More pics from the 4th!

Family fun on the 4th!


Josh and Stephanie Hall with Mags and Nick (Josh was in our wedding 5 years ago!)


Ma and Pa Young and the Harris Crew.


Nick and his Granddaddy with Liam.


4 generations.

Fantastic Fourth in Farmers Branch!

Here are some pics from our visit to Dallas!

Kate, hand on heart, during the National Anthem.


Mom and her patriotic tots.


Cowgirl Kate!



Auntie Ava, Kate and Nick.

Out in San Antonio

Nick and I met up with his sister, Madelyn, and her boyfriend Joe for some beers and darts! Followed by a loooong walk (read: we were lost) along the RiverWalk! Such fun!

Theta-licious

The Kappa Alpha Theta Grand Convention was an incredible experience! I met so many terrific people and the "six degrees of separation" that I encountered was eerie! More like one or two degrees! I sat by a woman from Pensacola who was high school best friends with one of my Theta sisters at Butler. I met another woman who was college roomates with a Theta friend of mine from my days as an advisor at Yale. Even after the convention, as I was visiting Ava at her job in Farmers Branch, TX, I met a woman whose daughter had been at the convention with me! Theta is a small and wonderful world! I feel so lucky to have been a part of the legislative process for the future of the organization! It was a blast, too! While I don't have a lot of pics, here are some. Someone else has all the pics of the late night post-meeting festivities at the nearby bar called "Steers and Beers" where many a karaoke performance ensued! :) ha ha

Here is a pic of all Gamma Thetas (Butler University Thetas). I did not go to school with any of them, but one is a recent grad and one is the current president. It was a riot to hear all about the goings ons and Butler and to hear that things had hardly changed! :) The other woman I am standing with is Hilary Stout and she is a former Kappa Alpha Theta Foundation president. Such nice women.


Leah (the Saint Paul delegate) and I having Margaritas after the awards dinner!


Here I am with two of my fave Thetas - Liz Hanselman went to Harvard and is former President of the Boston Alumnae Chapter of Theta (Ahhhh, Boston!) and Kory is the former president of the St. Paul Alumnae Chapter - representations of two of my worlds! So much fun!


This is me with Elizabeth Larson, the president of the Upsilon Chapter at the University of Minnesota where I am Recruitment Advisor. Elizabeth is holding an award that her chapter received at the Awards Banquet. I am particularly proud of the award because it is an award for most improved chapter in recruitment and membership selection for the past two years.....and I just happen to have been recruitment advisor there for the past two years, with Kory for one of them. So I am really proud of their accomplishments!

Take me out to the ballgame

We went with our friend, Ryan, to a Twins game! Ryan braved a ballgame with a preschooler and an infant! :) It was so great to visit with him! Kate had her first bit of Cotton Candy! :) Here are some pics.

Texas Times

We are home! Yay! It has been a wonderful whirlwind of weeks. We had all sorts of visitors - Ava was here, then the entire McKenny/Morris crew, as well as my dear friend Ryan Warren. Then the kids and I flew to San Antonio where I was the Minneapolis delegate for the Kappa Alpha Theta Grand Convention. It was "Theta-licious" and absolutely so much fun. I met some GREAT women and had an amazing time. Mom had traveled with me to keep an eye on the kids while I was at the convention. They had a lot of fun exploring San Antonio together - we stayed right on the RiverWalk which is just beautiful! We also all got to see the Alamo on my afternoon off and spend some time with a dear friend of mine, Kory Ellefsen (another marvelous Theta)! :)

Nick joined us in S.A. over the weekend and then his sister Madelyn and her boyfriend Joe drove over from Houston and we spent Sat. night and Sunday together! It was wonderful to see them and Kate and Liam loved them so much. Then Nick, Kate, Liam and I flew to Dallas Sunday night. We spent the 4th of July staying at Ava's great condo that she bought! Kate was in HEAVEN because not only was there a beautiful Coi Pond where she got to help feed the fish, but there was also a PUPPY! Actually a very large and very sweet Boxer named Diesel and he and Kate became fast friends. She is still talking about him! We had a great time at the Farmers Branch fireworks show with Ava and Nick's Granddaddy who drove over from Louisiana to see us! The kids loved the fireworks and Kate danced up a storm with other kids that were there while the band played prior to the fireworks display. On the 4th we visited with Nick's Mom at her lovely new condo. It is so cute and has a great patio and a very "English" common area where all the nice neighbors were having a BBQ and swimming. Kate got in the pool with Nick and our friends the Youngs who popped over for a bit. We also got to see our friends Josh and Stephanie Hall! Josh was in our wedding and we have not seen him in ages, though have kept in good touch over phone and email. They are the sweetest most loving couple and it was a joy to spend time with them. What a terrific trip! Though, admittedly, it is lovely to be home sweet home! The kids are glad to be back in their own beds I think! Liam had been getting up in the middle of the night while we were gone, but as soon as he was back in his own bed he slept through the night again. Kate, too! It was so nice to see so many friends and family! Wish it was easier than an airplane ride to get to them! :)

