2 Girls and a Dog

New Neighbors

2011-05-19T18:50:00.006-05:00

Home At Last

2011-05-17T10:19:00.001-05:00

Wow... it's been a roller coaster last 6-7 months! Jon started the interview process at Central State Bank in October and had a job offer the beginning of November. We got our house listed that first week in November and Jon moved into an apartment in Muscatine over Thanksgiving weekend.

In what we thought was "bad" timing for listing our house in North Dakota, we've seen blessings abound! Our house was on the market for almost 6 months before we closed on it April 22nd. What felt like the longest winter of our lives was really long - Grand Forks didn't get a LOT of snow compared to other years, but it was by far the coldest winter we spent living up there. And the cold weather combined with the timing of "holiday season" meant the housing market came to a stand-still. We had many many showings, which, for me, were steady doses of encouragement and reminders that God hadn't forgotten about our need to sell our house. He sent many timely showings which I believe kind of kept me going and gave me hope.

So while we were working on selling our house up in Grand Forks, Jon was spending a portion of most weekends down here house hunting for us. I wish I had kept track of how many houses he went into and checked out for us. We had a couple that stood out at different points in the process but I am so thankful for the fact that time allowed us to not rush into buying what we thought would be best right off the bat. Jon had a chance to get more familiar with the town, the neighborhoods, the feel of different houses, etc.

Early in March we decided to change our search parameters a little bit and this beautiful house became an option for us. Jon saw it a week or two before we the girls and I headed down for our March visit. When we all saw it every single one of us fell in love. We looked at it twice while we were over a long break that week and spent the second half of the visit in Harlan (due to predicted storms in North Dakota). While we were in Harlan waiting out the storm up north, enjoying celebrating Tru's birthday and hanging out we got an offer on our house in Grand Forks. After a flurry of text messages, phone calls and emails by the time we left to head back up to Grand Forks we had an accepted offer on our house up north as well as an almost officially accepted offer on our new house down in Muscatine. We were able to celebrate the good news with both of our families when word came back that our offer was accepted to buy this new home. It was truly a delight to have had the four of us all together for those few days of craziness of house selling and buying.

So our last drive up to Grand Forks was much easier knowing it would be our last trip north. And most of April was spent finalizing all the details that go into selling and buying. A bit stressful but it all worked out perfectly. We drove down to Iowa on Thursday, April 21st, closed on our house in Grand Forks on April 22nd, spent Easter weekend in Muscatine all together as a family, started the girls in school on Wednesday, April 27th, closed on our new house on Monday, May 2nd, had our "stuff" delivered on May 3rd and we've just been busy jumping into life in our new town since then!

It's been a bit crazy the past several weeks and I'm hopeful that by the time school gets out in early June that we will be settled into more of a normal routine. We are absolutely loving our new house and neighborhood. The neighbors to the north and south of us are very nice and we're starting to get to know them. The "neighbors" in our backyard are wonderful - Horses! There is the top part of a pasture right behind our fence and we've gotten to know our 4-legged new friends. They love carrots, bread and our grass. :) Bailey seems to love them as well. She tried to be tough at their first meeting but after a few barks the horses just kind of stared her down and she backed off immediately. Now she loves to run out and see if they are at the fence so she can eat grass with them. I even caught her nuzzling one of them the other day. She gets a bit excited when they whinny or snort, but if she tries to bark at them they remind her quickly that they are the ones in charge. The girls are in love with them as well and love to feed them. They enjoy the fact that the horses will come over just for a good petting as well.

The other exciting change that comes with living in this new neighborhood is the fact that there are built-in friends right around the corner. A few days after moving in, 3 of the neighborhood girls came over to check out the horses and our girls went out and got to know them. There is a 4th-grader, a 5th grader and then a middle schooler as well. I foresee our girls hanging out with the other 2 younger girls a lot. They stopped over last night and played for a bit and then the girls and I walked them home so we could figure out which houses they live in as well as to have a chance to meet their parents. Bria was grinning from ear to ear last night when we made it home and to bed. She is beyond excited to have met these girls and seems to have a lot in common with them.

Emmy will be the youngest kid in the neighborhood, but I think she'll hang out with Bria and the other girls most of the time and get along just fine. And she's already been invited to a friend's birthday party this weekend so she's jumping into the world of making friends quickly. She's still missing her best friend a lot, but thanks to the wonders of technology they can skype and email and call eachother whenever they want to. Emmy is very excited to get to skype with her tomorrow after school.

So, that's life for us in a nutshell the past month. It's been crazy, but so good! And although spending the long winter apart from Jon was definitely not on any of our lists of "favorite things to do", good things have come from that as well. Jon was able to really dive into his new job and responsibilities and really focus on getting a handle on things at work. And the girls were able to really come to grips with the whole moving "thing".... they had time to process it, accept it, and to be very excited about it. I haven't heard anyone say anything bad about being here. God has blessed us with an amazing house in an incredible neighborhood and we are all just very thankful. I'm very much looking forward to the next few weeks of trying to settle in here. We have a lot of things to do as far as sorting through and organizing all our stuff in our new and different space. I'm not a "honey-do" list type of person, but Jon's list of things to help me with or for him to do is definitely growing! So we're going to take these next few weeks and really focus on finishing up the school year for the girls, trying to get a handle on what to do with our stuff and just getting used to all living together again. Once summer starts we're planning a trip back over to see our families for a weekend and really going to focus on just relaxing and enjoying each other this summer.

Emmy's 1st Grade Music Program

2011-04-15T20:16:00.002-05:00

Last night was Emmy's music program. She was so excited and we got there really early to get the best seat so we could get a good video for Jon to see. By the time the program started and the warm temperature in the gym and the bright lights..... Emmy was one tired little performer! So some of her usual "spunk" was hiding, but she did a great job and had fun, even though she tried to take a mini nap when they would get to sit down between songs for a minute. :)

So her she is, and there are videos below of all her songs....

Spring Music Program Parts 1 - 3

2011-04-15T20:13:00.002-05:00

Music Moves Me:

Rules For Living:

Words of Wisdom:

Spring Music Program Parts 4 - 6

2011-04-15T20:11:00.002-05:00

I Like to Sing Scat:

Maizy Doats

Jelly Bean Blues:

Spring Music Program Parts 7 - 9

2011-04-15T20:08:00.002-05:00

Silly Songs:

Silly Songs:

Songs from "The Eyes of a Child"

Spring Music Program Parts 10 - 12

2011-04-15T20:04:00.002-05:00

Here is the last set!

Disney Medley:

The Tooth Songs:

Born to Make Music:

Move Dates Set.... Tentatively

2011-04-12T08:53:00.002-05:00

It's hard to believe it but as of right now, so long as there are no unpleasant surprises in the next week, we will have packers here next Tuesday and Wednesday and they will load up the moving truck on Thursday and we will be in Muscatine with Jon for Easter! It's kind of crazy to realize the days we've been waiting for ever since we put our house on the market 6 months ago are finally almost here! I'm so thankful that someone else will be doing all the final packing for us - I remember doing that all by myself when we moved from Iowa to North Dakota 4 1/2 years ago (with a 2 1/2 year old and a just-turned-6-year old). That was not fun, but we survived. This time packing should be much less stressful. The girls will be in school while most of the work around here is being done so hopefully everything will just go smoothly. This morning is the FHA appraisal on our house up here. We spent last week having someone here help us fix a few little things with the idea being that we would have any potential FHA issues fixed before they even get involved in the process. We keep trusting God that the details are already taken care of and can't wait to finally be done with this moving process and all be together in our new house. It looks like we'll be able to close on our house in ND on April 29th and on our house in IA on May 2nd. So we'll all be sharing Jon's apartment space in IA for about a week and a half while we get the girls started in school down there and wait for our closing day. Like I've said before, this entire process that we started at the beginning of last summer is finally going to be wrapped up soon. Then we'll move on to the next step of getting the girls really established at their new school, in a new town, new church, new friends and all those other "new" things. We're so glad to be almost done making the 1500 mile round trip between our old home and our new hometown. It will be nice to be closer to our families again. But honestly, I just can't wait to live with Jon again - living without him with us for the past almost 5 months has really not been the way I want to live life. We're all better when we are all together than when we are separated my many miles.

