Future Rockstar!

We have a rocker in the house!

After taking more traditional piano lessons for 2.5 years, Anthony began taking keyboard and guitar lessons at a different studio early this spring. He’s had the opportunity to perform a few times, but most recently he was able to perform during downtown at Thursdays on First. The youth from Pure Rock Studios played 2 sets, and Anthony was able to perform a handful of songs!

Here are a few videos of his performances!

We are loving the music he is learning!

The Wait is Over… {Adoption}

After 5 long years of waiting, we made a big decision. With heavy hearts, we let our adoption home study expire yesterday and closed the door on waiting to adopt an infant. We don’t know if we will consider other options for expanding our family in the future, but for now, we know this is the right decision for our family.

We want to extend a big thank you to our friends and family for keeping us in your thoughts. This process has been so much easier knowing that we have others supporting us.

Rather than thinking about what could have been, we are going to focus on what we do have – we have a fantastic son that we love more than anything. We will celebrate our little family.

Our Newest Family Member {a Puppy!}

So it’s been months since I have posted on my blog. Really, it’s been more than months. Seasons have passed! Basically life happened. Then a new computer. Then a second new computer. Too many issues… It’s time to (attempt) to make a comeback. 

Our family has expanded since I last posted! We brought home a morkie (Maltese and Yorkie) puppy on September 1st and she has rocked our world ever since! Roxie has a crazy amount of energy, but we are used to that in our house :) 

Be prepared for photo overload… She’s the cutest puppy ever (we may be biased)!

Here’s ROXIE! 

Anthony’s first time holding Roxie. It was love at first sight! 

Trying to convince Dad that we should bring this sweet little puppy home!

Roxie’s first night at home. The boys picked out some toys and they were bigger than she was! 

 
She was so darn cute! I just love her brown and black colors here! See? Cutest puppy ever! 

Mini tennis balls – they are the size of a golf ball! 

It’s hard to take a phone pic of a puppy running towards you! She went to the groomer for the first time for a good bath and some trimming up on her face. That bow… It didn’t last long, but it sure was cute! 

Roxie’s first camping trip – she was given a dollar to play with. It definitely shows how teeny she was! 

Attempting to fit into an extra small harness. No such luck. 

Yes, that is a frisbee. That’s where she chose to curl up and take a nap! The bell is definitely necessary – she was so tiny that we kept losing her in the house. Thanks to the bell, we can hear her sneaking all over the place :) 

Roxie easily fit in her toy box… 

Watching for the bus quickly became an afternoon thing. She gets so excited!! 

Roxie also quickly discovered beer. She seems to like going after hubby’s Surly! 

Right before the holidays in all her shaggy glory. It’s amazing how fast she became a part of our family. She’s a ton of work, but totally worth it for the joy she brings to our home. 

Stay tuned, pretty sure Roxie will make semi-regular appearances around here.

A Month in Photos {June 2014}

June brought the end of school, which gave us a chance to enjoy some fun in the sun (at least when it wasn’t raining). There’s so many fun things to do in the summer – it’s hard to squeeze them all in!

End of the school year trip to Valley Fair with 2nd grade friends
Trips to the pool
Celebrating Father’s Day with a game of Laser tag!
Checking out books from the bookmobile
An early Birthday party with school friends
Camping with friends
An early birthday present – a new bike!

Want to see more pictures? You can find me on Instagram here.

A Month in Photos {May 2014}

Once again I’m playing some catch up. I have missing documenting our story here, as well as all the fun projects that we continue to work on, so hopefully I will get back at it now! Here’s a snapshot of our May -

Swimming
Some great friends came to visit
Camping
Trip to the Circus
Piano Recital
Cub Scouts
Mother’s Day
Trip “Up North” to the lake

Want to see more pictures? You can find me on Instagram here.

Look Who’s 8!! {Photo Bloopers}

Anthony celebrated his 8th birthday earlier this month (how is that even possible?!?) and as always, an updated photo shoot was required! I’m just starting to edit the good ones, but thought it might be fun to share the “blooper” photos (that I will not take the time to edit)!

Anthony thought it was hilarious to make some silly faces, especially eye rolling… 

Here are the photos for your viewing pleasure!











Even with so many bloopers, there are still tons of good photos waiting for Photoshop to work some magic.

Hopefully they will be ready to share soon!

Third Grade! {First Day of School}

Here we are again… the first day of school!  With the year-round school calendar it always feels like our summer is a little short, but the breaks during the school year are totally worth it.



Anthony attends a school that follows a year-round calendar or 45/15 calendar.  I have written about that here and here.

