Minnesota Farewell Bar-B-Q

Our sweet friends, The Riches family, threw us a farewell bar-b-q our last week in town. Brian & Jenny have twin boys Aiden & Avery who are three years old. They are such a sweet family & I hate that we were just really starting to get to know them really well...right when it was time for us to move away!

Here is Brian giving a tractor ride to all the munchkins!

Here was our beautiful grill master!

Everyone at the table. Another family from church, The Hamlin family, was there too.

The big boys playing baseball.

Jenny, Evangeline & me

And here are the little cuties: Aiden & Avery

We hope to make it back to MN next summer so we can hang out with these awesome friends again!

School Easter Program

Right before we left Minnesota, the kids preschool put on an adorable Easter Program. Each class performed individually & Andi's class went first:

singing 'Little ones to HIM belong...'

singing 'The Bible tells me so.'

Here is her entire class on stage.

And, this was the most adorable part. Each child got to say a 'line' into the microphone. Each 'line' was the Easter story summarized by that particular child. So, some of them said things like 'Jesus got owies'...but my sweet girl Andi chose to say 'I love my Mommy.' We were all really surprised that she even spoke into the microphone at all! Here she is with her favorite teacher Mrs Charboneau.

Here they are praying for their snack at the end of the program. Andi absolutely refuses to hold hands with boys! I love it!

Then Dawson's class was next:

How cute is he??? He was SO nervous!

His whole class performing

Dawson with his teacher Miss Kim. Dawson's line was 'After 3 days, the angel came & moved the boulder.' He did so good! I was a very proud Mama.

Whole class again, about to pray together.

And here is Dawson with 'his girls!'

What a blessing this last school year was for my children! Thank you Calvary Lutheran preschool for loving my kiddos.

Easter 09

Easter this year was pretty interesting. The Saturday before Easter, Derek & I decided we would do our own little egg hunt for the kids. The bad part was that it had snowed a little overnight & it was FREEZING outside all day Saturday with horiffic wind chills. But, we braved the weather for a few minutes...and I literally mean just a few minutes...for a small egg hunt. Brrr rabbit!

The kids about to go outside for the hunt...isn't this a cute pic?

Dawson putting eggs in Andi's basket for her...sweet boy!

This pose was Dawson's idea of course.

And the 'acting like we like each other' shot...

And here they are on Easter Sunday. I had the kids by myself on Sunday because Derek was in California for a job interview. The church we attend here in town does not have classes for kids during the service. They are a small congregation, so they all go to class at 9:30, and then they all go to service at 10:30....which means we have to keep our two crazy red heads quiet & occupied during service each week. It is a tough job, one that definitely takes both Derek & I to accomplish. So, since Derek wasn't there to help me, I decided to take the kids to another church that DID have class for them during service. That way I could enjoy Easter Sunday. Well, we get there & because it was a holiday...you guessed it, no classes. I decided to stay & give it a try even though I had not brought a thing with me to keep the kids entertained. We made it about half way through the sermon before we had to rudely leave (Andi kept climbing over the pew in front of us & throwing her stuffed animal at everyone around her). I thought I would attempt to take the kids out for a nice lunch then...but all the restaurants were closed for the holiday. So, we just ended up picking up Taco Bell on the way home. And that was an interesting Easter...

A little Minnesota Nice

When we first moved to Minnesota, everyone seemed to recommend the cafe 'Minnesota Nice Cafe.' Apparently the owner of the cafe is a retired school cafeteria chef. She had always dreamed of opening her own restaurant & finally did so when she retired. We have eaten there several times over this last year & they are famous for their traditional Minnesota hotdishes.

But, the name of the cafe sounded so funny to us. The first time we ate there, we were kind of giggling about what an odd name it was....but soon after that, we finally learned what it meant. One day I was standing in line at the grocery store and I struck up a conversation with the lady in front of me because the cashier (or teller as they call it) was going incredibly slow. Since I kept looking at my watch worrying I was going to be late picking the kids up from school, the nice lady in line in front of me let me go ahead of her. She said "Here...I'll show you a little Minnesota nice." Ahh-haa! I thought...that's what it means. From then on, we heard that phrase many times. Most people, when they found out we were here temporarily, would say 'I really hope people have showed you some Minnesota nice.' And, they definitely have.

Springtime = Eagles!

Once the snow melted, all the eagles came out to play. On a daily basis, we usually see several flying around. The other day, Derek & I were driving to a restaurant to eat lunch when we saw a bunch of eagles flying over the road. We pulled over so I could take some pics. I didn't have my big zoom lense with me, but I thought these turned out pretty cool.

