Zoo Day

In celebration of finally having a nice day I took Friday off and Brice and I took Karsten to his first trip to the zoo. He seems to enjoy the fish the best because he can see them swimming by in the great big aquariums but he doesn't seem to get the bigger animals yet, probably because they are too far away for him to really see. The best part about the MN Zoo is the farm because they have a whole barn full of sheep and goats and you can feed and pet them. We took Karsten out of the stroller so he could enjoy his first encounter with a farm animal. Of course, the first thing he does is reach out to grab at something which grabbed the attention of this mamma goat. She then stuck her head through the fence and proceeded to lick Karsten's hand - it was pretty cute. On our way to to the sink to wash up Karsten got licked by a great big goat - he must really taste good that the goats like to lick him! Here are some pictures from our day.

Dad, why is the goat licking me?


Dad, the turtles are swimming right in front of me!


Why are we leaving the turtles?


I don't like the moose, mom - they aren't doing anything!


Wait, the tigers are sleeping too? How come all the animals are asleep?


I also need to share these pictures because they are so funny. Brice gave his stethoscope to Karsten to play with. Do I have another paramedic in the house?




I will be working on getting some more videos posted. The newest one is of Karsten scooting across our bed. Now that he has figured out how to get from point a to point b he gets into a ton of trouble which means I still get nothing done around the house because I have to constantly watch him. He doesn't like being still for long so sitting him in his Bumbo for longer than about 15 minutes is impossible. We really need to take a trip to Babies R Us to get the baby proofing supplies. I'm thinking about getting a little fenced in area that we can set up in the living room and I don't have to worry about constantly watching him. We'll see what we can find.

A weekend of the sniffles

Friday came and I felt like I was coming down with a head cold and sure enough, by yesterday morning it was definately a head cold. My nose is runny on one side and stuffy on the other (how in the world does that happen?) and have a little bit of a scratchy throat. Thank goodness its not a really bad cold - I can actually handle this one. The bad thing is that somehow Brice has it too (he never gets sick) but Karsten, thank goodness, doesn't seem to have any symptoms of being sick other than a few boogers that we have had to suck out of his nose. Karsten and I were supposed to go out to Monticello for my cousin's Eagle Scout Court of Honor but I decided that sitting at home to rest up and get better was probably better for both of us. So I have downed a lot of tea today and have been resting as much as a 4 month old allows. We did manage to get a good 2 hour nap late this morning which was really nice. This cold seems to be moving on pretty quickly so hopefully by tomorrow we will all be as good as gold.

Yesterday we had an early Easter celebration with Brice's dad and a few others that just happened to be there as well. Of course, Karsten got spoiled with lots of new clothes that he can wear this summer and next fall and some toys and baby dinnerware from Brice's aunt. It was a pretty good haul for his first Easter and I'm sure it won't be the last since he will be seeing my parents in a couple of weeks when we take our annual trip up to the north shore. Brice's dad offered to babysit on the 27th so we can go out for dinner for our anniversary....I think we will be taking him up on that one!

On another note, Karsten cut his very first tooth this week! On Monday it was nothing but a tiny little speck of tooth poking out but it has completely broken through now and we are just waiting for it to grow though. He seems to be doing fairly well with the whole teething process except that he can't figure out how to hold his teething rings up to his mouth to chew on them so we have gone to the next best thing.....washcloths. For some odd reason, he can hold onto the washcloth and/or his bib and suck and chew on that forever. We have realized that paper also does the trick. We were sitting in church on Monday night and the thing that kept him happy while we were there was being able to chew on the bulletin although we have to be a little careful with that because he managed to give himself a paper cut but it didn't even faze him. He has also mastered the art of eating cereal off of a spoon. I'm already amazed at how much cereal this kid can put down - he's going to eat us out of house and home one of these days.

Thats all for now - I haven't had a chance to upload any pictures from the camera to the computer so that will have to wait for another time. I now have to deal with a crying baby that wants me.

