New Undies

I think Will is so funny wearing his new undies. I think he's so handsome, and his little booty is cute as ever in the new undies. We got these little boxers, and then of course he chose some dinosaur and some spider man undies. He insists on wearing the spider man undies EVERY day, the only problem is that they are a little big, so they are a little saggy. Luckily, whenever we leave the house he's wearing pants, so no one can see the sagging.....

Look at that pose, looks like we've got an underwear model on our hands!

Oh, and do you like his little farmer tan?

Cozy.....?

Well, life isn't always perfect, right? As some things are going wonderfully - potty training (Will is doing so awesome, I was amazed that he told his nursery leader today that he needed to go potty, but wanted me to take him. So, they brought him to me, and all that time, he still didn't have an accident.... this is only a week of potty training!)

For a long time now, Will has not slept in his bed. When we got his new bed, he did great, but still ventured into our room to sleep on our floor usually around 3 am. However, we didn't mind because he went to bed so easily, slept great, and didn't wake us up when he came in our room early. Well, ever since our first trip to Utah this summer, back in May, we've had some major "non-sleeping" around our house. It is like musical beds every night. It doesn't help that it is 80 degrees and HUMID, so our upstairs is not comfortable. So, every night our routine goes a little something like this:

7:30 - bath Will, deal with him tearfully saying "it's not for bedtime!!"
8:00 - read stories, say prayers, and sit on the floor by his bed while we sing a song.... or 10 songs.
8:15 - try to sneak out of the room before he notices we are gone, wait, he never went to sleep and wouldn't close his eyes because he's scared of his curtain above his bed.... so, try to run out the door and shut it tight before he gets to it and tries to keep us from closing it.
8:16 - listen to him scream and bang on the door, and say "I want to sleep on your floor!"
8:30 - try to calm him down and tell him he has to sleep in his bed for awhile
............... we do this for about 2 hours..............
10:00pm - throw our hands in the air and put Will on our floor where he falls asleep instantly and we don't hear a peep from him until 8 am the next morning....... well, I guess not a "peep"
12 - midnight - a little man climbs secretly up on our bed trying to not wake us up so he can nestle in between us.....
1:00 am - Scott moves out of the bed and goes downstairs where he will no longer get kicked in the face by Will's feet
2:00 am - Kara clings to the edge of the bed because she's about to fall off because Will is on her pillow and she doesn't dare move because she doesn't want to wake him up.
3:00 am - after almost falling off the bed several times, Kara finally pushes Will to the vacant side of the bed and goes back to sleep
7:00 am - we wake up, tired, and ready for another day!

Issues? Yes. What to do about them? Who knows. Our little guy is such a sweetheart during the day, so well behaved, so fun to be around, and is doing such a good job at being a big boy, that it is really hard for us to force this issue. So, finally, after several nights of dealing with this little sleep issue (which for most of you reading, you are probably thinking that we need to just suck it up and make him stay in his room, but unfortunately, Scott and I are softies, we can't do that to our little man - we've tried.) Scott finally said "FINE! I'm moving HIS bed into our room!"

So, there you have it folks, our master suite with our snug little toddler bed along side our nice cozy bed. Do you think this has solved the problem?..... check back for more pictures of our past couple of nights. (I have to download them, but can't because Will is napping on our bed where the camera and the computer are!) Reading stories before bed.... doesn't Scott look cozy? All I can say is this, it took some major

bribing to even get Will to lay down in his bed. We've soon realized he doesn't like his bed at all.

So our problem may not have been that he was lonely and wanted to sleep by us,

I think it is just that he has a weird phobia about his bed??

Potty Training

Well, I didn't want to post about potty training because I didn't want to jinx myself. However, I can't not post about it because I'm so proud of Will! He is very near to being COMPLETELY potty trained. He has had VERY minimal accidents and is doing great at telling me when he needs to go. We've even ventured out of the house already and he's only on day 5 of training. He loves getting potty treats and gets so excited for himself when he goes on the potty. He's even been going number 2 on the potty! We've had lots of applause, treats, hugs, new undies, and calls to grandma and grandpa to let them know what a big boy he is.

Wish us luck, we go out of town next week and we'll be in the car for a few hours. Should I risk it and go all undies or should I play it safe and put him in a diaper..... isn't that sort of a mixed message?

