happy birthday daddy!

Today is a special day in our family. What special day you ask? Why, its Andrew's Birthday. 32 years ago he made his way into this world. Collin and I are especially blessed to have him in our lives and look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with him.

So, as the day approached I began the process of figuring out what to get Drew. Maybe something fun, like a trip to the Leininkugel's brewery...or maybe something more practical, like a new tool from the Craftsman catalog, but all of my thoughts were put aside when Drew announced just what he wanted. No surprises here folks, he even went as far as to put together a 'wish list' at the website so that I new EXACTLY what to buy. What go him so excited you ask????

Well, of course, a lawn sprinkler timer and other various gadgets from sprinkler warehouse. How absolutely riveting (insert sarcasm here)! Who wouldn't get their pants in a bundle over this! Here it is, in all its amazing glory!

Really though, while I found this gift a bit on the dry side, Drew was super excited about it. It even has a little remote that he's mentioned he'd like (hint hint Santa).
While some people would think identifying just what you want for your birthday is a blessing, I was rather confounded by the situation. I love birthdays. I love getting fun gifts for friends and family and my dear husband stole all the fun right out of it, as I couldn't do much shopping since I knew what I had to get him. Eventually, I got over it, but it left me feeling like I cheated on birthday shopping.

We had a little pre-birthday incidence just yesterday as we took Collin to the fair for the first time. What a GREAT MINNESOTA GET TOGETHER! We love the fair! Especially the deep-fried deliciousness. For one day a year there is a no-holds-barred pass to eat whatever the heck you want, for me this year, it was tried and true cheese curds from the mouse trap, deep fried pickles, a little of Drew's garlic fries and a whopping bucket of Sweet Martha's cookies, washed down with lemonade, followed by milk for the cookies. Had I thought it would work I might of actually tried to get in the stroller so Drew could have pushed me home. Too bad Collin needed the seat! While we were in line for one of our treats we came across a banner that said "Happy Birthday Drew!" it was clearly for someone else, but we bogarted it for a few minutes to take a few pictures, so it at least looked like Drew had a birthday party at the state fair. Or, I mean, we er...did...have a birthday party at the state fair. To whomever Drew is (likely a 5 year old somewhere in the twin cities) thanks for sharing your birthday fun!

Every year on our birthdays we make a day of it. You get to do whatever you want, culminating with the dinner choice. Any restaurant, no questions asked. Except for this year- there were questions asked, specifically about a little tag-along we have named Collin. How well would he do in a restaurant we wondered, could we feasibly take him with us? Did we want to get a sitter just for dinner? A whole new world of choices opened up like a black hole. How on earth do people with kids do birthdays?!?

Drew decided he wanted to get a bike-ride in, sans the wife and baby, so off he went for three hours of peace, quiet and speed, followed by his very favorite food, Pizza. It was up to him, as the rules suggest, to decide on the pizza place and to determine if we were going to brave eating with Collin or get a pizza to go.Drew decided we should all go to eat at Fat Lorenzo's, rated as one of the best pizza places in the twin cities. He was STARVING by the time we were able to get a table and sit down- it was super packed, so by that point I am pretty sure he would of thought the cardboard pizza box was tasty.


After we gobbled down the delicious and sinfully bad for you artichoke dip (and thats saying a lot coming off state fair food) and part of a Fat's combo pizza we made our way home to wrap up the birthday festivities.

Our celebratory efforts didn't end with Drew's desires for the day- what kind of birthday would be complete without a cake, so while Drew was away we made an angel food cake with berry sauce and sneaked out to get Drew a little something so he actually had a surprise on his birthday, albeit small (see I really couldn't resist getting him something). Collin and I decided an ode to daddy would be nice, since Collin is still a bit small to be thinking of things on his own. We also framed up two of the photos of Collin with is dad too to.


Here's his (our) ode to daddy on his birthday:

Yippee for Daddy! You're 32!
Today is a day of celebration long overdue!

To celebrate how much you mean to us
shouldn't take a birthday date
instead, once a week we should make a fuss
to tell you why you are so great

You clean my dirty diapers,
and thats no easy task
because we use cloth instead of paper,
and sometimes they are so bad you feel like you need a mask

When I am with you you make my day
I smile and giggle when we play.
I love to see the world from your chest
to me you are the very best!

Happy birthday Daddy!
love Collin

All in all I think it turned out to be a great 32 for Drew, although he mentioned earlier in the week that he was going to stop aging at 30, so I suppose he would just be 30 again, for the 3rd time now. Whatever it is, we love him so much and can't wait to see what next year holds.

The End of Summer

Its hard to believe that summer is making its final bow. It feels like we anticipated summer all June and July and it seemed to never come. We had hoped to really enjoy a nice long summer with the new baby, but it turns out it was possibly the fastest summer we've had, without any real warm spells (save the few days in August we made the mid 90's). To wrap up the end of the season we made our way to Michigan and along the way we stopped in Milwaukee and were able to spend time not only with family in Michigan but family in Milwaukee too, putting a pleasant ending to our 'gone-in-the-wink of an eye summer'.

On August 21st Collin turned 3 months, and he seems to be hitting milestones left and right. He giggles now, is starting to manage sitting up and is getting very good at holding up his head. He's enjoying tummy time a little bit more and cries much less and seems to get bigger every day. As his little personality comes out we are enjoying getting to know him. So far we've learned that Collin is impatient when he's hungry, loves to cuddle, loves to tell stories by cooing and gurgling, really loves to play with his baby mozart music box and eric carle elephant toy and loves being outside.






We left for Michigan on a Wednesday afternoon, as the Tornado sirens were blaring in Roseville. We crossed our fingers, hoped all would be okay while we were away and hit the road. Unfortunately, the rains followed us all the way to Milwaukee making for a stressful drive. This was our first trip with Collin and he did surprisingly well. It took us an hour longer than usual, but we only stopped two times to feed and change Collin. Hopefully our next trip to Milwaukee will go even better. When we arrived we were beat and hit the hay to catch an early trip on the ferry to Michigan, another first for Collin.
We look the lake Express from Milwaukee to Muskegon and had a pleasant trip. It was so nice to not have to keep Collin in the car seat, although the boat ride pitched a bit because of the waves from the storm we seemed to be bringing with us from Minnesota.

When we arrived in Michigan we were finally pleasantly greeted by some afternoon sun. Collin spent some time with his great aunt and uncle while we waited for the rest of our family to arrive.


Collin's papa came for the weekend because he had to work so they soaked up time together. They took lots of naps together and my dad was able to get Collin cooing and giggling often. When it was time to go Collin tried out the motorcycle.




When the rest of the family arrived we visited with Aunt Andrea and Uncle Nathan, cousins Erik, Anna and John. Collin loved all the attention and getting to spend more time with family he rarely gets to see.




While in Michigan and Milwaukee Collin had more 'firsts' to add to his list including his first trip to the beach, his first visit to a light house, his first visit to Lake Michigan, playing croquet and meeting many family members for the first time.







We were able to spend some quality time enjoying our families near lake Michigan and regroup before heading into the fall semester back at the University.





After we made our trip back across the ferry we landed in Milwaukee and spent a weekend with Drew's family. We were greeted by lots of family members including Drew's cousin Chelle and her two children, Miranda and Gavin, Drew's Aunt Jan and Uncle Mark, Drew's Aunt Jean, Drew's grandma Hollman and Aunt Joan, Drew's grandma and grandpa Montgomery and Collin's Aunts and Uncles- Chris, Amy and Susie.
While in Milwaukee Collin took his first swim in the pool and loved it!