Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Awesome fun weekend!

We had a great time this past weekend with my good friend, Dani, and her family. Her son, Ezra, is the same age as Ben & Maddie (in fact we celebrated his 4th birthday this weekend) and her daughter, Eden, is six. The four kids think the world of each other. It probably is most due to the fact that when we get together it's always extra fun. This time they came to our house. We spent most of Sunday at the Mall of America, riding the rides.
From 2013-03-24
From 2013-03-24
From 2013-03-24
From 2013-03-24
From 2013-03-24
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From 2013-03-24
We also exchanged Christmas and birthday gifts...
From 2013-03-24
From 2013-03-24
From 2013-03-24
And on Monday we took them to our favorite YMCA where they have an awesome mini waterpark (sorry, no pics of that!) The kids had an awesome time...
From 2013-03-24

Saturday, January 5, 2013

4th birthday!

It just doesn't seem possible that Ben & Maddie are four years old. Where did the years go?? It's so fun to watch them navigate the "big" world and to be able to tell us their thoughts, wants, needs, etc. (Mostly "wants", of course!) The things that come out of their mouths are amazing. To celebrate this year, our friends the Calgrens came over on the 30th and we had dinner and cake (and watched the Vikings beat the Packers, quite unexpectedly). Then on the 31st, we took them to Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America, where they rode lots of rides and had lunch before crashing in the car around 3 p.m.
From 2012-12-31
From 2012-12-31
From 2012-12-31
From 2012-12-31

Christmas 2012

Sorry I'm so late in posting this! It's been a crazy couple of weeks with the holidays and the kids being off from school (their school closes for 2 weeks!). The end is in sight, though. We all go back to school and work on Monday. I took the Christmas decorations down today -- back to reality. Here are some highlights of our holidays.... On the 23rd, we went to Stillwater to my aunt and uncle's. Nearly the whole Wolff family was there (just one cousin missing!). The kids had a fabulous time with their cousins and seeing Santa!
From 2012-12-24
From 2012-12-24
My brother stayed with us for a couple days, so he got to witness the "magic" of Christmas morning. The kids were in awe of all their gifts (way too many, as usual! I went a bit overboard).
From 2012-12-25
From 2012-12-25
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From 2012-12-25

New Year's card finally ordered!

Photo Card
View the entire collection of cards.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

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.....

Sunday, November 25, 2012

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

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

My little band (in costume, of course)

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

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

New photos...

New photos!
From 2012-10-03
From 2012-10-03
From 2012-10-03
From 2012-10-03
From 2012-10-03