I could post all kinds of stereotypical stories about kids on airplanes and traveling with Kate's Dora the Explorer backpack etc., but I think instead I will just say that, honestly, it was a great trip overall and I will let the pictures do the talking as I post a whole bunch soon! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend!!!!

More pics from the past week

As I described below, we have had a busy and fun week! Here are some more pics!

We had such a wonderful time with Auntie Ava! :) From a daytrip to Stillwater, MN to snuggles with Liam and an evening out with some wine and martinis for the grown ups we had a wonderful time!







Here are some pics of our little Dallas fan. The outfit was a gift for Kate from Auntie Ava. As I type this, there are 30 seconds left in Game Six and the Mavs are down by 3 points for the championship. Ava is actually AT the game in Dallas!!!! Maybe by posting pics of the littlest fan they can pull off a win despite the worst officiating in NBA history. Oh well....we're still Mavs fan no matter what happens!

Wonderful Weekend

What a terrific - and eventful - weekend we had! First of all, many lovely relatives descended upon Saint Paul for a joint baptism ceremony for Liam and Mia (my sister's daughter, and Nick's and my GodDaughter!). It was so great to celebrate the day jointly! Nick's sister, Ava, flew in from Dallas to be Liam's Godmother and is was SO wonderful to see her! My Grandma flew in from Chicago and we had a lovely time. Family dinners and outings around the Twin Cities kept us happily busy and it all ended much too soon. Here are a selection of pics from the week past - though I will have to post baptism pics later as they are on my Mom's and brother's cameras (I was busy participating in the ceremony! :)

Kate at her first dance recital - so coy!


Kate loves to dance!


Our beautiful God Daughter, Amelia Rose Morris.


Adorable Mia's cutie pie big brother Jackson!

Flying Quesadillas

Thursday was ROUGH. Why is it that just when you think you have it all together, things completely go the opposite way? Is that sort of an offshoot of "Murphy's Law"? Wednesday I must admit I was feeling pretty darn great about my Mommy Multi-tasking skills. I did tons of laundry, organized the basement, straightened up the house, had a great day with the kids as far as good behavior and charming little anecdotes go AND I went to the gym and worked out. All this while Nick is away at a business conference. I rocked mommyhood Wednesday. I don't mean to brag. But perhaps I should have been more cautious in giving myself even silent kudos.....because the Parenthood Pixies got me back.

Woke up Thursday to Liam being so full of green snot that he could not even drink a bottle comfortably. Now he has been battling a cold for a while, but I am not a 'call the doctor, quick' kind of mom so I have been suctioning, running a cool mist humidifier - everything the books (and now the doctor) said to do. Well obviously it did not work. Poor guy was miserable. So I called and made an appointment to bring him in. Then Kate woke up - the first words out of her mouth, in a deep and muffled voice were 'Bobby, I hab to bwow by node'. More green stuff. Whoopeeee! Called the doc and got her in at the same time as Liam.

Long story short - kids are fine. Just a cold. No antibiotics, keep doing what you are doing. Blah blah blah. But it does not make the kids any more comfortable, poor things.

Actually, as the day progressed, Kate was totally fine cold wise. Almost like it went away. Until the tantrums. It was like someone took my sweet daughter and replaced her with an evil clone. Some samples:

Me: Kate, what would you like for lunch?
Kate: Quesadillas, pwease.
Me: Oh! Such nice manners! Quesadillas it is then!
(I make the quesadilla and present to Kate.
Kate: (Wailing) NOOOOOOOOO!!!! NO QUESADILLA!!!! NOOOO!!!!
Quesadilla goes flying across room.
Kate: I want applesauce!!!!!!!!!
Long talk about not throwing food etc. etc. By the way, I am talking. Kate is wailing.
Kate: APPLESAUCE!!!!
Whole routine on how to ask for things nicely. Etc. Etc. Then I cave and get the applesauce. Present kate with applesauce.
Kate: (Wailing Again) NOOOOO!!! NO APPLESAUCE! I WANT A QUESADILLLLLAAAAAAAAA".
Quesadilla and applesauce are placed firmly aside while Kate is removed for a time out.
Sniffle. Snarfle. Snot.
Kate then devours her quesadilla AND applesauce.