Surprise from This Blessed Nest!

2011-04-10T15:17:00.003-05:00

Imagine my delight when I was checking out my blog today and found a comment from "This Blessed Nest", letting me know that I had won 1 of her 3 giveaways she had posted on her blog. Any of you who know very well at all probably know that I LOVE bags, purses, totes, etc., but I am kind of picky at the same time. When looking through This Blessed Nest I fell in love with her designs and I'm crazy excited to know she'll be making a bag for me! I'll definitely post a picture after I receive my latest treasure. :) (can you tell i'm a little excited?!) And on the home selling front.... all the minor repairs are done and the appraisal will be Tuesday morning.... keep praying!

Offer is Officially Accepted!

2011-03-31T09:37:00.002-05:00

Good news this morning.... we've been waiting since Saturday night to hear from the relocation company who is working with the sellers of the home we want to buy in Muscatine. This morning our realtor let us know that our offer is officially accepted! Talk about a HUGE relief. We were so excited this weekend to know that the sellers had accepted the offer but it's been a big weight on our shoulders as we've been waiting to get the final approval from their relocation company. We can breathe a little easier now and look forward to enjoying our new home. The inspection on our house up here was done Tuesday morning and although we are waiting for the written report to be made official, there is one problem that came up which we are going to need to get fixed. There is an issue with a spot in the siding on the back of the house. It's a bit stressful to know there is something we need to fix, but the realtors are being very proactive and the buyers definitely still want to buy the house - we are waiting to hear when a contractor will be over to check out the issue, recommend a solution and give us an amount. Because it's "spring" here I don't know if the issue can be fixed before the closing date or not, but if it does not get fixed before closing we are hopeful that the FHA loan approval person will allow us to just give the buyers money to put into escrow to pay for the repairs once the weather cooperates and the contractor has the opportunity to fix it. So we are asking for prayers that everything will just go smoothly with having everything up to par for the closing to go through. It's hard to sit here and wait for those papers to be signed - so that we can REALLY move. But we've been trusting God to work out the details all along and He knew there was something that would need to be fixed even if we didn't know it, so it will all fall into place. Right now the closing date is May 12th, but we may be able to move it up a couple of weeks, so as soon as we know for sure, I'll be sure to post it!

Emmy's Chain Reaction

2011-03-26T17:23:00.003-05:00

Good News!

2011-03-26T07:01:00.003-05:00

WE HAVE A PURCHASE AGREEMENT IN PLACE TO GET OUR HOUSE SOLD!

Can you tell we are a little excited?!? Someone saw the house on Wednesday afternoon and had an offer to us by Thursday afternoon. We proposed a counter offer Thursday night and it was accepted by Friday morning! All the papers have been signed to make the offer official and now we pray the inspection goes well this week. We aren't expecting any problems but would appreciate continued prayer that the process goes smoothly so we can truly get moved.

Right now our closing date in ND is set for "on or before May 12". I am hopeful that on both the selling and buying end for us we can move that date up some, but either way it's good to have a date in sight.

We also made an offer on a house we all fell in love with in Muscatine. We were able to get all the necessary paperwork to them last night and are hoping to hear something today. The house we want to buy is owned by someone who is being relocated to another state, so a relocation company may need to be involved in the process. That should not be a big deal, it just means that a few more people may need to see all the paperwork steps, which could add a few days to getting our offer finalized. We are praying hard that this is the house we can buy and are very excited!

God's timing has been perfect - just like we knew it would be. Some days it was hard to see past the fact that we just weren't all together, but then we would get a fresh start the next day and it was easier to remain hopeful. Now we are eagerly anticipating getting to move and get started on our new life in a new community. The girls are looking forward to finishing up the school year in Muscatine as well as being excited about the big "moving away slumber party" I promised them they could have with their friends. So once we have a firm closing date set and the date set for the movers to come, we'll have to start planning a slumber party!

Now that things are getting a little more exciting around here, I'll probably have a few more regular posts than usual. At least until we get moved.... then i'll just be busy getting unpacked!

Thanks to all of you who have been praying about this moving process. One major hurdle has been jumped and now everything else can start falling into place as well. God has taken care of us and timed all of this for us in ways that have been surprising. It's been a good process to go through for all of us I think and we are thankful for this time of waiting. That being said, I am SO happy to get to live with my husband again!!!!

Just Waiting...

2011-02-22T10:30:00.002-06:00

There really hasn't been anything new to post on here for awhile. We are all just trying to patiently wait to sell the house so we can get moved. Some days it's easier than other days to be patient, but overall we're doing just fine.
Jon came up for a surprise visit over Valentine's day weekend and it was a wonderful break from the hum-drum pattern we've fallen into. Being all together again has made us all that much more ready to be living under the same roof. We're trying to work with our realtor to find a couple more things we can do to encourage a buyer to make an offer, but there just isn't anything else that we can do to get the house sold. We have done everything we can possibly do - now we just have to wait. Not an easy thing to do, but maybe if spring ever comes and we can stay above zero degrees outside it will make it easier to wait.

Last Part - Poetry Cafe

2011-02-09T13:58:00.003-06:00

I realize that I forgot to post the last part of Emmy's class Poetry Cafe video! After they all read their individual poems they took a break and we got to sit with them and look through their poetry books. Then the class all got together up on the stage and read one last poem together. They were all pretty proud of themselves!

4th Grade Chorus Program - February 2011

2011-02-03T22:10:00.003-06:00

Bria had her 4th grade winter chorus program tonight. Sorry for the choppy video - we were clear in the back and Emmy was sitting on my lap the whole time!

How Can I Keep From Singing?

Bring Me Chocolate (some of the video was missed - dead battery on flip camcorder)

Kookaburra

Pass It Along

Sing For America (Bria featured in small group)

Mad!

Poetry Cafe

2011-02-03T17:51:00.003-06:00

Here is Emmy's part:

Jon - this one is just for you from Emmy!

BEST commercial EVER!

2011-02-02T13:37:00.002-06:00

Ok.... i LOVE this commercial!!!!!

Snowpiles at Church

2011-01-18T14:34:00.006-06:00

The girls love going across the street to the church's snowpiles. They are great for climbing on and massively huge. Plus, we can bring Bailey over with us and she runs up and down and up and down and chases snowballs the whole time.

From "Streams in the Desert"

2011-01-15T15:40:00.003-06:00

"This is the blessed life - not anxious to see far in front, nor careful about the next step,
not eager to choose the path, nor weighted with the heavy responsibilities of the future,
but quietly following behind the Shepherd, one step at a time."

LONG Christmas Break

2011-01-04T17:43:00.009-06:00

After almost 2 full weeks in Iowa, we are back in Grand Forks again!

We really enjoyed all the time we spent in Iowa - especially the time with Jon! We loved seeing our families too....... :)

The girls and I drove down to Harlan on Wednesday, Dec. 22nd in order to beat the snow forecasted for our drive on Thursday. Thursday during the day we got to enjoy some downtime before my dear dear dear friend Erin stopped over with her girls to say hi! It had been way too long since we'd seen them and it was so good to catch up! The girls hit it off immediately and ran downstairs to play while Erin and I crashed on the couch to catch up for awhile.

