Happy Birthday Delaney

I took the boys to a birthday party at Bounce Jungle yesterday (Carrie is at the Osh Kosh Air Show this week) and don't know who had more fun: Brody or Corey ... and it was for Brody's friend!

It was fun seeing Brody reconnecting with his Goddard School friends Delaney and Jason, and great that Corey could chase them around instead of me for a change. The best part way, I didn't have to worry about Bobo climbing and following Corey everywhere because everything is soft and inflated. Fun for the whole family (except Carrie, of course)!

Three-Week Catch-Up

Wow. So much to say since it has been three weeks. So sorry about that. Though I hope we make up for quantity with quality. :)

First off, big news. Bobo is in big-kid underwear and looking adorable in it. He makes it yellow without anyone asking him to do so, and has held it in the car, or wherever we are. Less success on number two, but we've had small wins.

He is also a fish in the pool now. No pictures of that, but take my word on it. He's all over the place, and is embracing his "super swim suit" (which floats) and the independence it gives him in the water. Corey, too, is making big strides. He went down the Evahnenko's slide last weekend!

We went to a Diamondbacks game care of Hope Kids (note Corey's shirt in the picture). Also care of Hope Kids, we went - as a family - to see Hannah Montana the movie. Brody went to the bathroom about four times, but stayed dry. Always a good thing. And of course, ate a lot of popcorn. We had to buy "Hoedown Throwdown" from iTunes when we got home. Mostly because of Rob and Bobo. Bobo is quite a dancer. We'll have to get a video of that....

Last week, Corey and I went to see Demi Lovato in concert (also care of Hope Kids - we owe them a great deal!) I liked David Archuleta - he was great. Mostly I was just amazed by Demi Lovato. She has quite a voice, but mostly ran around the stage out of breath, and I was horrified at the older men taking videos of her. We left early, mostly because Corey can't stay up that late, but I think he enjoyed his first "real" concert. Disney is pure marketing genius, because we immediately had to download all the "Sunny with a Chance" TV shows from NetFlix. He turned from Nickelodeon to Disney almost overnight.

I'm sort of working backwards here. We didn't really catch you up on our vacations this month. Rob was in Minnesota nearly three weeks, and during that time he posted pictures here and there, but there were a few things he missed. (Mostly while I was there, I might add....)

Rob, Kristin and John took Corey to the Twins game on Saturday. Kristin earlier that day went dress-shopping with Melinda, since Kristin is getting married in April. I lucked out and didn't have to dress-shop or go to the baseball game. :) I believe Brody and I helped Grammy get dinner ready by preparing corn for the grill.

Friday was a busy day! Picture this: four separate families, covering three generations, show up at a Target photography studio and squeeze in for 30 shots. Ages six months to sixty. Eleven people in a ten-foot squared studio. Eleven sets of eyes that have to be open at the same time. I, for one, am impressed with how well everything turned out. We are looking forward to getting our copies of the photos.

Later Friday, we piled into three cars (eleven people - you do the math) and headed to Lake Minnetonka where "crazy driver" (Brody's words, not mine) zoomed us around the lake on a pontoon. In Grandpa's defense, you have to expect to get a little wet when you're on a boat!

It was an overcast day, which made it a little cooler, so it was very nice just hanging out on the boat. Grammy made a TON of food so it was basically a floating picnic.

Brody's favorite part: "When Grandpa got me wet." Which is odd, since at the time, he burst into tears, and wailed until I wrapped him in a towel and took him to the back of the boat, where things were a little drier. Basically we hit a wave straight on, and a wave came up over the boat.

Another favorite part: we were anchored to hang out a bit (and do more eating). Corey and Rob were hanging their feet off the end of the boat. Rob had been in the water, but he was the only one daring enough to get in. It was full of weeds or other green, gross things that creep me out. All of the sudden, Corey was in the water. He'd kicked a little too far, or lost his balance, and it was all over. Luckily he was wearing a life vest - not that he couldn't swim. He was startled but I think even he laughed about it shortly after.

All in all the boating trip was a great part of the weekend in Minnesota. Poor Jude was stuck in the back of the boat bundled up in a too-large-for-a-baby lifevest, but I wouldn't feel too sorry for him. Corey doted on him all weekend, following him (or whoever was carrying him) around like a puppy dog.

By the way, Corey said Jude is "way more fun" than Molly. Poor Molly. I think it's an age thing. Jude, at six months, was moving around the floor by himself, laughing at Corey and pulling Corey's face. Molly was just two months old when Corey met her.

And two pictures from before I arrived in Minnesota. Rob and his friends took their kids and Anna, Gretchen and Andy's daughter, to the Minnesota Zoo. Our friend Gretchen had surgery that week, and is doing great. We keep up-to-date through her CaringBridge site.

Will Corey be better at updating blogs?

Corey has decided to create his own blog (see link at right). Will he update more frequently than us? Likely, though I anticipate his updates to be brief! We owe a ton of pictures and updates, so we will work on that this week.

Until the next update, I'll leave you with a story Rob told me today. Brody fell on his booty at Home Depot, and followed Corey throughout the store asking him to kiss his bottom! I wish I'd been there to see what everyone else thought!