Pictures!! :)

We had professional pictures taken last night and I absolutely LOVE the way they turned out -- our photographer posted a "sneak peak" on her blog. We also took photos with my parents and brother, which are not posted -- but I'm positive they turned out really well! I cannot wait to see them all -- I'm super excited to get them :)

http://www.jmphotographymn.blogspot.com/

State Fair 2008

We had a very good long weekend! We brought the kids to the State Fair on Friday with my parents! It was an extremely long day, but it was fun! We started off with bringing the kids into the Little Farm Hands! It was so cute and Kylie obviously understands it much more than Dawson did, but it was good! Everything is "play" and nothing is real, but the kids definitely get the idea. :) If you have a min. take a look at the photos from the Farm.

Then we ventured our way to the Kiddy Midway for Kylie and a few of the rides were a little young for her, but she is one dare devil and really likes the fast rides!



AND yes, I went on a ride with her as well...it was actually quite fun -- they were airplanes...



AND Dave too, got to go on a ride with Kylie...definitely one I could not do, I'm not one to go in circles, but Dave doesn't seem to mind, check out the video (you'll need sound) :)





AND this brings us to the Giant Green and Yellow slide -- Kylie and I went first and then Miss Kylie wanted to go AGAIN, so of course, we went AGAIN and I brought Dawson this time. He was a tad bit scared...he didn't really have a whole lot to cry, but started to get a little scared (as I could tell in his wimpers) and then before you knew it we were at the bottom and he turns around and looks at it...like what in the world was that:



The kids were starting to get tired by this point -- Kylie was ready to go home. We didn't bring the wagon, as I thought for sure she would have been able to make it through the entire day -- this girl usually has so much energy...so we brought the stroller for Dawson, but realized by this time, we should have brought the wagon for Kylie AND Dawson!



So while Dawson was taking a snoozer, my Mom wanted to go on the "sling shot" and I kept hinting at my Dad that she really wanted to go...well he finally said, if you BOTH go on this ride, I'll pay for it...well THIS ride, is called "2Xtreme". I was scared out of my pants...seriously! My Dad bought tickets and my Mom and I risked our lives...and I was literally questionning the guy who was putting us into this ride and asking him if he's ever rode it, etc. He said he has rode it one time when he bought it, but that it will be the best ride of our lives!! Well there was no turning back at this point -- it much reminded me of skydiving...check out the photos:







We finally ended our journey of the Fair with some Sweet Martha's Chocolate Chip Cookies -- Dawson totally enjoyed :)







Kylie fell asleep on Grandpaon our way home...that girl was tired!

Kylie and her friend Kristen

Kylie had a playdate last night and Kristen's Mom took some photos of the girls! They had a blast and are soo darn cute I had to share! :)

Long weekend - Short week - Long weekend!

Last Friday -- I came home from work not feeling well and then came to find out when I got home that Dawson was not good either. He ran a temp. mainly in the evenings of 104-105 degrees and during the day of around 101. He was totally out of it a lot of the weekend! But we made it through and he's doing much better!

We had made a trip to Target on Sunday and I was trying sunglasses on -- I had asked Kylie what she thought and she came back with the comment "Stylish, Mom!" My Mom and I laughed so hard! She didn't even think twice about it -- it just came out! It was adorable! This Summer, Kylie has grown up so much! I'm so amazed. Everyday, she's talking more and more like an adult and it's so scary!

I took the day off yesterday to have a day to myself and I still wasn't feeling up to par! But it was nice to have a day to literally relax and sleep with no interruptions. I did feel extremely guilty sending my children to daycare while I slept and sat at home. This never happens!!

So this upcoming week -- it's a short week for us and then another long weekend -- yay!! Dave and I and my parents took Friday off to take the kids to the State Fair! Kylie got to go last year, while I was home with Dawson and actually if I remember correctly I was also in the hospital last year when they went to the State Fair...that's when I had my D & C done. Crazy how fast time goes! But I'm excited to take them and spend the day with them. :)

I also have some other news!! My friend Angie had her baby yesterday! She had a baby boy, Owen Daniel, born on August 25 at 8:35 p.m. He weighed 6 lbs. 13 oz. and was 20" long and has very blonde hair as I've been told. I'm patiently waiting to speak with her -- I heard the news from her Mom -- but I will post photos as soon as I can get some!

~Dawson's 1 year check-up~

Dawson had his 1 year check-up last night and for the most part everything looks good! Things were a little odd though...lol! The first thing they do when we get to the clinic is take his weight and height. He weighed in at 20# 14 oz. and oddly that's only a 10 oz. gain from his 9 month check-up, this put Dawson in the 10% tile. I was like WHAT? Kylie was never ever in the 10% tile for anything! It was quite strange! His height was 30 1/2", so that's a 1 1/2" growth spurt in that area and that puts him in the 90% tile for height! Then they also took his head measurement and that was at 18", another oddly thing, his 9 month appt. his head measured at 18 1/4". So we discovered with the head circumference that the helmet made that difference and obviously reshaped his head.

