Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Sunday.  As usual, the weekend went by pretty quickly.

Yesterday we spent the morning with Boom.  She put up some Christmas decorations- one of them being a "painting" my dad did during the Christmas season of 1983 (when he was 28).  It has always been one of the Christmas decoration staples, so I was happy to see it out again.

The weather has been unseasonably warm, so we decided to take advantage of it for a few minutes in the afternoon.

The rest of the day was low-key...Auntie Cat came over for a bit to help deal with Callie's disaster of a room.  They made some chore charts, so we'll see how that goes! :)  Maya wore the kitty hat, as usual.

This morning was the Christmas Program at church!  The girls were little angels (as in, played the parts of, not acted like), but they both did a great job standing with the group.  Callie even sang the songs.  We got a picture of our family with the Held family, which may be one of my new favorite pictures.  We met as young, married, childless 20-somethings, and now look at us!

It is hard to believe that this was our 4th Christmas program.  It doesn't seem like that long ago when Callie and Charlie were in the 2-year-old class.  She has always looked thrilled while performing.

2012-2015

She did really like having her sister with her up there today, so that was fun.

This afternoon I went over to the condo to plan Christmas and make some Christmas cookies with my mom and sisters.  Laura made wreaths and we made my Grandma's "strawberries."

The day ended at G-ma and Pa's house to visit with Nana and Papa.  Papa even tried to teach Callie a cool trick with her hands.

Last, but not least, our crazy elves participated in some more shennanigans this week.

A Picture Update

It's Friday, y'all. And we are one week away from winter break. That is all.

First up, typical sister shenanigans:

Maya's spunk and personality are shining these days. My mom told me that while she was coloring today, she stopped and looked at Boom and said, "My butt is a W!" Huh?!?!

As you may have noticed, her love for her kitty hat is also on point:

Other things from this week:

Callie's teacher occasionally posts pictures to the class Facebook page. I love when she does it, because I see pictures like this:

We did some Christmassy things:

And celebrated Mari's birthday:

And I got my dose of sunrays this week because usually about the time I leave work, the sun is starting to set over the golf course across the street. It is a nice way to end the work day.

Have a great weekend.

Timehop Thursday- Happy Birthday Auntie Mari!!

Auntie Mari turns 27 today, so my Timehops today are about her.

Happy Birthday! We love you!

Santa Visit 2015

I always choose a night when I am exhausted to go see Santa. And then, due to a toddler, I inevitably have to be in the picture, while looking exhausted.

Remember the Santa visits of years past?

And last year?

Now...here we go! Santa 2015!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Holy Moly it is Sunday already.

I'm currently irritated with my 2-year-old who seems to have decided that sleep is unnecessary.

She didn't nap at all today, and is just rolling around in her bed right now, even though she must be EXHAUSTED.  The beady little eyes stared at me most of nap time (when she wasn't doing other naughty things like running circles in her crib). GO TO SLEEP, CHILD!

The time was 1:46pm.  She had been in her bed for one hour and 16 minutes.  Not at all sleeping.

Anyway...we had a busy weekend.

On Saturday we had a play date with my friend Emily and her girls, Vera (3) and Hattie (1).  Hattie loved to give hugs!

While Callie and Chris went to Sydney's birthday part that afternoon, Maya and I headed to the condo for nap time.  My mom and I made Christmas Wreaths (my favorite Christmas treat).  Then Callie and Chris joined us back at the condo after the party.  Also...Maya ate BROCCOLI.  A lot of it.  It's a December MIRACLE!

Today our big adventure (besides no napping) was going to cut down a Christmas tree with G-ma, Pa, Auntie Cat, Uncle Dan, and Hanna.  It was so fun!  And muddy, since all the snow we got last week has totally melted.

The girls were super pumped to go, and got into all their cold weather gear very willingly.  When they got there, they got to be snowpeople!

We wandered for awhile, looking for the perfect tree.

We found one!  And so did G-ma and Pa.  Uncle Dan and Hanna got a smaller, pre-cut tree...but they helped with the cutting and hauling of our trees.

On our way out, we stopped so the girls could do the little train ride.  Maya was excited at first, but as soon as she realized the train was going to actually move, she FREAKED OUT.  So we sat on the bench and watched her sissy go on the train instead.

And finally, we got a whole family picture.  Hopefully this will be the start of a new tradition!

Last but not least, if you are curious about what our silly elves, Coo-Koo, and Loony have been up to this week, you can see for yourself:

Have a great week!

A Picture Update

Hey everybody...HAPPY FRIDAY!

It has been quite the week.

Maya spent lots of time at Boom's house because G-ma is on business in...Africa!

The girls had a movie and mac and cheese night.

Pa and Auntie Cat came over for pizza and playing.

I got some good gratitude reminders.

And the biggest event of the week happened on Wednesday night.  My mom, sisters and I went to the Minnesota Orchestra's annual meeting, because of an announcement that was going to be made.  The details of the announcement can be found right here.  But to sum it up, the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra, a group founded during the lockout, donated $250,000 to the orchestra. IN MEMORY OF MY DAD.  The money established a "Bellwether Fund," that will work to support music education and community programming. 

The musician who made the announcement, Kate Nettleman, invited my mom and sisters and I to come to the meeting.  She was beyond sweet and talked to us personally about how much she and the other musicians loved and respected my dad.  Overall, it was a really good (and hard) evening.

The Star Tribune also covered the story, which can be found by clicking right here. (Crazy side note: the Star Trib reporter who covered the lock out, talked with my dad a lot about the lock out and subsequent orchestra recovery, and wrote this article also happens to be my lifelong friend Emily's dad.  Small world!)

So there you have it.  Another week of down and we are now in December.

Timehop Thursday

I've got some good ones today.

First up: Thanksgiving

Then...two toddlers: Callie on the left, Maya on the right.

Then adorable Maya and her face that hasn't changed much but at the same time she has gotten so big:

Then Miss CJ and her beautiful smile:

And sweet sisters: