Taking grandma and grandpa K to the SP Children's Museum

On Sunday we took a family trip to the St. Paul Children's Museum. We now have a membership and plan to hang out there a lot this winter.

MORE PICTURES HERE

Merry Christmas

It was a beautiful white Christmas.

Check out these fun pictures.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

According to the MPR Updraft blog we received a total of 11 inches of snow from this Christmas storm. Thursday afternoon was definitely the best day to play in the snow, after that everything got very icy. Sula enjoyed being pulled around in her red sled.

More snow pictures here!

Hines Family Christmas Party

This weekend was the annual Hines Family Christmas Party, also known as the "Loud Party." Like years past, the party was filled with good comfort food (LOVE Ben's bacon wrapped mini franks), some booze (saw lots of MGD), and of course family and close friends. The party is typically hosted at a hotel that has an indoor pool. The pool always seems to be the hot spot, both in the evening and the next morning.

The absence of Jim and Pat's company and humor was clearly felt. I also felt the absence of Jim's bottle of brandy, his yearly Christmas treat. We attempted to make up for their lost company by hooking up a webcam.

The highlight of my evening was watching Sula run up and down the hallway of the hotel with all her little cousins. She was so excited to be playing with the "big kids."

The night was not without unexpected excitement. Around 10:30 pm the hotel fire alarm started blaring and did not turn off until the local fire department arrived (a good 10 -15 min later). The noise scared baby Sula silly. Thankfully, aunt Barb was able to calm her down and back to sleep later. This was enough to take the party-goers out of any form of sleepy mode. We kicked off a game of Apples to Apples around midnight.

You will find more party pictures here!
http://picasaweb.google.com/hinesfamilyjournal/HinesFamilyChristmasParty#

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Sula:

Sula with her new BFF, Corey's cousin Katie.

Ha..ha..haha

Sula playing with her second cousin Kayden.

Sula with Corey's cousin Brian.

Run, run, run!

Sula playing with her new Christmas present from uncle Jason.

Bad kitty!

Sula and our cat Mouse have a complicated relationship. Mouse has taken to sleeping in Sula's crib. Now we have to diligently keep the door closed to her room to prevent Mouse from taking a snooze in her crib. Sula loves to chase him all over the house and pet him gently. Sometimes she tries to give him a hug (as a result kind of crushing him), at that point it is too much and Mouse goes and hides. Mouse has a habit of jumping up on the table during dinner (YES, BAD KITTY). This is not acceptable cat behavior but he seems to always try anyway, despite getting sprayed with lots of water (we have a naughty-cat spray bottle). Well, this week was totally pathetic, he decided to beg for scraps from Sula. I think she was eating some french toast- not exactly what I would call your typical cat fare. Corey wasn't there to enforce that BAD KITTY rule and so I just watched, laughed, and took some pictures.

No need for a dog.

Adventures at the St. Paul Children's Museum

Last Saturday morning we took Sula to the St. Paul Children's Museum. This was our first trip to this amazing museum. Lucky for us we had an unexpected tour guide- the Walburn family. We ran into Matt, Hope, and Aria on our way in. We had lots of fun as they showed us around to all the hot spots for toddlers like Aria and Sula.

Sula really enjoyed playing with flour in the sensory room.

She even sat on her own stool and played with the trucks in the flour pit.

Bells in the Habitot room.

Taking a rest on some "ice blocks".

Matt being silly with Sula, this was definitely her favorite room at the museum.

Sula and Aria going "shopping together at the grocery store."

Sula went after the fruit.

When Sula got home she just plopped herself down on the floor, exhausted from all the fun. Taking a record breaking 3.5 hour nap that afternoon.

Catching up with you

It has been a while since our last post. Here is what we have been up to:

Sula watching the airplanes as we wait to board at the MPLS airport. This was Sula's second trip on a plane and she did fantastic.

Sula admiring grandma's plants just before Thanksgiving dinner. Wow, look at all those meyer lemons on her tree, impressive.

Our little fashionista in her butterfly dress.

My plate at Thanksgiving dinner, looking at this is making me hungry. This was the very first Thanksgiving dinner ever hosted by my mom, that I can remember at least. 95% of my childhood memories are from Thanksgiving at grandma's house in Chicago. Wow mom- you did an amazing job.

Family shot at the butterfly house.

Sula LOVES to eat bread. Here she is at a french bistro in St. Louis over Thanksgiving.

Penguins at the St. Louis Zoo

Thanksgiving Part 2

Last Sunday in St. Louis we went to the Butterfly House with Sula.

Thanksgiving Part 1

I took lots of video when we were in St. Louis for Thanksgiving. Here is one of Sula with her great grandma Kreidich.

Taking in all those little moments

Life is busy and we are having fun savoring all those little moments. Sula is a delight to hang out with right now, her vocabulary is expanding everyday. Today she said "wow" all day long. And when we were at the zoo this afternoon she said "fish". One of her favorite words is "Dude!" We are planning on taking more videos soon.

Unlike her mama, Sula was born with rhythm.

One of her favorite activities is playing percussion instruments with her papa.

Meet Fozzy Bear, he sleeps in Sula's crib most nights. I bought this bear from the Minnesota Alpaca Association booth at the Minnesota State Fair. It is made with 100% alpaca wool and is very soft and cuddly.

She loves to climb on anything.

She recently discovered the radio/alarm clock in her room and now enjoys pushing all the buttons.

Bubbles!

The weather has been very mild this November. Sula loves to go outside and play in our backyard. I have been teaching her what fun it is to play in mama's garden.

Finally, some warm weather and sunshine

The weather these past few months has been strange and unpredictable. September was dry and hot. Then October was cold and wet, with temperatures well below normal. Definitely not optimal for enjoying fall color or raking leaves. The weather roller coaster continues into November, with temperatures today above normal (yey 60s). No complaints here, I hope this is a sign that we are in for a long Indian Summer.

Around lunch time we went to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum to enjoy the sunshine. Later we worked hard at raking all the leaves in the front yard. It was just a lovely fall day.

Picture link here: Warm November Day

Meow

Sula was a kitty cat for Halloween. She did a fantastic job helping mama hand out candy.

Zoo Boo

Today we got out of the house to enjoy a bit of sunshine and took a walk through Fort Snelling State Park. It really feels like we are on the fast track toward winter here in Minnesota. Most of the leaves are off the trees and the fall color is not as vibrant as I remember in past years. A few good pictures of colorful leaves were still possible .

Later we got Sula all dressed up and went to Como Zoo's fall fundraiser Zoo Boo. She dressed as a pink kitty cat. Not my first choice of costumes, I try hard not to over do the pink. But, hey you can't beat the sale rack at Old Navy. The pictures explain the rest.

Fall Color and Zoo Boo Pictures HERE!

A day in the life of Sula

Playing with my pet snail in the morning.

Helping mom rake leaves.

More walking.

Learning to walk at the park.

Music time, I got the beats.

Two sticks, watch out.

Time to read a story, upside down is better.