Sometimes you just have to eat PB&J while wearing a tutu.

Remember the tutu I made Miss Quinn? She likes it. And likes wearing it. Very cute (although not so good for the tutu!)

She decided it accented her jammies quite nicely today. Then Daddy decided to give her a PB&J for lunch. Actually, it was a PB on toast, since we only had strawberry jelly and she's allergic to strawberries.



This was the result.



And just for fun, check out this boy. Can his eyes be any bluer?

My boy is getting to be such a little man.

I wanted to try some new stuff with my camera tonight, and asked Noah if he'd be willing to help me. He was all for it. We drove all over, and stopped to take pictures wherever it looked like we might get a cool shot. Noah had as many ideas as I did, although most of his involved "silly poses."

Here's a few photos from our adventure.

Meeting Dora and Diego

Since Grandma Ruth was here and we were looking for something fun and out of the ordinary to do, we drove down to the MOA. Anyone who knows Quinn knows she's a big Dora fan. The MOA amusement park is Nickelodeon themed, and guess who makes an appearance every weekend? Oh yeah. THE Dora and Diego.Dora and Diego and Legoland ... talk about heaven for a threesome of Lessinger kids.

Noah wasn't really into Dora and Diego. But he was rewarded for his patience at Legoland. The little two ... just check out the photos to see how they felt about Dora and Diego.

Waiting (and peeking around the corner from the line to check out the action)



Quinn met Dora ...



Even with all the noise at the MOA park, I could hear her little voice yell, "BACKPACK!"



This was the biggest surprise. Actually, it was a surprise that he would even go inside the "rail" that surrounded the characters and get close to either of them. And at first, he didn't. Quinn and Bob met the duo first. When they came out of the greeting area, G said he wanted to see Dora and Diego. So back in line they went.



And a hug? No way!


As they were leaving the greeting area, G actually turned around, ran back to Dora, and hugged her. I had my camera turned off already and missed the photo. But talk about a surprise!

Some shots of Griffin

I'm a bit obsessed with trying to improve my photos right now. The poor kids ... nothing but mom acting like paparazzi, chasing them with a camera. Noah has wisely chosen to hide but the little ones haven't learned.

They seem to be surviving. :-)





This is the outfit Bob and I brought back for Quinners from Chinatown when we went to San Francisco this summer. She calls it "pajamas."





And lest you think the kids are suffering horribly, I do believe in incentives. Ha!

Have you ever wondered what Quinn would look like in 10 yards of tulle?

Wonder no more.





Things have been busy here and I've obviously taken a break from sharing photos. During the worst of my morning sickness - approximately weeks 3-13 (ha!) - I did as little as possible. No knitting, no scrapbooking, no photos, nothing. Just a lot of lying on the couch moaning for someone to put me out of my misery.

But I'm back now. Tired and large but back. So enjoy the photos and hopefully there will be more regular updates in the future.

Ah, sweet summer.

The weather has finally turned beautiful in MN. Today was sunny and dry, with a slight breeze. The kids were out enjoying one of the first gorgeous days of the year for the better part of the day. The guys built the "pergola" for the backyard. We have shade - yay!



Right now, G and his next door cohort are playing in the sand/mud boxes. She is dressed in girly pink camo and is covered in mud. He is wearing his Burger King crown from last week (since Mommy has major BK chicken sandwich cravings).






Quinners and Daddy ran to grab dog food and a few supplies.

Noah and his next door amigo are playing Indiana Jones Legos inside the neighbor's house.

And I am trying to put the finishing touches on a massive scrapbooking assignment. Not so into the scrapbooking right now, but I'm sure it is temporary. It helps when I have photos like this to scrapbook, though:



I think she looks quite good in pigtails. :-)

My weekly heart attack

The scene: I am in the living room, and Quinn and G are in the toy room. It is quiet. Too quiet.

ME: G, what are you doing?

G: I am just cutting Quinner's hair, Mommy.

ME: WHAT?!?! (Rush crazily to the steps to see what is going on)

G: See, Mommy? I cut hers hair.

***
Luckily, it wasn't a scissors in G's hand. The old infant carseat was sitting in the toyroom, waiting to be passed along to Marcy & TJ. Quinn had climbed in it and was happily sitting still while G "cut" her hair with a pair of plastic pliers. It was quite cute.

But dang. I better make sure all scissors in the house are hidden!

New specs!

Miss Quinn decided to fold her brother's glasses for him over the Easter holiday. And if you are Miss Quinn, folding means snapping the bow off.

Luckily, G just had an eye doctor appointment and was due for new lenses. We picked out the frames last week, and he got his new glasses on Thursday.

I think he looks adorable. The frames are a little funky. I actually wanted to get him some little Drew Carey black frames, but I figured those would last about 6.7 seconds before they were demolished.



And here is Miss Quinn, in her latest sweater knitted by Mommy. She's not the most willing photo subject, but it is totally worth it. ;-)



Noah has been so busy with school and friends that I don't really have any new pictures of him. Here is one from the Saturday before Easter - he's very intent about art stuff.

Have a great week!

My Griffin is 3, part 2.

This time, with pictures. :-)

My Griffin is 3.

Where does the time go? 

Sadly, my computer broke. And died. And then when the new computer came (good-bye, tax rebate!), there was a problem with the fan so it immediately went to the shop for service. Sigh. It was here just long enough to download all my Griffin birthday photos from the camera onto it. I'm using Bob's computer tonight, but when my computer comes home I'll post some pics of the big 3 yr old.

Until then, here's a pic of Miss Quinn. She's not a fan of the camera, but it certainly loves her.  

Let's pretend that the writers' strike applied to blogland too.

That would explain my complete lack of activity on this blog for the last 3 months or so, right?

