Happy Birthday Randle

Randle is officially the oldest member of the Hillins household - 6 years in dog years, 42 years in human years. He has a pretty good life here (when he isn't eating blinds) and his special day was no different. He was treated to a cake shaped cookie on the special day plate.

He went to town on his treat. Didn't really come up for air until he was half way done and we took it away to save for another day.

Of course, Trevor was feeling a little left out (who doesn't like cookies) so we gave him a cookie of his own.

Happy birthday Randini-the-weenie dog!

What's New with Trevor?

Every day, numerous times a day we say how blessed we are with having 'baby' Trevor in our lives. We can't imagine life without him. These days he is not such a baby at all. He is Mr. Independent. No more baby food for our little guy. He will only feed himself big boy food. And eat is an understatement. He eats and eats and eats. He could easily sit in his high chair for over an hour shoving food in his face. And he will eat anything. There is not one food he won't eat but favorites seem to be apples, blueberries, turkey hotdogs, noodles, carrots, peas, chicken, potatoes, peaches, and pears. Every morning better include a blueberry eggo waffle or you will hear about it!


He is very into puppets. He first saw them at music class and laughed and laughed and laughed so one day at home he tipped over one of his toy containers and was digging around. Low and behold he finally surfaced with two finger puppets in hand and couldn't be any prouder. These finger puppets are his new BFFs.

Books continue to be a favorite though - above any toy or puppet. He will sit and read quite a few times a day. We can hear him reading the stories in his own words to Randle, his imaginary friends, and his angels. It is so precious. When reading a story to him we are amazed how he knows when to turn the page. He can point to a few things on pages when asked...especially cow, dog, flower, and girl.

Trevor is all about kisses right now. If you ask for a kiss he'll lean in and open his mouth on your face. However, more often if you ask for a kiss he'll put his forehead on your cheek and just wait for you to give him a kiss. It's precious!

And as we all know from the last video he loves his block sorter. He is getting really good at it too!

Such a Smart Boy

Trevor has really taken to putting objects into boxes or toys and has recently discovered how to use his shape toy. Check out our little smartie pants :)

A Week of Fun!

On Monday, our nephew Sam's daycare was closed for in-service so Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Steve watched the little guy. Well, until Grandma had to meet up with some of her girlfriends so Grandpa brought Sam to our house and Sara and her Dad watched the two boys for a few hours. Whew! That was more exhausting than it sounds with Sam moving in every direction, but oh so fun! One of the cutest things the boys did was when Sam hopped on Trevor's dump truck and Trevor tried to push him!


Trevor was all about Grandpa Steve on Monday. Even bringing Grandpa books for him to read!


We were all very excited for Monday Night Football this week since the Vikings played (hence Trevor in his jersey), but we were also excited for MNF because Daddy grilled yummy ribs. Hey Daddy, those ribs ready for us yet? Bring them in please!


Trevor is very, very into eating his own food and does not like when someone tries to feed him baby food so he's been having big boy food at each meal. He especially loves turkey dogs and cheese. He sometimes will even finish his peas and carrots!


On Friday, Jeff, Dawn and the girls came over and we all had a lot of fun! It was good to see everyone as we simply don't see them as often as we'd like and Trevor was soaking up the time with his female cousins. Have we mentioned how he loves Aunt Dawn? Precious!

Lauren is such a good big cousin and really enjoys playing, reading and cuddling with Trevor. She even saved him from crawling down the stairs after the basement door was left open. Thanks Lauren!!

Brooke was all about doing somersaults and Randle! And Leah was all smiles. She even rolled over! It's fun watching her grow and change. The girls, Trevor, and Sam are growing up too fast though!

Stillwater Engagement Anniversary

Trevor, Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Steve survived their overnight together. Trevor slept from 7:30pm until 7:00am without a peep - good job Trevor!! We hear they had a fun time together with lots of reading, playing, walking and cuddles. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa R!

When we got back from our downtown getaway (after a very yummy brunch at Key's Cafe) and loaded up the car we headed to Stillwater - the city where Brian proposed 7 years ago on the day! We hit a pumpkin patch first since the weather was once again absolutely gorgeous. So gorgeous that Trevor had to squint from the sun in most of the pictures!

Hey! This pumpkin is my favorite!

Our little pumpkin!


This pumpkin patch had a petting zoo as well and Trevor was no scaredy-cat this time! He reached out to pet the little goats as well as a cow. After petting the cow he kept saying "moo" for a good 15 minutes. All that singing "Old MacDonald" has definitely paid off!