Then for a surprise, Jon showed up Thursday night! Snow had been forecasted for all day Friday and we were afraid he wouldn't make it over to Harlan until the 25th, so he used his last day of vacation and came over on the 23rd instead - it was a great surprise for the girls!

Friday the 24th we relaxed and just enjoyed the day and ate WAY too much food. It was fun to hang out and help Mom get ready for Christmas on Saturday.

On the 25th the Melbys and the Culvers showed up for the day and all the cousins had a great time playing together. On the 26th we drove up to Alcester for the day to have the Holthe CHristmas and hang out before driving back to Harlan late that night.

Monday we drove over to Muscatine to spend the week with Jon. We stopped at the Coralville Mall and the girls spent some of their Christmas money. Jon had Tuesday off as well and we just enjoyed a quiet day relaxing. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (half-day) Jon had to work, so the girls and I did some more exploring and house hunting around town. Our realtor showed us 3 houses Wednesday night and I saw 1 house on my own Thursday night. The girls loved Weed Park and can't wait to go swimming there this summer. They also had a great time feeding the ducks and geese at the pond.

Before picking Jon up from work on Friday we went down to the riverfront and explored a bit in the fog - it made for some great pictures! The girls are excited to explore the trails along the river this summer.

Friday night was dinner out to a chinese buffet - probably won't eat there again, but one interesting menu item was the whole octopus! and NO, I did NOT try it!

Saturday we all drove back to Harlan with the plan being the girls and I would drive back to Grand Forks on Sunday and Jon would drive back to Muscatine. Since I-29 didn't open up until late Sunday morning we decided road conditions weren't worth risking and spent the whole day in Harlan. It was nice to relax one more day and then we drove back up here on Monday. The girls didn't mind skipping a day of school but we were all glad to sleep in our beds again last night!

So now we settle in and try to re-adjust to life without Jon up here. Sad for all of us, but we are confident that our house should sell soon. I have Jon on a mission to go see 15 - 20 more houses in the next couple of weeks and we've seen a couple that might work already. So hopefully as soon as we find the right house ours will sell and we can still get moved soon!

Here are a bunch of random pictures from Christmas break....

Kelli, Emmy and Bria...... Erin, Schyler and Nevah

Girls with Great Grandma Wiuff
Oz

Tabbi & Emmy

Emmy and Kelli

Megan with Emmy and Bria

Bria & Tre

Bria with her penguin

Emmy and "Protector"

Oz enjoying his presents with Megan and Greg

Grandpa and Gramasaurus Hansen

Tabbi with Emmy and Oz

Emmy excited about Toy Story Operation with Uncle Richard and Sarah

Bria with her remote control butterfly and Sarah, and Grandma and Grandpa Holthe

Girls with their DQ Blizzard maker - can't wait to try it this weekend!

Mississippi River - December 31, 2010

Girls by the Mississippi River

Bria's favorite goose

Bria: Rheta, Reindeer Rustler

2010-12-17T08:24:00.003-06:00

Bria's 4th grade Winter Program

2010-12-17T06:43:00.002-06:00

Last night was a night Bria has waited for for almost 4 years! She has always looked forward to being involved in the 4th graders winter program. So when you have some time, sit down and enjoy. The total program is almost an hour long, but if you want to know what's going on with the story line, you'll want to watch all of it.
Bria's character was Rheta (reta) - a Reindeer Rustler. She was one of the "bad" guys and she loved every minute of it! She did a great job and had a lot of fun!

If you are trying to find Bria, she's wearing a brown and blue plaid shirt with a brown cowboy hat and a red bandana.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

Part 6:

Part 7:

Part 8:

Part 9:

Fun Christmas Pictures

2010-12-07T13:28:00.003-06:00

Christmas decorating is a little different this year since we are trying to sell our house at the same time. So instead of getting out our big tree and all our Christmas "stuff", the girls each got miniature trees to decorate and put up on the dining room table. They had a great time decorating "their" trees and look forward to being able to put "their" trees in their bedrooms next Christmas. Thanks to Noni, I found a fun photo program online and added some fun extras to some of the pictures we took. :)

Poem Recital at School

2010-12-02T11:42:00.002-06:00

Bria - Piano recital on November 20, 2010

2010-12-02T11:23:00.001-06:00

Glasses for Emmy

2010-12-01T21:49:00.003-06:00

Here she is.... cute as can be! and that other little cutey is the newest cousin...Oz!

Busy Days

2010-12-01T14:57:00.002-06:00

Wow... life is keeping us both very busy and very much in "stalemate" mode these days. Jon started his new job this week which has kept him very busy. He's really enjoying getting to meet people and trying to figure out the ins and outs of a new place. We get to skype with him every night which is good for all of us and he's enjoying getting settled in.
We continue to pray for the sale of our house. It's only been on the market a month and we hear there are possibly a couple of interested parties, but are anxiously awaiting an offer so that we can make an offer on whatever house Jon picks out. So we try to keep busy with the day to day things of life as well as trying to keep the house in "show" mode - which has been eaiser than you might think with 2 girls, a dog and daycare kids still here. I have some fun things planned to do with the girls this weekend as we try to get in the "Christmas" mood. Normally that is not a problem for any of us, but being spread apart makes everything just a little weird this year.
I'll try to get Bria's piano recital posted on here this week as well as some fun pictures from Emmy's birthday party.
In the midst of moving and Thanksgiving, Emmy turned 7! I honestly can't quite wrap my brain around that fact.... to me she's still my baby ... she can't possibly be a beautiful young 7-year old girl but I look at her and realize she is. She's really growing up and maturing - it seems she's changed so much in the past 3 months.
So for now I need to get afterschool snacks ready, change diapers, get kids up from naps and all those things. I'll try to get more fun stuff posted soon. While you're waiting you can check out the jibjabs below - the girls love them!

2010-12-01T11:25:00.001-06:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

2010-12-01T11:20:00.001-06:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Iowa Bound

2010-11-08T09:57:00.000-06:00

Well, by now I'm sure you have all heard the news: we're moving back to Iowa!
Jon was offered a great job in Muscatine with Central State Bank. It will be a great career move for him as well as the rest of us - we should be able to settle in and finally get roots really put down in Muscatine. Jon starts work on November 29th, so we'll be moving him over Thanksgiving weekend. Thursday we'll get to have lunch with Jon's family and dinner with my family before driving Jon over to Muscatine on Friday. We'll all go so we can show the girls the town and where Jon will be working and living (temporarily) until we get our house sold in Grand Forks and one bought in Muscatine.
It will be great to only be 4 hours from grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins. Another bonus? With Megan, Greg & Oz in Des Moines we have a handy dandy half-way meeting point. Looks like it will be the Culver's turn to host a family weekend get together this summer! :) (you said you were up for it sometime, Meg!)
I plan on keeping daycare open until Christmas break: December 22nd will be my last day of daycare. I will also be closed on Thursday, December 16th to attend Bria's school music program. At least 2 of the afterschool families have already made new daycare arrangements and will be all settled in their new spots before Thanksgiving. It's never easy to drop this kind of news on all the families who have been counting on me to watch their kids. Thankfully I was able to give everyone almost 6 weeks notice before I have to actually be done. The only way that timeline will change is if God steps in and sells our house very quickly.
The girls are looking forward to living closer to family. Obviously they both have some mixed emotions about the whole thing, but overall they are good with this move. We are praying that we can get moved before school starts back up after Christmas break. We fully aknowledge that would be a very big "God thing", but He has worked out the timing of all the other details to get us to this point and we are trusting Him to work out the best timing on the sale of our house as well. In our limited perspective, it seems like it would be easiest for the girls and us to be moved by the end of the year, but we are trusting God to work out the details in the best timeline for all of us. We sure will be missing Jon around here, but as I keep saying, hopefully we won't all be apart too long.
So, if anyone out there in the Grand Forks area knows of anyone looking to move close to Kelly Elementary/Schroder Middle School, we know of a great house for sale that goes on the market today!
So, between now and whenever we move, it will probably be a little crazy around here with open houses, house showings, moving Jon, doing daycare and managing all the other normal things at the same time. But, we've done it before and survived, so we should be even better prepared for it this time!

