Lara, Petra, Aberdeen Gray and the best visit ever

Finally, we were able to come together...Lara and Petra and little Miss Aberdeen Gray came up to the cabin this summer so that we might finally hang out. Lara, all the way from Alaska, and Petra and Gray all the way from Lancaster. Ezra and Gray had a ball playing outside and the whole deal brought health and healing and beauty and gratefulness to our art-love-children-family-friends' hearts.

Meals are best eaten outdoors. At least Aberdeen thinks so.

Adorable.

Ezra walking down the slide. (That's what friends are for?)

Love you girls.

The Salminen Family Unites!

Happy 60th Mom and Dad - ( you sure don't look it!!)

Ezra's uncles (Natalie's brothers) all made it to Duluth this summer to help celebrate many a birthday! My parents both turned 60 in July! Congrats to the young whippersnappers. And Ben turned the bittersweet 29:) It was an amazing week of being together for the first time since September 2007. Matt was also able to meet Ezra for the first time. Spencer surprised us all by flying home for the weekend (between fighting fires in Colorado and Alaska). We are so grateful he could come! We spent most of our time up at the cabin....

...relaxing. Spencer taking a much needed nap. He may just be the hardest working firefighter around.

Grandpa and Ezra in the sauna (fountain of youth).

Water skiing with skill at 60!

A Salminen family portrait

Uncle Matt and his Ezra. They really hit it off:)

Josh barefooting. (Is there anything he can't do?)

Noble. Dear, sweet Noble.

Uncle Ben and his little lime-eating nephew. You guys are TOO cute!

Quintessential cabin time.

Hanging out in the sun.

Hanging out in the dark.

ONE Year Old!

Wow. One year. One year? One year has passed since our bambino was born on August 4, 2008, at Imma and Grandpa Salminen's house. What marvels we've witnessed! Ezra celebrated his birthday with his family at the cabin. It was wonderful in every way. Thank you to everyone who has loved on, cherished, nuzzled, made giggle, gifted and most importantly prayed for Ezra this year. At this very time last summer, we didn't know if he would make it. God is faithful and good. There has been no year so full of abundant blessings as this....

Such a big boy, blowing out his own candle.

Truth to be told, he prefers watermelon over absolutely anything. Having had 4 giant pieces of it before he was offered his cake meant more carrot cake for the rest of us. His first little trantrum, in fact, was over watermelon. I'm sorry baby, but you just can't eat the green part!

We had to secure him in this little seat for the cake eating ceremony. It worked great!

Cousin Josie came for the party. She likes watermelon, too.

Smiling birthday boy:) I like this present thing happening...

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Rude!

More watermelon love

Happy Birthday To You

11 Months!

Ezra turned 11 months old on the 4th of July! We had a great time at the cabin. You'll see him going down his new slide on the 4th in the "walking" movie I finally made (and it's full of his new tricks and growing-up skills). Obviously he was having a good time!

11 Months

Ezra and his dad are like this (index and middle finger twisted tightly together).

And for Father's Day Dad got a Burley! Though Ezra loves it like his own and so does Mom (especially for cruising around camp all day).


Okay! Watch this video and be filled with joy...at least the first 30 seconds:)

Ezra Walks and Other Antics

Ezra walks on June 4th. His 10 Month B-day!

Ten Months

He walks! It's almost been a month and I keep saying to myself, "must post, must post, as soon as I ______." Fill in the blank with a) get some good video b) get my camera back from Chicago c) get some free time... d) any of the above. I finally told myself to get on it or else I will completely miss month 10 and so without further ado, here is the cutest 9 seconds ever...


Walking at 10 months


We have been so busy this month and here it is almost the 4th of July (and Ezra's 11 month b-day.) So, though we somehow failed to take the official "10 Month" photo, we have gotten a few of every day living. Ezra's walking has been fairly selective. He first walked to Grandpa Rude. How darling! Then it was to Josh and I and now he walks wherever and whenever he pleases. Still in small distances, but walking (and falling) a ton!

I have also put off posting until I got my next movie made...hopefully I'll get that up soon. It's like when you need a good chat with a friend, and you think, "I'll call her/him when I know I have at least a half hour to talk." And the phone call never gets made. I think you know what I mean. So, for now:) here are some snippets. Better late than never!

Milestones:

Says: "mama", "dada", all-done ( "ah-dah") and lots of "ba" sometime "BBBBAAAHHHH" (for ball or any round object). He also makes a cat noise. Basically a high-pitched "eeeeoooowww." He is really putting things together.

Still climbing: For those of you who have been in our home, you know that ledge that drops 12 feet down into the living room? If he can get away with it, he'll climb up onto a chair and then onto the armrest so that he can grab the ledge, pull himself up and look over. Can you say "heart attack?"

Loves reading: fastest page turner you'll ever meet.

Also plays ball. See other video.

Here's some photos.

