4th of July weekend 2011

Yep... made the kids stand on the end of the dock for the yearly photo. Thanks kids. More photos from the weekend over on the rlp blog...

traveling soccer

Both Carter and Kennedy are on traveling soccer teams again this summer. This past weekend there was a tournament in Fargo. Kennedy's team is struggling again this year and hasn't won a game yet, but Kennedy played really great over the weekend and scored three goals.

Yes, she got called for this one... Score!Carter's team is doing pretty well this year. They made it to the semi-finals and lost in a really close game. Carter plays defense so doesn't score too many goals, but he sure stops a lot of them! Both of the kids stick their tongue out when they are really concentrating.He has this killer little "fake" move that gets the opponents every time and he goes right around them. He tells me it's so easy mom... they fall for it every time!Here's how he looks when he's not happy with a call by the referee.

One more big tournament for the year down in Blaine and then soccer will be over for the summer. Unfortunately, it's the same weekend that Cooper has the state baseball tournaments in St. Cloud so I won't get to watch them. Hopefully there will be some pics of Coop playing baseball on the blog soon!

soccer/twins weekend

A couple of weekends ago Carter had a soccer tournament down in Lakeville and since there was no baseball that weekend, we all got to go. (Except for Katelyn who had to stay home to work.) The weather was pretty awful and we spent Saturday afternoon watching Carter and his team play in the pouring rain. Miserable. And since we were staying in a hotel, the best way to dry out his soccer equipment was to lay it over the heater in the hotel room and turn it on full blast. Ewwwww. Do you know that soccer equipment smells WORSE than hockey equipment? I have never ever smelled such a rancid, putrid smell than our hotel room that night. Anyway... we had purchased tickets for the Twins game on Saturday night and though we were pretty bummed about the weather, we braved the rain hoping it would stop before game time. We took the light rail from the MOA all the way down to Target Field.

Our first stop once we got there was of course Hrbek's. It is Kent Hrbek's restaurant/bar. Dad had a hamburger and we all shared the biggest onion rings we've ever seen.
It was WeFest "Hat Night" at Target Field... so we all got free hats!My boyfriend Joe Mauer had just returned to the line-up the night before so we were excited to watch him play. Here his is before the game... was warming up pitchers in the bull pen and decided to give us a little look. (It could have had something to do with all of the obnioxous fans yelling "JOE!, JOE!"... but maybe he just wanted to say hi to me.)

Our friends the Greene's went with us too! The rain stopped by the second inning and it ended up being a really perfect night!

better late...

Continuing with the trend of posting everything a month after it actually happens... here is a little update on our boys. They recently finished their first year at the middle school. I can tell you that at the beginning of the school year I was a complete wreck worrying about how they were going to do in a big school... having to figure out a locker combination and not having a home-room teacher to look after them and keep them on track. Well, they had an awesome year to say the least and they continued to impress us with their hard work and really amazing grades! Carter finished the year off with a 4.0 the third trimester.Wow! I never EVER got a 4.0 in all of my years of junior high or high school.And Cooper was honored at a Breakfast of Champions banquet this spring. He was nominated by the teachers in his pod for demonstrating excellence in the classroom. He got to invite his family to school for breakfast, and the principal read what the teachers had to say about our Cooper in front of everyone. They reported that he was a very hard worker and always tries his best no matter what the task is, he is nice to EVERYONE, and he does things around the classroom to help the teacher or others without being asked. We are such proud parents!This is Cooper with his favorite teacher from 6th grade... Mr. Lauer.I also wanted to show you their finished projects for History Day. Carter worked on his with a partner and their topic was the Iwo Jima Flag Raisers. Cooper did his Harry Truman project all by himself.

belated birthdays

So the birthdays were almost a month ago now, but I'm finally posting photos from the celebrations. Here are Carter and Cooper at Buffalo Wild Wings for their 12th birthday. Grandma Sandi made them this fun strawberry shortcake/ice cream cake.After BWW, we went to Verizon so the boys could pick out their very first cell phones. Kennedy had to show them how to add contacts and send texts... even though she doesn't have her own phone. She is patiently waiting!The next day, Katelyn celebrated her 16th birthday. She chose to go to the Olive Garden for supper with Jade and Briauna and her family. She even got to have the girls sleepover even though it was a school night. She mostly got clothes and money for her birthday... and we're hoping she'll be driving by September!
Happy birthday kiddos! Love you lots.

