State Fair 2009

We had a lot of fun at the state fair this year!! Since the girls are older, we lasted 8 1/2 hours this time!! We were all pretty worn out by the end! The girls did the little farm hands exhibit again. They did kids rides, which they loved!! We ate a bunch, and the highlights were cheese curds, a peanut butter cup shake, the apple cider freezies, the chocolate rainbow ice cream, the dole whip, and fries (that's what I can remember!). We also made it on the Kare 11 news at 4 by just sitting in the audience! It was a lot of fun! Also, after making it to the fair many years, one thing I had never done was ride the giant slide! That was my goal this year, and I did it! Going down the slide was so much fun!! Hannah also loved it, but Lillian to our surprise didn't enjoy it that much. Maybe she'll like it better next year!

More teeth loosing adventures!

So, this actually happened a couple of months ago, but I just never got around to blogging about it!
I'm not sure why, but it seems like loosing teeth for Hannah, so far, has been kind of dramatic. And this last time was no exception! We were at a friends house, and the have a ledge upstairs where you can look over it and see the downstairs. Kids love to play here! Hannah was peeking over the ledge, and holding herself up, and some how slipped and banged her teeth right into the ledge!! She was not a happy camper!!! She was bleeding and crying. I felt bad for her! We called her dentist though, and they said it should be ok, and that her teeth were probably close to coming out if hitting made them that loose. So after she calmed down, we took her home, and blessedly one of the teeth fell out while Bill was reading to her before bed. The other tooth was super loose, but we just left it alone! Then about a week later, while we were in MI, I pulled Hannah's shirt off so she could hop in the bath, and randomly the other one fell out too! Hannah was an early teether, and they say if you get them early, you tend to loose them early! She has now lost 6 teeth at only 5 years old and has another loose one now! I hope the rest of them just some how come out easier than her first ones have!

My first 5K!

Last week I did something that I really thought I would never do! I ran a 5k! I never thought this would happen, cause I am actually not really a fan of running! It's hard to run for long periods of time! A couple months back though, I started going on the tread mills at the Y to change up my routine. It took me weeks to even get up to running a mile straight! Then I moved to running on their indoor track. And running a mile here or there. Then some girls asked me if I would be interested in a 5k. Since starting to run a bit, I thought maybe I would try one at some point, but didn't know if I could do it so soon! The two girls who asked me to do this particular 5K also went camping at Lake Elmo, so we all went for a run together. It felt like we went forever, and it was only 2.25 miles! Then over the 4th of July in MI, Bill and I went for a run and went 3 miles. I ran two, then walked for 1 tenth of a mile, then ran the rest. So I figured that it could be do-able to do the 5k.
It was an experience! The race was right in down town Minneapolis. Hundreds and Hundreds of people ran! We started in the middle, and at first it was even hard to get pace, as we were passing people, and people were passing us! Andy, who was also running with us, even stopped to get cheese curds!! And then caught back up with us! At first it was kind of fun, with all the people, and the excitement of running, but then it started to get tough! I was glad to make the one mile marker! It was really nice to have Bill and other friends push me to keep going! We made it to the bridge we had to go over, and I was really wanting to stop and walk, but I kept going!! Then we got pretty close to the finish line and my feet were even starting to go numb!! But Bill and Andrea told me to keep going! I'm like, "but it hurts!!" But they were like, "you can do it!" And finally, I crossed the finish line in about 38 minutes!! I ran the whole entire thing, and didn't even stop once to walk!! It was a very tough, and very fun experience! I can now say I ran a 5K! I'm not sure if I'll do one again, I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

A week of grillin!

When Bill had his week off from work, he thought it would be cool if he could help out with cooking so I wouldn't have to do it all, which I thought was really nice! So I thought it would be a good idea if he grilled! I don't really grill, and he loves to do it! So here is what we ended up grillin.
Pork tenderlion, which turned out awesome on the grill! He cut a slit in it, put garlic in the slit, then slathered the whole thing with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Steak, which was in honor of Father's day!
Burgers
Brats
Grilled chicken sandwiches (which also turned out really yummy!)
And, Kabobs! We have never done kabobs before, and they turned out good!
We also did corn on the cob a couple times, cause Bill and the girls love it!
Is was a fun week to try this, and a good change up for our menu!
Thanks Bill, for being willing to grill all that week!

4th of July 2009

We went up to MI this year for the fourth. I also had my 10 year class reunion! I can't believe I have been graduated from high school that long!
We had a fun time! We went to the parade, which the girls loved, and they got a ton of candy!! Also, the first people to come down the parade route were the, "give every kid a flag" people. Hannah and Lillian thought it was pretty cool that they got there own little flag to wave!



We also did the Ishpeming fireworks at night, which were really nice. My dad took Hannah to ride on a pony, which see enjoyed! And, she also loved riding on the 4 wheeler too!
Here is a picture of us while we were waiting for the parade to start....

