The Bjorgaard Bunch

The Little Gym

2012-02-03T14:46:00.000-06:00

Last fall we started the boys both in classes at "The Little Gym" to get them out of the house and some exercise in these long winter months. They had their mid year show case and we were able to come see what they have been learning.

Now Brayden's class is a parent/child class so Eric had been taking Brayden Thursday's for some good daddy/son time. He changed classes last week so I have started taking him on the weekend. More pictures of Brayden's show case to come.

Chase is enrolled in a sports class for 3-5 year olds. They do a variety of different sports each week. In this session their main focus was on soccer, golf, & football. Below are some pics from his showcase. In the 3rd picture is a giant blow up track for them to run and jump across. Chase pretty much just ran across it each time not taking the time to jump or do somersaults like the other kids.

They gave out awards at the end of the show case and won't you know it Chase got the "Get Moving" award. They said he's always ready for the next sport and to get in there and get down to playing it. Yes this is my sports baby!! Even at home he's always playing a sport. It's baseball in the spring/summer and now it has been basketball since the T-wolves started playing again but he enjoys pretty much every sport. Even mommy's favorite Volleyball!! Keeps us on our toes!!

Disney On Ice

2012-01-20T15:57:00.000-06:00

Back in December I got discounted tickets for Disney on Ice. I thought it would be a great thing for just Chase and I to do with out his busy little brother. At first he didn't want to go because he said he had a tummy ache. Than when we got there the place was full of little girls dressed up in their princess costumes. I was a little worried he won't like the show if it was just "girly" ice skaters. But I'm happy to report I turned out wrong. Though a lot of it was "girly" there was plenty of other action. From Peter Pan to Captain Hook to Lion King and Aladdian. With a big bag of popcorn and large sprite Chase sat in his seat and enjoyed the show. They put on a great show with lots of great costumes and of course good skating. I highly recommend for any Disney fan.

I only got a couple camera shots for I dropped my cell phone and it started not to work.

Alice in Wonderland

Peter Pan

After the show we took in the sights around Rice Park in St. Paul. With all the Christmas lights and the ice skate rink it was a really neat thing to see. We even found the Charlie Brown bronze statues around the park to take some pictures by.

My Work-Travelers

The Lawson Building

Chase and Peppermint Patty

Chase, Snoopy, & Charlie Brown

Christmas Tree long gone but the memories of the find

2012-01-19T15:47:00.000-06:00

Once again for Christmas we went with a real tree. This year Eric let Chase pick it out all by himself. This took him about a minute to find one. He did a pretty good job my only complaint was it could have been taller but he never made it to the taller tree section. He pretty much just picked out the first one he seen.

Here are some shots of us from the lot. I do have to be thankful he picked out the tree in the 1st picture because after the guy took it to be cut and bagged he found another tree. This would be the tree the boys are standing by on the last picture. He called it a Charlie Brown tree. I would have to almost agree just has more needles than old Charles tree had.

Chase is Star of the Week!!

2012-01-19T15:26:00.000-06:00

For Chase's preschool class all the kids get to take turns being the "Star of the Week". They bring home a small tote and put in a couple items that are special to them. Chase picked all the items and even wanted to put Fonzie in there. (I was surprised by this request-didn't think he liked the dog)

Chase's special items:
His baby-the blue dog he has had since birth

A video game from the WII his favorite system. On the game he picked he gets a perfect 555 on the soccer ball game. (I'm lucky to get 15)

One of his favorite books to read-"Shark in the Dark"

A baseball bat and ball that he's aloud to play with indoors.

And a picture of his family from Disney world.

I am behind in the blog but no these aren't pics from this summer!!

2012-01-19T15:13:00.000-06:00

Again another month or so has went by with out a blog from me. Two kids + holiday's + hubby who works nights=not much getting done but the needed daily things. I figured on a day when it's minus 10 I would post some pictures from a couple weekends ago. Jan 7th & 8th we took the boys to the playground we frequent in the summer. It was almost 60 degrees and so nice to get them out of the house even if for one weekend in the middle of winter.

Apple Orchard

2011-11-18T16:05:00.000-06:00

I figured there is no snow on the ground yet so I'm o.k. to post these pictures from the Apple Orchard. We chose one in Delano this year. We went early in the season but when we did the pick your own there was not much to pick from. So was pretty much a bust. Lots of rotten ones on the ground and trees. We ended up buying from their store. But we did walk around in an attempt to pick apples.

I should have zoomed in on Brayden in these shots. So cute!

See an apple

Pick it up

And launch it!

Chase did manage to find one tree that didn't have rotten apples. We had no idea what kind they were but bought some and liked them.

The darn cow train! We must ride at every orchard. One year I won't have to ride with them.

This pumpkin had apple cider in it and he had the cutest bitter face going on of course we couldn't get a shot of it.

The biggest cookie ever!! He probably could have eaten all of it too.

They both enjoyed playing in the hay bales. Need these for our back yard.

Love this picture of the 2 of them. Too bad Chase had to have that ugly Sherk watch which was a Happy Meal toy from a couple years ago. No idea where he found it?

WE LOVE EATING APPLES!!!

Adult Halloween Fun!!

2011-11-18T15:48:00.000-06:00

I was in desperate need of an adult night out so Eric made a view calls and lined up a party bus his buddy Eric D has to use. We filled up the bus quickly with 14 of us and than planned our night out. We made stops at Hopkins Tavern on Main, Park Tavern in SLP, and finally Stella's in Uptown. Eric has connections there so we got in no cover and right to the front of the line plus we got a table once inside. It was very nice to get VIP treatment on a much needed adult night out.

The rules of the party bus was everyone must have a costume. Everyone did very well and though we didn't win any contests that night it was still a good time!!

Below are a few pictures from the night. I didn't take many once we left the house so I was a little bummed the next morning. I didn't get the Delacy's and Eric was Bud Light Beer (picture Buzz Light Year) it was a really good costume.

The Mad Hatter and Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland

(Jared and Krista)

Ron Burgundy and Veronica Corningstone from the movie Anchorman

(this was my grandma's lesiure suit I wore)

Cher and her son/daughter Chaz Bono

(Ryan and Sarah)

The rest of the gang!!

Halloween

2011-11-18T15:09:00.000-06:00

My favorite holiday was another success. This year we dressed up as Chase's favorite people the Peanuts. Chase of course Charlie Brown, Brayden was Woodstock, and I was Lucy. We got out early on Monday night and hit the neighborhood. We walked around most of our development before Chase told me his hands were freezing. Than we did our usual drive to the SLP Bjorgaard's street for more treats!!!

We got more than enough candy as we still are eating it today almost a month later. And Brayden can't even have most of it so that is bad for me!

This is our next door neighbor's house they go way out for Halloween covering the yard and house with decorations.

This picture turned out too funny!! Me standing next to my favorite slasher villain Jason Voorhees and it looks like he's going to chop my head off. Love it!!

Candy bags

I had bought some small pumpkins at the Farmer's market and we painted them. Chase took a different approach to painting them. Just covering them with as much paint as he could.

Some sad looking pumpkins. Eric and I ended up craving these ourselves. Brayden was sleeping and the neighbor boy was over so Chase had no interest. So Eric and I had spent some quality time craving pumpkins.

November Trip to TRF

2011-11-18T14:49:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's been a month since I've updated this Blog again. I have a ton of vacation pictures and other things to put on here but I'll start from what we have been doing lately.

Last weekend the boys and I (minus Eric) went to visit Grandma/Grandpa, cousin Bridger and Lindsay in TRF. Chase and Bridger have so much fun now a far cry from when they were babies and Chase was scared of him. And the big boys even let Brayden play with them a little. We went to cousin Bridger's and played one day and went bowling another day. The boys had fun playing basketball, hockey, and bad guys. It was nice enough we enough got outside for a short time to kick the football around.

Bowling

Love his form here.

We are cousins and best buds here!!

Why play on the floor when you can climb in and out of Brayden's bed for the weekend.

We did Turkey hands with the boys. Brayden's yet to come for he won't let me trace his hands. Lindsay and I did all the work so it was more arts and crafts for us. The left one is Chase's and the right one Bridger's (the body is made of their feet Chase's feet a little bigger than Bridger's)

Poor Brayden no Turkey Hands to show for but loves to take a picture so we let him in this shot.

Quick Vacation Update

2011-10-14T16:57:00.000-05:00

Can't believe our week is almost over here in Florida. We flew in last Saturday night and got in really late (Sunday morning). Checked into our Disney hotel at 1:30 am and finally got every one to sleep by 2:30. Only to wake up to down pouring rain (3rd day straight) there. So we decided not to do Disney that day. We headed down to Anna Maria Island and checked into our vacation home.
Monday again called for rain so we headed up to Tampa to pick up Russ from the airport and see what we could find to do there. It ended up to be a perfect day and after getting Russ we hung out in St Petersburg for the day.
Tuesday we hung out at the house and beach. After the beach back to the pool for lunch and naps. Later in the day we went mini-golfing. (Eric's mom's 1st time) We find it hard to go out to eat with Brayden where it takes longer than 15 mins for a meal. The group found a restaurant and I begged Eric to bring Brayden and I back to the house so I could entertain him a little easier. Eric rented a 8 passenger golf cart so we are all cruising the island in style. Brayden's car seat straps in the back it's pretty cool!
Wednesday we headed to Disney World the Magic Kingdom. Russ stayed back at the house he didn't want any part of Disney. Char and Randy were troopers and helped us with the kids. It was Magical but also so busy there and the lines for the rides proved way to much for Brayden. We were able to get on a lot of stuff but still didn't get on a lot of the main attractions due to the 80min wait times. Chase enjoyed it and we will be back but not until the kids are older and Brayden figures out what patience is.
Thursday was Char and Randy's last day with us as they moved on to Ft Lauderdale to visit old friends. We got up early and did the dolphin cruise like we did a couple years ago. The boat captain found the dolphins right away and we had 4 following us behind the boat and putting on a show for us. Once again pretty cool! We also visited a museum that had some manatees since we have never seen one before. Ugly guys that is for sure.
Now it's already Friday and perfect weather today. Sunny and hot 87 and no clouds in site. We did the beach for a couple hours followed by the pool and lunch and naps. This evening Russ is going to watch the kids so Eric and I can go out to dinner by ourselves. Dinner at sunset on the beach!!
The next 2 days beach, pool, and hopefully some para sailing and the boys might do some fishing.
Than we return home late Sunday and back to fall temps and work on Monday. It's going to be hard after this perfect weather.

Some photos. I only uploaded one camera so far so missing a ton from the other one.

Photo Book

2011-09-21T22:14:00.001-05:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

MN State Fair 2011

2011-09-16T11:06:00.000-05:00

We barely made it out to the fair this year (11year in a row for me now). Russ had taken Brayden one Friday but when it was time for the rest of us to go he was sick. Due to Eric's lovely work schedule we are limited to going on a Sunday. We chose the 2nd Sunday of the fair (of course the busiest day of the 10days). The night before Brayden spiked a fever and threw up a little. He slept well though the night but had a slight fever in the morning again. Eric was going to stay back with him but when he got up from his nap he seemed like his usual busy self. We decided to take him and give it a shot for a couple hours just in time for us to eat our fav foods and let Chase do some riding.

