a day in the life

natalie was scooping out the almond butter with her hands!

tinsley is so good at playing dress up! i'm glad my pearls survived!
views from our balcony (loring park below)



they are so sweet! natalie calls tinsley her "brudder." (brother)

My Gym

natalie LOVES all the climbing and gymnastics she gets to do at My Gym.

a walk in the park

whenever we're going somewhere natalie has to get all her things together. she brings at least one baby and all their necessities: bottles, blankies, diapers, wipes, stroller... but then of course she doesn't want to carry anything once we get out the door.
the walker art center is just across the park (and highway).
the lower window that peaks out is a wolfgang puck restaurant called 20.21 inspired after the 20th and 21st century art collections housed at the walker art center. i want to go there on a date!

next we went to the sculpture garden across the street. BEAUTIFUL! i picked up a brochure at the museum that listed festivals they have there and how in the summer there are tents where you can rent picnic and yard game supplies. i plan to have lots of picnic dinners here!

i'm so creative :) and i've had a manicure since then too!
i love the reflection in the cherry. i think it's trees rather than the skyline but that would be cool.


we are walking across the bridge from the sculpture garden back to loring park. it was so scary and loud and i don't think i'll cross it again - so it was my only chance for pictures!
the basilica of st. mary was the first basilica in the US and was honored by pope pius XI in 1926. but i'm not catholic so i care more about the basilica block party here in july with bands like weezer, spoon, ingrid michaelson and more tba! http://www.basilicablockparty.org/

it's such a beautiful park and i love that spring is starting to...spring!

do these climbing things at playgrounds freak anyone else out? she is such a monkey and doesn't want any help. she conquers them all day long but i envision knocked out teeth and goose eggs.
any bar she sees, she doesn't miss an opportunity to swing on it. she LOVES the monkey bars.

terrible twos? or threes?

i have heard it's just called "terrible twos" because it sounds better than "terrible threes", but that really the threes are pretty rough. either way, this little one is 2 and 3/4 and bossy!

fortunately she's suuuuuper sweet too!

you're precious, nat. we love you no matter what! but i am already afraid of you as a teenager!

natalie has no fear on our balcony. it makes me so nervous. we were outside blowing bubbles and she was running all over trying to pop them.

children's museum - downtown st. paul

happy anniversary!

8 years and 4 states. not bad! i love you, babe!
JR and i actually have a picture together from the very first time we met and also one from our first date 13 years ago! maybe i can have those ready for next year's anniversary!
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edited: when JR saw this he asked if i chose this picture because his jersey has an 8 on it. no, i didn't even notice but how perfect!

rooftop views

this is the Sky Club, the rooftop room where you can have parties, meetings, play pool, watch tv, get free wi-fi. there are even model shoots up here sometimes!


loring park is across the street. it's a beautiful park complete with a lake, walking path, dog park, playgrounds, kid pools, tennis and basketball courts, horse shoe pits, a view of downtown...

enjoying the beautiful day. nat is reading dora to her baby. mommy and daddy are drinking ice cold beer.

best buds

the master himself

biking, blading and baiting at lake of the isles

sunday we walked around lake of the isles. is this gorgeous or what?! my friend sarah and i have been walking around the lake recently too. i just love that so many people are out being active. it's so inspiring!





can't wait til spring when all the trees fill out too!

good news!

1. we replaced cutler! cutler the fish (named after Jay Cutler of the Chicago Bears) died last week and natalie still asks about him almost daily. this weekend we went to petsmart to get her a new one. as you may recall, daddy told her she could have two fish. unfortunately, with betta fish, that's not recommended. furthermore, she said she wanted a pink fish and a red one. there were no pink so at least she got red. but was still bummed to not be walking away with two. the new fish is named Konerko (after Paul Konerko - first baseman of the Chicago White Sox). in the last 24 hours that we've had him, i think natalie has asked at least that many times: "is he dead?" "did he die?" "is he going to die?" "when is he going to die?" "is he okay?" "is he fine?" "is he still fine?" "is he dead yet?" we think it was soap residue that killed cutler. this time i hope it's not flash photography!

