Bram

Yesterday we attended the funeral of Gary's cousin, Bram. He was 33 years old.

I met Bram only once and that was at my wedding back in '02. After hearing what type of person he was, I wish I had known him much better. He seemed like quiet the character. His dad, Conrad (Gary's uncle), gave the eulogy. I don't know where he found the strength, but he did an awesome job. One of the many funny stories he told about Bram was of how he found the following quote on Bram's MySpace web page:

"I like live theatre. I have been surrounded by theatre and the arts throughout my life. My father is an instructor of theatre and semantics and my mother is an artist. I have always been encouraged to be creative. I guess my parents wanted me to be poor."

Conrad, Karen, Aili, and Kena, you are in my thoughts.

Bram's obituary: click here

3 Month Photos

(Nearly) 4 Year Old Photos

More Halloween Preparations

Chase and I have been having fun with some Halloween projects lately. We saved 8 milk jugs to make a skeleton. We also made some cheese cloth ghosts that look like puppies. Oh, well, Chase had fun.

Leah turned 3 months old on Monday. She's a very easy going baby. A little too easy going...poor thing.

De-motivators

New demotivational posters came out today. Anyone who has worked in government or has been surrounded by motivational posters will enjoy these (and never look at a motivational poster the same way again).

We use to quote the one above to Chase, "Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else."

He proved us wrong. There's no one like Chase!

Halloween can't come soon enough

Chase is into Halloween BIG time this year. He "needs" to look at Halloween decorations at every store. I refused to look at them at Target yesterday and he was offended (four times is enough).

He has decided to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle for Halloween. It was that or Harry Potter. He decided to dress up as Harry today anyway. He looks pretty good with dark hair!

And here he is with a plastic cauldron stuck to his butt. He wasn't amused that I had to take a photo before I agreed to get it off of him.

And not to be out done, Leah imitates the models in the "Got Milk?" ads...

Birthday boy(s)!

Our nephew, Dylan, turns 9 today. I've heard all sorts of horror stories of this sweet young man as a baby (I didn't meet him until he was two). Apparently, he screamed for the first year of his life. I don't know how Brad and Michele survived. I think of them everytime Leah cries for what I think is a long time (30 minutes tops!).

Luckily, their second child was much easier on them. I'm belated in sending out a happy 6th birthday blog wish to Connor (his birthday was on the 6th of September). Sorry, Connor!

Here are the boys at the Pumpkin Patch. Happy birthday, guys!

Taking charge

Here is Chase testing his own blood. He has been doing this for a few months now.

Two is company, three is exhausting...

New phase - tell Chase to smile and this is what you get.

My Fargo friend, Karla, is in town this week for a conference. She wanted to bring her daughter Bailey with so she asked if I'd watch her today. I excitedly agreed since Chase and Bailey play so well together. They had a blast. We went to Barnes and Noble and read books, to a park, McDonald's, the Pumpkin Patch, out for ice cream, and then to a play area at the mall.

It was so much fun to listen to Chase and Bailey converse in the back seat. My favorite conversation was the one where Bailey told Chase that he had a messy room. His response was that his mom hadn't cleaned it yet! In my defense - one, it's not messy and two, I'm so done cleaning that kid's room.

We packed a lot into one day. A little bit ago, Gary asked me if I was going to rename the Blog now that Leah is here. I told him that with two kids I'll be "keeping up the chase" more than ever. And, although today was a lot of fun, I think I'll stick with just two kids. Yes, this coming from a third child.

A guilt trip to Fargo

Uncle Todd Mocking My Children

My brother called last week to tell me that he'd be in Fargo on Saturday. He wanted to see if we'd like to meet up. Since we were just there a couple of weeks ago I told him that we'd have to pass. I wanted to see him, but I couldn't work another hotel stay into our budget.

Well, Mom got wind that Todd was going to be in the state and she did two things to me that she does best - she put me on a guilt trip (he hadn't met Leah yet) and bribed me (we stayed with them at the hotel). So, Saturday morning, the kids and I headed to Fargo to see Uncle Todd. I over heard Chase telling Gary that he had to go to Fargo because Grandma, Boppa, and Todd missed him. Modest kid I'm raising.

It was a fun time. I think Leah liked her uncle Todd. She spit up on him numerous times if that indicates anything. I did get a great shot of her smiling, though...