I’m baaaaaaack!

Yep, I’m back.  I can’t predict how long this will last though, so don’t get too excited about it.  Yes, I’m talking to you, Mom.  If you’re just joining us, I used to write this blog on a regular basis.  Just a way to keep the fam up to speed on what we’re up to.  But as the kids got older and not as cutesy, writing about their sassy attitudes and posting their reluctant poses where I pleaded with them to SMILE FOR THE CAMERA seemed kinda pointless.  But I guess it is what it is.  So, without further adieu, I give you – Our Life on a Lake!  Here’s Dyliebar.  Yes, this is mainly the one I was talking about – the one who refuses to cooperate with me for pictures.

I hear this runs in the family (NOT MY SIDE!).  He is still a pretty sweet boy though when he wants to be.  He’s sensitive and shy like his mama (my mom calls him a cream puff which is a pretty accurate description, actually! LOL), but he does show some sassy attitude which I can only assume is from Eric.  HAHA!!!  He has his moments of humor fairly often though which is definitely from Eric.  I find myself saying to him quite often, “You’re just like your Dad.”

This one, on the other hand, is our little ray of sunshine with only a few storm clouds here and there.  She’s all smiles but don’t cross her!  You cross her and you’ll hear about it.  She spends a lot of time screaming at Dylan – their latest “thing.” “Mom, he’s looking at me!!!”  Yep, you know the drill.  Ugh.  NOT my favorite phase from either of them.  I recently made a digital scrapbook of 2012 and did a several page spread of how loving they used to be towards each other.  Avery LOVED it and rubbed it in his face.  Dylan thought it was disgusting!

So yeah, getting them to take these pictures was FUN TIMES!  HA!  See how he’s holding her hand like she has some sort of disease?

Oh well, I guess we’ll keep them anyway.  I can only HOPE that one day this phase stops and they go back to the way they used to be.  I had always thought he would be an awesome big brother who sticks up for his sister and threatens to kill those who do her wrong.  Instead he spends his days telling her she stinks.  Calgon, take me awaaaaaay!!!

OH!  Wouldn’t you know it?!  We DID get to go away!  Though, we had to take them with us, so there’s that.  Yep, my parents took us, my brother, his wife and their kids to Disney World last month!  It was their first time there and they LOVED it!  They had zero expectations going in and now they are wondering when they can go again.  The first day we spent half at Epcot and half at Magic Kingdom.

Reluctant picture participation strikes again! “Nemo is for BABIES!!!”  Ugh.

This was on Daniel’s birthday.  We went to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party that night at Magic Kingdom (hence, the sort of park hop).  

Had to take pics in front of the castle of course!

I decided to take some selfies with Avery (cuz she is the princess of selfies) and all of a sudden Nat popped into the screen behind me.

Then Renae!

Then Jon!

And finally my mom!  We had a good laugh.  The progression of selfies. 🙂

It finally started getting dark on our very first day of Disney.  It was almost time for the parade to begin!

Dylan went as Harry Potter to the party.  He only wore his stuff during the parade tho.  Bah humbug, Dylan!!  Just like his Dad!!!

The parade itself was amazing.  I LOVED it!  I’ve had the song they played stuck in my head ever since we got home.  We even found a link to it on YouTube so we were able to relive it when we got home. 🙂

And here are the fireworks from that night!

The next day we went to Hollywood Studios.  Land of Tower of Terror and Frozen Sing A Long! 🙂  Dylan was a big fan of the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular.  We realized he hasn’t seen any of the movies so we’ll have to fix that soon!

Avery and I went to the Frozen Sing A Long which she really loved.  I thought it was kinda lame that Elsa didn’t appear until the END of the show, but it was worth it when she did.  And guess what she brought with her – SNOW.  Real snow.  So Avery was impressed with that of course.

Avery was a little too young for a lot of the rides at Disney.  She’s a bit of a chicken. Ha ha!  So she spent a lot of time with Grandma and Grandpa sitting on benches watching people go by.  I think they were all 3 content to do that.  They had lots of ice cream and lots of laughs.  She kept them pretty entertained.

The next day, we went to breakfast at the Kona Cafe before heading to Animal Kingdom.  I screwed up on the planning and wasn’t able to book anything in advance.  We WANTED to go to Tusker House, but oh well.  This was still good.

Here are some pictures from the Safari Tour at Animal Kingdom.

Dylan LOVED this and was yelling at me to get pictures of everything we saw.  So I had to do a lot of weeding out of pics here!  LOL

My brother took control of my camera at Animal Kingdom, so we ended up with a lot of scenery pictures of this day.  Good to have a few, right Taco?

One of my favorite rides – the Expedition Everest.  I loved it!  We went on this one a few times.  We laughed and laughed over the ride picture of us.  I’m like WOO HOOOO!!!  Daniel and Jon are smiling.  And then there’s my mom all , HO HUM, whatever, this ride is just OKAY.

Treats and dancing in the street!

Eric and Dylan saved the water ride at Animal Kingdom for last.  And it was a good thing they did.  They were both SOAKED.  Eric walked in a wide stance the whole way out of the park.

Next day was Universal Studios.  Dylan was waiting for this day especially b/c of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  He is a huge fan of all things Harry Potter so this was a MUST DO for us on this trip.

Of course, the first thing we had to do was get wands.  Thank goodness for Grandma b/c these wands were pretty pricey!  But they were SO excited about them.  They were interactive in the park so they were able to cast spells at several places within the Harry Potter area.

