The Perfect Pit Stop

For the last 2 years we've been fortunate enough to make a stop on our way to ND in Moorhead at our good friends' house, the Nesheims. Dr. Paul Nesheim was one of our choir directors while at Concordia (he currently is the director of choral activities at MN State University Moorhead). He and his wife Martha have stayed in touch with us over the years and we so enjoy reconnecting with them. Also, we've experienced the joy of Paul & Martha expanding their family when they had 2 children in 2 years - Lute (Luther) & Linnea!The Nesheim's home is such a nice stop for us because we can relax and take our time before hitting the road again. Martha served a lovely lunch and there was plenty of catching up with the adults. Plus, this year was especially fun because Eleanor was able to keep up with the "big kids!" Here is a fun shot of the kids practicing their piano skills!

Eleanor trying out one of the many toys. Thanks to Lute & Linnea for sharing your toys!

Eleanor was really ready for a nap, which she promptly took once we got back in the van!

Family portrait: Martha, Paul, Linnea & Lute


Thanks again, Paul & Marth!

We're back...

Hello all! We got back from our trip to ND last night at 8 o'clock. We had a wonderful time and I, of course, have lots of pictures to post. But, now I'm back at work and can't do it! Damn all those work responsibilities (a paycheck? health benefits? who needs them!). How do they expect me to get all my blogging done?!

Stay tuned...I'll try to get some pictures posted tonight. You might be seeing ND pictures for the next week or so!!

North Dakota, here we come!

A beautiful ND sunset in my parent's front yard.

We're taking our first family vacation of the summer and heading west to the great state of North Dakota to visit my folks. I suppose most people wouldn't get too excited about heading to ND (flat, boring?) but we just love it out there. First of all, it's a great way for us to totally relax and get away from work and other responsibilities (and I'm mostly speaking about Michael here!). I think it's really great for him to be completely away. As most of you know, he doesn't really stop thinking about work much because work is also his passion and life-long hobby.

Anyway, we love traveling out to ND because my parent's house in on 5 acres of land just outside of town. It's very peaceful and quiet out there. Michael and Dad go golfing almost every day and Mom and I bum around with Eleanor. We don't have any real plans...and that's OK!

Our first stop will be St. Cloud where we'll bunk for the night at Mari Lee's. A 9 hour car trip is a little daunting with an almost-two-year-old! Thanks to ML for hosting us. She's also taking care of Dolly for us as traveling with an almost-two-year-old and small dog is also not always fun! :)

I may not have an opportunity to blog while we're in ND as my parent's internet service is iffy at best. So, you'll all have to be patient! I'm sure I'll have many pictures to post when we return next week.

Our Sunday Best...

Our only real "event" this weekend was to go to church! We didn't have any other plans and it actually felt really good because those kinds of event-free weekends are pretty rare for us. Michael conducted the Summer Choir at church which he's doing twice this summer. It's meant for anyone and particulary those church members who may not want (or can't) committ to a whole church choir season. We sang 2 anthems at both services and it was nice to see people because admittedly our church attendance has been lacking this summer!

I took these shots of Eleanor outside of church and desperately wanted her to just look at the camera..but, alas, the only time she did was to make the funny face you see above! Her outfit is cute though as it's covered in cherries and there are even little cherries along the bottom of the red shorts. I don't put her in these kinds of outfits very often (on a day to day basis) because she tends to get dirty playing and especially at daycare. Anyway, the other thing I wanted to mention in this blog is that she was such a good little girl at church. She sat in her own chair during the church choir rehearsal for a good 20 minutes (eating Cheerios, of course) listening to the choir and getting a kick out of seeing Michael conducting. She also occasionally started singing herself! She then let me put her in the nursery for the first service and didn't cry - which is rare because for some reason she doesn't usually like that nursery. She then sat through most of the first part of the second service (20 minutes again) while we sang the 2 anthems. She was a very good little girl! Praise the Lord! :)

Bathing Baby Beauties

Eleanor got to enjoy the water again this weekend when we were invited to Karen & David Danielson's house to enjoy their lovely backyard & pool. Bill & Amy and their kids, and Jon & Siri and their kids were also there...so, as Amy put it, it was a Choral Nerd Pool Party! The Danielson's were fabulous hosts and served us grilled burgers & hot dogs with all the fixin's later in the afternoon. Plus, they had margharitas for the desperate housewives (in which I was the only one to partake in because I'm the only one not lactating at the moment!

