We’ve Moved…

Back to blogger…

Check is out vriesenfamily.blogspot.com

Yeah I know real creative.

See you there!

hot fun in the summer sun

We all know that summers are always busy with sleepover, pool days, weddings, work and travelling–well at least that describes our summer.

At the end of June Blake had his first sleepover, a co-ed sleepover at that! The little girl from daycare, Jaleah, came with us to spend the night so her parents could enjoy and evening out. Brian and I were really looking forward to it, and knew it would be a lot of work, but it was more fun than anything. The kids ate dinner and then played till they were so tired they didn’t even know what to do. Husker was quite confused since she wasn’t used to TWO little ones running after her. It was fun to see them play together at our house since they are so used to playing together at her house. So many new toys to fight over and new places to run around. They really get along, and we are very fortunate for that. Blake really has a great little friend in Jaleah.

For Father’s Day this year Blake and I planned a little outing for us to the Como Zoo. We have been once last year, but figured Blake would get much more out of it this time around. We packed a lunch and surprised Brian with our day at Como. It was really fun to watch him see the animals, and walk around. Topping it all off was a cute shirt I found for Blake so he could join Brian in supporting the Huskers!It was a great day all together, but one thing we realized it that there is no goodway to get family pictures….so we each got our turn!

The next day we headed out to Buffalo to surprise my dad for Father’s Day. He was filling in for their pastor at church so he was preaching. His sermon was about T-Shirt evangelism {supporting something by wearing a t-shirt}…so we thought Blake’s outfit was fitting. Another great Father’s Day under his belt

Blake and I were also lucky to have a few days off in June and head out to a friends pool in Buffalo. She had 4 grandkids of her own so there were plenty of things for Blake to play with in his pool. Although it was super hot out, the part of the pool we were in was very shady, so that was nice. He really enjoyed kicking his feet around in the water and floating. He was so relaxed that he actually fell asleep while floating. After a little while I took him out so that he could dry off and sleep, however I selfishly wanted to use my day off and get a tan too! Not completely thinking these two things through I wrapped him up in a towel–so he wouldn’t get sunburned–and the proceeded to sit in the direct sunlight and “tan” for about 35 minutes. He slept quite peacefully while roasting in the towel. So we moved into the shade before leaving.

The next day he was quite lethargic, and just wanted to cuddle with me all day. And when I say all day, I mean litterally ALL DAY. We watched a movie, ate lunch all from the comforts of our recliner. He didn’t want to move at all. He felt really hot, and then it dawned on me that he probably was suffering from heat exhaustion!!! Such a horrible mother I am! So I stripped him down to his diaper, threw on the fan and we realaxed and slept the rest of the day. Luckily by the next morning he was back to his old self. To top it off…through all of that I didn’t get tan either

The heat exhaustion lead us into 4th of July weekend. Due to the recent events, we ended up just hanging out at home, which is exactly what we needed. We are very lucky that the Eden Prairie fireworks take place about 3 blocks from our house. Each year we just walk up there around 10 pm and see a great show…just in our backyard! We also spend this day celebrating Husker’s “Gotcha Day” since July 4th is the day she joined our family 5 years ago. She loves fireworks, well more the people watching, but all the same it’s a family affair. This year wasn’t going to be any different. We planned to wake Blake up and plop him in the stroller so he could enjoy the fireworks as well. So as it neared 10 pm I picked him up, brought him outside and threw a light blanket on him to protect against the mosquitos. Since I had given him heat exhaustion, I figured I should really step up the mom game and protect him from the ‘squitos. We start on our walk and I realize, while I’m in shorts, that I didn’t put on any bug spray…big mistake! We made it to our watching spot, and I only made it about 15 minutes. I was getting eaten alive. Meanwhile Blake is chillin in the stroller with not a care in the world. Brian and Husker seemed to be fine too. So after my 10th bite I decided that Blake and I were headed back. We started on our walk home and the fireworks started…Blake was very intrigued, so I stopped walking and realized there was a clearing litterally 500 ft from our house that we could see the whole thing. So we stopped and watched the show…but lesson learned–bug spray! After it was all done we headed back, Blake went right back to bed and we were soon to follow.

