photo taken by Anthony at Gooseberry Falls in Northern MN after the marathon
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
This week {InstaFriday}
Last week we went to the pool and the weather was perfect! Anthony LOVED being able to go on the big slides – until a lifeguard told him to head to the front desk to get measured to see if he was tall enough. He may or may not have had his heels lifted off the ground while getting measured… He loves to swim, so I wasn’t worried!
Hubby had an issue with his iPhone, so off to the Mall of America we went to visit the Apple store. More great customer service from Apple – hubby walked out with a brand new phone in his pocket. While we waited, Anthony had a BLAST playing with one of the computers. We may have joined in on the fun… HA!
Anthony had a baseball game on Tuesday night. They are playing coach pitch this year. He connected with the ball on this one – it was a pretty good hit!
School started this week. How did that happen?!?
Portabella fries. Twice in one week. Oops…. Seriously, they are AMAZING!
That’s our week in a snapshot.
What did you do this week?
Linking to: Life Rearranged
Hubby had an issue with his iPhone, so off to the Mall of America we went to visit the Apple store. More great customer service from Apple – hubby walked out with a brand new phone in his pocket. While we waited, Anthony had a BLAST playing with one of the computers. We may have joined in on the fun… HA!
Anthony had a baseball game on Tuesday night. They are playing coach pitch this year. He connected with the ball on this one – it was a pretty good hit!
School started this week. How did that happen?!?
Portabella fries. Twice in one week. Oops…. Seriously, they are AMAZING!
That’s our week in a snapshot.
What did you do this week?
Linking to: Life Rearranged
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Time for Second Grade! {First Day of School}
Wow. I can’t believe school started today! Today is Anthony's first day of 2nd grade! If you know our family, you know that Anthony attends a school that follows a year-round calendar or 45/15 calendar. I have written about that here and here.
Here are a few photos of our morning!
Hubby was telling funny jokes…
2nd Grade!
We are so lucky that the bus comes right to our house – at the end of our cul-de-sac!
I had planned to follow the bus to school, but was completely unprepared when the time came this morning. Hubby was like, “Aren’t you going to follow the bus?” Cue.the.panic. I quickly grabbed my purse, keys, camera and jumped in the car. I drove quickly – luckily I didn’t get pulled over! I didn’t get much for pictures at school though, other than the photo below. The school principal (orange shirt) is standing at Anthony’s bus and the kids are just about to get off. There were too many cars crossing for me to get a good photo. I sure tried!
I had some fun looking back at the first day of Kindergarten and the first day of First grade this morning too!
Oh Anthony, how you have grown, in so many ways!
Peace out. Oh wait, I think he means he’s off to 2nd grade…
When do your kids go back to school?
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Animal Kingdom {Digital Scrapbook}
A few months ago I put together my very first digital scrapbook page. I have created lots of 12x12 pages in Photoshop without “embellishing” (like this), but that was my first official digital scrapbook page.
I had been completely overwhelmed by the huge amount of photos I took on our trip to Florida in March (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, Downtown Disney, and more posts not yet written…) and have been trying to figure out how to best share the pictures – traditional scrapbook, digital book (drop pics into templates) or digital scrapbooking. Once I saw the Project Mouse kits by Sahlin Studio and Brittish Designs, my mind was made up – Digital Scrapbook!
Once I made my decision, I got started right away, and then life took over and I didn’t get to continue working on it. Now I’m trying to get back at it – I STILL have Florida photos to sort through (both Disney parks and Universal Studios).
It helped that when my friend Julie was here this last week we spent some time playing with Photoshop – that afternoon I started working on this page and then I finished it up that night!
I LOVE that there is NO clean-up with this kind of scrapbooking!
I had been completely overwhelmed by the huge amount of photos I took on our trip to Florida in March (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, Downtown Disney, and more posts not yet written…) and have been trying to figure out how to best share the pictures – traditional scrapbook, digital book (drop pics into templates) or digital scrapbooking. Once I saw the Project Mouse kits by Sahlin Studio and Brittish Designs, my mind was made up – Digital Scrapbook!
Once I made my decision, I got started right away, and then life took over and I didn’t get to continue working on it. Now I’m trying to get back at it – I STILL have Florida photos to sort through (both Disney parks and Universal Studios).
It helped that when my friend Julie was here this last week we spent some time playing with Photoshop – that afternoon I started working on this page and then I finished it up that night!
I LOVE that there is NO clean-up with this kind of scrapbooking!
