Jacob gets paid to work on this stuff.

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The Cherry Returns!

The Cherry Returns!, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

From a sad dry Minnehaha Falls pictures to the lovely iconic Minneapolis Cherry Spoon -- complete with the cherry this time!

We took Bonnie to the Sculpture Gardens and then lunch at General Mills World Headquarters on Wednesday. It was a beautiful day! Then, Bonnnie and I returned to MOA for some shopping and to ride some grown-up rides at Nickelodeon Universe.

Slideshow HERE!!!! :)

The Falls... sort-of

The Falls... sort-of, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

Here's a picture because it kind of unreal. No water at the falls! We are in a major drought.

Bikes with Bonnie!

Bikes with Bonnie!, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

We are having a fun time hosting Jacob's cousin, Bonnie, at our house. The first morning she was here we took her out to Minnehaha Falls (dry) and rented a Surrey. It was a lot of fun - and super funny when attempting to go up-hill -- that 90 lbs of kid weight in the front basket make it very challenging! More photos on Flickr, and more to be uploaded soon!

Free car seat safety checks!

Did you know that three out of four child safety seats in Minnesota are used incorrectly?

On Thursday, July 16th, the Walser Automotive Group is hosting a free car seat safety check (by appointment only) from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Walser Mazda, 14720 Buck Hill Road in Burnsville, MN.

This car seat clinic is a benefit for Walser Rewards Members and is also open to the public. This event will give parents the opportunity to learn how to properly install a child seat, and check if their safety seats are properly installed and fit their children correctly. Walser is partnering with the Safe Kids Minnesota Coalition to perform these checks.

Appointments are limited. To make a reservation please call Andrea at 952-345-4019. Each appointment is 30 minutes long and a separate appointment is needed for each child in a car seat. Guests with an appointment will also receive a free car wash (weather permitting) from Walser Mazda.

If you have any doubts about your seats, go. Cars are the number one killer of children under the age of 15! ( Remember the kid who was in the booster too young? And almost always preventable!

Recent conversations with Freddie.

F: "I need band-aid."
me: "Why do you need a band-aid, Freddie?"
F: "Because..." (drawn out to about four syllables) "I need band-aid."


At lunch recently:
me: "Sammy, you asked for a hot dog and didn't eat it."
Freddie: "Put Sammy's hot dog right here, Mommy," while tapping to a spot on his plate.


Freddie also likes to sing. The theme song from Playhouse Disney's Imagination Movers is a favorite. He sings - with force, "Imag aton movers. You got think 'bout it!" It's precious.

He leaves out little bits of his words here and there (the first or middle syllable/word is a favorite for dropping), and blurs parts of others - the word "broken" is "be-oken" for example. I can hear him saying, "Oh no, it be-oken, Maaaaamaaaaaaaa."

He's super feisty and stubborn, and still plenty quick on his feet, but really has his darling moments. Not to mention he's uber smart and cute, too. And I say that from a completely unbiased point of view. Obviously. :)

campfire scene

campfire scene, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

A cute picture of the boys at a campfire area on top of one of the hills. They hiked up and found this and willingly posed for a quick picture :)

Yes, it's a barge!

Thanks for all the responses everyone :)

Here's comes a giant boat., originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

We saw a tugboat pushing this ginormous boat down the Mississippi River this morning and I cannot figure out what the correct name of this type of boat is. Any guesses?

Mississippi River off-leash dog park outing

, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

Leah, her boys and their dog Tootie; Lisa, her girls and their dog Jack; and Sammy, Freddie and I and our dog Emma met up at the MInnehaha Falls off-leash dog park this morning. This park is awesome. It starts with a mini hike that's easy for kids, but has adventure options and climbing if you're into that, and ends on the sandy banks of the Mississippi River.

The kids and dogs (and grown-ups!) had a blast. Almost all of the kids went swimming (some in their underwear, lol) in the River (little Kaia chose to observe from the sidelines), the dogs were chasing after rocks and frisbees (Tootie is way better at this than Emma), and we even got to watch a tugboat push a huge boat (I'm still working on the name of this type of boat) down the river. The children and dogs were filthy, and Leah was a little wet after running through the water to save Isaac's little booty one time :) It was a really fun morning!

