Just Float

There comes a time in your life that you have to let go and just trust that you will float... or that your feet will touch the bottom. I think it must be scary sometimes to be a five-year-old and not know what's ahead of you, especially when your imagination runs wild. It's scary sometimes to be a thirty-five-year-old, for that matter. Sometimes you just have to float, and know that you'll make it somehow.

Toad on the ropes

Life and housework has a funny way of catching up with a person. So far my list of housecleaning related accomplishments for my vacation, now four days old, is great; however, the house still looks cluttered and trashed. I've got a lot on my mind these days, so it's been good having an endless to-do list to keep me busy. Tomorrow will be my first "kidless" day, so in between a quick trip to the grocery store after drop-off and a pedicure with Lena in the afternoon (I know, shocking! I'm going to let someone touch my feet!) I hope to blitz the remainder of my list: Toad's room is done except for dusting the blinds and cleaning out the window sill; Birdy's room and our room and the upstairs bathroom need attention; the living room is mostly done; the kitchen and my office need some major work! That will be my main focus tomorrow -- and then on Wednesday, after all my hard work, I'm going to treat myself to a day of scrappy happy with my sister.

Ooh, guess what.... we've progressed to the point of painting in the basement! Tonight HG and I painted our first coat of Yukon Gold in the hall and one of the main room walls. It's absolutely divine! I can't wait to get Braided Raffia on the remainder of the walls! Pictures will soon follow.

Thanks to JT for the great photo above of our little swimmer.

Strawberry Fields Forever

Yesterday I was able to join CdB Montessori on a field trip to the Strawberry Patch! It's at the same orchard that we've gone to get our Halloween pumpkins every year since Toad was a baby (run by my former co-worker Kit and her family). We learned how strawberries grow and got a lesson in picking the very best berries. It was wonderful to kneel at the plants and search for ripe berries. It brought back a lot of memories from my childhood, running out to the garden and eating right from the plants -- strawberries, raspberries, peas. Someday I'll have a little patch of heaven in my own backyard.

Toad had a terrific time filling his basket, as you can see by the picture. It was the hottest day of the year so far, but none of the kids complained. We toured the patch and the apple orchard on a wagon pulled by a tractor (always a hit with the kids), had duck races, and had lunch in the cafe. And Toad has actually been eating strawberries! Before yesterday he was scared of the seeds!

www.applejackorchards.com

Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem

We've got some major teething going on at our house. Birdy began teething at a very early age and even had her one year molars by about 8 months. However, for some reason, she skipped her cuspids, aka canine teeth. She looks like a Stanley Cup Champion with a mouth full of teeth -- and four missing! She's been working on these for a while and her grumpiness level is off the charts. Poor girl. Poor grumpy little bean. Thankfully, it hasn't really affected her sleep.

Three more days of work and then vacation!

Back to the Blogosphere

Well, it would appear that I've missed nearly four months in the blogosphere. Birdy's first birthday -- long gone. Toad's fifth birthday -- a month ago. The world keeps moving and so does this family. But I am making a commitment to gather my wits about me and use the space here to record the events of our lives -- the daily grind, the special moments, the mundane, the extraordinary -- and to get back in the habit of visiting the blogs of friends and family.

Rather than re-cap the last four months, I will include two photographs, one of Miss Bird and one of Toad as they celebrated their birthdays, and then I will move forward. I hope that you haven't completely given up on Home for the Holidays.

What's new with us? Hammer Guy has finally made it back down to the basement (he's working there right now, actually!). We hired someone to finish the mudding and taping and so we're very close to the painting stage. Thank goodness the bathroom is finished, at least, since we've had to seek shelter there a handful of times already this summer because of severe weather. The Deadline has been extended once again to Labor Day (of 2008). HG is also planning to brew this month for the first time since November of 2006. He has a whole day set aside for it at the end of the month (when I am on vacation). Another major undertaking for HG is the Professional Engineering Exam in October. He'll be hitting the books again soon.

I continue to make it through work day by day. In the face of product recalls and stop-sales and increasing prices (a value box of diapers is up to 37.99 -- ridiculous!), not to mention the price of gas, more and more customers are impatient and downright rude. At one of our other locations, an irate guest ripped a credit card pinpad off its cable and threw it at the head of the assistant manager. I told my boss that the day a customer throws something at me, I will hand over my keys. Am I looking for a new job? Of course, but daily I try to remind myself about what I like about retail and why I got into it in the first place, but it is no longer worth it to me to drive 50 miles round trip each day to a job that does not make me happy. I am, however, writing again -- ever so slowly allowing myself to dream again.