This last weekend Blake attended his first wedding reception. He’s been to a wedding, just not any receptions. It was very nice…he had his own spot at the table with a highchair AND a  goody bag. He loved the toys that were in it…they kept him busy for a while, but he really just wanted to get down and walk. It was a long night of chasing him around the Sheraton! But we had a good time.The weekend ended with a trip down to Brian’s aunt and uncle’s house in Apple Valley. His cousin’s wife was up with their two boys and the Oian’s were there as well! It was fun to see all the cousins togheter, although of course I didn’t get one good picture. The boys and Macie went on a boat ride, and Blake got his first taste of the life jacket…Macie and Blake get along very well….well I guess most of the time, this is just a little video I took as we tried to get them to hug.

Since I posted last Blake has really starting walking/running more and more each day. I haven’t seen him crawl in weeks. One might call him a “drunk little person” when he stumbles and bangs into the walls etc. It’s funny to think we all had to learn how to walk! Some things that we do, we take for granted so quickly. Now I understand why he’s so frustrated, imagine all you want is a drink of water, you are SO thirsty, but you can’t figure out how to tell someone and worse yet you can’t walk anywhere to get any. With walking comes less frustration for him, and a little more frustration for Brian and I. We are constantly living with all the doors shut, baby gates up and following him around our house just waiting to see what he wants, and that is mostly follow up with “NO!” He’s slowly starting to understand the word, but with that I also think he’s learning how to “push our buttons,” in particular the TV buttons. It seems everytime we sit down to play in the living room with him, and pop on the TV…find a good show he walks up and turns if off! After he does that, he realizes that we probably are going to tell him NO, so he turns around bats his eyelashes and pushes the button again. Just to make good with Mom and Dad, after a few minutes of enjoying the TV he decides to start the routine all over again…I guess we’re just suckers to that cute little face. But soon we’re going to have to start the Time Out process. Well I guess we’ve started it, but not with much success. As the SuperNanny says, kids should sit in TO 1 minute for every year of age. So when we have tried it we put him in the corner and tell him to sit there. The first time he was really confused, then he just spun his feet around and sat there spinning in circles. Not much of a punishment I guess, but we’ll have to keep trying.  Until next time, here’s another video…

sorry for the delay…we’ve been busy?

Wow, I actually had to open up our blog to see when the last time I made and entry was….two months to the day![slight 2 week delay in posting [:(] So my apologies for those of you who check our blog looking for the most exciting [:)] and up to date info about our uber-exciting lives! We have been extremely busy these last few months, so I’ll highlight a few things…

At the end of March one of my good friends welcomed a new baby girl, to our group, so Blake will have a new little girlfriend to play with. We are so excited to have a girl to spoil in our group of friends.

Easter was family filled down in Blue Earth and Iowa. Blake got to meet some of his second cousins for the first time. Isaac and Elliott were up from Iowa–finally some boys to play with. Although he can’t really follow them around, he definitely got everyone’s attention. You know his love for remotes…well Great Grandpa & Grandma Christ have these fancy chairs that go up and down with the remote. So Blake got a hold of Grandpa’s and started monkeying with the buttons. Next thing you know Grandpa is ready to eject right out of the chair, just then Blake hits the next button and back down it goes. Luckily they move about as fast as a 2 toed sloth, so no one was ever in danger! It was fun to see all the Christ girls too, they had fun playing with Blake.

Taking great grandpa for a ride-- a slow ride.

Second cousins...the little farmers!

One of our last football pictures!

Our family picture at Amy's wedding

After Easter activities  we were onto a wedding of another great friend of ours– Amy and Mike had a beautiful wedding out in Buffalo. This was Blake’s first wedding and he looked so cute I thought I was going to cry! He’s growing up so fast. He was very intrigued by all the people and the music, so funny to watch him people watch. You have to wonder what he is thinking! Brian and I used the wedding as our “date night” and stayed out till 11 pm….yeah sounds early but not for us. That was late for us, but we had a great time.

