Updating

A 5 month break from blogging? Inexcusable I suppose. I'll blame it on spending all of ButterBean's nap-times reading the Game of Thrones series and summer time. Here are a few highlights of the last couple of months!
Summer is flying by! We are lucky enough to live within walking distance of 3 parks, so we've spent a lot of time there. The most time consuming part of playing at the park is continually emptying ButterBean's shoes/sandals since he can't abide having any sand in them and will sit on the ground yelling "Shoes off!" until his little piggies are free of sand!

Going down the "side"

Whoahhh! 

As every summer should, ours has had a good dose of WATER! Water in all forms: sprinklers, pools, lakes, and rivers!

The slide doesn't work so well, but he loves it

We indulged his Lighting McQueen obsession with a Cars kiddie pool 

Rocked to sleep on the boat

Romance on the St. Croix River?

Roomies on the St. Croix

A highlight of the summer was my best bud and college roommate came to MN with her family. ButterBean enjoyed a day in Stillwater playing with her three beautiful daughters. Obviously, a marriage contract is being drafted for her middle daughter and BB :)

More on the water topic - my parents bought a lake cabin, so we've had extra water fun including boating and our newest hobby, paddle boarding. 

What a helper!

And last but not least, there is an addition to the family! Tubby!! My sister Lil T, has a sweet, calm, adorable new dog. He's a perfect fit!

The Tubster!

2nd Birthday: Sesame Street

Somehow ButterBean is 2 years old! He is growing up so fast and each day more of his personality emerges. He is one of the funniest people I know!
His love of all things Elmo/Abby/Sesame Street prompted the theme for his 2nd birthday party: Sesame Street! I had so much fun planning this party!

Decorations were easy because it seems that every party store has a section dedicated to Sesame Street. Any bold primary colors work for this party! I picked up some plates, napkins, balloons, and table cloth at Party City. Michaels provided some cute little cardboard cutouts in the scrapbooking section. We had the party at Gatsby's work since our house would not accomodate the amount of people we expected to come. 

The food was the most fun to make. I made the same turkey sandwiches that I made for his first birthday (big success both times). We also had Abby Magic Fairy wands -- fruit on bamboo skewers

Burt & Ernie veggie sticks with Ranch dressing

Big Bird popcorn puffs (ButterBean gags on  the hulls of popcorn, so we had to get the puffy kind)

Goldfish crackers in honor of Elmo's goldfish, Dorothy. I considered getting ButterBean a real goldfish for his birthday, but I decided I didn't want to take care of one!

Elmo and Big Bird crackers and Sesame Street juice boxes were picked up at Babies R Us on a diaper run, but you can find those lots of places. 

For dessert we had Cookie Monster Cookies and Elmo cupcakes. 

The kids played Oscar's Trash Toss, which was just throwing crumpled news paper into my tiny compost bucket that looks like a mini trash can. Running up and down the hallway was another favorite!

 ButterBean got more presents that we know what to do with! It's time for a toy purge in this house!

I had a great time with this party and most importantly, I think ButterBean did too!

After the party ButterBean insisted I put a tie on him!

party favors!!

End of Minnesota Summer Fun

Summer has come and gone again! It seems like as soon as the MN Fair is over, BAM! fall comes swooping in. I love the crisp fall air, being able to bake without steaming up the house, wearing hoodies, and so many other wonderful things about fall! BUT this cooler air also means that winter is on it's way. Bleegghhh! Here is a last look as some of the wonderful things of this summer. Good bye summertime!

Fun in the water

boating is exhausting!

 Garden Fresh Sun Ripened Tomatoes

Hours of Sliding in the Back Yard

We were given this monster pink & purple play set from a friend whose daughter has outgrown it. He loves it, but our house now looks like twin girls live here rather than a boy!

Trip to the Sculpture Garden

always running...

Hey look at me! I'm about to make a run for it!!

Ice Cream

The Como Zoo

Farmer at the Fair

This was a few weeks ago, but we went to the Minnesota State Fair! This year ButterBean could actually participate more in the fair experience. We had perfect weather! Some of his favorite things were listening to a Marimba band, looking at dogs in the pet area, and chowing down on some grub. Neither he nor Gatsby joined me in trying "lamb fries" aka: lamb testicles! Not bad, I must say. 
We had a fun time at the miniature pretend farm where kids get a bucket, "plant" corn in the dirt, move hay with their tractors, pick pretend apples, gather eggs etc... 

My little farmer

Mini donuts were a new treat for the ButterBean. Yum!!

Another successful State Fair!