Ski School 2012

Bemidji is a great place to live if you love playing in the outdoors. Winter activities are just as plentiful as summer activities as long as you dress for it. There is a saying, "there's no such thing as cold weather only poor clothing choices" and I have to agree (well, kind of, 50 below is cold no matter what you wear!). Luckily, the area has tons of things to do at a reasonable price or for free.
The Bemidji Cross-Country Ski Club hosts a ski school every winter. The kids attended last year and were excited to join again this year. For the low low price of $65 we all signed up for ski school. They provide the skis for kids. Dennis wanted to try skate ski lessons, so he rented his skis (he has classical skis) for $5 from the college. I signed up for classical nordic skiing just to get some pointers like how to turn at the bottom of a steep hill so I don't hit a tree which is my biggest issue! Not that I've ever hit a tree, but I've been very close, I just wipe out first!

The kids learn the basics: how to fall, how to get up after you fall, how to go downhill, how to get back up the hill, how to push and glide, how to pass, etc.

They love ski school but really I think they just go outside so they can have hot chocolate when they come in!

Only 2 more weeks of ski school then the following week is the Barnelopet which is a children's x-country ski race that's just for fun! I can't wait to see them in their racing bibs!

Gymnastics Fun Meet!

This was the second year that Sadie participated in the Gym Bin's Fun Meet which is for all class levels that are "non-competitive". It gives the girls an opportunity to show off their skills, practice in front of a crowd and have fun. And truly, from the smile on Sadie's face during the whole meet she was obviously having a blast.

Sadie was in all of the events: floor, beam, vault and bars. I put 2 videos on, one with her best score and one with her worst. Really I have no idea how they score, but they do and the girls get a different colored ribbon based on their score.
The floor routine is what she did the worst in, but I think the blue ribbon that she had around her neck was distracting her! Plus, I love hearing Eli and Sadie's classmate Jack in the background giving commentary.



The beam is the event she scored the highest in and I have to agree that it was her best event. Though, as I've mentioned I can't really tell you why.


The other big gymnastics news is that starting tomorrow Sadie will be moving up to a new level. She'll be a "Rising Star" which means that she will be a part of the "gymnastics club" and will be in the ASAG pre-competitive Level 2. Really, it's a really big way of saying that she'll be practicing 2 times a week for 2 hours each time and that I will have more work to do as a gymnastics mom. It's a big step but she's super-excited about her move. Let's hope she still enjoys it after tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Paul Bunyan!

Bemidji's very own Paul Bunyan turned 75 this week. To celebrate, the students at Paul Bunyan Kindergarten celebrated him and Minnesota in lots of ways. But, the highlight was a visit from Paul Bunyan himself who came to the school for an assembly. But, before I get to those pictures, let's take a walk down memory lane.

This is the Zeman family who rendezvoused in Bemidiji back in 1981 (?). My mom is holding Paul's hand, I'm holding my cousin Kelly so you can hardly see me, my dad is looking a little like Tom Selleck in Magnum PI and my brother is behind the stroller.

Here is another photo of our family with Paul. This was taken in 2007 before we moved here. We were passing through from International Falls to Fargo after my brother's wedding.

The kids were supposed to dress up like Paul Bunyan by wearing red, plaid, or flannel and a black hat.

Look at Paul!! He really is a giant. The kids wrote tall tales and read them to Paul and they gave him a present!

Here are some students fitting inside Paul's Belt. I think 21 kids fit inside!!

Big Dreams

Eli had his pal Ryan over for a sleepover. The boys were talking in their sleeping bags on the livingroom floor while I laid on the couch and enjoyed their 6 year old conversation which went something like this.

Eli: My dad said that when I get good at shooting my bow and arrow, I can shoot rabbits with it. (sidenote: I'm pretty sure Dennis never said this.)

Ryan: Yeah. My dad said that when I get good at shooting my BB gun I can hunt rabbits too. Then I can shoot deer, buck, elk, antelope, black bear, grizzly bear, gophers, owls, eagles...

Eli: You can't shoot eagles.

Ryan: Why not?

Eli: I don't know you just can't.

Ryan: And I can shoot foxes, coyotes, wolves...

Eli: You can't shoot wolves there's only 7 of those left.

Ryan: Ok, I won't shoot wolves. But, I can go out west when I get bigger and shoot rattlesnakes.

Well, I don't know about rabbits, but haybales are a great place to start.

After hitting the haybale Eli said, "Am I ready to hunt rabbits yet?"

