Wordle Renaissance tease!

So we went to the renaissance today and the kids had lots of fun despite little sleep the night before. They rarely get much sleep the first night at papas house, but we risked it and went today anyway. Of course we took loads of photos which will follow. But since we're here in St. Paul for a couple days, so I'm not sure when that will be. Anyway, I found this cool word art generator on the scrapbook site I frequent (scrapbook.com) and thought I'd share it and the art I made with all the stuff from today. Here is the site.
art created by wordle.net

Jasper turns 2

Well is was a big event in our household and we had lots of guest which makes us all happy around here. We were especially delighted to have both Alana and Wendy stay with their significant others! It was wonderful to have Joel and Bob here, of course it was kind of crazy so we can't wait to have everyone back to visit one couple at a time so we can devote more time to them. They'll have to come soon before the snow drifts cover the highways leading to our home. Nancy, Bear, and Papa were flown in by uncle Jeffy so that was quick and easy for them. OK, on to the birthday activities!


Matt made super yummy (so I'm told) fried chicken which was served picnic style and I made buckets of potato salad. We also had some fruit and pb & j's for the kids. Of course I have to mention the dirt cake, which in the dump truck seemed to amaze and confuse Jasper all at once! The look on his face seemed to say, "Can I eat it? Do I play with it or in it?" He did almost roll the truck off the table at one point! Seeing his face and his sisters made all the work worth it. It was a joy to have so many of our family and friends gathered and we are truly lucky and blessed to be surrounded with such love.

(click collage photo to enlarge)

Family Photo

Click on photo to enlarge.

OK, I'm way behind on posts. I need to put photos from Jaspers birthday party up, but instead, I'm doing a quick post with a couple of photos from a family photo shoot at Camden State Park today. Matt did a fabulous job of taking photos and I took a few cute ones as well. As anyone with two little beastlings can tell you, it is a complete miracle that we got a family photo and we only took 2 shots. (Utilizing a tripod and our camera with a timer.) It was past their nap time and Jasper only wanted to play in the stream and Mika only wanted to play in the park. Overall it was a very successful day!

Photo note: Jasper was looking at the ants on the tree very closely in the first photo therefore, I felt it important to include the macro photo of them!

Decorating by Debra

Since I painted the living room, which was about 2 months after we moved in, I felt as though something was missing on the tv wall. Over the weekend we finally remedied that problem. I came up with a design and Matt checked out the proxima from work and we penciled in the design on Friday night and I painted it in on Saturday morning. We are super happy with the outcome!


Now I have to do Jaspers' wall. My plan is to paint tracks and cars to match the not yet bought Pottery Barn Kids bedding. I've looked all over for other car bedding but it is all I have found that is graphic and not "cute". It will go great on his new twin big boy bed from Ikea he got for his birthday. Land of Nod also has some cool traffic signs I'd like to get or replicate sometime in the future.

Even longer overdue update - by Matt

Quickly and without really thinking, I snapped a picture of my crisp, new ACF Certified Executive Chef certificate that arrived today. Upon review, I noticed I had unconsciously produced a collage like composition that incorporated the beautiful smiling faces of my wife and children.

The picture above illustrates the forces that motivate me to a better person in life and to excel at what I do so that I may have the means to make their lives better. It's at times like this, when I zoom out and see the bigger picture, I feel infinitesimal small yet enormously proud at the same time.

OK, enough of the Hubristic postings! What else is new at H.O.M.E you ask ?

Well since I suck at transitions and I'm to tired to form complete sentences, I'll wrap up this update via bullet points.

• Mika ends day 1 of no naps. Mommy drinks Bailys from a tumbler.
  

• Debra's hand made scrapbookin' table has been installed in the basement and actually looks pretty spiffy! Google 'Mise en place' and you see this picture now:

• After several moments of excessive rubbing, Debra realizes that the dirt spot on Jaspers face is actually a new mole.

