Katie's party

We had our family birthday party for Katie Thursday night. She opened her presents and we had cupcakes. Let's see Katie got some new computer games, a Zhu Zhu pet (electric hamster), books, games a water bottle, and clothes. Your basic birthday loot, I suppose.

Will gave his seal of approval for the cupcakes.

Katie liked her computer games. (Shhhh...don't tell her they were .25-1.00!)

To keep Will entertained, he also got some gifts. He got a truck, some books, a water bottle, and a computer game of his own.

Then on Saturday, Katie had three friends over that live in the neighborhood and rode the school bus with her this past year. We asked them not to bring gifts, so we just played games, tossed some water balloons, did a pinata, and ate more cupcakes. It was a very fun party with a great group of kids. They will all be going to the same elementary school next year too so we look forward to connecting with them again this summer.

Katie and her buds....and of course, Will. :)

Katie and her pinata.

It was a pull-string pinata. (No big stick to swing around.) Everyone took turns pulling ribbons at the bottom and towards the end the bottom pulls out and all the goodies go flying.

Katie said she had a great party - and has already asked how many days until her next one.

Happy Birthday Katie!

6 years.

For six years we've been able to call you our own. I remember the first time I touched you...the first time you cried....the first time you looked at me.....your first picture....the first time John held you.

Some people say the first years are a blur, but I remember every moment we've spent together. I can't wait to remember the future.

What would you do...

I wanted to post this yesterday, but the Blogger site was down so it had to wait til today.

What do you do when there's a squirrel in your toilet?

I wish I had a punchline for you. As my friend Sarah says - there's a nut joke in there somewhere.

Remember that scene in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation where the squirrel jumps out of the Christmas tree in their living room? Well, yesterday one jumped out of our toilet. We are thinking that the stupid guy came up through air trap thing, couldn't turn around and just kept going. He surprised John the next morning.

I was downstairs fixing breakfast and I saw him heading back upstairs with a big box and a laundry basket. I gave him a funny look and all he said was "You don 't want to know."

A couple minutes later he comes running down the stairs with a blanket yelling "Open the door! Open the door!" We go out on the back porch, he shakes out the blanket and we hear a THUD, followed by a little squirrel running for his life.

Reason #7681 I love John - he will wrestle live squirrels so I don't have to.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Today my niece turns 17. Holy crap.

It's pretty easy to find funny pictures of her.....

FORE!

Weeks ago, John took all of us to the driving range. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon...well before the humidity kicked in. The kids enjoyed golfing, and no one came away with an iron to the head. That equals a good day.

It's funny - I mowed lawn, pulled weeds, planted the garden - no sore muscles. I swung the golf club probably 12 times and I SOOO felt it the next day.

This past weekend, the 4 of us golfed 9 holes. More from that to come!

Tuckered out

Uncle Jim paid us a visit last Thursday. He and John went to the Yankees/Twins game that night. Will was so excited that he skipped his nap and played with Uncle Jim. About 15 minutes after John and Jim left, this is what I found on the living room floor.

Will's Gym class

Last Thursday Will and I went to his "last" class at My Gym. It's his last scheduled class. Throughout the summer he and Katie will do 2 camps there together and we'll do about 2 random classes for each of them whenever it works out.

I remembered my camera this time!

After circle time, they go over "the rules". One friend on the trampoline, take turns, etc.

Here's Will on the balance beam. He got really good at walking across with no help....of course the wall helps.

Today's gymnastics skill was the hanging rings. Obviously, Will likes them.


Will doing a forward roll.

Puppet show time!

Gone Fishing

On Sunday, after we got home from church, we all packed up and went fishing at a local lake. It was a bit chilly, but we did have some peeks of sun that warmed us up. The kids did great and I'm sure we'll be going again soon.

First, you pick out a nice, juicy worm. Katie and Will both took turns picking out worms.

( Note to my Dad: Yes, I even put worms on. It's funny, if it's something that's important to your kids, you just suck it up and do it.) :)

Here, Katie is using her Scooby Doo kid's fishing rod that we picked up at a neighbor's garage sale about a month ago. Paid 25 cents cuz the reel wasn't working. Five minutes with John = working fishing rod.

Will was up for fishing...for a while. Then he'd rather just sit and eat grapes....using the same hands he dug in the worms with. I'm sure those are the "good" germs. :)

Katie and Will were entertained by a caterpillar for a while. Miss Nature girl, herself even let it crawl onto her hands. (That'd be Katie, not me. Worms today - caterpillars later.)


And yes, the first fish of the day was a sunfish caught by ME, using Katie's Scooby Doo rod. John caught one shortly after, and then Katie caught one all by herself.

Great day for a picnic

Today is just about the perfect day to have a picnic. Good thing we have one scheduled. Some friends are getting together at a nearby park for lunch and play. We couldn't have ordered a more perfect day.