It’s always fun to look back at all of Anthony’s first days of school. Follow the links to see more of the first day of Kindergarten, the first day of First grade, and the first day of Second grade.
Check out how he’s changed over the years!


So proud of this kiddo!

Minnesota is HOME

Over the last few weeks I have been trying to make some progress in the basement again. It’s been awhile since we have done much down there (besides hang out!) and it’s time to start slowly making progress again.

For months I have been collecting some random frames from Ikea, Goodwill, Home Goods, etc. to put together a fun gallery wall above our couch. I decided I had enough frames right before the 4th of July and quickly planned out the wall. Thankfully handy hubby assisted me with hanging. Who knew those Ikea frames were such a pain to hang?!?  Seriously, Ikea should know better!

Once the frames were hung, it was time to start filling them. I put together a few photo collages in Photoshop, created a couple quick “signs”, and framed an old license plate.

Here’s a quick pic of the wall at this moment -


This is one of my favorites -


If you are interested in a copy, please feel free to email me and I will send it to you!

A Month in Photos {April 2014}

Wow, it sure has been hard to find time to document what we have been up to! The month of April kept us on our toes in so many ways – it’s nice to have it behind us! We did find some time for fun too!

Skateboarding with snow still on the ground
Silly faces
Easter egg hunts
The backyard is officially open for business!
Spring Break – 3 weeks off from school!
Playing doctor
Easter
Swimming Lessons
Cub Scout hikes

Last Day of School

School’s out for summer!

As always, I had to take the “last day of school pics”. Anthony was not as interested in photos this morning, but luckily I was able to get him to laugh at my silliness!




Check out these teeth!  Wow…. There will be an ortho consult in his future!


Here’s the comparison between the 1st day and last day of 2nd grade!  He’s grown a couple inches this year! He also really needs a new pair of shoes…


Happy summer!!

A Month in Photos {March 2014}

Somehow I barely took any photos during the entire month of March. In fact, I’m pretty sure that 

all but one of the photos in the collage this month were taken on my phone. I need to make 

more of a point to get my camera out!

Pinewood Derby
Snow, snow and more snow!
Celebrating Gotcha Day!
Volcano!! at Rainforest Café
Friends over on snow days
Adopting a new Webkinz

Pinewood Derby Car: Swiss Army Knife {Cub Scouts}

Last week I shared Anthony’s Pinewood Derby car for this year:


Now it’s time to share handy hubby’s car! Yes, he made a Pinewood Derby car. Some of the scout dads were together one night and decided it would be fun. They would all make them and race against each other. Turns out, it was all talk. Handy hubby was the only dad to build one!

The boys painted their cars together. Hubby is clearly working hard!


After the first coat of paint… You can see he made the standard Swiss Army Knife components - scissors, a knife blade and a screwdriver.


It’s all in the details! Hubby added a little key ring loop, built a teeny tiny wooden tweezers (the gray piece showing in the lower right corner) and a toothpick (goes in on the other side)


My hubby is super creative, right?!?


Here’s the end where both the tweezers and the toothpick go in.




They had a great time working on their derby cars together! I wonder what ideas they will have next year?

A Month in Photos {February 2014}

February brought more snow and more cold. This has been the winter that will not end!

School Carnival
Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts
Hubby’s Half-Marathon
Friends over to play
Lego’s!
Polar Cub Camp
Snow days
Birthday Parties for Friends

Want to see more pictures? You can find me on Instagram here.

Minecraft Sword Pinewood Derby Car {Cub Scouts}

Anthony loves to come up with unique Pinewood Derby cards. He often has really grand ideas (like a fire breathing dragon!) and this year he changed his mind a few times before deciding to build a Minecraft Sword car.

Handy hubby always lets Anthony draw a picture of his car and then does his best to cut out the design. The sword worked out pretty good!


Anthony chose the colors, and he was very specific about which colors to use. Hubby used a spray primer (that’s the gray) to give the craft paint something to stick to, and then we let Anthony just start painting.
He’s in his PJ’s, which is why he’s not wearing a shirt…


The car is upside down in the photo below. Anthony wanted to paint both sides. You can see the lines where the wheel axles (nails) will go.


Just a little bit of paint…


Ready for race day! The boys went to the post office to weigh Anthony’s car so they could determine how much weight to add to the bottom. You can just barely see the weights in the photo below.

Here are the weights on the bottom. They also drilled a hole through the end of the sword handle and slid some round weights in there too.


More to come about race day!

Here are Anthony’s previous Pinewood Derby cars: last year’s Batmobile and from the year before