Tony's Birthday, Snowstorms & Finally SPRING...a catch up post!

This post is my catch up time for the last two weeks!  It's been an incredibly busy couple of weeks so lots to fill you in on!

First things first, Marissa is wrapping up her 3rd year of dance with the recital being on Saturday.  She got to bring her friend, Josie to dance to help celebrate the end of the year!  This dance year has FLOWN by and I can't believe it's recital time already! 

We got to celebrate Tony's birthday a few times over last weekend.  We had one last get together at Craig and Marley's home before they close on it tomorrow.  Tony got his "China Dragon" meal one last time before they move.

We also got to go out to dinner with my mom to Tony's pick of Joe's Crab Shack!  So YUMMY!  Even Marissa loved her crab legs!  Such a fun night!

I also participated in a 10K (aka 6.2 miles) last weekend with friend Calli.  Her & I BOTH have sons named Brody so we immediately bonded a few years back!  It was SO cold!  16 degrees at racetime but we made it and enjoyed warming up afterwards!  Who would have thought the end of April would be so cold???

We also had a huge snowstorm that even cancelled school but the kids thought it was fun to play outside once they got over the fact that he had snowed YET AGAIN!  We even went to the park in the snow because we just needed some fresh air!  Marissa and Daddy went sledding and Brody went on the swings!  I think I even saw some snowball fights happening :)

Soccer has been put on hold until next week so we have been anxiously awaiting the start of Marissa's 2nd season.  We had a very eventful weekend!  Starting off with Friday!  It was SO beautiful and warm out.  We stayed outside the ENTIRE day.  We rode bikes to the park, had a picnic and improtu playdate with some of Marissa's friends from school.  The kids got out every single bike, scooter, ball, chair, game that they owned and just enjoyed being outside!  When daddy got home, he built a campfire and we had dinner on the deck followed by s'mores.  After the kids went to bed, Tony and I enjoyed some uninterrupted conversation by the fire.  It was a wonderful way to end the day! 

Saturday started off with a trip to the Y while Tony was away with his Dad and brother.  Then we came home to head to the Lion Park (the kids favorite), ran some errands and came home to lay down for naps.  I was shocked to find Marissa even fell asleep for 2 hours.  I guess all the fresh air really made her tired!  We enjoyed the afternoon quietness! 


All of a sudden, Tony runs through the door.  There is a huge grass fire right by our house.  We quick woke up Brody and put him in the car.  We grabbed all our absolute essentials because we thought for sure that our house would be gone.  It was quite the scene.  All of our neighbors were loading their cars and everyone was in a state of panic.  I took the kids across the street to a safe spot and we watched the firefighters work diligently to put out the fire.  My heart was beating so fast and I was in a state of shock.  I seriously thought this was it for our house.  It was too close for comfort! 

After we recovered from that, we thought we need to go get some dinner!  We headed over to the Harvest Grill at the nearby golf course and enjoyed the outdoor patio.  It was a beautiful warm night and the kids enjoyed watching the golfers go by.  After dinner we got a bucket of driving range balls and let the kids practice.  It was a very fun night after all the chaos of the fire! 

This morning we headed to one of our favorite spots, Como Zoo to soak up the warm sun.  After we got home, I was able to sneak away for a couple of hours for a nice long solo run.  When I got home Marissa and Tony were outside and she was riding her bike with NO training wheels!  What a big girl!  She rode almost 2 miles up to the high school and we got a game of tennis in before it started raining!  It's been a fun day and weekend!  I'm so happy that warm weather and sunshine are back!  It just makes everything better!

Nacho Night and Date Night!

Marissa had Nacho Night at school last Thursday.  It's an opportunity for parents to come in and play some educational games & have an easy dinner!  Marissa and Brody both had fun!  Brody did a nice temper tantrum in front of the principal.  I'm sure he was thinking that he can't wait to have him as a student there!  All over B wanting more chips!  This kid does love his chips!

Friday, Marissa got to spend the day with Grandpa and Grandma Holgrimson so Brody & I went about our day like normal but then he got to go spend the night with Grammy which means Tony & I got to have a date night!  We started off with dinner in NE Minneapolis at Masu Sushi.  After dinner, we headed to the Riverview coffee shop and then to a movie at the historic Riverview Theatre!  It was a fun night out!  Always good to get some adult time!

Saturday, we spent running errands and then Tony went to the grocery store and cooked & cleaned up dinner all on his own!  What an awesome treat for me! 

Today, after church, I got some work done and now Tony is off to a coaches meeting for soccer.  It starts next week.  It snowed again today so it's not looking like it's time for soccer.  I kind of wonder what they will do if snow is still on the ground???

Another busy week ahead!  Until next time...

First race & weekend fun!

Friday night started out with a 6th Birthday party for Marissa's friend, Kyja.  She hosted her party at a local waterpark.  Marissa had such a blast going down all the big slides.  She is such a fantastic swimmer and makes for a fun night to sit and watch her enjoy herself! 

