Miriam's 2nd Birthday party

We celebrated Miriam's 2nd birthday on May 14, 2011. It was the same weekend as Michael's final Choral Arts concert of the year and so it makes for kind of a hectic weekend, but also makes sense since a lot of our family would be here for the concert anyway. As you can see it was an Elmo/Sesame Street theme. I often hear, "Mommy, Elmo" from Miriam, which translates to please put Elmo on the TV. I don't know what it is about Elmo, but toddlers love him!

In attendance at the party were Michael's Dad & Stepmom Pat & Mary, Matt & Melissa, Grandma Mari Lee, Grandma Karma & Bahnka, Auntie Susie, & Jodi. Jordan and Natalie were also planning on coming and had even booked a hotel room, but Seth got sick and so they couldn't make it. :(

Miriam, Elmo, and the soon-to-be-Mrs. Dettmann.

Miriam and Auntie/Godmother Melissa

Grandma Mari Lee & Grandma Karma

This year, with it being Miriam's 2nd birthday, she was definitely more interested in the presents. And, she spotted them right away and had to check them all out. Her party was at 3 in the afternoon and so she was taking a nap when guests started to arrive. We put all the presents in the corner by the TV and it was pretty much the first thing she noticed when she got downstairs after her nap.

Eleanor giving Miriam a hug and Miriam getting her first Barbie doll (her gift from Eleanor).

Eleanor & Auntie Susie

Proud big sister!!

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you...."

Just like her sister, Miriam loves cake!


It was a great weekend and we were so pleased that so many of you could come to Miriam's party! I'll have an update soon on what Miriam is like at age 2. Let's just say that she keeps us on our toes!! WE LOVE YOU MIRIAM!!

Sniff...Sniff...

I'm in mourning...

Mim's boo boo

We had quite an adventurous day last Saturday - just one day after Miriam's 2nd birthday. We were going to celebrate as a family, but instead ended up in the ER. At about 8:45 Saturday morning I had to go upstairs to help Eleanor in the bathroom and Miriam followed me up the stairs. I didn't see what happened, but I heard a fall of some sort and then the crying wherein you instantly know that something horrible has happened. She had made it almost to the top of the steps when she must have tripped going up and her bottom teeth went into her top lip. There was blood everywhere. Michael had just left for work and I grabbed her and put a washcloth to her mouth and then ran down and called Michael. I was pretty sure we needed to go to the ER because there was a pretty significant chunk of skin hanging from her lip. It was all on the inside of the top lip...so, cosmetically she was fine. To make a long story short (sort of!) we were in the ER for 5 hours and she needed to be seen by a facial trama surgeon and be sedated to repair the lip. It required 4 stitches.

I took these pictures right when she came home from the ER. Eleanor and Michael didn't have to be at the ER the whole time, so he actually took her to work with him (she loved watching the Annie auditions!). Eleanor wanted to get Mim a balloon, so they ran to HyVee to pick one out.

The lip has healed nicely and she handled the whole thing extremely well. She was a dream in the ER and almost got shy. We were there for 5 hours and she didn't have a thing to eat or drink because they knew that they would have to sedate her - thank God for the TV & Elmo DVDs they had! All the doctors and nurses were great too. Although, we're not excited to get that ER bill! Oh well...we're just so glad it wasn't any worse. There was a car accident involving a child while we were there (hence such a delay in our care) and it does make you truly thankful that your kids are happy & healthy. Let's pray that it stays that way!

Easter Baskets

The Easter bunny was so generous this year. :) The girls each got a DVD, a book, a summer outfit, Easter Little People, sidewalk chalk, and, of course, candy!

Eleanor got the Tangled DVD/Blu Ray & matching book and the Rapunzel Barbie doll. Miriam got a Max & Ruby DVD & book. The Easter bunny also found cute little t-shirts & matching shorts (on clearance!) at Target. Boy, that Easter bunny has great taste & likes to shop on a budget!

Miriam didn't quite get the whole Easter basket thing, but she was still excited mostly because Eleanor was so excited.

Eleanor had been asking me for weeks when Tangled would be coming out on DVD. She was so excited to get her Tangled-themed Easter basket. And, I must say, we LOVE the movie Tangled. It's the best Disney movie to come out in years. The scene with the floating lanterns (I won't give away too much in case there are people who haven't seen it yet) makes me almost cry every time. We've watched it (or parts of it) several times already.

This wraps up our Easter pictures for 2011. Happy Spring, everyone! Let's hope that summer is coming soon...

Egg Salad anyone??

The Saturday before Easter we dyed one dozen eggs. Miriam was napping and so that made things easier. We don't do anything too fancy - Eleanor just likes to see the different colors. Plus, I love having hard-boiled eggs around and brought egg salad sandwiches to work that next week. YUM!

Happy Birthday, Miriam!

April 29, 2011

April 29, 2009

We love you, Miriam Grace! You've completed our family in ways we couldn't have imagined. We love watching you grow and can't wait to see how your life will unfold. Happy 2nd Birthday!

Easter 2011

Alleluia! He is Risen!

We hope all our friends & family had a wonderful Easter weekend, we certainly did! This was the best picture of the two girls from Easter Sunday. It's really hard to get a picture of the two of them these days - especially Miriam. Every time she sees the camera she looks down & refuses to smile. Sunday was the most lovely day we've had in two weeks (sunny & in the 50s) - a true Easter miracle!

Grandma Mari Lee came last Friday to join us for the Easter weekend. We made a nice Easter ham dinner on Saturday night and that left us free on Sunday morning to not really have to prepare anything. After spending most of the weekend with us, Mari Lee went to Matt's church on Sunday morning & spent the rest of the day with Matt and Melissa. Gotta spread the love, right?

We left for church at about 8:45 to get a parking spot & seats in the sanctuary for the 9:30 service. Right as we got to church Grandma called to say that the Easter Bunny had just been through our yard and left several eggs! Can you believe we just missed him? Here are the girls finding their eggs after church. Some of them even had money in them! :)

We had a terrific Easter weekend & hope you did too. Traditional egg dying & easter basket pictures coming up!

Story Time

There Was An Old Woman from Brynn Culloton on Vimeo.

March showers bring April flowers?

The temps are warming up...and....off they go!

Unfortunately, there is still quite a bit of snow on the ground, but the temps are getting better here in SE MN. Yesterday was a perfect day to get the rainboots & spring coats out and go for a walk. Eleanor spotted a robin on our fence yesterday (and had to tell everyone at Rainbow School during "circle time!") and a ladybug in the house. Two definite signs of spring!

Both of their knit hats were made by Auntie Janis!

Splash, splash, splash!!!

We ended up being outside for about an hour. It's amazing to see what they will find to entertain themselves. A couple of puddles & some sticks will do. :)

Let's hope & pray that spring has finally arrived. We really don't want to put these rainboots away again!