I (well, WE) got a new camera for Christmas!!

I was a little concerned that my new camera (a Canon Power Shot) wouldn't be compatible with my OLD computer- but I plugged it in, and it worked just fine. So- here's some pictures of our Christmas holiday adventures.

After church on Christmas Eve, we drove to Yankton to my parents' house, where Santa had already been by 8:00! The kids got to open 1 gift each (that's when I got my new camera), and their stockings.

Maia had a Princess camera in her stocking that says things like, "Oh! You look wonderful!" (particularly funny on Christmas morning when none of us looked wonderful), and "You're as pretty as a princess!" (Which it seemed to say to Xander EVERY time Maia took his picture)


Santa ALWAYS leaves socks and underware in our stockings at Grandma's house. Here's Xander proving that he's Grandpa Bruce's boy at heart.


Maia was thrilled to get a Hannah Montana Barbie- another one (she got one from Uncle Casey & Aunt Heidi too). This one sings.


Xander was excited to get "Prince Caspian" on DVD. Funny because the first Narnia movie was playing on Grandma's TV when we got there.


I think this picture could have happened in 3 different variations. The boy is OBSESSED with Bionicles.


We had a nice Christmas Day- got to watch Grandpa go out on the deck in his bare feet and chase the turkeys away- but one was really confused by the plexiglass on the deck... Matt took some video with our new camera, but I'm going to have to try to figure out how to upload it.

We had our traditional steak dinner, and WAY too much Christmas goodies.

We had to go home early on Friday morning so that Matt could work 8 hours, then the kids & I picked him up after work and we headed to Matt's folks for the next 24 hours or so.

Xander hit the jackpot there- I think his favorite gift of the year: The Bionicle Movie!

He watched it twice in the time we were at Grandma Georgie's.

Maia got some Princess art supplies from her artist grandparents. But the pictures all look terrible. (The ones I took, not the artwork she made... better make that clear!)

Maia & Xander had great fun with their cousins, Cassie & Lexi, and Grandpa Bruce, going out sledding in the pasture. Luckily, the extreme cold spell we had from the week before had broken, but the day before we got there, almost all the snow melted. The kids found a way to sled anyway, and had great fun!





Cassie whimped out first, so I didn't get any pictures of her, but Grandpa got in on the action too!

Christmas Program at Mercy

We had a fun Christmas program Sunday morning. It was postponed from the week before due to extreme windchills after dark. We did it at the morning service, and almost had to cancel it altogether because of windchills again. Winds at 25-20 mph, with temps in the -15º range, and windchills ranging down to -45º. Nice.

Anyway, we had to substitute a few people in, but only 3. Not too bad, and we had almost enough kids to cover the parts (two youth group members had to reprise their roles as Mary & Joseph from last year... They're getting too big for the costumes!)

So here's some pictures:
The manger scene, taking advantage of projection to provide our only set.


This is Slater, who more than anything wants to be a rock star like our guitar player, Nich. So when there was a cool guitar solo in the pre-recorded music, I gave him the opportunity to have an air guitar solo. It was cute.


Look at our pretty little flock of angels. Two of them had purple fairy wings on, which I decided was OK. Doesn't Maia look adorable? She did such a good job.


I spent hours making these goofy wisemen hats, which of course, the kids thought were stupid. TOO BAD! WEAR THEM ANYWAY! :)


Xander (left) & Josh (right) were archangels, so they got shiny costumes. Xander was Gabriel this year, a cool dude, trumpet playin' angel who appeared to the shepherds. Apparently, he was too cool to open his mouth to sing this year.


The whole flock of angels...


They kind of resemble "A Charlie Brown Christmas" looking up in the air and singing. The words were projected on the back wall for them.

Halloween 08

I made costumes for the kids this year. They went as Wall-E and Eve. This would have been great if we didn't have to explain it to everyone. At least when they were together, Maia's costume was a little easier to figure out. Several people were asking,

Is she a spaceman?
A marshmallow?
A trashcan?

