do I fit?

for some reason miles has decided that he must try to fit inside of every container he has. this means that the toys that once occupied these containers must get (in miles' words) dropped onto the floor. so much for a neat house! his latest attempt was pretty amusing as the container was barely larger than a shoe box.

look at me!

this is when he said "stuck...help"

"out"

papa's "puter"

miles has a "new" computer at papa and nana's house. he was super excited to play with it and carry it around (while saying "heavy!"). it made him feel just like papa and daddy.

I have no idea why he wanted to do this!

nana showing miles how it works...notice his attentiveness

like papa like grandson

working at the car wash

last week miles and daddy decided to wash the cars. I'm not sure if miles was much of a help, but he had a lot of fun with the brush and bucket of water. don't look for the two of them to start up a business anytime soon!

happy birthday to me!

a big thank you to my parents for the delicious birthday cookout!

josiah got all decked out

the boys trying out our new double stroller

love, love, LOVE the corn

the highlight of miles' day

helping me blow out the candles

ice cream cake is good.

nykki's sling does double duty as entertainment & confinement. I like.

the great minnesota get together

this year we headed up to the MN state fair on labor day weekend. we thought that a friday afternoon would be less crowded than saturday or sunday. wrong. it was fun nonetheless and the food was a symphony! who doesn't enjoy food on a stick? kyle, but that's beside the point. he was a pretty good sport and entertained my need for fair food for a good four hours. miles was an angel and seemed to enjoy all of the greasy food as well. he's such a mama's boy! the weather was to die for and it was great that beth, seth, & josiah and brian & blair could all join us. in fact, beth & seth stayed with us for the entire weekend. we crashed at marc & jen's while they were out of town. they are so nice to let us take over their entire house for a weekend! here are some pictures from the fair:

the fam

whose kid is this?

uncle bri-nan!

we spent ample time (and money) at the john deere display. miles was in tractor HEAVEN.

this one is for matt...read carefully

after kyle had reached his threshold for time spent at the fair, we went to eat a "real dinner" at the groveland tap. this tiny, yet mighty, restaurant is just a couple of blocks from my uncle and aunt's house in st paul...so we were able to stop there to say hello to the kiddos, nick & ellie. miles thought they were great and couldn't get enough of watching nick ride his skateboard.

showing ellie his "tractor book"

perched atop the half-pipe

watch out tony hawke

saturday (the 5th) was my 30th birthday...again. kidding, I'm not ashamed to say that I turned 31 this year. 30 was fun and I'm looking forward to another exciting and family-filled year. for this year's celebration, kyle took me to see mary poppins at the historic orpheum theater in minneapolis. it was phenomenal! our seats were perfect. just 10 rows back and right on the aisle, giving me a completely unobstructed view of the stage. poor kyle had to deal with a frizzy bob dylan wannabe haircut in front of him, but it didn't seem to hinder his enjoyment all that much. beth and seth watched miles for us and even let us go out for a quiet dinner. thanks guys!

josiah lounging on sunday morning

loaded with bedtime paraphernalia - monkey, duckie, blankie, & paci

fifteen months old

miles is having a blast being 15 months old and we are amazed at how much he is learning and GROWING everyday. at his well baby check yesterday, he was 34 inches (>97%) and 25 lb 11 oz (63%) - confirming everyone's comments on how tall he is and how good of an eater he is. I know you'll all be surprised to see that he almost has enough of a mini-mullet to warrant a hair cut. soon, very soon.

the other day as I was chatting with my mom on the phone, I mentioned to her that miles' word of the day was "dink" (a.k.a. drink). she said I should make a list of all of the words he says at this age. I have a similar list that she made for me when I was 18 mo old and I could definitely jabber (shocking, I know). so I started writing down anything he says on his own - because he will pretty much copy any word you ask him to say. I have come up with 80 words and 35 signs. in the past couple of days he has figured out how to put the end of the word on the beginning sound. for example - what used to be "seer" is now "cereal". he's also just starting to put two words together: all done and down please. it's so great to hear him practicing words and sounds in the car as we drive around town. today he was "reading" his little book - "da da ya da ya apple" [turn page] "da da ya da ya da truck" [turn page] etc. it was adorable! yes I realize that as a teacher I am probably more amazed by this milestone than others would be. but hey, it's nice to see that all of the reading of books that we do is paying off!! here are a few pictures from the past week.

playing IN the lego box
(note: I did not leave a dozen eggs on the couch, it's a toy)

time to get out

eating cereal in a midriff shirt=stylish

trying out a pillow...yes please!

silly pj baby
a glimpse of his whiny face

that's better!