Merry Christmas!

*We hope you're all experiencing the excitement and anticipation of Christmas as we are! Cale was so animated last year, I really can't wait to see him open his gifts this year. Maren will probably be interested in the first gift she opens and get bored with it after that. Cale keeps asking if he can help Maren open her gifts. Of course, she says "No" to everything you ask her, so we'll just have to wait and see.

*Only 2 days left on our sticker Advent calendar until Jesus' birthday! I can't tell you how many times we've heard "Happy Birthday to you" in the last month. It's part of Cale's class part for the Sunday School program, which was postponed on Sunday due to the weather. Guess we'll have to keep practicing those lines! Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you....

*Enjoy your families and have a blessed Christmas!

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Maren has recently shown us her singing skills. This was taken on my phone so you can obviously hear me (yeah, sorry about that) a lot more than her, but you can see her lips moving to the words, as she interprets them.

Breakfast with Santa

As we walked toward Santa, Maren clung to Ryan for dear life and screamed as if we were going to drop her there and run! Cale, of course, was all talk beforehand but was hiding behind me as we made our approach. So, this year, a family picture with Santa… and probably next year, too!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

We love you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We wish everyone a blessed Thanksgiving Day!

Happy 4th Birthday, Cale!!!!

Christmas Card Picture

Ha Ha Ha! My friend, Sarah, posted yesterday about trying to get a good picture for their Christmas Card. Great minds think alike - I attempted the same thing.

This pretty much sums up our success:

Halloween 2008

Pictures did not go well...

Sleepover!

Last month, cousin Jay spent the night. Cale idolizes Jay and had sooo much fun!

Pumpkin Carving

No way, I'm not putting my hand in there!

Well, Ok...

Finished product!

Big Girl bed fall-out, take one:

We knew it was bound to happen. The bed we have for Maren can't have a bed rail on it - and really, what good is a bed rail if your child was trying to climb the crib rail??

2:30 AM - I heard a couple of "smack! bams!" (see Burggraaf blog - thanks for the terms, Zach!) and then cries. She's a tough one! After I picked her up, she was ready to go back to sleep.

We survived take one.

Sleeping Beauty

Girls just wanna have fun!

I went to Des Moines on Saturday for my friend's, Katrina, bachelorette party. It was so fun to see everyone and have a night out with the girls.


Katrina and Steve are getting married December 20th. Can't wait for the big day, Kat!

P.S.> Thanks for the picture, Zinner! :)

Happy Halloween!

Back to Clifford

As promised, pictures from Clifford...see the excitement! :)



























So, the story is...
This was advertised as basically a meet and greet with Clifford (6:30-6:50), and I assumed a story with the kids since it was hosted by the Public Library. SURPRISE! It was a parenting session - which would have been fine with me if I would have been prepared - we still probably would have gone....but I would have left the tired 16 month old at home! She was crab. I was a crab when I found out what was going on. So, I let Maren run around - it was a pick your battles night. Let her run or let her scream...so I didn't get much out of the parenting session anyway. And, Cale came back early from the kid session so we left - at 7:20 (see the 6:50 end time above). I complained and felt a little bad afterwards. I'm not quite as bitter as I was the first week - can you tell?? Anyway, the organizer of the event was just as snowballed with the parenting session as the rest of us, so that is why I feel bad. They're having 2 more sessions with Clifford - the Wehrenberg family will not be attending, along with probably several others...too bad because they did have an awesome turn out the first night. OK, I'm done with Clifford. No more complaining! :)

A note from Daycare

I just received the following e-mail from BNessa (Cale speak for Vanesssa):

CALE TOLD ME TODAY THAT HE WAS STANDING ON THE COUNTER NAKED AND HIS DAD CAME IN AND LAUGHED

HE MADE SURE TO TELL ME A FEW TIMES HE WAS NAKED !