Or it could be the fact that between Thanksgiving - the last post - and today, we have managed to squeeze in the following:
- Noah's birthday
- Quinn's birthday
- my birthday
- Grandpa N.'s 90 birthday party (and a trip to SoDak)
- Christmas
- a visit from Grandma Ruth
- a visit from Ray and Laura
- a trade show trip (by me) to California, followed by a trip to SoDak to pick up G & Q (thanks again, June and Mom!)
- finishing my first term of teaching, and starting my second term (2 classes this time)
- Bob teaching a new class this semester on one night each week
- Noah's school program and a visit from Mark, June, Turner, Grandpa, Grandma, & Jackie
- New Years
- our 10th anniversary

Hmmm. I'm pretty sure I've missed some stuff, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head. :-) Anyway, I'm hoping that life is about to settle down a bit. We are falling into a routine: school, a little teaching, a little playing, and a little sleeping. Very little.

The kids are growing like weeds. Griffin and Quinn stayed in SoDak while I was at CHA Winter from Feb. 9 to Feb. 13. Noah and Bob held down the home front. They apparently watched all 3 Lord of the Rings movies. I wonder if they consumed anything besides popcorn while I was gone. Griffin came home referring to himself as "Oreo Boy Lessinger." Wonder what he ate in SoDak? :-)

Oh - I forgot one thing in my long list. We went to the Cities to see a life-size McQueen at a car show. Griffin was in HEAVEN. Absolute heaven! Here is a layout I have posted in the garden at 2peas about the event.



A few other photos and highlights:

My G. Funny, funny kid. He eats "frosted snowflakes" for breakfast, and is seriously my very own mini-me. I've never met a kid that made me laugh the way he does. And now he'll grin at me and say, "I so funny, Mommy."



Noah had his turn to be student of the week at school. Part of the deal is to bring in photos that you want to share with the class. Noah wanted me to take new pictures, so we spent a good hour getting "just the right shot." He had really specific ideas of what he wanted. "Now get a close one of my ship, Mom. Now take one of me holding the ship. Wait. I need to move this way a little." You get the point. In the end, he was happy and had a great week.




Last but not least, Miss Quinn is now a walker. She still has the cute little bowl-legged baby thing going on, but she's improving quickly. This shot is from Grandpa's 90th. Her little tights were black by the time the party ended, because if she wanted to move fast she'd drop and crawl. :-)

Happy Monday-after-Thanksgiving

Hope everyone is back in the swing of things after a weekend of fun and food. We spent the weekend in South Dakota. We stayed with Mark, June, & Turner this time - it was a lot of fun! The kids (big and small - ha!) had a great time playing Mark's new Wii. In fact, Noah had so much fun that he asked Santa for a Wii, and Santa said, "Yes." Hello, Santa. Hope that toy shop is busy churning out the impossible-to-find Wii's for all the good little boys.

Noah and Quinn had a little birthday party on Saturday night. Great Grandma Shirley made Quinners a little doll cake. It was adorable!



Noah had a Star Wars cupcake cake. The black frosting was interesting. Especially when we let the little guys go to town with it. :-)



We also took all the kids to see Santa. Noah, as I mentioned above, was more than willing to talk to the guy in red. Quinn sat on his lap but wasn't too sure about things. Turner, Jackson, and Griffin wanted NOTHING to do with that guy. In fact, Bob was taking photos and couldn't even get Griffin (with me holding onto him and acting as his human shield from Santa) in the picture! June bought a new camera, the new and improved version of mine, so hopefully she has a few shots where you can see me and G off to the side. And I have to say, it was a lot of fun to go camera shopping with June. I have some serious camera envy going on!!



I also bought a new knitting book to make Quinners a hat, and I knitted up a storm on the drive to SoDak. I need a better picture to show off the hat, but you can sort of see it here.



Then I decided Turner needed a hat. I didn't get it finished there, but the drive home was enough time to put on the finishing touches. G is my reluctant model - I bribed him with a promise of McD's chicken nuggets for lunch later.



I am also going to make Jackson a hat but don't have the yarn yet. Stay tuned for more pictures (of course).

If your kid is a cousin to my kids ...

he is now *famous* ... or at least has appeared in one national magazine. :-) Check out the latest Scrapbooks Etc. to see this layout in print!


I was assigned the layout on the right as inspiration, and the layout on the left is my interpretation.



Note: I have this photo in a frame in my living room. It cracks me up!

For the 3 people who read this blog that are not related to me by blood or marriage ...

or for any of you that might scrapbook ... even if you are related to me ... I have some free passes to Scrapafaire to give away so you can check it out. I'll give them to the first 25 people who leave me a comment. I've always wanted comments on my blog. Sometimes I wonder if I'm talking to myself! :-)

ETA: If you want a free pass, leave your email or email me directly so I can send it. Only 4 days left (I think). Thanks for the posts. Totally made me smile!

A quick trip to the Cities ...

Grandpa and Grandma came to the Cities last weekend with Tracy. We were able to run down for a quick visit.

Grandpa was quite in love with Miss Quinn. He said, "She speaks with her eyes." I love that. I think I see a scrapbook page in the near future.

Here are a couple of pictures. Stupid hotel room lighting ... but the one where he is kissing her makes me melt.



In other news, life is getting back to normal here. Last week was crazy busy. Between my class, Bob's class, Halloween, Halloween parties, going to the Cities, and Bob and Noah going to a hockey game, we barely had a chance to breathe. This week is looking much more laid back.

I checked out of reality for a few days to finally read the last Harry Potter. Man. I'm so sad those books are finished. I really enjoyed reading them.

And in case anyone forgot - happy birthday, Mom! Here's a page I did about you that was in the DW 2007 Calendar. :-)