2014 So far...

We've been busy, but no complaining allowed here!  We are healthy and employed with wonderful kids!  Daddy is loving his new job in Training and that has had a positive effect on everyone! 

Samantha learned a hard lesson when a treasured friendship ended.  She made some mistakes, but the important thing is that she learned to not make the same mistakes again.  We have struggled with her teacher this year which has brought more anxiety to Sam, though I've said her teacher just isn't as awesome as other teachers she's had.  I tried to turn it into a "teachable moment"/life lesson.  Time will tell if I succeeded.  Samantha has been loving dance lessons and now does ballet, tap, jazz and hip hop.  We won't be adding any other activities any time soon because it's a lot with Hebrew School!  I keep working on her with nutrition and finding her inner calm.  I love the discussions we have!  Samantha has a kind and friendly soul who is willing to help anyone anytime.

Sofia has made huge strides with her social skills.  (Really?  I'm talking about a six year old here!)  She isn't excluding kids or being mean at school anymore.  It seems like we nipped that bad habit in the bud.  Sofia is vivacious, energetic and makes her own magical world.  It's always fun when she shares it!

The winter weather was HARD.  School was cancelled so many days due to the cold.  I had intended to take the girls cross-country skiing with me, or take up snowshoeing, but all we got to do outside was ice skating a few times.  Thankfully it is officially spring and soon the weather will be a memory!

We've had plenty of adventures so far this year and we have plenty of plans for the upcoming year.  We'll go camping for a few weekends and visit St. Louis.  Our family has started looking for another dog (Ely's choice) so that will bring plenty of adjustments too.

Some winter highlights:

Sledding with our neighbors... Ely enjoyed running down the hill with the sled, but refused to ride in the sled!

A night out with Dad at a water park.

Winter Holidays delivering goodies to neighbors and seeing family:

We made it out to ice skate a few times.

Coding with Scratch:

Birthdays!

Samantha's 9th Birthday (with a Slumber Party)

My Hanukkah gifts to the family last year was a tea party for Sofia, a slumber party for Samantha and for Daddy to be gone for both of them.  As a result, Daddy took Sofia to St. Louis for the weekend so Samantha could have her slumber party to celebrate her birthday.  Antie She came over for us to have our own party with 9 girls over.  They decorated cupcakes (which quickly turned into cupcake facials), played plenty of games, made watched movies and ate junk food.  We finally told them to go to sleep at 1:45am.  Of course it snowed so after breakfast I got out the snow blower to clear the way for parents retrieving their kids.  Everyone had a ball!

Thank you Antie She for doing this with me!

From Samantha:

IT WAS THE BEST THING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

School was cancelled due to the bitter cold on her birthday.

I took the girls to the Mall of America and Samantha ended up getting her ears pierced!

The grandparents, aunts, uncle and cousins all joined us for dinner to celebrate so Samantha had a great day!

Sofia's 6th Birthday

Our last birthday at Pump It Up... 

We celebrated with lots of kids and presents!  Sofia has come a long way this year and we are grateful that so many could join us!

Labor Day Weekend 2013

This weekend was awesome!  We ended the summer with friends and family time.  Samantha had a friend sleepover on Friday while Sofia went to a friend's house for a playdate.  Sofia swam at her friend's pool and I took Samantha and Allie swimming.  Then we all went out for ice cream.  When we got home, the older girls vegged in front of the TV for a bit before eventually falling asleep by 11pm.

Saturday began with a big breakfast and a bike ride to a local beach, then to the coffee shop.  Then I took Samantha and Allie portaging and swimming to Lebanon Hills.  The hiking went quickly as I managed to carry the canoe by myself.  I was very proud of myself.

We celebrated my birthday with a trip to the Bad Waitress.  It was a fun restaurant that we haven't been to and went to "that park".  It was a good day for us all.

Grandparent's Birthday Party (and Sofia's 1/2 Birthday)

We started the day out with Samantha's last day of Sunday School, then went to Susie and Stu's house to see Ben, Ellen and their baby Micah.  It was nice to see Aunt Merrian again so soon since our visit Mother's Day and catch up a bit with Ben and Ellen.

Later in the afternoon, all the grandparents came to celebrate their birthdays.  Coincidentally, Sofia's 1/2 birthday falls right in the middle of the grandparent's birthdays.  We made jokes all day long about only singing half the song, getting half a piece of cake.  Sofia laughed at most of our humor.  It was another day filled with blessings for us.

Happy Birthday to Grammy, Nana and Papa!  We are lucky to have you close in our lives!

