The Groundhog was right...darn it.

Okay, we're sick of winter around here. Thankfully, it's been a little warmer the last couple days so some of the snow is melting away. I want it all to go! I'm just ready to have more options for outings for me and the girls. We're bored with all our same old indoor activities.

Two weeks ago, my mom and Dave came up for the weekend. We had a nice visit with them and had make-your-own pizzas with my Grandma Betty, Carol and Mark, and Cousin Michael (visiting from Arizona). They had an exciting trip home where they were stuck at the "Big Red Barn" rest stop just south of the Iowa/MN border. We learned a lesson. We need to check road conditions online, not JUST the weather report. They did get home safe and sound the following day.

Andrew had the day off for President's Day so we took the girls to Ridgedale Center to play at the play area there. We hadn't been in a year or so. They had a great time. We also decided to visit the Build-a-Bear Workshop there. I've been wanting to do that with them for 2 years now and it just seemed like a good time to do it. Ella picked out a pink sparkly bear that she named "Ella Bear" and Lily picked out a marmalade cat that she named "Lily Cat". I know, such creative names, right? I tried to get Ella to name her bear Pinksparkle Beary, but she was not going for that. We had a lot of fun watching them pick out their animals and dress them. Ella especially loves her bear and has played with it nonstop since we brought her home.



Other than that, our week was pretty normal with preschool, speech, and gym class. We had our friends Claire and Jeff over for dinner on Friday night. We all had a good time. Ella wanted to do a "project" so someone came up with the idea to make paper airplanes and fly them from our upstairs balcony to see which one flew the furthest. I think Jeff's won. :-)

Saturday, we visited Ella's preschool for an "Under the Sea" themed Family Fun Day. They had different activities in each classroom and you moved through to do each one: goldfish walk (as in Pepperidge Farm Goldfish--not real goldfish), carnival games, drawing & play-doh, sticker tattoos, arts & crafts (they made bathtub paint), and a snack. For the snack, they got a sugar cookie and a little blue frosting to spread on it. Then they could put gummy fish on top to make and "aqaurium" cookie. I thought that was a pretty cute idea. Ella's teacher was working in the snack room so we got to say hi and took her picture with Ella. We also learned she's going to be teaching in the same classroom next year so Lily gets to have Ms. Laurie for a teacher this fall!




We visited Cindy and Shawn at their house on Sunday afternoon to wish Braeden "Happy Birthday" and enjoyed our visit with them. Other than all that, I spent the whole weekend when we were home working on our tax stuff. I don't do it through the year as I should, so I tend to have spend several hours the weekend before its due to our accountant. Tons of fun.



The only other thing going on right now is that we're trying to decide what car to get next. Our lease is up on the Pilot and we have to turn it in next month. We thought we might get a minivan, but turns out we just aren't minivan people. I love the features and comfortability of a minivan but when we both test drove them, we both just did not like driving it. Didn't feel comfortable to us or something. So back to the drawing board we went. We still haven't decided on anything yet. Right now, we're considering the 2009 Dodge Journey and the 2008 Subaru Tribeca. We'll see...

Edited to add: We looked at more cars and hopefully have decided on a GMC Acadia, or maybe another Honda....isn't car shopping supposed to be fun?

Deer, Valentine's, & Spongebob

We had a really relaxing weekend last week. Andrew took the girls to the zoo on Saturday while I had some time to myself for a haircut and some retail therapy. I got a slightly new 'do with bangs and a few low-lights. It took me a few days to get used to it, but I am really liking it. Sorry no pictures yet. Haven't really taken any.

Saturday morning I went out to get the newspaper and I noticed deer tracks going up our driveway. I was really surprised because I've never seen deer anywhere near our house before. Although, we do live near a wooded area so I suppose its possible. Anyway, I was curious, so I followed them up the driveway and looked to see where they went. The deer walked all the way up to our front door! Like he was going to ring the door bell or something. :-) And then turned and walked along the bushes by the front window. I wish we had been up early enough to see it! I think the girls would have gotten a real kick out of that.

We had Cindy, Shawn, Emilee, and Braeden over Saturday night for pizza and fun. It's always great to hang out with them. I can't believe Braeden will be a year old already on the 22nd! Time really does fly by. Happy Birthday little man! :-)

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! We're having breakfast at the Pancanke House with B-Pa and Gramma Clare and a heart-shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's for dinner. Ella and Lily are pictured with their Valentine's basket from B-Pa and Gramma. Don't worry that's non-alcoholic pear juice in there. :-) Hope you all have a nice day!


