2013

What you didn't see on FB & IG this past year.  Our "second string" family photos.  365 days condensed into a 7 minute photo slide show.    

Some highlights from 2013...


POP MUSIC
Our family photo slideshow is set to 1D this year, and that's purposeful. When I asked Joe for his input on what our "song of the year" was, he didn't pause for a moment before confirming One Direction (or Taylor Swift as a close 2nd).  

This year the boys (especially Max) have strong opinions on what music to listen to, and 1D and Taylor Swift always top the list (what can I say...I've introduced them to some great tunes in the car!). All three kids have started singing along to pop music. Even Wren, not-quite-two-years-old at the time, singing "Stay" by T. Swift.

Speaking of Taylor, I went to her concert this past fall with a super fun friend and colleague, and throughout the show all I kept thinking was how I can't wait to take the boys (Joe included, and probably Wren if it's in a few years) to see her the next time she comes through Minneapolis.  Such a fun sing-along concert, I know I'd have even more fun with my whole family.


SPRING BREAK
Since Wren was born in late 2011, 2013 was the year all five of us took a flight together for the 1st time.  We headed to Mexico for vacation in March and had a great time.  Max showed us that he was 100% independently swimming, which helped me and Joe out tremendously so each of only needed to be holding one other kid at a time. The kids had a blast and still talk about going to Mexico.  We've booked Spring Break for 2014 and will be headed West, but staying domestic in California.  


HAIR CUTS
June brought significant hair cuts for Max and Otto.  And now it's January and I'm thinking perhaps it's time again...


Wishing you Happiness in 2014!


https://vimeo.com/83121157

Home for the Holidays

As I work on one of my least favorite things ever - taking down our Christmas trees and all the holiday decorations - here's a little photo recap of our decked halls.  

It's going to feel so empty once everything's all put away.  But it will be a nice blank canvas to get our house the way I want it for Spring and Summer!

Me & Joe before heading out to dinner with his parents and siblings.

Homemade Granola that I gave to teachers as part of their gift.  The antique Ball lids (garage sale find this summer) were the perfect touch.

Cousin Lily said Wren looks like she's caroling here. If she was, she was definitely singing Frosty or Rudolph, which she loves!

Following last Christmas, Joe made a built-in book case in the other corner of our living room, so after many years, we put the tree up in this corner. For the 1st time I taped Christmas cards around the archway between the kitchen and living room.

For the 2nd year in a row this wooden tree Joe made has been in the play room (instead of one of the boy's room) and I lit it up.

Our buffet in the kitchen.  While I'm loving our living room and play room of late, I am disenchanted with our kitchen and trying to think of simple ways to liven up the aesthetic of it.  Ideas welcome.

Our living room, which I always love so much at the Holidays.  The garland above the windows was a bit more challenging to work with this year.  I placed lights in them, which was a nice addition at night time.  

The play room is also now a pseudo mud room with basket, hooks and cubby for each kid.  Our measly front entry is a land mine and hazard with the amount of snowy gear dropped there every afternoon.  

Our Christmas tree, which looks very, very, very similar year after year.  I'm thinking of trying something a bit different next year.  Since everyone asks, yes, we did string the popcorn.  Joe and I.  Before kids. A full five years before we had any kids. That makes those strings of popcorn a decade old.  It's PopSecret butter flavor, and apparently has a shelf life of eternity.

After five years without putting my Old World Christmas ornaments up (because they're super special to me and very breakable), my mom suggested this pre-lit white berry tree when shopping one day. I squeezed it into a corner in mine and Joe's bedroom.  One day when only Max was home, he carefully helped me unwrap every ornament, tally them up (~150) and place the on the tree.   

Wren's Holiday bed.  Otto walked into her room after I had made her bed and he giggled excitedly..."It's a hotel bed!!!"  I translate that to mean all the sheets and pillow cases coordinate - thus it reminds him of when we stay at a hotel.

I played around with some fresh greenery, red berries and mercury glass for little displays throughout the house.

Joe finally hung his deer heads on the wall downstairs.  To which I promptly hung a Christmas ball ornament from one of the antlers (not pictured).

It was nice to have a white Christmas.  It was a bit too cold, too fast, this December, but the snow was much welcomed.