Samantha's Birthday Gift

Originally we planned on redecorating Samantha's room for her birthday gift.  With us planning to sell our house, that's not really an option anymore so I came up with another idea that we were finally able to execute last night.  I took her and a friend to the Water Park of America and we stayed overnight in the adjoining hotel.  When we arrived at the hotel room, I heard, "Wow, this is nice!" from both girls.  There were meals with only junk food and I said yes to nearly every request.  

Samantha's friend told me that they would remember this the rest of their lives... What else can I ask for?  Samantha has an awesome friend and is a good friend back too.  All you need is one friend you can trust with anything and you have the support to make it through anything.  I'm grateful Samantha has friends like that, at least as much as her age group can have!

Samantha's Birthday Parties

Samantha turned 8!  She started the festivities by rock-climbing for her friend party.  There were cupcakes, presents and games so everyone had fun.  There were a few friends that weren't able to come, so Samantha has been busy with playdates.  She loves her friends, so it's worked out well!

Her she is at her friend party.

That night she got to wear her dress for a very fancy dinner out with her parents.  This was the dress that she saved money for months to buy.  She reveled in her time being the only kid and looked beautiful!

On her actual birthday, we took the traditional photo with the hat.

We had scheduled the family to come over, but we had it later in the week due to a messy snow storm.  Samantha was so disappointed.  I held her, told her I understood and suggested we go sledding to make the best of the weather, so we had fun with that.  Ely walked with Daddy while I got a workout on the hill keeping up with my girls!   Nana and Papa stayed for a bit after dropping Sofia off.  We all sang "Happy Birthday" to her and had some cake before sledding.

The rest of the family came over last night (excepting Aunt Merrian who we hope gets well soon) to finish the celebration.  Samantha was excited to show us the bowl she painted for Ely.

She got time with her cousins... Dylan joined Samantha at the piano and was adorable to watch!

One upside of having to reschedule the party was Samantha got to get another cake.  This time was red velvet and it was delicious!

Happy Birthday Samantha.  You are a young lady with a kind heart and we love you so much.  

Ely's 3rd Birthday

Happy 3rd Birthday Ely!

Every day I am reminded how much Ely has brought to our family.  And I'm happy to take him to doggy daycare/camp, or the groomer, or the dog park or on walks.  He gets plenty of love and affection from everyone in the family.  Some quirks have changed.  Ely no longer chews his feet and has learned to tolerate having his ears cleaned.  He still gobbles his food insanely fast and gets towels/or whatever he can find when he wants something.  The humans in the house don't always get the message right away, but we know it's a signal so we try to decipher instead of getting upset.  Ely loves belly rubs and can get insistent if you don't pet him long enough. 

Ely is a beautiful, sweet and exactly the dog our family needed.  We love him so much!

Happy Birthday to Jordan and Dylan!

Happy Birthday to Jordan and Dylan!

We got to see them on their birthday along with most of the family.  Some of Shelly's relatives made the annual trek to town, including her nephews, Craig and James.  Samantha gravitated to James (duh, he's older) while Sofia and Craig competed for the title of "Most Energetic Kid".  After eating, I supervised all the kids in the basement, allowing the adults the opportunity to have full conversations.  "Hide and Seek" was a big hit with all the age groups and there wasn't too much drama.  I enjoyed it and was grateful the kids were having fun!

Thanksgiving Weekend 2012

Daddy cooked a wonderful meal for us yet again!  Papa grilled the lamb to perfection.  We had a small group, but it was good company.  Sofia had spent the night at Grammy's so she was home later.  Samantha helped Daddy and I get the house ready and made the Pumpkin pie mostly on her own.  I'm so proud of how independent she is and her constant desire to learn.

Here she is enjoying some time with her cousins.  It was a treat for her to play with them without her sister.

Since the family was over and there wasn't another date available, we all sang, "Happy Birthday" to Sofia and she got even more presents.  It's been a crazy couple of weeks with birthdays!

I had to work the day after the holiday, so Daddy was on his own.  He took the girls to finally see a friend's baby and we had a leisurely evening of Thanksgiving leftovers.

On Saturday, we had a relaxed morning before taking the girls for gymnastics practice while Daddy and I discussed a trip to celebrate our upcoming milestone anniversary.  Then we picked Ely up from his grooming adventure and came home to snack for a bit.  The girls had requested we go swimming and Daddy finally got to work with Samantha at the pool.  Sofia got some time too and is now able to go down the waterslides herself!  This was a huge moment for her and an extra blessing now that she is 5 years old.  It was a beautiful sight to see Sofia so happy with herself.  Both girls loved having Daddy in the pool with us!

We spent Sunday alternating between relaxing and preparing for the upcoming week.  Our family has so much to be grateful for since we are blessed both in circumstance and because we have each other.