2 March 2012

1.  Things I have been doing instead of blogging...

• celebrating holidays
• grieving the loss of grandparents
• pinning on pinterest (Wanna follow me?  I'll follow you back!)
• organizing pictures
• hanging out with Kara
• sleeping
• reading OTHER people's blogs
• keeping the house cleaner
• running kids to activities
• trying to get more done at school
• planning birthday parties (4 in the last 8 weeks, to be exact...)

Yep, sounds like about 5 months worth of stuff.  Moving on...

2.  Saturday we had Tate's friend birthday party.  It was detective themed and we all had so much fun.

Tate started out by hand delivering the invitations to his friends...there was no way to send these in the mail!

idea found {here}

We started by taking fingerprints and getting into disguise, just like good detectives would do.  

Then we photographed everyone for their Secret Agent ID.

Then it was time to open gifts.  The only problem was that the gifts were suddenly missing!  ;)  The kids had to follow clues that led them to a pair of Tate's shoes, the china cabinet, Beckett's sock drawer, behind a sold sign of E's, to the mailbox, to the sandbox, to Tate's piano books, and finally to Tate's bunk beds.  They kept track of the clues in their top secret notebooks.

 

After all the clues were collected, the boys figured out each one had a letter on the back.  The last clue instructed them to unscramble the letters to find where the presents were hidden.

After finding the gifts, Tate opened them and we had cake.  We ended the party with a couple more detective games.  It was one of the cheapest but most fun parties we've ever had!

3. Tuesday Gigi turned 81.  We love you so much, Gram! 

4.  We celebrated leap year this week.  Well, I guess we didn't actually celebrate, but leap day happened.  The only thing that was different about February 29th is that we actually got some snow!  Most of the winter has looked pretty brown around here.  In fact...I snapped a pic a few weeks ago of Beckett and Aves walking to Patti's for daycare.  I thought they were so cute because they were each holding one of the monkey's hands...

The picture also shows how when I say they just walk across a couple backyards to daycare I mean they literally walk across a couple backyards to get to daycare!!!  I took it from my front porch.  But now their walk looks a little more like this:

The weather is supposed to climb to 50 degrees next week, so I think we can pretty much give up on snow that sticks around for the winter.  E is still on his quest to not use his snow blower all year.

5.  One day Avery made this all by herself and brought it to me and was so proud:

 

It says "This is what I want to be when I grow up."  I was so impressed and my heart melted.  I asked Avery why she wanted to be a teacher {getting all proud of myself and sentimental and all} to which she replied "Because I want to be just like Miss Bruns."  PPPPPHHHHHTTTTT.  That's the sound of my ego deflating.  =)  I do love that she loves school and her teacher so much!!!!!!

7 October 2011

1.  On our agenda for quite some time has been to repaint/redecorate the kids bathroom.  I've even had everything purchased and waiting for a little extra time to do it.  Last weekend we finally dedicated some time to get it done.  It started out with E doing a bit of sanding to get rid of the swirls that were in there before...goodbye duckies and swirls!

After a little elbow grease and a few coats of paint...voila!!

2.  We finished the bathroom up pretty late on Sunday night and promised the kids we'd hang up the shower curtain before they went to bed, which we ended up doing at about 8:15.  The problem was that we didn't pay attention to how we hung the curtain and when Tate took a shower the next morning he didn't realize until AFTER he took a shower that the liner was hanging outside of the tub instead of inside.  When we went down to the kitchen, we found this and a wet kitchen counter...

Yikes.  The good thing was that Avery flooded the tub when she was 2 and although I've been harping on E to get the ceiling painted ever since, he still hasn't done it.  Maybe we'll hold off a bit longer just in case this happens yet again...just promise you won't look up when you're standing in our kitchen.  =)

3.  The flooding incident was a rocky start to a very busy week.  I started parent-teacher conferences Tuesday night and went to a workshop with some fellow teachers in Brainerd on Wednesday, Thursday, and today.  I had a good time and E survived with the kids...mostly thanks to Patti and the "lesson plans" I left him!

Normally I wouldn't be so stressed about leaving, but it just so happened that Eric got named the manager of the Coldwell Banker Burnet - Minnetonka office on Tuesday before I left.  He is so happy to be back in an office managing and thinks it will be a fun challenge...and a lot of work.  It wasn't the greatest timing with me being gone, but he survived and is enjoying meeting all his new agents so far. We are very proud of how hard he works...way to go E!

