November-getting caught up

Molly made her stage debut in the 4th grade play this fall. Picture #1 is with her classmates singing a song about MN. The play was titled the "Blizzard of AAhhs." It is based on the Wizard of Oz but is about MN history. Picture #2 is Molly as Governor Alexander Ramsay. She spoke her lines really well, loudly and clearly.

We have had some snow but not enough to make it beautiful. Going into the deep freeze now. The Christmas tree is up, has been for a week but no lights on it yet. Perhaps we'll get to it today in between hockey.

Fall 2009

We are trying to stay healthy here but R.J. seems to catch everything that goes around so I am home w/him for the second time this week. Since I baked cookies on Tuesday and I don't want to clean today I thought I'd blog a little.

The first pic is of R.J. & Molly's new favorite pastime-climbing trees, this one is in our back yard & the other one is from the one nice fall day that we've had. We went to the apple orchard by the cabin picked apples, explored the teepee and bought some pumpkins. Since fall is my favorite season of the year the early snowfall and lack of leaf color is a downer. On the up side, freshmen football season has ended so now Bob is home a bit more since he only has Varsity practices, games, etc.

Zeke may go hunting soon. Bob's brothers both hunt and are without dogs that can hunt at the moment so Zeke may get his chance. They went to the hunt club last weekend and he is not gun shy but he is still a puppy-more interested in playing with the other dogs than hunting.

Other news, Bob's dad is not having a good fall. We are averaging one hospital visit followed by transitional care per week. The doctors can find nothing wrong with him. It appears to be his nerves. Living alone is hard on him. He is scheduled to go back home this Sat. so we will see how it goes this time.

Our garage got broken into Tues. night. They stole R.J.'s bike. We were home at the time, garage was locked and everything. I'm looking forward to 2010-2009 really has not been a good year for us.

Lots of stuff

Here's photos of some events since school has started. R.J.'s first cross country meet and a visit from Henry & Brian in Aug.

Now and back then

Lake Superior

In the cave by lake Superior

By the mouth of Temperance River

The view from our campsite

We've just returned from Temperance River State Park. We have the primo campsite and even Zeke adjusted to the great outdoors once he figured out that the routine was to basically do nothing most of the day. The walks along the trails & lake Superior were the highlight of his day.

I taught R.J. how to play cribbage and he even beat me once (I pointed out all of the points he was going to leave on the table.) Bob however, was unable to beat me the entire trip! Molly got her fill of s'mores and Solie enjoyed sleeping with her humans.

Happy Birthday Nature Boy

We had a successful first camping trip of the year. To celebrate R.J.'s eleventh birthday he elected to go camping with a friend. Karsten had never been camping before and I am happy to report that he survived the weekend. Molly and the boys had a grand time. The red bird on R.J.'s head was Molly's gift to him. Very creative. Mom and Dad surprised him with an ipod shuffle so now he is constantly plugged in. Look out middle school here we come.

School's out!

We made it to the end. Everyone finished up by last Wed. R.J. & Molly had the opportunity to go on a fun end of year celebration on Fri. One of Molly's friend's invited a bunch of kids from Adams Spanish Immersion school to Como Town for the day. Como Town is an amusement park by Como Zoo. The kids had a blast. I will try to post pictures but the first time I tried the computer and hte web were having trouble communicating.

First Communion

Molly made her First communion last Sunday. She was ill on Sat. but pulled through and was able to make 8:00 Mass on Sunday. She was the only girl not wearing a dress but very few people gave her strange looks and of course we stopped at home after Mass so she could change clothes before going out for breakfast!

Chicago

In celebration of our 40th birthdays this year my friend Caroline & I spent a weekend in Chicago. As soon as Caroline sends me some pics, I'll post them but just to give you a taste of our fabulous weekend... We are already making plans to return. We stayed at Affinia Hotel, just one block off the Miracle Mile and it was very posh indeed. We could both get used to being pampered.

