Party!

Megan turned 2 on Friday (12-12) and it was a weekend of parties. Friday at day-care Julie threw Megan a party. We brought cupcakes for the kids. Megan wore her birthday sticker all day like a proud 2 year old would.

Our morning didn't start out wonderful. I don't think Megan wanted to be 2. She woke up screaming for an hour straight. We already had a week of being up during the night and coughing. We were an hour late for day-care and work, but she was "herself" by the time we got to Julie's.

On Sunday we had the family birthday party. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans. The Klein's weren't able to make it due to a blizzard, but Dan's parents, siblings, and my parents ventured out before everything froze to celebrate our not so little girl's birthday. Thank you all for the wonderful gifts. Here are some of the highlights. Oh, she wouldn't wear pants for her party...

Megan & Jeanine

New shoes!

Sit N Spin

Blow those candles out Megan

Good Girl!

David and his girlfriend bought us this cake, it was deli sh!

Cookies & Santa Oh My!

Mary Ann, Dan's mother, Megan & I went to Woodwinds Hospital to have cookies and pictures with Santa. Megan was really good and sat on Santa's lap. But what she had the most fun with was the play house and kitchen. She played for 2 hours! Here are a few pictures from our afternoon.

cheese!

Swim Pool

It's been a long time so there will be multiple new posts. First Megan is our little fish. My cousin, Allison, came up with her parents to watch Megan the day after Thanksgiving. Both Dan and I had to work. Thanksgiving night Megan had some time to swim with Allison at their hotel. Let's just say she didn't want to get out after an hour! She was kicking and putting her head under water. I guess it's time to start swimming lessons. For the next couple of days she told everyone "swim pool" wherever we were.

Trick or Treat or Puppy or Giraffe

I hope that in the future, we don't have a repeat of this year's Halloween. Picking a costume that is. Megan went through 4 costumes. I have a picky one on my hands. We started with a ladybug. She won't have any part of a big red thing go over her head. We moved on to a Tinkerbell with wings and the minute she put it on we heard "off" "off". Okay then. I had the idea of a black cat. Found $2 ears on a headband and a black shirt from the thrift store. I got to work on Friday and my co-worker brought me a giraffe outfit. It was SO cute! My other co-worker, Mike, said you have to tell her it's a puppy. I got home and told Megan she was going to be a puppy for Halloween just like Aja (the next door dog) and she was somewhat excited. She actually kept the costume on for more then 1 minute and didn't demand it to come off.

On Wednesday Julie had a day-care party for all of the kids. Megan wore the "puppy/giraffe" costume with the hood up for 1 hour! She was so proud of herself being able to play the games with the big kids and have her picture taken. Getting this wonderful report of her actually wearing her costume I thought we were home free for Friday night. Wrong...

It took 2 of us to get that dang costume on her. She did not want anything to do with it. We closed our windows because she was screaming so loud we didn't want anyone to think we were beating our child or something, nope, just trying to get a puppy costume on the kid. We succeeded and sent her outside with her pumpkin. Once she saw other kids dressed up too, it must have brought back wonderful memories of day-care that she loved the concept of getting candy. In fact to take her picture she had to be eating chocolate. She even decided to hang out with Aja (the dog) and hand out some candy. I guess she wanted to be with her kind.

Here are a few pictures from Halloween 2008.

Don't I look happy?

Eating chocolate

Megan & Mommy

Megan & Aja

Megan & Monkey Aubrey (neighbor's grandaughter)

Last picture of the night, take me home...

Cheese;-)

Leafs...

Megan has been our little helper the past couple of weeks. She likes to take the rake and help. A couple weekends ago, Dan was fishing at Lake of the Woods so Megan and I were home. While she was outside, I decided I should do some much needed yard work. I got the rake out and made a pile of leafs behind her swing. Here is her having fun in the pile I made.




Once she saw that the "grandneighbors" were also doing yard work, she wanted to help them. She spent over an hour helping them pick up leafs and stuff in their flower garden.




Other then that there hasn't been much happening at our house. I had a weekend away scrap booking with 18 women up in North Branch. I finished our wedding album and got an 8x8 book done of our home project. Dan was able to get away for a few days fishing with his dad and Bill.

Megan is learning so much and keeps us on our toes. She now knows what Cuda says "meow meow" and Aja (doggy) says "woof woof". She is obsessed with Sammy at day-care and the fact that Sam rides the bus. We hear all the time "Sammy bus". She also loves to look at the pictures on the day-care monthly newsletter of all of her friends. She will sit on the floor and tell her doll who each of her friends are. It just kills us with laughter.

Megan Appleseed...

At daycare yesterday the kids were learning about Johnny Appleseed. Every night I go through Megan's bag for notes from Julie and lately Megan has been doing "projects" with the big kids. Here is what I found in her bag last night...

Two Harbors

This past weekend we went camping one last time for the season. The Stouts, their families, and us went up to Two Harbors for the weekend. We enjoyed seeing Split Rock Lighthouse, Gooseberry Falls, and eating at Betty's Pies. If Megan wasn't a toddler she is, we would have enjoyed the lighthouse more if she hadn't thrown 2 tantrums. We would have enjoyed the falls more if I wasn't a worried mother when Megan decided she wanted to walk through all the water. If someone hasn't stole my apple pie at Betty's I would have been satisfied. I guess life isn't what we expect/perfect. We did enjoy every bit of our weekend and can't wait to go again next year.

We also stopped in Duluth at the aquarium. Don't waste your money. It's not very big and is very expensive. Megan really didn't enjoy it.

Here are a few pictures of our weekend. Dan & Megan waiting at Betty's (cheese!)
Megan & SpencerSplit Rock Lighthouse

Sandy & Baby Ella

Gooseberry Falls

She just loves water!

