Our "New" 100 Year Old Piano

After the kids started piano lessons and actually liked it we decided that we needed to upgrade from our hand-me down yamaha keyboard to an actual piano. At lessons, after having practiced on the keyboard, the kids had a hard time playing the keys as they are much heavier on an actual piano and the keyboard is so much smaller than a piano . They couldn't practice playing loud or soft not to mention that the keyboard sat where my sewing machine is supposed to go! It was time for a piano. We started the craigslist search. It seems that lots of people are getting rid of their pianos but it also seems like people think that their pianos are also worth a small fortune!! So, when we found this free one we jumped on it. We brought the piano guy out to the house so he could make sure that it wasn't a piece of junk and he said that it's perfect for a 5 and 6 year old. We called up all the guys we know and they gratefully moved this heavy beast into it's location where it will sit for the next 50 years! The kids and me and my sewing machine are happy to have this piano in our house.

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!!

This year we stayed home for Thanksgiving. We were going to go to Fargo for the day, but with the passing of my auntie Barb, my mom just wasn't feeling up to it. We hosted my parents and my brother and his family. It was a mellow day. We all ate too much, but I'm eating leftovers as I type, so obviously I'm a glutton for punishment.  The kids hung out all day and did a lot of art. I just had to share.

Halloween

It was a crazy Halloween weekend. First we had Sadie's Birthday and piano recital on Friday, Sadie's party on Saturday, a family Halloween party that evening, a kid Halloween party on Sunday, class parties on Monday and trick-or-treating. Can you believe I even had the time to get food poisoning and spent 36 hours straight in bed? (Dennis had to take the kids to one of their parties, but I managed to make it to the school parties and trick-or-treating). Here are a few of the highlights.

Miss A's Kindergarten Class

Eli told me he wanted to be a bat for Halloween, not Batman, a bat. So, I got all excited about making a costume. Luckily, I didn't get very far before he said that he just wanted to be a power ranger, the same one he was last year. I happily agreed.

TLC Pre-school Class

The only photo I got of Eli and Sadie together.

 

 What was Sadie? Well, she's a Chipette, of course. You know, the girl version of the Chipmunks. This was actually my mistake. Sadie told me she wanted to be a chipmunk, and I immediately thought of Brittany the Chipette, because they have watched the Chipmunk movie a gazillion times. Well, it turns out that she wanted to be the furry, big-cheeked forest kind of chipmunk, instead of the furry, big-cheeked rocker kind of Chipmunk. But, as soon as she saw the pink coat and plaid tie she happily agreed. Phew, I lucked out of making a furry Chipmunk costume.
The weather that night was perfect for trick-or-treating. We walked around with pals Abby and Ryan. The kids happily ran from house to house and they didn't even have to wear their coats! They got a ton of candy, but they both claimed that they loved the haunted house the best. The haunted house is built by middle schoolers in their garage. It was quite good and scary, but not-too-scary for the little guys. They even wanted to go again by themselves.

Sadie's Birthday Party

On Saturday, October 29 Sadie had her birthday party at the local gymnastics place. She invited all of her closest friends and they jumped and bounced and twirled and ran their little hearts out. They had such a blast and it was by far the easiest party I've ever done. We would all happily agree to do it again. (But, we'll wait until next year!)

 Eli and Ryan playing.

 Leanna jumping into the pit with Luis.

 Clara.

 Most of the kids having a blast attacking Dennis.

 The cake.

 The wish.

The Presents

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone knows Sadie very well. She got a gazillion craft project presents. We have steadily been working our way through all of them.

I don't know why I always forget to take a whole group photo. But, I did. Again.

The Last Birthday Hurrah!

After Sadie got her ears pierced we decided to celebrate. Can you guess where we went for dinner?
If you guessed "Mexico", then you're wrong. We went to Northern Minnesota's most authentic Mexican restaurant, Mi Rancho!!!

We all got to get in on the crazy birthday hat wearing action:

It was the perfect way to end a very long and exciting day. Happy Birthday to Sadie!! You are quite the girl and I truly enjoy every moment!

Milestone: Sadie Gets Her Ears Pierced!

A few months ago Sadie asked if she could get her ears pierced. Dennis and I had never discussed an age and truly neither of us really cared when she got her ears pierced, but we both felt she should have a wait just a little bit. We told her that she could pierce her ears when she was 5. We were both surprised though when she said that she wanted to do it on her birthday after her piano recital. So, after the recital we went to the mall so Sadie could get her ears pierced.
She chose sparkly pink flowers and was beside herself with excitement.