4.  Dressing children is sometimes fun, but more often frustrating.  Sometimes its both...like the days I lay leggings and a long sleeved dress out for my daughter to wear in the cool fall weather, and she comes downstairs in a halter top she got from her favorite neighbor, a skirt, and bare legs except for baby legs.  She obliged me by running up to get a cardi to throw on over it...but I'm still sure her teacher might have been on bright overload just looking at her.  Gotta love it...that's my Avery for you!

5.  It is evident on most days that while they won't always DO what you say, kids will REMEMBER everything you say.  The other day I was trying to get Tate's attention to ask him something.  Finally I walked over and tapped him on the shoulder and said "Tate!" to which he replied, "Sorry, Mom.  I guess I can tune you out just like my father."  I couldn't help but laugh.  Even when it appears they aren't, they hear and remember EV.ERY.THING.

30 September 2011

1.  Beckett turned 4 on Tuesday.  He started out the day with donuts (I know that is like two times in just a few weeks...I swear we NEVER have them so it is bugging me that it looks like that's all I feed my children) and opened his gifts from his bro and sis (darts and tub crayons).

Our gift is a Harold and the Purple Crayon date at the Children's theater but that's not until February. When I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday, he told me without a moment's hesitation "To see The Lion King and go to Gap."  Whaaaaat?  Um...do you think he realizes that he has only worn hand me downs his whole life?  So after preschool and Patti's we did just that.   

The Lion King in 3D:  success.  Gap:  disaster.  He wanted to buy a $40 sweatshirt and when we told him he couldn't he threw the first and hopefully last temper tantrum he ever has in his life.  Needless to say he left with nothing.  Not the greatest end to a great day, but hopefully lesson learned and by the time we got home he was settled and happy.  I can't believe my youngest child is 4.  Unbelievable!

2.  We are fully in the swing of our school and activities schedule around here.  We are breathing a little of a sigh of relief compared to last year's schedule.  Now that Beckett doesn't have ECFE at night, I decided not to take guitar, and E has not yet started baskeball, we are enjoying having a little more time to get homework done and get kids to bed.  Things still seem busy, but manageable.

3.  Avery is taking dance again this year.  This was a bit of a discussion over the summer because she kept saying that she didn't want to do it.  I didn't know whether to push her or not.  E made the decision for me and said that she WAS going to do it...end of discussion.  Thank God for E...she loves it as much as she did last year and comes out with the hugest grin when she is done.  She might always be my girl who needs a little encouragement to start things she's nervous about and that's okay.

4.  Tate is playing football again this fall.  Just as I said for baseball this summer, he is enjoying it SO much more than last year.  He has great coaches this year and is learning so much.

5.  Last Friday night I got to do a small photo shoot for my sis and her *gRoWiNg* fam!  So happy for you Rae and B!

23 September 2011

1.  Although the weeks are busy, we are loving our September weekends.  As fun as it was to be gone every weekend all summer long, it is nice to get some work done around the house, play outside, go to church, and maybe even watch a (horrible) Vikings game on TV.  We even had time to make monster cookies last weekend!

 

Cooking and baking with the kids is one of my favorite things to do...I just wish I could find the time to do it more often!

2. A few weeks back I read on my friend Kim's blog (AKA The TomKat Studio) that she was going to be in St. Paul for a conference.  Kim and I used to spend many late nights Facebook chatting during my Etsy days.  Then I returned to teaching and her business became ridiculously huge so we haven't talked as much as we used to...but I immediately emailed her and said "You remember that I live in MN, right??!!"  We made dinner plans for last Saturday night.  A few days prior she posted this on Facebook...

Such a fun thing to wake up to in the morning!  Saturday was the first time we met in real life and it was like we'd known each other forever.

I ended up going out with not just Kim and the Tomkat girls but with 18 bloggers, many of whom I either follow or had heard of.  It was so much fun! One in particular had me giggling the whole night.  My sisters and I are HUGE Whippy Cake fans...as in we all talk about her as if we know her personally.  I thought all three of my sisters were going to die when Becki sent them all personal texts from her phone.  She said K and K are welcome out to AZ to model any time they want.  Um...do I smell girls' trip?!

3.  Tate and Eric went to a Twins game on Tuesday with Braxton and Gary.  E got the corporate tickets from work.  They had a blast.

