and if you buy the value meal, a second mcRib is only one dollar!  so yes, i got two mcRibs.  and i just ate them both (even though we just had a beautiful dinner of lamb chops with balsamic vinegar reduction).  much to phil’s disgust.  hee hee.   

we had our monthly date-at-home this past saturday night.  it was my turn to plan it, so i picked up a 22 oz. prime rib dinner and ‘mosquito bites’ appetizer from timber lodge steakhouse after we put the kids down for the night.  i also got a big piece of dulce de leche cake from byerly’s market.  i did say before that these date nights should be more special than a rent-a-movie night, but we were both so beat, i ended up renting ‘little manhattan’.  turned out to be great!  we both really enjoyed our dinner and spending the time together.  definitely worth it to wait to have dinner after the kids are sleeping. …

just in the last week or so, allie’s decided that she loooves to eat!  before, she’d just sample a bite or two of pureed veggie or fruit and then decide that she’s fine with just milk.  i was beginning to worry about her.  but now, she eats as fast as i can get the spoon in her mouth and starts fussing at me if the next bite is too long in coming.  gets a bit complicated when mikey also needs help eating at the same time.  but so far, we’re managing and i’m happy to report that it’s actually fun to feed the girl. i couldn’t resist taking the following…

since phil had the day off, we decided to go to an apple orchard with our good friends this past sunday after church.  the afton apple orchard also just happened to be having a little festival when we went, so there were fun extra activities going on like hayrides, face painting, and a petting zoo.  was a great day to be outside! happily, the trees were low enough that even mikey and jenna could pick apples! immediately after picking each apple, mikey’d take a bite out it! made it kinda hard to fill up our bag…  phil said the cost of the bag of apples we actually bought probably covers the…

phil just had his one weekend off for the month, and it was a beautiful one!  funny to think how warm it was then as we’re now about to be hit by the first snowstorm of the season.  nothing like minnesota weather to keep you on your toes! we spent saturday afternoon going for a walk in crosby regional park in st. paul.    then we spent some time hanging out by the mississippi river.   mikey got to indulge in one of his favorite pastimes:  throwing rocks into the water.   allie enjoyed sitting with daddy and watching the boats go by.   achoo!   it was the perfect day for… kayaking,                                                                          boating,…