It took a while to park and get in but the boys did great waiting (thank god for a dvd player in the car). The day itself proved to be the perfect weather not to hot and not to cold. We hit the usual spots we like for food, the midway for games, and the kidway for rides. Also we had to go to the Twins zone so Chase could play there. We by far missed a lot of the fair but with two small kids (one not 100%), a double stroller, and thousands of people I think we did just fine.

Some Pics below:

Chase taking his shot at a game. He ended up with 3 small stuff animals. (oh goody!)

Hard to see but Eric/Chase top right coming down the big slide.

My teething baby enjoying his raisins.

Eric and Chase at the Twins zone playing a little ball.

Chase really enjoyed the bumper boats!!

Hey mom next year I ride too!!!

If you seen this line we stood in for the deep fried pickles it would make sense as to why Brayden feel asleep.

This was a shot of the crowd from the line at the pickle stand.

First time at TCF Bank Stadium for Allie & Scott's Wedding

2011-09-16T10:28:00.000-05:00

I finally made it to the MN Gopher's TCF Bank Stadium but it wasn't for a football game it was for a wedding. The 1st wedding on the field to be exact!!!

My friend Allie got married on the field and in style. The place was amazing. I'm sure a great place to watch football and also a great place to have a party!!!

Congrats Allie & Scott!! Thank you for a great party only wish we could have stayed longer.

My date for the wedding. Mr. Kara Schuster.

The Schuster's

Allie crossing the field to meet her groom.

The ring bear & flower girl. He was so cute carrying a football.

The ceremony.

A shot of the field from the sky boxes.

Kara, Allie-the Bride, and me

Chase 1st day of Preschool!!

2011-09-16T09:52:00.000-05:00

Tuesday was Chase's start of 3 year old preschool at Harley Hopkins School. Since he had went to the summer program he had no problem with me dropping off that morning. He even has his same teacher and class room from the summer adventures too. There are 14 kids in his class and he will be going 2 days a week just in the morning. So far his favorite things the first couple days are the snacks and playing outside. Not a big shock there!!

Chase getting on his new kicks. Size 13 can you believe it? Takes after his dad for sure in the feet department.

Always a happy face for me?

Walking to the car with his new back pack.

These glasses are ugly but the sun was in his eyes so he had to put them on.

My Funny Little Man!

2011-09-09T14:38:00.000-05:00

Brayden Brayden what can I say about my little man who is almost 16 mths now!!! Well as many of you know he keeps Eric and I running. All summer he proved to be a challenge to keep up with his mayhem. Climbing on everything, picking up every bottle, can, electronic at his level. Trying his hardest to be like his older brother. Playing baseball, climbing up the pool ladder on his own, at the park going to the bigger slides instead of the smaller ones, running faster than his little legs are ready for him too. He has taken many falls this summer but always gets back up with out a tear. He is a strong little man and at his 15mth appointment his height was at 33 3/4 inches which puts him in the 96%. His weight was only 24lbs (45%) which since he never sits still not to shock by that.

He is fast becoming my little diva. We are working on no more bottle but may times we get a look and a tantrum when we hand him a sippy cup. A look of how dare you give me this thing and quickly throws it down and cries. He wants to do a lot of stuff by himself but doesn't realize it's not good to climb on top of the table or climb up the stove or walk outside by himself.

Oh the joys!! But won't change it for anything. He's healthy, play full, and I can only hope one day will love to cuddle with me again like he did the first year of his life.

Brayden is starting to say words and has all summer. A lot of the time we can't make them out yet but he does say Thank You, baby, good-bye, mom, dad, chase, turn green right now (picked that one up from Chase in the car), and lots of why's.

He loves when I get the camera out and always says "Cheese" with a big smile as you can see from the pictures below.

Photo Book

2011-09-07T23:07:00.001-05:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Camping at Grandma Char's

2011-08-19T15:08:00.000-05:00

One weekend in July Russ took the boys down to Hastings to Grandma Char's house. Eric and I got an evening with out kids and the boys got an evening with out us. The plan was to camp in the back yard but it was one of those weekends were it was 100 degrees out so we decided against it. The boys did get to enjoy a new pool they bought and a trip to a carnival.

On Saturday night Eric and I went down also to spend the night and even though it was hotter than an oven we had a fire just so we could have smores. Char and Randy do have a camper parked in their driveway (with air) so on Saturday night Chase got his 1st camping experience inside a camper with a tv/movie & air conditioning. Not exactly roughing it but it's the kind of camping his mommy prefers too.

Pennington County Fair!

2011-08-19T14:58:00.000-05:00

The boys and I headed up to TRF for the county fair in July. We spent an extra couple days to visit with the family. Chase loved the kiddie rides. He rode the motorcycles and 4-wheelers over and over again. He even tried some of the bigger rides that spin to much for me these days.

Here are some pictures of Chase and Bridger on the rides.

My mom paid for the boys to go into these bubbles and run around. We were the only ones at the bubbles at the time so Chase and Bridger had no idea what to do in them. They just sat there for 10 mins finally at the end jumping around. They couldn't hear very well as we sat outside the bubbles yelling at them trying to tell them what to do.

Brayden on the other hand didn't get to ride. He spent most of the day in the stroller. He really didn't mind it with all the new yummy snacks he was getting. Below he is trying some fresh lemonade for the 1st time. He liked it!!

But in the end the fair and the heat proved to be too much for the little guy.

An attempt at a family shot. Of course Brayden was ready for the camera with his cheezy smile.

Brayden may not have gotten to ride any fair rides but at Grandma's later he got to ride the Fisher Price zebra naked!! HAHA!! He looks to be enjoying the ride.

Here we come Disney World (in Oct)

2011-08-08T15:01:00.000-05:00

Eric really wanted to take his 2nd week of vacation this year and head to a warmer spot with the boys. So we are heading to FL again this fall. We are going to stay at his boss's house in Anna Marie Island. We picked a week in October. Even though there isn't snow here (a lot anyway) it's a warmer month in FL. So we can enjoy the beach and ocean a little more than last time. When we went 2 years ago in November the days were warm enough but the days were also shorter so by 6:00 it was dark out.
Uncle Russ will be joining us this time for part of the vacation as will Grandma Char & Grandpa Randy. We are taking the kids to the "Happiest Place on Earth". We know they boys won't remember much (only in the 100 pictures I take) but none of us has been to Disney World so excited to get out there and see what everyone is always talking about. Chase is exicted to see were Mickey Mouses lives. I think he'll be looking for the "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" from the tv show. And with his love of the fair rides from a couple weeks ago (a post to come of that soon) I think he will enjoy riding as well.

So with that looking forward to an extra warm dose of sunshine this fall to go ontop of the great hot summer we have had!!!

3 Year and 1 year photo shoot

2011-07-20T11:09:00.000-05:00

Back in May we took the boys to Paula for their yearly pictures. Of course my healthy baby wakes up that morning with a fever and cranky (darn shots). So he didn't really want much to do with sitting still to take a picture. She managed to get enough good shots of him so it makes me hard to pick my favorite.

Chase on the other hand was a ham and didn't want her to stop taking pictures of him. Such a change from a year and a half ago when she took his pictures and I think we got him to smile once.

Below are just a few of their pictures. I'm just getting around to ordering prints for family and us so thought I would share some on the blog.

Here's Paula's blog: http://paulacharchenko.blogspot.com/

She does great with kids and has a great studio for shooting and goes out to other locations too.

Champion seats at the Twins game!!!

2011-07-20T10:40:00.000-05:00

Eric got some tickets to the Twins game on the 4th which were for the Champions Club. With the tickets besides seats behind home plate we got valet parking, a buffet before/during/after the game, free snacks all though the game, free drinks, access to the sky deck level, a window to watch the indoor batting cages, padded seats, a waitress, and the best thing on a hot day the option of air conditioning. At any time you could just leave your seat and go underneath to the dinning area in the a/c with of course a full bar and food to eat. It was a very nice way to see a baseball game on a really hot day!!! Since it was so hot that day I drank more water than beer but Eric made up for both of us on the beer. My camera wasn't working the best (Brayden got a hold of it that weekend) so all the pictures indoors were really blurry. I took a couple with my phone but not a lot. So not a ton of pictures to share. I would recommend these seats to anyone. Eric got ours for a discount so if possible do it that way.

This is where we parked and entered. It was underneath the stadium.

The candy bar was just one of the many stations they had for food. Which was included with the tickets.

A shot from our seats of the Twins dugout.

Eric next to one of the World Series Trophies

Me next to the other World Series Trophies.

Joe Mauer

Warm ups (not sure why but my camera had a white haze on everything must have been the heat)

4th of July Weekend up the road

2011-07-20T09:44:00.000-05:00

We continued our no weekends at home summer over the 4th. We drove the 10 miles up the road to Crystal to stay with the Rislov's and play in their backyard play land. Of course since Brayden never sits still except nap time we were busy chasing him around so didn't get many pictures. Here is a couple from the long enjoyable weekend. Lots of grilling, swimming, fireworks, drinks, and campfire fun.

Landon and Brayden snack time. Next year these two should be able to join in more with the other kids.

Look I'm raising a little sun-tan God just like his mommy!!

A video of Chase and Addy. Love this copy each other age.

Boys will be Girls?

2011-07-12T14:25:00.001-05:00

Since I probably will never know what a girl is like to raise I don't mind when the boys show interest in girly things. See pictures below!!!

Brayden found some shell necklace to wear one morning.

I don't wear headbands often but have some in a drawer and Brayden found them one morning and he's so darn smart he was trying to put it on his head. (How did he know that?) I helped him put it on and he walked around proudly. Check out the crazy hair that kid has.

This picture was just funny!! 2 boys all in blue and Chase had a blue ring pop too. (playing in the laundry basket)

Chase in some white sandals.

Vacation for Jenny & girls!!

2011-07-08T13:15:00.000-05:00

For 3 years running now a group of us girls have taken a weekend in the summer around central MN to get together no men and no kids. It's always a really good time and I always come home with a sore stomach from laughing so hard. This year we headed a little more north to Walker. We stayed at Hiawatha Beach resort in a cabin. They had a great beach and we were able to get in some much needed uninterrupted sun!!!

We decided to extend our stay one more night and got there on Thursday. It was a good idea because it gave us the whole day on Friday to lay out, drink, and eat. We went into Walker for some karaoke on Friday night and found a fun bar to dance and drink at. The shuttle from the resort said they would pick us up when we were ready to come back. On the trip back the lady driving the van says "I think the tires might be low." Her drunk husband (she had picked up also) says "oh we are fine". A couple miles outside Walker on the side of HWY 371 we blow a tire and it's 2:00am in the morning. Of course the man can't find the jack or the tire. As you can see from the picture below those ladies that knew what they were doing did most of the work. I will admit I just stood back and held my new cellphone with my handy flashlight app. We managed to get it changed and back to our cabin around 3:30am. Good times let me tell you!!

Until next year!!

