Riley's Look-alike Meter

Sidney's Look-alike Meter

Jamie's Look-alike Meter

Arrow of Light

Riley proudly displays his latest accomplishment as a Webelos Cub Scout. He received the highest award available called the Arrow of Light. We are very proud of him and appreciate his dedication to complete this award before he leaves Cub Scouts in May.
He is hoping to complete even more Webelos Activity Badges to add to the 11 he has so far: Citizen, Showman, Traveler, Readyman, Outdoorsman, Fitness, Sportsman, Communicator, Handyman, Naturalist and Family Member.

The Activity Day Girls Serve Their Parents

After two months of preparation and hard work, the Activity Girls (Jamie, Mina, Kayla, Melanie, Michelle and Rachel) hosted a dinner on Friday night for their parents in our home. We have studied the Word of Wisdom, Nutrition, Etiquette and Manners to prepare for the big event. Last Wednesday the girls prepared the 2 lasagnas and we planned the rest of the menu.

The girls arrived Friday night with their parents about 6:30. As the parents visited in the living room, the girls quickly set the table, made the ceasar salad, toasted the french bread, served appetizers, and filled the glasses with water. By 7:00 dinner was ready and the parents were invited to join us at the table.

The girls did a wonderful job serving the salad and bread, refilling water glasses and then proceeding to the next course by serving the lasagna. They would sneak away while the adults were eating and grab a few bites of food themselves, but were always right back to check on their guests and serve them! The girls then served brownies with ice cream and a yummy caramel on the side.

I am so proud of the girls' hard work and a great time was had by all! We loved having the Burdges, Blakelys, Quicks (Grandpa and Emily), and the McKinney's in our home. We had so much fun...that I forgot to take pictures!

Job Security

I often joke that I single-handedly maintain job security for Brent by how much money I am constantly spending at Target. I came home from Super Target the other day and as I unpacked my groceries onto the kitchen island, I realized that over 80% of them were Target's Market Pantry brand items. So, I took a picture to document and prove my whole theory about maintaining Brent's job security.

For your information: We like most Markey Pantry items we have tried, they are a good substitute for brand products. The only exceptions we have found so far: the mini-ritz like sandwich snack crackers and the 'apple jacks' substitute seen in the picture....my kids wouldn't eat either.

Watching the Lunar Eclipse

The Lunar Eclipse was quite a wonder at our house. The kids watched it all the way home from our Wednesday night church activities. Jamie and Riley explained the eclipse perfectly to several friends, their cousin and Sidney by using their hands to represent the sun, the moon and the earth. They were very excited and even more excited that the entire thing occurred around the 9 o'clock hour and that meant they could push back their bed time a little!

Ice Fishing

Since we moved here 7 1/2 years ago, one of the 'Minnesotan' things I have never understood is ICE FISHING. I don't mind fishing if you can enjoy some beautiful weather, maybe wade in the stream a little and actually catch something. But, drilling a hole through 2 feet of ice, sitting in the freezing temperatures and not catching anything...is beyond me!

Riley and Brent had their first ice fishing trip last Saturday with the scouts. Riley is working very hard and is very close to receiving his Arrow of Light as a Webelos. For part of the award, he needed to participate in a outdoor Scout activity....thus, the ice fishing activity with the scouts from the Burnsville ward. They were lucky to have temps in the 20s, but still came home looking a little like popsicles and Brent's hand is still hurting from using the auger to drill the hole. They did not catch anything or even get a nibble, nevertheless, they both said they had a good time and would try again some time!

Valentine's Day Favorites:

At School/Work:
Sidney: playing Mail Delivery at her classroom's Valentine's party
Jamie: frosting and eating her cookie at her classroom's Valentine's party
Riley: playing Valentine's bingo at his classroom's Valentine's party
Stacey: volunteering at the 3rd grade party and editing/typing papers for 3rd graders
Brent: hosting a baby shower for one of his employees

At the Science Museum of Minnesota:
Sidney: playing in the weather station, mostly the air stream
Jamie: playing in with the tornado in the weather station
Riley: exploring the cartoon network animation exhibit
Stacey: watching the kids run from exhibit to exhibit and 'soak it all in'
Brent: going head to head against Stacey in the science museum quiz show challenge (he won 2 out of 3)

Papa Jim will be proud!

