The Melquist Family

Walking on Ice

2012-01-30T15:28:00.000-08:00

This weekend the weather was nice so we bundled the kids up and headed over to Lake Bavaria to burn a little energy and breath some fresh air.

Cake Eating Messy Hands kind of Day

2012-01-09T08:16:00.000-08:00

Our youngest son will be turning 1 on Wednesday (1/11), and we celebrated his Birthday a little early. He has blessed our family so much and brings happiness to our days. He is a sweet boy that makes sure he is heard, he says Dada and Mama, waves, crawls, walks along furniture and with his push toys and has just started standing without holding on to anything.

The Birthday Boy!

Time to blow out the candle

Trying out the cake after a little help of breaking it up

This stuff is good!

A little messier

After everyone stopped watching he decided the frosting and cake was delicious and fun to play in. He went from kind of clean to really messy in no time!

Messy hands is what it's all about!

I love cake!

Hey guys come try it out!

The sugar coma look.

Happy 1st Birthday to my Baby Boy!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-22T12:28:00.000-08:00

May your Christmas be sparkly and bright

Mankato 1/2 Marathon - A New PR

2011-10-25T10:19:00.000-07:00

The Mankato 1/2 Marathon was this past weekend, and I was one of about 1500 people to run in it. I was able to train with a great group of runners at the Chaska Community Center, without them I am not sure if I would of finished with as good of a time, or as much fun. I was able to run 3 times a week with a group of runners, within this group I found new friends, support and encouragement. I loved every minute of it (I can say that now that it is over!). We joke that we wont know what to do with ourselves now that the group runs are done. The kids even looked forward to going to the Community Center daycare to play with the other kids from the running group.

I finished the race with a new 1/2 marathon personal record, beating my old time by 3 minutes. I came in 974 out of 1421 and 199/317 in my age group with a time of 2:10:31. I am very pleased with my finish!

We started the weekend with the KidsK. Both kids did fantastic!

She is having a great time! Smiling the entire race!

At the finish line

Still happy as can be, waiting for her medal!

KidsK finishers! So proud of them

Admiring big brothers medal, next year buddy!

Me, Heather and Dan at the start of the race

Waiting for 8am to start the race, I have my running crew with me!

And we are off!

Carrie, Rachel and myself at about mile 3.

2 of the great gals that had to listen to me breathe during many training runs, sorry gals!

At the finish line

Mankato 1/2 Marathon finishers! Laura, me, Heather and Dan

Ready Set JUMP

2011-10-12T13:47:00.000-07:00

It has been a amazing fall in Minnesota! The weather has been warm which is very unlike this time of year for us. It's hard to believe it could snow in a couple weeks (Halloween snow is not uncommon!). We decided enjoy the weather outside yesterday by raking up the few leaves we have in the yard and jumping in them!

The little guy enjoyed swinging while the big kids played in the leaves. Don't worry he crawled all over the yard and headed for the leaves as well.

Getting the Silly Out

2011-09-07T14:31:00.000-07:00

What to do on a gorgeous day? Well, go to the park and burn off some sillies of course!

Swing and try to touch the sky

Play with toys while breathing in fresh air

Quench your thirst

Smile at Mom

Bounce, bounce, bounce

Make silly faces!

First Day of 3rd Grade

2011-09-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day of 3rd grade. The joy of the first day of school jitters. Seeing friends, riding the bus, recess, it was all good yesterday!

Preschool and 3rd grade

And he's off!

Tri and You Will Succeed!

2011-08-22T08:10:00.000-07:00

I competed in the YWCA Women's Triathlon on Aug 14. It was another awesome event and a blast to compete in. The last time I did a triathlon was 2 years ago and I was able to cut about 20 minutes off of my previous time (it helped having a different race location with a flat biking course). The race consisted of a 500 yard swim, 15.5 mile bike and a 3 mile run. I finished in 1 hour 37 minutes and 36 seconds.

Laura, Heather and myself before the race

(photo courtesy of Dan Catt)

Looking forward to another great race next year!

On the Move

2011-08-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

Look out, someone is on the move! I love watching my little man as he is learning to crawl! Of the 3 kids he is the soonest to crawl by figuring it out at 7 months, the others were closer 9 months if I remember correctly. He has been crawling about a week now, and I think just today he has gotten much better at it. He sees something he wants and is at it in no time. He started out screaming and crawling, I hope the screaming is done, I can handle the crawling!

Pallet Bookshelves

2011-06-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

My friend Shawna posted a link to Little Lucy Lu showing how to make bookshelves out of a wooden pallet. I loved the look and sent the link to my dad so he could be on the lookout for the perfect pallet=-) If you would like to make your own, here is the tutorial. My dad found a pile of pallets at his local building supply store and of course this one with the forklift holes was second to the bottom=-) After a little cutting, prying, priming and painting, my daughter has a new place to store all of her stories!

My dad is not done searching yet, my son liked them also and wants a set in his room!

Lip Smacking Good

2011-06-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

Nana and Grandpa came up to visit this past weekend. Nana stayed with us while Dad was away being manly and attempting to fishing with his pals. Grandpa came up for the day to finish a project. We had a great lunch yesterday, Grandpa's reward for his scavenger skills for our latest project (i'll post more on it later)!

Corn on the cob

and t-bone steaks

Delicious!

Bright Future

2011-06-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

Let's Get Rolling

2011-06-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

Someone learned how to roll over!

(sorry it's kind of long and he rolls over at the very end)

4 Months of Joy

2011-05-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

Mr E. turned 4 months old on the 11th. He has learned to smile and laugh and roll to his side. He rolled over once but hasn't done it since. He will get there soon enough!

Oh Mom

2011-03-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

This was the face I got when I snapped a photo of Ryan while he was playing with Magic Nuudles with his friend. I was embarrassing him so he said, but I think he liked it deep down.

Smile

2011-03-09T13:34:00.000-08:00

Smiling is infectious,

You can catch it like the flu.
Someone smiled at me today,
And I started smiling too.
~Author Unknown

Be Mine

2011-02-14T09:14:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

Party of 5

2011-01-25T15:03:00.000-08:00

On January 11, 2011 (1-11-11, how cool is that!) at 1:42pm we welcomed our son, Eli James, to the world! He is a great addition to our family and we all feel very blessed to be a family of 5! Eli weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 19 inches long.

Here is Eli's birth story, I'll keep it short and sweet.

I had an elective induction at 39 weeks, so we had two great friends volunteer to take Ryan and Mackenzie before they had school, so after dropping them off we arrived at the hospital about 7:15am. I was admitted, IV put in (although not hooked up yet) and had my water broke by about 8am and told to walk the halls for an hour. After the hour was up they started the Pitocin, they checked my maybe hourly and kept increasing the Pitocin. Around 11:45 I decided it was time for an epideral, I think I was about 4 or 5 cm. The epideral went mainly into my left side, so my left leg was completely numb, talk about annoying! At about 1:30 I was really feeling uncomfortable and discovered I was ready to push, I hadn't ever felt that with the other two children, with them I was kind of told to push. My nurse, Kim, luckily came in the room to check on me and quickly called and paged my midwife. My midwife came running and after 3 pushes and maybe 5 minutes later Eli was born.

Eli had to spend about 4 hours in the NICU to have his breathing monitored. He was making a squeaking noise when he breathed, but luckily all of his vitals were normal so around 8:15pm he was able to leave the NICU.

Kenzie holding her little brother for the first time. She is one great big sister!

Ryan giving Eli some love!

Welcome to the family my little Eli, we love you so much!

We Still Believe

2010-12-20T06:29:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we took the kids to the Mall of America to visit Santa.

Having a chat with Santa and telling him what they would like for Christmas.

Finally a year of visiting Santa with no tears!

Santa scolding Jason for taking a picture before the photo elfs were taking pictures...too funny! Now how many people can say that they got in trouble by Santa! I guess he's on the naughty list now!

Enjoy the Holiday Season!

A Walk With Mother Nature

2010-09-19T16:19:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day outside. I wanted to go to an apple orchard, which ended up to be a disappointment (it is going out of business so they didn't have anything!), so we headed over to the Lowry Nature Center to enjoy the weather!