• According to Babycenter.com Jaz will be 6' 6" tall (if we keep feeding him)

• Matt (random switch to 3rd person) has joined the social networking bandwagon via Facebook and is shocked to find a group named "People named Matt Horn" with 12 members. (not kidding go look!)

• During the making of breakfast a wide eyed, panic stricken Mika looks at the egg in her hand and says, "HURRY UP DADDY, IT'S ABOUT TO HATCH!!"

• Matt loses 45 minutes of productive time at work today snickering at Cake Wrecks

Long overdue update

So we were just getting over the flu here and it was "crazy medical week". First on Tuesday or Wednesday, I think (this was way back on April 1 or 2) our sister-in-law had to have an apendectomy. Of course it was emergency, as I think all of them are. Hers was starting to tear though so she was in a bit longer and had to take lots of antibiotics afterwards and thats never fun. Then I got news that someone very close to me was out of cancer remission which made me very sad. The third and final blow came on Friday. Bob (Matt's dad) had fallen while walking a very large dog on some ice and hit his head about a month prior to Friday. His head was finally hurting so badly that he went to the ER. He had a large sub-dura hematoma and had to have brain surgery to drain it. You just don't expect that call. He had surgery that night and we went to see him on Saturday afternoon. He was still in ICU, but they did let Mika in to see him for a little bit, which was nice since we had just drove 3 hours and she couldn't understand why she wouldn't be able to. We got to see him again the next day and he was in a different room so both kids got to hang out with him. Most of their questions were about the stuff in the room. They thought papa just looked like any patient in a hospital. I guess its good that we watch "House" and "ER". He was in for about 5 or 6 days and is now home and feeling pretty good with an occasional headache that is cured by a simple tylenol. We are very thankful. Of course Matt's brother and sister were there visiting him alot as well and Wendy (sister) flew in from TX to help care for him for about a week once he returned home. Wishing everyone good health!

Ax the Max

Family
Mika has always had wonderful language skills. She spoke in sentences early and had many words. She is typically very polite and almost always remembers to ask to be excused from the dining room table. However, sometimes she likes to imitate her favorite cartoon characters. Lately (for about a month) this has been Max, from the show Max and Ruby. It's a cute show and teaches some good lessons, but Max is the little brother and talks in one word sentences (faster! faster!) and it is the same word throughout the episode. Mika thinks its funny to talk like this and just shouts out one word over and over like Max and it is very annoying. I told her, "Mika, you are like Ruby, the big sister. You are a big girl and not a little baby like Jasper. You know how to talk like a big girl and if you keep talking to us like Max, we won't let you watch him any more." It has been a couple of days, since I told her this, and she hasn't stopped. There was no Max watching today. There are plenty of other good full sentence structured shows they can watch and luckily it's getting nice outside! It's just like when we had to ban Caillou.

Food
Tonight we had quinoa cakes with a tomato and zucchini ragu. Also from epicurious, but it called for eggplant and we just had that so we switched it up. It also had you cook the quinoa in water which seemed bland and I used half veggie stock and we spiced up the ragu as well. It was good. The cakes have a nutty flavor and Mika did a good job eating them. Jasper didn't have any as they weren't done by his early dinner time.

Head
Ok, but its starting to hurt, better go to bed!

On the mend

Family
We are all better now and we all ate a real dinner tonight! Yipee!

Food
We had a recipe from Epicurious.com. It was Lemon gnocchi with spinach and peas. It was a good, springy meal. The kids did pretty good, of course we had to bribe them. They are still getting used to the grown up food. Mika claims, "I don't like dinner, I just like lunch". Luckily the Easter bunny brought lots of goodies to bribe with. Jasper still doesn't quite get that concept so I have to hold a teddy graham in one hand and the real bite in the other and he knows he gets the teddy if he eats the real food. Once he realized this technique he didn't like mixing the flavors and started stockpiling his teddies. It was hilarious! I don't blame him, I wouldn't have wanted that flavor combination. But I think it showed great restraint and forethought!

