Dazzle Me

Some more photos from the first night of the Holidazzle parade* I love downtown - I love the people and the lights and the atmosphere. Especially at Christmas.

*parade where the floats and costumes are made of lights. Runs all the way through
Christmas. Yes, it's outside. We Minnesotans aren't 'fraid of no cold.

Luke and his cousins waiting for the parade to start

Evie Enchanted (she loved this musician. see the post below)

Luke and Evie getting cozy

And of course, the lights:

Evelyn and the Star Tribune

Evie loves to dance (loves).

We were at the Holidazzle parade tonight in Minneapolis when she met up with a man and his horn, playing near the parade.

She was mesmerized - staring at him, dancing, trying to touch his coat.

And the Star Tribune caught it on camera.

Check out her photo and article here.

(belated) Girls' Night Out - Twilight

Last Friday, with 24 of my closest girlfriends we saw this:

We took the Cheesecake Factory by storm.

Had a gift exchange (note the Edward bookmark. We may or may not have worn the buttons on our shirts and hats for the rest of the evening).


Braved hundreds of squealing pre-teens to claim our seats in the theater.


We giggled like schoolgirls over the movie.










We need another excuse to do this again soon.

Thanks Stacey for the great idea, planning (and pics). See her full review here.

Happy Thanksgiving.

The pies are made.

Football has been played.

The Lions are losing on TV.

We're on our way to feast with good friends.

Enjoy the day.

"For each new morning with its light,For rest and shelter of the night,For health and food, for love and friends,For everything Thy goodness sends."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Currently making me giggle

Luke's "skating" class.

Unfortunately, the pictures just don't do it justice.

The other parents must think I'm crazy as I sit there the whole time, laughing my head off.

There's a whole lot of tiptoeing across the ice, falling, waving, elbowing other kids, falling some more, pushing the other kids down. Then falling again.

But he's grinning from ear to ear the whole time. And he tries so, so hard. I think we'll turn him into a hockey player yet.

Christmas Shopping: Etsy Edition

Some great ideas for beautiful, handmade Christmas goodies.

I love Etsy, don't you?




Handmade posey pins (really great pinned on jackets, scarves or as present toppers). Via the Pleated Poppy,

I especially love the hairpins, but this shop is full of inexpensive pieces for kids and adults. Another shop full of great earrings.

Gorgeous cards and stationary from here.

Thanksgiving Quote #2

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow".

Melodie Beattie

Today I am grateful that my Board Exams are done. I am grateful my presentation is done. I am grateful I get to see a midnight movie tonight (yes, I am going).

What are you grateful for?

Celebrate Thanks

Some easy {and less easy but exceptionally cute} ways to get everyone feeling more thankful. I've been trying to find ways to teach the children about gratitude and celebrate the holiday.


Thankful lists: We have these posted on our door and add something too them every day. I've been adding some quotes as well.
Thankful Turkeys:
(supplies=tape and construction paper. voila!)
Some more great ideas from my friend Stacey:
Gorgeous, as usual.

Gratitude wall:

Thanksgiving Banner:




More Thanksgiving Banners (these from tip junkie):
There are some links to the instructions on the website.

Our first quote:
”Send that note to the friend you’ve been neglecting; give your child a hug; give your parents a hug; say “I love you” more; always express your thanks. Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. . . Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey, and share our love with friends and family. . . . May we be found among those who give our thanks to our Heavenly Father. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues.”

“Finding Joy in the Journey,” Thomas S Monson, Nov 2008

Good Tunes

Whether you consider yourself a Twilight Fanatic or not

Whether you will or won't be going to the midnight showing on Thursday night

Whether you just need a little music downtime between your board exams today and a presentation at a state-wide conference tomorrow {fun week, eh?}

You need to get this. It's just some darn good music.

