All by myself...

Tonight, I witnessed a new milestone in Amy's life - feeding herself with a spoon! I was trying to supplement her dinner with a little cereal when she started going nuts. She was pushing away the spoon, and pointing at the bowl. I hesitated to give it to her, because I thought she would just finger paint with it on her tray. Needless to say, I finally gave in and put it in front of her.

She immediately smiled, picked up the spoon, and started feeding herself! After the "scooping" became a challenge, she picked up the bowl and started lapping the rest of it up like a puppy.

It was hilarious.

She was such a mess. Her clothes were covered in oatmeal, and the high chair was destroyed. I had no choice but to move her from the table to the tub. I did my best to capture everything on the camera. Enjoy the photos.

The Man in Black

This post is for my aunt Ruth and uncle Duane who sent Matthew the t-shirt he's wearing in the video. It's a t-shirt from my uncle's retreat--Bethel Horizons, which I hope to visit someday with Matthew (he would love it).

It was "Black Day" at daycare today, so Matthew wore the shirt all day. It may not be as popular as the Vikes jersey he has, the "New York" sweatshirt, his guitar shirt or the Spidey jammies but on this day, he loved it.

Thanks Aunt Ruth and Uncle Duane. Enjoy!

Lucky number 36

As I've grown older, and had two children, birthdays have taken on a whole new light. Nowadays, I'm much more excited about the look on my son's face when we sing him Happy Birthday than I am to wake up and realize I'm now closer to 40 than 30. But, I've also learned from my wife to take a day for myself, relax and enjoy getting older. So, tomorrow I'm taking the day off to hang out, play some golf and hopefully just enjoy a day to myself.

I've actually had quite a busy birthday day today--we traveled back from Wisconsin this morning at our Sherry family reunion. For you single readers out there, if you're ever in need of some good birth control, just take a three-hour car ride with us sometime--my parents, mother-in-law and brother know what I'm talking about. Regardless, we had a great time visiting the waterpark in Black River Falls yesterday and chatting with the Sherry klan. We also found our hotel had a special waterpark just for kids, complete with a mini slide and wading pool. Matthew must have went down that slide about 50 times last night. I'll hopefully post some video from the experience later in the week.

Cannonball!

Pics from our cabin trip last weekend. This particular portion of the weekend, our venture to the Siren city beach, was a big hit.

Signs, signs everywhere there's signs

I have to share a bit of our conversation from the drive in this morning. For some reason, Matthew has taken a great interest in the signs on the road. For those of you who drive often ... you don't realize how many signs you drive past until someone is asking what EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM says. While I always like to encourage this small child's curiosity, it often comes at a price (i.e. my SANITY).

So, as we were driving to daycare this morning, I told him that I knew he was really curious about the signs, but that there were just too many for Mommy to tell him what every single one of them says. I told him that when gets bigger that he will go to a special school to learn how to drive, and that he will learn about all of the signs on the road at that time. Here is what followed ...

Matthew: "Mommy, will I learn to read all of the signs at that special school?"
Me: "Yes, when you are 16, you will learn to read all of the signs"
Matthew: "Well Mommy, I just turned into a fireman, so I can't drive."
Me: "What?"
Matthew (slightly frustrated): "I just turned into a fireman, so I can't drive! When I turn back into a driver ... then I will read the signs and drive. Okay?"
Me: "Okay."

Such a weirdo! It is almost magical how he just "turns into" things all day long. You never see it coming...

What I did last summer...

A glimpse into what Matthew and Amy told their daycare classmates about "what they did last summer" (really this summer, but that line has much more effect).

Taking the show on the road

In three days, we're headed to northern WI to spend four days at a cabin with my parents and my brother. We're looking forward to playing games, grilling out every night and starting a campfire or two. Should be a blast.

As we prepare for that event, we tried to take it easy this weekend. On Friday night, we had my friend and new colleague, Anne and her husband, Peter and daughter Ellen over for dinner. Good to meet her family and hang out outside of work. On Saturday morning, we took the lightrail to MOA and hung out there for a while. Kids did OK on the train--Matthew really liked the tunnels.

On Sunday, we got a 5:30 am wake up call from both kids. Good times--especially on 2 hours sleep (I was up late watching UFC and playing cards with some buddies). After some coffee and Mel-O-Glaze (a Sunday morning ritual for Matthew and I) I felt almost human again. After 1 hour naps (for reference, Matthew usually takes a 3-plus hour nap) we headed over to the Hansons to play in the pool and watch the tail-end of the PGA champ.

So, now we're in full prep mode for this weekend's journey. Like I said, takin the show on the road.

Amy's 1st Birthday

I may not have had great luck on a golf course today, but I certainly had fun celebrating Amy's birthday. I have no idea where the past year went, but our baby girl is now a year old! She continues to be the happiest baby around. She is walking all over the place, and getting used to the world of wearing shoes.

We couldn't be more proud of her.

We had a nice little party at our house tonight with Grandma Jane and Grandma & Grandpa Hanson. As you can see from the photo, the chocolate frosting on the cupcakes was a big hit. Maybe next year I will remember to take off her shirt BEFORE we give her something like that.

Oh well ... the fun she had was worth the cost of a shirt.

For gifts, Amy got some fun little cars she can push around the floor, and a great start on her fall wardrobe.

We can't wait to see what the next year has in store for all of us. Happy Birthday Amers!

Amy karma

Many of you may not know this, but I'm a big believer in karma. Maybe not as much as Earl, but I do think it plays a role in our lives. Anyway, today is Amy's birthday and I got a quick 18 in this morning at the Dunes--a course that historically, has ate my lunch. I've barely broken 90 on the course this year in five tries. On my beautiful baby's first birthday? Different story. 77 with a one-under 36 on the back. Historic! In fact, I probably haven't broken 45 on the back all year--it's been that bad. How do you explain me making birdie on a hole I haven't made better than double on all year? How do you explain three birdies on one side--a side that has taken me apart all year? If not for a snowman on the 8th, I would have been right around par. 

Three words: Amy Jane Hanson. My karma. My baby. My sunshine. 

Now, if I can just figure out a way for her to replicate that birthday karma each Saturday morning, we'd have something...