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!

Thanksgivukkah 2013

For one time in our lives, Hanukkah and Thanksgiving overlapped.  It made for a busier than usual November, combined with Daddy and Sofia's birthdays, mine and Daddy's business trips and our typical chaos.  We managed to see family and friends though!

I even got to see my side of the family (Grammy, Uncle Larry, Aunt Marlys and Aunt Elaine).

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!

Mom and Dad's Simultaneous Business Trips

One of the tips for a happy marriage is, "Walk in a mile your spouse's shoes".  In October I was in St. Louis on business for a week.  The trip went okay, but I missed my family!

Then this past week Daddy and I both had to be in Las Vegas for different business conferences.  We left on a flight together Sunday and finally had 2 minutes for a conversation on Wednesday.  I got back on Thursday night/Friday morning and Daddy got back late Friday night.

We spent Saturday out and about together at the Mill City Museum.  The Flour Tower ride was cool, as was the Minnesota history.

Halloween 2013

The pictures say it all.  A witch and a huntress. 

Then there's me still fitting into my old skydiving gear!  Though I was asked by a kid if I was "Iron Man".  Crazy kid not recognizing a skydiver!

Thanks for joining us again this year Papa!

Adventures with my daughters and their friends

I was gone for a business trip all of last week.  Daddy did great single-parenting all week and there were no problems.  The grandparents all helped out too.  We really are blessed to have all the support we do.  I missed my family so much travelling, but it was good to know they're fine without me.  It was wonderful to have everyone pick me up from the airport, so thanks for making that happen!

I was so happy to be home... I forgot how lonely the road can be.

Yesterday we rode our bikes for a picnic at a park.  It was cold and windy, but we still made it fun playing games.  Then I took Samantha to the library and out to a bookstore.  We spent the rest of the day simply relaxing.

Today we began the day with some relaxation and a bike ride to tire Ely out.  Then I took the girls and their friends to a nearby zoo.  There were 5 girls total and they were all fantastic.  After we dropped the last friend off, the girls and I talked about the challenges and what we'll do differently next time.  I was really impressed with everyone's behavior as well as my own.  We ran out of time, but we all had fun and got plenty of exercise walking around.

Sofia's Consecration

It's tradition for Jews to celebrate a child beginning her Jewish education and we celebrated Sofia's today.  She was very proud of herself and it was special.  Sofia just shines.