Happy Early Birthday Hal!

On Sunday Hal's family arrived from Utah after our big trip to the MN State Fair. Hal's birthday is on Labor Day, but since everyone is together we decided to celebrate it a bit early.


Last night we had a big family dinner complete with Hal's favorites: deep fried turkey and cheesy potatoes. We also had birthday cake to top off the special occasion.


It was so fun to have all five of the kids together for the celebration.


The week is flying by and I am looking forward to the weekend. Sophia and I are headed back to the fair and Hal will be in Kansas City and return on his birthday. Happy almost birthday hon!

Busy, busy, week/weekend

Today was the start to our very busy week and weekend to come. We got up bright and early and headed to the MN State Fair. It is my most favorite place in the entire world. We started our day with me running my fastest
5K I have ever done. Less than nine minute miles!

While I ran the race, Sophia and Hal toured the fair for a bit. After I got done with the race we went exploring. Our favorites today were the: Miracle of Birth Barn, the Kidway Rides, the food, and the Creative Arts building.

My scrapbook pages unfortunately didn't win a prize this year, but I'm ok with that. Now next year I will try harder and get that first place prize.

Here are a couple of pictures from the day. We still have two more trips to the fair this week.

Cookies with Daddy

Petting a baby duck

On the bee ride with Mommy

Tomorrow I start my first official day of work. I am very excited! This will be a busy week for us as well with Hal's sister, her husband, and their kids staying with us. We are celebrating Hal's birthday tomorrow evening with the whole family.

Tuesday the boys and Hailey my niece are going to the Twins Game. I'm sure they will have a great time. Wednesday I have to work and Thursday Hal leaves for Kansas City. I'm sure we will have several updates from the week. Until then........

A week full of parties

Sophia has now officially attended three birthday parties in one week. I guess she is quite the popular little one. On Wednesday, she went to a party for her friend Caroline. The girls made their own ice cream sundaes, had cupcakes, and got their nails painted. It was quite the girlie event!


Then on Friday we celebrated Caroline's birthday at the American Girl Cafe. The girls had a great time at lunch and it was so fun to watch them interact with their dolls. The mommies had an equal amount of fun watching the girls!


Yesterday Sophia attended a birthday party for one of her friends Emerson across the street. The theme of the party was like a ranch style with ponies and cowgirls. It was awfully cute!

The kids did pony races and made their own cowgirl hats with markers and such. They also got little bandannas to wear around their necks. After eating cupcakes and opening presents the real fun arrived.


Sophia rode two ponies yesterday: Snickers and Oreo. They were such good ponies. She adored riding the ponies and talked about them all day yesterday. Looks like we might have a future rider on our hands!

We have a new nephew!!

Our new nephew was born today! His name is Bennett Gerald Wickman. He came into the world today at 12:15 pm weighing a whopping 6 pounds 4 ounces 19 inches long. He is a tiny little thing, but boy does he have long skinny fingers and toes.

Sophia absolutely adores him and it makes me twinge when she holds him. Hmmm......should we have another????? For now I can't wait to enjoy him. I made him a birthday cake and I hope their family loves every last bite!

Here are a couple of cute pictures from this evening:

Hal, Sophia, and Baby Ben


Sophia with her new cousin Ben


Those long skinny feet I was talking about

As for our family.........
We have been extremely busy with school. I have been at school quite a bit over the last two weeks and there is only more to come. Sophia has been wonderful at entertaining herself in my classroom while I work and helping me organize and clean things.

She loves sitting in the desks and wearing her backpack around my school. My little girl so desperately wants to grow up. It makes me sad to think that she is three and will have her first official year of pre-school next fall. Until then, I will cherish all of her excitement about school and all that is to come.

We are gearing up for a big weekend of birthday parties for Sophia and friends/neighborhood Olympics for the adults. Two of Sophia's friends have birthdays this week and she is thrilled to be going back to the American Girl Cafe and riding ponies. Not sure how she will actually do once she sits on the horse though.

Well, it's off to bed for me. Another early day at school tomorrow!

And a baby makes three

Last weekend I hosted a baby shower for my very best friend in the entire world Becca. It was such a beautiful day despite the heat. The sun was shining and it was so much fun to celebrate and recognize this wonderful person.


We had a great time playing games and eating amazing food. Of course my favorite were the cupcakes we had from Cupcake in Minneapolis. It is my newest obsession! My goal just might be to try as many different cupcakes as I can.


After eating, she opened her presents and then the guests left with some beautiful vases that were tinted blue with white hydrangea in them. Can you tell my theme was blue and white? Yes....she is having a boy!

As I look back on my baby shower, it was also such an amazing experience I can only hope that I gave her the same.

Congratulations Becca, Dan, and Baby B! We can't wait to meet you!!

Summer Fun

Just had to share two pictures with you of a photo shoot with Sophia.....I think that they turned out pretty darn cute, but of course I am totally biased as I am the mom :)

Go Gophers!

This past weekend we made a trip to the University of Minnesota campus and walked around. Hal graduated from this school and we just adore the campus and the walking paths it has to offer.

We walked past the new stadium and peered inside. It looked quite amazing and we are hoping to get to a game this year. We also made a stop at the bookstore where Sophia wanted me to take her picture with the mannequins. She is completely obsessed with them in all stores that we go in to.

After purchasing a couple of things we headed out along the way to the river.

There we found the shoe tree and the Weisman Musuem.




The flowers were also super gorgeous along the campus and we couldn't help but take pictures with them.


A little piece of me truly hopes that Sophia will attend this amazing school, but who knows where life will bring us.

This week we are off on a couple of fun summertime dates. Today I am taking Sophia to the art museum. Tomorrow we are going to meet up with friends at the Minnesota Zoo. Then it is off to the Teddy Bear Park on Thursday. Summer is coming to an end so now it is time to get all of the last places in we haven't been yet.