Dance Camp

This past week Bill has had another week of Mandatory unpaid leave, so we decided to sign the girls up for a dance camp, since he would be around to help get them too and from! The girls LOVED it!! It was for 4 days, 2 hours a day, and was through Spirited Feet. They learned dances, and had story time, craft time, and snack time. On the last day, the last 15 minutes of the time, they performed the dances they had learned! It was so fun to go see!! Hannah did a wonderful job, was serious about getting the moves right, but also was having fun!! Lillian was cute! She new most of the moves, but got distracted by the fact that there were people watching her! I was so glad we were able to do this for them!

More camping!

This past weekend we got to do our second camping trip of the summer! This time we just went to Lake Elmo. We got to camp in the modern camp ground, and that was cool! For the first time in our marriage, we camped where there was running water and flushing toilets! 4 other couples came, and three other children, two of which were babies both under 6 months of age. The weather was nice, as it didn't rain at all! Hannah enjoyed riding her bike to the near by park. I got to go for a run with two other women, and I also went for a bike ride. The girls waded in the water, as the water was still pretty chilly! I pretty much stuck my feet in and said no thank you! There was lots of good food, fellowship, and campfires! It was a fun weekend!

Fun Shirts!

I actually bought these shirts for the girls when we were in FL, almost 3 years ago! They were really cute, and I figured that the would eventually grow into them!! And finally they have! Hannah's says, "I'm the bit sister." And Lillian's says, "I'm the little sister."

Memorial Day Camping 2009!

This year we went camping at Sakatah Lake state park near Faribault, MN. It was a nice time! 50 people went this year! The food was so good! I was so full after every meal! Bill got to do some fishing, and caught a fish for the very first time! He even cleaned it and cooked it! I even tried it, and it was pretty good! Hannah even tried her hand at fishing a bit. She only caught some see weed though:) Bill and Hannah also got to try Geo cashing. They also got to do a couple of bike rides! I biked to the ice cream shop in town that everyone went too! They had kids cones for 50 cents! I got a reece's pb cup flurry though! It was a nice bike ride. 3 miles one way, and the trail was nice and flat! The weather was really great! It did rain the first night and morning, but other than that, I can't complain! The campfires were great, and so was the company! It was a very nice camping trip!

The coolness of coupons!

Today I went grocery shopping! And, Target ended up paying me one penny to get some Kraft Mayo! It was on sale for 1.99. I had a target coupon for a dollar off, and a manufactures coupon for a dollar off. That is two dollars off total, cause they take both coupons for the one item, hence them paying me one penny! Pretty good deal if you ask me:)

the Carnival

West St. Paul days was this past weekend! It's funny, cause the carnival ends up being so close to our place! The girls can see when the trucks arrive, and slowly see as they set up the rides, and see when the rides start to go! For several days they asked, "when is it going start?!" And, "can we go on the rides?!" This year was fun cause my mom was here the same weekend! And, she said she wanted to take the girls to the carnival!

Here is Bill and girls on the slide

This is my mom on the train with the girls!

Hannah in a helicopter


And here is Lillian fishing!
We had a fun time! We could walk there, and didn't have to stay long! And, we also got some cheese curds....Yum!
There also was a parade! This is always fun for the girls! They love catching candy! This year it was a little chilly, and windy!! But fun just the same!

The Carrot Cake

Here is the first carrot cake that I made from scratch for my niece Lyla's baby shower. It had home made cream cheese frosting, and turned out pretty yummy.

Lipstick eggs

This is just a picture of the girls having fun with lipstick eggs, or a.k.a., robins whopper eggs. Blue works the best! I even had fun with it, but didn't think a picture was necessary:)

The pizza I made

The other week I tried something I never had tried before! I made a margarita pizza! It was the first time for me to buy fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil! I made the dough, then brushed it with olive oil, then put the tomatoes, basil and mozzarella on top. I think it tasted pretty good. Not exactly the same as I have had at restaurants, but not too bad.

My First attepmt at bread!

Ever since Bill and I have been married, (which will be 7 years this August!!), he has talked about Easter bread! He lived with his grandparents for awhile when he was younger, and every Easter, and only on Easter, his grandma would make this delicious bread for him. I always said, sorry hun! I've never heard of it! Also, I love to bake, but bread is the one thing that I had yet to tackle. My mom tried to teach me once, and I helped make dinner rolls before, but never on my own had a made a loaf of bread. I think it's the whole let it rise thing! What if you don't let it rise enough, or what if you let it rise too much! I have been able to tackle pizza dough, though, and that's pretty much on your way to making bread! Any who! This year, because of facebook, Bill "over read" his sister and Aunt talking about it, so he joined in on the conversation. There is something special about the bread in that you need the seeds from the pits of cherries to make it! And, his Aunt Char had some that she ordered from Greece, and graciously said she would send some to Bill and his sister, along with the family recipe! I was pretty nervous to try this, since it was bread and all! But, I did it! And, it actually turned out!!! And was edible!! And, Bill was right, it is really yummy bread! It was an adventure for sure!! I'm just kind of glad that his family says that you can only make it at Easter time:) Although, it would be kind of nice to make more, cause like I said, it was really tasty!