I’ll tell you what MY favorite part of the Harry Potter world was – BUTTER BEER.  Glorious, glorious, Butter Beer.  Oh how I miss thee.  We have tried one “make at home” recipe so far since getting home and it was not even remotely close.  I’m afraid I’m going to forget what the real thing tastes like!  AHHH!

Ya know, this ride might have been my other favorite.  Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts.  It was awesome!  A 3-D ride which is hard to explain but it was a good one.  If the wait wasn’t so long, I definitely would have gone again!

More wizarding.

Yes, we had to get another Butter Beer.  HAD TO.

Finally, it was the end of the day.  Ugh.  This is when everyone started hitting the wall.  Mid week.  But, we had to press on!!!

Taco’s breakfast the next morning.  It was game time.

So we went back to Magic Kingdom for a FULL day this time.  Avery’s favorite ride was the Dumbo ride.  We did lots of selfies, of course!

Then, the most magical thing happened.  Avery was chosen to play the Beast when we went to the Enchanted Tales with Belle show!

So she got to dance with Belle!

The other best drink award goes to……..the Aloha Isle and the awesome Dole Whip!  Also smashing and worthy of having more than one!

One of my favorite pics I took of Muchachos.  She was so happy to have her new doll.  It was a miracle that I got this picture with no other people in it!!

It started getting closer to the end of the day when I realized we hadn’t taken a family picture in front of the castle!  GASP!  So I made them truck over there and take pictures.  Deal with it people!!

Then it was time for Avery to meet Rapunzel and Cinderella.  We didn’t have fast passes for Elsa and Anna, sadly.  So this had to do.  She loved them!!

After we were done at Magic Kingdom, we headed back to Polynesian for the Luau Dinner Show.  This was great.  Finally, we got to sit down, have some drinks and be entertained.  Thanks for the fun time, Mom and Dad!  Here’s the funny story of that night tho.  We had left the rental cars at the Magic Kingdom parking lot which was just next door to Polynesian.  So we ASSUMED you could just easily walk next door.  Well, let me tell you.  NOT the case.  Taking the monorail one stop down would have been MUCH easier but noooooooo, no one wanted to listen ME!  So we set out on our long trek and not one of us has a clue of which way to go so we’d walk in one direction, find out it was wrong, turn around, go back.  At this point, we lost Grandma.  As in, she said she could no longer walk.  So we left her on a bench with Renae and Daniel and set forth on our mission.  We finally were able to gain access to the parking lot with our cars, but then walked in the wrong direction for awhile.  OOPS!  And then, after FINALLY locating the cars – we realized RENAE had the car keys to one of the cars.  NOOOOOOOOO!!!!  So then we had to drive all the way to Downtown Disney with 7 people crammed in one mid sized car b/c well, thats the only place you can turn around to go back to Polynesian, folks!  Yep, we could have spit on them over the fence, but nooooooooo, you can’t just hop next door!  UGH!  But there were a lot of laughs over it, so I guess we got over it.

Our last say was at Epcot.  We got there early and we were the only ones there it seemed like for the first hour.  I took Avery on a couple of rides and we were the only ones on it!  Things then got crazy.  It was the Food and Wine Festival in the World Showcase so it was PACKED full of people.

We got Limoncello shots to cope.

The kids all enjoyed this little village in I think Poland?  I could be wrong on that.  They looked at this for quite awhile.

This was the hottest day by far.  Dylan and Eric went to ride Mission Space over and over again (not me – BARF!!!) so Avery, Grandma and Grandpa and I sat on a bench in the shade and sampled the beer, wine and food.  Twas lovely.

Avery once again, entertained us.  She made us all do selfies with her.

Then it was time to go home.  Sad!!  Back to reality and back to regularly scheduled fall weather!  I’ve never been more happy to see 50 degrees!  Is that wrong?  LOL.  Anyway, hope you enjoyed this update.  See you in a year!  Hahahahahah!!!

The rest of summer 2014

I bet you thought I was gone, never to return, right?  Well, I’m back!  Long hiatus I know.  I guess it makes the most sense to start up where I last left off – mid way thru summer.  So – here is 4th of July weekend at Loon Lodge. 🙂

Always gotta do a few lanterns! 

My sister was about to arrive and we haven’t seen her in a few years so we put together a welcoming parade.  Here they are taking position.

All set for her arrival!!

She’s here!!

They went back around the loop to do a second drive by b/c she liked the welcoming parade so much!

The kids being themselves. 🙂

Pontoon time! Unckey Luc-y was pushing those Wheat Thins pretty hard!

We were off to watch the 4th of July fireworks display at Cedar Crest.  Which always takes FORRREVVVVVER to get going.

This boat ride was lonnnnnnnng.

The natives were restless.

There were a few grumps on the boat.  See if you can spot them.

Cookie doin it up!

The 4th of July food spread.  One of the days.  LOL

Very festive! My sister and her boyfriend Adam.

One of the things on the agenda for when my sister was home was to update this family photo my parents have hanging at the cabin.  It was my 13th birthday in this picture.  

Here it is!

My siblings and I.

My parents.

The fam!

Jon (minus sneaky Renae) and Natalie and Daniel.

We took the boat to a swimming spot to shake things up.

Daniel is getting too heavy to throw which is a shame b/c he’s only just now brave enough to let Eric do it!  

Avery is on the cusp of being too heavy.