I think he needs to work on being able to pull the bow back himself before he can move on to hunting rabbits... Where do these kids come up with these things?

I Need To Write This Down

Lately, my kids have really been making me laugh and every time I think, "I need to write this down." So tonight I'm going to do just that. Eli just got a new student teacher. Here was our conversation about him.

Me: Eli, how do you like your new teacher?
Eli: I don't know. He's weird.
Me: What do you mean by weird?
Eli: He has floppy hair.
Me: You shouldn't decide if you like someone by their hair. You should judge them by...
Sadie (interrupting): Their body!

After laughing so hard we cried...

Dennis: I think what Mom wanted to say is that we should judge them by how well they treat you.

New Years 2012!

It's become a tradition for us to head to Napoleon, ND to visit Dennis' family over New Years. It has also been tradition for us to get snowed in, but not this year. This year there was no snow and mild 40 degree weather. It was odd seeing ND so brown this time of year. We all had a blast playing lots and lots of games (Qwirkle, Dicecapades, Pinochle, Blokus, Rummikub, not to mention 3 ipads, a kindle, a laptop and a PC--grandma and great-(great) aunt Carolyn even learned how to play Angry Birds!) with all of our favorite Sperles (Terri, Paula, Pat, Grams and Gramps, Greg, Michele and Jack, Megan and Andrew, The Meyers minus Emily and Carl, the Gees minus Adam and Kyle, Carolyn, and Christine and Tony). We even managed to go iceskating and we visited our favorite store, Nita's. We ate about 3000 cookies and somehow still managed to eat our meals with icecream for dessert.
We did not make it until midnight to bring in the New Year. Instead we said happy new year and good night at about 10:00. Can you believe that I didn't take any pictures? Argh. I need to get better at this. Anyways, Jack is 18 months and looks so much like Eli did at that age which means he is deadly cute!! Take a look back at Eli at that age and you'll see what I mean!

Too Many Presents!

I forgot to post the kids' ornaments from us this year. They're chicken ornaments that I made to represent their favorite chickens, Annie and Brownie. I made them from recycled sweaters. They turned out pretty cute, if I do say so.

Eli has been begging for a wii and Santa pulled through. The kids were pretty excited. Eli also got tons of legos, a mini pool table, a bow and arrow and hockey skates.

Sadie got squinkies, new earrings, a Barbie, some craft things, and this outfit from her Uncle Greg. She rocks it!

She also got these cute calico critters that I think are so cute. I found 50 pictures like this on the camera when I was putting them onto the computer!

Sadie and Eli gave each other homemade gifts this year. Sadie made Eli a tooth pouch that he can put his tooth in when he loses his tooth so the tooth fairy can find it. Eli made Sadie this pink flower barrett.

We went skating after Christmas to try out Eli's and Dennis' new iceskates. It was a perfectly wonderful time.

Some other present highlights:

:: Dennis got a Kindle Fire
:: Sadie picked out Grandma and Grandpa ornaments and paid for them with her own money!
:: I got 3 different levels of wool socks from Dennis. He must be tired of hearing "My feet are cold!"
:: Eli got me an alligator looking oven mit and garlic crusher. Sadie got me a jewelry box.
:: Dennis and I celebrated our 9th anniversary on Dec. 28. I bought him a cheap picture from Etsy. He bought me a painting from a local artist. I'm spoiled!

The Obligatory Pictures In Front of the Tree

We had a very relaxing Christmas at home. I love staying at home for Christmas and declared to my family that we weren't going anywhere, but everyone was welcome. And so they came. We celebrated early with Darren's family as they were going to International Falls to have Christmas with the in-laws. My parents stayed the longest ever arriving on Friday and leaving the afternoon of Christmas Day. We did family Christmas on Friday night. Reid and Anissa are at fun ages. Anissa just wanted paper and boxes and Reid loved everything and squeeled with delight after opeing every gift. Except the gift we gave him, which was a perfect Reid-sized backpack that he declared as being "just a little bit too big!" Eli and Sadie loved having their cousins over and were excited to watch them open their presents because for the whole month of December the kids have been finding toys and books that they declared they'd outgrown and wrapped them up for Reid and Anissa. Reid and Anissa had a lot of presents to open mostly because my kids loved wrapping up presents!