Once you have a child....no one takes a picture of us anymore!

We rounded out April with Blake turning 1. The night of his actual birthday was just a quiet dinner at home, nothing crazy….that comes later…keep reading.

Our last football picture

Opening a book from the Christ Family

He wanted to open gifts...who needs a family picture?!

Well that brings us to May already! The first weekend in May we celebrated Great Grandma Vriesen’s 80th birthday down in Blue Earth. All of the kids, grandkids and great grandkids were there. Of course there were a bunch of Kodak moments all weekend. We spent most of our time at Jeff and Sharon’s where Macie got a little taste of what it would be like to have a sibling. Blake is pretty used to “older” girls taking his toys away, but she wasn’t too keen on sharing. But she had lots of hugs and kisses for him, so I think it all worked out in the end. Blake was also teaching Gavin, his other cousin, how to sit up and take notice of all the things around him. Husker went out to Buffalo to start her 2 week vacation…she gets so much more attention out there I think she would rather stay there than come back.

The matching outfits were a total fluke....no one planned that!

A few more year and this group is going to be trouble...

The second weekend in May was fun filled, I co-hosted a baby shower for one of my college girlfriends. It was weird to see so many “baby” things that Blake has already grown out of. It just reminds me again how fast time flies! After the baby shower it was finally time for Blake’s big birthday party. We were very fortunate to have close friends and family celebrate with us. He was pretty overwhelmed by all the people, but was in good spirits most of the day. Some of the highlights during the day is him dancing for everyone to his favorite song…Behind Blue Eyes from The Who. We have it recorded on our DVR and anytime he’s in a bad mood, we cue it up and he calms down. It’s pretty funny. [I'll try to post the video soon] He wasn’t to interested in cake, he doesn’t eat much sugar, so I don’t think he liked it very much.  He was a very spoiled little boy, getting toys and clothes etc. We are so blessed with such great friends and family, it made the day really special.

Didn't really go for the hat so much...

Not a big sugar fan, so the cake was a little overwhelming.

Meanwhile, all of this going on during the weekends, I was SUPER busy at work getting ready for my trip to Hawaii….YES for work. I left on Mother’s Day and just arrived home this Sunday. It was a long week of work, but I guess I couldn’t complain too much about the view. The planning of this trip was a ton of work, I’m still stressed out about it and it’s over?! But that’s the worklife I live, so I’m used to it. We were in the beautiful St. Regis Hotel, on Kauai. The island is very different from the Big Island where we honeymoon-ed. It’s so much more green and the water is much more calm. Of course it was beautiful everyday, and after being their 7 days, I only got to lay on the beach for 40 minutes. My legs are still as white as snow.

This is the view from my "desk" all week, I couldn't really complain.

The sunset from our office room, yep we were working from sun up to sundown.

Taken during my 40 minutes on the beach!

All in all it was a great time, but I was very excited to come home and see my boys. While I was there Husker celebrated her 5th birthday. I can’t believe we’ve had her that long. Yet again, another reminder that time goes by SO fast.

Thanks again for waiting for the updated blog, I promise to be a little more dilligent…but her are some pictures just for fun that we’ve taken in the last few months!

First time down the slide

A little sleepy after the park and the walk to Wal Mart~

First time without the baby bath

Not a huge fan of grass...takes after Mom.

Still loves to eat

Only one year ago…

It was only one year ago that I was getting ready for my big weekend of baby showers, and starting to get the nursery ready. With Brian in tax season, and me working two jobs we didn’t really get around to doing much until the bitter end! Our house wasn’t covered with baby toys, blankets and bottles, and Husker was still pretty much the center of attention. Wow…what a difference a year makes. Now our house is strewn with toys, pacifiers, blankets, books and Husker resorts to curling up on the bed out of everyone’s way. It’s a completely different place, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.