Friday, July 19, 2013
This week… {Insta-Friday}
I had so much fun with this last week, that I decided to share my weekly pics again this week. I’m MomsGonnaSnap on Instagram if you want to follow along!
We took our camper down to hubby’s Dad’s place (near Des Moines) last weekend. Anthony and I decided we needed ice cream on the way!
Linking to: Life Rearranged
We took our camper down to hubby’s Dad’s place (near Des Moines) last weekend. Anthony and I decided we needed ice cream on the way!
On Sunday we sorta celebrated my birthday. It wasn’t the best day for a handful of reasons (not just because I’m another year older) – one of the reasons will be explained later on in this post…
Here is what the boys gave me for my birthday – I have been super curious about how the fitbit works, and I have enjoyed checking it out this week!
On the way home from Iowa, this happened. Yes, this is one of the not so great things that happened on my birthday. We had driven just 30 minutes of our 4 hour drive. Luckily we had a full-size spare, and we made it home without any further issues. We drove MUCH slower though, just in case.
Then, on Wednesday, my dear friend came to town to celebrate my birthday. We went out to lunch (seriously, it was SO yummy!), and had some fun playing around with Photoshop. I have been dabbling in Photoshop and she wanted to learn the few tricks I have to share. It was a GREAT day – just what I needed! I’m ready for another day just like it!
This is our dessert. It was amazing! Homemade blueberry pie with homemade whipped cream and some delicious ice cream. Here’s what we had for lunch: First we had portabella fries as an app, then each of us had a sandwich with sweet potato fries, then we DEVOURED this pie. At least we shared one piece! Oh, and we both brought home at least half of our sandwich, so we did have leftovers. Well, my house had them. She forgot hers here, so we ate them all. Delish!
I woke up to find this on my deck on Thursday morning. It used to be a peace lilly. Sorta. It was a mostly dead plant, so I’m not too bummed. I hope whatever did this found what it was looking for. If I’m honest, you should know that cleaning this mess up is still on my “to do” list. I’ll take care of it as soon as I get up…
I had to work yesterday, and this is what I picked up after work. My own little snake. He was so excited about his face paint that we skipped swimming lessons so he could go to his baseball game with his face still painted. Again, if I’m honest, I’m tired of sitting at the (indoor) pool on these HOT days – it is so ridiculously humid, and yesterday was so ridiculously hot that I just needed a day off too. It smells like a stinky wet gym bag in there. So gross.
What did you do this week?
Linking to: Life Rearranged
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
A Month in Photos {June}
June has come and gone and we are already half way through July – how did that happen??
Gooseberry Falls State Park
Marathon weekend in Duluth, MN
Piano Recital
Bike rides
Minnesota Twins
Slip-n-Slide
Marathon weekend in Duluth, MN
Piano Recital
Bike rides
Minnesota Twins
Slip-n-Slide
Monday, July 15, 2013
Carpet! {Basement Update}
It’s been awhile since I have posted an update on how things are going in the basement. We have continued to work on things, and wow, have we come a long way from where we started. Here's where we last left off.
It look a ton of discussion, but we finally made a decision about the railing for the stairway. Should it be white? Should it be stained? Should it be a combo of white and stained? If it’s a combo, which parts are stained, and which parts are white? Seriously, some decisions end up so much harder than they need to be. This one definitely took some thought.
We decided to do a combo of painted white and stained wood to help with the transition from the stained doors/trim upstairs, to the white trim downstairs.Here’s what we decided for the railing:
Here we are ready for carpet! The top on the wet bar is not the top that will stay there. That piece will actually be going on the half-wall on the right (where the extra trim is stacked). It will be cut and stained dark like the tops on the built-in cabinets. We haven’t decided what the countertop surface on the wet bar will be yet.
Here’s the spare room. You can see the wood tops on the half-walls – this will carry through the bathroom, and the family room. We still need to trim out the windows. They were not a necessity for carpet, which was our recent goal. At this point the focus is on what HAS to be done to pass inspection.
Here’s the family room, just waiting for carpet. You can tell that we have been using the basement as our “finishing room” for years. There are strange stains all over the concrete from spray paint (over spray), stain drips/spills, paint, etc. The cabinets are still waiting for doors, shelves and crown molding. My priorities are not at the top of hubby’s list… Ha.
The fireplace is my favorite thing about our basement. I can’t wait until we have furniture to snuggle in on and enjoy a cozy fire this fall!