Jason Kubel #16

2011-07-08T10:29:00.000-05:00

Eric sold Jason Kubel a truck recently. Eric made sure he got what he was looking for and handled all the other extra stuff. He said he was a super nice and normal guy. When picking up his truck he signed a baseball for Chase. Chase was so excited about it he slept with it that night. It was pretty sweet because he held onto it for most of the night just like it was his baby.

Vacation Part #3

2011-07-07T14:54:00.000-05:00

For the last stop on our 9 days of vacation we headed up to Leach Lake in Walker. Eric's dad rents a big cabin so we can all spend the weekend together. This year we lost Cheri and the girls due to working conflicts. Once again the weather wasn't the best. At least it was warmer than 50 degrees like a couple years ago. It becomes hard to entertain 2 little busy boys and we soon found out Walker didn't have much to do. When they get a little older they can spend all day on the lake fishing like the rest of the crew. Ed and Sue watched the boys one night so we could head to the casino. I don't think the kids gave them too much trouble so it was a nice evening for all of us.

On Sunday when we made our trek back home it was Father's Day. At Chase's request he wanted to return to the mini golf course in Jenkins we had been to earlier in the week. Since it made him so happy Eric agreed to stop on our way back.

Below are some pictures from our trip there. Chase didn't golf as well as he did the second time around but still had a lot of fun doing it.

Chase and Brayden happy to be home after a long trip even help me unpack!!

Vacation-Part#2

2011-07-06T22:51:00.000-05:00

The second leg of our vacation was at a cabin in Nisswa. We stayed at the Good Ol' Days Family Resort in Nisswa and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a family vacation. ( http://www.goodoldaysresort.com/) This place had it all.!! They had a volleyball court, playground, basketball court, game room, bikes and a really nice sandy beach. Also they served a continental breakfast each morning so we didn't have to cook all our meals.

Eric drove up from the cities and met us on Sunday. My parents, sister, and nephew also came down to join us too. We soon filled up the cabin and it was just like home. Eric also had his dad's boat so we could do some fishing too. And the St Louis Park Bjorgaard's were a couple miles away at Breezy Point so we were able to use their indoor pool as well. Of course as always the weather plays a big factor in these vacations. The first couple days were really nice than it rained and wasn't as sunny the rest of the time. We were still able to get out and do stuff just wasn't my favorite thing to do which is lay out by the beach.
We did some shopping in Nisswa, turtle races, mini golfing, fishing, and grandma/grandpa even watched the boys one night so Eric and I could head out to a movie.
Here are a bunch of pictures from the week.

Front of our cabin

Back of cabin

We didn't catch a lot of fish!

Turtle Races

This was the game room.

Brayden learned to climb and now says "Get Down"

Playing video games

Look Justin Bieber in Nisswa!!!

Chase at the candy store!!

Vacation -Part #1

2011-06-28T22:58:00.001-05:00

The boys and I spent 9 days on the road this month. Our first stop was back to TRF for my cousin's wedding. This was the boy's 1st wedding and all I can say it might be their last for a while. Amber and Jake are baseball fans and got married in the outfield of a baseball field. The weather was perfect and it was a beautiful outdoor wedding. Now as far as the boys go it's a different story. Chase decided after 10 mins of sitting in a chair waiting for a wedding to start was long enough. He proceeded to run the bases on the field during the whole service. His khaki pants were a dark tan from the dirt and he was drenched due to sweat from all the running in the sun he had done. So we had to make an outfit change before the reception.
At the reception the boys wanted no part of eating or sitting still. After being there for 20 mins we had to leave. As Brayden spit up milk all over me and I had to go home and change. (2nd outfit change) Also Chase kept grabbing cupcakes from the reception line. (Oh you can't take these kids anywhere!)I decided to have my sister text me when the reception was done and the dance had started. We made our final attempt to stay at the dance. The boys did much better. Brayden feel asleep about an hour into it. Chase took a while to warm up but soon he was on the dance floor mostly doing his WII moves. But Cousin Bridger and he showed everyone their boxing moves also. I think they may have had some people thinking the two of them were really fighting but playing was more the case.

Here are some pictures from the wedding/dance. Along with a video of Chase's hip dance moves. I'm going to say he gets that from Eric.
I'm only sorry I didn't get a picture of the bride and groom. To busy with the kids.

Chase's 1st day of school

2011-06-09T08:37:00.000-05:00

We decided to enroll Chase into an 8 week summer preschool program in Hopkins so he can have a little more kid social time. Also to get used to the fact that there are more people out there besides us and uncle Russ. He started on Tuesday and everything seemed to go o.k. Eric and I brought him and there were no tears when we left which I was a little nervous about. The night before he had asked if Russ, daddy, or I could come with him and stay with him at school. Once we got in the classroom he found a toy and didn't even care when we left. I even held it together and didn't cry. The program is 2 times a week a couple hours in the morning. I hope he enjoys it because we have enrolled him already for the next school year with the same schedule.

Here are some shots of him and us on his 1st day.

Not sure what is with this smile. (so hard to get a good smile out of the kid)

Me and my big guy!

He looks so sad in this picture :(

A little pre-basketball game before school.

Addy and Chase reading books in bed

2011-06-08T11:07:00.000-05:00

Russ watched Addy one afternoon and I guess they decided to read some books in Chase's bed. This was mid-May and Chase picks out Halloween books to read. (it's his mom's favorite holiday so we have a lot of Halloween books) I know the book says something about pointy nose, pointy face. It's referring to a witch but Chase seems to be reading that line over and over again. So cute!! Is this a Eric and Sarah jr romance?

Random pictures from May

2011-06-08T10:53:00.000-05:00

Here are some random shots from May of the boys. The video is what a typical dinner sounds like at our house. Sure glad Brayden is starting to talk?!

Strolling!

Brayden looking for trouble.

Chase reading his new fav books. "I Spy" Books

A proud potty training boy! Almost has it down. Pretty much pull ups on certain occasions now.

The one picture I took Memorial Weekend. Chase driving the Rislov's 4-wheeler.

Bike time!!

Chase passes his 3rd session of swimming!!!

2011-06-07T16:07:00.000-05:00

Chase started his 3rd swimming session at Foss this spring. The class was Baby Back Float 4 which started with one of us in the pool with him for the first couple of weeks and eventually just him in the pool. It took a couple times for Eric to be able to get out of the pool and Chase to not cry. But by the end of the session it was like we had never been in there with him to begin with. He is doing great at putting his face in the water and swimming with his face in the water. He is so strong with his big hands splashing all over the place. If he can just get both of his big feet kicking at the same time he'll be a better swimmer than his mom.

We are heading on vacation to a lake this weekend so hopefully he can put what he has learned to work.

His taking the summer off from lessons but when he goes back in the fall he gets to skip a whole class because he did so well.

Below some photos and a video of his class.

Brayden's 1st Twins game and the Drury's 1st trip to Target Field

2011-06-07T15:48:00.000-05:00

Eric was able to score a bunch of free tickets to the Twins game on Sunday. The seats weren't all in the same sections but the Drury/Bjorgaard's along with the Rislov's were able to all get a seat and enjoy a great day at the ball park. It was crazy how some of our seats were in the sun so some of us were hot and sun burnt. The other seats in the same sections just rows up had jackets on and freezing. But it's still great to see baseball played outside where it belongs.

Grandpa and Brayden

An attempt at a Family shot

Bridger and Lindsay

On the field where the big boys play.

Eric enjoying the game.

The boys enjoyed the game as well. Chase enjoyed a hot dog and a bag of cotton candy almost has tall as he is. Brayden was great at the game for as busy as he is. He had lots of smiles for the people around us. He enjoyed clapping but was a little behind the rest of the fans. Bridger found a bat at the gift shop and also found time to take a nap. We hung around for the whole game even though they lost (big time). On Sunday's they let the kids run the bases after the game. We decided we better get in line to do that. It was cool to be on the field where the big boys play. The boys enjoyed it but I think us adults enjoyed watching them run the bases more.

An afternoon with Chase and Bridger

2011-06-07T15:38:00.000-05:00

Here are some shots I took of Chase and Bridger watching the neighbor's landscaping crew do their job. It was cute because they look like 2 little old men in deep discussion about something important.

Brayden's birthday weekend didn't bring the nicest weather. On Saturday we decided to leave Brayden to bond with Grandpa and we took the 3 year olds to the Mall of America for some rides. Of course it was around nap time before we headed out but figured we would chance it and hope they behaved themselves. The boys rode the big rigs, a train, a roll coaster, the merry go round, and some hot air balloons. I myself was getting sick of going around in circles. But the boys enjoyed it. I got some pictures from the outing but not a ton. Chase's favorite ride the hot air balloons. My favorite ride was the Barnyard roller coaster (everyone was giggling on this one).

The best part about the afternoon was I got to spend sometime with just Chase. It has been a while since it was just the two of us. I'm always the main person looking after Brayden so don't get the quality time with Chase anymore. He's becoming such a little man. He is starting to ask questions about everything and asking for meanings behind things. I sure hope I'm giving him the correct answers. He starts summer adventure school June 7th. So sad to see the guy grow up and not be my baby anymore. And I know this is only the beginning.

Brayden's 1st Birthday Party!!

2011-05-30T22:13:00.000-05:00

I decided to do Bray's party on the actual day of his birthday. Friday the 13th!! No scary theme this year maybe when he's older. Since at one they don't remember a ton figured I could get by with a simple party. The theme was #1!! We once again got a cake from the Queen of Cake lady. Once again it was great. I went with a marble cake with cookies n cream filling. The other food on the menu was from our new favorite pizza place that opened up down the road from us Pizza Luce!! My parents made the trip from TRF along with my sister and nephew Bridger. Than of course Grandma Char, SLP Bjorgaard's, and the Rislov's made it for the party.
Brayden enjoyed his pizza and smiled when everyone sang happy birthday to him (Chase had cried). He didn't know what to think of the cake. He pretty much just moved the frosting around. He did taste some but wasn't crazy about it. I cut a little cake up for him and he went back to playing in the frosting. He didn't get to open one gift. His brother, cousin, and Addy made sure of that. This year I let it slide. He wasn't very interested in opening them anyway. That would mean he would have to sit still for more than a minute. These days not something he likes to do. He got great gifts and Thank you to all that came and got the little guy something. I know it's hard to come up with something for the 2nd boy in a household but everyone did well. It's always nice to get new clothes rather than Chase's old stuff. He loves any toy that makes noise and lights up. He now has a bunch to call his own. Though Chase doesn't see it that way. I'm sure I never took my little sisters new stuff? And Eric being the 4th kid I'm not sure he ever got new stuff. Except we all know he got some Voltron toy that he still calls "the best birthday gift ever".

Brayden is 1!!!

2011-05-25T23:15:00.000-05:00

Friday, May 13th Brayden turned the big 1!! I took the day off to spend with the boys and get ready for his birthday party. I made one of his favorites for breakfast pancakes & muffins. The day once again was rainy but I decided to find something for the boys to do for fun indoors. Russ and I took the boys to Edinboroughs indoor park in Edina. I love this place because it's so kid friendly. Of course Chase took to the gym to play hoops. I only got one picture of them in the playground area but they spent a little time in there. They had a great little play area for kids 1-4 that is all padded. So Brayden could play, fall, climb with out any worries of a bump or bruise. I had to talk Chase into getting into the big play area. It's really tall and he told me "it's dangerous in there." There is netting and padding all around the tubes, tunnels, and slides so there is no real danger. I'm not sure if it's the 40 kids in there yelling that turns him off or if he was scared because it does go pretty high. I finally went in there with him and played around. I think I enjoyed it more than him. We didn't have anything like this in TRF growing up. Uncle Russ says he can see himself going to this place more once Brayden is a little older. Since most of the parents sit on their phones, laptops, and tablets doing their own thing.