We spent Christmas Eve Day over at a friends house iceskating. I still can't get over how wonderful the ice is and how much I love iceskating. We let Eli open up one of his gifts early as he had a new pair of skates under the tree. Little did Dennis know that he also had a brand new pair of skates wrapped under the tree, but we made him wait. We went to Mass and both of my children fell asleep during the service which was at 5PM. We came home and had tacos for supper, which may sound a bit untraditional but it was perfect. Fast, tasty and my kids didn't complain! Then we opened presents and promptly went to bed as NORAD was telling us that Santa was in Illinois so we figured we'd better hurry!!

Christmas morning came early with the sounds of "Santa was here! Santa was here!" The kids opened presents and Sadie declared it a pajama day. We had Swedish Meatballs for lunch and watched the kids play wii which is what Santa brought for the kids. It was a nice relaxing, no stress kind of Christmas. Just the way it should be.

What I Got For Christmas

A local artist, Alice Blessing, painted this portrait of Eli and Sadie. The cool thing about Alice's technique is that she paints with her fingers! I'm so excited about how it turned out. I'm so happy with it. It's even better than I imagined. She captured Eli perfectly. She did give Sadie blue eyes, which she is going to redo into the melt your heart chocolate that they are. Then, I think Sadie will look perfect too. It's weird, I almost feel like they're teenagers or something.

Christmas Letter 2011

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Pond Skating

Growing up in ND, we would strap on our skates and walk down the gravel road to the coulee to skate. If we were lucky a dad had come and shoveled away the snow. The ice was always rough and the coulee small which left hardly any room for the girls to "figure skate" because the boys were hogging all the ice playing hockey. Not quite perfect but it was fun and it was all we knew.



When we first moved to MN, I'd heard on the local radio station about how rare perfect ice is on the lakes for skating. Usually because it's either windy when the ice freezes which makes the ice rough or because there's too much snow on the ice making it impossible to skate on. Well, this year the stars aligned and we have been given the gift of perfect ice for "pond skating" and we are so grateful. The ice is awesome: glassy, smooth and singing! We've been trying to take advantage of mother's nature gift and get on the ice as much as we can before it snows. It's actually quite nerve-racking. I know that the ice is a good 4-5 inches thick, but the ice is so glassy, it looks like at any moment you're going to skate right into the water. The kids are having a blast seeing through the ice and seeing the bottom of the lake along with frozen fish and all!

Sadie's Christmas Concert

The students at TLC pre-school put on a short Christmas program for their families on Wednesday night. It was funny and chaotic and cute. All of the things a Christmas Program should be. Sadie was very excited and wanted to wear her fanciest dress and have her hair done up like a princess. She wasn't feeling 100%, but I'd say she was way more involved than Eli was at his first Christmas program!! Here's a little hint of how the concert went:

Here is a cute picture of Sadie with one of her newest BFFs, Clara. Those girls have so much fun together. Not to mention that I love Clara's whole family. Clara's mom, Missy and I have become good friends this year. We spend a lot of time drinking coffee while the girls are at school!

Visiting Santa

Santa and Mrs. Claus came to visit the library this past weekend. We love seeing Santa at the library because somehow they always manage to get the real Santa not one of those silly elves that Santa sends to do his job when he's double booked. And Mrs. Claus, who really, let's admit, is the brains behind the operation always comes to help Santa out. The kids brought their letters just in case they forgot to mention what they really want for Christmas

What does Eli want? A wii with Mario Kart and sports resort. This is the first year that Eli has come home questioning Santa. Not because he doesn't believe but because he's heard things on the bus. I shake my fist at you yellow school bus!  Even when Caleb who seems to know everything in Eli's mind ("He can count to a million in one day, he told me, mom!") said that he doesn't believe in Santa Claus, Eli laughed at Caleb's lunacy.

What does Sadie want? Squinkies. The girl has hundreds of those rubbery things and the balls they come in. It's enough to drive a mom insane. But, apparently you can never have too many squinkies. Sadie's letter was quite humorous. She even promised to "leave a surprise" for Santa!

My niece and nephew, Anissa and Reid, were there too. Anissa could have cared less whose lap she was sitting on. Reid while brave enough to sit on his lap would not look at Santa.

We finished the day by going to the golden arches for lunch followed by selecting out Christmas tree. We didn't chop our tree down this year, but we should have. It was a balmy 30 degrees and there was no snow on the ground so it would have been much easier then in years past. But, we wanted to try another place. Pictures of our tree to come!!

School Photos 2011-2012

Sadie's Preschool Photo 2011-2012

Eli's Kindergarten Photo 2011-2012

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.