new blogs

Thomas and Elle both started new blogs last week.  They would like me to pass on the new web addresses to you.  Thomas's is Hook, Sinker, Bobber and Elle's is O Happy Day. 

long time, no update....again

Another long span between updates.  Sorry!  We are done with school and are thoroughly enjoying our break.  I am missing one of my camera's memory cards right now but here are some pictures from the one that I can find. 

Science camp.  I am sparing you from the pig disection pictures.
 

Ava's preschool group did a field trip to the DNR Fish Hatchery.  Thomas and Elle tagged along for that one.  It was very cool!
 

We found really big marshmallows for roasting at the grocery store and bought a bag.  This was the result.  Bathtime followed immediately!
 

We got the boat in the water last week but it has sat on the lift since.  We are still waiting for summer to get here.  No jumping in records were set this year.
 

Thomas put the paddleboat in the lake all by himself this year.  It was quite the feat.  They enjoy taking it out for a ride almost daily.
 

Loving this heater and the many evenings spent sitting on the patio talking with Scott.  It's my kind of date! 

 

A favorite picture I've taken with my phone.  Shopping with Ava still requires a little dressing room discipline now and then.  :)

a little update

Thursday and Friday of last week Ava was sick, again, with a stomach bug this time.  Lots of cuddle time with her Fluffy was in order.  We have been hit hard by the sick germs this winter.  Hoping that this was our last round of it. 

Elle and her friend Kate.  I took this on our way to a dance competition last weekend.  Dance is wrapping up this month.  The spring show is in a few weeks and then we are done with regular classes until next fall.  It's been fun to watch their improvement this year.  Both Elle and Ava absolutely love it. 

I am loving the warmer days that we are having.  The kids have been getting outside and playing a lot, in just jackets!  The ice on the lake is starting to melt around the edges, I am finding new growth under the dead plants from last year.  It's still too early to pull it all back yet but it's under there!  On Monday we had a big flock of robins land between our house and our neighbor's.  There had to be at least 50 of them.  It was fun to watch them.  

I ordered our standardized achievement tests today and plan to test in early May.  It is looking like the kids will have their schoolwork complete by mid May.  We are all looking forward to summer break. 

Hope you are having a good week!

sick

The window sill in my kitchen tells what has been going on in our house this week.  Sick kids.  All three of them.  Fevers, coughs, runny noses, and poor Elle also got an ear infection in both of her ears.  She is feeling much better after starting on antibiotics yesterday though. 

Lots of napping, reading and movie watching. 

 

Today they have felt well enough to do some schoolwork.  We will spend the weekend catching up on the week's work.  Also hoping that they feel better so we can one more day in at the ski hill as this is the last weekend it's open!  I'll be back with pictures if we do!

tweet tweet little birdie

A few weeks ago we were at a friend's house and they had the coolest birdhouses on their windows that suctioned to the glass.  It was so fun to watch the birds and get such a close look at them.  We purchased one for the window in the school area and have just started to get birds feeding at it. 

We keep the Birdfeeder Handbook nearby so we can identify which birds we've had at the feeder.  Thomas made a chart and is keeping track of it for us.  This morning we had several Pine Siskin's.  I love that the squirrels can't get to it! 

random stuff

Elle enjoying her January reading reward.  A double chocolate chip frappacino from Starbucks (no coffee!)....her favorite.  Instead of doing Book It this year we decided to pick a different prize each month that the kids work towards.  It's been fun!

I found this on my pillow last week after the kids were tucked into bed.  Incase you can't read it, here's what it says -

dear tooth fairy,
I regret to inform you that I lost a tooth a couple days ago and I haven't found no dollor under my pillow infact my tooth is still where I left it.  I know I should be patient and all but your taking forever!  Please hurry up.

-cashless kid  A.K.A.  Elle

I got a good laugh from it.  I remembered right before she woke up the next morning to go sneak a dollar coin under her pillow but couldn't find the tooth.  She brought it to me.  I stink at being the tooth fairy. 

We are still plugging away at school. 

Pond hockey is over for the season.  The icehouses have to be off the lake as of today.  And there are only a few more weeks of skiing and snowboarding left.  Spring can't be too far off!

church bulletin bloopers

A friend forwarded me this email of church bulletin bloopers.  I thought they were funny.  :)

    The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.

