One Sunset at a Time

Week By Week

2012-01-19T07:08:00.001-06:00

I've been making weekly photo book pages for this pregnancy rather then write in a book. After the baby arrives I will order it from Shutterfly. I am not sure I will share all of the weeks I have done thus far, because depending on the week I have wrote about the personal matters going on with family members the past couple months, so I don't want to invade their privacy, but here are the first few weeks :) I realize these are kind of hard to read. They are clear in the program I am using, but become blurred when I convert them to JPEG to show here. If you click on the picture they should show up a little better.

Fall Family Photos

2012-01-06T06:39:00.001-06:00

Still trying to get caught up on all the blog slacking from this Fall. Here are the family photos we had taken last Fall to use for Christmas cards/etc. We tried out a new photographer and we loved her, her work, and her turnaround time. We will definitely be getting more done from her and maybe even a spring family session when I am in all my pregnant glory ;)

Click here to view these pictures larger

Mom's Birthday Party

2012-01-04T06:00:00.011-06:00

My mom turned 50 last month and I spent months planning the perfect surprise party. Then starting two days before the party everything that could go wrong did. It is what it is and its the thought that counts right? I also hadn't been to the bar we had it at in years so I didn't realize just how dingy it was... Oh well, on to the pics:

My sister and myself setting up

Cuppy-cakes

I just love this girl :)

Feeding Daddy frosting

Must have been a great moment :)

Alexa's Holiday Dance Party

2012-01-02T06:19:00.000-06:00

I already posted the video, but here are some cute pics from Alexa's dance holiday party.

Although unfortunate circumstances, grandma and Papa were in town and got to come to her party

Daycare Christmas Party

2012-01-01T07:01:00.002-06:00

Every year Alexa's daycare puts on a pretty nice Christmas party for us to go to.

All she talks about is Santa, but still not sure enough of him to sit on his lap

Played with homemade playdoh

Made reindeer food

With sprinkles of course ;)

Had lots of fun playing with bubbles!

And made ornaments

Tree Trimming and Other Christmas Fun

2011-12-30T06:45:00.002-06:00

We decorated cookies

Go Pack! They are hard to see on here, but for my annual Christmas ornament exchange my sender got me hand blown glass Packer candy canes - love them!!

And we decorated a tree for Grandma

Here is Alexa's video from Santa which I totally forgot to show her until the day after Christmas - parent FAIL!

What Alexa's Been Wanting :)

2011-12-28T07:00:00.014-06:00

That's right, Alexa's going to be a big sister :) While we are overjoyed to share this news, this year has been full of heartache for our families. Hence the major lack of blog posts. To respect everyone's privacy, I won't go into the details, but this Christmas (and this entire month) was what I hope is the worse one we ever have to go through. So forgive the lack of blog posts, I will try to keep up more now and post a few things that I missed over the past couple months.

I am 13 1/2 weeks. Feeling pretty good lately, just throwing up in the mornings, but the all day nausea seems to have faded. We got to hear the heartbeat for the first time last week. Alexa is just in love with the idea of being a big sister. We are not going to find out what we are having this time around, and we do have our names picked out, but probably will keep them a secret until birth.

Alexa - Keeping Christ in Christmas

2011-12-26T07:33:00.005-06:00

I am not one of those in your face about religion people. I'll repect your holidays, please respect mine. So if this offends you then so be it, but I think it is cute how much she "gets" Christmas. The "God" stuff is unprompted, we read her children's bible at night and go to church, but most of this stuff she comes up with on her own :) Love this girl.

Alexa's Christmas Dance Recital

2011-12-21T07:28:00.001-06:00

A Couple More Pics From Halloween

2011-11-08T07:23:00.000-06:00

I found these on my other memory card and I just had to share since we don't get family pics that often :)

Halloween Pics!

2011-11-01T07:09:00.003-05:00

Alexa did sooo good trick-or-treating! We went in a group with some friends and neighbors and there were a couple other toddler friends her age with us. She would walk right up to the door alone and knock. It's amazing as a parent the things you are proud of! She absolutely loved it. Now I am just wondering if she is going to think she can go up to a door any day of the year and expect candy ;) It was impossible to get an good pictures of her actually looking.

Our Little Cow

AnnaBelle the Bumblebee

Angie, Annette, Alexa & AnnaBelle

Pumpkin carving last weekend

Halloween party at dance last week. She wore last year's costume since a cow didn't seem very graceful to dance in ;)

A couple more girls have joined her class

Game Day Baby

2011-10-26T06:20:00.009-05:00

I had the opportunity of a lifetime on Sunday. Not only did I have great seats for the Packer game - but field passes as well!! Rachel and I had a blast getting so close to the players on the field!

About to head out!

First encounter (after Visanthe Shianco rubbed up against us that is) was Jared Allan. Of all Vikings he is the only one that I like (for some very strange reason lol), he was just a couple feet from us waiting for the elevator in the players entrance.

Me, Scott and Rachel. Scott is our friend that works for the Vikings and got us the field passes

Girls! Living the life!