Dylan is definitely too heavy but just does flips now instead.  Flips are not for Daniel. 🙂

Nat is too heavy too.  Wah wah.

I’ll carry you buddy!

My sister and Avery were like glue that weekend.  Avery had a new BFF.  They are working her new jewelry box.

This is at Maple Lake.  We were set to do a big family photo with all the peeps there too.  However, I have been told I can’t share it b/c its “for the Christmas card!!!”  So I guess you’ll have to wait.  And if you’re not on Kim’s list – TOO BAD!  HAHA!

Our precious niece Hattie is the center of attention when we’re all together.  She’s so fun.

Dylan played baseball over the summer and LOVED it.  He looks so long and skinny here!  Not that he isn’t but its very exaggerated here!

Fun fact – he knocked a boy on his team to the ground with this throw.  Whoops!

This was the weekend we had Eric’s friends and their wives up for the weekend.  It was a low turnout this year, but still fun. 🙂

This picture cracks me up.  Little Zack wasn’t too sure about the sparklers.  He just kept making that face at them and cracking us up!

Avos muchachos looking pretty in the evening light.

And theres Dylan.  Lighting his pants on fire.  Really.

Here’s our neighbor Katie trying to get up on skis!

Best buddies Avery and Elsie

Dylan’s best friend Drew skiing.

Dylan’s turn with the help of Jim bag.

The girls were waiting for their turn to tube!

Ladies turn!

We took the kids to Pirates Cove finally for mini golf!  We’ve been meaning to go since we moved to the area 6 years ago.

The boys were ultra competitive and the girls were just happy to get it in the hole at all!  🙂

And finally it was Labor Day weekend.  Back at Loon Lodge.  Here is yet another treasure hunt.

Maybe Avery can help read the clues next summer!

The people chillin while the kids did their hunt.

My dad and Rocky.

One final boat ride on White Earth Lake for this year.  Sneaky Renae made an appearance!

Oh, looks like Tommy is enjoying a Presidente ‘Rita!

Here he is enjoying that beverage with a canine companion!

Avery got a bit squirrelly on me. 

Avery!  I’ve got a beverage here!

Last lanterns of the summer!  I see ya there Jon!

Annnnnnnd, WAH WAH – 1st day of school for the 2nd grader and the kindergartener!

Someone was excited and someone was nervous.  Bet you can’t tell which is which!

Didn’t get any pictures of Dylan in his classroom.  I was too busy consoling him!  😦  But he was okay after we left.

The 2nd week of school we had a big storm roll thru that took down many trees and knocked power out for several hours.  The kids still had school that day so the teachers used flashlights, candles and iPads to light up their classrooms! 🙂

Katie and Jim’s yard.

They lost their deck tables and their grill.  We didn’t really have any damage other than lots and lots of tree limbs down and a few trees down in the back lot.

Well, there’s part of the reason I haven’t done much blogging. Too distracted by my damn nails!!!  😉  I started selling Jamberry in June and it’s been so much fun!  Here’s a link to my consultant website if you are feeling the urge to shop…haha!  http://triciawikoff.jamberrynails.net/

Then fall arrived and it was time to start putting things away.  Eric had told our neighbor that we would take sections from his old dock so Eric and Jim went to work stowing them away in the back.  I supervised the long effort and took pictures of the trees, my nails and myself while I waited.  Yeah, what of it!?

My favorite!  Oh I had a good time laughing at them!  

The sections kept falling off as they went up the hill.  I was dying!

Finally they were done so we went on one of the last pontoon rides of the year. 😦

Dylan and Drew.  They always have so much fun together.

Avery and Elsie Mae.  Best buds!

Well thats all!  I know that must have been so exciting!!!  Stay tuned…I’ve got more….someone had a birthday….:)

Still In Summer

Can you believe that I am sneaking in another post for June!?  Yep, I am. I’m going for it!  June was busy for us.  What month isn’t busy tho, really?  These first pics are from Loon Lodge, just a continuation from the last post.  We head up there again this coming July 4th weekend.

Dock lunch!  One of their favorite things to do at Gma’s!  

And of course swimming.

This picture cracks me up!  They are making the exact same goofy face!  

They spent most of this afternoon rescuing and rehabing dragonflies that had flown into the water.  

Dylan the Dragonfly Whisperer.

Back at home, Eric was up to his same old tricks. Ah yes, you might recall something about “Trix’s Treasure is our last pontoon.  This is the one we’re going to keep forever.”  (Trix’s Treasure is the one on the left)  Well, this is the last photo we have of her b/c he SOLD HER!  WAAAAAAH!!!!!  Yep, he decided to buy my parent’s old pontoon off of them (one on the right).  The motor blew up immediately following Trix’s Treasure’s departure.  Naturally.  So, we’ve been without a boat for a few weeks.  ERIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😦 (I dont know how to make a mad emoticon. Pretend that’s a mad emoticon.)

Avery had her dance recital at the beginning of June.  She hints that she’s retiring from dance and taking up ‘nastics instead.  Not if I have anything to say about it she’s not!

Here is Father’s Day.  The kids had each made him their own cards.

And here is the printed version of his gift since it hadn’t arrived yet. (see bottom of blog post for the real deal)

And here we are at Cass Lake!  I know!  A month early!  We decided to try June this year to try and stay ahead of the swimmers itch.  Well, everyone got it anyway, so I guess it doesn’t matter when you go.  BOOO!  The main attraction this year was Lulu’s paddleboard!  Our only boat!  LOL!  Yes, since Gpa Danny didn’t bring his pontoon (he had some lame excuse), we didn’t have one anymore and our speed boat sunk last year – Lulu was top dog!!!  Here she is with her fancy paddleboard!

