There is a Mouse in our House ;-) Halloween Fun has Begun!

Another quick and busy work week!  We were excited to head into the weekend for some R&R and mentally preparing for another busy week ahead.

Week 29 - 10 Weeks Until C-Section

 Cutie hanging out at daycare

 Future Big Sister

Feeding her babies snack!!

 Someones Halloween Costume Arrived!

She is a Mouse and along with Natalie & Harper will be 3 Blind Mice!

This girl just LOVES the tutu and says she is a princess mouse!

Friday - My calendar allowed for me to work from home which was good because I had another busy, productive and LONG to do list kind of Friday!  Clint and Maci got home a little early around 4p and he played with her so I could continue working on a few things, finally wrapping up when pizza arrived at 6p.  We then had a relaxing night of catching up on our shows (Scandal & Brooklyn 99) while Maci caught up her new favorite Peppa Pig on the I-pad :)

Saturday - It felt good to sleep in a bit since I have had this horrid cough all week.  We then headed to gym and to brunch with our friends.  Afterward, we ran our errands and never got M to nap :(  While we tried to have her nap, Clint worked on the front door (almost done!) and I got some more work to dos checked off.  The no nap proved to make her a bit cranky while we prepped for a fun night at our neighborhood Halloween party, Westwood Nature Center.  Clint and I agreed this was ADORABLE and we need to go every year in the future.  Maci had a ball and says the animals were her favorite part, oh and the candy Mom! :)

The Mouse is Ready!

 Family Photos!

Playing Some Games for Treats

 On the Mother Nature Trick or Treat Trail

She LOVED seeing a Bunny!

 And the Fox . . .

 And of course the Woodpecker

Which Maci continues to call the Parrot :)

 Oh and We Loved the Firefighting Puppy!

Enjoying Refreshments & The DJ Dance Party

Wrapping up the Trail

 Face Painting before calling it a night!

Oh and she wanted a Duck?!

Sunday - We kicked off the day getting some needed to dos done around the house like putting the baby crib back together and renewing the Costco membership - of course all to be done by noon when NFL kicks off in central time zone.  We are now enjoying our football games and then will prep for a busy week ahead.  I am so excited that we have some of our favorite chicken wild rice soup going in the crock pot too!  That should help with the sore throats and chilly weather :)

We hope everyone has a great week ahead and enjoy the beautiful fall colors!
Lots of Love,
C, K, M & Baby Boy Mondell

Ps - Boomer turned 6 on Saturday.  Hey, at least we know his birthday unlike the cat, Milo :)  He is resting near a roaring fire so I think life is OK for him!

Busy Week and Lazy Weekend!

Someone REFUSED to nap last Sunday so we found her 1/2 asleep in the dog crate

This week was jam packed between Clint heading to Pennsylvania Monday through Tuesday and I was helping to lead global HR team meetings Monday-Thurs here in Minneapolis.  In addition, I had my 28 week appointment and Glucose screening Monday morning - passed wahoo!  While they were great meetings and good to see everyone, the to do list keeps growing and needless to say by the time I left the office on Friday I was ready to crash!

Maci got to have fun with Costume Kim coming to visit as a pumpkin

 She also got to meet her teacher Miss Jade's new baby Hayden - So sweet!

Friday - I went into work at 6a to get a jump start on the day now that meetings were over and I hit the road at 6p so it was a long but thankfully productive day!  I picked up Maci and came home to a pizza dinner with the family.  We then watched some tv together before I took a hot bath to hopefully stop some braxton hicks contractions and an aching back.  Fortunately that helped and we called it an early night.

Turned 28 weeks on Wed but forgot to take  pic until Friday night 

I look exhausted!

Saturday - We had the usual fun gym class followed by bagels to go since I was able to get a last minute prenatal massage at 1130a - THANK GOODNESS!  We completed the usual errands afterward and then came home for Clint to keep working on the front door and Maci to nap.  Clint worked on the door and Maci REFUSED to nap again :(  I attempted to get some more work done but that is quite hard with Clint outside working on the door and a cranky tired toddler who refuses to lie down.  We finally got Maci to crash and Clint and I caught up on the first 3 episodes of Scandal.  While I attempted to work at times, it was nice to have a long day of no real plans!

Sunday - Clint just got back from a morning run and Maci and I are slowly getting dressed for the day.  I am attempting to get the house errands all wrapped up for the weekend so I can enjoy the Bengals game and then attempt to get a few more work items done before a packed Monday calendar.  Maci's daycare is closed every Columbus day for a teacher in service so Clint and she will be home together tomorrow while I tackle my busy calendar.  Fortunately, my week frees up a bit more as the week progresses and reverts back to normal busy vs utter chaos :)

Getting ready for the big game!

