Preschool Pictures

Boy, are my babies getting big.

Maren turns five on Friday!
Yikes!

Getting the Tree Up!

We went to get out tree on Saturday at Lowe's and Bret picked out a beauty. I hadn't bundled Maren and Brendan up enough, so I had to make sure they weren't breaking anything in the store while Bret and Connor picked out the tree outside. Bret wasn't overly happy since there was only one in the size that I wanted, but I think it turned out beautifully! Brendan was the most enthusiastic about decorating, so he got to put the angel on top (with Dad's help). Brendan excelled at putting multiple ornaments on one branch. Maren and Connor helped Dad untangle the lights, then with the ornaments. I kept pushing for more lights on the tree, and Bret obliged (I think that he got 7 strands on). It was a great day!

Merry Christmas!

Well, we all went to visit Santa last night.
The kids all brought their lists and
at the top of all three is a DS Lite.
We'll see if Santa can afford that this year.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. We spent it at my mom's and my brother (Dave) and sister-in-law (Jenny) drove up for the day from Madison. They are such troopers. We spent the day playing rummy and war, Dave and Connor had a catch without freezing to death and we gorged ourselves on yummy fixin's.

Brendan and Jenny

Ellyn and Jenny

Brendan and Dave

Brendan, Dave and Maren

Maren, Dave, Connor and Brendan

Connor's Cello Studio Recital 11/18/07

Here's Connor playing O Come Little Children at his cello studio's recital.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJoyASsMZV4

Hockey's Started

Well, I have 3 kids in hockey now. And let me tell you, I'm busy! Every Saturday morning is filled. COnnor has started his second year of supermites (ages 7-9). Maren is in termites (ages 5-6), since she started skating last winter, and Brendan is in rookies (ages 3-4). Connor has "games", which are full ice with goalies, but we don't keep official score. Maren just has either 4 v. 4 or 5 v. 5 cross ice games without goalies.

I've downloaded some videos of Maren and COnnor in their first games. Maren scored 1-4 goals, depending on the story (1 goal was verified by Bret). Connor had 3 breakaways (1 in video #5) and scored 1 goal (video #6). They both have red jerseys this year. Maren is the one with the pink hockey stick and camo tape. Connor is #5, with his name on the back.

Connor showing good sportsmanship
after his first game of the season.

Enjoy!

Connor's hockey
video#1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jQt8oQ2F9Y
video#2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux1iEjjDoAg
video#3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3H1BO6tkjM
video #4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWGk68PkVkI
video#5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg1SKDY_PMw
video#6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID01MhRtyvk

Maren's hockey
video#1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sx81Qq63HA
video#2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7aAqD3D7ro

Connor's Cello Camp Recital Videos

Since I couldn't figure out how to load these longer/bigger videos directly onto the blog, I've uploaded them to You Tube. The links are below. I hope that you enjoy them. Let me know if you have any trouble, since this is my first time trying this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U-awTaYfdk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTlxBOcxEAg

Maren and Connor are singing at church tomorrow. Connor has a cello recital for his cello studio. And Maren and Connor have their first hockey games tomorrow. Always a whirlwind!

It has been an emotional roller coaster these last few weeks. More when I'm not so exhausted.

Connor's First Cello Camp

Connor and I spent the day at Eagle Bluff, an environmental learning center, attending his first cello day camp. He had 2 group cello lessons, 2 percussion classes and 2 nature classes. He really enjoyed his cello teacher, a man from the cities. His usual teacher is a woman and I think it was good for him to see an adult man playing and teaching him. Besides, he was great with the kids! Connor had a great time and already asked half way through the day when we could come back. Enjoy! This is my first time posting videos, so I hope that it works.

Connor before he started his recital.

This is March in G Major by Bach. Connor hasn't started this piece yet, but the teacher taught the students that weren't that far yet an accompanying part in the piece.



I was hoping to have another video, but I think it's too big. I'll keep trying and post it when/if I can.

The Star Wars Threesome!

Happy Halloween! Well, it just sort of sprang upon us. We had just gotten back from Orlando and were trying to get back in the swing of things. I had convinced my threesome to go with the Star Wars theme this year. And my wonderful husband went on a nature hike to gather our pumpkins and worked hard to get them carved (after I had totally forgotten about it).

Brendan's pumpkin (which Maren help start carving), Connor's and Maren's

Maren as Princess Leia (with blaster gun)

Connor as Boba Fett (bounty hunter from Star Wars 5/6)

Brendan as Blue Clone Trooper

(with a light saber because he broke his blaster gun)

Our Trio
(I especially love Maren's pose in these group pics)

Gymnastic Pictures

Maren has traded ballet for gymnastics this year, and Brendan is along for the ride. Recently after practice, the head coach for the gym noticed Maren climbed up a half wall. In broken English, he told me to have her sign up for the team practices (which are 4-6 hours per week). Although we are very flattered, we'll be sticking to her fun practices for now.

My Baby Boy is a Second Grader!

Here is Connor's fall school picture. He is now a second grader. I can't believe it. I was just reminiscing with my cousin about when Connor was a baby. It seems like just yesterday. I know that I will soon blink and he will be a teenager. I'm already worried about the girls calling!

Orlando Trip

We had a wonderful time in Orlando. We pretty much packed in as much as we could. We hit Magic Kingdom on Sunday, Epcot on Monday, rested/swam/shows on Tuesday, Sea World/Fishing on Wednesday, Islands of Adventure (at Universal Studios) on Thursday and Animal Kingdom on Friday.

