Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

 

What a Merry Christmas Bree, Aubrey, Colton, and I had this year. Aubrey spent all Christmas day walking around like a bride. She carried those flowers around with her all day and kept that dress on as well. Unfortunately I also got a picture of the "yoga pose" competition between Chris and Bree. Not embarrassing at all!! Aubrey spent some of her Steel Christmas politely reading to Grandpa Mike while Colton really took a liking to Aunt Heather. He sat on her lap like I have never seen him do to anyone else. It was an awesome Christmas season this year and we are so blessed and lucky to have such wonderful families. We hope you all have a happy and safe New Year!

Colton Showing Off The Arm

Colton sure enjoys throwing the toy baseball around. Both throwing and "catching" the ball makes him laugh so it is a lot of fun to play with him. Twenty-one more years until he is playing at Target Field!

Parents Night

 

Friday was our annual "parents night". For each of the past five or six years we have had both sets of parents over to our house about this time of year. Bree always makes a bunch of delicious appetizers and I create the tasty ice cream drinks. It is always a fun night and the hard work Bree puts into it is greatly appreciated. Thanks for coming over again this year guys!

Christmas Tree Time

 

We spent our Saturday afternoon getting our family Christmas tree with Grandma and Grandpa Wertz. We always go to Jan's Tree Farm in Clear Lake. Jan's is perfect because there are a lot of activities for kids and there is always a Santa to visit with. It was a perfect day to get a tree....low 20's, sunny, and no wind. This year's tree is a foot shorter than normal, only measuring in at 12 feet. Aubrey is really excited about getting the tree decorated. Colton doesn't have any idea why we have this tree in our house or why he doesn't get to touch it...poor kid. We hope that everybody is enjoying their holiday season!

What a Thanksgiving!

 

Thank you to Brant, Paige, Hayden, Abby, and Max for hosting Thanksgiving this year...you are always outstanding hosts. The weather in Texas was perfect for a couple of days so both Bree and I were both able to go golfing. Aubrey and Colton both had a blast playing with their cousins. We were very lucky that both kids behaved well and slept very well at night. A few memories will be Uncle Julios, the stretch Hummer limo, everbody glued to their iPad's playing Scrabble, the best turkey ever, the 65-inch LED, Chris' 170-yard 3-wood over the water to clinch the skins game, the 80 degree weather, and all the 'Cheer'!! I hope that everybody had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving week is going to be busy at the Steel household so I better say Happy Thanksgiving to everybody now. We hope everyone has safe travels and a wonderful time with their families.

Trick or Treat!

 

Halloween weekend was a very busy but extremely fun weekend for the family. The weekend started on Friday night with a wonderful groom's dinner hosted by Scott's family. Saturday brought the wedding and reception. What a fun wedding it was and we are so happy for Jen and Scott. Sunday was Halloween so we put Colton in his cow costume and Aubrey in her Tinkerbell costume. Both kids loved their costumes (nice work Bree)! Bring on the holiday season now! We hope to see you all soon...thanks for visiting.

 

Sorry it has been awhile. Bree and I just returned from a wonderful seven day vacation at Sandals - Montego Bay, Jamaica. We were celebrating our 6-year anniversary and couldn't have had more fun. The weather was outstanding and we both got to relax a lot. Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Wertz for taking care of Aubrey and Colton. Speaking of the kiddos, they are both doing very well. Colton is becoming quite the fast walker. He is also going up the stairs pretty easily and has developed this belly slide to get down the stairs quicker than a firefighter. Aubrey is continuing to be a great big sister to Colton. She is always doing the "love-hug-tackle" to Colton which always causes a near disaster. It is a lot of fun to watch that brother-sister relationship grow between Aubrey and Colton. It sure is nice to be back home and to see the kids. Next up, Jen and Scott's wedding!!

