Catching Up

The infrequency of my blogging of late is a true sign of how crazy life as a working mom can be! We have had a fun and exciting last few months, so this post is an attempt to recap some of the highlights.

At the end of August, my sister Ryanne and her fiance Sean got married in an intimate and extremely romantic ceremony at Le Chateau Boutin in Bayfield, Wisconsin. The Chateau is a georgeous old Victorian mansion with an awesome view of Lake Superior and just enough rooms to fit both of our families for the weekend. The weather on the day of the wedding was unfortunately not very cooperative, but the wedding was still beautiful and the reception was a blast! And Milo did an excellent job as the ring bearer!

In addition to the wedding festivities, over the past few months we have enjoyed trips to the Minnesota State Fair, the Renaissance Festival, another trip to Bayfield--this time for the Apple Festival--as well as numerous visits to Northern Wisconsin to see my parents at Middle Eau Claire Lake and their "farm" in Lake Nebagamon and Tod's parents at Lake Chippewa in Hayward.

In early October we had some excitement with the Minnesota Twins' push to get into the playoffs and their subsequent not-so-awesome first round playoff appearance against the Yankees. We have also caught a few Minnesota Vikings games, including the AMAZING Monday Night game against the Green Bay Packers. Milo didn't get to go to any of these games because it is just too loud in the Metrodome for exciting games like these, but he has been watching a lot of baseball and football at home and is becoming quite the little sports fan! The program that we brought home from the Vikings-Packers game (his "football book") is now one of the only "books" he wants to read, and he can point out "Brett" (Favre), "AP" (Adrian Peterson), and "Jared" (Allen) and giggles everytime he sees the picture of the cheerleader. He also screams "touchdown" whenever he sees a football player on TV, and when you ask him what they score in baseball, he says "home run." It's hilarious!

Milo also started going to tumbling classes, which has been a lot of fun. He is on the cautious side of trying new things, so this class has been a good way for him to get over that cautiousness and let loose a little. Every week he does something new that he wouldn't do the week before, so it is great to see that progress! He is also doing really well at "school," despite his recent tendency for "owies" (see below), and will soon be moving from the Ones room to the Toddlers room. Rumor has it that the Toddler teachers are masters at potty training, so we're really excited about that!

It seems that Fall has simply decided to skip us this year, as we went straight from weather in the 70s and having our air conditioning on to weather in the 30s and 40s and SNOW! Our fireplace has been going virtually non-stop since the first week of October. It's really unfortunate since fall is my favorite season of the year, but I'm still holding out hope that this is just a cold spell and our fall temperatures will make a comeback before winter really starts.

The handsome ring bearer waiting attentitively for his turn

It's go time!
Le Chateau Boutin

View of Lake Superior from the Chateau

Milo checking out the view from the Chateau

Checking out Papa's tractor

Riding with Papa on the tractor at the farm

Riding the tractor

Fun in the sun at Lake Chippewa

Driving the boat at Lake Chippewa

Fishing at Lake Chippewa

Guinness sunbathing at Lake Chippewa

Murphy waiting for someone...ANYONE...to throw him the ball

Sunset at Middle Eau Claire Lake. No wonder my parents love living here!

Milo checking out the sunset at Middle Eau Claire Lake

Playing in the water at sunset.

Milo got his first black eye at school when he fell off the "motorcycle" (I imagine it to be a rocking horse type thing but instead of a horse, it is a motorcycle. Milo's teachers say he rocks that thing like no other kid ever has!). He actually hit his face on the handlebar as he was falling off--ouch! This was followed by a bloody lip a couple days later, and another bloody lip (this time with a couple of his teeth actually going THROUGH his lip) as soon as that one healed. It was a rough week and a half at school for the Buddy, but his teachers said that he handled it like a rock star. When he hit his lip the first time, he was more concerned about getting back the stuffed shark that he dropped when he fell than the blood coming out of his mouth! What a BOY!

First Shiner!

Daddy says my shiner makes me look tough!

Me and a shocked Tod after the Twins beat the Tigers in the bottom of the 12th inning to win the tiebreaker for the AL Central and move on to the playoffs!