Last weekend we sold our infant car seat and moved Blake up into a bigger seat, it makes him look so much older. It makes me realize that time really does go by fast.  He also decided th other day that he no longer wants to be fed baby food, which is quite interesting. So we have moved on to small pieces of whatever we’re eating. His new favorite is sweet potato fries, which I could eat with him all day long….mmmmm-good. Anyway, he’s on the brink of walking, he likes to “cruise” around the living room from couch to chair and back. I think Brian is determined to have him start walking ASAP…but we’re trying not to push him.

He’s also learning the meaning of the word no. This growing pain is actually quite harder for Husker, she has grown accustomed to all things NO referring to her. She has definitely given us a look when we say NO and she’s just laying there…but we have to laugh because for both of them learning NO is a “selective” learning process. Blake has definitely learned some boundaries. For instance, he is obsessed with Brian’s play station, he likes the buttons and the lights, but of course Brian doesn’t want him to mess with his saved games–heaven forbid! So that has been the main learning point of NO. Blake will crawl over there and get on his knees so he is eye level with the play station, then he turns around to see if anyone is watching him, slowly his hand goes up and he goes to push the buttons. One of us finally notices and says NO, and he just stops in his tracks and smiles. Although he heard the NO, he tries again. One more NO and he moves on, but only to come back a few minutes later. It’s quite funny to us, and eventually he’ll totally understand, but for right now it’s only when he wants too. You would think he understands what we are saying, because he is starting to babble constantly..in between laughing that is. He can say MAMA pretty well, but I don’t think he knows what he’s actually saying. But we’re working on it. We actually think his first word might be Husker. Every time she barks or comes around he giggles and makes a barking sound.  So I’m sure its just a matter of time before he’s chasing Husker and barking at her.

Well in usual Vriesen blog fashion…ending with some more photos Rebecca took at daycare…(click on them to make them bigger)

Blake definitely loves ravioli…and making a mess.

You would think he would enjoy a pacifier, but he prefers any toy that is laying around….

Until next time..

Blog away….

Since I’ve been back at work I feel like the only time I have to blog is on my lunch hour, so as my co-workers say “blog away.”  Another busy month in the Vriesen household, as usual.  Since our last post, Blake turned 9 months, and this weekend already he’ll be 10 months old. It’s amazing how fast time flies! Blake is now officially crawling, and very fast at that. He is very intrigued by Husker’s dog dish, and other gross things like liking the TV?! It’s pretty funny to watch him change on a daily basis.  One nice break is that even through teething, he’s been very good. If you remember back to my first blog about the annoying question “is he a good baby” I guess I can finally say yes.  He is consecutively sleeping through the night, and loves going to daycare everyday…..I think the only time we really hear him cry is when we take something away from him. So in that case we’re pretty lucky.

Brian and I, well more me, have really noticed how great it is to all be home during what we would normally call “busy season.” Having Brian around after work each night is about the only way we eat dinner. Each night one of us cooks…we’ll let’s face it…usually me, and Brian and Blake play. It’s a two person job! Husker is starting to become more aware of Blake, she definitley jumps when his little hands latch onto her tail. I think they are going to be really good together. We are really looking forward to spring where we can finally all go on a walk together, I’m thinking Husker is the most excited about that.

Since Brian has been home more this winter we have had time to go out and do things! A few weeks ago my parents took Blake for the entire weekend, mostly we slept in, but it was nice to get a bunch of things done around the house. I do have to admit, but Sunday afternoon we were happy to see him again. It’s funny how fast you forget what your life was before kids! We also had another “makeshift” date night at my good friends Couples Baby shower last weekend. We have such a great group of friends, it’s nice to get out and be able to stay out late….although, sad to say 1:30 am is WAY past my bedtime.  This week for Brian’s birthday we went to the Gopher Basketball game, although they lost it was a REALLY fun game. Not to mention we got to see a great half time show, Quickchange [pretty amazing...google their act]. Blake and Husker of course always gets to hang out with the best babysitters, one of which is my friend Katie. She is always offering to babysit and for that we are truly grateful!