Of course we shopped a ton but did not buy much except for a couple great deals at Macy's. We had lunch at a Tapas bar one day, sampled deep dish pizza and watched chick flicks one night(it was cold & rainy-it snowed overnight.) The other night we went to a dueling piano bar for some strong drinks and good people watching. We both agreed that it is good to be married to 2 great guys and not have to do the bar scene again! On Sun. we went to the Art Institute and saw a fraction of what is in the building. Lots of French artists and a new wing is opening in May. I'd love to return with the kids in the summer and spend more time by the lake.

Eagerly awaiting Spring!

This 'n that

50 degrees yesterday and today we are going for 60!!! Quick recap of the past month or so. The sad news is that Bob's mom died in Feb. at the age of 80. Many thanks to all who supported us by coming to the wake, funeral and keeping us in your prayers.

Happier news is that Molly continued her tradition of giving herself a great birthday present by scoring a goal on her b-day. The regular season is over for hockey and that last weekend was a doozy. 5 games within 41 hours. One highlight was the game against Cambridge/Isanti. We ended up losing in a shootout but both Molly and R.J. scored goals in the shootout so they were very excited to see that practicing moves in the alley does pay off.

I leave for TX on Tues. Yes I am aware of the irony of going someplace warm when it is finally getting warm here but I don't get to make the school calendar. Speaking of school...R.J. had his last day at Adams Spanish Immersion this past Friday. We are all sad about how his time there has ended but this was the right decision for us. He starts Monday at Holy Spirit (1&1/2 blocks from our house) and he already knows many kids there due to hockey.

Gooooool!!!!!

For the non-Spanish speakers out there, that means goal! Both R.J. & Molly scored a goal in last night's game against Como. R.J's goal was even a backhanded goal. Molly has not stopped smiling since scoring her first goal as a Squirt. (Technically she should still be playing at the Mite level.) Edgcumbe won, 4-3 and we went to Dairy Queen afterwards to celebrate even though it was late (9:30 p.m.) We also hit 40 degrees yesterday:).

Edgcumbe Tournament

The Edgcumbe green squirts finished the tournament in third place but as you can see in the picture everyone had a wonderful time. It was particularly scenic with the light snowfall.

Edgcumbe Green Squirts Win!

Friday night even in the bitter cold the team beat the Champlin Park Rebels. Score was 3-1. Frank Kimlinger had the hat trick for our team and R.J. had two of the three assists. Of course Molly played well also. Today's game was actually closer than the final score reflects. We lost 5-2 to Langford Park and R.J. racked up another assist. No photos as I was volunteering in the concession stand. I did manage to see about 10 minutes at the end. Last game is tomorrow.

No school!

Due to extremely cold weather (-21 degrees this morning, not including windchill) Mahtomedi has cancelled classes for the past 2 days! Yippee!! The best part of this equation (5 day weekend with Martin Luther King day on Mon.) is that St. Paul did not cancel classes so yesterday and today after fixing the kids a fabulous breakfast we drop them off at school and get some Mom and Dad time. O.K., yesterday we spent part of the day grocery shopping so it was not all that glamourous, but today we plan to at least go out for lunch. Also, more time to update the blog. Here are some more pics from last weekend's Langford Classic tournament. By the way, the tournament got a nice little write up in the Mpls. Star Trib. R.J. is #8 and Molly is #19. Tonight we have the first game in the Edgcumbe tournament. We have stocked up on toe and hand warmers, wool socks and such. Now if we could get the temp to go above zero!

Hockey the way it was meant to be played

Just a couple of quick shots from the Langford tournament. This was Tuesday night's game and yes that is R.J.'s breath in the 2nd picture. Plenty cold and lots of fun. They play again tonight at 8 p.m. and tomorrow morning.

The contest winner is...

Dad. He guessed within 3 years. In case you can't read the label it says June 1964. Hopefully the new one will last 44+ years