Blogging-Where does the time go?

2011-05-23T21:23:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's been a couple weeks again since I've been on here to update the "The Bjorgaard Bunch". Some days next thing I know its 11:30 and I'm forcing myself to go to bed. Everyone said it but of course I had to experience it for myself "Life is very busy with 2 kids".

Like tonight, I found a simple task of vacuuming taking me over 50 mins to do. This is something that by myself would take 20 mins top (to do both the kitchen/living room/furniture) but with 2 kids not helping I was happy it wasn't over an hour. First- Brayden tangled himself up in the hose. Than he had one step in front of the vacuum while I did the kitchen floor. I would mostly sweep and be done with it but thanks to two storms over the weekend we now have little green leafy things all over the place. Next the dog had planted himself under the table and won't move even when I threaten to vacuum up his paws. I would normally just go around him but thanks to Chase's auntie Lindsay who got him the ice cream play-doh machine there are play-doh pieces covering the floor. After I broke out a treat for the dog and threw it into the other room for him to retrieve I was finally able to finish the kitchen. Next onto the living room where I had 20 mins prior picked up all the toys off the floor but Chase has now decided to play with the kitchen set so there is play food everywhere. Not a problem a quick pick up and I'm back to vacuuming. Than Chase says mom I have to poop so I put down the hose and get that job taken care of. All well fighting to keep Brayden out of the bathroom as all he wants to do in there is play with the toilet bowl scrubber, toilet paper roll, plunger, or tries to puts his hands in the toilet (while Chase is on it). If you shut him out of the bathroom he stands outside the door screaming. Finally back to vacuuming and after all of this I'm totally covered in sweat and hoping I'm losing some of the 10 pounds I still carrying from being prego with these two.

I finally finish vacuuming and look at Chase and say "I need a drink." He asks a drink of o.j. because I would like one too. I say "No something stronger like daddy drinks." He replies "oh beer".

And with that comment I laugh off the extra 30 plus mins it took me to do this simple task and think to myself maybe I can have another kid? I swear these little buggers have me brainwashed.

So with that all said I hope it explains why I don't blog as much anymore. I love sharing our stories and pictures for our family/friends that we don't get to see often but somewhere my time is being vacuumed up (ha ha).

Mini Golfing with cousins

2011-05-06T15:27:00.000-05:00

For Easter weekend Auntie Cheri & the girls came down to visit. Russ decided to take the nieces and nephews mini golfing at the Mall of America-Moose Mountain. Below are some shots from the golf course high atop of the MOA. Of course Brayden just walked around the course looking for something to climb.

Brayden's new pain in the butt habit

2011-05-05T11:01:00.000-05:00

Brayden's new fav thing is to play in Fonzie's water dish. He likes to splash with his hands, feet, pour it on himself and than carry the bowls around. Last Sunday he managed to drop one and it broke into a hundred pieces (none hit him thank god). That is 2 bowls in one month that he has broken. He broke Grandma Char's doggy Muffin's dish too last time we had Sunday lunch there. Below are some shots of him at play. He's so proud of his naughtiness!

Hard to see in this pic but he gets it all over the walls too.

Fonzie being the great dog he is still lets the little man relax against him for Brayden's bottle time even though he's probably thirsty himself.

Chase 3 year old stats

2011-05-04T21:31:00.000-05:00

I figured I should get this out there before Brayden's 1st Birthday comes around next week.
Chase had an excellent 3 year old doctor visit. He's healthy and right on track as other 3 year olds. We enrolled him in a summer school program starting in June for 8 weeks. He will go twice a week for a couple hours each time. We are doing this so he can get use to not always being at home and gets some social interaction with kids his age. He's doing great at that now though. He always finds friends at the park or at turf tots. We hope all goes well with the summer program because we signed him up for a fall preschool class too. That is also 2 days a week for a couple hours.

His 3 year old well exam stats:
Weight: 39lbs (95%)
Height: 40 inches (95%)
BMI-17.4 (87%)
For the first time they took his blood pressure and that was right on track too. He did get a shot for measles since there have been a couple cases in Hennepin County. I guess he would have gotten this shot at 4 anyways so now no shot needed at his 4 year well visit.

The cutest part of the visit was they asked Chase to put on a gown so she could exam him. When the nurse told him that he started to cry a little but with Eric's help he put the gown on and went back to drawing on the chalk board. He looked so darn cute in the gown I made Eric take pictures.

Almost 8 years later the dinning room gets shades

2011-05-04T15:11:00.000-05:00

This was a big moment for our household. Having been at our place for almost 8 years we had never put shades on the dinning room windows or patio door. We are the last people in our development so the alley ends with us except for the occasional kid hanging around back there not many people to be looking in the patio door. There is older houses next door and on the rest of the block so they can see in the windows. We figured they probably are getting sick of our late night Saturday poker/board game nights (a couple have gotten out of control). So I finally broke down and figured out something to hang back there. So far I really like it! The curtain on the patio doors opens easy enough and I got the wood look without having to hang blinds. I was worried it would close the room in too much but it actually turned out to look/feel more homey.

Now you ask what the next project is. I really want to paint the great room and get new shades for those windows. But I think that will wait another year and we will see how much more the boys can scrape up the current paint job.

Easter time

2011-04-24T20:59:00.000-05:00

We headed to Grandma Char's a couple weekends ago for a Sunday lunch and they had a ton of Easter egg coloring kits. This was Chase's first try at dying eggs. Like a lot of things it kept him entertained for about 15 mins. He managed to get a couple done and than I got to be a kid again and do a couple eggs myself.

The SLP's were there too and I think the girls enjoyed the decorating a little more.

Chase's 3rd Birthday Party

2011-04-21T22:25:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday we celebrated Chase's 3rd Birthday with family. The theme was pirate due to his love for the new show on Disney Jr. Of course a lot of planning went in to the party by me (always over do it) and it all went very well. He enjoyed his day and is enjoying all his gifts even more. Plus with all the clothes he got his summer wardrobe is pretty much complete. Here is one of my favorite shots. Hard these days to get a good smile out of the little guy.

The kids enjoyed some fish sticks, popcorn shrimp, and ants on the logs (all pirate food) And of course some dirty punch. We sent the kids on a treasure hunt around the house to collect some pirate gear and a treasure at the end (their gift bags). Of course I had the fancy camera set on the wrong setting for the hunt so no good pictures from that. But did get some shots of the kids sword fighting.

Some other shots from the party. Cake, cupcakes, gifts, and an attempt at a family shot.

Chase's 3rd Birthday Party weekend

2011-04-16T11:37:00.004-05:00

Chase turns 3 on Monday the 18th and we picked this weekend for a family birthday party. Party is on Sunday and it's a Pirate theme. I've enjoyed hunting for pirate stuff for the party. Chase and I even have costumes but not sure if we will be wearing them all day. The kids will be going on a treasure hunt and of course eating cake!! Grandma and Grandpa made it down this weekend too so they can enjoy in the party fun!

It was 3 years ago today that I checked into the hospital expecting to have a baby that night. Little did I know it would be another day and half until he was born. A long day and half but oh so worth it!!

Here was one of our favorite pictures of Chase. He's about 3 months here.

Random shots!!

2011-04-11T23:14:00.005-05:00

With Brayden never sitting still these days I find less and less time to blog. So here are a couple random shots of the boys from March and April. (picture above a common thing these days)

Hey look it's Paulie D from the Jersey Shore!!

Chase enjoying some classic Mickey Mouse episodes on the Ipad. He even got out his ears to watch.

Grandma Char got this shirt for Brayden. I put it on him last weekend and thought he looked like a little girl. It was so cute!! Might have to put it on him more often so I can get my little girl for a day or too.

It says I'm Cute, My mom is Cute, and My dad is lucky!!

Spring is here!

2011-04-11T22:55:00.005-05:00

We hit the park the other Sunday for a little play time.

Brayden meets a slide.

Brayden checking out the other equipment.

Chase and Eric on the see-saw.

What's that Brayden? It's grass.

Chase coming home.

Brayden says it's my turn at bat.

Spring Break at the Water Park!!

2011-04-11T21:48:00.010-05:00

The other weekend we joined the Rislov and their 2 kids and the McBride's and their 2 kids for a little spring break in Alexandria. The Arrow Wood Resort was the water park we chose. We all took Friday off and headed up in the afternoon. Once we checked in it was right to the water park. Our only complaint was the kiddie area was a little chilly. The lazy river and basketball pool were warm but not that easy to hold 2 kids in those pools all day/night. Everyone had a great time. The kids loved the water park, pools, and slides. The boys enjoyed the arcade. The adults enjoyed the fact that we could have a couple drinks, play games, and not have to drive anywhere. All and all a great weekend. Here are some photos. This was my little swim mate all weekend.

Chase-Saturday no nap =out at the water park at 4.

Parker's arcade prize he shared with Chase. (eye patch and sword)

They were suppose to be saying "Water Park"

We found the gym on the hotel grounds and had the kids race.

Brayden and Landon enjoying pancakes.

Fonzie turns 9!!

2011-03-24T20:16:00.007-05:00

The birthday's continue at the Bjorgaard household. Russ was in the beginning of March and now Fonzie. Next Chase, Brayden and me in the next 3 mths. Can't believe we have had this guy for 9 years now. He was our only baby for a long time. These days not as much attention is paid to him. He takes it in stride. He is so great with the kids! Only tries to take their food when it's at his level. He is the only one of the kids that gets to sleep with us every night. He takes his spot at the foot of the bed every night and snores away. In the photo below he has made his way next to Eric just like Chase does. He spends most days sleeping in his old age. When it's sunny out he takes his spot out on the front stairs. He still enjoys any food you give him and is always present at the dinner table. To celebrate his birthday we bought cookies to make. They were Easter Bunny sugar cookies ones but figured what the heck. We even gave the Fonz a whole cookie. (he's old now what is it going to hurt) Below the boys enjoying their cookies.

Fonzie you are truly woman's best friend. When I come home each night most days you hear me and come wagging your butt. When ever I do get a chance to sit down you are always there to try to hump my arm when you finally get the hint that's not going to happen you make a great foot warmer. I wish there was more time to spend walking you, playing with you, and even napping with you..

Here is a baby picture of Fonzie. He was 8lbs when we got him and has grown to be 38lbs of muscle and a big lovable baby.

Happy St Patty's Day!!!(A week late)

2011-03-24T19:51:00.003-05:00

I should have been out celebrating with the rest of the Irish people but instead I was at home on mom duty. Not such a bad thing I guess. I got my two little Irish man matching t-shirts for the big holiday. I even picked up some green popcorn for us to have. It was Chase's last day of swimming too so I got to join him in the pool for his last class of Baby Back float 2 while Eric had to work.

