Christmas Festivities

Tis the season.....for a ton of different fun times with family and friends! Our holiday traditions started a couple of weeks ago when the girls and I made Christmas cookies. We made sugar cookie cut-outs and then decorate them with frosting and other various toppings! Here are the girls rolling out the dough and then cutting with the cookie cutters

Even Claire had fun playing in the flour. She didn't get a chance to play in the dough this year (it would all end up in her mouth), but next year she'll be able to take part in full cookie festivities

The second best part of making these cookies is decorating (best part is EATING the cookies!). Ella was meticulously decorating, making sure that the frosting was evenly distributed :)

This is the "Santa cookie" that we make every year. We make sure to leave this one for Santa on Christmas Eve night

Our finished product!!

Minnesota weather really threw a wrench into our Christmas traditions. Usually, we stay home for Christmas Eve so we can go to our own church, have our own Christmas meal, and then open presents together. Then we also get a chance to open Santa presents in the morning underneath our own tree. Then, on Christmas Day around 1:00 p.m., we would hop in the car and head north to spend some time with family. But this year.......if we wanted to get up north at all, we decided we would have to go up on Wednesday (23rd) to beat the storm that was brewing. The "Weather Terrorists" (as my dad would call the twin cities meteorologists) were predicting any where from 12 - 20 inches of snow would fall between Wednesday and Saturday. So I frantically packed and wrapped presents on Tuesday night so we could open presents with the girls on Wednesday morning before we left.

When the girls woke up on Wednesday morning, they ran to the tree to find all of the presents underneath!

Claire opening up her very first Christmas present

We had a fun morning of opening Christmas presents and having a breakfast of scrambled eggs and cinnamon rolls. We were sure to leave a note for Santa to tell him where we were staying, so he knew where to deliver the presents! We then packed up the "family truckster" and headed to East Grand Forks. The roads were really good until we got between Fargo and Grand Forks. The roads became very icy and were a few cars in the ditch. But thankfully, we got to East Side in one piece :)

The next morning, we woke up to a ton of snow! Luckily, the wind wasn't blowing (yet) and the temps were very mild. So, we bundled up the girls and went outside for some sledding. My dad has a huge 60 foot flood dike in the back of his house, so Carl and the girls had some steep hills to sled down!

Even Claire got a ride in the sled!

Christmas Eve, we got to go to church with my family and listened to my niece Daysha sing in the church choir. She even had a verse from "Oh Holy Night" that she sang as a solo!! After church we all went back to my dad's for a steak dinner and (more) presents.

On Christmas Day (night) we headed out into the blizzard and went to Joe Black's (my step dad Denny's Bar) and had Christmas with my mom's side of the family. We had a blast playing games and stuffed ourselves with Denny's amazing cooking. He made stuffed chicken, ribs, bacon wrapped sirloin steaks and twice-baked potatoes with cheese and bacon...WHEW! It was awesome!

(from left to right - Me, my brother John, my mom, my older sister Ali, and younger sister, Jess)

The day after Christmas, we headed up to Argyle to spend time with Carl's family. We had a night filled with FOOD, fun and (even more and MORE) presents! The girls are out right now snowmobiling and sledding!

We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family to surround ourselves with around the holiday season, which truly is the best gift of all!

Yay for me!

It's official! Last night I had my exit interview for my Masters program. I was a little nervous to meet with 2 professors and the site coordinator to talk about my research for 45 minutes. But, it went very well, and I have officially earned my Master of Arts in Education! Woo0Hoo! If you are wondering how I felt after I left my interview.....click on this link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa98yttfhMY
it explains it all!

I'm a Parana!

The oldest Adolphson girl is not too excited about the latest "right of passage" she is going through . Jocie has started her Orthodontic journey, which will probably last for the next two years. She wasn't all that nervous about it because quite a few of her friends are already wearing braces....but she wasn't ready for.... HEAD GEAR!

When the Orthodontist broke the news that Jocie would have to wear head gear for 6 months before braces could be put on her teeth, Jocie's eyes almost popped out of her head! She felt a little better when the Orthodontist assured her she would not have to wear it out in public or at sleepovers, but just in the comfort of our own home. When we got in the car, she asked me what head gear looked like, and if she would look like Willy Wonka :)

The first night she had to wear the gear, she was in true "Jocie form" and was trying to make light of a not-so-good situation. She came up from down stairs with her gear on for the first time and stood in the kitchen out of sight. Then she asked me, "Mom, do remember the part in Finding Nemo when the little octopus was wearing head gear?" Then she hopped into the door way and said, "I'm a Parana!!" And of course we all died laughing...it's just like a Lundby to quote a movie to lighten the mood :)

She of course, did not want me to take a picture of her wearing the gear, but I stole one anyway.


