Ice Cream Lover

Although it has yet to be the warm summer that calls for regular ice cream treats here in Minnesota, that hasn't stopped Sevi from discovering the multitude of flavors and styles that cold treats can come in.

The Boys Love Their Wheels

I think we have now counted that Soren has about 5 bikes he rotates through. It only seemed fair then that we catch Sevi up and get him his own set of wheels. He loves his new Gio bike and it is a family affair to help push him along. The boys then took to the streets to race last week in the Nature Valley Grand Prix kiddie race in St. Paul. Soren dashed off, leaving Randy and Sevi to catch up via Papa Power.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Day to you dear Randy! You will have to ask Randy how his day was, but I bet he will say it was a good one. It started with a 3 hour bike ride, then a gift of these awesome special ordered Minnesota State with a bike theme fabric shirts for all the boys. (Any state can be ordered via Round Bottom Baby.) He actually got to read the Sunday paper quietly - ON A SUNDAY! (The paper usually gets slowly riffled through during the week, ending in the recycling bin to make room for the next Sunday paper.) Then we had a family biking excursion along Minnehaha Creek to Lake Harriet to take in some Samba music at the bandstand while dining on a picnic and chasing the boys around. The day ended over at his best friends house for a beer and pizza on the grill. You deserve a day like this Randy - Thank You for being the amazing Papa you are!

Arrgh, Matey

Soren just wrapped up his first camp for the summer. He took the Art Pirate Camp at Urban Arts Academy and had a wonderful time, declaring he wanted to spend the whole summer there. Each day they worked on art projects that had a pirate theme (treasure maps and chests) or added to their own pirate costume. They ended with a small party, topping off with pirate booty as the snack.


Pirate Storytime. Soren is in back row with red headband.


Playing balloon swords with fellow campers.


Part of the final costume: sword, hook, headband with beads, eyepatch, & compass necklace.

Good-bye Dodge, until next fall......

The preschool year has now wrapped up for us. Dodge Nature Preschool was the perfect fit for Soren and we couldn't be happier with our choice. The year ended with a big Rock The Barn festival, a preschool campout and an ice cream social. Soren is sad to say good-bye to his classroom friends, but excited for his return in the Fall. Below are some images documenting his last few days.


Soren at the front entrance statue on the first day of school.


Soren with Annie (his carpool buddy) the last week of school.


Soren with his best classroom girlfriends, Willa and Annie.


Working in the classroom herb garden.


One of Soren's favorite classroom activities, magnifying nature based objects.


Soren and Sevi setting up camp at the preschool campout.


Soren with Willa - are they adorable or what?!?!?!


Playing in the pond, morning after the campout.


Playing chase on the farm road.


Tarek, Soren and Jake working on the outdoor art project. The bright colored fuzz is wool they collected from the sheep and hand dyed in class.


Soren and Jake riding the bikes.


Jake, Soren, Tristan and Graham climbing trees.


Aden, Tarek, Soren and Annie at the ice cream social.

2011 Inaugural Cottage Canoe Trip

Funny Faces

The Wind Huffed, and Puffed, And Blew That Tree Down

It has been a hectic 36 hours since the tornado decided to swing through Minneapolis. It first dropped down not far from Gramma Anne's, causing major winds that knocked down tree's like toothpicks. Luckily no one in that area got hurt, though a big tree crashed into the roof of Gramma's house. Her neighborhood luckily is intact, but our hearts go out to those in North Minneapolis who lost roofs and much more. Soren has been pretty shaken up over it all. Seeing a tree on a roof and more strewn across streets and yards leaves a strong visual impact for a little one. Sevi on the other hand has just been happy picking up sticks and throwing them into piles. Gramma is perhaps the most shaken up, but we have been happy to help and bring the needed smiles and stress release laughter that only little grandson's can bring.

Sevi's First Haircut

The time had come to get the hair out of Sevi's eyes and bring him in for his first haircut. Soren also went in, since he hadn't had a haircut since the last super short butcher job done last October. We went to a neighborhood shop that I was really pleased with and will certainly return to. Now the two boys can see clearly without brushing hair out of their eyes. Don't they look handsome!

The Things They Say #3

The Scene: Sevi digging through the dirty laundry basket, finding his mama's bra, then marching around the house with it.
Soren yelling out to all: "Sevi has mommies boobies"

Dare I Say...... Spring is Here

Soren and his block buddies Nick, Max & Amanda playing with the stomp rocket.


Max's little sister Amanda has had a major crush on Sevi since he was born and as you can see, it still holds strong.

For the Love of Nature Based Learning

Soren adding sticks to the forts they are making on the school grounds.

I will let yesterday's e-mail from Soren's teacher speak for itself to why we love Dodge Nature Preschool.

Today we were able to spend the whole day outside! We did some exploring in the fields. We were finding various items, some of which we placed in a bag to recycle back at the school! We found some tires on the ground close to the farm that were great to try to walk on. We were interested in checking out our community garden. We are looking forward to planting in the garden this year. Our class will be focusing on potatoes and wheat at the community garden! Some children have already begun the planting process with lettuce, herbs, and sunflowers in our classroom!

We decided that since we were having apples for snack that we should enjoy our snack under the apple trees near the garden. Our snack was apples and crackers. After snack we continued back to the school and found a large puddle to explore with some sticks on our way.

We look forward to continuing to explore the spring setting around us!

Hippity Hoppity Easter Events

This was our first year to dye eggs for Easter and Soren really enjoyed the whole process, from the coloring to the eating.


Sevi's first egg hunt, he even found the eggs buried in the sand.


Soren counting out his eggs.


Cracking open the eggs and gathering his loot.


Proof to why dentists hate gummy chews and how they stick to teeth.


A rare family portrait......

Tower of Flowers

This is the second year that we went to the Macy's flower show with the Grandma's. This years theme was Tower of Flowers and it was a beautiful show. It was a nice taste of what Spring may be like, though with tonight's snow forecast, it already feels like a distant memory. With Randy now working downtown, he was even able to meet us for lunch. Add the light rail train ride and it all made for a wonderful day of adventure.


The professional photo in front of the flower show logo.


Soren assisting Sevi to look at the camera and smile pretty.