Another trip to the orchard

Brice and I decided to go on another trip to the orchard to get another staple of fresh apples. This time we decided to go to an orchard that he used to go to with his parents called Minnesota Harvest. I'm not quite sure if it is my favorite orchard to visit although there are lots of horses and ponys and a small petting zoo. The orchard is quite a bit larger than Emma Krumbees and they take you on a tractor ride into the orchard to pick which was fun but the didn't have any farmers market kind of stuff that I was kind of hoping to see. I really wanted to either get some gordes or mums for our front walk but they had nothing like that except pumpkins. I do have to say that their bakery items were really good! I decided to get a carmel apple crunch pastry - it was almost as big as a large to go container. Don't believe me? Here's the proof!

Here are some pictures of us out in the orchard. I was so proud of myself because I actually remembered the camera for once!





After we got home, Brice decided to declare war on all of the box elder bugs that have decided to come back terribly again this year. He sprayed all of the ones we had inside with a home made mixture of dishsoap and water which surprisingly works. After doing that he made his way outside but I'm not quite sure what good it did but to make them all mad and now we have even more that have somehow come into the house. That will be an on-going battle until it gets cold enough to kill all of the bugs.

The baby is trying to make his way out, it might be a little slower than I would like but I'm positive that it won't be much longer. I did get woken up a couple of times this morning with a mild contraction but there have been no others. We took a walk around the neighborhood again tonight to help get him moving down - I'm hoping that it actually works. I know that something is working because I do have a lot more pressure in my pelvis which is a good sign! I'm hoping he decides he's done cooking soon because I don't know if I can honestly hold up until the 26th. We will keep everyone updated!

Homecoming 2007 and Smitty

Yesterday was really busy for us. We got up early and had to be over to Concordia for the all choir reunion any time after 8:30....we left about 8:15 and got there right before 9 so we made some pretty good time from here. We had breakfast there with some of my old choir mates and then we headed over to the chapel where we were having a massed choir rehearsal before the dedication of the new chapel addition. I have to admit it looks pretty spectacular....there is even air conditioning in the addition now but not so much yet for the actual chapel, it was really warm in there! Not only did they add to the chapel but they actually did some remodeling inside....ripped out the old gymnasium tile and put in some hardwood floors, framed all of the stained glass windows so that they stand out better and hid all of the radiators with actual radiator boxes. The rehearsal and chapel service was pretty fun because a couple of the old choir directors came back and got to direct as well. I have to say that there is a definate difference between the directing that we learned in school and what these old directors did....it is very miniscule and really nothing much to it which made it very hard to follow. But, it was still a great time! After that we headed back to the theatre building where the street party was starting. We had wristbands that got us unlimited food, drinks, carnival rides and beer in the alumni tent. Yea, I was a little bummed about having to miss out on the beer but Brice was really excited because he got a good Summit Ocktoberfest to go with his brats.

Here are a few pictures from the afternoon. We will start with a picture of the pit where 3 dorms and a house used to be. Early this fall they tore them all down to build this huge 4 floor apartment style dormatory (why couldn't they have had that when I was there????)

This next one is the front of the chapel addition.

Me petting a little calf at the petting zoo. Brice didn't tell me when he was snapping the picture so I look a little wierd.

A self portrait of us after just having downed a bag of mini donuts.

And last but not least, I'm going to call this my ode to Josh Huber.

So, after having done all of this, we left around 4pm to head down to Eden Prairie because we had tickets to see Michael W. Smith at Grace church. Since we got there so early we decided to stop at the mall and do a little window shopping and get a snack before we headed down to the church for the concert. We really had a great time....the show ended up being sold out so I'm glad I got tickets when I did. I was a little perterbed with people though because when we got the tickets in the mail there was an insert that said there was no photography allowed so being the good person that I am, I did not take the camera in. Obviously, this didn't stop people from taking a million pictures but now I'm mad that I have nothing to show for being there....grrrrrr..... Anyways, the concert was more like Smitty unplugged. He did a lot of worship and praise music and only a small set of actual Smitty originals. We were a little disappointed that it wasn't a bigger, less accoustic concert but with Smitty you can't go wrong. This guy is a freakin' genious! I would be happy with half of the talent that he's got. He was talking about his new Christmas album that's coming out in a couple of weeks and I'm really excited to hear it. He got to record it at Abby Road in London and all the pieces are original and John Williams-eske. Just think, Smitty meets John Williams.....I can't think of anything more music geeky than that!