It was a hit with everyone!

I had to practice!

Once you got your balance it was okay but when you first step on, its pretty funny trying to stand up!

Its safe to say I’m jealous and mad I don’t have one (insert another mad face emoticon please).

Here the boys are fighting over who gets to go next.  

Jamie trumps kids!  Haha kiddies!

Even Gma Kim gave it a whirl!

Dboy.

Cell phone pics alert…..SELFIES!

Kiddies

More cell phone pics.  And look at the hat twins! 🙂

The next day on the paddleboard we got a little more ballsy.  Holding crow on land – piece of cake.  Holding crow on a paddleboard – not so much a piece of cake!  Haha!  

Jamie has a great picture of me falling in b/c all I did was raise up my front arm to go into reverse warrior and WOOP – right in!  

We took a ton of iPhone pics this year.  Not the best quality but oh well.

Family friends have a construction business and gave us all these sweatshirts.  Those that didn’t get one were pretty jelly.  

As always, we had to get some Cass Lake sunset pics!

Oh!  More paddleboard shenanigans!  Down dog with a dog!

Had to include a pic of Manny.  🙂

Here we are at the always super awesome Star Island.  Haha.

Our neighbors from back home came up on Saturday and brought their boat! YAY!!!  The kids did some knee boarding, skiing and little kid skiing – what Addi is doing here.

Family pic at Cedar Island.  WHY is Eric standing directly behind me?  Oh I dont know.  He’s weird.  You can tell that he’s making a “I’m so amused with myself” face even behind my head and behind his glasses.  

So then he moves over and Dylan does this face (also doing it on purpose to try and get my goat).  These people!  I tell ya!

Addi-ba-gatti!

Bopsy Twins at the island!

Here’s our awesome neighbors!  Jim, Katie, Elsie and Drew.  

A month early – our annual anniversary photo shoot.  Water is a bit high this year!

Back at home!  It was almost dark and they were still swimming. 🙂

And finally, this was a couple days ago.  They’ve been practicing their rollerblading skills.  

Speedy makes me a bit nervous.  

He insists that falling doesn’t hurt.  Riiiiiiiiiight.

Here is the aforementioned sign!

And a little photo shoot at the park by our house. 

IN SUMMER

May was a super busy month for us!  Hence, the reason why there were no blog posts in May.  So its time for a bit of catch up!  

Avery finished up preschool last month.  This was her final day.  They had a picnic at Gull Lake Dam.  Here she is with a few of her friends.  She’ll see them all again at Forestview in about 5 years! 😉

Here she is with her teachers.  Can’t believe how fast the last 4 years went (2 years that Dylan was there and 2 years for Avery).  It seems so strange that we won’t be going to that school anymore!!

Then out of nowhere – summer arrived.  We went from cold to hot, as we always do in Minnesota.

We celebrated with selfies!

Memorial Day weekend was something that will go down in the record books.  It was actually HOT.  Normally, we are all bundled up in long pants and sweatshirts.  Not the case this year!!  Upper 80’s for temps.  It was unreal.

The kids caught a TON of fish off of Gpa Danny’s dock.  

Give him a kiss Gpa!  Come on!!!!

We of course had to celebrate Avery’s upcoming 5th birthday with a trip to Happy Joes.  No trip to Gpa and Gma W’s house is complete without a trip to HJ’s!

Back home, summer was still ON!  Woohoo!

Cannonballs for everyone!  

Dylan and his best buddy Drew caught a bunch of fish off of our dock.  I think the fish are kinda dumb at the beginning of the year.  They seem to catch one every 30 seconds or so.

And here is the week leading up to Avery’s 5th birthday.  It was a gorgeous week of weather – temp around 80 all week, sunny, not windy.  It was fab.  🙂

I had to do a pre-birthday party photo shoot to include in her video that we always show at the party.  She of course was all over that.

Lake is a little high right now!  

Finally, it was party time.  I had this banner printed.  Thats Queen Elsa there.  So I bet you can guess what the theme was.

Present time!!!  What’s that face she’s making in the second pic?  OH, that would be the, “That’s not my Elsa doll!” face.  Calm down Avos, she’s coming…

Cousin Hattie provided everyone with baby smiles, snuggles and cuteness.  Auntie Kacie brought the giant owl, which was a HUGE hit with Avery.  She LOVES her stuffed animals and whats better than a giant pink owl?!

Wouldn’t ya know it – after a week of awesome weather, it went in the crapper the day of Avery’s party.  And the mosquitos were nuts.  

We tried not to let it spoil the fun tho.  In between showers, there were boat rides and outdoor fun.

The boat was looking a big overloaded.  How embarrassing!  

There was a big of musical pontoons going on.  

Avery and her two best buddies.  There was a bit of “3’s a crowd” going on and I could tell Avery felt caught in the middle.  

Cake time!!  I had this printed too. 🙂

Taco Jon normally jumps in at the last second of the Happy Birthday song to sing “and many morrrrrrrre!” but this time he opted for the bunny ears trick.  It wouldn’t be a birthday without him getting in the cake photos!

Here is her actual birthday. She got to open her presents right away before Dylan went to school (he still had 2 days left).  

Ooooooh a fleecy Frozen blankie!

