Take Me Out to the Ball Game

I am so blessed to work where I do since we get to have "fun days" on a semi regular basis!  This time around we got to go to the new Twins stadium to watch the Twins win!  (They had actually clinched the division title the night before so there was some energy in the air!)

The only thing that was a bummer was that my hubby was actually going to come to the game with us (there were some extra tickets so they opened it up to family members) but due to some unforeseen circumstances he wasn't able to make it!  :(  It was a huge bummer but I still had fun with some of the peeps from work.  Plus it is a beautiful stadium, the weather was great, and we won!

Here are the few pics I took:

We had great seats!  We were sitting on the left had side of this picture, on the first level, under the overhang, right above the Twins dugout!

These are the announcers from Fox Sports.  We stood right behind them while they were filming so we're pretty sure we made it on TV! 

With it being super overcast they actually turned the lights on around 2pm which made it feel like a night game! 

A New Fall Tradition!

On Pocket Your Dollars a few days ago they had posted that Bachman's (a local flower shop) was having a Fall Festival where you could build your own scarecrow for free.  All you had to do was bring in the clothes and they provided the hay and burlap sac (for the head)!

Since I knew Little L's attention span would be a little too short to stuff a full size scarecrow I decided to just do one of her older pjs with feet that she doesn't fit into anymore.  Plus, having the feet already closed and the zipper up the middle made it super easy to stuff!

We went a few minutes before it started so she got to run around a bit, look at pumpkins and play in the hay.  I was right that she would have a short attention span since she didn't even want to spend all the time it took to stuff the jammies!  :)   Once we I got the jammies stuffed Little L had a blast carrying around her "baby".  At least that is what she kept calling it!  Even though I did a TON of chasing Little L around we had a lot of fun and I am hoping we started a new tradition!

Here are the pics!

So I know it looks a little creepy without a real face, and I have been meaning to put one on but just haven't gotten around to it so it is just sitting on our front porch faceless!  Maybe someday I'll give it some eyes, a nose and a mouth!  We'll see!

Baking with Mommy and Little L

The other day I decided to make some chocolate chip cookies to help warm up the house (and maybe because I have a little bit of a sweet tooth!)  But seriously, the house was super chilly and instead of cranking up the heater I figured we could just do some baking.  So, I got things set up and Little L started helping.  Unfortunately, as I was in the process of measuring everything out I realized I was 1/4 cup short of brown sugar.  I figured, well, maybe they just won't be as sweet...I'll just keep chugging along and hope everything works out ok.  Searching for the brown sugar had gotten me a little frazzled though so I wasn't thinking and before I beat the sugar, butter, and vanilla I added the eggs.  You know, the eggs you are supposed to add one at a time, slowly mixing them into the already beaten butter/sugar/vanilla mixture!  Needless to say, I ended up beating those eggs up and pretty much beat the snot out of the functioning proteins...(that's a little food science for all you just to show that I actually do know at least a little about what I am doing at work!)  I figured at that point though, I might as well just bake them to see what happens.  At least the batter tasted good!

YUM!

Mommy's Helper!

Reaching for a whole spoonful of batter!

And just in case you were wondering...this is what cookies look like if you have beat down eggs that can't function!  

Then on Sunday, the hubby's mom and dad were coming over to see Little L, grill some burgers and hot dogs and watch the Vikings.  I had gotten some great deals on Betty Crocker Dessert Bars so I figured we could make up a batch of Mississippi Mud Brownies for our dessert (and once again warm up the house without turning on the heater).  Little L was quite the helper and I must say that just making boxed brownies went much smoother than the chocolate chip cookies from a few days before (and they turned out just like they were supposed too...super yummy!)  Although I think Little L thought the batter tasted pretty good this time too! 

A Day with Grandpa

Right before my dad had to fly back to CA he left his cabin to come spend a day with us (and to have me get up at the CRACK to get him to the airport...more on that later...)

I wanted to make sure we got some quality Grandpa/Granddaughter time in so we started our morning at the park.  Here are some pictures from the fun they had and you might notice that Little L looks like she wet her pants in a few pictures...it had actually rained the day before so the park was pretty soaked and even though we brought a few paper towels with us (thanks to a suggestion from my hubby) it just wasn't enough to dry stuff down!  Oh, well!

Merry go round fun!

Sitting on the "stepping stones"

Little L loved going back and forth and back and forth and back and...well, you get the idea!

Little L climbed all the way to the top with some help from Grandpa!

Checking out what stuff looks like from the mountain top!

I LOVE this pic!  You can see how much fun Little L is having (plus you can see how much fun Grandpa is having in the background!)

Tree huggers!

Little L getting carried like a sac of potatoes!

