Bump!

So i'm a few blog post's behind... but while I work on them i'll give you a sneak preview of my baby bump!  I was 18 weeks on Wednesday (which means TWO weeks until the big wedding!!!).  We've been calling the baby sesame seed but Elsa call's it chicken & rice which is also a fantastic name for a baby. ;)

So here is my baby bump... or my "i've been eating too many McFlurry's" bump.

A very special slumber party

My good friend Erin's sweet 3 year old has been begging to have a slumber party at our new house.  We've been planning it for about a month and finally decided it was time to give it a try.  Friday night we had a few friends over for a Frey fish fry and pizza party to prep Elsa for her first stay away from home.

Do you remember back to my post about Robby & Johns bet in the trail race?  Well Robby ended up winning so John brought Robby over his prize pizza.

(notice someone creeping into the picture that really wants a bite of pizza?)

(This is John's wife Tiffany, their sweet girl Amelia, and Elsa.)

While we were having dinner we all placed bets on if Elsa would make it the whole night without getting homesick.  Robby's guess was that she had about a 15% chance of making it.  After dinner Elsa started asking her parents when they were going to leave.  Actually,  she started demanding them to leave so we could start the slumber party.  While Erin was getting all emotional and giving her lots of hugs and kisses Elsa started shutting the door on her.  It was pretty funny!  

We painted a picture frame for Erin...

Played with babies...

Did a puzzle and practiced ballet...

Read books...

Lot's of books!

After the books we shut off the lights and Elsa talked & talked & talked.  I felt like I was 12 again at a real slumber party.  She said so many funny things and I was going to try to remember but I was so tired.  One story I remember is "I love pancakes, I can't wait until tomorrow when we have pancakes.  If daddy eats too many pancakes then he has to go to the bathroom for a looooong time."

She was incredibly sweet & cute all night and never even showed one sign of being home sick.  Sweet girl!

The next morning we woke up and made pancakes together - we invited her parents and sister over for breakfast because she kinda missed them a little.  It was a fun & successful 1st slumber party!

Art In Me

Each August our church puts on a big event called "Art in Me" at Lester Park.  Kid's and parents come to make art projects together for free.  There is also puppet shows, dancing, food and just plain fun!  Our friends brought their little girl Amelia and she is still talking about how she wants to see the puppets again.  So cute!  I love this event... I love seeing kids get creative, I love seeing parents interact with their children in such a unique way & I love how much energy all of the volunteers have just to put a smile on a kids face.  This was my fourth Art in Me (Robby's 1st!) and we organized the cookie decorating booth.  Our booth was constantly busy... i think the sugar might of had something to do with that!  

Robby made the highlight video!

Projects!

We are getting projects done little by little.  It's been super nice to move into our house and not feel like we have a lot to do.  Now that we've been here for a couple months we have a little list going.

Back in June I went to a garage sale in Fergus and found this cute old dresser for $20... it even came with super cute hardware.  I decided to paint it and us it for a changing table in our nursery.  I'm going to get a pad and sew a fun cover for it too.  While I was busy painting my cute dresser, Robby was busy painting his super manly man cave.  He got free paint at WLSD where they re-use recycled paint. Sweet deal!

Here is the finished dresser!  Surprise... I painted it to match my bianchi.  What other color is there anyways?

Last summer my dad won a bid to tear down and bury an old farmstead.  Before he tore it down we went pickin' for anything old and cool.  I got an old barn door that i'm going to use as a headboard (that project is still in the works) some old windows, a chair & some other things.  But my most prized piece is this vanity!  I was going to paint it but after many many people told me not to I decided to leave it.  I did paint the handles and polished it up a bit and got a new bench.  Cute right?  Just think how long this lovely piece was sitting in an abandoned farm... what a shame.  Karley to the rescue!  It fit's perfectly in my dressing room!

Date Night!

Friday night we had a little date.  Robby had spent the whole day fishing with a friend of his and they limited out on Walleye!  They caught 14 walleye and Robby got to keep it all.  Fish Fry for the Frey's on a Friday! Whoop whoop.

After our delicious Minnesota dinner we headed down to movies in the park.  I told Robby I didn't care what movie it was and that it would just be nice to be outside and relax watching a movie.  Ummm my idea of a lovely night relaxing to a movie was the exact opposite - it was "The Dark Night Rises." (We left early)

All I could think of was how I wished I was in Ashby enjoying "The Sound of Music" in the park.  I mean c'mon Duluth who watches movies with fighting and explosions in it anyways?  Where is the love story?  How about some Sound of Music instead?  I can imagine the crowd would be much bigger for a lovely musical. ;)

A weekend to relax!

Last weekend Robby & I headed up to the BWCA for a weekend of relaxation in the middle of nowhere.  It was amazing (as always).  It's still one of my all time favorite quick get-aways.  Robby has been dreaming of getting a lightweight Wenonah canoe for a looooonnnggg time.  It's almost like his life could not possibly go on until he was the proud owner for a Wenonah Minnesota II canoe.  We decided to wait until to fall to start shopping for an after season deal.  When we were on our way up we stopped at an outfitters and they were selling a used Wenonah that was the exact model Robby was looking for.  It was love at first sight and we bought it.

We ditched our heavy aluminum for Robby's dream Kevlar Wenonah MN II!

Here is a preview into our relaxing weekend away from our crazy busy summer.

We spent time fishing...

Reading... (No Mary, that book is not photoshopped into my hands)

Laying in the hammock...

Me cooking & Robby eating.  (Notice the perfect pancake flip!)  Our meals consisted of Alfredo with artisian bread, Gypsy Gumbo (Luther Crest style!) & pancakes... sadly no fish :(

Robby was bummed he forgot bobbers.  But when he looked up in this dead tree is saw one hanging up there.  After a few throws of this stick... he got the bobber!  Happy Robby.  If only we could have been as lucky with fishing as we were with finding a bobber!

Ahhhhhh mornings... glorious mornings of brewed coffee and sunshine. Oh AND....

Polar Bear Swimming!!! (Luther Crest style of course)

And in the evenings... Robby used his entire body weight to hang our food.  It was quite entertaining!  I like a bear proof campsite. :)

We watched these two run around our campsite.  The rabbit would hop by and then the martin would run by a few seconds later super close to us.  The last day we didn't see either or them anymore.  I was convinced they wanted to eat our snacks... but when we got home we researched the martin and it is the rabbits predator!  Poor little rabbit.

We did do a portage to Echo lake to see if we could find some walleye.  No such luck but it was a beautiful lake!

We had the best mini vacation!  Ever since we got home Robby keeps asking "when do we get to go back?"  We just might plan a falls colors paddle... stay tuned!