Just For Me

He's a Real Hoot!

Tate has grown out of all his winter hats from last year, well he was only 6 months old, so reasonably so.... anyway, so I thought I would make him a new one. It's cute but I think it's the little guy under it that makes it so irresistible!






You are probably wondering if I keep Tate in the high chair all day everyday, because that is where most of his pictures are taken. Well the truth is, no I don't, it's just the only place where he is still enough to get a clear picture.

Hello Blog world

I feel so out of touch with the blogging world out there, I actually didn't look at a single blog for about 10 days. It feels strange to be back at it again after such a short absence.

For the past 11 days I've been in Utah visiting family. I hadn't planned this trip and we had planned to stay home in Minnesota for thanksgiving. I got a call from my little sister on Thursday the 17th telling me some heartbreaking news. My brother and his wife had lost their baby boy. She was 34 weeks along. I was devastated for them. Tears and emotion over came our whole family. I thought it was financially impossible for me to come out to be with them.

My sweet sister-in-law spent the whole night in labor and Friday morning delivers Koston, their stillborn baby.

I felt I needed to get out there and be with my family, which was made possible by my incredible in-laws and sweet husband. Poor Donny, I left him with no food, a messy house and a huge pile of laundry! With a smile on his face he told me not to worry about any of it and go support my family. He is really the best there is folks!

It was good to be with family during this heartbreaking time. The strength that comes from family and love is incredible. I'm so thankful for family.
Baby Koston was buried the following Wednesday and had a beautiful grave site service. He is loved and very missed. I know he is a blessing in our lives, and his sweet spirit is busy doing his work with his Uncle Ryan.
I believe it was the night of the service that there was the most beautiful sunset. We all went out to look at it and enjoy it's beauty. I heard Kensie say to Maycie "Koston made this sunset for us to show how much he loves you". I loved that. Aaron and Kens are amazing, strong, and mindful of Heavenly Father's plan. They are fantastic parents. I love them dearly.

In the furry of packing in a few hours and my mind being else where I forgot my camera at home (and enough clothes for 11 days). I was super bummed I didn't get pictures of the service or Thanksgiving or any family. So all I have are the memories I'll keep with me always, which is good enough.

We are so blessed. There are many things to be grateful for. Little Koston will always be in our hearts and with us forever. Heavenly Father loves us, and cares about each and every one of us.

Sisters

My little sister Amber came to Minnesota for a visit for the past 12 days. She just got home form her mission in Hong Kong and we were so excited to have her come out. For one thing she needed to meet Tate! When she got in the car he looked out the window and wouldn't look at her. He was just smiling and laughing but wouldn't look over. After he softened up they became good friends. Sharing a room and playing all day. I didn't take many pictures while she was here, I wish I had, but here are just the few I did take.






Sisters are the best. I love my baby sister, and I'm so glad she is home! She went back to Montana today and I miss her already!

Families are Forever

Today I have been thinking a lot about families. I love my family, both Bingham and Baum! I feel so blessed to have all of these people in my life. I know I have grown in many ways because of all of their influences. I have great examples of strong women and loving, compassionate mothers, of faithful/dedicated husbands and loving fathers. Our family really has it all. As much as I love my family that lives outside of my home and miss them daily, I know what gets me through the day is the family that is right here in my home.

When life is as unpredictable and crazy as it is right now, and sometimes I think I should be a complete mess. I feel at peace in my situation. Sure I get anxious sometimes at the thought of the unknown, everyone does. I always have a constant reminder that everything will be right, because I will always have my family. We live in Minnesota right now and to be honest I wasn't too happy to come out here, but I love it. I really do, I would even say I sometimes have mixed feeling about leaving here someday. Yes I hate being away from loves ones and miss them terribly, but I have my little family of three. We're small but we have each other.
My sweet Donny is my best friend. We laugh and giggle together, have constant inside jokes and most of the time know what the other will say or is thinking. We have cried together and found comfort in each others company. I know now that it doesn't matter where we live or how much money we have or how nice our house or car is. We are happy with nothing, (I know this because we have nothing now and we are happy). Happy to be a little family.
Little Tate is a blessing in our family. Sometimes I can't remember life without him. He is like sunshine in a bottle. When I feel down, that little smile warms my soul. Family really can be together forever........and I'm counting on it!!!

Sunday Best

Can you resist a boy in a sweater vest? I can't! He is such a snappy dresser and I love it! He's just so kissable and squeezable, and that smile just melts my heart!

I vant to suck your blood!

This year for Halloween Tate went as Dracula. He was so cute with that cape flapping behind him and that little bow tie. We had our church Halloween party the week before Halloween when Greg and Valynn were here. It was fun and I had thought maybe that would be all the Halloween we would do this year. I'm glad we decided to go out and do some trick or treating because we had so much fun. At first Tate wasn't quite sure what we were doing, but then at the first house that lady opened the door and dropped candy in his bucket he was hooked. The look on his face was priceless! There was no stopping him he was running from house to house. His bucket was getting so heavy but he wouldn't let us carry it for him he just started dragging it along. He did take a few spills along the way one somersault off the sidewalk and one trip that gave him a little bloody lip which added to the costume. He cried for a few seconds and was ready to go again. He was so funny he was holding his bucket out and would continue to hold it out until they would drop another into his bucket, then he would wave and say bu-bye and turn and run.






We went out with our friends the Oborns. Tate and Madison are just the cutest! Little Dracula and his witch girlfriend. Yep they like to kiss! and it is so cute!