2. we had a date night...and saw Date Night with tina fey and steve carell! hilarious! my gf tracy was so kind to watch natalie so we could go to dinner and a movie. how sweet! we saw the matinee and then walked around lake minnetonka at first being picky about where we might eat. we scoped out the sushi, passed up an irish pub, perused the italian menu...went back to the sushi restaurant and were seated. we didn't even have our menus ten minutes later. no water either. no one had food. the place was crowded and people hadn't even ordered yet. we got up and left. then we went back to the italian restaurant which was wide open and looked lovely inside. but when we were asked our name for the reservation, we nonchalantly said we didn't have one. sorry she said! what?! i felt like the movie when i should have taken someone's reservation! so we ended up at the irish pub. the service was slow but the food was good. including the oysters! yum! and i guess it was all meant to be because i ran into my friend, stacy, a soccer teammate from college! i hadn't seen her in 10 years!

3. best buy called and my camera was ready EARLY!!! hooray!

crazy person

natalie is sitting on the island throwing/rolling/tossing cuties on to the floor. she's laughing and saying, "what in my world are you doing?!"

i know my camera will take three weeks to repair so i won't complain anymore...after this: we're going to the zoo tomorrow and children's museum next week - and no camera! boo!

j, i know you had the great idea of scanning pics from a disposable camera but i don't have a scanner either :)

ah the joys!

natalie and i were just jumping on the bed cracking up and she said,
"are you havin' so much fun?!"
I SURE AM!

i also have been busy enrolling this little monkey in all kinds of classes since i can't find a pre-school for under a million dollars a month. so far she's set up in gymnastics, dance when we return from kc and maybe theatre when she turns three this summer! we've also got swim lessons in the works pending our decision to join the gym. did anyone doubt i'd find things to do?! just know, these activities aren't all at the same time. i'm staggering the enrollments. now i'm justifying my scheduling!

happy easter!

natalie's fish died on saturday. i suggested not telling her and wait to see if she noticed that he was no longer in the tank. but JR just walked right up to her and said, "Cutler's dead. do you know what dead means?"
"no"
"he went to be with Jesus but we'll get you a new fish." and daddy said she could have TWO fish so she decided on a pink one and a red one. but we have yet to make it to the store.
i was afraid that with easter coming up she might think Cutler would be resurrected! today she looked in his tank and said, "where's Cutler?"
"he died, remember?"
"he died AGAIN? but i want to see his tail." she looked so sad, hugged me and put her head on my shoulder. aaaahhhh poor thing.

we tried a new church on easter and really liked it. JR even filled out a response card committing that we'll come back for the rest of the series! i think they "had us at hello" when the band was playing dave matthews band as their intro. after the service we ran into our friend stephanie's parents who invited us over for dinner! so even though my camera is broken, we do have an easter picture afterall. stephanie is in chicago so, as she put it, we just filled in for her and joe. we were actually hoping to catch some deer behind us in the picture but they ran away as we were sitting down. we did an egg hunt at home and natalie loved it! she squealed with each egg she found. it was really sweet to watch her.
thank you Bates Family!

snowless march in minneapolis

from the news:
That's right, a snowless March. March, typically, is one of the metro's snowiest months.

Do you remember the last time we went through this particular month on the calendar year without a drop of snow? "According to the record books, you have to go back to 1878," University of Minnesota Meteorologist/Climatologist Mark Seeley said. Seeley's job is to keep track of this kind of stuff. "Pretty remarkable," he said.

there is no more snow and i can actually now see the ground where i live! there's an awesome park across the street with a lake and about five playgrounds. perfect for natalie! it was in the 70s today and is absolutely gorgeous! the patios and rooftops are full of people thrilled to be enjoying the outdoors! we plan to partake in the fun when JR gets home!

btw on a sad note, the LCD screen on my camera shattered somehow. the fantastic news is that i bought the accidental warranty so i don't have to pay for the repair but i have no camera for at least three weeks! BOO! no easter pics :(