I told her I wasn't taking the picture to be mean, but for the documentation of her childhood...she didn't buy it. But she did let me take a picture of her true feelings.


Although....there is another Adolphson girl who is not as upset as Jocie....



Ahhhhh sisterly love. Nothing can beat it!

Jump Around

Claire loves to jump :)

"House of Adolphson"

Gobble, Gobble

We had a great Thanksgiving break. All of my siblings came down on Wednesday night and stayed at our house. On Thursday, we all packed the van and John's car and headed down to Scott's house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was fun to get together with my dad and Barb and all of the Griffins.

The rest of the weekend was packed with activities such as Black Friday shopping (my first experience....whoa), watching the Stephan/Argyle Storm win yet another Prep Bowl Title, going to New Moon (AWESOME!!), and a lot of hanging out with the family.

Claire was really busy this weekend too. She decided to become a rolling machine! She has been able to roll over for a couple of months, but now she likes to roll from one end of the room to another (she prefers to roll to the left). She can also do "so big" , "toss it up high" during patty-cake, and "all done" with her arms. It is darling! On Saturday morning, she cut her first tooth! She was a little out of sorts, but all-in-all she was in a pretty good mood. She also is a pretty good sitter. She can sit for a long time while she plays with her toys. Claire's new favorite thing to do is jump in the Johnny Jumper...again....very cute!! She is just so much fun!

It was a great weekend! We are so thankful for our family!!

Back To It

Well...I know it was an inevitable change, but I am having a hard time being back at work. The "working" part isn't the hard part. Last Friday (..the 13th..how ironic) was my first day back. I was fortunate enough to have seven months off to stay home with Claire. Not to seem like a glutton, but I just didn't feel ready to go back quite yet.

I have a great job where I get to teach cheeky, happy, elementary kids. Being a Phy Ed teacher is great (for many reasons) because kids usually LOVE your class and are happy to be there. My students made me feel very welcomed my first day back. I received many cards, pictures and hugs and they all told me how much they missed me. This made me feel great, but it still did not mask where my heart was. The truth is, I would have loved to be able to stay home for at least a year with Claire and Ella, and I was completely heart-broken when I had to return to work.

I am trying to focus on all of the positives about my situation...
1. Seven months at home is a lot better than 4 months, which is what I would have had if I wouldn't have been granted an extended maternity leave.
2. I get to back to a job that I really enjoy.
3. Not only do a love my students, but I have awesome co-workers who are some of my best friends.
4. Pretty soon it will be Thanksgiving break, and then a few weeks after that, it was be Christmas break.
5. I get the summers off, so I will be able to be at home full-time 3 months out of every year
6. I have a great day-care lady who is caring and LOVES babies, so I know she is getting taken care of.
7. It is really great to be in the same building as Jocie - - and next year, Ella will be there :)

I know there are many reasons why I should not be sad (and trust me, everybody insists on telling me I have no reason to be sad because of these reasons), but the fact of the matter is, I AM. Everybody keeps telling me that it will get better, and pretty soon, I will be in a "routine" and everything will be fine. But I don't think I will ever be at complete peace with it. Claire and I are pretty inseparable and I want it to stay that way :)

Speaking of Claire, she is now seven months old. She is still very smiley and lovable. She has been rolling over for quite awhile, but still has no interest in crawling. She LOVES watching her sisters and laughs at them quite often. She has learned how to clap and also how to wave "hi" and "bye". She also really enjoys eating and likes almost everything that we have given her. She likes sweet potatoes, carrots, rice cereal, applesauce, bananas, and pears. She will eat peas, but is not a big fan of them. I read in one of those "mommy" books that babies like anything tangy, and that pickles are great to give babies who are teething. This sounded strange to me...but we tried it, and.....

she LOVES them!! :) She is also getting pretty vocal. She says "mamma mamma" all the time (mostly if she is tired, crabby or hungry), but sometimes she just says it if she sees me, which melts my heart. She has also said "pup" and "ebba"..which we think means Ella! She most recently started saying "da da da", which made Carl very happy. Joc is getting pretty impatient since she hasn't said anything that sounds like Joc, but she always has a BIG smile and a wave when she sees her Jocie.

When I was at home, I also had the great opportunity of spending a lot more time focusing on Ella. During Claire's naps, I made a special effort to give Ella some undivided attention, which is hard to come by for the middle child (trust me, I know). I spent quite a bit of time doing pre-school activities with her. As a teacher, I was impressed with how fast she learned, as a mom, I was pretty proud of how hard she worked. We also spent a lot of time playing Barbies and jumping on the trampoline. I will miss that extra time with her. Although she likes Missy's she had a hard week going back everyday.