As you can see, she was so brave and did great!


After we left all she could say was, "I just can't stop smiling. I just love my new earrings so much!"
This morning she woke up early (really early, like 3am early) and all she could tell me was "I just can't stop smiling." I'm really really glad she loves them! She also reminded me right away this morning that we needed to clean them and turn them. Oh, and she told everyone that she just got her ears pierced!

Very First Piano Recital

Besides having a birthday, Sadie also had her very first piano recital. The kids started Suzuki piano lessons in September and have learned a lot in their 7 lessons! Ashley, their teacher, is a very wise woman and scheduled 4 recital times in two days so families could choose a time that worked for them and also so families didn't have to sit through 60 performers. We picked Friday afternoon at 5. The kids practiced earlier in the day so they knew what to expect. Sadie was very excited to play in front of a group. Eli on the other hand was very nervous and couldn't stop wiggling. He played through his song very very quickly while kicking his feet back and forth. I could just feel his anxiety, which just made me more nervous!

When it came time for the recital, Sadie was cool as a cucumber. She played Twinkle Twinkle Variation B or Ice Cream Cone:



Eli played Honeybee. He was so nervous but he composed himself pretty well.



I'm so proud of how well they did. They were awesome.
Here are Eli and Sadie with their teacher, Ashley.


Here's the group of performers for this recital. (It was the perfect number, the concert only lasted 35 minutes!)
The kids really like piano so I predict more recitals in our future. Eli is wondering when he can play cello or violin or guitar or the drums...

A Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Before you get too excited, I should tell you that Eli did NOT lose a tooth. Eli, in all of his six year old wisdom, found a shark tooth that we had laying around and decided to see if the tooth fairy would bring him money for the shark tooth. So, he put the tooth under his pillow and in the morning he was very excited to see that the tooth fairy did manage to make it our house. She left a note that stated that she does not accept shark teeth, but that it was worth a try and that she appreciated the effort. She also said that he will lose a tooth eventually, but it might not happen as soon as he wants to. Instead of money, she left him a book called "Throw Your Tooth on the Roof" which is about tooth traditions from around the world. Eli was tickled nonetheless. He'll keep on wiggling those teeth and he'll keep on eating apples until a tooth does fall out and the tooth fairy delivers some cold hard cash!!

Happy 5th Birthday, Sadie!!!!

To say that Sadie was excited about her birthday would be an understatement. That girl just couldn't wait. She turned five with a smile on her face and it never left the whole day. She gave a gazillion hugs and told everyone that today was her birthday.
She woke up bright and early for the traditional breakfast pancakes, but once she saw the presents she knew that pancakes could wait a few minutes. Eli made her open up his present first. He gave her a Littlest Pet Shop. One that had cars, of course.
She also got a very cute ice cream cone necklace. The necklace will make more sense in a later post, but she was thrilled.

Sadie is a huge Shel Silverstein fan so Dennis got her his latest book. She also got about 8 Biscuit books, since she is just starting to read and a sewing kit. Oh, and how could I forget the pink boots... You'll be seeing lots of pictures of her in her new pink boots.

There they are... the glorious chocolate chip birthday pancakes!! She ate a lot. She had to fuel up for what turned out to be a very busy and exciting day. Sadie will celebrate her birthday on Saturday with a party at the gym bin with all of her friends.

Jack-O-Lanterns

It's good to know that there are always routines and traditions that remind us of the repetition of the seasons . Carving pumpkins is a favorite tradition in this house and one that we do without fail year after year. This year we had to do our pumpkin carving in phases because Eli wanted to get his pumpkin weeks ago and could hardly wait to carve it, while Sadie wanted to wait until the last possible moment.

Sadie carved her pumpkin and made the little one as a craft project at storytime at the library.

Eli, apparently, has turned into a boy of many faces...

Woooooooo!!!.... Ya'll should come trick-or-treating at our house. Last year we got one family! It would be great to have at least two families come this year!!

