Bday/Going Away Party

On Friday night we had a birthday/going away party at one of Sara's favorite places - Toby Keith's bar and grill (for those of you who didn't know Sara is a closet country fan complete with her own cowboy boots!).  A good time was had by all although we didn't have nearly enough time to talk to everyone with over 50 people there including Brian's past co-workers from Target and 3M as well as Sara's previous Target team and many many good friends and family members that we will miss dearly in AZ!

Benihana with Brooke!

 

For part of Brooke's birthday gift we said we would take her to a restaurant of her choice and of course we all knew where that would be .... Benihana!  Who doesn't love Benihana!!  Unfortunately with Brian's new job in AZ he didn't get to go but that was okay, girl time is just as fun!

Brooke is a fabulous eater!  Even when she said she didn't like the mushrooms in the soup, Auntie Sara showed her how to eat around them and after that it was done!  She enjoyed steak and shrimp and lots of yum, yum sauce with her rice :)

Sara could hardly believe it when she said she had room for ice cream but she took it down like a champ!  That's our niece, loves her sweets!

9.5 Years Later

Sara's passport was getting close to expiring so she got it renewed (really you never know when you are going to head out of the country on vacation so it's better to be safe than sorry). What was interesting though was when she compared her new passport photo to her old one she realized her hair color is darker and she weighs more now but she couldn't help to notice how much better she looked in the sense of how much happier she is now :) A wonderful husband, son and doggie will do that!!

Randle Goes to Work!

At PetSmart headquarters employees can bring their dog to work every Friday. Randle was lucky enough to participate and from the pictures you'll see that he had no problem fitting right in. He has an extra chair for Daddy's office:


But also has an extra bed. It's hard work when you have to go to work all day!

Trevor and Mommy

So with Dada gone all the time, you may wonder how Trevor and Mommy spent their evenings? One word folks, eating!!

Ice cream was our favorite thing to indulge in. Trevor prefers the DQ sundae with strawberries!


Eating donuts in the morning as a reward for staying in his crib all night (he HAD to have the towel as a place mat. Matter-of-fact, this towel started going everywhere with him for a few days)


We didn't go out all the time...one night Mommy tried out the new oven and made a yummy dinner:


We made cookies too. Trevor loved putting on the different sprinkles on the 'cooks'


Well, maybe we should have said eating and reading. One day Mommy took Trevor to the book store to get his favorite book that he would hoard at school "The little mouse, the red ripe strawberry and the big hungry bear" (or something like that). Trevor had a death grip on both the regular and the board book so guess what? Our spoiled boy got them both along with "Going on a bear hunt" which he knows every word to!


Back to eating...Godfather's Pizza buffet is always a hit for our big eater:


Halleluiah another non-food picture. Trevor is fascinated with the umbrella and that little stinker is a pro at opening and closing it.




More donuts...this time Mommy wised up and bought a whole box of donuts. Much more economical but much worse for the waistline.


In the spirit of expanding waist lines we headed to a place Mommy has wanted to go since going to the U of M - Annie's Malt shop/Parlor. Trevor had no problem devouring his oreo milkshake.


One day we went to the Pizza Ranch with Jim, Annie and Sam. Sam and Trevor liked eating pizza next to each other!


Another night we had a picnic in the park across the street. Trevor really digs lunchables with jello!


He also liked dipping crackers in sauce!


We picked out new shades at Target - of course Trevor picked Thomas ones. All he will wear is his Thomas shirts. And if one isn't clean for school he has no problem wearing his jammie t-shirt to school!


Bath time with Trevor is always lots of fun. The stinker surprised Mommy this time by pulling out a letter and telling her which letter it was - specifically he knew B, T, R, V, O and A!


A walk back to DQ for more ice cream :)


Trevor is a people watcher. He watched and watched as kids played tag. He was watching so intently he didn't notice that a third of his ice cream ended up on the ground!


After ice cream we stopped at the 'pirate' park to burn off some steam.


Trevor really enjoyed filling the container up with sand and then dumping it overboard!

Dada!!

Dada came home for the weekend and boy was it sure nice having him around. We spent some time organizing and purging the house but the rest of the time was spent just hanging out and having fun!

On Sunday we went to Jeff and Dawn's for a yummy brunch. As usual, Lauren and Trevor were best buds playing on the computer.


On Sunday evening we headed to our favorite restaurant walking distance from our house - D'Amico. We sure will miss that bottomless glass of wine for $5 :)

Potty

We told Trevor that once he started going poopy and potty on the big boy potty we would go to Mickey's house (Disneyland). Well, guess what...every night he asks to sit on his potty and tells everyone he knows the deal. Maybe it will make things a bit more consistent on the potty front. But, he is a boy and they take a little longer than girls so whenever it will happen it will happen! Go Trevor!!

Nana and Papa!

Nana and Papa came back from their winter in Arizona a little early to be sure we got to spend time together before we moved to Arizona. Nana went with Mommy to get him from school and when Trevor saw her he had the best smile ever. He went running to her and big hugs were had :)

We came home and hung out. Trevor wanted them to read his new books:


Grandpa's Handy Helper!


We headed to Sammy's house at night since we had a house showing and the boys played and played. Here Nana was reading a book that had the boys do different things like touch their nose or jump up and down or make a tunnel like here!

House is Listed

House is listed! If you want to check it out and pass it along to friends and family (hint hint!) here is the link:
www.edinarealty.com/4130294

Together we can sell the house so that our family can be back together in one city :)

Random story about the house though...tonight Trevor and Mommy had a picnic in the park across the street from our house. Have we said how beautiful it has been in MN lately? Beautiful and extremely warm!!! Anyhoo, after our picnic we went to the playground to play and started talking to another family there. When Sara asked if they lived around the park, they responded something along the lines of 'Not Really but somewhat close. We're actually here because we're interested in the house on the corner.' Well imagine their surprise when Sara answered 'that's our house!' For the next hour the kiddos played together and we chatted away about the house, our similar photography passion and everything else!

They are going to come to the open house on Sunday to see it in person although they know it inside and out already through the pictures online. It made Sara smile when we were talking about the basement kitchen and mentioned how it started as just a bar but then we wanted another oven and why not have a wine fridge and a dishwasher...and Sandra goes 'dishwasher? there wasn't a picture of the downstairs dishwasher' :)

Life sure works in mysterious ways. Wouldn't it be very neato if this family purchased our house? Sara could just see them in it. They are a bit younger than us and have one son who is 5 months younger than Trevor. They would grow with the house and we just know they would love it as much as we do, which is important when you are selling your dream home!