Saturday, December 27, 2008

Sliding pictures





More Christmas Pictures




Merry Christmas!






We finished up school at 1:15 on Tuesday, and we jumped right into the holiday celebrations!
Tuesday night we had out progressive outing with our card club. We have been doing this for many years and is always fun to sit and chat, eat, play some games, eat, and then move on to the next house!
On Wednesday, I got up early to finish up the Christmas shopping. I always think I am done, and then end up rushing around on Christmas Eve. I did finish getting the things I needed, then rushed home to get the food ready. We headed over to Grace in Grantsburg to attend the Christmas Eve candlelight service. I love this service and seeing many of the people that we attended church with back when Noah was a baby. After church we came back to our house with Jill, Tom, Taylor, Jordan, Grandma Judy, and Great Grandpa Henry. We ate so delicious food and opened some great gifts. The kids had so much fun playing together, and even grandma Judy took her turn on Guitar Hero!
On Christmas Day, Noah, Jake, and Lydia opened their gifts in their stockings and then we headed to Papa and Grandma Sue's house. Great grandma Margaret, Patty, Trent, Brody, Jim, and Aubrey were all there too. Again, we ate some wonderful food and had some good laughs playing games and watching basketball. It was a lot of fun just to hang out at Papa and Grandma's house like we use to after church when we attended Grace.
On Friday night we had our Christmas Party with the Amundsons. Deb and Patty babysat the Amundson kids while they were growing up, and the Swensons and Amundsons vacationed together near Hayward for many years. Lauren, who is now a sophomore in college was our flower girl at our wedding! We had a great time, once again with yummy food, and a wicked game of "spoons"! We also found out that Jordan and Maria are expecting a child this summer!
Then today (Saturday) we celebrated with the Lindquists at Deb's aunt and uncle's house. One more time...Great FOOD! We all headed out to do some sliding down the hills. What a good time, even with all the wipe outs!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Congratulations Taylor!



We headed down to Maple Grove today to watch Taylor play in the championship game of the Maple Grove third grade teams. Taylor played some tough defense and has some great skills which lead to her team winning the championship for this year. The players on her team all received trophies and metals. We did not tell the Tufanos that we were coming so it was a big surprise when we showed up.
After the game we helped the team celebrate with a pizza part back at Jill and Tom's house. The team had an awards ceremony and lots of pizza! Congratulations Taylor!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Hear the trumpets sound...


Noah started playing the trumpet in band this fall. The students put on a holiday concert and he had to get dressed up (not his favorite thing to do), and he and his buddies looked and sounded pretty darn good. I am amazed at how well the students played considering they have only started band a few months ago. I also purchased a used trumpet so that I can play with him. It took a few times, but it is coming back to me and my lips are not hurting so bad anymore.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Run like a Deer!

Tom and I ran in the Lifetime fitness Reindeer Run this morning around Lake Harriet in Minneapolis. It was COLD!!!!! With windchill, it was well below zero. We had a good run, even though there was quite a bit of snow on the road, and a few thousand people! It was fun to get outside and run, even in the cold weather.
Lydia had a birthday part to go to this afternoon too. She was the only girl at the party but that did not matter. She had a great time.
Deb and I attended the Michael W. Smith Christmas Concert at the Xcel Energy Center with some members of our church tonight. We went out for dinner and then went to the concert. He always puts on a good show and gets you into the holiday spirit.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Picking the Right Tree



We headed out to the woods in Grantsburg to pick out our Christmas tree for this year. It was the last weekend of deer hunting, so we all needed to be in orange. Lydia spotted the tree first, and papa cut it down and hauled it back to the vehicles. We also enjoyed some of grandma's cookies down by Peterson Lake before heading back to Pine City. We then all gathered at Pat's house for pizza with Jim and Aubrey.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Thanksgiving week