So not only is Brian turning the big 32…Blake is turing 10 months old, although technically there isn’t a 29th day of Feb, so we’re just going to say it’s the 28th As I’ve mentioned before we have a great daycare, Rebecca takes pictures of the kids all the time. Sometimes she’ll email me at work, and it’s definitely the highlight of the day. On Blake’s 9 month b-day she staged a little photo shoot in the play room, so I’ve included some of the pictures. Enjoy! (sorry they’re so small, click on them to make them bigger)

A whole lotta everything…

Wow, I can’t believe that it’s been almost three weeks since I last posted, well I guess I can believe it because we have been SO busy. This is the third time I’ve started a post, and this time I’m going to finish it! Since I last wrote we have been on the go. Now with both of us back at work it leaves the weekends jampacked with things to do! A few weeks ago Brian and I used the Quady family Christmas dinner at Kobe as our date night. Blake stayed home with Auntie Barb and had a great time. Dinner was awesome and we saw some great hibachi action. Can you believe that I was the ONLY one at the table that caught my shrimp in my mouth? Well if you ask Brian he’s not surprised, you know me and my big mouth, but I digress. Dinner was great, and Blake even got up to say good night to us when we got home. He does so well with babysitters, but I think he knows when we get home…just one little kissg good night.

The next night he was with Grandma and Grandpa Quady as we had date night number two and headed to the Gopher Hockey game against UND. It was a great game, and another fun night. It’s only a matter of time before Blake realizes that he is going to have to split his sports betwen the  Huskers and Gophers! Luckily each team has their own dominating sport…   So on top of our two date nights we’ve each been able to get together with friends too. Just a busy month in general.

We are nearing 9 months…will be on Friday. We can’t believe how fast it has gone and how lucky we are that he has been a really good kid…so far…ask me again when he’s in junior high. Still with only two teeth, he’s starting to crawl. Unfortunately he reserves his crawling only for daycare. He’s pulling himself up on everything, and talking all the time. He is growing into a great personality, we’re just waiting for him to acutally start saying some words.

So I finally got some videos of Blake giggling. It’s so funny and he doesn’t always do it when people are around. So take a look at this

Also as normal, some pictures…

Until next time…

Standing at the musical table

Loves to eat!

Wow…January is already here?

I feel like Christmas was just yesterday, it may be because we still have our Christmas tree up…but either way I can’t believe that January is here already. This week I finally started back to work, so it was “fun” getting back into a routine. I think Blake was ready for it, he was struggling a little last week to sleep. But now I think we’re back on track.

We were able to finally get down to Blue Earth and celebrate Christmas and New Year’s at the Vriesens. It was very relaxing and fun to just hang out. Blake was excited to get all the attention, Husker…not so much, but she’s a good sport. Blake is really on the move, so it was fun to have a big open area with NO STAIRS around and him to roam free.

Luckily the Cornhusker’s won their bowl game. Blake and Brian were cheering them on, as Husker huddled up next to me scared of all of the cheering. It’s really quite cute.

Brian and I went to the Timberwolves game last night. I got free tickets from work, it was nice to have a inexpensive date night. I think my parents were excited to come babysit too. Today the Oian’s were over to celebrate Christmas. It’s been a while since Blake and Macie have seen each other so I’ll end the post with some cute pics. They sure are going to have a good time growing up together!