Birthday Party

 

This past Sunday we had Colton's 1st birthday party. The highlight of the day was the match between Colton and his cake. I will try and get some video of this posted to the blog. Thank you to everybody who came to the birthday party. It means a lot to have you share in the experience.

Happy 1st Birthday Colton!

 

Colton will be 1-year old on Thursday...yeah! As you see in the previous blog post, Colton has been walking for the past couple of weeks. He is still getting used to walking in shoes but all in all is pretty steady on the move. We will be celebrating his birthday this upcoming Sunday and more pictures will be posted from that. Colton sure has been through a lot in his first year so hopefully his second year will be a little easier on our baby boy. Big sister Aubrey is doing really well. She had a great trip to the doctor last month for her 3-year checkup, acing all of her development milestones. Thank you for visiting our family blog!

Someone is walking!

State Fair Time!

 

It is state fair time again in Minnesota and Aubrey took in all a 3-year old can handle. She enjoyed many rides with her cousin Raelyn and many treats with the rest of us. She even wore the official Pronto Pup hat for a portion of the afternoon. Colton hung in there pretty well. He loves to eat so this was the perfect place for him to be. He probably ate a lot of things an 11-month old shouldn't be eating....but it's the fair so what the heck! We're looking forward to Colton't big first birthday in September. Many pictures will be posted from that event. Thank you for visiting!

Aubrey's Birthday Party

 

Aubrey turned three on Friday the 20th and we celebrated with a birthday party on Sunday. We hired a "professional" face painter we had met at Aubrey's school. She was a huge hit at the party and supplied wonderful paintings for the kids. The face painter was so fast that even some of the adults had time to get some artwork done (not pictured). Colton did not get his face painted but he was able to pop a little smirk for the camera. He has been doing great since he received his tubes. Colton is now 11-months old and we are really excited to celebrate his 1st birthday next month. Thank you to everybody who came to Aubrey's party. It means a lot to have every single one of you there. And last but definitely not least, thank you to Bree for hosting such a wonderful party with such delicious food.

First trip to the salon!

 

We had another first in the Steel household this weekend. Aubrey made her first trip to the nail salon to get both her toenails and fingernails done. She was a wonderful customer, sitting still and behaving very well the entire time. She just loves her nails and is happy to show anyone who is interested in looking.

Colton received his tubes on Monday the 9th. The first 20 minutes after waking up from surgery were pretty tough. By the time we left the hospital he was all smiles. The doctor who performed the surgery said that the fluid buildup in Colton's ears was so bad that it was almost a jello-like substance. No amount of antibiotics would have ever cleared his ears up which explains why he was constantly on medication.

In back page news, Bunker turned seven years old on Friday the 13th. We hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!

Summer Time

 

What a fun summer we have had here in Maple Grove. Aubrey and Colton have been outside enjoying the beautiful weather with trips to the Maple Grove pool, the Maple Grove beach, a couple of family get togethers at Bunker Beach, and sometimes just a simple trip out onto the deck in the blow up pool. Mom and Dad have enjoyed weather by getting many rounds of golf in this year and training for our upcoming race. On Saturday the 7th, Bree and Dan will be running in a half marathon in Richfield. This is the same half marathon Bree ran in a few years ago and the same one Dan ran in last year. We are looking forward to completing the race together this year. We got Colton's appointment for his tubes scheduled. He will be getting tubes on Monday August 9th and we're very excited for the procedure to be done. He is a very happy baby even with the constant double ear infections so we can only imagine how happy he will be without the constant pain. We hope everyone else is enjoying their summer too. Thank you for visiting!

Happy 60th Birthday Mom!

 

Last Sunday we had a surprise 60th birthday celebration for Mom (aka Grandma Sue) and her friend Gieg. We rented a beautiful boat and cruised around Lake Minnetonka for two hours. We capped the afternoon off with dinner at Fletcher's. It was a wonderful celebration for a wonderful person!