2010-10-19T13:19:00.001-05:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Emmy's Published Book!

2010-10-15T10:25:00.001-05:00

The link below will take you to a preview of the book that Emmy had published this week. Talk about a proud and excited little girl! She has a copy to give to her teacher at school and I think all the teachers have either asked for a copy or given her input for her next Fairy book! So if you'd love to take a peek, the link below will take you to her book. Or you can check out the link on the right hand side of the blog that will take you to her book as well. Enjoy!

Science Fairy Research by Emmy Holthe Make Your Own Book

Daycare Pumpkin Patch 2010

2010-10-15T10:22:00.002-05:00

We walked up the pumpkin patch at Reed's school earlier this week and the kids had a good time exploring!

UND Women's Hockey

2010-10-08T10:50:00.005-05:00

Last weekend we had a chance to go the first UND women's hockey game of the season. Also the first UND game for Jocelyn and Monique Lamoureux - the twins who played on the USA Women's Hockey team this last winter. It was a great game! It was the second highest attendance on record (second only to the first game the UND women ever played). The Fighting Sioux one and the girls had a great time watching the game. They each brought a friend along with and it was fun to watch UND beat 4th ranked Boston College.

Crazy Hair Night - Awana

2010-10-01T14:04:00.003-05:00

The girls had a lot of fun getting their hair ready for Crazy Hair night at Awana!

Loving This Weather

2010-09-29T14:58:00.003-05:00

This week has been absolutely beautiful! The weather has warmed back up and over the course of 4 days all the leaves turned colors and have been falling like crazy.

With no school on Monday and Tuesday we took advantage of the chance to get outside. We played in the backyard and went up to Viking school playground to check out the new play equipment.

Daycare... Back in the Swing of Things

2010-09-24T08:30:00.004-05:00

Oh it's good to be at the end of September! Everyone feels like they are finally into the full routine of the school year. Everyone is getting along well and school seems to be going well for everyone, including Reed, who is enjoying preschool this year.

Sophie and Ethan get some hang time while Reed is at preschool. That first week or two Sophie wasn't thrilled with her brother leaving, but now that it's become routine it doesn't bother her at all. It's such a different world to watch the littlest ones interact compared to the big kids. It's a good mix though - the different ages make it fun for everyone. Reed loves having the big kids here after school. I think he will be a happy boy next Monday and Tuesday when there is no school and the kids will be here all day. Today he burst into tears when they all headed out the door to go to school. It was short-lived, but he sure does enjoy having them here!

And next week should be beautiful weather so I am hoping we can get to the playground after Ethan's morning naps both Monday and Tuesday.

Just thought I'd get a little daycare update on here. It's been awhile since I have. Thanks to everyone for your help in making this school year transition a good one. Your kids are doing great and the flow of most days around here is good and easy. We'll be trying to enjoy as much outside time as we can until winter comes. Hopefully we can fit in a lot of morning walks still and afternoon playtime outside.

Here are a few pictures of Ethan and Sophie enjoying the dress-up hats.

New Carpet

2010-09-20T09:00:00.004-05:00

We are loving our new carpet. It may not look hugely different than before, but it's nice to have something without ripped up strings (thanks to a puppy) and it's nice to have it just look fresh and new. so for those family members who were asking - here are a couple of photos!

Chuck season 4 coming.....

2010-09-16T08:01:00.001-05:00

The Big 1-0!

2010-09-09T07:16:00.003-05:00

It finally happened...we have a double-digit kiddo!

Happy 10th Birthday, Bria!!!!!!

So happy to be watching my little girl grow up. Although the time is slipping away faster and faster, it seems, Bria is a girl we are incredibly proud of. Even today, on her birthday, she is concerend about a new girl at school whose dog just died, so she's giving that girl one of her Littlest Pet Shop dogs in hopes of cheering her up a little bit.

We didn't get to see her long this morning - piano lessons at 7:00 before school and intramurals after school until around 4:10..... so it will be good to get her back home tonight! Her dinner request? Pizza from Little Ceasar's, followed up by a blizzard from DQ and her favorite birthday cake.

So again, Happy Birthday Bria!!!!

Emmy's Werewolf Tips

2010-09-05T10:56:00.001-05:00

Emmy made this video this morning wanting to share with everyone her tips on werewolves (which she plans on being for Halloween).....

First Day of School! 2010-2011

2010-08-25T09:31:00.005-05:00

It's finally here! The girls are so excited to be headed back to school. Thankfully they enjoyed most of their summer together. It's only been the past couple of weeks that I have been hearing the phrase, "I'm bored." They got along great all summer too. I think it's good for everyone that school has started up again though.

Bria will be in Ms. Blair's 4th grade class. She doesn't really know anything about her teacher, but was delighted at the open house last night when she walked into the classroom and saw an entire wall full of books! We decided right there and then her teacher must be ok if she has that many books in her classroom. :)

Emmy is in Mrs. Gregory's 1st grade class. We are SO happy to have Mrs. Gregory as her teacher! Bria was in her 1st grade class as well and we all loved her! Emmy was beyond excited to have Caitlin, Claire and Alexander in her class this year as well.

It's such a good thing to have the kids excited to head back today. And I'm enjoying the relative peace and quiet of a house full of only 3 little kids as opposed to 3 little kids and 5 big kids - it's amazingly quiet around here so far today!

The only major thing left to do for today is to bake oatmeal chocolate chip cookies this afternoon - that's the tradition for the first day of school at our house. The girls love walking in to a house smelling of cookies!

Emmy, ready for 1st grade Me and the girls Jon and the girls Emmy and her friend, Claire Walking to school-wow is it nice to live close!

Building benches instead of frisbees.

2010-08-18T16:46:00.000-05:00

Building benches instead of frisbees.

Water Flips

2010-08-13T10:43:00.003-05:00

Emmy had fun learning to do front and back flips in the water while on vacation and she really wanted me to take video of her doing that..... so here you go!

Bemidji and Bay Lake Vacation

2010-08-12T14:01:00.009-05:00

It's hard to be back from vacation! We enjoyed such a good time! First we were at Ruttger's Birchmont Lodge in Bemidji, MN. The first night there we went and saw The Sorcerer's Apprentice - FUN movie! On Monday the girls enjoyed spending some time at the children's program while Jon and I explored downtown Bemidji a little bit. I also found a new favorite treat that I will HAVE to go get again the next time we are there - it was a huge rice krispie bar, on a stick, covered in caramel, then rolled in peanut butter chips and then coated with hard chocolate. OH MY GOODNESS! It was incredible! After picking up the girls and having some lunch we relaxed on the beach for the rest of the day - it was so nice to just relax. The girls enjoyed building sandcastles, kayaking and swimming.

Tuesday we went swimming in the morning, had lunch downtown and then the girls enjoyed exploring the Headwater's Science Center in Bemidji. That afternoon and evening we spent more time at the lake.

Wednesday we headed out for Ruttger's Bay Lake Lodge near Brainerd, MN. Wow - what a place! Thanks again for the gift, Serena. It was really really nice and quite the resort. Our room had a balcony off the golf course and after checking in on Wednesday the girls wanted to go to the outdoor pool and then the beach. They loved swimming at the pool and looking for shells, reading and relaxing at the beach. Wednesday night we ate dinner at the restaurant at the lodge.

