Como Zoo & Conservatory

Today me and the boys and Marissa went to Como Zoo & Conservatory. Last night I told the kids that we were going on an adventure with Auntie Rissa. Zander said he wanted to be surprised with the activity...but proceeded to try to guess where we were going. He finally figured it out when we were walking to the entrance and read the sign that said Como Zoo. He yelled, "the zoo" and he and Mason both had big smiles. We visited the animals and then walked around the conservatory. It really gave me spring fever. I cannot wait until we start to see green around our own place! After Como, we had lunch at Snuffy's Malt Shop in St. Paul. Super fun morning and afternoon with the kids and my sister!

Smarty Pants

Yesterday, we received an email from Zander's Kindergarten teacher. We, of course, know he's a smarty pants, but now I know I'm not just being a biased parent. Here's an excerpt from the note she sent us...

I have friends in 1st grade and have found a teacher that would be willing to let Zander join her guided reading group so he is not in a group on his own in my class since he is well above grade level. He is at about a DRA 12 and would really benefit from the discussion and group time with kids at his level. He would only miss 15 minutes of our Daily 5 time which would just count as the time he would have spent with me doing guided reading. Just wanted to throw that option out there for you. It's totally up to you and I'll do whatever you want! :0)

We'll see how it goes. Keeping my fingers crossed that he'll adapt okay to this "change" in routine.

Boys at (almost) 3

Everyone says that the boys looks so much alike, but I never do. Here's the boys about a month shy of 3. I think they look like brothers, but not identical like some people say.

Zander... sweet TP chair, huh?!


Mason...next to his "prize" for filling his potty chart.

holiday gifts - homemade cards

Holy cow, it's been over a month since I've blogged. This will be a quick recap of all the cards I made as holiday gifts for people. I made multiples of each of these cards - and then grabbed some of each to make "card packs". So fun! And of course I made a few extras for myself :)

Fabric & Pattern Giveaway

My friend Jan's blog mentioned a great giveaway from Green Fairy Quilts. Check it out!


And check out all the other cool show and tell projects on Jan's blog from their quilt group - which my mom is part of. I love these ladies!

Miss you and love you Grandpa

Quilts for my nieces

Two new nieces were born in August. I was able to finish Kaylin's quilt in September - pink, green and brown flannel. I love the colors! I found the fabric up in Duluth in July.



And I finally finished Izabel's quilt a few weeks ago - magenta tone pinks and greens. I love the elephant and heart fabric I found when were were on vacation this summer (Perham quilt shop) - so adorable!!

November card club - holiday tags

This month's card club was actually tags, rather than cards. I love it - I'm all set for gift tags this year!! Here are mine. I made plenty of extra for myself :)

Leaves

Last weekend, it was beautiful weather. Mana was shooting a wedding, so the boys and I raked up leaves outside and had a blast running and jumping in the pile. I love these two pictures. The first one is a rare photo op.

Halloween Fun!

Lots of pictures and stories to post from Halloween

Zander's Kindergarten class
I volunteered for Zander's kindergarten class. Mrs. Gindele was out sick (had a sub), so it was a bit chaotic... not that it wouldn't have been chaotic anyhow. When I arrived, I helped the other parent volunteers prep the room and fun stations. When the kids arrived in the room, they were all getting their costumes on...except for my kid. He wanted nothing to do with his Spiderman costume. I tried a couple times, but he just got more upset. They paraded around the school in their costumes (except for my kid). Then it was time for some halloween activities. I was assigned to the cookie decorating table. Why did I get stuck with the most multi-tasking - and the most focus on being germ free (since it involved food). I caught two kids licking the frosting off their knifes and then try to put it back into the frosting tub - aaaahh! I put a stop to that real quick.



Daycare party
I wasn't able to attend the daycare party (quarter end craziness at work), but sounds like the kids had fun. Look at the cutie frog and Spiderman. Zander and I put together treat bags. They turned out so cute!




Spooktacular 2009
Eric & Erica Ripken hosted Spooktacular 2009 and it was a blast! I haven't had that much fun in a long time! It was so fun to see everyone in costume. I realized that it had been about 5 years since we dressed up. Mana and I were robots - from Flight of the Conchords. Mana gets all the credit for making them. The highlight of the night was the live performance by Stranger In The Alps. They were AWESOME!! Take a listen (and look) to one of their songs below. (I made the video through iMovie). Mana's not a bad drummer for having never played until 2 years ago. **You can become a fan of Strangers In The Alps in Facebook**







Halloween Day/Night
Halloween day,w e carved pumpkins and visited my parents. After dark, we took the kids out trick-or-treating.

2 yr, 7.5 month comparison

From time to time, I like to go through iPhoto and find pictures of the boys at the same age. It's fun to see the comparison and see how *different* they really are - despite the fact that people say they look so much alike. So, here they are - both at 2 years and 7.5 months.

Zander - Jan 2007


Mason - Oct 2009