Ethan Skates!

Before you read this post, please know that:

1. We are not crazy hockey parents (yet). We do enjoy a good hockey game, but neither of us played (Amy-none, John - more of a spectator outside a little neighborhood goalie work in elementary school). We must, however, reserve the right to evolve into crazy hockey parents if Ethan pursues this sport. If this does occur, we will be crazy hockey parents with good manners and a well-grounded perspective on recreational sports, we promise.

2. We are not pushing our children in the direction we think they should go based on our unrealized childhood dreams of sports greatness.

To be truthful, we must admit we have actually been a bit "slow footed..." excuse the pun... couldn't resist...getting Ethan to the rink. He's been asking to take ice skating lessons since last winter and has been playing garage floor/driveway hockey with an old stick and puck of John's that he found in Grandpa Grilz's garage in the summer of 2006.

After a trip to the legendary Strauss Skate shop in St. Paul to be outfitted with new skates, elbow pads and helmet, E's dreams of ice became a reality last Saturday when he started ice skating lessons.


For the first lesson, the kids learned how to fall down safely, then practiced getting up/falling down, then tried to skate along a line the coach drew, and fall down safely on the target spot.

Here he goes...in the orange pants with the blue stripe. The kids learn in groups of four, which is really great.




So far, so good. Watching the coach draw the fall down spot.


Getting the hang of it!

Balance looks pretty good...

Wipe out! Even falling down is fun.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Decorating the tree this year was especially fun, and refreshingly easy...we are loving the almost five and two and two-thirds age stage with the kids. Everyone was in good spirits, there were plenty of ornaments to go around, each child had his/her own box of special ornaments to put on the tree and we played lovely Christmas music to set the decorating mood.

Ethan was very precise in ornament placement. He also loved hearing all the stories behind his and Mary Kate's ornaments as well as those about Mom and Dad's, Grandma and Grandpa Grilz's and Papa and Nana Wheeler's. All those stories made for a fairly long afternoon of decorating, but we really enjoyed telling the stories. For the past couple weeks, Ethan has been retelling some of the stories he heard and it's been fun to listen to his versions.



Mary Kate focused on reaching as high as she could every time she put an ornament on. The paper chain in this picture was created by the kids using paint and glitter. It is very beautiful and they are extremely proud of it.



And Daddy gave each one a ride to the top of the tree to put an ornament way up high.

Moms and Muffins

Every December, the preschool class hosts a special event for Moms called Moms and Muffins. The kids help the teachers make placemats, bake muffins and serve "tea" (apple juice in tea pots) for all the Moms.

This year's event was held on December 5th. It's a very special day and the kids were wonderful, treating the Moms as very special guests. Each child got to come out to the hallway to escort his/her Mom into the classroom and show her her place/place mat. All the children had such good manners, it made all of us Moms proud. And reminded us how much and how fast they've grown since our special Moms and Muffins day last year.

Story Time with Santa

The last two days here have below zero, which has limited outdoor activities. So since we're pretty much stuck in the house, it's a good time to post an update which is a bit overdue. Sorry!

Today we did actually venture out of the house to drop off the gifts we collected for a family through Trinity Mission. It warmed up to zero degrees from a morning low of 8 below, so we threw caution to the wind, warmed up the van, and made the 10 mile round trip to St. Andrew's and back home.

Some highlights of what we've been up to...way back on Dec. 2nd, the kids enjoyed story time with Santa at St. Andrew's. We got there a bit early to browse the book fair and the kids got seats right up in front.

I was wondering if MK would bolt when Santa arrived, but she loved every minute of story time with Santa. Until it was time to go sit on his knee. Not to go off on a huge tangent, here, but I am wondering who came up with the idea to put kids on the lap of a total stranger with an unnatural amount of facial hair in a shockingly red costume? Mary Kate did go up with Ethan and had a very brief chat with the big guy. But she was fairly luke warm in her enthusiasm for the whole sit on his lap/get up close and personal with a giant white beard portion of the event.