Our last Minnesota visitor...

In the middle of March, my little bro came up for a visit on his spring break. Unfortunately for him, the snow had melted away too much to ski, but we still got to do some 'winter' things.

Here is Brett with the kiddos...they are watching a funny youtube video.

Brett & Dawson on the lake...it was still safe to walk on but in the process of melting, so kind of scary!

We invented a new sport in our backyard: sled boarding! Go Brett!

Brett about to chunk a snowball at Dawson...isn't my 'baby' brother so grown up & handsome?

And...here is Brett getting totally pegged by a snowball from Dawson

Of course, we had to take the staple photo with Paul Bunyun! And, Brett's visit concludes our Minnesota visits from family & friends. In just a few weeks, we are Texas bound!

Snow documenting

Well, the snow has officially all melted away...but these pictures were taken right before the weather started to warm up. These pics are fun to me because they show how deep the snow was around our house.



Andi on the sea saw across the street

Dawson on the sea saw

Trying to make the merry go round work...it had been frozen all winter.

And, here is Dawson...he ventured off the path that we normally took (the path where the snow had been packed down) and got into snow waist deep. He somehow managed to make it all the way across.

Andi however, got stuck right here. She just pouted until I came to rescue her. I already miss all that crazy cold white stuff.

I LOVE it when my kids match...

I know, I know...I am a HUGE dork...but I just LOVE to have matching outfits for my munchkins! I dressed them up in their matching sweaters & hats this day, and we of course went outside to play in the snow & take pictures.

This is Dawson convincing Andi that it is FUN to eat snow.

Here they are heading up our back steps that we had not used all winter. Then, Dawson had the wonderful idea of sliding down the steps inside the laundry basket!

Andi was more than happy to help push him down! It was pretty anti-climatic though...the snow was so thick he really didn't slide down very far.

Here they are running through the front yard.

And, here they are in front of 'the alien.' Since Frosty was soooo slumped over, Dawson thought it would be a good idea to put sticks all over him & make him an alien instead. Goofy boy.

Cat attack printer

Dawson LOVES watching funny youtube videos...especially ones about funny animals. One of his favorites is called 'Cat attack printer.' It is hilarious to watch him watching the videos. Most of the time, he laughs so hard he cries. This video didn't catch his 'severest' laughing, but it did catch some good chuckles...enjoy.

Ice Fishing for Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day, we rented an awesome ice fishing house for the day. When I called to ask about rentals, the guy on the phone asked me "Do you want to rent a house for the day? Or, do you want to spend the night?" WHAT???? I began laughing of course & said "What do you mean spend the night?" Apparently, they make ice fishing houses that look exactly like campers & you can rent them out like hotel rooms. How crazy is that! If we had had an overnight babysitter available I would have totally done it!

Here was our 'house' for the day...and our plowed driveway.

The only difference between a camper & a sleeper ice house is that...the ice house has no plumbing. So, here is the bathroom. Yes, that is just a trash can underneath the toilet seat!

Here is a shot of what the ice holes looked like. The ice was almost 3 feet thick.

Andi ice fishing, while Dawson is watching a movie from the top bunk. (Derek is totally making an Andi face in this picture)

Dawson attempting to pose outside the ice house...it was about -15 that day! His face says it all.

Andi skipping on the lake. I dressed her in Dawson's clothes because I wanted them both to look 'Minnesotan'. She didn't mind because she loves this hat anyway.

Telling a fish tale...'it was THIS big'

And, here is the ONLY catch of the day! Dawson was just a tad excited. Here is the crazy part: do you see how there are two lures hanging from the fish? Well, right after we started fishing, someone knocked on our door. Who would be knocking on our door in an ice fishing house???? I set my pole down on the floor, across the hole, thinking that it would NOT be able to fall in that way. WRONG! The door knocker turned out to be a college student doing surveys about ice fishing for a school project. While answering her questions, we heard all this ruckus, and looked just in time to see my fishing pole buck & then disappear into the fishing hole! We were totally bummed of course because we were adding up how much it would cost us to have to replace the pole. However, about an hour later....Dawson caught this fish & MY FISHING POLE! What are the odds of that???

After a couple of hours, we took the kids home to the babysitter & then we were able to enjoy the evening. We fished unsuccessfully, drank wine & cooked a frozen pizza in the little oven, and watched the sunset on the lake. I can see us many years down the road saying "remember that one year we went ice fishing for Valentine's day?" Now that's a cool feeling...doing something that you know you will remember forever.