December Favorites

Sorry I haven't posted here in ages. Here are some of my favorites from December with Christmas and Lydia's Birthday

This was Cassidy's first school program. She is the one near the middle above the piano with the blue and black dress.

We had lots of snow last month and during a blizzard we got some really good snow for making snowmen, here was our family of snowmen, but now they have melted some and are in shambles.

Christmas morning the girls had fun opening their gifts

We gave them dolls and made doll beds for each with their own special bedding and outfits with help from grandma!

For Lydia's 3rd Birthday we celebrated by going to House of Bounce and saw the movie Tangled!

For Lydia's party we took everyone out for pizza and bowling!

She tried so hard to blow out those candles and finally let all of her friends (cousins) help her out!
Grandma makes quilts for all of the grandkids. Lydia's turned out so cute! I can't wait to re-do her room to match!


Well, my winter break is almost over. I thought I had 2 more weeks, but unfortunately I got an email this morning giving me the news that classes start next monday :( It felt like it went by fast and it didn't help that I had the flu for part of the week before Christmas so I was ripped off a bit. Back to reality I guess!

Sara

Mini Vacation

Two weeks ago we took a little road trip over to South Dakota. We stayed in Sioux Falls 2 days and then went up to see Jill in Brookings on our last day.
Sioux Falls is a very nice town with lots to do. We arrived around lunchtime and went to the zoo.
Lydia liked all of the animals and even liked this camel. Nate wanted to ride on the camel with Cassidy, but she didn't want to get near it.
This was as close to riding anything as she would get!

This peacock was just roaming around hoping someone would feed him!

and we did!

On our second day we started out at the butterfly house. That was pretty fun to see all of the butterflies up close and sometimes they landed on us.

Here's a big moth that landed on my upper arm. It peed on me!

Later we spent the afternoon at the mall and in the evening we went to Falls Park. So pretty!
My little poser, She wanted me to take this picture! Maybe she's getting out of that stage of not wanting a picture taken? I can only hope.
On our last day, we traveled up to Brookings which is about an hour drive from Sioux Falls. It seems to be a nice place for Jill & Eddie. His store looks great and is a fun place to shop.
We went out for lunch and played at the swimming pool then left for home.
Vacationing is tough on 18 month kids. She did not enjoy the 4 1/2 hour drive and neither did we! But we're glad we went!

June Happenings

WARNING: LONG POST!
I realize it's almost the middle of July, but before I add anything that has happened this month, I thought I should go back to June because it was pretty eventful.

For the third year, we planted our vegetable garden and grew our first radishes, and nobody likes to eat these in our house other than me, so they were all mine. They could have been a little hotter, but I won't complain too much. At least they grew! Other things in the garden: Beans, peas, carrots, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, asparagus, jalapenos and sunflowers. We planted cucumbers, but we think they got overrun by weeds and didn't make it. Currently we're trying to stay on top of the weeds, and trying to be much better about it than previous years. Maybe next year on those cucumbers??!!
The second full week in June was our first time attending VBS (vacation bible school) at our church. Around 65 kids attended and it was so much fun. Cassidy still talks about it. They had a safari theme and I helped with crafts. Every day was something different and the kids kept very busy because they had different activities every 30 minutes. Here is the preschool class during their program on the last night:
Cassidy is in the front with the zebra hat. They made them in their classroom and I think she still has it in her bedroom. I had to staple it a few times because Lydia got her hands on it!


The following 2 weeks we had swimming lessons everyday in town. Again it was our first experience with lessons, so I wasn't sure what to expect because Cassidy has been so scared of water. She would cry & scream in the tub if a tiny drop of water got on her face. So I was sure we were going to go to lessons, because we needed to get over this "fear".
The first day was bad. I wasn't sure if we were even able to make it the next day. The teacher taught them how to do a bob, back floats, and at the end of that first day they were jumping off the side! Cassidy was very proud and excited and was ready for another day! She even called her daddy and told him all about it while he was at work.
The last day was their test day. All of the kids passed easily. Here is Cassie jumping off the diving board:
Even I can't do that!!
And her face is all wet too!! YAY Cassidy! We're so proud of you!


Nate was in a wedding in June. It was Deron (he was our best man) and Erin's wedding. Erin has become a good friend of mine as well as my hairdresser.
We had a wonderful time and the day couldn't have been nicer. 80 degrees and no humidity, lucky for them! You can check out more pictures at the photographer's blog. Congrats Deron & Erin!