After the park we went and did a little shopping at Toys R Us where Grandpa treated Little L to a couple of great gifts!  He got her a super cute Mickey Mouse that talks and one of those fold out toddler couches with the Backyardigans on it.  Little L LOVES to sit on her couch with Mickey and watch the Backyardigans (thankfully there are 3 full seasons on Netflix so we have LOTS of episodes to chose from).    If you've never heard of the Backyardigans they are a cute little group of next door neighbors that play make believe together in their backyard.  Its fun and cute and I love that they sing such fun songs!  Little L likes to dance along with them!

Then we went and had a yummy lunch at Red Lobster!  It was their endless shrimp deal so the hubby and my dad went all out!  I got my the same thing I always get...the coconut popcorn shrimp!  Yum, yum!

With full tummies we went home for our naps and then it was off to church!  It was open house so we had lots of great music and a timely message as always!  Then it was home and basically straight to bed since my dad's flight was leaving at 6:15 A.M.!  (Which meant leaving our house at 4:15 to get him there on time!)  It was a fun trip with my dad and I know Little L had lots of fun with her grandpa!  Thank goodness we have ichat so they can "see" each other at least once a week until he comes back!

Labor Day at the Cabin - Cousin Time

Little L had such a good time hanging out with her "cousin" Miss A!  (Miss A is actually my cousin's daughter so I think they are second cousin or something like that!)  She is only 6 months older than Little L so she has LOTS to teach!  :)

Here are some pictures from their time together!

Playing in the Little Tyke's Car that Miss A's Mor Mor (Grandma) got for $3 at a garage sale!  The girls were so cute!  They kept taking "turns" that were super short!

These are the only floaties the girls couldn't pop!  They were jumping back and forth on them and then pretending to take a nap in their "beds"!

Since they couldn't go in the lake we had the girls take a bath in GiGi's bathtub!  Sorry you can't really see Little L's face but I wasn't fast enough in taking the picture!

They had a lot of fun together this summer and I know they will have lots more fun together at the lake in the coming summers!  So glad Little L has such a great "cousin" to play with!

Labor Day at the Cabin - Making Buns with Grandpa and GiGi

One of my favorite memories of growing up and visiting the lake was making buns with my grandma.  (Actually both of my grandmas made buns so it really is something that has a special place in my heart!)  Since both great-granddaughters were at the lake with their grandpas they decided to have a bun making lesson.  Each grandpa helped his granddaughter while GiGi (their great-grandma) taught them how to make buns!  The girls had lots of fun, although Little L mostly just ate the bun dough!

**Quick side note about eating bun dough...we had a discussion about how those of us that grew up snacking on bun dough think it is SO yummy while those of us who did not think it is pretty yucky!  (i.e. the cousins all think it is yummy while the husbands think we are crazy for eating it!)

On to the photos!

GiGi cutting up the dough into bun sizes

Little L is already starting to snack!

Telling Grandpa about how yummy the bun dough is

Great-Uncle P., Miss A., Grandpa, Little L and GiGi all making buns!

Here she just sticks the whole thing in her mouth!

Yummy!  GiGi's bun dough is almost as yummy as the fresh buns!

Still more Labor Day pictures to come!

Labor Day at the Cabin - The Beach

My dad has a cabin up in northern Minnesota and he comes up a couple of times a year to work on it enjoy it.  Every Labor Day he is here and we go up to have some fun and help set the cabin up for the winter.

We took off for the 4 1/2 hour road trip (it takes at least that long when you figure in a lunch/potty break which you HAVE.TO.TAKE. when you have an 19 month along for the ride).  When we went up for the 4th of July weekend (I know, I still need to post pictures from that!) Little L actually did a great job the whole trip up and she even took a short nap on the way home.  We figured we had it made this time around but boy were we wrong...Little L was not overly interested in having to stay in her car seat for more than 20 minutes so we went through LOTS of toys, books, songs, and even a Veggie Tales on the iPad.  But once we got to the lake she took a great nap and was then ready to explore the beach!  Before she went to sleep she was looking out the window and waving to the beach and saying "Hi"!  (*sigh* she is just too cute!)

Here are some pictures of Little L exploring (you'll notice that Fall decided to show up last weekend so she is in pants and a sweater and unfortunately it never warmed up enough for her to actually play in the lake!) :(

Checking out the dock with Grandpa and Daddy

We found a wiffle ball and that was endless entertainment for Little L (at least it helped keep her out of the water!)

Lots to discover on the beach!

These pictures with her looking out over the lake are some of my favorite!

She climbed up on this boat all by herself!

We tried to get a picture with Daddy but Little L wasn't that interested as you can see from the next few photos!

Giving the flower "love"

Walking on each.and.every.step. up to the cabin

More pictures to come soon!