Enjoying all that Mother Nature has to offer!

My Big Girl

2010-09-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

Today is my daughter's first day of speech class. She will be going two days a week for 1.5 hours each time. She is thrilled because she gets to ride the bus like a big kid. The thought of putting my 3.5 year old on a bus without one of us pulled at my heartstrings, but she hoped on that bus like a champ (she had been waiting for that bus to show up all day!). She even knew that she needed to sit in the booster seat and tried to buckle herself in.

It's hard to see her in this picture but she has the hugest smile on her face!

Tomorrow is her open house at preschool. She will be going to Jamboree Preschool two days a week all day and then speech two days a week. She is going to be one busy girl! It will be interesting on Monday when she realizes Mom takes her to preschool and not the bus!

First Day Excitement

2010-09-07T06:42:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of 2nd grade for my son. The excitement is in the air! He was up at 6am dressed (in a tank top and shorts, which would be changed later) for his day. Unfortunately the weather isn't cooperating and is acting like fall, which I guess allows the kids to realize that summer is over and it's time to hit the books.

He is going to love being a 2nd grader.

Just Du It

2010-08-31T08:59:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend my sister and I participated in the Team Ortho Foundation Dualthon. We signed up for the "Fun Dualthon" which consisted of 1.5 mile run, 11 mile bike and another 1.5 mile run. Our wave started at 10:10, so needless to say it was hot during our race. I think we both did well and had a fun time doing it. I finished in 1 hour 33 minutes and she finished about 2 minutes ahead of me. For participating in the race we got an awesome bike shirt, bento box (a bag that attaches to our bike), and a medal!

The BIG 7

2010-08-03T08:54:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we celebrated my son's 7th Birthday with his friends. He had been wanting a Chuck-E-Cheese Birthday party for the past several years and I was able to talk him out of it, well this year was the year I couldn't talk him out of it.

He was so excited about the party, counting down the days since we booked the party! He had 7 of his buddies from the neighborhood and school show up and they had a blast! They all got about 40 tokens to use in the games to win tickets for prizes which made it almost the first hour. Then came pizza, a little show with Chuck E. Cheese coming out to see the kids and then brownies (my son doesn't like cake but loves his brownies!), gift opening and then the kids were off to play some more.

My son also got to go into the Ticket Blaster which was hilarious! It blew tickets into the air and he had to try and catch as many as he could. The worker said he grabbed 700 (but I think they give all the Birthday kids that many) so he picked out the gum ball machine for his prize. Over all it was a great party, the kids had a blast and so did the adults! I was worried it was going to be very chaotic which it was a little but not too bad!

He blew out the candles before anyone noticed, they lady even came over to light them again and he blew them out as soon as the last one was lit!

He got a Birthday crown and medal

There was absolutely no fun at this party! They are such boys!

Someone was NOT a fan of Chuck E Cheese, she is hiding under the table!

I would recommend everyone (or at least all little boys) have a Chuck E. Cheese party once in their life!

Twins

2010-07-21T12:43:00.000-07:00

On Monday we finally got to go see the MN Twins in their new outdoor stadium, Target Field. It is a beautiful stadium! We were able to get tickets from the Boy Scouts, so they weren't the closest seats but really there isn't a bad seat in th place. We were right below the jumbo-tron if that gives you any indication of how far back/up we really were!

The Twins didn't come out with a win that night, but we still had a good time!

Valleyfair

2010-06-25T07:38:00.000-07:00

This week we went to Valleyfair with my sister and her girls and my mom. The day had some rain, some sun, some wind, and a ton of fun! The kiddie roller coaster called Mild Thing was the kids favorite ride, I think they went on it about a dozen times! My son discovered he isn't really a fan of the big roller coasters after trying out the White Rails one, saying is doesn't like the up and down and turning of it. My daughter even got Nana to go on a ride with her, which is a pretty rare occasion and Nana wasn't too excited about it either but she handled it like a champ!

Here are a couple snapshots from the day, click on the pictures to make them bigger to see the great expressions!

The many faces of riding the Mild Thing, the adults cracked up looking at my daughter's face during the ride.

Frog Hopper, Busy Boat and Mad Mouse rides.

Splish Splash

2010-06-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day for the pool. The kids have been begging to go try out their new floaties so today was the day! We went around 10:30 and had our neighborhood pool pretty much to ourselves until about noon. Jason brought us lunch and we had a little Jimmy John's picnic at the pool also. When I decided it was time to leave the pool was pretty crowded, the kids didn't want to leave but it was about 1:30 and I didn't want too bad of sunburns on us. It's so great having the pool a block away! We have already gone more this year than we have in the previous years, but then both kids can be in the water without a parent to cling onto like previous years!

Another Half Completed

2010-06-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I ran my second Half Marathon of the year. I participated in the Minneapolis Half Marathon on June 6th. Last year I ran the full marathon so I somewhat knew what to expect and was very thankful at the turn around point that I didn't have to keep going! I struggled with my training since the Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon at the beginning of May. The most I ran was 6 miles at one time because I pulled something in my hip so I knew the run was going to be a challenge. (On a side note, despite my sore hip, I did participate in running 100 miles during the month of May with a bunch of runners for the Chaska Community Center.) The day turned out to be a great day for a run, it started out sunny and then turned to overcast making it not too hot. I finished in 2 hours 29 minutes. This was definitely not my best time but I am happy with it!

My best friend, Dee, and her boyfriend, Chad, also ran in the half marathon as well. This was their first half marathon and I am so proud of them both, they did a great job!

After the race, both of us thinking thank God that is over! Check out our awesome medals! We also got great finisher running shirts!

My cheering crew!

Another Milestone

2010-05-24T06:29:00.000-07:00

Today my son reached another milestone in his life. He lost his first tooth! The tooth has been loose for so long, since before Christmas, and we were finally able to pull it out. He was all giggles looking at himself in the mirror and finding it hard to say some words. He stated "I sound funny!" He can't wait to see what the tooth fairy brings him.

You can see his new tooth coming in, hopefully it straightens out, otherwise braces will be in his future!

Have a great day!

Lake Minnetonka 1/2 Marathon

2010-05-03T08:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I ran the Lake Minnetonka 1/2 Marathon! That is 13.1 miles for those of you not sure how far a 1/2 marathon is, and yes I ran the entire way (ok, I walked during the water stops, otherwise you wear your water instead of drinking it), and no I'm not crazy. The day was a perfect day nice and sunny and not terribly cold or hot. I set a new PR with a time of 2 hours and 13 minutes and 36 seconds. I started out probably too fast and the course was pretty hilly, but I am extremely happy with my time! I have a couple races this month and then my next 1/2 marathon is the Minneapolis Marathon on June 6th, only 33 days away.

After the race with my awesome finisher metal and post race snacks!

Celebrating Mom's good run!

Green Thumb

2010-04-27T13:26:00.000-07:00

I love to garden! I love to go outside on a daily basis to see what plants have come up and how much they have grown since the last time I checked on it. I don't really love to eat what I grow, so luckily I have friends who graciously eat everything I grow!

Today I went to Shady Acres to buy some tomatoes and peppers. I love going out there, and they have really pretty gardens that you can explore (although it is still too early to be able to view their flowers). We ended up buying a pack of Salsa Mix Tomatoes, Amish Paste, Jalapeño, Thai Hot peppers and Sweet Potato. When we got home my daughter helped me get everything right into the garden!

Lets hope my green thumb can keep them all alive!

Wait for me Mom!

My Daughter and her Sweet Potato Plant

I hope she has a green thumb like me

Checking on the Rhubard

All planted

How does your garden grow?

Bake Me a Cake

2010-04-19T16:14:00.000-07:00

My son's Cub Scout Pack is having a Father/son cake baking activity this month. Women are not supposed to help with making or decorating the cake. My husband had to work Sunday and the pack meeting is Monday night so we called upon Grandpa to help out! Here is the finished product, well the revised finished product with some embellishments from Dad. Grandpa didn't get that it was supposed to be a patriotic theme and my son forgot about it also the minute he walked out the door=-) The cakes are being auctioned off at the meeting....we'll see if we get any bidders....other than ourselves!