Thursday morning was Jon's golf time. We all headed out on The Lakes golf course - Jon said it was the nicest course he's ever played on and it was beautiful. He and I golfed while the girls helped with driving the golf cart. Some of the holes were absolutely gorgeous! It was a lot of fun. We followed up golf with lunch at the restaurant there at the golf course. It was a long wait for food, but sure did taste good! That afternoon after some downtime in our room we headed back to the pool and the beach for more swimming and shell hunting. Emmy found a lot of shells and was quite the happy girl. I even found a shell to replace the one that Tre lost at our house last summer! :) Thursday night we kind of snacked for dinner and then went out on a pontoon tour of Bay Lake in the evening. It was quite relaxing - Emmy slept for the entire ride.

Friday after we relaxed and then checked out we stopped in Brainerd before heading home to enjoy Pirate's Cove mini-golf. It was a very fun course. The girls had a blast and I have to say it was awesome to kick Jon's butt at putt-putt! I even had 3 holes-in-one (Jon had zero). So he may have royally creamed me on the real golf course, but I got my revenge during putt-putt.

It was good to get back home and sleep in our own beds Friday night. Vacation was a wonderful change of pace and much needed for all of us. After a whirlwind trip to Iowa this weekend we'll settle back down for one more week of summer before school starts on the 25th. Here are several pictures from our vacation.
we stayed in the same room in Bemidji as last year - the girls were delighted!

feeding ducks in Bemidji

ooey gooey goodness on a stick - oh my!!!!

painted beavers all over downtown Bemidji

Relaxing in Bemidji

indoor pool - bemidji

Bemidji kayaking

Bemidji bouncers

Bay Lake outdoor pool

Bay Lake

Silly Bands! (The balcony of our room at Bay Lake)

The Lakes golf course

Bay Lake, outdoor pool

Bay Lake shell collecting

Pontoon ride on Bay Lake

Bay Lake

Pirate's Cover putt-putt, Brainerd, MN

Chuck Season 4 Preview!

2010-08-11T15:27:00.001-05:00

Hooray!!!!

Tangled!

2010-07-30T10:17:00.000-05:00

Come on - it's Zachary Levi! Of course we'll be seeing this one!

Chuck - Ryan and Sarah: Season 4 Surprises - Video - NBC.com

2010-07-27T14:53:00.000-05:00

Chuck - Ryan and Sarah: Season 4 Surprises - Video - NBC.com

Sweetpea Beauty

2010-07-15T19:13:00.001-05:00

Beautiful For Me

2010-07-15T19:08:00.002-05:00

Nicole Nordeman is singing a song on the new Veggie Tales movie, "SweetPea Beauty" coming out the end of July. We are still huge VeggieTales fans around here and the girls can't wait for this one to come out. Just thought I'd share the video for the song.... Love it!

Famous Animals From History

2010-07-13T09:24:00.005-05:00

Bria and Emmy are in charge of the blog post today.....

Sacajawea :Everything I did on that journey was for money.

Abraham Lincoln:4 score and 7 years ago our fathers brought forth on this conteinant a new nation concieved in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men were made to serve me.

Benjamen Franklin: A penny saved is a penny destroyed.

Shakespeare:What light through yonder window breaks gas.

General Custer:There is not an indian in the world that can break dance like the Seventh Calvary.

Buzz Aldron:We've got to go to the bathroom. But we don't want to stay long. The ultimate goal is the porta potty.

Amelia Earheart:The bathroom is the price that life exacts for granting armpit hair.

Betsy Ross:Fart is a disease of the heart, in the end there's no treatment, and it might just kill you.

Christopher Columbus:And the bathroom will grant man new relief, his sleep bring dreams of a porta potty.

George Washington:Few men have strength to hold thier pee.

4th of July Happenings

2010-07-08T09:53:00.006-05:00

We enjoyed a great 4th of July weekend! The weather up here was beautiful, the weekend was relaxed, and other than the mosquitos, it was lovely!

Saturday afternoon we all went swimming for awhile and the girls love having Jon at the pool with them! On Sunday Jon spent a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the early evening helping the Sertoma committee with the downtown 4th of July activities since he is a Sertoma member. So during the afternoon we all went downtown so the kids could jump in the bouncy houses, explore the science exhibits, do the petting zoo, enjoy a funnel cake and we got a family picture taken. Fireworks didn't start until 10:30 up here because it's light outside until 10:30 in the summer.... so we found our spot at Lincoln Park, got all set up, and Emmy managed to say awake until about 10:35 - she enjoyed a whole 5 minutes of fireworks and then was out cold! But it was a great weekend and we all had a lot of fun. Sometimes it's really nice to be home and to not travel for a holiday.

Family photos in Grand Forks

Fireworks at Lincoln Park
Minnow races downtown

minnow races...

minnow races.....

Being "shrink wrapped" ... bria's favorite thing!

Water/bouncy house

water/bouncy slide

4th of July girls

face painting

Summer...

2010-07-07T16:47:00.004-05:00

The kids really seem to be enjoying the summer around here. We were able to make it to the swimming pool twice this week and both days were beautiful to get out and enjoy swimming. They like to jump in off the sides, play "marco polo", have underwater contests, go "diving" and searching for swim toys, practice swimming and floating and just enjoy having fun in the water. Thanks again to all you parents for letting me take the kids this summer. It's definitely been a lot of fun so far!

They have also enjoyed lots of time playing at parks and playgrounds as well as making a lot of use of our backyard. It helps a lot that everyone is getting along well right now and they seem to enjoy being together. Everyone has their "days" here and there, but for the most part the summer is going very well!

I've been terrible about blogging, about getting pictures up and doing newsletters lately. It's just been too nice to feel tied down to the computer! Here are a few pictures I have taken lately though. Even the backyard "swimming" has been a lot of fun.

Don't know who enjoys it more though - the kids or Bailey?!

Everybody loves being outside!

Biking Emmy

2010-07-06T07:27:00.001-05:00

Emmy really wanted me to video her riding her bike last night, so here you go!

The Dad Life - Youtube

2010-06-30T06:37:00.003-05:00

My friend Sadie had this posted on her blog and I thought it was hilarious so I had to share it too!

Weekend with the Hansens and Melbys

2010-06-25T08:57:00.004-05:00

2 weeks ago, my parents, my sister, Tabbi, and her boys, Tre and Tru were up for a weekend visit. We had a great time with them here! Grandpa and Jon spoiled Emmy by getting her a loft bed built. That is one happy girl! She is so delighted to have her own loft bed! Thanks so much Dad and Jon!

We kept busy with a family game of kickball followed by Dairy Queen for all, lots of bike riding, scooter riding and roller blading, a trip to a park, some shopping at Old Navy, movie watching, playing, I got to have lunch with mom, kids making door stickers and making bleached tshirts. Everyone had a great time together and I am so glad you all could make it up to spend a weekend with us! It was much needed by me!

Here are some overdue pictures from that weekend....

Dads

2010-06-20T11:06:00.002-05:00

I'm so behind again on blogging, but I do have valid reasons... a long week full of heartache for friends.

But today I just want to celebrate the wonderful men in my life! First to my hubby..... YOU are an amazing father! Our girls are so so very blessed to have you as a dad. They adore you and love when you spend time with them and play with them. Thank you for always being there - all the time - no matter what. I can't imagine my life without you!

To my dad - I am a very lucky girl. I love you, Dad, so very very much. You still make me feel like your little girl and I am so very glad that my girls get to have you for a grandpa.

To Jon's dad - we are so blessed to have you in our life! I know this week has been a rough one but hope that you will recover fully from surgery and can get feeling better quickly!

Happy Father's Day!

