Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Fun Kids


Kate on the monkey bars!



She loved the monkey bars!



Kate and Liam and their magnadoodle workbooks. Best buddies.



Liam picking up a little light reading.



Kate and Liam goofing off.

The kids are so much fun! They really get along so well and love each other and are buddies. I love it! They were really cute this past weekend. Kate got to go to her first ever real movie at the Theatre when Nick took her to see "Ratatouille". They went to the movie, lunch, and then the bookshop. When Kate returned and I asked her what she did she said "I went on a date with Daddy! We went to see a movie called "Rats Could Cook". Both of the kids have just grown so much this summer! Kate has legs a mile long and she is so tall and skinny. Liam barrells along, and has become quite the "class clown"....one of his favorite things to do is walk around all off balance, stumbling and teetering while saying "Whoooaaa, whoooaaaa" then he purposefully trips and falls down while yelling out "WHHHOOOOAAAAAAA". Then he flattens himself on the ground and slowly lifts his head up with a HUGE grin on his face, waiting for the audience reaction to his slapstick comedy. Where does he get this stuff?

Monday, July 23, 2007

Love 'em!

Here are just a few pics of the kiddos from this week. They are just the best.



Saturday, July 21, 2007

In Sickness and in Health.....

So, 6 years ago today, Nick and I pledged to love one another through thick and thin! Most would interpret this as one of the "thin" times, but I disagree. As you may know, I had to have surgery this week - a hysterectomy to finally resolve a myriad of health issues going all the way back to my pregnancy with Liam that did not respond to other treatments. I won't go into too much detail because, when it comes to the uterus, that falls firmly in the category of "Too Much Information" for most. In short: it was the absolute best medical option, I am totally fine with it, and am a-ok with the fact that "the uterus was done at age 31" (and that I am able to make a little rhyme out of the situation). :) The surgery went fine and I was in the hospital for a few days. I have an amusing tale involving anesthesia and my resulting filter-free speech, but will save that for another entry.

I am now home and, thankfully, my Mom is here to help out with the kids as my abilities are somewhat restricted for a while. According to the docs, I am not allowed to drive anwhere or lift anything over 10lbs for several weeks. Yeah. Well, Liam weighs over 30 lbs. and sleeps in a crib so figure that one out! :) Also, for the time being, I am admittedly getting by with tabs of Percocet and cannot quite stand up straight yet thanks to incisions, so YAY for Kate McKenny coming to save the day! All will be well, though, and I am feeling better every day and life will soon return to normal I am sure. And if I ever feel blue, I just have to remind myself that I have lost 7 pounds in one week, so at least I am looking more svelte in my loungewear! :)

But, the best part of today is this - it is our anniversary and we are truly living our vows. That, to me, is more romantic and sweet than any wrapped gift or celebratory dinner. So instead of champagne and candlelight, we will have a movie night in with lots of pillows and blankets and the high probability of me falling asleep mid-movie thanks to the pain pills. We knew this was coming - hence the trip without the kids up north and a nice dinner out last weekend - but it is nice to actually be at home on the actual anniversary, hearing the giggles of our two beautiful kids, vegging out in the living room, and knowing that we are living up to every promise we made at St. Cecelia's in Boston 6 years ago.

So who needs a darn uterus?! Organs, schmorgans!!! I have the best husband and family in the world, and what better gift is there?

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Family Time

We have had the pleasure and privilege of some terrific family time lately! From a fun dinner at the "Chatterbox" with the kids, to an early anniversary dinner celebration for Nick and I, it has been a terrific weekend. Here are some pics of some of the fun moments. Nick and I are so happy to be celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary! Yay!



Maggie and Nick on the way out to dinner to celebrate 6 years of marriage.


Kate and Nick out to dinner at the "Chatterbox"



Mags trying to get Liam to smile for the camera



Cutie Liam with his big ol' bruised forehead after running into a door. He takes after Maggie. :)



Uncle Pak and Kate giggling.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Fun 4th

I hope all had a great holiday! We really had a great time with the family....a great BBQ with the kids running around playing and lots of laughs. It does not get dark here until around 10pm, with fireworks not starting until after that, so we passed on keeping the kids up super late this year. Mom was awesome enough to decide to pass on the fireworks herself and stayed to watch the kids so that Erin, Nick, Dad and I could go over to Pak's insanely cool loft in dowtown Minneapolis. We had some adult beverages and then went up to his very chic roof deck to watch the fireworks. SO COOL! Here are a few pics of the day.



Kate with some major frosting face - enjoying a 4th of July themed cupcake.



Pic of the Minneapolis skyline from Pak's roofdeck. What a view we enjoyed!



Erin and Me. A cool camera trick.




My super handsome husband.



Mags and Nick on Pak's roofdeck.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Hostess with the Mostest

Happy 4th of July!!!!!!!! Today we are having a BBQ here at the Harris Homestead. All the McKennys will be here, as well as Nick Morris' family! It will be a regular Americana family gathering complete with Beer, Brats, Burgers and more. So fun. Kate is very excited to have everyone over. She decided to "Decowate" the playroom. She buzzed around arranging things to her liking and enthusiastically asked me to "wook at my decowating, Mommy!". Stunning, I tell you. The ski hat hanging from a doorknob, the sand shovel balancing on top of her dollhouse roof, the line of ponies balanced on the stairwell railing.....all meticulously placed by the decorator extraordinaiire, Kate. Then she said to me......."What do you think, Mom? Isn't it GOH-GEOUS? Doesn't it wook just FAB-LEE-OUS?!!!"

Where does she get this stuff?! ;)

Shorn

Well, we finally did it! We got Liam's hair cut! As you may have noted from previous posts, he was sporting long-ish locks, looking very surfer dude-like in all it's curly wispyness. Nick and I loved it. However, all of a sudden one day we noticed that he must have literally had some crazy overnight growth spurt because the carefree curly cuteness had alarmingly become a cross between a hockey mullet and a kid from the Partridge Family. Off to the barber we sped. Accompanied by my handsome, clean cut, and preppy father and brother, and noting the heat of the summer, I realized that it was time for Liam to have a serious big boy, and short, hair cut. What was the point in trimming it to keep his curly locks going right now? It would just get tangled, matted and sweaty in the summer heat - plus at the rate he is growing it would need to be cut again in two weeks. So the clippers came out! He is INSANELY CUTE with his new do and it makes him look like SUCH a big boy. I cannot even handle the cuteness. I look at him and just want to cuddle him to bits.




Family

The entire McKenny Crew is in town this week. Hence, the cousins are having a blast hanging out together and playing. Here are some pics of a great day in our backyard. The kids went nuts on the swingset, crawling through the play tunnel and dancing around in the bubbles from our terrific $7.99 Target purchase - a bubble machine. I highly recommend for those with kids. Literally hours of entertainment!!!!!! Anyway, enjoy!

Kate in the play tunnel.


Liam in the tunnel.




Liam receiving some tball instruction from his Dad.




Adorable Mia.



It is not manly for me say that Jack is frolicking in the bubbles, but that is what he was doing! :) Ahem. This is Jack having a blast.