Ian's Birthday Party Pics

Ian had a great time last Saturday. We invited some of his new little friends from his school, a friend from Taylor's old school for Taylor to play with, and some family members to help us celebrate at the Eagles Nest. The Eagles Nest is a very large indoor playground in the New Brighton Family Service Center - what better way to let a bunch of kids release some energy on a very cold Saturday afternoon?

The kids really were cute. They would all run in a pack through the playground equipment - and if one of them got separated from the group, they would all run around until that person was found. Panod manned the door in and out of the playground, while I manned the party table & talked with the parents as they dropped off their little ones. Taylor and her friend were also a huge help in keeping track of all of the little ones.

It was great to have some family meet some of Ian's friends & their families. Thanks everyone for making Ian's party really fun. Enjoy the pics!

Ian's 5th Birthday - Party

Birthday boy & winter carnival

Happy Birthday, Ian!

Ian's Bday & Winter Carnival

We had a small party with just the four of us on Monday to celebrate Ian's 5th birthday. He opened a few presents and we all enjoyed some cupcakes in honor of his big day. He'll be having a larger party with some of his little friends from school this weekend. We'll be sure to post those pictures in the coming days.

Today was beautiful and warm (nearly 40 degrees!), and the kids & I had the day off of school. We decided to go for a walk around Como Lake before lunch, and then we hit the Winter Carnival this afternoon on Harriet Island. The walk was a blast - even Toby came! We found a tree that someone had decorated with Christmas ornaments, a squirrel that was waaaaay up in a tree, and the kids searched for the second medallion since there were so many other people out there today digging for it, too. After heading home and warming up with some soup for lunch, we hit the road again to Harriet Island for the Winter Carnival. There were snow & ice sculptures to see, and a frozen playground to play on. The snow slide was fun, but kids under eight had to ride with an adult. There was also a large warming tent that served up some Minnesota hot dish, hot cocoa and samples of an excellent soup from Bruggers Bagels.

If you plan on going to the winter carnival:

* Use the park and ride! There is NO WHERE to park anywhere within a one mile radius of the island and there are no sidewalks to walk on.
* Buy the buttons. They come with coupon books that allowed us to ride the slide and the go through the ice maze for free.
* Bring a sled to pull behind you for the kids, not a stroller. For most people, the deep snow on the island made strollers next to impossible to navigate through most of the snow and ice sculptures.
* Cover up! The wind was fierce down on the river!

Quick updates:

* Still no news on Taylor's science project, or the grade she got.
* Taylor read the 497-page book, Eragon, in less than three weeks!
* My first two weeks at school have gone smoothly and I've already had to take a test in Medical Terminology. I got 28/30!
* Panod now knows most of the Med. Term. words since he helped me study all week.
* Ian insists that he's still 4.

Back into the swing of things

With the first week of school almost behind us after a long winter break, we are finally getting back into the swing of things. Staying up late and sleeping-in was a very easy habit for all of us to form over the two-week time we had off. Since the last post we've celebrated Panod's birthday, decided where to have Ian's 5th birthday, and finished Taylor's science project. We are also looking forward to my starting school next week. While it is only two classes, it will be a good way for me to start seeing what is ahead of me for the next two years.

Panod's birthday was celebrated at Stella's Fish Cafe in uptown on Saturday night, while our neighbor watched Taylor and Ian. (Thank you, Deb & sorry about the popcorn/living room incident!) Stella's was wonderful! We would highly recommend getting there during happy hour and chowing on the $1 oysters at the oyster bar. We arrived with only 30 minutes left before happy hour was over, but we still manged to down 11 or so oysters! After that, we were seated and we decided to share a heaping basket of super soft, and super spicy calamari. This stuff was amazing, and we probably could have (or should have) stopped eating at that point and been fine. But no, we continued on our seafood frenzy - Panod ordered a wonderful, but slightly too salty seafood soup that came with a large helping of sweet cornbread, a large king crab leg (you can add them on to any entree for only $5.95), and the shrimp hashbrowns, which were amazing. I ordered the daily three, which ended up being salmon, scallops and swordfish - all smothered in rich, creamy sauces. The food was really good and we would like to go back, but we decided that if we do, we'll just hit up the happy hour and down an appetizer.