Tomorrow John's brother, Jim, is coming up to go to a Twins game - sounds like it'll be a good evening for outdoor baseball as well. Better than last night anyway - we had thunder and rain, which was very welcome because it cooled off the air enough so we could all sleep.

Got a lot of summer activities scheduled yesterday. Katie and Will are doing some morning camps at My Gym. They will both go from 9:30 to about noon, giving me a couple mornings completely free to just twiddle my thumbs, if I so choose.

They are each doing a week long camp at church as well. Katie's is a music camp, and Will's is vacation bible school. We'll see how he does in an organized group setting...I probably won't stray too far for the first few days.

And then I'm hoping to get them each into some swimming lessons, just haven't nailed down the days yet. Between all that and the free activities offered through the library and rec center, I think we have something every week. It will really help us keep a schedule through out the summer and not 'break the bank.'

It's odd how you have to schedule 3 months worth of actives all at once - no wonder the summer goes by so fast, right? However, if I don't - things fill up too fast and then we'll be stuck just going to the park every day. That may sound great, but around day 42....it gets old.

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday - Happy HOT Monday. I'll take it though. It's hot and sticky here in Minnesota - gonna get up to 90 today, and I refuse to turn the air on. It's only May for pete's sake. It'll be ok. :) Makes me think that as soon as it drops back down to 70-ish, I'll start painting the living room. I don't want to have to do it this summer when it's 90+.

So far we've had a productive start to the the week. I went to the chiropractor - got all adjusted and feel much better. Will and I also picked up a tomato plant and a green pepper plant for the garden. You may remember me telling you that we had our garden pretty much planted - 8 pepper plants, tomato plants, cucumbers, etc. Well that last cold week that we had about a month ago did our pepper plants and cucumber plants in. (My wonderful mother-in-law, the master gardener, just said "I told you so." :) We were fooled into thinking that our early spring would last.) That's the good thing about plants. You can always start over, as long as you learned something.

So now I'm finishing up the laundry - watching Will eat his yogurt and waiting for Katie to get home from school. She has 12 days left. We are trying to work out our summer camp plans and creating a 'schedule' to make our summer days more enjoyable.

Any suggestions?

No worries, here I am.

Yes, we are still around. But it's over 70 in MN this week, and you can't expect me to sit on the computer. :) We need to stock up on our Vitamin D. (Which I've stopped taking supplements of in honor of our wonderful sunshine!)

This past weekend was pretty busy - I think....I just can't seem to remember too much about it. Saturday night we went out to eat. We had some free kid's meal coupons for a Mexican restaurant. It's been SOOO hard getting Will to eat anything lately. Katie, on the otherhand is eating well at every meal. Seems Will only eats blueberries, graham crackers and yogurt these days.

On Sunday Katie was in the children's musical at church. This was her first year in the show and she was a fish. Her and about 5 other 1st and 2nd graders stood in the back singing and doing actions - it was really cute and she loved it. Our church has a musical camp that they offer for a week this summer that she wants to do too - so I see more shows in our future.

A couple weeks ago we stayed in Rochester because John had early morning meetings down there. Gave the kids an opportunity to swim and have a hotel adventure - which they LOVE!

At Grandma Lyla's house, Katie was obsessed with building towers. She posed for a picture with her creation.


At Grandma Mary's house Katie built chairs for her animals out of encyclopedias.

I think her father's engineering gene got passed on to her. :)

Took 2; Left with 2

Tuesday we went to The Children's Museum in St. Paul. We try to go once a year. Last year we I'm sure we went, but can't really remember...I think the special exhibit was Clifford, and the year before that was Sesame Street. This time they showcased dinosaurs!

Can you see Katie and Will in there? They had an area where you could take a picture and

e-mail it to yourself.

Usually we go in the morning as soon as it opens. This year, because Katie has kindergarten in the morning we were forced to wait until after lunch. I wasn't sure what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised. All the school groups left by 1:30 -2:00 and for the next 2 hours we had the place pretty much to ourselves...give or take 20 kids.

This is the first visit to the museum where I didn't have to constantly help someone. I could really just step back and let them go explore. Needless to say that made for a very stress-free visit. Neither of them can decide which part was their favorite....so here is a taste of our afternoon.

The grocery store - always a favorite. A picture of them together - rare.

Will creating a collage.

I wanted to take a picture of Will with T-Rex, but there was no way in hell Will was gonna take his eyes off that guy. (He moved...and I'm sure Will thought he was gonna take a bite while his back was turned.)

Again, one of Katie's favorite areas is the block work place. Filled with conveyor belts, pulleys, and foam blocks - she likes to play in the warehouse.

Happy May!

