Dancing at Kidstock

This Tuesday, Ella and I went to "Kidstock"- a weekly program put on in an Eden Prairie park featuring a local entertainer. This week's musician was "Bob the Beachcomber" and Ella enjoyed dancing along to the music. Here is a video of her showing off some of her moves...

New Shoes

Ella has a new passion in life...her new shoes. She has always liked shoes, but has grown especially fond of her new fuschia crocs. She looks for them right away when she wakes up the morning and brings them to us to put them on her. I think she would sleep in them if we would let her!

Minnehaha Falls

Today we went to Minnehaha Falls to see the waterfall and have a picnic in the park. It was a beautiful park with lots of scenic walking trails. Ella especially enjoyed watching some ducks swim in the river.

Lake Minnetonka Regional Park

Today we went to the man-made swim pond at Lake Minnetonka Regional Park. It was perfect for Ella because there are no rocky waves and she was able to walk out pretty far in the water. She had lots of fun playing with her new sand toys, swimming in the refreshing water and having a picnic lunch on the beach. She did get quite mad, however, when Daddy tried to bury her feet in the sand!

Evening Concerts in Eden Prairie

During summer, the city of Eden Prairie has concerts in the park three nights a week. We often head out to listen to the bands and let Ella run around the park. Tonight there was a great acoustic pop band, Ella really enjoyed dancing along to the music. She also discovered the docks tonight and had lots of fun running on them and looking at the water. And the water fountain was fascinating as always!

Bathtime

Lately, Ella loves running around the hotel room in her birthday suit when we are getting ready for bathtime. She has some new turtle bathtoys that she loves playing with in the tub. After her bath, she loves being swaddled up like a baby in the towels...

Let it snow!

Ella has taken special interest to the snowmobile at one of the playgrounds...she's already gearing up for her first midwestern winter!

No longer unemployed!

I officially accepted a job offer yesterday with Children's Hospital of Minnesota and will be working part-time at the St. Paul campus. For those of you familiar with NICUs, I will be working in a 50-bed Level III NICU with all private rooms. I think it will be a great fit for me and already know one of my co-workers from a few conferences I attended. Assuming we get childcare squared away, I'm planning on starting sometime in early August so only a few more weeks of being a stay-at-home mom...

Ella's First Ice Cream Cone

Last night, Ella enjoyed her first ice cream cone at Dairy Queen. While she has tasted ice cream several times, this was the first time she had her own cone to hold just like Mommy & Daddy. Even though it got pretty messy, it was well worth it to see the joy on her face!

The Favre Saga

In case you're wondering how we feel in our family...

We want Favre back on the Packers!

Going down stairs

Here is a video of Ella, playing at the indoor playground at the mall. She is so proud that she can go down the stairs now! (sorry it's sideways, I couldn't figure out how to rotate a video)

It's a Girl!!

We had our ultrasound appointment today and found out that we are having another BABY GIRL! Jeff is really going to be outnumbered in our household! We were ecstatic to hear that everything is completely healthy and on target for our due date of November 18. We feel so blessed!

Coffee with Cari

Today Ella and I had coffee with one of my college friends Cari. It was fun to catch up with a friend I haven't seen for awhile and to introduce Ella to her.

More picnics and park trips!

I know, I know...all we seem to do is hang out at parks and have picnics, but we are loving the midwestern summer and are going a little stir-crazy in the hotel! Here are a few more pictures of us enjoying the local parks.

Happy 4th of July!

We went to the Eden Prairie Independence Day festivities and had lots of fun. Ella loved running around the park, playing on the swings, tasting fried cheese curds and listening to the live bands. Surprisingly, she made it til the end of the night for her first firework show and she was completely fascinated by the fireworks. We hope everyone had a great holiday too!

Exploring the Great Outdoors

Since arriving in Minnesota, we have been spending a lot of time outside, taking in the gorgeous weather. There are a lot of great parks in the area and Ella has loved running around outside. Here are a few pictures of her at the park on Sunday.