After our pumpkin patch fun we enjoyed some time at the spot where Brian proposed. It was nice to see the beautiful Fall leaves out, just like they were seven years ago. It seems like every wedding/anniversary weekend is beautiful. Well, except last year when it snowed but we're going to call that an anomaly :)

Our little guy is quite the poser!

He's got the model pose down:

He rolled around in the leaves thinking it was the funniest thing ever. Can you just hear his giggle in this picture?

And finally, a stranger took a family picture for us. One shot was it after numerous attempts to take one without success with a tripod. Stillwater will always have a special place in our hearts and it will continue to be a tradition to go back every year for our anniversary!

And the perfect end to our fun weekend was time on the slide. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Happy 6 Year Anniversary

Six years ago on a beautiful Fall day, we had a wonderful wedding ceremony and reception. Time sure flies by and now we have a beautiful family. This is one of our favorite images from our special day. It captures our look of love and we still have it six years later!


For this anniversary we pricelined a hotel downtown and enjoyed some swimming with the little guy. He is definitely a water baby. He was only ready to get out after his teeth were chattering from being cold...that was after about an hour!


After our swimming escapade we headed back to the house for Trevor to have his first overnight without Mama and Dada. That was a bit tough but we knew he was in good hands with Grandma and Grandpa Roslansky. We then enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Jax Café, dessert at Zelo, a drink on the rooftop at Solera, and danced the night away at Sneaky Pete's (classy, we know). Sure felt like we were back in grad school! The night ended with a late night call to Domino's pizza. What a wonderful evening to celebrate a special occasion!

Friday Family Fun

On Friday evening before Sara headed out to her friend Stacey's clothing party, we had a bit of family time at the park across the street from our house. The weather was gorgeous by Minnesota standards so we had to take advantage while we could.

Our little guy just gets cuter and cuter, especially in these adorable overalls from our friends the Flahertys!


Just when you think his hair couldn't get any higher, oh yes it can...when Dada throws him up in the air. He loved it!! He wanted more and more and more and just laughed and laughed.


Please Dada, more?


One happy family!


I can stand on my own and pretty soon I'll be climbing this tree!

Walking, walking, walking. This is what Trevor wants to do all day long. Sometimes he'll go one handed but still prefers walking while holding onto someone's both hands. Kind of a cool shot with our house in the back!

No Mommy, I don't want to go home. Can we just stay out a little longer? Please?

Fall Leaves with Sam

Earlier this week we headed over to Jim and Annie's to take a few family photos for them in front of their gorgeous maple tree that was bright red. We got some great shots of them and then decided to keep snapping some pics of the little cuties before we all headed out for dinner.

They tend to look like they are having a conversation with one another without saying a word. Although in this pic Treavor is more like 'hey Sam! are you going to share some of those goldfishies with me?'


And then out of nowhere, Trevor gave us a 'so big'! Sam is like ' no need to show off Trevor'!

Sam was all about his baseball bat. Are you going to be a good baseball player like your Daddy? We bet you will be!

On the way over there we stopped at a place Mommy had seen to take a few pics of Trevor in the pumpkins. He surely didn't seem to mind sitting on one and was quite happy to get his picture taken over and over...well, until an airplane flew overhead. Then he was all about the plane.

We've started calling his hair his halo. With it standing up and the way it shines in the sunlight it sure looks like he has a halo which puts a smile on our face because it reminds us of all of our angels up in heaven, like the Grandmas, that watch over us every day and every night.

Our Little Walker

Trevor is big into walking behind his dump truck these days as you can see from the video. It's a bit long but it gives you an idea what he does every day for quite a while!

Music Class

We enrolled music class for another semester since he had so much fun during the last one. This one is on Saturday mornings so both Mommy and Daddy can go. As usual, Trevor had a great time with the other kids while listening to and playing different instruments. Here are just a few of the highlights of this week's class:


Parachute up high, parachute down low. He makes this heavy, rapid breathing sound when he gets excited and we definitely hear it when the parachute comes out!



Finally the balls are ours!



Bubbles! He's fascinated by bubbles - both watching and reaching out to pop them!



Sitting on the grand piano to feel the vibrations:



The bouncy ball was sure a hit too! To hear the sound of the video you'll have to put our music playlist on pause:



Doesn't he just look like trouble here?


He has so many cute expressions these days! As Mommy says about ten times a day "we just love him"!