chef

merry christmas morning

Merry, Merry Christmas! 
We were greeted by a very eager Gwyneth at 4;30 a.m. asking if we could please get up at 5 am to open gifts. We had originally requested to not open gifts before 6 am, but that hour was just so darn painful for her. B sent the girls back to bed and at 6:05 we were greeted again and so it was off to open gifts! (Annabelle fell back to asleep, but Gwyneth just laid there counting down the minutes!)
Santa was here! He left lots of fun goodies in their stockings. 
…And lots of gifts under the tree. He gathers gifts from all over to bring them – from Godparents, Grandparents, Friends and Family. Of course he brings a few special treats from the North Pole too. 
Annabelle is emoji crazy!
Seriously crazy. I don’t get this emoji poop craze…especially the rainbow poop. 
It sure does make her happy though and these reactions make my day. 
Dance outfits, sleep masks, emoji socks, oh my!
The girls have been begging for robes for ages. Santa delivered!
Poppy and Melissa sent new American Girl dolls. The new tally of dolls in this house is slightly embarrassing, but they are the most adored and played with dolls and you can see the girls were quite thrilled. 
Poppy and Melissa also sent each of the girls an Osmo kit to use with their iPads. I didn’t really know much about them and they took a few seconds to get set up and for us to download all the apps. Once the girls were set up, these Osmo games became the true hit of the day. They can create their own art masterpieces, run their own pizza store, and play word games. They absolutely LOVE them! 
I’m not a huge fan of iPads, but these are pretty great gadgets. I think they just got tricked right into learning too.
Playing with my new camera gadgets. The ‘picture clicker’ is an awesome gift and we are definitely getting our use out it. We seem to be doing much better with this than with the auto timer or a selfie. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. And I’m loving all the family pictures we can capture. 
Self portraits:
We packed up and headed to Chicago tonight. Thank goodness for good weather and timely flights and easy travelers. We arrived in Chicago at 11 pm and my mom still came to the hotel to see us. The girls were so excited to see their YaYa and she made their day. 

holiday parties and botanic garden lights

The last day of school before winter break…and it’s all about the parties!
Lots of celebrating going on in both the girls’ classrooms. The kids were full of happiness, joy and a bit of madness with the anticipation of a long winters break. 
Gwynethy’s party theme was The Grinch and the parents really went all out on these festivities!
This game is one of my favorites and always gets such laughs. 
The theme of Annabelle’s class party was…
well, Christmas and Tweens and Candy I guess, if I had to name a few. 
The played lots of games and you can see they were very enthusiastic and excited
I’ve said it before, this group is fiercely competitive and even at parties there always seems to be someone with hurt feelings. It makes me a bit sad, but I try to focus on my little bundle of joy and make sure she’s always being a good sport….at least we’re trying anyway! 
The silly face pictures are always my favorites. 
After filling the girls with cookies and candies and treats galore, we decided to head downtown to Botanic Gardens for the Lights of Bloom. You really gotta love this family of mine. They sure do go along with some of my wackiest plans. 
I had it in my head we were going and then I checked the weather report. The temps were forecasted in the single digits and there was also a slight chance of snow. I wouldn’t let that deter me. I wanted to take them to see the Lights and I didn’t care about a silly ol’ weather forecast. We  were going to make some jolly holiday memories, damn it! 
We got there and it was COLD! Not a little cold. It was no joke cold! We all bundled up, walked around and enjoyed those beautiful lights and had a grand time. We made record time through the exhibits and our noses and feet were all frozen. 
At one point Annabelle looked pretty miserable and I asked her “What do you think of the lights?”. She simply stared at me and B responded “She’ll see it later honey. Her eyes are frozen.” You gotta love a well-timed Christmas Vacation reference. 
B and I joked on the drive home about these type of adventures. We dread going, we are miserable during, but we create great memories and can’t wait to do it all over again next year! Ha! 
Gwyneth’s friend Ruby joined us for this frigid adventure
Annabelle is turning into quite the little photographer. 

paint with santa

B has been a catering fool lately so the girls joined me at Color Me Mine today. We try not to work Sundays, but with the busy holidays upon us all rules for work/life balance are out the window. 
Today we had a special treat at the studio. Santa came to paint with the kids! My girls joined in on the fun and then painted lots of presents for family and friends. B came over after his catering event and helped me close up shop and we all grabbed a peaceful dinner together. 
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas….
Annabelle and her emojis. This girl!
So much sass in one little picture. 
Never too old to visit Santa!
What a bunch of goofballs!

