9 on the 9th!

Happy Birthday Sweet Jane!

(her classmates all made this great card, and her hair is all wet from swimming)

This beautiful girl turned 9 today and I'm really not sure how she got to be nine so fast. These years really have flown by.

We had a fun morning with birthday breakfast and presents:
Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Damstedt for the sewing machineThank you Grandma and Grandpa Miller for the cool letter, sequin hat, and funny bunny.B got her her own set of clamps, I gave her a certificate to get he fingernails and toes painted. Bruce got her the google webkinz, Kate drew her pictures, and James gave her a mini lipstick set.

She went to school and brought yummy real fruit juice bars as her treat.Tonight we went to dinner at Panera, Jane ordered Chicken Noodle Soup, and then we went swimming as a family.
After swimming we came home and had birthday cake.Happy Happy Golden Birthday Janey!

"Playing tag"...

This morning I was driving Kate to PreK and she was looking up out her window and said,
"They are playing tag."
I didn't quite know what she was talking about and thought maybe she was having some heavenly vision :) .. so I asked "Who is playing tag."

"The telephone lines"

"What do you mean?"

"They go and then get close together and then run again."

I thought that was a cute way of looking it.

The rest of Winter Break and Les Mis.

On Wednesday and Thursday we played with lots of friends at our home and at others.

Then Friday we went to the Science Museum and stayed there a while.

Jane and Kate played puppets:

On Saturday Jane and I went on a special date to play mini-golf. It was all "black lights" so the picture isn't the greatest."

Everyone went back to school last Monday! :)

Last night B and I went with some friends to see Les Miserables. It was excellent!

I LOVE the music and it was my 4th time seeing the play. Once was when I was 16 or so and my brother Jason gave me tickets. I took his fiance and my mom. Then I went twice in New York over 2 different summers there. It was B's first time seeing it and he was confused, but enjoyed it. There were a few dramatical differences from the times before. The most notable was when Jean Valjean sang "Bring Him Home" he sang it at the baracade before the fighting started and not after in the sewer The death of little Gavroche was pretty dramatic too. I sang along in my head to all of my favorite songs. Eponine had an amazing voice and Fantine was really good too. Javert- oh I could listen to all of them sing for a long time :) Thanks for the wonderful evening!

Mid Winter Break... part 1

Tropical Paradise:

Today the kids and I went to the Botanical Gardens.
Kate loved the orchids
Jane thought the Egyptian Papyrus was pretty neat.
James LOVED all the water and rocks that were everywhere.
2 years ago:
Today:


Owl Fest:
Last Saturday we went to a local nature center. They had Eastern Screech owls

and we made crafts & got our faces painted
and even went on a hay ride.

The kids are out of school all week- fun fun fun for us!

Valentine's Day 2012

We feel loved!

This morning we all got up and saw this on our plates- thanks Grandparents!

We ate breakfast, said bye to dad:

went to school, and then James and I went and gave a few "heart attacks" to people I visit teach and then came home and there were hearts all over our own door- Thanks!

Kate and I ate heart shaped grilled cheese for lunch and then we went to Jane & Bruce's school for their parties.This was Jane's Valentine- I stuck a sucker at the end of the tube she was holding.

After school the kids went on a heart treasure hunt and found more fun things from the grandparents. They love fruit snacks and we're excited about the books!

When B came home we ate a delicious dinner of steak, bread, broccoli, and roasted potatoes. Then we went to Cold Stone

for some traditional ice cream.
B and I went there on Valentine's Day while we were dating and we've gone for 11 years now :)

Thank you for all the fun phone calls, cards, and visits. We love you!

More Valentine Fun..

Isn't he a cute Valentine?

"cheese"

Last Saturday we went to a Valentine party at the community center here are made cards, rings out of Hershey kisses, and more..

On Monday after school we went to a presentation on Winter Animals and they got to make molds of footprints.

On Tuesday James and I went for a walk.
On Wednesday I totally cut my thumb while opening a can and got stitches..
On Thursday we headed back to the library for a Valentine party and Bingo
On Friday Kate had a friend over and made sugar cookies.
On Saturday she made more "cookies" with dad out of play dough.

Feeling the Love...

Happy February!

(Happy Birthday Uncle Andrew!! )
We are counting down the days to Valentine's day and here are 3 things we've done so far:
1.We decorated the home and made a cute craft

2.Heart Cinnamon rolls- yum (Thanks Pintrest)
+ cute Waterfall hair:

3. Kate worked on her valentines for her PreK.

Lots of "Love-ly" things still to come...