Today, we went to church and in the bulletin they were advertising for an open worship leader for their new Threshold services that are geared directly to young adults. I'm seriously thinking about applying for it - it's a part time position and it would allow me to actually use my degree (YES!!!!) and do something different that I have always wanted to do (get more into the contemporary music scene). I have a lot to think and pray about regarding that.

I'll close with a picture of a present that was waiting for me when I got home from work on Friday afternoon.

Saturday review

I had a pretty good day today. Woke up around 8 and watched some news, ate some cheerios and watched a little fun animal shows and a little bit of Mythbusters (this is our favorite show.....if you have never seen Mythbusters on Discovery, I highly recommend it, it is a show the whole family will enjoy). I finally decided to get out of my comfy flannel pj's which almost don't fit around my belly anymore and got ready for a baby shower that my friend Donna held for me at her house. She had wonderful food! She decided to go with brunch and made this egg bake that had croissants for crust, eggs, potatoes, cheese and sausage in it.....mmmmm, that was really tasty! She also had all of the decorations, plates and napkins all Noah's Ark - it was so cute! Of course, I forgot my camera because Brice was rushing me out of the door so fast that I don't have any pictures. There were just a few people that showed up but it was a fun time. I got to see my aunt Barb and my cousin Courtney and my friend Allison who I have not seen in forever so that was really nice. Since I didn't get any pictures of the shower, I decided to take a picture of one of the gifts that I got. Donna got this great bouncy seat for the baby that actually vibrates and plays music. I decided to put it together once I got home and it is so cute!


Brice and I decided to make beer can chicken on the grill tonight for dinner. Of course, I go out to check it after an hour and there is no flame left in the grill and we were 5 degrees away from it being done so we had to bring it in the house and finish it in the oven but it turned out really well.

Brice decided that he wanted pictures of his hand, stitches and all, to put up on his blog. I promised him that I would not post them here so if any of you want, I am going to send you over to his blog to check it out.

Well, that's all for now. Tomorrow is church day and after that I'm going to spend some time in Karsten's room and hopefully get everything done....I have curtains to hang, the rug to vacuum, the furniture put where it goes and pictures to hang. Hopefully I can get that done and post pictures of the finished product for you all to see.

Weekend and Pavarotti

It's been a pretty long and busy weekend! Friday was the usual get to work, put in your 8 hours and you are so glad to go home. Before the end of the day though I had a meeting with my supervisor to figure out some of this maternity leave stuff. After having a lengthy discussion with him about how things in our department need to change or I have to leave actually made me feel a little better. He is totally on my side with everything and dosen't see why all of this is even an issue. He said that when him and his wife decide to start their family he is going to ask for exactly the same things that I am. So now, we have to try and talk the other managers of our department into being a little more flexible. We'll see where all of this goes.

On Saturday morning we woke up and realized there was nothing for breakfast so we went to Perkins to have a hearty one (there is something about sleeping in and going for a late breakfast at Perkins on the weekend that is just satisfying). We went back home and Brice decided to do some cleaning and I went up to Wal-mart to get some shopping done. I had to go take a couple of duplicate gifts back that we got for the baby and got one of those warm sacks for taking the baby outside during the winter....he'll be nice and warm in that. After coming home I decided to tackle all of the clothing items that we had gotten for Karsten. I went through everything, took off the tags on the stuff he can wear right away, unwrapped all the blankets and unpackaged everything else that needed to be washed and I washed it all. There was so much stuff that I ended up with 2 large loads of laundry....for a baby! I was amazed at how much stuff there was. Everything is so fluffy that it took a little longer than normal to dry in the dryer and there was a TON of fuzz to deal with. So, everything is washed and put away in the dresser ready to go unless I get more. After looking at what clothes we had and didn't have we realized that he only had one pair of cord pants and a pair of jean overalls and the rest were all jammie type pants. There were also a LOT of short sleeved onsies but only one zip up sweater that he can wear over the top. So, after church today we took a trip to Target and found him 3 pairs of pants and a knitted zip up sweater. We also found a small bookshelf to put in his room that was on clearance so now we have MORE furniture to put together. Back to Saturday, we cut up some of the apples that we got at the apple orchard last weekend and made this totally yummy carmel apple bar recipe....it is SOOOOO good! I have a feeling that I will make more because we have a good 10 pounds of apples left.