This is Ezra's new "camera face." He knows we want him to smile and this little squinty face appears. It's been hard to get just a simple smile on record lately!

Jerry had a retirement party in Grand Rapids. Congrats, Grandpa! It was great to gather with everyone. Noah and Ali, you were missed! Notice Kristen's growing belly:) And Happy Birthday to Cassie.

Grandma Rude and her boy.

Can his smile get any brighter?

Getting into (and able to open) just about everything...
His preferred method of getting off the couch: over the armrest.

Playing around at the cabin.

Cooling off after a sauna.

Helping move the fire pit. Gosh, he's such a hard worker.

Here he is playing ball, saying ball. SO cute!

9 Months

Well Ezra has sailed into this 9th month like a wild baby beast, unleashing his energetic infant fury on anyone who dares cross his path. Does that sound harsh? It's not meant to. It's just that he is CRAZY. Does that sound bad? It's not meant to either! It's just that he is so full of energy and curiosity and mischievousness (and downright friendliness to everyone he meets) that Josh and I can only lean over to each other and politely tap the bottom of the others chin to close these ever dropped jaws we seem to carry around. I don't think we ever imagined baring witness to this kind of " baby activity" (to put it mildly) by our 9 month old! Amidst all that fun, he continues to be of the all around best nature.

What's somewhat difficult for Josh and I to handle, is that every mischievous thing that Ezra does, he does with a giant smile! He wants to play! For example, this morning he began chewing a big chunk of packing Styrofoam. I naturally gave him the this-is-not-a-good-idea look, and then told him that "we don't eat Styrofoam," to which he smiles the widest smile you can imagine. As I approach him to take it away, he begins chewing furiously, and giggling all the while! By the time I get to him (a mere 6 feet away) he has a mouth full of Styrofoam and he is laughing like this is the funniest thing he's ever done! All day long folks. This is our day. Not to mention the climbing up onto everything while lacking the full ability to get himself down (though he can get down from most chairs and the couch).

He's talking A LOT these days, too. Most of the time it is a continual babble, with lots of "oooohhhh" and "mmmmm-BAA!" (crescendo on the "ba"). There's "mama," "dada," and a high pitch squeal for his response to "what does the kitty say?" Very endearing. All of it! We can't get enough of our little boy. And it's so very fun to share this with all of you. I made a little video montage from last month. You'll enjoy suitcase hopping, his first swing experience, the "no knees crawl" (or the "downward dog walk" as I like to call it) and object permanence box mastering among others. Enjoy!

Yes, those are onions up his nose.

If he's up high on something like a chair, or counter-top, or anywhere else deemed unsafe, he's a happy boy.

First canoe (outside of the womb).

Rock picking on Lake Superior. One of his favorite hobbies.

See that sad face and the sock hand? Ezra's first bleeding-profusely experience. A little cut on the finger tip. There would be no band-aid staying on, so we had to tape a sock onto his hand. It got the job done and didn't slow him down a minute. Maybe expect for...

Meal time.

This is a stick, my son. A necessary tool for all boys. Very versatile.

And cousin Josie and Kristen and Tom got to come over and hang out. Ezra's favorite thing!

Ezra Monroe Stars in The Adventures in Mobility Movie (not to be missed!)

Uncle Noah takes Ezra's photo with mad skills

Here's a link to a few photos on Flickr from Uncle Noah of Ezra donning his best Elmer Fudd look (not to be missed!). Noah and Aunt Ali are ultra talented photographers and we gladly glean from their talent. Thanks, guys!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28951353@N04/sets/72157616982034710/show

8 Months

Happy Eight Months Old, Ezra!

Sitting, but not for long-

Can anyone believe it is April already? For those of you not in Minnesota, this is what we awoke to the morning of April 1st. No joke. Another 6" of snow. But the snow fall was so stunning, it was hard to stay mad. It's still cold out, but inside we are having a blast! Ezra continues to amaze and make us laugh. Things are really starting to click for him. He is a very smart boy...

April showers?

Getting into the kitchen cupboards

Smiling with mama

The guitar! One of his new favorite things...

Ezra is a climber! He would be happy if he could figure out a way to get off the floor. So, here he attempts to climb onto the shelf via his toy basket. It works, but not without some kind of unfortunate toppling over.

He moves this little step stool over to the kitchen chairs in order to climb up on them! More danger.
Climbing up to look out the window.

This was his very excited face to see Dada home from work:)

Our very own Pooh Bear.

And last but not least, we leave you with a few movies. The first, another major accomplishment of this last month: Crawling down the stairs. Though we have taken many movies of him booking it straight down the stairs in no time flat, we thought we would show this one for the "colorful language" of Ezra's at the moment. And those chubby little legs! Oh my goodness.

Crawling Down the Stairs and Other Things to Use Your Lungs For

And last but not least, we leave you with a short, but very funny (at least Ezra thinks so) clip of a little game we like to play called, "I'm gonna get you!"

I'm Gonna Get You!