Ups and Downs...

Haven't written for a while again. Totals ups and downs in January.  Poor Noah has had illness more often than not, that certainly squelches fun.  Colds, a really bad stomach flu thing (like that Norwalk Virus that made the news) and Strep Throat too.  Enough!  I am considering buying stock in Airborn since I'm using so much of it, but thus far I have remained the only one not to have any crud in the last month or so. Brent has had some days not feeling well too, but fortunately not as extreme as Noah's.  So we are hoping spring comes soon, and we can keep the crud at bay until then.

Fortunately N recoved enough from the stomach thing so we could go to a congregation "going away" party for Susan Swanson. She has moved to Spanish to help out over there. We are happy it is still in the same building, and we will see her from time to time. It was a nice turn out for the party, and her brother had put together a nice photo slide show on a computer for all to see.  The kids had fun and later in the evening they had some dancing.

A couple weeks after that we also got invited to a Skating/Sliding Party by the Mysliak's.  It was at Freedom Park in New Brighton, and they have a couple of really nice ice rinks and a good sliding hill and an awesome warming house for us parents to sit and gab in. That turned out to be a really fun day. It was us, and Mysliaks, and Amy Gammon and her 2 kids, and Heather and Chris Dolan and their kids. We were there from about 2:30 to 8:15 p.m. and Noah and the kids were outside for the majority of it.  Noah hasn't skated since las year's party, so we had to get some different skates that week to fit him since he grew so much, and a new sled since his was buried under feet of snow somewhere in our deep back yard. ;-)  Noah got to practice Hockey with the boys and Pat and Chris. He had so much fun. He was so sore the next day though...I kind of chuckled - he found muscles he didn't know he had that could hurt.  But he did pretty good for rarely skating. He catches on fast since he rollerblades.  Now just to work on the hockey skills.  But it was great for all of us to get together and us parents could chat and reminisce about the "old days" etc.  Totally a fun day.

This past week we found out our old family friends the Hoyes were suffering a huge loss.  Doris (the mom) was losing a major health battle.  She fell asleep in death early Thursday morning 2/3/11.  She remained very faithful to the end and was putting her total hope in Jehovah God's resurrection promise. She was ready to go, but of course the family was not.  It was a hard one, but her suffering is done.   We drove down Saturday 2/5 for the funeral.  It was very well supported, and we got to see lots of old friends and some of Brent's family from various areas. We were glad to be able to be supportive. They have a long road of readjustment ahead.  "Normal" is no longer, so new roads need to be paved.  A lesson my family had to learn the hard way a few years ago too.   I did get a couple of pics of Connie and Kelly. I don't think I've had pics with Connie since maybe graduation or maybe wedding times. Isn't that awful, but still friends through the years. Me and Connie met when we were 4 and went to school together through like the 7th grade when they moved to Zumbrota. We used to have bookstudy at their house for years, and our parents were good friends.  The ties that bind through the decades.  My Noah got to re-meet her Noah and Hunter so added to his friends list. He hadn't seen them since my dad's funeral, so didn't really remember them, but now wants to get together sometime again...the next generation of friends! :)  Thoughts and Prayers remain with that whole extended family as they cope with the huge loss.

Hoping February and beyond remain more peaceful!

Until next time!

Jen



Winter Break 2010

Winter break is nearing an end...we've had a busy week and a half since Noah has been off school. Somehow I don't remember being this busy/social on my winter breaks "back in the day", but I guess we want more for our kids, right? ;-)  He'll have some fun stories to tell when he goes back to school.

First day off of school was Dec 23rd for our district, and we were off and running to a play date in Richfield with Noah's friends Carter and Connor.  Noah got to sleep in, and then we spent pretty much the whole day with those friends.  There were 6 boys total at the playday, so it was an active house. Us moms got some "girl time" in between orchestrating activity and snacks.  Thanks Darcy for setting that up!  We visited my mom's congregation meeting that night at Phalen Park, so that was fun to see old friends, and of course we went out for treats afterwards.

(blurry shot, but they were having fun playing rock band)

Friday was a bit more mellow of a family day with everyone home, and we went to lunch with my mom and Davis' at a new Asian buffet on University Avenue, and then as a family we went to see Tron Legacy in 3D at the theater.  Noah really enjoyed that outing.

Saturday we had a total home day - PJ's all day - we all enjoyed the family "down time". My mom was here and it was just nice to have no pressure. We all needed some R&R after crazy weeks.