Weekend with Serena

2010-06-11T09:45:00.003-05:00

Last weekend Serena flew in from Baltimore to spend the weekend with us. Well, with her nieces mostly, but us too! She and the girls had Friday all to themselves. They went to the library, lunch at McDonald's, shopping and photo booth at the mall, movie Marmaduke, followed by more shopping. They had a good time! Jon, Serena and I spent time each evening watching Chuck, Season 2, because Serena hadn't seen it yet. . . . that's a lot of Chuck to squeeze in to 5 nights! We finished up about midnight on Monday night!

Saturday we all drove down to Watertown, SD, 3 hours away to meet up with Jon's parents, his sister Serena, his Grandma Mead and Uncle Dan (who was visiting from Michigan). We had brunch at IHop, visited the Redlin Museum for a little bit and then went to the Bramble Park Zoo once it quit raining. Followed up with dinner at Long John Silver's and driving back home.

Sunday we went to a Girl Scout picnic in the afternoon and kind of hung out the rest of the day. Serena took us all out for dinner at Space Aliens that night. Monday Jon and I both had the day off so we showed Serena around GF & EGF, Jon's office, Widman's Chocolate store, etc. The girls were invited to go swimming with a friend, so they did that in the afternoon while Jon, Serena and I watched more of Chuck and had Dairy Queen.

It was fun for Serena to have some time with the girls, do some spoiling and bonding and just relax.

This weekend my family is headed up and the girls are excited to play with their cousins!

Pretending the steering wheel is enough.

2010-06-10T10:19:00.000-05:00

Pretending the steering wheel is enough.

Another fabulous read from Stuff Christians Like blog.... gotta read!

Mirror Craft Project

2010-06-09T09:08:00.003-05:00

Ok... friends and family and daycare..... This is a craft I plan on doing with the girls sometime soon. Just thought I'd share it because it looks like fun and I'm probably not the only parent whose kids collect all kinds of little odds and ends.

Mirror Mosaic is what the craft is called and I found it at www.Familyfun.com

Enjoy!

Busy Kids

2010-06-04T09:38:00.002-05:00

Just a few new pictures of the kids keeping busy... playing outside, drawing, being silly...

Keeping Busy

2010-06-02T11:39:00.004-05:00

All the sunshine and the change of routine around here has left me too busy to be blogging again. The girls are loving the fact that school is out and I think we're settling into the June routine around here for daycare. June daycare looks a little something like this:
Bria has a sports class at school from 8-10
Emma and Alexander enjoy school from 8-12.
Emmy and Talasia and Ethan hang out around here for the morning.
Next week Bria has golf 1 morning a week from 10-11.
Afternoons include a later than usual lunch and then rest time for everyone. After that we spend as much time outside as is possible! Hopefully the school will have gotten all the grafiti cleaned up at the playground today so we can go back there for the end of the day.
Next Wednesday will be our first chance to go swimming with the daycare crew. The pool opens today, but a high of 70 is still a bit too chilly for the swimming pool! I know the kids are all excited about getting in the water and hopefully it will be warm enough next week to do that.

We will have an extra person around the house for a few days as well.... Aunt Serena is coming to visit Thursday - Tuesday! So I am closed on Monday and we are looking forward to spending some time with her for a few days.

We got 2 summer projects done this weekend - tearing up some yard and re-sodding as well as cleaning carpets upstairs and downstairs. Next project: painting all the trim inside, painting the garage door and putting up new valances. Those we'll get to later in June.

That's about all for now..... daycare kids should be here soon for lunch.... naptime for Ethan soon.... rest time for everyone else after lunch.... and hopefully playing outside the rest of the afternoon.

Oh it's good to have summer here! I'll try to post some recent pictures later on this week!

Summer Vacation Friday

2010-05-24T07:43:00.003-05:00

Friday will be our official kick-off to summer vacation! And I think I am as excited about school being done as the kids are.
We'll start the summer off by having our big tie-dye party on Friday so if you want to send 1 more item for your child to dye, feel free to. I have a hat and a tshirt for everyone already bought. It should be a lot of fun!
Also, this week would be a good time to bring a swimsuit and towel for your child that can be left here all week. I don't know when it will be warm enough to actually start going swimming, but at the very least it will soon be warm enough to get out the little pools in the backyard for the kids to splash around and play in. I'm thinking our first potential day at the pool will be Wednesday, June 9th, possibly on June 2nd, but Ethan will be here for part of that afternoon, so I don't know if we will have time to fit in the pool or not. And I am closed on Monday, June 7th, so either the 2nd or the 9th we'll hopefully be able to start enjoying our time at the swimming pool!

Thanks everyone!

Chuck Season Finale

2010-05-18T08:59:00.000-05:00

Zachary Levi due with Katharine McPhee

2010-05-18T08:56:00.003-05:00

Because we're big Zachary Levi fans...... (and Tabbi wanted to see the song)!

Bria's Piano Recital - May 2010

2010-05-15T12:11:00.003-05:00

Sunshine

2010-05-14T08:57:00.009-05:00

During the peaks of sun on Mother's day, the girls made it outside to play with Bailey for a little while.... as you can see, they had a good time! With sunshine in the forecast coming up, I have a feeling I will be TBTB for awhile!

Emmy's Program Part 7

2010-05-08T13:35:00.001-05:00

Emmy's Program Part 6

2010-05-08T12:57:00.003-05:00

All the Wrinkled Ladies

2010-05-08T11:42:00.000-05:00

Emmy's Program Part 5

2010-05-08T11:33:00.002-05:00

Emmy's Program Part 4

2010-05-08T10:38:00.002-05:00

Emmy's Program Part 3

2010-05-08T09:01:00.001-05:00

Here is part 3 of Emmy's program

Anita Renfroe - (A More Real) Love Story

2010-05-08T08:08:00.001-05:00

I love Anita Renfroe, and I saw this video for the first time yesterday - Love it!

Emmy's Program Part 2

2010-05-08T08:03:00.002-05:00

Here is the second part of Emmy's program

Emmy's Program Part 1

2010-05-07T16:31:00.002-05:00

Here is the first part of Emmy's school program

Daycare Busy

2010-05-05T14:16:00.004-05:00

With the exception of the past week, with all the cold rainy weather, we've been spending a LOT of time outside! The kids are really enjoying the chance to get out and play and run around and be loud and just get out of the house.

Last Thursday afternoon and Friday (all day) there was no school, so the house was busier than usual. The school-agers are SO good at being quiet during naptime though. It makes a world of difference when I can count on them to keep things quiet so the little ones can get their naps in. I told them thank you, but wanted to be sure as parents you all know how much I appreciate how good your kids are!

We all got into our daily routines and ruts and sometimes I stop and realize I haven't given much of an update on your kids overall. They are a really really good group. We all have our bad days around here and sometimes they can be contagious, but even on "nonsticker" or "rough" days, they are all still really good kids and I am so thankful for that! It makes my job easier, it makes the environment for everyone more enjoyable and I hope it makes you feel good about them being here.

With summer coming we are looking forward to the change of pace, activities and options. OUTSIDE is going to be the key word for our summer and hopefully the rest of the school year once it quits raining.

So while we wait for the sun to come back out and the ground to dry off, here are a few recent pictures of your kiddos.

Family Pictures

2010-05-04T09:02:00.006-05:00

I thought it would be fun to post a few favorite photos. Since Easter I've scanned in a large collection of photos I borrowed from my Grandma Wiuff. It has been a lot of fun to go through them all and I've been able to put together a couple of photo books as a result. The first book is full of pictures that my Grandpa Wiuff took in England and France during WWII - pretty amazing to look through all those photos and see the world at that time through my Grandpa's eyes. We were watching the movie "French Kiss" this weekend and it was fun to see actual places in Paris as background for the movie - and those were the exact same places my Grandpa saw and photographed back in 1944 and 1945.

