Birthday's and Sinking Ships

Yesterday was my mom's birthday, and we decided to surprise her with a birthday dinner at our house. My dad and i set it up so that my mom thought my furnace was broken and Adam was working in Big Lake so wasn't home to fix it. So my dad planned he would come over with my mom to fix it before they were supposed to go to dinner together at 3 Squares. Little did she know when she came over she was going to be surprised. It was actually kind of a lame surprise because it was just my brother Chuck and I, because Joe and Adam weren't home yet. So my mom walked in and i was like surprise...! Then Chuck walked out of the kitchen and was like surprise, and just then Joey pulled up and walked up to the house and said surprise too...it was very lame... But my mom was surprised, and didn't know that she was going to have dinner that i cooked, and play games.

Family picture at our house for Mom's birthday.

Also, Adam came home on Thursday last week with these...

So sweet huh? He said it was because he had bought me flowers a few times, but had not bought me roses for a long time...so he bought me some...they are still SO beautiful and smell so good.

Last weekend my parents had our big birthday celebration for us. Each year instead of buying us gifts, they plan a surprise birthday for the family. Three years ago we went to the science museum for the Body worlds exhibit and then had a hibachi dinner, two years ago we went on the Zephyr, last year we went on segways and to the mill city museum, and this year they took us to the science museum for the Titanic exhibit and then we stayed at a hotel and played games as a family. It was so much fun and we are so glad that we do the family birthday celebration versus do gifts. This year, Bridget was a part as well because she and Chuck are engaged :) Here are a few pics form the day.

Finally, today my grandma came into town with Earl, and got to see Asa for the first time since the shower we had for him. She was so happy to see him! She fed him and he fell asleep in her arms...shortly after she fell asleep holding him.
Tomorrow, i am going to go to my parents to help my mom and grandma cook all of the dishes for Thanksgiving.

I am very thankful this year for our amazing son, and for the flexibility i have with my job. Every year i have wanted to go to my parents to help cook the day before, but have never been able to because i have always had to work. I am VERY thankful this Thanksgiving.

Christmas Shopping?

Monday Adam and i went to the Mall of America and did all of our Christmas shopping. I know, it isn't even December yet. We have done this the past few years and just love it. This way we avoid the craziness of the holiday shoppers, and the long lines. We have all of our gifts in the living room, and Adam went to Costco and bought all of the essentials for wrapping. I think i am going to tackle that tonight. We also got our Christmas cards in the mail yesterday. I am going to work on addressing those next week and hope to get them in the mail right after Thanksgiving. It is always so nice to run to the mall during the month of December just to "look" or grab some essential that we need and see all of the people scrambling last minute to Christmas shop. When we were at the Mall of America Monday we had lunch at the Rain forest Cafe and it just so happened that Santa made his way through the restaurant to talk to all the kiddies. I took a picture of Santa leaning over Asa's stroller as he happened to be sleeping. It isn't the best picture as the restaurant was pretty dark, and it was taken with my BlackBerry, but you get the point. Asa's 1st picture with Santa....and not the last!

Happy 3 Months Asa!

This post is a bit delayed as Asa turned 3 months on November 3rd. We have been having so much fun with him. He has started to grow and change so much lately. He is very into grabbing things with his hands, and he loves to stretch his arms way up over his head and then quickly bring them together by his stomach, so fast sometimes that he makes a slapping noise when his hands hit his stomach. He makes noises all of the time, is SO vocal, and follows us around the room with his eyes when we walk around. He has really started to recognize our voices and will get super excited when he sees us. Probably his greatest accomplishment is that he can roll from his back to his stomach! This means that he usually doesn't end up waking up on his back when we put him down for bed. His neck is so strong and he can lift his head to 90 degrees when he lays on his stomach. He is a VERY happy baby, and we love him SO much!

We have stayed busy around the house. Adam dug the egress window wells for the basement, and we are getting new windows installed within the next week or so here. I got so excited for Christmas last week that i decorated the house for it...i know it is so early, but it's ok to be festive early. Adam is loving his job at the National Window Store, and they recently hired two new guys under Adam that he has been training in this week. Even though he works evenings, it is so nice to be able to spend mornings and most afternoons with him. We definitely couldn't do this at our old jobs, or if i didn't work part time. I love the schedule and am really loving my job as well.

When we went to our last pediatrician appointment at 2 months the Dr was very vocal about getting Asa on a schedule. He said that the sooner we get him used to a schedule the easier he and we will have adjusting to the different periods he will go through while growing up. We came home and realized it was NOT going to be easy for us to change his schedule. We were so used to him waking up when he woke up, going to sleep when he went to sleep, and napping when he wanted to nap. When Asa was napping we didn't want to wake him just because we had a schedule, and you can't force a baby to fall asleep when you wanted him to just because you were on a schedule...right? Well....we didn't have to do anything because Asa got on his own schedule, and follows it everyday! He wakes up at 7:30 am almost on the dot every morning. I feed him once he wakes up and we play for a while. He stays awake and takes a short nap around 10:00 usually only for about 45 minutes. He then takes another short nap around noon, and then a long nap from about 3:00 or so until about 5:30 or so. Then he is awake until 9:00 pm, goes to bed in his crib and sleeps until 7:30 am. It has been nice that he created that all on his own!

This first video was taken tonight...

Yes he is a thumb sucker...
I always say i am going to continue to update my blog, but sometimes i get carried away with other things and i delay. All i know is that today i am so blessed to have such an amazing husband, family and friends. The Lord has been so good to us, and blessed us with so many amazing things. There are so many people out there who are struggling with money, jobs, their faith, and loads of other things. The Lord can be so gracious if you rely on Him...and i am so thankful that i have a husband who loves the Lord.

Go Vikings!

We went to my parents last Sunday for the Vikings game and were totally decked out! Too bad we lost :(

Asa's 1st Fall Experience

Tonight Adam was raking the leaves in our yard and i put Asa in his warm onesie jacket and out in the leaves we went!

This last one is blurry. I was picking Asa up and Adam snapped a picture in mid motion...:)

Also, we just bought a new furniture set today! The couch we have in our living room was bought used from a couple that my parents were selling their house, and the back part is sort of torn. In it's place we bought a sectional and are going to completely rearrange our living room. I am really excited! We are going to have it delivered on Friday...i'll post pictures when we get it, CAN'T WAIT!

See What Beyonce Caused...

My grandma sent me this over the weekend. HILARIOUS!

Asa's New Noises

Asa has discovered he can make farting noises with his mouth. I called my mom tonight to tell her about the funny new noises, and she said i had to get it on tape. I told her that it would be so hard to get it on tape because of how infrequent and random it was. Just as i hung up, he made the noise, and i grabbed the video camera and then kept doing it. I was so proud of him. Sorry for the tv noise in the background, i was watching Man Vs. Food on the travel channel, and couldn't reach the remote to turn it down but wanted to capture Asa making the noises. He is starting to figure out so many new things everyday. He is almost able to roll over from his back to his stomach. The only thing that gets in the way when he does that is his other arm...so he stops mid roll so he is on his side, realizes his arm is in the way, and then starts sucking on his hand. He is pretty distracted for a bit and then just rolls back onto his back. He also has been getting really excited at times and is smiling away and then he takes a big breath in, and almost chokes on his excitement and starts coughing. It is hilarious...he is not yet used to his breath and getting excited only enhances it! Enjoy!