Happy Halloween!

From our princess and the frog :) Elise asked to be a princess and Patrick a prince "so we can dance together". HOW CUTE! So, after I realized toddler prince costumes are a bit pricey and found a cute frog costume, she was SOLD. (Refer to the Princess and the Frog Disney movie - Elise's favorite) She said "well I will have to kiss him so he turns into a prince".




He was so cute walking along her to the doors, following his princess :)



She was wearing tights, but decided to remove them and I love the cockeyed tiara, a true princess in action. (it was "warm" 50* here but she didn't complain once about being cold)

Our lovely fall

A wonderful family morning at Taylor's Falls

We enjoyed a surprise "staycation" this weekend - we were supposed to go to that wedding in Iowa that was cancelled, then were planning on going to Omaha, but one of Greg's friends had a death of a grandfather, SO...we were home on a weekend we hadn't planned. When you are planning on being gone, a weekend at home is a nice surprise, especially with our nice fall Minnesota weather.
Below are some pics of our morning (yes, morning, we were home by 1:30...the life with 2 little kids) at Taylor's Falls.






You may notice that Elise is barely wearing clothes for fall (ie summer shirt, capris and no socks). Well, she has started HOPEFULLY A PHASE of "my clothes are itchy".

Meanwhile, Patrick thinks it's fun to carry around footballs and grunt like a boy. He is also starting to repeat words we say - at least the sounds are similar. He's ALL BOY and so damn cute.

We are definitely grateful for each other during this difficult child rearing time! :)

Who Me?

Yes, me? Innnocent, clean Me?



I'll just say this...the picture below shows Patrick's new favorite bath time activity...SORRY...

Goofy Girl

Elise found my container of winter attire and decided to put it ALL on one night after Patrick went to bed. We've been enjoying one on one time with her at night - funny girl.

Biking Joy

This summer and fall I have been thoroughly enjoying long bike rides with the kids (thanks to the Kuhn-Trobentars) for the hand me down. I've been getting 45 min bike rides in to the park by Lake Nokomis and Minnehaha falls (Elise calls it minne HA-HA). The ride back typically consists of Elise asking why we are going so slow and Elise getting to go on her bike for a bike ride once home.




Finally, OK MOM GET ME OUT!

Mountain Goat

Patrick is a climbing machine, I caught him in that act climbing onto the toy box, then got a proud smile, little twerp!

Fall day

I took the kids last Wed to a park, the best part was playing in the leaves. The worst part, when Elise was about 5 levels up on the playground and got stung by a bee. I had to climb 5 levels of rope ladder and get her and carry both kids down 5 flights of stairs. Poor thing, she fell asleep on the 10 min ride home with an ice pack on her hand. Other than that, we had a fun time...see below...

Dentist, dentist, who needs a dentist?

Luckily we have one of our own Dr Solberg and he lives down the street and comes over every night to brush Elise's teeth :)


Elise rinses her mouth this way every time she brushes, maybe she has seen someone else do this for her 3.45 years...someone who looks much like her with boy parts. Monkey see, monkey do!

Picking apples

We took a Sunday morning to go to Fisher orchard near Hastings. It was a gorgeous day and we loved it and eating LOTS of apples!

Walkin' Man

Yes, Patrick started his "walking endeavor" about a few weeks after his birthday, and adds a few each week. However he resorts back to the crawl with right leg up when he has to get to a toy before Elise, race into the bathroom or Elise's room, or towards the dishwasher when Greg or I are loading it. But, the past 2 days he has been walking more and more and is SO PROUD!

Just plain silly

One night in Grand View, Elise woke up and insisted that she wear a t-shirt AND her winter hat?!?!?

Grand View Lodge - Solberg style

In early September, my Mom's boss Kevin, generously shared his Grand View home with our whole family. It was WONDERFUL!






B-Bob made sure to "christen" the house with a "child on top of the fridge". Yes, this is a common event with him, ever since us kids were little. (among other ODD traditions he started!)