Fourth of July Weekend

We had a laid back holiday weekend this year! I, of course, had to work all weekend but in between work we had fun! Saturday I got home from work and swam with a few people who had gathered at grandpa's house. Marie was kind enough to sit on the steps with Amelia towards the end and Amelia decided they should swap sunglasses!


Saturday we went to the Twins/Brewers game.


That evening we watched fireworks with Jason's sister and her boyfriend.



Yesterday after work we grilled out with Auntie Liz, Uncle Kory and Lisa while we swam. It was a nice way to end a long day at work! Amelia was not interested in the pool at all again. She preferred to hang out outside the pool area on her horse:


Eventually we decided to force her into the pool. I put her lifejacket on her and brought her in for about ten minutes. She screamed the whole time! A short time after I put her back on the pool deck she wanted to come back in! She pointed to her fish floatie and I put her right into it with her lifejacket on!


She floated around contently the rest of the time we were swimming.

After swimming we all went out to Kory's mom's house to watch fireworks. We got there early so we took Amelia to see the horses. She got so excited when she saw them and she yelled, "HELLO! Hi cows!!!" It was so cute.




She thought they were the greatest thing ever!

Uncle Kory also brought out a John Deere pedal tractor!


She couldn't quite figure out pedaling so Kory pushed her. She ended up going in circles because she also wasn't quite grasping steering. She kept pointing other ways and he had to keep telling her to steer them that way!

We headed out to the field to watch the fireworks and then headed home. We had a long weekend outside and I think we were all beat!

A Fun Evening Outside

This evening we enjoyed some time outside since the humidity was only 50%! It felt so nice out! Jason's friend Nick and his family came over and we grilled dinner and they all swam in the pool while Amelia and I explored the yard!


Jason and Nick took turns jumping into the pool and making "tidal waves" for Nick's sons to play in.



They even teamed up and jumped together:



While we were all watching the pool show Amelia made her way to the patio and I found her digging in Nick's cheese popcorn!




That girl does love her food...especially popcorn!

Amelia is going to be leaving us for the weekend :( My parents are taking her with them to Indiana for the weekend. We are going to miss our little squirt!!! It is all working out great though. We had some work scheduling conflicts that are now resolved since we don't have a squirt to care for!

BFF Day

My mom and sister spend almost every Wednesday together running errands and doing the occasional fun thing and they call if "BFF Day." Amelia and I joined them today for "BFF Day". We went to lunch with a friend of my mom's. After that we were right by a Once Upon a Child so we went and looked around in there. Amelia even did a little browsing:


Amelia got a few new things for this winter and this awesome toy storage center!


I have been eyeing them up at Target but haven't been a fan of the price tag (even with my discount!) and then we saw this one there and it was selling for under half price of a new one so I got it!

We made a few more stops and then it was time for a swim. Even Nana swam!


It was nice to cool off since it was so hot out this afternoon. When we were done, Amelia helped pick up by piling all of the noodles in one corner.


It was pretty funny.

After dinner out we finished our errands and are now hanging around the house. I am pretty beat and ready to head back to grandpa's for the night pretty soon. Amelia is all wound up and running all over the house right now so hopefully she is burning off all her extra energy because when we get home it is bedtime!

Little Miss Independent

Amelia has always been a very independent child and does very well playing alone. In fact, sometimes she prefers to play alone. One thing she can't do is swim on her own but she isn't aware of that fact yet! First she threw all the noodles into the pool:



We all watched her doing it saying how cute she was. Well next thing we knew she had turned herself around and was backing into the pool!


She isn't afraid of the water, that is for sure! She is quite the little fish. Now if she would just learn to wear her lifejacket I would feel a little better. She just hates it this year. It is an infant lifejacket but she is within the weight limits so we thought we could use it one more year. She screams and screams when she has to wear it. Today I tried to make her tough it out but after at least 5 minutes she was still freaking out. I tried letting her walk in it (she refused to), I put her into the pool with it and I even bounced her up and down in it. She just wasn't having it.

I might try and find her a toddler lifejacket on clearance (it is that time of year already) and try that out. She is approaching the weight cut-off for her current lifejacket and she is so tall, who knows - it might actually be hurting her? This is one time I really wish she could just tell me what is wrong!

Saturday Fun

We had another full day here. I worked the 4 AM shift again this morning and Jason has been at work since 8 AM. He is working a double. Grandpa Peterson had his first try at watching Amelia this morning after Jason left and I wasn't home yet. It went well!

Amelia and I napped together again this afternoon which I am loving. After our nap we got ready and met Liz and Kory to head over to a graduation party at the marina for Robert (Liz and Jason's cousin). Before we left we introduced Amelia to one of Liz and Kory's new puppies, Pecan.


Amelia really wasn't a fan. She kept trying to push Pecan off her lap. Luckily she wasn't able to! At the marina, Amelia found an air vent and stood right on it, blowing her skirt up:


After the graduation party we all headed back to grandpa's house to take a swim! Not before Amelia ran through the house with a few of the Mardi Gras beads she has been collecting.


She is so silly! We didn't swim too long since the pool area was in the shade since it was evening. The puppies joined us. I want one!!!