Here are a couple pictures of Mommy's 2 little Irish man. (sorry about the butt side of Fonzie in the shot)

Chase is super excited about his green mug!

Brayden is looking for more beer for his mug!

Until next year!!

Cheers!

Oh Chase you are so funny!!

2011-03-14T22:39:00.006-05:00

Chase (aka Charlie Brown) personality is really coming out these days. He's only 1 month away from turning 3 years old. He has a great new story for you pretty much everyday. He loves to push our buttons daily and is a ball of energy. He is smart and brings up random stuff we did months ago. Like "lets go to the zoo like we did before" (haven't been there since last fall). Or "I think we need to go to the Dollar store today to get more swords." (Russ hasn't taken him there for a while either due to the weather)

I'm happy to report after many failed attempts he's finally getting the whole potty ideal down. He's starting to tell us when he has to go and loves wearing those cute undies. I haven't had to buy him diapers for a while. That sure is nice!!

He's still really into sports. This week it's still boxing but he has added soccer now too. He has started his 3rd session of swimming. In this one we will be in the pool for half the session and the other half he will be by himself.

Lately his new movie to watch again and again is Bambi. He is also loving the new pirate cartoon on Disney. We are planning a pirate birthday party for him this year. We are also working on writing letters/numbers and drawing in the lines. He needs some work on these things.

He makes us laugh with his cute statements. "I'm so excited for the snow to melt! Finally I can go to the park and get on my slides." & "It's o.k. to have cupcakes for dinner if I eat 2."

Here are a couple random pictures from Chase's world.

Came home from work to this one day. They were all there to watch him box. He likes to line up things. What does that mean?

Chase pounding some Sharks at the bowling alley arcade.

Chase bowling. Tired to get a picture of him putting the ball on the ramp and pushing it down the lane but he's so fast I couldn't get a good shot.

Since he can dress himself now he sometimes likes to pick out his own outfits. This one he calls his bumble bee outfit. Yes those are shorts over pants and of course his slippers he got a Christmas and has wore holes in them already.

Here is a video of what he did with all the toys from the 1st picture.

Brayden double digits 10mths

2011-03-14T21:55:00.004-05:00

Brayden giving me his best smile.

Cleaning the lazy susan gave Brayden somewhere fun to hide.

A rare moment the 2 of them getting along.

Brayden playing with the i-pad or at least trying to.

Brayden and his baby

Brayden has made it live to 10 months. His big brother continues to taunt him. He steals his toys, knocks him down, and tries to box him. Brayden takes it all in stride. He is one tough baby!! He isn't always happy these days though. He has been such a great baby I knew eventually he would start to have a cranky time. He has a couple hours a day where he wants to be held and walked around. There is a period in the morning and mostly the evening (dinner time) when this occurs. He's really moving around now. His walking is his main form of transportation. He's falling less too so that is a relief to us.

His new joy is food!!! He has always been a little piggy but he's ready to eat anything. You cut it up small enough and he'll eat it. It's getting to the point now where he isn't a fan of his baby food that much. Don't blame him there is better stuff out there to eat.

No check up this month and haven't weighed him yet this month. Only has the 2 bottom teeth we were hoping all his crankiness would produce more teeth but so far nothing.

Another big event he is finally sleeping though the night!! He gets up around 6 now to eat and is up for the day. It makes for getting ready in the morning a little more challenging. But in return a good night sleep!!

Sick babies

2011-02-28T23:07:00.005-06:00

Look at Brayden's poor face. Chase on the other hand must have been between fevers here.

We took a trip up north the other weekend for a basketball tournament and so far the boys ended up with much more. It started on Thursday early morning with Brayden getting congested. That night turned into a fever and horrible eye goop and than a bad cough and more fevers. I took him in on Friday to urgent care. They said he had the start of pneumonia. So we started him on medicine. While I was at Urgent Care with Brayden I got a texted from Russ that said Chase had a temp of 102. We spent the weekend with both of them having fevers, coughs, bad stomach pains, and sleep less nights. Lots of fun let me tell you!! Really test marriages!

On Sunday Chase was still having fevers so I made Eric take him to Urgent care. A couple hours later they came back with antibiotics for Chase too. A call from the doctor today confirmed Chase has strep throat.

I stayed home with them on Monday because they both had fevers again over night. Let me tell you once the fevers have lifted there is a big difference. Chase is all over the place again and Brayden is all smiles again. Back to work for me and I cross my fingers I don't end up sick too.

The funniest part of the weekend came one night at like 3am. Eric decided to give Brayden a steam shower. So Chase and I sat up and talked (of course Chase was sleeping in our bed the whole time he was sick). We talked about going to the doctor and how Brayden sounded bad and should go back there. Than he some how got on the subject of going treat or treating. He said mom can we go out treat or treating again tomorrow night and get lots of candy. I told him that was a ways away but I would be happy to bring him. I asked him if he still wanted to be Charlie Brown? He said yeah and you can be Lucy. At this point Eric was in the conversation and said if you are Charlie Brown all you are going to get is rocks. (If you haven't seen Charlie Brown Halloween special this is where the rocks come from) Chase said no dad I'll get candy. Eric told him again if you are CB all you are going to get are rocks. Chase said so darn serious "Dad that is only in the Movies." We both just busted out laughing. Which we needed badly at 4am after a really long couple nights.

Addy turns 3!!

2011-02-28T22:51:00.006-06:00

Soon Chase will be turning 3 but he is one of the last out of all us that was prego that year. We had Addy's party the other weekend and got a couple pictures of the 3 year olds.

We missed the Schuster Twins party in Jan and we also missed Avery's birthday last weekend due to the boys being sick. Bridger's is coming up in March and next thing you know it will be Chase's turn. Chase and I have already been talking about a theme. Pretty much anything I mention he says yeah to so we have some options.

Addy the Birthday girl

Chase, Parker, Addy, and Avery

(I think we had to say poopy butt to get them to smile like this)

They enjoyed cake all over their face!!

Brayden is 9 months

2011-02-28T15:43:00.005-06:00

Brayden turned 9 mths the day before Valentine's day. We celebrated it by bringing him to get his pictures taken. I wasn't going to get them done because I didn't do Chase's at this age but had a good deal so went and got them taken. He was such a great baby at the shoot it was worth it. Below are some of the pics.

Brayden continues to be a great little man. He's all over the place now. Climbing stairs, in the kitchen cupboards, trying to put his hands in the the toilets. We really have to keep our eye on him. He is also learning to play with toys too. He has some blocks he likes to stack and he has been playing catch or I should say throwing a ball and fetching it. This makes Chase happy something they can do together. He is a fan of peek a boo, so big, and some baby movies Russ plays for him. He still only has the bottom 2 teeth but I'm sure are more to come.

He passed his last check up with flying colors. Here are his stats:

Weight: 21 pounds 3 oz (90%)

Length: 29 1/2 (90%)

Head: 18 1/4 (75%)

Oh yeah and he is walking!!! He started at the beginning of Feb and is really getting the hang of it now. The first couple weeks there was a lot of falls but now he at least braces himself when he goes down.

Enjoy the video. Sorry it's sideways again.

Uncle Russ's Treasure Hunt

2011-02-13T21:58:00.008-06:00

One of the shows Chase enjoys watching is "Blues Clues". I don't think it's on tv anymore but thanks to Netflix we are able to get the seasons for him to watch. One of the episodes has to do with a treasure hunt. He has watched that one over and over. So Russ decided to make him a treasure hunt. He ordered treasure chests online and made up some fancy clues. He surprised Chase last Sunday with the hunt. He was so excited running though the house finding all the clues. He was on a mission!! Here are just a few of the pics I took.

His 1st Clue

On the hunt with help from dad

He found another clue

Brayden on the hunt too

The hunt was to much for Fonzie

Russ took pictures of where the clues were hidden and than printed them out and tied them with ribbon.

The treasure hunt heads to Chase's bedroom

Woody held a key to the chest

The Finally Clue

Lead him to Russ's bathtub

Using the key to open up the treasure

Here it is!!! It was full of Hershey's Treasures candy and a set of real boxing gloves

They fit and he's ready to box anyone and anything

Eric was his first victim

TKO!!!

The CHAMP!!

And Uncle Russ got mommy a gift too. A new way to take the boys temp. So far haven't had to use it as everyone has been healthy since Jan.

Also Russ got Chase a set of books for his Tag Reader

I don't know if mommy can every do such a fancy hunt but we will be doing another one again soon. This was only a couple of the clues. I think Russ had 13 in all.

The story behind why Chase is now shirtless in a lot of the pictures is he's on a boxing kick due to the WII and XBOX boxing games. He says "Boxers don't wear shirts so I can't either". I tell you we are so glad he can dress himself now but a lot of days he starts with a shirt but soon is shirtless. He has the large Hulk Hands and would use those as boxing gloves. But they are very annoying because they make noise. I think Russ was sick of hearing them as much as us hence the boxing gloves for the treasure.

The first night with the gloves he was trying to box everyone but has since learned no boxing Fonzie and Brayden. It's fun to see him take interest in a new sport. I will never let him be a boxer so I will let him get it out of his system now.

Stay in winter blues-solved

2011-02-13T21:23:00.005-06:00

Last weekend was yet another cold weekend in MN. The boys don't get out much this time of the year. There is some winter blues for everyone. We decided to build a fort and pretend we were camping. Eric transformed the Bonus Room into one huge fort. Chase was so excited he kept going in and out bringing everything from his room into the fort. Eric only had to rebuild a couple spots. We got some snacks, drinks, and the i-pad for movie watching and settled in for the night. Chase and I watched the classic baseball movie "The Sandlot" and we are ready for spring and some baseball.

Chase and I both attempted to sleep in there that night but the floor was to hard for me. I moved into my own bed mid way though the night. Chase made it the whole night. I see another fort in our future maybe a back yard camp out too.

The best part of the night was when Eric was finishing building the fort Chase got inside and said this is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!!! Oh to be 2 years old!!! That comment made the night that much special.

Shot of the fort from above

Daddy and Chase inside

Brayden and I

Like the look on his face. Scratch on his head from Chase.

The crew

Chase getting ready for movie time in the fort.

Brothers think a like

2011-02-03T21:41:00.003-06:00

Here is a picture of Chase and Brayden around the same age doing the same thing. I only hope it's not the same soy sauce bottle 2 years later.

Brayden

Chase

Jan pictures

2011-02-03T21:16:00.007-06:00

Things are certainly busy around here now that Brayden is pulling himself up on everything. He's so close to walking. Chase isn't a big fan of Brayden right now. There is a lot of pushing him down and taking things away just as Brayden picks them up.
Here are some pictures of the boys in action.

Chase with his new WII ping pong paddle

Brayden in the pantry
Me covered in baby puke
Chase in the tub had to have the sword in there too.

My little bubble cutie!!

Trying to climb the stairs

Chase attempting to hold Brayden

Brayden trying to get away.