I took a bunch of pictures. Just head on over to my Flickr photostream (they can also be found in the Minneapolis: Out and About set.

PS These kids are so lucky!

strawberry sampling

strawberry sampling, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

Look at that sky! We went berry picking on a perfectly beautiful morning!

picking strawberries

picking strawberries, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

Freddie kind of enjoyed this. He would pick one, take a bite, throw it down and them march over the crops to find another. I'm sure the berry farmers love having all these little kids trample their crops!

The strawberries were delicious, warm and juicy!

Berry picking.

picking strawberries, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

Jacob and I took the boys to a Berry Farm (way far north of Minneapolis!) on Friday morning to pick strawberries. We only had $3 when we arrived and since we were way out in the boonies decided to only pick the berries we could afford. The boys liked it okay, but it was a little chaotic for us and Freddie didn't quite get the concept. Maybe next year. Maybe. It was reeeeally far north, and Sammy kept asking, "Is this our exit?"

Funny speech updates.

I've been listening very closely! And I'm putting these up here in case any of you missed it in the earlier entry.

Sammy says:
"lemon-lemms" for M&Ms
"hometell" for hotel
"milkbutter" for buttermilk
"vinoculars" for binoculars
"bownix" for bonus
"Movie-gascar" for Madagascar; coincidentally he also calls Cars "Movie Cars"
"Chuck E Cheeses" for "Chuck E Cheese"
"lemonlade" for "lemonade"
"President Ovama" :)

And Freddie says "Y's" in place of "L's" -- for example he says, "I yove it!" "I sit mommy's yap (lap)." and "I don't yike it!"

I'm sure there are more for both kids, but you get the idea.

Also, both of our kids have the annoying (endearing?) habit of abbreviating their words like Jacob and I do. The classic "sando" for sandwich is an example.

Funday.

Fun at the park, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

It's always Funday for Freddie. :) He makes me smile even when he makes me chase him 500 times a day.

Picnic lunch on summer day in Minneapolis!

A summer morning in Minneapolis, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

Temperatures are more fall-like really, which I don't mind all that much. Unless I've planned a fun morning at the beach instead.... ;) Thanks to all the moms and kids who joined us Monday morning - we are so blessed to have such a terrific group of friends!

My apologies to Cal, because I know Blogger will cut you out of this picture. Please head to Flickr (link beneath photo) to see the entire pic!

And that's one adorable face, Ruby!

The Big Bunny of Minnehaha Parkway

The Big Bunny of Minnehaha Parkway, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

The boys and I biked down the Parkway to "Save the Big Bunny" (think the Wonder Pets, lol) on Monday afternoon. It was a great ride for me -- good exercise, perfect weather and the boys did not fight in the Burley - at all!

Happy Birthday, Will!

Happy Birthday, Will!, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

Our family really enjoyed celebrating Will's fifth birthday at his party yesterday, and at the beach on his actual birthday. Here's to an awesome fifth year, kiddo! :)

More pictures of the party can be found on Flickr A few better pictures (I'm sure!) can be found on my friend Sonja's blog: Team Krasean Sonja I really like your lens that makes the background blurry. My next camera will have removable lenses! "I yove it!"

Sammy going after the ball!

Sammy going after the ball!, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

I couldn't watch most of Sammy's game because I was chasing Freddie around, but Jacob said Sammy went after (and caught) a bunch of balls.

Summer T-Ball

Sammy at bat!, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

Sammy started summer T-Ball last week and he's really enjoying it! Sunday afternoon we went to the park across the street to work on batting and running (hilarious!) and he was pumped to start playing on Monday. He's asked nearly everyday if it's a T-Ball day, or if we can go play ball at the park.

"Firsty"

"Firsty", originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

I kind of like the small bits of speech that Sammy still has trouble with. Like the "th" sound. To me it means he's still little :) (I'm just glad he doesn't replace his "Rs" with "Ws" - like Ming-Ming in the Wonder Pets, that drives me NUTS!)

He also says "a-none-no" for another. I'll pay close attention to him tomorrow and listen for any additional still-a-little-kiddo cuteness.