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.

Cowboy Ethan Rides the Trail

Our fabulous vacation came to an end and we arrived home last night. I have a whole bunch of great photos to post, but these ones from Ethan's pony ride at Estes Park Center are definitely some of the best memories from our trip. He'd been waiting for and anticipating this pony ride for about five months and had the whole cowboy outfit...hat, shirt, belt/buckle and boots. He got to ride for about 20 minutes and loved every second of it!

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