A Day at the MOA

2011-02-03T20:33:00.004-06:00

On Saturday we met the Alby's at the MOA for some riding. Chase hasn't been there to ride in a while and last time he really couldn't ride anything. Brayden has been to the mall before but only to UnderWater World.
The boys both did really well. Chase still isn't tall enough to ride a lot of the rides by himself. So guess who got to ride along with him? The nice thing about that is I got to ride for free. We didn't get to all the rides so we will have go back very soon. Chase's favorite ride was the Barnyard mini roller coaster. That was my favorite ride of the day too.
Brayden enjoyed watching everything go by from his stroller. In all that craziness he even managed to take an hour nap. Aliyah had to make a trip to the American Girl Doll store so we decided to go in too. This place makes me feel better about having just boys today.

Here are some pics from the MOA.

Chase driving the big rig

This is what Chase thought about waiting in line.

On the Blue's Clue Ride

Brayden flirting with Aliyah's doll
Aliyah and Chase in the Bumper cars

Eric would be proud Brayden slept though the American Girl Doll store
Chase at the Doll store

Brayden is 8 months already

2011-01-25T22:01:00.004-06:00

Brayden trying on dad's socking cap

This is what happens when you put the oatmeal bowl down and let the dog outside.

I figured I better post a 8 month update before he turns 9 months in Feb. The household was hit with the flu for a week. Than Fonzie got sick and spent a night at the vet. He's home and on the mend. So other than all that fun stuff we are just living life around here.

I didn't get a weight on Brayden this month or a height measurement. Next month he will have another check up so we will get all that good stuff. But what a difference a month makes. He's now crawling on all fours and boy can he get around. Eric called him a boomerang you put him down in one spot walk away from him and within seconds he's back at your feet. He's standing up on everything and walking around things by holding on. He stands by himself for a couple secs but hasn't really took any steps. He can crawl up the stairs this brought the return of the gates in our household. He's starting to use his voice more and is babbling up a storm.

He still eats really well and spits up lots. He isn't sleeping though the night. (I'm pretty sure Chase was sleeping though the nights by now.) But he takes a bottle and goes right back to sleep. And he is holding his own bottle now so that is nice. He has the 2 bottom teeth but think he's working on others.

He also still loves to giggle at things Chase does. Chase on the other hand isn't as friendly to him and is in total brat mode with him. I hope soon Chase gets that they can be good friends. I have a feeling on Brayden's next update he will be walking. If he can get pass all the bumps and bruises. He has some crabby days but all in all is still a great baby and is getting to big to fast!!

Sorry don't know how to turn the other way.

Eric's 34th Birthday

2011-01-08T10:05:00.002-06:00

Eric has one of those bad time of the year Birthday's. It's always cold and many people are still recovering from the Holidays. We decided to keep it low key this year. I talked him into going to Benihana's to celebrate his birthday. I had been wanting to take Chase there and show him cooking in action (since he doesn't see it a lot around this house). He loved it!! There was a lot of wow's and ohhh's as the man cooked, chopped, and threw food around. He liked his steak and loves shrimp so he even ate mine too.

Char and Randy were on this side of the cities too so they joined us for the birthday celebration as well. Brayden had a little accident and let me just say he came in with 2 shirts and left with 1. I so not loving this teething stage and all the other side effects it has.

For Eric's actual Birthday it worked out to be his day off. He slept in, played video games all day, and lined up a baby-sitter so just the two of us could go out for dinner and a movie. We had a gift card to use at Bonfire so headed there and it was so peacefully to eat just the two of us. (forgot what that was like) We went to the Showplace Theatre in SLP and did the VIP movie. The VIP has bigger seats that are like recliners, lots more room, and you can drink in that section. The movie "Black Swan" wasn't great but the fact that we could watch a whole movie and not be interrupted by kids made up for it. I will be planning these nights more often I so forgot how great it can be.

Here are some pictures from out night at Benihana's.

Sorry Eric you couldn't be the cook the hat doesn't fit and you don't know how to cook.

Ahh Me Chinese!

Brayden had his fav mix veggies
The hat was the kid's menu it's a much better fit on Chase.Happy Birthday Eric!!! Brayden didn't make it the whole night.

New Years Eve Weekend

2011-01-05T22:51:00.003-06:00

Another year has come and gone just like that. We were very happy to welcome Brayden in 2010!!! A second boy was such a surprise and one day the two of them will be best friends (I hope?).

We spent New Years Eve at our house with good friends. We all have kids so a baby-sitter for a 6 year old, 3-2 year olds, and 2-7 month old probably doesn't exist. We did the usual apps, drinks, and games. This year it even included jello-shots which we finished all 48 of them!! Eric of course had to work on New Years Day but lucky for him it was a shorter schedule. We spent the rest of the weekend just hanging low.

On Sunday Chase and I went to a movie in the afternoon MegaMind. It was pretty cute. Than after his nap we brought the boys bowling. Chase is a pro at this on the WII and is currently trying to master it on the Xbox Kinnect too. So it was no surprise he knew what to do when we got to the bowling alley.

Here are some photos from our night at the lanes. Sad to say for Eric and I but Chase almost beat us the second game. I don't think I had been bowling since I was prego with Chase 3 years ago. We will be back since he enjoys it so much. Brayden also enjoyed just sitting in his car seat and checking the lights and people out.

A great night to end a great weekend and now onto 2011!!!

Family Holiday pictures

2011-01-04T22:36:00.005-06:00

The Drury Family 2010 Picture
The Bjorgaard's (minus the Fonz)
Oh look here is Fonzie. He's Christmased out

This picture didn't do the trees justice. They were partly glowing red Christmas morning.

Pictures of Chase over the Holiday

2011-01-04T22:17:00.004-06:00

Sledding in TRF with the Schuster's. He had more fun eating and throwing snow than sledding.

Pots and Pans for his new kitchen set.

Daddy and Chase hogging the bed.

Chase on the way home from Christmas. We didn't have much more room in the car.

Making us some food in his kitchen/market set.

Climbing the hill in the back yard trying to shovel.

Pictures of Brayden over the Holiday

2011-01-04T21:58:00.004-06:00

His 1st attempt to climb over something.

All wrapped up!
He found more enjoyment out of eating the paper than what was inside the box.

Crawling and screaming what he does best these days.

Finding trouble in the food pantry (but look he pulled himself up)

And his favorite spot these days trying to figure out how to get up them.

I'm back from a Great Christmas-New Year Break!

2011-01-03T22:35:00.006-06:00

It's been over 2 weeks since I've blogged. We have been busy like everyone with holiday events. We all survived and reality hit me when it took me over an hour to get home from work tonight because of the little snow fall that came through during the rush hours.

Brayden has been a busy little guy these last couple weeks. He started climbing on boxes when I was packing them up to go up north. That soon followed with pulling himself up on the bottom step. Than the 1st morning we got up to TRF a little tooth came though on his lower gums. He's still army crawling but moving pretty fast now. He also is pulling himself up on everything-chairs, ottomans, exersaucer, bath tubs, the entertainment center. But with all his great achievements he's getting a little banged up. There are lots of falls taking place. I would really like to wrap him in bubble wrap until he starts to walk. Which I don't think he's far from doing. Chase starting walking around this time 2 years ago at 8 1/2 months. Brayden will be 8 months Jan 13th.

Chase enjoyed all the holiday events. He has a sweet tooth for sugar cookies. He left opening gifts to hide behind Brayden's high chair to eat cookies. (we aren't sure how many he ate before we found him). He's still really into Charlie Brown and wants to watch the Thanksgiving and Christmas show every day and many times a day. I told him the Holiday's are done we have to find something else to watch. He didn't like that answer. He had to go almost a week with out playing the WII and survived. When we were in TRF for Christmas he played a lot with his cousin Bridger. They were crazy busy!! I'm so glad I don't have twin 2 year olds. A lot of basketball was played with Grandpa. Now a days Chase is starting to see Brayden get a little more attention so he's acting out. I wouldn't not call him Brayden's #1 fan anymore. Now that he can move and get to Chase's toys faster it's war. And yet a new struggle begins big brother bully's. I'm guessing this one might last a couple years.

Myself was able to get together with all my high school buddies when I was back in TRF. Very rare we are all there around the same time. I took an afternoon and had lunch with the ladies one day. And for those that couldn't make that date I met up with Saturday night at the bars. Great to see everyone and can't wait until Girls Weekend when we will have more time together.

Eric's work was closed for 3 days in a row so he was able to join us up north just in time for Christmas. I can't say it was totally relaxing but glad it worked out once again this year to be able to go up north for the holidays.

We welcome 2011 and exicted what to see the little guys have in store for us!!!!

Children's Museum

2010-12-17T21:34:00.005-06:00

I took a Thursday off so we could all go to the Children's Museum in St Paul. It was a perfect day because there wasn't a ton of kids there so we had lots of room to explore. Chase enjoyed the wildness room and had a good time running around in that area. He also enjoyed the play area that shows people in everyday jobs. He went right to the grocery store and got behind the cash register. He's always helpful at Target and the grocery store when it comes time to check out.

Chase showing us his grocery checker skills

Or maybe he'll be a postman?

Brayden enjoyed the infant room so much he puked all over it. He climbed around the area for 5 minutes before he spit up a couple ounces of formula. Like I said in the beginning there wasn't many kids there and we were the only ones in the baby room at the time.

Brayden in the baby area (before he spit up)

Brayden hanging out in the kids furniture area.

Some videos of the kids

2010-12-17T21:08:00.002-06:00

Here are some videos of the boys.

Chase is singing the theme song to one of his favorite shows. Super Why

A small video of Brayden crawling.

Big Brother will they ever share?

2010-12-17T20:48:00.003-06:00

Chase's grandma gave him a small hula hoop for a gift this spring. Of course he played with it a lot this spring but like other toys he put it aside and moved on to something else. While along comes his little brother who loves to crawl to it grab it and shake it. Do you think Chase could share it? Of course not! As soon as he sees Brayden with it he drops everything to rush to take it from him.

I took a couple pictures of Happy Brayden with the hoop and than big brother taking it away. (Brayden is lacking pants here because once again he has crawled out of them)

Brayden reaches 7 months

2010-12-17T20:30:00.004-06:00

Another month and the peanut reaches another milestone (while almost). He's pretty much crawling all over now. He gets up on all fours and rocks back in forth but soon drops to the ground and pulls himself around with his hands. He's getting around really well like this and is moving faster everyday.

He's sleeping though most nights and takes 2 naps a day. No teeth yet to report but loves to chew on everything so they must be making their way though.

I did a quick weigh in and he was 20 pounds. Which I believe because carrying him and the car seat are getting to be a workout. He is still a puker but every time he does it he has a smile on his face.

Here are some shots of the happy boy.

Christmas time is here!!

2010-12-07T22:40:00.006-06:00

We have been getting into full Christmas mode. Over Thanksgiving weekend I got a lot of the decorations up inside and the outside. I did some Christmas shopping online due to not wanting to take 2 kids out on black Friday.

Chase's count down to Christmas chain

Brayden checking out the Christmas decorations

Last Friday we weathered a snow storm and went to pick out our tree. First we had Chinese food per Chase's request. Than we walked to the tree lot and let Chase pick out the tree. We got it all set up and spent the weekend decorating it. Let me tell you the boys weren't much help. But so cute to see them getting excited for Christmas. Brayden mostly just smiles and tries to put everything into his mouth.

