Merry Christmas from the Sperles

Another collage by Smilebox

Fall Piano Recital 2013

I'm just going to stop apologizing for posting so sporadically and just let you enjoy when I do post!

Eli played Chant Arabe

A duet! How sweet! Laughing Song

 

Sadie played Shepherd's Song.

Another Saturday Night

I love gathering with friends: the wholesome food, the laughter, the good conversation,  the music, the children's shrieks, the bare feet, the warm fire, the chickens and the goats. What a delightful evening my friends, Susan and Patrick, hosted on their sweet little hobby farm.

Sadie couldn't get enough of the goats.

What's a party without a little music?

Even the rooster had a good time.

TKD Demo

(I know these photos are repeats for those of you on FB but I know for sure that the g'mas have not seen these yet!) Eli participated in a TKD demo at the World Wide Day of Play on the lake front in downtown Bemidji on Saturday. It was a beautiful fall day and a fun way to spend the day!

Labor Day Weekend

We have some college friends that we try to get together with a couple of times a year. We usually try to go camping together once a summer but this year a wedding ended up conflicting with the weekend we could both get together (yes, we had to plan our camping trip in Feb so we could reserve a camping spot that go so quickly, plus get time off from work, and to coordinate 2 busy families schedules. Apparently it takes more time to plan a camping trip then it does to plan a wedding. Not that we didn't enjoy the wedding!) Not to be discouraged from our failed attempt at camping, they invited us to spend Labor Day weekend at her brother's cabin just a few hours from us. We jumped at the chance because we do love spending time with these guys and the kids get along so well.

As soon as we arrived we jumped on the boat. A storm was supposed at arrive at supper time so we wanted to enjoy the sunshine while we could.

They have this crazy board that is supposed to teach kids how to waterski. Sadie gave it a try and was brave enough to stand up even after her failed attempt at skiing earlier this summer.

These girls could hang out for days and not tire of one another.

Lots of swimming...

 



And fishing...

It rained, a lot, and thundered and lightninged too. Good thing we all love playing games and eating because that's what we did the rest of the day. Oh, and we sat by the campfire and fished some too. It was a great way to enjoy the weekend before school started!

Mr. Nibbles

You might notice that the hamster's name has changed. Actually, a name has been added and may now be called either Gromit or Mr. Nibbles. He obtained the name Mr. Nibbles because he bites. Hard. He bites each and every time you try to take him out of his cage. However, my kids learned to use a toilet paper tube to remove him safely from the cage which is pretty ingenious. Once he's out of the cage, he doesn't bite. Weird, eh? Anyways, we've fallen for this cute little rodent. Who knew?

First Day of School 2013

Sadie, 6, first grade/ Eli, 8, second grade

After a summer of busy-ness, and playing, and activities and camps, and spending time with family, and vacation, and free-time and leisure, and a little bit of boredom the kids headed off to their first day of school.  They handled it just the way I thought they would. Sadie was up at the crack of dawn and talking a mile a minute about seeing her teacher and her friends. Eli came down the stairs saying, "I don't feel so good." By the time  we drove up, they were both excited to back at Schoolcraft for another year!


Eli is in a 2/3 class. This is his teacher Carla.

The students at SLC spend 2 years with their teachers. Sadie is excited to have AnnaMae once again!

 

I realized yesterday when I got home that I had my camera on manual focus which means that all of my pictures from the first day were blurry. So, I tried to get day 2 pictures. This is what Sadie thought about that:

And then after school I tried to get one in front of the Schoolcraft sign with the pretty flowers and again I got a grump!

I am still teaching Cooperative Life Skills (aka Conflict Management) at Schoolcraft 2 days a week. It was my first day too as I'm working Mondays and Tuesdays this year.

Ropes Course Challenge!

Before I went back to work, the teachers received a letter from our director telling us that the first day of workshops was a "mystery" and that we should bring lots of water, wear clothes that you can move in that you're not afraid to get dirty in, and to wear good solid shoes. No one knew what we were in for that morning as we boarded a chartered bus. We drove about an hour until we arrived to a location near Park Rapids and read a sign outside that said "Character Challenge Course". We were in for a day of team building at a ropes course and it was a blast!! It was 95 degrees that day so we were all hot messes by the end of the day, but we all laughed so hard, grew as a staff and learned so much about ourselves.

Starting the morning with a word that describes us mine was cheerleader as I tend to be the encourager of the group!

The Flying Squirrel: what you can't see is that my co-workers had to run to get me into the air.

 

The Leap of Faith: At the top of the pole, I had to state my goals for the year. Then you made the leap and tried to grab the trapeze bar...

I said "try" because while I had the bar in my grasp it was really slippery and my palms were really sweaty.

 

Stacy and I leaning on each other and trying to hold each other up.

Can you trust a spotter that smiles like that?

I laughed so hard on this exercise that I almost peed my pants. We had to balance across the ropes to get the whole team across. We really had to hold each other up!

Lunch break! Did I mention it was 95 degrees?

The afternoon was spent doing a high ropes course.

And the finale: a zip to the finish line!

End of Summer

I hardly took any pictures this summer. Mostly because I was frustrated with my camera. It took horrible pictures and a big majority of them ended up blurry so then I just stopped taking pictures. For instance, those cute flower girl pictures of Sadie were all taken by somebody else. Eli's birthday photos were taken by my mom because on that day my camera refused to work at all. So after everyone headed out after Eli's party I began my internet search for a new camera. I'm usually a hemm-er and a haw-er about these sorts of things and I usually take days to make a decision but I found the one I wanted, it got good reviews, would fit in my purse and works well in low-light and captures moving objects (2 of my big must-haves). So, after several hours of research I hit buy and haven't looked back! I decided on a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-RX100. I've taken more pictures in the last week than I have all year!! It took me awhile to get the hang of it, but I'm getting better pictures already. So, I hope you all are excited for the blog to pick back up a little bit. :)

 

Here are some of my practice shots and highlights of the week:

 

Funny note about this picture: after Eli looked at all of his pictures he asked, "Can't you get any shots that don't show my ribs?" I said, "Put on a shirt."

Funny note about this picture: after Sadie looked at all of her pictures she asked, "Is my hair really that messy?" Hmm... these are things I've been telling her all summer!!

Missing her two front teeth!!

 

Eli's 8th Birthday!

 It's hard to believe that this guy has been with us for 8 years! Where did the time go? He was thrilled for his birthday. All he wanted and would ask for over and over and over again for a hamster.  I was not thrilled with this idea, but here he is holding a hamster, so I guess you can see that I was out voted! He named this cute little dwarf hamster Gromit. And enjoys the little guy once he's out of the cage and not biting. Believe me, he cuts skin with those cute little teeth!

 Eli wanted a campout birthday party with his friends. So we set up a couple of tents and tol Nile, Zoe, Abel and Noah to bring their sleeping bags and come for a party. Plus, Sadie's friend Haven and Reid, Anissa and Bennett came over for a little while.

We ate camp food: hot dogs, corn on the cob and root beer...

Did a little archery (in a hot pink witch costume even!), went on a treasure hunt for flashlights and Frisbees...

And ate cake, of course!

Happy birthday, Eli. We are so proud of the person you are and we love you more every day!