Welcome, Phebe!

It's hard to believe it's already been 3 weeks since Phebe arrived in Minnesota! We've had so much fun getting her settled into routines and started in school here in Minnesota. The time has just flown by! She's doing great and seems to be adjusting very well! Yeah, Phebe!

Here she is arriving at the airport on Sunday, Aug. 31. It's Daddy!
Remember Jenna?
Off to get the luggage.
We made cookies the first night, since Jenna and Andy and Corey, Heidi and Maddox were all coming for a picnic on Labor Day.
Phebe was great at helping Grandpa shuck corn. We set up the little pool for Maddox and Phebe, but somehow the swimming pictures didn't upload. They had a great time jumping into the whale pool.

Phebe's first day of kindergarten! I had to follow the tradition from Kyle, Corey, and Jenna, and take a picture before we left home on Tuesday morning. She was up and ready to go before I even woke her up!
She lost her second tooth on the 2nd day of school. The tooth fairy still remembered where our house is. Imagine that, after all these years!
We went to the CF First Thursday Festival, and Phebe had her hair "done" at the kids area.
Wacky hair! Too bad we had to take out the wired braids and wash out the colored hairspray so soon!

We borrowed a bike from a friend, and Phebe has been zipping all over the driveway - no training wheels!
She has to wear a helmet, though, so she doesn't lose more teeth!
We stand in the middle of the road and guard against cars coming into the cul-de-sac while she rides around the circle.
She loves spending time on the computer, and really does a good job navigating a few web-sites for kids. Maddox was kind of a distraction during this session, especially since he was trying on her shoes and dancing around on the chair behind her!
She and Maddox are becoming great buddies, and they played and played during our rained out golf outing (see the wet deck??). They were both very disappointed that they couldn't go golfing.


Phebe is also a great colorer! She printed out these color sheets from the computer.


Good job, Phebe!

We spent some time this weekend at a viewing stand for the 3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer, and it was really fun to cheer for some of the 3000+ walkers as they made their way past Lake Josephine in St. Paul. While we waited for Auntie Heidi and her team to arrive, Maddox and Phebe had fun at the nearby play area. Actually, Phebe ran/walked a 5-K herself last weekend here in CF - she was a real trooper, although she finished up with Jenna pushing her in a stroller. I don't think she's quite ready for the 3-Day!
She had fun "hanging out" with Corey, too - he's really strong! We're hoping to make it tomorrow to the final ceremony for the 3-Day at the State Capital in St. Paul.

I just realized I've been taking so many pictures of all of our activities the last few weeks, and I'm not in a single picture with Phebe. I'll have to correct that tomorrow, and hand off the camera to someone else for a change!

Second Annual Family Golf Outing

And the winner is......the RAIN!! We tried to hold our 2nd family golf outing on Sunday, but unfortunately, we were totally rained out. Everyone showed up in the early afternoon for munchies while we watched the Vikings game (another wash out as they lost 18-15). It started sprinkling as we loaded up the cars to head to the Summit Par 3 course, and by the time we got there, it was pouring and a cold wind had come up. Corey, Andy, Phebe, and Maddox wanted to go anyways (go figure), but the rest of us voted them down and we headed back home for more football and food. We drew names for teams before we left home. I wonder who the winners would have been?

Team 1 - Andy, Pat, and Paul

Team 2 - Ted, Jenna, Phebe, and Chuck

Team 3 - Joyce, Corey, Maddox, Jane, and Heidi

Corey, Andy, and Paul did head out for a quick round later in the afternoon when the rain subsided, but they still looked pretty soggy when they returned.

Maddox and Phebe entertained the rest of us all afternoon. They had a great time playing, and we all took turns hanging out with them.

Aren't they cute??

Well, we'll try again next year!

Happy Birthday, Kyle!

Yikes! Our oldest "child" turned 31 last weekend! Kyle came home from Minneapolis on Friday night and found a huge birthday present waiting for him in our living room. What could it be??

Hmmmmm.....

Surprise!! It's Phebe, the best present ever! Phebe and Chuck planned this during the week, and we told Kyle to call when he was about 5 minutes away so Phebe could climb into the box and wait for him. She even wanted me to tape it closed, but I only used a small piece. She had a pillow in there, and plenty of room to curl up, but that was probably the longest 5 minutes ever! It was soooooo hard to wait!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

It's not too hard to blow out 3 candles, but Phebe was a great help - 1 candle per decade!

We weren't able to get the whole family together for dinner yet, although Jenna and Andy came down Saturday night to help Kyle celebrate with Dudley's Pizza. We'll get everyone together soon!