bears update

nat: mom! i'm ready to play bears now. you're the monster and i'm the bear. no, i'm the monster and you're the bear.

me: okay.

nat: wait! DO NOT speak. DO NOT speak until i tell you to speak. okay speak.

me: okay.

nat: otay...the bears are seeking us now.

me: they're what?

nat: they're SEEKING. they're SEEKING us!

my word! how does she know this!?

first visitors!

my sister and brother-in-law came to visit this past weekend. we didn't take any of our own pictures (doh!) but here's where we ate because that's important. these pics are borrowed from google images again.

Bar Abilene - delicious margaritas! somebody come visit me for their brunch. it sounds amazing! http://barabilene.com/

Red's Savoy Pizza - it was good and we'll definitely go again but i wanted vegetarian and practically od'd on olives. http://www.savoyuptown.com/

Uptown Diner no website which is a shame because you'd want everything on the menu.

thanks for visiting, jen and ron! it was so fun checking out our new city with you!

am i coming in clear?

yesterday morning natalie handed me a banana. i asked her if she wanted me to open it to which she replied, "no, call kara and tell her we're coming over." kara is evie's mom who is natalie's bff. later in the day she took matters into her own hands and made the call herself. with a banana to her head and D sounds for her K sounds: "hi Dara, we're Doming over!" i wish it were true!

mall of america

this place was a ZOO! i guess there's not much else to do on a weekend..in february..in minnesota!

my mini monet

see, i'm anal and would NEVER have mixed the colors. but that's why i'm not always fun. afterall, don't they look great together? i love being reminded that my world is not coming to an end. :)

"wherever you are is where you're supposed to be"

the above picture is taken from my private helicopter. er, i mean from google images. currently the lake is frozen over and the trees are brown and bare.
the below pic is mine while stopped at a red light near our neighborhood.

we're on the fourth floor but on the other side of the building.

the view from our windows and balcony:

yes, from our place you can see the brand new Target Field where the Twins will play this season. while this is totally cool, it does not make my Chicago White Sox fan hubby very happy!

City of Lakes Loppet

to kick off our first day, we started our morning with espresso, pastries and parfait from Dunn Bros. Coffee. http://www.dunnbros.com/ yummmm!
as we continued to drive around our neighborhood we discovered these giant snow sculptures! i bet they'll stay up til spring! or summer?! or whenever it gets warm enough for them to melt?

the sculptures were actually all along the course of a Loppet (a cross-country ski race)!

i love this picture. i should totally be in vancouver right now! (you know, photographing the olympic loppets. yes, they're for real!)

our new pad!

we arrived about 1am on sunday.
to those of you who offered to help me pack, i should have taken you up on the offer. we randomly walked through the house and threw whatever fit into our two cars. and it took much longer than we anticipated. we packed more than i thought would fit but it wasn't really "packed." more like "shoved in" to anywhere there was a spot. i brought a whole hodge podge of things. i did pretty well because we haven't needed much we don't have. but i've already got a list going of what to bring back next time.
overall the car ride wasn't bad. six and a half hours with three stops. they were short stops. but still. natalie only slept a couple hours and she spent the rest of the time saying she didn't want to go to minneapolis. so sad. she was in my car and tinsley rode shotgun with JR.

playing bears

natalie's latest favorite pretend play is to be bears. we lay on the floor and cover up with blankets (our cave). basically she just wants to lay there and say "the bears are Doming!" (coming with a D) today i was the baby bear and natalie was the mama bear. here's what our role play sounded like:
nat: be a sad bear
with a frown
me: sniffle sniffle
nat: get a tear
what?! my acting skills are not yet oscar-worthy
nat: say you want your mama
me: i want my mama
nat: say you want your mommy
me: i want my mommy
putting her arm around me
nat: it's okay, honey. i'm right here.
aaaaahhhhhh!