It's May! This is the time of year we start expecting nice weather. Hmmm...here in Minnesota we've had nice weather for the past 2 months, really. Now I'm spoiled and getting sick of ONLY 60 degree days. I want some 75-80 degree days. Considering it's snowed in May before, I should probably shut up.

This past weekend my sister, Denise and niece Sarah stayed with us for a night. Sarah is college shopping and considering the University of MN. If any of you remember Sarah, you're probably thinking "What is she doing looking at colleges? She's only 10!" Sorry, she's almost 17.

Saturday night John and I and the kids went to our friends' Wade and Donna's house. It was Wade's birthday party and they had invited people over for food and drinks. I find it funny that out of about 15-20 people in their 30's, we are the only one with kids. Guess they didn't drink the Kool-Aid. Katie and Will charmed everyone, played Wii and had a good night.

On a much less exciting point, I updated our computer to Windows 7. Not sure why, other than I got the update for free. The only thing I know it does differently is that thing they show on TV where you can have 2 windows open and snap them into place on the side of the screen so you can see both of them at the same time. Seemed like a lot of work just for that....there MUST be something else too.

I wish I had a picture for today. I had the PERFECT opportunity yesterday and forgot. The four of us went for our first bike ride as a family of 4. John pulled Katie on her tandem bike that hooks to the back of his and I pulled Will behind me in his "cart". I made it up all the hills, except for one. UGH! I was so close! :) My excuse was that the wind was blowing the wrong way.

Friday Funny

I don't think I can explian this one....so why bother.

Farm theme

In keeping with the farm theme that seems to be in a lot of pictures this week...



The kids and I had a fun time last week at a fundraiser put on by our church. During the week they run a small preschool for about 25-30 3-5 year-olds. Every spring they put on a "Family County Fair" to raise money for some of their yearly expenses. It's an evening of kiddie games, raffles, silent auctions, face painting, hot dogs, etc. And while we didn't win any of the raffles or auctions, we did have fun at the games.

Gosh darn it....that's another 'lady' hat on Will, isn't it.

Do you ever wonder....

Do you ever wonder how many pictures I have of Will dressed as a girl? I should sit and count them up someday. Honestly, he enjoyed himself as much as I did, snapping away.

Trip to the zoo....

Last Friday the four of us took some time and went to the zoo together. The kids and I try to go every year, but John hasn't gone with us since Katie was a baby.

If you remember, I said I wasn't going to take the stroller. Ok, that MAY have been a bit premature. In any case, it was a lot easier thanks to John....and his shoulders.

Will liked petting the baby goats. I'm pretty sure he just thought they were

strange looking dogs.

Katie in the chicken coop.

Not a real pig, by the way...

Happy Birthday!

Another Birthday shout-out today to my Dad!!



Happy Birthday Dad - take a snooze, you deserve it!

Friday Funny

Happy Friday!

There's no school today because it's kindergarten roundup. So, Katie, Will, me and maybe even John are heading to the zoo. I'm not taking a stroller with us...we're all going to hoof it. We'll see how it goes...I am feeling optimistic. (Stop laughing...it MAY go smoothly!)

Happy First Birthday!

Happy 1st Birthday today to my neice and nephew, Ethan and Emily! Wow, that first year sure flew by. Of course it goes faster when you're not the one taking care of them every day!



They are mobile now, crawling and rolling up a storm. I suppose those first steps are only weeks away!

Our green thumb

It's been SO nice lately that it's difficult to wait on the garden. This past weekend we decided that it's probably safe to get some things in the ground, so we all made a trip to the green house and spent $20 on some fun plants for around the house.

We have about 1/4 of our garden full of strawberry plants. We'd love to have 1/2 our garden strawberries. They are so easy to maintain, easy for the kids to pick and ALL get eaten quickly. We bought 2 more strawberry plants and divided a few clusters up. We're hoping they keep spreading. So far, so good.

We bought 1 tomato plant. Last year we bought one as well, and had 2 surprise ones pop up. See? It makes sense not to pick them all. :)

We got 4 cucumber plants. It's our first year for those...we'll see.

We bought 8 green pepper plants. Yes, I said 8. I don't think we realized that we had 2 containers, but oh well. They may not all make it. If they do, well, we'll have extras.

I got 2 purple geraniums for our front door planter. I tried a plant in there 2 years ago and kept forgetting to water it. It doesn't get any rain water, so you can imagine how long it lasted. Again, so far, so good.

Finally, our neighbors across the street were thinning out their flower beds and gave us a bunch of day lilies that we planted on the side of the house. It was pretty sandy, rocky soil....so we'll see how they do. Not sure what color they are, but I'm hoping they live long enough to find out.

This weekend we MIGHT get the rest of the garden planted. We are doing beans, peas and carrots yet. Those seem to do well, and get eaten most of the time. Next year we may be looking at expanding the garden a bit...we'll see.

Happy Birthday John!!