The second book I've just finished up tells a photo story of my Grandpa and Grandma Wiuff's life.... their parents, grandparents and families, snapshots of their life together, their kids and on down to their grandkids. It was a lot of fun to look through and try to put together. I had a lot of close and extended family input for the book so hopefully most pictures are labeled with the correct names now!

Anyway..... that's been my project for April. Here are a few of my favorite pictures! (above) - My Grandpa Wiuff, Palmer, on his motorcycle

(below) - my grandparents goofing around

My Great Grandma (Frances) Wiuff with her father

Family photo - about 1980

my grandparents on their 50th wedding anniversary

1980 - making homemade apple cider out on the farm

my grandma

my grandpa

This is the room where the Germans surrendered during WWII

The Eiffel Tower

My grandpa (on the left) and another soldier

My Great Grandpa, Rev. Albert Wiuff, at the Gulf of Mexico

Bria's April Piano Recital 2010

2010-04-26T13:00:00.001-05:00

Busy Saturday

2010-04-25T16:26:00.005-05:00

Last Saturday we headed over to a kids' extravaganza event. It was a combination of Hands-On Kids' Learning (which we never even made it over to), Boy Scouts Exhibition and the Science Show. Bria had entered her recycled rocket in the science show and we spent a couple of hours exploring all the different hands-on activities.

The girls tried out: horse riding, rock wall climbing, giant bubbles, soda explosions, goo, hydrogen flames, bird feeders, maze puzzles, throwing games and a ton of other things I can't even remember. Here are some pictures from the fun morning. I know a couple of you called and asked how the day had gone and we were all so tired from the busy weekend we had overall, that I just didn't feel like going into the details. The girls had fun though. Bria and Nathaniel (and Emmy) were disappointed they didn't win the recycling competition, but they had fun making their rocket anyway.

Yes, that is me climbing the rock wall too.

Too Busy To Blog! or TBTB

2010-04-22T13:42:00.004-05:00

I think that may be a recurring theme from now until next Fall...... with warm weather here so much earlier than usual, we seem to be soaking up as much outside time as we can. I've also been busy on some projects in my "spare" time that I will share more on later.

But right now everyone is still sleeping (we had a tired and whiny/crabby crew today). So I thought I'd try to post a few pictures of what we've been busy doing lately. Sophie enjoying cookies from Alexander's birthday!

Emmy, Alexander and Reed playing a "recycle" game

Ok SOphie, smile!

Recycled Rocket

2010-04-16T10:01:00.002-05:00

Let me start off by saying I've been terrible at updating the blog lately. The days have been so much busier since we can be outside again and I've got my hands into a big side project as well, so I just haven't had time to sit down and blog in awhile!
And.... I don't really have time today either! But I promised Bria and Nathaniel I would get the video up of them as soon as possible. They spent yesterday afternoon building a rocket out of recycled materials that they are going to enter in a city-wide competition on Saturday. They had a lot of fun building it and did a great job. Here is a short clip of the finished product!
(and I'll try to get a daycare update blog post on here again soon!)

Easter Pictures

2010-04-06T09:24:00.004-05:00

Like I said earlier, we had a great time with family this weekend. Here are some pictures from our trip.... Jon, the girls and I and Ron went out to the Holthe farm to look around.

Making a gingerbread house (leftover from Christmas) with Grandma Holthe.
Emmy on a motorcycle ride with Grandpa Hansen

Cousins after church

Game Face time!

decorating eggs

Jumping Back In

2010-04-06T06:57:00.002-05:00

Traveling down to see family is always fun, and exhausting! We all slept good last night, that's for sure.
Now to jump back into the routine with both feet - everyone headed back to work today and the girls are back to school.
Thanks to all our family for putting up with us all weekend! I'll try to post some pictures later....

Finally.... Outside Time!

2010-03-31T09:17:00.004-05:00

It's hard to guess who has been happier this week... me or the kids. We were in desperate need of getting outside and being able to run around! The past two afternoons we've been out front and the kids have just run and run and run. If all of yours are sleeping as good as mine I won't be surprised! My sidewalks and driveway are completely chalk covered, there have been countless games of tag, robot, follow-the-leader, conga lines and races, and everyone just seems a little happier. This burst of spring was just what we all needed.

Emmy had a little extra fun when her friend, Caitlyn, came over for a playdate after school yesterday too. They had a great time playing together and Caitlyn enjoyed getting to see her little brother here as well!

With rain forecast for tomorrow, we will probably be in the house all day, but being able to get outside for the first part of the week has saved everyone's sanity. Just a reminder for daycare families that I am closed on Friday, April 2nd and Monday, April 5th. I will also be closed for a paid day off on Wednesday, April 7th. Thanks everyone!

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend! Emmy & Caitlyn

Playing Follow-the-Leader
Alexander, Emma, Emmy & Reed

Conga line

Sophie

Alexander

Knight For A Princess Dance

2010-03-23T08:41:00.004-05:00

The girls and Jon had a great time dancing Saturday night at the "Knight For A Princess" dance put on by the city. Everyone got all dressed up, Bria wanted me to curl her hair, and they had a great time dancing the night away. (although Emmy was ready for the night to be finished up about 8:00..... they managed to convince her to stay a little later). Here is my dashing knight with his princesses.....

Sock Bunnies

2010-03-19T13:27:00.004-05:00

This morning the kids worked on a fun activity while Ethan took his nap. They made sock bunnies. Totally easy and totally fun. We'll have to do this activity again next week when Reed and Sophie are here too.

Flooded Red River

2010-03-18T08:20:00.003-05:00

Again, thankful that we don't live in Fargo! But they are doing a great job of fighting the rising waters down there. The colder temperatures coming this weekend may be helpful in slowing down the rate of snow melt, but will present new challenges if the temperature gets low enough to freeze the sandbags. They have great plans in place and hopefully will be well protected.

Grand Forks flood protection provides a great peace of mind for this girl whose only hesitation in moving up here was the risk of flooding after what happened in 1997! We really are well protected. It's not impossible that there could be a massive flood that would even overwhelm the protection in place, but it would have to be much higher water than in 97.

With the waters rapidly rising, 2 of the bridges between Grand Forks and East Grand Forks are closing today. That will leave the 1 bridge on the north end of town open to get back and forth. Jon will probably start making sure he has work brought home with him just in case the 3rd bridge would need to close too.

Here is a link to updated info about bridge closings and other information relevant to Grand Forks. There are a few photos on that site too.

If you would like to keep an eye on the live view and maybe watch them closing down the Sorlie Bridge today, click here. You can see the flood walls are already partially up.

It's kind of crazy to think that 3 weeks ago the girls and I were walking across the frozen river and now it's flooding all over the place. Girls on the river 3 weeks ago....

Keeping Everyone Busy Inside

2010-03-15T11:47:00.003-05:00

With the backyard swamp days beginning, we'll be seeing a little more inside time the next couple of weeks. The kids have been keeping busy though. Reed and Talasia are enjoying working on their notebooks 2 or 3 mornings a week. They also had fun decorating sunglasses to wear last week. Sophie thought she was pretty big stuff strutting around the playroom with her sunglasses on.

The only other daycare news for this week is that there is no school on Friday, so we'll have a fuller than normal house around here. I'm brainstorming for a fun activity to do that day with the kids. Also, you all know, I had to be closed today because Emmy has a stomach virus that's going around. Nasty stuff and it lasts several days. This is day 3 for her and she was actually feeling better yesterday - today is the worst yet. I've heard a lot of people say this is going around and it's one of those that kind see-saws up and down with how your kids feel. Just a reminder that if anyone gets sick, they need to stay out of dayare for a full 24 hours after they are all done throwing up, fever is gone for 24 hours, no diarrhea for 24 hours, etc. Hopefully Emmy will be on the upswing of things after this morning. I will keep everyone posted.