Install day! We snuck down and took a couple of pics during the carpet install. It was so hard to wait all day!
The carpet is in!!!
The carpet has been in for one month, and since then we have been busy moving some furniture around. We can FINALLY bring some things back into the basement to STAY. It’s been 1.5 years since that has been an option.
It feels like we are close to being done, but there are still so many things to do… Maybe we’ll be done by Christmas? Just one year past my original goal?? We’ll see.
It look a ton of discussion, but we finally made a decision about the railing for the stairway. Should it be white? Should it be stained? Should it be a combo of white and stained? If it’s a combo, which parts are stained, and which parts are white? Seriously, some decisions end up so much harder than they need to be. This one definitely took some thought.
We decided to do a combo of painted white and stained wood to help with the transition from the stained doors/trim upstairs, to the white trim downstairs.Here’s what we decided for the railing:
Here we are ready for carpet! The top on the wet bar is not the top that will stay there. That piece will actually be going on the half-wall on the right (where the extra trim is stacked). It will be cut and stained dark like the tops on the built-in cabinets. We haven’t decided what the countertop surface on the wet bar will be yet.
Here’s the spare room. You can see the wood tops on the half-walls – this will carry through the bathroom, and the family room. We still need to trim out the windows. They were not a necessity for carpet, which was our recent goal. At this point the focus is on what HAS to be done to pass inspection.
Here’s the family room, just waiting for carpet. You can tell that we have been using the basement as our “finishing room” for years. There are strange stains all over the concrete from spray paint (over spray), stain drips/spills, paint, etc. The cabinets are still waiting for doors, shelves and crown molding. My priorities are not at the top of hubby’s list… Ha.
The fireplace is my favorite thing about our basement. I can’t wait until we have furniture to snuggle in on and enjoy a cozy fire this fall!
Install day! We snuck down and took a couple of pics during the carpet install. It was so hard to wait all day!
The carpet is in!!!
The carpet has been in for one month, and since then we have been busy moving some furniture around. We can FINALLY bring some things back into the basement to STAY. It’s been 1.5 years since that has been an option.
It feels like we are close to being done, but there are still so many things to do… Maybe we’ll be done by Christmas? Just one year past my original goal?? We’ll see.
Friday, July 12, 2013
This week... {Insta-Friday}
Each week I post a lot of random pics on Instagram. Each week some of my favorite bloggers share some snippets from their week in a Friday post. This week I decided to play along!
I’m MomsGonnaSnap on IG if you want to be a part of the action.
This week was a BUSY week. Company. Cousins. 4th of July. Anthony’s Birthday. and more.
We celebrated this guy. See those front two teeth? They are wiggly. This smile will be changing big-time in the very near future…
Right before the 4th of July (and our 4th of July Party) our kiddie pool bit the dust. Hubby went out for a replacement and several stores were sold out. He came home with this one. It has a filter and everything (but we didn’t use it). This is Anthony’s cousin. Check out that form. Pretty sure she could star in the Matrix. The shadow cracks me up too!
This cake is one of my favorites. Anyone who knows me well knows that I LOVE ice cream. Ice cream cakes are the best. I found this recipe on Pinterest. Maybe one day I will share it with you.
We went to see Man of Steel, the new Superman movie on Anthony’s birthday. It was good, but LOTS of action. Part of Anthony’s gift from Gpa and Gma was this Superman suit. Anthony still loves to dress up. These two got all decked out and hit the neighborhood. They looked awesome cruising the neighborhood with their capes flying behind them.
Anthony’s cousin lives in the Seattle area. We went out to visit a couple years ago and together they dressed up as princesses. This is payback. Check out that grin – I think she liked it!
One of Anthony’s good friends gave him a beta for his birthday. He was THRILLED! His name is Mr. Blue. Because he’s blue. Naturally.
Two days later Mr. Blue FINALLY went into his “home”. Yes, he lives in a pineapple under the sea.
Yesterday I spent the day with these two. We had some pizza, went to see Despicable Me 2, and stopped quick at Costco. I had to take advantage of two helpers instead of just one. Then I think they took advantage of my wallet. We may have had a few treats yesterday…
What did you do this week?
Linking to: Life Rearranged
I’m MomsGonnaSnap on IG if you want to be a part of the action.
This week was a BUSY week. Company. Cousins. 4th of July. Anthony’s Birthday. and more.
