We Have a Yard!

Finally, the outside of our house looks like a home! We have a driveway, sod, landscaping, and even a patio. Mike even built stairs for the patio. Now if only the weather would cooperate...all I want to do is get outside! It's so awesome!

Mike's New Look

Mike got some new glasses. His old ones broke and he was left walking around with superglued frames for the last 3 weeks. Aren't they stylish? I think he looks good. A regular Danny Gokey. Much improved from his old look....

You may be thinking, "yeah, we all have embarrassing middle school pictures". No, no, my friend, this was a school photo taken in 1993, which I believe was his senior year. It's a good thing Mike and I did not meet until six years later...hee, hee. Love you, Mike!

Post-Pigtails

And this is what happens when you wear pigtails all day... She looks just like Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, when he dresses like a crazy ex-football player to visit the mental institution.

I CANNOT Bake

I tried to make banana bread....this was the result. My mom brought some banana bread over a few weeks ago, and I've been dreaming about it ever since. I thought I'd try making some - whole wheat though - so I don't feel as guilty about eating half a loaf. I got a well-reviewed whole wheat recipe at allrecipes.com, and I followed the recipe exactly, I swear. However, it said "cool on a wire rack for at least 1/2 hour" so after removing it from the oven, I immediately flipped it out of the pan onto the wire rack. Well, half of it stayed in the pan. The pan was greased, that wasn't the problem, I think I just should have left the bread relax in there for awhile. On top of that, I don't think I cooked it long enough. Eating it this morning, it was pretty mushy, but not bad, didn't seem to bother Kaia or Halle. Since then, I remembered that the whole wheat flour I used was pretty old (I just don't bake often, do you see why?). So my new theory is that the old flour ruined the recipe, and the rushed, post-oven transfer did not help matters. I bought some more bananas today. I'll try again when they get old and nasty. Until then, I'm still convinced....I CANNOT BAKE!

Halle-Boo

Both Kaia and Halle have a lot of silly nicknames, usually invented by Mike. One of Halle's most popular nicknames is Halle-Boo. I don't know why, it just sounds cute. I think it may have even been started by me, which is exciting to me, none of my catch phrases ever become a trend. Anyway, Halle-Boo also lends itself to other variations, including "Miss Boo" and "Boo Pants". I find it especially funny when Kaia calls her by those names...

Anyway, I just had some cute photos of her. The top one doing "So Big", and the second posing with Aunt Lora. Halle still is not crawling. She's taken to rolling around the house instead. She's quick too...several times she's grabbed something of Kaia's and rolled away as fast as she could with a big smile on her face. In the last few days I've caught her up on hands and knees though! She does have two bottom, two top teeth now. It seems like every day she learns more and more. This really is a fun age!

Minnehaha Falls

On Memorial Day we spent the morning at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis along with the Hemmila family. We just checked out the falls, hiked on the trails, and ate a picnic lunch. I cannot believe how much fun Kaia had running around, throwing rocks in the river, wading in the water, and finding bugs. At one point the boys had picked up some big sticks to hike with, so Kaia picked up a little twig and marched along, waving it in the air, singing "A stick, a stick, a stick..." She's so silly. What a beautiful day!

More Minnehaha

Sleeping Beauty

Yes, she really is sleeping. I've actually caught her sleeping in this position before. What a sweetie!