Head
Good today!

Virus #7

Family
So its been awhile since I posted due to the stupid stomach flu! Jasper was the first hit on Saturday morning. Boy did Matt have a rude awaking when he went to get him out of his crib. Not like I had it any better having to do the laundry. Matt and Mika were hit the next day right after having Matts delicious homemade pizza. Such a bummer. (Plus more laundry, thanks goodness our sofa is covered in blankets while the kids are little--poor Mika) I felt bad thinking Matt wouldn't want pizza for awhile again, but of course men don't have the emotional connection to memories like that and he ate the pizza again 2 days later when he felt better. I was hit Sunday evening. This virus was the seventh that has hit our household and lasted about 36 hours per person. This is the only one that hit us all. I did everything imaginable to not get it, but it was relentless. Oh well. It is over with now.

Food
Sunday was the yummy pizza with dough made from scratch and then it was pretty bland. Fruit, waffles and cereal for everyone.

Head
Not too bad. Took an imitrex Friday. Saturday and Sunday were ok. I tried some tylenol but it made my tummy hurt I think, but it could have been the beginning of the bug. It been ok on Monday and Tuesday.

Woo Hooo!

ME!
I finally won a contest! I enter several contests/challenges on the scrap forum I belong to and also a few blogs. I won the Method Challenge (on a blog) and found out Monday evening. I win some scrap supplies for a company called Studio Calico which you can subscribe to or order a monthly kit. There stuff is really nice so I'm very excited to receive it! I won for the Bonaire Beauty layout which the challenge was to use strung beads on your page.

FOOD
We made a yummy root veggie soup Monday night and the kids even ate it! Of course left over candy from the Easter bunny was a nice incentive as was the Peperidge Farm bread we had with it which is one of their favorites. Tuesday night we had tacos. We had them unlike normal with veggie taco 'meat' and some sauteed veggies, cheese, tomatoes and jalapenos. We made the kids eat some, which they did, again dessert served good incentive. Jasper supplemented his meal with some chicken anytizers, but he did pretty well with the tacos, just not the sauteed zucchini.

HEAD
Gheesh! Still bad. Was bad all of Monday and took imitrex. Didn't take anything Tuesday--just suffered through the day since I've been taking so much lately and know I'm rebounding. Plus all muscles are sore from the imitrex. Woke up today (Wednesday) and couldn't take it any more and took another imitrex. I know allergies are bad right now and I stayed up late working on a project and couldn't sleep due to the stupid head. Grrr!

Easter!

FAMILY
The kids loved Easter morning. We have never done anything in the past and what a thrill it was for them to have chocolate first thing in the morning! They didn't even care about the toy eggs we had gotten for them. The easter bunny did bring baskets and hide them and even ate the carrots we put out for them.

After the sugar rush had slightly worn off, we managed to get some breakfast in them and pack up and head over to their cousins for easter lunch. It was a big crew at that event. Nancy's parents, her brother and his family, plus all of us! There were 7 kids if you count the teens. They all had fun and love each other so much, it is really nice to see them interact and play together. After brunch we headed home to Marshall, much to Mika's dismay.


FOOD
Matt and I made focaccia and (nonsweet) Monkey Bread for the meal and various other things were made making it a wonderful brunch. There were a few frittatas, fruit, veggies, ham, sweet quick bread, key lime pie and Evelyn's delicious white chocolate coated chex mix.

HEAD
Very bad. Took an imitrex and 3 torodal. Horrible. I had to go lay down immediately upon arrival to Jeff and Nancy's. Would have went to urgent care if time had permitted and it wasn't a holiday. Ugh.

Saturday: Shopping, Parking & Eating!