Chicken Update

It's official: Sadie and I adore the chickens. You might think we're crazy, and 7 months ago I never would have guessed, but it's true, we're head over heals in love with these girls. We've been letting them out every day for a little free-range pecking. It's crazy how good they are at staying in the yard (ok, they do visit Jeff's yard too) and staying together. If one girl gets separated from the others she squawks as loud as she can until she finds the others or until Sadie goes out and scoops her up and carries her to the others. Mabel and Penny easily allow Sadie to pick them up, Brownie and Annie are a little more reluctant, but they're realizing that she's not so bad!
They all come running to me as soon as I say "come on girls" and they follow me back to their coop to be locked in. I love watching their little legs run. Sometimes they even manage to fly a few feet if they're really excited to see me and can't get to me fast enough.
The cat is only slightly curious and if she gets too close they all flap their wings at her and she runs away. We did see a family of raccoons out one night and we ran out as fast as we could to chase them off before they found the girls.
Penelope, Brownie and Mabel are laying but Annie just poops in her nesting box, the crazy girl. We're hoping soon. I can even tell which eggs belong to which chicken. Brownies are shaped like a torpedo, very long and lean. Mabel's are more stout and egg-shaped. Penny's are the biggest. I'm curious if Annie lays white eggs because she's all white or if hers will be pale blue/green like the rest?
It's starting to get cold and the days are getting short. It will be interesting to see how their patterns change during the winter season and how they tolerate the cold.

Snakes

Sadie and I are starting to find our daily/weekly rhythm now that school has been in session for a little over a month. Wednesday is Science Center day as they have a pre-school class that morning. The teacher, Kitura, is the cat's meow. She is so awesome, never misses a beat with the kids, and the activities are age-appropriate and interesting and so scientific. You just can't go wrong. When the class is over, we linger at the science center until it's time to head to school (after eating lunch in the car, which, by the way, is Sadie's favorite place to eat lunch). Sadie's favorite thing to do at the science center is hold all of the snakes and she does. She holds all of the snakes. All of them. Every. Single. Time.
And then she holds a bunny. So crazy that girl.

Sadie and Mom Date: Judy Garland's House and Children's Museum

Last week Sadie and I made a small trek to Grand Rapids, MN to see the Birth Place of Judy Garland. Sadie really had no idea who exactly Judy Garland is, but there is also a children's museum attached so I figured she would find it somewhat interesting. And it really was interesting.

They have the original house that's been restored to the 1920's. The house is a lot of fun because you can touch everything. Sadie and I had fun pushing dolls in the buggy, sewing, cooking, playing the piano and typing.

Outside the house there is a yellow road where you can sign your name.
Along the path there are munchkin photo opps. There is also a museum with lots of photos, some of her belongings and the actual carriage that was in the Wizard of Oz. The museum used to house a pair of ruby red slippers (there are 3 other pairs, one pair being in the Smithsonian) until 6 years ago when they were stolen!


The Children's Discovery Museum was fun too. Though I suspect that Sadie would have had a lot more fun if she had a friend along instead of just her mom.

After the museums, we had a late lunch and made the 80 mile trek back to our house and arrived just as Eli was arriving home from school. Sadie will tell you that she loves our time together and I love it too.

Go Vikings!

The major reason for our trip to the cities was for Eli and Dennis to go to the Vikings game on Sunday afternoon. The guys got to the stadium early for breakfast tailgating with Dennis' friends Mike and Jon.

Even though the Vikings lost (as usual) against the Lions, Eli still had a great time.

Instead of going to the game, Sadie, Mick, Mel and I went out to lunch at Punch Pizza then went to Como Zoo. I have no pictures because Dennis had the camera at the game. We finished the trip by going to Trader Joe's and stocking up on a few of our favorites. Man, I miss that store. And because the Viking game went into over-time we had to waste some time at the Lands End store and Sadie walked out with a few new dresses. It was a good day for everyone!

Fall Harvest Orchard

We took a trip to "the cities" for a quick weekend visit. We stayed with Mick and Mel and they showed us the local sites. Funny how we went to "the cities" to visit a farm, but well, that's just how it goes sometimes (there are way too many pine trees in Bemidji for an apple orchard!). The kids really wanted to pick apples, so we found this fun little orchard that has animals, hayrides, and apples!
The apples were big and beautiful and tasty. We picked enough for eating, and pie baking and maybe even some applesauce.

Ha, ha. Mick and Sadie are the cutest chicks in Minnesota.I think the kids enjoyed the corn bin best of all.
They could feed the goats...

And hold the babies...
and feed all of the apples that have fallen off the trees to the cows.
There was also a hayride where we got to pick gourds and popcorn, that will be dry enough to eat come January. There were also lots of other animals too: peacocks, sheep, pigs, lots and lots of chickens and even a super-friendly farm cat. This little orchard was big on family fun.