A little tough to see given the snow cover, but I bought the potted greenery at Costco and then added some birch bark and more berries from our back yard.  Then I placed the pot in a burlap sack.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday!  

Otto's Favorite Toy

#TBT

(~6 months ago, but still 100% relevant today)

----------------------------------------


As a mom you're asked what your kid likes to play with.  "What is his favorite toy?"

I've written before about Otto's love of computers.  And they don't even have to be turned on or in working condition.  He just wants to pretend to press the buttons and pretend he's doing stuff. Even better if he has a couple computers out at once, all lined up, ready for work.  Over the moon happy if he has power cords to accompany the computers.  Often times it looks like he's in the thick of coding, and other times I swear he's writing music/DJing because he's so absorbed in his work and often humming or singing.

The other morning he woke up (early as usual), crept to my side of the bed and loudly whispered "Mama, you want to play electricity with me?"

That was the best wake up I've had in a long time.  So precious and entirely Otto.  He was so excited for me to go out to the play room and "play electricity," which just means taking a half dozen computer power cords, hairdryer & flat irons and the like and tucking the cords and plugs into tiny nooks and crannies of drawers, wrapping them around furniture legs, etc.  

Seriously.  THIS is his favorite toy.  Otto and his "electricity" (aka, power cords & plugs)


------------------------------------------------

Where Nicknames Come From

Otto:  Mom, I wrote my name again!

Me:  Thinking, Otto's pretty lucky.  Any way you spell his name, it's correct.

Except when you spell it inside out.  Then it just spells "TOOT."

My little Toot.  Adore him.

Harder to see, but he also wrote his "name" (Toot) on his cup.

Ugh - I cannot get enough of Otto, I find him so flippin' cute all the time.  In sunglasses all summer long.  With an apple and a can of tennis balls for an afternoon of fun, of course.

Funny Things That Happened To Me: Volume Control

#TBT Alert

As I attempt to get back into regular blogging, there are quite a few posts I drafted (some quite a while ago) that I want to write up and post so I can hang on to the memories.  So why not make a "thing" of it...Throw Back Thursdays, Lot10LindenGrove style.

-----------------------------------------------------

(~2 years ago)


The other day while driving I kept reaching for the volume dial on my dashboard to turn it down.  Repeatedly.  It was totally an unconscious thing I was doing.  Clearly somehow it registered to me that it was too loud, so instinctively I'd reach for the radio volume dial and turn it waaaaay.dowwwwn.

But it.wasn't.getting.any.quieter.

It took me several attempts of "turning the dial down" until I realized the noise was coming from the backseat.  All three kids were just loud.  Wren was crying, Otto was babble shouting and Max - well, he never stops talking.

It took an episode similar to this happening a handful of times after Wren was born until my ears and mind just got accustomed to the elevated sounds at home and in the car.

Happy Two Years Wren!

Happy (belated) 2nd Birthday, Wren!  

I wanted to get some thoughts down on the blog to always remember what you're like right now, as well as to capture some of the fun we had at your Birthday party last month.  Pardon the quantity of photos...making up for months of no posts, I guess.  

At two years old you can't get enough of:

• Your swimming suit
• Jumping
• Saying "Night Night" to Max & Otto
• Midnight Rock-A-Byeing with Mom & Dad
• Lollipops

Thanks to older cousin kick-downs, great garage sale finds and your mama's desire to find an adorable swimsuit each year, you have suits numbering in the double digits.  And they all get put to good use.  All summer long you lived in one - usually at the pool or beach, but now always.  When it turned fall, we would just throw a swimsuit over your pants and shirt and send you on your merry way to school.  You'd proudly proclaim "swimsuit" when you walked into your class each morning - which was so much better than when you'd wake up and scream the same thing at 6am every morning - begging to get out of your jammies and into your suit.  