18 years

We celebrated our 18 year anniversary today. 18 years???
It’s hard to believe we have been married that long. My goodness, how we have changed in those years! 
We grabbed a quick drink together while the girls were at dancing school and had dinner as a family of four. It was nice and relaxing and exactly who we are these days. Low-key and all about this little family. 
The girls are quite interested in my wedding dress and asked if they could see it. It was all sealed up in a box, but I noticed through the plastic window that it was starting to yellow. I figured I better open it up and let them take a look. I didn’t expect them to like it so much – I got married in the 90’s, not sure about that fashion. 
The girls loved it though and had a great time playing in it! It brought back some very lovely memories from our wedding day and all the fun we had with our friends and families on this special day 18 years ago.
Some oldies: 
Annabelle wore my dress and Gwyneth wore her Grandma Carole’s dress. They practiced being each other’s maid of honors and assured me there would never be a double wedding. 
I walked in to the living room to find them chilling on the couch together not wanting to take off the dresses…
it reminded me of a funny Friends episode (you know, The One with All the Wedding Dresses) and I had to chuckle. 

juniors: simple meals

Annabelle’s troop met at Blue Mountain Kitchen to earn their Simple Meals badge. How lucky are we that we know a chef? How lucky that he is kind and generous and willing to donate his time for these girls? I think he’s a pretty guy and dad. 
B taught the girls to make their own salad dressing and chicken tenders. We finished off the meeting making turkey centerpieces with chocolate covered pretzels. The girls all had a wonderful time and they tried everything which we will declare a victory. 

Morgan’s face is hilarious, but you have to give her credit for trying. 

tylers

After Reagan’s party we zipped over to meet the Tyler crew for dinner. We grabbed tacos at La Cochina – yum, yum, yum. We had a nice time catching up. I wished we could have stayed a few more hours. 
The restaurant is in an old gas station and they have done some fun things with the decor. I loved this pig and asked the kids to pose in front of it for me. It started out quite innocently and then escalated to a mad photo session. The silliest pictures are always my favorites. 

Ms. Sheila getting in on the fun. 

brownies: inventing room

Gwyneth’s troop had a meeting downtown tonight. We met for dinner at the Mellow Mushroom and then went to the Inventing Room for delicious treats. It was a family affair. Parents joined — including B and Annabelle and we all made a night of it. 
Pizza time!

We walked the 8 blocks over to the Inventing room for a blend of science and treats. Gwyneth has been waiting since Annabelle’s troop went last year. She couldn’t have been more excited.

They gave the girls a tasting of the nitro popcorn when they walked in to the shop. So much excitement.

Annabelle and Jenna ordered really, really cold cheetos

Kate and Bella with the Twizzler Space Foam 

Brielle with cherry cotton candy
I don’t think he likes this picture, but I love it!!
Gwyneth with her hot chocolate and exploding whipped cream
Amy and I shared a Mexican Fried Ice Cream with frozen caramel sauce. (I have to admit it was fun,, but just ok)
Zoe and Rylie with bubble gum cotton candy

Annie with her chocolate cotton candy
Another fun night with great girls and their families. 

ashland

We finally arrived in Ashland, Wisconsin where B’s sister and her family live. Nathan came home from college for the weekend so we were able to spend the time with the entire family. It was really nice to finally get to see where they are living. Most of Paul’s family lives there and they have been for three years now. It’s not a super easy place to get to, but we finally got there. 
The town is located right on Lake Superior and only has about 8,000 residents. It is a quaint little town with a lot of character. I had a lovely time wandering around town and our brother in law Paul planned quite a few adventures for us. 
Our first stop was the local cheese shop. More squeaky cheese please! 

This is just an outhouse…with a satellite dish. Wait…what? Why? Annabelle thought it was hilarious.

We had lunch at Frankie’s, a local pizza place. The pizza was delicious! Really, really good. Afterwards we took the girls over to the Lake to explore.

Silly family

Uh oh, she’s going in! Just kidding, just kidding. 

We took a beautiful nature walk and learned about owls and lighthouses.

Not a bad view of the sunset, huh? May be one of my favorites from the trip. 
The next morning we woke up to a beautiful view and bright,  sunny skies. This was the gorgeous view from our hotel room. 

We said goodbye to our lake side hotel and had breakfast with the Rewalts before heading back to Minneapolis to catch our flight home. It was a quick trip, but we have now been to Ashland. I’m glad we were finally able to get away for it.

duluth

The second stop on our trip was Duluth, about a 2.5 hour drive north of Minneapolis. Our nephew, Nathan just started college here in August. It’s a smaller town of maybe 80,000 + and the school has about 4,000 students which seems to suit Nathan well. 
Nathan gave us a tour of his dorm, which brought back many happy memories from our college years, and he showed us around campus. I hope he is really happy there. College was such a great time for me and I hope he has a great experience too. 
B’s sister and brother-in-law drove from Ashland, which is about 1 1/2 hours away, to meet us for dinner. We spent the evening catching up and then we surprised the girls with a stay at a local indoor water park. The hotel was similar to Great Wolf Lodge, but perhaps a bit more shabby. The girls didn’t mind at all though. They had a blast swimming their little hearts out.
She’s just the silliest: 
Annabelle’s swim suit tore right up the back. We caught it with one last thread to spare and had to head to the gift shop to get a new suit. Disaster averted. 
The girls woke up early the next morning and they had the pools all to themselves. B and I took turns getting ready and packing up the car while they played. 
And then off we went to Ashland. 
So long Duluth, you are quite pretty right there on the lake!