Yeah, we dressed our daughter as white trash for Halloween.

Birthday Boy

Xander celebrated his 9th birthday on Saturday. I was so busy with so many things this week, I decided to "buy" his party this year instead of "making" it. I bought a cake from Hy-Vee, they had a Bionicle theme in their book!

Xander opened his presents from us before I left in the morning (I had to take 2 high school students to competition in Brookings in the morning). This is the best smile I've been able to capture from Xander on film since he was about 4 years old!

This genuine smile occured when he discovered his BIG gift, a Nintendo DS. A combo gift from mom & dad and grandpa & grandma.

Maia helped Dad make a second birthday cake (for the family party in the evening) and really got into licking the beaters, apparently. Goofball.


Xander's friends party was at the Washington Pavilion center for arts and sciences. They had a clay studio theme, where they all got to make pottery and paint it. We'll get the finished product back in a couple of weeks. The kids (10 total including Xander & Maia) got to go to the science center for the last hour of the party. It was pretty easy when someone else provided the structure.



We were very proud of Xander when he agreed to allow his guests to bring a gift for Operation Christmas Child instead of a gift for him. It was a hard choice to make, but the family's gifts more than made up for all the little $10 gifts he would have gotten from friends. And now he has 8 boxes for OCC to take to church this week when they collect them.



As we were waiting for the last of the kids to leave from the party, I got a call from my mom, letting me know that everyone was waiting patiently (it was pretty chilly out) in our driveway for us to arrive.

We continued the party day with a family gathering, including Grampa Bruce, Grandma Georgie, Grampa Jim, Grandma Marilyn, Grandpa Dave, Aunt Rena, and cousins Cassie & Lexi.

Of course, Lexi & Xander disappeared together, so Cassie got to check out Xander's new DS. We bought it used, and it came with Pokemon Pearl, which apparently the former user had gotten all the levels on or something. She was so excited (yes, my 15 year-old niece is a Pokemon junkie- STILL!), that she was playing and texting a friend all at the same time.



Rena says, "Sure, she can't get her math done, but she can multi-task Nintendo and Text Messaging at the same time." What a girl. Everyone's got a special talent!

Monday, Xander chose to spend his birthday money at Target. First he traded in his Gameboy and some old games at a used game shop, then we went to Target, and he got a huge Bionicle set (he didn't build this one in an hour- it's still in many pieces on my table), a Nerf protective cover for his DS, and a DS game, "Lego Indiana Jones."

In all, a great birthday for a great kid!

Serving at the Banquet

Tonight, Mercy church turned out in full force (46 of our little community) to serve at our local soup kitchen (for lack of a better term) that serves meals to the needy in Sioux Falls.

I took Xander with me (Matt had to work and Maia went with a sitter), and our job was to clean tables and chairs after they had been used. They served 542 people tonight. We worked hard (some people for a very long time), and had a great time serving some very grateful people.

I got to pray with a guy that he would get a job soon, hear another guy's story about how he's been drug, alcohol and nicotine free for 8 months and got baptized 5 months ago. While he doesn't have a job, he sure has confidence in God and is brimming with blessings.

An older fellow wearing a flourescent pink flowered cap with "Miami" embroidered on it was proud to show off his diamond pin. (Dime And Pin- he had a dime with a hole drilled in it hooked to a safety pin on his shirt!)

One fellow told me he sings so badly he can shut the shower down!

Oh, and I almost got punched in the face. I'm not sure why I happened to be the one in the right place at the right time, but I broke up two guys who started a verbal fight and nearly came to blows. Sweet Dave from our church, (in his 50s and about a year into his journey with Parkinsons) was right behind me making sure nothing actually got physical. It's good to know he's got my back. :)

Later Dave says to me, "You must have scared your mother to death when you were a kid." Ha! I've never done anything like that before- EVER! Except breaking up my kids when they've gotten too insane. And to be honest, I used the same tactics and language.