At the book fair, the kids got to write their name on a drawing slip for a special prize. After story time with Santa, the elf drew the names of four lucky kiddos who got a special gift from the pre-school...handed to them by Santa...you would not believe how silent that room got when the names were being drawn. After each name was announced all the kids (I'm guessing there were 60) got so excited for the winners...it was fabulous. Ethan's name was drawn, and he got to go up and receive a prize from Santa. In his package were two books...one he gave to MK...what a generous big brother.

Dad snapped a quick picture of the kids trying out the elf's stool before the festivites began. I think Ethan picked up on Mary Kate being new to this whole "Santa" thing, as he kept telling her, "It's OK, Mary Kate." He also stuck close by her side, showed her where to sit, and put his arm around her when they sat down.

Mary Kate shows off her cuteness...

And her silliness. This is her famous "fish lips" pose. Guess who taught her that? Aren't big brothers wonderful?

Ethan receiving the special present from Santa. His eyes got as big as saucers when his name was called. He couldn't believe he won!

Mary Kate decided to stick her fingers in her mouth the whole time we tried to get a picture with Santa. Classic nervous-kid behavior. We got her off Sant'as lap there pretty quick so as not to traumatize the poor kid, or start a massive toddler crying chain reaction.

After storytime, we had cookies and then went for a drive to look at Christmas lights. It was a great night!

Happy Birthday, Dad! We Love You!!!

To celebrate John's 41st birthday, we started out the morning at the bakery.

The kids wanted to take Daddy bowling, so we headed over to White Bear Bowl to check out the lanes. Thanks to Minnesota's indoor smoking ban, it was a great place to celebrate.

Ethan enthusiastically bowled 2 games with us and loved every minute of bowling action. Mary Kate held out for about 9 frames before deciding she'd rather sit at the race car driving game.

Then we headed back home for naps, followed by cake and presents. The kids gave Dad a new aluminum level to replace his plastic one that got broken.

Yep, it works.

On a more sentimental note, we'd like to take a moment to say Happy Birthday to the kindest, gentlest, funniest and best Dad in the world. We love you!!

Halloween - robots, puppies, polar bears and chickens, oh my!

In mid-October, we made our annual trip to Pine Tree Apple Orchard for apples and pumpkins.

The kids each selected their own pumpkin and carried them (MK made it to the wagon...it was a long walk).

Ethan sat on the Kubota. MK wasn't interested in the "big lawn mower" as she called it.

The following week, we got our costumes together. MK chose an Elmo costume at Target. Ethan wanted to be Wall-E, so we made his costume with the help of a cardboard box, spray paint, craft foam, and lots of Dad's old useless computer parts.

We hosted our annual kids' costume party, complete with a pumpkin pinata we made. Here are the kids filling the completed pinata with candy. Ethan drew and cut out the face from construction paper and we glued it on. My favorite part is how he made the mouth, teeth and toungue.

The pinata turned out to be tougher than we thought, sustaining numerous whacks from the St. Paul Saints mini-bat, and allowing everyone to get a turn at bat before it broke open. Here's a shot of some of the kids gathering candy post-pinata-explosion...

We had a costume parade around the cul-de-sac and ended up at our neighbor Kathy's, where the kids trick or treated and each got their own special treat bag. from Kathy. Here's a shot of our costumed friends pre-parade. MK would not wear her Elmo costume over her sweatshirt.

Dad was on his own this year with pumpkin carving while Mom was at work. He was pretty busy with scooping, carving and cleaning up, so there aren't a lot of action shots. Here are the completed jack o lantern. Despite their rather indifferent expressions in this photo, E and MK had tons of fun carving.

Halloween day/night finally came and our friends, Michele, Laura and Nate joined us for pizza and trick or treating. MK decided to be a puppy, from Ethan's costume collection. The Elmo costume stayed home. Our neighbor handed out our candy and all the adults went trick or treating with the kids. We had a great time and enjoyed watching the kids say "Happy Halloweeen....Trick or Treat!" at every house.