Even though I sound pretty down, I am faithful that we will get through this emotional time together as a family. I know Claire will flourish at daycare, just like her two wonderful big sisters have in the past. I like to believe that everything happens for a reason, so there must be some reason why I am supposed to be at work (other than financial). It's just hard right now for me. Would it be easy for you to leave this face at daycare?? :)

A Veteran's Day to Remember

Knowing how much Jocie loves to write, I wasn't surprised when when she wanted to do a optional Veteran's Day essay. She knew right way who she wanted to do her write-up on; her Great-Grandpa Dale Youngern (my maternal Grandfather). So she started her research by talking directly to the source. She got her trusty notebook and pencil out and jotted down a few questions before she called Grandpa Dale. I think she might have been a little nervous on the phone because she wasn't real sure on her answers...so she called her Grandpa Mike (AKA Boppa). He cleared up a few things, and then she got down to writing. This is what she wrote....

The veteran I did research on is my great-grandfather, Dale Youngern. Grandpa Dale was a Darby's Ranger and served in the Army from 1943-1945. The Darby's Rangers were an elite group of soldiers that went into enemy territories first. They were said to be "the tip of the sword" because they were such talented soldiers. When he served in World War II, he fought in Africa, Italy, France and Germany.

Grandpa Dale said that he enlisted in the Army because it was the right thing to do and they were short of men.

The Darby's rangers landed in Anzio, Italy and fought the Germans fir four months. They were such outstanding fighters that they pushed the Nazis right out of Rome! After their outstanding battle they got to meet Pope Pius XII.

Grandpa Dale served our country for 3 year, 3 months, and 3 days, and earned the rank of Corporal and was decorated with 5 bronze stars and a Good Conduct Ribbon.

Grandpa Dale's proudest moment in the war was when the war was over and he got to go home to his beautiful wife Florence.

I'm so proud of Grandpa Dale because he had so much courage and pride in his country. I want to be just like him!

Jocie's essay was so good, that it was chosen (only 2 essays were chosen out of all) to be read out loud at the Veteran's Day Program at Jocie's school. Grandpa Dale was so moved by Joice's essay that he just had to be in attendance to witness his great-granddaughter's first public speaking experience. So, my mom got the day off from work and she and Denny drove him down from Grand Forks! We were so happy he could make it to this special occasion. It wouldn't have been the same without him there!!Jocie and Grandpa Dale enjoying dinner and some cake at our house the night before the program

Presentation of the Colors began the program

This is dark...but here is Jocie at the mic reading her essay

The Proud Grandpa...and the proud granddaughters :)

After the program, and fellow serviceman gave this metal of honor to grandpa after hearing about his fight during WWII....WOW!

Grandpa Dale then visited Jocie's Classroom and showed off the Nazi helmet he has had since the war! The boys in her class were very, very impressed

We will always look back on this day with a lot of pride in Jocie, for being such a great writer/daughter/great-granddaughter - pride in Grandpa Dale for being such a great soldier/Grandpa - and all the other Vets that have served our country so well!

Halloween Cuties

We had another fun Halloween. After getting all of the girls dressed up, we headed out for trick-or-treating on our block. It was really fun watching the older girls delight in all of the candy they were scoring. Claire had a good time just watching the tree branches sway in the October breeze.

Here is our little Tinkerbell!

This is what Claire was wearing underneath her Bear suit

All three girls getting ready to hit the sidewalk

Don't you LOVE Jocie's "Smarty Pants"!! How fitting

Claire Bear

Mario loves to trick-or-treat too...he was even offered a doggie treat at our neighbors house

After going up and down our street, Claire and I went home to pass out candy to other trick-or-treaters, while Carl took the older girls to get more candy! I'm pretty sure we have enough until the next Halloween....well we would if I could stay away from it :)

Happy Halloween!

Carving Up Pumpkins

Last night, we had our annual pumpkin carving night. Not only did we do our normal activities such as digging out the pumpkin guts and carving out jack-o-lantern faces, but we added a few new things to the mix.

One of those new things was our new little addition :) Claire loved everything about pumpkin carving. She loved just looking at the pumpkins, but her favorite things was to try to eat the pumpkin!

Jocie's favorite part of pumpkin carving is pulling out all of the slimy guts.

Ella, on the other hand, does not like pulling out the guts...she is actually disgusted by it! I actually made her put her hand in there one time (this picture) and then her hand never again entered the pumpkin. She was so grossed out by this, that she made sure when I was done digging out her pumpkin that "I didn't touch her".

Claire did not mind touching the insides at all...she actually liked the feeling of it :)

But she still had to get a little taste :)

Jocie had the great idea to cut out stars all around her pumpkin. I loved this idea, and it looked especially cool lit up with candles (those stars are free hand!)

