Tara Month

My wonderful husband coordinated an entire month of events to celebrate my birthday. It’s been an amazing and fun month…and it’s not even my birthday yet. The month started with a really awesome trip to visit Amy and Jamie in Atlanta. It was an extraordinary trip. What a way to start. We had a family dinner with the Halls, date night with Thiel’s, movie night with the Larson’s and family fun night at Big Marine Park. There was a yummy wine tour and dinner cooked by 2 personal chefs and there is still an evening of mommy alone time and then dinner for my birthday at Marx. What a month!!

Tara’s Birthday Party

What an amazing husband I have. He planned a truly amazing and unique party for my to celebrate my 34th birthday. Our afternoon started at St. Croix vineyard where we were treated to a tour of the vineyard. St. Criox Vineyard is co-located at one of those Stillwater classics: Aamodt’s Apple Orchard. I was lucky enough to take a tour with Emma and her pre-school class of the orchard, so it was fun to see the vineyard side.

All 3 kiddos were with us and it was very hot out, so given the circumstances, the kids were really well behaved.

Emma was the resident photographer and she took a lot of interesting photos…especially before I told her to look through the viewfinder to see what she was photographing.

After the tour, we did the wine tasting which was really yummy. I love their wine. It’s all great. Who knew there could be such great wine right up the street! We finished our afternoon at the vineyard with a few bottles of wine in the orchards.

After our wine adventure we headed home where 2 great chefs were preparing an amazing meal for us. How cool is it to have a private chef cook dinner at your home.

It was so, so yummy!! The dinner was ribs, jicama salad, chipotle potato salad, fruit, veggies, cheese and crackers. Everything exceeded our expectations. The food was yummmmmmy!

We were also treated to an amazing chocolate torte for dessert. It was so pretty it didn’t seem we should eat it…that thought passed quickly. Everyone enjoyed the amazing dessert.

What a fun and unique party. Kudos to Larry for coming up with a new party idea that I hadn’t thought of yet. What a great celebration. Thanks to the family and friends who celebrated the day with me.

Abby’s Monkey Party

The party was Saturday and it was just a ton of fun. Tara worked really hard and getting the theme right and just nailed it. The morning was dedicated to setting up, which Abby really enjoyed since Grandma and Aunt Shelly came by to help… and she loves her Grandma!

The decorations came out great, and Abby knew that something special was going on for her.

The kids all got monkey masks… note that the girls have little pink flowers on theirs.

In the first game, they all got to pick their monkey names. Emma was ‘Silly Monkey’ and Jake was ‘Noisy Monkey’.

The second game was a monkey stringing contest. The kids really liked this one!

The third game was ‘pin the banana on the monkey’. Fun!

The kids got to make their own banana split. Ava likes a LOT of sprinkles.

Abby really liked her cake.

We had a lot of fun opening gifts and hanging out with friends and family. We’re blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives with such great kids!

I have to admit, it was a little bittersweet for both Tara and I. On one hand, it was a perfect party and Abby had a TON of fun, on the other hand our little girl is no longer an infant and we are reminded that the days are long, but the years are short.

Abby’s Birthday

Abby turned one on the fifteenth. Both Tara and I are in shock! We just brought her home from the hospital and now are little baby is one.

Ever since Emma’s 2nd birthday, we’ve used a polka-dot themed door display for birthdays. She loved it and Tara and I enjoyed watching her play with them. The little dots just proved too much for her to resist.

That night, we had a small family dinner at Acapulco Restaurant in Stillwater with family. Her big party is this weekend. She got a few presents and got to spend a little time with her great grandma. It’s a great family place and now that Adam works there, it works well with the family.

Jake is helping Abby with her new toy.

Jacob had a little homework to do and Uncle Adam got him some bottle caps for his collection if he finished it. He’s been doing great in school and we’re happy with the progress. He’s reading at a 2nd or 3rd grade level.

After, we went to Nelson’s (home of the ridiculously large ice cream cones) and Abby got her first taste of Ice Cream. Jake’s friend Hunter was there and they got to hang out.

Jacob and his friend Hunter.

All told it was a nice family time with everyone: Grandma & pappa, Grandma McCloud, Adam, Shelly, Emily & Kelly, and our family. Very nice to have a relaxing day ahead of big party on Saturday.

Tara is 33!!

We had a really fun day Monday, despite the disconcerting news from home about mom.

We took the day off and relaxed. In the morning I took the kids to Karen’s and let Tara sleep (she’s running at 4:45 am these days, so it doesn’t count as “sleeping in” per se). Afterward, we went to Best Buy to scope out Tara’s gift: a new camera lens with a higher aperture (for portrait shots).

Then it was off to brunch at one of our favorite restaurants: Victor’s 1959 Café, which is the only place in Minnesota to get good Cuban food. We sat at the table below which has a lovely portrait of the Terrorist Che Guevara.

Then we saw The Hangover at the Rosedale AMC. Very funny movie, if not way inappropriate.

Afterward, we played with the kids at Teddy Bear Park.

Then met up with Grandma, Papa, Shelly, Adam, Emily and Kelly at Acapulco’s in Stillwater. Karen took the kids overnight, freeing us up for a little date at another of our favorite spots: Ingredients.

Firsts for Abby and Other Fun Stuff

Abby cut her 3rd tooth this week. It was her first top tooth. We are learning that we can’t take our eye off her for a minute…we did this 2 times this week and it resulted in her getting all the way upstairs. She’s a girl on the move.

Jake had Lego club and book club and went to Jack Skare’s Birthday. He’s been really shy at first at them as of late, but quickly warms up. Emma went to story time at the movies.

Invites went out for the infamous Odepalooza…the do not miss party of the year! Jake & Emma also received new books in the mail from Mom-mom which they LOVED! Emma’s new book was ‘Lllama Llamma Mad at Mama’ and Jake’s was a ‘Choose Your Own Destiny: The Way of the Jedi’.