The kids are both doing well. Colton just finished another antibiotic and has now been on antibiotics for roughly 50 of the last 70 days. We had an appointment with the ear, nose, throat doctor on Thursday and we were told Colton would need tubes. Bree and I were both glad to hear that he would need tubes as we have grown concerned about him not being able to hear well during this major development period of his life. Aubrey is a blast...words can't really describe her energy level and constant excitement so please come visit us and see for yourself. We hope everyone is doing well!

Colton is on the move!

Colton started crawling about a week ago...so cute!

Hanging with Family

 

We met the Steels at Bunker Beach this past weekend. Both of the kids had a blast playing in the water, floating around the lazy river, and going down the slides. All the swimming and sunshine got the best of Aubrey as she got worn out and took turns napping on almost everybody's shoulder. After the beach we found a sheltered area and grilled, played baseball, and ran around. I've posted some good pictures of Aidan and Charlie smacking the wiffle ball around. It sure was great to see everybody. Thanks to Mom and Dad for organizing everything and making it a very fun day.

 

It has about a month since I have been able to post an update because our camera broke at the very end of our Missouri trip. After finally purchasing a new Canon SD1400, 14.1 megapixel camera, and more importantly, learning how to use it, I have been able to get some pictures taken. The kids are still doing awesome. Colton is sooooo close to crawling. Right now is scooting backward and rolling around to get to where he needs to go. We look forward to seeing everybody soon!

Trip to Missouri

 

Last weekend we drove to Sedalia, Missouri to visit Bree's Grandma and Grandpa Wertz (Aubrey and Colton's Great Grandparents). They had to meet Colton so this was a very special trip for us. Many other family members made the drive to Sedalia too so it ended up being a very fun weekend. Aubrey and Colton got to go swimming many times as well as do many other activities that wore them both out. Colton took awhile to get used to the water but ended up loving it after a few minutes. Aubrey loves anything that involves burning a lot of energy in a short amount of time so swimming is perfect for her. Colton recently turned 8-months old and is doing pretty well. The poor guy had ear infection after ear infection so he was on antibiotics for a few weeks. Being on all these antibiotics caused him to get thrush so now he is on medication for that. Aubrey is doing awesome and is as fun as can be. Every moment with her is a blast so hopefully you will get to see her soon. Thanks for visiting!

Ahhhh, summer!

 

With the warm weather that has returned to Maple Grove, we got the pools out for the first time this year. Both Aubrey and Colton had a blast playing in their pools. Colton loves splashing in the bath so we figured the pool would be a success and we were right. With Colton taking over Aubrey's pool from last year, Aubrey got a new, larger, pool which she enjoyed very much. We all hung out on the deck and enjoyed the warm weather and abundant sunshine. Both kids are doing really well. Aubrey has moved up to the "pre-school" room at daycare. The transition has been a bit tough for Aubrey as her best friends are still in the "toddler" room but they too will soon join Aubrey. Colton has been battling ear infections for the about the last two weeks. He has been on three anti-biotics with each one getting progressively stronger. Amazingly he has still slept well at night and his personality has still remained pretty positive. He will go to the doctor tomorrow to get the ears checked out again and hopefully receive a clean bill of health. We hope that everyone is doing well...thanks for visiting!

Zoo Trip

 

Today we went to Minnesota Zoo with our neighbors Jake, Mandi, Mason (Aubrey's age), and Paige (Colton's age). Aubrey and Mason did a lot of running around, doing a great job of making us very tired parents. On a more serious note, Colton had his bi-weekly check up for his helmet. The technician was very impressed with the progress he has been making and was pretty sure that Colton would be able to be done with the helmet by his next check up (two weeks). The technician said that Colton has progressed as fast as any other child. If Colton does indeed get to stop wearing his helmet in two weeks he will have worn it for 4 weeks, much better than the 2-6 MONTHS the technicians had projected. Everything else is going really well around here and we hope to see you soon!

