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.
Did I mention that is was warm? Notice that Eli was not wearing a coat. I think it was 48 degrees (Hello, spring!) with the sun beating down. I even got a little sunburn! I was a little worried about going on the ice as it was above freezing all week. But, every Minnesotan told me that it takes months to melt 2 feet of ice so I tried not to worry even as we were driving on the ice and splashing through some pretty massive puddles. Needless to say, there is still a lot of ice.
Are there any fish down there? Apparently not many considering that in the 2 hours hundreds perhaps a thousand people were out fishing and only 5 perch were caught.
Sadie won this wonderful ice scoop. She was pretty tickled considering that that was all she did the whole time. She would kick snow into the hole and dig it out, kick in some more snow , then dig it out, kick in some more snow (you get the idea)! Oh and she got some new ice fishing jigs.
As a side note, Zoe fell into a hole not once, but twice. Poor thing, soaked to her thigh each time.
There was an ice bar that was serving drinks out of glasses made out of ice. Sadie looks a little less than thrilled, but she was sitting on a chair made of ice. I can't imagine that being too comfortable.
Skip to this past Sunday, the National longtrack speed skating marathon was held on lake Bemidji. Seeing speedskaters going around and around on the ice wasn't all that thrilling, but we got to drive on the ice and park and watch from the inside of our car. Eli has been waiting to drive on the ice since he saw his first icehouse out on the lake. I don't think he was thrilled as he thought he would be.
The tap shoes. Sadie LOVES the tap shoes and who can blame her? Now she has some real clippity-clop shoes. If only we could get her to master the shuffle step...
What does Eli do while Sadie's dancing? He takes pictures. He took most of these pictures (and about 100 more). Oh, and guess what? This dance studio does exercise classes during the day for moms and offers FREE daycare. Rock on! It seems like we've been spending more and more time there lately...
They each took a turn and driving too!
How could we go to logging days and not use a saw?
Of course we had to take a picture with the miniature Paul and Babe.
We had such a fun time and the weather couldn't have cooperated more. It was sunny, no wind and in the mid-twenties. An all-around perfect day for a family event!
Zoe used a wide array of candies:
Sadie spent most of her time eating candy and licking frosting. I'm surprised anything made it onto her house:
For lunch we made pita bread pizzas.
Then we went outside and went sledding to work off all of those calories and the sugar high!! We hope Zoe comes back and plays again soon.
Eli and Sam are playing trucks which are not in short supply at their cousin's house. Man, looking at this picture, Eli and Sam could be brothers instead of cousins. 
In my jammies, making hummus for dinner guests that night. Very messy kitchen.
Making something for supper
When the hearts have cooled you hang them on the window. When the sun is shining, the light comes through the wax drops and has a stained glass effect.
Eli just drew this picture today when I was scanning in the previous picture. He wanted to have one scanned too! Usually in the pictures he draws we have little mounds of spiky hair on the top of our heads.
These steps were built by the CCC in the '30s and lead from Frances road down to the lake. It's crazy when you leave the road and go down the steps, it's like a little secret magical kingdom. It's pretty cool.
Once a week, the kids make soup. Each child brings an organic vegetable and they all chop the vegetables and add them to the soup. Sometimes there are some pretty crazy soup combinations. Eli still doesn't eat his vegetables but I do notice that he says, "I'll try it because maybe I'll like it this time."
When I showed Eli this picture he said, "I was playing a really beautiful song and all the kids were dancing with the scarves to my music."
A little ball playing:
Eli and his favorite friend, Leanna, who he claims is going to be "his Valentine."
The gathering drum:
Outside candlemaking:
