We went to the annual Montevideo Fire Department open house and fundraiser again this year (hard to believe that a year ago this was the last thing we did as a family of three...I started having contractions in the middle of the night after last year's fundraiser.) We enjoyed a supper of hot dogs, beans, and potato chips and then let Brendan wander through all the trucks they had out. He loved climbing into the fire trucks, pretending to drive them. After we were through, there was just enough daylight left to run to the playground.
Megan got in on some of the fire truck action.
Megan and I.
Brendan and Brad on the digger (Brendan's favorite playground activity.)
Over Megan's birthday weekend we had to stop at Maplewood Mall, so we left Megan napping with my family and brought Brendan with us. I took Brendan on a carousel ride in the mall and we had a great time!
Brad's parents have a major construction zone around their house, as their street is being extended past them in preparation for any new housing that may go up around them (a bummer, because that was the family golfing and golf cart riding area, but oh well...) Mary called us to come over in early October because they were digging to put in water pipes and sewer lines right at the end of their driveway. We headed over and we couldn't tear Brendan away. He had a blast watching the excavators and bulldozers do their jobs. Above, he's near the end of Gene and Mary's driveway, with the excavators working away behind him.
This is the new street that's being put in, which will now extend from the edge of the Koosmann's property (about where the lamp-post is) to the field in the background. We spent many a happy summer afternoon hitting golf balls, riding the golf cart, and looking for garter snakes in these open lots.
Megan discovered the crawl-through end table at Gene and Mary's. She loves crawling through and knocking on the doors, playing peek-a-boo in a more big-girl fashion.
Megan and Brendan in their rocking chairs.
Brendan figured out how to cross his eyes, and he likes doing it at the most random times, making us burst into laughter and tell him "Don't do that...your eyes will stick that way!" (which is probably an old wives tale, but sometimes you can't help but repeat the things you heard growing up.)
The Koosmann family apple-peel-a-thon. Our old tree didn't produce a single apple this year, and our new one is still too little, so we bought three bags and made applesauce. Megan watched, Brendan "helped" (ie. cut apple pieces into smithereens with his kid-safe knife), and Brad and I ended up staying up for an extra hour to peel, cut and core. But the applesauce was good!
Our good friends, Angie and Tom, stayed the weekend with us. We didn't do a lot...talked, ate, played games, talked some more, but we had a wonderful time. Brendan adores them both, so he was running around, crazy with excitement, all weekend. Above, he got Tom to read him a bedtime story (Angie came next.)
Brendan got to join in on some of the Xbox golfing action.
We had been waiting and waiting for them to start harvesting the corn in the field behind us, so when we saw the combine out I thought Brendan was going to jump out of his skin with excitement. He literally ran up and down with the combine along the edge of the field (he's on the right edge of the picture), and it was adorable.
A close-up of the combine loading it's corn into the tractor. (That's Brendan's favorite part.)
Brendan and Megan playing together (and nobody is crying...yay!) Actually, they play very well together, as long as Megan isn't destroying something of his, and as long as Brendan isn't taking away something from her. You know how it goes...
Megan drinking from her sippy cup with her feet pressed up along the front of the highchair tray. She eats her entire meal with her feet like that. Brendan sat like this all the time too.
One late afternoon the weather was nice and Brendan really wanted to play bubbles outside, so out we all headed.
Brad holding Megan, who was very, very interested (and slightly confused) by the bubbles.
My turn with Megan and the bubbles. Brad was on bubble wand duty with Brendan.
The kids and I on a lounging morning. Brendan, as you can tell, was a little grumpy and didn't want to look at the camera. I thought it was fitting, as Brad was like that as a kid...most of his pictures when he was Brendan's age were like this.
Brendan and Brad mixing up the batter for some waffles. Brendan still loves helping out in the kitchen.
A very long-haired Brad (I put off cutting his hair for an extra month, out of my own laziness) and his little girl cuddling before a Vikings game.
Megan in her Moss jersey (and nuk, of course.) We're not big Moss fans, but I was excited that we had the jersey for her after he was traded back to the Vikings. And it got packed away again when he left...
We had a family book night one evening when both kids were very crabby during supper. So right after supper and cleanup we all got in our pj's, we grabbed about twenty books, and we all lounged on our bed and read, read, read. Megan lasted through about five books and then went to bed. Brendan made it through all of the books (Brad and I took turns reading about halfway through) and he went to bed well. We were delighted because both kids (with emphasis on Brendan!) were asleep by 8pm.
Brad and I like to discuss favorite meals from restaurants in the cities, and occasionally I'll do some research and try to make them for us. The other day we were talking about the chicken scampi at Olive Garden, so I surprised Brad with a recreation of one of our favorite Olive Garden meals. To be honest, we haven't cracked open our china in about five years... so I decided we should use it more often. We didn't get to eat until about 7pm (the kids snacked though), but it was worth it. In the above picture I had told everyone to smile at the camera, but Brendan replied "I just can't stop eating!" Whether it was because he was so hungry or because the food was so good, I can't say, but he ate really well, and I took the picture anyway. :)
Our Olive Garden chicken scampi meal. (Complete with Italian salad before the full meal, and with the addition of peas for some additional veggie balance) And (hee hee) neither Brad or I like red wine, so we substituted with cherry coke!
...and then the cleanup. Ugh.
Megan and Brendan, again, in their rocking chairs.
Megan discovered that she is now big enough to sit on and ride a few of Brendan's larger ride-on toys. And (contrary to her facial expression) she was delighted.
Megan and Brendan playing together in the Cozy Coupe. All you heard were giggles for about five minutes...it was great!
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