Boots on the turf. My head swelled a little when the Viking cheerleaders complimented my boots!

JORDY!!

Clay-nation!

More Jordy ;)

And more Jordy...

Mason Crosby

The Man ;) Aaron Rodgers

Ginger

Packers Pres'

Greg Jennings

More Jordy Nelson

Clay Maker!

You guessed it... more Jordy

The BELT!!!

Such an EPIC day!!

And Rachel just had to get a pic with Randy Shaver - local sport anchor

Oh and icing on the cake - we won :) 7-0 going into the bye week baby!

Fall Apple Picking & the Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-14T07:04:00.005-05:00

Last weekend we went to the apple orchard/pumpkin patch to pick apples and pumpkins. It was so much fun! The only bummer was that most of the apples were already picked so we'll have to go earlier next year. I got SO many compliments on Alexa's dress! And I realize I am wearing practically the same outfit as my last post (well the boots and sweater at least), it was an unseasonably 80* out but I wanted to still look fall-ish :)

Goof!

She LOVED the pony ride, and she sat so well!

Mmmm, dried corn!

Cow Train!

There we go!

Hmm,, which one shall I pic!?

Date Night :)

2011-10-11T07:08:00.005-05:00

Eric and I have been better at getting away alone lately, and Eric surprised me last weekend with an overnight date in Stillwater, MN. We stayed at an adorable Bed and Breakfast (my first time at one), had an amazing dinner, took a lunch boat cruse and enjoyed exploring the quaint little city together. Eric had also booked a romantic gondola ride on the St. Croix river, but that was canceled due to high winds - oh well, gives us an excuse to go back!

The gorgeous B&B we stayed at

The town's Harvest Fest was going on so we checked out some of the huge pumpkins - the largest was 1,657 pounds

St. Croix River - That would be Wisconsin on the other side, for those of you not local :)

On our lunch boat cruise

The town of Stillwater

The "sister" boat of the boat that we were on

The gondola that we will be returning to take

Pumpkin smash

Pumpkin Regatta - They hollowed out giant pumpkins to race down the river. While we were there the pumpkins kept filling up with water, so I am not sure how the race ended up going

Candy Corn Dress

2011-09-29T07:00:00.001-05:00

A group of my friends decided to start a monthly Pinterest Challenge in order to challenge ourselves to actually make some of those projects we've all been pinning. For those of you unfamiliar with Pinterest - it is basically a place for you to share and find pictures/recipes/projects/etc and save them to different boards that you create by categories. Basically its like being able to access your "bookmarks" from any where. My project that I choose for September was this Candy Corn pillowcase dress. The original photo did not include a tutorial, so after some guesswork this is what I came up with, now I just need to find some leggings and a shirt to go with it before it gets closer to Halloween.

Dance Party

2011-09-27T07:00:00.002-05:00

Alexa started dance class a few weeks ago and she just loves it. There are only two other 2-year olds in her class so I love the one-on-one attention that they get. Dance runs the school year with a recital in the spring. Her teacher majored in dance at the University of Wisconsin Madison! (Instructor in the photo's below is actually a sub).

The Liz Logelin 5K

2011-09-25T08:29:00.003-05:00

I posted back in May about the book reading/signing I went to for Matt Logelin and I mentioned that I was going to do the Liz Logelin 5K this year, which was September 17th. Eric and I ran it with Alexa in the stroller. It was a lot of fun, but a bit cold, hence the 3 layers of clothing, that of course I regretted after we got going ;)

With Matt and Maddy Logelin - Matt was super nice and appreciative as always

Thanks for running this with me babe! I am so proud of you!

Annual Cass Lake Trip

2011-09-23T07:15:00.004-05:00

The first week of September we spent a week up North at the same resort we stay at every year. You might remember last year and the awful weather we had, but this year was completely different. 6 of the days were high 70's and sunny - perfect! Not a cloud in the sky! We spent most of the week out on the lake and with friends that we've made from Iowa that go up there the same week every year as us.

We boated to this big island that has the only lake inside of an island in Minnesota.

It took us about a half hour to walk to the lake on the island, where we had a picnic lunch.

Yes I took a picture of my daughter peeing over a tree root. She was unsuccessful however ;)

And this is what I call my “I’ve been in MN too long look” Really Kim? – Camo shorts and a Bass Pro shirt?

She did lots of fishing with Daddy

She caught a ton of small perch

Loves her corn!

Eric did real good fishing - wow that even sounds Minnesotan

Our Cabin

I promise, she enjoyed this ;)

Wordless Wednesday: Green & Yellow, Green & Yellow

2011-09-21T07:00:00.001-05:00

Twins Game: A Suprise for Papa

2011-09-04T14:39:00.000-05:00

We have been blessed to get to go to lots of Twins games this season and we thought we were done for the year, but then Alexa wanted to surprise her Grandpa with his first trip to Target Field! It was by far one of the best games that we've gone to. They won 11-4 and had 3 home runs after nearly being swept by the 1st place Detroit Tigers. The energy was great and it was a great 1st game for Eric's Dad!

