Springtime/Early Summer 2014

Time keeps flying by, but here's some highlights!

Landscaping and cleaning up the yard... they did get some work done in addition to wheelbarrow rides!

Take your kids to work day... they had so much fun they want to come to work with me all the time!

Sofia's Kindergarten class performance

Samantha's Art Walk

A spring time visit to the zoo.

MondoFest with friends... another great show!

Mother's Day... motherhood is really having your heart live outside of yourself.  I'm blessed!

A joyous and busy visit!  Thanks for coming to the show Antie and Uncie!  We miss you!

Sofia's Tea Party

My Hannukah 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.  Samantha went with Dad up north (past Duluth along the North Shore) biking and hiking while Sofia and I stayed home.  We went to the school carnival Friday night and somehow managed to watch movies both nights!  It was a nice snuggling time for Sofia and I!

Sofia was all about the goody bags for the party.  I tried to talk her out of it, but it was the part that she was focused on!  We spent most of Saturday shopping and then Antie She for lunch.  Antie She also helped me with the "tea party without tea".  Many thanks to her again!

Spring Break 2014

Daddy and I celebrated our anniversary and spring break with a trip to St. Louis.  Time with Antie, Uncie and JoAnn was long overdue.  We went to our usual haunts like Faust Park, Magic House and City Museum.  There was dinner at Uncle Bob's house which is a fun tradition for us.

When we got back, there were sleepovers (with Grammy and at friend's houses), play dates and some downtime.  We even managed a dinner with Nana and Papa and squeezed in a quick visit with Jordan and Dylan.

Samantha got her new bike and I discovered that riding Daddy's bike is not fun for me.  Mine is waiting for new tires so I had to borrow Daddy's.

We are so fortunate.

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!

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!