Freezing Cold in June?

It was a very cold first half of June this year. On the 6th we traveled north to G and G T's house fora fun family get together. I thought I'd be able to run rampant in their huge yard, chasing butterflies and catching toads.

Turns out the toads and butterflies were smart and must have been hibernating (or whatever they do in freezing weather). The stupid weatherman decided to order up freezing cold rain and cloudy skies. I am not voting for him as man of the year, that's for sure.

The weather really doesn't matter, though. We cousins are a tough bunch of kids, as evidenced by our choices in cars. Joe and Nate took the Jeep for a trip while Jakie contemplated how he could jump on, too.

Uncle Ed and Auntie Kristina had some fun activities planned for us. We all made stepping stones out of cement. Fortunately no one's hand became permanently stuck in the cement. That would have been embarrassing.

My masterpiece. Brilliant.

On a side note, I've rediscovered my love of Play Doh and Mommy's rediscovered her loathing of Play Doh and the ensuing mess. Whatever Mommy, it's just a mess, it's not the end of the world. Plus, don't you like cleaning up the floor seven times a day?

Changes

Drive, car, drive! Calgon, take me away! I'm only two and I can recognize the many changes coming my way in the next several months. Why am I so stressed out? Let me start from the beginning.

See this nice man with the spiky Alfalfa hair? He's my new Pediatric Endocrinologist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. I haven't met him yet but I will in July. Mommy, Daddy and I went in last week to meet the educators at the clinic. If you remember, Mommy was not too pleased with Children's clinic in St Paul. This clinic is not as fancy as Children's, but the people are really nice and it's a smaller clinic with only 300 diabetic patients versus 1300 at Children's. I apparently will be treated like a person and not a number. So far, Mommy and Daddy are very impressed with the new clinic and like the idea of being part of a research hospital and facility. They are building a new kids hospital and clinic at the Minneapolis campus that will be done in 2010. I guess Mommy and Daddy also enjoyed returning to the U and seeing all the changes to the campus. Old people really find stupid things interesting. I'll never understand.

The second change is our car, Peg the Plymouth. Mommy and Daddy decided 10 years is old enough for a car and it was time for a new one. Given all the US car makers are bankrupt (I guess except Ford, good old Henry must still be working them hard), it was a fine time to snatch a deal. Poor Peg was only worth $750 dollars, which was apparently a good price given her many foibles (rust, blower only works on number 5, 131,000 miles, etc). Daddy had a hard time saying bye bye to his first car and he started reminiscing about buying it. ***Warning: boring part alert*** I guess Mommy and Daddy had just started dating when he bought this car and it was a day to day reminder how long he and Mommy have been together. Get me a tissue and a bucket, I think I'm gonna barf.

So what new car did we get? A minivan? PLEASE say it's a minivan!

THIS doesn't look like a minivan! How am I supposed to carry 10 of my friends, my pet horse and a load of gravel around in THIS? How many cupholders does this thing have? I need at least 14!

Alright, I guess the new car is pretty. I enjoy saying 'I like your new car' whenever I get in it. Mommy and Daddy keep telling me it's my car, too, but so far they won't let me drive it.

So that's the changes in our life so far. Oh, I almost forgot one last teeny tiny one...


I'm going to be a big brother in the fall!

How could I forget?

The Great Pyramid

Did I ever tell you my Daddy is a genius? If not, he is. Look what he built for me while I was sleeping--my very own Lego pyramid! It was so awesome. Come on, let me show you.








First of all, it had a cool little door that I could peek through. Mommy was trying to get a photo of me looking through the door. I decided not to cooperate. When will she learn I'm my own man? I digress.

I loved to stick my Matchbox cars in the doorway and see if I could reach in to pull them out. Always an action packed game that never is boring!

Well, maybe it is, eventually. I enjoyed playing with my pyramid for a good 20 minutes. Then I was ready for my all time favorite game: destruction. I am really good at that one.

PS: Thanks, Daddy, for the cool pyramid. The next morning I woke up to a garage for my Matchbox cars. Mr. Blankie found himself in there a few times, don't know how. It was cool.

Gardening with Mama

I just saw the title of this post. Gardening? Since when do I garden? Pipe dreams, Mommy. My version is stepping on plants, pulling off blossoms and ripping off petals. Oh, and I LOVE dirt bombs. Throwing them on the patio and yelling 'boom' is the greatest. Did I also mention I tried eating a dirt bomb? Mommy stopped me, but what little I had sure tasted good. I've heard mud pies are scrumptious.

Fine, Mommy. Here's the photo you want of me smelling a flower. It's not even a good smelling flower, but I'll do it just this once. Actually, I've got my parents fooled. They think I'm smelling the flower, but I'm actually blowing on it! Ha ha, I'm tricky!

I've also learned a new version of Sandbox Fun 101. First, you scoop a good amount of sand in your handy shovel. Then...

promptly dump it out on the patio! Mommy and Daddy are none the wiser. They seemed to have given up on keeping the sand in the sandbox. Hmm.

On a side note, Jakie, Lily and Devin (along with Auntie Rasa and Uncle Donnie) were nice enough to let me borrow their old swing set. Daddy rented a truck on Monday and drove to Woodbury to pick it up. Now I'm just waiting for him to find a little time to piece it together. I'll have photos soon.

On his mission, he also picked up materials for a privacy fence in the back, and then he went to IKEA and Hom furniture to pick up some stuff for my Big Boy Room. I really don't know what a Big Boy Room is, but I am curious. I have been telling Mommy and Daddy I want a sandbox in my Big Boy Room. I think they think I'm joking. I'm not. Oh, I also hope my crib is coming with me, too. I live for my crib.

Also, Monday was Mommy and Daddy's 7th wedding anniversary. Here's a file photo to prove a wedding did actually take place eons ago. Look how young and cute they once were!

Anyway, our neighbor, Louise, offered to babysit me for a couple of hours so Mommy and Daddy could go out together. Yes, I was a bit offended at first, but I definitely had fun with Louise. She loves Legos, too! Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a wonderful evening of test driving a car at the bankrupt GM dealer and ate greasy food at a new burger joint. All in all, it was a fun evening. I didn't even want to walk next door to go home, I wanted to stay with Louise. Maybe next time. My parents can be sooooo boring sometimes.

Lastly, a photo of Cassius sitting in his 2009 digging hole. He enjoys picking a new part of the backyard lawn to destroy every year. Daddy LOVES it when he does this. I think Cashy is funny and tends to be the bees knees. He sure is cute, isn't he? Also, he loves dirt bombs as much as I do. Except he actually gets to eat the ones he finds...no fair.

O-R-E-O

Yum yum yum! My first tastes of an Oreo were scrumptous. Mommy even taught me how to dunk the cookie in my milk. I didn't spill the milk, but I still somehow managed to make a gigantic mess.

Still, it doesn't compare to this. This was a masterpiece.