Sunday was back to busy activity with meeting and then we had a skating party that Ms Percy had set up for Wooddale - a nice crowd showed up. Lots of Noah's friends were there, and lots of mine too.  It was fun to catch up with everyone and watch the skating and game playing and good association. 

Pic from Bee's camera of the moms

Monday was back to work for me and Brent, but Noah and my mom got another mellow home day!! Enjoyable for them (Noah really is a "homebody" and does love some down time).  Out to dinner after work and poof that day was gone.

Tuesday Noah and I had plans with a few friends to head out to Mall of America to Nickelodeon Studios.  Bethany had found $15 unlimited ride wristbands on Craigslist, so that was about half price for the kids to ride for hours.  Problem was the whole state was off of school, and I think a good portion of them were out there. The kids did have fun though, and thankfully at this age have a little more patience for waiting in long ride lines. Us moms had fun chatting while waiting for the kids to get through the rides.  Lunch was interesting at the food court too - having to stalk to get a table - what chaos.  The day was fun overall though.  It was me and Noah and Beth and Sophia and Danika and Renee and Sam (Tori and Mary were out there too, but on their own). We had meeting that night and Noah had a sleepover at Grammy Mary's so that was a long fun day. 

Log Chute - they rode and got wet a couple of times

The new Lego Store was open! (the boys were excited)

Beth took a shot of our crazy lunch table.

Wednesday while Brent and I worked, Noah had a fun day with his Grammy.  She had been working for many days straight with the holidays at Bachman's so she was ready for a Noah day.   Lots of running and some time spent at the library and some other errands.  Noah had fun in the snow too, and then we had a nice family dinner before we went and picked up Sam for an overnight.  I think the boys finally fell asleep around 1 a.m.  Too much fun to be had to want to sleep (at least for Noah - Sam likes his sleep and was trying to talk Noah into slumber around midnight).  They had talked big the night before about getting up early and playing in the snow, but alas, sleepy eyes took over and I had to keep waking them to try to get them up in time to eat breakfast before we headed out for our bowling party at PINZ on Thursday morning.  We had a great time - around 20 kids bowled (Noah, Sam, Lance, Bryce, Turner, Camden, Joe, Sophia, Alyssa, Hannah, Azaria, Elena, Kira, Jade, Danika, Emma, Selah, Coco (with help from Elsa), Abi and Nile plus us older chaperons hanging out chatting and snacking.  Thanks to everyone for making that a successful day - many fun memories and kid pictures (thanks for sharing your pics too Bee!).  Everyone did well and was good sports, even the younger ones in the group did really well and kept up. 

Sam stayed for the day and then he went home for dinner and meeting and I crashed. ;-)  Today - Friday has been a nice home day with Brent running a few errands and take care of home business and Noah slept until like 11:20 to make up for the lack of sleep on Wednesday night. It all evens out. Time to reset and we are having one more sleepover tomorrow night with Lance and Bryce coming over and then Sunday night we are preparing to get back for a "normal" week again. I think I'm glad School is back on Monday.  We had a nice time though, and our "staycation" was memorable.  On to a new year! I can't believe this one is wrapping up tonight - time flies when we're having fun!

Jen

Big MN Blizzard 12/11/2010

So apparently this winter will be a heaping helping of the white winter stuff!  It started a little early this year, and then we got a HUGE dump on Friday night/Saturday 12/11.  Most people were snowed in for at least a while, and of course streets were an adventure. Commuting the following week was a joke - 2 hours was not uncommon.  Good grief.  These are the times I think my friends that moved to FL had the right idea (except they were also complaining about 30 degree evening temps, so I guess it was rough all over. Of course Noah loves it- the best winter ever as far as he is concerned. We have a huge plow mountain in our front yard that is just screaming - SNOW FORT to an 8 year old.  Uncle Cody also showed him the fun of being tossed into snowbanks that are way bigger than him...a new winter sport I guess...now Dad has to "Noah toss" evenings when he gets home from work - good thing N isn't any bigger at this point - that is a back-breaking sport!

A few shots of the depth of our Winter at this point:

It started slowly...

Deck filling up...

Had to shovel a path for the pup...

This was AFTER I had shoveled once to make a path on the deck for the dog and then it filled in again.

Let me in!

 First version of our snow mound - more to come with the street plows.

how tall these snow drifts got! it is crazy - this is at Brent's mom's.

snow play (no coats required)

needing a clothes drier now!

Winter fun to be continued....