Olaf! (or Olive, as she calls him)

Relaxing a bit before we went out for dinner.  Mux was enjoying a glass of vino with the view.

She was entertaining me with her Frozen friends and we talked about the day she was born.  

2nd pic – finally Dylan’s last day of 1st grade! 🙂

And now we’re all caught up!  We’re at my parent’s cabin this weekend while Eric is doing an old man hockey tournament in Crookston.  So this means……we’re the first one’s on Gpa Tom’s new pontoon!!!  Haha suckers!!!

Its pretty fancy!  I asked if he was having second thoughts and maybe wanted to trade, but he did not.  Booooo.

Good news!  Dylan fits under the seat!

Despite the fact that its chilly here this weekend, the kids still went swimming.  They nuts.

And it wouldn’t be a weekend at Loon Lodge without me trying to get the perfect hummingbird pic.  Finally got one with one on each spout!

That’s all for now!  Sun MIGHT be coming out today so maybe I’ll add more to this later.  Or not.  Haha.

Spring-a-ding-a-ding-dong

We made it!!  Winter is over (looks around for wood to knock on)!  It seems I went into hibernation mode and hid from this blog while winter was still here. I felt I had no good news to report.  It was the eternal winter here.  Might have had to do something with that Queen Elsa from Frozen (we may have watched that movie far too many times this winter??).  Anyway, lets recap.  Its nice to look back now that I can look out the window and no longer see snow.  Well, actually, if i look out certain windows I can still see it, but thats neither here nor there.  So this is back in March I believe.  Bit drifty there!

But the drift made for a goodly sized snow fort.

We continued to work on house projects so that required that our favorite worker Gpa Danny and his dog Manny visited a lot.  The kids enjoy pretending they have a dog.  

Then, one day, it got kinda warm out.  Jackets, hats, and mittens were taken off.  Sunglasses were put on.  Smiles were plastered on our faces.

This sums it up pretty much.

The sun and warmth made us BELIEVE spring was coming.  We were fools.

But we enjoyed it while it lasted. 

Here’s another massive drift.  This one stuck around for quite awhile.  

Here the kids had made a movie starring themselves with a cameo by Gpa Danny.  I know, I know, I said was gonna string it all together, edit it and put in youtube.  Maybe someday. 😉

Here’s a bit of the work they did in the bathroom.  There was a crappy old stand up shower here before.  Stay tuned for more pics of this project.

We also went to down to Kacie and Eddie’s house to go to a Wild game and hang out for a weekend.  The kids had a ton of fun playing with their cousins.

We took them and cousin Easton to the MOA amusement park.  They always have a blast there.

For some reason, Avery agreed to go on the log chute again this time!  I thought for sure after last year’s ride that she’d not want to go again but I was wrong.  Eric said she didn’t seem scared.  The picture that they take of you while you’re on the ride told a different story.  Someone else had a scared face too.  Name starts with a D.

Well, SOMEONE had to pose at Legoland.  Boys were too busy for that bidness.

Funny story – Dylan comes home from school one day and goes, “Um, MOM, it was PICTURE DAY today.”  OOOOPS.  Here’s what he was wearing.  I laughed and laughed.  Turns out that the picture is an instant classic!  Rad!

I also worked on a project of my own.  Transforming the brown bathroom into something a bit more purdy.

Decided the cabinets, doors, trim had to be turned to white.  The cabinets (seen here) were a cream kinda color.  Trishy no likey.

Or course I don’t have a true “before” picture of this door.  It was dark brown.  This was after 3 coats I think.  It took 4 coats.

Here’s the other door though.  It was the same color.

And here is after!  I painted the walls too. 🙂  The toilet is still an eyesore, but I feel like the bathroom is much prettier now.

And check it out – fancy drawer liners!

Avery had parent night at her preschool.  Our last parent night at that preschool!!! 😦

She’s just getting so big!

Here is her fancy outfit she got from Gma Toni for Easter.  She had to try it on IMMEDIATELY!

I went on a ladies weekend with Eric’s sisters to Mpls at the beginning of April.  It was a fun trip.  😉  No incidents of any kind!  haha

And then, the clouds parted….the birds started singing….the snow started melting….we did yoga poses to celebrate….

I documented the melt process….

We celebrated by running around outside in tshirts and shorts while it was 55 degrees.

Dylan is demonstrating how much snow is REALLY still there.  Waist deep.

Avery was smart.  Didn’t jump into the snow.

Anyway, we continued living in a blissful state of spring.  

Oh remember how I said that I made the bathroom all pretty?  Well it WAS pretty.  Then Eric found some dumb leak and destroyed the tub.  😦

A new one has been ordered (like the one downstairs) but this is our temporary set up.  I guess I can’t say I’ll miss old brownie.  Now if only we could do something about that tub’s sister the toilet!

The flooring also went in downstairs last week.  Progress!!! (not pictured, the laundry room floor – for some reason I don’t have a picture of that)

The kids did the annual Easter egg dye.

Oh and here is what I was foreshadowing about.  It could have been much, much worse.  We definitely dodged a bullet.

Then it was finally Easter weekend and my parents came for a visit.  We hadn’t seen them since Thanksgiving so we were happy to see them.  My mom and I set out to make a shower curtain for the bathroom and also to recover the porch furniture.  I needed a worker for all that cuz I don’t know how to sew.  I did get a lesson tho. 🙂 I’m now an expert.  Hahahahaha

We came back from the fabric store to find this on the table next to Dylan’s uneaten lunch.  It was leftover spaghetti from Olive Garden.  Gave us a good laugh.