MN Children's Museum

2010-03-30T15:17:00.000-07:00

Today I took the kids to the MN Children's Museum. They currently have a dinosaur exhibit and my son LOVES dinosaurs at the moment. He can name tons of them, way more than I can remember. When we left he told me he liked the MN Science Museum better, I think because they have more dinosaurs at that one. I also had the joy of climbing into the ant hill maze to help rescue my daughter, she was afraid to go any further.
Enjoy the pictures!

The rare two headed turtle!

Get ready for the Dinosaur test, the answers are at the bottom. I had to have my son help me with which ones they were!

How many dinosaurs could you name?

1. Edmontosaurus 2. T-Rex 3. Troodon 4. Triceratops 5. Pachycephalosaurus

Rocking

2010-03-29T12:24:00.000-07:00

This past weekend our daughter pulled out a rocking chair from the guest bedroom and has had a blast rocking in it. She had a blanket covering her lap at first so she looked like a little old lady in her rocking chair=-) The rocker was a gift to me from my grandparents on my mom's side when I was little. The rocker has a distinct knocking noise that it makes that I hadn't remembered until she was rocking in it and it brought back memories of rocking in it when I was little. I had this rocking chair in my room growing up, it had a ugly woven cushion on the seat and whatever doll or stuffed animal I decided needed to sit in it. My sister also had a rocking chair given to her. My parents have kept this tradition going by giving their Grandchildren child sized rocking chairs also, only they are caned because that is a hobby that my dad enjoys doing. These rockers are more for looks than to rock in.

Flooded

2010-03-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

The Minnesota River flooded this past weekend. We went on Sunday to take a look, I think it was at about 29 feet and it ended up cresting at 29.9 feet on Tuesday evening. The bridge coming into town was closed, and it was estimated that the water was about 3 feet high over the road just past the bridge. Here are some shots of what we saw.

Tiger Cub

2010-03-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

On Monday our son earned his Tiger Cub badge for Cub Scouts. He worked throughout the school year doing different achievements that all help him to earn this award. The Pack had a special awards ceremony called the Arrow of Light, which is when a Cub Scout becomes a Boy Scout (after 5th grade I believe). The first badge the boys need to achieve is called the Bobcat and then they work to earn their Tiger badge. I think the boys really enjoyed the ceremony.

The Tigers had their face painted to represent different parts of Cub Scouts (I don't remember what each color meant)

Getting the Tiger Badge, our Son got the Badge and we got a pin. Both get a award since a parent/chaperone must participate in order to achieve all of the requirements.

Moving up the Arrow of Light ladder, going from a Bobcat to a Tiger.

Tiger Badge. Gotta love a boy in uniform!

Showing off their awards!

During the ceremony, she actually at pretty well during the hour and a half ceremony. Like the band aid accessory on her forehead! Small little bump needed a band aid. The larger injury on under her bangs didn't require one. Crazy girl!

Next year he will work towards his Wolf badge.

Magnetic Board

2010-03-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we once again got our craft on! I saw on another blog that a person created a magnetic board and thought that would be perfect for our mud room. My little trooper and I headed to the fabric store to find a fun piece of material that would add color to the room, which I think we succeeded at! After stopping by the Dollar General and Goodwill, we made our way to the hardware store. I headed to the duct work area and found sheet metal and then stopped by the magnets to make sure they liked each other and then grabbed a piece of MDF, oh and we also grabbed a container of liquid nails. Now the project would wait till my husband could help.

My board is about 24x36, the size of the sheet metal. I did find smaller sheets also, or you could cut to the size you want. I also found sheet metal in another section other than the duct work area and it was WAY more expensive, not sure why.

Materials Needed:

Sheet Metal
Fabric (I got 1 yd and it fit perfect, didn't have to cut it)
Plywood to fit the sheet metal
liquid nails
staple gun and staples
frame or wood to make a frame

First cut the plywood or MDF (it happened to be a little cheaper and I wasnt going to buy a full size board of plywood with my little trooper along, I don't think she would help much with getting it in the van!) I was able to get a board that was pretty close to the same size but it still needed to be trimed with the table saw.

Second glue the board and the sheet metal together, we used liquid nails. Liquid Nails was found in the glue section at the hardware store. This will give it some strength, since the sheet metal isn't very thick.

Once dried iron your fabric and staple it to the board. We started at one side, then did the opposite side. Then folded in the corners and did the other sides.

My husband is very handy so he was able to create the frame for me, and I spray painted it black. I did look at the Goodwill for a cool old frame that I could use, but they didn't have any. So you could recycle a frame if you have one or can find one.

Once you have it all together hang it up, step back and admire your work!

Close up of the fabric I picked out.

The frame.

Complete with works of art displayed!

I have to admit this ended up costing more than I thought it would. I am very happy with the results so I don't mind the expense.

Have a great day!

Get Lucky

2010-03-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I ran in the Get Lucky 7K race put on by Team Ortho. It was a gorgeous sunny day, it was cool, but once we started running we warmed up fast. Check out the awesome hoodie and finisher medals we got! Well worth running 4.3 miles!

My sisters friend Eve, my sister Heather and myself after the race.

Here is a shot of some of the people that car pooled from the Chaska Community Center that also did the run.

New Found Love - PB Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-03-05T11:55:00.000-08:00

I found a new love. My new love is called Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies! If you know me at all you know I have a HUGE sweet tooth. I am probably baking something on a weekly basis to find a fix for my sweets craving. If I don't have something in the house that will satisfy my craving I will either eat everything in my cupboard (and still need sweets) or bake something. Today I decided to bake this new recipe I found at the Brown Eyed Baker Blog. As their posting says, you seriously need to go to your kitchen and make these cookies! I would even go as far as making a double batch because they are that good, and it only makes about 16-18 cookies.

Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 16 cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
½ cup rolled oats (I think this is Old Fashioned Oatmeal, that's what I used anyway)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

3. On medium speed, cream together the butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat to combine. On low speed, gradually add the flour until just combined. Stir in the oats, and then the chocolate chips.

4. Use a large cookie scoop (3 tablespoons) and drop dough onto prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden. Cool completely on the baking sheet and then store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Happy Baking!

Kidding Around

2010-03-04T12:40:00.000-08:00

Today my daughter wanted to play outside in the snow. It's been so nice outside I couldn't resist, and my other option was running 3.5 miles on the treadmill, of course I decided to play outside! She got a bundled up and headed out to play. I grabbed my shovel and a bucket and headed out for a not so lovely Easter Egg hunt compliments of our dog. Here are some shots of the fun she had.

Crazy Girl!

What's wrong with this thing?

Ok, I guess I will just give up and make a Snow Angel instead.

She wasn't having any fun!

Another Snow Angel. Makes a person want to do one also!

The pure joy of a snowball!

No more pictures Mom!

While she was playing and I gave up on the doggie cleanup job, I was able to enjoy the sunshine by sitting on the stairs of my deck. It was just like summer, the sun was nice and warm. I love to be outside watching my kids play. Even the dog was panting!

Taking it all in

The snow looked liked crystals from the sun. If only the picture captured it better!

Have a great day!

Walk with my Friend

2010-03-01T11:25:00.000-08:00

Today is a beautiful day in Minnesota, the sun is shining and it feels warm out. If you are not from MN or someplace cold you probably won't understand this, but the temperature is 34 out and it feels warm! It's amazing how you become used to freezing cold weather and anything about 30 feels warm. Here is what my phone says about the nice day.

I decided to take my four legged best friend out for a walk to help enjoy the day while my youngest is in preschool. Here are some shots from my camera phone. Can you feel feel the warm sunshine and the calm peacefulness that we embraced during our walk? It made me want spring here much sooner! Let's hope Mother Nature will keep the temps above freezing longer.

Can you see the smile on his face! I think he was in doggie heaven running and splashing in the puddles and snow.

Wet puppy prints....means only 1 thing....

I think he is no longer in doggie heaven.....

Have a Wonderful Day!