Toad, amazing and wonderful Toad, completed his preschool year at Montessori and will be in kindergarten there in the fall. Next March we will attempt to enroll him at the public Montessori elementary school about 10 miles from here. It's the luck of the draw as they take applicants based on a lottery. He absolutely loves being in the small classroom with his beloved teacher. Birdy will be able to join him for the last part of his kindergarten year as well. Toad's obsessions right now include Star Wars, Star Wars Legos, Indiana Jones Legos, any kind of Legos, and Lego Duplos (he and Birdy can play together). He also enjoys castles, maze puzzle books, PBS Sprout (favorite friend Caillou), soccer, his new Island Adventures water table, riding his bike... I could go on and on.

Birdy is full of words and spunk and energy. She's a good little girl who goes nigh-night all by herself and usually doesn't make a peep. She started walking about a month after her first birthday. She and I like to go for long walks on the mornings I don't work. She likes books (mostly to chew on), cuddling, singing (eensy weensy spider and wheels on the bus), Duplos, the water table, playing with her brother, and eating. That girl loves to eat. She loves black olives and pickles. That's my girl! I've got this crazy idea that I'll have her potty-trained by the end of the summer -- who knows, stranger things have happened!

Looking ahead -- Rockin' Rogers Days is right around the corner. Hammer Guy works all three days but we're hoping to catch the parade as a family and at least get a bag or two of mini-donuts. That weekend is the start of a ten-day vacation for me. I hope to get some work done around the house, do a little writing and submitting, and maybe even read a bit... at the end of the week, we're heading to Wisconsin to celebrate the Fourth of July. The last two weeks of July brings jury duty for me, and Toad's Godfather gets married on July 26th.

One last thing... Congratulations to the Nanny, who graduated from high school this spring. She's off to UMD in the fall! Go Bulldogs!

Toad Gets a Lesson and Other Topics

Ms. K and Toad

Monday was the end of a rare three-day weekend. Birdy has been crabby with her teething and ear problems, and Monday, when it was just the two of us, was the worst of the three days. But I still loved my time home with my family -- and tonight I received a call from Birdy's daycare provider -- her daughter has pink eye so I won't be going in to work until 4 o'clock tomorrow. It's almost like getting another day off!

The Oscars -- I still love watching them even though I hardly see any movies anymore. The last movie I saw in the theater was Cars in 2006. Pathetic. I used to make a point to watch all five of the movies nominated for Best Picture. Huh. Then came graduate school and kids. I still love to read Entertainment Weekly, though (courtesy of Linda), and so I can read about the movies. Every once in a while we'll catch something on Pay Per View. I'm thrilled that the screenplay categories were swept by Minnesotans. Someday I'll be a writer again.

Spanish at CdB -- Tuesday mornings I teach Spanish to Toad's class for about twenty minutes. In February we learned the colors. In March we'll start learning numbers. It's so fun. It's a small group of kids and they are like little sponges. And it's so cute to hear them say words like anaranjado.

Days Pass

Toad at CdB

Another month has gone by and what do I have to show for it? Not too many entries here, that's for sure. I vow to change that!

We are still so happy with our preschool/child care changes. Birdy seems to love being at the Perfect Place and the two big girls love her, too and take good care of her when she's sad. Toad is thriving in his new setting. Ms. K takes pictures every day while she's observing and sends them to parents. I love this picture with the sunlight streaming in through the door. In the picture, he's working on his rainbow.

We had a special treat this week with a visit from Aunt Sue and the CT cousins, in town for a week of wintery vacation. On Sunday my sister Julie threw Sue a surprise 50th birthday party and on Monday Sue and the kids came over to our house for the afternoon and for dinner. It was great to spend some time with them and Toad especially had fun with the kids.

Birdy's getting over another double ear infection. She and I had many, many nights of sleeping downstairs in the chair during the last couple of weeks, but she seems to finally be on the mend after a switch in meds. She now has ten teeth, including three of her four molars.

