Matt's Birthday Weekend

Poor Matt had to get up early on his birthday on Friday to have his birthday doughnuts and carmel rolls before the kids left for school. But this super cool mug the kids gave him totally made it worth it!

Luckily for Matt, it was also a short school day and the school carnival on his birthday. He got to take the kids while I was working there. Here's Karl doing some minnow-racing.

Both kids always go for the crazy hair booth.

Pam and Fred met us there and took over so we could actually go out. Laura and Karl stayed overnight with them, so we also got to sleep late. The house was eerily quiet when we woke up (at 9).

Then Pam and Fred took the kids to Como Park with Aly and Emily, so we got the whole day to ourselves!

Laura's Music Program

The third- and fourth-graders had their music program tonight, and Laura was, as usual, more than happy to perform. She was chosen to be in a small group of singers, so she was really excited. The program was called, "I Have a Dream: Songs of Peace, Hope, and Freedom." Laura wouldn't tell us anything about the program beforehand, so the whole show was brand new to all of us.

Laura wore the dress she got from Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas.

While we were trying to get a good picture of Laura, Karl got jealous and started leaping across the frame. After this one, we scolded him and he started crying. Now we feel bad because it's a pretty cool picture!

Laura is in the very back row, just to the left of the director.

Of course, we all wanted to have our pictures taken with her after the show!

Laura with Grandma and Grandpa

Laura with Oma and Opa

Laura with her music teacher, Jaime Holmstrom

Nice job Laura! Brava!

Belated Birthday Pictures

A couple weeks ago, when I turned the fabulous age of 35, I was the lucky recipient of a three-pack of bamboo back scratchers from the kids. Yay! Just what I always wanted! (Seriously, you have no idea how often I make Matt scratch my back-- "use more nails!") After the birthday doughnuts, we immediately tried out the new scratchers. Note the huge pile of Girl Scout cookies in the background. 15 boxes. All gone (except for a few Trefoils, but they don't really count as cookies; they're more like crackers who really want to be cookies but fail).

Later that day, we went out to Applebee's for dinner (it was a school night so we couldn't go too far...).

And here's a picture of Laura right after her "Treasure Hunt" class at the Science Museum yesterday. She's wearing a pirate hat, but she said the class wasn't all about pirates. Nor did they do a proper treasure hunt (Laura said they did one on a map, but I'm not sure what that means). She was very vague about the whole thing, but said it was fun. Ok. Good enough.

Matt's Trololo

Matt has been singing this nonstop for the past week and a half. For the few of you who haven't seen it yet, here it is. Enjoy...

Minnesota Meissner Cousins' Sledding Weekend

Aly and Emily were in town this weekend, so the four cousins had fun hanging out at Oma and Opa's, and doing lots of sledding.

Laura, Karl, Aly, Emily

Laura and Aly

Emily and Karl

Matt and I had a nice afternoon and evening to ourselves on Saturday. It was win-win-win for everybody!

Happy Birthday Penelope!

O Ya Pistol is 4 years old today! And yes, she got a nice treat for wearing that silly crown...

Valentine's Weekend

This weekend was all about St. Paul. Yesterday we went to a St. Paul Chamber Orchestra concert at the Ordway, called "The Inside-Out Concert." It was a concert for kids, and members of the orchestra explained all about how orchestras work, what the different sections sound like, when to clap, and so forth. Laura and Karl really liked the performance, even though they're seasoned concert-goers and didn't really need all the explanations. I tried to take a picture of us there, but got scolded by an usher so I don't have any orchestra pictures to post.

After the concert, though, we took the kids to Pop!! for lunch. The kids loved all the pop art and the fact that they got Wiki (?) sticks to play with while they waited for their food. I just love their Swedish meatballs...

This morning, being Valentine's Day, should've called for a bakery run (as per our birthday/holiday tradition of eating doughnuts for breakfast), but since it's Sunday and the bakery was closed, we had to improvise. I made Laura's favorite carmel rolls, and as you can see in this picture, she really likes them. Karl, though, says they're only "ok."

Presents!

Later we headed back down to St. Paul because Karl had a class at the Science Museum called "The Real Valentine." He learned all about the human heart, and even got to see a real one.

While Karl was in his class, the three of us looked at exhibits in the Science Museum. Here we are at a talk/gameshow about nano science.

And of course we visited the library across the street!

Karl made this Valentine for me in his class. It has a beautiful heart on it!

To cap off our Valentine's day, we got groceries at SuperTarget. It was all very romantic. For all of you who are worried because Laura didn't seem to get her daily dose of maple syrup, don't be alarmed. We had dinner at Keys Cafe in Forest Lake, and Laura ordered French toast. Whew!