This kind of thing happened all day. Forgetting her manners and being downright demanding and bratty on top of things. Totally ignoring any instructions from me whether it be 'please pick up your toys' or 'no you may not bury Liam in stuffed animals while he plays on his floor mat...they are not loving him, they are hurting him when there are 15 of them'. It all
came to a head at bedtime with Liam crying and needing his nose cleaned while Kate totally flipped out and refused to:
A. put on her pajamas - she ran around half naked screaming
B. wash her hands and face before bed - she flung foamy soap bubbles across the bathroom while doing that gutteral, oh-my-gosh are they breathing cry
C. crawl into bed - she did that alternating stiff as a board, limp as a noodle routine that little kids are so awesome at.

I felt so helpless!!!! I am sure I was a sight to see. Trying to strike a balance between firm discipline at this total craziness and also knowing that she was tired and sick and she was not knowing how to handle it all. Also trying not to scream my own head off. The hysterics began afresh when, on her "good girl chart (which we do every day) she got a big "X' instead of a "good girl sticker".

It all ended with Kate falling limply into my arms, exhausted by not feeling well and from her dramatics. Sobbing that heaving, trying-to-catch-one's-breath-end-of-a-tantrum Cry. Arms viced around my neck and soaking wet tear stained face buried in my neck. Sobbing 'Mom-(inhale)-my-(inhale)-please-(inhale)-sing-(inhale)-me-(inhale)-a-(inhale)-bedtime-(inhale)-sooooong.

One verse of her favorite bedtime tune and she was out cold. Bless her little heart. Then it was off to Liam who mercifully cooperated with his bedtime and even gave me some smiles and giggles. It is the teary hugs and the baby smiles that ALMOST makes me forget about flying quesadillas and soap and ear-piercing protests. :) They are more than worth every bump on this road.

In the words of Scarlett O'Hara - "Tomorrow is another day".

Magnificent Minnesota

This weekend has been picture perfect! Not to sound trite in talking about the weather, but it has been glorious. Not a cloud in the brilliant blue sky, temps in the 80s but with a nice breeze. Everything is green and blooming and spectacularly beautiful! Minnesota is so lovely. We really took advantage of the beautiful weather and had one of the most fun weekends ever!

On Saturday, I told Nick that he needed to be ready to go at 9am, but I would not tell him what we were doing. Arranged in advance, Patrick and Tara showed up at 9am to babysit the kids for us. Isn't that so great of them?! Nick and I left and I drove him to our "surprise date day". We went to the amusement park ValleyFair and spent the day on thrill rides, playing mini-golf and racing go-karts. It was so fun! The thing is, one of Nick's and my first trips when we were dating was to Williamsburg, VA where we had one of our best dates ever at Busch Gardens amusement park. Considering Nick and I had not spent a day alone together in soooooo long, I thought I would try to capture some of that fun at the park here! We had such a great time! Nick has called me a closet adreneline junkie and we could not get enough of the thrills. One thing that we did that was amazing was we went for a tandem ride on the skycoaster! This was insanely fun. We got strapped into harnesses side by side and then a winch pulled us backwards up 18 STORIES into the air! Then Nick pulled the ripcord and we free fell down until the harness caught and we swung back and forth in the air in a huge arc. It was SO FUN! Having done that now, I would totally bungee jump! It was a great day.

Special thanks to Pak and Tara for watching the kids. They took Kate and Liam to the zoo while we were out and I hear they all had a terrific time! Pak is going to send me some cute pics. We ended the day by taking Pak, Tara and the kids and going out for Mexican food. Finishing off the day with good food, friends, and a margarita was the perfect end to a great day!