We are getting very excited for the coming Halloween fun with our lil M.  Next weekend we have a neighborhood annual halloween party at the local nature preserve, the following weekend we will do the Zoo halloween and finally the next weekend is HALLOWEEN!  Clint and I have a neighbor party on the 30th and Maci plus Natalie/Harper will trick or treat on the 31st together.

We hope everyone has a nice week ahead and are enjoying a beautiful fall like we are here in MN!
Lots of Love,
C, K, M & Baby Boy to be

Daddy Football Fun, Pumpkin Patch and Halloween Costume Plans

Mommy had a busy Tuesday after work with both an eye dr apt (20-15 vision still!) and hair apt so that meant I wasn't home until 930p but Maci and daddy had a blast at the neighborhood park with Evelyn and Lilian (twin neighbors).

Wednesday night was a perfect fall night with just a little chill in the air and daddy finally had a football game which started before Maci's bed time.  Maci loved running the bleachers, eating M&Ms and yelling "good catch daddy!"  I had a blast taking pics with my lil ham!

 Make a Football Face Miss M

Friday - We finished out the week with me working from home again this Friday - ah so productive!  Clint went to a habitat for humanity event with his team and Maci had a good Friday at daycare.  I ordered pizza when the gang was on the way home and Clint began working again on the front door - the paint stripping process is painfully slow!  I enjoyed some shark tank and Maci went to bed far too late!

Saturday - Busy Saturday!  We had gym and then brunch with our friends from gym.  After brunch, we ran to Oshkosh to get Maci some larger sized winter clothes and get the grocery trip done.  We then got a few things done around the house while Maci "attempted" a nap.  Come 330p the Toledo rockets had won again and we were off back to Apple Jacks apple orchard but this time we were picking pumpkins!  Maci was quite proud of her selections!

After the patch, we had dinner at Red Robin and watched the end of the TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT OSU game!  Once we were home, Maci and I played around the house while dad worked  on the door again!

Bored Dinner Companion

 This is her MONSTER Face =)

Sunday - Clint's Dolphins disappointed even earlier today than usual thanks to their game being live in London.  They are horrible!  Fortunately the Bengals are showing some promise so Clint can get on that bandwagon ;-)  We have already made some homemade salsa and have white chicken chili in the crock pot.  We will then be watching the Bengals game today followed by a haircut for Maci and Clint.  I need to get a little bit more work done tonight in front of the night game.  Nice little Sunday!

This will be a hectic week in the Mondell house with Clint heading to PA for Mon-Tues and we have our entire global HR team in town for meetings which I built the agenda so I want to make sure all runs smoothly.  I am sure we will all be ready for the weekend after this jam packed work week!

We hope you all have a great week as well!
Lots of Love,
C, K, M & Lil Man To Be

Cooties Fun & Relaxing Weekend!

Maci has been having a blast playing hide and go seek at school with her toddler friends.  Although I am fairly sure the game ends quickly when they all hide in the same place :)  This must be a thing with their age because the same thing happened when they played hide and seek at gym class.  :)

I worked from home on Friday and had quite a shock when I was sent a picture from daycare with the caption "cute couple."  Check out Miss M with lil cutie Jack - there are so many Jack's at her school and she has been associated with each of them at one time or another ;-)

Friday - As mentioned above, I took advantage of a lighter meeting schedule to work from home in an effort to get a lot done.  Fortunately I had worked from home because lots of random things seemed to keep popping up on Friday that it helped me to still get a lot completed.  Clint and Maci showed up around 5p and we were off to Nordstrom Rack to get her some new fall shoes.  She is in LOVE with one of the pairs which are Puma gym shoes that light up on the sides.  We then went to punch pizza for a family dinner followed by some college football at home.

Saturday - We started our day with gym class where Maci got to show off her new shoes to Natalie and Harper.  Afterward we grabbed some bagels and then off to the weekly grocery trip.  We headed home so both Maci and I could get a nap (I am starting to have a harder time sleeping at night thanks to a constantly moving baby!).  Clint enjoyed an afternoon of college football and a weekend with no real plans!  We were all up and moving again around 430p.  Once we were up we made some dinner and played Maci's new game (Cootie!)  She is still a little young to understand why she doesn't get a part each time but she thinks it is such a funny game!  Afterward, she and I took a walk on a gorgeous day and ran into all our neighbor friends while dad worked on stripping the pant off the front door and sanding it back to its original cedar view.  We will then stain and hopefully restore the beautiful 1950's original door.

Sunday - Enjoying an entire day of football at home!  First up is the Bengals and then Clint's Dolphins are on at 330 our time.  I need to do a little bit of work that was left over from Friday but it is never as bad when it is being done in front of a football game.  Maci is compromising for her dad and wearing the "other team" today (poor girl!)  Well back to football and screaming at the TV - sorry neighbors ;-)

Lots of Love,
C, K, M & Baby Boy Mondell

Date Night with Baseball & Sunday full of Football!