Boy do you JUMP!  I remember Max & Otto enjoying jumping, but not nearly as much as you.  You'll find some of the highest ledges and just jump right off.  Come to think of it - 5 months ago - that's why we had to put you in a big girl bed.  You were crib jumping.  You'll hold out your hands, wanting to hold onto my hands and jump up and down.  The other day we were at the Corn Maze and they had a giant "jumping pillow" (basically a trampoline).  I was holding you and we were jumping together and I ended up "double bouncing" and the two of us, we flew high.  That's the only time I sensed (by your sudden death grip around me and shocked look on your face) that maybe it was a bit too much jumping.  In fact, I just re-read your 1st Birthday blog entry and apparently your love for jumping isn't new (your infant daycare room had to remove the slide because you kept jumping off the top of it).  

Between your swimsuit and jumping obsessions, I'm hoping you have a bright future, on a beach, with lots of volleyball in it.  

You love to say "Night Night Otto, Night Night Max, Mommy, Daddy" before you go to bed each night.  It's the sweetest, and you've done it for so long now that I can't remember when it started.  But you make a very definite point to say good-night to all of us.  If Daddy or I try to bring you to bed and you haven't said goodnight to everyone, you insist on finding them, saying good-night and giving hugs and kisses.  

And then you're up six hours later in the middle of the night, wanting me or Daddy to hold you or rub your back or get you a drink.  Yes - you're two years old and not sleeping through the night. I am so incredibly aware of how ridiculous this is. I had those brothers of yours sleeping 12 consecutive hours at 6 months old.  And yet I keep getting up with you in the middle of the night...

And you love lollipops.  And you sound ridiculously cute when you say lollipop.  It sounds like "Wall-E Pop," probably because on a road trip Max & Otto were asking to watch Wall-E.  Every time they said Wall-E, you'd begin crying "Wallypop.  I want a Wallypop."  It inspired our Halloween costumes...two robots from Wall-E and a lollipop.  And then you went trick or treating and GOT so many lollipops - you loved it!

Wren, you're talking so much now.  You're starting to have "conversations" and answer questions more fully.  In the past month, you've started full sentences and speaking in the correct tense.  

Just like your brothers, you're well on your way to potty training yourself.  Three days ago your daily notes from daycare said "Wren is about 70% potty trained."  Yesterday I picked you up and your teachers said I should put you in underwear this weekend and try it because "she's basically potty trained."  I kind of grimaced...it's deer hunting opener this weekend so I'm solo with the three kids, which means I am not chancing potty accidents.  My older two kids are potty trained and (literally) I've never had to clean up a potty accident.  I wait until you're fully potty trained and then just go straight to underwear and no accidents.  Thankfully you've got the same teachers Otto had and they realize this is my style.  They had to ask me several times to stop sending Otto to school in diapers, insisting he was potty trained.  

Two Years Old!  I'm 35 years old and wish I had her hair!

Me & Wren on her Birthday

Otto, Max & Wren on her Birthday

For Wren's birthday we had a little party with family, friends and neighbors.  I had a blast.  I forgot to take more than a few pictures I was having such fun.  But no worries, we recreated some of the photo opps the next day:)

Here are some highlights...

Party Invitation

Woodland masks (we had to transfer them to paper plates because the elastic cords kept snapping on all the kids)

It drizzled all day and was about 40 degrees...it turned into a mostly indoor party instead of outside party.

Otto had called dibs on the fox

Max was the brown bear

Wren enjoyed being each animal

Birthday cake

Wren initially loved everyone bursting into Happy Birthday and rushing to be by her side. 

Note the snow covered legs on the deer.  Some brother kept pushing the deer deeper into the frosting:)

But she quickly got a very scared look on her face and started to cry.  I totally understand.  I used to hate having people sing Happy Birthday to me and would also burst into tears.

All Mine eating cake and ice cream

Pin the tail on the deer

 She's Two!

A new baby doll from her cousins

Cousin Grace showing Wren how to take care of the baby

A woodland scavenger hunt.  Everyone found everything...except for the mouse!

Baggo anyone?  Always a hit!

A little woodland tablescaping, the day after the party

Pinterest Fail!  I so wanted to send everyone home with a hand made birdseed bird feeder - but they did not work out!

For each kid's 1st Birthday, Joe and I had a quilt made for them using all of their baby clothes, burp cloths, etc.  For Wren's 2nd Birthday I had a baby doll quilt, made from the scraps of the scraps used for her 1st Year memory quilt, made for her. 

Happy Birthday Wrennie!