I really only got pictures of the adorable babies in their swim gear - too cute!! This is Lucy (6 1/2 months). She's Jon & Siri's youngest.

Here is Eleanor with Lukey (Bill & Amy's youngest). He's 9 months old.

Here is the mother hen attending to her chicks!

Karen, since I know you'll read this - THANKS AGAIN!!

Wedding preparation

Michael and I had such a fun day yesterday singing at a wedding with our good friends, Bill & Amy and Jon & Siri. We sang three pieces at the wedding and they went really well, and the congregation and wedding party were very complimentary. The wedding was lovely and was for our other good friend Mary's daughter. The "kids" who were getting married were 22 (the same age as me when I was married) and we felt really old! :)

Before the wedding Eleanor wanted to "help" us do our warm-ups. I also shot a bit of video to capture this moment. Too funny!

A special thanks to Grandma Mari Lee for helping us with Eleanor 2 weekends in a row!

Boo!

I shot this cute video the other day of Eleanor "scaring" Michael. She likes to say "boo!" We act like we get really scared by it and she thinks that's pretty funny!

22 Months

Eleanor is 22 months old today! We've noticed that her vocabulary is increasing daily and she seems to communicate very well by just one word requests or comments.
I often find her in her room after having made quite a mess! She likes to pull out all things that are any way related to taking care of babies, i.e. diapers! I'll also find her trying to put diapers or pajamas on herself - shoes are a favorite too.

This is how we most often find her in her room - reading. She loves this book that we refer to as "the baby book." It's an Eloise Wilkin collection and there are quite a few stories about babies and the illustrations are very real looking. It's very old fashioned though as many of the images are 50's style - the man going to work and the mom at home with the apron by the stove!! I don't think she'll be seeing too many of those images in real life!

Here's a video of her "reading."

We can't believe that her 2nd birthday will soon be here!! It's a precious time in Eleanor's development and we're really enjoying watching our "sponge!" :)

Water Bug

After this weekend I think we can safely say that we have a child that loves the water! She was somewhat tentative at the Hansen's pool on the 4th, but after Grandma took her to the Kiddie pool at Silver Lake she's definitely gotten more comfortable with the water. She's got 4 bathing suits & 2 cover-ups (all hand-me-downs) and I think we're going to put those to good use this summer!
Not quite ready to get her face wet...

You can bring small toys to the Kiddie pool...of course, other kids' toys are much more fun to play with then your own!

Eleanor got up on the side of the pool like a little Queen!

One of us looks much cuter in her swim gear than the other! ;)

Daddy got right in there again at the Kiddie pool and got Eleanor more hands-on in the water. Check out the video below!

On a side note: Michael and I were able to have a nice get-away this weekend. Grandma Mari Lee was nice enough to come down (on somewhat short notice!) to let us get up to the Cities to take in dinner and a show at the Chanhassen. We saw 42nd Street and it was fabulous! We also went to Valley Fair on Sunday and got to ride each roller coaster about 2 times before we pooped out. We realized quickly that we're not 16 anymore!!

Happy 4th!

"Red, White, & Pooh!"

This is the quote on Eleanor's cute little festive dress that she was wearing today! I think it could become a national saying... (Thanks to Grandma Anderson for purchasing this dress at mucho clearance last summer - how could she have predicted that Pooh would be one of Eleanor's favorite characters?) :)

We were fortunate enough to be invited over to our good friend's place (Alan & Jolene Hansen) to swim in their pool and take in their annual family 4th activities. It was very nice of them to think of us and they have an absolutely gorgeous backyard, which they've recently re-landscaped.

Eleanor had great fun in the pool especially since she felt safe & secure in the little floaty device we got for her.

Swimming with Daddy was really fun - for both Eleanor & Daddy!

Neither of these final pictures are the best ever - but I wanted the world to see her complete outfits! We hope everyone had a safe and fun-filled 4th!