(Almost) 8 Months in Minnesota

It's hard to believe that we've been in Minnesota almost 8 months. The months seem to go by pretty quickly, though some days seem to last forever. We've managed to survive the hard part of winter, though we still have a couple months left before spring arrives in full force. We've stayed pretty healthy all winter long though we all currently have a bad case of spring fever!

Sadie seems to be growing very fast and I'm amazed at how much she knows. She has an amazing vocabulary for a three year old and loves to tell you stories. Sometimes it's still hard to understand her, but she seems to be growing out of a lot of her "baby talk." She currently loves to play The Ladybug Game and Uno. She is no longer napping so afternoons and evenings can be a little trying on all of us. Her latest major accomplishment is that she's been peeing in the regular potty all on her own. (Yes!! I even heard her peeing in the middle of the night all by herself.) She is also mastering buttons and zippers and can often be seen wearing some unusual clothing combinations. She seems to have her mother's personality: she is stubborn and hates to be wrong, but she's also friendly and can be pretty outgoing. She can be a bit dramatic and she wears her heart on her sleeve. All of this means that Sadie and I tend to butt heads more often than I'd like. She does have the most beautiful big brown eyes that you've ever seen and her smile will melt your heart. Oh, and she's just learned to kiss by making the loud smooching noise, so she's been giving away a lot of kisses lately!

Eli is now 4 and a half. He currently loves legos and manages to build things that even I can barely make. I'm sure he'll be reading a map better than me in a month! He seems to have a mathematical mind as he's doing some pretty amazing adding and subtraction in his head without even knowing that he's doing math. Eli's teacher calls him "responsible" though I think it's more of his worrying tendency coming out, but calling him responsible sounds a lot better. His vocabulary recall still isn't the best and I think he still struggles with telling us how he feels and what he wants. The girls in his class love him and want to marry him (to which he replies, "Ewwwww... I'm too young to get married") and they often kiss and hug him relentlessly (to which he replies "Please stop it. I don't like it"). Eli will be of kindergarten age come September, but Dennis and I think an extra year of being a kid is a better plan for Eli. We have some options that we are playing with. We did put him in the lottery for a charter school that is just down the road. He is number 2 on the waiting list, so we might rethink things if he gets in, but for now Eli will not be going to kindergarten.

Dennis is enjoying his job as far as he tells me. Next week, he will be leaving for two weeks for officer training in DC. I still laugh a little when I hear him being referred to as Lieutenant Sperle. Dennis got some hand-me-down cross country skis from a friend and has spent the winter months trying them out. I think he's ready for less snow so he can start running again.

I still am doing the stay-at-home-mom gig, which is a pretty good job if you can get it. Sometimes I think about getting a paying job, but then I think about how how fleeting childhood is and the past 4 1/2 years have gone by so fast and that another couple of years will fly by and then I'll be out of a job :( I've moved on from belly dancing because I wanted my one free evening to be spent doing yoga instead! I got a new pressure cooker and that has been my entertainment this winter and I'm loving it! Dare I say that I'm a pretty good cook and that delicious meals are usually consumed every night. I think cooking keeps me sane!

That's our life in a nutshell. We're already planning our summer, it's amazing how fast those weekends fill up, but I promise we will fit you in if you can come and visit. Bemidji is such a great place for us. It feels like home and we're content.