KID TALK YOU GOTTA LOVE IT YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT THEY ARE GOING TO SAY NEXT

VANESSA

OK - So, here's the explanation. :) The kid LOVES to be naked. The other night after bath, I was getting the kids ready to brush teeth. Cale climbed on the counter and started dancing and singing, "Naked Jaybird" so I told Ryan to come in to see his son. It was funny! At least he was telling Nessa and not some stranger...as far as I know!

A couple of Maren stories

Friday night we carved pumpkins - fun!
It was getting late so Ryan didn't put Maren's pants back on after changing her diaper - jammies would be on soon. I was cleaning up the pumpkin mess at the table when Maren walked up to me. She handed me a diaper and said "pee". I wasn't really paying attention but as she walked away, I lifted her shirt and noticed she didn't have a diaper on - then I checked the diaper - it was definitely wet. I couldn't believe it! Is it time for potty training already? At her 15 month check-up, the doctor said anytime now. I shook my head yes as I said "yeah right" in my mind since Cale wasn't trained until last December. They always say girls are easier, and she has shown interest in the toilet... Maybe?
-------
Last night was the first night Maren slept in her big girl bed from bed time until morning - and no one was laying with her. YEAH, Maren! We put her bed up a couple of weeks ago because I walked into her room and saw her with one leg over the top of the crib. She hadn't been too sure about it, but I asked her last night if she wanted to sleep in her big girl bed and she nodded, and she stayed. :) This morning she got down on her own and walked into our bedroom. I was in the shower but heard the steps. I asked Ryan if he went to get her - she just walked in. He actually thought it was Cale. Our baby girl is growing up!
-------
Pictures coming soon, I promise!

Just because he's cute!

:) A recent picture of Cale - he looks so grown up! 4 next month!





















I know, I still have a lot to catch up on!

Ring Around the Rosie

Playing outside on Saturday after another Gopher win! Pardon the quality, this was on my phone.



I still have a couple of pics to download from our fun weeekend..The kids were terrified of Clifford, just as I suspected, and there's a lot more to go with that story, but I'll save that for the post. The Pumpkin patch - it was a blast, and I was exhausted!! AND, my camera battery went dead about 10 minutes after we got there - why didn't I check it?!

Hopefully, I'll get to those pictures soon. For now, enjoy the video!
Have a great week!

M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A

Yeah Gophers!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Pete!

Have a good one, old man!








Love, The Wehrenbergs

Lots to do...

We have a lot of fun things planned for the rest of this week, so I'm hoping to bring some great pics to the blog next week. Here's our schedule:

Thursday Evening: Clifford the Big Red Dog is coming to LOHS! There's big talk about it now, but I'm sure I'll have two kids clinging to me when the time comes to meet Clifford.

Friday: We're going to Tweite's Pumpkin Patch with ECFE, on the school bus! If Maren gets a nap in during the day, we'll go to the Homecoming Parade in LeRoy when we get back and possibly the football game in the evening.

Saturday: Go Gophers! They're back at the dome this week to play Indiana.

Sunday: Cale's third week at Sunday School. He's loving it!

A couple of other updates since my last post.
* Grandpa Olson had a partial knee replacement last week. He's home and recovering quite well. It's difficult being cooped up, but he's been a good patient and is sticking to his exercises - he'll be down on the floor playing tackle again in no time. :)
* Cale started the fall ECFE classes last night. We sang songs, listened to a story about Clifford at the pumpkin patch, Cale created some great pumpkin artwork, and the kids made pumpkin cupcakes for their snack. ECFE has a new coordinator this year and they've changed things up a bit - we're excited for all of the fun!
* Since we've been talking about pumpkins and it is now October - we can reveal the costumes - Maren is going to be a cute ladybug and Cale is going to be a mighty knight. :) The headline picture is from last year.

Come back for pics next week!

Sesame Street Live

Cale, Maren, Grandma Olson, and I went to Sesame Street Live - Elmo Ready for Action last week with the L-O ECFE. What a great show! Cale's favorite character was Captain Fuzzy - Elmo. Maren did pretty good with the show, too - it ended up being about 30 min. too long for her, but I just got up with her and walked around. I don't think we interrupted too many people. :) The show was in Rochester at the Mayo Civic Center so it was nice that it was close and not such a large venue.
After the show, we treated ourselves to Red Lobster for lunch - yummm! The kids clonked out in the car ride home. We had a great day!
We're looking forward to our next trip with the ECFE in October, to the Pumpkin Patch! I'll remember my camera for that one!