Supper Selector

2010-02-27T12:57:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to save money by not going out to eat as much as I have in the past. My family would go out to eat a lot, sometimes twice a day! My husband works somewhat close to home so we would meet him for lunch or he would pick up something on his way home and then supper time would come and I wouldn't feel like cooking anything so we could go out again. This bad habit not only hurt out pocketbook but also our waste lines. We started making a menu on Sunday nights for the upcoming week. This way everyone had a say in what we were going to have, no complaining about the food because it was already determined because it was on the menu. We have been doing this since about the beginning of the year and we are starting to have trouble coming up with what to eat. My solution to this problem is the Supper Selector. I wrote down most of our main meal items onto clothes pins (we don't have a clothes line at our house and they were laying around not being used), and each week we will draw our meals out out the jar.

Here is how I made our Supper Selector.

Gather up as many clothespins as you have menu items for.

Write each menu item on a clothespin. I should of gone to the store and bought a fine tipped permanent marker as the one I used doesn't look the best.

Place in a large jar. My mom is a cook and brought me this nice large one. If I find more recipes that the kids like I have plenty of space to add more clothespins to the jar.

I cut out letters from magazines and glued them on with Modge Podge. I only put Modge Podge on the back, you could decorate the jar however you want.

Grab 7 clothespins out of the jar for the week.

I clipped them to the top of the jar, but I may clip them to the calendar. I figure once they are drawn we can put them in whatever order we want depending on what our schedule looks like for the week. Some meals are easier to make than others, so those will be for when we don't have anything going on at night. I also think we will make sure to pick for the following week before putting them back in the jar that way we don't have the same thing two weeks in a row.

Ideally I would like to have the ingredients listed also, so I may have to find a different solution to the clothespin. It would be nice to have the ingredients listed on the back so that I can make shopping lists easier without having to search my cookbook to see what I need. I have most of my recipes in one book so maybe I will just reference page numbers on the back instead or the things that I don't normally stock.

Here's hoping that the Supper Selector works and we can stick to what's on the menu!

Have a good day!

Walk to Cure

2010-02-26T10:24:00.000-08:00

(image from jdrf.org)

Tomorrow Feb. 27 my family will be participating in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk to Cure at the Mall of America. Our neighbor has Type I or Juvenile diabetes, so we will be walking to support him as well as all of the other people out there that have Type I diabetes. Please watch this video about Nathan's Cure Crew team. If you are able please donate to this cause NOW to help find a cure for Type I diabetes, to donate go to Nathan's Cure Crew, which will take you to Nathan's Cure Crew's team page on the jdrf.org website. The walk is tomorrow so don't delay as I don't know if you will be able to donate to his team to help reach his goal, but you could still donate to JDRF. You can also find walks in your area to help show your support.

Have a Great Day!

Hanging Letters on the Wall

2010-02-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

Today I made my daughter's name out of wooden letters to hang above her closet door. I have seen a lot of hanging words/names in kids rooms in magazines and always liked the looks of it. I always think they are too expensive since my daughter's name is on the long side. I purchased precut wooden letters at Michaels Craft store to try to create my own version of the hanging letters on the wall. I had invisions of it being a really easy project, but I ran into a few set backs, and the letters may not be store bought perfect, but I like them and so does my daughter! Here are the steps to create your own hanging letters.

Purchase wooden letters of what you would like to spell at your local craft store (I had to go to two different stores since the first store was out of one of the letters.) While at the craft store purchase scrapbook paper for the letters, I chose a different sheet for each letter (or you could use what you have at home). I also used modge podge and white spray paint.

First I spray painted all of the letters white making sure to get the edges. Since the letters will be hanging on the wall I decided to spray paint the edges white. You could use any color to match your paper, or you could possibly skip this step also.

Once the paint is dry I cut out paper to fit around the letters. I didn't cut the letters exactly to match. I then modge podged the paper to the letters trying to get all of the air bubbles out (I didn't get all of the air bubbles out but it isn't too noticable since they are hanging up high). I also put the modge podge on a little thick on some letters which caused problems with the thinner paper.

I used a utility knife to cut around the letters as close as possible. I wanted to use a exacto knife but when I was at the hardware store I was told we had one only to find out it wasn't a exacto knife but a huge utility knife. I also didn't let the glue dry all the way which made the paper rip in some spots.

After all of the letters are cut out I used sand paper to sand around the edges to remove excess paper that I didn't cut close enough to the wood. I then put down new newspaper (so I wouldn't get shavings in the glue), and put another layer of modge podge on top to make it look less like paper glued onto wooden letters.

Lastly hang the letters on your wall (we used craft glue dots to hang them up, not sure how long they will stay up), step back and enjoy your hard work. The best reward so seeing my daughter squeel and jump and down on the bed with excitement. She gave me the cutest "thank you mama," the project was a success just because of that!

Have a good day!

Blog Giveaway at SewTamz

2010-02-18T10:24:00.000-08:00

Visit my friend's blog for a chance to win her giveaway! SewTamz is a very wonderful lady that I met via my MOPS group. I am very blessed to have met her, she is a very talented lady! She makes baby lovee minkys, camera strap covers, monogrammed items, dance bags, etc.

Make sure to head over to SewTamz blog and who knows you could be the lucky winner! http://sewtamz.blogspot.com/

Stay-cation

2010-02-17T09:22:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we had a one night Stay-cation at the Holiday Inn. The kids had a good time swimming at the pool and hanging out with family. We celebrated Grandpa's birthday with cupcakes, and the kids got to stay up late and watch the Olympics. This is our third year going to a local hotel to spend the night and do some swimming. The kids look forward to it, and each year it gets a little easier on the adults also!

Do you have any Stay-cations planned?

For the Love of Chocolate

2010-02-12T10:18:00.000-08:00

Today I made Puppy Chow, and my little one couldn't resist licking the rubber spatula. I of course had my share of the chocolate/peanut butter mixture, but I will spare you those pictures!

She is my daughter!

(If you look close at the eye she does indeed have a black eye! She somehow hit her eye on our table last night while getting off of her chair.)

Have a good Valentine's Day!

Puzzled

2010-02-08T15:07:00.000-08:00

The winter months can get long and there isn't always a lot of new TV at night either. I love doing jigsaw puzzles and time seems to fly when I am working on them. The kids like to try and work on it with me also, although my patience doesn't last long and they get bored quickly with it. I also discovered that my husband and I have two completely differently ways of working on puzzles, which I am not sure work too well together! I like to find a part in the puzzle and then find all the pieces that may go to that part and then work on putting them all together, once that is done I pick out the next spot etc. My husband on the other hand will pick up a piece, study the box to see where it may go and then put it there and then pick up another random piece and try to see where it may go, so puzzle pieces are randomly placed on the table with no real match around it, hogging my work area=-)

I found a 3-D puzzle on clearance at the store a few weeks back for $6 originally $20! It was 1000 pieces so I thought I would give it a try. Here is the finished product and then the 3D version is below. It's hard to see it on the computer but it really looks cool. It came with gold colored paint but we aren't going to paint it because I am not sure I will be able to pass it on to someone else to enjoy if we do.

Well it was a good challenge, and now I am glad I finished it so I can start on the next one.

What do you do to pass the time during the winter months?

National Wear Red Day

2010-02-05T11:11:00.000-08:00

Remember today is National Wear Red Day, and to wear red to show your support for the American Heart Association.

My son has Jump Rope For Heart at his school today, he raised $35 which will go toward the American Heart Association. He was happy with his amount and understood that it was for a good cause and that we need to be active to keep our hearts healthy.

Happy Go Red Day!

Hat Day!

2010-02-05T11:02:00.000-08:00

Today my son's school is having hat day to celebrate for all of the money they earned to send to Haiti. The kids raised $3,000 to help out the earthquake survivors. I remember loving hat day when I was in school and thinking it was so cool to be able to wear a hat. I also enjoyed all of the dress up days, it made going to school a little more exciting.

Here is a couple of pictures of him and his chosen hat for the day. Picking out the hat was easy, it was just trying to figure out which way to wear the hat that was the hard part!

Have a Good Day!

