Scouts

Ethan enjoys going to scouts each week! This year he was so excited about the pinewood derby. This was his 2nd year to do it. He did a great job. He came in 3rd place! We thought it was great and he was happy but so disappointed at the same time because only the top 2 winners walked away with a trophy. He wanted one really bad - maybe next year!! Needless to say he had fun participating in the race and making his car with his dad. Below are also some pictures from a scout field trip they went on. Gotta love scouts!

GoodbyeSchool Project!

 I don't post all of the kids projects but this one is very special as it has been with us for many years. Lucy made this when we lived in Indiana. She loved it soooooo much we have held onto it this long. Some of my Indiana friends will recognize it as their daughters also made one. Anyway, it is a GIANT cardboard mask. It's huge. As we got close to moving I thought we'd throw it away and lucy would not hear of it. So it moved with us and I had to give special instructions to the movers to take special care of it as it was very special to Lucy. She was very concerned with how it would travel. So it made it safe and sound to Minnesote (phew!!) and as we were doing some deep cleaning this past week in Lucy's room she decided it was time to part with her beloved project!! Can you believe it? I can't!! We've all seen it around for so many years it kind of made me sad to throw it away so of course we had to take a few pictures before parting with it!!

Happy Valentine's Day.....a little late!!

 It has become tradition over the last many years for my parents to send us a gift card to go to cold stone for a valentine treat. This year they sent us money and we chose to keep with tradition and go to cold stone. It's a FUN treat for us all. The kids love choosing what to mix in their ice cream (ok i love it too!) We were a little late in going though. We couldn't go on valentine's day and seems we have been busy. We just went last week to celebrate valentine's day.

Piano Competition

Lucy competed in her first piano competition in February. They are ranked from 1-5 and are invited to play in a community concert if they get a 5. Lucy did an excellent job and scored a 4. Her teacher was impressed especially given it was her very first competition. She has been working hard on her music all year.

Not a great picture but I snapped it quick. I didn't want to distract her. Here she is in her room performing for her judge.

thank goodness for dads!

 I do these little games with our kids but it always seems much more fun when it's with daddy!! I love these pictures because i have so many great memories of my dad doing this with me. We would have contests to see who could stand on his knees the longest and then he'd shake them like there is an earthquake. We'd fly like superman. When Andy was doing this with the kids the other day I realized it won't be much longer that we have kids small enough to do this! even our older kids have fun watching this as it reminds them of when they were little enough to do it!

Classic Lucas

I hate to say it but it's true - this is so typical of Lucas. He is one of the sweetest kindest boys ever but this is such a typical occurrence in our home! He spills things, always has some sort of cut he is worried about on his finger or leg, he falls off of bar stools, zips his lip in his zipper.....the list is endless. I wake up knowing there will be SOMETHING with him I just don't know WHAT it will be. The other day we were at Ethan's basketball game and he looks at me with his eye partially closed and said I think I have a cracker in my eye. Really? A cracker? We weren't even eating them. Strange strange strange!!! In the picture above I had just made him hot chocolate. He hadn't even taken a sip yet and managed to spill the entire cup. And his reaction is always so startling. You would have thought he had been shot or his leg was crushed. No - it was just spilled milk!!

Happy Birthday Olivia

 We went to alisa's house for cupcakes for Olivia's birthday - yes she is already 1!! Anyway, Alisa had an awesome spread of cupcakes and had invited Matt's family as well as a few other families. All the cupcakes were on the table so pretty and we called the kids to come eat. As Wyatt was leaning in to get a cupcake someone noticed the table (which happens to be a very old table) looked a little unstable. As they went to fix it or adjust it the entire thing just fell apart!! It busted right down the middle and the cupcakes went sliding. Luckily there were enough adults around to save the cupcakes before they went crashing to the floor! It still makes me laugh when I think about it. We had just been eating Sunday dinner on that an hour earlier!! Here is a picture of matt with the table. So funny!

JANE

Jane is turning into such a big girl! She was so proud of writing her name all by herself and this is her first flower she ever drew! Not bad! I drew one on my own paper and she copied and this is what she did. She was pretty excited!

It's Spring Break......Can't you tell?!??!?

So our spring break started on Friday! Pretty sure there will be no Popsicles and shorts this spring break like we had last year.

 Three days before our kids got out of school for their spring break we had a snow storm (you can't see very well in this picture) but they canceled school  - which they NEVER do here!

 Here is Andy grilling. This is how we fight against winter in minnesota!! We actually love living here but by now we are all ready for a little warmth!! This is our way of rebelling against the cold!

Playing with Fire

 We needed a water softener and Andy said he could install it to save some money. I was thinking that sounded great until I realized it meant he would be shutting off our water and cutting pipes. Really?! I asked Andy if he had ever done this before and he told me he hadn't but not to worry he read on line how to do it! Hmmmmm! That's not very comforting. I do think when it came time to do it he was a bit hesitant for fear he really couldn't do it. With the help of Ryan and our friend Jacob he pulled it off! Yay!! I am very impressed! I think andy was so happy to be able to purchase and use a blow torch.