Over the course of the winter break, we have been helping Taylor with her science project. This year was different because we got to do it in English! Woo hoo! She decided to try and grow crystals on strings that were placed in jars with boiling water and several different materials. Several of the materials tested were regular sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, iodized salt, regular salt & epsom salt. Only the regular salt and iodized salt actually grew crystals and she had to figure why & state it in her report. It really was educational in teaching her the basics of the scientific method and she seemed to do well to do well today when it was her turn to present her work to the judges. Right now we're not sure how well she did, but I have a feeling that at the very least she got a good grade.

I also have some pictures from the kids playing in our latest snow. There just hasn't been much of it this year, so it seems like every chance we get we're out playing in it - I even travel with the kids' snow tubes in the back of the van just in case we feel a spontaneous sledding fit come on while we're out running errands! There are also pictures from Panod's birthday and Taylor's science fair today....

Winter Break 06

Merry Christmas

The holidays started off with a great celebration at Taylor's school called Colonial Days. Colonial days is an event that takes place at Taylor's school every year around this time, but with this being our first time participating in the big event, we weren't sure what to expect. We do know that Taylor has spent a majority of the past two weeks pouring herself into learning about Colonial times. The kids even get to come up with a name for an individual and a job that they may have held during those times. On Thursday, everyone set up a booth in the atrium with items they would have made from their trade. After about 20 minutes in the atrium, we all poured into the gym where the kids all did a class presentation & a dance! Grandma & Panod got to join in on the fun & I owe all of the picture credit of Taylor dancing to Grandma, who was kind enough to stay and take them while I had to run and pick up Ian at school. Thanks Grandma!

Colonial Days 2006

Sunday was a day to make phone calls to family, make a big dinner (thanks for the ham, dad!), and to let the kids each open up one present. The kids each opened up a model car - Taylor got a Nissan 350Z & Ian got a convertible Mini Cooper. By about 7:00pm last night, we did our annual Christmas Eve viewing of lights. This year was different - we had a destination. We had heard about this house over in South Minneapolis (Longfellow) that had coordinated music to their lights using a computer. It was the most amazing light display we've ever seen! We must have spent at least 30 minutes there laughing, and oooo'ing & aaahhhh'ing! If you'd like to see the house we went and saw, check out this video on you tube or watch the report on WCCO news.

Today was a blast. The kids woke us up at 7:00am on the dot & ran down to open presents. Taylor received some much-loved Dr. Who goodies & Ian received some really nice Thomas stuff. We went on to have breakfast & then headed out the door to Uncle Rob's house to gather with more family for a while. The food was wonderful and the company was even better....Ian even decided that Kane is his cousin, and not Taylor's! lol

Christmas 2006

A special note to our family that we could not be with today: We love you and miss you very much. Please know that we think of you often. Thank you to you and your families for the love and support we receive from you every day. You are our greatest gift.

Need a good Christmas morning breakfast?

I found a recipe for Baked French Toast on the web awhile back. We have had it several times now & I've changed it around a little to fit our taste. We will likely be having this on Christmas morning and thought we would share the recipe...






Baked French Toast

INGREDIENTS

* 1 (1 pound) loaf of day-old French bread, cut diagonally in 2 inch slices
* 6 eggs
* 1/2 cups milk
* 2 cups half-and-half cream
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 3/4 cup butter
* 1 1/3 cups brown sugar
* 3 tablespoons light corn syrup


DIRECTIONS

1. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange the slices of bread in the
bottom. (I usually have to squish the bread a bit in order to get
it to fit. Sometimes I have two or three pieces leftover that I
cannot fit) In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, cream,
vanilla and cinnamon. Pour over bread slices, cover, and
refrigerate overnight.
2. The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a small saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup;
heat until bubbling. Pour over bread and egg mixture.
3. Bake in preheated oven, uncovered, for 40-50 minutes. (This tends
to spill over for me, so I recommend putting a baking sheet
covered in aluminum on the rack below the French toast while it is
baking)

One week to go...