Ethan's costume was a huge hit with all the neighborhood kids every time older kids saw his costume and commented on how "Cool" it was, he just beamed. He got lots of high fives from older neighborhood boys who told him his costume was "Awesome!"

The trick or treating trio...puppy (MK), polar bear (Laura) and Wall-E (Ethan).

Between houses, MK kept very close tabs on "Baby Nate" aka the chicken and spent most of the night holding either the snack tray of his stroller or Michele's hand when she was carrying Nate.

Mom's got a part-time job

Next week, I'll be starting a part time job as a Nursing Assistant at a 44 resident assisted living facility right here in White Bear Lake. I'll work a couple 4pm to 9pm shifts during the week and 2 shifts every other weekend. This new work schedule will require some adjustments for Dad and the kids, as they will be on their own for dinner and bedtime while I'm working. Crock Pot suppers, here we come!

This week has been busy with Halloween preparations. Ethan's Wall-E robot costume is shaping up and we should finish up the body part (cardboard box painted with computer circuits/parts) this weekend. Mary Kate's costume was easy...she picked out an Elmo costume at Target. All I've got to do is convince her to wear pants and a shirt with for outside trick or treating. She insists on taking off all her clothes before she puts it on.

And we took a trip to the doctor's this morning to make sure the colds both kids came down with earlier in the week aren't anything serious. Despite a horrible sounding cough and sore throats, they are OK.

Ethan is a Level Three Swimmer!

For those of you following Ethan's swimming career, he is excited to announce that after three short months in Level Two swimming lessons, he has been promoted to Level Three!! Ethan truly loves to swim and it is so much fun to watch him in the pool during his lessons. In the past, we haven't taken the camera to lessons, but maybe we will in the future so we can share some swimming photos with everyone.

Birch Lake - August vacation

It's been an incredibly long time since our last post and we apologize! School is keeping Mom busy...this semester it's Biology and Intercultural Communication. Over the summer, it was Medical Terminology, Medical Dosages and Nursing Assistant class and exam/certification, as well as CPR and Basic Life Support for Healthcare Professionals. I'll now be searching for a part-time job as a Nursing Assistant to fulfill the 480 hours of direct patient care requirement for the RN program.

OK, now that Mom's excuses for poor blogsmanship are out of the way, on to an update.

In August, we enjoyed our annual one week vacation at Birch Lake in northern Minnesota.

On our way to the lake, it's a tradition to stop in Royalton and visit a store called Treasure City, which the Grilz family has done since they started going to the resort in the 1960's. The kids took turns as captain of the Robert E. Lee.

Fishing, swimming, boat rides and playing in the sand were favorite activities, as well as playing games in the lodge in the evenings.

Beach time. As you can see, Ethan (in midair) loved jumping off the dock onto a tube.

MK preferred floating in her own boat.

Ethan shows off his prizes from the fishing contest.

This picture is one of my favorites...it captures Ethan's personality so well.

The kids on the their favorite rock.

All of us...

Cousin Fun...Boulders, Campfires and Big Deer

Ethan and Mary Kate had a blast hanging out with their second cousins at our family reunion in Estes Park.

Our first night, we had a campfire and there were some huge boulders to climb right near our campfire site. Those were a big hit with the kids and much to all the parents' relief, no one fell off the rocks and hurt themselves.

Everyone enjoyed some fabulous smores complete with gourmet chocolates, compliments of Justin. The best smores, I've ever had by far!

Soon after we'd settled in around the fire, we were visited by a beautiful whitetail buck. The kids were awestruck.

Mary Kate came back from deer watching and got right back to what turned out to be her favorite activity while in Estes Park: sitting in the dirt and pouring it all over herself. My dear sister suggested to MK that she go give Mom a big kiss. MK thought that sounded like a great idea. So I was dirt fingerprint stamped on both cheeks by my daughter as she gave me a big smooch.

Then it was back to the boulders for the kids.

And the moms gathered for a quick snapshot.