Tell Us This is Just a Phase...

The many faces of Lucas Dean.

So, Lucas is now 27 months old and he's been running us through the ringer lately. On bad days, he pushes us away, pointing to the other end of the room and shouting, "Go!", but mysteriously clings onto us and won't go down for a nap in the afternoon or to sleep at night (unless we're laying down next to him). Does he want us to go away or does he always want us by his side? I thought teenagers were supposed to send these kinds of mixed messages. Not 2-year-olds. In the end, we have decided to relax and not stress out too much about this new "phase." Seems like we just need to pay him even more attention right now and dig a little deeper into our storage of patience. All I'll say, is he's lucky he's so cute.

The rainy weekend presented an opportunity to head to one of our favorite haunts, the Minnesota Children's Museum. We met up with Karen's friend Worm from college along with her family (husband Mike and their daughters Ryan and Taylor) and Brian, Kristy and Ingrid Rolig. Good times were had by all and we were in and out of there before it got too crowded to move.

Our little Picasso during his "Purple Phase."

Notice the kitty nose and whiskers on his face?

Playing in the "Tot Spot," a pool that has ping pong balls and a maze of plastic tubes. He loved it. To his right is his friend Taylor.

Last weekend, we all headed up to Alexandria to the Rolig cabin. Jay, Brain and Jack put in the dock just before the torrential downpour. It's exciting to think the cabin is open for business. We look forward to many days there this summer. Pretty sure if we're looking for Lucas, he'll be down on the beach digging in the sand.

Fireside at the cabin with cousin Ingrid. I think they're gonna be lifelong pals.

They can't get enough of each other.

"Happy, Happy, Happy..."

This week Jay celebrated his 37th birthday.  Lucas loves birthdays, probably because he continuously says, "happy, happy, happy," to the person we're celebrating and he gets to blow out candles that he confidently knows how to do ever since turning 2. We light, and re-light, candles so he can have the satisfaction of watching the flame go out every time he blows.

 I was a little nervous about Jay's mood on Saturday considering I scheduled him for a day of yard work with my dad.  Was that mean?  I kept reassuring him that he was going to feel so good about the progress and promised him a nice night out after a longs day's work.  Maybe there were little grumblings here and there, but Jay did great, and so did my dad, and our yard looks ready for spring.  They cut a few branches, planted a bush or two, dug up some overgrown plants, busted out the lawn mower, weed whipper, and leaf blower, and lay some rock around our shed.  Being new homeowners, this is progress! To ensure he had some of his greatest pleasures on the weekend of his birthday, we packed Lucas up and had muffins at Turtle Bread Co. and on Sunday morning, enjoyed a family morning out to Starbucks(maybe the highlight of the weekend...sad, but true...we are addicts!) So unfortunately, we didn't take pictures of the yard to post, but here are some cute ones...

Hoppin' Down the Bunny Trail...

Spring is definitely here and our Saint Louis Park neighborhood has been buzzing with excitement. Jay, with the help of Jack, has been doing a lot of yard work, and we've been hanging out a lot with our neighbors. On Easter Sunday, we participated in an Easter egg hunt and even met the REAL Easter Bunny! Later, we went to Jack and Bonnie's for some family time and food. A perfect weekend.

We're still recovering from our run-in with the actual Easter bunny!

Someone is not quite tired and ready for bed yet. Daddy is, though.

Jack and Jay eliminating some trees behind the shed in the back.

Thanks for looking at the camera, Max!

Happy Easter from the Deans!

Visit from the Deans of Mattapoisett

Come outside and play!

Jay's parents and his brother Greg visited the past 4 days and got some amazing weather and quality time with Sir Lucas. We visited the aquarium at the Mall of America (what would a trip to the Twin Cities be without a stop at the MOA?), the Children's Museum in St. Paul, went to cousin Ingrid's 2nd birthday party (a Malawian theme!), watched some March Madness (good season, Syracuse!), ate some good food, and spent a lot of time lounging around the house. Jay went on a bike ride to Lake Harriet with his Dad, Bunny's (the local sports bar) with Greg, and saw The Hunger Games with his Mom (cuz everyone else was!).

Lucas loved spending time with his grandparents and his uncle and will sorely miss all of the extra attention he got.

"Nana Dean" with Lucas and Karen on the front stoop.

Jack Dean helped sweep these annoying things that fell from our  trees.

Uncle Greg with Lucas on a big rig at the MOA.

Thanks to Kristy and Brian and Ingrid for an amazing Malawian birthday party today!

Settling in...

Hopefully the followers of our California blog have not deserted us after a six-month blog hiatus, but nevertheless we are back - reporting live from our new home in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.

We arrived in MN at the tail end of June and stayed with Karen's parents in Inver Grove Heights (on the St. Paul side of the River) while we looked to purchase our first home. Jay started working at The Blake School in August while Karen got us set up with doctors and address changes, etc. etc. etc.

In early October, we finally moved into our first house on Raleigh Avenue in St. Louis Park - in a neighborhood filled with 2-year-olds for Lucas to play with and young parents like us. On only our second official night here, we went to a Raleigh Block Party and met everyone and, after becoming hermits for the winter, have already reconnected with our new friends - sitting on the front lawn and grilling together.

Karen now works at Blake part-time in the 4th grade classroom on the same campus with Jay. Meanwhile, Lucas spends three days a week at daycare and two days with Grandma and Grandpa.

Now that the weather is getting nice again (and I know - I've been told a million times - I can't complain about this year's winter), we are excited about the fun times we know we'll have this spring and summer.

Some highlights in photos:

Lucas on the front stoop on Halloween. Grrr!

Grandma made Lucas and his cousins dress as gnomes for Halloween. They loved it!

Lucas scoping out his new neighborhood on Move In Day.

Playing the violin at Rock The Cradle at the Minnesota Institute of the Arts.

Riding giraffes with cousin Ingrid at the Como Zoo.

Tractor riding at the corn maze.

Zooming around on the trike at physical therapy.

Happy to be sitting on our new zebra ottoman.

Lucas got inspired by kids on the 7-12 co-ed basketball team at the Courage Center.