Re-Decorated Dollhouse

2010-03-08T09:35:00.004-06:00

We had a great weekend with my parents here. It was nice to just kind of hang out, play games, watch some movies, and get spoiled a little! We gave ice skating a try on Saturday, but the ice is deteriorating quickly so it was not as much fun to skate as last weekend. The girls got a couple of houses for their zhu-zhu pets and played with those a lot this weekend too.

We also tackled a project this weekend with Gramasaurus's help. The dollhouse in the playroom was very drab and dull looking, so we gave it an Extreme Holthe Makeover! The girls had a blast painting, adding "carpets", and creating theme rooms. Mom and I did some painting too as well as a lot of cutting out of paper and modge podging. (I discovered that Modge Podge fumes plus benadryl equals a very sleepy, loopy Kelli!)

So, I dug up a before picture of the dollhouse from when I brought it home last summer and then here are the after pictures.

Old dollhouse (above), New dollhouse (below).... maybe not quite as elegant, but the new decorating job is much more fun! Bria's arctic room Emmy's Fire Disney Room Bria's Garden Room Emmy's Jungle Room Floor of the Jungle Room The Ladybug Room

(above) the Princess Room by Bria (just to be clear - Bria DOES NOT like Princesses, but she thought the daycare kids would like a Princess room).

Ethan's First Day

2010-03-05T12:39:00.003-06:00

Welcome to daycare, Ethan!

Ethan's first day here was a huge success! He was happy, he napped well, he ate well..... one of those very easy, according-to-plan, kind of starts. All the other kids were excited about the addition of a baby to the house. Sophie was the most interested though! She was a bit mesmerized and fascinated by this little guy who moved, made noise and is smaller than she is! She spent quite a bit of time climbing up onto my lap to investigate and see what this "baby" thing is all about.

So after a successful morning, a busy lunch (school let out early today), and getting everyone situated..... we're enjoying some quiet down time for a movie and naps. Now if only I could get the house clean before my parents show up around 3:00! and maybe make some apple crisp and cupcakes? we'll see....

(and Reed isn't really crying in this video.... it's fake, part of a game.....!)

Dog Sleds

2010-03-01T09:29:00.002-06:00

Saturday night sled dogs came through Grand Forks. They were originally expected to arrive around 4:30, so the girls and I headed down to the river to watch them come in. By 5:15 we realized it was going to be at least 6:30 before the first teams got here and the girls were hungry and cold and just worn out (since we'd been ice skating for over 2 hours earlier in the day). So we didn't actually get to see the sled dogs. I pouted a little bit, but I have to share the picture that was in the newspaper Sunday - wouldn't this have been cool to see?!?!!!

I also had to share the picture of the girls exploring around the river when we were originally waiting for the teams to arrive.

Here is a link to the article in the newspaper if you are curious.

Daycare Snowplay

2010-03-01T09:14:00.003-06:00

Last week on Thursday and Friday our daycare crew was a bit of a different combo. A couple of you were on vacation and there was no school, so I ended up with just Bria, Emmy, Talasia and Emma. We were able to spend a lot of time outside both days. Thursday we played over at Kelly school on all the giant snow piles and the girls tried out ice skating (without skates). Friday morning we headed to Lincoln Park to go sledding. The sledding hills are solid packed ice so it's definitely not a soft landing, but they had fun in spite of a few bumps and wipeouts.

Ice Skating

2010-03-01T08:54:00.004-06:00

Saturday afternoon we went ice skating for a couple of hours and it was so much fun! They can't wait to go back and do it again next Saturday! I'll have to get another video of Bria next Saturday - she really got it figured out by the end of the time we were there. It was so much fun for everyone. I even got a chance to try it out and didn't fall even once. :)

Snowy Owl

2010-02-24T08:08:00.002-06:00

I have a super-sweet hubby! During the night last night he was up investigating a loud noise and before heading back to bed he looked outside. He got to see a new visitor to our deck: a big, beautiful snowy owl! We regularly get all kinds of birds, squirrels and even a rabbit (since the snow pile is all the way up the tree to our squirrel feeder. I even saw a hawk sitting out on the deck one day, but I wasn't fast enough to get a picture.

But Jon was able to watch the owl for a long time last night and get several pictures.... that's where the "super-sweet hubby" part comes in! He knew how much I would have wanted to get a picture of that owl sitting out there so he found the camera and took a bunch of pictures for me and showed them to me as soon as he got up this morning. See, super-sweet! :)

Anyway... here is our new friend, the snowy owl!

Dinosaur Puppies

2010-02-20T19:28:00.004-06:00

This is Emmy writing this blog tonight.

Wrigley: She is a puposaurus. This puposaurus is cute. She likes to eat dead fish. Shoeshine: She is a cuddleasaurus. She likes to jump around.
Peaches: She's a peachadactyl. She's just a baby and she's cute. Mocha: She is a niceasaurus. She likes to sing, "Oh I Just Can't Wait To Be King!".

Cocoa: She is a heartasaurus. She likes to look at the stars at night.

Lexi: She is a snowasaurus. She likes playing in the snow. She likes eating leaves.

Dug: He is a woofasaurus. He likes doing the dinosaur dance.

Buster: She is a mysteryasaurus. She likes eating meat. She likes to play in the mud.

Bolt: He is a Boltrex. The Boltrex is kind of like a T-Rex but he is cute.

Bria's Piano Recital - February 2010

2010-02-20T16:40:00.003-06:00

Here are some videos from Bria's piano recital this morning.

Bria Guest Post - Demon Dog, Her Opposite, and Snowy Dog

2010-02-20T10:30:00.005-06:00

This is Bria I'm doing the blog today.

Have you ever had the felling your dog is evil, I have....

...but then they get all cutesy and nice...

...and then you get her all cute and covered with snow...

...but don't be decieved, your dog is evil.

Our Morning

2010-02-18T12:48:00.002-06:00

Well, with a kind of rough day around here yesterday I thought it might be good to have an outing this morning. So after stopping at the store for a few groceries I asked the kids if they wanted to go for a drive to look at all the beautiful trees. We headed just to the south end of town so they could see how pretty everything looked covered in frost and the sun was just peeking out too. They really enjoyed it! They wanted me to take pictures of every tree we saw... so here are a couple at least because they wanted to see them later! I'm going to try to print out a couple of them to use as something for our notebooks next week too.

Now if only the outing had led to our normal quiet rest time...... seems like the two big kids had different ideas today - we'll see if they ever settle down! (naptime isn't always perfect here either!)

High Snow + Fence = Escape Route

2010-02-18T08:34:00.005-06:00

This weekend we spent another 3 hours each getting more snow/ice off our roof, and then off our deck, driveway and sidewalks. It's amazing how much snow our roof held! And the one area of our yard where some of the snow has been dumped has finally reached within inches of the top of our fence/gate. So I also got to dig out that area before the dog realizes she can just walk right over the top of the fence in that part of the yard!

Moving around all this snow also means that the sledding hill created off the top of our deck is now off limits for the kids - the snow pile is so high that when the climb up it, they could now fall over onto the middle section of our deck and I'd hate to see anyone get hurt. So, in the meantime, they are enjoying jumping off the other "hill" created in our yard, playing in the snow fort and doing all kinds of other things around the yard.

Here are some pictures of the crazy snow piles (and Bailey wondering what I'm doing!)

This is a rabbit who is enjoying the tall snow hill - he can eat the squirrel's corn now too!

The sledding hill

Why we can't use the sledding hill right now!

The snow piled up near the top of the fence before I dug it out.