Today is John's 40th birthday!! (Yeah, I said it.)

We brought his office cupcakes and rice krispie bars this afternoon. The kids always like visiting there and today was even better cuz they got sugar. :)


You're right, this isn't an embarrassing picture. I have to live with the guy. I'm not stupid. :)

Saturday project

This is what we (and by 'we', I mean John) are working on today.


Thanks to the MN appliance rebate program we got $150 to put towards a new dishwasher. The new one has been sitting in the garage for the past few weeks and today is the day my "boys" are going to try to get it in. Luckily John has an assistant. Will told me that I couldn't help...it was only for him and Daddy.

Friday Funny

To honor the start of baseball season....

I don't know what to call this one

I don't know what to "title" this entry....it's a little bit of everything. Well, there, that would have been a nice one.


I finally have a chance to post some pictures from when we were back in IA a week and a half ago. We couldn't make it back Easter weekend, so we went back to visit family the weekend before. We got to see my brother's twins (who will turn 1 in a couple weeks!) and the kids got to do some painting at Grandma Mary's....well, the big kids too.

Obviously Will likes green. He said his picture was of a dragon and a guy, and then there's also a lion in a cage and something else too. It's open to interpretation.

Yesterday was a busy day for everyone here. John finally got a bid put in on a job that he'd spent Easter working on. The kids and I were busy getting the house ready for a fundraising get-together that we were having for a non-profit group I volunteer with. We had a photographer taking pictures of the moms and kids that participated. I was able to get pictures of Katie and Will sitting in a kid's rocking chair that belonged to my dad and my aunt, Carol, when they were little. The chair has always been in Carol's house and now it sits in mine. 70 years later, a third generation of kids get to enjoy it.

Now that that's done, maybe we can get outside this weekend and enjoy some sunny weather.

Oh wait, I have a garage sale in 11 days....maybe after that.

Outdoor baseball

The Twins played their first and second games in their new stadium this past weekend. John worked on the stadium last year so we got 2 free tickets to the game on Saturday afternoon. That means Will and Katie got to spend the day with Jamie, Joe and Noah. Thank you guys AGAIN for watching them for us. They had an awesome time! I'm able to return the favor anytime!

The view from our bleacher seats....it was a full house - very cool for an exhibition game!

The Budweiser porch...there's a fire pit on the top level. It's quite nice standing over there in the sun.

The jumbo HD screen...great for watching replays.

Part of the Minneapolis skyline from the Budweiser sun porch. On the left you'll see the two guys on the Minnesota sign...that's Minnie and Paul. They shake hands after every homerun.

One of the great things about this stadium is that as you walk around the concourse, there are hundreds of places to just stop and watch the game. You are never away from the action! This is the first outdoor stadium I've been to, so I can't compare, but I think it's awesome!

The Chicken or the Egg....

First of all, Happy Easter! I hope you all got to spend the day the way you wanted to. We are hanging out at home today, playing with our plastic eggs and enjoying jelly beans. Well, most of us are...John had to get some work done today so he is at the office. I think he had to work last Easter too...just that time of year when things start to pick up a bit.

I got a better Easter picture this year....

The kids and I went to church while John got some work done at home and kept a close eye out for the Easter Bunny. It was a full house at church, as to be expected. Katie went up front for Pastor Nate's children's sermon. Today he was talking about what a surprise Easter blessings and the Resurrection are. Then he talked about coloring Easter eggs. First you have to cook them or they make a mess when you break them, but not all eggs are the same. He cracked a bunch in a bowl, looking for that one special egg. "Is it this one? No. How about this one? Nope." All the eggs broke just the same way. After cracking 3 in the bowl he quickly took one and cracked it over his teenage helpers head. This was quite a surprise to his assistant who jumped out of the way and was able to miss most of the mess. But the egg 'insides' had to land somewhere....

It was this Sunday that Katie chose to sit up close for the children's sermon.

Yep, you guessed it. Katie got an egg bath all over her head and her dress. Pastor Nate quickly cleaned off what he could and then grabbed his 'special' egg and cracked it over his adult helper's head. This one was full of glitter which he sprinkled on all the kids. He bent down to talk to Katie and commented on how nicely she was taking it and hoping her mom would take it as well as she did, although he thought he would have to owe her an apology.

This whole time I was laughing and gasping right along with everyone else in the congregation because I couldn't see who the little girl was that 'got the egg'. It wasn't until she stood up and walked down the aisle that I saw it was Katie. I whispered to the people behind me "Oh no - it was mine..." Katie was forcing smiles until she got to my side, then she broke out in tears. We went to the bathroom and cleaned up as best we could. After some jokes and laughs she decided it wasn't so bad. We agreed that if Pastor Nate decided to douse her with another egg, she would get to throw one at him. He thought that seemed fair too.

I guess that's why people wear hats on Easter Sunday.