I'll leave you with this picture Ella drew of Spongebob and his sidekick Patrick. I think its particularly well-done for a 4 1/2 year old. But I am biased. :-)

The NFL Experience

Andrew returned to cold, blustery Minnesota last Monday after having a great time at the Super Bowl in Phoeinx, Arizona. He had a great time at the game and was very excited the Giants won. It was much more enjoyable then watching in pouring down rain like last year. :-)

He also got to visit with cousin Laura who lives in the Phoenix area. She works as a manager for the Keg Steakhouse. On Thursday, Andrew and his group as well as some clients had dinner at the restaurant. And on Friday, Laura had the chance to visit the stadium.

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

The Famous Group crew: Rocky, Earl, Andrew,
Laura (Andrew's cousin along for a tour), Hemu, and David

Andrew on the 50 yard line on the field of the Super Bowl.

During the half-time show.
That's their graphic on the Jumbotron.

Another Famous Group graphic

And more. :-)

Hemu, David, and Andrew enjoying the game.

Andrew's girls all in Super Bowl gear
he brought back for us. Yay!

Super Bowl XLII

As we left Andrew in California, he had a week of nonstop work ahead of him to get all the Super Bowl footage produced. It appeared that things went relatively smoothly overall and he headed to Arizona on Thursday. He finished things up at the Stadium Thursday and Friday and visited the NFL Experience today.

He got to go down on the field today and stand on the 50-yard line of the Super Bowl!! He also emailed the following video montage to me. I thought I would post it for all to see. Here is a snippet of the work they did for the in-stadium graphics for the big game. Maybe you'll be able to catch a little bit on the Jumbotron while you watch the game. :-)

California Vacation: Part Deux--Friends!

We spent the rest of our time in California visiting friends. Unfortunately, the weather was not the most desirable. It rained every day we were there from Monday on. And it rained in spurts and fits. It seemed, and I could just be dreaming here, but every time we needed to go outside and drive somewhere, the rain would start up again. It was like the little black rain cloud was following me everywhere. Ella even drew a picture of our vacation. Her explanation of the picture went something like this, "It's Mommy driving around in the red car in California in the rain."

Left: Ella's picture of Mommy driving in our red rental SUV in the rain.
Right: Ella's picture of what she wished her vacation was like: sunny and Mommy driving around in a vehicle somewhat resembling the Scooby Doo Mobile.

But we did not let the weather dampen our spirits! Monday evening we visited with Angie and her kids Henry and Elizabeth, as well as Kirsten and her son Riley. The kids all played together at the Burbank mall play area. Then Tuesday, we met up at Funtown with Heather (Matthew & Max), Jenn (Cam & Kaelyn), Cynthia (Xander & Madi), Maribel (Ben & Gaby), and Angie again. Whenever we drove anywhere familiar or visited some place we used to go to often, Ella would say to me, "Mom, I remember this place!". It was so great to have her remember places and feel good about going to them. On Wednesday, we traveled near USC (I drove on the freeways to get there! Something I never would do when I actually lived there.) to go to the Science Center with Renee and her kids, Kaitlyn and Sean. We had a great time wandering around. The most exciting part was getting to see a baby chicken hatch out of its egg. Ella and Lily were very fascinated by it. We also learned about the Madgascar beetle (or something or other--I've forgotten the name since then.) in one of the Discovery rooms. The kids got to touch it and watch it move around in the attendant's hand.

Wednesday also happened to be my birthday (Happy 31st to me!) and Renee not only remembered and brought cupcakes for us, but she spread the word around the playgroup as well. So I received many Birthday wishes! And thank you to all of you out there who remembered and sent or emailed birthday greetings as well! Andrew had decorated our hotel room with crepe paper and a birthday sign and balloon Tuesday night while we all slept. So when I woke up, it was all decorated! Awww! What a sweetie! And the kids thought that was pretty cool too. :-)

Thursday, we attempted to go to Griffith Observatory. I was excited to go up there. It was closed in 2001 for renovation and only reopened a little bit ago. Our attempt to visit this time was thwarted by the rain. We had a beautiful sunny morning and the second I parked the car, and opened my door to get out, the rain came pouring down (again with the black rain cloud following me around). We spent the afternoon and evening playing with friends, visiting the mall play area and IKEA. Friday, the girls and I decided we needed a day to just relax and veg out so I took them to see the movie Enchanted at the theater. It was very cute and they both loved it!