Cabin Adventures

Our friends the Kolts invited up to their cabin for a few days, so of course we had to take them up on their offer! It was about 5 hours north of the Twin Cities in WI. We had a great time, it was so relaxing and fun for Will. They have a beautiful cabin and the kids really enjoyed the water. While there we treated ourselves to Paul Bunyan's Shanty..... a very delicous breakfast. They just brought out food after food after food, and we ate and ate and ate, and ate some more. It was SO delicious, I would make the 5 hour trip back there just for the food! Will and Scott really enjoyed the kayaks. I did too, but I'm not as coordinated as Scott. I kept banging Will in the head everytime I would row. Plus I'm kind of wimpy when it comes to arm strenght, so I had a hard time "driving" and not running into things.

Will is so enfatuated with slimy creatures. Anything that even resembles a bug or a spider or a frog or a fish or a snake he just thinks it is the coolest. So, of course he was so excited when Scott found a frog on the beach. Will would hold it and giggle and scream and then chuck it. It was pretty funny.

The boys also enjoyed the water trampoline. Have you noticed that I'm not in any of these pictures? That's because I was always too chicken to get in the water that was a tad nippy. People kept saying "it's so refreshing!" and then I would laugh at their blue lips and their shivering bodies, and say "wow, it looks like it!" The boys.... or should I say men (plus 2 amazing girls) took the plunge at midnight! They said it wasn't so bad, but then we stood around the bonfire for about an hour trying to warm everybody up.

We had a lot of fun. The weather was so nice and cool, and the company was great too. We stayed up way too late, ate way too much, and had a blast. We are tired from our travels this summer, but we are looking forward to one more cabin trip to the North Shore with Scott's parents and 2 brothers. There can never be enough vacation, right? And there is always a lake we've never seen before. We can't wait to see our families and show them how truly beautiful MN is!!

Birthdays and Baseball

My sweet friend Chalece had a birthday! So of course we had to celebrate. She invited us to celebrate with her at the Olive Garden. It was delicious and the cake was superb. Our waiter was even famous. His dad holds the guiness book of world records for fastest clapper. You can look him up on Youtube, his last name is French... it's pretty cool, check it out! Happy Birthday Chalece, thanks for letting me celebrate with you!
Scott took Will to his very first baseball game. The Yankees played the Twins. Scott has always been a Yankees fan, and now he is a Twins fans, so he was pretty excited about this game. Will loved it! Or, maybe he loved the hot dogs, treats, and lots of people watching? He was so excited when he got home, he told me everything about the game including the fact that he didn't like the "hot tamales, just the green ones (Mike and Ikes)"
They also got to ride the bus, that is always a treat for Will! Don't they look cute in their matching Yankee's hats? I think so...... and I'm NOT biased at all! :)
Enjoying the game and some good father son time - what good dads these boys have!

Random Events

Will LOVES to play with the ipod. I thought this was classic. He was shirtless and just standing in our kitchen watching Bug's Life on the ipod. Isn't he funny? We think so. Check out the belly. I don't know why he didn't have a shirt on, maybe he just didn't want it on? We learned to pick our battles, and they often include clothing, or running around in the buff.
We were so excited for the olympics we invited a couple friends to come celebrate the opening ceremonies with us. Here are the three boys, they are friends and they are so cute together. Marcus and Anthony are only a few days apart, and are a little older than Will, but he sure loves when they come to play at our house!
Female domination..... Scott made his own Olympics crossword puzzle. We did boys against girls to see who would win and yep, we totally crushed them. Way to go gals!

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

We were so excited to have Grandma and Grandpa here with us for a few days. Will LOVED it! We took them to the butterfly exhibit. Papa kept telling Will that they were called "Flutterbyes" and now he strongly corrects us when we say "butterfly" The butterflies were incredible! We can't wait to go back and take Scott with us (he was at work).

Their colors were amazing, and they were all different shapes and sizes. Can you see the two different flutterbies in this picture?
This one is called a lace wing.... it was very ornate!
"Cheeeeese" I thought Will was going to be afraid of the butterflies, but he LOVED it

He kept trying to catch and touch them all. He walked around excitedly saying

"OH! Look at that one grandpa! OH! Look at that flutterby on that tree!"

