New Arrival!!!

I have a huge announcement to make people! Remember back in April when I talked about a new baby coming to our family so we had a baby shower for Aunt Katie? Well, she came into the world yesterday. She was supposed to come in two weeks, when it's August, but I guess she got a bit antsy. Her name is Sibley Mae Oster and she is so beautiful! See for yourself:

Here she is with Neil and Katie, her daddy and mommy. (My uncle and aunt if you didn't figure that out.)

Here she is with her mommy.

Here she is sleeping. I remember those days...so relaxing...

And here she is already making funny faces. Someday I'll teach her the face that I think is really funny. It involves sticking both fingers up my nose. Mom and Dad don't think it's funny but I think it's a hoot.

Well I had a busy weekend in Wisconsin and I'm excited to tell you all about it, but right now I'm a little tired from said weekend and the exciting news about Sibley. So I'll try to post about my vacation tomorrow.

Nighty Night,

TMO

What's your vegetable personality?

I'm a sweet potato, happy, easy-going, fun-loving and sweet. My mom is a cucumber, patient and shy. Find out your vegetable personality here.

Sincerely,
The Sweet Potato

Farewell for a few days.

I'm going on vacation with my family for the rest of the week. Mom, Grandma Jan, Megan, Nate, and I are going to load up Grandma's truck when Meg is done with summer school and head to Siren, Wisconsin where we'll stay at our friends' cabin. Daddy and Grandpa will come join us on Thursday. Aunt Jenni and Uncle John will come on Friday.

I'm really excited and so is Mommy but she's a little concerned about being sans Internet for 96 hours. For those that know her, you know she's a bit of an Internet junkie. But I'm sure she'll do so much relaxing, reading, playing and riding the jet ski that she won't even notice.

I'll catch you up on our adventures on Sunday.

Bon voyage to me!
Taylor

A Howling Good Time

It was another busy summer week at my house. Grandma Jan stopped by on Monday and us grand kids piled on her for some cuddle time. That sentimental moment lasted just that-a moment. Then Mom took this picture:
Sometimes I like to express myself by doing silly things with my clothes. Like turning my bib around backwards which renders it completely useless, but makes me look like a superhero. Sweet. I'll take that trade-off.

This week included five trips to the Splash Pool. Four of them were for swim lessons, one was just for fun. I had SOOOO much fun on the play structure. I could stay up there all day, but Mom and the cousins kept dragging me down to sit in the water. They claimed they were getting cold. I was fine so I'm not sure why there was any kind of problem. Mommy says that's called "egocentrism" and it's alright at my age.

I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine. His name is Birdman. I know I know, he's a bear, so why do I call him Birdman?!?! Well you see, he was a Christmas gift from my Greatuncle Birdman and Greataunt Bonnie so I thought it was only fitting to call him Birdman. Get it? I let him sleep in my bed at night and in exchange, he lets me cuddle him when I'm having a tough time sleeping.

This weekend was Angela and Ray's Daycare camping trip. It was a "howling good time" for all. What I mean by that is that it was WINDY! We were on a group site in a big open field on top of a hill that was like a vortex of swirling wind. But we made the best of it and had a great time with friends. I went to bed a little late-9:00 to be exact. I crashed right away and slept good until 1:00. Then I started crying so Mom and Dad let me get in bed with them. I tried and tried and tried but the wind kept making our tent walls swoosh all over and I just could not sleep. So at 2:00 in the morning, Mom and Dad put on their shoes, wrapped me in a blanket and drove home. Thank goodness the campground is only 15 minutes from our house! I was very flustered on the drive home and didn't even fall asleep despite it being the MIDDLE of the night. I was back to sleep at about 2:45 and slept until almost 10:00 this morning. Mommy and Daddy had to go back to the campground to get our stuff so Grandma Jan flew to the rescue and came to our house to watch me. I helped her and Grandpa Bob do some chores at their house and helped them go grocery shopping. Then I came home and I napped from noon to 3:45. I was back in bed for the night at 6:30. I bet Mommy is worried about what time I'll wake up in the morning. I'm just trying to get back on track is all.

Mommy is pretty disappointed in herself that she didn't raise a better camper, but I'm going to try to get the hang of it.

We got to play at a really cool park at the campground. Here is a picture of Daddy helping me cross the monkey bars.

And here is a picture of Mommy and I coming down a huge tube slide.

We also got to go swimming at the man made swimming pond. What with the wind, none of us kids really lasted that long swimming. Here is a picture of us all lined up on the sidewalk during a safety break.

And here is a picture of me with my buddy Clayton. Note the wind and sunburn on our faces. The entire group was afflicted, parents and kids. An epidemic you could say.

Well, that's all I got for now. Hope you're having as much fun with summer as I am!!!

Peace out!

TaterBug

Holiday Fun

This week was another busy one. On Monday I started swimming lessons. I'm having a great time!

I don't like to swim on my back but I love to swim on my tummy!

Nate is also taking swimming lessons. He's in the big kid class. That's right after my baby class. He's very brave. Look at him jumping into the pool. I'm going to swim like Nate someday.

The cousins and I decided since we like to play in the water so much we should fill up the pool in my backyard. It's a small pool but somehow Meggie and Nate find room for tricks like this one:

I had my very first trip to the library this week. Mommy got a little frazzled trying to keep track of me and pick out books for Nate and help Meggie pick out books. But I found this cool rocket ship and it occupied me for short spurts of time.