Sorry for all the puppy pictures but aren't they adorable! They are all miniature Dachshunds. Here's Amelia and the puppy parents aka Auntie Liz and Uncle Kory:


After swimming we went on a walk with my family to the playground and to get ice cream. As always, she had a blast!


Amelia is a little wired right now, probably because of the ice cream. She is all over and into everything at nana's house right now! Hopefully she crashes soon!

We hope everyone had a great Saturday!

Fourth of July Weekend

We have had both a busy weekend (Saturday) and a lazy weekend (Sunday)!

Saturday some friends came over for swimming and we were in the pool all day, literally. It was a blast!


We took a lunch break and then got right back in the pool! It was a wonderful afternoon of swimming and fun!

Saturday night Kim, Lisa and I went out to dinner at the Olive Garden with Amelia. Man, that was interesting. I ordered some pasta so she could have some and she ate nearly the entire adult bowl. I am not even kidding. I had maybe 6 bites.

I forgot a bib so I made her one out of my napkin and this was what she looked like by the end of the meal:


The people at the table next to us was even cracking jokes at her expense. Poor girl!


We saved room for dessert and it was soooo good!

After dinner we ran to Kohl's to search for a swimsuit for Kim and then we headed to town for fireworks. We met Marie and her fiance there since they were off work finally! It was so muggy out but we sat through it! Kim took this picture of us waiting for fireworks to start.


Amelia did not handle the fireworks display well at all so Kim had to walk her along the riverfront and watch so she wouldn't cry. Amelia is lucky to have an auntie who caters to her like that because she still got to watch the fireworks but from a greater distance while she cruised in her stroller and people watched.

After the fireworks we had a little late night pool gathering. Jason, a few of his co-workers and the fireworks gang all took a midnight swim. It was pretty fun! We are thinking we might have to do it another time this summer!

Sunday we slept in and didn't make it to Jason's family gathering at his grandpa's cabin this morning. It was rainy out he said (I didn't really wake up until after 11) so he decided we shold just stay home. That evening we had dinner plans with my family and Jason enjoyed being able to use the Internet at my parent's house! We had a great, American dinner:


Jason called it the "trifecta" of grilled foods (hot dogs, brats and burgers) and was thrilled with all the choices at dinner.

Amelia was the most patriotic out of our family in her little romper-dress:


Nana was also dressed in red, white and blue but it was hard to get a picture of them both looking at the right camera. This is the best one I got!


After dinner we went to Kory's family's farm to watch the Stillwater fireworks. First we were treated to a beautiful sunset:


The fireworks were just above the trees at the end of the field. It really was a fantastic view! We were so happy that we were invited to join them for the fireworks this year!


We hope everyone had a great Independence Day weekend!

Friday Fails - Swimsuit Fail

This morning, I was getting Amelia ready to head out back to the pool for a swim. She was so wiggly that this is how I ended up putting her swimsuit on.


BACKWARDS!

I even thought to myself, "this thing might end up on backwards with how wiggly she is. Why won't she sit still?!?" Clearly I knew it was coming ;)

For more Friday Fails - visit myblessedlife.net!

Busy Couple of Days

We have been so, so busy these past two days. Yesterday, Jason and I went to see Kim at work and Amelia tried on some major bling while we were there.


She had to inspect it - she wasn't sure it was the "real deal".


After Kim got off we made an impromtu decision to go to Como Zoo for the afternoon. It was a lot of fun! We were able to find close parking and we walked around the whole zoo and conservatory.




We didn't get a picture of Auntie Kim and Amelia. She was so busy trying to get a good one of us! We got a few keepers I think :)

After the zoo we dropped Amelia off with Nana and Grandpa so we could all go see Toy Story 3 in 3D! Jason and I had never been to a movie in 3D so we thought we should take a picture of us in the modern 3D glasses:


Kim and Jason kept making fun of me because my regular glasses were showing right through the 3D glasses! We all enjoyed TS3. Jason even says he thinks it might be his pick for best picture of the year. It was that good. I cried, twice, and he got choked up at the end. I don't think Kim got as emotional as us but I am not sure she would tell us if she did. Good thing the 3D glasses conceal some things a little bit ;)

This morning my mom, sister and I went to see the new Twilight movie - Eclipse. We went at 9:45 this morning. It was good. I think I might need to see it again to form a solid opinion on it though. As always, the book was better!

After the movie I headed home for Amelia's first pool playdate. Jason's co-worker, A, has a daughter, M, that is just a few months older than Amelia so we had them over for lunch and swimming. It was a little touch and go there for awhile. Neither of the girls are very socialized so they (and by they I mean Amelia!) had some trouble sharing. We made it though and they both eventually warmed up to each other. M was a little unsure about the pool too but she came around after an hour or so!



Amelia played in this floatie raft thing when it was M's turn to use the goldfish floatie and LOVED it. It was almost like a floating tub for her in the pool.




Eventually we tried both girls in the "floating tub" and it went pretty well!



Hopefully M can come over and play again sometime!

Well, this post didn't get too long which is great considering I had 99 pictures to sort through from yesterday and today! It has been such a great week so far so hopefully it keeps up!