2015 Christmas Letter

Because of Jim taking the time to write it, we got a Christmas letter out this year. Here is a copy of what we sent - Friends and Fa...

New Sledding Hill and a Little Snow

I'm surprised that we never tried the sledding hill at Scenic Heights Elementary school before because it's really nice! We got jus...

Apple Harvest Day

Apple harvest in our front yard today. We hold a tarp under the tree and shake it because it's a really tall tree. Yes, some of us wear ...

Jamie's Birthday Party

This year Jamie got to have her birthday party at Legacy Gymnastics. She invited friends from church (Eva and Melissa, Sydney and Jovi) and ...

Chicken Antics and First Eggs

A couple chicken milestones to record: 1. Their new hobby is getting up on higher up things (without much interest in the roost in their c...

Science Museum Field Trip

Today we went over to St Paul to visit the Science Museum of Minnesota. We hadn't been there for a number of months, and wanted to see ...

Wolsfeld Woods

While Katie and Lauren went to the corn maze with youth group, Jim and I took Gloria, Natalie and Jamie to Wolsfeld Woods. This place is alm...

GTCYS Retreat

Lauren had a retreat at Camp St. Croix for a second year in a row. I volunteered to be a chaperone this year and was treated to a chance to ...

Expert Level Applesauce

Our friend Dan McCarthy gave us a couple bushels of Honeycrisp apples and I knew they would be a big task to process. That's why I call...

Walker Sculpture Garden and Loring Park

Today's requested field trip was the Walker Art Center (Gloria's choice). It was a last minute GO because we were watching the weath...

Purgatory Sunset

A quick post to remind myself some day of the nice quiet walk that Jim and I had around Purgatory Park at sunset...without kiddos. He spends...

Richard T Anderson Conservation Area

I keep a file in Evernote of activities that I'm considering with the kids - field trips, classes, places to visit. This location made i...

MN State Fair

We went to the State Fair for the first time in at least 10 years (perhaps more.) We didn't go in with much of a plan except that we kne...

Mills Church Camping 2015

Another great weekend of fun! This year, we did not sleep out at camp - we set up our gazebo and picnic stuff/kitchen but went home to sleep...

Talking Chicken

Frankie has started making more interesting chicken sounds - nothing like the peeping they started with, much more like chickens (or geese) ...

Summer Bike Ride

It was a really nice day, so Natalie, Jamie and I went on a bike ride to McDonald's in Excelsior and back home along the regional trail....

Costco Snack

We have a habit or sort of a tradition to grab a snack at Costco when we are out and about and the timing is right. It's always worth a ...

First Day of School Part One

I enrolled Natalie and Jamie in a charter school that had them starting in August. It was supposed to be like homeschooling, but it didn...