Hearts a Plenty Valentine's Day Garland

2010-01-27T14:55:00.000-08:00

I found a really cute heart garland on the Little Birdie Secrets blog and thought I want to make that! It said to go to your local scrapbook store and use the die cut machines to make the hearts. The thought of going into our Archivers store was a little intimidating to me as I am so not a Scrapbooker, I just don't really care for it, I think it can look really nice but it's just not my thing (sorry all of you Scrapbookers out there!). So today I worked up enough courage to go to the store and give it a try. I bought my felt over the weekend at the fabric store, so I stuck it in my purse and made my way to Archivers. I bought a couple sheets of paper at the store (since you are supposed to use their paper in order to use the die cut machines), and went back to the die cut machines. I actually had a good time using the die cut machines, it didn't cut the best on the felt so I had to cut some when I got home. I had all of my hearts cut in under an hour, which I could of finished much faster if there wasn't other people using the same heart patterns that I was using. I also did some shamrocks and Easter themed ones so that I don't have to go back (although I don't think I did enough of them). I modified my garland by using Velcro instead of sewing the hearts to the ribbon so that I can easily (I am hoping anyway) switch it with the changing seasons/holidays.

I am really happy with how it turned out, and impressed that I actually did it. Now if I finish what I have in mind with the paper that I had to buy, I'll post it if I gets completed!

Happy Crafting!

Alien Encounter

2010-01-24T09:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we came across Aliens, they were very friendly and civilized. Now you are probably thinking what are you talking about Aliens don't exist! Well the Aliens weren't real that we saw, they were at a eating establishment called Space Aliens in Albertville, MN.

The kids love the place, think Chuckie Cheese with grown up food, and no mechanical scary creatures doing shows! The food is pretty good, they have HUGE baked potatoes that you can get with different kids of toppings, wraps, ribs and the fries come in cool cone shaped holders with different kinds of dips (I had already gobbled up my fries before I thought of taking a picture).

The kids (ok so did we) had a blast playing the different arcade games and we ended up winning 202 tickets, which ended up being enough for each kid to get a toy for 100 tickets each.

We highly recommend making the drive to Albertville to check out Space Aliens, and remember the Outlet Mall is in Albertville also, so you can do some shopping at the sametime!

Surgery

2010-01-18T09:13:00.000-08:00

Today our daughter went in to have new tubes put in her ears and to have her adenoids removed. The poor thing has had trouble with her speech and is very hard to understand. We met with the school district speech pathologist and had her evaluated, and luckily that day she decided to talk really bad so she qualified for speech help and they also suggested a hearing test. The appointment was already made to see the ENT, so that wasn't a big deal. While at the ENT they said that both of her tubes were out and wanted to check for fluid, which was present behind the ear drum. She had just had an ear infection in November and was on two treatments of the heavy duty antibiotics so the Dr suggested getting new tubes put in and possibly removing the adenoids. We think she has probably had fluid in her ears for a long time which is why she is so difficult to understand, we are hoping the surgery clears up all of her ear problems.

We had to get to the Same Day Surgery Center at 6:45 this morning. So we woke her up about 6:20 grabbed her blanket and stuffed bunny and we were off. She had surgery about 7:30 and we were home by about 9. She was such a trooper, all happy going in, not as happy leaving. She really hated having the IV in her wrist, and the small needle mark really made her upset. She decided her mitten was the best thing to make it feel better! We go back to the ENT in two weeks for a hearing test and to make sure the tubes are in the correct spot. I had to run to the store to get her perscription filled and by the time I got home she was running around playing with her brother and cousins.

Please pray that this solves the ear infection issues and that her speech greatly improves. She appears to be having a speedy recovery!

Winter Wonderland

2010-01-12T12:33:00.000-08:00

Today we woke up to beautiful frost covered trees. I think these days are one of my favorite things about living in Minnesota. Everywhere you look you see God's beauty, unfortunately it doesn't last long and as soon as it warms up the frost is gone. I grabbed my camera and shot some pictures on my way to taking my daughter to gymnastics. The pictures don't capture how very gorgeous all of the trees are, and I did have some looks as I pulled over to get the pictures. I pulled into a private drive to get a couple shots (although I wasn't to where the signs were posted so I think I was ok) and when I left and stopped to take some more pictures I noticed a van stop in the driveway and another van stop a little ways behind me, were they looking to see what I was doing?? Anyway enjoy the pictures!

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T08:42:00.000-08:00

From our family to yours, Happy New Year! May 2010 bring you health and happiness!

Image from zazzle.com

Gingerbread Houses Revisited

2009-12-29T09:50:00.000-08:00

The past couple of year the kids decorate gingerbread houses on Christmas while we are at my parents house. Here is a snapshot of how the kids have grown and become better at decorating their houses. Some of the pictures aren't the best as we have attempted to get a new camera (looks like every christmas) and they just don't take good pictures like our DSL camera does. Poor Kenzie was sleeping the last two years, maybe next year!

2009

2008

2007

The Holiday High is Crashing

2009-12-29T09:36:00.000-08:00

The high of the holidays is wearing off and the over stimulation for the kids was too much. Yesterday the kids were horrible, but of course it was because it was only Mom to entertain them rather than a house full of people. We all had a good Christmas dispite the snow. We ended up heading to Mankato on Wednesday instead of Christmas Eve and stayed till Sunday. I can't remember the last time we have stayed down there for that long. We bought Band Hero for the Wii before we left so we played that while we were down there also, and lets just say we were not meant to be in a band! Ryan got his football uniform that he has been wanting since October along with a bouncy ball maker. He has been having a lot of fun with them both. Mackenzie got some new accesories for her babies, a toy phone and a cash register.

My wonderful son is already asking when he can go to the store to buy more stuff. Really kid??? I guess I am raising a very spoilled child. Here's hoping we can maybe change that in 2010! That would also mean I need to change my shopping addiction habit in 2010, can I do it? The pocketbook sure hopes so!

Finished

2009-12-22T12:30:00.000-08:00

I would like everyone to know that I (ok my Dad) have finished painting all of the rooms in my house! We have lived in the house for about 4.5 years and the laundry room was the last room with the flat white paint on the walls. The washer and dryer have been sold and the room was somewhat cleared out so it was time to give it a nice new coat of paint. I great Dad was off of work this week so he graciously offered to come up and paint the room for us. The walls are now a "Silver Tinsel" color and we painted the coat rack black instead of white. We carried up the storage unit from the basement with hopes that the kids will use it to store their shoes, hats, mittens etc in them. I love how it turned out and it feels so much nicer to walk into the house with it finished. Now just to put up some decorations to hide the washer hook-up and maybe a lamp. I'm sure it will be filled up very quickly!

Being Crafty

2009-12-22T12:22:00.000-08:00

The other day I was reading It's The Little Things That Make a House a Home blog about decorating candles using Espon Salt and Mod Podge. The steps were really simple so I decided to give it a try and depending on how they turned out give them as teacher gifts. I ventured out to Michael's Craft store and found the candles 50% off, I would of preferred the medium sized ones over the large pillars but they were sold out so I grabbed what was left and made my way to CVS to find Epson Salt. Once home I unwrapped the candles, painted the Mod Podge around the edge, rolled it in Epson Salt and placed them on a drying rack to dry over night. The next day I wrapped ribbon around each one and embellished the candle with beads and wire. The candles turned out pretty nice! I hope the teachers like them and don't hate me for the Epson salt the falls off a little!

Happy Crafting!

Birthday Girl

2009-12-11T05:43:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my beautiful daughter!

Mackenzie turns 3 years old today, boy has time sped by! She brightens our day and we are blessed to have such a great kid!

I made her a puppy dog cake. She loves puppies so I thought I would attempt to make her a cake, it sounded easier than I thought. It's not the best but she atleast could tell it was a puppy!

Opening the gifts!

She loved her Littlest Petshop gift from Ryan!

Her latest milestone is drawing people! Here is her first drawing of a person and I was lucky enough to get it in my Birthday card!

The Macy's Family Tradition

2009-12-06T11:31:00.000-08:00

Today we went to Macy's in downtown Minneapolis to see the holiday exhibit. Every year they decorate the 8th floor in a holiday theme. This year is The Day in the Life of an Elf, it is so incredible to see, the detail is amazing and the kids love seeing all of the different scenes. I remember going when I was little, so it's a fun tradition to take our kids to.

Here are the kids at the first portion of the exhibit, the really enjoyed looking at everything! This year Mackenzie could finally enjoy it also, and not be stuck in the stroller.

