Major happiness!

My little brother (19 months younger) is coming to visit me! This is the first time that any of my family members have come to see where I live. It's hard not being able to share my life with them. Sometimes I struggle with that. I know it's hard for them to stop everything (including income) and drive 10-12 hours to come just for a few days. So having my brother-friend come to visit me is not only special but very sweet. He's driving which means 2 out of the 4 days will be set aside for traveling, but I'll take what I can get.

I'm really excited that he'll be here for Simon's baby dedication...thrilled actually. He'll also get to meet all of my dear MN. friends and hopefully get to know my second family better too. Nate and I are extremely close, we always have been. People who saw us at an early age would swear that we were twins.

My parents said that we fought quite a bit when we were younger, but aside from a scar, I don't really remember that. I do remember seeing him as competition...I always wanted to be better or as good as he was at any activity that we did together. I still remember a time where I could run faster then him...that didn't last long ;) I do remember Nate and I being mean to my 3rd and 4th siblings. They were the "good" children and always told on us...Nate and I hated that. We have since grown out of that (thankfully) and now as I live hundreds of miles away, I miss my tattletale-sibs.

Nate loves kids and I think he misses Simon a lot...that's actually a HUGE reason for him making this special trip out here. He would make a great Uncle if he lived closer...and Simon I know would love hanging out with him.

Even though Nate will only be here for a couple short days, I am secretly hoping that he will fall in love with St. Paul and move here...that would be close to heaven for me. Sigh. Nate loves music and has quite the library of fantastic artists and albums. I'm working on putting together a fun mix of music for him to play on his way back to Fort Wayne...hopefully that'll pass the time faster. I love you, bro!

Trash to treasure...

I love thrift store shopping...I really do. There's just something about walking into a store where you'll never know what you'll come across. It really is a fun challenge to see what you can find and how much you can save. I've been trying to clean out our closet for a while now and this week seemed to be the week since my brother is coming to visit. Little did I know that we had 2 HUGE bags and two medium bags of stuff to get rid of that had been accumulating for a couple of months now. It's such a good feeling to get rid of stuff. I do find it humorous to drop off 4 bags and then go shopping, hehe...at least I didn't come out with the same amount of stuff.

So today I went to Hidden Treasures Thrift Store, (I always feel better about donating and shopping at a ministry-owned thrift store). I spent $24 and got all of this stuff:



I'm really excited about the art...now I just need to find the perfect places for them. I also like the little "6" sweater that I found for Simon...6 is a special number because he was born on the 6th (yes, I'm sentimental). Brand new jeans never hurt nor did dollhouse shoes...so cute!

Surprise!

So Peter surprised me on Tuesday. He emailed me asking if I was busy Friday afternoon? I emailed him back saying "no, I don't think so. Why?" He replied by saying he had gotten a babysitter for the day and wanted to take me to Stillwater. My husband makes me happy. It's not like we don't ever get out just the two of us...we do a lot! I guess it was the way he went about planning the day out together that made me feel so special. Usually if we want to go out, we talk about it together, figure out all the details and then I arrange for someone to come over to take care of the babes. There's just something about being surprised and him taking care of all the details that made this so special. Thank you, honey!

This couldn't come at a better time either. I don't know if it's because we're in the dead of winter right now or what, but we've been itching to get of of St.Paul and go on a vacation (not that I consider this a vacation...but right now, I'll take what I can get!). It's not that easy doing so with a baby though...especially a baby who does not like to travel. Peter and I are kicking ourselves for not going on a trip, just the two of us before the baby was born. Work and such got in the way and before we knew it, August was upon us. Oh well. What can you do? One of these days we will go on a real vacation...not a trip to Fort Wayne, or Duluth, but a real out of state vacation - New York City, California, the Bahamas...some day. This trip to Stillwater tomorrow (even though it's just shy of 20 miles away) will be a nice getaway.