Christmas in Bemidji

We drove up to Bemidji a day early, to avoid Christmas Snowmageddon '09. Had a nice relaxing vacation, hanging out at Derek's house and eating way too many Christmas meals. Celebrated with the extended Hanson family at Steve and Bunny's new lake home and feasted on Bunny's delicious meatballs, ham and all the fixings.

On Christmas morning, Sophie opened gifts that she couldn't stay up late enough to open on Christmas Eve with the rest of the family. Later that morning, Grandma Linda came over and we had brunch together. She made blueberry cream cheese stuffed French toast- yummy! Then we exchanged gifts. Sophie received lots of toys and books. That evening, we joined the Hartje family for Christmas dinner. Phew, that's a lot of eating.

We left Bemidji early this morning and headed home to about 2 feet of snow in our driveway. We had to park on the street and trek our way to the house. Bryan spent the better part of the afternoon clearing our driveway.

We hope that everyone had a great Christmas!

Santa Claus

Sophie and I went to see Santa Claus over the weekend. She screamed as soon as she got on his lap. I thought the picture turned out pretty cute.

Here's the comparison to last year's Santa picture.

Happy Holidays!

It's that time of year again. The weather is getting cold outside and we're looking forward to Christmas and New Year. Here's our 2009 Christmas card.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend. We sure did! Sam came to visit and it was a blast. She came with us to Linda's house for a delicious Thanksgiving meal of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, etc. The next morning, at 5am, Sam and I went Black Friday shopping and found some good deals. We also went to the Minnesota Wild hockey game, out to dinner at the Mall of America and to the comedy club. Sophie spent the night at Grandma's house for the very first time and slept well.

Christmas picture preview

Here are a couple of sneak peaks from the photographer's blog. I can't wait to receive the CD of the rest of the pictures in the mail so we can order our Christmas cards. It took a bit for Sophie to warm up to the whole idea of getting her picture taken, but once she did, she was having a blast!

And to promote the photographer's upcoming mini-sessions, Sophie is featured in a photo collage!

Diner, Vikings, Christmas Tree, oh my!

Okay, I'm back with some updated pictures. Here's one of Sophie in her new Paul Frank pajamas. She's been busy walking all around the house and chit-chatting to herself and us.

We've been spending our Sunday afternoons watching the Minnesota Vikings football team (they are currently 8-1, yeah!). We are still working on "touchdown!" with arms in the air. It's similar to "so big", so it gets confusing.

For her 1st birthday, we got Sophie a diner/kitchen play set. She likes climbing up into the booth to enjoy her morning coffee.

Tonight, we decorated our Christmas tree. We're ready for the holidays!

Mid-November (and the weather isn't bad)

We're just over a week away from Thanksgiving. Sam will be coming to visit for the long weekend and we're super excited to have her here.

Sophie now has a total of 4 teeth. That's right, two teeth have sprouted from the top. She's a fan of her new toothbrush, but hasn't really grasped the concept of brushing just yet. Sophie is still eating food like it's going out of style. She loves pasta, fruit, anything that doesn't resemble a vegetable and whatever Mom is currently eating.

I really have to get better at taking pictures! More to come.

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone is having a great Fall and getting ready to celebrate Halloween! Here are some new pictures. I love this one of Sophie and her quizzical look. She really wasn't sure what to think of me when I was taking her picture.


Sophie dressed up this morning as a ballerina for her daycare Halloween party. She had a great time! In the afternoon, she had her 15 month doctor's appointment. She currently weighs in at 16 lbs 3 oz (teeny, tiny, little peanut). In fact, she's still even wearing some 9 month size clothes!


And the biggest news of all, Sophie is going to have a little brother in March 2010! We are very excited and hope for a happy, healthy baby.

Redwood Falls Weekend

Congratulations to Britani and Adam, who got married in Redwood Falls last weekend. Sophie was the flower girl and I was the matron of honor. The wedding was beautiful and we had a great time. It was a busy weekend!

Here are some pictures from Live and Love Studios.






What else have we been up to? Just trying to keep warm during this unseasonably cold Autumn. I have been busy with training new hires at work, Bryan has been working on fixing up the house in Crystal and Sophie has been enjoying her days playing with her friends at daycare.

Happy Autumn!

The temps have cooled down and Fall is officially here. Last week, we went to the apple orchard with friends and had brats and apple donuts and had fun picking honeycrisp apples. They are so sweet and delicious!

On the weekends, we've been enjoying baby story time at the library and swimming lessons. This evening, we went to a family open swim night and we swam for an hour! Sophie came home very happy and was giggling throughout her dinner.

Sophie took her first steps on September 26, 2009, at 14 months old. She's been sleeping 12 to 13 hours a night, usually going to bed around 6am and waking up at 6 or 7am. Her favorite words are: doe (her way of saying Zoe), no, uh-oh, happy, baby, dada, papa and num-num. She loves eating fruit, cheese, yogurt, pasta and pizza. We love watching her grow up and learn new things.

Grand Rapids Weekend

We traveled to Grand Rapids, MN for Bryan's Grandpa Blaine's wedding. He married Barb at St. Joseph's Catholic Church and it was followed by a reception and dance at the Eagles Club.

On the drive up, we stopped at a small pizzeria in Aitkin and had lunch. We checked into the hotel and then Dad and Sophie checked out the pool and water slide. Sophie did great at the short wedding ceremony (minus a couple of loud "la-la-las") and reception (she especially enjoyed the rolls and corn).

Here's a picture of Dad and Sophie swimming. Sophie is really getting used to going under water.


Post-swim, drying off and watching Dad go down the water slide a couple of times.


Here's a group picture of the Hanson and Erickson families.