All these big tough guys from church were like, "why didn't you let me do that?" I don't know! It was a act-first-think-later moment. I found my knees shaking for the next half hour or so.

I know, now you're saying, "You took your kid into that environment?!" He was perfectly safe the whole time, and knew the rule- stick by my side the entire time (unless I'm breaking up a fist fight). He did well, and he felt great afterward. I was really proud of him.

Catching up

OK, I only have 2 minutes, so here's all the things I haven't blogged about in the last 3 months:

We put down a new kitchen floor. Looks great!!!

I got a new car- that yellow bug I've been dreaming of. She's so cute. Her name is Maizÿ.

Our carpets are really clean- well, the were a week ago when the carpet cleaners came.

I'm now directing not only the All City Elementary school musical in March (the Pied Piper), but also the Kids Christmas musical at church.

Matt is well on his way to winning us an all-inclusive trip to Jamaica in March (right after the ACE Musical). We are REALLY looking forward to it.

I have an AWESOME group of students this semester. Interestingly, about half of them start with the letter A- and I have 3 Annas and 3 Erins. Weird random facts.

I'll be taking 4 students to the South Dakota Music Teachers' Association student competion next WEEK. Almost all of them are ready. (worrying about one of my Annas).

Maia's hitting a growth spurt

OK, I've been reserving my decision whether to send Maia to Kindergarten next year or not, but just this week, she's hit this intellectual growth spurt. I don't know if that's a real thing, but it seems an appropriate term. Yesterday, Maia started reading. She voluntarily spent an hour tracing letters while I was teaching a lesson last night, and today, she about wore me out wanting to learn new things.

She started piano lessons (found a great book for pre-readers in the Piano Adventures series by Faber & Faber) today, and I'm just amazed at the leap she's taken in the last few weeks.

I have to say, I'm a firm believer in preschool. WOW!

Quote of the Day

Tonight, Maia requested a hard boiled egg for supper. She told Matt she wanted salt, but, "not too much salt, or I'll go into a diabetic coma."

Maia is 4.

Hair Evangelism

So, this morning, I had 2 visitors at church mention how much they like my hair (reminder of what it looks like)


One mom with 3 or 4 kids was at our big outdoor Get Mercy celebration last weekend, and when I introduced myself, she said, "I remember you! You had the Mickey Mouse shirt and that funky hair." (of course, the fact that I stood on stage the entire morning didn't hurt either!)

After church, I was talking to another couple, and the woman said, "When we pulled up to church this morning, you were standing outside, and I said to my husband, 'Look at her cool hair! This is going to be a fun church.'" That's right folks, some might call it crazy or "brave" (I haven't figured that out yet- taking a bullet for someone is brave, not dying your hair red), but I prefer to think that it's drawing people to Jesus.

New Pictures

So, our friend Leah is leaving us this week, but before she went, she took some great family photos of us. Here's a few...







I think this will work, I have more pictures saved on an album on Phanfare.

Tubers

The kids went to Grandma Marilyn's last weekend and Maia became a Tuber! Doesn't she look so brave in this picture?



Oops. She must have gotten water in her face.




Xander got to ride on this deal which was pretty cool too.
They had so much fun!


I sent them over to mom's for Friday and Saturday while I worked on my sermon for Sunday. It worked out good for all, the kids got to watch some TV, hang out on the boat and generally have a little vacation, and I finished up my prep on Friday (took about 8 hours), then Matt & I went out on a date Friday night.

Saturday was a Matt & Amy day and we had a nice time, but I'm not going into details! :)

pool fun

Look what Xander learned in swimming lessons!



It's not going to win him the olympics or anything, but he's got a good start on diving.

Maia just likes to jump off the side into my arms -she's now quite aggressive at this and I have to stand on the first lane line so that she won't jump on my head. I haven't figured out how to take a picture of this, when I'm the only grown-up of our group most pool days. I caught her quick with the camera as she ran past in this picture.

