'Round here.

We started our day like this. Like always. Snuggles in Mama's bed. Lay there 'til we think Fisher's diaper just won't be able to snuggle with us any longer before we start our day. Breakfast is after diaper-changing, and the rule I'm trying to implement around here is Once you have your breakfast don't ask Mama for anything else until she's eaten or else she will be grumpy.The kid still loves his lovey. Desperately. Give him the lovey, he inserts fingers, starts hugging that Monkey blanket.
Little girl vignettes. That little girl starts preschool on Tuesday. She got to meet her teacher yesterday. Miss Mary, please be wonderful to my daughter.

Alla loves to gaze at her garden. I'm starting to wonder how long said garden has left.
We are looking forward to homemade Pizza Friday.

I'm still shedding like crazy.

He has an incredible smile.

We had moo-moos for snack this morning (smoothies for those of you not in the know). Today: strawberry-banana-pineapple yum. She finished the whole thing sitting out there in her Diego chair before Carter + Canton came to hula hoop for a bit.Someone grew two-and-a-half inches since her birthday. Someone's pants don't really fit anyore. Wonder how long we have on those shoes, too, that are going on a year old. And still kickin', I might add, so I will be buying another pair in the next size up when the time comes. Great shoes. We're glad it's Friday. Alla's going to be super excited when she wakes up tomorrow and it's the weekend (movie morning!) and Dada doesn't have to go to work.

The state fair MONSTER post.

OK, here we go. Since you were all waiting all weekend, I know, to find out what we saw and, more importantly, what we ate! Susan, this is really for you.

We got to hit up the fair on Labor Day again with our friends Craig + Nicole and their two boys, Carter + Canton, who are all absolutely the most wonderful friends. We are so lucky.

The fair seems to work best EARLY. So we got up at 6:30, fed and changed Fisher, and headed out the door. Arriving early guarantees you free parking on the streets outside the fair. Here they are at 7:30 am walking toward the main entrance. So excited.The grown-ups' favorite part: the coffee. Craig introduced me to breves. Um, yum. A latte but replace the milk with half and half. Perfect way to start off the eating frenzy. The kids were content with their bags of mini-donuts.We were content with their i.d. wristbands:)Listen, Fisher was like the easiest baby. We didn't hear a peep unless it was a happy peep. Not a fuss until he got the hiccups. We didn't even realize until LUNCHTIME that we hadn't even changed him once. Bad parents.

The fair is about everything being on a stick, including boulders apparently. How many years do we have of this, the kids just wanting to pet the animals. Seriously cheap dates.
The fair is also about stuffing your face with the filthiest fattiest food you can find. But we had heard about the peaches, so we stuffed our faces with those. And apples, and frozen apple cider. That is one big peach she's got there.

See, he was just along for the ride. So were the three-year-olds.
Carter is simply the sweetest, putting his arm around Alla to get her to see what he sees. The whole fair must just be an absolute wonderland to a child.
She just wanted ice cream. Nevermind that what she got was raspberry whip from Dole. She just told herself it was strawberry.

Fish and Nicole enjoying the music, or enjoying Dancing Canton. The end of the day, hasn't her face grown a bit long?

Him, when we got back to the car. That poor lovey still smelled like all things State Fair this morning: sweet-sweet cotton candy, everything fried, sweat, hot, dirt. As if he enjoyed any of that himself!

She did cheer up but we saw much more of that long face later in the day, and that's why both kids were in bed by 7. She won this ducky on the midway:) She was not the big fan of rides this year, didn't even want to go down the giant slide with her mama. She's entered a cautious phase, I'm afraid, so that means for sure she didn't want anything to do with the Ferris Wheel that the Francisco-Osterhaus clan went on. I did manage to shove her onto the SkyRide, but there are no pics from our view up there because she would not let me unwrap one single arm from around her lest she fall out or something.

OK, so the round-up of Fair Foods Consumed 2008, that I can remember, between the eight of us. Well, between the seven of us. Fisher didn't exactly get his first-hand.

Mini-donuts

Coffee

fried meatball on a stick

giant pretzel

apple

peach

frozen pressed apple cider

chocolate-covered key lime pie on a stick

corndogs

gyros

fish taco

deep fried Snicker

Dole whip raspberry cone

Sweet Martha's cookies

lemonades

cotton candy

I think that's it? Nicole?

A famous Alla swinging picture.

Susie suggested that I might have a famous Alla swinging picture to go with little man's from yesterday. Indeed I do. Seems that my kids love to swing. What kid doesn't, though?

And boy am I glad that I'm paying a bit more attention to things like, oh, SHARPNESS, in my photos since then!

Ten on Tuesday.

1. It's like a facebook revolution around here.

2. Fisher has now snuggled all of but one of his grandparents. Thanks for coming, Grampa! We missed you, Gramma.3. Reading Gorgeously Green. Jeez, all that's doing for me is making me wonder about every.single.ingredient in our bathroom. And realize there is no perfect lotion. And wonder if it's all a hype. And think that I might have to come to terms with what I can find at Target, lest I waste our retirement on so-called good for me ingredients.

4. He's a big fan of the tree swing. And it works wonders on a baby with a cold who also had to have shots. 5. For dinner tonight: Jambalaya and Sweet Corn Bread. Both favorites.