Diary of an almost 2-year-old

Wake up: {at approximately 5 am, ready to party} singing, calling for the dog, jumping in the crib
Breakfast: Squash bananas between fingers. Eat 2 bites of pancakes before feeding the rest to the dog {but say "tank-ooh" when you get the plate}. Squash more bananas between fingers. Yell for ba-ba. Spit fork-fed bananas out and then feed the rest to the dog.
Mom's getting-ready-time: Watch cartoons with brother for 3.5 seconds before getting down. Eat 3 kleenexes. Open toilet bowl {"potty!"} and gleefully splash until Mom finds you arm-deep in toilet water. Get hands scrubbed.
Kindermusik class: {free class. I'm not sure they want us back}. Run in circles yelling "I get oooh! I get oooh!" Refuse to sit with mommy, sit on the blanket during story time, sit during music time, sit to play intruments. Refuse to sit all, yelling "nononononono!!!" Instead, lie down on another little girl's mommy while she's pretending to be jelly.
Lunch: Squash bread between fingers. Eat 4 bits of grapes and then feed the rest to the dog.
Nap: Call for "daddy? Boooo? Eeekey? {Lukey} Mommy?" Give up and settle for singing songs.
Playtime: Drive cars saying "vroom vroom." Try to steal brother's super-cool-remote-controlled car. Try to steal trains. Dance. Find "sooohs" {shoes} and put them on your head, hands, and then try to put on feet. Dance some more.
Dinner: Squash vegetables between fingers. Spit out fork-fed beans. Feed the rest to the dog.
Bedtime: Let mommy rock you. Finally, quiet, sing some songs. Sing some more. Cuddle baba and teddy. Fall asleep, looking like little angel.

First Snow Pictures

Just enough to stick on the ground and look pretty. But it was perfect for snowballs. And the kids were excited (at least Evie was until she got out in it and realized it was cold). She looks pretty cute, with her tiny little self all over-stuffed and puffed up. And nothing will stop Luke from romping outside.

Booooo!

From Evie's room every morning:

"Booooo!" {Baloo}
"Hi, Booooooo!"
"Booooooo?"
"I-ahnt Booooo!" {I want Baloo!}
"Booooo ow-shide?" {Baloo outside?}

She loves that dog. And he is so, so good with her - never complaining, even if she's jumping on him (she's currently watching cartoons from the vantage point of his tummy). And nothing, absolutely nothing, makes her laugh like he can.

Christmas List

Luke's already got his Christmas list ready to go. Transcribed word-for-word by Daddy.
{my favorite ones are highlighted}

* Remote Controlled Fire Truck
* Hockey helmet with face basket and ice skates
* Zoom-zoom turbo car launcher
*Geotrax train and airplane set
*Toy fishing stuff
* New Clifford books
*Cuddly Stegasaurus {"Steggy"}
*HARD golf balls {as opposed to the plastic ones we currently have}. When we asked him why he needed new golf balls he responded: "to go with my . . . "
*New golf clubs -putter, driver and iron.
*Hole in the back yard to hit the golf balls into
*Remote control car
*Construction vehicles
*Cars for Luke and Evie
* New movies
*Drawing paper
*Trace and draw projector
*Lego sets with wheels
*New soccer ball
*Big, red horse trailer
*Truck that has animals and cages
*Robot that shoots plastic things to hit the monsters in my closet

Santa had better get crackin'.

To flu or not to flu

Please excuse my soapbox.



Get your flu shot (please).

It really isn't fun to get if you're healthy (I got it once and ended up in the ER and then didn't get out of bed for an entire week).

It can be fatal if you're very young or old.

And, if it's any consolation, I don't think your child can scream louder or kick more nurses than my almost 5-year-old did yesterday while getting his.

Find a flu clinic near you here.

Today

I woke up to this:

photo via flickr.

Evie stared at it with her little nose smushed up against the window as if she hadn't ever seen snow before. And I guess the last time she saw it was almost half of her life ago. And there is something about the first snowfall.

Then, Luke instructed Evie on the fine art of jumping in circles on the bed.

We made it to the gym (Luke asked if I was going to turn on the "snow-shield-wipers"), the grocery store, and then made these babies from Bakerella for a church event tomorrow.

(disclaimer - mine aren't nearly so pretty. But brown butter maple icing -- to die for.)

Baloo just finished cleaning up the half a bag of powdered sugar we managed to dump on the floor. Evie is following Luke around the house, quacking, trying to get him to play with her.

Today is good.