Laura's Day at the MOA

Karl has been in South Dakota the past several days with Pam and Fred, so we thought we'd treat Laura to a special day while he was gone. Yesterday we went to one of Laura's favorite places in the world: The Mall of America.

Laura went on lots of safe but fun rides.

To top things off, Laura got a new pair of Crocs (she found out they have a whole Crocs store there), and spent some quality time in Barnes & Noble. A crabby worker there told Matt he couldn't take any pictures because of copyright laws (totally untrue), so he made sure to take a picture.

We also stopped at Ikea since we were right there, and Laura was even okay about that because "it's a fun furniture store," so I'd say that Laura had quite the happy day.

Deborah Meissner, M.A.

Even though I officially graduated in December, Hamline only has one commencement ceremony a year, and yesterday was the big day. After all that work, I was determined to walk across a stage! The weather forecast called for great weather, and the official decision was that it would be held outside in front of Old Main. Driving there through pouring rain was therefore quite the downer. They ended up moving the ceremony to Hutton Arena at the last minute, so we were all spared sitting in rain, but instead had to sit inside an ugly, hot, old gym. We made the best of it I guess, but I just have to say I was more than a little disappointed...

This is where the commencement was supposed to be. Of course the sun was out when we emerged from that awful gym!

For those of you who are wondering, the degree I got was a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies, which involved a lot of classes on writing, but with an interdisciplinary focus. Although I worked on it while I was a stay-at-home mom, and while it does very little to advance one's career, please do not call it a "vanity degree." I will get very angry. :)

Get Your Rear in Gear 2010

We got our tired rears out of bed very early this morning to meet the Elliotts at the "Get Your Rear in Gear" race in Edina.  The kids ran their 1K race first, and Karl showed that his daily games of tag at school are really paying off! (Teachers have commented to me that he always looks hot and sweaty when he comes in for class every morning, because he plays so hard outside before school.) Laura was quite psyched for this race, too, because this is the race she ran last year that resulted in discounted passes to the Water Park of America (and the love affair began...).

All the runners: Laura, Karl, Me, Angie, and Colin

Here is a picture demonstrating how each kid gets ready to run. Laura stands on her tippy toes, Colin gets in his serious starting stance, and Karl just stands there looking unassuming.

Most people were there to run in support of colon cancer research, but Laura had waterparks on her mind.

 

Karl and Colin after their big finishes!

 

While Angie and I were running our race, the kids got to explore the giant colon! Karl and Colin had fun punching polyps...

 

...while Laura waited outside. Matt reported that she was not too keen on exploring the inside of a colon. This is a look of polite disgust.

 

Angie and I coming in for our big finish. Look at this! Who smiles when they run a race? Angie does. I always look like I'm in pain when I'm running. At least I beat my record by two seconds. This was just the first race of the season though, so just wait....

Spring Hike

After a cold week, we finally got a nice day again, so yesterday we spent some time at the Wild River State Park (and we also got to escape the sad spectacle of garage sale day in Rush City).

Laura and Karl held hands for part of the walk, completely unprompted by us. This is not a posed picture! Aren't they just the sweetest siblings in the whole world? Of course, I tend not to take pictures of their fights.

 

We stopped at every single bench on the path.

 

Karl brought along a journal to record the interesting things he found along the way. The most exciting thing we saw was a big wild turkey, and wow, am I glad I had a good hold on Penelope, because she wanted to get that bird!

Laura's 2010 Piano Recital

Yesterday was Laura's turn to perform, and Matt and I got to be the proud parents again. Laura did a very nice job, as you can see for yourself in the following video:

Laura and her teacher, Elise Rieke


Since Karl got to choose where we ate out before his recital on Thursday, Laura got to choose where we went after her recital. I don't even have to tell you where we went.... Here are the four grandparents at Perkin's.

Karl's First Guitar Recital

Karl had his very first guitar recital tonight, and it went very well (I couldn't believe that was my baby up there, playing so beautifully!).  It was a very eclectic program that included performances on classical guitar, violin, flute, electric guitar, and voice. The recital was held in Doug Smith's cottage where he gives lessons, which unfortunately is not very large, so the audience was basically students and their parents. Luckily we captured Karl's first official performance on video:

 

 

Due to lack of space, the youngest kids sat on the floor. Laura and the red-headed girl next to her are both piano players, and they had a nice chat about their piano lessons before the recital started.

 

Karl with his teacher, Doug Smith

 

Play-a-thon at Mall of America

Yesterday we visited the Mall of America because Laura raised money for the MusicLink Foundation's music scholarship program, so she got to perform in the rotunda outside Nordstrom's. Laura will always say yes to anything that involves a visit to the Mall of America (although she always closes her eyes as we drive past the Water Park of America, because it makes her too sad that we're not going there instead). Laura was, as ever, totally cool as she played, probably because she was thinking about Barnes & Noble and the American Girl Store that were waiting for her when she was done.

We also stopped at the Lego store for Karl. He decided to get a tub of Legos (where you fit as many Legos as you can into a container). Now he has a container of mostly little white and yellow pieces (because his container was full before he got to any other colors).