After a couple of busy, busy weekends at work, I finally have the weekend off -- including Monday! I have a show tomorrow afternoon but other than that, we have no plans except to clean the house and for Hammer Guy to sneak some time working on the basement. That project has stalled, it seems. Part of the problem may be the new enormous HDTV that he bought in January. We seem to get sucked in every night by the crystal clear picture.

February is as good as over and we're looking forward to a busy March -- HG has Lions meat raffle each Wednesday and we've got a big First Birthday/Easter celebration to plan. Hopefully work will become a bit less stressful as our new assistant manager starts on March 3rd. I've been enjoying watching the Complete Jane Austen on PBS and am hoping to read Northanger Abbey this month, as well as catching up on the dozens of magazines still waiting for my attention. Gee, isn't my life exciting?

Lemon loves Cheerios -- and Birdy

Cute girl at the "pian-yo"

The kids are both doing well in their new settings. Birdy still screams for a couple of minutes when I leave her at her new daycare, but settles in and takes really good naps! I think the smaller groups of kids is beneficial in a number of ways -- we haven't had a runny nose or a cough since we switched. Toad still misses his friends, but this was the right decision and he's happy.

Biggest Loser Update: My Weight Loss partner Mags and I were the #1 team last week! I was in 6th place overall (we have 16 participants). Crazy! We'll see how well I do this week.... weigh in is Thursday.

Today Birdy and I had a lovely day off -- except for the extreme cold temperatures and wind! Yesterday we were in the 40s and were experiencing a lovely spring-like thaw.... we're frozen over again. After dropping Toad off we headed off to my work for an hour or so, then to our chiropractic adjustments, and then to our favorite place, Target. She got pretty antsy after an hour or so and then we headed over to Grandma B's. We had a nice visit complete with Cheerios, saltine crackers, and Grandma's homemade applesauce. Mmmmm mmmmm, as Birdy would say. We then looped back around for the Toad. All in all, a wonderful if bitterly cold day -- and now, at 9:48 pm, I must start the dishes, make bottles and lunches for tomorrow, fold laundry, etc. etc. Story of my life. Have I mentioned that I watch a lot of late night television?

We're looking forward to our 9th annual Super Bowl party -- it's a taco bar this year. I hate the Patriots.

Out with the Old, In with the New

Toad at the library

We're near the end of a memorable week in the Hammer Family. There's so much to tell, I'm not sure how far to go back. Somehow, I missed all of October, November, and December.

January 11th was Toad's and Birdy's last day at their Montessori. They both started at new places on Monday -- Toad with his former teacher, Ms. K, who started her own wonderful, peaceful true Montessori in her home in September, and Birdy at the "Perfect Place" (a home daycare) just down the block from Ms. K. Toad has transitioned beautifully; Bird has gone three days and is having separation issues -- not surprising considering she is almost 10 months old and is in new surroundings. There are only 3 children there besides her, however, and this is the first week in many months that she hasn't had a runny nose. And I didn't think I'd ever say this, but dropping off at two places is actually easier than dropping off in one. And I'm taking the freeway to work! What is the world coming to?

More firsts: Today Ms. K. sponsored a field trip to Sesame Street Live. We've avoided these live shows for 4.5 years, but I was actually kind of excited about this one -- Elmo Grows Up. Birdy was able to go with us. There were a total of 6 children including Birdy, one teenager (K's daughter -- I see some babysitting in her future as she easily became my helper), and four adults. It was one of the coldest days of the year and we had to park on the tippy top roof of the parking ramp at Target Center, and there were a few tense moments when Birdy lost a sock and spilled Cheerios, but overall it was a terrific experience. I had my camera but it was impossible to get pictures with that squirmy baby in such a tight space.

After the show, we drove back to the outer ring of the suburbs and had lunch at Subway with Ms. K and her daughter while we waited for the library to open. And then Toad applied for his very own library card! He checked out nine items, including Muppet Treasure Island, which we watched this afternoon.

Basement update: not much to report. It's been very hard for HG to get down there and get anything done.

Work update: I'm hanging on until at least April when I hit my four-year anniversary and get three weeks of vacation. I'm now the Merchandising Manager -- finally! We started a Biggest Loser Couples competition at work, too. Ugh. It's so much harder to lose the extra pounds after Baby #2. To all my friends who find time to workout -- how do you do it? What do you sacrifice? I'm already only getting five hours of sleep at night!

