Friday Foto

Every Friday I'm going to try to put up a new picture of the kids.  I know they don't change too much in just 7 days, but at least you'll get to see all of their wonderful clothes.  Except for Bee.  She'll most likely have on her "fravrite" dress in every one!

So, enjoy the first Friday Foto! (Because everything is more fun with alliteration!)

Our House is a Very, Very, Very Fine House

Here are just a few outside shots of our new house in Minnesota.  If we ever manage to unpack the boxes, tubs, and bags all over the inside I'll put up some pictures of that, too.

The front of our house.

The side of our house.

The back of our house.  

(And the back of our minivan.)

Some information about our house:  It was built around 1900 and has all of the original woodwork and windows.  It has a very large enclosed front porch as well as a smaller one in the back (so you can keep the winter wind out of the house!).  You can also see the little deck that's on the back of the house in the last photo.  The back door leads into the kitchen, which is a bit of a problem for families like ours who make a huge mess in the kitchen on a moment by moment basis!  Anyone who stops by is greeted by my sinkful of dishes.  (At least until Maggie and Beatrice are old enough to wash up!)  The other rooms on the first floor are the dining room and the living room which is basically one very large room separated by two beautiful carved pillars.  The large front window has leaded glass details.  There is also a small room with a bathroom under the staircase on the first floor.  We're planning to use this room as a study for Rob and also invest in a comfy hide-a-bed couch for in there that all of you can use when you come to visit us this summer.   All of these rooms have beautiful hardwood floors which a previous owner stenciled with wide brown lines in various designs.  In pictures it looks like an inlaid design and we were surprised the first time we toured that it is just painted on.  It's very beautiful.

Leading up from the front door (which has beautiful scrollwork and leaded glass) is the staircase which has a beautiful spindle banister running it's length.  Maggie has already attempted to sneak her way up the banister, but now knows that it's naughty and not received well by her mother.  The staircase has a small landing about ten stairs up and then turns with four more stairs leading to the bedrooms.  There are three rooms on the second floor.  The girl's room is at the end of the hallway.  It has the slanted ceilings from being under the eaves at the back of the house and two tiny little closets.  On her first trip to the house Beatrice declared that she would be sleeping on the shelf in her closet.  It's just barely wide enough, but she hasn't slept there.  It's the perfect room for two little girls to share.  One of these days I'll probably paint it pink!  In the hallway after their room is the tiny laundry closet.  We had to get a new set of stacking washer and dryer to fit in there because it's just not wide enough for side-by-sides!  (I love my new W&D, but that's a story for another time!)  Across from that is the main bathroom.  It's small.  That's about all I can say about it!!  The schoolroom and the place where I've stashed all of my knitting paraphernalia is the room that the staircase leads directly into.  It's a nice long room with plenty of room for bookshelves full of schoolbooks, puzzles and games, and kid's craft supplies and has the most useful closet in the house.  Right now that closet is full of random boxes!  Our bedroom is down the hall from that room and it has the most bizarre closet in the house.  It actually has a closet inside the closet.  You walk in and to your left is a door to the second closet.  It's by far the strangest use of space and we haven't figured out how we're going to use it.  Our room is just big enough for our bed and the baby crib, but there's not much else you need in a bedroom.  Our room is also the only one in the house that we've put curtains up in.  From this room you can see Frontenac pond and the rest of little Frontenac.

The second closet also has a little celling opening that leads to the attic.  Neither of us have been up in it, but it is large enough that one day there could be at least one more room up there.  You can see the window to it in the side picture of the house.  Once it warms up I'm going to drag the ladder up and have a look.

Well, that's a verbal tour of the house.  Now imagine it filled with those boxes and bags I mentioned before as well as a million My Little Ponies and stuffed cats.  We all love it here and are so happy to be in a house that has character and history.  The owner before the man we bought it from lived here for 50 years.  I wonder how long we'll call it home?

He Did It!

Obie rolled over for the first time this afternoon.

He looks a little smug about it!

Obie's First Ice Cream

Obie got his first taste of mint chocolate chip ice cream on his sister's birthday. He doesn't seem to be very impressed by sweets yet! A boy this sweet doesn't need ice cream!!

(These voices belong to Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma Supan.)

Our First Frontenac Snow

I had to drag Beatrice outside kicking and screaming.

While Maggie made snow angels, Bee made me furious.

She didn't want to put her tights on.

She didn't want to wear a sweatshirt instead of a dress.

She didn't want to put her snowboots on after her snow pants.

She didn't want to to anything I tried to get her to do to stay warm.

But once she did...

Little Bee Turns Three!

This past weekend we celebrated our first birthday in Minnesota: Beatrice turned Three! I love doing the great big birthday party thing, but this year was a bit smaller due to our lack of toddler aged friends. (A girl just can't have an entourage after living in a new place for only a couple of weeks!) Grandma and Grandpa Supan came up from Illinois to celebrate with her, Grandma and Granpa Keehn sent gifts, and Auntie Val sent a text message to round out the day.

Rob and I stayed up a little late Friday night putting pink streamers and balloons up around the house. Beatrice gasped when she saw them and said they looked, "Cool awful!" (Instead of awfully cool!) Maggie was pretty impressed, too. It got the party started right. We had soup and bread for lunch and each of the girls got to have a small glass of cream soda, too. Then of course it was time for presents. Maggie had a hard time letting Bee have the show, and spent most of the time talking about when it was her birthday she would do this or that, but Beatrice didn't seem to care too much. She got lots of clothes and Littlest Pet Shop toys from Grandma and Grandpa Supan, a Belle doll and a tatoo-able cat from us, and a Pinkie Pie My Little Pony and movie from Grandma and Grandpa Keehn. With Pinkie Pie came the most coveted gift of the day: A singing Sleeping Beauty Birthday Card. We spent the rest of the day listening to the electronic card belting out "Once Upon a Dream". Happily it never made it into the car with us!

After presents we sang Happy Birthday and Beatrice blew out the candles on her minty My Little Pony cake. Grandma served her up the pony's whole head - nothing less for the Birthday Girl!! We all enjoyed cake and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Even baby Obie got his first taste of ice cream. He didn't really enjoy it...

Then we all piled into the minivan to head over to Rochester to see the movie Coraline in 3D - Three Dimensions for Beatrice's Three Years!! At the theater Maggie beat Grandma at a game of Air Hockey! We bought an enormous tub of popcorn for everyone to share, found good seats and donned our funny glasses. Except for Bee. She preferred not to wear them. She missed out because the movie was awesome! Maggie loved it - almost as much as she loved gorging on popcorn. All of the kids sat happily through the movie. Even Obie watched it for quite a while until baby fatigue got the best of him.

We capped the night off with a good meal at O'Niel's Pizza Pub, a pretty cool pizza joint that was the first restaurant we saw on the way back home. The girls got to watch the pizzas being made while we waited for our seats and got a sample of cheese. It was family friendly and delicious!

It was a great day and Bee enjoyed herself immensely. See for yourself!

I can't believe she's THREE!

The Quick Progression of Emotion

This was Obie's first time sitting in the bumbo seat. Let's see how it turned out...

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling!

Obie can roll onto his side! He'll be flopped over in no time.

He also has a sense of humor.

He can take his socks off to play with his toes.

He leans up when I reach down to grab him.

He's a big, big boy... and not even four months old!