Updates

So, it's been awhile, again. We've been busy. The Gopher Football season has started so our weekends revolve around their schedule. They're 3-0 so far, Woo-Hoo! Cale gets to go this weekend. It might be a tough one, but hopefully another win.

We've been celebrating a couple of birthdays recently, too. Grandpa Olson's was on the 6th and Grandma Wehrenberg's was on the 11th. Happy Birthday to cousin Emily in AZ on the 13th, too! We hope you all had Fabulous Birthdays!

Here's the latest on the little ones:

Maren
She's now 15 months, 15.5 actually!
She started walking early this month and is nearly at a run now.
She says, Mama, Dada, dog (bow-wow), done - as she hands you her plate and sippy cup, ball, hi, and I think she has a word for Cale, but I don't quite know how to spell it! :)
She's understanding most conversations. If you ask her a question, she'll shake her head yes or no. If you ask her to do something, most of the time, she'll do it. She's pointing out things in her board books when asked, especially her animal book. She loves when Cale and Mommy make the gorilla and monkey sounds.
She's sleeping well, however had a rough time last week with teeth coming in - She has a mouth full of teeth!
Her favorite toys of the moment are: books, babies, & building blocks.
She loves to pray at mealtimes and is our reminder when we forget! We often pray a couple of times during our meals, too. :)
She is a true toddler now, throwing tantrums and screams around like a drama queen should. :)

Cale
He is nearly 4 - November 12.
He's ALL boy. A sports fanatic. He makes us laugh every day with at least one of his statements, enthusiasm, his belly laughs, or inquisitive questions. Last night we were reading "Caps For Sale" - his animation was priceless.
He's also a very loving little boy. He loves spending time with his Grandparents. Last Saturday he went to watch his cousin Jay play football with G'ma and G'pa Wehrenberg. He was so excited the days before and had a blast! He really LOVES his cousin, Jay, too.
On Sunday, Cale had his first day of Sunday School! He was pretty clingly at first. Once we got to his classroom and the teacher brought out the play-doh, he was ready to go! He said he had fun and looks forward to this Sunday.
Sunday afternoon he spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa Olson. He went over there after lunch for nap and then to make chocolate chippers with Grandma. On the way there he kept asking me if he could stay for a long time. Right before I left, he said he wanted to stay there forever! We're so lucky to have everyone so close!
I can't believe I've left this out until now - we got a Nintendo wii a few weeks ago. Cale is a bowling master! He also likes baseball, golf and boxing. I didn't want to introduce the boxing to him yet, but so far it's been harmless. He did knock Daddy out his first time boxing so that was pretty funny! The wii has been a great purchase if any of you are contemplating it! It's so enjoyable for all ages!

That's all for now. Love and Hugs!

The North Shore

Greetings!
It's been difficult keeping up lately. We've been having fun!

The first week in August, Ryan and I went up to the North Shore to celebrate our 5-year Anniversary. We spent our first night in Duluth and then 2 nights near Two Harbors at Superior Shores Resort, just as we did 5 years ago for our Honeymoon. BEAUTIFUL! We made it up to Split Rock Lighthouse, Goosebury Falls, and enjoyed a campfire on the shores of Lake Superior. We can't wait to bring the kids with us next time - possibly next year to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa Olson's 40th Anniversary!

Speaking of G'ma and G'pa Olson, Cale and Maren stayed with them while we were away. THANK YOU!

August 9, 2003

Two kids and five years later....."Life is Wonderful!"

North Shore Photos

Canterbury Park

We spent last weekend in Shakopee, MN at Canterbury Park. Saturday was Gopher Sports day - what a fun time!! The Park was very family friendly (I was a little nervous about that), and Maren made a new best friend in Coach Brewster! We had so much fun on Saturday that we went back on Sunday for Family Day: Pony rides! We probably won't make it back this summer, but we're looking forward to another trip to Canterbury.