They even got on the jumbotron...Tate told me when he got home, "I can't believe it took me SEVEN YEARS to get on the big screen!"  E said, "Tate, it took me 34 years to get on it.  Tonight was my first time, too!"  =)

4.  Wednesday night was Avery's birthday night.  Her birthday isn't until December, but after how much Tate loved going to the Children's Theater last year for his birthday, we decided to buy season tickets and take each kid on a separate date for their birthday.  The play we picked for Aves was Mercy Watson to the Rescue.  We've read a couple of the books about the toast-loving pig who always seems to save the day.  She loved it as much as Tate did.

5. Beckett has always been our most Wrigley-loving kid.  This week he kept asking me to take pictures of him and Wrigs.  Here are a couple of the best ones...

16 September 2011

1.  Although she doesn't make many appearances on this blog, there is a sixth member of our family that deserves a little face time.  Kara has been living with us since June.  We see her most days, but she is such a busy woman that it is usually at night when we are all hanging out in sweats and aren't really ready for a photo op.  This week I told her I was going to take pictures of her whether she liked it or not, so here we go.

When she is home you might catch her doing homework in her room...

Smile, Kara.  I said whether you like it or not...

2.  If she's not here, it might mean one of several things.  It might mean that she's in Duluth for school.  She goes up Tuesday nights and comes home Wednesday nights. She is taking the class that goes with her internship and guitar lessons.

3.  Or it might mean that she is at her internship in the fitness center at Best Buy Headquarters.

4.  It also could be that she's serving at Canterbury, which she still does a few nights a week.

That pic is gonna be her favorite.  I camped out on the couch with my camera and she woke me up to ask me what I was doing when she got home, to which I replied "stalking you to take your picture."  That's right.

5.  If its the weekend and she's not at Canterbury, there is a good chance she is with friends, in Duluth, or possibly in Madison visiting this guy...

Yep, Kara, I know how to steal pictures from your facebook page!  That's such a cute picture of her and Tom, but as I was looking through I thought maybe it wasn't the best representation of them.  This really shows their personalities much better...

No matter how busy she is, we sure love having her here and will keep her for as long as we can. 

9 September 2011

1.  This week we were all back to school....except for E, but he may has well have been because if WE are on a schedule, he tends to be more on schedule.  The first day of school started out with pancakes and bacon and a whole lotta picture taking.

The whole fam walked Tate to the bus at 8:09.   

2.  Tate was so eager to get onto the bus and start his first day of 2nd grade that he had very little patience for pictures, displayed by his face here...

That's the please-take-the-picture-so-we-can-get-going-thank-you-very-much face.  He gets on the bus right at the end of our street with our neighborhood kids.  He was so excited that the routes changed and that the kids from the next street over also ride our bus this year so he gets to sit with Braxton on the way to school.

For the first half of last year Tate always sat on the right hand side of the bus so he could make sure I waved to him as he drove off.  This year I got not even so much as a glance as he got on the bus.  This was a little sad, but also so reassuring that he is growing up and loving school!

3.  After Tate was successfully off to school, it was Beckett's turn.  Although this was his first day of preschool ever he has been getting hauled to Mt. Olive two or three times a week since he was in utero, so he wasn't exactly nervous about it.  He was beyond excited.  It was his turn to put his folder in the basket and to trace his name card and to play with all the toys.  After a couple quick snaps and a pep talk from Dad we were off.  He did have ONE moment of "When are you coming back to get me?" but then ran off to play with the other kids.

4.  And then there was just Avery and I.  Last year I got to spend mornings with Beckett when she was at preschool.  This year, I get to spend mornings with her while B is at school!  She is so funny, helpful, and sensitive.  She has been struggling with lots of worries these days and could really use a little extra attention...so this couldn't come at a better time.  I asked her what she wanted to do while Beckett was at school and she requested a doughnut date.  

Before we knew it, it was time to pick Beckers up and it was her turn to get on the bus for the first time!  This was the girl who was mad because she thought Kindergarten started the Monday after she graduated from preschool last spring.  Not one ounce of hesitation here!

I asked for a picture of these two goofballs together and I get a noogie.  Take two went much better.  Then it was off to Patti's to see how Olivia's first day was and to get Aves on the bus.  Normally they would eat lunch at P's but I got to stay home a little later so that I could see her off (Thanks, Ang!). Avery has ALMOST forgiven me that I didn't put her in morning Kindergarten with O.  Almost.

5.  Then it was off to my 24 other "kids"!  I am so happy to be teaching only afternoons again this year.  E says this will be my last part time year, so I intend on making the most of it.  Happy first day of school!