Cheese!

Pete is smiling so much now! Every time he does it, my heart melts. What a little sweetheart! That's our best new trick this week.

We went swimming last night and he is getting so comfortable in the water and likes to float on his back and his stomach- he knows to hold his head up so he doesn't get a mouthful of water! And he even kicks his little legs against me to push himself out- I'm not sure if you can picture this- but it is cute and rewarding for him because he actually moves when he does it.

It is going to be hot this week now- almost 90*! We'll keep going for lots of walks and take Scout swimming a few times also.

First trip to the zoo!

We also went to the zoo for the first time! The Como Zoo is one of the best places in the cities- lots of beautiful flowers and animals all over the place!

Pete liked seeing a sloth up close....

Watching the monkeys...

and

then doing a monkey impersonation!

family fun

Over the weekend Garrick ran the Trail Mix 15 mile(!!!!) race in the cities. IT is a really hilly race that goes to the top of a ski hill- TWICE!- it is one of his favorite races. Kerm and I watched with Garrick's dad. Lots of the runners were cheering for Pete, offering to give him their number and asking when he was going to do the race... very cute.

Before the race, there was a party at Greg and Linka's house where pete met some of his family members including Garrick's Godparents and his 2nd Great-Grandma! He got lots and lots of cuddles and some beautiful handmade blankets! (he is with Laura his 2nd cousin and Jean his great godmother...I actually don't know if that is how it works, but they really love him and that's what is important!!) (Katie- we can't wait for him to meet yoU!!!!!)

We also voyaged to Baraboo and he got to spend some time with his cousin Jack, who is a handuful at 10 monthes! He is crawling all over, learning to walk, and doing a GREAT goat impersonation. He is absolutely adorable and I can't believe that Pete is going to be that big soon!

Lots to share this week...

SIGNS OF SPRING...

It is starting to warm up and we have been spending more time outside this week- it is supposed to be in the 60s by this weekend for Easter. We have been getting more stuff done around the house and are finishing up some projects that we had started. I am pretty sure that since I have lived in our house, the back door has never had trim around it- we had gutted the whole thing before I moved it- so it is so neat to see the entire thing FINISHED. Garrick worked so hard on all of the renovations in this room- building all of the cabinets, tearing down the wall, putting in the doors to the backyard and refinishing the floors. I am so lucky to have such a smart and talented husband!

I got all of my seeds started inside that I am going to start. We are going to grow most of the usual this year, tomatoes, peppers, beans (to Garrick's dismay), peas, cucs, lots of squash. Hopefully, enough will grow that we can use it to make food for Pete... this is ambitious... we will see if it happens. :) At least we can have good things to eat this summer while it is growing and we can share it with our friends.

I took Pete while he was still a "tiny baby" to JC Penny to get his pictures taken. They did a really nice job, I wish they would have taken a few more, but he was a sleepy little guy and didn't want to wake up. That's okay, its what he does most of the time anyhow. (He is up to about 9 pounds I think- we weigh him on our bathroom scale. He isn't such a little squirt anymore!)

This weekend I did my first race- The Fool's Five in Lewiston! It was so fun to get out an run again- and i was still pretty fast! Peter and Garrick came and watched- here is Peter in his chariot cheering mama on!

And Here we are after the race- it was a cold and snowy and windy day... I found two guys on the way back to "draft off of" so that I didn't have to run into the 30mph winds! (It worked- i won my age group!)

AND Peter is learning to suck his thumb- we were reading a book the other day and this is what I looked to down see! Then I yelled- Garrick come quick with the camera!

We are starting a baby swim team. Finn came swimming with us at the Y the other day. Just as his name would imply- he quite the little swimmer! He did a great job and we are looking foward to going with them again!

Finally, I realized that I haven't been putting up his pictures with his bear... These are the 2 latest ones. One Month (in white) and 6 weeks (in yellow).

Like I said, this is quite a lot- but we had a good week here- Also- we want to send out good vibes to our friends Liz and Brian who are quickly approaching their due date for a quick and safe delivery! We can't wait to meet your little one! Happy Easter my parents are coming to visit on Friday and Garrick's mom is coming on Monday- it should be a great weekend!

Pete hearts Kimberly

KIM CAME TO VISIT all of the way from Arizona! We have been so excited for this weekend :)

Peter got baptized this weekend. Kim and my dad were his sponsers. The service was really nice and my parents were there, Garrick's were there as well as a few of our good friends. It meant a lot to us to have them there and to have Pete become part of the church family.


After church, we ate lunch and then went for a great hike at Perrot with everyone.

Kel and Marty got Peter his first pair of shoes. Here he is being a big kid, eating from a bottle and sporting his new kicks. (Mom- are you happy that he has shoes now??)

We also played a lot of games(Kim won Monopoly and Garrick won LIFE), went for a lot of walks and visited SMU to show Kim what was the same and what was different and we took Peter swimming for a while. AND of course Kim snuggled Pete a LOT! As usual, we didn't stop moving- we were so tired after two days!

Micheal Phelps-- watch out!!

Yup, that's right, we took Kermit swimming at the YMCA last night! Based on the fact that he didn't cry at all- until we got out and it was cold- I think that Peter liked going swimming. I'm pretty sure that he was a little surprised by it all becuase of his HUGE eyes after we went. I guess all babies are good floaters, all we have to do is lightly hold his head and the rest of him floats like a little cork! He looked so little in that 'small pool'.

We read some books about teaching babies to swim and have been doing some of the things they say to do and are getting him used to the big space, the temperature and even going under water! He was getting cold after about 7 minutes, so we got out and warmed up and went home to eat. :) We'll go again this week...

Otherwise, we have been going for a lot of walks in the sunny weather with Scout and/or our friends Finn and Kelly and are eagerly anticipating a special visitor next week! We are going to walk to the Penguin Zesto tonight for a special treat if it stays warm out.

Busy weekend

We had a busy busy weekend! We went to my parent's house in Baraboo for Friday night! We got to go skiing- my mom stayed in with Pete for most of the night so that Garrick and I could ski- it was a fun treat to get out. We realized on the chair lift that it was the first time we'd been alone! Pete got to meet the ski patrol family and even took a few runs down the bunny hill! (just kidding!)

Then, we stopped by Garrick's grandma's house and she got to meet her second great grandson which was fun to see.

AND while we were home, we stopped by our friend's house to visit- I started to babysit Hannah when she was Peter's age and she's now how old I was when I was watching her... if that makes sense!

When we got back, Katie and Karl and Kristi all came to visit and meet peter!

AND sunday was such a nice day that we had to go for a hike to Perrot State Park and have Pete do a little mountain climbing!