FAMILY
Saturday Matt planned to cook a big meal for the family. Wendy, Bob, Papa, Bear, Jeff and Nancy were all coming. He shopped that morning at Whole Foods while I watched the kids. Once he got home I was able to spend the day with Alana. We went and had lunch and then did a little shopping. Sadly the scrap store I intended to go to was out of business. We did go to Target and I got a little bit of scrap stuff along with some basics that are hard to find in Marshall. The day was riddled with parking issues! Some lots had no spaces and street parking was impossible. I guess maybe it is just that I'm not used to it anymore.

FOOD
Alana and I thought we'd eat quickly at Cafe Latte but the parking was an issue and normally we would have walked, but the sidewalks weren't shoveled yet. Therefore we ventured out of our way to Highland Grill. It was busy, but there was a table and we were sat right away. We split our two meals and I had a tomato, spinach and brie scramble and she had Jack Cakes which were buckwheat pancakes topped with blueberries, bananas, raisins, granola, peanuts and honey. It was all very yummy.

That night Matt had a first course of about 5 kinds of cheese with baugettes and olives, cured sundried tomatoes and fava beans. The main course was a roast chicken with garlic and lots of fresh herbs and root vegetables. I had a nice piece of salmon and a side of the veggies without the chicken stock. Everyone raved about it. Wendy brought a delicious mocha cheesecake from Cafe Latte. We had a very good time. Our kids ate pasta pick ups I think. Sad huh? They did have lots of fun playing with their cousin, Bear and got pretty worn out by the end of the night.

HEAD
Slightly better today. Only had to take an Imitrex.

To St. Paul we Go

FAMILY
We were off to St. Paul yesterday around 5:30 on Thursday and we missed the majority of the snow, so the drive was nice and pretty uneventful. We arrived at Papa's house around 8:30 and the kids were excited to be there and were too wound up to go to bed right away and we decided that since Jasper hates his pack-n-play so much we'd put him on the trundle in Mika's room. He was ok with that till we left and he realized he could follow. We had to lay with him till he fell asleep. He still slept better in that though. Mika loved having her little brother in the room with her and was so good about his crying.

Bright and early the next morning we were off to the Mall of America. We arrived before the stores opened since Jasper decided to get up at 5:30 am. (He took a small nap before we left) We hit Barnes & Nobel and each child got a book so that made them happy. Then we took a sneak peak at the new Nickelodeon Park and they were very excited, but it wasn't open yet so we did a bit of shopping and headed back. They had lots of fun and Matt took them on a few rides and then they headed off to lunch and I went to pick up some scrapbook supplies and would meet up with them there. Jasper, in his immensely tired state, decided he didn't like that idea 15 minutes into waiting for his lunch. Once the meals arrived pulled mine down on the floor. Yikes! Luckily I arrived shortly after, quickly ate and we left!

FOOD
We ate at Twin City Grill and the service was great despite our crazy child. (Mika was an angel) I had my typical meal of salad and flat bread pizza which I love there. It was so crazy, I don't even know what Matt had. Mika had fries and a grilled cheese which she didn't eat, "I don't like American cheese, mommy." Guess we know to be more specific when ordering next time. That night we ditched our plans of McCormick & Schmick's and decided to order take out from Saji-Ya instead. We ate in at Papa's house with aunt Wendy and her friend, Bob. We had a nice time and we all love sushi. The kids even had, and liked, a little edamame.

HEAD
My head hurt alot at the Mall. Not a good place to be in an amusement park with a level 7 migraine. I took imitrex and toradol. It was bad. Of course I managed to go to the scrap store.

