teacher try to get her to hold onto him so he could swim in the deep water.  So...he failed.  Failed swimming lessons.  This does not bode well for his future.  Well, really it was just a piece of paper they gave us with stars and stickers with comments from his teacher about how he did in class. Since he was not the best listener, he would have to stay at the same level if he wanted to do swim lessons again.  Womp womp.  That's okay though because his age group is 3-5 anyways.

 We went to Mt Olympus waterpark the first day in the Dells and they had a MASSIVE wave pool in which every 3 mins or so one giant tidal wave would crash over the crowd of people.  More than a few in our party got some bumps and scrapes from getting dragged in the wave

 Evie just watched from above.

 We also went to a smaller park the next day which was a lot more relaxing and had a much more kid friendly wave pool, but I didnt get any pics there.  I DID however, get pics at the best restaurant ever, Buffalo Phils.  We heard about this place before we went and I was determined to go.  So right before we got on the road, we stopped to eat. 

 The reason this place is so awesome is because you can sit in a certain section where a small train will deliver your food.  TO YOUR TABLE.  Elijah was amazed. I think we all were.  It was so fun.

 Elijah wore this hat for three days.

Buffalo Phils was also attached to some sort of mini arcade carnival thing, so Tony took elijah on some go karts, again, he loved it.

 

Evie road trip bath