One of the houses in our Neighborhood did an awesome job decorating and making it very spooky. Tate was terrified! But they were giving out full size candy bars so we had to go up to the door. As you can see he was scared to screaming and tears, please don't judge me for laughing in the pictures it was entertaining and I do feel bad for making him scared!




All in all it was the best Halloween we've had in years! It was so fun to see Tate enjoying the traditions we enjoyed when we were little.

When Grandma and Grandpa come to town

Grandma and Grandpa Baum came to visit us the past 9 days. It was such a great visit! We really enjoyed having them here. Tate got so attached to them that when they were getting ready to leave and rolling out their suitcases he started crying. After they left he stood at the door just sobbing for about 10 minutes, I then picked him up and he continued to cry on my shoulder for a while. I couldn't hold back the tears either with this sweet boy crying for his grandparents. He just fell in love with them. Donny and I have always said how blessed we are to have the families we have, and this week just reaffirmed the love we have for our families. I wish I would have taken more pictures while they were here. I'm still not as good as I should be with taking pictures. The funny thing is that I now have it down to have it with me all the time, I just forget to get it out! This is kind of a picture dump but I couldn't leave any out and well I know most people look at blog for the pictures anyway, so I guess I shouldn't apologize for it. These first few are from our walk around Minnehaha park and falls. We are so happy to live in such a beautiful place.


We spent 6 hours at the Mall of America one day. The boys were all troopers, especially Tate! He did so well! He got to ride a few rides at the Nickelodeon Park with Donny and Grandpa. He loved it of course. I swear that place is like the Lotus, you can spend hours in there and not realize how long you were there. Also a picture of Greg feeding Tate his first Twinkie and Tate doing ab exercises with Valynn.

These pictures are from our trip to Stillwater. The "birthplace of Minnesota", it was a beautiful day and the views were gorgeous!


These are a couple houses we saw on our drive around Stillwater. The scariest house on the block and a gorgeous Victorian house with pretty fall leaves. I wish I would have taken pictures of more houses, there were some really pretty ones.
Happy Halloween!

Most smiles are started by another smile.

This little boy's smile is infectious. He smiles at everyone who passes by him. I love his little personality. He is such a happy baby and makes everyone around him happy. He has been loving having Grandma and Grandpa here this week. He's been playing with Grandpa outside throwing rocks and wrestling. Every time we get in the car he puts on his biggest smile and says "Hi", looking straight at Grandma. It's impossible not to fall completely captive of this sweet little boys charms.

Apple Junction

We have been having so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa Baum here! Tate is loving every minute, as are we. Today we went to an apple orchard, there at least 50 or so surrounding the twin cities. We were in the little store buying apples and I look over and Tate is eating an apple that he had gotten out of a basket of apples on the floor. He loved it, he ate at least half of it before he got tired.




I was terrified that they just let those chickens roam around not fenced in while people are walking around. One started to charge Tate (probably just a few steps toward him, but it felt like charging to me)and freaked me out!

Divine Role

"Motherhood is more than bearing children. … It is the essence of who we are as women."
--Sheri Dew

Sunday Drives

I love a Sunday drive. Especially in the fall when all the leaves are changing and it's so beautiful. We have been wanting to drive to a town called Stillwater for a while but just haven't done it. It's about 20 minutes east of us. Little fun fact about Stillwater is that it was the fist town in Minnesota. It was gorgeous by the water of the St. Croix river. Across the bridge is Wisconsin.....now I can say I've been to Wisconsin.

He's not ready

For the past few days Tate has been taking two really short naps. So today I thought I would try to see if he would do better with just one, hopefully, long nap. By about 11:30 he was toast, crying and throwing everything. He was picking up his cup and throwing in on the ground over and over. So I think he's not ready for the switch.....we'll be sticking with two for a while.

Fall is in the air

Fall is one of our favorite times of year. We love the crisp air and the change of color all around us. Fall has a way of making me feel warm and cozy. We went for a walk in the old neighborhood today, trees are changing and leaves are on the sidewalk. The cool crisp air and the sun on your face and being cuddles under the scarf around your neck is something I cherish this time of year. I hope you all are taking the time to appreciate this lovely time of year.

It's nice to have a friend

We are so happy to be living so close to our good friends. Tate has fallen in love with their daughter Madison. He gets so excited to play with her. Just yesterday he heard her voice in the hall and went running to the door squealing with excitement. He loves to hug and kiss her (she doesn't always love it so much), but they play really well together and are so cute to watch.

You Are A Child's Play Thing!

Tate is in love with Toy Story! It's the cutest thing. He can only say a few words and two of those are Toy Story. He always says it in a pursed whisper. Which is so adorable. We found an on sale Woody and potato head. He doesn't leave the house without Woody. The first 2 days he had a death grip on him. Today in the car I could hear kissing noises coming from the backseat. Tate was giving woody kisses! He won't give either of us kisses but has loads for Woody.

These were just burning a hole in my camera to get out and on the blog. His diaper bonnet! Hilarious!!!.........Oh he's just the best..........Don't worry it was clean.

What I've been up to lately

I've been having a lot of fun doing things around the house to make it feel like home. I feel like a mama bear getting ready to hibernate for the winter. I want to make our home a cozy place when winter hits and we are snowed in for days!



We have those ugly vinyl blinds in our apartment and we wanted to find a way to cover them and hang our curtains. My friend Ashlynn who is very creative and amazingly crafty came up with making boxes to cover the track and hang the curtains inside. I love how it turned out, it makes it feel like a completed room.



I just finished these coasters and I love love love them! I'm glad I do because they took me a long time!