Tonight we went over to the VFW for dinner because the fire department was having it's annual chicken fry. I don't quite understand the connection between firemen and being good at grilling but it sure makes a great combo. The food was wonderful and our money went to a good cause.

There was this amazing article in the StarTribune today about Pavarotti....it says completely what all of us musicians strive for but can never quite grasp completely but Pavarotti had it all. I enjoyed reading it and I think I'll have to hang a copy of it up in my cube or on the fridge or something because it is truely inspiring.

John Timpane: His talent really was that rare
There are three unusual abilities that must be wedded to become the singer he was.

John Timpane

Published: September 09, 2007

Luciano Pavarotti once sang a song of mine.
I wasn't there; I had to wait for the video on PBS. He didn't sing lead; he came in on the choruses. But the way he performed even this relatively humble musical task -- compared with the mammoth spectaculars, the Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti heroics for which he had become famous -- taught me what it takes to make a Pavarotti. It's more than meets eye or ear, and that says a lot for so big a man.

Along with Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, and a tiny group of others, Pavarotti married three singular, extremely rare talents. To have a Pavarotti, you need all of them; without any one, you might have a pretty good thing, but not the human miracle in such a singer.

Thing 1: The Voice. This is the province of the Creator, and only if it pleases Him/Her/Them. You know that truism about "You can either play in the NBA or you can't"? The Pavarotti-level voice is much, much rarer than the man or woman who can dunk. Maybe a few thousand people around the world can play professional basketball. How many Pavarottis are there at one time?

Thing 2: Musicianship. People think singers like Pavarotti stride on to the stage, take their stance and just belt it out. Not so. To be a singer at that level, you must be a musician. You must learn your instrument through and through (including the athletics of it, the exercise, the preparation, the competition, the mentors and coaches). You must grow expert in the history of music, the rules, the legacies of thousands of other performers. It's a religion. It's slavery.

But then the hard part. Thing 2B. You must somehow reach through all that training and use music to explore reality, human emotion, the situation of human beings in the world.

You must learn how to challenge, touch, enlighten others. Some of this can be taught. Much can't. You have to have lived in the world with your eyes and spirit wide open. No true musician is only a technician, only a plumber with facts and techniques. You can study music all your life -- thousands do -- and "know everything about music" (thousands do) and still not have what I'm talking about. Pavarotti had the unteachables. He would have been a wondrous musician no matter his voice.

Thing 3: An entertainer's sense to match voice and musicianship. Pavarotti was the hammiest of hams, far beyond the bourgeoise overacting of the operatic tradition: He seldom hesitated to milk the moment, search the funny bone, prompt the reach for the hankies. He also, however, was a professional who honored what the entertainer does: assess the mood and needs of the audience and work to realize them. Entertainment, whether classical music or dime dancer, is a generous act, outerly, other-oriented. Watch a Pavarotti performance sometime. Watch his eyes, his body language. He's reading the audience because he needs them to need him.

Many people have one of these things -- an exquisite physical gift; mastery of music; audience connection. Almost no one, and maybe only a handful in the world in any one generation, has them all. Pavarotti had them all.

