Hittin' the Trails

Soccer season has begun, and for Laura that means a lot of sitting around watching Karl play. Luckily Oma and Opa saved her from soccer boredom yesterday and they went on a bike ride on the trails in North Branch. Now that Laura is a biking pro, the possibilities are endless!



Seeing the kids ride their bikes this spring made us realize how much each of them has grown over the winter. Tomorrow we're shopping for two new bikes!

Karl's Guitar Recital

Yesterday was Karl's guitar recital, and this year Matt was just as nervous as Karl was because they played a duet! As you can see, they both did a very nice job!



Matt and Karl with their teacher, Doug Smith. The audience thought it was very sweet when Doug told them that he remembers teaching Karl's dad when he was seven.

Karl's Track and Field Day

This year the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders got to have a track and field day at school. Needless to say, Karl was a little pumped. I was pumped too, because it confirmed my suspicions that we have a bona fide runner who lives in our house!

Karl and his friend Nick are the two fastest runners in their grade.


High jump

"Rubber Duck Relay"

Good job Karl! You are a rockstar runner!

GreyFest 2011

Karl, Penelope and I went to the annual greyhound festival on Saturday, where all the greyhound zealots gather to celebrate how cool greyhounds are (and to raise lots of money for Greyhound Pets of America, so people can keep discovering the joys of owning a retired racer). I was going to just take Penelope by myself because it was a rainy day and I'm the only one in the house who's dog-crazy enough to go, but at the last minute Karl decided to join us. And guess what? When we got there, it was sunny!

The greyhound festival is at a ranch with a huge fenced in area for the dogs to run loose. If you have your hound off-leash though, it has to be muzzled, which is why Penelope is sporting hers. She really didn't want to run around though. She just trotted up to random people and demanded to be pet. She finally found a shady spot next to her double, who even had a purple muzzle just like hers! Note: Penelope is on the right.

The local Boy Scout troop helped out at GreyFest, and as soon as Penelope found a couple who were not busy she quickly made her move.

Here we are waiting for the silent auction and raffle results. I won a 3-foot tall bronze greyhound statue and a garden gift basket. Matt was thrilled when I got home (I actually was!). I don't have a picture of my statue, so you'll just have to come over and see it for yourself (or just drive by; I have it up on the ledge by our staircase so you can see it through the window over our front door. It's absolutely lovely).

Supper Club!

Yesterday we had an old-fashioned Supper Club at our house. Yay!

Penelope knows who the dog lovers in the group are...


People can't come to our house unless they agree to watch a music recital. I lured them in from the sunny deck with promises of Dad's 7-layer-bars.

Karl is always a ham...


...and Laura usually is too, but yesterday she just didn't want to play. Our begging paid off, though, and she finally relented.


Thanks for coming everybody!

Running Buddies (With Bonus Bed-hair picture!)

Penelope's been waiting and waiting for me to get a running partner because I'm one of those boring runners who can't talk while they run, but she's in luck because Karl is now an official runner! We've gone out together a few times, and Karl would be proud to tell you that tonight he ran 1.7 miles, chatting the entire way. Those who are keeping track of me need not worry, since I've decided to ease back into running by letting Karl set my pace. I love running with him, and I'm savoring these runs because I know I have a very small window of time before he starts slowing down for me.



The other day I had such awesome bed-hair that Karl took my picture. Enjoy:

Laura's 2011 Piano Recital

Today was Laura's piano recital, and as usual, she did a fabulous job. Laura is one of those people who can turn it on when she needs to, and she certainly did (and I really wasn't sure how it would go since I never got around to actually having her run through her pieces for a "practice performance" beforehand, but apparently she worked on her music quite well on her own. It's been a tough spring so cut me some slack...).

It's tradition that we go to Perkin's on the day of Laura's recital, but I forgot to take a picture. Trust me, we were there, as were the grandparents. But Laura was so happy to have a picture session when we got to the church, weren't you Laura!

Laura's cheering section

You may not believe this, but Karl, Justin, and Colin sat very quietly together through the whole performance (with just a few reminders!).

Laura and her teacher, Elise.


Brava Laura!

Barnyard Moosical!

On Thursday, Karl and his fellow first graders performed in a wonderful program called "Barnyard Moosical."

Karl was a pig, but these were pigs who liked to clean, dust and mop all day, and if you call their home a sty, "hogwash" is what they'll say!


Good job, Karl! It was a great show!

Mother's Day 2011

We had an action-packed Mother's Day weekend, largely because I haven't gone back to work yet so we could actually make plans. We spent Saturday night in Bloomington with Pam, Fred, Tanya, Jeff, and the kids, because this morning we did the "Walk for the Cure" by the Mall of America.

Last night we had dinner with Matt's family at TGI Friday's.

When we got there, the cousins were very excited to see each other.

Matt and Karl think Led Zepplin is cool, so they made me take this picture while we waited for our table.

We all stayed at the same hotel, so after dinner it was swimming time!

And then it was the ever-popular bedtime! We tried to convince Pam and Fred to let the four grandkids sleep in the extra bed in their room, but they wouldn't do it. I don't see why not...

Here's the whole walking crew:Matt, Laura, me, Karl, Pam, Fred, Aly, Tanya, Emily, and Jeff

The kids have gotten used to lining up in order: Laura, Aly, Karl, Emily


And we're off!

Karl insisted on writing his own "I'm walking in memory of..." tag.

Laura and Oma, with matching pink headwear.


After the cancer walk, we went to my parents' house to celebrate Mother's Day.

Laura and Karl had fun with the Lundgren cousins: Luke, Laura, Karl, Colin, Damon, and Justin

It was a wonderful weekend. Now it's bedtime. I'm going to snuggle up with my new iPad...