Sesame Street Live

On Saturday night Addison experienced her first live show! It wasn't Annie, or Mary Poppins, or even The Lion King. No, it wasn't any of the classics, it was the ONE, the ONLY.....Sesame Street Live; Elmo's Healthy Heroes!!! It was, in fact, as corny as it sounds, but she and her buddies, Kellen and Sawyer, were totally jazzed.

We started the excursion with a trip to the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Minneapolis, which is right across the street from the venue (Target Center, whoot whoot!) where Elmo was being held. Addison and I picked up Kellen and his mom, Nicole and met Sawyer, and his mom Leah, there. The kids chowed on mac 'n cheese while the moms enjoyed a pre-Elmo cocktail. Every last person in the joint was on the same plan we were, and the servers looked like they wanted to poke their eyes out - not the night you wanted to be working I presume.

Addison and Kellen are like two little devil children when they're together. They feed off of each other (and they were actually, literally feeding each other too), which really means that Addison acts as ring-leader and Kellen follows whatever she's doing. If Addison is screeching "There's a car in the ceiling, there's a car in the ceiling!" and shaking her head back and forth so her hair flies wild then Kellen follows suit. If Addison takes her milk and dumps it on the table, Kellen feels compelled to do the same. If Addison charges off running through the crowded skyway like a bat out of hell....well, you get the picture. She was so out of her mind thrilled, dancing around, talking gibberish like she does when she's excited and Kellen was the same. Sawyer Malkerson on the other hand, is like a little angel sent from above...always has been. These 3 have been hanging out since they were born and their personalities shone through early on. Sawyer stays right with his mom at all times, hold her hand lovingly, speaks in a quiet, polite tone and he looks on at Addison and Kellen as if they're heathens. We like to joke that Sawyer has a British accent, wears an ascot and carries his passport with him at all times just in case he needs to catch the next flight to Paris - he's like a little man.

So anyway, we finally got out of the Hard Rock (and I was reminded why I never go there) and made our way to our AWESOME seats in the Target Center, but not before passing scores of merchandise ladden kiosks luring children in with shiny toys and cotton candy. Funny that we were there to see Elmo's "Healthy" Heroes yet here they were serving spun sugar to toddlers. Go figure. As Addison and Kellen jumped up and down screaming "ELMO! ELMO!" on the quest to obtain the over-priced light-up Elmo wands displayed at merchandise central, Sawyer stood quietly by and looked up at his mother as if to say (in a British accent of course) "Could I possibly have a toy too, mother?" Wands in hand, we got settled into our seats, the lights went down and the kids were mesmerized. Life sized Sesame Street characters singing and dancing on a stage of color and lights? What more could you ask for? Well, if you're Sawyer you sit patiently through full 2 hour movies in the theater as well as live football and basketball games (I'm not kidding), so he may have been asking for more, but they all truly loved it. Except for getting pissed that the $10 balloon she HAD to have at intermission needed to stay under the seat during the show, I think Addison did a great job on her first trip to see a show; one that she remembers anyway.

Next up?

Les Miserable! ;)

At the Hard Rock, freaking out about another little girl's Elmo balloon - the little girl had been at the earlier show

Sawyer the Angel Child

Mesmerized

See how Kellen is about to peg the girl in front of him with his wand while Sawyer looks on in disdain? Par for the course. :)
Addison and Kellen with their loot

Tired and happy - time to go home

Happy Isla - 8 months old on Jan 25th! Addison has taken to calling her "Boo-boo"

Trying her new fave - sweet potato, parsnips and carrots, made with love by dad!

January Blues

From Thanksgiving through New Year's Day, the cold weather, snow and icicles have an idyllic charm here in the heartland. Houses are decorated in twinkling lights, sparkly Christmas trees peek through front windows and garlands dress fireplaces as flames glow brightly within. I can handle this. I actually enjoy this a lot. But come January 2nd after the lights come down and the festivities are over, I'm done with winter. This is not ideal because January is when the real winter begins. The temperatures drop to sub zero, neighbors hunker down and disappear into their homes and things get icy and blaaahhh - January Blues. Luckily we have our two little munchkins to keep us smiling and entertained and time flies by faster than we'd prefer. In this sense, Spring is just around the corner! At least, that's what I keep telling myself.

Isla will be 8 months old this month and Addison is on the fast track to 3. We love watching the girls continue to interact with each other and although we're busy bees over here, we enjoy every minute we get to spend with them.

We had plans with friends on NYE, but alas, Addison came down with a cold. No one appreciates a sick child being carted around to a party with other children to pass the germs to, so we had Ba and Nana over, made lobster, prime rib and french green beans, put the kids to bed and toasted the new year. Mellow, but nice. My, how things have changed! Right after New Year's we had a post-Christmas brunch celebration with Heather, Guy, Cassie and Carly - yum!

Carly and Isla

The gang - Carly, Isla, Addison and Cassie
They have a swing in their playroom for winter indoor fun!

This is Isla's post in the mornings when we're getting ready for work. She sits there with a bucket of toys in front of her and goes to town digging through it.

Addison discovered my "workout mix" on my iPod docked in Isla's room and wants to dance to it every chance she gets. Girl's got moves!

Another Great Photo from Nana...

Another great shot by Judith. We love this one, thanks Nana! I think it should be in a magazine or something, it' s just too cute!

Santa Baby

How gorgeous is this photograph of baby Isla? Judith snapped this precious picture while the girls were at her house one afternoon and I just had to get it up here. If you can't tell, Isla's wearing a pink Santa hat in front of a fun silver Chrstimas tree. This one's going in a frame on the wall for sure! Thanks Judith! (otherwise known as Nana).