That's about it for June. I'll leave you with this picture, my favorite. She never looks at the camera and when she does it's quick and usually without a smile. I was a lucky to get this one!!

So it must be the season to dust off my camera. It's been sitting on the shelf collecting dust for the last, oh, 5 months or so! That's terrible. My girls are growing and I'm not even getting it recorded. But things will change soon. I'm going to get it out and start taking more pictures because I just haven't wanted to during this winter. Sure I've had to take pictures for class, but that is for assignments, not completely for fun, and not for myself.
I just love this one with Lydia and her big cousin reading a book together. It was a very sweet moment.

It's been kind of crazy around here, I had 2 wedding showers and a bachelorette party last weekend! I know, all in one weekend! But now it is all over until the weddings, which will be a complete blast, I cannot wait.
Nate has been busy with yard work, me with school work, and we're trying to finish up our bedroom. We tore it all apart and we're going to paint this weekend, then soon carpeting and then move back in. (Cassidy has moved in with Lydia and we moved in her room, so I'm anxious to get back to normal.) I'll show before/after pictures when we're all done. It will be great.
In the last month or so I've decided to quit being a Stampin up Demonstrator. It's been a great 5 1/2 years and I will certainly miss it (I think mom will miss it more than me!). I've decided I need to concentrate on classes/artwork and my family, because time has been tight around here, and this is quite an adjustment. I'm hoping to get some time after this semester is finished (5 1/2 weeks!!) to work on our scrapbooks. I'm falling so far behind :(
Maybe I'll post more pictures in a couple weeks, otherwise, I'll be back next month...

Hapy Valentimes!

like the title? Cassie called valentine's: ValentiMes. funny.
Here's Lydia with her valentine sunglasses. She is quite a ham.
We had a good valentine's. Nate took us (me & the girls) shopping all afternoon & out to dinner and some more shopping in the evening! I cannot remember the last time I have been to rochester for no reason. It was quite relaxing and we ended up spending a wad because everything was on sale. almost bought a new computer too, but decided to wait for something bigger & better.

School is going good, in case you are wondering. Fall Semester I received a 4.0-the first in my life I can proudly say. And Yes, I am bragging. My brother in law calls me a nerd now. HA! I'm currently taking a math course (the first of 4) and I'm getting a 105%, and yes, bragging again :) But it really has everything to do with the teacher. She is wonderful and I hope I can get her again next semester.

Nate's job is great. They have been busy. I was concerned for awhile, but he reassured me that the only way he would probably lose his job is if the place burned down. Even then, the president would probably have something for him to do. So he's doing fine.

The girls are doing good too. We have been doing ECFE activities and they seem to enjoy daycare.

I think we're all anxious for spring. I received my Gurney's catalog the other day and have flipped through it about 4 times, dreaming of summer. It will be a great summer this year!

roller skating

Last weekend we took the girls roller skating! We weren't really sure how Cassidy would handle herself, and if she fell, we didn't know if she would give up (like she usually does), but she didn't care! She fell, she got up, and skated some more.



This was a proud mommy moment. Towards the end she was able to skate on her own! She was proud as well.

And of course, Lydia had to get in on the action. I had a hard time containing her while everyone was skating. She kept darting off, so we walked around and around several times. Then daddy took her around with him a few times. We thought that if they had skates small enough for Lydia, she would have skated too!

it's been...

It's been different around here. Quite different. I wouldn't say a complete 180, but maybe 90. You can probably tell I've been too busy to update this blog since the last post was on the 1st of the month. I have added an extra class to my schedule, so I'm now working on 9 credits this semester which includes Algebra (yuk), an online class (which takes a LOT of self motivation), and a photography class (we only work in black & white FILM) (and I think I'm going to LOVE it). So needless to say, there has been a ton of homework. (by ton, I mean about 95% more homework than last semester). So that is a huge adjustment for me. There is also the adjustment for my family. The girls are in daycare for nearly 2 whole days now since I'm taking classes during the day instead of evening classes. (and Cassie has finally decided to eat and drink at daycare now, thank goodness.) But it's been great to be home in the evenings too.
In addition to all of the school stuff, the girls were sick for awhile earlier this month, and me-I've been sick the whole month and have had a cough since early December. I'm so dang sick of being sick. (that has become my new motto)
So if you've emailed me a while ago and haven't gotten a reply yet, now you know why. And I'm so sorry that I've been terrible at emailing.
And since I hate posting without a picture, here is a sunset that has been sitting on my camera from 2 weeks ago.