Make your Wet-Jet Greener

So for those of you that don't know, our entire basement with the exception of the guest bedroom, is laminate. I love it--I don't have to worry about the kids spilling or anything, it's great. The only thing I hate is the wet-jet cleaner. I hate that you can't refill them and you have to throw that big plastic thing away every time. Well, guess what? You don't! You can twist off the cap with a big wrench and refill it! I just did it and I certainly don't consider myself a strong person, I think of myself as a 'girly-girl'. I used about two capfuls of pine-sol and filled the rest up with water and popped it back on and it worked perfectly. I will use half vinegar, half water with a little essential oil after I use up the pine-sol, but this is what we had and we don't have any non-fancy vinegar, go figure. I know you can make it even greener by making a few pads out of bar towels by sewing some velcro on one side and throw those in the wash instead of buying the pads, but I'm not there yet. Some people even talk (on web site) of using Always brand pads to save money since they are cheaper too but I think I'd make them first! But the Swiffer pads do look just like that--ha ha! Just by refilling the fluid you are saving a ton of money and helping the environment. Wooo Hoooo!

Tattoo--day 8

Today she finally let me remove it! FINALLY! (With a cotton ball and cooking oil--I had to search to find the vegetable oil.) Then afterwards she said, "that wasn't so bad, was it". I replied, "I said it wouldn't hurt and I would tell you if it does, like when we go the doctor to get shots, I tell you that it will hurt, but just for a second." She said, "yea, I don't want another skeleton tattoo, though". Thank goodness.

Birthday Take II and Tattoos

So we had a small Marshall party for Mika, again pirate themed. Why reinvent the wheel? It went great she was happy, the kids were happy, everyone loved Matts cooking. I only wish we would have captured the cute 'cake' on the camera! He made cinnamon rolls and put three on a cake stand a put a long skinny candle on each one. It was so cute. Mika was thrilled and although she didn't eat all of her regular cake at the first party, she did eat all of her cinnamon roll!

I'd have to say the funniest outcome of the party is her temporary tattoo. I can't figure out how she feels about it since she doesn't want to look at it now that the party is over. (It's a skull--she picked it out.) She hates changing clothes and warns us, "I might cry again". Mostly because she thinks it will damage it. Giving her a bath was the biggest challenge and she typically LOVES bath night. She cried for almost the entire bath and Matt had to put her in in with her fighting the whole way! Now, even a week later and for the last 4 days, I have been using it to my advantage. "But I don't want to take a nap, Mommy." "Do you want to take a nap, or do you want me to take off your tattoo?" She stands for a moment in contemplation... "I'll take a nap"... with a sigh of defeat. Its funny what I resort to to make naps and diaper changes easier. If I had known the outcome of the tattoo, however, I would have never put it on.

Mika Turns 3

Mika turned 3 on the 28th, but we had a small family party for her the day after Thanksgiving. The VonHorns graciously hosted the party at their home even though they had just had us and a gang totaling around 22 the day before! The party was a great success and Mika was very happy with her pirate themed party that she requested. As she was opening the gifts she exclaimed to me, "Mommy, this is the best birthday party I ever seen!" Check out the attached video, it is just too cute! She loves her train and the Melissa and Doug food sets and is trying very hard to drive me crazy with the very loud kazoo type recorder/flute thing. It may have to run out of batteries very soon. She and Jasper have been playing with ALL the toys so much! Aiden and Charley have both been over to to play with the toys as well.

Elf yourself

This is (albeit somewhat disturbing) hilarious... If you elf YOURSELF, let us know!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1134946092

Thanksgiving 2007

So this was our Thanksgiving and unfortunately we decided to take the family photo at about 5 pm when the children had had no naps. Mika isn't fond of pictures, or mainly being told what to do, especially at 5 pm and without a nap so we are all trying to get her to cooperate by saying "MIKA" in the photo. I guess we'll try again tomorrow. Earlier. Jasper wasn't too cooperative either... this is the best photo, I should have posted a funnier one. All in all they did really well without naps and all the people, I think there were 22 of us. Mika loves Bear-Bear though and they had lots of fun. Of course there was plenty of good food! My favorites were the stuffing (we brought) and Evelyn's fudge, the white chocolate pumpkin cheesecake that Wendy brought from Cafe Latte was a close third though!