Go Gophers!

Coach Brewster and Maren

Canterbury Park Slideshow

One Step, Two Step

Maren took her first steps yesterday!
It won't be long before she's running beside Cale!

We had a fun weekend. We spent Saturday at home and enjoyed the small pool in the backyard in the morning and late afternoon. It was much more enjoyable in the afternoon, but the rain clouds were rolling in so we weren't able to stay out too long -- just enough to get Mom's clothes soaked from the splashers!

On Sunday, Cale and Daddy went to the Twins vs. Rangers game with Grandpa Olson, Bopper, Angie, and Jenna. Mommy and Maren spent the day with Grandma Olson....shopping, what we do best! Maren was the perfect shopper - it's in her genes. Poor baby, was so stimulated with all of the people and music in the stores that she didn't get much more than a 30 minute nap all day. She had a major meltdown when we got back in the car to leave. Sorry, Grandma! It was hard for her to concentrate on driving with Maren so upset. We finally settled down with a little snack and some DQ. I was hoping she'd get some zzz's on the ride home, but no chance. Needless to say, she made no fuss when it was time for bed.

A couple pics from Saturday:

Have a great week!

Our 4th of July Weekend

I'm finally getting to this post - better late than never! We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend at Lake Okoboji (O-chee-bo-gee, as Cale says it) with the Driscolls! We left Thursday night after work so we had all of Friday and Saturday to enjoy the long weekend. Here is a snapshot at our weekend activities.

Kendall Louise

Kendall Louise Olson was born 6/23/2008 @ 7:38 PM.
She is 6 lbs. 13 oz., 19 inches long.
Ryan and I are going to meet her and to bring her Mommy and Daddy supper this evening - Can't wait!

Congratulations, Reid & Ang!

1 Year & Family Photo Shoot

We had a Photo shoot with Kari and Katie from Kari McGill Photography of Spring Valley last week. We had to reschedule a few times because of the rain, but they came to Tom and Joni's (Grandma and Grandpa Wehrenberg's) house Thursday evening. How great is that? -- They came to us! -- No extra charge! I found Kari on the web and was very excited about having her take our pics. Click on the link above for a sneak peak at our photo shoot.

Oxbow

A Picnic & The Little Zoo

Saturday morning, we packed up and headed to Byron for Oxbow Park and Zollman Zoo (a.k.a, The Little Zoo).

We started off with some play time and a picnic at one of the many picnic areas in the park. We found some walking trails near the picnic area that we'll have to explore on another visit -- Saturday, our mission was to see the animals.

The zoo was great! Our last visit was just over a year ago. We had a similar outing a week or two after Maren was born last year. It was a little easier this time!

What a fun day! We were all tired out on the way home. Maren was asleep before we were out of the park. Cale made it most of the way home but gave in near the end of our ride, too. Once we got home, we all had a long nap - too long! We're looking forward to our next trip back to Oxbow.

Pictures!

You're One!

Happy Birthday, Sweet, Baby Girl!

We Love You!

It was an absolute perfect day!

Pictures coming....

Mama

:) Our sweet, baby girl is saying "Mama". I confirmed with Ryan to make sure I'm not just imagining it. HA! She's also currently cutting 3, if not 4, teeth - They come in bunches!

A first for Cale, too. He told me his first joke:
Why did the chicken cross the road?
Because it did.
Ha-Ha-Ha!

Can we go inside?

Ryan took Cale to the cemetary last weekend to visit Grandma Eastvold's grave. I asked about the pretty flowers and Cale said there were a lot, a lot and they were huge! :)

We took a scenic drive home yesterday afternoon and went by the cemetary:

Cale: There's the cemetary. Can we go see Great Grandma Eastvold?
Me: We'll go sometime soon when Daddy can go with us.
Cale: Can we go inside? (Apparently he asked this while he was there with Ryan, too)
Me: Thinking - wow - how do I explain this one? I tried, and I think I failed miserably.

