Oh, How Sweet

Joel just loves giving Grant lots of love. Here are a couple cute pictures from the last couple days. My mom has been staying with us (Jeff and Mitchell left for their trip to Chicago yesterday). Tomorrow, the little ones and I head up to Hibbing with my mom to visit my grandparents. My Grandpa and Grandma Kokotovich have never met Grant before so we are looking forward to that. I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to post when we get back. Plus, Jeff and Mitchell have a camera with them in Chicago, so we'll tell you about that soon too.

Day at the Zoo

We survived our big outing to the MN Zoo today. We all had a good time. It actually went way better than I thought (especially if you don't count the last 45 minutes of the ride home :)) Rush hour traffic, road construction, and a crying baby made the long drive from Apple Valley to Buffalo a bit longer on the way home.

The highlight of the day for Joel was these giesers before you even get to the animals. He didn't hesitate for a moment before he started running through them. So, we started out the day soaking wet...

I think both Jeff and I were surprised by how totally EXHAUSTED we were when we left the zoo. Going to the zoo sounds like such a simple thing, but I guess that was without toddlers and babies. I had a list a page long of things we needed to bring. Let's see, there's diapers, wipes, extra clothes, bottles, sippy cups, formula, pacifiers, LOTS of snacks... the list goes on and on. And this is for a one day outing. Wow, no wonder we don't go anywhere!





Joel did NOT like laying on his back in the grass, so here I am attempting to get some dry clothes on him.




Just another diaper change...



Don't let this fool you. Grant only lasted 5 minutes in this thing. I think he needs to get a little bigger to really enjoy the view.


Picnic lunch



First nap of the day, 5pm, approximately 3 minutes after departing the zoo.

Not Enough to Blog About...

So, I've been anxious to publish more posts on our blog... but the problem is that we really don't do much these days, so I don't have much to blog about :)


Most of the time, it's just easier to stay home, so we pretty much do. Grant sleeps quite a bit in the morning and Joel sleeps most of the afternoon, so most days, I just opt to leave well enough alone. Tomorrow is going to be the big exception, as we are taking a family trip to the MN Zoo, so I'm sure we'll have plenty of pics to post from the adventure.


So, just for fun, here is a recent picture of Grant, as well as pictures of naptime (since that's what we spend much of the day doing).

Summer So Far...

I can't believe I finally got around to starting this blog. We certainly should have one, considering I love reading everyone else's and check them nearly every day! I wasn't sure where to start, so I thought why not start with the arrival of Grant and give a quick summer recap in pictures. Here goes...

The summer started out with welcoming Grant on May 14th. Two months later, I think we are all still adjusting to life with a new baby and a full-fledged toddler. Slowly but surely, we are all getting our feet back on the ground (a little anyway). Mitchell has recently taken to spending a good deal of time at friends' houses, and Jeff and I sometimes wish we could go with :)

Here are are few highlights from the summer so far...

Joel got his first haircut at Salon Grandma Jane...

Mitchell opening his birthday presents (with perhaps a little too much help)

Joel riding Billy and giving us a "cheesy" camera smile.

This picture is blurry, but it is Mitchell taking Joel down a big slide at Grandview Lodge. He was concerned that he wouldn't be able to keep Joel's head above water at the bottom like Dad and Grandma could. We assured him it would be okay... about one second after this picture was snapped, both Joel and Mitchell were three feet under :)

What a stud - Mitchell at Roy Lodge

Future Stud - Joel at Roy Lodge

This definitely isn't my best baseball pic, compared to summers past, but it took at team of people at the game to run after Joel and hold Grant, while I managed to snap a few pictures.

And it appears that Joel needs another haircut... Grandma?...

Chasing after bubbles in the front yard

Mitchell was nice enough to give us a four wheeler ride at Grandma and Grandpa Benson's

First Smiles...

This is what Joel looks like when he doesn't get his way... unfortunately we've seen a little too much of this, this summer.

2 months old already... he still looks like a peanut, but he was 85th % for height and 75th for weight at his 2 month checkup!

Mitchell is always helping me out by playing with Joel... he's such a good big brother.

Just Joel not getting his way again...

Grant hardly ever gets to lay on the floor, because when he does, Joel has to be nearly on top of him. This hand on the head thing... not sure where he got that, but he does it constantly as a show of affection. It's cute. He is really quite gentle with the baby (most of the time anyway).


Running through the sprinklers in the front yard.