I'm still dabbling in Pampered Chef, but after a crazy November, I didn't do any shows in December and am just doing one in January. As much as I love it and have fun with it, it's so time consuming and takes away time from my family.... it's a double edged sword, because eventually I'd like it to help me have more time for my family. And writing? This is as good as it gets right now, and you can see I'm not too timely here either.

Things I should be doing right now: switching out the laundry, dishes, cleaning the kitchen, balancing the checkbook and paying bills, folding laundry, making lunches for tomorrow and packing backpacks, etc. etc. Time to go.

A New Year

Christmas Morning

It's a new year once again. 2007 slipped past us so quickly, much of which I neglected to record here, unfortunately. The last few months were filled with pre-school activities, Pampered Chef, and teething. The mornings I used to blog, I've now been making baby food, a very satisfying activity. Birdy's quite mobile now, crawling, creeping, and starting to pull herself up, and her favorite games are "uh-oh" and peek-a-boo. Toad is still loving his role as a big brother, even though Bird is more likely to get to his toys -- time to move all those choking hazards!

We're at home in Wisconsin for a long holiday weekend. It's been quite relaxing with lots of family time. It's been nice to get away from work.

January will be busy for us as we switch childcare on January 14th. Toad will be going to Ms. Komal's new Montessori and Birdy will start at a home daycare just down the street from Toad. It will be sad to leave our current Montessori, but we're happy for the change. There's just something wrong with having thirty wild 3, 4, and 5 year olds in one classroom.

With the new year, of course we have plenty of resolutions. Look for photos of a de-cluttered office sometime in the next month.

Time marches on

It's been another crazy couple of weeks and the rest of September doesn't look like it's going to settle down any. Little Birdy was finally baptized on Saturday, September 8th in a private ceremony. The godparents are our beloved Nanny, to the left, and brother-in-law Chuck, on the far right.

Birdy's Baptism

September 8, 2007

We celebrated baptism and the September birthdays at our house that afternoon.

The September Birthday Cake

Birdy's Sunday Best

The rest of the weekend was spent watching football, of course. Below are pictures of the progress made in the basement bathroom and photos from last week -- I was able to join Toad's class for a field trip to a local farm. They picked their own ears of corn and gourds, fed animals, and picnicked in the gorgeous fall sunshine. The best part, according to Toad? "Everything."

I worked all weekend and am off today. I took Grandma B to the orthopedic clinic to have her broken wrist checked. She fell on Friday and will have to have surgery tomorrow. What next? Hammer Guy is in Seattle for the entire week. I didn't even see him off yesterday as I was still at work. He comes back on Friday afternoon and then Birdy and I leave Saturday morning for our Girls Weekend Getaway.

Our sassy bathroom

Field Trip to the Fall Harvest Apple Orchard

Birdy's First Cereal

So many Firsts

August 13, 2007 -- Birdy's first day of preschool

Birdy in her Sassy jumper -- jump around! jump! jump! jump!

It's been so long since I've blogged, I'm not sure I remember how.

The final weekend of the summer started last Thursday when the whole family had a day off. Toad and Lemon got haircuts and we went to the nursery to buy trees for the front yard in memory of my dad. We bought two river birch and the boys installed them on Friday night. I worked Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Birdy started to get sick on Friday and HG soon followed. It was a rough weekend but luckily Grandma and Grandpa A were here to take care of the sickies. I'll spare you the details.

August was a month of Firsts for Miss Bird. Sadly, her time with Nanny ended as Nanny prepared to go back to school. Birdy started in the Infant Room at Toad's school on Monday, August 13th. On Tuesday, August 14th, Birdy woke with her first major cold, which has now become her first ear infection (we visited the doctor this afternoon). Friday, August 31st her first tooth broke through (bottom left) and her second (bottom right) is very close behind. To say that she's crabby would be the understatement of the year. She also had her first "professional" photos taken on a very rainy Saturday -- she had no smiles that afternoon!

Birdy seems to get along fine in the Infant Room; I'm the one having trouble with it. Things are quite overwhelming for me these days. There have been some major changes at work that have not been at all welcomed and I'm seriously considering ending my career there. Please, if anyone wins the lottery, if you could just send half a million my way, I'd appreciate it.