Kiddos Update

 

Breaking news alert....Aubrey is potty trained! A lot has been going on in the Steel household of late. The kids are back in the daycare center that Aubrey went to for the first 2+ years of her life. Colton has taken very well to daycare and is becoming much more independent. Also, as previously mentioned, Aubrey is fully potty trained now. With the move back to the daycare center we thought it would be a good time to give the potty training another shot and she took right to it this time. I would say for about the last week or so she has not had any accidents...yeah Aubrey! In "Colton News"...Colton was fitted for his helmet this past Friday (April 16th). He has a mild case of a flat backside of his head. He has been wearing the helmet off and on this weekend during the introduction phase. Starting tomorrow though he will be wearing the helmet 23 hours a day for about two months. By Sunday morning he was already able to nap with the helmet on though (as pictured) so we think he will do really well with the helmet. We hope everybody is enjoying the best spring ever (perfect weather, Target Field, Twins on their way to the World Series)!!

Easter Fun!

 

Happy belated Easter! Easter day included a bunch of fun with family. Aubrey and Colton's cousins, Gavin and Aidan, came over and got to do an easter egg hunt in the yard. After finding all of the eggs, Bree and Dan and an "adult easter egg hunt" in the house which consists of hunting for lottery tickets. There were eight adult guests so we hid four tickets for each adult. The day came and went and only 31 of the 32 lottery tickets were found so next time you are at our house, keep your eyes peeled for that mysterious 32nd ticket...it could lead to early retirement! Easter was a blast and we are so glad we were able to share with so many family members.

Easter Weekend

 

Happy Easter everybody. Our Easter weekend is only half way done and it has already been a busy, very enjoyable, one. Friday night we stayed in and decorated Easter eggs. Aubrey really enjoyed decorating eggs this year. She decorated about 10 eggs and would have done about 50 if Mom and Dad hadn't run out of eggs. Colton is doing really well. He is really, REALLY excited for the Twins to start as you can clearly see by how happy he is in his Joe Mauer t-shirt. Saturday night we decorated Easter cookies. Dad didn't get any pictures of this as there was a lot of cleanup associated with the cookie decorating fun. Easter Sunday we will be hosting family and having games for the kids. It is always wonderful to get together with family and we are looking forward to it. I will make sure to post another round of pictures. Happy Easter to everybody!!

Look who is sitting up!

Spring is in the air!

 

The Steels are really enjoying the well above average temperatures we have been getting in March. Aubrey has been outside riding her tricycle a lot (while wearing he cool sunglasses) and Colton has been enjoying life sitting up now. He really took to sitting up once we started working with him on a regular basis. Colton has also managed to get a few Cheerios into is mouth as his eye-hand coordination continues to develop. Today Dan and Bree both started their training for the half marathon they will be running in early August....two miles has never seemed so tough, ugh! We are all doing very well and hope everything is going well with our loved ones! Thank you for visiting!

Target Field

Auntie Jen was nice enough to take Dan and Aubrey to the Target Field Open House on March 20th. During this open house fans were allowed to wander the stadium as they pleased. Fans were also allowed to visit portions of the stadium that will otherwise be blocked off to season ticket holders once the season starts up. The stadium is beautiful and it is going to be a joy to go. Dan will be attending the game on April 15th against the Red Sox. Dan and Bree will both be attending the game on May 29th against the Rangers. We are looking forward to both games and hope to see some of you there!

Ahhhhh!

 

Sunday brought some unbelievable weather to Maple Grove (63 and sunny) so the family decided to take a walk. Aubrey is approaching walks much more differently this year than last. Now that she is a 2 1/2 year wild child, we found her wanting to walk and run more than sit in the stroller with Colton. We even let her walk Bunker for a short period of time and the two actually moved along pretty well together. Hoepfully everyone else got to enjoy the weather...happy Spring! Let's all hope that winter doesn't decide to make a return.

Colton is doing really well. He recently popped his first two bottom teeth. He wants to chew on everything in sight now but is still managing to sleep through the night even with the new teeth.