Ballerina Birthday Bash

Adelyn turned 4 this week and we had a birthday party for her on Saturday. This year we decided to have the theme be something other than Halloween and since Addy is really into dancing and ballerinas  we decided to do a ballerina themed party. Every ballerina needs a fancy tutu, so I decided that we would make tutus for the party. It went a little crazy from there and I just put tulle everywhere. It was so much fun! The girls loved making the tutus and we had a big dance party and everyone showed up in their ballerina gear. It was adorable! Cameron must have sensed the chaos that was taking place and he slept through almost the entire party. It was a great time. 

10 months

This is a little late, but Cameron is 10 months now and is far more like a toddler than a baby. He is into everything. He can crawl up and now down (almost) the stairs and pulls himself up onto everything. He can stand for a few seconds by himself and is very close to walking. He calls for "mama" now and remains an incredibly happy baby. He almost always sleeps through the night and is the easiest baby ever to put down for bed and naps now. I don't want to curse it, but he has also become an awesome napper, sometimes napping for 2 1/2 or even 3 hours. That is a foreign concept to us because Addy was a 30 minute napper. He's becoming picker and picker about foods and seems to only like bananas and puffs. Since it may sound like things are always roses, I do feel I should share that Cameron has a very bad habit of biting. So far it's just with Brian and I, but he loves to bite our shoulders. He knows exactly what he's doing because he will shake his head "no" and then bite you. He then gives you this look like "I don't know who did that." It's so hard to know what to do but I'm pretty sure my two reactions which are laughing or yelling are not appropriate.

Pals, Puppies and Pumpkins

No real story here, just the last of the pictures from our trip worth sharing.

My sister has two dogs, and one of them was always following Cameron. Addy was actually a little afraid of the dogs, but Cameron just loved them! At one point I found him and the dog kissing by the stairs!

All the cousins together with the pumpkins. You have no idea how much work this was to orchestrate.

 Cameron spending quality time with Uncle Tad.

  A couple of other highlights were seeing some HS friends. We got to see our good friends the Dailey's, unfortunately the only picture we took was with Sam and Cam. Talk about a couple of good looking boys, just like their dads. And I got to see my friends Kristi and Megan. Hard to believe I've known them since I was Addy's age!

 Above, Addy dressing up in one of Grandma's costumes. Below, Addy the seasoned traveler on the way home. We all survived!!

The Buoya Tradition

About 20 years ago a tradition was started in my family. It was a simple get together in the woods that involved cooking a homemade soup in a huge kettle over a campfire. Over the years more and more people were invited and the tradition increased and it became one of our most anticipated family events. It was especially special for my family as both my Mom and Dad's side of the family would make the trip up to the Swanson Farm. Fall always makes me think of Buoya. It always involved jumping on hay bales, discovering old animal bones, eating way too much food and of course the matching clothes. My sister and my cousin would always dress their kids in matching clothes for Buoya and they even managed to trick their husbands into showing up in matching clothes a few times as well. For years I have been telling Brian about this tradition but it never worked out for us to all make it back until this year. So Brian, Addy and Cameron all to experience their first Buoya, and Addy got to be part of the matching clothes tradition with her cousin Isabelle. 

Unfortunately the weather was a little questionable so we didn't get to go to the usual spot in the woods, but it actually worked out better for me, especially with 2 young kids. We had a house and a bathroom nearby. The soup was as delicious as ever and it was great to be able to see so many people all at one time. We all had a great time and I'd love to make it back again next year. 

Pre-party Party

My family decided to throw Addy a pre-birthday Birthday party since it was pretty close to her birthday. She, of course, didn't mind. It was pretty cute. She was very excited about the cake and the presents and didn't notice that the store wrote "Abby" instead of "Addy." Oh well. It was fun to have her actually open presents with my family since that hasn't happened in years.

The matching clothes for Addy and Isabelle are part of Buoya tradition, more on that later...

Northern Wisconsin

After spending a few day's with Brian's family it was time to make the trek to see my family.  Instead of heading to Minnesota we headed north in Wisconsin to stay at my sister & Brian's cabin. It was great because we were closer to my Grandma's house so we got to go there twice and we got to see my Dad & Kathy's cabin. Unfortunately the beautiful weather took a turn to the rain, but it just made us feel like we were home!
One morning Addy, Brian and my Dad went out on the kayaks and braved the weather. Addy loved it! She also had fun playing by the lake with her cousins. It wasn't really warm enough to go in (unless you were Jack) but they still had a great time.