Finger painting

I had the great idea to do a little art project with my son. I decided to let him finger paint his thank you cards for his birthday. He seemed to really enjoy it. However, in true toddler fashion he put a finger full of paint into his mouth and did not enjoy that. Of course the paint got everywhere. I do love crayola. It was the easiest clean up, it even came out of Adam's hair.

Adam got more paint on himself then the paper.

Putting the paint on his hands.
Woo Hoo!

Our little Picasso.

My sweet green monster getting all clean.

Adam's New Hat

This past weekend during a pleasant family breakfast, Adam decided to show us his new hat. At first I thought it was so cute, so I ran to get the camera. Unfortunately, I forgot that we had eaten pancakes for breakfast and the bowl Adam was putting on his head still had some syrup at the bottom. Needless to day, Adam had some pretty sticky hair and went right into the tub.

Turning Two

We celebrated our little man's second birthday this weekend. Both sets of grandparents came to town for the occasion. We were also joined at the party by some of Adam's cousins, aunts, and uncles (and funcles). Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate Adam's day. Adam added some more fun toys and cute cloths into his inventory, and tried to shove a whole piece of cake into his mouth. Big thanks to funcle Aaron for that one.

Cousin Bergen reading to Adam. She was so cute with him.

Bergen also helped Adam open his presents.

Fun new puppy from Mom and Dad.

Our big boy blowing out the candles on his cake.

One big bite!

Smash!
Adam taking his new puppy for a walk.

I just had to try on the little tux we borrowed for my brother's wedding. The grandmas of course had to take pictures.

Sing us a song, you're the piano man...

Adam has become quite a musical kid. Here is some video of his musical talents that he was showing off last weekend. Warning this video is pretty long. Enjoy!

I had a Whirla Whip in Stanley, North Dakota!

Now that my Master's seminar project is over, I will be able to keep up with the blog more often. To make up for my long absence, I have posted a bunch of pictures from our last weekend that we spent in Minot. The highlight of the trip was our day trip to Stanley, North Dakota to have a world famous Whirla Whip (the precursor to the blizzard) at the local drug store. Sonya grew up in Stanley, so Adam and I also got a tour of some of the other local attractions. I should point out that Stanley is a very small town with a population of about 1,200. So the other attractions consisted of the local park where Ryan played as a child, and the house Sonya grew up in. Here are some pictures from our visit to Stanley.

Adam anxiously waiting for his Whirla Whip.

Yummy!

Here mom you try!
Grandpa chasing Adam at the Stanley park.

Adam getting to experience a real teeter totter. (I was shocked to see one at the park)

Adam riding the same horse swing his daddy rode as a kid. I think they said its name was Blue Bell.

While in Minot, we also had a little pre birthday party for Adam, who will be 2 this Friday. Wow how time flies. Aunt Kristen made the cutest animal cupcakes for the occasion and Adam was able to open a few of his presents.

Kristen's cupcake masterpieces. They were almost too cute to eat.

Adam blowing out the candle on his tiger cupcake. Yes he is in his pajamas, and yes he did have the cupcake as part of his breakfast.

Mouth full of breakfast cupcake.

What? Is there something on my face?

Adam got a cleaning set from Grandma and Grandpa so he can help mom out with some of the cleaning around the house.

Kristen got Adam a music set, complete with many loud instruments. Adam of course loves it and has had a lot of fun making lots of noise. We actually got some pretty cute video of him jamming with the tambourine, which will be posted soon.

The Fried Family Band

I haven't forgotten about the blog.

I am counting down the days until I have free time again. I have been so busy it feels like every time I turn around Adam has grown another foot and learned 20 new words right under my nose. As he approaches the "terrible twos" we have been starting to try out some big boy things. He is now officially pacifier free, and he is even starting to check out the potty. It is more of a toy at this point, but we have gotten him to sit down on it a couple times. Check out Adam's first encounter with the training potty.

Hey, what is this thing for?

Not quite sure what to think...

I did get some free time last weekend to go to the 10,000 Lakes Festival with Dan and Liz. We went out to see the Dave Mathew's Band. There was quite an eccentric group at the event. We were definitely some of the more conservative (and sober) ones in the crowd. Ryan and Liz are both big Dave Mathews fans, and were pretty excited to get close to the stage and see the show. Dan and I on the other had were excited for them, and were very content to listen from a far and catch up on life.

Ryan and Liz waiting for the show to start

Dan and I showing our excitement.