I'm sure the shot was followed by me saying, "Pull up your pants!"

First Day of Swimming Lessons

The Parks & Rec Department in Sioux Falls has a great deal on 2 weeks of swim lessons- $10 or $15 if you have your season pass. The only catch is, you have to get the kids registered before the classes fill up.

So here's my story: The Monday evening and Tuesday morning of the week before lessons start is the time to register your kid for lessons. Last year, I forgot all about it on Monday night, didn't get there until Tuesday morning, and all the classes I needed were full. So the kids didn't get lessons. I later found out that a different (less popular) pool might have been the answer to my problem, but we decided to "home school" swim lessons and it worked out fine.

So this year, I thought, I would go to the less popular pool right away, avoiding the long lines and full classes at the hip trendy pool we usually go to. Wait, let me see if I can find pictures of these two pools... OK, here's the hip trendy pool

it includes a zero depth entry, two toddler slides, and a big waterslide (not pictured)

and here's the less popular pool.

This is where they have swim meets. It's a lap pool with a diving board at one end. Not as fun for the little ones.

We live an equal distance between them.

Anyway, registration started at 5:30 Monday night, I had to teach a lesson until 5:30, but she came early, so as soon as I got her out the door, I got the kids in the car and we were headed for the pool by 5:20. Xander kept asking, "Do you think we'll get in this year?" I assured him that I had things all figured out, and we were definitely getting in this year. So we pull up to the pool, where there is only a very short line of 2 or 3 families waiting to register, get out of the car, and I THEN take the time to look at my summer activities guide only to discover to my dismay, that they don't teach preschool lessons at this pool! (it's too deep)

Now, if I would have taken a moment to think things through, I might have decided that since Xander didn't get his first batch of swimming lessons until he was 8 (and he's doing great in the water, by the way), maybe Maia would be OK missing out preschool level swimming lessons- since it's really only a matter of getting used to the water at that age, which we do just fine with on our own. Also, given her great fear of large group situations without me around, I might have just saved my $10.

But I didn't.

I loaded us all back into the car and headed for the hip trendy pool, there to be greeted by 3 lines (one for each time session) probably 50 feet long.

And it was hot.

Luckily, my kids are big enough to go and play on the playground equipment (located maybe a half block away- within eye-shot, but not close enough for those lucky moms who had to bring their toddlers and babies along). 45 minutes later, I got both kids registered for lessons, Maia in the preschool class (4-5 year-olds) and Xander in "Level III, Stroke Readiness" (I just guessed).

So anyway, we go to our first morning of lessons this morning, and they call Maia's name, she hangs on to me for dear life, cries, pouts, and eventually goes with the nice teachers (and cries most of the time). I feel guilty that I'm relieved that mine isn't the whiniest kid in the group.

They get to Level III, and don't call Xander's name. I went and checked, and after all that waiting in line, and the hassle that went with it, they never wrote Xander's name down! Luckily, they were flexible, and let him join the class anyway. I was a little nervous that he wouldn't know enough to do the class, but he told me that what he didn't know, he figured out pretty fast. I watched for a little while from outside the fence, and was relieved to see he was keeping up with the class just fine.

If there's one thing that Xander loves to do, it's swim.

This afternoon after lessons, we went back to the pool (it was still 90 degrees when the sun went down tonight), and Xander said, "Want to see me swim across the deep end and back?"

I didn't know he could do that! Sure enough! It's not pretty, but he's starting to learn how to do the American Crawl, and is definitely building his endurance.

Maia made big strides this afternoon too. She loves to jump into the water into my arms repeatedly (seriously, she could spend 9 hours doing this), and occasionally, she'll even jump to me before she can reach my hands! I know, she's so brave.

Much like Little Vikes Day Camp, I'm hoping that the next day of lessons (which isn't until Wednesday), will be a more positive and enjoyable experience for her.

Mini vacation

I'm terrible about taking pictures this summer! Sorry there's no pics to go with this long post.

