Let Summer Begin

 Hi Everyone,
   If you haven't heard, our next rotation is in Detroit.  I've never been there, but the impression I have of it is similar to the one I had of Pittsburgh before we moved there.  I think it will be a good thing.  Anthony's excited about the technically focused rotation he'll have there, and it looks like there may be an opportunity for me to volunteer with an awesome organization.  Details pending...or over the phone. The worse thing about leaving Minnesota though, will be leaving the Durants.  sigh...  We must cram in a lot of playing in before August comes.

  Let summer begin!!!  I took Ira to the "beach" this week.  He wasn't a huge fan of the water, but then I wasn't very surprised.  He only likes it in small quantities: in a cup or in a tub.  

 Anthony and I went to hear the orchestra in Minneapolis.  It was fabulous...and we killed time before the performance by taking pics of my new hair cut and sweet street art.

 It was really windy!...and really hot.  We passed a free concert that ended early because the lead singer got heat stroke.  

 Mom, I'm trying to mimic your senior picture below since I realized that I now have the same hair you did in the late 1950s.  Do you have a digital copy?  

 Anthony:  No explanation needed. :)

 Before the haircut

 After: First time with bangs since 3rd grade..and it feels alright.

 Sorry these are so out of order.  This was another fun date we went on...thanks to groupon and the awesome babysitter across the hall from us.  Sample Night Live.  This is a rad band called "The Smarts."  They're kind of like Weezer, They Might Be Giants, with some rockin' jazz and bluegrass mixed in there. 

 St. Paul

We love you guys!  We're glad to hear Mom and Dad are back from India, and are praying for the Larsens in Africa and Dallin in Jerusalem.  Speaking of exotic travel.  Expect exciting pictures next week, we're going to be off to Wisconsin to visit the land of cheese.  Peace out!
  sharon

Applebee's Visit Minnesota

We had a blast with the Applebees here, and Ira is definitely going through withdrawals with them gone.  Here we are at the ComoZoo with a few of the Durants. 

This was Ira's first trip to the zoo, and he was almost as excited to see the monkeys, lions, and giraffes as he was to see the balls in their cages.  His brain is like a radar screen for the things these days.  "Ira look at the seal!" His response: "Ball Ball!!!"  Us passing an icecream stand with a tiny knobby ball hidden at the top of it's snack tent.  "Ball Ball!"  Later that night as Ira gazes into Anthony's eyes and points to Ant's pupils.  "Ball! Ball!" This last one was followed by an attempt to dribble Ant's head....only with minor success. 

Ira and I got a flat tire on the way to the zoo.  He was an angel during the whole two hour process, but when I got him out of the car seat, I realized that he kept himself entertained the entire time by slowly emptying his sippy cup all over his pants and onsie.  Poor kid.  He was a little cold while he dried out.  We have all new tires now.

Chillin' at the playground.

I love my sisters!

On her last night, Kristen and I went to the cannery.  It was my first time.  If I knew we were staying here for our next rotation I would have bought loads more!  Meanwhile it feels so good to have wheat to grind again.  We supposedly find out where we're going (or staying) next on Friday.  Woohoo!  Could it be St. Paul?  Chicago?  Detroit?...or most likely somewhere in Connecticut? 

Anthony and I gave talks in church today and got some nice compliments.  The topic was Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Nursery was heaven since we only had 13 instead of 19 kids, and any overly aggressive kids that we usually have were on vacation. 

Love you guys!

-sharon

Photo update

Hey Everyone! 
  This is just a quick photo update. 

Ira trying on new pj's. 

A cake I decorated for the Applebee's visit!  We're having fun with them here.  

Expect photos of their visit later!

Check this out.  About 12 hours after I decorated it, little white spots appeared on the cake.  Not mold I promise.  I have a feeling it has to do with the salt?..or not sifting the sugar?

Caption Contest!

For some reason, Ira thought squishing his face up against the glass was a blast today.

So, if you have any good ideas for captions, list the picture # and your cap in the comment section.  1st prize will be a virtual cake decorated in your honor and eaten by someone in Minnesota.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

Tonight was my last cake decorating class.  I'm debating signing up for the next one.  Not so sure though.

In other news, Anthony's been busy with work and having fun making cheese!...not at work though.  You can read about it on his cooking blog that he's been working on:  http://antsnthekitchen.blogspot.com/ 

Also, my sister Kristen's e-book is now available!  It's awesome.  Congrats Kris!!!  You can find it here:  http://www.myblackdogbooks.com/kristen-applebee/body-language-veronica-sue

Have a good week!

Chairs, Blankets, Paint and Cake

 Hi Everyone!  Here's the latest photo update.

    Ira's been pretty obsessed with chairs lately.  You know, mostly sitting in them.  If he's suspiciously quiet in another room, I usually find him sitting in a chair.

                               I found this little chair at Goodwill and he's been in love with it ever sense.

 Ira's other hobby lately is walking around the house with a blanket over his head: an invitation to play hide and seek.  It's not his safest interest though.  I can't believe he doesn't have more bumps and bruises from running into table corners, or tripping over things.

Here he joins his two loves.  Ah, the simple pleasures of toddler-hood.