We celebrated this guy. See those front two teeth? They are wiggly. This smile will be changing big-time in the very near future…
Right before the 4th of July (and our 4th of July Party) our kiddie pool bit the dust. Hubby went out for a replacement and several stores were sold out. He came home with this one. It has a filter and everything (but we didn’t use it). This is Anthony’s cousin. Check out that form. Pretty sure she could star in the Matrix. The shadow cracks me up too!
This cake is one of my favorites. Anyone who knows me well knows that I LOVE ice cream. Ice cream cakes are the best. I found this recipe on Pinterest. Maybe one day I will share it with you.
We went to see Man of Steel, the new Superman movie on Anthony’s birthday. It was good, but LOTS of action. Part of Anthony’s gift from Gpa and Gma was this Superman suit. Anthony still loves to dress up. These two got all decked out and hit the neighborhood. They looked awesome cruising the neighborhood with their capes flying behind them.
Anthony’s cousin lives in the Seattle area. We went out to visit a couple years ago and together they dressed up as princesses. This is payback. Check out that grin – I think she liked it!
One of Anthony’s good friends gave him a beta for his birthday. He was THRILLED! His name is Mr. Blue. Because he’s blue. Naturally.
Two days later Mr. Blue FINALLY went into his “home”. Yes, he lives in a pineapple under the sea.
Yesterday I spent the day with these two. We had some pizza, went to see Despicable Me 2, and stopped quick at Costco. I had to take advantage of two helpers instead of just one. Then I think they took advantage of my wallet. We may have had a few treats yesterday…
What did you do this week?
Linking to: Life Rearranged
The BIG Race! {Grandma’s Marathon}
I am so proud of my hubby! Last month he ran his very first marathon! As of today, he says it’s his only marathon, but I guess only time will tell on that one…
After hubby started running a couple years ago, he ran a few races. First there was a 5K, then there was the 10K that he ran with his family in Iowa, and then the 1/2 marathon, and then last fall he ran a 5K with a friend. After running the 1/2 marathon, he decided that maybe he should just keep on training and run a full marathon. After lots of consideration, he decided to sign up to run Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth. It was the perfect race to run – a beautiful view of Lake Superior and the lift bridge for the entire run. Or so we thought...
This is the view of the lift bridge from 1-2 blocks away. If you know Duluth, you know there is so much more to see than this photo has to offer! There went the view hubby was hoping to have throughout his run.
The race starts near Two Harbors, Minnesota and ends in Canal Park in Duluth, not far from the lift bridge.
The weather really wasn't great. At least for the spectators. It was so foggy that the runners couldn't really see more than about 20 feet of the lake, but the rumor is that the temperature was perfect and they were just fine with the drizzle/rain. For those of us spectators hoping to enjoy Canal Park and the race festivities, the weather was TERRIBLE. Cold. Drizzly. Windy. Yuck.
Thanks to the little chip on hubby’s shoe, and the fabulous technology that is usually in my pocket (iPhone), I was able to track hubby’s progress throughout the race. This meant that we could hang out in our warm hotel room, right at the finish line, and get to the finish line just a few minutes before he came across. We even met up with a friend from work and her son, which helped to pass the time.
Here’s hubby (in blue) stepping over the finish line! You can see where they painted “Grandma’s Marathon Finish” on the road – it’s there year-round.
Here he is immediately after the race before receiving his medal. (You can see the medals on the table behind him) He was wiped out!
Receiving his medal – way to go!! We are proud of you!!
It’s been about 3 weeks since the race, and hubby is still pretty confident that this was his one and only marathon. Regardless of his future plans, it’s a GREAT accomplishment! I’m positive there will be more races in his future (maybe even a mountain bike race??). I’m just pretty sure they will all be less than 26.2 miles.
After hubby started running a couple years ago, he ran a few races. First there was a 5K, then there was the 10K that he ran with his family in Iowa, and then the 1/2 marathon, and then last fall he ran a 5K with a friend. After running the 1/2 marathon, he decided that maybe he should just keep on training and run a full marathon. After lots of consideration, he decided to sign up to run Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth. It was the perfect race to run – a beautiful view of Lake Superior and the lift bridge for the entire run. Or so we thought...
This is the view of the lift bridge from 1-2 blocks away. If you know Duluth, you know there is so much more to see than this photo has to offer! There went the view hubby was hoping to have throughout his run.
The race starts near Two Harbors, Minnesota and ends in Canal Park in Duluth, not far from the lift bridge.
