The Year of the Burger - Final Installment

Mom chose King's Place in Miesville for her burger birthday. I was skeptical since it is a bit of a drive and (as per usual this winter) it was snowing but this place ended up being the clear favorite when votes were cast.
Last but definitely not least (especially since it was the big 3-0) we celebrated Jessie's birthday at Chatterbox Pub. Burgers were only ok but atmosphere was really fun!

Brian celebrated his burger birthday at Red Robin. I know this picture didn't turn out but it was the moment we told our families I was pregnant. We had the waitress announce it by saying "on the count of 3 everyone say "Rachel's pregnant." Many people's first thought was that was really mean :)
We celebrated with Ken V. at Smashburger. I personally think the chain burgers are not as good.

I missed Ken Z's burger birthday at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries.
Bianca chose Buster's on 28th for her burger birthday. Burgers were good but I think I prefer juicy lucies. She really wanted to choose My Sister's Place so Brian had a burger in her honor when we were in Grand Marais.
We spent Maren's birthday at The 5-8 Club. I did not order their specialty burger. Big mistake!
Bernie chose The Blue Door Pub to celebrate his birthday. I'm willing to bet this will end up being my favorite burger. However, this place is tiny and uncomfortably crowded especially with a big group. My unsolicited advice, eat quick and head to Izzy's for dessert.


For family birthdays this year we have decided to sample the best burger joints in the Twin Cities according to Minneapolis/St. Paul magazine. I kicked things off at Matt's Bar. Divey but Tasty.
The rest of that day I hung out with my buddy Everett.
Jeff's birthday was a week later and he chose Shamrocks (a larger version of The Nook.) I had the juicy lucy again. I personally thought Matt's was better.

20 Week Update

I think I was a little over confident about how easy this pregnancy thing is. This month I had 5 days of spotting in a row and thought it was over for sure. Two extra doctor appointments and a level 2 ultrasound later and it turns out baby is fine but Mom and Dad were a nervous wreck. I guess it begins.

It was reassuring to have our 20 week ultrasound and hear that everything looks fine. However, we have a shy and stubborn baby (no idea where that comes from) who refused to show its face no matter how hard the ultrasound tech poked and prodded. And the disappointment of the day - no pictures. I'm hoping to get another ultrasound though because baby measured small, which doctor said was fine but Mom needs reassurance.

Yes, we lovingly refer to our baby as "it" because we did not want to find out the gender. No, contrary to popular belief we did not find out only to keep it a secret. Why?
1. The realist in me knows this has been 5 years in coming and I would go crazy buying way to much blue or pink. The past few years has taught me life can't and shouldn't be planned.
2. The traditionalist in me feels like my mom didn't know, grandma didn't know, great grandma didn't know - it is not meant to be known.
3. The surprise lover in me thinks this is the ultimate surprise. I love when others don't find out and when you finally get "the call" you hear if it is a boy or girl.
4. The romantic in me wants the "It's a boy (or girl)" to be part of our first moment as a family of 3.

I was super surprised baby is measuring small because I have been starving and not sick. I used to think pregnancy cravings were something women made up because they wanted an excuse to eat ice cream every day. Then one day I was driving home from work and suddenly I HAD to have peanut butter and jelly toast on cinnamon swirl bread for dinner. I probably haven't had a PB+J since my day care days when I OD'd on them because I was a picky eater (UH-OH.) Now I have this treat almost daily and I was only a little embarrassed when our local grocery store ran out of cinnamon swirl bread.

Thanksgiving

After dinner there was lots of Black Friday planning.
Baby holding. This year in our family 5 babies were born in 5 months. Lots of little buddies for our baby to look up to.
Hair styling. Poor Izzy, all the little kids are too young to play with and the adults are kind of boring. At least Ken is a good sport!

It's a Girl!!

We finally welcomed Elise Rachel into our family last night. She weighed 7 lbs 14 oz and was 20.5 inches long. She has dark hair and in my opinion looks just like Ken. What do you think?






I'm so excited to have another niece and a namesake!

E-money Turns One

Birthday Boy.
Mommy is HI-larious and Uncle Bri is not bad either.

Waiting for my guests to arrive.

Yep, I can stand.

This is way too messy to eat with my hands good thing I have a fork. Happy Birthday Everett can't wait to see what year 2 brings! We love you!

Week 16 Stats

Just had my 16 week appointment and while I still don't look or feel particularly pregnant the baby still had a heartbeat so I guess I am. At this point the baby should be about 5 inches long and the size of an avocado. No, I can't feel it move yet but it should happen any day.

Good Old Norwegian Family Fun

We got together with family and friends for a joint rock themed shower in honor of Sarah and Maren's future rock stars. Ruby and Vivian showed up ready to rock.


Love you both and your little stars! Can't wait for December!
After the shower Grandma Angie bought us tickets to the Norwegian supper at her church. These are a big deal this time of year among rural Lutheran churches with Scandinavian roots. And definitely a tradition for my Norwegian Grandmother, Aunts and Uncles. Uncle David even has a special shirt for the occasion and tells us one year he made it to 9 Norwegian Suppers.It was a first for Brian, Ken, Ken, Bianca and Everett. I don't think they will soon forget their first taste of sweet soup, bread that Brian called "bread from a magical land," and of course Lutefisk. Don't worry there were meatballs, potatoes, lefse and cookies to make the meal worth
it.

Everett says "yay lutefisk!" Ok,I'm pretty sure there isn't a drop of Norwegian blood in this kid but since family is about more than biology this probably won't be his last sweet soup ever. We ended the weekend visiting a super cute dragon on his first trick or treat excursion.