Santa 2012

The kids got to see Santa today at the St. Paul Mothers of Multiples family party. Ben was eager to get up on his lap and tell Santa that he wants a camouflage backpack for Christmas. Maddie, on the other hand, was reluctant and at first sat on the floor sort of pouting. Eventually she sat on Dad's lap, next to Santa. I don't think she said anything to Santa, though. :-)

From 2012-12-08

From 2012-12-08

From 2012-12-08

Pension spiking

I've got a new story in tomorrow's Pioneer Press -- the result of six, long months of work. Lots and lots of data analysis and learning about the complicated subject of public pensions! My analysis uncovered evidence of pension spiking in the St. Paul Fire Department among a handful of supervisors. We're expecting that the story will generate a significant public outcry! That's the kind of work I most love! There are two stories, plus graphics....which you can read here: http://www.twincities.com/pensions

Away in the manager

I sat down at the piano today to play some Christmas music and Maddie recognized "Away in the Manger." They're going to be singing it for the preschool Christmas show on Tuesday, so she wanted to show me the "motions." So we got the video recorder out and this is about the fourth take.....

Thanksgiving 2012

My brother came for Thanksgiving this year and, as usual, we had an awesome feast. The highlight was a to-die-for coconut cream pie that David made. The leftovers didn't make it to the end of the day Friday. :-)

From 2012-11-22

From 2012-11-22

Here's Maddie playing "doctor" with Uncle David:

From 2012-11-22

From 2012-11-22

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we put up the Christmas tree. Maddie helped me with the ornaments -- and boy was she proud! Ben was napping during most of that and even when he woke up, he didn't want to help.

From 2012-11-22

My little band (in costume, of course)

Ben & Maddie put on a little show for me tonight...

New photos...

New photos!

From 2012-10-03

From 2012-10-03

From 2012-10-03

From 2012-10-03

From 2012-10-03

Jamey's birthday

Here are some very belated pictures from Jamey's birthday last week. He's wearing two "birthday hats" that Ben & Maddie made for him. Gifts were a pair of Crocs and his favorite river shorts (and he bought himself a new leaf blower)

From 2012-09-19

From 2012-09-19

From 2012-09-19

Summer pics from the phone

I finally unloaded all the pictures from my iphone so I can order prints and post them here. There are sooo many from this summer that I put them into a slideshow, here....

Vacation time at the cabin

We came up to the cabin Thursday morning for a 4-day weekend during our "vacation" week. The weather is chilly (50 degrees at night!), so we haven't been out swimming. But that means there's been more time for riding the Power Wheels jeep, blowing bubbles and collecting acorns (there are LOTS of them!). Here are some pics...

From 2012-08-18

From 2012-08-18

From 2012-08-18

From 2012-08-18

From 2012-08-18

From 2012-08-17

From 2012-08-17

Como Town fun

Yesterday we took Ben & Maddie to Como Town, which has rides that are mainly geared toward littler kids plus a splash pad and play area. They had such a fantastic time. Here are some pics....

From 2012-08-14

From 2012-08-14

From 2012-08-14

From 2012-08-14

From 2012-08-14

From 2012-08-14

From 2012-08-14

From 2012-08-14

From 2012-08-14

From 2012-08-14

From 2012-08-14

Big kid week!

In addition to bunk beds, we also introduced Ben & Maddie to regular bikes -- with training wheels -- yesterday. They are over the moon about them and want to ride them all the time.

Big kid beds!

Ben & Maddie got their first bed today -- bunk beds -- and they are both sleeping in the top bunk (at least that's the plan...still waiting for them to fall asleep!). Amazing that we made it to 3 1/2 with cribs.

From 2012-08-13

Summer swimming!

Boy, I've been lax about posting to my blog this summer! part of it is that we haven't been using our big camera - just the iphone cameras and those are hard to upload to this blog. But today I took the big camera out to the lake and got the kids to pose for a picture before we went to the beach. Here they are...

From 2012-08-04

Tumbling

Today was Ben & Maddie's final tumbling class - the only one that parents get to attend. So, of course, we took lots of pictures!

From 2012-05-19

From 2012-05-19

From 2012-05-19

From 2012-05-19

From 2012-05-19

From 2012-05-19

From 2012-05-19

From 2012-05-19

From 2012-05-19

From 2012-05-19

Finally a swing I don't have to push!

Such a cutie!

Over the years, we've gotten so many cute photos of Maddie. But I'm just amazed at this one because I took it with my iphone!

From 2012-04-29

Personal foray back to 1940

The release of the 1940 census records on April 2nd prompted me to dig into my family history a bit. After all, my parents were both born in 1940 -- just a couple months after the census takers would've knocked on my grandparents' doors. I wondered what life was like for my two, very pregnant, grandmothers. I knew one family was poor, the other quite well off, but the census records showed me just how different their lives were.

I published a story in today's paper about my little adventure back in time.

Here's the Census form where I found part of the Sylwester family (see the first line). My grandfather and great-grandfather were on the page before:

From 1940 Census

And some pics...

My grandfather, Erv Wolff holding my mother in summer 1940:

From 1940 Census

My father in the middle, with his older sister (left) and an unidentified cousin, probably in about 1942 or 1943, I'm guessing:

From 1940 Census