I am proud and thrilled to have helped write a song on which Pavarotti actually sang. The event was a 1995 "Pavarotti and Friends" benefit concert in Modena for the orphans left by the bloody conflict in Bosnia. The Croatian musician Nenad Bach asked me to work with him on the lyrics to a song -- "Can We Go Higher?" -- that asked whether humanity could ever live in peace, ever transcend its legacy of tribal violence. Nenad sang lead, I recall, but Pavarotti sat in on the choruses -- and he did what he always did, pitched for the home team, took that stance we all know so well and just blasted out the music -- but with earned emotion, eyes traveling the crowd, calling them in. He probably had heard the song maybe a few hours before, and yet he was laying out all his resources on its behalf, as though it were Beethoven. It was a benefit; he was either not getting paid or not getting his normal check. And there he was, not even the lead, working his work.

He did the same thing for many causes, political and musical. He was the best salesman classical music ever had, just by being himself. Remember: The miracle in a musician is mostly invisible. The miracle you hear is the miracle he or she has lived. I am glad that, if only for the slenderest of moments, I got a chance to see him live it.

John Timpane is a musician and the associate editor of the editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer. He wrote this for the Hartford Courant.

A busy weekend

So, as the title states, Brice and I had a very busy weekend. Friday we actually stayed home and went to get some ice cream. Our busy-ness started on Saturday with first stop of the day being Caribou Coffee to get Brice some must have java. After sitting there with the brew of the day and reading the paper for about an hour, we took a trip to Northwestern bookstore and were there a really long time. I love going to that store and I could always find something to take home with me but Brice can do nothing but walk around for HOURS and still be perfectly happy. I have about an hour and a half limit on bookstores before I get bored. After that, we drove to Eagan where our baby shower was being held at Brice's dad's house but we were really early so we decided to take a stop at Target to waste some more time. While we were driving around, we saw a lot of trees down over there from the early morning storm on Saturday. We must not have gotten the worst of the storm down here because we really didn't have anything but a few small branches fall off the trees by the pond. Oh, the pond....Friday it was completely devoid of water and with all of the rain we've had this weekend, it is completely full again! That makes me glad because then the ducks will come back. Anyway, back to the shower. We got there and opened up lots of presents and got to visit with a lot of Brice's mom's side of the family who we ususally don't see more than once a year so that was really nice. We heard a sad story when talking to Brice's great aunt Barb. They had this really nice golden retriever (probably one of the best dogs I have ever seen) who one day, went outside to do his business, started barking at the dog next door and just fell over and died....it's so sad! Brice said that at least he died happy while he was barking. So now, they have a new golden retriever and he is just a little puppy so we are going to have to go over there and visit to see him! After we got the car all packed up with all of the goodies that we had to bring home, we got caught driving through another storm! We were about a mile from home, pulling onto main street when it started pouring in sheets and hailing. I pulled into the gas station to get underneath the awning until it let up a little bit. After about 5 minutes it decided to stop hailing and let up enough so we could see for the rest of the drive home and we finally got here. We had to wait about an hour or so before we could actually unload the car because it was pouring.

Today, of course, started with church with a trip to Babies R Us right afterward. We decided to buy the last 2 larger purchases that were absolute necessities for the baby (the carseat/stroller combo and a dresser for his room). We were just able to squeeze the box for the carseat and stroller in the back seat of Brice's car but he has to go back with his dad on Tuesday to pick up the dresser because the box is way to big to fit in any of our vehicles. After tuesday we will have the crib and the dresser and we should be able to finally start putting clothes away and finding places for everything. After our trip to Babies R Us was a stop at MOA for a short walk and another stop at Caribou Coffee for Brice. We then met my college roommate and her family for a late lunch across the street from there at Chevy's. It was really nice getting to catch up with everything going on with them because we don't get to see them a whole lot. Of course, they had to bring us a present too which was very nice of them!

Tonight has just been the normal doing the dishes, the laundry kind of stuff and now Brice is out on the porch reading a book and I need to go fold some laundry. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend as did we (although we have no pictures to prove it...I took the camera everywhere but never took it out).