Blake’s First Christmas

We knew this Christmas was going to be an exciting once since it would be Blake’s first one, but we didn’t know we would have to fight a snowstorm just to celebrate. Fortunately we were able to get out to Buffalo on Thursday morning and celebrate with the Quady/Soholt/Lotti families. But today we started out to Blue Earth and turned around, the roads were just too bad and we were going to have to turn around and come back tomorrow. Brian’ s stress level was high driving, so we decided we should be safe and stay home. So we are snowed in so I’m going to upload some pictures to share with everyone we haven’t been able to see yet…hope everyone had a great Christmas!

until next time…

with Sadie at daycare

At daycare in his new snowsuit

Watching me wrap presents…

Waiting for Santa

At the Quady Christmas tree

a little Christmas Tree…and a little football

With crawling only around the corner, we decided that a tabletop tree would be a smarter idea this year. So we made the trip out to my uncle Bob’s tree farm and cut down a little tree. It’s the smallest tree I’ve ever had, but it’s so cute. Since we got rid of our pre-lit artificial tree, we were on the hunt for lights. Didn’t know that would be the worst part of the day! I can’t believe that EVERYWHERE is out of lights already. Brian really wanted red lights, you know Husker colors And there were none to be found until I got to good ol’ Menards.  After already being at two Targets and Wal-Mart, I pretty much took the lights and ran before anyone could get them! Our tree is so little it only took two strings, so that was nice. The new LED lights are pretty nice,  it definitely brightened up everything. Since we have always had a full size tree, our ornaments fill up the tree…no problem. But it’s cute and makes the house look all ready for the holiday season.

After setting up the tree all of us got settled in for the big Nebraska game. Although they lost it was a very close game. Husker got a little scared of Brian cheering and decided we all needed to be on the couch together!

Speaking of football; each year Brian starts up the College Bowl Pick’ Em Tournament. I think he is still disappointed that I’ve beaten him a few times already, but he keeps trying. This year he wanted to make sure Blake got involved. He wanted to make it extremely fair, being the accountant that he is, so he set up a very scientific way of choosing the game. Take a look.  He associated each team with a block, and then squeeked each block equally and which ever one he touched first. YES, he did this for 32 teams. He didn’t get a choice for the Nebraska or Minnesota games, Brian gave those to him automatically. Of course Brian would never let Blake pick against the Big Red, and although he’s not a Gopher fan, a certain Grandma REALLY is, and it was in kind gesture.

And as always closing with some bonus pictures–

Until next time…

Husker "watching" Blake sleep on the way home from the tree farm.

More choosing of teams...

Our morning breakfast together...

New home…new picture…and some Thanksgiving

Welcome to our new home on wordpress. After a long research I have decided to blog on this site instead. There are a lot more features and much easier to use.

When rethinking our blog and updating things, I realized that our old blog name didn’t include a huge part of our family, Husker. I thought this picture was fitting because no matter what kind of day we have..stressful, crazy, busy etc. she always greets us wagging her tail. I think all dogs have a pretty positive outlook on life in general, and she is a constant reminder of that. So I’ve decided that her picture is a reminder that you should always slow down and realize that there is a lot of good things to be thankful for and keep a postive attitude, even during this crazy life we live in.

Now onto the last few weeks, since I’ve been researching chaning our blog, I haven’t posted anything in a while. In fact, it was before my 30th birthday! That already seems so long ago. Anyway, Brian and my friends planned a surprise party for me, and I was SO surprised. I totally didn’t think anything of it, and it was nice to have some close family and friends around to celebrate. I honestly can’t believe that he pulled it off, I’m very NOSY!

As I mentioned in the previous blog November is quite the month full of celebrations, my birthday, our anniversary and my parent’s birthdays and their wedding anniversary! All of those come before my favorite holiday Thanksgiving. It was really fun this year to have Blake here and all the more reasons to be thankful. He made [well,  Rebecca made] a Turkey hat thing, that he wore to all of our gatherings. 

We spent Thanksgiving at my aunt’s house, and then ended the weekend down in Blue Earth with Brian’s family. It was a whirlwind of great food and good times. After a long weekend it’s nice to be home, I can’t believe December starts tomorrow already. Blake turned 7 months yesterday, and Brian and I just realized how fast this has all gone by. Seems like everyone that said, kids grow up before you’re eyes were right…darn. Anyway, you may have seen our growing “football pictures” so below is the latest, and also a few others worth sharing.

 

Thanks for following us on our new blog…until next time.

Finally asleep after a day of no naps!