6. Nana + Pappi visited this weekend. Fisher has changed a lot since they were here in April!

7. We made a trip to the zoo to see what we could see, and lo and behold we saw something new, a butterfly exhibit. Like a huge tent (read: gorgeous, diffused light) with tame beautiful butterflies just a-flying around. This one was cerulean inside those brown spotted wings.
8. See how lovely?! It was our favorite part of the trip. 9. I got to run today. Short but sweet.

10. Did you know Labor Day is MONDAY? MONDAY! I can't believe it's unofficially the end of summer. It is, however, State Fair time, ladies and gentlemen. Stay tuned.

Pure joy.

These sunflowers out our back windows make me smile several times a day. I think that's their sole purpose, and why they made a repeat appearance in our garden this year...pure joy. As Alla says, everything in our garden is a miracle.

Ten on Tuesday: The Five Months Edition.

1. First of all, what on earth? My son is five months old? Really? I mean yesterday he was five weeks and it was Alla's birthday and still cold and he was teensy weensy.

2. He loves to be held. What baby doesn't?! The gymini, so-so, maybe 10 minutes. The bouncer, so-so, maybe 5-7 minutes. The saucer, likes it slightly better, maybe 12 minutes if he's in a good mood. The real winner is the crib/mobile set-up, which is a good 20 minute activity for him. Unless he gets his foot stuck in the crib. Then it's over.

3. He's a professional roller.

4. Loves to sleep on his right side, curled up to his lovey, with his two fingers in his mouth.

5. Also sleeps on his belly comfortably, most of the time, that is.

6. Super cuddly.

7. So ticklish: thighs, sides, ribs, under-arm-baby-flab, elbows.

8. Loves to swing. Nope we didn't wait til five months. Hey, we've got winter on the horizon here, better use it while we can.

9. Hates the bottle, don't even remember the last time we tried.

10. Cooperated with Mama for a five-month picture:)

We love you, little man. Now don't go getting bigger. I was all emotional when Alla turned six months old and I don't think I can go through that again.

Nicknames - She & He.

She: Al, Alla-Balla, Al-Bal, Al Rees, Alla Rees-y Piece-y, Sugarlump, Babe, Honey, Love.

He: Fish, Fish Bo-Bish, Sugs, Babe, Love. I'm sure he'll earn more as he grows.

Now those are all nicknames that we've given them. But something special happens between siblings: nicknames they give each other. So far that's completely one-sided, obviously, but I'm thinking it will be adorable to see what pours out of his mouth in admiration of his big sis. So far, she's come up with two for him:

Bud-dy. Pronounced BuTTy.

And Fishy. I really cannot stand that last one, coming from anyone else, but from her, it's super sweet and love-filled and just her special special name for him. So it can stay.

See how our garden grows.

It grows wild. I'm sure there's a more precise, methodical way to plant, but I just sort of guesstimate how far apart these veggies should be and have at it. That's the view from the back of the yard looking toward the house.The sunflowers absolutely delight Alla. She peeks out her window each morning and checks on them. This morning I heard several times Oh my god! Oh my god! and then pitter patter to my room to tell me we better get ready for Sunflower Day. It's as if they know they delight her, too, cause they open their faces toward her window.That basil I planted in front was what I had leftover from a live herb plant purchase at Target. I figured it had roots and dirt so I could plant it. It's doing splendidly and I do believe I'll make pesto this year.My favorite, the tomatoes. One cherry (Super Sweet 100's) and two grape (Moby grape, I think), and they are just providing us with tons and tons of yum. There's cucumber out there, too, so with a little lettuce, we're having nice salads around here.The harvest. Love this. Gardens are wonderful things. I kinda wish for another bed. Hm. Maybe next year.

Ten on Tuesday: The Six-Year Anniversary Edition.

1. Ron and I celebrated six years of wedded bliss on Sunday, eleven of togetherness. That's a mighty long time, a third of our lives now have been shared with each other. To mark the occasion we loaded up the kiddos and went down to St. Paul to have coffee and the most decadent cream cheese croissants you can imagine. Really, that did it for me right there, just that two-dollar amazing buttery-flakey-creamy goodness topped off with good coffee. Happy Anniversary, babe, let's do it again next year:)

2. OK, though that was the highlight of the day probably for both of us grown folk, we did do a little sightseeing afterward, since we were already out and all. Anniversaries are a different ballgame once you have kids, I tell you.

3. Alla was just excited that we let her bring along her babydoll stroller. Loaded up with two doggies and two Monchichis. Hello, 1985. Yes she's been digging instead of napping. But the question isn't "Why won't she nap?" - it's more like, "Why do I still have Monchichi's??"

4. After the yummy croissants (of which we do NOT have photos because they were absolutely inhaled), we ventured toward Minnehaha Falls, so we could cross that off our to-do list, and stopped at a new park along the way.

5. Maybe this was the best part for the little girl. New stuff to navigate. 6. A photo-op with my littlest love, a fave part of the day for me. 7. We did find the Falls, after some circling and the saving grace of the iPhone. Very lovely. And then we wandered around and just took our time strolling before we loaded up the kiddos in the car to nap on the twenty minute ride home. I'm pretty sure Alla here was telling us about getting in that water with a boat. She had a plan.8. Don't you love how they love you? Unconditionally. Just love love love.9. Fisher didn't have too high an opinion of the Falls.

10. Anniversaries are a different thing with kids, I tell you again. At least with babies. One of these years we're heading on an anniversary vacation again, but for now, it seems to be celebration enough just to head out in general, to eat something new, see something new, and celebrate together as a family.

That doesn't mean we won't be doing our own thing in a few weeks when Nana+Pappi come visit:)