We had amazing seats with just a couple rows ahead of us, this was without a zoom!

Alexa's Actual Birthday Celebration

2011-09-01T07:00:00.002-05:00

Alexa's birthday was on a Monday so she got to celebrate at daycare with all of her friends. Eric took the camera in for them to take some photos and I am glad he did, I think these are just too cute! And certainly too cute not to share even though Alexa's birthday was a month ago hehe :)

Twinkies are about the only thing on the peanut/tree nut, all allergen free, prepackaged list...

Celebrating at home that night

Minnesota State Fair

2011-08-30T19:00:00.008-05:00

Well I have definitely been a bad blogger this month. Super busy with work, school and life. Our weekends have been packed with Twins games, weekends away and boating. Last weekend we made it to the Minnesota State Fair with Adam, Angie and AnnaBelle.

On the way to the bus stop - pretty excited!

Checking out the animals

So soft!

The girls holding hands in their strollers

And apparently walking 8 hours at the State Fair will bring on labor, who would have guessed ;) AnnaBelle's younger sister Annette Margaret was born later that night. 6lbs 2oz, 19 inches. Congrats to the W Family on your newest addition!

Alexa's 2nd Birthday Party Pics

2011-08-02T19:00:00.013-05:00

Alexa's party went off without a hitch! I owe a lot of this to Eric, he ran his butt off ahead of time to make sure that everything was orchestrated perfectly so that we could enjoy the party once it started and made sure that I had plenty of time in the evenings to work on projects ahead of time. It was a very humid and windy, but other then that I wouldn't have changed a thing.

The Invite

The birthday girl checking things out

Having a ball with her papa

Rainbow fruit kabobs and dip

The Menu:

Jalapeno Smash Burgers
Bacon Cheddar Burgers
Pesto Pasta Salad
Steakhouse Potato Salad
Rainbow Fruit Kabobs & Dip
Taco Dip & Chips
Cupcakes
Pink Lemonade
Fruit Punch

Showing off my Elmo water haha

...but Daddy, fruit is healthy!

The fam

Cupcakes - The frosting was a bit darker then I wanted, oh well though :) The Elmo & Abby cutout I painted

Crayon's and paper tabletop for the kids to color, unfortunately it didn't make it too long in the wind

Fortune cookie favors

Pennant banner that I sewed

Getting into the spirit of things... looks a bit like cookie monster, no?

Pin the nose on the Elmo - Elmo's leprosy didn't fair so well in the hot sun :(

You could certainly tell who WASN'T cheating lol!

Daddy's little birthday girl

And here comes Mommy with a surprise!

Checking out her new ride!

Truly Double Trouble!

Such a cute one of AnnaBelle!

Save me!

And we no longer had to provide any entertainment for the kiddo's ;)

Hard to get into presents when all she wanted to do was play on her new Gator

We had a great turnout - 36 people!

Goon!

Buh-bye, off to cruise the strip!

Cute little Emma!

Opening presents the next day... don't mind the toddler crack :)

Happy Birthday My Sweet Alexa

2011-08-01T08:43:00.003-05:00

I am full of emotion today on your second birthday. I knew dropping you off at daycare today would be tough as I (selfishly) want to be the one to spend your birthday with you, but I had no idea it would be this hard. As I type this I can't help but watch the clock and relive the moment two years ago. About now we were being whisked away to the OR, 11 minutes away from meeting you.

I truly love you more and more each day and even though you have always been a difficult child, I wouldn't trade it for anything in this world. You ARE my world baby doll. There is nothing that I wouldn't do for you. I hope you had an amazing time at your birthday party, it sure looked like you did. You are blessed with lots of love all around you. You are so full of spunk, energy and laughter - you can put anyone in a good mood.

I will never forget these last few weeks leading up to your birthday. You could have asked for anything in this world, but you only wanted birthday cake for your birthday. Every time you said, "I want birthday cake," my heart just melted. And when you finally got your cake I think you took about one bite :) but that it to be expected from such a finicky eater :)

8:43. You are TWO years old. (yep it took me 11 minutes to write that, finding the words for these emotions is tough!)

I love you Lexa!

Mommy

Emily & Elliott's Wedding!

2011-07-29T07:00:00.011-05:00

My coworker/friend Emily married her soul-mate this past weekend. I was excited to go to their wedding because as anyone who talks to Emily knows, these two are head over heals in love with each other. Emily beams every time she mentions Elliott's name! They had a beautiful wedding in Northfield, which is a super cute little town about an hour from the Twin Cities. The reception was at an old theater, and our small group had private box seats for dinner. Everything was perfect Emily! Congrats again you two!

Meghan & Rachel

Joel & Meghan

Pointing to the "princess" (Emily)

Have a great weekend everyone! I will be entertaining approximately 35 guests for a certain 2 year old's birthday party! All she has been talking about for the past two weeks is birthday cake :)She keeps saying, "I want birthday cake and milk!"