Chase at the tree lot catching snowflakes on his tongue.

The boys helping with the tree stand.

Chase using his scissors like daddy to cut away the net.

Fonzie also approving of the tree.

Hotel stay

2010-12-07T21:26:00.003-06:00

I didn't take any pictures over Thanksgiving not sure what happen to the camera. We decided to use a hotel stay that Eric had purchased at Canterbury Inn in Shakopee. On Saturday after naps we headed to the hotel and got checked in. We had a 2 room suite with a whirlpool tub. Chase enjoyed playing with the mini fridge, coffee pot, and microwave. (Thankfully he's getting a kitchen set for Christmas) Once Eric got done with work we had dinner and hit the pool for a while. Brayden and I sat the pool out. We headed back to the room to watch a movie and go to bed. With 3 of us having colds it made for an uncomfortable night. Brayden and I didn't get much sleep. Brayden didn't enjoy sleeping in the hotel crib which looked more like a little white jail. The next morning we woke up and hit the free breakfast. Eric and Chase took another quick swim and we packed up and headed home.

Here are some pics from the night.

Thumbs up for swimming

Brayden being an angel

Chase playing in the mini fridge and getting mommy a drink.

Chase helping daddy win the lottery.

Chase entertaining his little bro

2010-12-04T22:26:00.004-06:00

At lunch last weekend I asked Chase to entertain Brayden. He made him really giggle so I had to get the camera. We all had colds and Brayden had been super fussy all weekend. For some reason Chase saying "phew" made him laugh. Excuse the messy faces and high chairs. One was having squash and the other pudding.

Some more family photos

2010-11-23T21:22:00.004-06:00

Here are some more from our family photo shoot. Once a again so glad all 3 boys cooperated!!

Vegas Baby!!

2010-11-17T11:43:00.002-06:00

So tomorrow (Thursday 11/18) at this time Eric and I will be in Las Vegas!!! This is our first vacation with out kids. It has been a long time since we went on vacation with out kids!! (I can't even remember when was the last time.) We are staying at the Flamingo on the strip. This will be my first time in sin city. Eric was out there years ago for a Denny Hecker thing. Let us just say he lost all of his money the 1st night and spent the next 2 nights in his room. So I'm crossing my fingers this trip goes better for him.
Joining us for this adventure is my brother and sister-in law (or SLP Bjorgaard's as we call them), our childhood friend Sarah and her hubby Ris, and Nate and Kember from Fargo. Should be a good crew!!
We are all staying at the same place and only have booked a couple things so we can just fly by the seat of our pants. We will be going to the "The Price is Right" on Friday night. Should be fun I hear just like the tv show only different host and you won't see us on tv. On Saturday night we are checking out the club scene. We are going to Tryst night club. I can't wait to report back to everyone what a $450 bottle of booze looks like. (yep that is what it cost in order for us to get a table so we can sit down at a club-CRAZY) We fly back late Sunday so the gamblers can bet on sports in the am.
The boys will be in good hands while we are gone. Uncle Russ is driving them up to TRF so my parents can watch them for the long weekend. I'm a little nervous for Russ and the car trip but hopefully he gets there still sane enough to bring them back to us on Sunday.
So maybe some pictures to come from this great weekend but of course what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas so we will see!! Hehe

Family Pictures done right

2010-11-15T21:04:00.003-06:00

We had a holiday family shoot a couple Sunday's ago. We just got some of the pictures back and they turned out pretty good. No Chase leaving the photo shoot this time and Brayden didn't burst out crying. And with the 30 min shoot Eric even behaved.

Check out Paula C's blog on the right under "My Blog List". I'll post more pictures later when I get the cd.

6 months already

2010-11-13T09:47:00.008-06:00

It's hard to believe 6 months ago today Brayden was born on a beautiful spring day. Especially since we woke up today to our first snow fall of the year. And so far it's a doozy!! The trees looks so cool with all the thick snow covering them. A great scene to look at but sure glad today it's Saturday and we are staying inside the cozy house for the day. Though Eric is at work today hopefully making a couple sales.

View outside the front door this morning.

We found one of our squirrel friends in the trees this morning.

Brayden continues to be a happy baby but starting to show some signs of "give me what I want right now or I'll scream until I get it." I have stopped with the breast milk so it's formula full time now. He's becoming more and more of a puker and formula puke makes me gag. The good side is he's loving his baby food. Haven't found a food he won't eat yet (though we haven't tried prunes). He's like a little bird when eating just sits there the whole time with his mouth open waiting for more.

Look I can hold my own bottle but not for long enough to feed myself yet.

He's almost crawling now too. He gets up on all 4's and moves his little body back and forth until he scoots forward. I'm sure by Christmas we will have a crawler. (YIKES!) His main means of movement though is rolling. He rolls everywhere until he gets stuck against a wall. He hasn't figured out how to roll the other direction yet.

I was trying to make him crawl to the bottle here. He got there but by pulling himself around.

He is still a joy to take places because he just loves to look around. And at this age he can't run away from you. He just stares and takes it all in. He is also a great sleeper when it's time for bed he gets fussy and you can put him right in his crib. This one doesn't need to be rocked for a while he just falls asleep on his own. I do miss the cuddling so I'll steal him from bed from time to time and he will sleep right on my chest. So he can be a good snuggler (and little heater).

We won't have his official weight and height until his 6mth check up which is in a couple weeks. But again 6 months has went by so fast and he has been such a great baby I could almost have more(?).

Hard to believe in 6 more months our little happy camper will be 1 and the weather should be beautiful once again!!

Look it's a Prowler Fan!!

2010-11-08T22:29:00.003-06:00

Brayden supporting his dad and mom's high school!!!

And he's sitting all by himself.

A Trip to the zoo

2010-11-07T21:15:00.006-06:00

I decided to take the boys to the zoo by myself on Saturday am. I had some tickets from work to use up and figured since it was a nice day what the heck. I'm happy to report it was a great trip. Chase really enjoyed the morning and could of watched the fish all day long. Of course most of the animals were sleeping but at least they were sleeping in the sun so we could see them. Brayden also enjoyed watching the fish & sharks too.

Here are some photos from our day.

Brayden on his 2nd trip to the zoo. Much more awake this time than when he was 3weeks old.

Chase and the giant tortoise.

Here are some animals we seen.

Timberwolf

Bald Eagle

Kind of hard to see but this was a baby lynx born the same day as Brayden.
Chase pointing at the ugly shark.
Chase and his new tiger sword that lights up and of course he had to sleep with it.

Chase's 1st T-wolves game

2010-11-03T20:59:00.003-05:00

Eric was able to get some good seats to the T-wolves game last Friday. They where 4th row on the media side center court. I would of probably passed but with those seats you're almost on the court with the guys. And being it was game 2 of the season I can say I was there in the beginning of their championship season. (yeah right!)

Chase was pretty quiet at first but by half time he had warmed up. He clapped every time any one (Wolves or Bucks) made a basket. And by the end we kind of had him howling like a wolf. Krunch in this tighty red undies

Warm ups

Chase giving the Thumbs up

Can't remember what size these shoes were but scared to think Chase's feet could be this big one day since he's already a 9.5 at age 2.

Halloween Come Earlier

2010-10-27T12:21:00.011-05:00

We traveled up to TRF to visit family & friends last weekend. I always like to get up there in the fall before winter hits. Grandma Char joined us for the trip up north and we left Thursday night late. The ride went smoothly as Brayden slept and Chase watched a movie and than fell asleep.

Chase and his cute shirt!!

On Friday we hung out with Grandpa Mike and cousin Bridger for the day. It was a beautiful fall day out and we headed outside for some basketball and football. We were invited to a Halloween costume party Friday night so I got the boys and I all dressed up and we headed to that. Chase enjoyed it and I tied for 1st place prize with my costume. Brayden enjoyed it so much he feel asleep half way though the party.

The Toy story clan & Bridger Favre

One darn cute chicken On Saturday we hung out with Grandma Sue and auntie Lindsay and Bridger came over. We did some Halloween crafts (Halloween craps as Chase calls them). Chase really enjoyed using the scissor and creating a mess of paper on the floor. On Saturday night I took off to go out on the big town of TRF with some friends. I left Grandma/Grandpa in charge of the boys. They had some help from my aunt Shirley/uncle Mike but come Nov 18-21 they are on their own. Eric and I with a bunch of other couples are heading to Las Vegas!!! Grandma/Grandpa are going to watch the boys while we are away. I hope Saturday night prepared them for the 3 nights we are away.

On Sunday morning I got the troops packed up and we hit the road back home. Brayden feel asleep 15mins into the trip and slept for 3 hours. Chase watched half a movie and feel asleep for 2 hours. We had to stop in Little Falls to eat and give the kids a break from the car. Brayden cried for the last 40mins so it made the end of trip that much longer.

All and all a great weekend getaway. Chase is looking forward to Halloween on Sunday as am I since it's my favorite holiday.

Pumpkin Carvings

2010-10-19T22:17:00.005-05:00

Here are some shots of our pumpkin carvings from the other night. Eric was the artist with the knife. The rest of us just watched. We did help clean out pumpkin #2 but once Chase saw what I was pulling out of the pumpkin he said "I'll just hold the pumpkin. That will be fun too." (and he placed his hand on the front of the pumpkin) He is such a card!

Eric and his boys. (Fonzie was around someone too just didn't make any pics)

Out front for display. Lets hope the squirrels don't eat them before Halloween.

Chase and I doing our spooky sounds. (or howling at the moon)

Chase turns 2.5 years old

2010-10-18T22:46:00.006-05:00

Chase more interested in Connect Four on the I-pad than in his gift.

Chase with the new Leap Frog computer game I got him.
Which after he played it told me the new game is boring. I guess he knows all of the stuff on the game that came with it. I'll have to find him something more challenging but it said 3-6 year old.

Chase turned 2 1/2 on Oct 18th. I can't believe come spring he will be 3 already. He's doing great and really starting to understand so much more about life. Like he gets it that I get frustrated with him when he won't eat (he'll tell Eric at bed time "mommy is mad at me because I only took 2 bites"). He knows his ABC's very well, his colors, shapes, numbers, and is starting to read books back to us now. They are the ones we have read him a hundred times so he's doing to from memory. But it's a nice change.

He still loves to play the WII and I'm amazed how quickly he catches on to the games. Some more than others but he has no problem navigating though the menus and playing on his own. He also is a wiz at the I-pad. We have downloaded games for him to play and he loves to do that. He also likes to watch movies and check the weather on it.

He still isn't potty trained. Not great progress there. He has good days and bad days. We are all still waiting for the day he says "I have to go potty!" We keep telling him no more diapers = more money for toys. We might have to try a weekend potty boot camp soon.

He has his moments but all in all a great kid. I'm hoping the next 6 months are free of the terrible 2's.

Some quotes from Chase:

We get a lot of "let me think about that". (as he touches his face).

When I asked what he was doing down stair he says "Watching Uncle Russ, he's busy working on his new game." (meaning playing a new video game). "

"I want to go with daddy to work, let me get my tie."
"I need to sleep in your bed tonight." Who told you that Chase? "Woody and Buzz"

"Mommy that dinner smells delicious" And than when you get it on his plate that's icky.