Toad's beloved teacher started her own preschool and we're working toward getting him there. We visited the school last week and it feels like it's the right thing to do. The timing just isn't right.... yet. The basement project drags on. It's been so hard for Hammer Guy to work on it with my work schedule the way it is. The bathroom is nearly complete and the walls are close to being finished.

We missed the State Fair again.

Birdy will be baptized this Saturday and we're having our families over to celebrate that and September birthdays. Later in the month Birdy and I are taking a trip to Duluth to reunite with my wonderful college friends -- a much-needed get-together!

Just Photos

Birdy's Big Girl Cousins

Birdy's First Dip in the Pool, July 4th

Birdy and Cousin Frog

"One meeellion dollars!"

Exhaustion Sets In

It's 11:07 p.m. as I sit down to write this with a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of water. I got home from work about a half hour ago and did dishes, made bottles, and made lunches for tomorrow. The loonies were out again tonight and they all shopped at the store. Every time I've closed since coming back to work, something totally cooky has happened. Tonight a child left a trail of spit-up from customer service to the exit door and the parent didn't bother to clean it up or mention it to an employee for that matter. I noticed it when I almost wiped out in it. There were lots of guest issues. I'm so ready to move out of the Selling Manager position -- which was supposed to happen August 1st -- and now the company has decided to postpone the "Rotation." I'm going to rotate right out of there if something doesn't change soon.

It's been an emotionally exhausting week for me, too. After having three beautiful days off and getting to spend lots of time with my family, it's been very hard to leave my kids every day. Birdy smiles and laughs and talks so much now, and she's such a good snuggly-buggly-boo. Toad still amazes me every day with his cuteness and powers of observation. He's into the Critter books these days, thanks to Auntie Mary. Just Me and My Kids....

I'll post a photo from the Fourth later....

Sling-A-Ding-Ding

Birdy has really taken to her sling in the last week or so. She just woke up from an hour-long nap in it, during which time I washed dishes and got caught up on some emails. I wish I'd had it when she was a newborn. www.hotslings.com

Work has been busy and it's hard to be away for so long every day. After my co-workers wanted to switch some shifts, I now have the next three weekends off. It's going to be hard to work weekends after that.

Today I made reservations for our anniversary trip to the North Shore. G & G A will be taking care of Bird and Toad and the Puppy. I'm so excited to go -- Hammer Guy and I have been staying at the same resort for the last eight years -- but it's still months away. Good thing there's a Duluth reunion planned with the UMD Ladies before that. www.superiorshores.com

Oh, and more exciting news -- the Connecticut Cousins arrived in their RV late last week and will be camping out for three weeks. Hopefully there is a sleepover in Toad's future. There's a pool party planned for the 4th -- should be fun with lots of great food!

A Little Piece of Quiet

It's Tuesday afternoon, my second day off in a row after working several, including a long, long weekend. Birdy is asleep in her crib although I'd love to be holding her right now. Hammer Guy did a stellar job with the kids while I worked this weekend, but now that I've been home with Birdy for two days, tomorrow will be like coming back from maternity leave all over again. I've enjoyed these two days enormously. Yesterday Bird and I spent a lovely hour and a half at Target and then spent the rest of the day cuddling and playing -- she's so interactive now and has the most adorable smile. Today we shopped for groceries on the computer (http://www.shop.lundandbyerlys.com/) and had two visitors.


My new friend Amy came over today with her five-week-old son. She is on maternity leave from the grocery store where I buy most of my natural food items, which is where we met. She then started shopping at the Baby Store and we've since become friends. We have a lot of the same ideas on baby raising and food and we both love to cook, so yay for new friends! Then my friend Kimberly who happens to also be my chiropractor brought me Caribou Coffee --now there's a good friend. I love coffee.


Going back to work hasn't been too horrible but I would prefer to be at home with my kids, writing my books and keeping up with the laundry.


Here are some recent photos:

Frog and Birdy are Friends

Birdy in the Bouncer

Bird and Toad

Right now...

...Birdy and Puppy are sleeping. Toad is at school and his laundry spins in the washing machine. Hammer Guy had a major mud accident yesterday at work and I got the stain out. The dishes are done. I'm just finishing my first cup of coffee (so late!). I'm trying to be positive about yesterday's return to work -- it was nice to see my friends again and be surrounded by adults all day, I was glad to listen to NPR on the way in and the way home, Birdy and the Nanny had a terrific day and Bird even slept for an hour and a half in her crib! Those are all wonderful things, but let's just say nothing has changed at work in the last three months.