They were not concerned at all by his little weight gain, because it's obvious he eats and that he's growing, as he was in inches as well. Our little Dawson is just tall and lean at this point!

Otherwise, Dawson is doing great and still progressing on all levels. He ended up getting 3 shots last night and I felt so terrible for him. He never cries, so it broke my heart to hear him cry and whimper. :( He did really well and hung in there the best he could!

He goes back at 15 months...so lets all hope he's walking by then :) He's definitely getting around VERY well by crawling these days!

Dawson's First Birthday!!!!!

It's my birthday and I'll say CHEESE if I want too!

Well today was the big day! I cannot believe it came so fast and it went soo fast too! :( Today was a great day -- it couldn't have been better -- we spent the entire day outside! We had Dawson's party at a local park and it all worked out perfect. We got to spend time with all of our family and friends; including my family from out-of-state came! It was great to see them all. Dave got the pleasure of grilling all the hot dogs and brats.

Dawson had a ton of fun with his cake (BTW, he got his own little "dig in" cake as the rest of us ate the cupcake cake! He absolutely loved it and totally dug in -- we ended up taking his clothes off and not putting any back on for awhile. We had to clean this boy inside and out! He had cake everywhere, up his nose, in his ears, hair and eyes. But he loved it and had a blast eating it! I could hear people saying they've never seen a 1 year old eat as much cake as he ate! So far, so good, no tummy aches!

Dawson didn't quite understand the gist of gift opening, but he had his big sister and lots of friends helping out. There was no lack of assistance! Dawson was more interested in the cards than the gifts I think anyways, hehe!

Dawson did get a really cool Tonka truck that he literally fit right into!

Dawson got a lot of really need gifts, books (in which we needed) and BOY toys! He needed them...poor little guy was playing with Barbie pianos and other GIRL toys. :)

Dawson's godparents Jamie and Brian spent quite a bit of time with Dawson today too -- they came to the party at the park and then came to our house afterwards for the "afterparty", I guess you could call it! My Mom and Grandma also came over and it was absolutely gorgeous outside, so we sat in the front yard and played yard games and just hung out (yes, Jen had a few beers). It was a blast! Dawson did get to take a snoozer for a little bit, but Kylie, nah, that wasn't happening! After Dawson got up, we had unraveled some of his toys, so he got to play with them and crawled around and discovered that grass wasn't so bad after all!

Brian got the joy of going on the tire swing with Dawson! It got to a point where Dawson could have totally fallen asleep. :)

Dawson and Brian spending quality time!!

We ended the evening about 10:30 p.m. when Jamie and Brian went home! :( It was great to spend some time with our favorite friends though!

Last but not least for today...

I'm actually posting on the day that something happened!!! :)

DAWSON STARTED CRAWLING!!!! YAY!!! We are soo very excited! It's so cute and he knows it too. He's becoming much more mobile and it's great! We've been patiently waiting for this day to come! Something I never thought I'd be saying, hehe!

On another note, he is getting 5 teeth in...two of them are his one year molars :( He's doing really well for them coming in. He's a strong boy -- they don't seem to bother him all that bad; but can definitely tell he's teething -- he always has something in his mouth (i.e. fingers or blanket).

Next weekend is Dawson's 1 year birthday. I just cannot believe how fast it has gone! I will post some photos after his little celebration of digging into his cake :)

Kylie's First Trip to Valleyfair

Last Sunday, August 3, 2008, I had my company family outing at Valleyfair and I thought it would be a great experience for Kylie to go (especially because we didn't have to pay for it). :) Dawson stayed with our friends, Jamie and Brian, while we had a day with Kylie. The rain seemed to hold off for us and it wasn't super hot, it was great because the park wasn't real busy either. Below are a few pictures of Kylie having TONS of fun!

Dave and Kylie on the hot air balloons!

Kylie on the "MILD THING" (in the black shirt). She went on this roller coaster 3 times in a row! She loved it!

Kylie and Jen on the ferris wheel -- this was the last ride of the day!

Dawson's First Bike Ride

Dawson took his first bike ride in the bike trailer! I don't think he really knew what to think...he was quite quiet the entire time riding. But Kylie on the other hand, enjoyed riding instead of biking herself -- as she would say, "if I biked a really long ways, my legs would get tired" and we did go for a long bike ride that day, so decided to have her give her brother some company. Dave got the big workout by pulling the bike trailer!

Kylie's started soccer

Kylie started soccer a couple weeks ago and is really liking it...it keeps her moving at all times and this girl has so much energy that soccer actually makes her tired afterwards! :)