Halloween

We had a very nice Halloween with this little monkey and his family...












OMG! I had to update this to add that Grant is actually flicking me off in this last pic! That little stinker!

:)

hAPPY bIRTHDAY bros

.........AND.......



(Yes, I am wearing two sweatshirts and one happens to be Matthew's....I'm just a wee bit cold this morning. And yes, Matthew LOVES taking pictures with me!)

Babysitting!

I was looking forward to this for a while. I got to babysitt Grant for the first time the other night and had a lot of fun. He was fussy at times, cried now and then, and also spit up on my sweatshirt a tiny bit....but I truly didn't mind at all. Because when he wasn't doing those things, he was doing things like cuddling up next to me, giving me little smiles, and holding onto my finger. And of course sleeping!

I brought my camera and was hoping to take some shots. But it was a dreary day which offered no lighting and by the time Grant was up for pictures, it was dark out.
I did take one with the flash, but he didn't like that so much...

Grantwardalei

My best little friend stopped by for a visit today!



He just keeps getting cuter and cuter. So of course I had to take some pics.



He really is the easiest subject to photograph.



Not only because he is photogenic...



but he never asks me to stop or puts a hand in front of his face.



Well...actually....he kind of does do those things already.



Anyway, look how cute he is!



And after today I now have additional reason to pester him, photograph him, request/beg to hang out with him, buy him things, give him lectures...



....you know, things I was planning on doing anyway....but now I might look a little less crazy doing these things because I am going to be his godmother!



...and Matthew will be his godfather! We are quite excited about this role!



We are going to have our eye on this little guy for a long long time!

Matthew's Birthday

Here is how we celebrated Matthew's birthday 2 weeks ago...

1. I made him gnocchi. He has been wanting to have gnocchi like the stuff he ate in NY a few years ago and I finally made it. It was easier then I thought it would be but still was quite the process. Boiling potatoes, peeling while they're hot, mashing them, adding flour and egg to make the dough.




By that point, I was getting tired of it so I didn't make the dumplings fancy, just cut them up.



I made a little tomato cream sauce.




Matthew loved it which is all that matters.



I couldn't eat too much of it because the cream sauce hurt my stomach.

2. We hung out the rest of the afternoon before our next planned event. We listened to Matthew's then (and maybe still now) favorite song over and over on YouTube. "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry.

3. I then took Matthew to get a pedicure. He had a hunch that we would be doing that. Right before going in he got a little nervous. I felt bad going in and there were ladies everywhere! The place was packed. I walked back with him and he sat down amongst 7 other ladies in pedi chairs. I know he liked it though, his feet were nice and clean when they were done!

4. We went to Minehaha Falls and were going to take a walk down to the falls but it was like 90 degrees out that day. Matthew could barely stand being out of the car let alone going for a walk. He opened his gift in the car.



A new watch!

5. Went out to dinner at Spill the Wine. We each had steaks.



6. Then Matthew ditched me to go to a Twins game with Jon (there were only two tickets available).



All in all a good day and a good way to celebrate Matthew's 28 years of life!

The most wonderful time of the year...

Had a great time with these girls last weekend... It is always one of the highlights of my summer to get together with my girlfriends at the cabin and have a good time talking about everything under the sun, relaxing with drinks, acting like fools, and laughing of course... We arrived Friday night and went straight to Skiddies before heading to the cabin. The next day we played lots of Skipbo and relaxed on the pontoon. The day was going splendidly but got even better when we heard someone yell to us from the cabin saying, "Who wants an old fashioned!" Tara and the goon child had landed on the cabin steps! We spent the next few hours hanging out with them! We had 5 friends after all! After they left we played P&A on the pontoon while Brooke got Bernied... and we made a video...

The rest of the night was spent playing more P&A, I think we played approximately 500 rounds.
We had such a good time we even stayed until about 5:00 the next day! I'm already looking forward to next year...

The pain....

This is where I am. In front of this computer screen.

This is where I have been all day. Working on my thesis paper, drifiting off, working on the paper, drifting off, working on the paper, googling a random fact, working on the thesis paper, staring out the window, drifitng off, working on my thesis paper, eating a peanut butter and jelly, working on my thesis paper, and working on my thesis paper, and on.......and on....and on......

It now takes me 3 -4 seconds to complete a thought/sentence as opposed to what would usually take between 1 nano second to a second I am thinking. I tried to google the correct answer but I only got more of the blah blah blah that I am already sick of reading from these studies that are incorporated into my thesis.........

3 more weeks or so...

Do not allow Matthew to talk me into going back to school to be a professor! I don't know where he got the crazy idea that that is something I should do!

Grant Edward Dietenberger

7/13/2010

Tuesday morning, Tara said she is having consistent contractions.
Here comes the Goon?
Fake out. They stopped again.

Afternoon. Contractions again. We'll see what happens.

Early evening. She texts, "Totally getting an epidural." I call. Adam says, "Aren't the Goldades supposed to be helping with this?"
We go over to offer some distraction.

We get there and Tara's belly looks like it has dropped to her ankles.



She is still getting contractions every 6-7 minutes. As we continue to play cards, they are between 3-6 minutes sporadically. Some make her wince, some make her grab the table, and others force her to make animal noises.

But look, she is in good spirits!



The redheaded bros come, all is calm. We leave at 10:30 knowing they will go to the hospital that night.

11:30 - Adam texts that they are on their way there.

7/14/2010

Rise and shine, it is the Goonalei's birthday.

9:02 Adam texts: "No baby yet, but we hope to start pushing in an hour."

10:30 on, I continue to wonder if the baby was born.

Go to Mel's house. Still no word...no word...no word.

Text Adam at 12:47 (Can't help but be annoying) "Has the baby come out yet?"

no word....no word....no word....start to worry

2:00 - call my mom to ask what she thinks is up. She says, "any minute now, you'll see."

She was right!

2:12 - Adam texts, "It's a boy!"

Grant Edward Dietenberger
8 pounds 6 ounces
21.5 inches
Born at 1:11 pm

....and cute as can be...