Chase mid year stats: weight= 36.5 lbs & height=38inches

Brayden turns 5 Months

2010-10-18T09:04:00.009-05:00

Starting to love the jumpy

This would be on Eric's watch

He's eating carrots here

Brayden turned 5 months on Wed. the 13th. Happy to report he's doing really well. A couple nights a week he will sleep all the way though the night. He's still enjoying 3 naps a day (I wish I could get in 3 cat naps a day). After we tried rice cereal the other week and he wasn't loving it we decided to give him some veggies too. We started those last week and so far so good. No true favorite yet but he's enjoying peas, green beans, squash, carrots and sweet potatoes. He is rolling all over the place and I swear sometimes he will crawl when you aren't looking. You can lay him down on the floor and walk away only to come back and he has rolled half way across the room. He also enjoying sticking everything into his mouth he can. Pretty sure he's working on some teeth. He loves to drool all over himself, you, the floor, you put anything by him and there is drool on it. He's getting stronger every day. When you put him in the bouncy seats or the swing he just pulls himself up to a sitting position. Still loves it when Fonzie gets in his face and when Chase takes the time to talk to him too.

We were at home this last weekend so I took the chance to cuddle with him lots. I'm happy to report both Brayden and mommy got some nap cuddle time in. They are the best times!!

His stats: weight=18lbs length=27 inches

Brayden Gets Baptized on 10-10-10

2010-10-13T22:55:00.003-05:00

Brayden got Baptized on Sunday at Westwood Lutheran Church in SLP. It was a perfect day and all of our family was able to make it to his big day. He was a great baby once again. No crying at all. He was so mesmerized at all the lights he couldn't take his eyes away from the ceiling.

We choose Eric's brother Chris and his wife Deb as Brayden's sponsors. They did the baptism first thing at the service and shortly after Brayden was sleeping. Every one was invited back to our house for lunch and cake. A great day for all!!

The Apple Orchard

2010-10-11T14:01:00.007-05:00

We ventured out to the Apple Orchard on Saturday with my parents, sister, and nephew. And much to every one's surprise there was no hot apple cider being purchased. It was 83 degrees that afternoon. We were actually sweating in October. We chose the Minnetonka Orchards in Minnetrista to get our apples at. Due to a frost in May there wasn't apples to pick ourselves. (though I did see people picking some). So we hit up the kiddie area. We had a quick look at the petting zoo, the boys tried to pick up pumpkins, the boys climbed up in some corn bin thing, they enjoyed playing on a train, and we all took a hay ride. Looking after two 2 years and a baby proves to be a lot even for 4 people. We were only there for a couple hours but felt like we had been there all day.

We all purchased some apples at the store. Along with some cold apple cider, apple donuts, and apple carmels(really good!!). Than it was back on the hay ride for a beautiful trip though the forest. There were some great looking fall foliage out there.

Bummed I didn't take more pictures.

Chase and Bridger climbed up in this thing and of course we had to go get them out.

Chase carrying pumpkin around. Must be a boy thing all he wanted to do was pick them up.

Bridger and Chase in the pumpkins

Random shots of the boys

2010-10-04T16:02:00.006-05:00

Not much going on around the Bjorgaard household in September. Which isn't always a bad thing. Eric is back to football Sundays and I'm back to a football widow on Sunday's. My volleyball is done for the season so I go though withdrawals from my Thursday nights out.

The boys are getting so big and entertaining. Chase always seems to come up with some new one liner that makes us ask "Where did he hear that from?" He loves the "New Game" as he calls it. The WII Resort sports game Eric brought. He's becoming an expert at sword fighting, ping pong, archery, and basketball. You can tell this kid is a Bjorgaard as he could play the WII all day long if you let him. (just like his dad and uncles)

Brayden is rolling all around now. He is still full of smiles and enjoys watching and touching Fonzie. He however doesn't enjoy rice cereal. We will keep trying but not a good 1st reaction. We are working on getting him to sit by himself. Could be his big head but he pretty much falls right over. He does enjoy standing up though. So this one could be an earlier walker like Chase was.

Here are some random shots I've taken over the last month. Enjoy Fall everyone!!

Chase starts swimming lessons

2010-09-28T22:09:00.007-05:00

Chase started his 1st organized lesson at age 2.4 years old. We enrolled him in the Foss Swim school for the fall session. Since he isn't a huge fan of swimming I wanted to show him it can be fun and not to be scared of the water. So far so good! He's enjoying the songs they sing and the little games they play. After only 3 weeks he's already becoming a little more daring in his baths. I'm just happy he enjoys going each week and is not the kid screaming in the water.
Here are some pictures of his lessons.

He's Rolling!

2010-09-28T15:19:00.009-05:00

As far as we have witnessed Brayden rolled all the way over on Thursday for the 1st time. He has been so close the last couple weeks but always gets hung up. He was trying like heck at dinner time and after a couple attempts made it all the way over.

There is no stopping him now. Though he will let you know if he doesn't want to be on his tummy.

1st Attempt

2nd Attempt

And he finally Rolls!

AIR CHASE!!!

2010-09-25T08:36:00.004-05:00

Eric took these shots the other night when Chase was showing us his dunking skills. He brought the hoop into the living room himself and just started jumping off the ottoman. Eric used the Canon Rebel camera and got some really good shots.

Look White Men Can Jump!!

The Drury Family Vac in Duluth

2010-09-20T14:20:00.016-05:00

We had talked all summer about finding some where to meet with the kids and enjoy a weekend away just us Drury's. Well summer came and went and no Drury vacation. I decided I was going to find some place for us to meet half way between Thief River Falls and the cities. It was a little over half way for the TRFers but I found a good deal on a hotel suite in Duluth. We stayed at the EdgeWater Water Park Resort right in downtown Duluth. It was a perfect fit with free water passes for everyone included in the price of the room. They also had a mini golf course, arcade, and jumpy to keep the kids busy. Our room had a great view of Lake Superior. The boys enjoyed sitting on the balcony with Grandpa and watching the ships and trains go by.

On Saturday we took in the water park and a pizza. Bridger and Chase showed us that they are indeed boys by playing catch and wrestling in the little space available in the rooms. After watching the trains go by our room all day Grandpa/Grandma promised them they could ride on one. So on Sunday we headed to the train Depot and took a short ride to Lester River. It was a perfect day to go because there wasn't a lot of other people on the train so we had a lot of room to move around and check out the different train cars. It was a nice relaxing trip and no one jumped off or made it derail. We finished Sunday off by heading down to Canal Park. We checked out the big ship, took a little walk and had dinner. Eric had to head home Sunday evening to get back to work on Monday. But we were happy he was able to get Saturday off to spend the day with us.(very rare for him to take a Sat off)

On Monday we had breakfast and started to pack up to head home. It always comes to an end way to fast. It took a couple trips to pack up my car with all my crap but the Flex proved it could handle all the luggage and baby gear. After checking out we headed to a park to enjoy the scenery a little more before heading home.

Great vacation and I'm glad we all were able to fit it in our busy schedules!!!

Enjoy the pics:

Chase and Bridger getting ready for the pool. (Check out the pink swim diapers Chase's daddy got him. )

Brayden's 1st time mini golfing.

The Bjorgaard's!! Brayden's 1st time mini golfing proved to be to much for him.

Chase and Bridger at the Train Depot waiting for the Train.

Chase and I getting ready to board.

Pictures from the train ride. The fisherman below actually caught a fish while we were stopped.

Enjoying the nice weather on the open train car. (Eric was happy because the train even had beer!!)

Canal Park

Chase playing a little ball at Leif Erickson Park.

Grandma & Grandpa Drury with the Bjorgaard boys at the Park.

I wish I would of had a better angle at this shot. So cute except a little windy so Chase's hair is everywhere.

Brayden 4 months!!!

2010-09-15T21:33:00.006-05:00

The happy baby has turned 4 months old. Brayden continues to be a smiley baby with a great personality. He's trying like heck to roll over from back to front but gets hung up on his side. He's really enjoying his exersaucer and activity mat. He can reach things now and starts to really squeal when he plays. It's so nice to have such an easy going baby when having two kids to look after.

Chase is doing great with Brayden also. He talks to him and on occasion wants to pick him up. Though he's not liking to share his toys with him and at this point Brayden can't even really play with them. This will be a fun battle in the future.

Brays 4 month appointment went great. He passed with flying colors. Here are his current stats:

Weight: 15lbs 11oz (70%)

Length: 26 1/4 in (90%)

Head: 17in (75%)

The Great MN Get together 2010! (10 year anniversary for Jenny)

2010-09-14T22:24:00.008-05:00

I've lived in Minneapolis for 10 years now. And I have attended the MN state fair for 10 years. This year was a little different because we mostly go with a big group of friends on the weekend. This year the group fell apart due to everyone having different plans. I took off Thursday from work and headed out with the boys. Brayden enjoyed the day by sleeping most of the trip. Chase had more fun this year going down the big slide, playing baseball at the Twins zone, and riding in the Kidway. I of course enjoy the food every year. My fav is the deep fried pickles. Erics fav is Bull Bites. We ate a lot more than just those 2 items but I won't go into all the fat we ate. But the fair only comes once a year and you must indulge.

Next year I hope to have our big group together again for more state fair fun!!

At the Little Farm Hands exhibit

Chase driving the tractor

Chase and I on a spinning ride. He didn't really enjoy it and either did I.

Chase on the bumper boats. He really enjoyed this ride.

Chase really liked petting this cow.

At the Twins zone jumpy.

Chase and Daddy playing a little ball in the Twins zone.

It's Back!!

2010-09-14T21:29:00.006-05:00

I got my camera back just in time for our Duluth family vacation. And I was finally able to get some pictures off it.

Here are some shots from girl weekend Aug 2010. The camera only made it through Friday night but got a couple cute shots from the night. What a great weekend it was.

Shot Shot Shot Shot Shot Shot

Breezy Point 2010

Still not sure what was going on here.

Still no camera!

2010-09-09T13:39:00.002-05:00

My main camera is still being worked on by "The Geek Squad" at Best Buy(any day now). So haven't taken many pics lately. Last week we were busy at the state fair and the Anderson's from Fargo came and stayed with us over the Labor Day weekend. We kept busy by doing a little shopping, trip to the park, grilling out, and watching a couple movies. The 4 adults made it out for a Sunday twins game (nice to go with out kids). And we also made another trip to the drive-in theatre to watch Toy Story 3 (yes I did cry at the end-I'm a sucker for those kids movies).

Tonight Chase starts swimming lessons and I have my last volleyball game of the season at Joe Sensors in Eagan. Hoping to take 1st place this time. And yes it's the start of football season so Eric's not to happy about bringing Chase to swimming lessons tonight but it's mommy's last Thursday night hurrah for a while.

We will be heading to Duluth this weekend for a Drury family get together. We are staying at the Edgewater Resort water park. Doesn't look the warmest for the weekend but we should be able to keep busy inside the warm water park.

I'll post some fair pics soon. Chase had a good time and of course we ate to much.