Christmas 08

Our Christmas was relaxing, exciting, peaceful, loud, enjoyable, and memorable. It's hard to imagine it described that way, but in fact it was all of those things. On Christmas Eve we went to my parents house to celebrate. We always, always have lots of food, treats, and this year: drinks :) (I mention this only because last Christmas I was nearly a week overdue with Lydia).

Here, Cassidy is trying to decide which cookie she should try first. Later on she was found under the table eating more treats with a cousin.

Grandpa always reads the Christmas story to the kids, hoping they listen while they have ants in their pants and watching those wrapped presents calling their name. They usually do listen well. One cousin is missing from this picture. I wonder where he went??

One of Lydia's gifts was twin babies! She was so happy. She was carrying one or the other all night long.


Nate said I look drunk in this picture. I really did not get drunk at my parent's Christmas. Just enjoyed the rum very much. There is a difference.
Christmas morning was very exciting too. Santa came and left stuff in our stockings and gifts for the girls.

Cassie would have been happy if this was all she received for Christmas. A mickey mouse clubhouse. from Santa. And that is exactly what she told him she wanted.


Christmas Day afternoon we traveled to Nate's Grandparent's to visit. And again, more great food!
My little punk's first Christmas.
Our family:


Lydia with all of her Christmas babies. There are 5 total, all different except the twins:It was a great Christmas and I'm thankful to have a healthy, happy family. That is all that matters. Merry Christmas.

What have we been up to?

Visiting Santa: 1st attempt

notice Cassidy here...look where the arrow is pointing: she's burying her head into my arm as santa is trying to give her a sucker. There was no way she would lay her eyes on him...even though he was being so nice to her. We tried peer pressure, but that had no effect.

Here's Lydia on Santa's lap...She sat there for approximately 1 minute just looking up at him. I think she has a crush on any man with facial hair. This is not the only time we've experienced this.

2nd attempt:

Oh how different this visit was! Lydia was screaming (Although I wish there was a better picture with all of them in it so you could see her face) and Cassidy did tell santa what she wanted even though we dragged her up there and made her tell him.

Oh well....Maybe next year!

We've been enjoying our basement lots lately: it helps now that we have a new sofa down there so mom & dad have somewhere to sit :)

Funny thing with Lydia...She LOVES this princess tent. She crawls in & out & in & out. the only other things she plays with in the basement are babies. It's so cute to watch her carry them all over!


This week is my final week of the semester. I'm ready for a little break for Christmas. My house also needs to be cleaned so bad. We finally put away all of the Christmas tubs that have been sitting around. You don't even want to see my dining room right now...Final projects all over, laundry, crayon drawings, bathroom light fixtures, unwrapped Christmas presents, etc...It's a mess. I don't even know why I'm using my time to post this.

Tomorrow we're going to try to finish up our Christmas shopping. Nate has the day off and sounds like the weather will be good. We'll make a stop at the hospital too as my aunt had quadruple bypass surgery yesterday. I hope she's feeling okay.

And with hope this weekend I'll have some time to do some baking! I haven't even started and usually I have many things in the freezer by now.

The beginning of an heirloom

Have you ever wondered about the history of an heirloom? Where it came from, who made it, who used it? Do you even have an heirloom?
I'm pleased to say I have many. One of my most prized is my baptism gown that was worn by my mother, myself, and both of my girls. (they'll have to fight over it when they have kids of their own).
This little sweater dress was made for Lydia by my mom. I see these sweater dresses all over in stores so I guess they're a hot fashion thing this fall. And I guess mom has an eye for fashion ;) But anyway, it's a sweet little dress that will fit her for quite a while.
ps...the hat is from etsy, not quite an heirloom, but is handmade.

Halloween 2008

What a fun time we had last night! The best part was the weather...we were trick or treating in short sleeves which is so unusual for MN. Cassie was pretty shy when we went door to door, but I guess mom & dad get the candy since we did all the work LOL ;)
Our church hosted a party with dinner, games and lots of extra prizes too. Cassie didn't hold back there, she was such a little party girl! Lydia also had a good time watching everyone play games.

ps: I think cassie looks so grown up in these pictures, don't you?