I'm back...

I'm finally posting again. This summer has been so busy that I haven't taken the time to download any pictures. We have enjoyed our summer with Megan learning so many new words. We can finally sort of understand her "requests". She has grown an inch or so because as of this week she can now reach the nobs on the pantry door and open them up. She loves her graham crackers and to roll out the drawers. I was sneaky yesterday and found an extra child lock for the handle. She was NOT happy to find it on there.

Dan is done with his fishing on Thursday nights with Rocky. I think he really enjoyed himself this summer. He continues to ask to get a "bigger, better" boat, but I continue to tell him his hasn't seen water in a month, what's the point. I just don't understand the toy obsession. The man has a problem. j.k.

I am busy at work, glad the client meeting is over. My July was jam packed with activity outside our house. Now it time to get life back on track with house cleaning and organizing. I do have a scrap book weekend planned for the first weekend in October with the girls I work with. Super excited about that. Also, Dan & I are going away for a weekend the end of September to Brainard.

Okay, my next few posts will have pictures I promise. Thought I would catch you up on stuff first.

Swim Time

Megan is our water girl. She LOVES water. Doesn't matter if it's a pool or a puddle in the driveway. She has also discovered the love for sprinklers. It doesn't even have to be in our yard! Diane has a wonderful round green fountain sprinkler that Megan loves to drink out of. Daycare has also commented on Megan's love for water. They have a water table and she loves to splash. Here are a few pictures of Megan's water time.

Megan's new pool from cousin Allison

The water is SO COLD! It didn't stop her.

First time in a pool with Daddy.

Swimming in Lake Centerville

The discovery of the sprinkler...

Summer Parades

This summer Megan got to attend her first parades. Yes I said parades. I think in one weekend we went to 3 parades! The first was the White Bear Lake parade. We met up with the "grandneighbors" Rocky & Diane. Rocky wanted Megan to be parked next to him for all the candy opportunities. Let's just say he didn't need her help, we both came home with "bags" of candy. Dan's parents also joined us in for the festivities. Megan managed to get freezy pop all over "Bapa" and sucker over grandma. This also started the fad of freezy pops, which Megan refers to as "Ba's". Not sure where that word came from.

Megan, Rocky, Diane - before the parade

Diane & Megan with their beads!

Goofy Grandneighbor!

We also attended the Baldwin "June Bug" Days parade with Grandma Sue and Papa. Megan says Papa for Grandpa Jerry and Bapa for Grandpa Mike. What a smart girl! She did really good sitting on laps and being passed around. She can run fast so we were careful not to put her down. It was also during nap time.

Grandma Sue & Megan

Zooooooooooooooo

On one of the hottest weekends in August we decided to take Megan to the MN Zoo. We went to the Como Zoo last year but she had no desire to even look at the animals. This time she was so excited to see all of the animals. She even told everyone around her what the dolphins were doing, in her own language;-) She loved it so much we decided to become members. Now to find a weekend we can go again. Here are a couple pictures of the zoo.

Megan sitting on the turtle sculpture.

Don't we look happy...

Waterfall in Discovery Bay she loved to watch.

Prairie Dog

Happy 105th Anniversary Harley-Davidson!

About a year ago we decided to take a trip to Milwaukee for the Harley 105th. Dan's parents, Mike & Mary Ann, decided they wanted to go and asked us to join them. Dan, Mike, & I attended the Harley 100th and camped. This time we were in a hotel downtown. We left on Thursday August 28. Their neighbors, Deb & Frank also joined us along with their friends Pete & Dennis. I was in charge of hauling all of our coolers and stuff while the rest of them rode their bikes.

Our group...Frank, Deb, Jess, Dan, Mary Ann, Pete, & Mike

Dan & I outside of our hotel.

Thursday evening we decided to attempt going to the Hog Party at Miller Park. Yes I said Hog Party. I have to say there were WAY too many people there. Miller Park is a huge place to hold a party, but it wasn't big enough for the crowd that attended. People waited in line for 1.5 hours for beer/food! We were fortunate enough to get $6 roasted almonds and only waited a half hour. Needless to say we left that party early.

Friday brought on a ride to Hals Harley Dealership and Milwaukee Harley Davidson. Both were full of vendors and more crowds. I couldn't believe the people! Besides being crowded it was 90 degrees out. We ended the day at the Summerfest grounds for food and more party time.

Saturday we rode up to the plant where they put the engines together. We had done this tour 5 years ago and actually got to see the production, but being it was Saturday they just let us walk through and get a feel for how it all happens. After that tour, we continued on to a "brewery" tour at Miller. We had also done this 5 years ago, but decided it was worth going to again. Everyone loves free beer! I like free pop;-) We ended the day at Summerfest and met up with my friend and past co-worker Chris and her husband, Tony. I wanted to see Daughtry, but was only able to hear him from a distance. Like I said before, the crowds were huge!

Picture of the group riding from our bike.

Miller Brewery

Dan, Jess, Chris, Tony

Sunday was a day from you know what! We decided to take the long way home up Hwy 45 up to Hwy 29. It took us 2 hours to go 88 miles. We ended up driving through small towns and a detour through the whole town of Oshkosh. It took us 13 hours to get home! You will see by the pictures that we broke down not once, but twice! Both Deb & Pete have the exact same bikes that broke. Our first stop on the side of the road was about 15 miles outside of Wausa on Hwy 29. Our second was Pete's bike after dinner in Chippewa Falls, WI at Burger King. We finally made it home at midnight.

Deb's bike being loaded on the flat bed.

Pete trying to pop the clutch.

We are Wild Hogs...we will prevail...not...