On the market...

So, we have some big news in our household right now. Not only are we 36 weeks pregnant, but we decided to make the transition of trying to sell our home. With us both having jobs in the cities, we are realizing the 10 hours in the car/week that we spend just might kill us eventually and with two-soon-to-be children, we don't want to miss that much time with them either! So, we within the last week, talked with our realtor and have been scrambling to put our house together in decent enough order for our house to be put on the market. It's bittersweet for us as we have thoroughly enjoyed our Red Wing home and have enjoyed starting our family here. We will keep you posted. We do have our first showing this weekend and that is exciting and terrifying all at the same time! :)

Cousins...

...who really love each other and love to spend time together! :) Such a sweet picture, don't you think!?

Updates

So, we've been a bit behind, but here are some recent updates from our past couple of weeks.

The kitty wampus (aka Legolas) snuggling in Alex's arms

The apron I made for Elsie - it has "ee ee's" on it (monkeys) and she loves to help in the kitchen, so we thought she needed an apron! :)

These are some favorite pictures from our weekend watching Jaxon and Kylie! Elsie and Jaxon would run up the stairs and then slide down on their bellies and their PJs made them go fast! Elsie would cruise down and by the time they did it about 20+ times, they were tired (imagine that!). They'd slide down on their bellies and then "tackle" Alex. It was a great thing to do before bedtime! :) We do have some video, but we haven't been able to get it off our video camera yet.

This is the aftermath when they just needed some rest, but they were also super giggly!

Bathtime!

Like before from our phone pictures, Jaxon and Elsie were wearing their "helmets"

Auntie Alli made Elsie a backpack and Elsie loves to carry her "ee ee" in it! We've been meaning to post some pictures and thank Alli for the great work she did! So, thank you Alli - she loves her backpack!

We are working on an alphabet book with Elsie and she is making a page or two a day with us - it's been really fun and we are loving watching her creativity. She enjoys the glitter which she calls, "sparkly," and the pipe-cleaners and drawing all over them. The only thing we help with is getting the letter on it - so this was the "D" page of her alphabet book.

And one last one today: she's hilarious and makes us laugh all the time. She has been asking for pepper lately so here she is putting pepper on her mac & cheese for lunch. She sees us put pepper on our food and wants to be a big girl, so we gotta help her out with that :) As you can tell, she is VERY serious about her pepper! We do have to watch what she wants to put pepper on because she asked to put some on her grapes the other day and for some reason didn't eat them after she tried one! Funny girl.

Picking her own clothes.

Elsie saw her swimsuit in her closet and decided it must go on! Had
to compromise a bit to make sure she was warm (being over her
clothes!) but she is so excited and keeps looking at her suit saying
"Elsie has a swimming suit on!" She's too cute for words.

Weekend spent with cousins, Jaxon and Kylie!

Bria and Greg took a weekend away in Las Vegas with family to surprise Bria's mom for her birthday and we watched the kiddos while they were gone. Jaxon and Elsie had so much fun together and LOVE being together, so it was a good time! :) The kids had colds and runny noses, so by the end of the weekend we all did, but it was still a good time. All three kids slept through the night each night (which we were very thankful for having three kids under three for three nights!) and they played well together and got along really well. We were happy to be there with them and are glad that Bria and Greg were able to get away! These are some pictures from our phones and we'll get pictures from our camera up this weekend as well as a video of Elsie and Jaxon climbing the stairs and sliding down them on their bellies - it was hilarious and wore them out! :)

Swinging and playing at the playground pretty much right in their backyard.

Jaxon can be a picky eater, but we were proud to get him to eat some broccoli :), calling them "Dinosaur trees" (thanks to a Parents magazine suggestion!). He ate the "leaves" pretty much one by one, but did get some greens in his system! :) And, we had a picture to prove it to his parents! :)

Bathtime is way more fun with 3 in the tub! And, the hairdos were too much of a temptation not to do! :)

Jaxon and Elsie with their "helmets"

Cute Kylie at the playground

Elsie and Jaxon swinging

Elsie and Jaxon playing with playdough - a favorite pasttime of the weekend!

Elsie is really into babies and rocking them - she also sings lullabies to them, which she was doing here!

The little batman (the cape being very important!) putting together some puzzles

Elsie trying out Jaxon's drum! She's a natural after watching her cousin do it!

Attacking Uncle Alex - super fun!

Elsie the animal lover

We can't say our little girl doesn't love her stuffed animals!

So many to love! :)

She's growing up right before our eyes. She has her stuffed animals interact - they talk to each other and give each other kisses and Elsie is now starting to "rock" her babies and animals and singing to them her lullabies - it's the cutest thing ever. We got video yesterday and will try to get that up soon. Her favorites to sing are "twinkle twinkle," "rock a bye baby," and "row, row, row your boat." We are so in love with this little girl!! :)

Happy Halloween!

How we spent our Halloween! Alex ran in the Mpls Monster Dash Half Marathon early this morning, running around Lakes Harriet and Calhoun while Elsie and I bundled up and cheered him on! Annie and Andy also joined us with their pup Georgie and brought hot cocoa, which was a nice treat! :)

Before the race - it was about 35 degrees, if that! We were chilly, but especially the runner before working up a sweat! Alex did great and beat the time he wanted. Elsie on the way home kept saying, "Daddy running so fast!" - she's adorable, what can we say?!

Our little Halloween kitty

Downtown Red Wing had an event where kids/parents could walk around to the shops and get candy. We didn't know about it soon enough but hit some of the stores before closing time. Just enough to get Elsie out and saying "Trick or Treat" without us having to go out in the dark. :)

A cute close up - didn't have to paint the pink nose - the coolness in the air did it for us!

Here our kitty was at Hallstrom's florist where they gave out popcorn - her favorite of the night!

Went to see Grandma and Papa at the winery. Elsie enjoyed some cookies and chocolate from her grandparents.

With Papa

Bert & Ernie at the Children's Theater

Elsie and Jaxon were lucky kiddos yesterday when Mimi and Granddad took them both to the Children's Theater in Mpls for a special toddler show about Bert & Ernie. They LOVED spending time together (both asked for each other all the way there - since we drove separately) and Mimi and Granddad report that both of them were super-stars while in the theater for the 1.5 hour play! Elsie has been talking about Jaxon and her little Bert & Ernie figurines since she got home. It was a fun day! Mommy also had some good sister time with Abby while they were at the play, so that was a fun day for mommy too! :)

Walking in with Granddad

Aren't they adorable?!

Playing with their Bert & Ernie figurines

With Mimi

Making buttons with Granddad

Thanks to Mimi and Granddad for all the fun! :) Elsie is already excited for the next one in the spring!