In the meantime, here are some pics from TODAY'S fun event! I took the kids to the Grand Ol' Days parade today. Grand Ol' Days is a terrific annual one-day festival in our neighborhood. Grand Ave. is a great street with all kinds of shops, restaurants etc. and it is about 25 blocks long. The whole street is open to pedestrians and there are bands and food and people everywhere. So fun. I popped the kids in the stroller and we walked the 6 blocks and watched the Grand Ol' Days parade! Kate loved it. There were horses and marching bands and beauty queens, old cars, clowns, firetrucks and all kinds of neat things! Liam slept through the whole thing! :) Nick had to work, so he missed it, but he can come next year! :)

We had a Grand Weekend! Hope yours was enjoyable as well!

Heavy Metal

Liam is such a funny little guy. Maybe I have a future rock-n-roller on my hands, here. Whenever we are in the car and Liam starts to fuss, I have the magic solution. His "off button'. He loves hard rock! I just turn on the radio to the local rock station, 93X, and he INSTANTLY quiets down. Whether it is Metallica (his fave, I think) or Nirvana or Black Stone Cherry he is completely soothed. If I put it on the pop station he flips out even more. Not a fan of Ashlee Simpson and Ashley Parker Angel, apparently! :) He is ok with classical. Forget Country. The only sure thing is rock. Maybe it is because Nick and I attended a few concerts when Liam was still in utero?

Anyway, as a result, I have a newly discovered appreciation for heavy metal - both artistically and as a sanity saver! :) I had forgotten how good of a song "One' by Metallica was and how much I love old school NIrvana and Pearl Jam. And BOY does Liam love Soundgarden and STP. Takes me back. He is so funny! Thankfully, Kate does not mind it either. I think she would rather listen to Rob Zombie than Liam screaming. I wonder if electric guitar lessons and a laundry basket full of dark colored band t-shirts are somewhere in our future? :) tee hee

Holiday Weekend

What a great day we had! Our friends the Tierneys, who are fellow transplants (they moved here from Houston, so they have the "Texas" thing in common with Nick) had a wonderful party today and we were lucky enough to attend! Nick just knew he was going to have a great time when we pulled up and the Texas and US flags were proudly waving in a warm breeze under a beautiful blue sky! We all enjoyed meeting some of the Tierney Clan's friends, family, and co-workers. Katie Tierney put on quite a party - even more impressive given the fact that she just had a baby TWO WEEKS ago! The food was phenom - with brisket, BBQ, and Tres Leche cake and Nick's fave - Pecan Pie. My post-partum diet was on hiatus today by the way.

It really was a lovely afternoon with great people. Best of all was Kate, though. She went absolutely NUTS in the Tierney yard. They had a pool set up and all the kids were playing in the pool, the yard and on the swingset. She was in heaven. She played so sweetly with all the kids and was totally unafraid of the water. A huge difference from this time last year. Scroll down in our blog to see pics and story of Kate-the-Terrified last swim season! :) She played non-stop for three hours. It was HOT here in Minnesota today with temps well into the 90s. My little translucent child was slathered in sunscreen. Five minutes in the sun without it and she turns pink.

She is now completely crashed upstairs, of course. Liam had a great time too. He was such a good baby - just as happy as can be. So Nick and I are seriously stuffed on some down home grub and the kids are truly tuckered out. What a nice day. Here are some pics!




Kate in the new suit she chose at the store! She loved the pool!




Not afraid of splashing at all!




Sleepy in the car after a long day of fun and sun.




Sweet Liam

Hoops

Liam likes to watch the NBA playoffs with his Dad and me. Yesterday he watched it with a totally enthralled expression on his face. So cute. Of course we are rooting for the Mavericks. We'll see what happens, but regardless, Nick is thrilled to have a basketball buddy.

In our future.....songwriting royalty checks????

Kate made up a song today that just froze me with love. Maybe it's not a grammy winner, but she came up with it ALL on her own. Well, the words anyway...she stole the melody! :)

As we were driving in the car today, Kate decided to entertain herself, and me, with some impromptu made up tunes. My fave, though, was when to the tune of "Where is Thumbkin" she sang:
"Mommy and Daddy, Mommy and Daddy.
Kate and Liam. Kate and Liam.
Weee are a famwee. Weee are a famwee.
Fam-i-wee. Fam-i-wee."

Call Clive Davis. Call Simon Cowell. Get me Tommy Motolla on the phone. It's catchy, it's heartwarming - what more could you want in a song? :)

And the girl can sing, too.....