Labor Day Weekend

We went to South Dakota over Labor Day weekend to meet baby Cameron, the new addition to the McMillan family. Cameron Kay was born early in the morning on September 1, weighing in at 9 lbs 3 oz. She is such a cutie! I loved holding her and smelling her. Sophie has been practicing saying, "baby" when I would tell her that we were going to visit the new baby. We also went to Falls Park and took some pictures there. Sophie did well on the car ride and slept well in the hotel room. Playing with Dad in the hotel swimming pool probably helped to tire her out.

I love this picture of Carter holding his new baby sister. They are just adorable!

Dad and Sophie enjoyed the pool at the hotel.


We visited Falls Park and it was a beautiful morning for some pictures.

1 year +

Sophie's been crawling all over the place, pulling up on furniture and toys, pushing her doll stroller around the living room and walking while holding our hands. She's been enjoying all of her new birthday toys (thank you!). Sophie enjoys her swimming lessons every weekend and we'll be starting around round of baby story time at the library again soon.

Here's a picture of Sophie with her Little People Farm Animal set.


One lovely afternoon, we went to Lake Calhoun for a stroll and some lunch. Zoe even got to come along! Usually we tell her that no dogs are allowed :(


When Sophie gets tired of jumping in her Jumperoo, she slumps over and takes a quick nap.


Sophie goes to bed each evening at about 6pm and wakes up around 6am. She enjoys eating two breakfasts and is now drinking whole milk. She takes 1-2 naps a day.

Coming up soon? The Minnesota State Fair starts in a couple of weeks! We'll be going out of town quite a bit in the next few months. Gotta enjoy the summer while it's still here!

Happy 1st Birthday, Sophie Lee!

We celebrated Sophie's big day with a party a couple of weeks ago. I counted about 55 people who joined us to celebrate. Bryan cooked burgers on the grill and we enjoyed giant cupcakes for dessert. The weather was a bit chilly, especially for July. Many of our guests played games like horseshoes and ladder golf in the backyard. The little kids played with toys inside the house. Sophie loved opening all of her birthday presents and we'd like to thank everyone for the generosity!

Sophie's birthday cake, which we didn't actually eat at her party (ran out of time!).


Sophie enjoying a cupcake on her actual birthday. Yum!


Sophie opening presents after her party. Thanks for all of the awesome toys!


Sophie playing with her new Little People animal farm.



Today, Sophie had her 1 year checkup. She weighs 15 lbs 6 oz (under 3rd percentile), is 27 inches tall (4th percentile) and her head circumference is 17.75 inches (50th percentile). Sophie loves to eat, but it still a teeny tiny peanut. She had to get a few shots and her blood drawn for some tests and was not too keen about that, but she felt much better once we got out of that clinic!

Sophie's 1 year pictures

Earlier this week, we took Sophie to JM Photography's (very cool) loft studio in Minneapolis for her 1 year photos. These were the sneak peek pics posted on the photographer's blog.

In this picture, Sophie is playing with her favorite stacking cups (thanks Denise!).


Here is Sophie showing off her pink tutu.


Sophie in her leg warmers (great for crawling around), cupcake onesie (her birthday party theme is cupcakes) and her personalized bloomers (thanks Jan!).


We climbed out onto the roof for these outdoor tutu shots.


More pictures to come!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day! We spent the weekend at home and relaxed. Ahhh, it was fantastic! We took Sophie to the Minnesota Children's Museum. She checked out the Habitot area, where kids can crawl around and we saw Clifford the big red dog and listened to story time. For lunch, we went to Cosetta's and enjoyed pizza and pasta. That evening, Jennie and Chris came over to babysit Sophie while Mom and Dad went to the Surly Brewing tour. The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying the great weather. Hope that everyone had a safe and happy 4th.

(Almost) 11 months old

What have we been up to lately? Besides trying to stay cool in this 90-degree weather, we've been busy with graduation parties, swimming lessons and basically just enjoying the summer. Let's start the photo tour.

Sophie has been getting good at standing up with the help of our coffee table. Every now and then, she'll balance herself with one hand and then sometimes release both hands.


Here she is playing with all of her toys in the living room. That's usually where she can be found in the morning and evening. Some of her favorite toys include stacking cups, books and blocks. Oh, and of course, anything that's not actually a toy.


Last weekend, we went to Richard and Kyrsten's graduation party. Congratulations on graduating! Sophie enjoyed the food- ribs, spaghetti and scalloped potatoes. She spent time playing with her second cousin Ava (8 months).


The day after was Father's Day. Everyone was over at our house, celebrating Adam's graduation. Bryan used his new grill, cooking burgers and brats for everyone. Happy 1st Father's Day, Bryan!


Sophie enjoyed the company of her extended family. In this picture, Kyrsten is holding her.


And here she is with her Great Grandpa Erickson.


We hope that you're all having a great summer!

Bryan, Karen + Sophie
xoxo

10.5 months old

Sophie is now ten and a half months old. She's been busy rolling and scooting around and laughing and giggling as she plays with her toys. The weather outside has been beautiful and we spent today hanging out as a family. It was great!

Sophie and I went shopping last weekend and we checked out the Adirondack chairs at Pottery Barn Kids. Kid-sized furniture is adorable.


Sophie started swimming lessons again, this time, we're going to a swim school with a warmer pool. Here's a picture of her sitting with Dad on the bench, waiting for class to start.


Here's a picture of Dad and Sophie, mid-lesson. There are only two other kids in the class, so they get lots of attention. Sophie enjoyed "jumping" off the platform into the water.


Here's Sophie with Dad, rinsing off after the lesson. Sophie was so tired that fell asleep in the car on the way home.


Sophie turns one next month! Our little baby is growing up so quickly.