Merry (almost) Christmas!

I don't have much time for a lengthy update, but we do have some fun pictures to put up from our annual family Christmas party we went to today. We have attended this party since before Taylor was born, and it is always such a blast to see how big all of the little ones have gotten in the past year. We had some seriously good potluck food, the kids did a pinata, and then there was Indian bingo.

Christmas Party

Taylor and Ian have one more week before school is out for winter break. They are looking forward to the time off of school, but Taylor does have her science project due when winter break is over. We're still not sure about a topic yet and she has to turn in her sheet stating the topic of her science project on Thursday! We'll be sure to update on how things are going.


Ian had a field trip to go and see a play with his school on Friday. They took the bus and it apparently went right past Panod's office. The only reason I know this is because when I picked Ian up Friday afternoon, his teacher told me that Ian started jumping up and down on the bus and yelling, "That's my daddy's work! That's my daddy's work!" Ian also had a good time at the play and said that it was very funny.


On my end of things, my last day at CVA will be on Wednesday! It has been an interesting and very educational three years working in the IT department, but it is time for me to move on to new challenges. I have been accepted to St. Kate's this fall for their Physical Therapy Assistant program. I will also be taking a few classes starting next month at a local community college in order to get the ball rolling. I am very excited to have this opportunity! I also need to say that Taylor has been a very big inspiration in making this decision. Watching her go through the motions of heading off to a new school over the last several months - how hard she has been working and the rewards she is finding in her newly found self confidence has sparked something in me. I told her how I felt the other night, and while I'm not sure she fully understood what I was trying to say, I hope that someday she will.

A Winter Weekend

While we missed the fun that the rest of the Midwest seems to be experiencing this weekend with the first big snowfall, we still managed to have some fun this weekend.

Earlier this week Ian and I set out to Choo Choo Bob's on Cleveland & Marshall. Immediately upon our arrival there Ian went to work on the six (yes, six!!) train tables they had set up, while I set off to find Engineer Paul for some tickets to see the movie, Trains, at the Riverview Theater on Saturday. While the train movie is free, you have to have tickets from CCB's in order to be admitted to the Riverview. We ended up spending 45 minutes at Choo Choo Bob's - it was during the early afternoon and I'm guessing that since that time of the day is nap time for most Thomas the Train enthusiasts, that must be why it was probably the most peaceful part of my week last week. I would highly recommend going to CCB's on an early weekday afternoon vs. hitting it up on a weekend.

Saturday morning, Ian and Panod headed off to the Riverview with their free tickets in hand. Apparently there were some clips from The Polar Express, Thomas the Tank Engine, and other train movies. This was our second experience with these free train movies and I'm sure we'll be going back again.

While Ian and Panod were over in Minneapolis watching the movies, Taylor and I headed over to the Como Zoo for the unveiling of the Winter Carnival button. It turns out that all of the submissions for the design of the button were done by CVA students this year. The student who won had graduated back in May and it was a treat to see her again. We bought our buttons, watched the Polar Bears lick the banners, and headed inside for the rest of the celebration. Taylor made some arts and crafts, we danced to the Teddy Bear Band, and we entered some contests. Taylor ended up winning a really great stuffed camel and a $50 gift certificate to Schuler Shoes, a local shoe shop! She also had this great caricature drawing done of her - it made me laugh so hard because it is so good!! Before we left we had to go the new Tropical exhibit. We've already been a few times, but there's always something interesting to watch in there.

I have a few pictures from the zoo to share & that's about it for now. ((((All our love))))

Dec. 2