The Crazed Squirrel

Most Tuesday mornings I go to a Mom's group from 10:00-11:30.  It's awesome.  

This Tuesday I had Zoey Rydbeck, in addition to my two angels, so it took me a bit longer to actually get all three kids ready and to the door.  The last thing we needed was to get our boots from the very messy back porch.

When I got there I saw an insane squirrel.  I'm not sure how long it had been trapped inside the porch...not very long, likely, with people having gone out that way to work that morning...but it was acting like it had been in there 10 years, without food or drink, being beaten every 5 minutes!!

It was rushing around like mad, clawing up every flat surface, ripping at every single window screen, and being the best entertainment 3 kids age 3 and under could ask for.  

The kids LOVED it!

I left them standing there, noses pressed against the french doors, and ran out the front door, around to the back, and then propped the screen door to the porch open.  I was concentrating on not wetting myself terrified.  The squirrel had claws like Wolverine!!!  

By the time I got back around to the other side he had gone.  The kids were sad.  We left and went to Moms group.

But that stinker sure did leave a mess in our porch!  Yay, homeowners!  WE get to pay for that now! ;)

Zoey's Birthday Party!

This morning the Rydbecks, Morehouses, and us went to Edinburgh Park in Edina to celebrate Zoey turning 2!  2 years ago the Rydbecks spent Thanksgiving with us and then went it, bright and early on Black Friday, to deliver Zoey.  Good memories.  :)  

Child heaven.

Finn, exploring.

They both love it.
Finn TAKES OFF and wont' come back when Jonas calls.
Layla sticks right by him all the time.

Planning his next escape...

Snack break!

No pictures!  No pictures!

 We then came back to our house for pizza and cake.  Finn fell asleep in the car on the way home, even though it was only 11:30, because he got up at 6:30.  (Kids.  They sure KILL any sleep you used to get, man.)  I managed to get him up to bed and keep him asleep, but he hadn't had lunch, so it was a veeery short nap.  Because of this I missed the pictures of the present opening/candle blowing, but here you get a picture of the cake itself.  Almost as good, right?  :)

Zoey's carrot cake.

Berube Thanksgiving 2012

I forgot to take pictures until late in the day!  I missed the feast pictures.  Sad!  Also, I clearly did not have my camera set on the right setting for the light level...but no setting on my camera can capture the motion of so many little children without blurs!! ;)

The tradition shall never cease.  Andrea won!

Andrea made an apple pie and brought an amazing chocolate espresso pie from Rochester.  

Finn Schaefer...what a cool guy.

Not holding still so Mommy can take a picture of her clothes!

And, off!

Zoey

Piper

Alone.  Silent.  Trouble.

He has a major cold/runny nose right now and sticks his hand in every single water receptacle he can find.

He KNOWS he should be going down backwards.

But noooooooooooo...everyone else gets to do it this way!

Gives me heart attacks.  Daily.

Joel, doing what he does.

Piper and Sandra

Frosting sugar cookies

Reading Dora to Henry

Drinking water with Grandma...

...and laughing insanely about it!

Sean had to leave early, so AP frosted in his honor.

Fun Unkie Dan!

What a sweet Mama she is.

The other day I went to pick up what I thought was just a bunch of blankets on the floor.  

Nope!  Layla is really into "making beds" lately, and she had made a nice little cozy spot on the floor for her puppy.  This puppy has a mouth that can open and close, so for good measure she also gave him a nuk.  Because she knows it's hard to sleep without a nuk.

What a sweet little Mama she is.  

Finn's new heaven

This is the living room of our new house.  It's not arranged this way now, with the couch up against the window (and architect would NEVER allow such a travesty!), but that's how it was for a few days while we got things arranged.  Putting the living room in order was our last task before company arrived...so until then the couch was against the window.  The window is very low to the floor, and it has a very wide ledge on it--a ledge that is perfect for a little 1.5-year-old to climb and crawl on.  Until we moved the couch, this is where Finns spent a lot of time.  I'd see the curtains moving as he crawled around without ever seeing him. 

And now the play area is just not as much fun with two chairs and a table framing the window.  Poor Finn.  :) 

Finn is playing peek-a-boo with Henry.
Henry has no idea.  

Playing peek-a-boo with Mommy's camera.