This year, Ella drew her face on with a marker all by herself, then I carved it out. She closely monitored my craving, and insisted that I don't go outside her lines (which would ruin her artistic vision). I think she did a wonderful job!

Claire's pumpkin turned out great too (with the help of her biggest sister, Joc).

Carl was busy picking out all of the pumpkin seeds he could find because he wanted to try to bake them into tasty treat...we will see how they turn out tonight! We also added cinnamon to the bottom of the pumpkins' caps, so when we lit the candles, the whole kitchen smelled like cinnamon (instead of raw pumpkin) YUM!

If you ask me, they all turned out awesome!! HAPPY HALLOWEEN from us to you!

Family Pictures

Here are our latest family pictures taken by the wonderful Larry Gantner (friend of ours from Pinewood). If you want to view, to go http://www.squibnocketphotography.com/ then click on "View and Order", you will then click on "The Adolphson Family" and enter my email address anneadolphson@yahoo.com.

Stay-cation

This past weekend was the teacher-loved MEA weekend. This is the first break teachers are given since the beginning of school, and as all educators know, September (and sometimes January) are the longest months of the school year...so this break is very much looked forward to.

We had big plans to go up north to visit our family. We were going to leave on Thursday morning, and head up to East Grand Forks to spend a few days with my dad (AKA Boppa), and then head even further north to spend the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Adolphson (AKA Grandma Ju Ju and Grandpa Doo-aine). But, on Wednesday morning, Ella woke up with a low-grade fever, so we decided that we were going to stay put.

We were happy to see that even though Ella was under the weather, she still wanted to play and had no problems eating and drinking a lot...of course I was freaking out because I thought she might have the dreaded H1N1...but I don't think that was the case. :) I continued to the a "germ-nazi" and insisted on obsessive hand washing for ALL and even made Jocie and Carl change clothes immediately upon entering the house from school, so nobody else (knock on wood) has gotten sick.

We were all a little bummed because we were looking forward to seeing grandparents, but we still wanted to have a fun weekend. So we decided to do some fun things at home. Here were some of the highlights:

Thursday night - Family Movie Night - rented "Monsters vs. Aliens" popped a lot of popcorn, snacked on Junior Mints and Sour Patch Kids, and washed it all down with Coke and Fanta. We also moved all the furniture in the living room so it was right in front of the TV and turned off all of the lights so we had the real "theater" experience.

Friday - Trip to St. Cloud to shop for a winter coat for Jocie and then onto Granite City for dinner. After dinner, we returned home to watch the Sioux hockey team destroy the Gophers (4 - 0)! Sioux, yeah, yeah!

Saturday - After a morning workout (big commodity for mom) Jocie and I headed to the Mall of America for a little Jocie/mommy outing. We had a blast!!! Lunch at the big food court, then to the American Girl store where jocie got to spend a $50 gift card, then to DSW where she got to pick out 2 new pairs of shoes, then decided to grab some Cold Stone ice cream for an afternoon snack :). Then onto evening Mass. All-in-all fabulous day!

Sunday - The girls re-cooped a little at home, while Carl fished with a buddy all afternoon.

Even though we had looked forward to going home, we had a wonderful weekend just hanging out together!! We need to have "stay-cations" more often!!

Proud Mama

This past Saturday was the annual Medtronic Twin Cities Kids Marathon. This is the 5th year we have been partaking in the running festivities. I coach a running club at Pinewood, and these races are always our culminating event. Even though it was chilly and rainy, the kids showed up with big smiles ready to run! In the years past, Jocie has run the 1/2 mile race, then decided to upgrade to the 1 mile race, and this year took the big leap to the 5K race! I was super excited for her to do this because 1) she is a fun running partner 2) how awesome is it to run a 5K when you are 10 years old!! I was 26 when I ran my first 5K!! Although she was a little nervous about the run, she was up for the challenge.

Jocie was already a running club member, but she wanted to do a little extra training at home with me. So we started jogging about 2 weeks before school started. It was really good for us to have some "mom and Jocie" time again. Since Ella has been born and now Claire, that time has been a little more limited. So it was really fun to just hang out!

During the race, she told me a few times that she was really getting tired....but she kept pushing herself and finished the race without walking!!! Not only did she not walk, but she sprinted the last 50 yards! It was such a cool feeling crossing the finish line with her! I told her that when I was her age, I competed in a 1 mile race and had to walk during that race!! She felt much better after that story. After the race she told me that "she felt like she was on top of the world"! She did awesome and I'm so proud of her!

Joc and I after the 5K

All of the 5Kers

All of the 1/2 mile and 1 mile runners