One of Papa Jim's favorite things to do is Sudoku puzzles. Jamie and Sidney have spent lots of time looking over his shoulder 'helping' him and learning all his strategies and tricks. Sidney has recently been carrying her Sudoku book everywhere and is getting really good at the puzzles. She asks us for help, but by the time we can find a place to help her, she is two steps ahead of us. This is the latest one she completed, in about 15 minutes!

Book Club 7th Year Anniversary

On Tuesday night, I hosted our Book Club's 7th year anniversary. It was a very fun evening with lots of my close friends. We read The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale and had a great discussion about it. It was a winning book club pick, thanks again to Stacey E. for the recommendation. I also have read the next two in the series, Enna Burning and River Secrets. I would highly recommend them to everyone! There are considered Young Adult, but are written so beautifully. They are great fantasy fairy tales! The evening was perfect with our dinner to which everyone contributed and we finished it off with a book exchange. I am excited to read my pick...The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. Next month for Book Club we are reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. I started it last night....it is great already! (Sorry Tiffany, we took this picture after you left.)

Homework about China?

I have been laughing about this for the last 15 minutes and have to share....

Jamie came home from school today with a post-it which said 'Ardennes Forest' on it. She showed it to me and said, "I need to find out where this is for homework, I think it is in China".

So we pulled up Ardennes Forest on Wikipedia.
Jamie and I read the first line together which reads:
The Ardennes is a region of extensive forests and rolling hill country, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France-

I looked at her and she immediately and exuberantly replied....
"It is in China!". I love these precious mommy moments!

Creative Engineering

It is amazing what a very creative 6 year old can do with an hour of quiet time, a couple decks of cards and a grooved wood floor!
Sidney took these two pictures of her amazing construction!

Happy Day at Target!

On Thursday, January 31st, Brent was recognized at the Asset Protection Quarterly Meeting. He received the Vice-President Award for his team's outstanding contributions to shortage reduction. He was especially surprised as the award is traditionally awarded to only Asset Protection employees, however, the VP of Asset Protection made an exception to recognize Brent and the efforts of his team! Brent's award was one of 2 awarded at the meeting with 300 people in attendance. We are very proud of him!

The Best of Both Worlds in 3D!

I was talking to my Dad today and he was reminiscing about the 'good old days' when he took my sister and I to several New Kids on the Block concerts. Yes, I am fully admitting that we were NKOTB obsessed and my Dad loved every minute of spoiling us with the concerts. Well....
I had my first of this type of experience with my own daughters today. We went to see the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds Concert in 3D at the movie theater. It was fantastic and I loved watching the girls' faces as they had the 'experience'! Sidney said " I feel like I am on the front row at the concert!" About half way through, Jamie leaned over and asked me "Is it almost over?" I asked her "why" and she said "Because I never want to leave!".

The Chocolate Milk Argument

Most of the time I am very grateful for the closeness of my children's ages. It is very fun to have them in the same school and interested in similar things. Sometimes, however, there is lots of competitive arguing and fighting. We have had many discussions lately about how silly these argument can be and about how they are usually over the 'stupidest' (I use this word only when I really want to emphasize my point with the kids!) things. Yesterday morning proved to be a very trying day and with the kids home all day, by lunchtime, Mom was 'at the end of her rope'....
As I was preparing lunch, I told the kids to grab themselves a drink of water or milk from the fridge. Riley was excited to see that there was still a little chocolate milk left in the jug. So he poured himself some and then Jamie grabbed the mug from him and poured the rest for herself. This quickly started an argument about whose glass held the most chocolate milk. The cups were dark plastic and even placed next to each other, they simply could not resolve this dilemma. So, being the dutiful mother that I am, I had to jump in and help them out. I told them to bring me the cups and I would tell them who had the most. I promptly dumped the contents of both cups down the drain and declared that they both had the exact same amount of chocolate milk! Problem solved!

BRRRRR!