:)

More Pics of the Kiddos 2

Pics of the kiddos

Here are a bunch of pics from the past couple of weeks. Liam is terrific! He is sleeping through the night, bless his baby heart! He goes down for his long stretch of sleep between 10 and 11 and sleeps until somewhere between 5:30-8am!!!! It is wonderful! (KNOCK ON WOOD!) He is such a smiley, happy guy - and huge. At 10 weeks he is weighing in at over 14 pounds. He is such a charmer, though....when I drop them at the child care room at the gym the ladies fight over who gets to snuggle him! :)

Kate is fab. The pics here are of her "helping to cook". This was at breakfast time on a weekend - hence the PJs and Apron! She insists on wearing the apron whenever she "cooks". It involves a slew of tupperware containers, some form of dried good that she can pour and sort (for instance pasta....here it is cheerios) and a number of spices that she "shakes". Oh! And I cannot forget the selection of spoons that has to be present! She looooves to "cook".

Kate Celebrating

This weekend we attended the wedding of a dear family friend. Kate had an absolute BLAST! She danced the night away. Here she is toasting with an empty coffee cup and being the life of the party at the dinner table.

“Come with me and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination”

How true the above words are when it comes to having kids! We get a peek into this whole world that they see and it makes me remember what it was like to be a child and truly be able to come up with the most vivid scenarios in my mind and go there with complete ease. It was so fun! I see Kate’s imagination at work most often when she does not realize I am around/watching/listening. Yesterday was a perfect example. She was playing upstairs, going from her playroom to her room etc. I could hear her talking to her dolls and animals, coming up with different funny voices to make them talk and sing. At one point, I heard her saying in a very insistent and somewhat urgent voice “Don’t worry, bear. Don’t worry! I’m coming to rescue you!” I crept upstairs and peeked around her door into her room. Kate was on her bed, leaning over the guard rail on her bed, stretching out the handle of a toy broom towards her stuffed bear (creatively named “Bear”), who was sitting on top of a chest under the window. She was yelling “grab it! Grab the bwoom! I am going to rescue you. Don’t worry, you won’t fall in the river! Grab it!” (I later learned that the chasm between the bed and the chest was actually a swirling river and Bear could not swim). I just stood there watching my little girl play and it was all I could do not to laugh and disturb her or go in and grab her up and squeeeeeeeze her in a big hug. I did both later after her little drama played out – bear safely on the bed, Kate hugging him and telling him “Good job, bear. It’s awight now!”

On top of her increasing imaginary play, Kate exhibits shades of me as a child in her love of books. Some people know that I was the epitome of bookworm as a child. I read so much – at the dinner table, in moving vehicles, instead of chores – that I got into trouble from reading. I would stash a flashlight in my bed so I could continue reading the tales of Laura Ingalls Wilder well after “lights out”, with multiple warnings by Mom and Dad to “close the book and get to bed”. One of my favorite xmas gifts ever was one of those "itty bitty booklights" that you can clip onto a book so you can read in the dark! I was supposed to just use it on airplanes etc. but BOLDY disobeyed! What a rebel! I even caused my parents a lot of financial damage from my reading! This is in reference to the time I was reading WHILE I was walking to school and I was so engrossed that I actually walked into a utility pole and knocked out my front teeth. To this day I sport partially fake front teeth. I cannot believe I am telling that story, actually – it has taken me Twenty Years to get over the embarrassment and be able to laugh about it – so laugh away! In short, I was a huge booknerd, earning the nickname “Nibs” which stood for “Nose In Books”….I still have books from childhood with the “To Nibs” inscription written in there.

I DIGRESS. Kate is Nibs2. Last night we put her to bed and heard her ‘reading’ out loud for HOURS. I think it was over two hours. She stayed in bed, and was just narrating all kinds of imaginary adventures out loud while we heard pages turning over the baby monitor. This went on and on and, for now, I did not have the heart to interrupt. I know what it is like to NEED that flashlight so I could continue the latest tale. So we let her go on, listening to the songs and voices and giggles with full hearts. When it was time for my own “lights out”, I went and checked on the then quiet Kate. There she was in her footed jammies, lying sideways on her bed surrounded by books, lights blazing, totally crashed clutching Bear. What a long day of animal rescues and raging rivers, princesses and unicorns.

Dad with his kids!

Smiling Children

Sleepy Liam

Liam post-bottle on his Dad's lap, with some help from the boppy pillow!