We introduced Maci to the yumminess of Cincinnati Chili Coney's on Monday night.  She kept saying "oh this is yummy mommy"  Yes I agree!  We also have some left over chili which means coney's again this week :)  Wahoo!!

Maci has been loving this month's theme at school which has every thing to do with dirt, dump trucks etc.  She may be a girly girl on some things but this kid LOVES sand and dirt :)  I love that the picture's caption said "our friends are enjoying the sensory table with sand, dirt and toys"  Umm isn't Maci the only one playing here - not surprised she is monopolizing it!

I reached the big 25 week mark and fortunately don't feel too big yet :)  I finally got the belly book caught up this weekend.  I already feel so bad for "2nd kid" as I just don't have the energy to get some of the same things done for him like I have for Maci!

Oh and Maci is officially in her big girl room with all of the furniture now complete - THANK YOU CLINT!  Clint worked on this a little bit each night and we finally moved in the remaining pieces on Wednesday night.  Maci Loves the finished room and will tell you the baby gets the little room, she has a big girl room!!

Had to make room for our friend the giraffe 

Friday - Fairly low key night.  We grabbed sandwiches for dinner and hit up home depot for some supplies to start the next home project : touching up chipping paint around the external windows and attempting to bring our front door back to the original wood stained vs a painted door.  I totally fell asleep early again, typical these days after a long week!

Saturday - Clint stayed home while we had our new home security system installed.  I am so happy to have this with Maci now sleeping on a different floor than us - just gives me peace of mind.  While Clint was at home, Maci and I ran a few errands and enjoyed gym class!  Afterward, Clint painted the trim around the side door and I ran to the grocery while Maci took a late nap.  Finally it was time for Miss Kaitlin to come over and watch Maci while we went out on our monthly date night to a Twins game.  Such a pretty night for a game and a great view.  Unfortunately the twins lost but it came down to the last batter of the 9th inning so at least some excitement.

Sunday - Clint got started on the rest of the window painting early today while I got things done around the house and kept Maci entertained.  Maci watched the 1st half of the Bengals game with me but then went down for nap while I finished cheering on those mighty Bengals!  Wahoo!  Now we are finishing up on some house chores, watching the Dolphins and waiting on Maci to wake up.  Once she wakes we are heading to her pal Natalie's house for an entire mommy and me group get together and BBQ.  I think this was the only thing that got Maci to nap since she knows we go to Natalie's when she wakes up.

Another week and some new Bengals gear

Note the lil tears b/c she had just walked into the door - OOPS!

Off to enjoy the remaining weekend with our friends.  We hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a joyful week ahead.

Lots of Love,
C, K, M & Lil Man Mondell

Fall Like Weather = Apple Picking & Football!!!

We had what felt like a quick work week, happens when you have a Monday holiday!  Maci got to kick off her week at school with some fun Costume Kim time where she came as a truck driver and read books about locomotion.  Later in the week they had a rainbow day where they wore shirts with rainbow colors and played with some science/craft color thing "so not something I am good at" see picture below :)

Costume Kim & Playing with Colors on Rainbow Day

I got to meet Baby Avery Rogers (work friend Megan's daughter) on Wednesday night and Clint got to play in a golf tournament on Friday with work.  Oh and I reached week 24 with baby boy Mondell.

The wives tale of momma's with boys carrying low is ACCURATE in my case. . . 

he is a low rider!

Friday - I had such a productive day at work which had me leaving in such a great mood!  When I got home, Clint and I started on our big weekend project (ugh seems like there is one every week).  We moved the current dresser and headboard in Maci's soon to be big girl room out into the garage.  I am attempting to be crafty and upscale these boring oak items into white antiqued feel pieces.  After we got the items out of the house, we headed to Panera for dinner where Maci made lots of friends (typical) and then to Home Depot to get our primer, paint etc.  I started moving her clothes into her new closet and then we called it a night for errands/work.  We watched some tv and crashed.

Saturday - Gym class in the morning followed by a quick bagel vs brunch with friends since we wanted to get back to the furniture project and hopefully still have some fall fun.  Clint got both pieces of furniture sanded and I got her room mainly put together.  After her nap, we decided to head out for some fun apple picking, it was a gorgeous day in high 60s.  Maci LOVED the activities as we had to beg her to leave each one and then she would love the next one even more.

Apple Picking Partners

 Huge Corn Pit

 The Cow Ride

After we finished at Apple Jack's we headed to BW3 for some dinner and caught the very end of the Toledo win!  What a great win for Toledo?!  To beat a ranked SEC team who were running their mouths about Big 10 schedules compared to theirs and then they lose to Toledo - LOVE IT!!