Saturday, we actually had good weather until the afternoon. It was sunny and maybe 60 degrees. The kids played at the little playground at the hotel and then we headed back up to the observatory for a second attempt. Since it was the weekend and decent weather, a ton of other people had the same idea. We ended up having to park a bit away and walk up to the observatory, which actually was quite fun. Ella was in a good mood and up for walking and Lily was happy to be riding on my back in the Ergo again. We had a lot of fun wandering around up there investigating the landscape and of course taking pictures! It was so clear because of all the rain, we could see everything! All the way to ocean on one side and snow-capped mountains on the other side. The whole time I lived in California those mountains were not snow-capped!

Top: Downtown Los Angeles Skyline from Griffith Park Observatory.
Bottom: The Hollywood Sign from the Observatory (both taken with my zoom lens).

Saturday night the girls hung out with Andrew for dinner and at the hotel and I made my way to Renee's house for a Moms Night Out and baby shower for Melissa who is expecting Baby #2 in the next month. We all had so much fun chatting, eating, present opening and playing the 80's game. How the heck I remembered the family from Alf was the Tanners is beyond me. ;-) But this is why they all call me the idiot savant when it comes to 80's trivia. But "Yeah!" to the blondes for winning the game!! :-) Yes, we played blondes versus non-blondes. :-) We were there until 1AM and then all had to drive home in torrential downpours. It was not fun. There was so much water on the road you hydroplaned if you weren't careful!

We went out as a family on Sunday to have lunch at California Pizza Kitchen in Brentwood with the Harveys and the Slussers. Whereas there was once 6 of us for an outing like that, now with all our kids we are at 10 and almost 11 with another little Harvey on the way. We all had a great time visiting and we had a star sighting! We saw Maria Bello (she was on ER for awhile and mostly does movies now) and her family there.

Ella with Grayson Harvey at CPK. Aren't they cute? :-)

We really enjoyed our time in Calfornia. I can't believe it went so fast! It was so nice that the girls and I still fit right into the playgroup where we did when we left. With our world of technology its so easy to keep up with everyone's lives through email, blogs and our message board. I felt like I haven't missed anything and that I wasn't ever gone. It's so nice to know that we can go back anytime and just start in where we left off.

The girls and I made it back home fine on Monday and we had one more star sighting believe it or not (We didn't have star sightings like that when we lived there! Two in one week--unheard of!). We saw Frances Conroy (of Six Feet Under fame) at the airport. And she actually happened to be on our plane. After looking at her resume on imdb.com, it appears she's filming her next movie "Chilled in Miami" which mostly takes place in small-town Minnesota. Maybe they are filming on location? Anyhoo, we made our way on and off the plane without incidence and back home again.

We've spent the week getting back into the swing of things around here and dealing with the freezing cold temperatures here. It's actually warmer, maybe around 30 degrees today! Whoo hoo! And the girls are spending the night at my dad and Clare's house tonight! Yippee! So I'm off to go veg out in front of the television for a bit!

Happy Groundhog Day by the way! It appears Phil has decided we have six more weeks of winter. Bummer.

California Vacation: Part I--Disneyland

Okay, I figured I better get something posted soon or people are going to really think I'm ill. I am feeling much better now. Thanks to all of you for your well wishes. I think the plane ride really helped to prolong my cold an extra couple days by really filling up my sinuses with gunk. But I am definitely on the mend now.

As with the past couple years, the last half of January represents Super Bowl crunch time for Andrew. He typically spends many MANY hours at the Famous Group office producing the in-game graphics for the stadium. Last year we didn't see him for three weeks. So, I decided this year we would be traveling with him to California and the girls and I would be having our own vacation while he worked! At least we all would be in the same city. On January 19th, we all traveled to Los Angeles and made our way to Anaheim for one last family hoorah before not seeing Andrew for awhile. Saturday night we met up with Cousin Ed, Yolie and Patrick in Downtown Disney and (ironically enough) ate at the restaurant Naples. We enjoyed a nice dinner and then visited the World of Disney store with them and browsed the plethora of Disney gear. They were sweet enough to get the girls each a bracelet (Tink for Ella and Princesses for Lily) while we were there. (THANKS guys!) They are still playing with them every day!

We visited Disneyland for the day on Sunday the 20th. I was nervous about this whole thing. First, we have Lily who seems to be scared of even little things. How would she deal with even the mild rides at Disney. Would we be paying all that money for one of us to sit on a bench with her the whole day? Then there is the whole thing about standing in line after line with little kids, how would they handle that? Among many other things.... Well, it turned out great! We followed the "Dumbo-in-a-day-or-die" Touring Plan from the book "The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland". This book told us the best way to move through the park with small tots and make use of our time. Supposedly cutting down on our line wait time 3 hours overall. I'm sold! We followed the book's suggestions for the Nemo ride and only had to wait 25 minutes instead of 2-3 hours! Who would wait that long for a RIDE?