    ————————–

    The sermon this morning: ‘Jesus Walks on the Water.’ The sermon
    tonight: ‘Searching for Jesus.’

    ————————–

    Ladies, don’t forget the rummage sale.. It’s a chance to get rid of
    those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.

    ————————–

    Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at
    someone who is hard to love. Say ‘Hell’ to someone who doesn’t care
    much about you.

    ————————–

    Don’t let worry kill you off – let the Church help.

    ————————–

    Miss Charlene Mason sang ‘I will not pass this way again,’ giving
    obvious pleasure to the congregation.

    ————————–

    For those of you who have children and don’t know it, we have a
    nursery downstairs.

    ————————–

    Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the
    help they can get.

    ————————–

    Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the
    church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

    ————————–

    A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall.
    Music will follow.

    ————————–

    At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be ‘What Is
    Hell?’ Come early and listen to our choir practice

    ————————–

    Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of
    several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.

    ————————–

    Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be
    recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.

    ————————–

    Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased
    person you want remembered.

    ————————–

    The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment
    and gracious hostility.

    ————————–

    Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM – prayer and medication to follow.

    ————————–

    The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They
    may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

    ————————–

    This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across
    from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

    ————————–

    Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All
    ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B. S.
    is done.

    ————————–

    The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the Congregation
    would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next
    Sunday.

    ————————–

    Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use
    the back door.

    ————————-

    The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the
    Church basement Friday at 7 PM.. The congregation is invited to
    attend this tragedy.

    ————————–

    Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church.
    Please use large double door at the side entrance.

    ————————–

    The Associate Minister unveiled the church’s new campaign slogan
    last Sunday:

    “I Upped My Pledge – Up Yours”.

a picnic....in march!

I can't believe it's only mid March!  The sun is shining, it is 55 degrees and all that's left of the snow are small drifts and the ice on the lake.  The kids even had a picnic today with the neighbor girls.

I took a peek under the dead foliage and found that the sedum is already growing.  I'm tempted to go pull all of the dead stuff away, rake the yard and haul out the patio furniture but realize that this could still happen, so I'll wait for awhile yet.

It's been a good week here.  Most of the kids extra activities have ended and we have been able to stay home more.  It has been a good change of pace.  Lots of school, playing outside, cleaning and organizing have been happening here.  Ava loved running the paper shredder when I went through old paperwork.  Somehow she always ends up in those pajamas when I'm taking her picture.  She does take them off and dress herself.  See -

A swimsuit, her favorite vest that she must wear every time it is clean, and boots, of course.  The other day she put on a swimsuit, striped tights over it and then socks over the tights and that was it.  That girl is crazy.  And she always eats her apples like that....in a circle, like a little squirrel. 

my apologies if you read this blog with a reader

I'm making some changes and doing some clean up around here on the blog.  I'm letting the kids clean the house.  Ha!  Anyway, I do not use a reader to read blogs so I'm not exactly sure how they work.  Unfortunately I do not know how to make all of my changes behind the scenes and then just do a big update so unless I figure out how to do that it might look like I am posting a lot here.  ??  If it's annoying, I am really sorry!  I hope to have everything done this weekend.

the sun is shining

I just have to take a second to pop in here to say that this week is ending so much better than it started.  The sun has been shining and the temps have been in the mid thirties.  That is a heat wave!  Jackets instead of winter coats and snow melting off the roof.  Woohoo! Nothing like a little sunshine to cheer everyone up! 

Today we are going skiing and I am going to attempt to take Ava too! We went as a family last Saturday and Scott took her down the hill several times. She did really well and absolutely loved it.  I took her a couple of times after I got some practice in so it should all go fine.  I'll bring my camera and post pictures this weekend.

saturday in pics

Pancakes. A good Saturday breakfast includes syrup.

Cartoon watching. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is still her favorite.

Girl's Day out for Elle and I. Lunch at a favorite spot.

Dancing at the dance team invitational. She LOVES dance!


Recharging at Starbucks after doing some Christmas shopping.

Watching the Huskers. That was an intense game. Good job Blackshirts!

checking in

Fall has arrived here in Minnesota! After a very cold and rainy October we are loving the sunshine and warmer temps. We've been busy getting outside projects done. Be back soon!

messing with sasquatch

Scott hit a deer this morning on the way to work. Thankfully he wasn't hurt!