Here are our favorites:
Connor-the orange Misson Space ride at Epcot
Maren-playing with Dad.
Brendan-buying toys with Dad and playing with Dad.
Louise-getting all the princesses autographs with Maren and riding roller coasters with Connor at Islands of Adventure (Incredible Hulk, Dueling Dragons (red/fire and blue/ice), Spiderman ride and Dr. Doom's Fear Fall. And I didn't even get motion sickness!
Bret-Laser/firework show at Epcot

It was a little hard because Brendan was too short to ride most rides, but he was usually happy going to buy his toys for the day with Dad. We were all very thankful to my mom, Ellyn, for this trip of a lifetime. I have already thought about our next trip. I'll have to check to see if Bret's up for it.

Enjoy the pictures!

The kids at Magic Kingdom Indy Speedway.

The kids meeting Mickey Mouse in ToonTown at Magic Kingdom.

Maren meeting Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty, her favorite princess).

The kids with Grandma Ellyn at Magic Kingdom.

The kids with Princess Jasmine at Cinderella's Royal Table Lunch at Magic Kingdom.

Brendan got a kiss from Princess Aurora at our lunch.

Maren atop the Ariel statue at Magic Kingdom.
She climbed it while we were waiting to meet Ariel and get her autograph.

Maren with the "real" Princess Ariel.

Maren and Grandma relaxing on the lanai.

Brendan at the pool in our lanai.

Connor in the pool.

Brendan, Maren and Connor in Bruce's jaws (from Nemo) at Epcot.

Brendan and Maren with Dopey and Snow White in Germany at the World Showcase in Epcot. After getting the other princess autographs at Magic Kingdom the day before, Maren was only missing Snow White. Bret went with the kids and were the last ones to see Snow White (what great luck!). Brendan got another kiss on the cheek; this time from Snow White.

Feeding the sting rays at Sea World.

The Shamu show at Sea World--just before we got soaked by their splashes.

Maren, Connor, Grandma and Bret riding Ripsaw Falls at Islands of Adventure.

After the ride, SOAKING WET!

The kids slinging webs with Spiderman at Islands of Adventure.

Connor and Maren at the Boneyard in Dinoland at Animal Kingdom.
Connor is holding "Diney", which he won there.

Maren and Bret on our "safari" at Animal Kingdom.

We Have An Address!

Well, even if the construction is not moving forward, we have an address:

5486 N Tischer Road
Duluth, MN 55804

We're redesigning (for the 3rd time) to get the costs down. Amazingly, Bret and I are very at ease with this. We certainly don't want a house that is too big to clean and be house poor! We'll know more after vacation.

WDW here we come!

Put the Brakes On!

So, disappointingly, the budget for our design has come in WAY over budget and we've put the brakes on. We are trying to decide what to do. I have let go of getting it started this fall and this has created a great relief of stress. Bret is still holding on to hope. We're headed to Walt Disney World this Saturday for a fun filled week. We'll tackle this when we get home.

Anyone Need Logs?

Well, I made it back up to Duluth on Friday to inspect the finished driveway and the cleared home site and yard. We have more logs than I know what to do with (than anyone knows what to do with). We are working on creating a total cost for the project in order to get the construction loan going. Then we'll work more on perfecting the home location on the site. We are still trying to stay hopeful for getting in this fall. Keep all of your fingers crossed!

The fall colors up there are gorgeous!

Weekends Crammed with Fun Stuff!

We went to the fall festival last weekend and Maren and Connor got to rock climb. Brendan was too little, but really enjoyed the ladybug bowling, ring toss and bean bag throw.




This weekend Connor had a new cello experience with a SEMSA group practice. SEMSA stands for The Southeastern Minnesota Suzuki Association. He got to do a musicianship class and then play with some older kids. It was two hours, but it went by fast (especially because Bret came to pick up Maren and Brendan after the first hour). Connor then had another cello practice in the morning, which turned out to be over an hour long due to a miscommunication about the practice time.

After getting some lunch, Connor had a soccer game. I think that it was his best game yet. He had four goals, made some good passes and hustled on defense. It was great to see him interacting with his teammates. He has another Connor on his team and they were doing belly slams after each goal.

After the game, we went to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch yesterday, but of course, I forgot the camera. We all did the kid corn maze and Connor, Maren and I braved the adult corn maze. We made it out with no problems. This is the same maze that Bret, Connor and I went to when we first moved here. I remember Bret and I getting totally turned around and I started to freak out. We ended up making our own way out. It was a much better feeling this time around! We all picked apples and ate some along the way. Maren's favorite part was the three kittens that she got to hold. Connor and I also enjoyed caramel apples.

After the orchard, we headed to get tickets to the circus, which was that evening. We went home to get some dinner and some down time. Then headed off to the circus. It was a little smaller than the one that we went to in the spring, but it was still fun. Maren and Brendan rode some ponies, and Connor and Maren went down a large blowup slide. Maren got a butterfly air-brushed on her cheek, while the boys got light up light sabers. We then headed home for bed. Maren woke up not feeling well, but was a real trooper the whole day. The boys played light saber, while I got Maren to bed. It was a long, but fun day!

We've been cramming stuff into the weekends because Bret is on call this month and he only gets one day off per week. His last day on call is Tuesday. I'm thankful that this month went so quickly. We're starting to get excited about our big trip to Walt Disney next month! I definitely remember the camera then. Love to all.