Wisconsin Trip, Again

Last weekend we found ourselves in Wisconsin again.  It's been a rough year to be a Schwedler- we had two deaths in a months time- Dave's Grandma and then his Uncle Mike. This last weekend was Uncle Mikes Memorial Service. So we had to cancel our plans to go to River Song Music Festival, The 3M family picnic (which is really a 3M fair with rides and a beer cart all for free practically) and the spud harvest at our local CSA.  But we had a wonderful long weekend with family and a little vacation time which I needed.

James holding Train James- his birthday present from Eli

I love watching the cousins play- a slow Saturday morning hanging out with family on the motel's deck

I missed the picture where all three boys had their little hands in the same hole

The memorial service was on Saturday and it was not the typical funeral. It was more of a celebration of life!

Younger Boys Dancing

Eli imitating the older cousins

Big Boys Dancing

Lots of time outside to try and beat the heat- the VFW didn't have AC and with that many people inside it was toasty.

And sledding down the big hill with cardboard boxes

And cousins took turns watching the little boys. 

Everyone at the bar at the end of the night wearing our "Honest Mike Sells Beer" t-shirts.  They were shirts from Uncle Mike's bar in Algoma that were recreated for the memorial 

15 Months and 3 Years

Eli is 15 months old.  He's at such a fun stage right now.  He babbles all the time and I have no idea what he's saying, but it sounds like he's have a conversation.  And when he sees a ball all you hear is, "BALL, BALL, BALL, BALL!" And when he wants something he usually grabs with his hand and yells, "MOMMA, MOMMA, MOMMA!"  Really I think the second child is much louder than the first in order to be heard.  He's so super strong, he can actually pull himself up onto a chair or the couch from the floor.  I love how when he runs he uses his hands as rudders behind himself. He loves the water and everything about his big brother "Ada".

I took him in for his fifteen month check up and he's doing great.  He weighs 20 pounds 4 ounces- 16th percentile, he's 29.75 inches long - 9th percentile and his head is 19 inches- 87th percentile.


I completely forgot the Adam turned 3 a month ago which meant I should have taken him in for a check up.  So when daycare handed me a form that needed signature from Adam's doctor I finally got around to getting him to the doctor.  His stats were 30 pounds - 28th percentile and 36.75 inches tall- 27th percentile.  His BMI was in the 42nd percentile. Adam's doctor asked him a bunch of questions, what's your name, how old are you, show me how you draw a circle and then she asked him are you a little boy or a little girl.  Adam responded, "I'm a BIG boy!" Needless to say he's hitting all of the three year old milestones plus.

Today on the way home from daycare Adam asked me where "grandpa Cereal (Cyril)" was.  I told him he was at home because he's feeling better and Adam said, "Yay, I'm really happy!"  Too cute.

Family Conversation

On the way home from the cabin Adam started asking about our favorite Seasome Street character. Dave likes Snufalufagus. Then he asked me; after some thought I decided I like Big Bird best. Adam being 3 asked me why. I said because he's yellow. Adam stated that Zoe's yellow too. But I pointed out that he's also big. And Adam said Zoe's little. Then we all decided that Eli's favorite is Cookie Monster, because he likes to growl. Ahh what fun family conversation while we travel in our van can be.  I love our family.

Cabin

My Grandparents own a cabin in the Iron Range of Northern Minnesota.  It's a rustic little cabin with no running water, an out house and only a sauna to get cleaned up in. I still remember when my grandpa put in electricity. I spent a lot of time there in the summers of my youth.  So I was really excited to bring the boys back there for swimming, fishing and spending time in the woods last weekend.

The heat snuck up on us fast and we ended up in our swimming suits in the lake early in the morning. Both boys had lots of fun swimming. After lunch we went into Hibbing to visit my grandparents. Everyone napped in the car during the short 45 minute drive to Hibbing.

The boys also enjoyed my uncles bird- Blue.

My uncle was trying to get Adam to put his finger out for Blue.  This picture was taken seconds before Eli decided he was sick of waiting and reached with both hands to grab Blue. Blue flew away before Eli could grab him and didn't venture far from his cage the rest of the weekend.

Dino Snacks

Last Saturday I just wanted to have some good old family fun. So I decided to take the boys into the cities to the Minnesota Zoo.  We were trying to get there bright and early, but that never happens.  We met up with my parents and brother and watched the shark feeding and then went to get lunch and then to see the dinosaurs. 

Adam's favorite dinosaur- the one with wings:

 Eli liked the one he could crawl around the best of course.

Adam had so much fun that we had to walk through the exhibit a second time.  Animatronic dinosaurs = awesome Saturday fun!

Constructing Adam's Third Birthday Party

I came up with the idea of a construction themed birthday party for Adam a long time ago. Adam loves construction equipment, playing in the sandbox with his tucks and reading all of his construction books, so it just seemed like the perfect Birthday theme. Just like Eli's Little Man party- I used pinterest as my inspiration for the party. This time I designed my own invite in Photo Shop Elements (thanks to my inlaws for that awesome gift). And then I had them printed at a local print shop on card stock.

The "A" marked the spot for the party. I put hazard tape everywhere- even the juice boxes and water bottles had hazard tape.

I knew I wanted to make something special for the kids at the party. I made them each a tool belt with their name on it and they got a hard hat or PPE (Party Protection Equipment). As they left the party they got to pick up tools to put in their belt- stickers, tool cookies and construction equipment cookie cutters.

 "Dig In" to our food table. We had no shortage of construction colored snacks- goldfish, cheddar popcorn, munchies mix, hummus, reeses pieces and tool cookies.  There was also the standard summer fruit salad and veggie platter.

The cake was fun to make. Adam picked out funfetti cake mix and I frosted it with chocolate. I didn't have enough time to finish the cake- it was still under construction (haha).

For dinner I went the super easy route of ordering pizza from Jake's. Adam's party was on a Friday night so I didn't have a ton of time to prepare food and decorate with my half day of vacation I took from work.  I covered all the tables with orange vinyl and hazard tape (all stuff from 3M).

I bought Adam a special hand made three shirt from a little boutique shop in town and we all wore something to go with the construction theme. I wore hazard strips, Dave construction orange and Eli an "I dig dirt" shirt.

Cute Adam story- Denise was trying to decide if she wanted to wear the dress above. I said I thought it was cute and then Adam walked into the room and unprompted said, "Nice dress grandma". Needless to say she wore the dress to the party. 

We even had a construction soundtrack to go with our party.  Three of our neighbors were getting their roofs  done and so the noise of hammering was in the air. The boys had to be up on the deck to peak and see the action a couple roofs away.

And then the boys had to hammer and fix stuff too. Below is Adam and his friend Nathaniel "fixing" the boat.

It was a great party and I hope everyone had as much fun at the party as I had planning it. Next party is going to be another baby shower for a Hutch friend. And then Eli's Godmother and my Cousin Maggie's wedding shower! 

Happy 4th of July

Who allows the 4th of July to be on a Wednesday- I'm blaming you leap year! So we have this awkward work two days have a day off and then work two days more. We could take the whole week like most of my coworkers or Thursday-Friday like everyone who didn't take the whole week off. Or we could hang around home and enjoy the scorching heat. We chose the last option which meant we were around today for the best 4th of July Parade I've ever seen (note-I'm not sure I've ever seen a 4th of July parade- but even if I had today's would take the cake).

Even Little Brother got to watch the parade and share my icecream inside in the AC when it was over.