I decided to paint some of Ira's furniture.    

   Before

After

Here's some results from my decorating class.  It's fun to play around.

Love you guys!  Hope all is well.
  Sharon

Mill City Museum Farmers Market

Aebleskiver stand at the
Mill City Museum Farmers Market

Saturday was a beautiful spring day. We hadn't been 'downtown' so we decided to take a look. We made a few wrong turns and ended up driving through the campus of University of Minnesota, which seemed really nice all the road construction aside. We eventually ended up at the Farmers Market in front of the Mill City Museum and Guthrie Theatre.

I don't know what it is about farmers markets, but I never want to leave and wish there was enough $$$ to buy something from every stand. I love the people there not to mention the many yummy wares being marketed. Raw honey, fresh homemade local jam, flowers, chocolate, small dairy farm cheeses, and artisan breads.

The big surprise for me was finding a stand selling Æbleskiver. I basically begged my mom to learn how to make these after eating them at a friends house when I was younger. Being the awesome mom that she is(it's mothers day I have permission to emphasis this today), she learned how to make them and even bought the special pan required to make them. I guess they are Danish and there is a fairly official store/cafe that has made a business of selling them here in Minneapolis, pretty sweet.

I enjoyed talking to all the people selling cheese. I've been reading quite a bit about cheese, yogurt and other diary products. Sharon and I have been making our own yogurt the past few months, Sharon made a form of whipped honey icecream this week, and I will soon, perhaps Monday, have a first attempt at making a fresh cheese like Mozzarella. It was fun to speak to people who have been doing it for awhile and to hear about their experiences. We got some free fresh Herb feta from 'Singing Hills Goat Dairy'. It was delicious.

Our attempt at a family self portrait in the odd reflection
of a shiny object.

Sharon at long last found someone that sells 'organic pork'. Ironically, our pillow talk the night before was about weather it even existed. I have to admit I had no faith and admitted that I didn't really know if it could exist before drifting to sleep; apparently it does at the Mill City Museum Farmers Market. Unfortunately they didn't have any left by the time we got there, so we will have to get some next week.
We enjoyed the market so much we didn't have enough time to explore the rest of downtown. We started, but only got a block to see the Mill Ruins. It looks like there is a good walking loop we plan to do next week.

After being detoured around by all the road construction again ( Apparently they are doing some major rework of the road infrastructure here and every exit we wanted seemed to be torn up) We spent the afternoon with the Durants. I got to break my new bike in and learn the mechanics behind group riding. It was a blast, I'm signed up to ride a 75 mile leg of a 500 mile ride John has decided to do this summer. I'm looking forward to getting out and doing some more rides with him.

We also played our first footy of the summer too. I taught the Durants the basic rules and we played a fun pickup game in their backyard. They were pros. It was pretty awesome.

I'm so excited summer is here, I wish I could go out and play everyday.

Ira picture of the week - Happy Mothers Day!

Garden of Eden... Prairie

Hydrangea - One of Sharon's
Favorite Flowers

We always talk about how much we want a garden in our future home. This year we decided we should start learning on a smaller scale so we are further along the learning curve when we have a place to do a larger gardening project.

As we pulled up to the gardening store I suddenly felt extremely unprepared. All we had thought about was what we thought we could grow. I had no idea what we needed, if we should start with seeds or with something that was already growing, how big the pots should be, what could grow in a pot, etc...

Herbs: Rosemary, Cilantro, and Basil

We were blessed to run into a cheerful lady that held our hands through some of the bigger decisions. We're starting simple. We're trying a tomato plant and some herbs and we got stuff so we can hang them all on our porch when it gets warmer. It's the first year and I hope we can keep at least one plant alive through the summer.


Wish us luck.

We are trying the 'Topsy Turvey' Tomato planter where you
hang it upside down. We didn't want any of our plants to be
in Ira's reach.

The Ira Update:
He had his 15 month check up, he came in with the following measurements:
Height: 32 Inches (~80 percentile)
Weight: 22 lbs 4 oz ( ~25 percentile)
Head Circumference: 18 3/4 inches (75 percentile)

His latest mannerisms:
He keeps saying something like 'Bus' or 'Bush' at everything. We can't figure out what he's trying to say, but he says it a lot.
He started climbing. He climbs on all the chairs, the bean bag, the little night stands next to our bed, etc...
He started walking backwards today and found it pretty entertaining.
He is more vocal than ever. He laughs a lot and gives out little yelps of joy and screams of attention that are often hard to ignore.

Other Life Updates:
- We celebrated our 4th year being married.
- Sharon starts a cake decorating class, expect pictures in the future.
- We had a happy Easter Sunday with friends.
- We are all a little sniffly with some sort of head cold that's been going around the area.

We wish you all the best.

P.S. Several family members have asked why only one spouse gets an email update with the blog; it's because I can only indicate 10 people to send update to and that's barely enough to send it to one person in each family. However, I found a way around it, if people sign themselves up. If you go to the blog there is an area on the left of the screen where anyone can put their email address in and they will be signed up to get an email whenever we update the blog. So let your spouse or whoever is interested know, or sign them up on the blog.