Ready for spring!

Well, we're finally updating after a busy summer and holiday season. Ceili turned 2 in July and we had a great party with some of her friends. She liked to help out in the garden and enjoyed watching the bees. In August the tall ships came to town and Ceili and Jon rode their bike to watch them. In the fall we had the neighbors over for a pumpkin party. We carved pumpkins and ate some fall food. We celebrated "Thanksgivemas" with some friends in early December. We also made it to Bentlyville to see the light display. Truly a great experience to get you in the mood for the holidays. We traveled to Iowa for our yearly pilgrimage to Pei's for sushi and dinner and had an awesome time hanging out with our Iowa Family. We wish we could see them more often! Ceili liked watching the chefs throw food into peoples mouths and make fire on the grill. Our immediate family came to Duluth for Christmas a week early and we all had a great time celebrating around the fire in the back yard and eating lots of delicious treats. We are now preparing for Ceili's first airplane trip. At the end of January we will fly to Cozumel, Mexico to enjoy the sand and surf. Perfect timing to get us through what has been a long and cold winter. We are expecting a 80-100 degree swing in temperatures. We will post more when we get back.

Chatter Box

Ceili has been very talkative lately. She is constantly telling stories and asking questions as well as singing. Her favorite songs are "row, row, row, your boat", "twinkle, twinkle, little star", and "bah, bah, black sheep". She often sings them as a medley.





Erin and Ceili made play-dough the other day and that was a huge hit. Ceili loved help make it on the stove and is having a great time making it into "snakes and hot dogs". She says that they are too hot and need to cool off in her kitchen. She also pretends to eat them and shares them with us. It's neat to watch her say "stop, too hot " and try to cool it down for us by blowing on it.



She figured out how to swing on her tummy on the big girl swing. She thinks she is an airplane and she puts her arm "wings" out and flies to Chicago! She loves it outside. She and Jon are out there as much as they possibly can be; in the garden, watching the bees, going for walks and visiting with neighbors. We had a rain day this week, so Jon and Ceili "camped" out in sleeping bags. She loved playing inside it. We are working her up to try camping so we're letting her get used to sleeping bags!

We are starting to plan for her 2nd Birthday. It's so hard to believe that she is going to be 2! Everyone says it will go fast and they are right! We only believe she is two when we here things like, "MINE!" or when things have to go her way and there is no reasoning! All a part of her development!!!

Last week Grandma Otis stopped to have her car washed and Ceili was happy to provide the labor while Nina took a nap!
We also went to the zoo with our friends and Ceili had fun hanging out with Gus. They liked the peacocks, monkeys and riding on the train. Ceili is still talking about the polar bear.

Settling In For A Busy Summer

We have been very content lately to stay close to home and work in the gardens. The vegetable gardens are in and you can check out more at http://www.ourwoodlandgarden.blogspot.com/. Ceili has been helping thin the radishes and spinach and LOVES to eat the tiny radish sprouts.

Ceili has also been spending alot of time hanging out with her friend Natalie from next door. They enjoy drawing with sidewalk chalk and blowing bubbles. The other day they were swinging on the front porch and thought it was so funny to pose for pictures. They both hammed it up and kept saying "Cheeeeese"!

The weather has been great for picnicing. We had dinner in the yard on a blanket and Ceili got to have an ice cream treat because she ate such a good supper. She is vey fast and gets into everything. She constantly explores and has been very interested in a robin that is nesting on the front porch. Erin rolled up some towels and fashioned a bird nest for Ceili to sit on. Erin also dug out a few Easter eggs for her to try to hatch.

Sunday Erin and Ceili had art day. They started with water color paints in the morning and made a lovely painting. They than headed to the kitchen to cook up a batch of playdough. Ceili loved to help cook it! After it cooled, they rolled it out and squished it around. Lots of messy fun! Ceili decided to share half of the batch with Natalie. Sorry for the mess Joel and Shannon!

Minnesota Fishing Opener

Saturday, May 15th we traveled to Longville for the fishing opener. This was also the weekend that we celebrated Mother's day. Grandpa Doug got the boats ready and we hit the water for fishing and boating. Ceili really enjoyed riding in the boat and playing with the minnows in the live well. Grandma Burgers grilled an awesome beef roast with potatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower. After a filling meal we settled in to relax and hang out.

Sunday morning we made Erin's Egg Bake Spectacular for breakfast and went out in the boat for some more fishing and boating. Ceili got really hot in her life jacket so while we were floating around she took it off and played inside a tent she made in the bow of the boat.

Busy Bees

This Lovely spring has been a blessing! We have been able to spend much time outside. Ceili has been very helpful working in the gardens and working with our new honeybees. She likes to explain to people that the bees are making honey. For those interested we have started a blog about our gardens and bees. check out " Our Woodland Garden" on blogspot.

We have also been fortunate enough to be able to spend time with many of our Friends and family. This past week we got together with our family group from church, went to Ian McCabes birthday

party, shared a meal with our friends leaving to join the Peace Corps in Ghana Africa, visited with our neighbors Joel, Shannon, and Natalie, and are looking forward to celebrating Mother's Day a bit late over this coming weekend. We will be traveling to Longville to see Grandma and Grandpa Burgers and Grandma Otis. Hopefully Ceili will get to go boating and fishing (fingers crossed) because the weather looks amazing!

Take me out to the Ball Game!

On Monday, April 12th we went to the first regular season game at Target Field! Go Twins! Ceili took a nap before the game with a baseball just to get ready! She's learned several words to "Take Me out to the Ball Game," and the weather was just perfect!



It was a lot of fun, Ceili loved it! She got a great view of the airplanes and helicopters! I'm not sure she understands the concept of baseball, but she loves crackerjacks and fireworks!

She also got to ride a train (big hit) and ride on Uncle Josh's shoulders! Thrilling!

Looking forward to spring!

We are all looking so forward to spring! We have thoroughly enjoyed winter and playing in the snow, but, it is time to move on! St. Patrick's day is right around the corner and Jon and Ceili have their outfits picked out. Erin is still looking and trying to decide. Erin, Pat, and Alicia have made a "Double Irish Chain" quilt to donate to the Red Wing Irish as a fundraiser. We are excited to visit Mike and Abby again this year for our annual Red Wing Irish Celebration. We look forward to this trip all year!

Ceili is becoming quite the little talker! Her vocabulary gets bigger and more complex everyday. It is amazing to hear her put together ideas and sentences. She has been enjoying her "Pony-Lacey" and sometimes insists on dressing up. One day she spent the morning in a dragon costume!

We are getting ready for our garden again this year. After paging through stacks of seed catalogs Jon narrowed the choices down and we have seeds on the way! Ceili helped set up the "grow lab" so we can get some of the seeds started indoors. In addition to the garden we have decided to join a CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. A CSA is a farm that you support by purchasing a share and in return you receive a weekly box of food from the farm. The growing seasons range from 15-18 weeks of produce. Ceili is excited to visit the farm since it is so much bigger than the garden!

We hope you are all well and look forward to seeing you soon!