On Wednesday, it was freezing here! Some good winter Minnesota temperatures! This is at the bus stop, notice the van thermometer which reads -12, but the wind chill was about -35.

Riley and Jamie's BIG Projects

With the start of the new year, both Riley and Jamie completed some huge projects!

Riley's Lego Death Star:

• 3,449 lego pieces
• 100 page instruction booklet
• countless hours
• lots of help from Dad
• several devastating breakages

Jamie's Fleece Temple Blanket:

• 4 yards of fleece
• 1 yard of felt
• 100s of stitches
• 100s of knots
• lots of help from Mom
• several finger pokes

Welcome to Our Blog

Greetings and welcome to our family's blog. I have been an avid reader of some friends' blogs and I love them! So, I have finally decided to follow the trend and try it. I love the daily musings of my friends and hope to share some of ours so that you might get to know us better. I also hope that this might help our out of state family and friends stay in touch. Hope you enjoy!


For posterity's sake I am going to add all the old "Quotes of the Week" onto this blog entry: (Brent was sad when he found out I was deleting them!)

"Mommy, I am glad that I don't have to go to school, all that learning is really hard!" Sidney

"I don't know what I did with my black belt, I have been looking for it for 5 minutes and can't find it." Brent....Stacey's reply, "Does it look like the black belt you are wearing?"

"Why can't we mop the wood floor with windex?" Jamie and Riley

"Mom, if I run for president, will you vote for me?" Riley

"Mom, can I see your wallet for a minute?" Sidney

"Mom, when you say NO, do you sometimes mean YES?" Jamie

"How long do you think the lunar eclipse will last?" Mom....Sidney's response, "About one week!"

"Mom, don't worry that you are missing my field trip, I will come home and tell you all about it!" Jamie

"Mom, can you get up now?" Riley

"Everyone we know has a Nintendo WII, why cant' we have one?" Riley

"Why do I sometimes still feel so tired when I wake up in the morning?" Sidney

"When will it be short-sleeve weather?" Jamie

"Mommy, we promise we will only give you soft hugs for the next month." Jamie and Sidney

"Did the air bags explode?" Riley, Jamie and Sidney (several times each)

"When can we ride in the rental car?" Riley, Jamie and Sidney

"Dad, can we buy this car?" Riley (speaking of the rental car)

"Dad, when have you loved me more than mommy?" Riley..... response from Brent, "Never".

"I have to dress up and wear my white gloves to school, we are having tea with the queen on England!" Sidney

"Why do I have to change my underwear everyday?" Jamie

"I don't know why I did it, I am just good with technical things." Riley (after getting caught sending text messages with Grandma's cell phone)

"I was a little disappointed that Sidney was too embarrassed at the bus stop to give me a squeezy hug!" Papa Jim

"Yes, I still have a headache and my foot still hurts." Stacey

"I don't like it when you have a headache, it makes you grouchy and grumpy!" Brent

"I beat Daddy down the hill by about 10 minutes!" Sidney

"I made Daddy sit between Riley and I on the chair lift, so we wouldn't fight." Jamie

"Mom, can I use your video camera, just for a second?" Riley

"Remember, the rule is, if you beat Grandma you don't get to play the Wii anymore!" Grandma

"I think my car insurance should pay for my ticket from the accident." Stacey

"Yes, I like my new car....but, to be honest, I still miss my truck too." Brent

"Mom, make sure you have your cell phone on, I will call you if I have any problems with Dad." Jamie (Brent stayed home with her one day this week when she was sick and I had a commitment to be on Sidney's field trip.)

"I had a dream last night about a magical port-a-potty that would transport me to places all over the world!" Sidney

"Do I have to mow the lawn every week for the whole summer?" Riley

"Riley, do I have to feed you 3 meals every day for the whole summer?" Mom's response to Riley's question

"I know what you are going to say Mom, I am the only one that can control my reactions. But it is still hard!" Sidney

"When I was 6 I didn't like baseball games because I didn't understand them. Now that I am older, I love them because I totally get what is going on. (pause, pause, pause) So who is winning so far?" Jamie

"When can you go on a date, so I can babysit?" Riley