Saturday started out early with our first race of the season.  This race benefited the school library at Marissa's school so that made it extra special!  We even saw her Kindergarten teacher there!  Then we went to John's house for his 31st birthday party!  The kids always have fun playing together!  Lots of giggles and screams!

Saturday afternoon included a trip to IKEA to get Brody's new big boy bed!  He has done absolutely perfect transitioning to his new bed!  We sold the crib and dresser and now he has a big boy room!  So exciting! 

Sunday afternoons have turned into homework time at Caribou.  Marissa and Daddy time to go and work on homework and relax! 

We are also doing potty training bootcamp!  This little boy is doing excellent.  He went with me to my doctor appointment and errands yesterday with no accidents!  He is making big steps! 

On Sunday afternoon, the kids enjoyed playing outside for a few hours as it's been the first nice day in months!  However, snow is in the forecast for this week!  Summer where are you?

Marissa & Kyja

New big boy bed!

Race Girls!

Homework time!

Scooter kids

Happy Easter 2013!

We had an awesome Easter weekend celebrating with my family!  What did we do?

***Shopping at the outlet mall :)  Can't miss an opportunity to shop!
***Lots of eating and more eating and more eating....big thanks to my Aunt for cooking for all of us!
***Played games!  A must-do in our get togethers!
***Sat around the table and told stories which means lots of laughter!
***Did I mention eating?
***Had an Easter egg hunt which means lots and lots of candy!
***Cousin time which means fort building, game playing, playing chase and hide n' go seek with lots of giggles and giggles!
***A family walk to try to burn off some of the food we just ate!
***An Easter celebration at church
***Ping-pong challenges
***The big excitement of finding out a new baby was on the way :)  No, it's not me silly.....


Here's a few pics I snapped with my phone....I really need to learn to get my camera out again! 

Side note:  Marissa only has 23 days left of Kindergarten.  YIKES!  This year has flown by! 

Dance Pictures 2013!

It's that time of year when everything is winding down and summer is beginning to peak through the window.....it also means the CRAZY schedule is starting.  Last night was dance pictures at the studio.  This year, Marissa's BFF Emma was in class with her and it was such fun watching them all year long!   When they got all dressed up in their costumes last night with their hair all done up, it hit me hard....these girls are growing up super duper FAST!  They looked absolutely adorable and I'm excited for the recital! 

I really hope Marissa will someday appreciate her curly hair that her mama gave her because even I am jealous of it.  All she has to do is wash and go and she has the perfect curls.  Then for the first time in almost 6 1/2 years, I curled it with a curling iron and it looked even more cute!  However, it did age her a few years! 

So, in a few weeks we will get the professional photos back but for now here's a few I snapped with my phone!

My baby is gone and my young lady has arrived!  HEARTBREAKER alert!  This is all her posing by the way.....I said smile and this is what she does!  LOL!  These pictures just make me smile.  I'm so proud of my beautiful daughter.....now if she would only stop fighting with her little brother.....work in progress....

Floor Update!

FINALLY,  I have the after pictures of our new floor!  Thank goodness this project is finally COMPLETE!  We are so happy to have our furniture back in the right spots and be done with projects!  Now, we can start living life again like normal human beings! 

Marissa is finishing up her school day today and then she is on break until March 18th.  A full 12 days of nothing but fun let's hope!  2nd trimester is done and now they are on to the last trimester of the year.  This school year has flown by and we already filling up our summer calendar.  The month of July already looks insane!  We are SO looking forward to Spring and some warmer weather so hopefully it starts to warm up in the next few weeks! 

Here's some pics of our completed floor that I snapped on my phone! 

Our January update.....

So I just noticed that I haven't posted anything new since January 1st.  I can't say that we have been doing any really wonderful or fun things in the last 3 weeks.  We have been doing "life".  Tony's car officially had it's good run and we were forced into finding a new car.  We've had that car since 2001 so I would say it gave us many good years!  It's almost a little sad to see it go!  After lots of stress about finding a new "used" car for us, we did pick up our new SUV on Thursday.  We are happy to have that behind us now!  One less stress on both of us!  It was tough being a one car family for 2 weeks. 

Brody has had re-current ear infections again since his last set of tubes fell out so I took him back to the doctor today who now wants us to make another trip to the ENT.  I know this means another ear tube surgery is coming his way.  UGH! 

Marissa finished her book at Sparks last week so now she on to her extra credit book!  I'm so proud of her and how hard she has worked!  She is starting to blow her nose again so I have a feeling she caught a virus at school!  So that means 2 for 2 kids is sick! 

Now a flooring update:  yesterday we took up the tile in the rest of the dining room, kitchen and entry way area and we are hoping to get our new floor completed in the next 2-3 weeks.  Who knew it would be this hard to get the insurance company to give us the money to complete the project.  Many, many, many phone calls and emails have went into this process but we are hopeful that this will be done by the end of February.  Until then we walk on the plywood floor.....sigh....

I'm going to post the BEFORE pic so I that I can post an AFTER pic SOON hopefully:

SO that catches us up on LIFE things....maybe next time I'll actually have something exciting to tell you about......here's to hoping!