This was great - all of a sudden three butterflies were flying all around us, and I kept snapping pictures and finally/luckily caught them flying right next to Will. He put is hands up to his face because he thought they were going to land on him, but they just flew around him, and then he loved it and was all excited saying "did you see those flutterbies MOM?!"
This was him telling grandpa and grandma what happened....
Grandma Martha was the lucky one - she got a little friend to sit on her shoulder for a long time, Will thought that was great too, except he kept trying to touch it and we wouldn't let him.
Tuesday morning, we took Gma and Gpa to the Mill City Museum

It was home to several Mills until it exploded and now there are just a few remains

But they have remodeled and made it into a really great museum -

I would recommend it to anyone, especially visitors, it gives a great history of Minneapolis in 19 minutes through a really cool video. Then you ride in an industrial elevator that goes up and down 8 stories while telling you all about the Mill and what happend. I felt a little like I was back at DisneyLand on the Tower of Terror just waiting for the elevator to drop us all! Luckily, that didn't happen. But it does show you an explosion, and it has a loud bang, flash of light, and then it goes quiet and all black. I thought for sure Will would freak out, but he didn't, he just said "Let's go out the door mom!" I think it was good that we had prepared him for it before we went. Below is a view from the top of the Mill looking at the Mississippi - downtown Mpls is in front of us, so you can't see it, sorry.The famous Stone Arch Bridge Will grinding wheat in the bread lab. We got to try some yummy bread after our tour!

Norah's Baby Blessing

We were lucky enough to make it home to attend Norah's sweet baby blessing. Glenn and Martha were also here with us! This is a picture of all of us after church.... yes, I am the only one who has already changed out of church clothes - how embarassing! Look at Norah's beautiful dress, Lorinda made it! It was stunning! This Will after he enjoyed a fudgesicle - which he traded (he gave Scott his otterpop so he could have the chocolate, smart boy!) Unfortunately Scott gave in.... I'm still working to get the stains out!

Utah - TRIP #2

Well, Will and I survived another whirlwind trip to visit family in Utah/Idaho. It was a great trip, we had TONS of fun. When we visit family, it always makes us wish we lived a little closer.... good thing we have great friends to keep us company while we are far from our families!

My niece McKenzie got married while we were home, she made a beautiful bride and we wish her all the happiness she deserves. The wedding was very pretty, overlooking beautiful Bear Lake. The lake was SO blue and pretty, I loved it! McKenzie and her mom (my sister, GayLynn)
My sister GayLynn, McKenzie, and me
Will got to ride his very first horse!! He LOVED it. He told everyone about his horse ride on Newey, I'm sure he'll remember that for a very long time and be telling people about how the horse talks, sneezes, and walks. When we put him on the horse and she started to walk he asked his uncle Shane "Whoa, what's the horse doin'?" and Shane said "She's just walking!" and Will matter of factly said "oh." I think he wasn't really sure what was going to happen when he got up there, but he wasn't scared at all, like I thought he'd be.
Ride 'em cowboy!

While in Utah, we got to spend lots of time with Will's cousins, and Grandma and Grandpa from URUGUAY!! They took the kids to the discovery gardens at Thanksgiving point and saw all sorts of animals, bee's in the bee hive, and crawled around through this catepillar. They also had a little splash park of Noah's ark.... Will didn't really like the water shooting out at him unexpectedly, I don't blame him.
Checking out the BEES

Also while in Utah, my brother Mark was kind enough to take us boating, twice! It was a blast, we had so much fun. Like I said, Bear Lake is gorgeous and we had a lot of fun knee boarding, surfing, tubing, and hanging out on the boat.

Will and Grandpa Hopkins
Eating oranges, I think this was like his 4th in a row!

This is a shot from Utah lake, can you tell the difference in the water color?

Will running to jump in Bear Lake!
My dad didn't bring a swimsuit, so we were trying to keep him as dry as possible. My brother had pull him back and forth to the boat on the tube, with all the food and such. Will even got to ride a couple times. Amazingly, my dad stayed dry most of the day, until the last time we headed to the boat and some of the girls decided to try and jump on, and it flooded with water. Sorry dad! It was hilarious watching him float out like this to the boat.
Check out the water, it was even prettier in person!
Will snoozing while I rode the tube.
More Utah Lake boating:Little Zac was so funny and cute in his lifejacket. I don't think he

knew what was happening to him!Cool dude. Will said "It's too bright out here mommy, I need to wear your sunglasses" so, of course I let him. He thinks he's a stud.Sorry for the blurry picture, but that is me and Stephanie and Will on the tube! Wahoo!

Welcome Home Mom and Dad! We were so excited to see grandma and grandpa that we had to celebrate with a Costco cake! It was delicious and we were all so happy to see Mom and Dad, don't they look great? We will miss them the next 15 months, but we are excited they are more than half way done!!!! YAY!

Thanks for the fun trip everybody! We loved seeing you and can't wait to see you again in a year or so!! Thanks also for letting Will and I bombard your houses, cars, boat, and fridges :)