Look at the detail! A lot of the elves are moving. One of the sections had a mouse that would crawl into a hole, Mackenzie really liked the mechanical puppy that was wagging his tail.

This elf was a little scary looking!

Here is a picture of the other favorite family tradition. Grandpa buys the kids a cookie from the elf bake shop. I think it is Grandpa's favorite part of the the trip also!

All the grandkids with their cookies. The cookies are huge! Let the sugar rush begin!

Happy Holidays, and enjoy your family traditions!

I'm in Love!

2009-12-01T09:34:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am in love with my Birthday and Christmas presents that I just got! Yesterday our new appliances were delivered. I bought them on black friday from Best Buy, they had a really good sale that I couldn't pass up! I purchased a new High Efficiency front load Washer and Dryer and also a new refridgerator all by Samsung. Did I mention I love them?

We have always wanted our washer and dryer to be on the floor with our bedrooms. When we were looking for our house that was something on our wish list that didn't get meet. Well now it has! My wonderful husband installed new water lines and electrical lines to run into our master bedroom closet. So our nice new washer and dryer is now located on the second floor! No more running up and down the stairs with the laundry basket! I love it!

Here is a picture of the washer and dryer, it is two pictures combined to show what it looks like in the closet, so no the washer doesn't look bent!

Happy Black Friday!

2009-11-27T07:16:00.000-08:00

I love Black Friday, or the day after Thanksgiving! I spend Thanksgiving looking at the store advertisements, figuring out where to go and who has the best deals. This year was no different than previous years, well maybe the amount that I spent was different but I still woke up early (4am) and joined the shopping frenzy! I only went to two stores which the shopping part was very fast, it was the waiting in line to purchase the good deals that took forever. I waited in line probably 45 minutes at Kohl's and about the same at Best Buy. I can't wait for Monday when my Best Buy purchases are delivered! I'll post my purchase then!

Here is my view at Kohl's and this was after I had made the corner to the final stretch, I of course had the annoying people behind me that thought it was a good idea to wear headphones and still talk to one another really loudly! I guess they haven't learned that little secret yet=-)

Enjoy the Holiday Shopping Madness! I'm off to more stores!

Something Smells Delicious

2009-11-23T17:30:00.000-08:00

Does it get much better than fresh baked bread? If only you could smell it from your computer! I have to confess it isn't completely home made, I bought it frozen from the store and let it rise and baked it, that counts right?

Afternoon Adventure

2009-11-19T06:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went on a walk with our dog Kirby. The kids were in school and the weather was perfect so I decided to get out and enjoy it since there are few good days left! We walked 3.8 miles and I brought my camera along, although the good camera had a low battery so I had to bring the old one. We headed down a path and then climbed a ditch to walk on the railroad tracks. I don't think Kirby enjoyed walking on the tracks as much as I did, the rocks hurt his paws. Here are some of the pictures from our adventure. I hope you enjoy them!

This picture is of the ditch that the fireman did a controlled burn on the day before. It's right by the golf course, we found 3 burnt golf balls!

This picture is of a fallen tree near the beginning of the trail that we walked.

The view from the Railroad tracks

Under the bridge that used to be a road to our development.

I am hoping to get in a walk on Saturday morning with the neighbor ladies since it is still supposed to be nice out, I am hoping to still be able to walk with them in December! Let's see if it happens, work with me Mother Nature!

Night Owl

2009-11-18T07:58:00.000-08:00

My husband is a night owl. He stays up really late, and I mean really it's not uncommon for him to go to bed around 2 or 3am, even 6 am sometimes! He even found a hobby to support is late night habits! He has gotten into Astrophotography, so he takes pictures of planets, galaxies, star clusters etc. He has gotten a lot better at it and his pictures are turning out rather nice. I'm sure I picked the wrong picture here, but this is one of his shots.

I on the other hand am not a night owl, I could go to sleep at 9 and get up early. I find it interesting how our children are just like us. Our son is a night owl and our daughter is a early bird.

Are you an early bird or a night owl?

Happiness

2009-11-17T14:34:00.000-08:00

Happiness is defined as a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy. Happiness is all around us, yet sometimes feeling true happiness seems hard to acheive. Buying new shoes or clothes, eating your favorite meal, snuggling with a loved one bring me happiness. I bought our dog a new "duck" toy which he loves. It brings him happiness I think. Our daughter finds happiness in playing dress-up, and spinning around and singing. I thinking our son finds happiness in playing football.

What brings you happiness?

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-27T06:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend the Community Center had a Halloween Party. Here is Snow Princess Mackenzie and Commander Cody Ryan!

Have a great Halloween!

Cub Scout

2009-10-27T06:20:00.001-07:00

This year Ryan joined Cub Scouts. He is really enjoying it and just earned his first badge, the Bobcat badge. He had to do some memorization, and learn the cub scout moto etc. in order to get earn the badge. We had a family Cub Scout outing to Rock Isle Farms to do a hayride, play games, see animals, and crafts, and be cold! It was a drizzly cold day but I think he had fun even if the parents didn't. At the end they did the award ceremony and he was presented with his badge.

Ryan getting his Bobcat Badge

Ryan and Dad with their badges

BrOkEn

2009-09-11T07:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a first in our family. It is amazing that this first has taken so long to arrive. The first that happened was a broken bone! Poor Ryan was the unfortunate one to have this family first, Jason and I have never broken a bone! He was playing flag football with the neighbor boys and jumped and fell on his left shoulder causing his collar bone to break. He came home crying but I didn't think he was hurt that bad. He continued to complain about it for the rest of the night, screamed when we tried to put his PJ's on (that's when I decided it probably did hurt, I'm not very simpathetic) and then woke up crying during the night. He was still complaining this morning, so I made an appointment with the Dr for right away in the morning to let them decide if something was wrong. The Dr checked him out and noticed his collar bone was looking a little different than the other, the xray proved that sure enough it was broken! He has to wear a sling for 4-6 weeks or until it starts to feel better, amazingly enough is that the collar bone heals one it's own and very quickly. The poor guy can't participate in his soccer clinics and gymnastics so I'm sure he will be bummed about that for longer than the bone is going to hurt him!

As you can see he isn't in too much pain for as bad as the break looks.

I brought him to school today and all the kids noticed his sling and were concerned, I think he will be the talk of the class today. He was also excited because when he asked if he could be pick up today (instead of riding the bus) I told him I would pick him up.

Hopefully the next break doesn't happen for a long time, if ever!

Triple Bypass

2009-08-26T15:47:00.000-07:00

This past week my family had our first triple bypass. No, surgery wasn't involved, although it maybe should! I wanted to do something for Jason's birthday and found a recipe online that was perfect for a bunch of guys. The recipe is called Triple Bypasses, which is a hotdog, wrapped in hamburger wrapped in bacon, covered in BBQ sauce!

We invited the neighbors over to have our first triple bypass feast! Not only did we have the triple bypasses, but we had Jalapeno Poppers as an appetizer, I think everyone gained a little after this meal! The meal was a big hit, and I think Jason enjoyed his Birthday Party also!

Don't they look Delicious!

In case you want to enjoy your own Triple Bypasses

Jalapeno Poppers (thanks to Kris & Chris Freitag)

Clean and deseed as many Jalapenos as you want to make, cutting each in half the long way

Fill with cream cheese

wrap 1/2 a slice of bacon around each and secure with a toothpick.

Grill until bacon is cooked and cream cheese is melted.

BIG 6

2009-08-05T06:46:00.000-07:00

Everyone says time flies and it truly does when you have kids! Ryan celebrated his 6th birthday yesterday August 4th, ok we have been celebrating his birthday for a while now since his birthday party with his friends was on the 31st. I think he had a great 6th birthday. We went to Pump It Up with 22 of his friends and the jumped, ran, slide of a lot of energy. We had his favorite brownies instead of cake and then topped it off with a pizza party for the neighbor kids at our house.

Yesterday we celebrated by going to Perkins for Perky Bear Pancakes, then he had VBS and then did a scavenger hunt to find his present (I broke down and finally got him a light saber). Today Grandma and Grandpa Melquist come up to watch the kids so it will be another party for him and then Sunday another party with Grandma and Nana Sharp!