We survived parent-teacher conferences, and now we moved on to Thanksgiving week. On Monday, Noah started basketball. Deb is assisting in the coaching of his team this year. He is looking forward to a good season. On Tuesday, we had four extra kids overnight while their parents were returning from a trip. It was a lot of fun, but getting seven kids ages 2 to 13 ready, fed, and out of the house by 7:15 for school is not something I would be able to do everyday.
Wednesday, Lydia had her Thanksgiving program. She was an Indian with a cute outfit she made at school. Then we started preparing food for the feast!
Thursday morning, Tom, aunt Deb and her friend Tim, and I ran in the Turkey Day 5K in Minneapolis. I could not believe all the people! We had a great time, and Tom finished his first 5K. We will run another one next weekend!
We ended up with a group of 20 for dinner! What a great time. The kids ran around (only a little blood - of course from Jake), we watched football, and we ate, ate, ate. We were lucky to have Grandpa Henry, Papa, and Grandma Sue, Grandma Judy, Uncle Mick and Aunt Nancy, Aunt Deb, Tom, Jill, Taylor, and Jordan, Pat, Wade, Trent, and Brody all here with the five of us. We had many laughs and was a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving. Aunt Nancy had all the kids help with making Turkey place cards for the table. I think they finished their dinner quickly so they could eat their Turkeys!
Friday morning brought the annual shopping trip for mom, Jill, and I. We did well and were back home by 11:00 a.m.

A small break

Lydia had a little accident three weeks ago. While wrestling with Jake on mom and dad's bed, she fell and landed wrong breaking her arm. We spent some time in the emergency room and had x-rays taken. It ended up being a 'green-stick' fracture. Her arm is healing well, and fast so they decided to just keep on the temporary cast until this coming up Monday (December 1st). We always thought Jake would be the first to break a bone - but he was involved! He felt bad and has been pretty nice to his little sister since the accident. We will see if this all changes once the cast comes off.

It finally arrived...40


I turned 40 on November 6th. Deb threw me a surprise party that was a lot of fun. Mom, Jill, Tom, Taylor, and Jordan came up for pizza to celebrate Jill and my birthdays. Then all of a sudden people started appearing at our door. I was a bit stunned and overwhelmed when we all of a sudden had over 60 people in our house. I am a 'planner' and not being in the loop threw me a bit. Deb had thought of everything...the food, beverages, cake, and guests. I really appreciated the time she must have put into this to pull it off - I was clueless! The time with family and friends...what a great gift.

Halloween!!!




Our family split up a little on Halloween. Noah went with a friend to Ramsey, MN for trick-or-treating. Deb and I took Lydia and Jake to Grandma Judy's and then to Papa and Grandma Sue's house. Grandma sue had sloppy Joe's and warm rice pudding waiting for us. What a great treat! Noah and his friend Beau dressed up as hobos and took in a haul of candy - good thing Noah is not a huge fan of the sweets so that the rest of benefited from his efforts!
Lydia dressed up as a Vikings cheerleader, and Jake was a Gangsta' . (Misha would be proud) The kids had fun answering the door and handing out candy at Papa and Grandma Sue's house. We were able to see Chris, Casey, and girls, and also Dan, Kelly, and boys.
The next night, Deb and I attended a Halloween Party at the Lorsungs. I think we scared our own kids!

Yikes - I need to catch up on blogging!



I realized that I have not blogged wince the marathon! It is now Thanksgiving weekend! So to back track a little - Noah had a great football season. We had many fun Saturdays in Forest Lake cheering on the guys! They ended the season with a 4-3 record and have shown so much improvement this year. Over the weeks Noah had many fans show up - Grandma Judy, Papa and Grandma Sue, Pat, Trent, and Brody, and Tom, Jill, Taylor, and Jordan. THANKS for supporting Noah! Perkins is going to miss us coming in for lunch after each game!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Twin Cities Marathon



After the many weeks of training, the Twin Cities Marathon was finally here. Even though I have run Grandma's marathon twice, I was still nervous and not quite sure what to expect. I had looked over the course, and I actually had run parts of it before (back in 1992 when I lived down in Mpls), but had heard a number of stories about 'the Hill' so we a little apprehensive. I am so glad I had Jim Sloan, a fellow teacher to start the race with. We started strong and I felt good, even through the pounding rain at Lake of the Isles, Lake Calhoun, Lake Harriet, and Minnehaha Parkway. It was not until Lake Nokomis when I started to get cold, and I started to slow down a bit. Jim and I lost each other a few times at water stops, but after mile 15, we did not meet up again until the end. I walked up most of 'the Hill' and then ran for most of the way down Summit Avenue to the Capital. It was fun to have Deb and the kids, along with Jill, Tom, Taylor, Jordan, and Grandma Judy cheer me on three different times along the course. The Sloans and Scholin's were also out cheering on the runners. There was times when that support was really needed : ) I crossed the finish line with a chip time of 4:05:35. This is my best marathon time yet. I beat my last time by over 25 minutes! It is such a great feeling to cross that finish line. I have not been as sore as I have been in the past after the marathon, and this was the first time that I really did not have any injuries during training. It all paid off. Next marathon: Grandma's Marathon in June - only 251 days away.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!




