The Long Walk Home

We live only three blocks from C's school. But sometimes it can take us, oh, forever, to get home. Here's a glimpse into .... the walk home. (Song: Fly Me to the Moon by Ralph Covert)

Fun & Pies

Today was H's school's annual fun fair. The Pie-in-the-Face Contest is one of the highlights of the event. Throughout the week, students give money to collection jars for the staff member they want to see get a pie in the face. The winner is the one who received the most money in their jar. The lucky contenders (from right to left in the top photo) were the school secretary, a kindergarten teacher, a forth grade teacher, a third grader teacher (who H voted for), the Spanish teacher (who wore a Mexican wrestling mask -- classic) and the gym teacher. The school engineer was the MC. Mrs. Johnson, the school secretary, ended up being the lucky winner. And was cheered on by a bunch of screaming students. It was really funny. Of course, the fun fair also had games and a cake walk. H won three cakes. In a row. He's a lucky guy. After wards, we went to Pete's. They were passing out instant win tickets for Gyros for a Year. Thirty-five grand prizes are being given out by the company who supplies the gyros (odds of winning are 1:7,826). Guess who won? H! I almost sent him out to buy a lottery ticket after a day like that.

Ethiopian Dinner

For months, a group of us have been talking about getting together for Ethiopian cuisine. We've heard great things, but never tried it. Penny was the mastermind organizer. She had planned a surprise for Chris, and it worked out that this was a day we could all actually get together. We went to Ras Dashen, and Chris had no idea we would be there. It was fun. Eating Ethiopian cuisine is very interesting. You eat using injera -- a spongy sourdough flatbread -- and just scoop it up. Between 10 of us, we got to try a lot of different foods. And I have to admit, the live music and Xingu made the experience pretty nice too.

We ended the evening by coming home to these two little sleeping boys, with H still in his 3D glasses from watching Coraline. Sweet.

The Man I Married

For a funny Friday photo, I thought I'd share this one of Brian. It seems that every winter, he grows out a beard (for the record, I'm not a fan, but it doesn't stop him). When it comes time to shave, he tends to cut here and there, sporting various looks. Here's one of them. Enjoy!

It's Official

C is officially registered for Kindergarten next year. And it feels great. I am so excited to have the boys at the same school, with the same schedule, again. At least for three more years....

He wore his suit to school today (see above). It's either the suit, or his soccer uniform. Anything else causes major struggles in the morning. The ladies at his school asked if there was a special occasion. Maybe it's because we went to the dentist tonight? Who knows what goes on in that little mind of his. Today, when I picked C up from school, he grabbed up two icicles and started rubbing them together. He said "Back in the old days -- you know, like when you had short hair and Dad had long hair -- this is how you made fire, right?" Nice.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Yum. Dinner at The Depot hit the spot.

Dog Friend

We are getting some trim put in on our second floor. I know, what's the rush, right? We've only lived in our house 5 years now. Anyhow, the person working on it brought his dog over for the day to play with Storm. She was so cute. It was fun being met at the door by two big dogs. Too bad I couldn't tear her away from the ball to get a decent photo.

Chuck

A few weeks ago, the boys spent the night with Brian's mom. She took them to Chuck E. Cheese, which they love. She recently mailed C this picture. He must have left it at her house. I think it's just adorable. I know this could be one of the last times, if not the last time, he's going to want to go on this ride. I wish I could just make this growing up thing stop.

Skiing with C, T, J & M

Last week, Brian was in Colorado and LA. He came home Friday afternoon, and that night, we headed up to Wisconsin to go skiing with my sister and her family. We planned to get away for the entire weekend, but in the end, we decided to stay "local" and went to Cascade again. H is doing fantastic on skies. He's a total dare-devil and it's pretty close to impossible to keep up with him. He turns, can slow down, and is just becoming a very confident skier. It's great to see. C on the other hand turns into a noodle. He does great too, but is a lot more timid and wants to be pulled around everywhere. To top it off, he finally let go of my pole on one run, and ran right into a snowboarder. It totally embarrassed him and pretty much is when his day ended. Brian, who was suffering from a jammed thumb from a tumble, took him home early. We met back at Christie & Tim's for dinner. Brian taught the kids how to do the worm. I had to laugh when he woke up and mentioned his stomach muscles were killing him. But he did say it was too bad we didn't have a piece of cardboard laying around so we could really see what break dancing moves he could really throw down. Oh boy. Thanks for the great weekend guys!

Toasted Marshmallow Shake

When my sister was in town of the weekend, we decided to make some Toasted Marshmallow Shakes. Um, yeah. They were really good.

Found

Looks like M and H had a little fun on the computer over the weekend. I love finding photos like this. P.S. See the little green scarf around M's neck? She learned how to finger knit the day before. So cute.

Art by H: Frog Cup

H's class had to create an animal out of clay. He decided to turn it into a mug. There's a handle on the other side. Pretty clever, if you ask me. Unfortunately, a kindergarten boy stepped on his backpack (on purpose, I guess) and shattered it. Kids can be mean. H was crushed. He spent a lot of time on it, and was very excited to show us his final project. I spent a lot of time gluing it back together. There's one more piece to go, but it will be ok. Just don't try to pick it up if you come over.

Congratulations Jesse!

We are super proud of our friend Jesse! It's been fun watching him throughout his professional career, and I know he'll be great in his new role as Assistant Coach to the US National Soccer team.

Stewing

The boys and I had something to really look forward to tonight -- dinner at The Elsmo's. Melissa made an amazing beef stew and salad. H even had seconds. You'd think I never feed the kid. It was absolutely delicious. And sharing a weekday meal with this awesome family was a real treat. Thank you for a great evening.