On Thursday, Mommy and Daddy took me to Stillwater. We found a really cool park called Teddy Bear Park. Grandma Jan has talked about taking us grandkids there, so I must disclaim for my parents that they did not intentionally take me to this park. They just happened to park in the right spot and when we got out of the car, there it was!

It's a pretty cool park, so if you're looking for a fun place to play in Stillwater, I give it two thumbs up.

After we played at the park for a bit, I loaded back up in the stroller and pointed Mom and Dad towards the main street. We checked out a couple shops and walked along the water. Mom and Dad showed me a place called PD Pappy's. They said they used to hang out there a lot in the summer before I came along. They sounded a bit nostalgic and sad about not hanging out there anymore. I think I'll see if Grandma Jan and Grandpa Bob can watch me sometime so they can go back there and listen to some music and relive their glory days. Daddy also showed me the place where he asked Mommy to marry him and the restaurant where they had dinner. How romantic!

We all got hungry during our exploring so we stopped at The Freighthouse for dinner. Just like last time, I loved the pickles!

I also loved me some ketchup. What a genius idea-squishing up tomatoes so you can lick them off of french fries!

Friday was the Fourth of July. Mommy and Daddy and I headed over to the big city of St. Paul where we had lunch at D'Amico & Sons and dessert at Izzy's. Mommy's friend from work, Ms. Jennifer, recommended Izzy's and it was also featured on Food Network. With two strong recommendations, we had to check it out.



Mommy and Daddy each got a Dizzy Izzy. That's five little scoops, each a different flavor. This is good for people like my parents who have a tough time with decisions. They also had a perfect choice for me, The Izzy. One little scoop + one little cone = one BIG yum.

Friday night we went over to Uncle Cooney's house. I had a fun time exploring his backyard and his house and eating baked beans. Sorry, but we didn't get any pictures at that particular outing.

And if a Freighhouse pickle, baked beans, and my first ice cream cone weren't enough for one weekend, Daddy brought home doughnuts when he went to the grocery store Saturday morning. Mine was really good but I shared a bite with Daddy. Gotta take care of my guy.

On Saturday, I had a much anticipated playdate with Quinn. Mom and Amy have been trying for many weeks (or even months?!) to get together and it finally happened! We went to lunch at Applebee's and then played at Lorraine Park. We had a great time but got good and tired and had to cut the fun short to go home for naps.



Saturday night we headed over to Brooklyn Park for yet another social engagement. This time it was off to visit Nate, Michelle, and Olivia. Nate is Daddy's coworker. He makes great fajitas. I wonder what his secret ingredient is...?


Dan and Kristy were also there with their little boy, Alex. He's just two weeks younger than me.

I got to bring my swimsuit along and play in Olivia's pool.

Olivia's pool has a water slide! Isn't that cool? Mommy helped me go down the slide. Then Daddy told her to let me go down all alone. Wow! Talk about full immersion baptism!! But to everyone's surprise, I popped up out of the water like nothing happened. I'm tough like that.


Today we rounded out the weekend with dinner at Outback Steakhouse with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jenni, Uncle John, Meggie and Nate. I'm getting to be more than a handful at restaurants, so Mommy says after Freighthouse, D'Amico & Sons, Applebee's and Outback, she's putting a moratorium on eating out. Sounds good to me. All that squirming around and standing up in my highchair, shouting "Mommy" at the top of my lungs, dropping and eating crayons and flirting with the waitstaff and other customers is getting a bit exhausting.

Well I best go get rested up. I've got another week of swim lessons and lots of playing with Meggie and Nate ahead of me.

Toodles!
Taylor "Itsy Bitsy Spider" Oster

DETOUR

I have three words in defense of my negligent posting. SUMMER IS BUSY! There's been a lot going on lately and not a lot of time to blog about it.

Busy summer activities have included:
-Getting used to a new routine of hanging out with mom and my cousins.
-Grandma Trish visiting me for nine days!
-Grandpa Steve visiting, then going to Portland, Oregon, then coming back, then going to Daddy's company golf outing, then coming back one more time to pick up Grandma Trish and get in one more play session with me.
-Daddy going to his company golf outing.
-My friend Vernie's daughter's graduation open house.
-Going shopping at Albertville with Grandma Trish, Mommy, Aunt Sue and Uncle Lars.
-Going to Como Zoo TWICE-once with Mommy, Megan and Nate, and once with Grandma Trish, Mommy, Aunt Denise, Lacy, Maddie, and Anna.
-Going to the splash pool in South St. Paul.
-Going to Stillwater with Grandma Trish, Aunt Sue, Aunt Tracy and Jayden
-Having a Tupperware party at my house.
-Going to the Kaposia Day's parade in South St. Paul.
-Having pictures taken at the portrait studio with Megan and Nate. We are so cute!
-Going to dinner with Grandma Trish, Grandma Jan, Grandpa Bob, Nate, Megan and Mommy.
-Going on lots of walks with Grandma Trish.

In light of that, I'm sending you on a detour this week. Please find pictures and videos of my "goings on" for the last couple weeks on my flickr site.

Happy day to you!
Taylor

As Promised, Rainy Day Play...

Here is the video of me playing in the rain. Please remember, I was taken inside to be dried off and warmed up immediately after the camera stopped rolling.

Enjoy...