But here's the great news: My short story that was published in November is now available on the internet! Oh, it's great to be a published author and it reminds me of how hard I've worked in the past and how hard I need to work to make this dream come true. Here's a link:

http://www.upstreet-mag.org/upstreet_2.html

UPS just delivered a new book yesterday: This Year You Write Your Novel by Walter Mosley and maybe it is.

Tonight HG is on his own with both kiddies while I close. Wish us both luck.

Sadness, Pt. 2

I'm overcome with sadness that my maternity leave is coming to an end. Nanny started on Monday and I've been putzing around the house while she plays with Birdy and changes diapers (I'm still doing most of the feeding). I pumped the other day so that I could leave for a few hours on Wednesday -- I went to the library and did a little shopping. It was the first time I've gone to Target without Birdy since she's been here and it felt like I was missing a limb. I'm not worried at all about leaving her with Nanny (although I fired her twice today :), I just can't bear to leave Birdy -- especially to return to a job that -- let's face it -- I despise.

On a happier note, the Special Visit/Outlet Adventure with Cousin Frog and Auntie was delightful. It was so nice having them here! (I have one picture that still needs to be uploaded.) Frog was a bit of a No-Nap Nelson, but the first night she did marvelously well sleeping in Bird's crib. The second night presented a few challenges but it all worked out in the end and I believe that Frog has settled back into her routine without too much trauma. I hope they will consider visiting us again someday. As for outlet shopping -- while brief, it was a much needed diversion for me. Hopefully I will be able to drag myself away from the house and Birdy tomorrow to get back up there to buy some work pants. None of my pre-pregnancy clothes fit of course.

Toad has been back into the swing of things at school for a couple of weeks now and he told me yesterday that he was so happy to be there. I guess staying home with Mama and Baby was a bit of a drag for him, but at school he gets plenty of opportunities to get his stinkies out (meaning, run around and play outside with his buddies).

Hammer Guy spent the first part of the week in Idaho, of all places, on a business trip. We survived but let me tell you, we are so glad he's back. He's even taken a bit of a break from the basement since he found out our "deadline" for the permit is slightly on the flexible side.

So it's our last weekend of freedom and next week will present new challenges -- getting up earlier to make it to work on time, being away from the kids for 10+ hours a day, etc, etc, oh the horrors. Wish us luck.

The countdown has begun

Saturday's hail storm

My return to work looms on the horizon like a thundercloud. It's less than two weeks now and I haven't even found the "to-do" list that I made for my maternity leave, let alone gotten around to doing those things. I've been much too busy cuddling and nurturing and bonding with Birdy, not to mention the fun (and stress) that came from having Toad at home. Next week Birdy's darling Nanny starts -- we'll try to break her in gently -- and so hopefully I can get some work done while Nanny is here.

This week we're having a special visit from Troy's sister and Cousin Frog. We can't wait! Not only will the girls get some Baby Playtime, but it will be so great to have Auntie here for some adult conversation -- and oh, yeah, shopping at the Outlets. It's supposed to be stormy on Thursday but hopefully it won't ruin our Outlet Adventure.

Toad's New Favorite Number

is FOUR!

Toad celebrated his fourth birthday a couple of weeks ago -- May has been a completely crazy month. It's hard to believe it's almost June and I will have to go back to work soon. Toad starts back at preschool full-time on June 1st.

Other family news: Hammer Guy continues to work on the basement with help from Grandpa A (thanks!), which means we've had lots of visitors lately with the birthday parties and weekend help.

Here are some photos from recent events:

Stacy gets out of Tornado Alley -- at least for a day

Toad's new kitchen

Party at the Park

Toad loves Thomas

Toad and Miss Birdy

It's Still Rock-n-Roll to Me

Wednesday night, after a lot of planning and preparation, I left Hammer Guy with both kids for the first time and went to the Billy Joel concert with Linda. For some time now, as the evening approached, I thought I was crazy for thinking I could make it work, but as soon as the lights went down and the music started, I remembered why I'd ordered the tickets in the first place. Read the review from the Star Trib:

http://www.startribune.com/457/story/1174360.html

Linda and I had a wonderful time and Hammer Guy did a great job with the kids!

The week ahead promises to be very busy as we prepare for Toad's fourth birthday. Stay tuned!