Minnesota Children's Museum

A couple of weeks ago we went to St. Paul to the Minnesota Children's Museum. It's always a great place to visit! This picture is of Eleanor & Michael looking at an X-ray in the pretend doctor's office.

They have this cute area that looks like a town that has a bus, a restaurant, post office, etc. Miriam was grocery shopping!

This picture is from the area that has a nature theme. There is a real ant farm that kids can climb through and thunderstorms going across the ceiling (along with many other things).

These pictures were also in that nature area. There was a water element and so they have hand dryers & aprons for the kids. Miriam loved those hand dryers!

They always have a special exhibit area and a couple of years ago it was Clifford. This time it was a Lego/castle exhibit. Eleanor wasn't as excited about this one as she was with Clifford, but it was pretty amazing. They had a lot of really cool things (castles, dragons, etc.) made out of Legos. We had such a fun morning at the museum and hope to return soon!

Miriam - our 2 year old

I took these pictures of Miriam right around her 2 year birthday (April 29th), but am just posting them now. I've been wanting to do an update on her and I figure I better do that before she's 2 1/2! It's been harder to get to the computer these days when the weather is nice and we want to be outside more. I love the above picture of her with the light shining in from outside.

While Miriam definitely seems to be experiencing the "terrible twos" more than I remember Eleanor doing, she's gotten a lot better. She had a real hard period (very cranky & lots of tantrums) between 15 months and 2 years. She's been talking more and more and I think that helps. She's finally starting to use 2 & 3 word phrases and seems to be able to express herself better. She's a lot fiestier than Eleanor ever was, but I think that just comes with being the 2nd born child. When she's happy (like in the above picture) she's very happy and fun. She's our little entertainer and already has a sense of humor.

One of her favorite things to say is "I did it!" She also likes to blame things on her sister or the dog. For instance, if she has a scratch on her leg we'll say "how did that happen?" And she'll reply, "Eleanor did it." It's just too funny. Eleanor is at her grandma's house until next Wednesday and Miriam is still managing to blame things on her! Another cute thing she just did this weekend was to fake a burp, cover her mouth, and then say "excuse me." She was so tickled by this because we laughed at her. She likes to make us laugh - and she's good at it! Speaking of saying excuse me & manners, this girl is good at them. She often says please, thank you, & sorry without being prompted. I'm impressed with that at only 26 months old.

She didn't used to have much patience for reading, but now enjoys it more. She loves any story about a Disney princess and loves the movies too. How does that happen so early? I know that Eleanor didn't even see a Disney princess until she was about 2 1/2, but having an older sister makes a huge difference. She loves Cinderella, Rapunzel (from Tangled), Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. She also loves to play with her baby dolls - that is usually what she gravitates to in the toy room.

She also (thankfully!) enjoys music. She loves to put on a tutu and dance to some Glee music (along with her sister, of course). She sings a cute version of the ABCs and you can almost make out each letter that she's singing.


One of the cutest things that Miriam does is "remind" us all to pray before our meals. Once everyone is seated she puts her hands together and says "Amen." That is our reminder to say our prayer. She can't really say much of the prayer, but always says an enthusiastic "Amen" at the end! Too cute! She's a joy and even though she has her frustrated moments, she's our little sunshine. We love you, Miriam!

Rainbow School 2010-2011

Eleanor had her last day of preschool last week. Her teachers put together a fantastic little video of the kids (the song the video was put to was Somewhere Over The Rainbow...sniff, sniff!!) with pictures taken throughout the year. They also interviewed each child and asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up. Eleanor said that she wanted to be a teacher! Go figure...

All of the following pictures were taken by her teacher, Ms. Cat. She gave each parent a CD with pictures she had taken throughout the year of their child. Ours had 67 pictures on it! Including some pictures of the room so that Eleanor can remember what her classroom looked like. What a special gift for the parents! The picture above was taken by Ms. Cat as a Mother's Day present from the kids.

Gym time!

Field trip last fall at the Northwoods Apple Orchard.

Another field trip from last fall - a trip to the Fire Station.

Eleanor with one of her favorite things about Rainbow School - Miss Kristin & Mr. Guitar!

Pajama day!

Playing in the "creative play" area of the classroom.

This is my favorite picture that Ms. Cat took. Don't argue with Eleanor about whether Dandelions are weeds - in her book they are definitely flowers!

Eleanor had a fantastic first year of preschool. She absolutely loves school & her teachers told us that she was definitely a leader in her class. She's already sounding out words & loves to write words. So, we wouldn't be surprised if she's reading before Kindergarten, but we'll see. We're not going to push it too much. She'll be attending Rainbow School again next year Mon/Wed/Fri mornings. No Kindergarten yet for us! I'm fine with that...she's growing up too fast anyway.

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...