We used my Ergo to carry one of the kids on my back and the other one either walked or was carried by Andrew. It worked out great to not have to maneuver a stroller through the crowds of people or worry about where to park it or keep track of it. And the kids enjoyed taking turns riding in it.

We saw Nemo, Peter Pan's Flight, Ella did the teacups while Lily went on the Dumbo ride. We visited Toon Town and saw Minnie's House, Mickey's house, Donald's boat and Goofy's house. Ella rode the kiddie roller coaster with Andrew. Then after a nice break and nap at the hotel, we did Small World, the Winnie the Pooh Ride, and the train. An then back Toon Town for some more Mickey fun. We shopped in the Tinkerbell store and the Princess store. And finished off the day by going back to our hotel room where we could watch the Fireworks show right from our window (inside where it was warm!). They had some really great fireworks too. Rainbow effects, cubes, very cool stuff. Ella loved it!

We all had a lot of fun and Lily wasn't scared of anything all day. She even was happy to take a picture of all of us with the Mickey character and he tickled her. She was so excited by that and kept telling us about it. So Disney was not a disaster. :-)

On Monday morning, we grabbed breakfast and headed to Studio City/North Hollywood to check into the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn.

Just a quick note....

....to say we've been in California for nine days. Just got back yesterday. I have a lot to update but I have a cold. :-( Will hopefully have new posts by the end of the week! And it is currently 12 below zero here and feels like 36 below. Oh my GOD! That's REALLY cold! UGH!

To the Mall of America and Back

We spent SEVEN hours at the Mall of America on Saturday to help Emilee celebrate her 5th birthday along with three of her other little friends, Mina, Maren, and Emma. All the girls had a blast riding tons of rides, eating ice cream and getting their hair done at Libby Lu. Lily didn't get her hair done (she doesn't really have enough anyway) but did get to pick some makeup and jewelry out. She had a good time roaming around and looking at the dresses and playing with things. We all had a great time and were very happy to get home afterwards as well. We've never spent so much time at the mall!

There was also a cheerleading competition going on and the last group to perform was an adult exhibition squad. Some of their stunts were really amazing! And to top it off, one of Ella teachers (Trice) from My Gym was performing in the squad. So it was really fun for us to see it. Ella said she likes cheerleading now and wants to be a cheerleader. Oh boy. We'll see if she stays interested in that. :-)

Here's some pictures from the day and there are a few more up in the January photo album on Shutterfly.

Ella and Emilee on the airplane ride.

Emilee, Shawn, Andrew and Ella on the kiddie roller coaster ride.

Ella, Mina, Emma, Maren, Emilee and Lily(still waiting for her ice cream)
saying, "We love ice cream!"

A cute picture of Emilee and Ella.

Lily playing hide and seek in Libby Lu. :-)

Ella the Princess

Tid bits

Last night, we took the kids to My Gym where Ella has her weekly gym class. Once a month, they have a Parents Night Out where you can drop your kids off (for a fee) from 5:30-8:30. They order pizza, play games, and do activities. I've been thinking it would be a good thing to try, especially for Lily. She's going to preschool in the fall and we've never really left her anywhere away from home with someone who wasn't a relative. So I thought this would be a good way to get her used to us taking her somewhere and leaving her for a little bit. I figured this would be a good trial because it was a place she was familiar with. And Ella was there to keep an eye on her too. :-) They both did really well when I dropped them off. They said goodbye fine and I just sort of wandered out. Lily was playing and I sort of peeked through the window once I was outside. She was kind of standing there shell-shocked, but not crying. I was a little worried, but left to go pick up Andrew.

Andrew and I were just spending some time together shopping the sales at the mall and returning some things we had laying around the house for a while. We took a swing by the gym on our way there to peek and see if Lily was okay. And she was sitting next to Ella eating her pizza. She was doing great! Whew! I asked Trice (one of the teachers) when we picked her up how she did. Trice said Lily did great. She got a little sad and asked for me once or twice, but then went off to play again. So the experience was not traumatizing for her or for me. ;-)

Nothing else too exciting to report right now. Later in the day we're going to Mall of America for Emilee's birthday. Ella will be in heaven, unlimited park rides AND a makeover at Libby Lu! I hope she can contain her excitement and not spontaneously burst! :-)

But just wanted to share this cute story about Lily. Last night at bedtime Lily says to Andrew, "Okay, it's bedtime, let's read." She had Andrew lay in her bed and then she sat in the little chair next to it (like we do when we read to her at bedtime).

