Hey Everybody! Karl's 8 today!

We celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday with my family, so today was all about Karl's birthday. He was up bright and early for his birthday breakfast.

Karl got right to work on his giant Lego space center after breakfast.

Karl has wanted to be eight for a long time. We have proof from 2005:


His birthday cake ended up looking like a giant doughnut, which is just fine in our house. We are firmly pro-doughnuts (especially with sprinkles!).

Happy Birthday, Karl! You're finally eight!

Piano Exam

Last Saturday, Laura had her first piano exam at the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul.

The exam consisted of performing three pieces, playing a bunch of pentachords, and some sight-reading. Laura usually performs well under pressure and her exam was no exception—she did a great job. Her results came back on Thursday, and she passed with high distinction!

Nice work, Laura!

Halloween 2011

Halloween is near the bottom of our favorite holiday list, but Laura and Karl always make the most of it. This year, Laura had her heart set on being a cheetah, but it's very tricky trying to find a cheetah costume that fits a 5'1" girl. Luckily, Pam found some spotted fleece material and whipped up a cheetah costume for her. Karl was a giant Whoopie Cushion. He's seven. Enough said.


On Saturday, we went to a costume party at Lynn and Chad Buehrings'. Even though Laura and Karl are not into anything too creepy or scary, they did enjoy the mad scientist (Jim Schoolmeesters), who assembled a body with various "parts," like tongue, brains, intestines, etc.

Then they colored pumpkins.

Laura's cheetah pumpkin:


Karl made this one:

On Monday, the Elliotts, Jennifer and Brian, and Mom and Dad came over for some Halloween fun.

Even Penelope got in on the costumes! She enjoyed reliving her racing days.

All the boys went trick-or-treating, but Laura stayed home because she's "just not that into the whole candy thing." Maybe the cloudy 40° weather had something to do with it...

Minneapolis Tourists

Every time we see it on TV, Karl asks why we’ve never visited the “Spoon and Cherry.” So today we swung by Saint Louis Park to pick up Deborah, drove through Uptown and ended up in downtown at the Walker’s Sculpture Garden. Karl got a hold of the camera and ran off to snap some pictures. I was expecting an assortment of geese photos, but was quite surprised to find some pretty cool shots of Spoonbridge and Cherry. Deborah and Laura posing with Hare on Bell on Portland Stone Piers. Yes, Laura is growing taller. Next, we invited ourselves over to the Elliotts’ to watch the Vikings game. Adam was just full of smiles! True to form, the Vikings lost. But we had fun, and our new quarterback is giving us a little bit of hope for the future. Thanks for having us over again, Jason and Angie!

It’s Football Season In Every Galaxy

If you think the Vikings have quarterback issues, just imagine cheering for the team being led by Jar Jar Binks… …or the team that has to defend against a monstrous greyhound pass rush.

Fall Football, Day 3: Family Football Classic

Today, the Elliots hosted the first Family Football Classic. We ate chili, played some touch football, and watched the Vikings do what the Vikings do best.

There's one particular Viking who is popular with this crowd…


The kids had a difficult time deciding whether to watch the game or play outside in the sun.


After the Vikings game was over, Jason worked on routes with the boys…


…as well as touchdown celebration dances. Karl is demonstrating the classic high-step.


Laura was successful in her goal for football weekend — not a second of football watched. She hid out in Colin and Justin’s room most of the afternoon, tearing through her stack of books.


Thanks for hosting, Jason and Angie!

Fall Football, Day 2: Um Ya Ya!

I’ve attended exactly three Saint Olaf football games. The first was in 1989 to see Tanya when she was an Ole cheerleader. The second was sometime between 1993 and 1996, I really don’t remember — it was a home game and I was probably avoiding doing some homework or something. The third game was today.

I set Karl’s expectations pretty low — Saint Olaf isn’t exactly renown for its football program. Our opponent was Bethel University. They were ranked #5 in the nation, they had a bye last week so were well-rested, and it was their homecoming game.

The Elliotts live right down the road from Bethel, so we dropped Laura off at their house to avoid football with Angie and Adam while Jason and I took Colin, Justin, and Karl to see the Oles take on the Royals (why aren’t they the Bethlies?).



Here’s Karl joining in on the college fight song, “Um Ya Ya!”


Though it probably won’t get as much press as some other MIAC game, I think we probably saw the most exciting MIAC game today! The Oles were down by eighteen points at the start of the fourth quarter, but they rallied and scored twenty to win the game — the go-ahead touchdown coming with 25 seconds left to play. The final score was 30-28.

We’ll savor the Oles’ victory because tomorrow we cheer for the Vikings, and we all know how that usually ends up…