Our Baby Girl Turns Three!

Our sweet Miss Erica turned 3 on February 20th, which unfortunately was the same weekend that my dad passed away. Despite the sadness, we were still able to do some birthday celebrating for our big girl. Friday evening we stayed overnight at the Waterpark of America and played all evening until the park closed down. Then Sunday, we had a big "Dora" birthday party at our home with our friends and neighbors. We thought about canceling the party, but I am still thankful we had it. I think it was good for us--to take our mind off things for a bit, and just celebrate Erica's life. I knew, too, that my Dad would've wanted us to still have her party.

Erica, E.Rae, Little Miss E, Love Bug, Boo, Punky.......
what can I say about the little girl who we love so dearly,
and changed our lives forever on February 20th, 2006?

Not a day goes by that we are not beyond thankful to have you in our lives.
You never cease to amaze us with your independent spirit and immense strength.
You are loving, caring, & cuddly, yet feisty, strong & resilient.

Soon you will be a big sister, which you are Sooo excited about!
We are very excited to see you in your new role, and your new little brother or sister will be so lucky to have you as a big sister.

Happy Belated Birthday, Erica. We love you more than words can say!

And Now for Some Happy News......

As some of you may have heard already, we are happy to announce that we are expecting again!!

Yes-- call us crazy insane, or insane crazy...but we have decided to add a baby #3 to the Sharpe family. We will officially be out-numbered, which is sure to be interesting and a little chaotic at times. We keep having to remind ourselves that both of our parents did it, and we all turned out just fine (well, mostly)!

I am finally done with the first trimester, and starting to feel a little more human again. The nausea seems to be relenting a bit, which is a huge relief. I am also growing out of all of my "normal" pants, so have moved to elastic waistband yoga pants at this point. Ugh, it's insane how much quicker you "pop" with each subsequent pregnancy. *Note the above picture is from my pregnancy with Erica, not this one....it was just added for visual effect and impact* :)

So, much for to come on this subject--including growing belly photos. Hayden and Erica are ecstatic about the news, which has been really fun to see. Our unofficial due date is 9/13/09, which was my exact due date with Hayden, as well. Hopefully I can deliver before Kindergarten starts on 9/8?? We'll see!

Thank you

I wanted to take a second to thank all of our family and friends for their undying love and support during this very emotional time since my Dad passed away.

I cannot tell you how much your thoughts, prayers, kind words, hugs, emails, cards, flowers, calls, & meals have meant to us. Your support is truly what is getting us through the hardest of times, and we cannot thank you enough.

Just know that your thoughtfulness with never be forgotten.

We are beyond blessed to have such amazing friends and family in our lives.

~~~

Rich is not how much you have,
or where you are going in life.
Rich is who you have beside you along the way.

In Loving Memory of Larry Alfred Smith

It is with great sadness that I post this message.

After a five year battle with kidney cancer, my beloved Dad is finally at peace.

He passed away very peacefully at home, surrounded by family at 2:30 am on Saturday, 2/21.

He was 58 years old, and an amazing husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle & friend. We will all remember him for his dedication and love to his family, gifted wood working skills, LOVE for Harley motorcycles, black leather vest, & kind, gentle nature.

Though we will all struggle to figure out how to live this life without him in it, his love and memory will never be forgotten.

Memorial Service was held at Strike Funeral Home in Cambridge, MN on Tuesday, 2/24/09

Long Awaited January Updates.....

Yes, we are still alive and well.....just WAY behind on blog posts! :)

Let's see where to even begin.....we have spent most of January at inside venues because of the frigid cold temps, and we are BEYOND ready for Spring to come, but that is beside the point.

This is what Hayden has looked like for most of the month of January--really ever since Santa delivered this gift under the tree:

Our very own Clone Trooper...the kid is a Star Wars nut!

We have officially recovered from Christmas, and finally got the tree down a few weekends ago, but didn't get the boxes down to the crawl space until yesterday! Nothing like being timely.
I like to think we are just really festive people.

We enjoyed a trip to the MN zoo--always a hit with H&E--thank god for our membership. Even fun to go in the winter and do the Tropics Trail and Discovery Cove. They LOVE the aquariums.

A hog pile on daddy helped to burn some steam....

Many, many trips to Cambridge to spend time with Nana and Papa Smith:

We love, love, love these guys....

...and Nana always manages to spoil the kids with treats--on this particular day, she had popsicles, which were a HUGE hit!

Another fun family outing we had was to the St Paul Chamber Orchestra's 50th Birthday celebration. Jon's parents got us free tickets to a kid-friendly concert, with festivities before hand by Creative Kids Stuff to celebrate their birthday. We went to Cosetta's before the concert for pizza, and just had a great day together!

Making birthday hats for the concert...

Mesmerized by the percussionists, our kids didn't make a peep the entire concert.

Some video footage for your enjoyment:



Other than that, the kids (and Jonathan) had some fun experimenting with dry ice
from our grocery delivery:

Next Up....Swimming Lessons, and other exciting developments in the Sharpe household!!

Stay Tuned.

Ice Tubing!

We had great intentions of going sledding on Christmas Day, but ended up taking naps, reading, playing, watching movies, and having an ultra lazy day instead. We also got two awesome snow tubes as a Christmas gift from aunt Kathryn, so couldn't wait to try them out this weekend.

Saturday after nap, we bundled up and headed over to Creek Valley in Edina, which is the hill that Jon grew up sledding on. Despite the icy conditions....we had a BALL!! Again, I am not sure if the kids or Jon & I had more fun...until one of our tubes popped that is!! :)

Here is some fancy video footage that I just love.....
thanks to Jonathan, the camera stunt man~

Pre-Christmas Festivities........

The holidays are near judging by the view out my picture window, and by the crazy schedule we are trying to keep these days!! Our calender is full of festivities and here are just a few to share:

Hayden and Erica all dressed in red for their preschool Christmas party:

A little Santa action......

Erica sat on Santa's lap first, and was a little (ok, a lot) skiddish. He tried to get her to
talk about what she wanted, and to touch his beard, but she looked about like this (one step from tears) the whole time she was on his lap.

Hayden on the other hand.....had a list about a mile long for Santa!!
I think Santa had to cut him off half way through his requests!

A cute self portrait of Jon and Erica from the party...

Here is some footage of the kids singing Christmas carols in their elf hats:

And finally the kids and I this morning before leaving to go see Peef The Christmas
Bear at Stages Theater in Hopkins:

Well, that's all I've got for now--but definitely more to come on this subject!!!