Noah has had a great time playing football this fall. His team is 3-2 so far, and the guys have shown so much improvement over last year. Noah is playing quarterback, and then middle linebacker on defense. He likes tackling the other team and has made some great plays on defense. We are very proud of his efforts. He always gives it is best.
The team has two more games - tomorrow and then on the 25th. We just hope that the rain holds off tomorrow! We are glad that Pat and the boys, papa and grandma Sue, and grandma Judy have all been to some games to cheer the team on.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Happy Birthday Noah, Elly, and Carson!




The cousins celebrated their birthday's at the Tyberg Farm on Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed the annual hayride to Crex Meadows. The family has grown and we needed Two tractors and wagons this year. The Tyberg boys (Dean and Dale) even did a drag race down one of the back roads!

Monday, September 8, 2008

Justin Morneau with the kids


ok - so I did not get a good picture of the kids with Justin.

The Weekend






We made it through the first week of school. All the kids enjoy school, their teachers, and their classmates. It sure makes things easier knowing that we do not need to beg or fight with them to go to school or do their school work. We have some pretty special kids! We went to the football game Friday night and watched the Dragons beat up on Duluth Marshall. On Saturday, Noah had his first game and they won 14-13. Noah ran in two touchdowns. The team played great - such improvments over last year. You can tell the boys are getting a feel for the game and we are lucky to have three great coaches! Grandma Judy, Pat, Trent, and Brody also cheered on the boys. After the game we headed down to the Twins game only to watch them lose to the detroit Tigers. We were glad that grandma, Pat, Trent, and Brody were able to join us at the twins game too ! Afterwards, we stood in line with the Berubes and Browns to meet Justin Morneau. However, it began to rain, and then pour for a few minutes before returning to rain again. After over an hour and a half in line, the met Justin, received and autographed picture, and we headed off to a warm vehicle. The pictures above are after the rain --except noah and Brant trying to stay dry with a diaper and diaper changing pad!!!! We met up with the Berube's for a late supper at the Olive Garden. What a fun family! We finally left for home about 10:30 p.m. A long, but fun day.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

First Day of School



Lydia is going to SCHOOL! Wow - I can't believe our little girl is in kindergarten. She is very excited. Jakd and Noah are also looking forward to seeing their friends again on a regular basis. Deb and I could always use a little more time to get ready, but the day is here! Noah has also started football practice two nights a week, and his first game is this weekend. I hope I can continue to find time to run. The marathon is less than 5 weeks away! Yikes! I did get a 20 mile run in over the weekend, but from now on, finding a three and a half hour chunk of time to do a long run like that probably is not going to happen. The plan is to walk Yukon every morning before school - so much for sleeping in longer this year. And then I hope to run either after school or while Noah is at practice. Wish me luck.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Happy Birthday Taylor...and Noah too!


With school starting we knew it would be hard to find a time for the Tufanos and us to get together to celebrate birthdays, so we held a pool birthday party over Labor Day weekend. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a great time swimming. As the weather has gotten colder each evening, the pool water has cooled off quickly. This is probably the last weekend of the pool for this year. We went for pizza on Friday night and had a great time.
On Sunday we had one last pool party/bbq. Many people were out of town for the long weekend, but we had a good time with those who could make it. We ate lots of yummy food and the kids were hard to get out of the pool at the end of the day. I can't believe that school starts on Monday!!!!!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Deb's 20th Class Reunion


We had a good time at deb's class reunion. It was fun to re-connect with some of her classmates who we have not seen in a while. The dinner was in the high school, and then there was a bon fire and party out at the home of one of her classmates. The kids enjoyed an evening with grandma sue and papa.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

One last trip to the cabin





After I finished running the Mora Half Marathon, we headed up to Barnes for one last trip to the cabin. The weather was beautiful, but I forgot the fishing poles! Luckily, papa had some extra in the shed so we still were able to do some fishing. On what Deb thought was going to be her last cast for the summer, she snagged a 16 1/4 inch large mouth, thus winning the family 'Largest Fish' contest. Jake is holding it in the picture. We really enjoyed a relaxing time, and the kids had a few tears as we pulled out knowing we won't be back until Mother's Day 2009.