Childhood innocence.

Happy Mother's Day!

Maren has started to give big, sloppy kisses - notice the drool.

She loves her big brother!

It's been a great day, despite the weather, so far! This morning we went to Grandma and Grandpa Wehrenberg's house and found Jay there... Kelly, Grace, Kaden, and Shana were on their way, too! :) We stayed for lunch and we're now home for naps before we head to Grandma and Grandpa Olson's house for supper.

We had a pretty good week. Monday was beautiful, so we spent the entire evening outside - we even ordered pizza so we could stay out. The Olsons and Grandpa joined us, too. We had a few other nice days, but the weekend has been cold.

The kids are doing well, but Maren is teething. While I was giving her orajel Thursday night, I found a tooth we didn't know about. She's up to 7 - she got 6 all in the month of December. We'll probably get another mouthful this time around. She's fussy but not too unbearable. Thursday night has been our only tough one so far, but it sounds like she had a couple of rough days at Nessa's last week. Cale is great. He loves to be outside. For Mother's Day he colored both Grandmas a picture for our card. We've been working on writing letters lately so he did the H for Happy, M for Mother's, D for Day on the card. He was so proud!

Happy Mother's Day! We hope you're having an enjoyable day!

Eleven!

Maren is 11 months old today! Where did the time go?!

She's a busy one, and she's fast! She's crawling everywhere, pulling up, and walking around furniture. She has started standing on her own for a few seconds, too.

She's doing great with food and has been on table food for a couple of months now. Nessa started giving her only a cup at daycare this week, and she's doing great with that - down to one bottle before bed. Soon we'll also be making the switch to whole milk.

Woo-Hoo, extra gas $$$!!

She loves playing with Cale, and her favorite place to be is in his room. So far, he's ok with that - most of the time. :)

Her absolute favorite thing to play with right now is... socks! As long as she has a sock near by, she's happy! Of course, she loves to play with whatever Cale is playing with, too!

Maren with her socks:

She really is a sweetheart!
We're so blessed to have such happy, healthy children.

Good Helper

The scene:
This morning in the living room.
Cale is sitting on the floor, removing his PJ's.
Ryan is laying out Cale's clothes.
The conversation:
Cale: "You're a good helper, Daddy."
Ryan: "Thanks, Cale."
Just a little something that made me smile. :)
Hope you're having a good day!

Maggie had Puppies!

Maggie, Jay's dog - who stays with Grandma & Grandpa Wehrenberg, had puppies again. She seems to get along with the neighbor dog quite well. :)

Looks are Deceiving

What a beautiful day - no wind, the sun is shining, the sheep are out in the pasture across the road, let's go for a walk! :Step outside: Hey! Where did Spring go?! Yesterday it snowed and today it hasn't made it to 40 yet. We want the warm weather back! Cale and Ryan just came in from playing soccer - in the garage.

Finally, the updates from last weekend:

The Tale of the Mighty Knights - Backyardigans was great! Cale's favorite part

was King Pablo and the egg. After the show, we stopped for lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings in Apple Valley. Cale and Jenna put on a show for the tables around us - standing up on their chairs and dancing. It was hilarious!

Maren got to spend the day with Grandma Olson and later that evening, we went to Bopper, Angie, and Jenna's house for pizza.

Our new camera arrived that day, too. I was so excited about trying it out, but not everyone was as excited about getting their picture taken. Jenna said, "Not again, Britt!" :) Grandpa and Maren didn't mind, though.

Sunday morning, we were able to enjoy the weather outside. We took a walk and Jenna came over to play for a little while.

We spent the afternoon in Rochester at Paul and Pat's house. Cale really enjoyed playing with Tom and Annika. It had been awhile since we were able to get together with everyone. We missed you, Kristin & Mark, Katie, Betsy, and the AZ Julsruds! It turned out to be a beautiful day - can you believe that I forgot to bring my camera?! I was so bummed - Bopper was ecstatic!