We watched some more football and as usual I crashed on the couch.  I woke up around midnight to realize Clint went to the neighbors house for a fire and drinks - those guys :)  I saw Clint walking down our hill not long after I climbed upstairs to bed myself.  What a busy but fun Saturday!

Sunday - NFL IS BACK!!!  I finished completing Maci's big girl room, which she slept in last night with no problems YAY.  Clint helped to hang her wall decor and then primed all the furniture while I got some to dos done around the house and kept Maci entertained.  Before football started we made some of our homemade salsa for a snack and put on a crockpot of Chicken Wild Rice Soup - YUM!!  We love fall and football!  Miss M even woke up today and when I asked her what's on today - she said "FOOTBALL" and I asked what we say during football - she said "WHO DEYSssss"  Yes she adds and S but I am impressed none the less :)  Maci has taken a crazy good nap today and Clint's Dolphins pulled off an ugly W.  We are now watching the Bengals and hoping for a similar outcome, well not ugly but the W!!  

How Gorgeous is this Lil Girl?!

We hope to finish painting Maci's furniture this week so we can start the next project next weekend!  This time we are on to the front door (hopefully removing the paint and restoring natural wood) and fixing the chipping window trim.  We need to do this many outdoor required projects now because you don't know when the weather may turn!

Have a great week!

Lots of Love,

C, K, M & Lil Man Mondell

Labor Day Fun in Milwaukee!!

We kicked off the week on Monday with Aunt Sue & Mike leaving, Clint and I heading back to work and Maci back to school.  Clint then headed to Milwaukee on Tuesday late afternoon for the rest of his work week.  He was checking out 2 facilities in the area and then easing into our fun long weekend.  I on the other hand had a busy couple of days at work but also enjoyed some Maci/Mommy time at dinner and reading stories in bed together.  Finally it was end of day Thursday and I could turn my attention to packing for our long weekend with Trip & Lori in Milwaukee.  Trip and Lori are friends of ours who moved from Minneapolis to Milwaukee exactly 1 year ago.  Trip is also with Cargill and while we knew each other well in Sidney from a work stand point, we hadn't all started hanging out until we both moved to Minneapolis around the same time a few years ago.  We miss them dearly in Minneapolis and Clint longs for his golf partner in crime to move back to the twin cities, maybe one day!

Friday - Clint, Trip and I all took the day off from Cargill.  Clint and Trip were already up and golfing Friday morning since they were already in town.  Maci and I finished our packing, took Boomer to the kennel and then hit up the bagel shop for some breakfast before hitting the road for our 5.5 hour drive.  Maci and I made good time and only had to stop once.  She had no potty accidents, watched Frozen and only complained about being in the car once - thank you Maci!  We arrived around 3p and after bringing in our bags, headed to the neighborhood park with Lori.  The boys were still off golfing but were at the house by the time we got back from park fun.  We then had an amazing dinner of smoked tenderloin, potatoes etc and got caught up.  Oh yes, did we mention they are amazing cooks?!

Saturday - Once we all got up and moving, we headed to the Red Dot for brunch.  Maci was a great eater and Trip ordered an amazing side of poutin (tator tots, cheese curds and gravy).  We all probably had our hearts stop but man was it good.  We then attempted nap time but Maci chose to watch Frozen the entire time.  After naps, we headed to a park with an Oktoberfest type brewery, needless to say Milwaukee is all about their beer.  We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed the beautiful weather, playground, beer (not me) and good company.  

Woah looking big at 24 weeks

After our fun at the park, we headed back to their house for some college football, tv laziness and some ate a pizza later in the evening - I was still full and headed to bed with Miss M before the end of the Wisconsin game - lame :)

Sunday - We had a true Sunday Funday!  We started the day with brunch in the HOT sun at The Horny Goat on the River.  It was a great view and yummy food.  Afterward, Maci took a nap, we watched tv and then headed to the BEACH.  Holy cow was it a flash back to spring break but Maci loved the music while Lori and I felt OLD!  Maci also loved the sand but wasn't a huge fan of the cold lake water.  It was some of the best people watching in a long time!

After the beach, we had even more amazing food.  Trip made some of the Cargill burgers from his facility along with Mexican corn - Yum!  We caught up on Cargill news and ended the evening with a movie on TV but again I couldn't make it through and joined Miss M in bed.

Monday - Time to head home :(  We woke up and got packed before enjoying some yummy egg tortillas they made us for breakfast.  By 9a we were on the road and heading home to laundry, errands and prepping for the short week ahead.  Thanks so much Brubacher's for an awesome weekend!!!

We hope everyone has an enjoyable and quick week ahead!

Lots of Love,

C, K, M & Baby Boy Mondell (Maci now calls him Baby Yellow, Baby Sammy & Baby Frozen)

ps - NONE of those are in the running :)