Here is Ava's explanation of how it happened -


By the way, Thomas titled this post! :)

if favre can do it, so can i

Of course, I'm talking about quitting and then coming back. Funny how I find it annoying when Brett Favre does it but for me it's ok?!?! :) Thank you for all of the sweet comments left in my last post and for the ones told to me in person. Each one brought a smile to my face, so thank you! It really meant a lot to me. I've missed this blog! I downloaded the whole thing into Blurb this week and started to work on getting it printed into a book. The maximum number of pages you can have in a blog book is 440 and I'm way over so I'll be printing a couple of different ones. It will be so fun to look through the books year after year!

I do think it was a good thing for me to take a break from it for awhile. I had many reasons for feeling like it was time to shut it down. A couple of big ones were the time it takes to keep up with it and the other is the whole privacy issue. During September we got back into a routine around here and life is feeling much more relaxed than it was a month ago. Moving my laptop out of the kitchen and up to the school area, where it was needed, was a good move too. The temptation to stop and just check a few blogs isn't there. I get so much more done without it in sight! As far as the privacy issue, I am just going to leave things as they are. I had thought that I was going to start blogging privately but I just didn't see that working out well either. So if you visited here during the week and couldn't get to it that is why.

So, now I'll be back here posting more of the same - kids, recipes, & life in Minnesota. I have lots of fun pictures of the kids sitting on the camera to share. Each time something 'blogworthy' happened in the last month I was a little bummed that I wasn't documenting it.

About the pictures, we got our first snowfall last Saturday.....on October 10. Way to early for snow if you ask me. If you ask my kids, they'd disagree. They want more and the sooner, the better.

miss you already nicole

My sister left today after staying with us for a full two weeks. We had such a great time together. This morning when Ava woke up she asked where Aunt Cole was. I told her that I took her to the airport so that she could go back to Nebraska. She said, 'Why? Did she miss her mom?' It was so funny.

We love you Nicole and miss you already!

oops!

Last night I thought I'd see what it looked like to add a background to my blog and in the process lost my 3 column layout that Scott had helped me do. Lesson learned - do not mess around with your blog template at 11:00 at night. Anyway, I hope to figure out how to get it back without the help of my computer guy (using these instructions). Wish me luck! So if you stop by and my blog is in disarray that is why.

bird watching

Today I filled up the bird feeder that Scott's parents gave us for Christmas and took the National Audubon Society book off the shelf and put it on the ottoman in the living room.

I hung the feeder on a branch right outside the dining room window. Now we are just waiting for the birds to find it!

13.1

Way to go running the half marathon this morning Scott!

beautiful day

Open water (the ice went out yesterday!), blue skies and sunshine is what we are enjoying today! I've got more pictures on the camera to put up here but it'll have to wait till later. I need to get back outside. I've got plants coming up that need uncovered!

happenings around our home

Here are some of the happenings around our home this week -

• There isn't a need for a diaper drawer anymore at our house! Miss Ava is a big girl now! This is big news, as some of you will know.
  
  
• Last weekend Elle went to see the new Hannah Montana movie with our neighbor girls, Taylor and Mackayla. They were so sweet to ask her. Of course, she loved it! Mackayla started teaching Elle the Hoedown Throwdown and I think I've heard the song 50 times this week while she's been practicing it. Even Ava can 'Pop It, Lock It, Polka Dot It, Countrify then Hip Hop It!'
  
  
• Thomas ran a fever for 3 days this week but is finally feeling back to normal today. He was so bummed because we've had gorgeous weather here this week. Temps in the 60's!
  

• Most afternoons we have been taking our reading for history outside and soaking in the sun while we read of World War II. If you happen to be studying this with your kids or plan to in the future you have to be sure to read Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop. Thomas and Elle begged me to keep reading it and said it was one of the best stories they have ever heard. We are now reading Shadow of His Hand. It is the story of a girl named Anita Dittman who lived through the Holocaust. Last November we were actually able to go and hear her give her testimony to a group of area homeschoolers. I blogged about it here. We weren't studying WWII at the time but I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to hear her speak. Shadow of His Hand is adapted from Anita's autobiography Trapped in Hitler's Hell, for younger age readers. I love being able to teach history with a perspective that shows God's faithfulness.
  

Well, that's our week in a nutshell. Hope you all have a great weekend!