The weather really wasn't great. At least for the spectators. It was so foggy that the runners couldn't really see more than about 20 feet of the lake, but the rumor is that the temperature was perfect and they were just fine with the drizzle/rain. For those of us spectators hoping to enjoy Canal Park and the race festivities, the weather was TERRIBLE. Cold. Drizzly. Windy. Yuck.
Thanks to the little chip on hubby’s shoe, and the fabulous technology that is usually in my pocket (iPhone), I was able to track hubby’s progress throughout the race. This meant that we could hang out in our warm hotel room, right at the finish line, and get to the finish line just a few minutes before he came across. We even met up with a friend from work and her son, which helped to pass the time.
Here’s hubby (in blue) stepping over the finish line! You can see where they painted “Grandma’s Marathon Finish” on the road – it’s there year-round.
Here he is immediately after the race before receiving his medal. (You can see the medals on the table behind him) He was wiped out!
Receiving his medal – way to go!! We are proud of you!!
It’s been about 3 weeks since the race, and hubby is still pretty confident that this was his one and only marathon. Regardless of his future plans, it’s a GREAT accomplishment! I’m positive there will be more races in his future (maybe even a mountain bike race??). I’m just pretty sure they will all be less than 26.2 miles.
Monday, July 8, 2013
MN Twins Game
At the beginning of June we went to Target Field for a Twins game. Hubby has always been a big fan of the MN Twins (1987 World Series, anyone?) and this year has been no different. One of the current MN Twins pitchers, Caleb Thielbar, graduated from the same tiny high school that hubby went to, and hubby couldn’t be more thrilled to know that a Randolph graduate is actually a Minnesota Twin. This is BIG news in such a small town (population approx 400).
The weather was perfect for baseball, so we enjoyed a great day at the park!
Our good friends Julie and Erik met us there – it was a blast! Julie and I met during freshman move-in day in college and we’ve been great friends ever since. We used to go home with each other all the time when we were in college. One time when I was staying with her, we went out to dinner with her parents (I think we were at Olive Garden) and the waiter thought we were sisters. We LOVED that!
We love hanging out with Julie and her husband. They also have the cutest little boy, but since he’s not quite two yet, he’s just not ready for a Twins game. Maybe next year?
After Sunday games at Target Field the kids can go down on the field and run the bases. It’s a little boy's paradise (and hubby’s too!). Since we were there for a Sunday game, we stuck around after the game so that the boys could run the bases. It was a bit of a fiasco because we walked the wrong way around the concourse to get down on the field, but we made it. So much fun!
In the photo below, hubby is wearing red (right/center of the photo) and Anthony is right in front of him.
They also handed out free Twins jerseys to the first bazillion kids to enter the park. By bazillion, I really mean bazillion. Nearly every kid in the ballpark was wearing the exact same jersey. Except for the kids in this photo. Total fluke. How does that happen? There is proof just two photos up.
It was already late when we were (finally) leaving Target Field, but we stopped for the classic glove photo anyways. I guess we just needed the photo to complete our day.
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All in all, a super fun day! Maybe we’ll even catch another game this summer?
The weather was perfect for baseball, so we enjoyed a great day at the park!
Our good friends Julie and Erik met us there – it was a blast! Julie and I met during freshman move-in day in college and we’ve been great friends ever since. We used to go home with each other all the time when we were in college. One time when I was staying with her, we went out to dinner with her parents (I think we were at Olive Garden) and the waiter thought we were sisters. We LOVED that!
We love hanging out with Julie and her husband. They also have the cutest little boy, but since he’s not quite two yet, he’s just not ready for a Twins game. Maybe next year?
After Sunday games at Target Field the kids can go down on the field and run the bases. It’s a little boy's paradise (and hubby’s too!). Since we were there for a Sunday game, we stuck around after the game so that the boys could run the bases. It was a bit of a fiasco because we walked the wrong way around the concourse to get down on the field, but we made it. So much fun!
In the photo below, hubby is wearing red (right/center of the photo) and Anthony is right in front of him.
They also handed out free Twins jerseys to the first bazillion kids to enter the park. By bazillion, I really mean bazillion. Nearly every kid in the ballpark was wearing the exact same jersey. Except for the kids in this photo. Total fluke. How does that happen? There is proof just two photos up.
It was already late when we were (finally) leaving Target Field, but we stopped for the classic glove photo anyways. I guess we just needed the photo to complete our day.
.JPG)
All in all, a super fun day! Maybe we’ll even catch another game this summer?
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