We took off for the day Wednesday and went down to Yankton to stay overnight at Mom & Jim's. We picked an absolutely perfect day for it. Matt got up and on his bike at 5:30 am, and rode the 87.6 miles to Mom's place. I got the kids up and out the door by 7:30 and we were there by 9. Mom took the morning off both Wednesday and Thursday (she had meetings she couldn't miss Wednesday afternoon), so we had some time with her before she left for work.

She showed me through all her flowers, walked me through the waist-high wildflowers and grasses that constitute her front yard, then took a shower and went to work.

I did not take a shower at that point, because we were going out on the boat that afternoon... BIG MISTAKE! We'll come back to that later...

So Grampa Jim took us out on the boat and we anchored and just paddled around in the water for several hours. I sunblocked everybody up good, the wind was virtually non-existant (a strange anomoly for South Dakota), and it was a beautiful, sunny 90 degrees. Just right for bumping around in the lake all afternoon.

Nobody got sunburned, I am proud to report.

Xander's favorite activity aboard the boat is to jump off, climb up, jump off, climb up, jump off, climb up (etc.). We wore that kid out! This has been his favorite thing to do aboard Grandma's boat for years! He's finally to the age where he can do it without help and without inhaling a bunch of water every time and barfing up after each jump. (ahh.... the good old days)

Maia, as usual, was a little less adventurous. She did discover that sitting inside one of the tubes (the kind with a mesh bottom that you pull behind a motorboat), is like having her very own little swimming pool. Once she figured that out, she was happy as a clam.

I layed in the sun and soaked up the rays. I know, you're not supposed to do that, but I didn't get that much sun, my tan looks so much healthier than my pasty white skin I've sported all these years (literally 2 decades), and ah, it was so relaxing!

Matt swam around with us for a while, then got on the boat under the canopy and hung out with Jim (who does NOT swim), until weariness from the morning's ride overtook him and he zonked out for a while.

Mom called after she was done with her meetings, so we went and met her for supper at the Marina, then went back out in the boat for a little while before heading in for the evening.

One of Matt's favorite things about going to Mom's is that she gets the channel that shows Tour de France coverage, so he got to watch 2 stages during our stay, which made him really happy. Don't get him started on this topic, by the way. He's really passionate about cycling...

After bathing both kids, we had a fire in the chiminea on the deck (no marshmellows to roast), then we put them to bed.

About this time, I started to discover that I had a problem... Remember my little visit to Mom's flowers? Apparently, I was visited by a rabid crop of chiggers, but the bites didn't manifest themselves until about bedtime that night.

I have not had chiggers this bad since I was about 14 or so, and went picking chokecherries a day or two before leaving for summer camp. I remember being quite miserable then, but this was worse. Because this is now.

(If you are unfamiliar with either chiggers or chokecherries, you might not be from South Dakota)

Now, I have learned a few things about chiggers in the past few days. I'll just link you to the web page that I found about them. I was thankful to learn that they do not acutally crawl into your skin and live there as is the common understanding around here. But they are seriously ferocious.

Sadly, I am not looking so good in my bikini swimsuit as I was just a week ago. I look like I have chicken pox. That should go over well at the public swimming pool! :)

But chigger itching aside, we had a great time, and will have to try to get out there again before the summer is over and gone.

Riding bikes and nearly getting saved

The summer has been really quite uneventful. I intentionally didn't hyper-schedule the kids, and as a result, we are having a fun, relaxed summer.

Xander is starting to finally get the feel for riding his bike after another day of working on it with Matt (after about 6 weeks off- I wouldn't say he's particularly motivated to learn). Yesterday afternoon, Matt & Xander went down to the park and plugged away at it in the grass again. Then they came back up to the house and tried on the cement for a while. Xander got a couple of good crashes in, one with Dad, when the handlebars poked into his chest (OW!), and one later with me- a scraped knee on the curb when he forgot how to stop. Matt made him get right back up and on the bike after his crash, but I let him quit and come inside. Oops. Now he never wants to ride again.