Easter Weekend

We started off the weekend by having new floors installed in our bedroom... which makes me so unbelievably happy I can't even tell you. Emme and Mya are not sure what to think... they wandered around wondering where they were going to pee now that the stanky carpet was gone. The kids' were at grandma and grandpa's for the weekend decorating eggs, playing games and helping grandpa do yardwork at the lake so mom and dad got to go on a date Friday night. Good day, good day. Saturday we ran errands, went out for lunch and I took a huge long nap. Another good day.

Easter morning, the Easter bunny was a bit lazy and decided to just put candy in the baskets instead of hiding it around the house like he (or she) has every other year. I was questioned by my boys wondering if, in fact it WAS me hiding the candy all these years. Ummmmm... guess we had to burst that bubble. Then it was a rush to get off to church on time... Here is the fam thoroughly enjoying themselves.
We had a lovely brunch at Moorhead Country Club with grandmas and grandpas... It was a gorgeous spring day so we spent the afternoon working in the yard and cleaning out the garage, taking the dogs for a walk, and yes, taking another nap. We grilled out for supper and then got everything cleaned up and ready for the week... including the girls.A clean and organized garage... makes me SOOOO happy.

state project

Kennedy got to turn in her state project at school today. We (I mean SHE) finished it last week. Her first choices for states were New York or Hawaii, but she got... Tennessee. Oh well, at least it wasn't New Hampshire like Carter's a couple of years ago. We (I mean SHE) decided to make the board look like the Grand Ole Opry stage complete with a wood floor and red curtains. On Thursday night there is a big presentation at school where all of the kids' display their boards for all of the parents to see. I think she (I mean WE) deserve an A+!

PS... she also got new glasses this weekend! She has really been having a hard time seeing the board at school and her old ones were too small. She put them on and right away said.. "Oh wow, they work!"

a bit behind

I have quite a few things to share with all four of my blog readers today. Last weekend was the State hockey tournament, which didn't really go the way we wanted it to. The Spuds lost the first two games of the tournament... BOO. But, we still managed to have a little bit of fun... swimming, hockey Expo, knee hockey, omelets for breakfast, running around the hotel, ice cream cones at the Xcel. We're hoping NEXT year will be THE year for the Spuds. The girls got in a trip to the American Girl Store at the MOA while the boys went to the Gopher game at Mariucci arena.

Sorry about the terrible photo... here is Tim at the Easton booth at the Hockey Expo. He won a stick handling contest and got a new helmet.
Which he gave to Kennedy... the boys were not happy. Until he bought them new hockey sticks.This last week the kids were on Spring Break Wednesday -Friday. We didn't do anything exciting... just hung out around the house and relaxed. It was kind of nice for a change. It was Emme's third birthday on Friday. We didn't even get her a present or cake. Bad family.Carter and his friend Carter had a couple sleep overs to work on their History day project for school. I was pretty impressed that they actually got quite a bit of work done!

And the biggest news from last week is that we officially have a 'permit' driver at our house! Katelyn has been putting off taking her permit test for about nine months now... she was scared that she would fail. But since we had time off last week I pretty much MADE her go in to take the test... and she passed! (Just barely.. but hey...) Congrats Katelyn!!!

She drove home...

and also to the grocery store. And this is where she parked...
Wish us luck!

heading to st. paul

The Spuds beat Bemidji last night to earn another trip to the state tournament. The kids are so excited to be heading down there next week. Go Spuds! Maybe this will be the year they finally win the title?????

happy valentine's day!

Love is in the air at our house this year... Carter has had a girlfriend for almost a whole year now and he brought her a valentine gift to school today. There of course is no photo of this though.. he would die at just the THOUGHT of me trying to capture that. I am even surprised that he wasn't too embarrassed to give it to her at school. Things must be getting serious.

Then there is miss Kennedy. She has had a "boyfriend" for a whole 11 days now (the current one anyway) and he surprised her with a card, necklace and puppy for valentine's day. No embarrassment here. And Katelyn went to the move Never Say Never this weekend and has a severe case of Bieber Fever. It's official... she's in love with the Biebs.

Carter and Dad were in Wadena for a hockey game tonight so we had a date night with friends at the DQ... fun times! Oh yah... and here is what I was surprised with when I got home from work today... my favorite! Aaaahhh... thanks Tim!