Also, Bill made a video about this bread making experience:) You can check it out on his blog.

Matching Easter dresses!

We had a nice Easter this year! Pretty laid back and restful! The girls were really excited to wear their dresses this year! They picked out matching ones, so that was pretty cool!

Easter Candy!

So, when it comes to holiday's, and the candy associated with them, Easter is by far my most favorite Holiday candy. There's just something about chocolate in the shape of an egg! And all those pastel colors just scream "eat me, eat me!" My favorite would probably have to be the reece's peanut butter cup eggs....Yum! I like the milk chocolate solid eggs, the mini cadbury eggs, lipstick eggs(malted milk robbin's eggs), and the milk chocolate eggs with the shell. Now, there are some Easter candies that I don't perfer! Like jelly beans are just not my thing. Also, Peeps! I just don't understand them! They are really cute to look at for sure, but sticking one in your mouth is just not good! Especially if they have been sitting out!! I don't understand how that makes them better! All and all though, it's just a yummy time of year!
I hope you all have a very Blessed Easter!!
He is Risen, He is Risen indeed!

I finally opened it!

So, remember that huge, 5lb Hershey bar I got back a couple months ago? Well, I finally opened it! I brought bars to my niece's baptism, and I decided to make Hershey oatmeal bars so that I could put this huge candy bar to work!





It is so big!!


We put a dollar next to it just to compare!
So, what will I do with all this chocolate you may ask?! Well, I used a tiny bit for the bars. I tired some, and it was really yummy! Some has been sitting out on the counter. Also, I made up three zip bags full and put them in the freezer! Maybe I will bake more with it. And, we are going camping a couple times this summer, so I see a lot of smores in our future!

New Beds!

The other week the girls were blessed to get some new bunk beds from the Moore's! It was fun for Tom to bring the stuff over, and then watch him and Bill put the bed together. And then to see how much the girls enjoyed them! Thank you Moore family!!!
Here is what their beds used to be!

Lilly is a goose!

When Hannah grew out of her crib, she went to a toddler bed. This time when Lillian grew out of the crib, she got to go straight to a twin! She's a peanut in the new bed!

Putting them together

These are some pics of getting the beds together.

The Bunk Beds

This is what they look like finished!

Last Week

Last week Bill had to take a week of mandatory unpaid leave. Usually when Bill has time off, it's because we have plans, or we are going on a vacation. This time we planned to stay home since he wasn't getting paid. The week seemed to go so fast! We got to go to the zoo, work out together, watch Wall E for the first time, get errands done. It was also nice, cause some friends provided us with meals too, so I didn't have to cook much! So, although his next check will be smaller, it was a blessing to have Bill home for a week. I think he needed to be able to sleep in a bit! He has two little videos on his blog at the moment. One called An Early Spring Bike ride, and Lilly's birthday blizzard, which you will have to scroll down a bit to see. You should check them out by click here:)

A new cousin!!!

Hannah and Lillian have a new cousin! A girl cousin! Lyla Marie was born today to my brother and sister in law, Jared and Kari. She was 7 lbs. 11oz, and 20 inches long! She is beautiful! Congratulations guys!

A Milestone!

So, imagine if you will, a ton of confetti, and a ton of balloons! Then imagine turtle cheese cake, turtle candies, and a bunch of other chocolate desserts. Why you may ask? Well, that would be because this is my 100th blog post! I want to thank all my blog readers, because with out you, there would be no reason to blog! I also want to thank my husband, my daughters, who can't even read yet, and the academy!
And, thanks for humoring me:)

More Lillian pictures

This is the crown that Lillian got from the Y on her birthday. And yes, that is broccoli on her plate, and yes, she does eat it!



This is Lillian blowing out the candles on her birthday that were on top of her birthday blizzard!


And this is just to show that the balloon Lillian got from my brother was pretty much life size for her!

Lillian turned 3!

So the other day Lillian turned 3! It's crazy that my baby girl is that old! A couple of weekends ago my parents came down and we were able to celebrate. It was a lot of fun! Lillian wanted to make sure that Dora was incorporated in the celebration. And, her one request to us this year was that she wanted a pink bike! She is a peanut, but I am happy to say that she has moved up to the 12 percentile for weight!
This was the cake that I made for her....
This is Lilly with her balloons. My brother David got her the big Dora one!


And this is Lillian on her pink bike!


Congrats on turning 3 Lillian:)