Maybe.

This morning at children's church he learned that a little girl about 6 months older than Maia (making her 4 1/2 to Xander's 8 1/2) learned to ride her 2-wheeled bike yesterday (in his defense, he's an oldest child, and she has 3 older brothers). He was man enough to still ask that God would help him learn how to ride his bike as a prayer request.

Today the kids played downstairs while I had Bible study in the kitchen and Matt updated his blog, talked to his folks and read in the upstairs. The kids came up with a new game: "Slap the prince." It goes like this- Maia lays down under a blanket, Xander comes along and says, "Someone is under the blanket. I wonder who it is?" He then removes the blanket and says, "Oh a sleeping princess. I must kiss her on the forehead," which he does. Maia then opens her eyes and slaps him.

Fun game.

As I was getting Maia ready for bed tonight, she told me that her heart was breaking because she missed Jesus. I said, "You know, if you ask Jesus, he will come and live in your heart, then you never have to miss him again." I tried to explain some basic salvation stuff to her and we talked about how we all want to do naughty things sometimes. "Do you ever do naughty things?"

"No."

"Are you ever disobedient?"

"Yes."

"Are you ever mean to your brother?"

"Yes."

"Do you ever tell a lie?"

"No.......(much prodding here)....... yes." By now, she's starting to feel pretty bad about things.

"Do you want to be forgiven for all those naughty things you've done? Because Jesus will do that for you and make you feel all clean inside."

"Nah. I'll do it tomorrow. Let's have a tea party."

I guess she's used to living under the weight of sin at the old age of 4.

Maia's Camp Experience

Maia did not start off as strong as Xander when it came to being a "Little Vike." (She called it "Leaf Eriks" camp for several days.)

The first Monday when I dropped her off, she was understandably nervous. She only knew one other girl there, and that girl came with a friend, so Maia felt very alone. I prayed for her all morning, Mom called asking about her, so I know Grandma was praying for her too...

When I went pick her up, she had just finished swimming, so her hair was lank and wet, her pretty blue eyes were all red and drippy and it was obvious she'd pretty much spent the whole day crying. The counslor that brought her out said, "It was a really sad day for Maia."

When asked what the problem was, she replied, "I just missed you," or "I was so worried about you."

She actually made herself physically ill. She had a loose bowel the rest of the day, and the next morning she had a headache and upset stomach (I KNOW I exhibited these same symptoms my entire kindergarten year). I let her stay home on Tuesday, and emailed the camp director to see if we could get a partial refund or something.

Then Wednesday morning, she announced that she was ready to go back to Leaf Eriks. So I took her. She only cried a couple of times, and finished the week well, though she rarely played with other kids or participated in activities (I'm guessing at this).

Today was the second-to-last (or "penultimate" as snooty musicians say) day of camp. When I went to pick her up at the indoor activity area where I get her every day, I couldn't spot her right away. I found her shoes and sweatshirt, which implied that she was actually PLAYING WITH THE OTHER KIDS! I finally spotted her in the Little Tykes playhouse playing with some other girls. One of the counselors commented that Maia had made some new friends today.

Just in time. Tomorrow's the last day. But it's something. I hope she remembers the good feelings more than the bad ones.

Xander's Camp Experience

I sent the kids to YMCA day camp these last 2 weeks. They have a long-standing, well-established program for kids right across the river from our house, and I thought they would enjoy it. Xander went to Leif Erickson camp (some strong Norsky influence there, Papa Svale would be proud) for 6-9 year-olds, and Maia went to Little Vikes camp for 4-5 year-olds.

Xander has had an absolute blast from day one. There are 3 kids from his class there, one is in his group (they have probably 120 kids in each 2-week session, 6 sessions over all). Each "group has about 10 kids and one counselor. Xander says his counselor is the coolest because he can brandish a whip just like Indiana Jones. As a matter of fact, this counselor has the kids beleiving that he was a stunt double in the latest Indiana Jones movie. (Someday, Xander's going to have to learn when people are flat-out lying to him. Does this seem like something we should do at a "Christian" camp?).