The annual Easter photo shoot.  We only took 2 pictures though. No one was in the mood to leave their church clothes on for very long and they scattered after this picture was taken.  

We could not have had better weather for Easter Sunday.  It was 76 degrees.  It felt AMAZING.

Here’s the after pics of the porch furniture.  

The cushions had that lovely floral print before (see pillow on ground to the left).  There are 2 more pillows that will complete the look but I had to get a raincheck for those.  Apparently everyone else in town liked the striped pillow at Target too.  BOO!! 😦

And here is our progress.  Still have lots of ice.  No open water yet.

Gma Toni gave them the idea of spreading out the snow from the big drift (from the first part of this post that the kids were standing on) so it melts faster.  They thought this was awesome.

Dylan was just downstairs playing and exclaimed that “Gma was right!  The snow is all gone now!”  Things are LOOKING UP around here!  🙂  Happy Spring Minnesota!!!

Last weekend of hockey

We had a full weekend of hockey this past weekend. My toes haven’t even unthawed yet and here I am writing this blog post.  Dylan wanted the pictures from his Warrior Cup up STAT!  But first things first – Avery’s jamboree.  

She played 3 games on Saturday.  Here she is on the “bench” waiting for her turn to skate.

Her turn!  

2 number 8s?!  What?!  She did a lot of skating around aimlessly and the puck brushed up against her stick ONCE in the 3 games. Not on purpose.  

Does someone look like her Dad here or what?!

This is a total Eric face.  Like, “take the picture, lets go.”

Then after Avery was done skating, she and I drove up to Breezy Point to see Dylan’s last game of the day (his previous 2 games that day we missed cuz of the jamboree) and see him try his hand at playing goalie.  

I thought for sure this would cure him of wanting to play goalie, but no such luck.  Even though they got crushed, he didn’t care.  He still had fun.  

And this was today.  They played 3 games and didn’t lose a single one!  Warrior Cup Champions!!!!  This is the team he’s played with all season long on Sunday nights – the Avalanche.

Here he is with the Warrior Cup!  (which we decided was built out of dog bowls and colanders)

He was very excited and grinning from ear to ear after the win!  I took other photos but my stupid camera was on some whacky setting and I didn’t realize that til after – I was too excited I guess and was snapping away without even looking at what was being taken!  Oh well.  He’s thrilled and they ended a really good season with a bang.  It was pretty amazing to see how much they improved over the last few months.  They do pretty darn good for 7 and 8 year olds! 🙂  

And with that, hockey season is officially over!  I may now resume regular meal planning during the week and my couch position on Sunday nights.  YES!

February

Oh whatayaknow?! Its the end of another month, which means here I am with another under the wire post!  Apparently this is how I roll now.  One post a month.  Nothing more!  Lets recap, shall we?

Here’s one of Dylan’s hockey tournaments he’s had recently.  This one was in Crosby.  

Obviously, he’s not the one with the pony.

I recall they did not win this game, but oh well.

So, its been quite the long winter here…..which has led to lots of boring days….which has led to….CAT SELFIES!!!!

It has swept our household.  At any given moment, you can hear someone yell out, “CAT SELFIE!!!!!”  Oh okay, so its really just Avery and I doing the cat selfie thing.  Oh look, here Milly doesn’t want to participate.

CAT SELFIE!!! Avery yells.

“Mom, she’s not looking.  I will turn her head.  CAT SELFIE!!!!”

“Milly!  Button!  Ginger! LOOK AT THE CAMERA!!!” (Button and Ginger are 2 of Milly Mux Muxatoney Phil’s newest nicknames.)

Heres our new tubby tub!  Its now fully installed…picture not included….too lazy to go down and take a picture, which I’m sure someone will complain about.

I know what you are thinking.  Eric turned THIRTY SEVEN!?!  I know!  I thought he was 36 too! (see picture where the Mom may or may not have told the son that his father was 36)

We went out for dinner and he proceeded to get totally wasted!  Hahahaha.  Okay, so he only had this one.  Its just that he’s weird.  Which you all know.

Gosh, I wonder where Dylan gets it from.

Oh okay, we’re all weird.

Some more than others.

Clearly.

Please ignore the cake.  I was told that I had to wait on this whip cream frosting under right before we were going to eat the cake.  So, yeaaaahhhh not my best work.  

Check it out!  I wrapped Eric’s present Eric style – in a blanket!  

More SELFIES!  Hey, where be Button?

This is Valentine’s Day morning.  They both got a couple of little prezzies.  Avery got a couple of Frozen girls.

And Dylan got a Lego Chima speedor.  I always love his genuine reactions.

Nailed it!

HOW have I NOT mentioned the weather yet?!  OH MY well let me tell you.  Its been below zero for like 50 days this winter.  Not exaggerating. What does this mean exactly?  Well, it means that children then stay indoors and drive their parents crazy.  Yep, I said it.  So this is the first time that they went outside since December when I took pictures of them for our Christmas card.  No joke.  

Dylan got right to work on a snow fort.

Avery made chunks of snow food?  For in the fort?  Something like that.

Ginger wanted to know if it was safe to come outside yet.  Literally, she was sitting there meowing away at me and I was all, “I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!!!”

Shantytown is over yonder.

And December’s snowman is still completely in tact.  

We had 2 warm days.  This day it was like 45 degrees.  That’s what my iPhone told me anyway.  And I chose to BELIEVE.

