Happy 30th Birthday Jen!!!!

Well, it happens to the best of us... and on Oct 28th, it was Jen's turn. That's right, she turned 30!!! Daniel was a big help in shopping for presents this year. Mom said she wanted a new wallet, so Daniel picked out this sweet new 'Wonder Woman' one.
Andrea got her a new tumbler cup with a big straw so Jen can take her home-made smoothies with her to work in the mornings.

And Nate got her a new watch and some new perfume from Vicki's

Happy Birthday Honey, I hope the next 30 are even better than the first!

Jen's Cake Skills

Jen decided this past year that she want's to be the "cool cake" person in our ring of family and friends. Well, this is one of her latest cakes, which was created for Andie's birthday party with the Quist side. The birthday was a monkey theme (explaining the monkey in the picture)


And like the rest of the cakes that were made for Andie's other parties, this one ended up like this....

Fall Pictures

Fall makes for such a beautiful time to take outdoor pictures. We had a stretch of beautiful weather lately, and we were all able to enjoy the few remaining warm days. We took a whole bunch of pictures one afternoon with the intent of printing a bunch off for family. Below are a few of our favorites.

Happy 1st Birthday Andrea!

We cannot believe out little girl is 1 today!

Andrea's Stats:

30.5" tall - 90%

20lb 10oz - 43%

19in noggin - 99%

Some things about Andie:
*She LOVES following Daniel around and playing with his toys

*She likes playing Monkey Pile and will usually crawl on top of someone if they are laying on the ground

*She will grab the matchbox cars and make them go back and forth like cars do

*She can say 'Daniel', 'Dada', 'Mama', 'Uh-oh', and 'Hi'

*She walks with help. She has taken 5 steps by herself

*She can understand way more than we think she can. 'Give daddy another balloon' and 'Pull the plug from the bathtub to let the water out' are recent shockers

*She loves to turn the pages of books

*She has temper tantrums where she bangs her head against things (Floor is most popular, but she also uses walls and us when she's sitting next to them)

*She has 5 teeth and loves to eat real food (She had a hamburger from McDonald's last night)

*She's a master at drinking from straws, but doesn't do so well with sippy cups
*She loves to wave hi and bye, but mostly enjoys blowing kisses

*She also likes to give her stuffed animals hugs and kisses

Day Care made her a cute tiara, which she proudly sported at home. We then had funfetti cake with chocolate frosting. She LOVED it and really wanted more!

Before the mess Yummy!

I like this new toy!

Weekend Fun

This weekend we had the first annual neighborhood olympics in our little development. The kids (and adults) participated in games like sack races, balloon pop, find your shoe in a big pile, and a three legged race.

After dinner we went over to a neighbor's house and had a bonfire. We are so blessed to be in a great neighborhood! Here's a picture of the kids as we were taking a wagon ride to the bonfire. Waaay to adorable not to share :)

The Quist Kids "On a Stick"

We took the kids to the Minnesota State Fair today (Aug 29) for the very first time. We got there around 9am or so, and there were already about a million people there. We saw all sorts of animals, big and small, including some little piglets just minutes old.

Daniel petting a baby pig for the first time. You can't see the piglet he's petting, but there are a few in thew glass case behind him.

In the Horse barn

Daniel eating a genuine "Pronto Pup" at the fair. The original food revelation that began the "everything on a stick" revolution. You wouldn't be able to tell it from the face he's making, but he inhaled this one and asked for another....

Andie also loved her first taste of a state fair pronto pup

The kids were so well behaved all morning, we decided to let Daniel ride on a few rides. We gave him the choice of three different rides and he chose Airplanes, Race cars, and the Dragon roller coaster.

First, the airplane. He's in the rear seat of the light blue colored plane

Next, the NASCAR car. He chose the #3 car on his own. Listen to the squeals he makes as the car turns the tight corners

Lastly, the Dragon roller coaster (or "Train" as Daniel called it). Nate had to go with Daniel on this ride because he was a little too short to ride by himself. The boys are in the very last car.

Cabin Weekend

Last weekend, Aug 21-22, we headed over to the cabin to celebrate Jen's Grandpa's 89th birthday which was earlier in the week, along with other Birthdays which are in the coming weeks. The weather was beautiful, and we all just kind of relaxed for the most part.

Nate got a little fishing in, WAY across the lake

Jen and Andie got some camera time in.

And Nate and Daniel got a little more tubing in

After we got home from the weekend fun at the lake, just for giggles we decided to pull out some of the walk-behind toys to see how Andrea would do behind them. She loves to pull herself up aside the furniture and stand a lot, so we figured we would see how she did. To our amazement, she took right off!!!