Tonight is Xander's last night at camp. It was family night, and most days, he has gotten on a big red bus at 8:20 in the morning and been returned to us via the big red bus (one of at least a dozen that run all over the city) at 4:20 pm. Today, they stayed at camp all evening, and will spend the night and be returned in the morning.

Mostly, this would be a great idea, but last night we had a wicked thunderstorm whip through here at about 4:30 am, and I woke up and thought, "If this happens tomorrow night, I am driving into the heart of that muddy campground and finding my baby!"

I was reasonably stunned to discover this evening that the "shelter" that each group sleeps in does not even have walls. It is like a small picnic shelter with pea gravel on the ground covered with some kind of damp carpet.

"So, what happens if a thunderstorm comes through like last night?" I asked whip-bearing counselor.

"They'll be safe. We have an indoor shelter to move to if the weather gets bad."

Really? At 4:30 in the morning? Have you tried to wake a 8 year-old boy in the middle of the night lately? (geesh. I hope not! That seems creepy)

Anyway, Xander will be sleeping outdoors tonight, but I doubt I'll be getting much rest.

Scheels Awards

Matt is the proud recipeint of the 2008 "E For Excellence" award from Scheels for his 2nd passion in life (right after bikes), Youth Cold Weather clothing. His shop was the top seller last year, so we got invited to the Scheels Awards banquet in Brainerd, MN last Wednesday.

The awards were held at Maddens on Gull Lake, a lovely golf resort, which if you click on the link looks like a pretty nice resort to stay in, however, I was a little dubious when we first were shown our lodging. We drove past these:


and discovered that our room was in this building:


Much to my relief, it did not smell like Camp Pine Lake, (even though it looked like it), and though the accomodations were dated, they were nice, clean and the beds were very comfortable.

When we arrived on Wednesday evening, it was very chilly (the high in Brainerd was 49 that day... on the 11th of June!), and stormy and windy, but there was a fireplace right in our room (real wood-burning), which we weren't actually brave enough to try lighting (afraid the flue would be closed and we'd smoke up the joint). Here's a picture of the fireplace at breakfast the next morning! :)


The awards banquet itself was fine, about what you'd expect, I guess. I was TOLD it was a formal dinner, so I dressed in a formal dress (I sort of have a collection of them that I love to wear at any opportunity). Yeah, I was WAY overdressed, but oh well! I guess "formal" means a different thing to the athletic crowd than it does to the artistic crowd.

We awoke to a lovely view of the lake,
and a beautiful day, so Matt & I took some time to walk around the grounds and didn't rush home.

Maia's Birthday

Our little princess turned 4 last Tuesday, and we had a fun day. She got to open gifts from us early in the morning, which included a lot of clothes,




a net canopy thing for over her bed,


and a dress-up outfit from Xander (oops, no picture). We were going for a Sleeping Beauty costume, but there was no fooling her. It's a Rose Fairy Princess ballet dress. Now she thinks she needs real ballet shoes to go with it.

She also got this cool playhouse (a free gift from some friends)



She was pretty funny opening presents, because she felt the need to close her eyes while she opened them. Double surprise or something, I guess.


Tuesday afternoon & evening, we had almost all the family here for her party. Marie wasn't feeling up to it, but everyone else came, we had corn & black bean salsa with chips (this recipe is AWESOME! I use fresh grape tomatoes instead of canned italian style), some fresh fruit, and burgers and hot dogs on the grill. And of course, the cake. I chose to go with Dairy Queen's blizzard cake (oreo) this year after the horrible cake I made for Xander's birthday.

After the party, we sent Xander & Maia home with Grandma Georgie & Grandpa Bruce for 5 days. They had a great time, though Maia got a little homesick in the middle. We went and picked them up on Sunday.