Happy Birthday Ry-Guy, we love you and you have truly blessed us!

Locks of Love

2009-06-23T06:45:00.000-07:00

The day finally came to do something I had been planning on for some time now, well actually probably about 5 years. My hair was finally long enough to make the 10 inch minimum needed to donate to Locks of Love. My cut off hair will be put toward a hair piece for a child that has hair loss because of medical reasons. I think it is a great cause and am grateful for finally being able to make my donation.

Before

After, holding 11 inches of my hair that will be donated. Over 12 inches was cut off!

Minneapolis Marathon

2009-06-01T13:16:00.001-07:00

Sunday I ran in the Inaugural Minneapolis Marathon. It was a beautiful day for a run, cool at the start and little breeze. I had a great first half of the run (I was ahead of the 4 hour and 45 minutes pace group, maybe I should of stayed with them!) and then "the wall" hit me. I was very ready to be done at mile 18. I was tired and hurting. I managed to run till mile 20 ( I think) where my family was waiting cheering for me, and then I had to walk.

I was almost in tears at that point. I ended up walking about the last 6 miles and I finished my second marathon with a time of 5 hours and 9 minutes. My legs are hurting very badly and I was very tired. The heat climbed to upper 70's if not 80's and that effected my also. One thing I am proud of is that I didn't have to stop at a Port-a-Potty till mile 19! I first for me=-) I am disappointed in my time, I was hoping to beat my Twin Cities time of 5 hours but my body and my mind wouldn't let me (probably more my mind). I normally would say "oh well, maybe next time," but I really don't think there will be a next time, I think I will stick to shorter distances.

Memorial Day Weekend Memories

2009-05-26T11:44:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was full of play and work. Saturday we went to the MN Zoo. The kids had fun seeing all of the animals. Mackenzie fully enjoyed it this year. I think this year she actually new that they were animals and hallored and pointed to the different ones she saw. She is currently a fan of Cows, but wouldn't touch the cow. Ryan got to milk a goat and brought home a suvenoir snake.

Sunday was the work day of the weekend. Our deck railing was in need of restaining, so that is what we accomplished. The deck looks so much better now that it is done and hopefully we wont have to do it again for atleast 5 years=-) Ryan and Mackenzie stained my planters as well as themselves. Many tears were shed by Mackenzie that morning, luckily Nana and Grandpa stopped by to entertain the kids in the afternoon.

Monday my friend Dee came up to visit us. We had another good day. We decided to use our free passes to go to Canterbury Downs to see the horse races. Dee had never been to the races so it was a good trip. The kids did somewhat okay, next time we'll walk around more in between races. We didn't beat any money, but we each picked our horse to win and Jason picked 4 out of 5 correct....I guess he should of put some money down!

Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon

2009-05-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

Sunday Jason and I ran in the Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon. It was a perfect day for a run, hardly any wind and around 50 degrees. The run was Jason's longest run and a "short" run for me since I ran 18 miles on Friday. Jason finished before me with a time of 2:01.19 and my time was 2:19.32 (8 minutes wasted waiting in line at the porta potty).

Before the run

Jason at the finish line. My parents didn't see me at the finish....but I didn't see them after either!

After our run

Mommy's Big Girl

2009-04-06T08:50:00.001-07:00

My baby girl is not a baby anymore. About 2 weeks ago I found a eBook called 3-Day Potty Training (http://www.3daypottytraining.com/) and decided to give it a try. Well much to my surprise that next day we stopped using diapers and haven't used one since, not even a pull-up! It was a challenging couple of days but she really did figure it out in 3 days. She is having trouble doing number 2 but the last two days she has gone on her potty and has stayed dry at night also (with the help of us getting her up during the night to go). What a relief to not have to spend so much money on diapers anymore!

Spring

2009-03-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

Spring is officially here! We had a great time Saturday grilling burgers on the grill with our neighbors. We hired a plumber to connect the house gas line to the grill so we dont have to worry about running out of gas. It works great! Ryan had a birthday party to go to Saturday also and had a blast at Pump It Up helping his friends celebrate.

I am still using the treadmill and decided to run another marathon. I am signed up to run the inaugural Minneapolis Marathon which is May 31. This week my long run is 14 miles, I am hoping the weather is nice so that I can get outside, so far it has all been on the treadmill. I ran in my first 10 mile race on March 14 called the 100% Irish for a Day. I finished in 1 hour 43 minutes, which I am pretty happy with since it was my first one.

Jason is trying to train for the Lake Minnetonka 1/2 marathon which is May 3. I am also running the race. He is currently on a once a week training run program=-) although he was able to make it 7 miles on Saturday!

Mackenzie is developing her own personality and is becoming a major talker. She went from hardly any words to non stop talking. She is also working on potty training which we can't wait for her to conquer!

Ryan is having a fun time in kindergarten and was selected to be in a advanced math class. I guess he gets that from his dad! He still loves to play with his Legos and do arts and crafts. This summer he wants to do a art camp and a adventure camp at the Community Center.

Shared photo book from Amanda:

2009-03-02T17:40:00.001-08:00

View Project at Shutterfly

The Melquist Biggest Loser

2009-02-10T12:15:00.000-08:00

Last week we got a new toy, a treadmill! In honor of the new treadmill and the need to make sure we use the treadmill Jason and I are competing in the Melquist Biggest Loser. Not only do we want to lose a couple pounds (some of us have more pounds to lose), but we also are getting ready to run the Lake Minnetonka 1/2 marathon in May. May the biggest loser win!

Jason carrying the treadmill downstairs. It weighs about 300 pounds, why take it apart when you can try and hurt yourself??

Jason putting it together

Trying it out for the first time.

The sign of a true runner....running in slippers! Who needs running shoes anyway!

The President's Club

2009-01-20T13:26:00.001-08:00

Jason had his National Meeting at work last week and found out some exciting news. He was chosen to receive the Presidents Club Award! He was nominated by his coworkers for all of the hard work that he contributes at Datalink. All of the recipients of the award and their guests get to take a trip for the Key West Florida in April! So April 23-26 we will in enjoying a little R&R! I can't wait. We decided to go 2 days early so we will actually be gone the 21-26 if everything works out!

Now time to get motivated to get into the running routine to firm and shed a little. Luckily we just ordered a new Sole F80 treadmill that should be arriving in about 2 weeks. Good bye laziness and hello fitness!

Santa

2008-12-15T09:39:00.001-08:00

We took the kids to see Santa this weekend at the Mall of America. We decided to go early to beat the rush, we got there and there was no line! Perfect timing. Ryan told Santa everything he wanted and gave him is list. Mackenzie on the other hand didn't want anything to do with Santa. We ended up getting a family photo with Santa rather than just the kinds.

After seeing Santa we used up our free ride passes at Nickelodeon Universe. Jason and I rode on the SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge, it was great! The ride takes you up and then drops straight down and has some loop-d-loops in it. Best of all no lines!

Birthday's

2008-12-09T08:17:00.000-08:00

This week Mackenzie turns 2 and I turn 31! I can't believe that she is two years old already (and that I am 31), time sure went by fast. She is a active little girl and loves to play with Ryan's toys. She is discovering her love of dolls. She got a stroller this weekend for Christmas from the Melquist's and loves pushing her babies around the house. She also had a good time being pushed around the house in it by her cousins, she would point where she wanted to go, it was pretty cute. She also loves shoes, she decides which pair she wants to wear, which sometimes aren't even her own. I am going to make a purse cake for her Birthday, hopefully it turns out!

Twin Cities Marathon

2008-10-06T08:21:00.000-07:00

Sunday October 5th I ran in the Twin Cities Marathon. I am proud to say that I finished the marathon in 5 hours 35 seconds. It was a cold rainy day which was probably better than hot, but I was cold. I had to make several stops at the port-a-potties which drastically hurt my time, but I finished and that was my goal and I am proud of myself. Jason followed me on the bike and froze along the way. Jason's parents cheered for me around mile 5 and my sister, mom, cousin and kids cheered for me at mile 24 and met up with me at the finish.

I never thought I would run a marathon in my life. I am happy that I did. Will I do it again??? Not sure, but probably. I think it's like giving birth it was bad but you forget the pain and are willing to do it all over again and it's worth every minute.