Compared to last weekend, this weekend hasn't been quite as eventful. We went to Rochester yesterday and checked out the work Grandpa & Grandma Wehrenberg and Bert & Joy have been doing on Great Grandma Eastvold's house. It's looking great! We also did some much needed grocery shopping. And today - we'll longingly look out the window and wish it was warm again. Back to Nessa's (daycare) and Work tomorrow. Have a great week!

Quick Update...

We had a wonderful weekend: Backyardigans, a lot of outside play time, and dinner at Paul and Pat's. I'll add some details this week.

Also, A few of you have asked about Erin - she did AWESOME - 10th!!!!http://www.usatf.org/events/2008/OlympicTrials-Marathon-Women/results.asp
I had my dates wrong - for some reason I had Saturday in my mind, but the race was on Sunday. Way to go, Erin!!

Good Luck, Erin!

My college roommate is running in the Olympic Marathon Trials in Boston this Saturday! Check out her bio here: http://www.bostontrials2008.com/index.cfm?pk=bio&bioID=90

Good Luck, Erin!!! We'll be thinking of you, and can't wait to hear all about it... even if it is about running! :) Really, I'm so excited for you!

Have you noticed?

I've been playing with a lot of different layouts lately. I'm going to stick with this for now but will probably be making some other changes in the near future. This is why I can't do scrapbooking - I'm way too anal!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

We were able to spend a little of yesterday outside. In fact, I went in the house to get something and looked at the clock - It was 6:30! We hadn't eaten supper yet. By the time we got inside, it was 7:00. Poor Maren nearly fell asleep in her high chair. It was great therapy to see the sun again, though - AND I have tulips coming up! My first year - can't wait to see how they look!

We've got a busy weekend ahead of us. On Saturday, Cale, Mom, Dad, Bopper, Angie, and Jenna are going to The Backyardigans Live at the State Theatre in Minneapolis. Uncle Bopper is so excited he can hardly stand it! Ang and I keep telling him he's going to love watching how the kids react to the show. We think they're going to LOVE it!

On Sunday, we're going to Aunt Pat and Uncle Paul's house for dinner. We can't wait to see everyone!

Also, this week, we should be receiving our new camera. I can't wait! I keep missing the "Kodak" moments with the kids because it takes so long for our current camera to actually take the darn picture - it's definitely a much needed upgrade. It will probably take me awhile to get things figured out so be prepared for some experimentation. I'm sure there will be LOTS of pics to come!

Back in the garage...

We spend a lot of our spring/summer evenings across the street in our neighbor's garage. We often grill out and enjoy watching the Twins on the TV hanging in the corner. Oh, and our neighbors have the cutest little girl, Jenna!! :) Cale adores her - they're like brother and sister, including the fights. Maren, and the baby girl they are expecting in June, will have a lot of work to do to keep up with these two!

Cale and his cousin, Jenna.

Yes, we live across the street from my brother and his family.

Spring has finally Sprung!

I hope this doesn't jinx it!

Upper 50s today and 63 tomorrow. Woo-Hoo!

We have been waiting so long for this weather. I'm sure we'll spend a majority of the weekend outside.

They're getting so big!

Time flies when you're having fun!

This last Sunday, Cale was cruising down the aisles in Toys R Us testing out all of the options for his first bike. It was a success! Fortunately, the rain let up in the afternoon for him to take a quick spin. The helmet is a big hit, too.


Maren is 10 months old today! WOW! She is crawling all over the place and just recently started pulling herself up. We think she's going to be a climber - after she's pulled up along the fireplace she gets mad because she can't get any further.

Welcome!

Welcome to my attempt at keeping in touch with all of you! I often wonder how all of you are doing, but our busy lives don't allow us to stay connected often enough. Feel free to browse as often or as little as you like. I'm going to try to keep up to date with pics and everything so that we also have something, as a family, to look back on since I'm not the crafty scrapbooking type - although I am determined to attempt digital scrapbooking -- one of these days when I have all that time! :)

Love and Hugs,
The Wehrenbergs