She grabbed an Ariel book, opened the book and "read" the following:

"Ariel says, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Ella. The End."

Then closed the book. :-)

******

Other total randomness for you. Andrew has been enamored by the latest Indiana Jones Lego sets (can be found at Target). He REALLY really wants to buy the set, but can't bring himself to pay the money to play with something once and then have it sit around (yes, I am talking about a 31-year-old.). And since the girls aren't really old enough to enjoy regular lego sets yet, he can't use the excuse that its for them. Anyhoo, he was daydreaming one afternoon on the computer, searching for the lego sets online, and came across this youTube video. Although this is pretty cool, someone has entirely too much time on their hands!

Frosty and other winter fun

It was 40 degrees yesterday so we decided it would be a great day to try out the girls' new sleds. We started off making a snowman. Ella has been asking for a month now to make a snowman but the snow was just not good enough to pack. Well, with the warmer temps and wetter snow, Frosty "came to life one day". ;-)

We broke in the sleds on a tiny hill in our backyard which was just right for Ella. Lily didn't like touching the snow. She mostly played on the neighbors swing set while we played with the snow. Andrew convinced Lily to try riding on his shoulders for one sled run. Okay, to me, that would be much scarier than just going down the sled normally, but she liked the idea, so they tried it. One time was enough for her. It was really fun sledding (or "sliding" as native Minnesotans call it) and I haven't been on a sled since New Year's Eve 1994. Yes, it's been nearly 14 years now. Holy cow, that does not seem THAT long ago. Man, time goes by fast. Anyway, that fateful New Year's, I spun into a metal light pole on the side of the sledding hill and made a trip to the ER to make sure my ribs weren't fractured. They weren't broken, but definitely bruised. To say the least, I was not that much fun to party with that New Year's Eve! Yeah, good times.

This Christmas, I got a new zoom lens for my camera. Yesterday was a perfect opportunity to try it out and I love love LOVE it! It takes much crisper pictures than the standard lens that came with my camera. I'm a little sad the smaller lens doesn't take quite as nice pictures. But I'm loving the new lens and even though its bulkier, its fun to use. I'll be toting it around to our various outdoor activities. I'm sure at some point when the girls become more aware, they are going to be very embarrassed by their mother lugging around such a gigantic, conspicuous camera, especially compared to the microscopic digital cameras out there today. But, boy, its amazing the quality of pictures you can get with a good camera. Okay, enough photographic gushing. I'll be uploading pictures to the Shutterfly site later this afternoon so you'll be able to enjoy the MILLIONS of pictures we took yesterday. There's a few in this post to tide you over. :-)

The girls and I ventured outside again this afternoon. This time, Lily walked in the snow for a while. At first she had to hold my hand, but after a bit I made her do it by herself. She kept thinking she was "stuck" in the snow if her boots sunk in at all. And she did go down the hill with me on the sled at least three or four times. So there's improvement. She was interested in going down by herself and told me so. But when the reality of it hit. As I was about to put her on the sled, she changed her mind. At least she seemed to enjoy being out there a little more today.

Enjoy your winter adventures whether they are snow or sun related! :-)

Random Updates

After finishing the girls rooms at 5pm on the dot New Year's Eve, we left the girls with my dad and Clare and had a very nice dinner at Biaggi's and went to see National Treasure 2. The movie was pretty much as entertaining as the first one. It followed the same formula, but the acting was even more forced and over the top. No matter what, it was really nice for Andrew and I to get out and go to a movie just by ourselves.

We finished out the rest of the week getting the house in order and cleaned up from the holidays and home improvement projects. We got back into a regular routine of speech, school, and gym class. Then Andrew's parents visited for the weekend. They came bearing gifts--actually just the ones we had already opened in Racine and couldn't bring on the plane. The girls were excited to have the rest of their new toys and it was nice that it was spread out so they had more new things to play with. Andrew and Tom put up the purple crown molding in Ella's room which completes the room project entirely. And the girls had a good time with Andrew, Bubba and Grand Pat at Chuck E. Cheese on Saturday. I got to have a some girls' time away and had lunch with my friend Melissa and then we saw the movie Juno (hilarious movie! We laughed through 2/3rds of it!). Oh, and Bubba got the girls' new swing hung in the basement so they can have "outside" fun inside anytime they want!

New Photos!

Okay, finally, there's new photos up. Our startup disk was full so we had to clear a bunch of stuff off the computer just so I could get the photos off the camera! But here you go, LOTS of Christmas photos and some home improvement progress photos. Enjoy!

The Final Product

Lily's new Princess room!





Ella's new Tinkerbell room