Long Run

2008-09-07T05:17:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I ran my longest run to date, 18 miles, yes 18 miles can you believe it! It was a cooler day, but very dry and I could tell. I instantly needed water. I had to stop at every drinking fountain I could find, which slowed down my time. Without the waterstops I did pretty well with a pace of 5.8 miles per hour. Not the fastest time, but it is a good time for me. I am happy to say that I made the entire 18 miles, but I was/am in some serious pain. I got blisters on my toes and overall my legs are just really sore. I think I am really sore because I have been running on the treadmill instead of on the road. I think I need to try and get outside more......but finding the time is the hard part! Only one more 18 mile run left and then the run distances drastically drop off.

The marathon is less than a month away!

Tri-athlete

2008-08-18T06:20:00.001-07:00

I can officially call myself a Tri-athlete! Yesterday I competed in my first triathlon held at Baker Park called the YWCA Women's Triathlon. It was a 500 yd swim, 15 mile bike, 3 mile run. It was hard, but a lot of fun. I came in 252 out of 424 women.

Happy 5th Birthday Ryan

2008-08-06T07:12:00.001-07:00

Ryan turned 5 on Monday. It doesn't seem possible that he is already 5.

Tattoo

2008-07-28T06:08:00.001-07:00

Is 4 1/2 too young to get a tattoo? Well that is not what Ryan thought last night. We found him this morning with "tattoos" all over himself. He does some nice artwork when he is supposed to be sleeping. He informed us that it wasn't him that made all the tattoos, but amazingly there wasn't any on his right hand=-) Unfortunately Jason didn't take a picture of him before he started scrubbing. I guess we know not to leave any pens/markers in his room.

Oh and he also wrote his name on his door with a Sharpie marker the other day. Both sides of the door now read Ryan M. He will love it when he is 18 with that still on his door!

What a Week

2008-07-25T14:34:00.000-07:00

This week was a busy one. I started out with Saturday (or is that wrapping up last week?) with running 10 miles. Jason rode the bike pulling the kids in the bike carrier. He started about 5 minutes behind me. I ran about 2.5 miles and he still hadn't caught up. I waited a little while at the stop sign and decided to turn around and head back to the house thinking I would find him before I got to the house. It turns out that Jason didn't see me (not sure how this is possible since the rode is straight the majority of the way) and turned around as well. I rode back to the house, to Victoria and then back to the house again. We both had gotten back to the house at the same time. After a short water break we packed the kids up and finished the last 6 miles of the run. I guess I run faster than Jason thinks.......or maybe he just bikes that slow!

Saturday night we saw The Dark Knight. It was pretty good, although I did doze off a little (I had been up since 3am with no nap) and sitting up front wasn't the highlight either!

Sunday Jason and I ran in the Raspberry Festival 5 mile run in Hopkins. It was a hot one since the race didn't start till 11:30. It was fun running through hoses and finishing down the parade route.

Ryan started A Taste of Kindergarten on Monday as well as Vacation Bible School. He came home fired up after VBS, he had a blast.

We finally rested today (Friday). Tomorrow starts for another busy week. The run for tomorrow morning is 11 miles, ugh. Oh, I forgot to mention that I bought a new gadget last week. The Garmin Forerunner! It's a GPS that tracks how many miles I have run, my heart rate, calories, speed etc. no more guessing how far I have gone.

Two Personal Bests in One Week

2008-06-01T16:47:00.000-07:00

This week I ran a race on Memorial Day and another one on Sunday. The first race was the 10 Kato, which was in Mankato. I ran my second 10K and finished in 58 minutes 52 seconds. This was a hard run since the last portion of the run was up Glenwood Ave, a slow gradual incline.

Today, June 1st, I ran the Downtown 5K and ran my fastest 5K to date! I finished with a time of 29 minutes 30 seconds. I cut almost 3 minutes off of my old best time! My goal was to run under 30 minutes.

Only 4 months till the Marathon, 6.2 miles was hard, 26 is going to be really hard!

Our Very Own Playset

2008-05-19T05:52:00.000-07:00

We are now the proud owners of a huge wooden playset. We (ok Jason and my dad) spent all of Saturday and part of Sunday putting it together, so much for 4-8 hours like the instructions say! It is up and currently the rave of all the neighbor kids. I am ready for the newness to go away. I can't handle the stress of 10 kids playing on it at once!

The beginning

Don't we have a talented kid?

Ryan and CJ waiting in anticipation

The finished product

My First 10K

2008-05-19T05:44:00.000-07:00

This Saturday I ran my first 10K (6.2 mile). The race was called the Veteran's Memorial 5/10K run, which was hosted right in Chaska. I finished a lot better than I thought I would with a time of 1:00.53 I was shocked by my time (I normally don't run 10 minute miles) as I was very tired and thought I was running very slow at some parts. Overall that day I ran about 9 miles as I decided to run to the race which I was thinking was a mistake at about 4 miles into the race. I think the 3 mile warm up maybe did help after all.

A Cruise to Remember

2008-04-30T17:15:00.000-07:00

We are back from our seven day cruise to Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios Jamaica. We had a great time and soaked up as much sun as we could. We swam with Sting Rays in Grand Cayman and also snorkeled, the corral was gorgeous! I set up an excursion to go ziplining while we were in Ocho Rios, this was the most excitement we have had in a long time. We conquered fears! One of the lines was very short and straight at a tree, another one was straight down about 20 feet. Luckily the guides knew what they were doing! I think Jason even screamed a little=-)

The other excitement that happened on the cruise was finding out that a person went overboard about 40 miles away from Cozumel! Unfortunately the man was not found since the search didn't occur till probably 24 hours after he went overboard. A very sad situation.

We are both glad to be home and with Ryan and Mackenzie. We missed them a ton, and they missed us also. Mackenzie gave us the cold shoulder for a little while, but couldn't resist for too long.

Check out our Flickr account for more pictures.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasmel90/sets/72157604815795088/

Dedication

2008-04-13T18:00:00.000-07:00

Mackenzie was Dedicated at church today. Right as we got up to the front she did a HUGE sneeze, it was one of those sneezing that everything comes out. She had snot going from her nose all the way to my shoulder. I quickly used my hand for a kleenex, and had a handful to try and figure out what to do with. Luckily she had bloomers on=-)

The Next Gene Simons?

2008-04-13T17:12:00.001-07:00

Could Mackenzie be the next Gene Simons from Kiss?

No Training Wheels.....Ya Right

2008-04-13T17:03:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago when the weather was nice we decided to remove the training wheels from Ryan's bike. We thought since all of his other friends in the neighborhood didn't use them anymore, Ryan shouldn't either. After one attempt and several tears later the bike was given a rest and the training wheels dug out of the garbage (or atleast so I have been told). I think Ryan will be that kid that can't ride his bike until he is in 7th grade.

The poor tire!

Can't Wait!

2008-04-09T13:39:00.000-07:00

13 days until Jason and I leave for our cruise! We are leaving April 20 and flying to Miami, then to Cozumel, Cayman Islands and then to Ocho Rios Jamaica. I booked a excursion to go Zip lining in Jamaica. It's going to be awesome!

It will be nice to get away.

It's Snow Fun

2008-03-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

Ryan decided that he wanted to play in the snow today, and wanted his mom to help him build an igloo. Here is what I was able to do, it's not the best snow fort, but it made him happy.

Ah Pickles

2008-02-20T09:45:00.001-08:00

Mackenzie tried pickles for the first time the other day. Luckily the camera was near!

Get this thing out of my mouth

I don't like pickles!

Birthday Milestones

2007-12-11T14:01:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Mackenzie's first Birthday and Amanda's 30th Birthday over the weekend. We started out at Macy's walking through the Nutcracker display, then ate at Hard Rock Cafe and then back home for cake and ice cream. Mackenzie loved the cake, we didn't like that she didn't want to sleep that night from all of the sugar.

That was some good cake!

Ryan, Morgan, Mackenzie and Ave

I officially turned old a day before my 30th Birthday. While I was putting my boot on to leave for Macy's I threw out my back. It was a painful day, but I guess that is what happens when you get old.