A little more Christmas music

Inside the snap Christmas presents were whistles.  Check out the great music of these cousins, grandpa, and conductor Grandma.  :)

Banfield Christmas Program

Hope you enjoy just a little bit of Sam's school holiday concert.

Holiday Orchestra Concert

Hope you enjoy a little of Ellie's Holiday concert.  The 2nd video is only music and the floor as due to a large crowd it was hard for me to get video with her in it.  Although I am a mom and biased- I was quite impressed with the sounds of these 7th graders.

 

 

What happens when the neighbor says, "Do you want a dog?"

The kids have hoped for a new dog for a while now.  Ellie was dreaming of a lap dog to cuddle.  I kept saying we don't have time or we want it trained, or whatever excuse I could find.  Until the day we saw the picture of this guy.  I mean who could say no to that face.  Buddy needed a home, was 7 months old, basically house broken, loved to be cuddled, mellow, and pretty much a well behaved puppy.  Once  I heard all of those things I was sold.  So here he is now a part of our family and none of us can even imagine life without him.

Fall Sports

This girl can serve-she had a game that was 100% serves over the net. 

Ready- oh you may wonder about the blue tape-it is covering her earings.  She got 2nd holes pierced at beginning of the year but oops- no earings allowed on the court.

He is blocking I believe...-he's in blue with black pants on

Sam was lucky enough to be on the same team as his good friend and our neighbor!!

Happy Halloween- a little late

I had a "little old granny" and a pirate this year.  Thanks to Grandma Mary Ann and Ellie's help we made Sam's costume and thanks to a thrift store in Granite Falls we found the lovely house coat.  That house coat led to the costume idea.  This year I stayed home and handed out candy while Ellie went to a party with some of her girlfriends and Sam went trick-or-treating with a friend. Although it felt weird not to be with them, staying warm sure was nice. 

School Time

4th Grade at Banfield Elementary School.  Yep this is my last year of having a child at elementary school. But let's not talk about that right now.

I really do have a 7th grader who goes to Ellis Middle School.

Seussical the Musical

One of the kids summer activities was a week long theater camp.  Check out the video below as Ellie is a bird girl and Sam a monkey in parts of Seussical the Musical.

Orchestra Spring 2014

National Eagle Center and Lark Toy Store

Wabasha and Kellog were great places to visit.  We were all amazed by the Eagles.  What neat loooking creatures.  We even got to see one eat her lunch.  The Lark Toy Store is in Kellog.  We loved looking at new toys and antique toys.  We even had a game of mini-golf.  It was a fun day for us all.

Summer Fun

The summer has been jam packed with kids activities.  Swimming and baseball were just a few of our favorite things to do.

A little baseball action.  Check out this video to see him hit: http://youtu.be/NTCzLy1RBI4

 

Sam learned to dive off he diving board this year.

Here we are having fun at the Owatonna pool.

Yep pools even have climbing walls now.

Birthday Time

 She is 12 years old already!!!  Her dad once again made a pretty amazing cake.

 Ellie had a backyard party with many of her friends.  They had a great time being goofy girls together.

 Sam is 9 years old!!  Thanks for the Mine Craft cake dad!

 Sam had a birthday party with his good friends at our Local YMCA.  It was a Nerf gun party- just the perfect thing for a group of boys.

The kids have wanted a trampoline for as long as I can remember.  When they figured out we finally had a yard big enough- it became an almost daily question.   Surprise- this was in the backyard when we returned home from Las Vegas.

Las Vegas

School was over and it was time for some fun.  Mom and Dad helped us have a most amazing friend reunion in Las Vegas.

 I was lucky enough to be a part of a church program when I was about 15 where we were matched with a family from Texas that came to MN to do migrant farm work in the summer.  I then visited them in Texas for a week the following winter.  We have kept in touch since. Veronica and her family, along with her sister Esmer all live in Las Vegas.  Because of my mom's great idea(and dad agreeing it was a great idea) and planning we ended up in Las Vegas June 7-11.  What a great way to start our summer vacation. These pictures just show tidbits of what a wonderful trip we had. 

And it's the kids first flight ever!!

Yay-we landed and our very special friend Veronica found us.  After tears of joy we smiled for a photo- glad I opened my eyes for this one.

Almost all of us pose for a picture

These boys became best of friends while in Vegas.  Amazing how they can live states apart and yet do the same crazy 9 year old and 10 year old boy stuff!!

Love that more than 20 years ago we became friends.

The adults posed for a photo.  Nice that we used Guillermo's work truck as our background.

No we didn't watch boxing but it was a fun spot for a kids group photo.

More special friends that were made this trip.

Memories of the last day of school: June 2014

Last day of 3rd grade

Last day of 6th grade

National Junior Honor Society

A few awards at 3rd grade classroom celebration

Rochester Competition: 1st Place Lyrical

So proud of my daughter.  She loves dance and what a joy to watch her own little moment in this routine.  The first time I saw her do this I didn't realize she had that part- yep it brought tears to my eyes!   She is lucky to have a great team and coach!

Rochester Competition

It is the time of year where we get excited about dance competitions.  Friday and Saturday was full of dancing for Ellie and watching and cheering for Mom and Sam.  Friday night they looked great, but competition was tough!!  Saturday they looked great and they even won 1st and 3rd place!  Next we do the end of the year show in late April. 

1st place in their Lyrical routine!

Getting ready for their Lyrical performance

Love the smile on this girls face!

Action shot of her jazz dance

Hockey and Dance

What have we been doing??  Well hockey, dance, and a little more, hockey and dance!  I love watching the kids doing the things they love.  I know I have more photos and videos to maybe someday get on here, but for now hope you enjoy a few random photos!

Ellie and our sweet neighbor girl Aurora- she might love Ellie just a bit

A proud mom

My little boy is done with Mites Hockey- he moves up a level next year

Free time at the Mite Celebration- yep even Ellie joined in the fun

Sibling Hockey Fun