So we went out for air.  

I feel like I hardly have ANY outdoor snow photos this winter.  Going outside has just been too unpleasant.  Its like knives on your face.  Why would I go outside if it felt like knives on my face?  

Ahhh, the old homestead.  Can’t wait to get to “know” this place in the summer.  

Where the heck is Mux?!  She lives for selfies!

Avery even went sledding.  I had to dust it off first before she could go on.  

Then Dylan got home from school and they made their first snowman since December.

And did some tandem sledding!  Olympic inspired!

Here’s Avery before practice one night.  Both kids wrap up hockey this weekend with tournaments for each, so MAYBE, just MAYBE there will be a special blog post on that.  2 posts in March?!  WHAT?!  I know.  I know.

Oh yes, then after it was warm, it was like, oh HA HA, you all liked that – WELL FORGET IT!  Back in the freezer you go!  Except I’m pretty sure its warmer in our freezer than it is outside…..anyway – it snowed a bunch again and then it got super cold again.  What else is new though.  This is our life here.  And we embrace it.  I was shouting through the window – MAKE ME A SNOWMAN ON THE DECK!!!  (knives on face!  KNIVES ON FACE!!!)

Later that week, Muxatoney Phil was found sunbathing.  CAT SELFIE!!!!!

And then here is today when I realized we better do up something awesome to end the monthly recap post.  So we made masks.  Thank you Family Fun magazine.  

Purdy, purdy girl.

One of her jams came on, so she quit doing her aaaaaart and decided that “you better MOVE, you better DANCE!” – quick name the song!

And that’s all for today.  I hope to see you again soon! 😉

Hockey, hockey, hockey

I feel like January was all about hockey and very cold weather.  School was called off FOUR times in January b/c of how cold it was/is.  And apparently its supposed to stay this way.  Which blows.  So I haven’t much to report on and my attitude isn’t good.  So please enjoy these pictures from skating on a “warm” day (I think it was a balmy 25 this day) and don’t expect me back here with a post until the weather improves along with my mood.

Yes, I realize that her pants and coat don’t match.  The zipper broke in her old coat and it wasn’t like we could just go without!  So there was slim pickin’s left at all the stores for outerwear.  I am proud to say though that I got this Osh Kosh coat for 8 bucks!  It was regularly 108 or something ridiculous like that.  That price included snow pants tho, which I realized after I bought the coat (no pants were to be found!) and got home.  Obviously, these aren’t the pants.  But oh well.  They’ll have to do.  

Avery’s skating has improved A LOT over the last month.  She glides now with both feet and I’m pretty sure she’s faster than me.  Really!

This is at the rink by our house.  Dylan had already started complaining about how “hot” he was.  Ummmm????

So eventually, he ditched his hat and coat.  And for some reason he had just a short sleeve tshirt on!  He normally ALWAYS wears long sleeve shirts, so this was weird.  Sure, on the day he gets hot while skating he’s wearing this shirt.

Here he is practicing his wrist shot.  He was trying to teach me how to do it the other day.  He makes it look so easy.  I felt like I was gonna pull something.

One bad thing about Avery skating so well and so fast now….

….is that she doesn’t know how to stop!  So she’ll either run into the boards or just throw herself on the ground.  

I finally talked Dylan into putting on the inner liner of his coat.  Phew!

Its funny when he skates backwards as she skates towards him.  🙂

This is what always happens to me in January it seems.  I get a wild hair about organizing pictures.  Avery is looking at our 2011 photo book that I made last year.  Which of course got me thinking I needed to get my 2012 one done.  Which led me to thinking that maybe I should finish up 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.  Ask me how far I’ve gotten.  Hahahaha.  

I’m not sure who the heck took so many pictures the 8 years.  Surely it wasn’t me?  Though, I will say it has dwindled lately.  I don’t know why.  Oh wait – always busy and always indoors (makes for bad photos, IMO).  

So I guess we’ll just hope for an actual SPRING this year (please refer back to the archives for March and April 2013 for a refresher of what happened last year – warning – it ain’t pretty!) so we can get outside and start enjoying our new yard!

Until then, we’ll just keep dreaming.  

Under the wire

Well, I normally have a “best of” post to end the year but it appears I must have fallen off the blogging wagon???  So instead, we’ll just play catch up.  Getting it in under the wire!  I can’t believe my last post was Halloween!  Oops!  

Here’s Avos workin’ on her fitness.  

Lovely wheel pose.  

Bringing her leg up while in wheel!  Impressive!  I can’t even do that.

One legged dog!

She’s always pleased with her skills.

Now all of a sudden, its Thanksgiving or as we called it this year – Thanksgistmas.  We had Thanksgiving and Christmas with my side of the family all in one weekend.  So here it is!  Avery watching tv while Gpa naps.  

The obligatory turkey dance!

Eric was taking pictures of everyone enjoying dinner and was quite amused that I was at the kid’s table.  What? It was the only place left to sit!  Renae sat there too on the other end, but of course she was still dishing up her own food so she wasn’t there yet.

Cookie did the dishes and wore my fancy pink dish gloves.

Fast forward a couple days (and one stomach flu incident later – poor Avos and poor carpet!) it was time to open presents!

She was still a little out of it.  We were just lucky that no one else got it.

These guns were a hit from Auntie Susan.

As were the barbies for the girls.

Then after everyone left, we finally made it out onto the lake for skating.  I took more pictures than this, but something whacky is going on with my camera, so who knows where they went.  Anyway, this was one of the only times we got to use the lake for skating b/c it snowed a TON after this and the ice went to mush.

Here are a few decor pics.  Decorating a new house is tough work!

This was pooh-pooh-ed on by my mother.  Next year, she can come over and do it if she wants.

My tree!

Time for the tree trimming!

Avery was more into posing for me than Dylan was.  Imagine that.

Soon after, it was time for our carpet to go in in the basement.  YES!!!  This was the night before.  We had to have all the furniture out of all the rooms.  Good times.

Dylan’s room.  This was tricky because we had to take apart his log bed.  Again.  I don’t think it was meant to be taken apart and put back together 3 times.

Avery’s room

And AFTER!

Avery’s is different than the rest – hers is a grey and the rest is a brownish tan.

What a difference it made in the feel of the basement.  We actually like being down there now!  And the kids rooms feel nice and cozy now.  

And here is the snow I was talking about.  I think we got like 20 inches in December this year!  First snowman at our new house!

And here is the Christmas card photo shoot.  I may have had to bribe them with cookies.

But I think they turned out awesome.  The scenery, toothless grin and goofiness certainly helped.

The backyard looked like a postcard!

Here is Avery on stage for the rehearsal for her dance recital.

Running thru her dance.

Ending pose.

And here is the recital day.  She was NOT in the mood to pose for me before the recital.  Something about her costume itching her???  But afterwards, she was fine.

Time for sugar cookie decorating.  This is Dylan’s first time with a pastry bag.  He thought it was fun.  

Avery went old school with a knife.

I did all these. 😉

Time to open our presents before heading up to Maple Lake for Christmas!

Oh yeah!

Have no fear, everyone.  We have a new modem.  So you can all come and use our internet now without wanting to kill yourselves.

Eric and his new Wild jacket and Avery with her new jammies and Cinderella doll.

Lego Chima extravaganza!

And here is Christmas Eve at Maple Lake.  As usual, lots of squirrelly folks.  

Eric and his sissies.

Eric’s fam.

This picture of Eric’s sister Jamie and her family made me laugh.  And sweet Hattie (Eric’s sister Kacie’s new baby) was the VIP of the week.  Everyone wanted to love on her.

Manny had to get into the spirit of things too.  Manny you will wear this hat and you’ll LIKE IT!

And then you’ll take Adelyn for a ride.  Giddyup!

This is the only pic from the present opening chaos.  It was chaos.  So I had to put my camera away before someone spilled my slush on it.  🙂

And here are the bopsy twins before bed with their treats for Santa. Cookies, an apple slice and a celery with buffalo chicken dip on it.  Santa didn’t get a chance to sample b/c Hobey the dog ate it.  LOL  You’d think it would have made him sick, but nope!  He ate it all except the celery and apple.  Go figure. And the skating pic is back at home.  Theres a rink right by our house.

Avery stopped using the pusher over break so she skates on her own now.  

She goes pretty fast and is pretty reckless.  I can barely watch.  Its too frightening.

Here’s Dylan, his buddy Drew and another boy playing a game of hockey.

Avery and Elsie on the ice.  Elsie spends a lot of time like that. 😉

Well, that’s it for this year!!  Perhaps I’ll try and be better about this in 2014.  😉  Happy New Year everyone!

Catching up

Hola!  Its been awhile!  I thought you might want to catch up on our happenings, no?  

Here is a little mini fall photo shoot.  Avery was all ready to go.  She got out her favorite outfit as of lately, did her hair, got on her fancy shoes and sat down with a smile.

Dylan did the opposite.  He groaned and complained and begrudgingly agreed to it but he WAS NOT (and I repeat WAS NOT!) going to change his clothes.  His sweatpants, mismatched shirt and shoes were GOOD ENOUGH!  

At least he smiled nicely.  

This looks like a fake background.  🙂

Annual leaf toss photo!  Sadly, this was my only chance (quitters!) and it didn’t capture the way I wanted.  Oh well.

Not long after, it snowed.  Think it was like 2-3 inches by the time it stopped.

Eric decided it was a great time to pull out the dock.  Hahahahahaha!  A week later it was like 55 and sunny.  THAT would have been a better time.  Oh well.

I think this is the 2nd year in a row of the snowcapped pumpkin lights!

Backyard photo.  Still can’t quite believe that this is our yard.  

And here was Avery’s first skate as an ice mite.  They had a “learn to skate” night for the prospective ice mites.  

Ready to skate!

All smiles!

Hanging out with the coach!

On the ice!

And finally, Halloween!  This was before school on Halloween.  

Her fancy hair chalk paint.  She loved this look!

This is the before trick or treating photo shoot.  

Not a lot of cooperation.  

And finally, it was time.  We met up with our neighbors (and gma and gpa H were along as well) for some tricks or treating fun!

Avery and Elsie had lots of troubles with their princess dresses and tripping.  Here, Avery is showing off her “lift up your dress when you go down the stairs” skills.  Way to go Avos!

The annual Charlie Brown house photo op!  Dylan had taken off with his buddy Drew, so this year it was Avery with Elsie!

But we got him to come back and pose with Drew.

One of the pumpkins we saw along the way.  

And I especially liked this peeking mummy at this house.  Spooooooooky!

Wow.  What an abrupt ending.  It appears I got sick of trying to document the night’s festivities?!  Well, I guess that’s it for now!  🙂